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* Alstom (Schweiz) AG, Dept. SGDH, CH-5242 Birr, E-Mail: [email protected]

TRENDS IN INSULATION SYSTEMS FOR GENERATOR HV-WINDINGS
by
A. BOCK* R. JOHO T. BAUMANN C.-E. STEPHAN
ALSTOM
(Switzerland)
ABSTRACT
For the last 40 years high-voltage insulation systems
have been based on mica-glass taping impregnated with
resin as VPI and RR processes. Improvements in this
mature technology are still achievable; this is
demonstrated by an example showing more efficient and
economic manufacturing and another example showing
an improvement in the thermal rating. An outlook is
given into a new class of plastic compound insulation,
enabling completely new application processes and
revolutionizing the machine design.

KEYWORDS
Generator - Insulation - Thermal class

1. INTRODUCTION
Today's established high voltage insulation systems
basically consist of either mica-glass fabric tapes with
resin impregnation by vacuum pressure impregnation
(VPI), or pre-impregnated resin-rich mica-glass fabric
tapes (RR). Both systems use epoxy resins, cured at
elevated temperatures. A conductive anti-corona coating
is applied to the outer insulated surface in the slot
region, and a field-dependent corona protection in the
end-windings.
In both insulation systems the electrical partial
discharge activity inside the insulation is kept at a low
level, which in combination with the inherently partial
discharge-resistant mica, results in an excellent high-
voltage performance.
The design field strength for both systems is at
approximately 2.5kV/mm (referred to the flat sides of
the main insulation) using standard design, and extends
up to 3kV/mm for VPI-insulated machines having an
adapted design (e.g. rounded corners).
These two systems have been in operation for 40 years
in thousands of machines world-wide. Constant
observation (inspection, monitoring, diagnostics) of its
status has lead to a continuous improvement of design,
production and performance.
A quantitative analysis of the total upgrading potential
of air-cooled turbogenerators (Fig..1) has shown that
this potential could be realised by the combination of
the following improvements of the insulation system:
higher thermal class, increase in the dielectric field
strength and increase of the thermal conductivity.

Fig. 1: Stator slot with indirectly-cooled bars, copper
heat removal through insulation
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Session 2002
CIGR
11-102
2. PRINCIPLE WAYS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Higher thermal class : An obvious way to increase the
rated power output of a given generator size is to
increase current loading. The price to pay is an
increased thermal load. Todays generators are designed
in such a way that their insulation system is qualified
for class F (155C), while they operate in class B
(130C). Due to this long standing tradition of having
one thermal class in reserve, the generators with
increased rated current have to be upgraded to an
insulation system qualified for thermal class H (180C),
as first described in [1], Fig..2. Apart from satisfying
the general requirements as described by international
standards (e.g. IEC 216) each individual insulation
component has to be checked with the type of load it
has to carry and with respect to new phenomena
occurring due to increased temperature.
Higher thermal conductivity: Apart from very small and
unavoidable air inclusions, epoxy resin is the constituent
of the ground wall insulation with the lowest thermal
conductivity. Partial substitution of the resin by a
material with high thermal conductivity is a way to
improve by 20% or more while at least keeping
sufficient short and long term electrical strength [2].
Increase of dielectric field strength: The electrical field
in the ground wall insulation of a Roebel bar is non-
uniform. An obvious increase in field strength is present
at the edges of the bar (Fig..3). In breakdown and
electric ageing tests the corners are consequently found
to be the source of enhanced breakdown probability.
The increase in field strength in the corners is
determined by the shape of the copper. In its simplest
design this radius is determined by the corner radius of
the copper strand. By building up the corner radius to
about 2 mm, with the addition of semi-conducting filler,
the field strength in the corner is reduced by about 50%.
The limiting factor is the optimised copper content in
the slot.



Fig. 2: Upgrading in temperature class

Fig. 3: Influence of bar edge radius on electric field E

3. CLASS H INSULATION SYSTEM


The development work was started based on the well
proven insulation system Micadur

, being qualified for
at least class F and having an excellent operating
experience over the past 40 years. This existing system
was then modified to fulfil class.H requirements. This
improved system was subsequently named Micadur

-
class.H [1]. The system meets or exceeds all mechanical
and dielectric properties of the original Micadur.
According to the proven concept, development and
verification took place in a step-by-step approach:
material evaluation and testing, system testing and
prototype winding element testing.
The main activities concentrated on the impregnation
resin, a modified epoxy resin and the mica-tape used for
the ground-wall insulation. Modification in the mica-
tape glass carrier involved the change of the finish of
the glass fibres and the kind of weave of the glass tape.
The strand insulation already fulfilled class.H
requirements. The improvement in the impregnation
resin and optimisation of the mica tape resulted in far
better properties being achieved than specified for
class.H.
These achievements were then verified on samples,
applying numerous short and long-term investigations,
in the form of partial discharge and tan measurements,
voltage withstand capability, thermo-mechanical ageing
as well as failure analysis. These tests were performed
to evaluate and optimise the influence of materials and
manufacturing processes on the physical properties of
the insulation system. The manufacturing process
subsequently had to be adapted. Specifications to
achieve a sound overall quality level were defined.
The evaluated system then underwent a qualification
test according to the current revision of IEC.60505
"Evaluation and Qualification of Electrical Insulation
System" as a class 180C system. The standard was
chosen to stay in touch with the actual state of the art of
insulating testing. These tests invoke a comparison of
the existing system with the improved system, each
stressed with its corresponding ageing stress. For the
qualification tests samples were used with a similar
geometry and the same manufacturing process as used
now for the generators with the class.H insulation
system. These tests according to IEC.60505 showed
excellent results for Micadur-class.H as given in
Table.I. In addition non-standard tests (e.g.
delamination) were sucessfully performed.
Table I: Micadur

-class H qualification results
Criteria
Micadur-class H
@ 185C vs.
Micadur @
160C
Micadur-class H
@ 205C vs.
Micadur @
180C
Micadur-class H
@ 225C vs.
Micadur @
200C
PD: Qmax = += ++
Max tan ++ += ++
tan
@nominal
voltage
= = =
Dielectric
break-down
strength
1.5VN /1min
= = =
+: better / =: identical
Based on the results obtained, we see at least a 25K gain
in temperature for the same endurance specification for
the new Micadur-class.H compared to the standard
Micadur. Based on those comparative tests, the
Micadur-class.H behaves as reliably as the well-proven
Micadur.
This new insulation system allows an upgrading of the
generator rated power of some 10% without changes in
outer dimension, and leads even to a sligth improvement
in efficiency.

4. IMPROVEMENTS OF THE VPI-PROCESS
Development steps are even possible in the production
technology of VPI insulation systems. The VPI process
can be characterised by its major process steps: The
Roebel bars consist of insulated copper strands, which
are consolidated in the straight part by curing an epoxy
prepreg liner incorporated in the bar. Afterwards the
bars are pre-formed in the end-winding section. Then
the main insulation is applied by taping several layers of
mica tapes over the whole bar length. The next step is
the impregnation process with low viscosity resin by
vacuum pressure impregnation VPI.
The impregnation process starts with the evacuating of
the vessel containing the bars in order to remove the air
and the moisture inside the tapes. This is followed by
injection of the resin under pressure to fully impregnate
the mica tape. Then the resin is cured. Traditionally
during these steps the bars lay in single or multiple bar
press-forms or as in the case of global impregnation
the bars are mounted in the stator core.
In our novel technology, impregnation is performed in a
dedicated stator bar form, which is also used for curing
(Fig..4). The formerly separate steps of pre-drying and
pressing of the taped bar, impregnation and curing are
now carried out in one single process step.
In its generic form, todays standard impregnation
technology uses a huge amount of resin to flood the bars
in the vessels, therefore huge resin tanks are needed.
Only a small amount of this resin penetrates the mica
taping. The rest of the resin has to be stored in tanks for
re-use for the next impregnation. The storage
management of large amounts of reactive resins is
costly and always bears the problem that resin might
degenerate with storage time or due to moisture uptake.
Since the whole process from impregnation to final
curing of the mica taping is carried out in one closed
cycle under pressure, this leads to a high, reproducible
quality of the insulation.
The newly introduced technology TVPI technology
Tube-Vacuum Pressure Impregnation contains only
the amount of resin needed to impregnate the mica
taping of an individual bar. Since the bar is injected
with resin in its closed pressing form, no additional
resin is necessary for flooding the bars. Instead of
storage and handling of thousands of litres of resin only
some 10 litres are needed for an impregnation cycle.
The advantages are with respect to handling, logistics,
as well as environmental aspects.

Fig. 4: TVPI form, upper part removed

5. OUTLOOK: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW
INSULATION SYSTEM
A quantitative analysis of the total upgrading potential
has shown that of up to 20% increase in unit rating of an
air-cooled turbogenerator could be realised by the
combination of the following improvements of the
insulation system: thermal class 180C, increase
dielectric field strength and thermal conductivity. It is
evident that with todays matured insulation systems
such a quantum leap in technology cannot be realised.
Fig. 5: Extrusion of thermoplastic insulation
Therefore other insulation systems, based on modern
plastics, as well as the related production technologies
were looked into.
One possibility is to use high temperature filled
thermoplastics e.g. filled with conventional mica as
insulation material. The related production technologies
such as extrusion (Fig..5), flame spraying or injection
moulding have been investigated. Even combinations of
the described TVPI-concept and this new production
technology might be possible.
Another possibility is the use of a mica-free insulation
system, which is virtually free from voids and therefore
free of partial discharges. In this new insulation system
mica would not be a must any more. Here the relating
production technology combines the advantages of
todays well proven industrial powder coating and
whirl sintering technologies (Fig..6). It is applied in the
form of a powder, using an electrostatic spray gun, onto
the surface of the conductor to be insulated. The
conductor is preheated to a temperature where the
powder melts and hardens. The process could be
executed by a robot.
In any case the new production technology should have
the following advantages: flexibility and high
application speed, leading to a reduced through-put-
time.
Fig. 6: Coating device
The relating material combination must be environment
friendly since the material should be inherently free of
hazardous volatile components.

6. CONCLUSION
Based on todays insulation technologies using
impregnated mica-glass taping, new trends in insulation
systems for generator hv-windings have been shown.
Achievements with respect to material development, as
well as process development, have been described. A
novel solution under development, using modern
plastics and their related process technologies, was
presented. This could lead to a completely new way of
understanding the interaction between the insulation
system and the machine design.


7. REFERENCES
[1] R. Joho, J. Baumgartner, T. Hinkel, C.-E. Stephan,
M. Jung: Type-tested air-cooled turbo-generator in
the 500MVA range. CIGRE Session 2000, Paper 11-
101
[2] C.-E. Stephan, G. Liptk, R. Schuler: An improved
insulation system for the newest generation of stator
windings of rotating machines. CIGRE Session
1994, Paper 11-101