wärtsilä technical journal 02.

2012

Analogue isochronous
load sharing and UNIC
AuthorS: Ari Saikkonen, Manager, R&D, PowerTech
tom Kaas, Senior Expert, R&D, PowerTech

The connecting of state-of-the-art
digital isochronous load sharing
systems to elderly analogue systems
has, in the past, been problematic.
By utilising the flexibility of the UNIC
engine control system, Wärtsilä has
developed a novel technique for
overcoming the difficulties.
The isochronous load sharing support in
the UNIC (a truly unique solution for unique
applications – by Wärtsilä) speed/load
controller currently used on all Wärtsilä
engines, has been designed for digital data
communication over a dedicated redundant
load sharing CAN (an industrial automation
communication protocol) bus. The digital
communication scheme is superior to
the previous solution that used a load
sharing line built on an analogue system.
With digital isochronous load sharing,
more data can be communicated between
the engines, which opens a totally new
world in terms of functionality, such as soft
loading, load sharing profiling and busbar
synchronisation. These are all examples of
functionality that cannot be implemented
with analogue load sharing data.
With the ever growing power demands,
extension projects for existing power plant
installations run into challenges when

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older plants using the analogue load sharing
technique are enlarged with new engines
supporting only digital isochronous load
sharing. From a plant control perspective
the best option would, of course, be to
update the automation system on the older
engines to support digital isochronous load
sharing. However, in practice this is seldom
possible.
Another option would be to use analogue
isochronous load sharing also on the new
engines. However, in this case all the
functionalities available with digital load
sharing would be lost. Further problems are
caused by the physical distances between
the existing and extension plants due to
the nature of the analogue signal in the
analogue load sharing line. A proper solution
would be to connect the digital CAN bus to
the analogue load sharing line, while still
allowing use of the extended functionality
on the new engines.
Early investigations into readymade
products on the market revealed that suitable
solutions were not available. Therefore, in
response to market demand, it was decided
to make a preliminary study into building
  Fig. 1  – Load sharing schemes: droop load sharing (a) and isochronous load sharing (b).
Auxiliary
system
Data
communication
UNIC S /L UNIC S /L
ID 0 ID 1
Engine
Generator
Busbar
(a)
10 in detail
the functionality using the UNIC system.
This article presents the results of this
preliminary study, the development of the
solution, and the eventual pilot installation.
Isochronous load sharing
The main task of an engine speed controller
is to control the fuel demand of the engine
in such a way that the engine speed is
kept close to a certain speed set point.
Furthermore, different load sharing
schemes are needed in order to control
the engine load when run in parallel with
other engines towards a common load.
There are two main speed control
load sharing concepts: speed control
with droop load sharing, and speed
control with isochronous load sharing.
Engines running in the droop load
sharing mode cannot by themselves
maintain a fixed frequency. This task must,
therefore, be handled by an auxiliary
system, for example a power management
system. Also, the supervision and control
of the load sharing between the engines
is carried out by the auxiliary system
in a master-slave control manner.
Data communication
UNIC S /L UNIC S /L UNIC S /L
ID n–1 ID n ID 0
Engine
Generator
Busbar
The object of the isochronous load
sharing scheme is to have engines driving
a common load to automatically share the
load between two or more engines while
maintaining a fixed speed. In this case, the
supervision of engine speed and engine
load is controlled locally by each engine
in a master-master type manner. When
running in isochronous load sharing mode,
the engine load of all engines sharing the
same common load must be communicated
between the engines, contrary to the
droop load sharing mode, for example,
where the engine load is communicated
to the master auxiliary system.
With isochronous load sharing, each
of the engines connected to the common
load compares its engine load to the mean
engine load of all engines, i.e. the system
load, and then offsets its speed set point. If
the engine load is higher than the system
load, the speed set point is locally decreased
and vice versa. This can be thought of as a
cascade controller where the first controller
is a load controller for calculating the
speed set point, and the second is a speed
controller for calculating the fuel demand.
UNIC S /L UNIC S /L UNIC S /L
ID 1 ID n–1 ID n
(b)
 wärtsilä technical journal 02.2012

There are several ways of communicating

the load sharing data between the
engines in order to achieve isochronous Isochronous load sharing
load sharing, such as by using an
analogue load sharing line or digital
System load Speed
communication such as a CAN bus. setpoint
Load
Digital communication is superior to controller
the analogue load sharing line since more Engine load Speed
controller Fuel demand
data can be communicated over the load
sharing line in order to perform more Engine speed
complex load sharing functionalities,
such as soft up/un-loading in isochronous
mode and isochronous load sharing
profiles with biased load sharing. Further
communication of load sharing data over
physically long distances, for example   Fig. 2 – Isochronous load sharing control.
when the load sharing engines are located
far apart, is also possible with digital
communication. With the analogue
load sharing line this is not possible due
to the nature of an analogue signal. Generator
With an analogue load sharing line,
each engine writes its own load signal to
the analogue line, which, via electronics,
is converted to system load. Each engine
connected to the common load can Engine
thereafter measure the system load
from the load sharing line in order to
perform isochronous load sharing.
Speed control Speed control Speed control
The functionality of both of the above
mentioned ways of communicating
isochronous load sharing data is very Engine
load
similar; in the analogue case the system load System
is a direct measurement, while in the digital load
case the system load is calculated locally by
each of the engines. Even if the functionality
of the controller is very similar, a problem
arises when trying to connect plants/
Analogue load sharing line
installations where the two types are mixed.
For example, in extension projects
where new engines supporting only   Fig. 3 – Isochronous load sharing control using an analogue load sharing line.
digital isochronous load sharing are to
be connected to existing engines based
on analogue isochronous load sharing, a number of engines in varying condition distances do not usually create technical
the problem will arise of how to connect that had been supplied by different restrictions, but nevertheless there is still
the two communication lines together. manufacturers at different times. In addition, a call for new UNIC applications for old
the engines were often located in separate analogue technology onboard ships.
Analogue load sharing, preliminary study buildings, so direct communication about The global UNIC speed/load controller
Two years ago, Wärtsilä realised the acute isochronous load sharing was not possible development core team began to review
need for a technology that can combine between the engines using an analogue the problem. Following a comprehensive
analogue and digital isochronous load solution. Over excessive distances, voltage evaluation, two concepts were developed
sharing. At the time such technology had decreases due to electrical resistance as a for analogue isochronous load sharing
not yet been introduced on the market, so function of the distance of the conductor with UNIC: one for single engine extensions
it posed a serious problem for the energy and the transmitted data is altered. and one for plant extensions. These two
business. Wärtsilä had no other option than This is a challenge that is typically concepts are depicted in Figures 4 and 5.
to develop its own solution for sharing load experienced throughout both the energy In order to be able to connect the UNIC
isochronously between old and new engines. and shipping industries. Naturally, the module to the analogue load sharing line
One problem to overcome was that in distances between engines are generally (LS line), a new hardware interface was
many cases the plant was operating with longer at power plants. Onboard ships, the developed. The new hardware interface,

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Analogue load sharing line the most suitable in terms of schedules

was located on Christmas Island.
Christmas Island, a territory of Australia
located in the Indian Ocean, consists mainly
non-Wärtsilä non-Wärtsilä UNIC of limestone and layers of volcanic rock. It
Speed /Load
controller controller controller is a popular area of research for scientists
and naturalists because of the island’s
Wärtsilä remote geographical location, and the
engine
Engine Engine (single flourishing flora and fauna. A large part of
engine
extension) the island is protected as a national park.
However, since the end of the 19th
century, there has been an active phosphate
mining industry on Christmas Island.
Today, the mining sector is the biggest
consumer of electricity on the island,
while restaurants, hotels, and domestic
consumers also need a power supply,
especially since the climate demands the
use of air conditioners and coolers. The
total power requirement on the island
Fig. 4 – Analogue isochronous load sharing for a single engine extension, i.e. connecting
a single engine to the analogue load sharing line. varies considerably, typically between 4
and 8 megawatts, depending on mining
operations and the tourist season.
Analogue load sharing line Power generation on Christmas Island
is based on three separate power plant
LS SCAN
units dating from different periods. The
very first unit was built in the 1970s, the
UNIC UNIC Plant non- second in the 1980s and the latest one,
Speed /Load Speed /Load Wärtsilä
controller controller extension controller where the new Wärtsilä engines are
(MCM)
located, at the end of 2011. The layout of
Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Engine
the power plant is shown in Figure 7.
engine engine
(plant (plant
extension) extension) Plant simulation
In order to minimize development time
and costs, an ever increasing part of the
research and development R&D work is
first verified using simulation techniques.
Especially in the field of automation,
effective simulation models provide an
excellent way of verifying the functionality
of newly developed algorithms.

Fig. 5 – Analogue isochronous load sharing for a plant extension, i.e. connecting a digital
isochronous plant to another plant using analogue isochronous load sharing.

designated the LSC-10 (see Figure 6), enables
the existing UNIC analogue output channel
to be connected to the LS line. LSC-10 is
suitable for both on- and off-engine
mounting, and the LSC-10 module is
certified for installation on the engine.
Furthermore, LSC-10 can be directly
connected to the UNIC input and output
channels, regardless of whether they are
analogue or digital.
Analogue load sharing, a case study
As the product development project
approached the release phase, work began
on finding an appropriate field test location.
Rather rapidly it was decided to favour
a power plant alternative, as this would
make it easier to test the Plant Extension
concept, which is more complex in terms
of functionality than the Single Engine
Extension concept. Although there was
demand for the new technology in many
projects that were in the start-up phase, Fig. 6 – The LSC-10 hardware interface unit.

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 wärtsilä technical journal 02.2012

BUILDING 1 BUILDING 2 BUILDING 3

Analogue load sharing line

LS CAN

WW WW WW WW WW WW UNIC UNIC UNIC UNIC

2301A 2301A 2301A 2301A 2301A 2301A S/L S/L S/L S/L
ID 3 ID 3 ID 3 ID 3

English English English Allen Ruston Ruston W6L32 W6L32 W6L32 W6L32
Electric Electric Electric 16 V 16 V 16 V
16 V 16 V 16 V 2636 2636 2636 2636
600 kW 3400 3400 KW KW KW KW
750 kW 750 kW 750 kW kW kW

HW signals Plant
LSC- extension
10 MCM ID4

Consumers
in Island

Fig. 7 – A single line diagram of the power plants on Christmas Island. All the gensets are run parallel in isochronous load sharing mode.

Fig. 8 – Test arrangements on the UNIC speed/load controller rig.

Analogue load sharing line

PC

LS C-10 LS C-10
3-engine LS CAN
model OUT
Speed 1
IN UNIC speed UNIC speed Plant Single
Speed 2 controller controller extension engine
Fueldemand 1 MCM MCM MCM extension
Speed 3
Fueldemand 2 CAN
Load 1
Fueldemand 3
Load 2
Circuit Circuit Circuit
Load 3 breaker breaker breaker

Bustie
breaker

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Due to the sophisticated automation

concepts used on Wärtsilä engines today,
effective and simple simulation schemes
are made available to developers. For many
80 years already the Wärtsilä UNIC speed/
Relative load, Single Extension load controller has been undergoing
70 Relative load (engine #1), Plant Extension continuous development, adding features
and functionality. During this time,
60 simulations have played a significant role
in the development work. However, due
to the complex load sharing concepts
Relative engine load [%]

50
used on applications today, simulating
40 the loading behaviour of a single engine
is no longer enough to secure working
30 concepts already at the early stages of the
development process. Therefore, Wärtsilä
20 has introduced a UNIC speed/load control
test rig for the simulation of parallel
10 running engines. The simulation concept
is to be able to use simulation tools to
0 simulate several parallel running engines.
Currently, the UNIC speed/load control
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time [s]
test rig supports running up to eight engines
in parallel, making it possible to simulate
most of the currently known load sharing
concepts. As the simulation models use a
graphically programmable simulation tool,
Fig. 9 – The synchronisation and loading of an engine in the plant extension. it is easy for the user to modify the models
to obtain the correct engine configuration.
Since the load sharing system in question
was based on old analogue technology, the
testing had to be carried out using a UNIC
speed/load controller on the test rig together
with old and new non-UNIC modules
80 in order to ensure the compatibility
Relative load, Single Extension of hardware and software in real-life
Relative load (engine #1), Plant Extension
70 conditions. The test system was used to
run two virtual engines equipped with a
60 3rd party speed controller together with a
third Wärtsilä UNIC engine simulated using
Relative engine load [%]

50 engine models. The virtual engines and the

non-UNIC engines shared the load by means
40 of an analogue load sharing line. The bridge
between the systems was the UNIC module
30 designed for this purpose and running the
analogue isochronous load sharing line
20 control algorithm developed in this project.
The test system is described in Figure 8.
10 Relative load, Single Extension In the simulation described in Figure 7,
Relative load (engine #1), Plant Extension a three-engine model is run in which two
0 Relative load (engine #2), Plant Extension UNIC speed/load controller engines are
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
connected to one network (busbar) and
Time [s] one single extension engine is connected
to another network (busbar). When the
bustie breaker between the networks is
closed, all engines can be run in towards
the same utility. The plant extension unit
is in the same LS-CAN bus as the UNIC
Fig. 10 – Unloading of one UNIC speed/load controller engine. speed/load controller engines, playing

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 wärtsilä technical journal 02.2012

the role of a single virtual engine.

From load sharing point of view,
the most important functionality is to
maintain stable load sharing during
loading and unloading of engines to/
from the load sharing group. Plant
simulation results for these two cases
are shown in Figures 9 and 10.
The synchronisation and loading of an
engine in the plant extension is shown in
Figure 9. From 0 to 8 seconds the single
extension engine circuit breaker is closed.
This engine is running in isochronous load
sharing mode over the analogue LS line
via LSC-10 at 74% engine load. The circuit
breakers for both engines in the plant
extension are open (not synchronised) Fig. 11 – The compact test rig.
at 0% engine load. The bustie breaker is
closed. At 8 seconds, the circuit breaker
for one of the plant extension engines 50
is closed (synchronised). During the 8
to 80 seconds time frame, there is soft 45

uploading of the plant extension engine

40
until the load is equal in both the single
extension engine and the first plant 35
extension engine. From 80 to 100 seconds,
Relative engine load [%]

30
the relative engine load for both engines Relative load (engine #1), Plant Extension
is equal (steady state) at 37%. The engines 25
System load, Analogue LS line
are sharing a common load in isochronous
20
load sharing mode over the analogue load
sharing line via the LSC-10 modules. 15
The unloading of an engine in the plant
10
extension is shown in Figure 10. In the
beginning the circuit breakers for all 5
engines and the bustie breaker are closed.
All engines are run in isochronous load 0

sharing mode over the analogue line via -5

the LSC-10 modules at 49% engine load.
At 19 seconds, unloading is activated on
engine no. 1. From 19 to 85 seconds, there
is soft unloading of engine no.1 to base
load (5%). At 85 seconds the circuit breaker
is opened on engine no. 1 and the engine
load drops to zero. From 85 to 100 seconds,
the single extension engine and the plant
extension engine no. 2 continue to run in
isochronous load sharing mode at 73.5%.
Careful preparations were made for the
Christmas Island project. These involved
a pilot installation and completely new
technology. In order to prepare for any
potential surprises, a special compact test
rig was made (Figure 11) to simulate the
installation as realistically as possible. The
test rig consists of a plastic box containing
two UNIC module cards, with connections
on the sides for the CAN buses and
electricity supply. Combining this unit with
a UNIC module (single engine extension),
0 10
Fig. 12 – The Wärtsilä engines and the customer’s old engines connected in parallel.
two LSC-10 modules and a computer
created a system that corresponded to the
Christmas Island power plant. The system
could be run as on the UNIC speed/load
controller test rig, with the engines running
parallel according to the simulation model.
Plant verification
Upon arriving on Christmas Island the test
team discovered that the installation was in
quite good condition and otherwise ready,
except for minor finishing touches. It was
possible to begin the testing immediately
without any complicated arrangements.
The co-operation between the project
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time [s]
team and the customer was excellent, and
the systems were quickly made test-ready
together with the qualified site team. The
test protocol was extended somewhat in
close co-operation with the customer,
and all the proposed test situations were
approved without further ado. All partners
were required for the tests: the customer,
Wärtsilä’s start-up team, the supplier of
the power plant, and the test team.
Once all the systems were ready to
test, the customer’s old engines and the
new engines delivered by Wärtsilä were
connected to run parallel in isochronous
load sharing mode using analogue

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35
30
25
Relative engine load [%]
20
15
10
0
0 10
Fig. 13 – The Wärtsilä engine in the plant extension unloaded from the network.
isochronous load sharing technology.
Figure 12 describes how from 0 to 50
seconds, some of the engines in buildings
1 and 2 are running in isochronous
load sharing mode over the analogue
LS line. The Wärtsilä engine in the plant
extension is running at 0% load (not
synchronised). At 50 seconds, the circuit
breaker for this Wärtsilä engine is closed
(synchronised). From 50 to 85 seconds there
is soft uploading of the plant extension
engine until the loads of the analogue LS
line engines and plant extension engine
no.1 are equal. From 85 to 100 seconds,
the analogue LS line engines and plant
extension engine no. 1 are running in
isochronous load sharing mode over the
analogue line via the LSC-10 modules.
In Figure 13, all engines are running in
isochronous load sharing mode over the
analogue line via the LSC-10 module at
27% engine load for the first 18 seconds. At
18 seconds, unloading is activated on the
Wärtsilä engine in the plant extension. From
18 to 48 seconds, there is soft unloading
of this Wärtsilä engine down to base load
(6%). At 48 seconds the circuit breaker
for the Wärtsilä engine is opened. From
48 to 65 seconds, the engines in buildings
16 in detail
Relative load (engine #1), Plant Extension
System load, Analogue LS line
20 30 40 50 60
Time [s]
1 and 2 are running in isochronous load
sharing mode over the analogue LS line. The
Wärtsilä engine in the plant extension is
then running at 0% load (not synchronised).
Trends for the future
This article presents a novel technique for
connecting digital isochronous load sharing
systems to elderly analogue load sharing
systems. In the state-of-the-art digital
isochronous load sharing systems, the
communication of data between engines is
done using a dedicated load sharing CAN
communication, whereas in the analogue
isochronous load sharing systems an
analogue load sharing line is used to achieve
load sharing between the engines.
Wärtsilä developed this method for
extension projects, i.e. sites extended with
additional engines or plants, where
the analogue isochronous load sharing
technique is already in use.
Primarily the distance between engines
connected in parallel is a limiting factor for
the use of analogue load sharing lines.
However, the solution also works as an
enabler in single engine extension projects,
where the existing analogue load sharing
can be retained even when new engines are
70 80
added to the plant. Another advantage in
the plant extension case is that even though,
on a higher plant-to-plant level,
the isochronous load sharing is done using
analogue techniques, the lower engine-to-
engine load sharing is carried out using
digital communication. This fact enables
the engine in the new plant to use state of
the art isochronous functionalities, such as
advanced bus-tie breaker diagnostics,
automatic loading/unloading, and built-in
loading profiles .
With the pilot installation and the good
results achieved there, the extension
technology from a concept point of view
is fully functional. Since the pilot project,
several other projects, mostly plant extensions,
have been sold with the presented
technology included.
The development of the isochronous load
sharing technology for extension projects
is an encouraging example of the excellent
results achieved by co-operation between
internal company units and sub-suppliers.