Impact of Inter-Turn Short Circuit in Excitation Windings on Magnetic Field and Stator Current of Synchronous Condenser under Unbalanced Voltage

Inter-turn short circuit in the excitation windings of synchronous condensers is a common fault that directly impacts their normal operation. However, current fault analysis and diagnosis of synchronous condensers primarily rely on voltage-balanced conditions, while research on short-circuit faults under unbalanced voltage conditions is limited. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the fault characteristics of inter-turn short circuits in the excitation windings of synchronous condensers under unbalanced grid voltage. Mathematical models were developed to represent the air gap flux density and stator parallel currents for four operating conditions: normal operation and inter-turn short circuit fault under balanced voltage, as well as a process without fault and with inter-turn short circuit fault under unbalanced voltage. By comparing the harmonic content and amplitudes, various aspects of the fault mechanism of synchronous condensers were revealed, and the operating characteristics under different conditions were analyzed. Considering the four aforementioned operating conditions, finite element simulation models were created for the TTS-300-2 synchronous condenser in a specific substation as a case study. The results demonstrate that the inter-turn short circuit fault in the excitation windings under unbalanced voltage leads to an increase in even harmonic currents in the stator parallel currents, particularly the second and fourth harmonics. This validates the accuracy of the theoretical analysis findings.