Practical Investigation of Load Angle Oscillations with Grid Connected Synchronous Generator

This paper presents a practical investigation of load angle oscillations in a test rig consisting of a grid connected synchronous generator. An embedded real-time PC connected to various sensors and actuators manages both the active power control and the excitation system control. Different control schemes, including Matlab/Simulink controllers, can be implemented and tested. The generator is connected to the European power grid via a variable inductance. Two different kinds of load angle oscillations are investigated. One is caused by a weak electrical connection of the synchronous machine to the grid because of a large inductance and the other is caused by the active power control of the generator. The practical results are compared to analytic and simulated results. The test rig can be used for practical tests of various control schemes to damp load angle oscillations in order to demonstrate if a certain control scheme can be practically implemented in a state of the art programmable logic controller.