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USOO5453901A
United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 5,453,901
Lackey [45] Date of Patent: Sep. 26, 1995

[54] DETECTION AND PROTECTION OF 4,041,543 8/1977 Pasculle et a1. ........................ .. 361/33
EXCITATIQN SYSTEM FROM DIODE 4,080,559 3/ 1978 Wright et a1. ................... .. 322/58
FAILURE 4,164,705 8/1979 Whitney et a1. .. 324/158 MG
4,208,687 6/1980 Sun et a1. ........................ .. 361/20

[75] Inventor:
. _ Dale F. Lackey,. Saratoga, N.Y. 4,486,801 12/1984 Jackovich
$332: 6‘ et
a1" al. 361/21
[73] Asslgnee' g‘seral Elem“ C0" Schenectady’ 4,695,939 9/1987 Canay ..................... .. 363/39
' ' 4,704,569 11/1987 Mallick, Jr. et al. 318/718
4,764,838 8/1988 MacFarlane . .... .. .. . . . .. 361/21

[21] Appl. No_: 401,669 4,772,802 9/1988 Glennon et a1. ................ .. 290/31
[22] F1 d M 9 1995 4,910,421 3/1990 VanSchaick et a1. ............... .. 310/68 D
1 e : ar.
’ Primary Examiner—Peter S. Wong
Related U.S. Application Data Assistant Examiner—Adolf Berhane
Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Nixon & Vanderhye
[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 134,657, Oct. 12, 1993, abandoned.
[57] ABSTRACT
[51] Int. Cl.6 ..................................................... .. H0211 7/06
[52] U.S. c1. ............................ .. 361/21; 363/53; 363/102; LOSS of 68011990,“ and 9911991 and 391189911911t damage to
361/86; 322/59; 322/61 exciter Wll'ldlIlgSdl'l an excitation system for dynamoelectnc
58 F‘ 1d rs h ................................ .. 363/53, 78, 84, machmes Wherem ‘me or mm “?ung dwdes fall 1“ a
[ 1 m 0 egg/81 102 104 106 107 108, 361/20 shorted mode is prevented through the use of an RC circuit
21 31 52‘ 55’ 57 ’63 8’6 91’ 115: 322/28’ for detecting AC voltages in an exciter ?eld winding for the
’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ 59 69’ purpose of directly operating a circuit breaker to remove
’ excitation to the ?eld windings and supply or to activate a
[56] References Cited timer for such purposes while temporarily shorting the AC
current through the exciter ?eld winding.
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,955,121 5/1976 Vahey . 8 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets

20
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VOLTAGE
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FIG. 3
EXClTER FIELD-l5

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 5,453,901
1 2
DETECTION AND PROTECTION OF assemblies. In this regard, simulation tests at minimum
EXCITATION SYSTEM FROM DIODE excitation levels were conducted wherein the excitation
FAILURE system included a shorted diode. Such tests indicated that
high currents in the armature are produced which resulted in
This is a continuation of of application Ser. No. 08/134, an unbalanced rotating magnetic ?eld which generated high
657 ?led on Oct. 12, 1993 now abandoned. alternating voltage in the exciter ?eld windings. The high
alternating voltage in turn was recti?ed into DC resulting in
FIELD OF THE INVENTION self excitation and loss of control.
I have discovered relatively simple detection and protec
The invention relates to rotating recti?er exciters for
tion systems designed to be applied by direct attachment to
dynamoelectric machines and more speci?cally to the detec
the ?eld leads of the exciter for detecting the AC voltage in
tion of diode failure and the prevention of subsequent the ?eld windings due to the presence of a shorted diode in
damage to the exciter windings and voltage regulator. the excitation system. Such detection may thereafter be used
for removal of all excitation from the generator ?eld, as well
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE 15 as the ?eld supply, and thus eliminate further damage to the
INVENTION excitation system. Moreover, since the protective systems
FIG. 1 is illustrative of prior art power generator excita proposed herein may be directly attached to the ?eld leads
tion systems wherein the power source 1 may be internal to of the exciter, they are suitable for direct application to
the power generator and consists of an exciter on the same existing generators equipped with DC ?eld exciters, as well
shaft as the generator which includes an auxiliary three 20 as bore pack or diode wheel recti?ers.
phase winding wherein power for the winding may be Moreover, the objects and advantages of my invention
derived from the air gap ?ux of the generator. The potential will be more completely understood and appreciated by the
for the winding is conventionally stepped down through the artisan carefully studying the following description of the
use of a power potential transformer 2 in order to meet low presently preferred exemplary embodiments taken in con
25
voltage generator ?eld requirements. The transformer output junction with the accompanying drawings of which:
is fed to a three phase recti?er bridge 3 to furnish the
required DC power to the generator ?eld winding 5 by way BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
of standard regulation circuits 4 for regulating exciter ?eld
voltage and the generator terminal voltage. FIG. 1 illustrates the general con?guration of a prior art
In recent years rotating recti?er exciter systems have generator excitation system;
become popular and conventionally include AC generators FIG. 2 illustrates a ?rst embodiment of my shorted diode
with a rotating fused diode assembly along with a static detection and excitation protection system; and
voltage regulator for excitation control wherein the diodes FIG. 3 illustrates a second exemplary embodiment for the
are mounted on a wheel assembly attached to an extension 35 protection of the excitation system in the presence of a
of the generator shaft. In a conventional manner such shorted diode.
excitation circuits for power generators are used to provide
DC power to the ?eld windings of the generator by recti DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
fying the alternating current output of an exciter rotor.
However, failure of a single diode in a shorted mode can FIG. 2 illustrates in schematic form an excitation system
result in signi?cant hazardous conditions to system opera 10 for supplying DC power to the ?eld winding 21 of a three
tion due to high voltages in the exciter ?eld, high currents in phase AC generator 20. The excitation system includes a
the exciter armature and loss of excitation and control. Thus, permanent magnet generator 11 comprising rotor 12 and
rapid response of a detection and protection system is stator 13 for supplying an input voltage to voltage regulator
required in order to prevent subsequent damage to the 45
14. Regulator 14 in turn supplies DC voltage of an appro
exciter windings and the voltage regulator. priate level to exciter 16 by way of a two pole ground fault
Conventional protective schemes currently in use require trip circuit breaker CB 3. As will be noted, the two poles of
the recti?er to have redundant diodes in parallel along with the circuit breaker when closed will permit normal operation
fuses in series with each such diode. Alternatively, two of both the permanent magnet generator, as well as the
diodes connected in series to carry the load current subse 50 voltage regulator, to thus supply DC voltage of an appro
quent to a shorted diode failure of one of the diodes have priate excitation level to the ?eld windings 15 of the exciter
been used. Moreover, doubling and quadrupling of such 16. '

critical system components have also been proposed for Exciter 16 additionally includes three phase auxiliary
redundant protection. However, doubling and quadrupling windings 17 for supplying AC power to the three phase
of such components clearly increases the probability of 55 recti?er bridges 18 comprising redundant diodes 18a con
failure of one or more components as well as adding to nected in parallel with each diode also including a fuse 19
product costs, increased losses, as well as increased venti— connected in series. The output of the diode bridges in turn
lation requirements for cooling such components. supplies DC power to the generator ?eld winding 21.
More recent applications have utilized bore pack recti?er Conventionally, the permanent magnet generator 11,
assemblies where the recti?ers are mounted inside the 60 exciter 16 and diode bridge are mounted on an extension of
generator shaft. Although such construction has been shown the shaft of generator 20 for rotation; whereas, voltage
to reduce losses and increase reliability, such assemblies regulator 14 is static. As aforementioned, the diode bridge
conventionally have no redundant diodes or fuses for pro assemblies 18 may be redundant, as illustrated, and may be
tection in the event of a diode short. Accordingly, there is a mounted to the generator shaft by way of a conventional
continuing concern over the absence of a diode short detec 65 wheel assembly. Alternatively, the diode bridge may be
tion and protection system, notwithstanding the expected rotatable by way of the aforementioned bore pack assembly
high mean time between failures in such bore pack recti?er where the recti?ers are mounted inside the generator shaft
 5,453,901
3 4
but without the use of redundant diodes or fuses. capacity of the particular ?eld winding in question. As an
As will be noted, the circuit breaker CB 3 is connected additional consideration, it may be necessary to include a
and is responsive to any AC ?eld winding voltage by way of time delay or ?lter in the circuit to prevent false tripping of
a resistor-capacitor circuit path. During operation, the circuit the SCR.
breaker CB 3 is closed, thus permitting normal operation of Thus, it may be seen that with the circuitry constructed in
the voltage regulator and the permanent magnet generator. the manner illustrated in FIGS. 2 or 3, the high voltages and
Under such normal operating conditions, DC voltage is currents produced in the exciter ?eld due to shorted diodes
applied to the ?eld winding 15 and normal exciter DC ?eld in the power recti?cation portion of the exciter system,
current flows through the winding with the capacitor C which leads to loss of excitation and control and subsequent
blocking DC current flow through the resistor and ground damage to the exciter windings and the voltage regulator,
fault detector. In this regard, although a slight harmonic AC may be avoided by the herein disclosed detection and
current may be present, judicious selection of the resistor protection circuitry. As will be appreciated by the artisan,
and capacitor will prevent false tripping conditions. More numerous variations and advantages may be obtained by the
over, the size of the resistor which may be ?xed or variable disclosed circuitry, such as the actuation of remote signalling
is sized to control the trip point of the circuit breaker. 15 or alarms for warning of a diode failure in_addition to safely
Diode fault conditions creating short circuit currents in shutting down the regulator and generator equipment. More
the exciter rotor armature will in turn generate AC voltages over, the noted circuitry is advantageously designed so as to
in the exciter ?eld. Capacitor C will, however, readily permit be capable of direct attachment to the ?eld leads of the
the AC current to ?ow through the resistor R and the circuit exciter and is, therefore, suitable for direct application to
breaker to thus operate the circuit breaker to its open 20 existing motors or generators equipped with DC ?eld excit
position when the AC current exceeds 0.005 amperes, for ers, as well as bore pack or diode wheel recti?ers.
example. As a result, the poles of the circuit breaker CB 3 In the application of the exemplary embodiments to a new
will open both the regulator supply to the ?eld winding, as unit, it is believed to be preferable to utilize a single pair of
well as the permanent magnet generator input to the voltage poles to detect the AC voltage by providing a pair of pole
regulator, thus removing all excitation to the exciter ?eld and 25 leads. Under such circumstances, the signal voltage is
?eld supply. reduced and the need for series capacitors is eliminated. A
A second exemplary embodiment of a protection system still further option is that of providing a special instrument
is illustrated in FIG. 3 which show a solid state electronic coil on a pole in order to detect a signal. It is believed,
module for detecting the presence of alternating voltage in however, that one advantage of utilizing all or part of the
an exemplary 8 pole ?eld winding 15. The illustrated ?eld winding for such purposes is that the source of the
embodiment upon detecting alternating voltage in the ?eld generated voltage provides the signal directly to the detec
winding triggers a control signal for the purpose of shorting tion and protection circuit. Additionally, it will be appreci
the alternating voltage and current through the ?eld winding. ated that shunt trip circuit breakers and auxiliary relays may
Such an operation restricts the voltage to a very low value be applied with either of the above noted embodiments in
35 order to shut down and activate an alarm or signal a diode
for a short period of time, such as a few seconds, until a
failure to a remote location.
preset timer circuit 22, which may be included in the
existing regulator controls, removes the excitation. While the invention has been described in connection
Operation of the module illustrated in FIG. 3 is somewhat with what is presently considered to be the most practical
similar to that which is illustrated in FIG. 2 in that any AC and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the
40 invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments,
voltage generated in the ?eld winding 15 due to a shorted
exciter diode is passed by capacitors C1 through C3 con but on the contrary is intended to cover the various modi
nected across the exciter ?eld. Under such conditions, the ?cations and equivalent arrangements included within the
resistor R1 connected in series with the capacitors will spirit and scope of the appended claims.
provide a small AC voltage which is recti?ed by diode What is claimed is:
bridge 23 to supply a DC control voltage to the SCR. This 1. An excitation system for supplying DC excitation
control voltage is adjusted to limit the gate current and power to dynamoelectric machines, said excitation system
voltage by way of the voltage divider formed by resistors comprising:
R1, R2 and R4. an exciter including a ?eld winding and auxiliary wind
With the SCR gated “ON", the AC voltage generated due ings for producing polyphase voltages;
to the rotating diode fault is through resistor R3, the SCR a plurality of recti?er sections, said sections being con
diode bridge 24, the SCR and the ?eld winding. In this nected to the auxiliary windings of the exciter and to
regard, the resistor R3 is of relatively low resistance but high the dynamoelectric machine so as to convert said
wattage in order to prevent direct shorting of the DC ?eld polyphase voltages to a DC excitation voltage for
when the SCR is initially turned “ON”. Nevertheless, a large 55
supply to said machine;
portion of the energy produced as a consequence of the a power supply including a source of DC voltage and a
shorted diode is absorbed in the relatively massive ?eld voltage regulator connected to said source for supply
winding. ing a DC voltage of a selectable level to said ?eld
That is to say, the ?eld winding is capable of absorbing winding, said DC voltage being connected to the
such energy without overheating for a relatively brief period 60 exciter ?eld winding by way of a circuit breaker switch;
of time such as the few seconds required by the timer circuit and
22 to remove the excitation. As will be appreciated by the means for detecting an AC fault voltage in said ?eld
artisan, response time of the proposed system to short the winding of the exciter for activating said circuit breaker
?eld may be very short, such as about 0.004 seconds. switch to disconnect the power supply from the regu
Moreover, it is contemplated that the timer circuit may be 65 lator and the regulator from the ?eld winding, said
adjustable from two to about twenty seconds after detection means for detecting including a series connected resis
of a shorted diode depending upon the energy absorbing tor-capacitor circuit connected between said ?eld wind
 5,453,901
5 6
ing and said circuit breaker switch for passing AC fault response to the detection of AC fault voltage and wherein the
current to cause said circuit breaker switch to operate. circuit breaker switch disconnects the power supply from the
2. An excitation system as in claim 1 wherein said exciter ?eld winding after a selectable time period in response to
is a three phase alternator and said recti?er sections include said timer.
three phase rotating diode bridges. 7. An excitation system as in claim 6 wherein said
3. An excitation system as in claim 2 wherein said fault detected AC fault voltage is shorted through an energy
voltage is produced by one or more shorted diodes in said absorption circuit including said ?eld winding until the
three phase diode bridge. circuit breaker disconnects the power supply from the ?eld
4. An excitation system as in claim 1 wherein said circuit winding.
breaker switch is a two pole ground fault trip circuit breaker 8. An excitation system as in claim 7 wherein said means
for disconnecting said source from said regulator and the for activating includes said resistor-capacitor circuit for
regulator from said ?eld winding. producing a control signal indicative of the presence of said
5. An excitation system as in claim 1 wherein the resistor AC fault voltage in said ?eld winding and a silicone con
is sized so as to control the trip point of the circuit breaker trolled recti?er responsive to the control signal for activating
switch. said energy absorption circuit.
6. An excitation system as in claim 1 wherein the means
for detecting includes means for activating a timer in * * * * *

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