A1-102

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CIGRE 2006

EXPERIMENTAL AND CFD ANALYSIS OF HYDROGENERATOR VENTILATION COMPONENTS

*

N.GUNABUSHANAM Vijay Electricals limited INDIA

J.VENKATA SURESH Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University INDIA

SUMMARY Hydro generators are low speed machines with large diameters. They generate heat due to electromagnetic and windage losses. The air as cooling medium carries away the heat driven by fans mounted on either side of rotor, to maintain electrical insulation temperatures within limits. The major losses in the machine are windage losses which constitute about 40% of total losses and it is around 0.8% of capacity of machine. Any reduction in these losses results in considerable improvement in the overall efficiency of the machine. The pressure losses in the stator cooling parts constitute a major portion of the total pressure losses in the hydro generator. In the present experimental work 1:1 scale partial model of stator has been fabricated, instrumented and tested in the uniform velocity suction type wind tunnel test rig. Experiments are carried out for various flow velocities of air ranging from 5 to 30 m/s in the wind tunnel. The overall pressure drop and hence the overall hydraulic loss factor has been calculated. Pressure drop versus radial duct distance and hydraulic loss factors versus maximum inlet velocity graphs have been plotted for stator model for various spacer and wedge configuration. From these plots, it has been observed that major losses take place in wedge zone. Hydraulic loss factors i.e., in wedge, tooth, core, exit zones are also evaluated. CFD analysis using PHOENICS package has been carried out for the geometry as configured in the experiment. CFD results have been compared and they are in good agreement with experimental data. By extensive model studies, four new ventilation models have been developed. These models when selected properly for the machine under design can yield 40 to 50% lower losses compared to the existing designs. This would ultimately result in increased efficiencies of the generator even to the extent of 0.2 to 0.3%.In actual machines, the airflow enters from the air gap into the stator in an inclined direction and not purely radial due to high tangential velocity of the rotor and it is even to the extent of 75-100 m/sec. It is necessary to conduct these experiments to represent this situation by a rotating model. However in the laboratory studies a pre whirl model has been made to tilt the air flow direction to an appropriate tangential direction before it enters the main model. In the process using pre whirl model studies has narrowed down the gap between the experimental and CFD analysis from the radial model. All these concepts are explained in the paper. KEY WORDS Hydro generator, CFD, Ventilation, Hydraulic Loss factors. *ngbushanam1@yahoo.com

1. INTRODUCTION Hydro generators are low speed machines with large diameters. They have played important role in a large electric power system due to its many advantages: simple design, quick response to load variation, low cost for long service life and high reliability. Producing this energy more effectively, modernization and / or the uprating of existing machines are of paramount importance. Improvements in ventilation and cooling methods offer means to run the machines at higher rating without any major modifications in the civil structures and without major investment. The main components of a

typical generator are: stator, rotor, conductors, end windings, wedges, cooling fan and coolers. A cross sectional view of hydrogenerator is shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Cross-sectional view of hydro generator.

Fig.2.Generator ventilation -schematic.

1.1 Ventilation Circuit A typical ventilation circuit is shown in Fig.2. Two fans are mounted on the rotor which supply the air that acts as cooling medium and which is circulated in three paths: 1) air forced by fan passes through inter polar gaps, enters the stator radial ducts and to coolers; 2) air from main fan enters the stator radial ducts through end fingers and directly discharges into the coolers; 3) air from main fan passes through stator over hang, end holes and enters into the cooler. The air passages in these three paths are adjusted such that flow in each path is sufficient to cool the stator winding and core in that path.. A mathematical equation relating the fan power required and the pressure drop is given as, Pf = PQ . (1)
f

Where, Pf = power required by fan, P = Pressure drop in the system, Q efficiency of fan.

= air flow rate, f

Eq. (1) shows that for the same air flow rate and fan efficiency, when the pressure drop reduces then the fan power requirement will reduce proportionately. The power consumed by fan is supplied by hydrogenerator, and any reduction in it will improve the efficiency of machine. The pressure losses can be reduced by modifying the ventilation passages. In the present work, experimental analysis is carried out to assess the feasibility of reducing the hydraulic resistance by modifying the ventilation passages in the stator radial duct. CFD analysis using PHOENICS package is done to simulate air flow for obtaining velocity and pressure distributions in the stator duct. 1.2 Flow Analysis The power needed to supply the cool air is termed as windage loss. This loss has to be minimized to improve the generator efficiency. Windage loss mainly takes place in two parts i.e. main flow and

secondary flow. Loss caused by main flow is due to excess air pressure. Secondary flow is due to the vortices and eddies formed in the generator, which contributes to the windage loss. The windage loss, Lw = N3Di5 (2) Here N is rotor speed, L/Di is the ratio of stator core length to stator inner diameter, is windage loss coefficient where, is function of (, L/Di).Here is flow coefficient (Q/NDi3), Q is air flow rate and P is air pressure. Then windage loss becomes, Lw = PQ/f (3) where f is efficiency of fan. Since airflow in an actual machine is turbulent, windage loss coefficient is usually unaffected by Reynolds number. From equation (3) it can be deduced that the windage loss Lw can be reduced: 1) by reducing the airflow, this can be done by improving cooling effect; 2) by reducing the air pressure, this is achieved by reducing the ventilation resistance. These are the basic problems of ventilation and cooling technology. To improve efficiency, the generation of the secondary flow and eddies must be suppressed to a minimum. To do this, the flow collision, sharp curves and sudden expansion must be prevented, the rotor surface must be smooth, counter flow must be prevented and the passages must be made as narrow as possible. For reducing the windage losses, the stator core length and inner diameter ratio L/Di should be made large, but increased L/Di ratio results in reduction of cooling effects and increased rotor weight. This problem can be compensated by introducing cylinder shaped rotor and reduction of flow by improving cooling effects. Rim ventilation meets the above requirements satisfactorily. 1.3 Pressure Drop Analysis in Stator Core In stator core duct, the pressure of flowing coolant reduces due to boundary layer effects, frictional effects and due to the presence of various contours i.e. contractions, expansions, bends, and obstructions etc. A fan used in ventilation system has to overcome the total pressure drops in the active parts of stator, which accounts for 30% to 65% of the total pressure drop. In the stator core, major losses that occur in stator core are impulse losses at inlet, wall friction losses in duct and impulse losses outlet. Proper fan arrangement will reduce these losses. In electrical rotating machines pressure generation and the pressure drops are two of the most important factors to be considered for the design of ventilation. In these machines, rotating elements like, radial cylindrical rotors generate pressure due to centrifugal action, which compensates the drops to certain extent. In these, radial slots are produced by placing rotor rings in axial direction and shrunk on to the spider. The radial slots produce effective ventilation. These radial slots in salient pole machines provide 10% to 40% of cooling medium and in cylindrical rotors they provide 70% to 100% of cooling medium. However due to high power requirements less number of slots are provided. The volume of airflow in rotor with slots open is greater than that with slots closed. Pressure generation can be raised by about 35% by means of axial fans mounted at the inlet of the rotor spider, particularly for low speed machine. The pressure drop in the active parts of stator accounts for major portion of total pressure drop. It is essential that the ventilation ducts in the stator core are designed such as to reduce the turbulent flow of air and lower the resistance in the stator. From the available literature it is proved that flow losses in the ventilation air duct of stator packets are mainly impulse losses at inlet of the ventilation air duct where the air flowing tangentially in the air gap is deflected radially into the ventilation duct. Impulse losses in the ventilation ducts, increase continuously up to the bottom of stator where the air passage is widened due to increase in cross sectional area. This inlet condition can be improved by modifying slot wedges to facilitate a stream line entry of air into the ventilation duct. 1.4 Evaluation of Hydraulic Loss Coefficient Ventilation calculations cover the analysis of the machine from point of view of the flow of cooling medium through various channels and distribution of appropriate flow rates through these channels and to estimate the total quantity and pressure drop of cooling medium air. Applying Newtons second law of motion to control volume of fluid flow we obtain, P = [K (Re)] (/2) V2 (4)

Where K is the hydraulic loss factor or hydraulic loss coefficient. Thus to calculate pressure drop in flow channel proper value of K is to be selected. K is a function of: Reynolds number, geometry of flow circuit, its roughness, condition at inlet and outlet and fluid physical parameters. If Q is discharge, equation (4) can be modified as, P = Z Q2 (5) Where Z is called hydraulic resistance and Z = [K (Re] (/2A2). The hydraulic resistance will be less if, cross sectional area is more, K is less, Reynolds number is low and flow is particularly laminar. In the present experimental analysis this non-dimensional number, hydraulic loss coefficient which is ratio of total head drop to dynamic head was used for calculations and analysis. All loss factors were calculated using equation (6) with respect to maximum inlet velocity, V (max) i for wedge, tooth, core, exit zones, by calculating the head drops and dynamic velocity heads across these zones. A global hydraulic loss factor was also calculated by calculating heads before and after the model. The main aim is to bring down the value of these loss coefficients, hence reducing the pressure drops hence improving the performance of machine. When, H = (H1 - H2) is total head drop in mm water column is density of air, and g is acceleration due to gravity, the hydraulic loss coefficient can be expressed as: K=
1 V 2 (max ) i 2g

(6)

2. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 2.1 Wind Tunnel The experiments were carried in a uniform velocity suction type wind tunnel, which comprised of the driving unit, a settling chamber, an accelerating duct (contraction or nozzle), the test section and the diffuser. The driving unit consists of the blower of maximum speed 1500 rpm, driven by a variable speed D.C. (440V) electric motor. The flow from the blower is settled in a large chamber called the settling chamber; this is provided with wire gauges and arrays of four screens of honeycombs to straighten the flow and remove irregularities in it. On account of the very low velocities, near stagnation conditions exist in the settling chamber. This chamber supplies the flow to the contraction located downstream. This is carefully designed to accelerate the flow from the settling chamber to the test section velocity with minimum disturbance. The contraction or the nozzle feeds the test section. The test section cross section has size of 350 mm x 350 mm in cross section and length of 1100mm. The model to be studied is kept in the test bed section with suitable supports. Packing is given at both sideways and at top and bottom sides of model, so that air is restricted to flow inside the duct passages of the model A transparent window of glass is provided on all the four side walls of the test section, which facilitates in handling the model and the instruments and also permits optical measurements in the flow over the model surfaces. The diffuser collects the flow from the test section and raises the pressure of the air for discharging it to the atmosphere. The diffuser throat is often made flexible; this allows the throat to vary for starting and running conditions. After starting the diffuser throat area is reduced for optimum running conditions. The jet of air from the diffuser is discharged into the atmosphere. A uniform suction type wind tunnel used in the experiment is shown. 2.2 Stator Model Description A partial model of scale 1:1 stator core was fabricated using perspex material. The geometry details of spacer arrangement of stator packet and sectional view of wedge shape are shown in Fig.3.The model consists of 8 stator packets each of thickness of 36 mm, separated by spacers each of 6 mm height, embedded in packet. A single stator packet with copper tubes embedded back side of packet, inside grooves is shown in Fig.4. In assembled model, a duct passage of 6mm height is formed between each adjacent packet. All the 8 packets were bolted by fasteners. Fig.3. shows rear view of assembled model with conductor blocks and wedge shapes.

2.3 Instrumentation Hot wire velocity anemometer was used with platinum titanium wire diameter of 0.001mm. This was installed on a three dimensional stepper motor driven traverse system. The traverse mechanism has a longitudinal range of 1000mm, traverse range of 500mm and vertical range of 500mm, the traverse unit has digital display with least count of 0.01mm.Test tunnel and traverse mechanism is shown in fig 4. Grooves were made at the backside of packet and hypodermic copper tubes of 1mm ID (inner diameter) were embedded in the grooves. To minimize flow disturbances in the subsequent packets, the grooves were filled with a chemical paste and leveled smoothly. Four Stator packets each consisting of 30 hypodermic copper tubes, a total 120 pressure tap points were taken out from backside .

Fig.3. Model with 120 pressure tap tubes/ points

Fig.4. Model fixed inside test section of wind tunnel.

The model was placed in the wind tunnel test section, and PVC tubes of 1.6mm ID were connected to each copper tube. These PVC tubes were taken out of the wind tunnel test section and connected to channel selector (pressure scanner) . The output from pressure scanner was connected to digital micro manometer. .The pressure measurements were carried with help micro manometer, having a range of 2000 mm of water column and 0.01 mm resolution. 2.4 Experimental Procedure Information about flow is obtained by measuring static and stagnation pressures. For the correct physical determination of each pressure drop in the cooling air circuit, it is necessary to establish an energy balance at the inlet and outlet of a ventilation component.. It is possible to obtain the whole ventilation calculation on the basis of the static pressures, which are easier to measure. In general there is no great difficulty in measuring static pressure to within 12% accuracy. As the stator duct is an expanding passage, calculations based on static pressure may not be accurate and hence the evaluation of total pressure at the location is a must. It enables to calculate dynamic pressure which when added to static pressure gives total pressure. High accuracy instrumentation is essential to get better results. The wall taps just before and after the model at four sides of test section were connected to a 5-way nipple which is connected to PVC tube to give the resultant value of all four taps connected to micro manometer through pressure scanner. Static pressure measurement at various taps in the duct of size 6mm height is very typical job. Accordingly holes of 1mm diameter were drilled along the width of packet. Pressure tap locations at different sections are shown in Fig.5. The segment is divided into four sections across which static pressures are measured. Section 1 lies just after the wedge, this facilitates to know the pressure drop phenomenon in the wedge zone which is a region between inlet of model duct and section 1. Section 2, this is at mid part of the tooth, this gives the pressure drop phenomenon in the tooth zone i.e. between Section 1 and Section 3. Section 3, this is at the end of tooth zone, the pressure variation between Section 3 and Section 4 depicts the flow behavior in the core zone. Section 4, this is at the end of core zone in order to study the behavior in the exit zone, which falls in region between section 4 and outside the model. The static pressures at each of these sections is recorded with the help of micro manometer and cumulated to give mean value at these sections and converted to values at standard conditions. Static head drop is calculated across these sections to give values across various zones: wedge zone, tooth zone, core zone and exit zones. The hydraulic loss coefficients for wedge, tooth, core, exit and global were calculated using these total head drops.

2.5 Experimental Observations

Graphs between total head (mmWG) versus radial duct distance (mm) for different inlet velocities for the wedge shape were plotted as shown in Fig.6 (a) and in fig 6(b) loss factor Vs maximum in velocity is plotted. It is observed that a steep pressure drop is occurring in the wedge zone and tooth zones. There is little drop in exit zone and negligible drop in core zone. From the graphs it is evident that maximum losses occur in the wedge zone.

Fig.5. Stator packet divided into different zones and sections with 120 pressure tap points.
10400.00
Vmax = 3.84 m/s Vmax = 6.22 m/s
10375.00

Vmax = 10.83 m/s Vmax = 13.02 m/s Vmax = 15.52 m/s

Vmax = 18.03 m/s Vmax = 20.24 m/s Vmax = 23.2 m/s

Vmax = 24.43 m/s Vmax =27.13 m/s Vmax = 29.04 m/s

Vmax = 8.56 m/s

3.00 KG KT KE KC

Total Pressure Head, Del.P ( mm WG )

10350.00
2.50

KW

10325.00

Hydraulic Loss Coefficient, K

10300.00

2.00

KG

10275.00

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10250.00

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10225.00

10200.00

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10175.00

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10150.00
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Maximum Inlet Velocity , V(max)i m/s

(a)

(b)

Fig.6. Plots showing variation between (a) total head drop versus radial duct distance and (b) hydraulic loss coefficient versus maximum inlet velocity. 3. COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) SIMULATION In the present work three dimensional CFD simulations were conducted using the software package PHOENICS. Single partial stator segment was made in CAD package and files in STL format were imported to PHOENICS where the same geometry is configured as in experiment. The air inside the domain is taken at standard conditions of temperature of 21.1oC and atmospheric pressure of 1bar. The inlet is taken as a rectangular plane at a distance of 25mm before the stator segment model and rectangular plane outlet is taken just outside the model. As the same geometrical symmetry of the segment exists in the hydrogenerator stator, the results obtained for single segment are same throughout the stator and is sufficient for analysis. Study is carried, simulating the actual conditions and solution is obtained for air flow path in the segment. For different inlet velocities, study is carried out. Reynolds number Re set was from 24,600 to 1 ,47,600. 3.1 Grids and Boundary Conditions More number of grids is provided at the wedge portion so as to get more number of cells. The number of grids provided along X, Y and Z directions are 57,167 and 28 which gives a total nodes as 2,

66,532.No slip boundary conditions are taken at the wall surfaces of packet i.e. zero velocities are taken normal to the wall surfaces. Different inlet velocity boundary conditions are taken before the model of the packet in the radial direction i.e. flows in the x -direction. 3.2 Simulation Observations Analysis for overall pressure drop in the radial duct for one wedge shape for various inlet flow velocity is carried out. The time for convergence is approximately 20 hours. Vector plots of velocity and pressure distribution of air as shown in Fig. 7 (a) and 7(b) are obtained for different flow conditions. Hydraulic loss factors are calculated for these flow velocities .It is observed that circulation occurred around the spacers placed above the conductors and eddies are found at the spacer edges of exit zone. Negative pressure contours are also found in these zones.

(a) (b) Fig.7. Maximum inlet flow velocity of 23m/s in stator duct (a) velocity vector plot (b) Pressure vector plot

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

For different maximum inlet velocity ranging from 5 m/s to 30 m/s in the stator duct, global hydraulic loss coefficients were calculated. It includes both entry and exit losses as the probes were placed 25mm before and after the model. Generally the range of inlet velocity at the wedge for the normal machine is 25 m/s to 30 m/s. The graph between hydraulic loss coefficients versus maximum inlet velocity is plotted for different inlet flow velocities as shown in Fig.6(b). It is observed from this plot that the curves plotted between wedge loss coefficient and tooth loss coefficient versus maximum inlet velocity merge into a single curve. This indicates that wedge losses are fairly same as tooth losses for various inlet flow velocities for a given spacer configuration. As seen from plot, hydraulic loss coefficients occur predominantly in the wedge and tooth zone only and it is concluded that maximum hydraulic loss factors occur at wedge zone followed by tooth zone, exit zone and core zone. Graphs were plotted between total head (mmWG) versus radial duct distance (mm) for different inlet velocities for the wedge shape as shown in Fig.10 (a).When pressure drop per unit length is calculated for various zones (i.e. wedge, tooth, core and exit), it is found that the pressure loss per unit length is highest in the wedge zone(37.5%), next is the tooth zone(31.3%) and finally it is exit zone (23.4%) followed by core zone(7.8%). Hence it is evident that maximum losses occur in the wedge zone. It is due to sudden enlargement in the duct size and abrupt change in the spacer configuration at section 3, at this section flow gets disturbed and eddy formation takes place. These losses can be reduced by modifying the spacer design at section 3 such that the flow will be uniform and streamlined as observed in wedge, tooth, core and exit zones. In the core zone at the rear of conductor i.e. in the spacer surrounding area, above all the conductors, vortices and eddies are formed. The analysis for overall pressure drop in the radial duct for one wedge shape for various inlet flow velocities is carried. The overall pressure drop in the radial duct occurred with changing inlet velocities. Pressure distribution, vector and contour plots are shown in Fig.7 It is observed that circulation occurred around the spacers placed above the conductors and eddies are found at the spacer edges of exit zone. Negative pressure contours are found in these zones. There is a

loss due to reversal flows and the loss results an irreversible increase in entropy generation. The overall hydraulic loss factors versus maximum inlet flow velocities and overall pressure drop versus maximum inlet velocity of experimental are compared with CFD results as shown in graphs in Fig.8. There is approximately 10% difference between the results of experimental and CFD. This may be due to selection of a proper turbulent model and experimental errors.
3.50

140.00

PHOENICS

PHOENICS

GLOBAL HYDRAULIC LOSS FACTOR, KG

3.00
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EXPERIMENTAL

120.00

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MAXIMUM INLET VELOCITY, V(max)i

(m/s)

MAXIMUM INLET VELOCITY,

V(max)i (m/s)

Fig.8. Plots showing comparison of Experimental and CFD results. 5. CONCLUSIONS Detailed experiments have been carried out on hydrogenerator stator model with one wedge shape and spacer configuration for velocities ranging from 5 m/s to 30 m/s in wind tunnel. The experiments have revealed that the major losses takes place in the wedge zone (37.5%) and any modification in this zone will improve the performance of the ventilation system. The wedge shape has straight cut on one side and slope of 200 which has given a global hydraulic loss coefficient of KG = 2.08 for inlet maximum velocity of 24.4m/sec. The plots show that global hydraulic losses are decreasing as the maximum inlet velocity increases. From CFD analysis it is observed that eddies is formed and negative pressure distribution and weak velocity distribution is found in the core zone and at the spacer tip of the exit zone. A difference of 10% is found between experimental and CFD results, which may be due to the inaccuracies in the boundary conditions assumed and errors in experimentation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Authors would like to thank the management of BHEL and Vijai Electricals Ltd for permitting publication of this paper.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Fluid Mechanics and Internal Flows, ESDU Engineering Data Book. [2] N.Whiteoak and P.Jeannez, Hydro Electric Generators: Repairs and Refurbishment, GEC Review, 12(1), 39 47 (1997). [3] G.K. Ridley, The Case for Refurbishing and Operating Hydro Generators, GEC Review, 4 (2), 83 93 (1988). [4] Takao Suzuki and Noboru Suzuki, Latest Technology for Hydrogenerators, HITACHI Review, 28 (4), 183 188 (August 1979). [5] Kazumasa Ajiro, Toshio Inoue and Shoji Sato, Improvement of Generator efficiency, FUJI Electric Review, 28 (2), 52 58 (April 1982). [6] J.H. Walker, Large A.C. Machines: Design, Manufacture and Operation. [7] John D. Anderson, Jr., Computational Fluid Dynamics: The Basics with Applications, McGRAW- HILL (1995).