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An invasive diagnostic technique is proposed in this article for the detection and discrimination of turn-to-turn faults in the stator and rotor windings of synchronous machines during the startup period. For this purpose, search coils are installed in the machine to sense the rotational magnetic field along the air-gap circumference, while the difference in the related induced voltages (differential voltages) reveals its distortion, using it as a criterion for the detection of the faulty condition. Nevertheless, the rotor speed is a time-variant parameter, which changes from zero at the starting instant up to its rated value at a synchronous speed. Consequently, during the generator startup, the frequency of the induced voltages in the search coils needs to be updated continuously for obtaining reliable values for the differential voltages. A simple method is presented to achieve this goal by detecting the sequential zero crossing of the voltage waveforms. The proposed method is verified through simulation and experimental results. They show that the proposed diagnostic technique is capable of detecting and discriminating stator and rotor turn-to-turn faults during the machine startup period, both in generating and motoring conditions, with suitable accuracy and security. In addition, the region of stator turn-to-turn faults can be easily identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A portable flux probe is proposed and investigated in this article to detect turn-to-turn fault in the rotor poles of the high rated salient pole synchronous machines. The rotor circuit is fed by a low amplitude sinusoidal voltage source with a fixed voltage amplitude which has a frequency more than a few hundred Hz to achieve the higher reaction of the shorted turns on the faulty pole, which results in a significant reduction of the magnetic flux in the air-gap. Numerous simulations and experimental tests are carried out to investigate the proposed probe and the related technique performance to specify the faulty pole versus the number of shorted turns, applied frequency and probable eccentricity in the rotor position. The obtained test results show that all stable turn to turn faults (weak or heavy ones) can be specified easily by applying a portable sinusoidal voltage source with the frequency in the range of more than a few hundred Hz. The experimental test results validate that the flux density can be reduced to about zero in the faulty pole face, even in the case of one shorted turn in the sample machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flux-based technique is proposed for the on-line detection, localization and discrimination of stator and rotor turn-to-turn faults in synchronous generators, using the measured air-gap rotational magnetic field. Simple magnetic field sensors (MFSs) are installed in the stator slots at different regions, and the corresponding induced voltages are measured. Several differential voltages are then obtained to give a picture of the rotational magnetic field symmetricity, whose distortions indicate the presence of the stator or rotor faults. The proposed diagnostic technique is presented in detail and validated initially by simulation results obtained with a finite element simulation package and afterwards through the experimental tests. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed technique can be used to detect and discriminate stator and rotor turn-to-turn faults with appropriate sensitivity. In addition, the region of the stator turn-to-turn faults can be identified as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power transformer, as one of the most important apparatus in power system, must be protected against the turn-to-turn faults. Although the various methods based on the terminal currents and/or voltages have been presented for transformer protection, the flux-based methods can be used to achieve the more accurate, sensitive, and secure results. Since the symmetrical form of the magnetic flux distribution will be disturbed due to any fault occurrence in the transformer windings, it can be considered as an appropriate criterion to achieve a suitable protection algorithm, which can detect the fault occurrence and identify the faulty phase/region. In this paper, a new leakage flux sensor is introduced and then a flux-based technique is proposed to detect and identify the faulty phase in transformers to apply in online conditions. By using the proposed technique, the faulty region can be identified in offline conditions, as well. The experimental results (which are done on a distribution transformer) show that this technique is secure in the face of overfluxing and transformer energizing conditions and can detect turn-to-turn faults with high sensitivity. Moreover, tap changer operation, imbalanced loads, and/or unsymmetrical voltage sources cannot influence the proposed technique security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among the various techniques for transformer protection, more accurate, sensitive, and secure results can be achieved by the flux-based ones. The symmetrical form of the magnetic flux distribution will be disturbed due to any fault occurrence in the transformer windings. So, it seems that this is an appropriate criterion to achieve a suitable protection algorithm, while it can be used to detect faults as well as identify the faulty phase/region. In this paper, a miniature sensor is proposed consisting of simple planar magnetic flux sub-sensors and located in the existing space between the transformer core and the first insulating layer to sense the leakage flux distribution. Comparing the induced voltages in symmetrical sub-sensors for each phase exhibits asymmetrical configuration of the leakage flux distribution and identifies the faulty region in that phase. Appropriate fine and tiny construction of the proposed sensors provides them a good choice to install in the transformer core vicinity. Then, the leakage flux can be sensed in the origin regions during turn-to-turn faults. Experimental results show that such sensors have high sensitivity to detect leakage flux that ejects from the core or comes back to it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Analyzing of detected partial discharge (PD) signals is a reliable technique to assess the electrical insulation in power transformers. In order to detect and locate the PD sources in power transformers, some distributed simple fine sensors are proposed and used, which are made by a few turns of thin enameled copper wire wrapped around the transformer core. They are distributed sensors, which sense PD voltage signals through capacitive coupling with the transformer windings. Two methods, including broadband and limited-band PD signal analyzing, are considered to identify defective phase and/or region on that phase through the proposed distributed sensors outputs. Transfer functions of these sensors are obtained and it is experimentally shown that although defective phase can be diagnosed, the expected priority to identify defective region is not regarded in broadband analysis, while a suitable limited frequency band can be found to achieve this aim. The idea is implemented on a sample transformer by injecting artificial PD signals to different high-voltage winding sections. The results show that not only PD signals can be detected through the mentioned sensors with high sensitivity, but also defective phase can be diagnosed using broadband analysis. Moreover, defective region can be accurately identified by limited-band analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]