Issued by : EBG - Electrical Systems & Equipment, LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED. Powai Campus, Mumbai - 400 072 Prospect / Retrospect Acompletely reliable electricity distribution system is the backbone of every industry. This reliability is dependent mainly on two elements viz. system design and equipment performance. Equipment performance is mainly govemed by the various national & international product standards. Hence, what needs attention is the system design. There are various aspects like the system knowledge, engineering skills, operational experience etc. that affect the quality of system design. Appropriate system design and related protection schemes largely determine system performance. Adequately designed protection system prevents nuisance tripping arising out of over protection and it also ensures that the equipment does not get damaged due to under protection. In this issue and the next issue of L&T Current Trends, we are mainly going to focus on one such important aspect of system design i.e. protection against earth faults. We will be covering the various types of earthing practices followed across the industry and the protections systems implemented for the respective practices. Sia Ce ae SecnFEATURE Detection of Earth Faults in LV Systems - Sachin S. Khare Switchgear Product Engineering Introduction: Main purpose of any electrical installation is to supply the power reliably. Design of protection system is of pafamount importance in this regard. Protection system hhas to ensure the operation under the required condition & refrain self from the non-required conditions. Majority of the faults in any industry are earth faults. In this article, we are going to cover different schemes employed for detecting earth faults in TPN feeder. Detection & protection method of an earth fault is decided based on type of earthing, type of system, type of feeder & location of CT. Method of neutral earthing also decides the amount of current that will flow during the earth fault. So it is important to understand the different methods of neutral earthing. + Methods of neutral earthing :- > Unearthed system : In this system, there is no intentional earthing of the source. However, in reality, the system is capacitively earthed. Since there is no intentional earth, there is no retum path to the earth fault current when the first earth fault takes place. System does not trip. It only converts. the unearthed system to earthed system. Thusit allows the time to locate the earth fault & clear the fault ensuring the continuity of supply. These systems are therefore used where supply continuity is essential e.g. Marine, Mine & offshore platforms. However, when the first earth fault takes place, voltage on the healthy phases incre- ases to 1.73 times the rated volt- age. If such type of faults are repetitive, it causes tremendous stress on insulation. > Solidly earthed system : This is the most common method of earthing. This is achieved by directly connecting the system neutral to earth via very low impedance. This connection eliminates hazards of over voltages but results in high magnitude of earth fault current. This system is more popular in low voltages because combined Impedance of apparatus, circuit & earth path resistance is high enough to limit fault current to a safe value. Flow of heavy fault current permits the use of disorim inative protective relays. This method of earthing is a compromise between solidly earthed system & unearthed system. Resistorlimpedance is added in neutral circuit. Earth fault current is limited to capacitive charging current by suitably selecting the value of resistor. Thus, this system ensures low earth fault current and continuity of supply. * fault i system :- TP! Generally neutrals are solidly earthed & earth fault currents are high enough to achieve discriminative protection. Combination of Overcurrentand Earth Fault separate E/F(Residual connection), highset combined O/C and ElF, separate restricted earth fault (REF) are some of the schemes employed for detection of earth fault. !) Separate O/C & E/F relay :- This scheme is employed where neutral is solidly earthed. As shown in (Fig 4), all three CTS are connected to three elements of OIC relay (relay-1) & residual connection is given to earth fault relay (relay-2). In case of an earth fault, current flows through CT on faulty phase back to system neutral earth point. This causes the current to reflect through relay-2 element as shown. Since the setting of this element is typically in the range of 10- 40%, it trips the breaker. In case of an unbalance also, residual current flows through earth fault element as shown in (Fig 1), causing it totrip. To avoid rears paver this nuisance tripping during unbalance, fourth CT is used as shown in (Fig 2). Unbalance current flows through Neutral CT in opposite direction. Secondary reflected current of phase CT & Neutral CT forms a series connection. Thus it avoids nuisance tripping of relay. However as shown in (Fig 3), if buscoupler is TPN type, fault current on Bus-A has two paths asshown, The amount of current passing through the neutral CT ‘of second incomer depends on the impedence of both the paths, If current passing through neutral CT of second incomer is sufficient enough, it may cause nuisance tripping of incomer 2 for fault on Bus-A. Provision of 4 pole busc- ‘oupler solves this problem. ll) Common O/C & E/F protection This scheme is also employed where neutral is solidly earthed, Out of 3 elements, 2 elements are used for O/C protection and 1 element for earth fault dete- ction. Refer (Fig 4) for the connection. Earth fault current flows as shown by the arrow. ‘Typical earth fault setting being 10-40%, earth fault element detects the fault and trips. In this system also, CTis added in Neutral as shown in (Fig 5) to avoid nuisance tripping dur- ing unbalance. However as ‘shown in (Fig 6). if buscoupler is TPN type, the additionalneutral CT may start responding to fault on another bus section, thus causing nuisance tripping of the relay. Provision of 4 pole buscoupler solves this problem. We shall cover more about the earth fault in the next issue of L&T Current Trends. For further details on this subject, please contact: ( BG - Electical Sysiems & Equipment, Larsen & Toubro Lined, Sak-Vihar load, P.O. Box 8901, Powal, Mumibal - 400 072 ax: 022-6705 1558 * E-mail: kolnisnd@inabg.com || Print by Peintania Offset Pvt. Ltd.D 20/21, Shalimar indus! Estate, Matunga (Eas), Mumbal - 400 019, Tel: 2407 7896/ || esseisso Fox : 2402 4709 Emev: pds6@rediimal com The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those ‘of the management of Larsen & Toubra Limited. The contents of tis magazine should not be reproduced without tho || writen permission of the Etor Not for sale-nly for elculation among the customers. Edita! Coordinators : RS. Mahajan, Neelam D. Kotnis, EBG-ESE, Pow Member