Finite Element Calculation of Leakage Inductances of a Saturated Salient-Pole Synchronous Machine with Damper Circuits

It is important to understand the relationship between leakage flux distributions and machine characteristics for better design of synchronous machines. This paper presents a calculation method for leakage inductances of saturated salient-pole machines with damper circuits. Leakage inductances are divided into the self-leakage, gap leakage, and winding-differential leakage inductances. The leakage inductances correspond directly to the leakage flux distributions in the machines. Cross-magnetizing inductances are also calculated. The method is applied to a 300 MVA class generator. The relationship between the winding distributions, flux distributions, saturation, and inductances is discussed. Weak magnetic influence of the damper circuits on the armature in the d-axis is quantitatively illustrated through values of the winding-differential leakage inductances. The cross-magnetizing inductances, except for the d-axis damper circuits, are relatively large. Variations of the armature self-leakage inductances with saturation are small, and variations of the field and damper self-leakage inductances are larger.