A study on magnetic saturation effects in a synchronous generator during unbalanced faults

This paper reviews a phase-domain synchronous generator model and investigates the effects of the nonuniform air gap saturation on the performance of a three-phase salient pole synchronous generator during a single-phase-to-ground short circuit. Accurate representation of magnetic saturation effects in synchronous machines is required when studying their behavior closely. Modelling a synchronous machine directly in the physical phase-domain instead of the dqo-coordinates permits an easy and accurate representation of magnetic saturation in the machine. The reviewed model has been verified to be accurate and effective in representing the behavior of synchronous generators. The test results have showed the strong impact of the nonuniform air gap on the magnetic saturation in a three-phase salient pole synchronous generator.