PROTECTION PRINCIPLES 1

B. Constantine
Southern Electric Authority of Queensland
1976

INTRODUCTION
This is the first of two Chapters dealing with power system protection and will concentrate on the
protection of transformers, busbars, feeders and generators but will exclude considerations of
distance protection which will be covered in Chapter 2.

SYSTEM PROTECTION - BASIC PHILOSOPHIES

The reasons for power system protection are:-
(i) To ensure the maximum degree of safety to the staff and to the general public.
(ii) To limit damage to plant and equipment.
(iii) To maintain continuity of supply to the remainder of the system.

To achieve these ends the protection equipment should ideally be reliable, selective, fast, simple,
sensitive and inexpensive.

Unfortunately there is no one protection scheme which achieves all of these desirable qualities and
a compromise is necessary. Depending upon the particular situation, the choice of protection is
very much a matter of weighing up the various factors. As an example the protection for a major
transmission line must be fast and selective whereas cost is a first consideration when looking at a
distribution system.

Apart from these factors, past experience is a useful guide and to this end, some method of
obtaining and analysing details of system faults is essential. In addition to high-lighting any
deficiencies in the protection systems, such statistics provide a useful feedback to design
engineers.

The choice of the most suitable form of protection is to some extent a matter of sound judgment
and in this respect protection engineering is as much an art as a science. Too much protection is
as bad as too little.

Speed
Protection should be as fast as possible to avoid excessive damage to plant. Apart from the
damage caused by the actual fault, associated equipment such as cables can withstand fault
currents for only a limited period of time.

A second reason for fast clearing times is system stability. During a system fault the normal load
power flow is interrupted. This can allow generator rotors at interconnected power stations to move
out of step with each other. Unless the fault is cleared before the rotors get too far out of step, the
machines will not re-synchronise after the fault has been cleared.

Reliability
Complete reliability is impossible to achieve but a high order of reliability can be obtained by proper
maintenance procedures, by elimination of, design weaknesses, and by on-line monitoring
equipment such as trip circuit supervision and pilot wire supervision.

The most reliable form of protection is usually the simplest and it is paradoxical that the simplest
and most robust protection is often used to protect the least important parts of the power system.
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To provide additional reliability it is usual to provide some form of back up protection. Ideally the
back up protection should be an entirely independent protection scheme employing separate CTs,
VTs, tripping battery and tripping separate circuit breakers. The actual form of back up protection
adopted depends on the importance of the protected area, and on the consequences of a
protection failure.

It is usually the case that back up protection is slower to operate and can interrupt supply to a
greater part of the system. An exception to this is to be found on high voltage systems where
stability may be lost and in these circumstances duplicate high speed protection is often employed.

Selectivity
Protection is arranged in overlapping zones so that no part of the system is unprotected and only
the zone within which a fault is located is disconnected. If the protection is not selective
unnecessary loss of plant may occur.

UNIT AND NON UNIT PROTECTION

Protection schemes can be divided into two broad groups:-
(a) Unit Schemes
(b) Non Unit Schemes

Unit schemes protect a discrete part of the system and have very definite boundaries which are
usually the current transformers. The magnitude and phase angle of the currents entering the
protected zone are measured and if the algebraic sum of the inputs is zero then no fault exists.

Non unit schemes have no definite boundaries other than directional relays which have one
boundary.

Unit schemes are inherently selective (assuming they operate correctly). Non unit schemes must
be made selective by grading the settings of the protections of several zones all of which may
respond to a particular fault.

Figure 1 : Overlapping Zones of Protection

Figure No. 1 shows a typical arrangement of unit protection schemes and illustrates how the zones
of protection are arranged to overlap.

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UNIT PROTECTION

Current Differential Protection

Figure 2 shows the basic circuit of many unit protection schemes, Under normal conditions I1
equals I2 and the CT secondary current circulates round the loop and there is no current in the
relay. Under internal fault conditions I1 ≠ I2 and the difference current flows through the relay to trip
the appropriate circuit breakers.

Figure 2 : Current Differential Protection

To retain a high sensitivity and at the same time remain stable during heavy through faults would,
with the circuit of Figure 2, require CTs of an extremely high order of accuracy. These are two
principal methods of overcoming this problem, namely, biased schemes and high impedance
schemes.

Biased Differential Schemes

Figure 3 : Biased Differential Protection

Two additional windings are included in the relay in the circulating current path as shown in Figure
23.3. These are the bias windings and they restrain the operation of the relay. For the bias
differential relay to operate

(I 1 − I 2 ) > k • ( I 1 + I 2 )
2

The constant k is called the bias and is usually expressed as a percentage. On some relays the
bias setting can be altered to suit particular requirements.

The characteristic of a bias differential relay can be shown in

a number of different ways as shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 4 : Bias Differential Relay Characteristics

High Impedance Schemes

These schemes make use of the principle that the difference in secondary currents between two
CTs having identical turns ratio and carrying the same primary current can only be due to
differences in the magnetising currents required by the two cores. (Refer to Figure 5).

(a) Normal conditions

(b) CT ’B’ fully saturated.

Figure 5 : Equivalent Circuits

For the worst case, assume that the core of one CT (CT’B’) is fully saturated. A change in the
secondary current under these conditions will not cause a change in the flux and the CT secondary
can, in the equivalent circuit, be replaced by a resistor equal to the secondary winding resistance.
The maximum voltage which can be developed across the relay with CT ’B’ saturated is thus …

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V RELAY = k • I F • (R B + R L )

where
k is the CT ratio
IF the maximum fault current
RB + RL is the CT secondary resistance plus lead resistance.

If the relay is set to operate at a voltage above this figure, there is no possibility that it will operate
on a through fault due to CT saturation. Because the relay has a high impedance, high voltages
could occur across the CT secondaries during internal faults. Non linear resistors are therefore
connected in parallel with the relay to limit the maximum voltage across the CTs and the secondary
wiring.

NON UNIT PROTECTION

Inverse Definite Minimum Time Relays

The most widely used form of protection apart from fuses is probably the inverse definite minimum
time relay. These are widely used for the protection of 11kV, 22kV &33kV systems, sometimes as
the primary protection, sometimes as back-up for unit protection. At one time IDMT relays were
used as back-up protection for transmission lines, however because of long clearing times and
poor selectivity they have fallen into disfavour for this purpose.

Despite the advent of solid state relays, the induction disc IDMT relay will be with us for many
years to come. The construction consists of a disc acted upon by two magnetic fields displaced
spatially and also in time. One form uses the shaded pole motor principle (Figure 6 (a)) and
another form makes use of the watt hour meter type of construction (Figure 6 (b)). In this case the
“voltage” coil is fed from the input current through transformer action.

A spiral control spring opposes the motor torque on the disc and the disc will move only when the
spring torque has been overcome. There is thus a minimum current below which the disc will not
rotate.

(a) Wattmetric Relay

(b) Shaded Pole Relay

Figure 6 : IDMT Relays

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The speed of rotation of the disc is controlled by a brake magnet, and, because of magnetic
saturation of the iron core, there is a limit to the speed of rotation. It is this feature which gives the
relay the "definite minimum time" characteristic. The IDMT relay characteristic is particularly useful
when there are a number of substations on a radial feeder and the ratio of source impedance to
line impedance is low. Good use can then be made of the reduction in maximum fault current along
the feeder in setting the relays. In situations where this is not the case, as for example earth fault
currents in an impedance earthed system, the IDMT relays have no advantage over definite time
grading.

The three main time characteristics available are :-

(i) Normal inverse
(ii) Very inverse
(iii) Extremely inverse

The extremely inverse characteristic is fairly close to I2t = k and is particularly useful where relays
have to be graded with fuses.

Instantaneous Overcurrent Relays

Instantaneous relays are a useful adjunct to the IDMT relay provided that care is used in their
setting. As much as possible of the line is protected by the instantaneous relay leaving only the last
section to be protected by the IDMT characteristic. Again, the source to line impedance must be
low to obtain full benefit of such a scheme. Care must be taken to ensure that the instantaneous
relay does not overreach into the next zone under maximum generating plant conditions.

Instantaneous relays of the attracted armature type are very sensitive to offset waveforms and
have a tendency to overreach under these conditions. Such relays should be used with caution on
systems with a high X/R ratio.

Directional Relays

Figure 7 : Parallel Feeder System

For the parallel feeder system shown in Figure 7 the fault current at R3 and at R4 will be the same
irrespective of whether the fault is at F1 or at F2. To obtain correct operation and disconnect only
the faulted line the relays at R3 and R4 require a means of sensing the direction of the fault.

To achieve the directional performance a voltage transformer supply is required and this is
compounded with the current of a wattmeter type element. The directional element either opens or
closes the lower magnet winding of the IDMT relay (Figure 6 (b)). In the case of shaded pole type
IDMT relays (Figure 6 (a)) the copper shading ring is replaced by a winding which is opened or
closed by the directional element.

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The connections of the CT and VT to the single phase directional overcurrent elements to give
correct operation for all faults is a fairly complex matter. Factors which have to be taken into
account are :

(i) the X/R ratio of the source and of the protected feeder
(ii) the method of earthing the system, namely whether solid or impedance earthed.
(iii) the type of system earthing, namely whether the system is earthed at one point or is multiple
earthed through transformer star points at various places in the system.

The two most commonly used connections at the present time are the quadrature connection and
the 30° connection. These are shown in Figure 8 (a) and (b) respectively.

Figure 8 : Single Phase Directional Relay Connections

For the quadrature connection, relays are available which incorporate a phase shift within the relay
such that the maximum torque occurs when the current and voltage are displaced by 30° or by 45°.

Directional earth fault protection is by comparison a relatively simple matter. The directional
element is supplied with a current corresponding to Io from the CT residual connection and a
voltage corresponding to Vo obtained from an open delta winding on the VT or from a star/open
delta auxiliary transformer connected to the VT. It is important to note that three phase three limb
transformers should not be used for this purpose as there is no zero sequence flux path.

As an alternative to the single phase directional elements, a three phase directional unit can be
used. The one unit opens or closes the lower magnet windings on all three overcurrent relays. The
three phase relay senses the mean power flow in the three phases, and is very satisfactory for
detecting three phase faults. In the case of two phase faults the power flow in the healthy phase
can, if it is in the opposite direction to the fault power, cause incorrect operation.

The three phase directional relay can be used for controlling earth fault relays but only on a solidly
earthed system.

One of the problems with directional relaying is that the VT voltage can fall to a very low value on
close in faults. Single phase directional elements are often designed to close their contacts if the
voltage disappears completely. Whether this is an advantage is rather doubtful. With three phase
directional units incorrect operation can occur since although the fault current is many times
greater than the load current in the healthy phase or phases, the fault "power" as measured at the
relaying point can be very low.

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PROTECTION OF TRANSFORMERS

General
The protection applied to power transformers depends to a large extent on factors such as voltage,
MVA rating, location in the system, internal connections and system earthing.

Distribution transformers up to 1000 kVA are often protected only by fuses. Above this size circuit
breakers can be justified and gas and oil surge protection provided together with overcurrent and
earth fault protection using IDMT relays.

Above about 5000 kVA high speed differential protection is generally warranted.

Gas And Oil Surge Relays

The Buchholz relay is the most widely used gas and oil surge relay and provides protection against
most internal faults. It is the only protection capable of detecting faulty core bolt insulation and
faults involving only a few turns of the transformer windings. An alternative type of relay to the
Buchholz detects a sudden change in oil pressure and this relay is normally mounted in the tank
wall.

The Buchholz surge relay is comparatively slow averaging about 0.2 seconds and electrical relays
are used in addition to the Buchholz to protect the bushings and connections and for fast clearing
of heavy faults.

Differential Protection
There are three major problems to be considered in applying differential protection to power
transformers:-
(i) Operation of tap changers
(ii) The transformer winding connections
(iii) Magnetising inrush current.

Nearly all large power transformers are equipped with on load tap changing equipment. As the
transformer ratio is changed the current transformer ratios will match at only one point on the
tapping range. This problem can be overcome with a biased differential relay with a fairly high
percentage bias of 25% or more. High impedance protection cannot be used for this application as
the CT mismatch is not due to CT magnetising currents which is the basis of high impedance
schemes.

There is a 30° phase difference between primary and secondary currents when transformers are
connected delta/star or star/delta. To bring the CT currents into phase at the differential relay the
CTs on the delta side are connected in star and the CTs of the star side are connected in delta.
This method of connection also overcomes the problem of the earthed star winding. Zero
sequence currents can flow in the earthed star winding to ground and a corresponding current
circulates in the delta without appearing in the outgoing lines.

A typical circuit of a biased differential relay applied to a delta/star transformer is shown in Figure
9. The current distribution for an earth fault on the star side is shown.

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Figure 9 : Bias Differential Protection of a Delta Star Transformer

When a power transformer is energized, the inrush current may attain peak values of several times
the full load current and decays relatively slowly. This current will flow only in the side from which
the transformer is energised and will tend to operate the differential relay. Early practice was to de-
sensitize the relay during energising or to use a relay with an inherent time delay such as an IDMT
characteristic.

Modern practice is to make use of the very high proportion of second harmonic present in the
inrush current to prevent the differential relay from operating. One popular method is to provide a
harmonic bias in addition to the normal bias.

Figure 10 : Transformer Differential Relay With Harmonic Bias

A typical modern transformer differential relay is shown diagrammatically, in Figure 10. This
particular relay uses a rectifier bridge comparator which is the electrical equivalent of the older
induction type disc relay with a number of discs on the one shaft, each with its own driving magnet.
In studying the action of the rectifier bridge comparator it should be noted that since the incoming
AC signals are converted to DC the comparator responds only to the magnitude of each signal,
and operates at relatively low voltage levels where the diodes of the bridge rectifier offer a very

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high forward resistance. The output of the comparator may be used to operate a polarised relay as
shown or alternatively a solid state voltage detector can be utilized.

The second harmonic restraint input to the comparator is obtained from a circuit tuned to 100 Hertz
in series with the operate input. Most relays are designed to restrain on a second harmonic
component of greater than 20 - 25% of the fundamental component.

Restricted Earth Fault Protection

One of the problems of differential protection on transformers is the difficulty in detecting faults
near the star point end of the windings, Whilst voltages to ground are fairly low in this region there
is often the complication of tapping leads and on-load tap changing equipment at the star point end
of the windings. Restricted earth fault protection is often useful as it can be made very much more
sensitive than differential protection, (See circuit shown in Figure 11).

Figure 11 : Restricted Earth Fault Protection on a Star Winding

It is quite practical to use a high impedance relay for restricted earth fault protection provided that
due care is taken in specifying the CTs.

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BUS BAR PROTECTION

Introduction
Busbar protection must be fast in order to limit damage and must be stable for faults outside the
protection zone. Reliability is extremely important as failure to clear a bus fault can under
unfavourable circumstances lead to a complete system collapse. Inadvertent operation is also to
be avoided. Most systems can withstand inadvertent loss of a feeder, generator or transformer,
whereas loss of a busbar causes disruption of all circuits to it and widespread interruptions to
supply. For this reason it is normal to provide two independent protection circuits both of which
must operate to trip the circuit breakers.

A number of different schemes are used for bus protection and of these three will be described.

Frame Leakage Protection

Frame leakage protection is particularly useful for phase segregated metal clad switchgear. The
switchgear frame is insulated from earth and is connected to the earth mat through the primary of a
CT. The insulation between frame and earth does not have to be particularly good and 10 ohms or
greater is quite satisfactory. The current transformer secondary operates an instantaneous relay.

It is important that the insulation barriers be maintained since a second earth connection can cause
the protection to operate on a through fault involving earth due to induced currents circulating
through the switchgear frame and earth.

Where there are bus section switches included in the switchgear, only the faulted Section must be
cleared and it is necessary to split the switchgear frame into separate zones as shown in Figure
12.

Current Differential Protection

This is similar to the differential protection outlined above except that there are more than two
circuits connected to the protected zone.

The principal disadvantage of current differential for bus protection is in arranging a. bias feature
similar to that shown in Figure 3. Various methods have been used in the past however some of
these have introduced complexities in the circuitry such that they have fallen into disuse. One
method groups together all the basic power sources into one group and all the basic load sources
into another group and feeds the two groups into a biased differential relay.

Current differential schemes may be used for earth fault protection only by using residually
connected CTs and one relay, or may be used for phase fault protection as well as for earth faults
by connecting the CTs on each phase to a separate relay.

Figure 12 shows frame leakage protection with a current differential check feature. For the
protection to operate both the check protection relay and one of the zone relays must operate.
Current differential protection can be used for zone protection.

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Zone A relay + check relay trips all zone A breakers and bus-section breaker
Zone B relay + check relay trips all breakers
Zone C relay + check relay trips all zone C breakers and bus-section breaker

Figure 12 : Frame Leakage Scheme with Current Differential Check

Figure 13 shows such an arrangement suitable for an outdoor switchyard.

Figure 13 Differential Protection Used For Both Check and Zone Protection

High Impedance Protection

High impedance protection is ideally suited for busbar protection and is rapidly superseding current
differential protection. To obtain satisfactory results the resistance of the CT secondary circuits
must be kept low and toroidal (ring type) CTs are essential. It is also essential that the CTs are
specified to suit the protection and not tailor the protection to suit the CTs. The sensitivity of the
protection is dependent on the CT magnetising current at the relay operating voltage and on the
number of circuits in parallel. This does not usually present any difficulties as the calculated
sensitivity can often be lower than the full load current of one circuit. It is a normal practice to de-
sensitize the protection to prevent inadvertent operation on load current if a CT is disconnected. It
is also normal practice to include a very sensitive relay in parallel with the high impedance relay to
provide circuit supervision. The supervision relay is set to operate an alarm at a voltage
corresponding to an out of balance of 10% of the full load current on one circuit. The supervision
relay operates an alarm after a short time delay.

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FEEDER UNIT PROTECTION

General
Unit protection on feeders requires that the connection between the CTs at each end be made
through either pilot wires or some other means. The CT secondary currents have therefore to be
converted to some more suitable form than the normal 5 amp or 1 amp secondary currents.

Nearly all feeder unit protection schemes make use of a summation transformer to convert the
three phases to a single phase signal. Provided that identical summation transformers are used at
each end of the feeder the summation transformer outputs can be compared by a current
differential method. Alternatively, either an air gap can be incorporated in the summation
transformer or the output loaded with a resistor to produce a voltage to enable a balanced voltage
scheme to be used.

Translay Protection
The "Translay" scheme is a good example of a balanced voltage scheme and is shown in Figure
14.

Figure 14 : "Translay" Pilot Wire Protection

An induction disc relay is used similar in construction to a watt metric IDMT relay except that the
disc has only a small travel distance and a shading ring is fitted to the lower end of the centre limb.

The summation transformer is wound onto the centre limb and a voltage is induced in the second
winding on this limb which lags the flux by 90°. This voltage is applied across the pilots in series
with the lower magnet winding. Under through fault conditions the pilot voltages at each end are
arranged such that they oppose and there is no current in the pilot circuit. Under fault conditions
there is an imbalance and a circulating current flows in the pilot circuit. This current creates a flux
in the lower magnet which lags the flux in the upper winding and interaction of these fluxes cause
the disc to rotate.

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The copper shading ring on the centre limb serves two purposes. The shading ring is arranged
asymmetrically such that the resultant flux in the upper magnet will produce a torque on the disc in
the non operate direction. This feature gives the relay a bias characteristic. The shading ring also
ensures that the flux from the upper magnet is 90° in advance of pilot voltage. This means that
currents due to pilot cable capacitance in the pilot circuit create a flux in the lower magnet which is
in phase with the flux in the upper magnet. Thus capacitance currents do not cause the relay to
operate.

Because the Translay relay requires local current to trip the relay the protection will operate only at
the end feeding an internal fault. The overall performance of the Translay scheme is as follows –

Phase to Phase Faults operate at

A - B : 90% of CT Rating
B - C : 90% of CT Rating
C - A : 45% of CT Rating
Phase to Earth Faults operate at
A – Earth : 22% of CT Rating
B – Earth : 28% of CT Rating
C – Earth : 40% of CT Rating

The response is not the same for all faults due to the different numbers of turns on the summation
winding through which the current flows. This in practice is not a problem as the relay is sufficiently
sensitive to cater for all faults. The major difficulty is with "blind spots". There are certain faults
which result in a low output from the summation transformer. If these are beyond the protected
zone, CT mismatch can cause incorrect tripping.

As an example the turns ratios on the Translay scheme is 1:1:4. Consider a phase to phase fault
on the remote side of a delta/star transformer.

Figure 15 : Summation Transformer "Blind Spot"

As will be seen from Figure 15, 1 pu current will flow in A phase and C phase and 2 pu current will
return through B phase. These two currents in the summation transformer will cancel each other
out and there will be no output. If there is a CT mismatch at one end the protection may operate on
a through fault due to insufficient bias. This problem is not unique to Translay and occurs with all
schemes using summation transformers. Some manufacturers use different turns ratios but
irrespective of this, there is always a fault condition which can create a similar situation.

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Circulating Current Schemes

Figure 16 : Circulating Current Pilot Wire Protection

A basic circuit for a circulating current pilot wire protection scheme is shown in Figure 16. Under
through fault conditions a current circulates through the pilot wires and the restraining winding of a
biased relay at each end of the feeder. An out of balance current such as would occur during an
internal fault is provided with a path through the operate winding of the relay.

The maximum voltage across the operate winding under normal conditions is that required to drive
the circulating current through the pilot wires. The bias can be adjusted so that the relay restrains
under these conditions. There is also a further adjustment, usually in the operate coil circuit, to
compensate for pilot capacitance. During internal faults the summation transformers which behave
as current transformers could produce unacceptably high voltages on the pilots and a current
limiter is therefore connected across the summation transformer output.

Pilot Wires
Pilot wire protection is particularly useful for cable systems where the pilot cable can be laid at the
same time as the power cables. Supply Authority owned overhead pilots can be used when it is
uneconomic to lay underground pilot cables but care must be taken in laying out a route to avoid
exposure to large induced voltages from overhead lines on the same poles. Pilot wires can be
rented from Telecom but reliability is a major factor against this particularly if a number of
exchange connections are involved.

Pilot wire supervision can be used to monitor the integrity of pilot circuits. The supervision method
usually consists of circulating a few milliamps DC in the pilots and providing relays which give an
alarm if this DC is drastically increased or decreased.

Pilot wire protection is satisfactory for feeder lengths of up to 25 to 30 kilometres. Beyond this pilot
wire attenuation becomes a problem and for this reason and also for economic reasons power line
carrier is more suitable than metallic pilots. Whilst it would be possible to use the systems
described in conjunction with power line carrier signalling, it is preferable to use phase comparison
schemes because variable attenuation can occur in the signalling path.

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GENERATOR PROTECTION
Generators are by far the most expensive item of plant in the system and any abnormal condition
or a fault must be cleared as quickly as possible to limit damage. Because of this generators are
provided with a variety of different types of protection each with its own specific function.

Stator Protection
Either a high impedance scheme or a bias differential scheme can be used for stator protection,
however for a high impedance scheme to be satisfactory care must be taken in specifying the
neutral and high voltage end CTs so that their characteristics match. If this is not the case a bias
scheme should be used as shown in figure 17.

Figure 17 : Bias Differential Protection

A bias of 10% is generally used for generator protection. Either of these schemes will protect
against phase to phase faults or phase to earth faults if the machine is either solidly earthed or
earthed through a low impedance. They will not detect interturn faults nor will they detect an earth
fault for a machine earthed through a high impedance.

One method of detecting interturn faults is. to use transverse differential protection. The machine
must be constructed with two parallel paths per phase and a differential relay compares the
currents in both paths of each phase. Should one section of one phase be short circuited by an
interturn fault the current in this path would be reduced and the relay would operate to shut down
the machine. Figure 18 shows the basic circuit.

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Figure 18 : Transverse Differential Protection

An earth fault on a generator can cause damage to the core and this can be very expensive to
repair if laminations have to be replaced. To limit the damage to the core in the event of such a
fault it is now common practice to limit the earth fault current to about 5 amps or less for an earth
fault at the high voltage end.

Differential protection is not capable of detecting such small currents and an alternative form of
protection must be used.

Figure 19 : Stator Earth Fault Protection

One method is to earth the machine through a transformer and use a suitable relay to detect the
displacement of the neutral as shown in Figure 19(a). An alternative method is shown in Figure
19(b) in which a star/open delta VT is used to operate a relay. A harmonic filter is necessary in this

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scheme to prevent operation of the relay on third harmonics which are normally present at the
machine terminals.

Field Winding Protection

If an isolator, circuit breaker or tap change gear should malfunction such that one phase is not
continuous, the generator will experience unbalanced loading. This unbalanced loading results in a
negative sequence current flowing in the stator. As the field is rotating in synchronism with the
positive sequence current, the negative sequence current appears as a 100 hertz current to the
rotor and field circuits. Extended operation in this condition will result in heating of damper
windings or pole faces. To detect this condition, negative sequence or phase unbalance protection
is employed. This protection is so arranged that an alarm is given for small negative sequence
currents, while large negative sequence currents which persist for some seconds result in tripping
the machine.

The DC field system of a generator is normally unearthed. Should insulation failure result in an
earth fault, there is no further damage likely as only small capacitive currents will flow. If however,
the generator is run in this state for some time and a second earth fault develops, considerable
unbalanced magnetic forces will develop which could destroy bearings and machine supports.

There are various methods available to detect an earth fault in the field circuit one of which is
shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20 : Field Earth Fault Protection

Should the excitation of a generator fail the machine may run asynchronously at a leading power
factor. This can cause severe heating of the rotor. Field failure can be detected by an undercurrent
relay in the field circuit but this is not altogether satisfactory because of the wide range of excitation
over which the normal machine can operate. In addition such a relay can be held in on the slip
frequency if the machine runs as an induction generator.

The most reliable field failure relay makes use of a directional impedance relay operated from the
current and voltage at the generator terminals. This relay operates when the machine runs in the
leading power area corresponding to zero excitation.

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Reverse Power Protection

When a generator connected to a system has a failure of the prime mover the generator will act as
a synchronous motor and take power from the system. Should this happen with a steam set, then
rapid and uneven temperature rises will occur in the turbine which may result in severe mechanical
damage. The motoring power of a steam set can be as low as 1% of the machine rating. Thus to
detect this condition, reverse power relays are used which will detect a reverse power loading of
about 0.5% machine rating. To prevent instability when synchronising, it is usual to delay tripping
from the relay.

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