Uma proposta de regulador automático de tensão microcontrolado para geradores síncronos isolados

Abstract

The excitation control systems in synchronous machines must very quickly detect changes caused by load increase on the isolated generator and act on the excitation system in a rapid and efficient way in order to maintain terminal voltage at optimal desired levels. Unlike other works related with this area which used analog-based electronic circuits, this controller can in many case be built utilizing microcontrolled technology which is more efficient and flexible to implement different control strategies, as well as having a low cost of production. The approach of this research consists in a proposal to apply an automatic excitation controller, utilizing a PID control loop, including manual adjustments and monitorings of terminal voltage and stator temperature of the machine. It employs a PIC16F877A microcontroller from the Microchip Technology Company. The results obtained through practical tests in laboratory with a direct online start of induction motors (1 and 2 HP) on a 2 kVA generator show that the controller acts to recover the terminal voltage to the adopted setpoint in a reduced time. Finally, the results were also compared to the time of response provided from another well-known automatic voltage regulator found in the market, in order to prove the good control performance of this project.