Topic 3: Protection

UEEA3993 Power Protection and Switchgear

Prepared by: Ir. Dr. Wong Jianhui

1 Updated Jan 2022

 Module 1:
Generator Protection:

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Generator Construction
 A modern large generating unit is a complex system, comprising of number of
components:
• Stator with its winding where the main voltage is induced
• Rotor with its field winding and exciters
• Turbine with its boiler, condenser, auxiliary fans and pumps.
• The mechanical parts that turning the generator’s rotor is called a prime mover.

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Generator Construction
 Small- and medium-sized generators are normally connected direct to the
distribution system, whilst larger units are connected to the HV grid via a
transformer:

Unit transformer step

down from generator to
lower voltage and supply
power to auxiliaries present
in plant

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Generator Construction
 Steam turbines are used exclusively by the main power utilities. In the industries,
there are three main types of prime movers:
• Steam turbines: Normally found where waste steam is available and used for
base load or standby.
• Gas turbines: Generally used for peak-lopping or mobile applications.
• Diesel engines: Most popular as standby plant.

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Generator Protection
 Generators are the most expensive rotating equipment in an AC power system.
 The protection of rotating equipment involves the consideration of more possible
failures or abnormal operating conditions than any other system elements.
 Hence, generators demand an extensive protection system comprising a large
variety of protective relays.
 In the event where the generator is unloaded (disconnected) due to fault, it may
result an overloading condition the rest of the system.
 When fault happened, the common approach are as follows:
 Remove the field supply,
 Shut-off the fuel supply,
 And trip the boiler or etc.
 CO2 can be used to extinguish any burning of insulation.

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Generator Protection
 In some cases, opening a breaker to isolate the defective generator may not be the
always approach. Tripping the unit is not required.
 Reduction in load maybe the approach to rectify the problem.
 Hence, the main function of the protective devices in the generators is to minimise
the number of unnecessary trip during power instability.
 The requirement for protection not only dependent on the generator size, but also
dependent on the role/ importance to the power system.
 Major faults or abnormalities:
• Failure on stator/ rotor winding insulation
• Failure on prime mover
• Overload/ Overheat
• Overspeed Overspeed is a
condition in which an
• Abnormal voltage/ frequency engine is allowed or
forced to turn beyond
its design limit

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Stator Fault
 Majority of the faults reported in the generator are due to the insulation breakdown
of the stator coils and other faults that are associated with the abnormal conditions
of the generator.
 The breakdown of insulation may result in fault between conductors and between
the conductors and the iron core.
 This breakdown may be caused by overvoltage or overheating that, in turn, causes
overloads, unbalanced current, failure in the cooling system.
earth fault (winding grounded)
Good stator winding Phase to phase short circuit due to voltage surge

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Stator Fault
 The stator faults in the machine must be cleared soonest possible to prevent an
unnecessary shutdown of the generator.
 The resultant of the fault current is likely to damage the laminations of the core and
stator windings as well as their auxiliaries because of the heat produced.

Between the conductor (winding) and the This type of insulation failure caused by
iron core (stator) voltage surge

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Stator Fault
 The primary protection for the phase to earth and phase to phase is the application
of differential protection in the generator.
 A differential protection can be applied to any generator rated above 1000 kVA or
motor rated above 1500 HP to protect against stator fault.
 At a worst-case scenario, a short circuit in the stator winding (stator insulation
failure) can create a potential earth fault.

Insulation breakdown

Relation between the amplitude of the

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generator earth fault current and the fault Jan 2022
time
Stator Fault
Possible stator winding faults and their potential protection method

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Overheating
 The main cause of overheating are ventilation failure, overloading, failure of cooling
system.
 The usual method used to protect the stator of the generator against overheating
uses resistance temperature detectors.
 In case of overheating, the relay can be arranged to sound an alarm and alert the
control room.

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Overloaded
 When generator is overloaded, the winding insulation may experience overheats.
The amount of heat generated is proportional to the degree of overload.
 If the permissible temperature for insulation is exceeded, the insulation may be
puncture resulting in stator fault.
 Hence, temperature of the stator must be monitored all time to ensure the generator
is working under safe temperature.
 In this case, a thermal protection can be applied.
 As the overloading will be symmetrical in all three phases, therefore a single phase
relay fed from CT to any one of the phases is sufficient for the purpose.
 The relay can be set to operate around 105% to 110% of the generator rated
current.

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Overvoltage
 Apart from the transient overvoltage due to lightning, overvoltage or a defective
voltage regulator.
 Overvoltage relay is required to protect the stator conductor insulation.
 In the modern protective scheme, the operation of overvoltage relay, initially causes
the alarm to be sounded and thus warn the operator.
 Should the AVR does not restore the voltage to normal, the machine has to be
tripped completely as the overvoltage can deteriorate the generator insulation.

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Over frequency/ Under frequency
 Over frequency results from the excess generation and it can easily
be corrected by a reduction in the power outputs with the help of the
governor or manual control.
 While, during an overload, the generation capability of the generator
increases, and a reduction in frequency occurs.
 The power system survives only if we drop the load so that the
generator output becomes equal or greater than the connected load
(If the load increases, then the frequency will drop, and load needs to
be shed down to create the balance between the generator and the
connected load.)

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Reverse Power Flow
 This is to protect against the failure of prime mover of an alternator. When the prime
mover of the alternator failed in a power plant, the alternator will not stop but will run
as a synchronous motor taking power from the bus.
 There is no harm to the alternator as a motor but the reverse power is harmful to the
prime mover.

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Potential Protection Method
 Generation protection should considered the importance of the generator and its
technical characteristics such as power, voltage, and earthing arrangement.
 A complex protection scheme can ensure that the generator is protected against
with various faults.
 Generally, two protection schemes are suggested:
 For small generator (typically up to 5MVA);
 Protection against internal faults.
 Back-up protection for external faults using overcurrent relays.

Overcurrent & earth fault protection (OCEF)

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Potential Protection Methods
 As for large generators, for example more than 5MVA;
 Differential protection to protect internal faults,
 Earth fault protection to identify and clear earth fault,
 Back-up protection using overcurrent protection,
 Reverse power protection to identify any reverse power flow,
 Overload protection using thermal relays,
 Stator earth protection to check any internal fault caused by insulation failure,
 Over/under frequency to protect from frequency deviation;
 Over/under voltage to protect from voltage drop or over voltage;

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 Differential Protection for Generators

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Differential Protection
 Differential protection for generators, other rotating machines, and transformers are
similar. The principle of the differential protection scheme was initially established by
Merz and Price, and it is commonly known as Merz price circulating current system.
 Differential protection is used for protection of the generator against phase to earth
and phase to phase fault.
 It is operating based on Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) where the algebraic sum of the
currents entering and leaving the node is zero (the currents at two ends are
compared). In any event that a deviation is found, this must indicate an abnormal
current path.
 In addition, any disturbance or operating condition outside the area of interest is
totally ignored.

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Differential Protection
 In a case where any of these faults happen, the generator shall be disconnected by
opening the circuit breaker. It is standard practice to recommend differential
protection for generators of 10MW and above.
 In order to obtain the most effective form of differential protection, the neutral of the
generator should be well earthed, either solidly or via a resistor or reactor.
 The limitation of this protection method is that, the earth fault current maybe limited
by the resistance of the neutral earthing.
Open breaker if
fault happened

Must be well
earthed, either
with solid, resistor
or reactor.

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Differential Protection
 The following figure is the schematic diagram of the differential protection scheme
used to respond to internal fault. There are two sets of CTs:
 The first set is used tied to the line terminal of the stator’s windings.
 The second set: tied to the neutral terminal of the generator per phase.
Line terminal
Tied to the
neutral
terminal

Relay

Relay configuration in a single-line diagram

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Differential Protection
 Currents at the two ends of the protected section are compared. The attributes of
the CTs installed per phase must match one with another.
 Under normal condition, the current at the two ends of the protection system are
meant to be the same.

Current I1 and I2 will

be compared

Under normal scenario: No current

flows across the relay as there is
no current mismatch
Relay configuration in a single-line diagram
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Differential Protection
 If a fault is present, there will be a slight deviation of the current recorded.
 The difference of the currents under fault conditions is arranged to pass through the
operating coil of the relay, the relay then closes its contacts to isolated the protected
section from the system.

If fault present:

Current I1 and I2 will

be compared

Current mismatch (current

difference) will pass through the
operating coil of the relay.
Relay configuration in a single-line diagram
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Differential Protection
The typical configuration for the differential protection is illustrated in a three-phase diagram. See
description on next slide.

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Differential Protection Configuring in three-phase, 6
CTs are required.

Earthing resistance to
limit earth fault

balancing resistance in the differential relay is also known

as the stabilizing resistor. This resistor is connected in
series to modify the system so as to stabilize the relaying
circuit in case of an external fault happened or in case of
the CT is saturated. We will discuss this further in the next
module.

Relay configuration in a three-phase diagram

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 Besides using Merz-Price (differential protection scheme) for generator protection,
restricted earth fault protection can be applied.
 By the name “restricted”, the protection is to detect the earth fault in the specific
zone, restricted to the zone, starting from the breaker to the machine terminals.
 In case of a generator, the machine terminal is the neutral point.
 In case of transformer, the machine terminal is the star point of either the primary or
secondary winding. Neutral point

Earth fault
CT that connects
for REF protection

OC/EF
Earthing resistor

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 When the generator’s neutral is solidly grounded – the generator is completely
protected against earth fault.
 When the generator’s neutral is grounded through earth resistance, then the stator
windings are partially protected against earth fault.

Solid earth.
Full winding
are protected.

Resistor earthing, partial winding is

protected. There are some parts that the
REF cannot detects when fault happened.

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 For example, when earth fault occurs near the neutral point, the voltage developed
across the fault to earth is very small.
 Hence, driving a very low fault current.
 In this case, if the current is lower than the pick-up current of the relay coil, the relay
will not operate.
 Under this situation, 15-20% of the generator winding near to the neutral side is not
protected.

Fault happened near to the

neutral point, voltage
developed across the
winding is very small.

Voltage developed across =

a*Vrated

Current driven = a*Vrated/ R

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 Consider the following scenario 1:
 If the ground fault happened at point A due to the insulation breakdown.
 The fault current If, will flow through the core, frame of the machine to earth and
complete the path through earthing resistor.

Fault current

The magnitude of the

fault current depends
on the voltage
developed and the
earthing resistance.

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 Consider the following scenario 2:
 If the fault point A is very near to the neutral point, the voltage developed VAN is very
small, hence driving a very small amount of current If.
 Thus, the relay may not operate.

If the fault point

happens near to
neutral, Van is very
small.

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 To overcome this, the relay setting can be set at a lower value to make it sensitive
for low fault current.

But how low?

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF)
 Based on the figure, it is noticed that the resistor, R limits the earth fault current.
Hence, the following correlation can be concluded:
 If resistance (R) is low, then earth fault current (If) is high.
 If resistance (R) is high, then earth fault current (If) is low, resulting in less % of
winding being protected.
RI op
% of winding unprotected = 100
VLN
 Iop = is the minimum operating current in the primary of CT
 R = is the overall resistance circulating in the earth fault loop.
 VLN = is the rated phase voltage of the generator

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Example:
A 10 MVA generator rated at 13.2 kV is protected by restricted earth fault protection.
The percentage of winding protected against phase to ground fault is 85%.
The relay setting is set to trip the circuit breaker at 20% of the nominal current.
Calculate the resistance to be added in the neutral to ground connection. In this case,
neglect the impedance of the phase winding.

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Solution
 Calculate the nominal full load current:
MVA 10M
I FL = = = 437.4 A
3 V 3 13.2k
 Relay setting:
 Relay setting at 20%; hence, operating current of the REF = 437.4 x 20% = 87.5A
 Phase voltage:
VL
VLN = = 7621V
3
RI op
% of windings unprotected =
V
R  87.5
0.15 =
7621
R = 13.07

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Example:
A 12 MVA generator rated at 11 kV has a phase reactance of 10%. It is protected by
REF which is set to operate for fault current not less than 200A. Calculate the value of
earthing resistance to be provided in order to ensure no more than 15% of the
alternator windings remain unprotected.

MVA 12 M
I FL = = = 629.84 A
3 V 3 11k
IX
%Reactance = 100, where X = reactance per phase, I = rated I
V
629.84 X
10 = 100 = X = 1.0083
(6351)

*Percent reactance is defined as the voltage drop on

full load due to winding resistance and reactance
expressed as the percentage of the rated voltage.
*There is an approximately 1 ohm in the winding
reactance.
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Solution
15% of the winding = 15% x X = 0.15125
Voltage across the unprotected windings,
VL
VLN = Voltage across15% winding, minimum voltage developed across winding.
3
V15% = VLN 15% = 952.65V
V15%
I f = 200 A = In order to activate the relay, a minimum If = 200A is needed.
Z
Z = 4.7631
4.76312 = X 2 + R 2 = 0.15125 2 + R 2 To draw 200A, you need to ensure
under the minimum voltage
R = 4.7608 developed, the maximum impedance
shall not be greater than 4.7608 ohms.

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Example:
A three-phase 10 MVA generator rated at 6.6 kV is protected by REF. A 1000A/5A CT is
used. The neutral point of the generator is earthed through a 7.5 ohms resistor. If the
minimum operating current for the relay is 0.5A, calculate the % of each phase of the
stator winding is unprotected against earth fault when machine is operating under
normal voltage.

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Restricted Earth Fault (REF):
Solution
 Given earth resistor = 7.5 ohms
6600
 Phase voltage, VLN = = 3810𝑉
3
 Operating current,Iop = 0.5/5*1000A = 100A REF needs 100A to operate.

 % 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝑅𝐼𝑜𝑝 7.5 ∗ 100
= = = 19.68%
𝑉 3810

Assume negligible value for generator percent impedance. Consider the earth
resistance is 7.5 ohms, the setting for REF to operates only protects 80% of the
winding. If the fault happened at the first 20% of the winding, then REF will
not activate due to If < Ioperating.
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Example:
A three-phase 50 MVA generator rated at 33 kV is protected REF. A 1000A/5A CT is
used. The neutral point of the generator is earthed through a 7.5 ohms resistor. If the
minimum operating current for the relay is 0.5A, calculate the % of each phase of the
stator winding is unprotected against earth fault when machine is operating under
normal voltage.
Given earth resistor = 7.5 ohms
33𝑘𝑉
Phase voltage, VLN = = 19.05𝑘𝑉
3
Operating current,Iop = 0.5/5*1000A = 100A

𝑅𝐼𝑜𝑝 7.5 ∗ 100

% 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 = = = 3.94%
𝑉 19.05𝑘𝑉

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 The End

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