Failure Modes Demonstration and Redundant Postfault Operation of Rotating Thyristor Rectifiers on Brushless Dual-Star Exciters

The excitation system plays a critical role in the operation of synchronous generators. An equipment failure could impact the voltage quality for smaller grids. Furthermore, it can lead to cost penalties and reduced production for the power plant owner. Recently, a new high-speed-response rotating brushless exciter was developed that employs remote control of the rotating thyristors on the generator shaft. This has led to new possibilities for improving the performance of brushless exciters. This contribution investigates the failure modes of a dual-star outer pole exciter that feeds two separate thyristor bridges connected in parallel during a normal operation. The possibility of a redundant postfault operation due to open-thyristor or open-phase faults is demonstrated using experimental testing. The system is compared with the fault performance of a conventional three-phase system. This paper includes the implementation and validation of a fault-predicting double d-q exciter model. In addition, the dangerous effects of a shorted-thyristor fault are investigated. A “skip firing” protection technique is briefly demonstrated for the fast isolation of such faults, yielding nondestructive postfault recovery and redundant failure-mode operation. The evidence shows that the dual-star exciter is a competitive choice for the future development of fault-tolerant brushless exciters.