1

Abstract--This paper describes the different components and

types of the excitation systems. Among these different
excitation systems the models of DC1A and AC4A excitation
systems are studied. Analysis of each model is done using
MATLAB/ SIMULINK and the comparison of each result is
made. According to our result of the simulation AC4A excitation
systems have better performance than DC1A excitation systems.

Key words-- Excitation System, Synchronous Generator.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE basic function of an excitation system is to provide
direct current to the synchronous machine field winding.
In addition, the excitation system performs control and
protective functions essential to the satisfactory performance
of the power system by controlling the field voltage and
thereby the field current.
The control functions include the control of voltage and
reactive power flow, and the enhancement of system stability.
The protective functions ensure that the capability limits of
the synchronous machine, excitation system, and other
equipment are not exceeded.
When the behavior of the synchronous machines is to be
simulated accurately in power system stability case, it is
essential that the excitation systems of the synchronous
machines be modeled in sufficient details. The desired models
must be suitable for representing the actual excitation
equipment performance for both large and small perturbations
as well. Models of different excitation systems to be used for
system stability studies are presented in corresponding to the
IEEE document.
II. EXCITATION SYSTEMS
A. Types of the Excitation Systems
Accordingly to the excitation source used excitation systems
are classified as following:
DC systems
AC systems
Static systems
From the excitation power gain point of view excitation
systems could also be divided into the following groups:
Independent. Exciter is not connected to the grid thus
excitation parameters do not have direct connection with grid






parameters. The part of turbine mechanical power is used for
the excitation.
Dependent. Exciter utilizes the part of generator power or
is connected to the grid.
DC excitation system: This excitation system utilize dc
generators as sources of excitation power and provide current
to the rotor of the synchronous machine through slip rings.
The exciter may be driven by a motor or the shaft of the
generator. It may be either self-excited or separately excited.
When separately excited, the exciter field is supplied by a pilot
exciter comprising a permanent magnet generator. DC
excitation systems represent early systems, spanning the
years from the 1920s to the 1960s. They lost favor in the mid-
1960s and were superseded by ac exciters.
AC excitation systems: The excitation systems of this
category utilize alternators (ac machines) as sources of the
main generator excitation power. Usually, the excit er is on the
same shaft as the turbine generator. The ac output of the
exciter is rectified by either controlled or non-controlled
rectifiers to produce the direct current needed for the
generator field. The rectifiers may be stationary or rotating.AC
excitation systems can thus take many forms depending on
the rectifier arrangement, method of exciter output control, and
source of excitation for the exciter. Presently stationary and
rotating AC rectifier systems are in use. In stationary rectifiers
the DC output is fed to the field winding of the generator
through the slip rings. On the contrary, in rotating rectifiers
there is no need in slip rings and brushes and DC is directly
fed to the generator field as the armature of the exciter and
rectifiers rotate with the generator field. Such systems are
known as brushless systems and were developed to avoid the
problems with brushes when extremely high field currents of
large generators are applied.
In static (ST) excitation systems: All components in these
systems are static or stationary. Such systems directly
provide synchronous generator field winding with excitation
current by means of slip rings. Rectifiers in ST systems gain
the power from generator through auxiliary windings or a step-
down transformer. In such systems generator itself is power
source which means that the generator is self-excited. As the
generator is not able to produce any voltage without
excitation voltage, the generator must have auxiliary power
source to provide field current and energize the generator.
Station batteries are usually used for the purpose of additional
power sources and the process is named field flashing.
B. Excitation Systems Monitoring, Control and Protective
MATLAB-Simulink Based Analysis of the
Synchronous Machine Excitation System

T
2
Functions
A modern excitation control system is much more than a
simple voltage regulator. It includes a number of controls,
limiting, and protective functions. Any given excitation
system may include only some or all of these functions,
depending on the requirements of the specific application and
on the type of exciter. Main components of the excitation
systems are the following:
AC and DC regulators
Excitation system stabilizers
Power system stabilizers
Voltage sensing and load compensators
Under- and over excitation limiters
Volts-per-hertz limiters
Brief description of the control and protection functions:
AC voltage regulator main function is to preserve and
maintain generator stator voltage. Its additional function is the
generator excitation voltage control.
DC voltage regulator holds generator excitation voltage on
the constant level and is typically manually controlled.
Regulator is mainly used during tests, startups and to cover
the AC regulator outages. In this mode of operation the field
voltage is regulated.
Excitation systems stabilizing circuits are used to improve
the dynamic performance of the excitation system. As DC and
AC excitation systems have elements with significant time
constants and it is important to have feedback compensation.
The result is minimization of the phase shift caused by
elements time constants, what contributes towards generator
stable operation such as before the synchronization or after
load rejection.
Power system stabilizer (PSS) uses special stabilizing
signals for excitation system control and power system
dynamic performance improvement. Major input signals that
PSS usually utilizes are shaft speed, frequency and power.
Main function of the stabilizer is the rotor oscillations damping
through excitation control. To gain damping s tabilizer have to
produce appropriate electric torque component.
Load compensation is used to control voltage at a point that
is external or internal to the generator. Compensator has
adjustable impendence to simulate electrical distance between
the generator terminals and the point at which the voltage is
being controlled. Accordingly to the results achieved voltage
drop is calculated and generator terminal voltage regulated.
Voltage regulation at the point that is external to the generator
is commonly used to provide proper sharing of the reactive
power between generators bussed together. Voltage regulation
at the point that is internal to the generator is used to
compensate the voltage drop on the step up transformers.
Under excitation limiter (UEL) is used to prevent generator
excitation decrease to the limit at which generator stability is
lost. Limiter input signal is generator voltage and current or
active and reactive power. The limits are determined by signal
exceeding the reference level.
Over excitation limiter (OEL) major function is to prevent
generator overheating due to long term excitation overcurrent.
OEL recognizes overcurrent and after the delay reduce
excitation to the certain value. There are two ways of time
delay: fixed time and inverse time delay. Fixed time limiter
operates when excitation current exceeds reference value
during preset time. Inverse time limiter operates with the delay
that matches field thermal condition.
Volt-per-hertz limiter is responsible for generators and
step-up transformers protection from excessive magnetic flux
due to low frequency or overvoltage. Excessive magnetic flux
may cause generator or transformers serious overheating and
damage. Magnetic flux is proportional to the ratio of volt per
unit to hertz per unit. Generator protection is applied when
V/Hz regulator exceeds preset value during specified time. [1]
III Modeling of Complete Excitation Systems
Excitation systems mathematical models are important for
technical requirements estimation, additional control and
protection circuits configuration and coordination also for the
whole system stability research and development.
Fig. 1 depicts the general structure of a detailed excitation
system model having a one-to-one correspondence with the
physical equipment. While this model structure has the
advantage of retaining a direct relationship between model
parameters and physical parameters, such detail is considered
too great for general system studies. Therefore, model
reduction techniques are used to simplify and obtain a
practical model appropriate for the type of study for which it is
intended. The parameters of the reduced model are selected
such that the gain and phase characteristics of the reduced
model match those of the detailed model over the frequency
range of 0 to 3 Hz. In addition, all significant nonlinearities that
impact on system stability are accounted for. With a reduced
model, however, direct correspondence between the model
parameters and the actual system parameters is generally lost.

Fig. 1. St ruct ure of a det ailed excit at ion syst em model

IEEE has standardized 12 model structures for representing the
wide variety of excitation systems .for this paper among the 12
models we used two of them (AC4A and DC1A) for analysis.
A. Amplifier Model
The excitation system amplifier may be a magnetic amplifier,
rotating amplifier, or modern electronic amplifier. The amplifier
is represented by a gain K
A
and a time constant
A
, and the
transfer function is

( )
1 ( )
A R
A e
K v s
T S v s

(1)
Typical values of K
A
are in the range of 10 to 400. The amplifier
time constant is very small, in the range of 0.02 to 0.1 second,
3
and often is neglected.
B. Generator Model
The synchronous machine generated emf is a function of the
machine magnetization curve, and its terminal voltage is
dependent on the generator load. In the linearized model, the
transfer function relating the generator terminal voltage to its
field voltage can be represented by a gain K
G
and a time
constant
G
and the transfer function is

( )
1 ( )
G T
G F
K v s
T S v s

(2)

These constants are load-dependent, K
G
may vary between 0.7
to 1, and
G
between 1.0 and 2.0 seconds from full-load to no-
load.
C. Sensor Model
The voltage is sensed through a potential transformer and, in
one form, it is rectified through a bridge rectifier. The sensor is
modeled by a simple first order transfer function, given by


( )
1 ( )
S R
R T
v s K
T S v s

(3)

R
is very small, and we may assume a range of 0.01 to 0.06
second. Utilizing the above models the AVR block diagram is
shown in Fig. 2 [2]
Test Model
The AVR system of a generator has the following parameters
Type Gain Time constant(s)
Amplifier K
A
=1
A
=1
Generator K
G
=1
G
=1
Sensor K
R
=1
R
=0.05
Table 1: values of t he const ant s used
1. Type DC1A Exciter model
The type DC1A exciter model represents field controlled dc
communtator exciters, with continuously acting voltage
regulators. The exciter may be separately excited or self-
excited, the latter type being more common. When self-excited,
KE is selected so that initially VR=0, representing operator
action of tracking the voltage regulator by periodically
trimming the shunt field rheostat set point.

Fig. 2. IEEE t ype DC1A excit at ion syst em model. IEEE 1991

Sample data for DC1A exciter model
Self-excited DC exciter
K
A
=187 T
A
=1.15 T
E
=1.15 A
EX
=0.014 B
EX
=1.55
K
F
=0.058 T
F
=0.62 T
B
=0.06 T
C
=0.173 T
R
=0.05
V
RMAX
=5 V
RMIN
=-1.7 [1].


2. Type AC4A exciter model


Fig. 3 IEEE t ype AC4A excit at ion syst em model IEEE 1991
The type AC4A exciter model represents an alternator supplied
controlled rectifier excitation system - a high initial response
excitation system utilizing full wave thyristor bridge circuit.
Excitation system stabilization is usually provided in the form
of a series lag-lead network (transient gain reduction). The time
constant associated with the regulator and firing of thyristors
is represented by TA. The overall gain is represented by KA.
The rectifier operation is confined to mode 1 region. Rectifier
regulation effects on exciter output limits are accounted for by
constant KC. [1]
Sample data for AC4A exciter model
Excitation and regulator
K
A
=200.0 T
A
=0.04 T
C
=1.0 T
B
=12.0 V
RMAX
=5.64
V
RMIN
=4.53 K
C
=0 V
IMAX
=1.0 V
IMIN
=-10 [1]

Software Analysis (Simulink based diagram)
A. Using DC1A EXCITER

Fig. 4. Soft ware Analysis (Simulink based diagram) Using DC4A excit er

B. Using AC4A EXCITER
4

Fig. 5. Software Analysis (Simulink based diagram)Using AC4A exciter

IV. RESULT
Result using DC1A exciter

Fig. 6. out put of excit er using DC1A excit er

Fig. 7. out put of generat or using DC1A excit er

Result using AC4A exciter

Fig. 8. out put of excit er using AC41A excit er

Fig. 9. out put of generat or using AC1A excit er

V. CONCLUSION
As we can see from the scopes the results of the two excitation
systems are different. In the case of the AC4A exciter the
output of the exciter is a pure dc signal with no oscillation but
the output of the DC1A exciter shows that the output has
some ripple or oscillation stages before it can provide pure dc
excitation signal. The output of the generators also has a
difference. The output of the generator which is connected to
the DC1A exciter reaches steady state slower than that of the
generator connected to the AC4A. From these results we can
conclude that the AC4A excitation system has a better
performance in exciter output as well as generator output.
.

VI. References
[1] P.Kundur, Power System Stability and Control. McGraw-Hill,
pp. 315-375, 1994.
[2] Hadi Sadat power system analysis, New York: McGraw-Hill,
pp 555-556
[3] Vadim Slenduhhov, Jako Kilter Modeling and Analysis of the
Synchronous Generators Excitation Systems
[4] IEEE Guide for MATLAB/Simulink model of excitation
system.