PAPER

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Title Busbar Medium Voltage Protection – Logic Selectivity

Registration Nº: XNJC8185

(Abstract)

Authors of the paper

Name Country e-mail
Adriano Borges AES Sul - Brazil adriano.borges@aes.com

Lorenzo Comassetto AES Sul - Brazil lorenzo.comassetto@aes.com

Mauro Sergio Silveira AES Sul - Brazil mauro.silveira@aes.com

Key words
Smart Protection, busbar, selectivity, short-circuit.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the "Fast Busbar Protection", adopted by AES Sul in their medium voltage substation buses,
which is the existence of a communication link between the feeder’s and main transformer overcurrent protection.
Its operation is based on the premise that the main protection will only operate if the busbar protection pickup and
any feeder protection pickup during the same time. If the overcurrent protection from at least one feeder pickup,
the Logic Selectivity will not operates because it means that is an external fault. It is an efficient, low cost and
selective system, with a 0.15 s time operation. This period corresponds to only 20% the traditional overcurrent
protection time. This percentage ratio applies directly to harm minimization, as the heat production is directly
proportional to the lack of time.

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1. Introduction
The classical busbar protection
selectivity presents limitations about the
clearing time for a short circuit, because
fastest time would limit the application of
downstream protection. This happen because
the selectivity between the overcurrent device
is achieved by the relation: time operation
versus fault current amplitude. Thus, to have a
busbar protection selective in the substation it
is necessary to slow down the busbar
overcurrent protection by considering around
300 ms delay to the up and downstream Figure 1 - Circuit Breaker Explosion. Zoologico
devices [1]. Substation. AES Sul. 2003. System without
In this context, the purpose of this article fast busbar protection.
is to present the “Fast Busbar Protection” also
called “Logic Selectivity” that uses digital Zoologico substation didn’t have the
overcurrent relays. This protection is installed logic selectivity implemented. So the short
in all AES Sul substations to provide a faster circuit clearing time was enough to explode the
protection system, decreasing the damages circuit breaker and cause damage to the
caused by busbar short circuits. medium voltage busbar.

2. Busbar Protection and the

Concept of Logic Selectivity

A short circuit has a damage extension

according its current magnitude and the fault
clearing time. These damages are
consequence of heating produced by the
current flowing through the electrical path.
According Joules Law (1), it is possible to
express the heat generated.

(1) Figure 2 - Circuit Breaker Explosion.

Where:
Q = Amount of heat [Cal]
R = Electrical Resistance [Ohm]
i = Current traveling through the element [A]
t = Time [s]
As it can be observed in (1), the
resistance, the square of the current and the
time are direct proportional to the heat
generation. Therefore, as fast are the
protection devices, lower will be the damage
effects caused by a short circuit.
Historically AES Sul had recorded many
losses caused by the longer time took for
traditional busbar protection. The figures 1 and
2 show an example occurred in 2003 in the
Zoológico substation in the 23 kV busbar.
Zoologico Substation. AES Sul. 2003. Busbar
detail.
The traditional protection concept
doesn’t have selectivity problem in short
circuits downstream the feeder’s breaker.
Usually the feeder’s overcurrent protection is
set to work in a very fast way.
For close-in faults the clearing time is
around 80 ms. That is just the relays
processing time and arcing extinction delay.
The overcurrent protection in such situation is
done by the instantaneous element.
The figure 3 shows the protection time
during a close-in fault in a feeder according the
traditional concept. The transformer relay in
this case is the backup for the feeders relay
and responsible for short circuits in the
medium voltage busbar.

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 than in the first. That means the most severe
situation will take longer time to be extinct.

Figure 3 - Close-in feeder fault diagram.

As it is possible to see above in the time

Figure 4 - Busbar fault. Traditional protection
versus current diagram, the feeder’s relay
system.
(blue) has a very quick operation time for
close-in short circuits, while the transformer’s
relay (green), that is responsible for the busbar More complex and costly than the
and the transformer protection, has a delayed traditional busbar protection is the high
time. This time difference is necessary for impedance differential technique. In this
selectivity purposes. scheme there is an exclusive differential relay
Selectivity of a protection scheme is for the busbar that keeps comparing the
measured by the protection activation of a transformer current to the sum of currents
zone where the fault has occurred. The leaving via the outgoing feeders. If the
transformer relay must leave the feeder’s relay difference is zero, the busbar is healthy. If not,
operate first and clear the fault. If this it is faulty. Protection is activated
procedure fails, the transformer’s relay has to instantaneously. This type of scheme does not
operate as a backup protection maintaining the have impact in the overcurrent selectivity.
system in safe. Besides the necessity of exclusive
The problem in this traditional scheme is relay, in order to make the protection system
about the time operation during a busbar short reliable, specific current transformers must be
circuit. The faults inside the substation, installed for this differential protection [2].
including the busbar, can reach a current
higher than 10 kA. The clearing time for this
kind of fault can take until one second
depending on the system. This represents a
huge amount of energy released and can
cause serious damages and losses, including
neighbouring equipment.
The figure 4 shows a diagram with a
busbar short circuit in this traditional protection
system. As it is possible to compare, the
clearing time is much higher than a close-in
feeder fault. The problem in this context is that Figure 5 - High Impedance Differential
energy in the second case usually is higher Protection.

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 The cost for implementing the
differential protection in the AES Sul is
calculated in US$ 90,000.00/substation. As
AES Sul has 60 own substations, total cost to
move from traditional scheme to differential
protection would represent an investment of
US$ 5,400,000.00.
By using the resources provided for the
existing digital overcurrent relays and current
transformers, AES Sul develop a project to
turn the traditional busbar protection faster,
without compromising the selectivity with up
and downstream protections with the lowest
cost possible and with speed close the
differential protection.
The Logic Selectivity consists in a
communication between the feeders and the
main transformer overcurrent protection. It
premise of working is that this logic will just
work if the definite time relay installed in the
transformer protection operates and any of the
feeder’s protection pickup during the period of
150 ms. If at least one of the feeder’s
overcurrent protection pickup during this time,
the logic selectivity will be blocked and will not
operate because the fault is external from the
busbar.
The figure below shows the logic
diagram with the fast busbar protection.
logic selectivity would be necessary additional
overcurrent and timer in the main protection.
The fast busbar protection operation
zone is determined by the current transformers
(CT’s) that are connected in the busbar and
the CT’s installed in the feeder protection.
When the power transformer has
bushing CT’s for protection purposes, these
elements can be used in the fast busbar
protection instead of the external current
transformers. This will provide a longer
protection zone since the transformer’s
bushing until the feeder’s circuit breakers.
Figure 7 - Zone of operation – Fast Busbar
Protection
The fast time operation from the logic
selectivity reduces the heating damages
caused by the current flowing and corresponds
just to 20% of the operation time achieved by
the traditional busbar protections. It also
improves the personal safety and extends the
lifetime of substation protection equipments.

Figure 6 - Logic Diagram of Fast Busbar

Protection

As it is possible to see, the logic

implemented is quite simple. When the definite
time transformer protection pickup and goes to
“1”, it will send a signal to the logic port “&” that
will be compared to the feeder’s pickup signs.
Pickup means a downstream short circuit. If no
feeder pickup during the next 0.15 seconds,
the fast busbar protection determines that
circuit breaker must open because there is an
internal fault.
In case of fault in the feeder’s line, both
transformer and feeder’s overcurrent
protection will go to “1” and the logic selectivity
will be inhibited. In such situation it must work
the feeder’s overcurrent protection because it
means that the fault is in the grid.
It is possible to implement the logic
selectivity in electromechanical or discrete
solid state relays. But the involved costs would Figure 8 - Logic Selectivity diagram
forbid this application [3]. For installing the

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 As it can be seen, this busbar protection As can be seen in the picture 9, the
doesn’t involve material costs in a substation circuit breaker was completely destroyed by
where the overcurrent protection devices the energy released. The heating was enough
enable the use of logic circuits. It involves just to burn the circuit breaker module and make it
the service installation cost that is around US$ throw its parts inside the substation.
3,000.00/substation.
The complexity of logic selectivity is just
about its implementation in the existing
overcurrent relays, what is not a difficult job.
The protection engineering area must establish
the pickup value – in AES Sul, usually the half
phase-to-phase fault current – and the team
must just implement it in the site.
The efficiency of this system is
demonstrated below, in the next topic, where
are presented two similar busbar faults. One
where it was already implemented the logic
selectivity and the second where it wasn’t
installed yet.
Figure 9 - 13.8 kV module damaged by the
busbar short circuit. Alegrete 1 Substation.
3. Real Situation With and Without
the Logic Selectivity in the AES Sul This substation has 16 MVA power
supplied for two transformers. The electrical
Hereafter will be showed two real diagram below shows in red the point where
situations involving busbar faults in the AES the short circuit happened.
Sul system. The first case happened in a
substation where it wasn’t implemented the
logic selectivity, while the second was
recorded in a system where this technique was
installed.

3.1 Substation without the Logic Selectivity

This first case happened in 2008 in a
13.8 kV busbar in the Alegrete 1 substation. In
this event was recorded an earth fault in the
busbar that ended up in a circuit breaker
damage. This substation supplies the AES
Sul’s feeders but is owned by Eletrosul that
uses the traditional busbar protection in its
system. In Alegrete 1 the overcurrent
protection is made by electromechanical
relays.
In this recorded case the overcurrent Figure 10 - Short circuit location in Alegrete 1
protection handled the fault after 900 ms. Substation. The fault happened in the red point
Table 1 provides all details about this event. located in the 13.8 kV busbar.
Table 1 3.2 Substation with the Logic Selectivity
Outage information – Alegrete 1 Substation The second situation also threats about
Outage Location: Alegrete 1 Substation an earth fault. This was recorded in 2005 in the
Date: Sept 07, 2008 Uruguaiana 1 substation that is owned by AES
Time: 9:21 pm Sul. It started when a mouse entered in the
Cause: Earth fault inside the breaker - feeder 01 medium voltage bay – capacitor bank – and
Voltage: 13,8 kV caused a short circuit. In this case it had the
Currente: 7 kA (calculated) logic selectivity interception in 0.2 seconds.
Protection Operation Time: 0,9 s By the estimated current (7 kA, same as
Associated equipment costs: US$ 30000 in Alegrete 1 substation) it could be expected
the total burning of the mouse, trace of

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electrical stress and even damages in the
involved system. However, as can be checked
in the photographic records, the logic
selectivity brought a quick and efficient
protection. The animal was not burned and as
it was not recorded any damage in the system,
that could be immediately put in operation
again after the AES Sul’s team inspection.
Table 2
Outage Information – Uruguaiana 1 Substation
Outage Location: TR2-Uruguaiana 1-Substation
Date: March 29, 2004
Time: 07:36 pm
Cause: Earth fault caused by animal
Voltage: 23 kV
Currente: 7 kA (calculated)
Protection Operation Time: 0,2 s
Associated equipment costs: US$ 0
In the figure 11 it is possible to see the
switches where the mouse did a short circuit
and the animal lying next to it.
Figure 11 - 23 kV module after a busbar short
circuit. Uruguaiana 1 Substation.
Next picture shows Uruguaiana 1
electrical diagram with red point detailing
where was located the fault. In green is
represented the incoming 69 kV transmission
line and brown the 23 kV busbar and outgoing
feeders. This substation has a 25 MVA power
transformer.
This fast time protection is activated for
both ground and phase overcurrent elements,
instantaneous and definite time curves. If
someone of these elements pick up during the
event, the logic selectivity will not work,
because it means that the short circuit is out of
the busbar. In Uruguaiana 1 case it didn’t
happened because it was an internal fault and
the logic selectivity was required.
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Figure 12 - Short circuit location in Uruguaiana
Substation. The fault happened in the red point
located in the 23 kV busbar.
4. Conclusion
This paper presented a busbar
protection technique called Logic Selectivity or
Fast Busbar Protection. This protection has
been successfully implemented in the AES Sul
for more than 10 years. It were showed an
event where a system without this protection
ended up in a US$ 30000 loss and more than
six month breaker unavailability.
In a second case, in a substation where
it was already implemented the Logic
Selectivity, there was no damage in
equipments and the system could be
immediately reconnected after team
inspection.
This technique can easily be
implemented in any substation that has digital
overcurrent relays installed, with just service
implementation cost that represents just 3% of
the cost from the more sophisticated busbar
protection techniques. AES Sul is a successful
example of using this scheme that is a current
standard in the company.
5. References
[1] ANSI/IEEE Std. 242-1986, “Protection and
Coordination of Industrial and Commercial
Power Systems”. Nova York. 1999.
[2] C. Privé, “Protection of Electrical Networks”.
ISTE LTD. Newport Beach, USA. 2006.
[3] UNIVERSIDADE SEL, “Proteção de
Sistemas de Potência para Engenheiros”.
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories,
Comercial Ltda. Campinas, Brazil, 2009.
[4] T. Hazel, J. Tastet, B. Lusson,
“Implementation Back-Up Protection Using
Microprocessor Based Multifunction Relays”,
2001 Petroleum and Chemical Industry
Technical Conference, 53-62.