woodward 723PLUS Generator Control

8230-3011, 8230-3012

Application and Hardware Manual

Important Definitions

This is the safety alert symbol. It is used to alert you to potential personal injury hazards. Obey all safety messages that follow this symbol to avoid possible injury or death.

DANGER—Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, will result in death or serious injury

WARNING—Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in death or serious injury. 

CAUTION—Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in minor or moderate injury. 

NOTICE—Indicates a hazard that could result in property damage only (including damage to the control). 

IMPORTANT—Designates an operating tip or maintenance suggestion.

Overspeed / Overtemperature / Overpressure

The engine, turbine, or other type of prime mover should be equipped with an overspeed shutdown device to protect against runaway or damage to the prime mover with possible personal injury, loss of life, or property damage.

The overspeed shutdown device must be totally independent of the prime mover control system. An overtemperature or overpressure shutdown device may also be needed for safety, as appropriate.

Personal Protective Equipment

The products described in this publication may present risks that could lead to personal injury, loss of life, or property damage. Always wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the job at hand. Equipment that should be considered includes but is not limited to:

Eye Protection Hearing Protection Hard Hat Gloves Respirator Always read the proper Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for any working fluid(s) and comply with recommended safety equipment. Safety Boots

Start-up

Be prepared to make an emergency shutdown when starting the engine, turbine, or other type of prime mover, to protect against runaway or overspeed with possible personal injury, loss of life, or property damage.

Automotive Applications

On- and off-highway Mobile Applications: Unless Woodward's control functions as the supervisory control, customer should install a system totally independent of the prime mover control system that monitors for supervisory control of engine (and takes appropriate action if supervisory control is lost) to protect against loss of engine control with possible personal injury, loss of life, or property damage.

Battery Charging Device

To prevent damage to a control system that uses an alternator or battery-charging device, make sure the charging device is turned off before disconnecting the battery from the system.

Electrostatic Discharge Awareness

Electronic controls contain static-sensitive parts. Observe the following precautions to prevent damage to these parts:

Discharge body static before handling the control (with power to the control turned off, contact a grounded surface and maintain contact while handling the control). 

Avoid all plastic, vinyl, and Styrofoam (except antistatic versions) around printed circuit boards. 

Do not touch the components or conductors on a printed circuit board with your hands or with conductive devices.

To prevent damage to electronic components caused by improper handling, read and observe the precautions in Woodward manual 82715, Guide for Handling and Protection of Electronic Controls, Printed Circuit Boards, and Modules.

Follow these precautions when working with or near the control. 

 1. Avoid the build-up of static electricity on your body by not wearing clothing made of synthetic materials. Wear cotton or cotton-blend materials as much as possible because these do not store static electric charges as much as synthetics.

2. Do not remove the printed circuit board (PCB) from the control cabinet unless absolutely necessary. If you must remove the PCB from the control cabinet, follow these precautions:    Do not touch any part of the PCB except the edges. Do not touch the electrical conductors, the connectors, or the components with conductive devices or with your hands. When replacing a PCB, keep the new PCB in the plastic antistatic protective bag it comes in until you are ready to install it. Immediately after removing the old PCB from the control cabinet, place it in the antistatic protective bag.

General Information & Description

Introduction

This manual describes the 723PLUS Generator Control, P/N’s 8280-3011/12 (High & Low Voltage Control)

Application

The control is intended for use in a variety of generator applications; for auxiliary generators and diesel electric propulsion in the marine market, and for island mode systems and for base loading against an infinite bus in the Power Plant market.

The MW Control mode is especially useful for applications where the grid is weak and large frequency excursions are expected. Under these circumstances, operating in droop mode is not practical, as large variations in load would be experienced, due to frequency shifts of the grid. In MW control, the speed of the engine is maintained by the grid, and the load on the generator remains constant throughout the frequency excursion.

The control provides closed loop speed control, with a torsional filter and a notch (band-stop) filter to help to eliminate the problems caused by low frequency oscillations due to engine & generator inertias and flexible couplings.

Three modes of operation are available: 

  Droop control based on a 4–20 mA MW Transducer input, or the actuator position.  Isochronous load sharing with soft loading/unloading and automatic generator breaker open command once the engine has unloaded. 

  MW control with soft loading/unloading and automatic generator breaker open command once the engine has unloaded. The reference may be adjusted locally (Increase/Decrease contacts) or remotely (analogue reference: 4–20 mA or Modbus® *).

Start and maximum fuel limiters are provided. A load limiter, enabled during KW control, will provide load de-rating during frequency excursions. Additional protection is offered to open the Grid Breaker or the Generator Breaker, should the frequency excursion become too large.

The control can be adjusted/biased for synchronising the generator to the bus by means of the Increase/Decrease contacts, or by the input provided for a Woodward Unit Synchroniser (SPM-A or DSLC™ - Digital Synchroniser & Load Control). The control may also be used for synchronising to the grid using the second synchroniser input (System Synchroniser), for an SPM-A or DSLC.

One LON connection of the 723PLUS may be connected to a DSLC, so that all of the generator parameters may be monitored within the 723PLUS, and then also via the Modbus.

One serial port (J3) is available for Modbus communications using RS-232,   RS-422 or RS-485. Engine and generator parameters can be monitored and certain control functions sent to the control via the Modbus.

4–20 mA outputs are available for monitoring various control parameters.

723PLUS Digital Control Accessories

Hand Held Programmer (Figure 1-2), part number 9907-205, is used for adjusting the 723 Plus control setpoints/parameters. It plugs into the serial port of the control.

Digital Synchroniser & Load Control (DSLC) for synchronising the generator phase & voltage to that of the power bus. The DSLC also provides dead bus closure facility and has real power load sensing using harmonic filtering algorithms (DSLC manual 02007).

SPM-A Synchroniser (9907-028 (without voltage matching) & 9907-029 (with voltage matching)) for synchronising the generator phase to that of the power bus. The synchroniser generates a generator breaker closure command to connect the unit in with the power bus.

Real Power Sensor (MW Transducer) for generator load monitoring   (P/N 8272-394).