Modeling of Hydraulic control System of Power Intake Gates in Rosiers Hydropower Plant

Abstract

Hydro Power Plants and Power Plants in general, consist of various components that are controlled by various control systems. These systems are subjected, from time to time, to some changes in the operational conditions and improvement processes; hence some modifications in the parameters of these systems may be needed in order to adapt to the new environment. Modeling and simulation of these systems is a good choice to test these modifications in the systems parameters. Simulation is less time and effort consuming and cheaper compared with experimental testing and prototyping. The aim of this thesis is to develop a physical model for the hydraulic control system of power intake gates, which is a major component in a hydropower plant, in Rosiers Hydropower Plant. The hydraulic control system components are modeled and analyzed using the physical modeling toolboxes inside the commercially available simulation software, MATLAB/Simulink. In order to verify the developed model, system variables such as raising and lowering time, position of power intake gate and oil pressure are measured on the real system and then compared with the simulation results. Also a graphical user interface was developed to ease interacting with the model and displaying the simulation results. Simulation results showed very good agreement with the measurements. Furthermore, by the help of Graphical User Interface, effect of varying intake gate weight on raising and lowering time is investigated and analyzed. The developed model can be used as based model to which a mechanical model of the power intake gate and physical model of electrical components such as motors can be integrated for deeper investigation behind the hydraulic system model. In addition, if a modification in the existing system is to be made, the effect can be tested over the model in advance.