12 Acta Electrotechnica et Informatica, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2022, 12–17, DOI: 10.

2478/aei-2022-0017

SIMULATION AND LABORATORY MODEL OF SMALL HYDROPOWER PLANT

Richard OLEXA, Pavol FEDOR

Department of Electrical Engineering and Mechatronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics,
Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovak Republic, Tel. +421 55 602 2694, E-mail: richard.olexa@tuke.sk

ABSTRACT
This paper is dedicated to the description of all our research done so far in the field of simulation of small hydropower plants as
well as in creating a functional laboratory model based on the proposed simulation models. Comparing to the common structures, we
propose some different approaches in modelling parts of the small hydropower plants, e.g. fuzzy model of the hydraulic turbine
efficiency. Moreover, this simulation model is created directly for the small hydropower plants, thus it simplifies parts, that are
commonly used in other scientific papers and simulate the phenomenon connected to the big scale hydropower plants structure and
physical description. As a necessary step in the process of creation of universal laboratory model of a small hydropower plant that
should be used for design and tuning purposes of new approaches of controlling such systems, we discuss the research and development
phase that led to the final construction of the depicted laboratory model.

Keywords: small hydropower plant, simulation model, asynchronous generator, laboratory model, MATLAB

1. INTRODUCTION process of conversion of the energy; as well as a block for

the Electric Generator and another one for the Grid. [1] The
At the moment, the pressure put on all of the countries, already-described scheme is depicted in the Fig. 1.
especially in the European union connected to the usage of
a renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels and most
recently instead of natural gas as well, leads many
institutions and researchers to development of new, more
efficient and simple solutions in this field.
Not only this, but a long lasting common aim to be more
green or in other words, environmental friendly, was our
reason for starting this research at its very beginning, too.
Firstly, an overview of the currently available scientific
papers and work was done, i.e. defining a scale differences,
comparing proposed simulation schemes of small
hydropower plants, while adjusting these ideas to perform
as efficient as possible for our modelling purposes. The vast
majority of already-published papers describes modelling
and simulation of a large scale hydropower plants, thus,
Fig. 1 Block diagram of Small Hydropower Plant [2]
consists of some phenomenon, or its model respectively,
that are not needed to be incorporated in the model of a
In this model, there are all of the parameter normalized,
small hydropower plants, especially because of the missing
i.e. they reach the value between 0 and 1, or between 0 and
technological parts that cause them, e.g. water hammer
100% respectively. Moreover, as stated before, it is
phenomenon; surge tank subsystem; etc. [1]
possible to neglect all of the phenomenon characterized for
As mentioned, this paper is dedicated to the
a big scale hydropower plants for the purposes of our
investigation of small hydropower plants, with a unit rating
simulation, e.g. water hammer, travelling waves, etc.,
Power Generated PG between 100kW to 5GW; run-of-river
mainly due to the length of the penstock and the typical
type, or only with a small reservoir, while the proposed
height of the water head usually available at the SHP.
simulation model and new modelling approaches are being
applied. Moreover, the construction and the scheme
2.1. Turbine Control System – Governor
definition of a laboratory model of a small hydropower
plant for simulation, development and optimization
In general, Turbine Control System, or so called
purposes, was performed.
Governor serves in the scheme as a part performing two
main functions, i.e. running up the hydraulic turbine, thus
2. PROPOSED SIMULATION MODEL reaching the reference speed, taking the grid frequency and
the number of generator´s poles into account; and after
Generally, small hydropower plant (SHP) is simulated connecting to the grid, this sub-system aims to control the
using a model of five main sub-systems, i.e. the Governor power supplied by the SHP. In the Fig. 2, there is a well
– representing a turbine control system; the Servodrive, that described and common scheme depicted that Munoz-
serves as an actuator to regulate the flow of the water Hernandez wrote in more detail about [3], where KP - a
throughout the hydraulic turbine via controlling the valves, proportional gain; KI – an integral gain; KD – derivative
or guide vanes according to the Governor output signal; the gain; and α – a permanent droop, that serves to boost the
simulation model of a Hydraulic Turbine – representing the input signal of the controller coming from a power

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Acta Electrotechnica et Informatica, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2022 13

controlling part of the scheme. Blocks of the Saturation turbine´s efficiency into account. First approach is so called
placed in the diagram serves as some kind of an alternative no load flow calculation method described in detail by the
to an anti-reset windup (ARW) protection. IEEE Working Group in 1992. [4] Another one is a direct
efficiency calculation method, presented by Acakpovi and
Essel [6]. Both of these ways were described and compared
in the paper [1]. While creating the proposed simulation
model of a SHP, we chose to use the first one, i.e. the no
load flow approach. Afterwards, we developed a fuzzy
model for better efficiency incorporation that is discussed
in detail in the next chapters of this paper.

2.4. Electromechanical Subsystem

Tiwari, Munoz-Hernandez, Acakpovi, Sattouf and

many others describe the most common ways of creating a
model representing an elctromechanical part of a SHP.

Fig. 2 PID controller representing the Governor Sub-System [3]

2.2. Servodrive

A second-order dynamic subsystem is used to represent

a servodrive performing the opening and closing of the
main water inlet gate. As mentioned in the previous parts
of this paper, some of the phenomenon are being neglected
in the proposed simulation model, especially due to the A)
construction type, i.e. the scale of the simulated
hydropower plant. On the other, even if this assumption is
in line with other scientific literature, in some cases the
water hammer phenomenon could possibly occur in the
SHP. Usually, it happens if there is a fast opening or closing
of the gate. Therefore, the saturators are being placed to
limit the position and speed of the gate movement.
B)

Fig. 3 Servodrive Sub-System (state variables are: speed of the

water inlet gate opening and its position parameters Ka and Ta
are calculated according to the type of an implemented
servodrive used in the hydroelectric scheme) [2]

2.3. Hydraulic Turbine

The Hydraulic Turbine, considered as a heart of the

hydropower plants, plays an important and irreplaceable
role in these structure, because it converts a kinetic, or C)
potential energy of the water, into the mechanical
movement that is usually transferred to the generator via a Fig. 4 Block diagram of Electromechanical Subsystem [2]
common shaft. Obviously, such an important role requires
A) Interconnection of the generator and the turbine (the common
an accurate model to be used in the simulation schemes in shaft)
order to achieve realistic and relevant results. B) Asynchronous generator model
However, there are some differences in modelling this C) Model of the mechanical system connected to the shaft
part in the published scientific papers. Many of them
consider this sub-system being able to be linearized. We are The proposed model considers an usage of an
determined, that using a non-linear model would result in a asynchronous generator described by the Closs formula.
better and more accurate simulation outcomes. On the other Considering the speed of changes in electrical and
hand, there are various ways how to take a very important hydromechanical parts of the SHP, hydrodynamic

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14 Simulation and Laboratory Model of Small Hydropower Plant

processes are considerably slower, thus for the simulation

purposes it is sufficient to model a generator only in terms
of a torque equation of the common shaft between the
turbine and the generator, whereas the equation of the
equilibrium (1) is valid. [2]

/ (1)
(2)
/ (3)
Fig. 5 3D illustration of a turbine´s efficiency (Rblades=1.9m and
where: Me is the torque of the generator, Mm the torque of Ablades=9m2), where maximum turbine’s efficiency gained is
the turbine and Mf is the frictional torque proportional to approx. 88% [1]
the mechanical angular velocity ɷm; the constant Kt in the
equation (2) represents the friction coefficient. The right
side of the equation (1) represents the dynamic torque on
the shaft, which accelerates the total moment of inertia on
the shaft Jc. Thus, Pe is the generated electrical power on
the shaft, which in case of an asynchronous machine is
proportional to product of its torque and the rotor angular
velocity ɷm. The before-mentioned assumption complies
connection of models of the asynchronous electric
generator and hydraulic turbine fixed on the common shaft
(depicted in the Fig. 4), where Tr is the rotor time constant
of the asynchronous generator corresponding to the rotor
resistance. [3][5][11]
Fig. 6 3D illustration of a turbine´s efficiency (Rblades=1.9m and
3. PROPOSED FUZZY EFFICIENCY MODEL OF A Ablades=8m2), where maximum turbine’s efficiency gained is
approx. 77% [1]
HYDRAULIC TURBINE AND LABORATORY
MODEL OF SMALL HYDROPOWER PLANT
That all means it is possible to create a so called
hydraulic turbine´s efficiency image, while using the
3.1. Fuzzy efficiency model of a hydraulic turbine
measured data of the water flow q; ∆ω and the turbine’s
efficiency at the steady state operation points, as stated
The approaches mentioned above are dependent on the below in the Table 1.
accuracy of the calculation, as well as on the precise
determination of the key parameters that are necessary for Table 1 Different steady state operation points and the
incorporating the turbines efficiency into the simulation measured turbine´s efficiency
model. However, these parameters are often not available
or have to be determined, or calculated respectively, that
leads to possible errors, as well as to making the data q [p.u.]
Efficiency [%]
preparation phase long lasting and in many times, quite 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
complicated.
Therefore, we started considering some other 0.2 12.77 30.36 36.23 37.83 37.97
possibilities, how to get rid of the uncertainty created by the
above-described process of hydraulic turbines efficiency 0.4 2.74 26.40 49.60 64.41 73.24
incorporation. The solution proposed is based on the usage ωm
[p.u.] 0.6 0.35 13.64 40.90 66.92 87.22
of Fuzzy logic. Such an approach allows to take into
account the actual condition of a SHP, e.g. the wearing of 0.8 0.04 5.68 27.20 56.26 84.31
the turbine´s blades, its runner, or a change in the blades 0.00 2.11 16.07 42.03 72.49
1
inner area, i.e. Ablades parameter, which is one of the key
values in the calculation defined by Acakpovi et al. [6],
whereas in the Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, there is an obvious change
in the maximum possible turbine´s efficiency, cause only Process of finding the fuzzy interference structure and
by the change of an already mentioned parameter. the usage of an Anfisedit software tool provided by

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Acta Electrotechnica et Informatica, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2022 15

MATLAB is discussed in more details in the paper. [1][10] functions in one device. This programmable logic
As a result of the proposed determination process of a controller is used to take over the control system part,
hydraulic turbine´s efficiency, a graphical representation of shown in the Fig. 8; servo drive subsystem, as well as all
this fuzzy system is shown in the Fig. 7. the calculation connected to the operation of the simulated
behavior of the hydraulic turbine.
The control mechanism is performed by using the
functional block for the PID controller while using the
calculated and tuned parameters obtained in MATLAB, or
set up by the user. Implementation of the servo drive
subsystem is done as well via programmed structure that
supposed to give an input value for the hydraulic turbine
part, i.e. the inlet water gate vane position G[%]. All the
calculations that are performed in the MATLAB model of
the hydraulic turbine subsystem is then processed by the
PLC (programmable logic controller) with an output of the
turbine velocity [rpm] that serves as an input value for the
electrical drive while using the B&R ACOPOSinverter
8I66 series.
Moreover, a build-in TFT display serves as an HMI
Fig. 7 An example of a fuzzy representation of the hydraulic where the user has various options to adjust the process
turbine´s efficiency [1] values and thus to affect the operation, or the simulation
process respectively. Examples of these parameters are:
3.2. Laboratory model of small hydropower plant current water head value; demanded generated power
(reference value); no-load flow value, i.e. the value that
At the very beginning of the determination of the determines the efficiency of the turbine; or so called turbine
laboratory model´s structure, we had to decide how would gain (At parameter – Turbine´s Gain). Moreover, it displays
the laboratory model perform all the functionalities of each all the process data needed for the safe operation and
of the already-mentioned main simulation model simulation purposes. [7]
subsystems, i.e. turbine-control system, or so called
governor; servo drive that adjust the position of the main
water inlet gate, or of the guide vanes respectively;
hydraulic turbine; electric generator; plus the fifth part
could be considered as an electrical grid.

Fig. 9 B&R Power Panel 500 – HMI display, placed on the

front panel of the switchboard Electrical drive – ABB
3GAA101520-ADE662

Fig. 8 Block diagram of Small Hydropower Plant + Highlighted B. Electrical drive – ABB 3GAA101520-ADE662
elements [7]
We chose a three-phase cage motor to perform the
functions of the hydraulic turbine simulation model
In the Fig. 8, there is the same scheme as in the Fig. 1, subsystem in the proposed laboratory model of a SHP,
but with the difference of highlighting the part of the especially when it comes to a rotational movement of the
laboratory model overtaking the subsystem´s role. Each of turbine, or the movement of the common shaft respectively.
the elements proposed to be a part of the laboratory model Its velocity, or the input voltage value, is calculated
is described in the following subsections A-C. according to the actual demanded generated power
specification, as well as according to the parameters of the
A. PLC – Programmable Logic Controller – B&R exact parameters of the simulated hydraulic turbine.
Power Panel 500 series Because of the fixed coupling between the motor and
generator, the model represents an image of a real SHP
This, all-in-one solution depicted in the Fig. 9 was operation. (see Fig. 10) Since it has an embedded encoder,
chosen according to its ability to combine a controlling the actual position and speed are easy to be used in the
features with the HMI (Human Machine Interface) model, or in the PLC program respectively.

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16 Simulation and Laboratory Model of Small Hydropower Plant

C. Asynchronous generator – ABB 3GA101520-ADE Future research and development of this model should
be aimed to provide a fully prepared model for a design and
This electrical drive is very similar to the one used as a a verification of a control mechanisms of small hydropower
simulator of hydraulic turbines behavior (subsection B). plants. Fist step is to convert the already designed
The only difference is that there is no encoder present at the MATLAB model into the PLC program, verify it and thus
machine. Thus, it is used as a generator, whereas the power create a simulator, that should basically shorten up the time
generated is fed into the grid via a recuperative converter, necessary to design and build new small hydropower plant
or to the grid directly. projects.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and

Development Agency under the Contract no. APVV-19-
0210.

REFERENCES

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is included in the scheme and the communication of both Modelovanie Malých Vodných Elektrárn,. Proc.
PLC included in the scheme is done via OPC UA standard. ARTEP 2019: 13. ročník Konferencie odborníkov z
[7 ] univerzít, vysokých škôl a praxe. Stará Lesná:. p. 001-
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applied mainly to show how the turbine´s efficiency [8] TIWARI, J. et al.: Modelling and Simulation of Hydro
changes due to the wearing of the turbine itself. Thus, this Power Plant using MATLAB & WatPro 3.0.,
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Acta Electrotechnica et Informatica, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2022 17

Rotor Magnetic Flux, Torque and Rotor Resistance of simulation models.

Induction Motor. IEEE Access, Vol. 8, 2020, pp.
142003-142015. Pavol Fedor was born in Kosice in 1956. He received the
MSc degree in Technical Cybernetics from Technical
University of Košice in 1980 and Ph.D degree in 1986 at
Received May 16, 2022, accepted December 28, 2022 the same University. During 1980 – 1988 he served as an
Assistant Professor of Electrical Drives at the Technical
University of Košice at the Department of Electrotechnics,
BIOGRAPHIES Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering. He currently
works as a Professor of Power Electronics at the same
Richard Olexa was born in 1995 in Kosice. In 1991 he university. During 1996 – 1998 he was involved in research
graduated (Ing.) with honors at the department of Electrical for continuous line control in USS firm, Kosice. He has
Engineering and Mechatronics of the Faculty of Electrical extensive experience in installing of control systems in
Engineering and Informatics at Technical University of industry. In theoretical area his current research activities
Kosice, Slovakia. He is currently in the third year of his are focused on the development of control structures by
PhD studies, focusing mainly on the small hydropower means of Lyapunov´s second method for electrical drives
plants systems, especially concerning its modeling a and multi-input multi-output systems.

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