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March, 1997
SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................2 THE REASONS FOR PROTECTION.......................................................................2 ROLE OF PROTECTION....................................................................................... 3 PROTECTION PRINCIPLES................................................................................... 4 DISCRIMINATION .............................................................................................. 4 FAULTS AND FAULT LEVELS.............................................................................5 OVERVIEW OF PROTECTION COMPONENTS........................................................6 Fuses...............................................................................................................6 Thermal Trip Units.........................................................................................6 Electromechanical Relays..............................................................................7 Static relays....................................................................................................7 Current and Voltage Transformers................................................................8 OVERVIEW OF PROTECTION TESTING AND MAINTENANCE..............................10 Why Protection Relays need Maintenance...................................................10 Importance of Protection Relay Setting Data..............................................10 Frequency of Maintenance ..........................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Any consideration of an Electrical Distribution System is not complete without some thought being given to Protection. Electrical Equipment which is correctly installed and maintained is normally very reliable, but the consequence when this equipment does become faulty can be out of all proportion in terms of danger, extensive damage and loss of production unless it is adequately protected. The function of protection in this sense is not as the name implies preventive but it is the ambulance at the foot of the cliff rather than the fence at the top. This manual is designed to enhance the basic knowledge including the examination of the need for protection, protection components and basic protection testing. Design of new protection systems is not covered but sample existing systems are studied. Design of a protection system requires more advanced information and knowledge than can be given in this manual. By the end of the manual and the associated practical exercises all readers will have increased their knowledge of the theory and practice of protection systems.
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Rev 0 POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION March, 1997 An electrical network normally operates within its designed rating. Generators, transformers, cables, switchboards, busbars and connected apparatus are each designed to carry a certain maximum current. Most can carry a moderate overload for a short time without undue overheating. However, if a fault should develop somewhere in the system, that is to say a phase to phase short circuit or a phase to earth breakdown, then all connected generators will feed extremely high currents into that fault, which will be limited only by the impedance of the complete circuit from generator to fault. Fault currents can be ten to twenty times the normal full load current. Such currents will quickly cause intense overheating of conductors and windings, leading to almost certain breakdown unless they are quickly disconnected; they will also give rise to severe mechanical forces between the current carrying conductors or windings. All such apparatus must be manufactured to withstand such forces. The purpose of automatic protection is to remove the fault from the system and so break the fault current as quickly as possible. Before this can be achieved, the fault current will have flowed for a finite, if small, time, and much heat energy will have been released. Also the severe mechanical forces referred to above will already have occurred and subjected all conductors to intense mechanical stress.
Role of Protection.
Protection is needed to remove, from the system, as speedily as possible any part of the equipment in which a fault has developed. So long as it is connected the whole system is in jeopardy from three main effects of the fault, namely: a risk of extended damage to the affected plant. a risk of damage to healthy plant. a risk of extending the outage to other plant on the system, with resultant loss of protection and interruption of vital processes. It is the function of protective equipment, in association with the automatic switch fuse, contactor or circuit breaker to avert those effects.
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Protection Principles
Protection of an electrical system is provided for one or more of the following principles: To maintain electrical supplies to as much of the system as possible after a fault has been isolated. To protect the generators and other plant against damage due to abnormal conditions and faults. To protect the consumer equipment against damage due to abnormal conditions (e.g. overload). To isolate faulty equipment to limit the risk of fire locally. To limit damage to the cable system resulting from a fault. These principles will determine the type of protective equipment fitted in any installation. It will be noted that the first principle conflicts with the other requirements to some extent. For example, the best way to protect a generator against damage by fault currents is to disconnect it, but it would not then be available to supply other consumers. Where continuity of supply is considered essential alternative feeds are necessary. But, if full advantage is to be gained from this additional capital outlay, the protection must be highly selective in its function. For this it must possess the quality known as discrimination whereby it is able to select and disconnect only the faulty element leaving all others in normal operation so far as it is possible.
Discrimination
If we consider a simple typical electrical layout the need for some form of discrimination will become clear. Figure 1.1 shows an 11kV Oil fuse switch (OFS) controlling a transformer beyond which there are a bank of Low Voltage (LV) fuses. Clearly a fault as indicated must be interrupted by fuse A so that supply may continue to the other circuits. The 11kV OFS must not trip.
415/240V 11kV
Fault Current
Figure 1.1 - 11kV Oil Fuse Switch
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Electromechanical Relays When two protection devices are required to discriminate the chosen settings will depend on how closely the devices can be guaranteed to conform to their characteristic curves. Most devices have fairly generous tolerances in both operating levels and time and therefore if close discrimination is required then protection relays would have to be used. A relay is a device which makes a measurement or receives a signal which causes it to operate and to effect the operation of other equipment. A protection relay is a device which responds to abnormal conditions in an electrical power system to operate a circuit-breaker to disconnect the faulty section of the system with the minimum interruption of supply. Many designs of relay elements have been produced but these are based on a few basic operating principles. The great majority of relays are in one of the following groups. Induction Relays Attracted-armature relays. Moving-coil relays. Thermal relays. Timing Relays. Static relays Relays based on electronic techniques offer many advantages over the more usual electromechanical type. Apart from the obvious advantage of no moving parts the power requirements are low and therefore smaller current and voltage transformers can be used to provide the input. Additional benefits are improved accuracy and a wider range of characteristics. The invention of the transistor and the microprocessor has allowed the development of static relays but difficulties were experienced because the high voltage substation proved to be a very hostile environment to the device. The close proximity of high voltage heavy current circuits produces conditions which could damage the transistor because of its low thermal mass or cause mal-operation of the relay because of the electromagnetic or electrostatic interference. A lot of research and development has taken place and commercial relays which meet very exacting standards have been produced. Electromechanical relays will still representa large proportion of relays remaining in service. However as new equipment and systems are designed it is likely that there will be a changeover to static relays and most of the future development in protection will be in static relays. The large application potential of the digital integrated circuit has led to enormous expenditure on research and development which has resulted in microprocessors with spectacular computing capabilities at a low cost. It is fairly certain that microprocessors will ultimately dominate protection and control systems. Section 1 - Introduction Page 1-7
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The utilisation of microprocessors in the field of protection means that the logic part of the relay can be replaced by a programme held in the microprocessor memory. This enables a relay function to be specified by software which widens the scope of the relay and allows a single relay to be provided with a number of characteristics. Experience has been gained with microprocessors in high voltage substations over a number of years by using them for voltage control, automatic switching and reclosing and other control functions. Therefore the difficulties which arise in this environment have been overcome. Current and Voltage Transformers Current transformers The current transformer is well established but it is generally regarded as merely a device which reproduces a primary current at a reduced level. A current transformer designed for measuring purposes operates over a range of current up to a specific rated value, which usually corresponds to the circuit normal rating, and has specified errors at that value. On the other hand, a protection current transformer is required to operate over a range of current many times the circuit rating and is frequently subjected to conditions greatly exceeding those which it would be subjected to as a measuring current transformer. Under such conditions the flux density corresponds to advanced saturation and the response during this and the initial transient period of short-circuit current is important. It will be appreciated, therefore that the method of specification of current transformers for measurement purposes is not necessarily satisfactory for those for protection. In addition an intimate knowledge of the operation current transformers is required in order to predict the performance of the protection. Current transformers have two important qualities: They produce the primary current conditions at a much lower level so that the current can be carried by the small cross-sectional area cables associated with panel wiring and relays. They provide an insulating barrier so that relays which are being used to protect high voltage equipment need only be insulated for a nominal 600V. Current transformers are usually designed so that the primary winding is the line conductor which is passed through an iron ring which carries the secondary winding. They are mostly of this type and are known as bar-primary or ringwound current transformer.
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Rev 0 POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION March, 1997 Voltage transformers The voltage transformer in use with protection has to fulfil only one requirement, which is that the secondary voltage must be an accurate representation of the primary voltage in both magnitude and phase. To meet this requirement, they are designed to operate at fairly low flux densities so that the magnetising current, and therefore the ratio and phase angle errors, is small. This means that the core area for a given output is larger than that of a power transformer, which increases the overall size of the unit. In addition, the normal three- limbed construction of the power transformer is unsuitable as there would be magnetic interference between phases. To avoid this interference a five-limbed construction is used, which also increases the size. The nominal secondary voltage is sometimes 110V but more usually 63.5V per phase to produce a line voltage of 110V.
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Frequency of Maintenance The recommended frequency for maintaining different types of protection equipment is to be found in the manufacturers information. However, individual companies will also have to take into account their own operational experience and the importance of the electrical equipment `protected' by the overall protection scheme, when deciding on how often to maintain relays, etc. The following is a suggested list of inspections and maintenance activities that should be carried out at differing pre-determined intervals : Inspection of relays and checking of relay settings. Trip tests including intertripping tests. Insulation resistance checks on all small wiring, etc. Secondary injection tests on all protection relays such as overcurrent and earth fault induction type, but possibly less frequently on thermal or electronic units. Inspection and testing of transformer's Buchholz Relays. Inspection and testing of transformer's Winding or Oil temperature instruments.
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