Voltage regulator and methods for simulating reactive power in parallel power generation systems

1. A voltage regulator for tuning a reactive droop compensation of a generator in a parallel power generation system, said voltage regulator comprising a processor configured to:

receive a measurement of an output voltage of the generator from a voltage sensor and a measurement of an output current of the generator from a current sensor;

calculate apparent power output by the generator based on the measurements of output voltage and output current;

calculate reactive power based at least partially on the calculated apparent power;

compute a simulated droop compensation voltage for the generator based on the calculated reactive power; and

generate an excitation signal to drive excitation current into a generator exciter for driving the generator based at least in part on the simulated droop compensation voltage.

2. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein said voltage regulator comprises a switching device configured to switch said voltage regulator to a simulated reactive load mode.

3. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein to compute a simulated droop compensation voltage, said voltage regulator further configured to:

receive a desired power factor input by a user;

compute reactive power using the desired power factor;

compute a ratio of the reactive power and rated machine parameters of the generator;

scale the ratio by a droop percentage; and

multiply the scaled ratio by a voltage set point for the generator.

4. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein to control an excitation signal to the generator, said voltage regulator further configured to:

tune voltage gains of a voltage controller included in said voltage regulator; and

apply the simulated droop compensation voltage to the generator.

5. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein to control an excitation signal to the generator, said voltage regulator further configured to share reactive power proportionately with at least one other generator coupled in parallel to the generator.

6. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein to control an excitation signal to the generator, said voltage regulator further configured to protect the generator from exceeding a voltage set point.

7. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , comprising an analog input for voltage set point control by a user.

8. The voltage regulator of claim 1 , wherein during operation of the power generation system, said voltage regulator further configured to

regulate the generator reactive power in accordance with the simulated droop compensation voltage.

9. A computer-implemented method of tuning a reactive droop compensation of a generator in a parallel power generation system, said method comprising:

applying, by a processor, a resistive load bank to the generator;

receiving, by the processor, a measurement of an output voltage of the generator from a voltage sensor and a measurement of an output current of the generator from a current sensor;

calculating, by the processor, apparent power output by the generator based on the measurements of output voltage and output current;

calculating, by the processor, reactive power based at least partially on the calculated apparent power;

computing, by the processor, a simulated droop compensation voltage for the generator using a voltage regulator associated with the generator based on the calculated reactive power; and

generating, by the processor, an excitation signal to drive excitation current into a generator exciter for driving the generator based at least in part on the simulated droop compensation voltage using the voltage regulator.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising switching the voltage regulator to a simulated reactive load mode.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein computing a simulated droop compensation voltage comprises:

inputting a desired power factor into the voltage regulator;

computing reactive power using the desired power factor;

computing a ratio of the reactive power and rated machine parameters of the generator;

scaling the ratio by a droop percentage; and

multiplying the scaled ratio by a voltage set point for the generator.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein controlling an excitation signal to the generator further comprises:

tuning voltage gains of a voltage controller included in the voltage regulator; and

applying the simulated droop compensation voltage to the generator.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein controlling an excitation signal to the generator further comprises inducing the generator to share reactive power proportionately with at least one other paralleled generator in the power generation system.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein controlling an excitation signal to the generator further comprises protecting the generator from exceeding a voltage set point.

15. A parallel power generation system comprising:

a first generator configured to produce an electrical output to drive a load; and

a voltage regulator for tuning a reactive droop compensation of said first generator, said voltage regulator configured to:

receive a measurement of an output voltage of the generator from a voltage sensor and a measurement of an output current of the generator from a current sensor:

calculate apparent power output by the generator based on the measurements of output voltage and output current;

calculate reactive power based at least partially on the calculated apparent power;

compute a simulated droop compensation voltage for said first generator based on the calculated reactive power; and

generate an excitation signal to drive excitation current into a generator exciter for driving said first generator based at least in part on the simulated droop compensation voltage.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein said voltage regulator comprises a switching device configured to switch said voltage regulator to a simulated reactive load mode.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein to compute a simulated droop compensation voltage, said voltage regulator further configured to:

receive a desired power factor input by a user;

compute reactive power using the desired power factor;

compute a ratio of the reactive power and rated machine parameters of said first generator;

scale the ratio by a droop percentage; and

multiply the scaled ratio by a voltage set point for said first generator.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein to control an excitation signal to said first generator, said voltage regulator further configured to:

tune voltage gains of a voltage controller included in said voltage regulator; and

apply the simulated droop compensation voltage to said first generator.

19. The system of claim 15 , further comprising at least one second generator coupled in parallel to said first generator, wherein said voltage regulator is configured to induce said first generator to share reactive power proportionately with said at least one second generator.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein during operation, said voltage regulator further configured to

regulate said first generator reactive power in accordance with the simulated droop compensation voltage.