Generator protection system and method of compensating for errors in

Abstract

A new method of compensating for errors in phasor estimation due to oscillations caused by discrete fourier transforms used to estimate signal frequency is provided. The method uses a variable N-point DFT to compute one or more phasors based on data acquired from one or more sampled signals. At each sampling interval the change in phasor angle between the current sampling interval and the previous sampling interval is determined and used to estimate the instantaneous frequency of the signal. A non-oscillating phasor indicative of the instantaneous magnitude, angular frequency, and phase angle of the signal is generated based on the instantaneous frequency estimate. Instantaneous frequencies are averaged over a cycle of the signal to generate an average cycle frequency. In addition, a number of discrete frequencies and corresponding DFT windows based on a fixed sampling rate and a predetermined fundamental frequency of the signal are defined and used in estimating the instantaneous frequency. The DFT window is adjusted by setting it equal to the DFT window corresponding to the discrete frequency closest to the average cycle frequency. A generator protection system analyzing voltage and current signals output from a generator is also provided. The voltage and current signals are monitored by respective voltage and current sensors to produce a plurality of signals representative of voltage and current characteristics of the generator. The system comprises components for receiving and sampling signal input, and for processing the samples according to the inventive method.