Automatic Voltage Regulator

(AVR)
Introduction
• An electrical power system normally operates in steady-state.
𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 + 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠

• In steady-state, both the system frequency and bus voltages are maintained at
prescribed constant values.
• The real power delivered by a generator is changed by controlling the mechanical
power output of a prime mover (steam turbine, hydro turbine, gas turbine, diesel
engine, etc)
• The system frequency changes when there is a mismatch in the active power
balance. This is controlled automatically through appropriate control of valve
opening or closing action.
• The control of voltage level is also important since the equipment are designed to
operate under rated nameplate voltage rating.
• The voltage control actions are based on a common principle that the voltage
level of a bus is strongly related to the reactive power injection at that bus.
• The load frequency control (LFC) loop is employed for controlling the real
power and frequency.
• Automatic voltage regulator (AVR) loop is used for regulating the reactive
power and voltage magnitude.
Basic Control Loops in a Generator
AVR Loop and LFC Loop
AVR Loop
• AVR loop controls the magnitude of the terminal voltage 𝑉 .
• The voltage magnitude is continuously monitored by a potential transformer and
a rectifier.
• This voltage signal ∝ 𝑉 is compared with a dc reference voltage 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 and
the error signal voltage ∆𝑒 is amplified and fed to the exciter as input signal.
• This changes the voltage applied to the field winding of the synchronous
generator.

LFC Loop
• LFC loop regulates the active power output and the frequency of the generator.
• It consists of a fast primary loop and a slower secondary loop.
• The primary loop responds to relatively fast changes in load fluctuations that is
sensed through changes in speed (or frequency) by the speed governor.
• The signal ∆𝑃𝑉 regulates the control valves of steam or hydro turbines thereby
changing the real power output that matches the fast load changes.
• The secondary loop is a slow acting loop and does fine adjustments of the
frequency.
Automatic Voltage Regulator
• The basic function of the AVR is to maintain a constant voltage magnitude at the
generator terminals during normal steady-state operation and when small and
slow changes take place in the load.
• The main constituent of the AVR loop is the exciter.
• Excitation system can be classified into three broad categories based on the
excitation power source used.

• DC excitation system
• Utilize dc generators as sources of excitation power and provide current
to the rotor of the synchronous machine through slip rings.

• AC excitation system
• Utilize alternators (ac machines) as sources of the main generator
excitation power.
• The ac output of the exciter is rectified by either controlled or non-
controlled rectifiers to produce the direct current needed for the
generator field.
Automatic Voltage Regulator
• Static excitation system
• All components in these systems are static or stationary.
• Static rectifiers supply the excitation current directly to the field of the main
synchronous generator through slip rings.
• The supply of power to the rectifiers is from the main generator (or the
station auxiliary bus) through a transformer to step down the voltage to an
appropriate level.

𝑖𝑅 𝐼𝑓

𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑣𝑅 𝑣𝑓

𝑉
Automatic Voltage Regulator
• Mathematical model of AVR

∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 − ∆ 𝑉 = ∆𝑒
∆𝑣𝑅 = 𝐾𝐴 ∆𝑒, 𝐾𝐴 = 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛

∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 (𝑠) − ∆ 𝑉 (𝑠) = ∆𝑒(𝑠)

∆𝑣𝑅 (𝑠) = 𝐾𝐴 ∆𝑒(𝑠), 𝐾𝐴 = 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛
∆𝑣𝑅 𝑠
𝐺𝐴 𝑠 = = 𝐾𝐴
∆𝑒 𝑠

• In practice, there is a delay in response of the amplifier which can be

represented by a time constant 𝑇𝐴 .
∆𝑣𝑅 𝑠 𝐾𝐴
𝐺𝐴 𝑠 = =
∆𝑒 𝑠 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴

• Output of the amplifier is fed to the field winding of an exciter whose resistance
and inductance are 𝑅𝑒 and 𝐿𝑒 respectively.
Automatic Voltage Regulator
• Exciter transfer function:
∆𝑣𝑓 𝑠 𝐾𝐸
𝐺𝐸 𝑠 = =
∆𝑣𝑅 𝑠 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸

comparator Amplifier Exciter

∆𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 ∆𝑒 𝐾𝐴 ∆𝑣𝑅 𝐾𝐸 ∆𝑣𝑓

+
− 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸

∆𝑉
Simulation of Field Dynamics
• Terminal voltage magnitude 𝑉 of the generator and the internal emf 𝐸 are
related.
𝑑
∆𝑣𝑓 = 𝑅𝑓 ∆𝑖𝑓 + 𝐿𝑓𝑓 ∆𝑖𝑓
𝑑𝑡
∆𝑣𝑓 = 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒,
𝑅𝑓 , 𝐿𝑓𝑓 = 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

• Internal generator voltage 𝐸 can be expressed as;

𝜔𝐿𝑓𝑎 𝑖𝑓
𝐸 =
2
2 𝑑
∆𝑣𝑓 = 𝑅𝑓 ∆𝐸 + 𝐿𝑓 ∆𝐸
𝜔𝐿𝑓𝑎 𝑑𝑡
∆𝐸 𝑠 ∆𝑉 𝑠 𝐾𝐹
𝐺𝐹 𝑠 = ≅ =
∆𝑣𝑓 𝑠 ∆𝑣𝑓 𝑠 1 + 𝑠𝑇 ′ 𝑑𝑜

𝑇′𝑑𝑜 = 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

Closed AVR Loop

comparator Amplifier Exciter

∆𝑉
∆𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 ∆𝑒 𝐾𝐴 ∆𝑣𝑅 𝐾𝐸 ∆𝑣𝑓 𝐾𝐹
+ 1 + 𝑠𝑇′𝑑𝑜
− 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸

∆𝑉

𝐾𝐴 𝐾𝐸 𝐾𝐹 𝐾
𝐺𝑐 𝑠 = =
1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸 1 + 𝑠𝑇′𝑑𝑜 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸 1 + 𝑠𝑇′𝑑𝑜
∆𝑉 𝑠 𝐺𝑐 𝑠
=
∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑠 1 + 𝐺𝑐 𝑠
Static Response of AVR Loop
• The static accuracy of an AVR loop is defined as, for a constant reference input
∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0 , a constant error ∆𝑒0 which must be less than a certain specified
percentage 𝑝 of the reference.
𝑝
∆𝑒0 = ∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0 − ∆ 𝑉 0 < × ∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0
100

• For constant input,

𝐺𝑐 0
∆𝑉 0 = ×∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0
1 + 𝐺𝑐 0
1 1
∆𝑒0 = ×∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0 = ∆𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0
1 + 𝐺𝑐 0 1+𝐾

1 𝑝
∆𝑒0 = ∆𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0 < ∆𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓,0
1+𝐾 100
100
𝐾> −1
𝑝
Example
• The time constants of the AVR loop are as follows:
𝑇𝐴 = 0.04 𝑠, 𝑇𝐸 = 0.4 𝑠, 𝑇′𝑑𝑜 = 2.5 𝑠

(a) It is desired to have a static accuracy 𝑝 = 1%. Determine whether the power
system is stable at the particular gain value. If the loop gain 𝐾 is set equal to 50,
is the system stable? What is the static accuracy?
(b) At what value of 𝐾, is the system marginally stable? Determine the static
accuracy for this condition.

Answer
100
(a) 𝑝 = 1% → 𝐾 > − 1 = 99
𝑝
𝐾 > 99
closed-loop transfer function:
∆𝑉 𝑠 𝐺𝑐 𝑠
=
∆ 𝑉 𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑠 1 + 𝐺𝑐 𝑠
Characteristic equation: 1 + 𝐺𝑐 𝑠 = 0
𝐾 𝐾
𝐺𝑐 𝑠 = =
1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐴 1 + 𝑠𝑇𝐸 1 + 𝑠𝑇′𝑑𝑜 1 + 0.04𝑠 1 + 0.4𝑠 1 + 2.5𝑠
Example
1 + 𝐺𝑐 𝑠 = 0 → 0.04𝑠 3 + 1.116𝑠 2 + 2.94𝑠 + 1 + 𝐾 = 0
𝑠3 0.04 2.94
𝑠2 1.116 1+𝐾
𝑠 1.116 × 2.94 − 0.04 1 + 𝐾
0
𝑠0 1.116 0
1+𝐾

• When, 𝐾 = 99, it seems that there is a sign change at 𝑠1 . The system is unstable.

• When, 𝐾 = 50, the system is stable.

100
Static accuracy 𝑝 = = 1.96%
1+𝐾

(b) Marginally stability condition:

1.116 × 2.94 − 0.04 1 + 𝐾
= 2.9042 − 0.0358𝐾 = 0
1.116
𝐾 = 81.12
Standard Exciter Models
Type DC1A exciter model
Standard Exciter Models
Type AC4A exciter model
Standard Exciter Models
Type ST1A exciter model
Example
A generator is operating under steady-state conditions with an 𝐸𝑓𝑑 of 2.598 pu and
𝐸𝑡 = 1 pu. If it is equipped with a type AC4A excitation system, determine the value
of 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 . Assume, 𝐾𝐴 = 200.

𝐸𝑓𝑑 = 2.598, 𝐸𝑡 = 1.0

𝐸𝑓𝑑 2.598
𝑉𝑅 = = = 0.013 𝑝𝑢
𝐾𝐴 200
𝑉𝑐 = 𝐸𝑡 = 1.0 𝑝𝑢
Under steady-state, 𝑉𝐼 = 𝑉𝑅 and 𝑉𝑠 = 0, 𝑉𝑈𝐸𝐿 = 0.
𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝑉𝐶 + 𝑉𝐼 = 1 + 0.013 = 1.013 𝑝𝑢
Thyristor Excitation System with AVR and PSS