Switchgear Lab Manual

Switchgear &
Protective Devices
BTEL-321A Lab
Manual
Prepared by: Engr. Zeeshan Ahmed
Reviewed by: Prof. Dr. Engr. Syed Hyder Abbas Musavi

Prepared by: Engr. Mohsin Ali
Lab Topic Teacher’s

Remarks
1 Explore air circuit breaker.
2 Explore SF6 circuit breaker.
3 Analyze the vacuum circuit breaker and oil circuit breaker.
4 Demonstrate the diverse types of relays and their working principles.
5 Demonstrate the electromagnetic relays.
6 Demonstrate the solid-state relays and reed relays.
7 Trace faults in generator and give their protective measures Part (A).
8 Trace faults in generator and give their protective measures Part (B).
9 Trace faults in generator and give their protective measures Part (C).
10 Analyze the transformer’s faults and transformer’s protections.
11 Explore the protection system for bus bar.
12 Write a detailed report on transmission line protection principles.
pg. 2
Lab 01
Air Circuit Breaker
Object
Explore air circuit breaker.
Types of Circuit Breakers and its Importance
In the electrical and electronics world, there are many cases where mishap takes place. It will
lead to severe damage to building, offices, houses, schools, industries, etc. Trusting voltage and
current are not correct, though safety measures are taken. Once circuit breakers are installed it
will control the sudden rise of voltage and current. It will help from any accident. Circuit
breakers are like the heart of the electrical system. There are different types of circuit
breakers where these are installed according to the rating of the system. In house different kind
of circuit breaker is used and for industries another type of circuit breaker is used. Let us discuss
the diverse types of circuit breakers and its importance in detail.
What is a Circuit Breaker?
Electrical circuit breaker is a switching device which can be operated automatically or manually
for protecting and controlling of electrical power system. In the modern power system, the
design of the circuit breaker has changed depending upon the huge currents and to prevent from
arc while operating.
Electricity which is coming to the houses or offices or schools or industries or to any other places
from the power distribution grids forms a large circuit. Those lines which are connected to the
power plant forming at one end is called the hot wire and the other lines connecting to ground
forming another end. Whenever the electrical charge flows between these two lines it develops
pg. 3
potential between them. For the complete circuit the connection of loads (appliances) resists the flow
of charge and the whole electrical system inside the house or industries will work smoothly.
They work smoothly if the appliances have sufficiently resistant and do not cause any over
current or voltage. The reasons for heating up the wires are too much charge flowing through the
circuit or short circuiting or sudden connection of the hot end wire to the ground wire would
heat up the wires, causing fire. The circuit breaker will prevent such situations which simply cut
off the remaining circuit.
Air Circuit Breaker
This circuit breaker will operate in the air; the quenching medium is an Arc at atmospheric
pressure. In many of the countries air circuit breaker is replaced by oil circuit breaker. Thus,
the importance of ACB is still preferable choice to use an Air circuit breaker up to 15KV. This
is because; oil circuit breaker may catch fire when used at 15V.
The two types of air circuit breakers are
  Plain air circuit breaker

 Air blast Circuit Breaker
Plain Air Circuit Breaker
Plain air circuit breaker is also called as Cross-Blast Circuit Breaker. In this, the circuit breaker is
fitted with a chamber which basically surrounds the contacts. This chamber is known as arc
chute.
Plain Air Circuit Breaker
pg. 4
This arc is made to drive in it. In achieving the cooling of the air circuit breaker, an arc chute will
help. From the refractory material, an arc chute is made. The internal walls of arc chute are
shaped in such a way that arc is not forced into close proximity. It will drive into the winding
channel projected on an arc chute wall.
The arc chute will have many small compartments and has many divisions which are metallic
separated plates. Here each of small compartments behaves as a mini arc chute and metallic
separation plate acts like arc splitters. All arc voltages will be higher than the system voltage
when the arc will split into a series of arcs. It is only preferable for low voltage application.
Air Blast Circuit Breaker

Air blast circuit breakers are used for system voltage of 245 KV, 420 KV and even more. Air
blast circuit breakers are of two types:
  Axial blast breaker

 Axial blast with sliding moving contact
Axial Blast Breaker
In the axial blaster breaker, the moving contact of the axial blast breaker will be in contact. The
nozzle orifice is a fixed to the contact of a breaker at a normal closed condition. A fault occurs
when high pressure is introduced into the chamber. Voltage is sufficient to sustain high-pressure
air when flowed through nozzle orifice.
Axial Blast Circuit breaker
pg. 5
Task
✓
Mention the advantages and disadvantages of air blast circuit breaker.
✓
Mention the application and uses of air circuit breaker.
pg. 6
Lab 02
SF6 Circuit Breaker
Object
Explore SF6 circuit breaker.
SF6 Circuit Breaker
Sulfur hexafluoride circuit breakers protect electrical power stations and distribution systems by
interrupting electric currents, when tripped by a protective relay.
An SF6 circuit breaker rated 115 kV, 1200 A installed at a hydroelectric generating station
Operation of SF6 Circuit Breaker
Current interruption in a high-voltage circuit breaker is obtained by separating two contacts in a
medium, such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), having excellent dielectric and arc-quenching
properties. After contact separation, current is carried through an arc and is interrupted when
this arc is cooled by a gas blast of sufficient intensity.
The sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6) is an electronegative gas and has a strong tendency to absorb
free electrons. The contacts of the breaker are opened in a high pressure flow of Sulphur
hexafluoride gas and an arc is struck between them. The gas captures the conducting free
electrons in the arc to form relatively immobile negative ions. This loss of conducting
electrons in the arc quickly builds up enough insulation strength to extinguish the arc.
A gas blast applied to the arc must be able to cool it rapidly so that gas temperature between the
contacts is reduced from 20,000 K to less than 2000 K in a few hundred microseconds, so that it
is able to withstand the transient recovery voltage that is applied across the contacts after
current interruption. Sulfur hexafluoride is generally used in present high-voltage circuit
breakers at rated voltage higher than 52 kV.
pg. 7
Into the 1980s, the pressure necessary to blast the arc was generated mostly by gas heating using
arc energy. It is now possible to use low-energy spring-loaded mechanisms to drive high-voltage
circuit breakers up to 800 kV.
Thermal Blast Chambers
New types of SF6 breaking chambers, which implement innovative interrupting principles, have
been developed over the past 30 years, with the objective of reducing the operating energy of the
circuit breaker. One aim of this evolution was to further increase the reliability by reducing the
dynamic forces in the pole. Developments since 1980 have seen the use of the self-blast
technique of interruption for SF6interrupting chambers.
These developments have been facilitated by the progress made in digital simulations that were
widely used to optimize the geometry of the interrupting chamber and the linkage between the
poles and the mechanism.
This technique has proved to be very efficient and has been widely applied for high-voltage
circuit breakers up to 550 kV. It has allowed the development of new ranges of circuit breakers
operated by low energy spring-operated mechanisms.
The reduction of operating energy was mainly achieved by lowering energy used for gas
compression and by making increased use of arc energy to produce the pressure necessary to
quench the arc and obtain current interruption. Low current interruption, up to about 30% of
rated short-circuit current, is obtained by a puffer blast. Also includes more of extensive energy
available.
Auto-blast circuit breaker

Self-Blast Chamber
Further development in the thermal blast technique was made by the introduction of a valve
between the expansion and compression volumes. When interrupting low currents the valve
opens under the effect of the overpressure generated in the compression volume. The blow-out of
the arc is made as in a puffer circuit breaker thanks to the compression of the gas obtained by the
piston action. In the case of high currents interruption, the arc energy produces a high
overpressure in the expansion volume, which leads to the closure of the valve and thus isolating
the expansion volume from the compression volume. The overpressure necessary for breaking is
pg. 8
obtained by the optimal use of the thermal effect and of the nozzle clogging effect produced
whenever the cross-section of the arc significantly reduces the exhaust of gas in the nozzle. In
order to avoid excessive energy consumption by gas compression, a valve is fitted on the
piston in order to limit the overpressure in the compression to a value necessary for the
interruption of low short circuit currents.
This technique, known as "self-blast" has now been used extensively since 1980 for the
development of many types of interrupting chambers. The increased understanding of arc
interruption obtained by digital simulations and validation through breaking tests, contribute to
a higher reliability of these self-blast circuit breakers. In addition the reduction in operating
energy, allowed by the self-blast technique, leads to longer service life.
Self-blast circuit breaker chamber (1) closed, (2) interrupting low current, (3) interrupting
high current, and (4) open.
Double motion of contacts
An important decrease in operating energy can also be obtained by reducing the kinetic energy
consumed during the tripping operation. One way is to displace the two arcing contacts in
opposite directions so that the arc speed is half that of a conventional layout with a single mobile
contact.
The thermal and self-blast principles have enabled the use of low-energy spring mechanisms
for the operation of high-voltage circuit breakers. They progressively replaced the puffer
technique in the 1980s; first in 72.5 kV breakers, and then from 145 kV to 800 kV.
pg. 9
Comparison of single motion and double motion techniques

The double motion technique halves the tripping speed of the moving part. In principle, the
kinetic energy could be quartered if the total moving mass were not increased. However, as the
total moving mass is increased, the practical reduction in kinetic energy is closer to 60%. The
total tripping energy also includes the compression energy, which is almost the same for both
techniques. Thus, the reduction of the total tripping energy is lower, about 30%, although the
exact value depends on the application and the operating mechanism. Depending on the
specific case, either the double motion or the single motion technique can be cheaper. Other
considerations, such as rationalization of the circuit breaker range, can also influence the cost.
Future Perspectives
In the near future, present interrupting technologies can be applied to circuit breakers with the
higher rated breaking currents (63 kA to 80 kA) required in some networks with increasing
power generation.
Self-blast or thermal blast circuit breakers are now accepted world-wide and they have been in
service for high-voltage applications for about 25 years by ABB, and later by Areva, starting
with the voltage level of 72.5 kV. Today, this technique is also available for the voltage levels
420/550/800 kV.
Task
Illustrate the issues related to SF6 Circuit Breakers.
pg. 10
Lab 03
Vacuum and Oil Circuit Breaker
Object
Analyze the vacuum circuit breaker and oil circuit breaker.
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
Vacuum circuit breaker is a circuit in which vacuum is used to extinct the arc. It has
dielectric recovery character, excellent interruption and can interrupt the high frequency
current which results from arc instability, superimposed on the line frequency current.
In the principle of operation of VCB will have two contacts called electrodes will remain closed
under normal operating conditions.
Suppose when a fault occurs in any part of the system, then the trip coil of the circuit breaker
gets energized and finally contact gets separated.
The moment contacts of the breaker are opened in vacuum, i.e. 10-7 to 10-5 Torr an arc is
produced between the contacts by the ionization of metal vapors of contacts.
pg. 11
Here the arc quickly gets extinguished, this happens because the electrons, metallic vapors and
ions produced during arc, condense quickly on the surface of the CB contacts, resulting in
quick recovery of dielectric strength.
Oil Circuit Breaker
In this type of circuit breaker oil is used, but mineral oil is preferable. It acts as better
insulating property than air.
The moving contact and fixed contact are immerged inside the insulating oil.
When the separation of current takes place, then carrier contacts in the oil, the arc in circuit
breaker is initialized at the moment of separation of contacts, and because of this arc in the oil
is vaporized and decomposed in hydrogen gas and finally creates a hydrogen bubble around the
arc.
This highly compressed gas bubble around and arc prevents re-striking of the arc after
current reaches zero crossing of the cycle. The OCB is the oldest type of circuit breakers.
Different types of Oil Circuit Breaker
 Bulk oil circuit breaker
 Minimum oil circuit breaker
Bulk Oil Circuit Breaker (BOCB)

In the BOCB, oil is used to arc the quenching media and also for insulating media in between
earth parts of circuit breaker and current carrying contacts. The same transformer insulating oil is
used.
The working principle of the BOCB says when the current carrying contacts in the oil are
separated, and then an arc is generated between the separated contacts.
The arc which is established will produce rapid growing gas bubble around the arc.
The moving contacts will move away from the fixed contact of arc and this result the
resistance of the arc gets increased.
Here the increased resistance will cause the lowering the temperature. Hence the
reduced formations of gasses surround the arc.
pg. 12
When the current passes through zero crossing the arc quenching in the BOCB takes places.
In the totally air tight vessel, the gas bubble is enclosed inside the oil.
The oil will surround with high pressure on the bubble, this results in highly compressed gas
around the arc.
When the pressure is increased the de- ionization of the gas also increases, which results in
arc quenching.
The hydrogen gas will help in cooling the arc quenching in the oil circuit breaker.
Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker
It is a circuit breaker which utilizes oil as the interrupting media.
The minimum oil circuit breaker will place the interrupting unit in an insulating chamber at
the live potential.
But insulating material is available in interrupting chamber. It requires less amount of oil so it
is called as minimum oil circuit breaker.
pg. 13
Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker

Task
Design a chart that shows advantages and disadvantages of vacuum circuit breaker, bulk oil
circuit breaker, and minimum oil circuit breaker.
pg. 14
Lab 04
Different Types of Relays and their Working Principles
Object
Demonstrate the diverse types of relays and their working principles.
Different Types of Relays and their Working Principles
Relays are the primary protection as well as switching devices in most of the control processes
or equipment.
All the relays respond to one or more electrical quantities like voltage or current such that they
open or close the contacts or circuits.
A relay is a switching device as it works to isolate or change the state of an electric circuit from
one state to another.
Classification or the types of relays depend on the function for which they are used. Some of
the categories include protective, reclosing, regulating, auxiliary and monitoring relays.
Protective relays continuously monitor these parameters: voltage, current, and power; and if
these parameters violate from set limits they generate alarm or isolate that particular circuit.
These types of relays are used to protect equipment like motors, generators, and transformers,
and so on.
Reclosing relays are used to connect various components and devices within the system
network, such as synchronizing process, and to restore the various devices soon after any
electrical fault vanishes, and then to connect transformers and feeders to line network.
Regulating relays are the switches that contacts such that voltage boosts up as in the case of
tap changing transformers.
Auxiliary contacts are used in circuit breakers and other protective equipment for contact
multiplication.
Monitoring relays monitors the system conditions such as direction of power and accordingly
generates the alarm. These are also called directional relays.
pg. 15
pg. 16
Lab 05
Electromagnetic Relays
Object
Demonstrate the electromagnetic relays.
Electromagnetic Relays
These relays are constructed with electrical, mechanical and magnetic components, and have
operating coil and mechanical contacts. Therefore, when the coil gets activated by a supply
system, these mechanical contacts gets opened or closed. The type of supply can be AC or DC.
DC vs. AC Relays
Both AC and DC relays work on the same principle as electromagnetic induction, but the
construction is somewhat differentiated and also depends on the application for which
these relays are selected.
DC relays are employed with a freewheeling diode to de-energize the coil, and the AC
relays uses laminated cores to prevent eddy current losses.
DC vs. AC Relays
pg. 17
The very interesting aspect of an AC is that for every half cycle, the direction of the current
supply changes; therefore, for every cycle the coil loses its magnetism since the zero current
in every half cycle makes the relay continuously make and break the circuit.
So, to prevent this – additionally one shaded coil or another electronic circuit is placed in the
AC relay to provide magnetism in the zero current position.
Attraction Type Electromagnetic Relays
These relays can work with both AC and DC supply and attract a metal bar or a piece of metal
when power is supplied to the coil.
This can be a plunger being drawn towards the solenoid or an armature being attracted
towards the poles of an electromagnet as shown in the figure.
These relays don’t have any time delays so these are used for instantaneous operation.
Attraction Type Relays

Magnetic Latching Relays
These relays use permanent magnet or parts with a high remittance to remain the armature at
the same point as the coil is electrified when the coil power source is taken away.
pg. 18
Task
✓
Design a table that shows the working principle of induction type relays.
✓
Design the electro-mechanical diagram of an induction type relay.
pg. 19
Lab 06
Solid State Relays & Reed Relays
Object
Demonstrate the solid-state relays and reed relays.
Solid State Relays
Solid State uses solid state components to perform the switching operation without moving any
parts.
Since the control energy required is much lower compared with the output power to be
controlled by this relay that results the power gain higher when compared to the
electromagnetic relays.
These are of different types: reed relay coupled SSR, transformer coupled SSR, photo-coupled
SSR, and so on.
Solid State Relays

The above figure shows a photo coupled SSR where the control signal is applied by LED and
it is detected by a photo-sensitive semiconductor device.
The output form this photo detector is used to trigger the gate of TRIAC or SCR that switches
the load.
pg. 20
Prepared by: Engr. Engr. Mohsin Ali
Reed Relays
Reed Relays consist of a pair of magnetic strips (also called as reed) that is sealed within a
glass tube. This reed acts as both an armature and a contact blade.
The magnetic field applied to the coil is wrapped around this tube that makes these reeds move
so that switching operation is performed.
Based on dimensions, relays are differentiated as micro miniature, subminiature and miniature
relays. Also, based on the construction, these relays are classified as hermetic, sealed and
open type relays.
Furthermore, depending on the load operating range, relays are of micro, low, intermediate and
high power types.
Relays are also available with different pin configurations like 3 pin, 4 pin and 5 pin relays.
The ways in which these relays are operated is shown in the below figure. Switching
contacts can be SPST, SPDT, DPST and DPDT types. Some of the relays are normally
open (NO) type and the other are normally closed (NC) types.
pg. 21
Task
Analyze the hybrid relay and thermal relay.
pg. 22
Lab 07
Generator’s Protection Part (A)
Object
Trace faults in generator and give their protective measures.
Generator’s Protection
A generator is subjected to electrical traces imposed on the insulation of the machine,
mechanical forces acting on the various parts of the machine, and temperature rises.
These are the main factors which make protection necessary for the generator or alternator.
Even when properly used, a machine in its perfect running condition does not only maintain its
specified rated performance for many years, but it does also repeatedly withstand certain excess
of over load.
Hence, preventive measures must be taken against overloads and abnormal conditions of
the machine so that it can serve safely.
Despite of sound, efficient design, construction, operation, and preventive means of
protection, the risk of that fault cannot be completely eliminated from any machine.
The devices used in generator protection, ensure the fault, made dead as quickly as possible.
An electrical generator can be subjected to either internal fault or external fault or both.
The generators are normally connected to an electrical power system, hence any fault occurred in
the power system should also be cleared from the generator as soon as possible otherwise it may
create permanent damage in the generator. The number and variety of faults occur in generator,
are huge.
That is why generator or alternator is protected with several protective schemes. The generator
protection is of both discriminative and non-discriminative type.
Great care is to be taken in coordinating the systems used and the settings adopted, so that the
sensitive, selective and discriminative generator protection scheme is achieved.
Protection against Insulation Failure
The main protection provided in the stator winding against phase to phase or phase to earth
fault, is longitudinal differential protection of generator.
Second most important protection scheme for stator winding is inter turn fault protection.
This type of protection was considered unnecessary in previous days because breakdown of
insulation between points in the same phase winding, contained in the same slot, and between
which a potential difference exists, very rapidly changes into an earth fault, and then it is
detected by either the stator differential protection or the stator earth fault protection.
pg. 23
A generator is designed to produce relatively high voltage in comparison to its output and which
therefore contains a large number of conductors per slot.
With increasing size and voltage of the generator, this form of protection is becoming
essential for all large generating units.
Stator Earth Fault Protection
When the stator neutral is earthed through a resistor, a current transformer is mounted in the
neutral to earth connection.
Inverse Time Relay is used across the CT secondary when the generator is connected directly to
the bus bar. In case of generator feeds power via a delta star transformer, an Instantaneous
Relay is used for the same purpose.
In the former case, the earth faults relay is required to be graded with other fault relays in
the system.
This is the reason why Inverse Time Relay is used in this case.
But in the latter case, the earth fault loop is restricted to the stator winding and primary winding
of the transformer, hence, there is no need of grading or discrimination with other earth fault
relays in the system. That is why Instantaneous Relay is preferable in the case.
Rotor Earth Fault Protection
A single earth fault does not create any major problem in the generator but if the second earth
fault is occurred, however, part of the field winding will become short-circuited and resulting
and unbalanced magnetic field in the system and consequently there may be major
mechanical damage to the bearings of the generated.
There are three methods available to detect the types of fault in the rotor.
The methods are:
✓
Potentiometer method
✓
AC injection method
✓
DC injection method
Unbalanced Stator Loading Protection

Unbalancing in loading produces negative sequence currents in the stator circuit.
This negative sequence current produces a reaction field rotating at twice of synchronous
speed with respect to the rotor and hence induce double frequency current in the rotor.
This current is quite large and causes overheating in the rotor circuit, especially in the
alternator. If any unbalancing occurred due to fault in the stator winding itself, that would be
cleared instantaneously by the differential protection provided in the generator.
pg. 24
If the unbalancing is occurred due to any external fault or unbalanced loading in the system, it
may remain undetected or may persist for a significant period of time depending on the
protection coordination of the system. These faults then be cleared by installing a negative
phase sequence relay with the characteristics to match the withstand curve of the machine.
pg. 25
Lab 08
Generator’s Protection Part (B)
Object
Protection against Stator Overheating
“Overloading” causes overheating in the stator winding of the generator.
Not only overloading, failure of cooling systems and insulation failure of stator laminations also
cause overheating of the stator winding.
The overheating is detected by embedded temperature detectors at various points in the
stator winding.
The temperature detector coils are normally resistance elements which form one arm of the
Wheatstone bridge circuit. In the case of smaller generator normally below 30 MW, the
generators are not equipped with embedded temperature coil but are usually fitted with thermal
relay and they are arranged to measure the current flowing in the stator winding.
This arrangement only detects overheating caused by overloading and does not provide
any protection against overheating due to failure of cooling systems or short circuited
stator laminations.
Although over current relays, negative phase sequence relays, and devises for monitoring
constant flow are also used to provide a certain degree of thermal overload protection.
Low Vacuum Protection
This protection, usually in the form of a regulator which compares the vacuum
against atmospheric pressure, it is normally fitted to the generator set above 30 MW.
The modern practice is for the regulator to unload the set via the secondary governor
until normal vacuum conditions are restored.
If the vacuum conditions do not improve below 21 inch the stop valves are closed and the
main circuit breaker is tripped.
Protection against Lubrication Oil Failure
This protection is not considered essential since the lubrication oil is normally obtained from
the same pump as governor oil and a failure of the governor oil will automatically make stop
valve to close.
Protection against Loss of Boiler Firing
Two methods are available for detecting the loss of boiler firing. In the first methods, normally
opened (NO) contacts are provided with the fan motors which may trip the generator if more
pg. 26
than two motors fail. The second method uses a boiler pressure contacts which unload the
generator in boiler pressure falls below approximately 90%.
Protection against Prime Mover Failure
If the prime mover fails to supply mechanical energy to the generator, the generator will continue
to rotate in motoring mode that means it takes electrical energy from the system instead of
supplying it to the system.
In steam turbine set the steam acts as a coolant maintaining the turbine blades at a constant
temperature.
Failure of the supply will therefore result in overheating due to friction, with subsequent
distortion of turbine blades.
The failure of steam supply can cause severe mechanical damage in addition of imposing
a heavy motoring load on the generator.
Reverse power relay is used for this purpose. As soon as the generator starts rotating in motoring
mode, the reverse power relay will trip the generator set.
pg. 27
Lab 09
Generator’s Protection Part (C)
Object
Over Speed Protection
While it is the general practice to provide mechanical over speed devises on both steam and
hydro turbine, which operate directly on the steam throttle valve or main step valve, it is not
usual to backup this devises by an over speed relay on steam driven sets.
It is, however, considered good practice on hydroelectric units, as the response of the governor is
comparatively slow and the set is more prone to over-speed.
The relay when fitted is usually supplied from the permanent magnet generator used for
the control of governor.
Protection against Rotor Distortion
The cooling rates following shutdown, at the top and bottom of the turbine casing, are different
and this uneven temperature distribution tends to cause destruction of the rotor.
To minimize the disruption, it is common practice to turn the rotor at low speed during
the cooling down period.
In the view of the forces involved with large modern rotor, it is now standard practice to fit
shaft eccentricity detectors.
Protection against Difference in Expansion between Rotating and Stationary parts
During the running up period, the rate of heating of the rotor differs from that of the casing, due
to the difference in mass.
As a result, the rotor expands at a different rate to the casing and it is necessary to overcome
this unequal expansion.
To this end, proposition is made on the larger machine for independent supplies of steam to
be set to certain joints on the casing.
It is desirable therefore to provide a means of measuring the axial expansion to assist the
operator to feed the steam to the correct points and also to provide indication of any
dangerous expansion.
The shaft axial expansion detector is basically similar to the equipment described for rotor
distortion equipment, except that the detector magnets are fixed to the turbine casing.
pg. 28
Protection against Vibration

Vibration detectors are usually mounted on the bearing pedestals.
The detector consists of a coil mounted on springs between U shaped permanent magnets.
The voltage output from the coil, which is proportional to the degree of vibration, is passed from
the coil into integrating circuits and then into interval indicating instrument.
Task
Analyze the backup protection of generator.
pg. 29
Lab 10
Transformer’s faults and Transformer’s protections
Object
Explore the transformer’s faults and transformer’s protections.
Transformer’s faults and Transformer’s protections
There are different kinds of transformers such as two winding or three winding electrical
power transformers, auto transformer, regulating transformers, earthing transformers, rectifier
transformers etc.
Different transformers demand different schemes of transformer protection depending upon
their importance, winding connections, earthing methods and mode of operation etc.
It is common practice to provide Buchholz relay protection to all 0.5 MVA and
above transformers.
While for all small size distribution transformers, only high voltage fuses are used as
main protective device.
For all larger rated and important distribution transformers, over current protection
along with restricted earth fault protection is applied.
Differential protection should be provided in the transformers rated above 5 MVA.
Depending upon the normal service condition, nature of transformer faults, degree of sustained
over load, scheme of tap changing, and many other factors, the suitable transformer protection
schemes are chosen.
Nature of Transformer Faults
Although an electrical power transformer is a static device, but internal stresses arising
from abnormal system conditions, must be taken into consideration.
A transformer generally suffers from following types of transformer fault-
Over current due to overloads and external short circuits
Terminal faults
Winding faults
Incipient faults
The entire above mentioned transformer faults cause mechanical and thermal stresses inside
the transformer winding and its connecting terminals.
Thermal stresses lead to overheating which ultimately affect the insulation system of
transformer. Deterioration of insulation leads to winding faults.
pg. 30
Sometime failure of transformer cooling system, leads to overheating of transformer. So

the transformer protection schemes are very much required.
The short circuit current of an electrical transformer is normally limited by its reactance and for
low reactance; the value of short circuit current may be excessively high.
The duration of external short circuits which a transformer can sustain without damage as given
in BSS 171:1936.
The general winding faults in transformer are either earth faults or inter-turns faults. Phase to
phase winding faults in a transformer is rare.
The phase faults in an electrical transformer may be occurred due to bushing flash over and
faults in tap changer equipment.
Whatever may be the faults, the transformer must be isolated instantly during fault otherwise
major breakdown may occur in the electrical power system.
Incipient faults are internal faults which constitute no immediate hazard.
But it these faults are over looked and not taken care of, these may lead to major faults. The
faults in this group are mainly inter-lamination short circuit due to insulation failure between
core lamination, lowering the oil level due to oil leakage, blockage of oil flow paths.
All these faults lead to overheating. So transformer protection scheme is required for incipient
transformer faults also.
The earth fault, very nearer to neutral point of transformer star winding may also be
considered as an incipient fault.
Influence of winding connections and earthing on earth fault current magnitude.

There are mainly two conditions for earth fault current to flow during winding to earth faults,
✓
A current exists for the current to flow into and out of the winding.
✓
Ampere-turns balance is maintained between the windings.
The value of winding earth fault current depends upon position of the fault on the
winding, method of winding connection and method of earthing.
The star point of the windings may be earthed either solidly or via a resistor. On delta side of the
transformer the system is earthed through an earthing transformer.
Grounding or earthing transformer provides low impedance path to the zero sequence current
and high impedance to the positive and negative sequence currents.
Star Winding with Neutral Resistance Earthed
In this case the neutral point of the transformer is earthed via a resistor and the value of impedance
of it, is much higher than that of winding impedance of the transformer. That means
pg. 31
the value of transformer winding impedance is negligible compared to impedance of earthing

resistor. The value of earth current is, therefore, proportional to the position of the fault in the
winding.
As the fault current in the primary winding of the transformer is proportional to the ratio of the
short circuited secondary turns to the total turns on the primary winding, the primary fault
current will be proportional to the square of the percentage of winding short circuited.
The variation of fault current both in the primary and secondary winding is shown
below. Star Winding with Neutral Solidly Earthed
In this case the earth fault current magnitude is limited solely by the winding impedance and the
fault is no longer proportional to the position of the fault. The reason for this non linearity is
unbalanced flux linkage.
pg. 32
Lab 11
Protection System for Bus Bar
Object
Explore the protection system for bus bar.
Busbar Protection | Busbar Differential Protection Scheme
In early days only conventional over current relays were used for busbar protection. But it is
desired that fault in any feeder or transformer connected to the busbar should not disturb busbar
system.
In viewing of this time setting of busbar protection relays are made lengthy. So when faults
occurs on busbar itself, it takes much time to isolate the bus from source which may came
much damage in the bus system.
In recent days, the second zone distance protection relays on incoming feeder, with
operating time of 0.3 to 0.5 seconds have been applied for busbar protection.
But this scheme has also a main disadvantage. This scheme of protection cannot discriminate the
faulty section of the busbar.
Now a days, electrical power system deals with huge amount of power. Hence any interruption
in total bus system causes big loss to the company. So, it becomes essential to isolate only faulty
section of busbar during bus fault.
Another drawback of second zone distance protection scheme is that, sometime the clearing
time is not short enough to ensure the system stability.
To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, differential busbar protection scheme with

an operating time less than 0.1 sec., is commonly applied to many SHT bus systems.
Differential Busbar Protection
Current Differential Protection
The scheme of busbar protection, involves, Kirchhoff’s current law, which states that, total
current entering an electrical node is exactly equal to total current leaving the node.
Hence, total current entering a bus section is equal to total current leaving the bus section.
The principle of differential busbar protection is very simple. Here, secondaries of CTs are
connected parallel. That means, S1 terminals of all CTs connected and forms a bus wire.
Similarly, S2 terminals of all CTs connected to form another bus wire.
A tripping relay is connected across these two bus wires.
pg. 33
Here, in the figure above we assume that at normal condition feed, A, B, C, D, E and F
carries current IA, IB, IC, ID, IE and IF.
Now, according to Kirchhoff’s current law,
Essentially all the CTs used for differential busbar protection are of same current ratio. Hence,
the summation of all secondary currents must also be equal to zero. Now, say current through
the relay connected in parallel with all CT secondaries, is iR, and iA, iB, iC, iD, iE and iF are
secondary currents.
Now, let us apply KCL at node X. As per KCL at node X,
So, under normal condition there is no current flows through the busbar protection tripping relay.
This relay is generally referred as Relay 87. Now, say fault is occurred at any of the feeders,
outside the protected zone. In that case, the faulty current will pass through primary of the CT of
that feeder. This fault current is contributed by all other feeders connected to the bus.
pg. 34
So, contributed part of fault current flows through the corresponding CT of respective feeder.
Hence at that faulty condition, if we apply KCL at node K, we will still get, iR = 0.
That means, at external faulty condition, there is no current flows through relay 87.
Now consider a situation when fault is occurred on the bus itself.
At this condition, also the faulty current is contributed by all feeders connected to the bus.
Hence, at this condition, sum of all contributed fault current is equal to total faulty current.
Now, at faulty path there is no CT. (in external fault, both fault current and contributed current
to the fault by different feeder get CT in their path of flowing).
pg. 35
The sum of all secondary currents is no longer zero. It is equal to secondary equivalent of
faulty current. Now, if we apply KCL at the nodes, we will get a non-zero value of iR. So at this
condition current starts flowing through 87 relay and it makes trip the circuit
breaker corresponding to all the feeders connected to this section of the busbar. As all the
incoming and outgoing feeders, connected to this section of bus are tripped, the bus becomes
dead. This differential busbar protection scheme is also referred as current differential
protection of busbar.
Differential Protection of Sectionalized Bus
During explaining working principle of current differential protection of busbar, we have
shown a simple non-sectionalized busbar. But in moderate high voltage system electrical bus
sectionalized in than one sections to increase stability of the system. It is done because, fault in
one section of bus should not disturb other section of the system. Hence during bus fault, total
bus would be interrupted.
Let us draw and discuss about protection of busbar with two sections.
Here, bus section A or zone A is bounded by CT1, CT2 and CT3 where CT1 and CT2 are
feeder CTs and CT3 is bus CT.
Similarly bus section B or zone B is bounded by CT4, CT5 and CT6 where CT4 is bus CT,
CT5 and CT6 are feeder CT.
Therefore, zone A and B are overlapped to ensure that, there is no zone left behind this
busbarprotection scheme.
ASI terminals of CT1, 2 and 3 are connected together to form secondary bus ASI;
BSI terminals of CT4, 5 and 6 are connected together to form secondary bus BSI.
pg. 36
S2 terminals of all CTs are connected together to form a common bus S2.
Now, busbar protection relay 87A for zone A is connected across bus ASI and S2.
Relay 87B for zone B is connected across bus BSI and S2.
This section busbar differential protection scheme operates in some manner simple
current differential protection of busbar.
That is, any fault in zone A, with trip only CB1, CB2 and bus CB.
Any fault in zone B, will trip only CB5, CB6 and bus CB.
Hence, fault in any section of bus will isolate only that portion from live system.
In current differential protection of busbar, if CT secondary circuits, or bus wires is open
the relay may be operated to isolate the bus from live system. But this is not desirable.
DC Circuit of Differential Busbar Protection
A typical DC circuit for busbar differential protection scheme is given below.
pg. 37
Here, CSSA and CSSB are two selector switch which are used to put into service, the
busbarprotection system for zone A and zone B respectively.
If CSSA is in “IN” position, protection scheme for zone A is in service.

If CSSB is in “IN” position, protection for zone B is in service.
Generally, both switches are in “IN’ position in normal operating condition. Here, relay coil of
96A and 96B are in series with differential busbar protection relay contact 87A-1 and 87B-1
respectively.
96A relay is multi contacts relay. Each circuit breaker in zone A relates to individual contact of
96A.
Similarly, 96B is multi contacts relay and each circuit breaker in zone-B is connected
with individual contacts of 96B.
Although here we use only one tripping relay per protected zone, but this is better to use one
individual tripping relay per feeder. In this scheme one protective relay is provided per feeder
circuit breaker, whereas two tripping relays one for zone A and other for zone B are provided
to bus section or bus coupler circuit breaker.
On an interval fault in zone A or bus section A, the respective bus protection relay 87A, be
energized whereas during internal fault in zone B, the respective relay 87B will be energized.
As soon as relay coil of 87A or 87B is energized respective no. contact 87A-1 or 87B-1 is closed.
Hence, the tripping relay 96 will trip the breakers connected to the faulty zone. To indicate
whether zone A or B busbar protection operated, relay 30 is used.
For example, if relay 87A is operated, corresponding “No” contact 87A-2 is closed which
energized relay 30A. Then the No contact 30A-1 of relay 30A is closed to energized alarm
relay 74.
Supervision relay 95 of respective zone is also energized during internal fault, but it has a time
delay of 3 second. So, it reset as soon as the fault is cleared and therefore does not pick up
zone bus wire shorting relay 95x which in turn shorts out the bus wires.
An alarm contact is also given to this auxiliary 95x relay to indicate which CT is open circuited.
No volt relay 80 is provided in both trip and non-trip section of the DC circuit of
differential busbar protection system to indicate any discontinuity of D. C. supply.
pg. 38
Task
Analyze the voltage differential protection of bus bar.
pg. 39
Lab 12
Transmission Line Protection Principles
Object
Write a detailed report on transmission line protection principles.
pg. 40

Switchgear Lab Manual

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Switchgear Lab Manual

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Switchgear &

Prepared by: Engr. Zeeshan Ahmed

Reviewed by: Prof. Dr. Engr. Syed Hyder Abbas Musavi

Lab Topic Teacher’s

1 Explore air circuit breaker.

2 Explore SF6 circuit breaker.

3 Analyze the vacuum circuit breaker and oil circuit breaker.

4 Demonstrate the diverse types of relays and their working principles.

5 Demonstrate the electromagnetic relays.

6 Demonstrate the solid-state relays and reed relays.

10 Analyze the transformer’s faults and transformer’s protections.

11 Explore the protection system for bus bar.

12 Write a detailed report on transmission line protection principles.

  Plain air circuit breaker

Plain Air Circuit Breaker

Air Blast Circuit Breaker

  Axial blast breaker

Axial Blast Circuit breaker

Auto-blast circuit breaker

Comparison of single motion and double motion techniques

Bulk Oil Circuit Breaker (BOCB)

Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker

Attraction Type Relays

Solid State Relays

Unbalanced Stator Loading Protection

Protection against Vibration

Sometime failure of transformer cooling system, leads to overheating of transformer. So

Influence of winding connections and earthing on earth fault current magnitude.

the value of transformer winding impedance is negligible compared to impedance of earthing

To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, differential busbar protection scheme with

A tripping relay is connected across these two bus wires.

If CSSA is in “IN” position, protection scheme for zone A is in service.

You might also like