GENERATORSTATOREARTHFAULTPROTECTIONBYGENERATORSOWNHARMONICS.

By:Eng.FayyazAliShahExecutiveDirector(Technical)ICC(Pvt)Ltd.

General: Harmonicsareundesirableduetoseveralreasonsbutmainlyduetoincreasedironlossesandcircuitresonanceresulting in large harmonic current. Advantage is taken of this undesirable component of Power system in the form of Effective Statorearthfaultprotection. StatoristhemostexpensivepartofGenerator.Ifthewindingisdamagedthereispossibilitytorepairitinsomedaysbut if the fault persists and arcing starts, laminations will also get damaged which may take long time to repair and pass it throughroutinetests.Assuchquickandeffectiveprotectionisrequiredtoclearthefaultbeforeheavydamageoccurs. The most dangerous fault for the machine is low level earth fault in the stator. If an earth fault occurs near the Generator Neutral, it will not be detected by conventional relays and the probability of second fault will be much increased. Second fault will occur as a result of insulation deterioration caused by unstable low continuous current due to arcing phenomena at the first fault position. This current will increase till heavy damage is resulted and protection operates.Therefore100%statorearthfaultprotectionisrequiredtodetectthefaultandisolateitimmediately. Statorearthfaultprotectionunderdiscussionisthirdharmonicinjectionintotherelayanditsmonitoringbythelatter. Conventionalrelayslimitations: ConventionalStatorprotection,consistingofDifferentialrelays,StatorEarthfaultrelaysetc.areineffectivetoclearthe faultunlessthefaultdevelopsandcurrentreachesoperatingvalue. If fault is close to Neutral, Earth fault relay will not initiate at all because there will not be sufficient voltage to drive the current.Differentialrely willsenseonlywhenthedamageisbig enough tocausedifferentialcurrentto flow.Itwillalso depend on method of Neutral earthing. Normally the generator neutral is earthed through high resistance to limit the earth fault current. In this case it will be more difficult for the relay to operate. The higher the resistance, the lesser the fault current and more difficult for relay to operate. Thermal relay operates when the winding gets overheated. Subsequenttooverheating,windingsinsulationpropertiesareimpairedanditisliabletodamageanytime.EarthFaults in the system stress the generator winding and core. The possibility of undetected Earth faults may cause arcing due to transientovervoltages,resultingindamagetoinsulationandcore.Damageshavealreadybeenrecordedworldwideand withinthecountry HarmonicsinjectionTechnologyprovides100%E/Fprotection. A stator winding earth fault with low fault resistance will result in increase of fundamental frequency Neutral point voltage,proportionaltothedistanceofthefaultfromthestarpoint.Assuchforminimumrelaysettingof5%,only95% windingwillbeprotectedandtherestwillnotbedetected. A.C machines produce odd harmonic voltages, out of which third harmonics are most dominant. Analysis of A.C Generators of different sizes and operating under different conditions revealed that the 3rd harmonic voltage produced in themachinesvaryfrom1to3%ofterminalvoltageofthese generators. Whenthe machineisrunningundernormal conditionsthethirdharmonicsvoltagesaresharedbetweenterminalsideandNeutralside.ProportionofLinesidethird harmonic voltage to Neutral side third harmonic voltage is almost constant. Analysis has shown that about 4060 % of harmonicvoltagesappearacrossNeutralresistance. ThefollowingdatawillexplainhowvoltagesaredistributedbetweenstatorsterminalsideandNeutralside.

Distributionofcapacitances,capacitivereactancesandNeutralimpedancesareshowninfiguresgivenbelow. OperationPrinciple: Thirdharmonicvoltageinducedinthemachinestatorhassamemagnitudeandangleinallthethreephasesandthereis aclosedloopofcurrentsthroughphasetoearthcapacitancesandearthresistance.Asisexplainedabovethereisalmost fixed ratio of Phase to Neutral 3rd harmonic voltages under normal conditions. When fault occurs anywhere in the machine,thisratiowilldisturb,causingtherelaytosenseandoperate.Ifthefaultisnearterminals,harmonicvoltageon that side will reduce and that on Neutral side will increase and the ratio will disturb. Similarly if the fault is on neutral side,harmonicvoltageonterminalsidewillincreaseandthatonNeutralsidewillreduce,againcreatingunbalance. Assuchrelaywillworkperfectlyunderallloadconditions,alloperatingconditionsandevenifthefaultisatstarpoint. Practicalarrangement: ArrangementforV.TsonGeneratorphaseandNeutralsidesareshowninfig.(1)below:

PRINCIPLE OF STATOR E/F RELAY FIGURE-1

FIGURE-2 Fig(2)showsthedistributionofharmonicvoltagesunderhealthyconditions.

100% V3 = % PHASE-N VOLTAGE OF MACHINE FIGURE-3 X FAULT POSITION FIGURE-3(a) Fig(3)showsthedistributionofvoltagesforvariousfaultpositionsreferredtoNeutralpoint.Italsoshowsquiescent conditionsQ. Fig(3a)showsthescalarquantities/VL3/&/Vn3/asapercentageoftotal3rdharmonicswithrespecttofaultpositionX.

Thisdifferenceiscontinuouslymeasuredbytherelay.Ifitexceedsthesetvalue,calleddeadbandsettingK,relaywill operate.Whenthefaultisonneutralend/Vn3/becomeszeroandifitisonterminalside/VL3/becomeszero.Ineither casethedifferenceinthetwomagnitudes>>0.

Fig(4)showsPrincipleBlockdiagramofrelay. Voltages are picked up from terminal V.Ts and Grounding transformer and fed to the relays. In the relay 3rd harmonic voltages are filtered, with high rejection of fundamental frequency and other sub harmonic voltages, leaving only 3rd harmonicvoltages.Absolutevaluesoflinesidevoltage,VL3andNeutralsidevoltage,VN3andabsolutevaluesoftotal3rd harmonicV3,whichisvectorsumofLinesideandNeutralsideharmonicvoltagesarederivedfromthefilteroutputs.The difference [/VN3/ ~/VL3/] is compared with a set proportion of total 3rd harmonic k* [/VL3/ + /VN3/]. K is dead band setting adjusted in the field by means of a switch. Any difference between [/VN3/and /VL3/is nullified by means of Null detector,duringfield testingunderhealthyconditions.ThisisshownbyanLEDprovidedontherelay, whichwillswitch off when the voltage is zero. The [ /Vn3/ /VL3/ ] is compared with a preset percentage of total 3rd harmonic voltage in a comparator circuit. Setting is adjusted by a switch. Comparator output is fed to AND gate output of which triggers a timer with adjustable setting. Two other outputs fed to AND gate are fuse failure inhibition circuit and arming circuit. Armingcircuitchecksthe voltageandifitislessthanpresetpercentageofterminalvoltage(normally8590%)relaywill beinhibitedfromtripping.Similarlyiffuseblowsduetocircuitproblem,relayoperationwillbeinhibited. Asexplainedtherewillbeapointinthewinding,forwhichtherelaywillbeblind.Forthatpurpose Otherfeatures: ProtectionalsotakescareofNeutrallink.Iflinkisleftopened;e.g.aftermeggaringofwindingduringroutinetesting,it willbedevastatingbecausenoneofearthfaultrelayswilldetectfault.

FIGURE-5

Ascanbeseenfromfig.5(a)thirdharmonicvoltagewillnotbepickedupbyrelayfromNeutralendandwilloperate. SimilarlyiftheNeutralisearthedformaintenancepurposeandnotremovedbeforestartofmachine,thirdharmonic voltagewillbecomezeroonNeutralsideandwillcausetherelaytooperateascanbevisualizedfromfig.5(b)

References: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. AdvancedElectricalEngineeringbyAHMorton HigherElectricalEngineeringbyShepherd,Morton&Spence ElectricalTransmissionandDistributionreferenceBookbycentralStationEngineersofWestinghouse. ElectricalmachinesbyM.Kostenko,L.PiotrovskytranslatedfromRussiantoEnglishbyA.Chernukhin ABBApplicationGuide6418AG ALSTHOMProtectiveRelaysapplicationguide. Practicalexperienceofwriterininstallation,testing&commissioningofGeneratorProtection.