CASE STUDIES

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 Case Studies.
1. Failure of Generator Brush gear Assembly.

2. Inter turn shorting of Rotor winding

3. Looseness in Stator Wedges.

4. Hydrogen leak detection through Helium gas

5. Excitation transformer tripping on temperature High

6. Generator stator earth fault due to insulator failure of IPBD

7. Water leakage from generator stator water hose.

8. Hydrogen Ingress in H2 cooler’s water circuit.

9. Rotor tripping on speed >1000 RPM due to foreign particle ingress in

rotor.
 1) Failure of Generator Brush gear Assembly.

Event Occurred:
Unit was running at 600 MW load. It was informed by field operator that smoke is
coming out of the acoustic enclosure of slip ring assembly. It was decided to stop the
machine immediately. Before actuation of manual trip the machine tripped on
operation of Rotor E/F Protection.

Findings:
 Length of some of the carbon brushes were found less than the recommended value
on verifying the records.
 Load on the rest of the brushes increased and eventually led to heating of the brush
gear assembly.

Action taken:
After Completing rotor testing and replacement of brush gear assembly, Unit was again
taken back into service.

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1) Failure of Generator Brush gear Assembly.
2) Suspected Inter-turn fault in Rotor Winding
• As a part of Rotor Testing, RSO Test
performed on Rotor. It was observed that
RSO waveform was not properly
superimposed and suspected that it is due to
field winding Inter-turn fault. To confirm it,
Pole drop test conducted, around 11V
difference observed in Positive Terminal &
Negative Terminal voltages when Rotor
injected with 200V, difference in voltages
supports Inter-turn fault suspicion.

• M/s GE, India explained the fault and Injected

Upper CC bolt-Omega Lower CC bolt-Omega
Voltage
probability of fault location would be
40 19.01 21.66
beneath the one of the Retaining Ring. GE,
60 28.64 32.8
India recommended to open the both side 80 37.18 42.9
retaining ring one by one to locate & rectify 100 46 53.6

the fault. 160 75.4 86.7

200 90.9 102.1

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2) Suspected Inter-turn fault in Rotor Winding
• As GE, India recommended to open the both side
retaining ring, preparation to issue to Service
Order (approx. 1.5 Crore) to execute this job
started.

• Simultaneously, brain storming started to restore

the RSO & Pole drop results with some other
method.

• It was decided to clean the Rotor first with

compressed Air and then with “Iso-propane
alcohol” solution. Team worked continuously for
Upper CC bolt- Lower CC bolt-
15 hrs. to carry out this process. Injected Voltage
Omega Omega

• After this process, when RSO & Pole Drop Test 40 19.74 20.3
re-conducted, RSO waveform found in order and
60 30.01 31
in Pole drop test, difference of voltage was 80 39.9 41.09
reduced to 2.0V wrt earlier 11V. 100 49.4 50.8
160 79.2 81.4
200 99.4 101.3
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 3) Loose wedges observed in Stator Wedge deflection Test
Problem Faced:
• As a part of Generator Testing, Wedge deflection Test performed on Stator.
• Around 15% wedges found loose, End winding area (TE & EE side) together comprises 60% of
total loose wedge.
• GE Team recommended re-tightness of wedges.
• Wedges removed from slots and re-tightness done with new packers & ripple springs.
• Deflection test re-conducted after wedge tightness and result found in order.
 3) Loose wedges observed in Stator Wedge deflection Test

Action Taken:
• GE Team recommended re-tightness of wedges.

• Wedges removed from slots and re-tightness done with new packers & ripple springs.

• Deflection test re-conducted after wedge tightness and result found in order.

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 4) Leakage detection by using Helium gas
Event Occurred:
After completing AOH of generator when proceed for Air Tightness Test of Generator, it
was observed that Pressure was not holding as per the requirements.

Findings:
1. Thorough checking of the all Bolts done for leakage detection by Soap solution.
2. No abnormality observed while checking leakage with soap solution.

Action taken:
1. After filling Helium gas inside generator leakage detection was again started with
helium leakage detector. And leakage was observed in Hydrogen cooler’s Bolts.
2. End cover of Hydrogen cooler was opened and after installing new gasket, again
cover was fixed. And after that no leakage was observed and Air Tightness Test was
successfully completed.

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4) Leakage detection by using Helium gas
 5) Tripping of Excitation Transformer on High
Temperature.
Event Occurred:
During normal running operation of unit, Suddenly All four cooling fans failed for R
Phase Limb of Excitation transformer and temperature shoot up and unit got tripped.

Findings:
1. It was Observed that one of the cooling fan was got faulty, All four fans were fed
through the same fuse, hence it lead to false tripping of rest 3 fans of R Phase Limb.

Action taken:
1. After Proper investigation a dedicated panel was installed for supply of cooling fans
of ET.
2. Additional 2 Fans were installed for each Phase Limb.
3. Total 18 Fans were provided with independent feeder so that only faulty fan’s feeder
will be tripped. Rest can run normally.

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5) Tripping of Excitation Transformer on High
Temperature.

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 6) Generator stator earth fault due to insulator failure
of IPBD
Event Occurred:
Resistance value started fluctuating in Stator earth fault relay. At the same time
fluctuation in voltage and current value of the generator was also observed. Unit
tripped on stator earth fault.

Findings:
1. Complete testing of generator carried out. Found in order.
2. During HV test of IPBD, one support insulator found unhealthy.

Action taken:
1. Replacement of unhealthy support insulator carried out.
2. Hi-Pot test is to be carried out of IPBD on annual basis.
3. Hot Air blowing of IPBD carried out.
4. Daily IPBD air pressure monitoring is to be carried out.
5. Heatless Air Drier installed for IPBD to prevent any moisture ingress.

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6) Generator stator earth fault due to insulator failure
of IPBD

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 7) Water leakage from generator stator water
hose.
Event Occurred:
A huge quantity of water was reported in the LLD. It was suspected
that some stator water leakage had taken place inside the generator.
The generator was immediately de-excited.
Findings:
The make up water of Stator water was high . On opening the
generator, a stator water hose was found leaking from the joint near
header. It was opined by the experts from GE that the support system
of overhang was not adequate and due to mechanical stresses the
leakage had taken place.
Action taken:
The overhang portion of the generator was modified with better
support and generator was restored

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7) Water leakage from generator stator water
hose.

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7) Water leakage from generator stator water
hose.

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8) Hydrogen Ingress in H2 cooler’s water circuit.

Event Occurred:
A blast occurred in the CW cooling system of ID fan bearing while
carrying out Hot Work in the piping.
Findings:
There was high hydrogen bottle consumption in the Generator.
Checking was done in all the systems and leakage was suspected
in Hydrogen cooler. The Hydrogen was penetrating the CCW water
in the cooler and was accumulating at the remote end of the
system i.e cooling system of I D Fan where the blast occurred at
the time of hot work.
Action taken:
Cooler was replaced and taken back in service.
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8) Hydrogen Ingress in H2 cooler’s water circuit.
 9) Rotor tripping on speed >1000 RPM due to foreign
particle ingress in rotor.
Event Occurred:
After generator overhauling and completing all the tests , the
generator was tripping on rotor earth fault when excitation was given
Findings:
The rotor was getting earthed after 1000 RPM was reached. Same
was observed in number of attempts.
Action taken:
Rotor was threaded out and thorough inspection was done. A small
loose cotter pin had mistakenly been left out by someone inside the
endring portion. The same was getting in contact with the rotor
winding at RPM above 1000 rpm due to centrifugal force. Pin was
removed and unit was restored.

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9) Rotor tripping on speed >1000 RPM due to foreign
particle ingress in rotor.

ACA - TG-1D - 51 HO 21
Stator End Core Heating
Generator End Core Damage due to core overheating
Generator End Core Damage
Stator Core
Vibration
Push & Pull in stator core laminates---Stator Core Vibrations
End Packets of Broken Laminations
 Natural Frequency Test

(5 o’clock bottom bar-Y-phase, NFT axial: 95 Hz)

Rotor Inter Turn Fault
ACA - TG-1D - 51 HO 29
Movement of Coil in Rotor Slot On Barring Gear
Operation
 Copper Dust in Rotor Slots
GE.USA Report & CIGRE Report
Slot Wedge
Rubber Top Insulation
Gasket Inter-Turn
Insulation
Cu Dust Slot
Generated Insulation
here
Sub Slot
ACA - TG-1D - 51 HO 32