IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 12, No.

2, May 1997

521

Understanding Transients: A Conceptual Interpretation *Zhang Wang *Ji-Yuan Fan, Senior Member *Yu-Huai Shao

*Electrical Engineering Dept. *Advanced Control Systems Inc. Atlanta, Georgia Taiyuan University of Technology USA Taiyuan, China ABSTRACT: This paper provides a conceptual interpretation and a complementary understanding about power system transients through qualitative analysis. It introduces a few intuitive concepts by analyzing the transients of a two-winding transformer and a synchronous generator under a short circuit condition. A 90"lagging rule of thumb is also introduced to describe the d- and qaxes voltage equations of a synchronous generator. Using the introduced concepts, the transient mechanism can be well understood with clear physical meanings of every term, including the various time constants, in the solution formulas. Key Words: Transient Analysis, Conceptual Method, Component Decomposition
1. Introduction

analyzing the transient behavior of a two-winding transformer and a synchronous generator under short circuit condition. Based upon these concepts, the exact analytical solution formulae for a transformer and a synchronous generator can be directly derived with every term in the formulae being explained with clear physical meanings, providing the power system engineers and advanced students with an alternative insight into the transient mechanism in a conceptual manner. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces the concept of component decomposition by analyzing the transient behavior of a two-winding transformer under short circuit condition. Section 3 continues to use the concept of component decomposition to analyze the transients of a synchronous generator. Section 4 introduces the 90O-lagging rule of thumb to describe the d- and q-axis voltage equations of a synchronous generator via conceptual analysis. Lastly, a conclusion is reached in section 5 .
2. Transients in Transforms

Understanding transients has been a very important and challenging task for power system engineers and advanced students who are interested in system dynamics. Power system transients involve the dynamics of all individual network components, electric loads and generating units. For performing system wide transient analysis, it is always necessary to have a rigid understanding of the transient behavior of the individual system equipment, especially the synchronous generators and transformers which generally dominate the system transient behavior. The dynamics of a synchronous generator or a transformer can be mathematically described by differential equations (i .e., mathematical models). Conventionally, the transient behavior is strictly analyzed by solving these differential equations through rigid mathematical procedures, lacking conceptual interpretation about the mechanism of transients. This paper provides a conceptual interpretation and a complementary understanding about the transients by introducing a few intuitive concepts originating from the authors many years of teaching experience. These intuitive concepts are introduced by
96 SM 375-6 PWRS A paper recommended and approved by the IEEE Power Engineering Education Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the 1996 IEEUPES Summer Meeting, July 28 - August 1, 1996, in Denver, Colorado. Manuscript submitted December 29, 1995; made available for printing April 23, 1996.

Consider a single-phase two-winding transformer with its primary side connected to a constant voltage busbar and the secondary side in short circuit. Its equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1:

r,

L I

1,

r2

Fig. 1 Equivalent Circuit of A Two-winding Transformer

0885-8950/97/$10.00 0 1996 IEEE

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The transient characteristics can be described as:

1
(

' d t dt r 2 i z di ~ 2 di - m ~ = o + ~ dt

r i + I ' - m - = v

di

di2

'

where
I,
=

lo,

m, l2

lo2

m, v,

V,,, Sin (or

4)

Without question, the transient characteristics of the two-winding transformer can be analyzed mathematically by solving the coupled differential equations of Eq. (1). It can also be analyzed alternatively using the conceptual method of component decomposition. The conceptual method assumes that the current at either the primary or the secondary side of the transformer is composed of two components: a steady state component and a transient component. The steady state component exists forever with a constant magnitude while the transient component, which is induced at the instant when the transformer is initially energized, decays exponentially with time. The steady state currents at both sides can be directly given in complex values as:

Fig. 2 Vector diagram of current at t = 0

As is well known, in a simple R-L circuit, the time constant dominating the transient behavior can be easily given as T = L/R. With respect to a two-winding transformer, however, this simplicity no longer exists because of the mutual coupling between the inductances. In the rigid mathematical method, the time constants are determined from the eigenvalues of the state model of Eq. (l), lacking sufficient conceptual insights into the physical mechanism. Use of the conceptual methos, instead, can easily find the exact solutions with clear physical insights.
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that if20 generally of different value is from z f l o . They can be represented by two hypothetical components through a simple transformation, as given in Eq. (4):
il10 =

i,, + i2, i,, - i ,

(4)
are determined by:

The hypothetical components of i,, and , i

(3)
,i '

(5)

itzfl

where

At the instant of time zero (i.e., when the transformer is initially connected to the busbar), the steady state currents at both sides will present instantaneous values of ils0 i2so,as schematically and shown in the vector diagram of Fig. 2. To meet the initial condition of zero current, an induced current, ifl,, with the same magnitude but opposite sign as ilso, appears at the primary side and an induced current, if,,, corresponding to i2s0, appears at the secondary side, as shown in Fig. 2.These two induced currents are physically the transient components decaying exponentially with time.

This transformation can be schematically shown in Fig. 3, where Fig. 3 (a) presents the i,, component and Fig. 3 (b) presents the ,i component in both the primary and secondary sides of the transformer.

il', =iIo i,, +

A

(4 (b) Fig. 3 Decomposed transient components in both sides

It can be seen from Fig. 3 (a) that the flux associated with current component i,, in the primary winding has the opposite direction to the flux associated with the current component i,, in

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the secondary winding, making the mutual coupling inductance ineffective. Thus, the inductance that is effective to current i,, is only the leakage inductance of I , (because virtually I,, = 1, = I,, rl = r2 = r in per unit value). Obviously, the resistance faced by il0 at either side will be r, resulting in an equivalent simple R-L circuit. As a result, i,, will decay, without oscillation, with the time constant given as:
T, = lo

three-phase stator windings, however, its composite stator flux rotates synchronously with the rotor, just as though it were produced by a real winding rotating with the rotor. In this sense, a synchronous generator can be assumed similar to a transformer, as depicted in Fig. 5:

On the other hand, it can be found from Fig. 3 (b) that the flux associated with current ,i in the primary winding has the same direction as the flux associated with current component ,i in the secondary winding, making the mutual coupling inductance be doubly effective. Thus, the effective inductance to current i2, is I, + 2m, and i,, will decay with the time constant:
lo + 2m T2 = r

(7)

In total, the current in each side of the transformer can be written as:
Fig. 5 Schematic Diagram of a Synchronous Generator In Fig. 5 , the rotor current, if, and the rotor inductance, Zf=Zf, m, can be viewed as those corresponding to the terms of i, and 1, of the primary winding of a transformer. Similarly, the stator current, i, and the stator inductance, Zd=Z, + m, corresponding to the terms of i2 and l2 of the secondary winding of a transformer. Therefore, the concepts used to analyze the transients of a transformer can also be applied to analyzing a synchronous generator.

It can be seen that Eq. (8) obtained by the conceptual method illustrates the same formulae as that by the rigid mathematical method. The physical meanings of each term are clearly described. Fig. 4 depicts a time profile of the transient component of i f l o in the primary side, from which it can be seen that i r l 0 decays very fast at the beginning due to the smaller time constant, T I , on the component, i,, and then slows down due to the larger time constant, T2, on the component, i20.

it

Consider that the generator operates in a no-load condition prior to a three-phase short circuit fault occurring at time t = 0. Because of the DC excitation current of if, in the rotor winding, the magnitude of no-load voltage of a stator phase winding, e.g., phase A, is given by

The instantaneous voltage of phase A at time t can be given as (assume the instantaneous voltage value is zero at the instant of t = 0):
v
= Ego sin

(of)

Fig. 4 Time Profile of Transient Current

3. Transients in Synchronous Generators

At a permanent three-phase short circuit condition, the steady state short circuit current can be written as (short circuit current lags the voltage by 90 degrees while the stator resistance is omitted):

A synchronous generator is apparently different from a transformer and, therefore, generally presents very different transient behavior. Because of the geometric symmetry of its

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When the short circuit fault suddenly occurs at the instant o f t = 0, however, a composite rotating flux due to the short circuit currents in the three-phase windings appears. This flux attempts to enter the magnetic path of the rotor winding, inducing a current of Aif in the rotor winding to resist its entering. As a result, most of the composite stator flux, as well as the additional rotor flux due to Aif, is restricted to the path of the air gap represented by the leakage inductances of the stator and rotor windings, as shown in Fig. 6, resulting in a reduced inductance to the short circuit current, as given by:

As indicated above, the reduced inductance is due to the appearance of the induced current of Ai,. This current will decay with time because of the resistance of rf in the rotor winding. Hence, the time constant at which Aif decays is defined by:
T
=

1 r
Tf

With Ai, decaying, the periodic component of the short circuit current will correspondingly change from i, to is,,,, which is represented by Eq. (16), resulting in a very different form from the corresponding component of a transformer given by Eq. (3):

where the first term, I, is associated with the stator winding flux leakage and the second term, mi&/$ (m //$,), is associated with the main stream of the stator flux which reaches the rotor by crossing the air gap (represented by the mutual inductance of m) and is then squeezed to take the magnetic path of the rotor flux leakage (represented by the rotor leakage inductance of

9,).

Moreover, when the periodic current component, i t s ,appears at the instant o f t = 0, an induced DC current, is,, with the same instantaneous value but an opposite sign, appears in the stator winding to meet the initial condition of zero current. This induced current will also decay with time. Because of the magnetic unsymmetry of the rotor, as indicated in Fig. 5 , the inductance corresponding to current is, will fluctuate between Id and I, in a frequency two times the rotor speed (Id and I, alternatively become effective twice in each rotating cycle), causing the induced current to fluctuate in a double frequency with a maximum value, Eq,lwZfd, and a minimum value, E,,lwZq, in each cycle, as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6 Effective Magnetic Path during Transient The periodic component of the short circuit current is, therefore, is initially determined by Eq. (13), rather than Eq. (11):

Similar to the inductance of ld; the inductance corresponding to the flux of induced rotor current of Ai, is given as:
(14)

Fig. 7 Induced Stator Current (without considering decaying) This induced varying current can be decomposed into two components, i .e., an average DC component,

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uq

l q *q

Because of the stator resistance, r, this induced current will decay with time. The time constant is determined by the equivalent inductance, 2Z'dZq/(Z'd Zq), (a geometric average of 1,' and lJ, and the stator resistance, r, as:

Fig. 8 Park's d-q coordinate system

dQ I".= d dt
wQ, -

rid

21; 1,

In total, the composite short circuit current can be written as (for phase A):

where Ud, u,, id, i,, and Gd, Gq are voltages, currents and fluxes of the d- and q-axes windings, respectively, and w is the generator speed in rad/s (angular velocity). It can be found by comparing Eq. (19) with the voltage equation of an ordinary electric winding that each component in Eq. (19) includes an special term, i.e., -w$, in ud and w$, in uq. Moreover, the negative/positive signs associated with these terms often cause confusion and difficulty in practical applications. In the existing literature, several different d-q coordinate systems have been used in different applications, resulting in many different forms of the d- and q-axes voltage equations (with different signs on the two special terms). To provide a rigid understanding of the two special terms of Eq. (19) in different d-q coordinates, the authors propose a rule of thumb to establish Eq. (19) via qualitative analysis. According to the fundamentals of electric machinery, the composite rotating flux linkage in a synchronous generator produced by the currents in the rotor windings and the three-phase stator windings can be decomposed into two components, $d on the d-axis and $q on the q-axis. Because of the geometrical and electrical symmetry, the three-phase windings (without neutral grounding) can be electrically represented by two hypothetical windings, one on the d-axis and the other on the q-axis. While the magnitude of flux Gd (Gq) varies, an inductive potential with an opposite sign against the flux change is produced at the winding, as represented by the term, -d$,/dt (-dGqldt), in Eq. (19). While a current flows through the winding, a resistive voltage drop results, as represented by the term, -rid (-fi,), in Eq. (19). However, the d- and q-axes windings are just hypothetical windings to equaivlently represent the three-phase stator windings which do not physically rotate with the rotor. While the rotating flux ll/, (C, I/) sweeps the stator windings, a rotating potential with a magnitude of w $ ~ and a phase angle of 90" lagging the flux is generated. This rotating

Eq. (18) presents the exact current formula as obtained by rigid mathematical procedures. The analytical concepts discussed above can also be easily applied to analyzing the transients under load condition. In this case, the initial stator currents are no longer zero and more transient terms appear, which will not be covered in this paper.
4. Voltage Equations of Synchronous Generators

In the analysis of power system transients, it is a common practice to use a d-q coordinate system to equivalently represent the three-phase stator windings of a synchronous generator, just as though there were a d-axis winding and a q-axis winding in the generator. The voltage equations of both d- and q-axis windings can be rigidly derived via mathematical transformation. For instance, use of Park's transformation [1,2] can convert the three-phase quantities into d- and q-axes quantities in the d-q coordinate system of Fig. 8, and produce the d- and q-axes voltage equations as given by Equation (19):

526 [l]

K. H. Park "Two-Reaction Theory of Synchronous Machines," Part I, AIEE Trans., Vol. 48, pp 716 - 730,

1929.

[2]

K. H. Park "Two-Reaction Theory of Synchronous Machines," Part 11, AIEE Trans., Vol. 52, pp 352 355, 1933.

" " "

Pd

id
ud

4'

$l l

G %

P. M. Anderson, A. A. Fouad, "Power System Control and Stability," The Iowa State University Press, 1977. '7. Biography Zhang Wang graduated (1949) from Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China, in Electrical Engineering. Since 1950, he has been on the faculty at Taiyuan University of Technology and is a Professor in Electrical Engineering Department. His research interest has been in Power System Dynamics and Stability Analysis.
[3] Ji-YuanFan (S'88-M'90-SM'95) received the diplomas of undergraduate (1979) and graduate (1982) from Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China, the M.S.E.E degree (1982) from the Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing, China and the Ph.D. degree (1989) from Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York, USA, all in Electric Power Engineering. From 1982 to 1985, he was an instructor of power system analysis in Taiyuan University of Technology. In 1989, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, TX. Since 1990, he has been with Advanced Control Systems, Inc. where he is a Senior R&D Engineer responsible for the development and implementation of the advanced real-time application software in Energy Management Systems and Distribution Automation Systems. Yu-Huai Shao received the diplomaof undergraduate (1975) and the M.S.E.E. degree (1988) from Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China. She joined the faculty at Taiyuan University of Technology in 1976 and is now an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department. Her research interests include Power System Relay Protection and Transient Analysis.

According to the 90"-lagging rule of thumb, the voltage equations in d- and q-axes can be immediately written as:

where the generator potential term of w,bq on Ud takes a positive sign because it is of the same direction as ud by 90"-lagging flux Gq, while wqd on uq takes a negative sign because it is of the opposite direction against uq by 90"-lagging flux &. No confusion or difficulty has been involved while determining the signs of the generator potential terms using the 90"-lagging rule of thumb.
5. Conclusion

A few intuitive concepts were introduced to provide a useful complementary tool for understanding the power system transients. The transient behavior of a transformer and a synchronous generator were studied using the new concepts. A 90"-lagging rule of thumb was introduced to describe the d- q-axes voltage equations of a synchronous generator through conceptual analysis. Using the introduced concepts, the transient mechanism can be well understood with every term in the solution formulae being explained with clear physical meanings.
6. References