The increasing demand for electricity over the last few decades has not been followed by adequate growth in electric infrastructure. As a result, the reliability and safety of the electric grids are facing tremendously growing pressure. Large blackouts in the recent past indicate that sustaining system reliability and integrity turns out to be more and more difficult due to reduced transmission capacity margins and increased stress on the system. Due to the heavy loading conditions that occur when the system is under stress, the protection systems are susceptible to mis-operation. It is under such severe situations that the network cannot afford to lose its critical elements like the main generation units and transmission corridors. In addition to the slow but steady variations in the network structure over a long term, the grid also experiences drastic changes during the occurrence of a disturbance. One of the main reasons why protection relays mis-operate is due to the inability of the relays to adjust to the evolving network scenario. Such failures greatly compound the severity of the disturbance, while diminishing network integrity leading to catastrophic system-wide outages. With the advancement of Wide Area Measurement Systems (WAMS), it is now possible to redesign network protection schemes to make them more adaptive and thus improve the security of the system. Often flagged for exacerbating the events leading to a blackout, the back-up distance protection relay scheme for transmission line protection and the loss-of-field relay scheme for generator unit protection can be greatly improved from an adaptability-oriented redesign. Protection schemes in general would benefit from a power re-distribution technique that helps predict generator outputs immediately after the occurrence of a contingency. / Ph. D.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work aims to evaluate the performance of the loss of field protection methods in synchronous generators. The methods are introduced to make available in a single text the various ways to protect the synchronous generator against the loss of field. The conventional methods have some problems, and the main of them is the improper operation caused by the power stable oscillations. In order to solve or minimize the relay algorithm malfunction, two new methods of loss of field protection are proposed. The first is designed to increase the operational area of the generator on steady state conditions, bounded by the conventional loss of field protection. It was accomplished by modifying the operational characteristic of the mho relay, which is better coordinated with the generator capability curve. The second makes use of loss of field conception in a fuzzy set theory. With the objective to identify the performance of each one, the methods were evaluated through computational simulations of loss of field and stable power oscillation. The methods were set and evaluated according to the generator parameters (Xd and X'd). Since, tests in three machines with different parameters were carried out. So it was possible to conclude that the methods do not behave the same way for different generators parameters. On the other hand, the proposed technique, which is based on the fuzzy set theory was more efficient and not have been affected by the generator parameters and system considered. / Este trabalho visa avaliar o desempenho dos métodos de proteção contra a perda de excitação em geradores síncronos. Os métodos são apresentados de forma a tornar disponível em um único texto as diversas maneiras de se proteger o gerador síncrono contra a perda do seu sistema de excitação. Os métodos convencionais abordados apresentam alguns problemas, sendo o principal, a operação indevida causada por oscilações estáveis de potência. Visando solucionar ou minimizar estes problemas, dois novos métodos de proteção contra a perda de excitação são propostos. O primeiro, objetivando aumentar a área operacional do gerador em regime permanente, restringida pela proteção contra a perda de excitação convencional, por meio de uma característica operacional modificada, melhor coordenada com a curva de capacidade do gerador. O segundo introduz os fundamentos clássicos da proteção contra a perda de excitação na teoria dos conjuntos nebulosos. Com o objetivo de se identificar o desempenho de cada um, os métodos existentes e os propostos foram avaliados por meio de simulações computacionais de perda de excitação e oscilação estável de potência. Como os métodos possuem ajustes em função dos parâmetros do gerador protegido (Xd e X d), realizaram-se testes com três máquinas de parâmetros distintos. Deste modo, foi possível concluir que os métodos não se comportam da mesma maneira para geradores de diferente porte. Por outro lado, a técnica proposta, que tem como base a teoria dos conjuntos nebulosos se mostrou eficiente e não teve seu desempenho afetado pelos parâmetros do gerador e do sistema considerado.