The Effect of Loading on The Generator Voltage on The Pico-Hydro Power Plant: Experimental Study

Abstract

Experimental study: generator loading at a 1 KVA, 400 Volt, 50 Hz, 1500 rpm power plant shows that the frequency and voltage are down slowly due to the inability of the spin of the water turbine to compensate the nominal rotation of the generator. Impulsive and rapid load changes can also cause the voltage drop in the generator. Voltage instability will affect the quality of apparent power generator generated. In this study, the generator is driven by a water turbine at 1500 rpm and loaded 1 kW. The excitation system generator is a self-excitation system. Voltage excitation field 18 Volt generator and excitation current 350 mA. The result of simulation of generator loading at 414.3-1183.2 VA, generator voltage decreases slowly from 399-380 Volt. Generic power generated by generator shows a linear increase of 138.1-394.4 VA. If a load of the generator is raised up to 1183.3 VA, the generator voltage falls to 380 Volts. The real power produced below the nominal is 394.4 VA and the load current is 0.6 Ampere.