ADAPTIVE PROVISION OF PROTECTION FUNCTION SETTINGS OF ELECTRICAL MACHINES

• US 20080201020A1
• Filed: 02/20/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Energy Limited
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Ltd.)
• Inventors: Thorburn, Stefan, Haj-Maharsi, Mohamed Y., Scholtz, Ernst
• Granted Patent: US 7,684,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/006 Calibration or setting of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/06 for dynamo-electric generators; for synchronous capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 9/006 Means for protecting the generator by using control H02H7/06 takes precedence; control effected upon generator excitation circuit to reduce harmful effects of overloads or transients H02P9/10

Abstract

A protection setting determiner (118) adaptively updates settings of protection functions in memory of a protection device (106) that protects a machine (102) that provides power to a power system (104), wherein the settings are updated based at least in part upon sensed data acquired during operation of the machine (102). A physical parameter determiner (110) receives the sensed data, which includes three-phase voltage and three-phase current values at the terminals of the machine (102), and uses any suitable real-time or off-line parameter estimation technique (such as Kalman Filtering for an augmented state) to determine physical parameters of the machine (102) and the power system (104). The protection setting determiner (118) uses the physical parameters to update the protection settings.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising the following computer-executable acts:

acquiring data indicative of operating conditions of a machine that is protected by a protection device, wherein the protection device includes one or more protection functions; and

iteratively providing settings for the one or more protection functions to the protection device based at least in part upon physical parameters of the machine that are determined based at least in part upon the acquired data, wherein the settings are stored in memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine generator.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using parameter estimation techniques to determine at least one of inertia of the machine, shaft damping coefficient of the machine, or time-varying mechanical power input into the machine based at least in part upon the acquired data; and

determining the physical parameters based at least in part upon the at least one of inertia of the machine, shaft damping coefficient of the machine, or time varying mechanical power input into the machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical parameters of the machine include at least one of transient reactance of the electrical device, impedance of a power system associated with the electrical device, reactance of a step-up transformer electrically coupled to the electrical device, synchronous reactance of the electrical device, or sub-transient reactance of the electrical device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a statistical analysis on the determined physical parameters, wherein the statistical analysis is based at least in part upon one or more of operator experience, workshop data, or physical parameters for a type of equipment reported in literature.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the determined physical parameters to an operator for approval prior to providing the determined physical parameters to the protection device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising initially providing settings for the one or more protection functions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein initially providing the settings comprises at least one of receiving operator input with respect to the physical parameters or acquiring workshop data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is acquired upon the machine experiencing a fault.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the protection device is a protection relay.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquired data includes three-phase voltages and three-phase currents at the terminals of the machine, and further wherein the physical parameters are determined as a function of the three-phase voltages and the three-phase currents.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical parameters are determined through use of a combination of Least Squares techniques and Kalman Filters with respect to the acquired data.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a physical parameter determiner that is adapted to repeatedly estimate physical parameters of at least one of a power system or a machine that provides power to the power system; and

a protection setting determiner that outputs settings for one or more protection functions in a protection device that protects the machine, wherein the settings of the protection functions are based at least in part upon the estimated physical parameters.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 being the protection device.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the protection device is a protection relay.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the machine is a generator.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a parameter checker that performs a statistical analysis on estimated physical parameters.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a human-machine interface that presents the physical parameters to an operator and receives operator instructions to update settings of protection functions in memory of the protection device through use of the estimated physical parameters.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the physical parameter determiner initially provides settings for the protection functions to the protection device by acquiring one or more of instructions from an operator, workshop data, operational data, or literature sources from a data repository.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the physical parameters include at least one of transient reactance of the machine, impedance of the power system, reactance of a step-up transformer electrically coupled to the machine, or synchronous reactance of the machine.

21. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising sensors that acquire three phase voltage and three phase current values with respect to terminals of the machine, wherein the three phase voltage and three phase current values are used by the physical parameter determiner to estimate the physical parameters.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the physical parameter determiner estimates the physical parameters while the machine is online.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

means for repeatedly determining physical parameters of one or more of a machine to be protected and a power system electrically coupled to the machine; and

means for adaptively updating settings of one or more protection functions in protection device that protects the machine based at least in part upon the determined physical parameters.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the one or more protection functions includes a pole-slipping protection function.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the physical parameters include at least one of transient reactance of the machine, impedance of the power system, reactance of a step-up transformer electrically coupled to the machine, synchronous reactance of the machine, or sub-transient reactance of the machine.