TRANSIENT RESPONSEOF CURRENT TRANSFORMERS

A summary of a report (IEEE Publication

76 CH 1130-4 PWR) prepared by a
Working Group* of the Relay Input Sources Subcommittee
of the Power System Relaying Committee.

In modern W and E W power systems more the following consequences due to air gaps
and more emphasis is placedon the ability of should be considered:
current transformers to provide correct opera- e increased exciting current, and some
ting current to protective relay systems. Re- loss of steady-state accuracy,
lay decisions need to be made while the dc e some loss of transformation of dc tran-
transient component of fault current is still sient
present. The operating current should not be e longer persistence of unidirectional CT
distorted sufficiently to cause maloperation output current after fault clearing.
of the protective system. The major cause of
concern is the decaying dc transient component CALCULATION OF TIME-TO-SATURATION
of fault current. This component can cause
some degree of current transformer saturation First, calculate the CT parameter, satu-
and thus operating-current distortion. ration factor (Ks) for a fully offset faplt
current. Assuming neither CT remanencenor
Current transformers generally produce a burden reactance, use the following equation:
faithful replica of the primary current from
the instant of fault-current initiation until
saturation begins. This interval, called the
time-to-saturation, can be calculated for most
ring-core CTs using a series of generalized where
curves and readily obtained CT and power-
system parameters. The method will be illus- Vx = CT secondary saturation voltage,
trated using Fig 1, which is a set of curves N2 = turns in CT secondary winding,
applicable when the dc transient component I1 = ac component of primary fault current,
of the fault current has a time constant of R2 = resistance of CT secondary burden inclu-
0.04 s . ding winding resistance.

Followingtime-to-saturationdetermined Given the following values: V, = 850 V I

this way, the CT output current will show evi- N2 = 240, I - 15 000 A, and R2 = 1 52, then
dence of distortion. In many cases the cur- the value ,
.
’
f
o is 13.6.
rent will be satisfactory for relaying pur-
poses but in some cases it will not, depending Time-to-saturation is obtained by loca-
on the protection scheme. The value of deter- ting the intersection of the ordinate corres-
mining time-to-saturation lies mainly in its ponding to the value of K, and the appropkiate
use to spot questionable applications. curve for the power-system constant, Tl, and
the CT secondary time constant, T2. T1 and T2
REMANENCE AND AIR GAPS can be calculated from:
Remanence is commonly found in the ring T2 = X2/R2W
cores of relaying CTs operating in service.
With remanence the core may be operating in- where
definitely at a high peak flux density under X1 = power-system short-circuit loop reactance
normal system load conditions. Then, when a R 1 = power-system short-circuit loop resls-
power-system fault occurs, the time-to-satura- tance
tion may be much shorter than without rema- X2 = CT secondary magnetizing reactance plus
nence. burden reactance
w = power-system angular frequency.
Remanence can be substantially eliminated
from CTs by the use of small air gaps in the
core. Depending on their length, air gaps in-
creasethetime-to-saturation,andthein-
crease can be readily calculated. However,

1809
 ?
n o t" different from the trial value, repeat the
2.0 procedure.
1.0 s
a6 $
z EFFECT OF DISTORTED CT OUTPUT
93 8
WW
rc CT transient distortions influence relay
at performance but relays are designed to toler-
ate some distorted CT output current. Some
information of what relays do to accommodate
distortions is presented below.
Security Techniques
To avoid undesired breaker tripping the
relay may use sensitivity control, time delay
or stabilizing impedance, etc. A more sophis-
ticated relay unit may be delayed and combined
with a simpler, faster, but less sensitive
OI 2 3 4 5 7 I 2 3 4 5 7 I 2 3 4 5 7 I unit. Or a percentage differential character-
I IO 100 lo00
TIME TO SATURATION - mr istic will be used to make a common relay un
sensitive at low through-current levels, while
insensitive at high levels where distortion
will be greater.
Assuming T1 = 0.04 s and T2 = 2 s , Fig 1
shows that time-to-saturation is80 ms. In differential circuits, stabilizing im-
pedance will reduce operating current during
Time-to-saturation is affected by core external faults; during internal faults the
remanence, partially offset fault current, andrelays are designed to respond properly.
reactance in the CT burden. The equation for
thesaturationfactor, K,, includingthese
three factorsis: Dependability Techniques

K, = VxN2c1 -
(perunitremanence)] To insure breaker tripping when needed,
1 +

the relay may use either an insensitive, fast

IIRZ
(per
unit
offset) cos0
overcurrent unit, or a design insensitive to
where: e cos9 = burden pf (includes secondary poor wave form or it may use a pulse stretch-
winding resistance), er, etc. For example, a harmonic-restrained
e "per unit offset" pertains to the differential relay may use a complementary
fault current,11, non-harmonic-restrained, insensitive overcur-
e "per unit remanence" is the core re- rent unit to provide fast tripping at very
manence expressed as a fraction of high currents where substantial CT distortion
the saturation flux density level. is expected. In some cases the fast unit may
operate before distortion occurs.
After calculatingKs using this equation,
time-to-saturation can be determined using the Inverse-time overcurrent relays are de-
curves as before. signed to have a nearly constant operating
time at high current levels so that large var-
It should be noted that the per-unit- iations in rms (or peak) CT output will have
offset factor gives approximate results which a minimum effect.
are probably acceptable down to 0.5 per unit
offset. A solid-state phase-comparison circuit,
which depends primarily upon current zero-
CALCULATION OF CT PARAMETERS crossing points, may use a pulse stretcher to
ride through that portion of the cycle when
If it is desired to calculate CT para- the CT is severely saturated.
meters to provide a desired time-to-satura-
tion, the procedure is: Application Considerations
(1) Using the known value of TI, and a
trial value of T2, enter onto the appropriate Relay tolerance to distortion may depend
time-to-saturation curve and read off the sat- not only upon relay design, but upon the
uration factor, K,. (IEEE Publication I6 CH users' application or relay settings. For ex-
1130-4 PUR gives a complete set of curves.) ample, where transmission line relaying uses a
( 2 ) Substitute known values of I1 and Ks zone-1 distance relay, the output should not
in the equation for Ks and calculate the value be distorted for a fault at the end of the
of V,N2/R2. These three CT parameters can nowzone 1 reach --
the critical decision point.
be given values that yield the desired result. Current for this fault varies, depending usu-
( 3 ) Calculate T2, and if significantly ally upon line length.

1810
Post-Fault Transients
Relays may also mis-perform due to cur-
rent or flux transients after fault clearing.
For example, incorrectbreaker-failure-relay
operation can occur. Gapped core CTs are more
GAP LENGTH
I - NOGAP
2 - O . o o o 1 PER UNIT
3 O.WO5 PER U N T
ln
o IO 20 30 40 m 60 70
T I M E -mmr
RESISTIVE BURDEN - 1.4 OHMS
FIGURE 2: CT SUBSIDENCE CURRENT
critical in this regard, as shown in Fig 2,
which shows CT output current ilecaying from
10 A after fault clearing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A selected bibliography on related impor-
tant papers and texts is included in publica-
tion 76 CH 1130-4 PWR.
Discussion
K. H. Engelhardt and B.L. Avent (British Columbia Hydro and Power
Authority, Vancouver, B. C., Canada): The Working Group report on
“Transient Response of Current Transformers” deserves full credit for
providing a document which will guide the users towards quantitatively
establishing and evaluating the transient performance characteristics of
relaying current transformers. The industry is indebted to the members
of the Working Group for this accomplishment.
Although a tool has been created which will make it possible to
specify current transformers to meet certain transient performance re-
quirements, very little isavailable by way ofquantitativedata from
relay manufacturers on how the various relays and relaying schemes
react t o C.T. transient ratio and phase angle errors, and how much is
tolerable. Furthermore, the national standards forC.T.s of both Canada
and the United States contain at present no material whatsoever with
regard to transient performance requirements, thus C.T. manufacturers
lack uniform guidelines fortheir design unless they refer to certain
recent or proposed international standards. Users are in the same pre-
dicament, and a fair amount of detailed engineering work is required
by them in order t o include meaningful transient performance require-
ments in purchase specifications. In other words, a tool for obtaining
answers is now available, what is necessary from here on is the prepara-
tion of some standard answers so as to avoid diverse practice from de-
veloping within the industry.
For example, the discussors’ utility has opted for C.T.s with small
anti-remanence gaps and cores large enough to give at least one cycle of
output prior to saturation, but we are aware of otherutilities taking dif-
ferent approaches, such as:
(i) cores with no gaps but large enough to avoid saturation,
or (ii) conventioflal (Le. steady-state dimensioned) C.T.s with spe-
cially designed electronic relays,
or (iii) conventional C.T.s and prayers.
We have used the report as a basis for defining our C.T. require-
ments and have experienced the following problems:
(a) Due to lackof established performancerequirements, con-
siderable soul searching was required in defining the accuracy limiting
conditions. We eventually settled on the maximum current rating of the
associated circuit breaker, full offset, and a system time constant be-
tween that of the transmission lines and that expected for generating
Manuscript received February 1, 1977
1811
station buses. Similarly, once having decided the limiting conditions,
defining the required performance was equally perplexing. We eventually
settled on a requirement of one cycle of undistorted output (7.57bratio
error, 4” zero-crossing shift)prior to saturation, as any further im-
provement would have led to considerable difficulty with C.T. physical
size being excessive. We have rationalized that one cycle or somewhat
more will ensure instantaneous element operation, and that protection
zones subjected to through-current forthefull clearing interval fre-
quently see only a fraction of the total fault current.
(b) The lack of national standards has resulted in difficulty with
the form of specification. We have opted for a transient performance
type of specification, rather than precisely defined steady state dimen-
sioning calculated to give adequate transient performance. This gives
the manufacturer more latitude in their design but has also resulted in
some difficulty establishing that the resulting design meets the require-
ments. We have used the transient performance definition proposed in
the Supplement to IEC document 185.
(c) Originally, we specified core gaps to be dimensioned such that
10% remanence be reached at the time of high speed reclosing (Le. 0.5
second dead time),but found that this requirement called for large
gaps producing an undesirably high magnetizing current. This increase
in gapsizeandmagnetizing current required to achieve a sufficiently
high rate of flux decay for high speed reclosing was not apparent to us
after studying the report. We have compromised by allowing remanence
above 10% at time of reclosing, but reaching that value eventually. We
recognizereclose restrike with substantial current offset to be a pos-
sibility.
(d) Defining acceptable performance and test methodsfor full
current type tests has presented problems. Furthermore, not all manu-
facturers have suitable test facilities available.
(e) Adequate gap bracing and gap surface dressing has been a con-
tinuing source of doubt.
A final comment is that there are frequent suggestions that rema-
nence will tend to decline during service conditions and hence gaps are
not required. The data in reference 1 indicates that remanence does in
fact persist during service conditions.
REFERENCE
[ I ] Iwanusiw, 0. W. “Remanent Flux in Current Transformers.’’
OntarioHydro Research Quarterly. Volume 22, No. 3, Third
Quarter, 1970, pp. 18-21.
Charles L. Ballentine (Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga, TN):
The working group is to be complimented for a verygood job on a
seemingly simple but surprisingly difficult subject. This discussion is to
present another means of treating CT saturation which may have some
advantages in being able to cope with a nonlinear burden and calculate
the time required for a CT to come out of saturation.
When a voltage is applied to a circuit containing resistance and in-
ductance, the relation between the current and voltage is
e = Ri + L-di
dt
Since the inductance canbe a nonlinear quantity, a more meaningful
expression might be
e = Ri+Ng
If equation 2 is multiplied by dt and integrated we have
The above equation is the expression for the volt-seconds applied to the
circuit.
When a saturation curve is made for a CT, a current (presumably
sinusoidal) is applied to the secondary and the average voltagemeasured.
This voltage is then converted to the 60 Hz rms value. As long as the
CT is not saturated the magnetic flux will be proportional to the cur-
rent. As the CT saturates there is a limit to the amount of flux pro-
duced. The relation between thecurrent,flux, and volt-seconds for
steady state conditions is shown in Figure 1.
If volt-seconds or average voltage isplotted against current, a curve
similar to the one in Figure 2 is obtained.
From studying Figures 1 and 2 it is seen that the volt-seconds re-
quired to saturatetheinductance is the projection ofthesaturation
Manuscript received February 9 , 1977
 Fig. 1. Applying A Sinusoidal Current to A NonlinearLoad
Fig. 2. Relation Between Current and VoltSeconds
curve to the volt-second axis (not log-log scale). The slope of the curve
should be proportional to iR.
The average voltage and volt-nds are proportional for steady
state conditions. It must be noted, however, that for steady state condi-
tions the volt-sxonds produced by onehalf cycle of voltage corre-
sponds to a change of flux from maximum in one direction to maxi-
mum in one direction to maximum in the other direction, whereas for
initial conditions the flux change is from zero to maximum (or less if
residual is present). Therefore a CT will only take half the volt-seconds
calculated in Figure 2 for initial conditions A CT rated C800 should
take 800 x .9 x .00833/2 = 3 voltseconds initially and ,&voltseconds
on a steady statebasis.
The curve shown in Figure 2 can be obtained for a burden if the
burden contains a saturable inductance. If there is some inductance
which does not saturate, the final slope of the curve will be propor-
tional to IZ where Z is comprised of R and the portion ofX which does
not saturate. The voltsecondsrequired to saturate the inductanceis the
projection of the curve to the voltsecond axis as before. Here too this
amount of volt-seconds corresponds to a flux change of maximum in
one directipn t o m a x i m h in the other direction. So for initial condi-
tions only half this amount of volt-seconds would be required to satu-
rate the burden. The volt-seconds required to saturate the burden in-
itially can be obtained by multiplying the rms voltage required to satu-
rate the burdenon a steady statebasis by .9 and .00833/2.
When the C T is supplying current to a burden, the equivalent cir-
Cuit is shown in Figure 3.
If all the current is assumed to flow in the burden (R2 and Lz),
the voltseconds applied to the magnetizing impedance of the CT (M2)
are
VS = J e d t = R 2 J i d t + L2i + NAt&. (4)
where L2i corresponds to the inductance that does not saturate and
N A ~ S A Tcorresponds to the inductance thatdoes.
1812
vsx
If the current is applied when it has a maximum d.c. offset, the
expression is
i = 10(67‘- cos u t ) (5 1
Substituting thisexpression for current in equation 4 we have
V S = R2IoJ,f(&”- coswt)dt+L2Io(e-7‘-coswt)+NA&~~
This equation implies that a constant flux,
IoRdy, exists. This flux pro-
duces a current which flows in the burden and magnetizing circuit of
the CT and will decay at the rate expBt. Thus the above equation
becomes
With the aid of a “hand held” calculator the solutionto the above equa-
tion for several values of time can be obtained to see if the CT is prone
to saturate. If the CT has some residual flux, its volt-second capability
will be reduced.
If the CT saturates, there will be no current output (except for
some circulating current in the CT secondary and the burden) until the
next current zero. At this time flux will be stored in the CT propor-
tional to the volt-seconds applied until the next currentzero. Since the
net change in current between these two current zeros is zero, the volt-
seconds due to the inductance will also be zero. The total voltseconds
applied to the CT during this interval thenis due to the resistance term
or
 Fig. 3. Equivalent Circuit for a CT
At the next current zero the CT can take only as many volt-sec-
onds as were stored. Now, however, we must consider the volt-skconds
due to the inductanceas l o, or we must go back to the basic equation or
Figure 4 will illustrate when these times occur.
Fig. 4. Characteristic CT Output During Saturation
The solution to equation 8 is
1
VS = R210 [ l(e*2-e*3) n u t 2 - sin ut3)]
+--(si
7
(91
+ ~21O(e*3 - COS ut31 + VSSAT
Saturation will occur when the voltseconds in equation (9) equal
the volt-seconds in equation (7). This procedure can be repeated to find
when the CT will come out of saturation.
John R Linders (Consulting Engineer, Cleveland, Ohio): One of the
problems in bringing into print an IEEE Committee report is the time
it takes to resdve aU of the objections from the diverse membership of
thesponsoring committee. Frequently the resolution of these objec-
tions is to not include the material in question in the final report. As
will be shown in this discussion several areas valuable to a relay engineer
have not been treated in this report. Nevertheless, the time required to
bring this report into print has been so great as to nearly obsolete
the title.
Manuscript received February 14,1977.
1813
When f m t organized,theSubcommittee’sselectionofthetitle
“Transient Response of Current Transformers”was quite adequate and
clearly meant the treatment of the dc component in asymmetrical fault
currents. But today there is a growing interestin an awareness of many
other transient parameters of a power system. Very high speed relaying
requires the consideration of the h@ frequency components and the
microsecond rise time of fault waves and switching transients. The dc
component in such waves, must of course be considered, but the other
transient parameters are of equal or greater import. Since this report
does not treat of these kindsof transients, a preferred title wouldhave
been “The Performance of CT‘s in the Presence of Asymmetrical Fault
Current.”
In several places the report could have been better oriented toward
the average reader. For example, the saturation factor, Ks,is not just an
abstract mathematical expression. By rearranging terms in the defining
equation:
Ks= ___ VX
R2 11/N2
The saturation factor is seen to be the ratioof the ct saturation voltage,
Vx, to the voltage needed to drive the ac component of the secondary
current through the secondary resistance. The meaning of the subse-
quent equation which also treats the core remanence becomes equally
clear when terms are rearranged.,
Once the saturation factor is determined, the time for the ct to
saturate is determined by use of the c w e s , represented by Figure 1.
It should be emphasized that this is only the time to the beginning of
saturation during which period there is no ct ratio error. But the pro-
cedure reveals nothing about how rapidly the ct moves into fuller satu-
ration, how long it remains in saturation, how fully it saturates, nor
what the ct ratio errorbecomes during the saturation period.
Figure 1 is for a system time constant, L/R, of .04 seconds. Multi-
plying by w, one sees this is for a60 Hz system with an X/R of 15. This
is typical of many distribution buses. Transmission and generating sta-
tion buses will be greater than this by a factor of two to ten. A higher
X/R can result in a ct saturating quicker. But high X/R stations fre-
quently have large dc resistance in the ct burden dueto long lead lengths
and this is the more dominant factor affecting ct saturation. It would
appear from Figure 1 that if one designs a ct circuit for a maximum
symmetrical IR drop of no more than 10% of the virtual knee point
voltage, Vx, (withdueconsiderationforremanence),there will be
about 2 cycles of true information from the ct upon which to base a
relay decision. This appears adequate for modem f m t line relays. But
it suggests that any backup relaying function must bedesigned to work
in the environment of distorted, off ratio currents.
Are the curves, Figure 1, etc., accurate into the subcycle region?
What is the significance of the curve being dotted below 8 ms? Other
questionswhich this paper raises are: Whenis totalburdenandac
saturation more dominant than only the resistive component of the
burden and dc saturation? Similarly, do any of these asymmetricalper-
formance parameters relate to the current transformer standard accu-
racy class? Are the curves and procedures applicable for T rated as well
as C rated current transformers?
The above comments and questions are raised in a spiritof coopera-
tion with the sponsoring Committee. It is hoped they will provide some
of the encouragement for a continuation this of needed work on current
transformers and to attack the problem of relating ct parameters to r e
laying parameters in a more meaningful manner.
Working Croup of the Relay Input Sources Subcommittee of the Power
System Relaying Committee: The Working Group is pleased that Messrs.
Engelhardt and Avent have identified problem areas not covered by the
Working Groupreport(Publication 76 CH 11304 PWR) and have
pointed out the need for standardization. The Working Group hopes
that the necessary work will be carried out and that appropriate publi-
cations will appear in due course.
This report mentions the problem of trapped flux at the instant of
high-speedreclosing, but does not develop the subject. Messrs.Engle-
hardt and Avent properly point out the difficulty of obtaining a de-
sired CT performanceafterhighspeed reclosing. Someapproximate
rate*f-fluxdecay curves canbeobtained by combining Figures 27.b
and 28 assuming a gap of 0.0005 pu for the gapped core in Figure 28.
Then the following results may be obtained for residual flux in the core
0.5 s after fault clearing:
3.L Burden Sl Residual Flux
None 0.46 80%
0.0005 pu 0.46 15%
Gap surface dressing may not be a problemif effective gap lengths
are specified rather than real gap lengths. A core with an effective gap
length of O.OOO1 pu would have the characteristics of an ideal gap of
that length whether the real gap had spacers between the gap faces or
not. Gap irregularities, if stable, could act as spacers. The tern “effec-
tive gap” can be applied to various gap designs including the steplap gap
in Reference 10.48.
We thank Mr. Linders for presenting the concept of saturation fac-
tor in practical terms. Since the saturation factor, say 10, is the over-
dimensioning factor of the core cross sectional area, the CT on a given
tap can provide 10 times as much secondary voltage as required by the
maximum symmetrical ac IZ drop. ANSI standard accuracy classes can
be used to specify a transformer having the required secondary voltage,
e.g., C800 if 800 volts is sufficient.The ANSI standardsecondary
voltage canbeahigherpoint on the CT excitation c w e than the
voltage Vx (Figure 12). Thus the time-to-saturation (time to reach the
Vx point) can be a little less than the time to reach the ANSI-standard-
secondary-voltage point.
Manuscript received April 22,1977.
1814
Mr. Linderscorrectlypoints outthatthereport includes very
little on CT performance after saturation is reached. Several references
in the bibliography are helpful in this area,forexampleReferences
10.10 and 10.50. Reference 10.10, Chapter VIII, includes the time to
the end ofCT saturation.
Mr. Linders raises the questionof application of the methodin the
report to ANSI T-rated CTs. The report applies to C T s with no second-
ary leakage nxctance and with certain restraintson the primary winding
which rule out T-rated C T s . Theory suggests that T-rated C T s with large
secondary leakage reactances will have much shorter times-to-saturation
than determined by the method in the report. This suggests that C T s
with large secondary leakage should be avoided whentransient per-
formance is important.
Mr. Linder’s questions about thetime-to-saturation curves can best
be answered by reference to Figure 2 in the report. The time-to-satura-
tion curves are based on Curve A in Figure 2, except for times less than
about 9 ms, when Curve A was arbitrarily changed to a strrught line ex-
tending t o the origin (0,O).‘True” time-to-saturation would be based
on the solid curve labelled: Total Flux 6 . Because the percentage dif-
ferencebetweenthese curves is largein the first 9 ms, the time-to-
saturation curves are dashed at the beginning. The “true” time-satura-
tion.curves cannot be generalized but “true” time-to-saturation can be
calculated using basic equations for particularcases.
AC. flux would be the dominant cause of CT saturation after fault
initiation-for thecase when the dc offset is zero and the CT burden has
a lagging power factor. With unity-power-factor burden it can be shown
that the Cy peak flux is about double that for steady-state alternating
current. In this case, peak ac flux and dc flux are about equal. As for
the question on total burden, the full effect of burden inductance on
the ac fluxlevel is accounted for in the cos0 term in the report.
The volt-seconds parameter chosen by Mr. Ballentine is an alterna-
tive to the saturation factor parameter used in the report of the Work-
ing Group. Both parameters should give the same results for time-to-
saturation if the same simplifying assumptions are used. Mr. Ballentine’s
method includes the effect of a saturated burden, and also deals with
the CT performance after saturation. As mentioned above, Reference
10.10 covers the latter area too. Some usersmay not find it as con-
venient to obtain CT performance byusing equations instead of the
curves in the report. However, equations can readily include more vari-
ables and yield more information.