Synchronous machines parameters determination

using finite elements method

C. Ramirez, M. Tu Xuan, J.-J. Simond D. Schafer, Dr C.-E. Stephan

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Alstom Power Generation Ltd
Electromechanics and Electrical Machines Laboratory (LEME) R&D / Technology Director
CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland CH-5242 Birr, Switzerland
Tel: +41 21 693 46 90 Tel: +41 56 466 50 46
Fax: +41 21 693 26 87 Fax: +41 56 466 60 95
E-mail: carlos.ramirez@epfl.ch E-mail: daniel.schafer@ch.abb.com

ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the determination of synchronous machine
parameters using a 2D Finite Element Method – FEM (Flux2D-
Cedrat). Simulations of no-load sudden three phase short-
circuits are performed in rotation, the saturation effects and the
eddy currents in the rotor solid iron parts are also taken into
account. Comparisons between calculations and measurements
for two large existing units (turbogenerator & hydrogenerator)
are presented.
Keywords: Synchronous machines, parameters, finite
elements, short-circuit.
1. INTRODUCTION
The analysis of large power synchronous machines behaviour
in steady state or transient conditions requires an accurate
knowledge of the equivalent circuit diagram parameters and/or
of the characteristic quantities of the machine. These
characteristic quantities can be determined through the analysis
of the results obtained by different tests, i.e. the no-load sudden
three phase short-circuit [1,2]. These tests, however, require an
important and expensive equipment. They are not devoid of any
risk and cannot be performed up to the material limits. The
basic idea of this study is to replace different tests performed by
partial automatic mesh generation, sliding air gap band for
calculations in rotation, or external coupled circuits. Due to the
fact that a 2D FEM calculation is used, it is necessary to take
into account the end-winding leakages through an adequate
definition of the external coupled circuits, as defined in Figure
5. The mesh generation in Figure 4 is also a cardinal point of
the whole procedure; it has to be carefully performed,
especially for machines with solid iron rotor.
The post-processing stage contains the analysis of the FEM
calculations results; it leads to the characteristic quantities and
to the equivalent circuits of the machine.
Finally, it is possible to check the results precision with a
reverse digital simulation of the same test using the above
equivalent circuits. Figure 10 shows the good concordance
between the initial 2D FEM calculations results and those
coming from the reverse-check digital simulation.
Pre- 2D FEM Post -
processing calculation processing
Fig. 1: Digital test platform simplified structure.
Physical properties

the manufacturer, either on a test platform or on site, through B

digital simulations using the finite elements method. In other

H
words, a digital test platform replaces the conventional test
platform. This paper focuses on the no-load sudden three phase
short-circuit test. The standstill tests as well as other special
tests will be described in later issues. Figure 1 shows the Geometry Command files Calculation

general approach of this digital test platform in order to

determine the equivalent circuits and the characteristic
quantities by 2D FEM field calculations. This approach cannot
only be used for the verification of the contractual values of the
important characteristic quantities of an existing machine, but
also for the design optimisation of a new machine [3]. Coupled circuit

2. DIGITAL TEST PLATFORM STRUCTURE

The pre-processing stage consists in preparing data for the FEM

calculations. Based on the detailed knowledge of the geometry Fig. 2: Pre-processing steps.
and physical properties of the machine’s electrical and
magnetic circuits, command files are generated as shown in
Figure 2. This first stage is done automatically in order to offer
an efficient and user-friendly simulation tool.
In a second stage, 2D FEM field calculations are performed
using Flux 2D. This program is suitable for this kind of
applications. It offers a lot of useful features like especially
 Results file Parameters
Calculation identification
ia log

t t

Equivalent diagram
id rs xσs xσDf2 xσDf1 x σf rf if

xσD2 x σD1
ud uf
xda

rD2 rD 1

Simsen calculation
ia
Comparison

Fig. 5: Coupled circuits (hydrogenerator).

Fig. 3: Post-processing steps.

3. APPLICATIONS EXAMPLES

In the following, the results concerning two large existing

synchronous machines are presented. The rated values of these
machines are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Machines characteristics.

Values hydro turbo

Rated power Sn (MVA) 32.6 187.5
Rated voltage Un (kV) 10.5 13.2
Power factor cos φ 0.92 0.80
Pole number 76 2
Rated frequency f n (Hz) 50 50

According to the previous section, the three stages of the whole

procedure have to be performed. Figure 4 illustrates the mesh
generation in the case of the hydrogenerator and Figure 5
represents the external coupled circuits. In Figure 6, the field
distribution some ms after the no-load sudden three phase Fig. 6: Field distribution (turbogenerator).
short-circuit of the turbogenerator are shown.

4. RESULTS

Figures 7 and 8 give, for the hydrogenerator, the simulated

stator and rotor short-circuit currents during a no-load sudden
three phase short-circuit at nominal voltage.

Fig. 4: FEM calculations mesh (hydrogenerator).

Fig. 7: Calculated short-circuit stator currents.

 Simulated:

u (pu) 0.3 1
xd (pu) 1 0.905
x'd (pu) 0.4009 0.3595
''
x (pu)
d 0.2777 0.2403
'
T (s)d 1.2914 1.1002
''
T (s)
d 0.03359 0.02988

With respect to the rotor construction of a turbogenerator, a

Fig.8: Calculated short-circuit field current.
physically correct model must have three rotor circuits in the
direct axis [2] representing the field circuit, the damper winding
and the solid iron and not only two as for a hydrogenerator with
a laminated rotor. Nevertheless, the parameters identification
has been performed in two cases, for two and for three rotor
circuits using, once again, the FEM simulation results and the
measurement results of the manufacturer.

The analysis of these short-circuit currents based on [1] is
represented in Figure 9; it leads to the characteristic quantities
given in Tables 2, which can be compared with the
corresponding values measured during a real test factory. The
concordance is excellent for the reactances. The differences
between calculated and measured values of time constants are
not alarming. They are due to the temperature effect on the
winding resistances. For the simulation, these resistances were
calculated at 75oC. The windings test temperatures are not
precisely known. In Tables 2, the results analysis is shown and
confirms that the saturation effects are properly taken into
account.
Tables 3 shows all the results for the identifications with two or
three rotor circuits. Concerning the reactances, the concordance
is once again excellent. The slight increase of the xd’ values
with the test voltage is physically impossible even if it stays
within an acceptable tolerance range.
The differences between the calculated and measured time
constants are probably due to the mesh dimension at the rotor
surface in comparison with the depth of penetration into the
solid iron. This important point still needs to be improved in
order to define the optimal mesh dimension, without spending
too much computer time. This investigation is in progress at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Tables 3 : Results for the turbogenerator

a) identification with two rotor circuits:

Measured:

u (pu) 0.20 0.35 0.50 0.70

xd (pu) 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.085
x'd (pu) 0.260 0.254 0.250 0.257
''
x (pu)
d 0.215 0.196 0.187 0.179
'
T (s)
d 1.415 1.327 1.298 1.299
''
T (s)
d 0.160 0.094 0.090 0.151
Fig. 9: Automatic parameters identification for short-
circuit currents.
Simulated:
Tables 2: Results for the hydrogenerator u (pu) 0.25 1
Measured: xd (pu) 2.15 2.09
x'd (pu) 0.232 0.246
u (pu) 0.15 0.3 0.5 ''
x (pu)
d 0.190 0.154
xd (pu) 1 1 1
'
T (s)
d 1.519 1.606
x'd (pu) 0.4056 0.4051 0.3777 ''
T (s)
d 0.109 0.191
x'd' (pu) 0.2738 0.2722 0.2550
Td' (s) 1.6504 1.5838 1.3897
''
T (s)
d 0.03397 0.03172 0.02724
b) identification with three rotor circuits. consequently to suppress important costs and different risks.
This method is evidently also a supplementary tool useful for
Measured: the design optimization of new machines.

u (pu) 0.20 0.35 0.50 0.70 REFERENCES

xd (pu) 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.085
[1] “Methods for determining synchronous machine
x'd (pu) 0.260 0.254 0.250 0.257 quantities from tests”, IEC Standard 34-4 Rotating
x'd' (pu) 0.228 0.222 0.219 0.200 Electrical Machines. Part 4. 1985
'' '
x d (pu) 0.180 0.170 0.162 0.141 [2] I.M. CANAY: “Modelling of Alternating-Current
'
T (s) 1.415 1.327 1.298 1.299 Machines Having Multiple Rotor Circuits”. IEEE
d
Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 8, No2,
''
T (s)
d 0.224 0.185 0.209 0.214 June 1993.
' ''
T (s)
d 0.0224 0.0234 0.0258 0.0240
[3] M. TU XUAN, C. RAMIREZ, B. KAWKABANI and
J.-J. SIMOND:
Simulated: “Automatic determination of laminated salient-pole
synchronous machines parameters based on the finite
u (pu) 0.25 1 element method”. Proceedings of the 6th international
xd (pu) 2.15 2.084 conference electrimacs 99, Lisboa, Portugal,
September 14-16 1999, pp. 105-109.
x'd (pu) 0.232 0.246
''
x (pu)
d 0.220 0.178
'' '
x (pu)
d 0.186 0.145
'
T (s)
d 1.519 1.606
''
T (s)
d 0.296 0.258
Td' '' (s) 0.0725 0.0764

Finally, Figure 10 shows the results of the reverse-check digital

simulation compared to those of the initial 2D FEM calculation
in the case of the hydrogenerator.

Fig. 10: Reverse-check digital simulation (phase current ia (A))

4. CONCLUSIONS

A method based on a FEM calculation for the determination of

large synchronous machines characteristic quantities has been
proposed and tested. The simulations performed for some no-
load sudden three phase short-circuits at different voltage levels
lead to results which show an excellent concordance with the
measurements in the case of a large hydrogenerator with a
laminated rotor. In the case of a turbogenerator, the obtained
precision for the time constants is not yet satisfactory. These
differences are probably due to the not optimal dimension of
the mesh at the solid rotor surface. The improvement of this
aspect is in progress.
The proposed method should allow to replace a part of the tests
performed by manufacturers on a test-platform and