India’s largest short circuit generator & its salient features

Short circuit test is one of the very important tests on electrical power equipment to verify its design aspects to withstand the critical severities under the condition of actual fault. To perform these tests a high power source is required. This source can be a grid supply with a high fault level or can be a high power short circuit generator. This paper gives the salient features of high power generator installed at Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), Bangalore. This 2500MVA short circuit generator is of highest capacity in the sub-continent of South Asia as on date. The design features are intricate in nature and complex in terms of stator, rotor damper winding and stator end winding. This paper presents the specification, design concept, constructional features, comparison between salient pole and turbo type of generators and other auxiliaries of the generator. Mechanism of achieving the maximum short circuit current is broadly discussed in this paper. This rare facility at CPRI meets high power testing requirement for the electrical industry and utilities of India and other part of the world. In this paper attempts are also made to bring out the highlights of operational features of capital intensive 2500 MVA SC generator. This generator has been used for short circuit testing of various power system components over the period of time.