A Coordination-Free Ground-Fault Relay For AC Mine Distribution Systems F.C. Trat, HG. Rotthor 493 Anderson Hall University of Kentucky Lesington, KY 40506-0018, “Abstract = A brief review of the coordinationfee, ground. fault protection concept i presented followed bye discusion of major design considerations. The actual design of cotdiationfree relay system is then described along. with Inboratery test results, Based upon this Information, conch sons are drawa relating to performance in typical mining stun tions. The research deseribed in his paper was performed lander US. Burean of Mines Contract J0154025 with Me. M, Yenchek acting as Technical Project Ofer, Introduction ‘The concept of coordination re, ground fault relaying for AC mine distribution sytems has been introduced previously [i]. The purpose ofthis paper i to deceribe the extension of this concept through the prototype design phase and to povide reasonable conclusions relating to system performance. Background ‘The typical electrical stem in a coal mine uses expanded radial dstibution with two voltage levels. From the se of deksowye, wye-delt, and dlt-delta power transformers inthe substations and power center, barrier to ground current are ‘tablished between adjacent powersystem level. If stray turrets are neglected, oaly ground faults in the distribution portion of a typieal mine power sytem can produce ground turret in that portion. Ground-fault curenta In the distribution setion are ws ally limited to about 25 A with bigh-restance grounding. Because the avalable ground faut current throughout distribu: tion ean be approximately the same, all grounfauit protection ‘devices are normally set at about the same piekup current. Selectivity is hopefully accomplished hy time-delay relays and ime coordination. Unfortunately, this coordination tack etme sonsuming in all eases and clone to imposible in others. nce the eels have ‘maximum time delay at specie pickup level, the nur ber of round fant relays in eres has a maximum Hit. This in turn limite the number of switchhouss in series and substantially constrains system Sexibility. In addition, ground eurreat may te alowed to fow for extended time periods by the upstream relays, posibly compromising the safety of personnel. The typi cal groundfault protection system in mine distribution bs thus plagued by a number of disadvantages. ‘The coordination tree relaying scheme is based on pilot “wire relaying. which eliminates many ofthe problems sss-lated Trith prevent ground-fauk protection ystems. The bas loge y JL. Kobler 421 Academic Activites Buling ‘The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 of pilot relaying can be described using switehhoue SHE and SUD in Figure 1. I owitehhouse SHI detecte a ground fault and ‘wltchhouse SH2 does not, the fault must be inthe zone ining ‘them because ofthe nature of the radial system. Therefore, the relay in SH will intste s trip. If both relays detect a faut, ‘must be external to the zone, and breaker I (in SHI) wold pot be opened. ‘The logic Is basically the same as diferentil ee ing: curreat in must must equal current out A pilot relay continuously transmits the detected faut status that it ses to the upstream relay, where the condition of the two terminal ends are compared. ‘Such relaying may have either blocking logle or unblocking logie. With blocking logic ‘the signal from the downstream relay nes to prevent tripings with unblocking logie the downstream relay acta to cause tip Ding. As « result, blocking logic le more dependable from the Sandpoint of peronnel safety but unblocking loge i lee prone to nuance tripping. Various types of communiation links are svallable forthe required connection between adjacent switchhouses. A wiles radio stem is poable but impractical in the mine environ ment. A separate srt of conductors strung, core to the feeder able is feasible but the extra eable handling that thie would rocesitate would be undesirable. A separate st of signal wires Bult into the eable would work well and eliminate the handling problem, but the cert would be high for new installations and ‘xeesive for older mines. The preferred choice isto use a the communication crelt the ground-check conductor and ground Ing conductor that are already present in almost all hghy voltage eables using pilot ground-check monitors ‘The groundeheck monitoring system in high-voltage dis. luibution usually monitors the grounding conductor from one switehhouse to the next. Figure 2 shows a typical installation of the ground-check monitoring (GCM) ‘ute of “two ‘witchhowses in & mine power system. A GCM unit is usually installed in every switehbous to gun selectivity, and the GCM. "Toop" ar independent from each other. Ground-check monitors can send current signal of ‘ferent frequencies, but the power frequency (60 Ha) is the most common. Several amperes of current i normally crew lated through the pilot-ground circult, driven by a low-vltage source (less thao 98 V by law). In order to achleve relay com ‘musietion, the Blocking signal from eoordinstion-free, ground fault relay (CP-GFR) must be coupled on to the pilot and ground conductors together withthe GCM signals. BUCH2S6S-0/88/0000-1267301.00 © 1988 IEEEDesign Considerations ‘The main design problem is one of commusieating the GF-GFR blocking signal from the downstream to the upstream switehhouse. This problem is complicated due to the numerous interactions that need to be considered when implementing diferent fonctions, e, signaling frequencies, their level, type ‘of GCM scheme, type of fltering wed to separate the signal (active, pusve), resistance of plot and ground conductors, ee. Some of the other major design considerations are discussed below. 1) Blocking Logle should be used with pllot wire sgeaing ‘The advantages of ths approach have been diseused pre- viously. In this cas, lam of the communication signal will result in tipped o safe condition 2) Due to the significant amount of capacitance to ground Inherent in coal mine distribution systems, Tt not peible to limit ground fault eurrente below electroution levels (censtive ground-feut protection) wing very high resi tance grounding as has been developed for low capacitance utilization cieults ). Tuned grounding circuits using Inductors ean theoretically. achleve very low ground ‘current limits but these seem impractical due to the varl- bility of system capacitance. AS‘ result the CP-GFRC was esigned to operate with 25 A ground curent Tinits ax ound in existing distribution systems. ‘The pickup eurrent is adjustable and ie currently set at 5A. 18) There ace two time delays associated with relay operation, cone for primary protection and another for backup protee- tion. ‘The primary protection delay may be the sare for all relays in series path and is needed to allow time for the blocking logic signal to reach the relay from the next owasream relay (relay racing delay). When such a locking signal is received, the relay will not trip 4s pr mary protection. If no Blocking signal is received, the relay will iniate the trip action after the primary peotee- ton delay period Backup protection is dasrsble Io ease the downstream breaker doesnot operate to clear the fault even though a block ing signal has been sent. Ia this stuaion, a time delay which bypasees the blocking signal and is greater than the primary delay plus the sum of the Breaker operating times of ll dows seeam sits i needed in the upstream relay for backup protec tion. ‘Thus the delay is time graded forall relays in a series path so that selectivity ean be maintained, The following initial time delay settings were selected for the CF-GFR¢ 8) A relay racing delay of 50 ms for the primary pro- tection sytem. (This wil allow enough time for fault signal detection and blocking sigaal trea som ps a safety factor), ») An additional delsy of 180 ms was selected for bbeckup protection. (Assuming Seycle or faster clrout breakers); ©) Time. grading. of the beckup protection was specified in 180 ms increments Based upon these selection, the most. downstream CG- GFT relay in a serie path would have a 60 ma delay for pr ‘mary protection and no backup requirement, The next outby relay would ove a 50 ms delay for primary protection and @ 200 ms delay for backup. ‘The next one would have a 50 ms Primary and 290 me backup, and = on 4) Since the CF-GFR blocking signal and GCM Sign are mixed on the pilot and ground wires, the signals must be ‘a sullen level for detection. ‘The level of GCM signal ‘might be substantially higher than the CF-GPR. blocking signal, This ean eause problems in detecting the CF-GFR ‘locking signal depending on the dotection technique. If only amplitude detection is wiited, large GCM signals ‘may not be sifeently attenuated by the ter such that the level of the GCM and CF-GFR blocking signals wil be comparable. To avoid this, both level detection and fre- ‘quency discrimination techniques have been implemented to enhance reliability. Induced voltage levels in the pil land ground wires from external sources may alo be Tac 5) The maximum distance between switehhouses will affect CE-GFR blocking signal sttenuation. ‘This wil slo play fn important role in signal level specification and detec: fon. ©) These are » multitude of choices for GCM configuration. ‘This choice ie very critical to the whole design proces Dbeonuse a change from one configuration to another may require signleant changes in the CF-GFR design. In this fegard, the CF-GFR cannot be designed with es much fexiblty a5 is desirable, For the inal stem configuration, a 12 V, 60 Hz GCM which requires 2 A of current ow through the plot and ground wires fora pes tive continuity check was selected. ‘This type of GCM Is widely ulized throughout the tiing industry. 7) ‘The GOM signal voltage level will have a significant eflect. con CF-GFR design, One implication is that electronic setive filters eannot be used to separate the GCM and CP-GFR signals at. GCM voltages approaching the legl ‘maximum of O6V. ‘The eurent sent through the GCM ir- cuit wil be dependent on the GCM voltage as well asthe impedance of the pilot wie, ground wire, and any Blters sttenuators. In the current situation active CF-GFR. Alers were ullized with the 12 V GCM, 8) The GCM signaling frequency is obviously of importance inthe CP-GPR design. ‘The requirement that the GCM. frequency be suficiently separated from CF-GFR blocking signal frequency to allow reliable detection ofboth signals. With the 60 He GCM, a blocking signal freaueney of 1000, Hi won selected for the CF-GFRe 9) Any attenuators inserted in the GCM system will aflect the pilot-groundwire loop impedance. This incremental change In impedance may have serious effects on. the ‘operation of the GCM circuitry depending upon ie sens tivity. Relay Design and Operation Based upon the design considerations given inthe precede ing section, a CF-GFR was designed and three operating its were constructed. “A block diagram of the overall system ie shown in Fig. 8 and e similar Bock diagram for an individual relay is shown in Fig. 4. Each switehhouse would have circuitry corresponding to the blocks in these Figures, A complete docie mentation of the electronics including schematic diagrams, ‘operational deerption, timing and waveform da, layout, and ‘component listings is recorded in 2) and only a very brit ‘operational summary will be Inehided here. _ baat mee eset emma See St cata i a a cee See pr i eee or Shes eenLoop A ‘ ae ot Leone Loop 0 ee [ew t +4 get a et DPitor—wir O—carrent Trnstormer Pw Pilot Wire Figure 1. Ground feult protection wing pilotwire relaying in a mine power system Per Pitot Conguctor (Pe) Per oH sue Figure 2. Simpied diagram of ground-check monitoring sytem wed in mine distribution systems. GFL signal generstor Figure 8. System block agra. ne