Adaptive excitation control

An adaptive control scheme, with low computational requirements, applied to controlling the excitation of a synchronous generator is described in this paper. The adaption scheme adjusts the feedback gains of a linear controller to minimise the errors between the terminal voltage of the machine and its reference value. Minimising these errors over the time period corresponding to one cycle of normal machine oscillations results in highly desirable damping characteristics. Computer simulations are used to compare the response of the adaptive controller with that of a conventionally controlled machine.