BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

PROJECT : 2X660 MW IB VALLEY BANHARPALLI TPS

CLIENT : OPGC

CONSULTANT : DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD.

BHEL DOCUMENT : 4033-0586 (BRUSHLESS EXCITATION SYSTEM WRITE UP)

Electrical Machines Engineering

BHEL, Hardwar

Document No. : 4033-0586 Rev-00, Date : 08.07.2014 Page 1 of 4

 BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

BRUSHLESS EXCITER SET WITH ROTATING DIODES

1. DESIGN FEATURES

The exciter set with rotating diodes comprises of the following main components.

Rectifier wheels.
Three phase main exciter.
Three phase pilot exciter
Air Coolers
Metering and supervising equipment.

The three phase pilot exciter is of revolving field type with permanent magnet poles. The three
phase a.c. generated in the stator is fed to the field of the revolving armature main exciter via a
stationary regulator and rectifier unit. The three-phase a.c induced in the rotor of the main
exciter is rectified in the rotating rectifier bridge and fed to the field winding of the generator
rotor via the d.c. lead in the rotor shaft.

A common shaft carries the rectifier wheels, the rotor of the main exciter and the permanent
magnet rotor of the pilot exciter, arranged one behind the other. The shaft is rigidly coupled to
the generator rotor and supported on bearing between the main exciter and the pilot exciter.

The generator and exciter rotors are thus supported in a total of 3 bearings. Mechanical coupling
of the two shaft assemblies results in simultaneous coupling of the d.c. leads in the central shaft
bore through the MULTICONTACT electrical contact system comprising plug-in bolts and
sockets. This contact system is also capable of taking up the length variations of the leads due to
thermal expansion.

2. RECTIFIER WHEELS

The main components of the rectifier wheels are the silicon diodes, which are arranged in the
rectifier wheels in a three-phase bridge circuit. The contact pressure for the silicon wafer is
produced by a plate spring assembly. The arrangement of the diode is such that this contact
pressure is increased by the centrifugal force during rotation.

Two diodes are mounted on each light-metal heat sink and thus connected in parallel.
Associated with each heat sink is a fuse which serves to switch off the two diodes on failure of
one diode (loss of reverse blocking capability).

Electrical Machines Engineering

BHEL, Hardwar

Document No. : 4033-0586 Rev-00, Date : 08.07.2014 Page 2 of 4

 BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

For suppression of momentary voltage peaks arising on commutation, each wheel is provided
with 6 RC networks consisting of one capacitor and one damping resistor each, which are
combined in a single resin-encapsulated unit. The insulated and shrink fitted wheels, serve as
d.c. bus rings for the negative and positive side of the rectifier bridge, this arrangement ensures
both good accessibility of all components and a minimum of circuit connections. The two
rectifier wheels are completely identical regarding their mechanical design, the difference in the
electrical circuit arrangement being merely different forward directions of the diodes.

From the rectifier wheels, the direct current is fed to the d.c. leads arranged in the central bore
of the shaft via radial bolts.

The three-phase a.c. supply is obtained via copper conductors arranged on the shaft
circumference between the rectifier wheels and the three-phase main exciter. The conductors
are held down by means of resin glass bands and equipped with screw-on lugs for the internal
diode connections.

The conductors originate at a bus ring system of the main exciter rotor.

3. THREE-PHASE MAIN EXCITER

The three-phase main exciter is of 6 pole revolving armature type. Arranged in the stator frame
are the poles with the field and damper winding. The field winding is arranged on the laminated
magnetic poles. At the pole shoe bars are provided, their ends being connected so as to form a
damper winding. Between two coil poles a quadrature axis is fitted for inductive measurement
of the exciter current.

The rotor consists of stacked laminations, which are compressed by through-going clamping
bolts over compression rings. The three-phase winding is inserted in the slots of the laminated
rotor. The winding conductors are transposed within the core range. The overhang of the rotor
winding are secured by steel wire/ resi-glass bandings. The connections are made on the side
facing the rectifier wheels. The winding ends are run to a bus ring system to which also the
three phase leads leading to the rectifier wheels are connected. After full impregnation with
synthetic resin and curing, the complete armature is shrink fitted to the shaft. A journal bearing
with forced oil lubrication is arranged at non-driving end of exciter shaft, the oil being obtained
from the generator / turbine oil supply system.

Electrical Machines Engineering

BHEL, Hardwar

Document No. : 4033-0586 Rev-00, Date : 08.07.2014 Page 3 of 4

 BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

4. THREE PHASE PILOT EXCITER

The three phase pilot exciter is of 16 pole revolving field type. The frame accommodates the
laminated core with the three-phase winding. The rotor comprises a hub with mounted poles.
Each pole consists of 12 separate permanent magnets, which are housed in a non-magnetic
enclosure and braced between the hub and the external pole shoe by means of screw bolts. The
rotor hub is shrinkfitted to the exciter shaft.

5 VENTILATION OF EXCITER SET

The exciter set is cooled by means of air. The cooling air circulated in a closed circuit and
recooled in two coolers arranged at the sides of the exciter set.

The complete exciter set is housed in an enclosure providing for cooling air guidance, too. The
space below the enclosure is the cold air compartment. The fan and the rectifier wheels draw the
cooling air from this compartment. After having performed its cooling function, the air is
delivered into the compartment below the base plate from where it is then returned to the cold
air compartment via the coolers. A closed circuit is this obtained.

The rectifier wheels are housed in an enclosure and designed for self-ventilation in conjunction
with the air jacket.

For the main exciter a fan is mounted on the shaft between the main exciter and the pilot
exciter. Cold air is admitted to the main exciter from both sides through a suitably shaped
enclosure. The rotor cooling air is passed into ducts below the rotor body and discharged
through radial slots in the rotor core.

The pilot exciter is arranged in the cooling air stream of fan, its cooling air requirements being
small only, it has no separate connection to the hot air compartment.

Electrical Machines Engineering

BHEL, Hardwar

Document No. : 4033-0586 Rev-00, Date : 08.07.2014 Page 4 of 4