Power Regulation and Fault Diagnostics of a Three-Pond Run-of-River Hydropower Plant

Abstract

Hydropower generation is one of the most prominent renewable sources of power. Run-of-river hydropower is like traditional hydropower but has significantly less environmental impact. Faults in industrial processes are a cause for large amounts of losses in monetary value and off times in industrial processes and consumer utilities. It is more efficient for the system to identify the occurring faults and, if possible, to have the processes running without interruption with the occurrence of a fault. This work uses a model previously proposed—the three-pond hydraulic run-of-river system and integrates it with a turbine and regulated power generation. After integration of the hydraulic system with the turbine and power generation, we then design a diagnostic system for commonly occurring faults within the system. Mathematical models of the faults are formulated and residues are calculated. Fault detection and identification is achieved by analyzing the residues and then a fault-tolerant control is proposed. The Fault Diagnostic Module can correctly detect the faults present and offers sufficient fault compensation to make the system run nearly normally in the event of fault occurrence. With the emergence of distributed power generation smart grids and renewable energy, this fault diagnostic is able to reliably offer uninterrupted power to the grid and thus to consumers.