Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of a High-Speed Generator Excitation Controller

Abstract

Electrodynamics Associates (EA) is developing a MW-class high-speed generator and requires testing of the corresponding excitation controller at Florida State University's (FSU) Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS) in a controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) environment. The goal of these tests is to verify the functionality of the generator excitation controller prior to a full scale power hardwarein-the-loop (PHIL) test of the entire generator. Such tests will become feasible at FSU-CAPS in spring of 2010 as the center is currently procuring a gear system that will extend the shaft speed range of the existing 5 MW PHIL facility for rotating machinery from 450 rpm up to 24,000 rpm. This paper focuses on the CHIL testing of the primary excitation system controller, in which the secondary excitation power supply, the main generator, the prime mover, and the load were simulated on a realtime computer simulator and interfaced to the controller. Simulating the high-speed generator in real-time is especially challenging since non real-time simulation models of such rotating machines typically contain relatively small time constants which pose challenges to real-time simulation algorithms. The paper discusses approaches to overcome these challenges. In addition, the plans and considerations for PHIL testing of the generator are addressed. This setup will enable, for the first time in a laboratory setup, PHIL testing of a MW scale high-speed generator with a realistic representation of its surrounding dynamic environment.

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“…For example, earlier work on the NREL ICS development and evaluation platform [5] included both a CHIL-based methodology, by which ICS controllers can be tested against simulated inverter hardware prior to at power testing, and a power HIL (PHIL)-based PV simulator that can be used to test a PV ICS's response to the truly dynamic output of a PV array. Many other projects have leveraged CHIL and PHIL techniques for use with motor drives [9], generator excitation systems [10], and renewable energy applications [11] [12]. The use of HIL for grid conformance testing is mentioned in [13] and [14], however both of these works simply mention concepts and methodologies for testing different grid conformance aspects and lack implementation and results.…”

Power hardware-in-the-loop: A value proposition for early stage prototype testing

“…The development of a MW-class high-speed generator requires testing of both the corresponding excitation controller [12] and a full-scale power PHIL test of the entire generator. For PHIL testing the load and the prime mover will be simulated on the RTDS.…”