Authorized Personnel Only - Power Plant Sync Lights Explained (S2E6)

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[brianweber]

At the power plant that I operated at for 35+ years, the control circuit for the Generator breaker to the grid was wired through the sync-scope. The sync-scope would not allow the breaker to be closed unless the generator was in phase (+/- ~5 degrees).

[rbrtcrowther]

I read an article years ago about this and there is a very large hydro plant somewhere in the world that had a problem with the big kerchunka switch that connected to the grid. Basically it went bad so when the confuser had synced the generator to the grid it threw the switch however the faulty switch took a few seconds to engage resulting in the 350ton turbine jumping in to phase. After investigating it was said to have reduced the lifespan of the generator by about ten years

[redsquirrelftw]

Someone told me a story of someone who got a brain fart and turned it on when light was ON instead of OFF. 180 degrees out of phase. Broke the turbine shaft, which was several feet in diameter. Required a change of underpants... and probably a new job lol.

[fanmanmathias]

The refinery I work at has 1940’s vintage steam driven turbine generators, and the syncroscope is two lights and a gauge. I find this vintage equipment fascinating and love these videos.

[markhodgson]

I'm so pleased to see you guys are still around

[dh-]

When SHTF happens, you should A: live near a 100+ year old hydro facility and B: know a guy like Chris and what his family likes to eat for dinner.

[brianburns]

Thank you for explaining how to synchronize a generator. I saw the light system in operation once. My friend was in a group of Navy veterans who are restoring a WWII ship. They were running a generator on the ship and synchronized to shore power.

[joshm]

Man I love this channel.

We’ve recently had to bring up our 6MW diesel genset “manually, ” because for some reason, automatic remote control is nonfunctional. I say “manually” because we’ve got Woodward DSLCs that are trimming the generator speeds automatically, but breaker closures are manual, while watching the synchroscope. It’s a lot of fun.

Makes total sense that it’s the potential difference between the two sources that powers the lights, and that 0 difference = perfect synch = no power to the lights. Great explanation.

[eh]

Brilliantly simple! I was wondering how they worked and it turns out I've done basically the same thing many times in audio.
1) basically a poor man's karaoke machine! (Take +ve from Left & +ve from Right and drive a speaker with that - the center (voices) drop out and the difference (music) comes through).
2) Accidentally feeding a mono signal over a stereo line into a balanced input will also cancel the audio. (A stereo signal over stereo line into a balanced input will do the karaoke thing too)

[zombieregime]

Interesting side note, this makes a decent demonstration for how clipping diodes affect the wave in distortion pedals. If you were to put diodes of a different forward voltage in they would clip the wave at different levels modifying it the way going from not illuminated to illuminated Thats really neat! Of course in a guitar effect it doesnt 'sneak up' on the wave, but still cool to see it being affected!

[andyfeimsternfei]

An analogy I often use is to think of two battalions marching. When they step at the same cadence, their frequency is matched. If battalion A's left foot steps forward and Battalion B's right steps forward, they are 180 degrees out of phase. If both battalions' left step forward at the same time, they are in phase.

[devmeistersuperprecision]

When I was a student in power engineering, we worked with massive motor generator sets in the power lab. One of experiments was to set up the gen set as an alternator with the motor driving it. Once you got the exciter adjusted for the field windings, we then used these very lights on a sync panel to know when to tie into the grid. We also went thru issues of “Hunting”. That can be a brown trouser moment. My prof. Once worked on a smaller plant with a single vertical Francis. The intake room was almost empty and the wicket gates exposed. There was the nicest German brown trout in there. So they got out the popeel pocket fisherman to catch that trout before it got jammed in a wicket gate. These small mountain plants were the coolest power plants. Some with black marble and brass control panels. One of the coolest ever is the single turbine plant in a house basement in telleride Colorado. The building was the mine supers house. You could hear this alternator running in the kitchen. Power was sold back to the grid.

[Sugoiboid]

Thank you for that literal 'hands on' explanation at 4:00! Really clears up why bad things could happen when the generator is not synchronized..

[therealchayd]

I remember seeing a hacking demo done by a university where it was demonstrated how much damage could be done to a large (i.e. 1 MW) diesel genset if it was dropped on the grid out of sync; it turns out that diesel engines don't take kindly to having their crankshafts stopped abruptly!

[coniow]

Thank you for that. It DOES make it clearer. A picture paints 1000 words 🙂
Reminds me of car alternators, and the "warning" light. Lit up when it is NOT running, as the light circuit is earthed THROUGH the alternator, off when the alternator is spinning as there is positive volts on both terminals, no earth, so no circuit.

[toddavis]

TY Chris and Paul, beautiful explanation of putting generators in synchronization.

[mark]

Thanks, I had it as soon as you said one leg was connected to each system. Assuming each system’s ground are connected together at this point. Cheers

[Big_Flubba]

Love the disclaimer! I read the whole thing.

[JMSobie]

I was up at the Buckley Old Engine Show this past week and got to meet Steve Scott, who works at White's Bridge Hydro and was kind enough to explain the massive switchboard in the Wes Scott Powerhouse that controlled the former Eaton Rapids Worthington diesels, one of which gets started daily. I know you like to keep your specific site locations hush, but he did say he and his dad have worked on some of your turbines. But hey man it was your plant stuff that got me asking the questions; that damn switchboard had kept me puzzled for years! It's not connected so he let me play with all the big manual breaker trips and the field rheostats. It was awesome even if it wasn't actually doing anything, lol.

[DrewskisBrews]

Thanks for covering 2 x bulb = redundancy .