RT-LAB BERTA combines a Real-Time Digital Simulator, based on Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim Real-Time Digital Power Grid Simulator technology, and the reprogrammable LabVIEW-based GUI of Opal-RT’s TestDrive testing system.

RT-LAB BERTA is the best tool available today for solving speed regulation problems at the source, and at the lowest possible cost. Conduct Real-Time simulation at the power plant, directly on the actual AC generator, while recording signal data needed in order to effectively model the turbine and regulator under test. In addition, you can drive the actual generator as if it were actually operating in islanded mode.

Until now, model and parameter identification tests have been very expensive, time consuming, don’t provide an accurate and robust model of a turbine, and require the following steps be performed for each machine:

• Preliminary settings based on specs provided by turbine and generator manufacturers
• Model and parameter identification tests in the power station
• Off-line stability studies to recommend appropriate settings, based on models and parameters determined by tests carried out in the power station
• A return to the power station to implement new settings on the speed regulator

RT-LAB BERTA allows these operations to take place in a single test run from within the power station, translating into significant returns on investment including:

• Improved accuracy and stability of speed regulator settings in islanded mode, ensuring that each machine has a stabilizing effect on the overall power system
• Improved accuracy of regulator and turbine models
• Improved stability of and reduced demand on servomotors by applying appropriate settings
• Productivity gains for model identification and control settings
• Shorter tests in the power station due to RT-LAB BERTA’s ease of use.

How RT-LAB BERTA works

RT-LAB BERTA can conduct Real-Time simulation of the unit under test allowing you to quickly and accurately set regulator parameters, ensuring frequency stability of the unit when operated in an islanded power system. This improves the unit’s contribution to power system stability when it is synchronized with a large power system.

RT-LAB’s Real-Time Digital Simulator generates a speed error signal corresponding to the behavior of the generator in an islanded power system. Injecting this signal into the regulator while the unit is generating power in the system sets up a closed loop, simulating the operation in an islanded system, even though the AC generator is actually synchronized to a multi-machine power grid. The speed error signal is added to the actual frequency signal so that the regulator still reacts to an actual system frequency variation.

Turbine model parameters can change over time because of turbine wear and water head variation. By using test and measurement results, RT-LAB BERTA lets you precisely estimate adequate turbine and speed regulator models. Such precision also allows for more accurate offline simulation and adjustment of speed regulator settings.

The RT-LAB BERTA approach produces results that increase in precision with each subsequent test session and that are virtually identical to those expected from an actual islanded power system, but requiring only a fraction of the engineer’s time, compared to traditional test methods.