EMERGENCY GENERATOR

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 Introduction
 General
 The standby power system forms only a relatively small part of the overall electrical distribution
system.

 It will not operate as long as the mains electricity supply does not break down. Power failure is rare in Hong
Kong. The design and installation of emergency generators are deceptively simple.

 Under these circumstances, most design engineers did not pay sufficient attention to the design of the
emergency power system when the project was being planned.

 The primary purpose of the emergency generators is to provide standby power for operational needs and to
meet statutory requirements.

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 Definition
 Armature
 Normally referred to the main output winding which include slip rings and brushgear in order
to extract electrical output power from the main rotating winding to external circuit.

 AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator)

 An electronic unit which maintains the main machine output voltage at a fixed pre-set level
irrespective of load or speed changes. It does this.
 The primary purpose of the emergency generators is to provide standby power for operational
needs and to meet statutory requirements. By comparing a reference voltage with the actual
output voltage and automatically adjusting the excitation level as necessary.

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 Definition
 Brushless
 a design of a.c. generator without sliprings or brushgear. This design needs a static main output
winding with a rotating magnetic field system. If the field is to be produced electrically an
exciter is required.

 Excitation
 a d.c. supply to provide electrically a magnetic field usually derived from an exciter.

 Exciter
 a small a.c. generator usually on the same shaft as the main machine. All the electrical power
output produced by the exciter is rectified and used to establish the magnetic field of the main
machine

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 Definition
 Prime Mover
 The method by which mechanical rotational power is provided to the a.c. generator shaft to
sustain the nominal speed throughout all conditions of rated electrical load. (e.g. diesel engine
or gas turbine)

 Self-excited
 A design of a.c. generator where the source of power for the electrically produced magnetic
field is derived from the main output winding of the machine itself.

 Separately excited
 A design of a.c. generator where the source of power for electrically produced magnetic field is
derived external to the main machine. It may be provided by a completely independently
machine or by an external winding on the same shaft as the main machine

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 Construction of Self Excited A.C. Generator
 The construction of a self-excited a.c. generator is shown in Fig. 2.1 with the major
components listed in Table 2. 1.

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 Basic Design Theory
 Before an output voltage can be generated, an a. c. generator must have
the following:
 a magnet (to produce the magnetic field excitation)
 coils of copper wire
 relative movement between the magnet and coil (usually a constant
rotational speed)

 In its simplest form an a.c. generator is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3a

with a permanent magnet providing the fixed but rotating magnetic field
cutting on the stationary stator winding providing electrical output.

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 Basic Design Theory
 On no load, the output voltage is sustained by the constant magnetic
field strength produced and fixed by the permanent magnet. On load,
current is drawn from the machine which will cause output voltage to
fall, since the permanent magnet cannot produce a change in the
magnetic field strength.

 In order to maintain the output voltage whilst supplying current, the

magnetic field strength needs to increase as load is applied. To achieve
this, the magnet is now produced electrically from an external variable
d.c. source supplying a coil of wire wound on the magnetic material.

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 Basic Design Theory

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 Factors -Governing the Frequency and Output Voltage
 Frequency = Driven Speed (r.p.m.) x No. of Magnetic Poles / 120

 The number of magnetic poles is decided and fixed by the machine

manufacturer. Therefore, output frequency is proportional to driven
speed.

 Output Voltage depends on the following (E=4.44kfNØ):

 driven speed (r.p.m.)
 number of turns of output winding
 strength of magnetic field produced by the main field excitation magnetic
poles

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 Factors -Governing the Frequency and Output Voltage
 As the driven speed is fixed to obtain the correct frequency and number
of turns of output winding is fixed by the machine manufacturer, the
only parameter left to be used for control of voltage is the magnetic field
strength.

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 Voltage Control System
 Two methods are commonly used as follows.

 Automatic Voltage Regulator

 The reference voltage is initially set, the voltage control unit (VCU) will
automatically compare the actual output voltage with the reference voltage
level and if they are different will adjust the magnetic field strength to make
the output voltage the same as the reference voltage. This system is therefore a
closed loop system which responds very quickly to any voltage fluctuations as it is
constantly adjusting magnetic field strength as required. The control block diagram is
shown in Fig. 5. 1.

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 Automatic Voltage Regulator

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 Voltage Control System
 Transformer Control
 This is an open loop system comprising two parts, firstly adjustment for no
load voltage level and secondly, compensation for load current. This system
once set up is not normally adjusted. There is no continuous monitoring to adjust the
output voltage. It can only provide the amount of magnetic field strength it has been
set up to provide. The control block diagram is shown in Fig. 5.2

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 Transformer Control

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 Performance of Generator
 General
 When a load is suddenly applied to an a.c. generator, the voltage will fall
instantaneously to a level dependent upon the amount of load applied. The AVR will
monitor this voltage dip and increase excitation to restore the voltage level to nearly
the original value, within a fraction of a second. Similarly on load removal, there is a
voltage overshoot and the AVR reacts reducing the excitation as shown in Fig. 7.1

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 Performance of Generator
 The following factors described the transient behavior of the diesel
generator during load application and removal.
 Transient Voltage Dip
 The amount of transient voltage decrease due to the sudden application of a specified
load usually expressed as % of original voltage level
 Recovery Time
 The length of time taken for the voltage level to recover to within 3 % of the original
value
 Transient Voltage Overshoot
 The amount of transient voltage increase due to the sudden removal of a specified load
usually expressed as % of the original voltage level

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 Performance of Generator
 Steady State Regulation
 A measure of the maximum permitted steady voltage changes over a wide variety
of machine conditions (includes machine hot to cold variations: no load to full
load applied. 4.5% speed change; power factor 1.0 to 0.8 lag).

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 Transient or Motor Starting Loads on Generator
 During motor starting, the locked rotor current may be six times of the
full load current. This voltage disruption to the genset may be severe.
Momentary transient voltage dip in excess of 40% is Possible. The
consequent effect of this on other connected loads may be experienced.
Examples are lighting may dim, other running motors may stop due to
insufficient holding voltage on the control contactor coils or release of
the undervoltage protection relays and motor may fail to start due to
insufficient torque. In all instances the maximum current drawn by the
load during starting must never exceed the stated overload capabilities
given for a specific a.c. genset.

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 Technical Considerations
 General
 Before executing the actual design, one should know the inherent limitations
and capability of the emergency generator, and the detailed technical
requirements of the essential loads.
 First, while assessing requirements of the essential loads, one should take
into account the transient as well as the steady-state conditions. Depending
on the types of electrical loads, the two requirements can produce vast
differences.
 Second, the requirements should be assessed individually in relationship to
the rating of the generator, and as a whole. There may be practical difficulties
in identifying some crucial parameters such as, diversity factor, probability of
simultaneous starting and occurrence of peak loads. Certain technical factors
affect the size of the emergency generator.
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 Technical Considerations
 Voltage stability
 The steady state fluctuation of supply voltage from an emergency generator can be as
good as +/-2.5 % in accordance with BS4999 pt. 40. The value is much better than
the +/-6% one obtains from the power company supply.

 In transient state, the generator suffers an inherent drawback. The voltage dip can be
as high as 30% for motor load. This is because the inherent source impedance of the
alternator is much greater than that of the mains supply, and of the presence of a
large current a number of times greater than the rated current during starting.

 A 30% transient change is generally regarded as the acceptance limit. Beyond this
the under-voltage protection device may be triggered and the contactors may fall
off.

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 Technical Considerations
 Load starting sequence
 In practice, a group of electrical loads is variably connected to an emergency
generator. The need for the simultaneous starting of the whole group of loads,
particularly under full-load conditions, should be carefully assessed. In the case of
motor-loads such simultaneous starting will require an emergency generator with a
much larger kVA rating.
 Sequential starting or delayed motor starting can spread the total peak power over a
preset time duration.
 The sizing of the emergency generator must therefore take into account this
parameter. Otherwise, the emergency generator will not be capable of delivering the
required peak power when the connected loads start simultaneously

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 Sizing the Generator
 Step 1 Running Load
 Step 1 is concerned with sizing the genset to handle the total running load
under steady state. To determine the running load, add lighting loads, other
loads such as heating, and motor loads. This provides the total running load.
Based on the total running load, correction factors are applied to get the
minimum genset rating to handle the running load as genset ratings are rated
at an ambient temperature of 40oC, an altitude of 1000m above sea level and a
power factor of 0.8 lagging.

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 Sizing the Generator
 Step 2 Starting Load
 Step 2 deals with loads with serious starting surges such as motors. In this
section, we shall consider the effects of voltage fluctuation and overload due
to starting surge during the transient state. Therefore, the starting kilovolt
ampere (SkVA) requirements of each load must be considered. List the loads in the
proposed starting sequence. Ideally, the largest motor should be started first,
followed by progressively smaller motors and finally the loads with no starting surge.
That sequence will result in minimum transient disturbances. If motors are to be
started at random, calculations should be made for the "worst case", that is, starting
the loads with no starting surge first, secondly the smallest motor and finally the
largest motor.

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 Sizing the Generator
 Step 3 Selection
 In this final step, select the largest senses kVA. This largest rating can obviously
handle the load requirements under both the steady and transient states.

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 Motor Power Requirement During Starting
 The typical performance characteristics of an induction motor revealed
that during starting the current is high but the power factor is low.

 When the motor speed increases, the current drops but the power factor
rises up.

 The motor input power which depends on the product of current and
power factor will also rise and reaches its peak value when the speed is
about 80% synchronous speed.

 At this instant, the motor current is about 75% of the initial starting
current and the power factor is about 0.65.
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 Motor Power Requirement During Starting
P(kW) = 1.7321x V x I x p.f
S(kVA) = 1.7321x V x I

 Thus, for induction motors started using direct-on-line starting method

and reduced voltage starting method such as star-delta method and auto-
transformer method.

Peak input power (kW) = 0.75 x motor starting kVA x p.f.

= 0.75 x motor starting kVA x 0.65

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 Motor Power Requirement During Starting
 If the motor is started using rotor resistance, at the instant of starting,
the current is at a maximum and the power factor would also be very
high. 0.9 power factor can usually be attained. From manufacturers’
recommendation, the power absorbed by motor started using rotor
resistance will be at its peak value when the motor is in locked rotor
condition.

 Peak input power (kW) = p.f. x motor starting kVA

= 0.9 x motor starting kVA

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