Definition of power system
A power system is simply an assembly of electrical components arranged to transfer electric power to homes and industry etc.When this assembly is deployed for large regions and residences this is known as "Grid".
 |
| grid station |
Components of "Grid station"
Normally grid station is divided into following parts or components,
a) generators
b) transmission system
c) distribution system
Description of above four components
Generators provide us electric power and this power travels towards transmission system.The transmission systems transmit electric power obtained from generators up to distribution systems.Normally during transmission voltage from generating station is stepped up due to losses and at the load side this is stepped down.Further distribution system distributes the electric power to homes and industries.
Normally the system used in grid station is "Three phase AC system"
We have some systems where we do not use three phase ac, these systems are aircraft,electric rails systems automobiles and ocean cleaner too.
Differentiation between AC and DC power and their usage
What is power?
Electric power is the product of voltage and current.When these quantities vary with respect to time it is called AC power and if these quantities are kept constant power is called DC power.
AC power is used in digital devices such as computers and DC power is used in refrigerators,air conditioners and industry machinery.
The AC power is more advantageous due to easy transformation of AC voltages among each other and generation and utilization of AC power by brush less machinery.Two prominent features of AC power are as follows,firstly AC power can be transmitted over long distances at high voltages with less losses.
Whereas DC power on the other hand is the only choice of practical usage in digital devices and further it is more economical if is transmitted over long distances.
One major issue in power system
It is normal pattern of power system that active power produced is equal to the active power consumed and the losses.But in practical if active power produced becomes greater than active consumed plus losses then frequency increases and this increased frequency damages "synchronous machines" of the power system.
What is synchronous machine?
A synchronous machine in a power system is such a machine whose speed of rotation is proportional to the frequency of the supply alternating current.One more thing about speed of rotation is that it is independent of load.
All power systems have one or more sources of power. For some power systems, the source of power is external to the system but for others it is part of the system itself—it is these internal power sources that are discussed in the remainder of this section. Direct current power can be supplied by batteries, fuel cells or photovoltaic cells. Alternating current power is typically supplied by a rotor that spins in a magnetic field in a device known as a turbo generator. There have been a wide range of techniques used to spin a turbine's rotor, from steam heated using fossil fuel (including coal, gas and oil) or nuclear energy, falling water (hydroelectric power) and wind (wind power).
The speed at which the rotor spins in combination with the number of generator poles determines the frequency of the alternating current produced by the generator. All generators on a single synchronous system, for example the national grid, rotate at sub-multiples of the same speed and so generate electric current at the same frequency. If the load on the system increases, the generators will require more torque to spin at that speed and, in a typical power station, more steam must be supplied to the turbines driving them. Thus the steam used and the fuel expended are directly dependent on the quantity of electrical energy supplied. An exception exists for generators incorporating power electronics such as gearless wind turbines or linked to a grid through an asynchronous tie such as a HVDC link — these can operate at frequencies independent of the power system frequency.
Depending on how the poles are fed, alternating current generators can produce a variable number of phases of power. A higher number of phases leads to more efficient power system operation but also increases the infrastructure requirements of the system.
Electricity grid systems connect multiple generators and loads operating at the same frequency and number of phases, the commonest being three-phase at 50 or 60 Hz. However, there are other considerations. These range from the obvious: How much power should the generator be able to supply? What is an acceptable length of time for starting the generator (some generators can take hours to start)? Is the availability of the power source acceptable (some renewables are only available when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing)? To the more technical: How should the generator start (some turbines act like a motor to bring themselves up to speed in which case they need an appropriate starting circuit)? What is the mechanical speed of operation for the turbine and consequently what are the number of poles required? What type of generator is suitable (synchronous or asynchronous) and what type of rotor (squirrel-cage rotor, wound rotor, salient pole rotor or cylindrical rotor)?
Power systems deliver energy to loads that perform a function. These loads range from household appliances to industrial machinery. Most loads expect a certain voltage and, for alternating current devices, a certain frequency and number of phases. The appliances found in your home, for example, will typically be single-phase operating at 50 or 60 Hz with a voltage between 110 and 260 volts (depending on national standards). An exception exists for centralized air conditioning systems as these are now typically three-phase because this allows them to operate more efficiently. All devices in your house will also have a wattage, this specifies the amount of power the device consumes. At any one time, the net amount of power consumed by the loads on a power system must equal the net amount of power produced by the supplies less the power lost in transmission.
Making sure that the voltage, frequency and amount of power supplied to the loads is in line with expectations is one of the great challenges of power system engineering. However it is not the only challenge, in addition to the power used by a load to do useful work (termed real power) many alternating current devices also use an additional amount of power because they cause the alternating voltage and alternating current to become slightly out-of-sync (termed reactive power). The reactive power like the real power must balance (that is the reactive power produced on a system must equal the reactive power consumed) and can be supplied from the generators, however it is often more economical to supply such power from capacitors (see "Capacitors and reactors" below for more details).
A final consideration with loads is to do with power quality. In addition to sustained overvoltages and undervoltages (voltage regulation issues) as well as sustained deviations from the system frequency (frequency regulation issues), power system loads can be adversely affected by a range of temporal issues. These include voltage sags, dips and swells, transient overvoltages, flicker, high frequency noise, phase imbalance and poor power factor.[22] Power quality issues occur when the power supply to a load deviates from the ideal: For an AC supply, the ideal is the current and voltage in-sync fluctuating as a perfect sine wave at a prescribed frequency with the voltage at a prescribed amplitude. For DC supply, the ideal is the voltage not varying from a prescribed level. Power quality issues can be especially important when it comes to specialist industrial machinery or hospital equipment.
Choice of conductors is based upon considerations such as cost, transmission losses and other desirable characteristics of the metal like tensile strength. Copper, with lower resistivity than Aluminum, was the conductor of choice for most power systems. However, Aluminum has lower cost for the same current carrying capacity and is the primary metal used for transmission line conductors. Overhead line conductors may be reinforced with steel or aluminum alloys.
Conductors in exterior power systems may be placed overhead or underground. Overhead conductors are usually air insulated and supported on porcelain, glass or polymer insulators. Cables used for underground transmission or building wiring are insulated with cross-linked polyethylene or other flexible insulation. Large conductors are stranded for ease of handling; small conductors used for building wiring are often solid, especially in light commercial or residential construction.
Conductors are typically rated for the maximum current that they can carry at a given temperature rise over ambient conditions. As current flow increases through a conductor it heats up. For insulated conductors, the rating is determined by the insulation.[26] For overhead conductors, the rating is determined by the point at which the sag of the conductors would become unacceptable.
The majority of the load in a typical AC power system is inductive; the current lags behind the voltage. Since the voltage and current are out-of-phase, this leads to the emergence of an "imaginary" form of power known as reactive power. Reactive power does no measurable work but is transmitted back and forth between the reactive power source and load every cycle. This reactive power can be provided by the generators themselves, through the adjustment of generator excitation, but it is often cheaper to provide it through capacitors, hence capacitors are often placed near inductive loads to reduce current demand on the power system (i.e., increase the power factor), which may never exceed 1.0, and which represents a purely resistive load. Power factor correction may be applied at a central substation, through the use of so-called "synchronous condensers" (synchronous machines which act as condensers which are variable in VAR value, through the adjustment of machine excitation) or adjacent to large loads, through the use of so-called "static condensers" (condensers which are fixed in VAR value).
Reactors consume reactive power and are used to regulate voltage on long transmission lines. In light load conditions, where the loading on transmission lines is well below the surge impedance loading, the efficiency of the power system may actually be improved by switching in reactors. Reactors installed in series in a power system also limit rushes of current flow, small reactors are therefore almost always installed in series with capacitors to limit the current rush associated with switching in a capacitor. Series reactors can also be used to limit fault currents.
Capacitors and reactors are switched by circuit breakers, which results in moderately large steps in reactive power. A solution comes in the form of static VAR compensators and static synchronous compensators. Briefly, static VAR compensators work by switching in capacitors using thyristors as opposed to circuit breakers allowing capacitors to be switched-in and switched-out within a single cycle. This provides a far more refined response than circuit breaker switched capacitors. Static synchronous compensators take a step further by achieving reactive power adjustments using only power electronics.Courtesy of wikipedia.....
Components of power systems
Supplies
The majority of the world's power still comes from coal-fired power stations like thisAll power systems have one or more sources of power. For some power systems, the source of power is external to the system but for others it is part of the system itself—it is these internal power sources that are discussed in the remainder of this section. Direct current power can be supplied by batteries, fuel cells or photovoltaic cells. Alternating current power is typically supplied by a rotor that spins in a magnetic field in a device known as a turbo generator. There have been a wide range of techniques used to spin a turbine's rotor, from steam heated using fossil fuel (including coal, gas and oil) or nuclear energy, falling water (hydroelectric power) and wind (wind power).
The speed at which the rotor spins in combination with the number of generator poles determines the frequency of the alternating current produced by the generator. All generators on a single synchronous system, for example the national grid, rotate at sub-multiples of the same speed and so generate electric current at the same frequency. If the load on the system increases, the generators will require more torque to spin at that speed and, in a typical power station, more steam must be supplied to the turbines driving them. Thus the steam used and the fuel expended are directly dependent on the quantity of electrical energy supplied. An exception exists for generators incorporating power electronics such as gearless wind turbines or linked to a grid through an asynchronous tie such as a HVDC link — these can operate at frequencies independent of the power system frequency.
Depending on how the poles are fed, alternating current generators can produce a variable number of phases of power. A higher number of phases leads to more efficient power system operation but also increases the infrastructure requirements of the system.
Electricity grid systems connect multiple generators and loads operating at the same frequency and number of phases, the commonest being three-phase at 50 or 60 Hz. However, there are other considerations. These range from the obvious: How much power should the generator be able to supply? What is an acceptable length of time for starting the generator (some generators can take hours to start)? Is the availability of the power source acceptable (some renewables are only available when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing)? To the more technical: How should the generator start (some turbines act like a motor to bring themselves up to speed in which case they need an appropriate starting circuit)? What is the mechanical speed of operation for the turbine and consequently what are the number of poles required? What type of generator is suitable (synchronous or asynchronous) and what type of rotor (squirrel-cage rotor, wound rotor, salient pole rotor or cylindrical rotor)?
Loads
A toaster is great example of a single-phase load that might appear in a residence. Toasters typically draw 2 to 10 amps at 110 to 260 volts consuming around 600 to 1200 watts of power.Power systems deliver energy to loads that perform a function. These loads range from household appliances to industrial machinery. Most loads expect a certain voltage and, for alternating current devices, a certain frequency and number of phases. The appliances found in your home, for example, will typically be single-phase operating at 50 or 60 Hz with a voltage between 110 and 260 volts (depending on national standards). An exception exists for centralized air conditioning systems as these are now typically three-phase because this allows them to operate more efficiently. All devices in your house will also have a wattage, this specifies the amount of power the device consumes. At any one time, the net amount of power consumed by the loads on a power system must equal the net amount of power produced by the supplies less the power lost in transmission.
Making sure that the voltage, frequency and amount of power supplied to the loads is in line with expectations is one of the great challenges of power system engineering. However it is not the only challenge, in addition to the power used by a load to do useful work (termed real power) many alternating current devices also use an additional amount of power because they cause the alternating voltage and alternating current to become slightly out-of-sync (termed reactive power). The reactive power like the real power must balance (that is the reactive power produced on a system must equal the reactive power consumed) and can be supplied from the generators, however it is often more economical to supply such power from capacitors (see "Capacitors and reactors" below for more details).
A final consideration with loads is to do with power quality. In addition to sustained overvoltages and undervoltages (voltage regulation issues) as well as sustained deviations from the system frequency (frequency regulation issues), power system loads can be adversely affected by a range of temporal issues. These include voltage sags, dips and swells, transient overvoltages, flicker, high frequency noise, phase imbalance and poor power factor.[22] Power quality issues occur when the power supply to a load deviates from the ideal: For an AC supply, the ideal is the current and voltage in-sync fluctuating as a perfect sine wave at a prescribed frequency with the voltage at a prescribed amplitude. For DC supply, the ideal is the voltage not varying from a prescribed level. Power quality issues can be especially important when it comes to specialist industrial machinery or hospital equipment.
Conductors
Conductors carry power from the generators to the load. In a grid, conductors may be classified as belonging to the transmission system, which carries large amounts of power at high voltages (typically more than 69 kV) from the generating centres to the load centres, or the distribution system, which feeds smaller amounts of power at lower voltages (typically less than 69 kV) from the load centres to nearby homes and industry.Choice of conductors is based upon considerations such as cost, transmission losses and other desirable characteristics of the metal like tensile strength. Copper, with lower resistivity than Aluminum, was the conductor of choice for most power systems. However, Aluminum has lower cost for the same current carrying capacity and is the primary metal used for transmission line conductors. Overhead line conductors may be reinforced with steel or aluminum alloys.
Conductors in exterior power systems may be placed overhead or underground. Overhead conductors are usually air insulated and supported on porcelain, glass or polymer insulators. Cables used for underground transmission or building wiring are insulated with cross-linked polyethylene or other flexible insulation. Large conductors are stranded for ease of handling; small conductors used for building wiring are often solid, especially in light commercial or residential construction.
Conductors are typically rated for the maximum current that they can carry at a given temperature rise over ambient conditions. As current flow increases through a conductor it heats up. For insulated conductors, the rating is determined by the insulation.[26] For overhead conductors, the rating is determined by the point at which the sag of the conductors would become unacceptable.
Capacitors and reactors
The majority of the load in a typical AC power system is inductive; the current lags behind the voltage. Since the voltage and current are out-of-phase, this leads to the emergence of an "imaginary" form of power known as reactive power. Reactive power does no measurable work but is transmitted back and forth between the reactive power source and load every cycle. This reactive power can be provided by the generators themselves, through the adjustment of generator excitation, but it is often cheaper to provide it through capacitors, hence capacitors are often placed near inductive loads to reduce current demand on the power system (i.e., increase the power factor), which may never exceed 1.0, and which represents a purely resistive load. Power factor correction may be applied at a central substation, through the use of so-called "synchronous condensers" (synchronous machines which act as condensers which are variable in VAR value, through the adjustment of machine excitation) or adjacent to large loads, through the use of so-called "static condensers" (condensers which are fixed in VAR value).Reactors consume reactive power and are used to regulate voltage on long transmission lines. In light load conditions, where the loading on transmission lines is well below the surge impedance loading, the efficiency of the power system may actually be improved by switching in reactors. Reactors installed in series in a power system also limit rushes of current flow, small reactors are therefore almost always installed in series with capacitors to limit the current rush associated with switching in a capacitor. Series reactors can also be used to limit fault currents.
Capacitors and reactors are switched by circuit breakers, which results in moderately large steps in reactive power. A solution comes in the form of static VAR compensators and static synchronous compensators. Briefly, static VAR compensators work by switching in capacitors using thyristors as opposed to circuit breakers allowing capacitors to be switched-in and switched-out within a single cycle. This provides a far more refined response than circuit breaker switched capacitors. Static synchronous compensators take a step further by achieving reactive power adjustments using only power electronics.Courtesy of wikipedia.....
No comments:
Post a Comment