Damping of Power Oscillations in Salient-Pole Machines with Static Exciters

It is generally accepted that a high-performance excitation system may reduce the effective internal damping of a synchronous machine. Alternately, studies and field tests indicate that a fast-acting excitation system offers the best opportunity for increased damping through the use of an auxiliary signal into the voltage regulator. The application of static exciters to water-wheel generators requires an awareness of these possible changes in machine damping. The use of an auxiliary damping signal into the voltage regulator may become especially important for machines that are inherently lightly damped.