4 ms·
How 30 Lines of Code Blew Up a 27-Ton Generator
- Grakel 6y agoThey made the generator change speeds too quickly, which destroyed it. I'm not sure how the size of the code is supposed to matter.
- airbreather 6y agoSo they messed with the synchroniser and the synch check relays, on a reciprocating deisel. I design such systems and it sort of reads ok, but a few key details not right or not explained - those size of generators grid connected will have reverse power, pole slip, instantaneous over current electrical protection as well, AVR excitation limiting, plus overspeed relays which would not have let this happen. (gas turbines traditionally have a hydraulic control oil relief overspeed "bolt" that comes out with centrifugal force and no software could mess with, these days electronic replacements are coming in vogue, but...) As for synch check, rule of thumb is two independant systems, one hard wired, three overall if you can swing it because often one of the multifunction protection relays will have that function available and you wire it and/or code it in line. But I have seen big reciprocating diesels go into synch at 30-60 degrees out of phase and if they hold without tripping the generator protection then you might get a brief flicker of the lights, some stress on the crankshaft that who knows what it does long term, but some of them were old and had it done to them many times. Yeah, so they did it, waste of a good machine for known outcome if ask me, very wasteful with no need. And it is a very particular kind of attack, if you knew it was a problem it could be protected against for hundreds or thousands of generators literally in 24 hours or less - hardwired synch check which can be achieved with a voltage relay at it's simplest. So I am not seeing anything in that excerpt other than highghting bad design practices.