The world’s first hydroelectric power station was built in France in 1878 and used hydroelectric generators to generate electricity. Until now, the manufacture of hydroelectric generators has been called the “crown” of French manufacturing. But as early as 1878, the hydroelectric generator had a preliminary design. In 1856, the Lianlian Alliance brand commercial DC generator came out. In 1865, the Frenchman Casseven and the Italian Marko envisioned combining a DC generator and a water turbine to generate electricity. In 1874, Piroski from Russia also proposed a design to turn water energy into electrical energy. In 1878, the first hydroelectric power plants in the world were built at the Gragside Manor in England and Sirmite near Paris, France, and the first batch of DC hydroelectric generators appeared. In 1891, the first modern hydroelectric generator (Laufen Hydrogenerator Hydrogenerator) was born in Ruitu Olican Company. From 1891 to the present, huge progress has been made in hydroelectric generator technology for more than 100 years.
Initial stage (1891-1920)
During the initial period of the birth of hydroelectric generators, people connected an ordinary direct current generator or alternator to a water turbine to form a set of hydroelectric generators. At that time, there was no specially designed hydroelectric generator. When the Lauffen hydroelectric power plant was built in 1891, a specially designed hydroelectric generator appeared. Since the early hydropower plants were small, isolated power plants with a small power supply range, the parameters of the generators were very chaotic, with various voltages and frequencies. Structurally, the hydro-generators are mostly horizontal. In addition, most of the hydro-generators in the initial stage are DC generators, and later, single-phase AC, three-phase AC, and two-phase AC hydro-generators appear.
The more well-known hydro-generator manufacturing companies in the initial stage include BBC, Oelikon, Siemens, Westinghouse (WH), Edison and General Motors (GE), etc., and representative hydro-turbine power generation The machine includes the 300hp three-phase AC turbine generator of the Laufen Hydropower Plant (1891), the 750kW three-phase AC generator of the Folsom Hydropower Station in the United States (made by GE Corporation, 1893), and the Adams Hydropower Plant on the American side of Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls) 5000hp two-phase AC hydroelectric generator (1894), 12MNV?A and 16MV?A horizontal hydroelectric generators (1904-1912) at the Ontario Power Station on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and a 40MV?A stand manufactured by GE in 1920 Type hydroelectric generator. The Hellsjon Hydropower Station in Sweden was built in 1893. The power plant was equipped with four 344kV?A three-phase AC horizontal hydro-generator sets. The generators were manufactured by Sweden’s General Electric Company (ASEA).
In 1891, the World Exposition was held in Frankfurt, Germany. In order to demonstrate the transmission and application of alternating current at the meeting, the organizers of the conference installed a set of hydro-turbine generators in the Portland cement plant in Larffen, Germany, 175km away. , For exposition lighting and driving a 100hp three-phase induction motor. The hydro-generator of Laufen Power Station was designed by Brown, chief engineer of Ruitu Oerlikon Company, and manufactured by Oerlikon Company. The generator is a three-phase horizontal type, 300hp, 150r/min, 32 poles, 40Hz, and the phase voltage is 55~65V. The outer diameter of the generator is 1752mm, and the length of the iron core is 380mm. The number of generator stator slots is 96, closed slots (called holes at the time), each pole and each phase is a copper rod, the slot of the wire rod is insulated with a 2mm asbestos plate, and the end is a bare copper rod; the rotor is an embedded ring The claw poles of the field winding. The generator is driven by a vertical hydraulic turbine through a pair of bevel gears, and is excited by another small DC hydraulic generator. The generator efficiency reaches 96.5%.
The successful operation and transmission of the hydro-generators of the Laufen Power Station to Frankfurt is the first industrial test of three-phase current transmission in human history. It is a breakthrough in the practical application of alternating current, especially three-phase alternating current. The generator is also the world’s first three-phase hydro generator.
The above is the design and development of hydroelectric generators in the first thirty years. In fact, looking at the development process of hydroelectric generator technology, hydroelectric generators are generally a development stage every 30 years. That is, the period from 1891 to 1920 was the initial stage, the period from 1921 to 1950 was the stage of technological growth, the period from 1951 to 1984 was the stage of rapid development, and the period from 1985 to 2010 was the stage of steady development.
Post time: Sep-09-2021
