158

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2003

Fast Ferroresonance Suppression of Coupling

Capacitor Voltage Transformers
Milan Graovac, Reza Iravani, Senior Member, IEEE, Xiaolin Wang, and Ross D. McTaggart, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper describes a procedure for fast suppression of the phenomenon of ferroresosnance in coupling capacitor
voltage transformers (CCVT) without major change in the CCVT
design. It will be shown that it is possible to adjust parameters of
the secondary overvoltage protection and the filter circuit so that
the ferroresonance can be cleared in a very short time interval.
The study cases reported in this paper show that ferroresonance is
effectively cleared within two cycles. An implementation of metal
oxide varistors (MOV) as part of passive ferroresonance protection is also addressed. The Electromagnetic Transients Program
(EMTP) is used for modeling transients and fine-tuning the ferroresonance suppressing circuit. The studies are conducted on the
Trench TEHMP161A CCVT.
Index TermsCCVT, CVT, electromagnetic transients, EMTP,
ferroresonance.

I. INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1. CCVT circuit diagram for EMTP simulation.

CVT is a widely used apparatus for voltage measurement

at transmission and subtransmission voltage levels. The
output voltage of a CCVT is used for monitoring, protection
relays and control applications. Proper design and tuning of
CCVT components guarantee that its output is the required
replica of the input (system voltage) under steady-state conditions. However, due to the CCVT energy storage elements
and magnetic saturation nonlinearity, its output waveform
deviates from the input waveform during transients [1], [2].
The phenomenon of ferroresonance is of particular concern
during CCVT transients, and can cause noticeable deviation of
CCVT response from the actual input waveform.
CCVTs are equipped with overvoltage protection schemes
and suppression circuitries to mitigate the phenomenon of ferroresonance. The required time to fully mitigate ferroresonance
can be up to several cycles (of 60 Hz). The phenomenon of
ferroresonance highly distorts the CCVT response during the
first three to five cycles, and results in relatively mild distortion
during the next four to six cycles. This characteristic behavior
of CCVT is well understood and imposes no major difficulty in
conventional applications.
Rapid proliferation of 1) digital protection relays and 2)
power electronic apparatus which require accurate voltage
monitoring for their controls, indicates ever increasing fidelity
Manuscript received September 10, 2001; revised February 27, 2002.
M. Graovac, R. Iravani, and X. Wang are with the Center for Applied
Power Electronics (CAPE), Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G4, Canada (e-mail:
graovac@ele.utoronto.ca; wang@ele.utoronto.ca; iravani@ecf.utoronto.ca).
R. D. McTaggart is with the Instrument Transformer Division, Trench Group,
Scarborough, ON M1P 3B5, Canada (e-mail: RossDM@ca.trenchgroup.com).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2002.803837

of CCVT response during transient regimes. This paper demonstrates that by means of fine-tuning of overvoltage protection
and suppression circuits, the phenomenon of ferroresonance
can be effectively mitigated within two cycles for the study
system. The objective is to achieve this improvement without
major change in the design and circuit topology of the CCVT.
II. STUDY SYSTEM
Fig. 1 shows schematic diagram of the Trench TEHMP161A
CCVT used for the studies. The CCVT parameters are given in
the Appendix.
The CCVT is composed of 1) capacitive voltage divider (
and ), 2) Step-down transformer (SDT), 3) compensating reand its series reactor (CR), 4) overvoltage protection device
, and 5) ferroresonance suppressing circuit consisting
sistor
of saturable reactor ( and ) in parallel with permanent load
. In some designs, the burden side can also be equipped with
and its loading resistor
overvoltage protection device
as part of the ferroresonance suppressing circuit. However, this
in
is not a necessary part for TEHMP161A CCVT. Switch
is only introduced in the simulated circuit to imseries with
pose transients, otherwise it is not part of the CCVT system.
is the lumped resistance of the CCVT high voltage capacitive
branch.
Under normal conditions, the suppression circuit provides a
. A salient feature of a CCVT equipped
constant burden of
with this kind of ferroresonance suppression circuitry is its flat
frequency response up to several hundred Hz. To the contrary,
a CCVT with tuned RLC filter based ferroresonance protection
circuit does not exhibit flat frequency response [3], [4].

0885-8977/02$17.00 2003 IEEE

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GRAOVAC et al.: FAST FERRORESONANCE SUPPRESSION OF COUPLING CAPACITOR VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS

Fig. 2.

159

Magnetization curve of L .

Studies also show that ferroresonance suppression RL circuit

with saturable reactor has little effect on the CCVT transients.
The current through the reactor is negligible unless the ferroresonance is present so the only ferroresonance suppression circuit
component affecting the transient response is loading resistor
[1]. Therefore, the CCVT transient response to a primary
voltage collapse is less distorted when ferroresonance suppression RL circuit, with saturable reactor, is used. This results in
significantly smaller distance relay overreach [2].
has a knee point at about 150% of the rated voltage, Fig. 2,
and unless saturated has no effect on the CCVT response. Ferroresonance is accompanied with secondary side overvoltage
and triggers conduction of
(if it exists in
which saturates
the system). Consequently, the accumulated energy dissipates
and
.
in
( ) represents either a spark-gap
It should be noted that
with pre-specified break-down voltage or a semiconductor
switch (e.g., triac) which is triggered at a pre-specified voltage
level. TEHMP161A CCVT utilizes a spark-gap.

Fig. 3. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test when

included in the system.

and

are not

III. STUDY RESULTS

The CCVT ferroresonance response is investigated under the
is open and burden is a
following conditions. Initially switch
and lagseries RL branch which consumes 1 VA at 115
is closed (
m )
ging power factor of 0.85. Switch
satuand after approximately seven cycles opened. Opening
rates SDT and results in ferroresonance. DCG EMTP [5] is used
for modeling the CCVT ferroresonance test.
A. Case 1
This case investigates the effect of suppressing filter on the
and
are not
CCVT ferroresonance phenomenon when
included in the CCVT circuit. The ferroresonance suppressing
in parallel with the satcircuit consists of resistor
urable reactor. Filter reactor has the magnetization curve shown
.
is set
in Fig. 2 and the internal resistance of
to fire at 250 V.
Fig. 3 shows the CCVT ferroresonance behavior. The first
during the test. The second diadiagram shows voltage
gram shows RMS values of the same voltage calculated from
zero crossing to zero crossing. The third diagram is the enlarged
version of the second one (around the rated RMS value). It is
assumed that the ferroresonance is cleared if the RMS voltage
value deviates less than 5% from the rated value of 115 V. It
should be noted that half-cycle RMS results in higher deviation
as compared with full-cycle RMS.

Fig. 4. Measured CCVT secondary voltage during the ferroresonance test

when
and
are not included in the system. Time scale is 100 ms/div.

Fig. 3 indicates that ferroresonance is cleared after nearly

ten cycles. Overvoltage during the first cycle is very high. The
lags voltage
by almost
reason is that current through
90 . Therefore, reactor saturates only after the voltage has already reached the peak value. The CCVT ferroresonance response of Fig. 3 closely agrees with the laboratory test result
shown on Fig. 4 and satisfies ANSI C93.1 standard [6]. Figs. 3
and 4 clearly illustrate that CCVT output voltage is highly distorted during the first 4 cycles, and mildly distorted during the
next several cycles.
B. Case 2
This case investigates the phenomenon of ferroresonance
and
are also included in the CCVT
when gap
is set to 250 V. Fig. 5 shows
model. Breakdown voltage of
that ferroresonance is cleared in 13 cycles.
Comparison of Figs. 3 and 5 indicates that presence of
and
has a detrimental effect on the CCVT response. The
reason can be explained using Fig. 6.

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Fig. 7. CCVT response to ferroresonance test for R

Fig. 5. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test when

included in the system.

and

are

Fig. 8. CCVT response to ferroresonance test for R

Fig. 6. Current components through

ferroresonance.

= 6
.

and saturable reactor during

Fig. 6 shows distribution of current between the saturable rebranch during ferroresonance. Secondary
actor branch and
experiences a steep rise when the short-circuit curvoltage
rent is interrupted by switch . Saturable reactor saturates before voltage reaches to the voltage breakdown level of . Thus
reactor stores some energy during the first half-cycle of transient and returns a portion of this energy to the CCVT system
is not included in
during the next half-cycle. If branch
the system, this energy will result in the peak voltage of about
500 V in the second half-cycle as shown in Fig. 3. Presence

branch limits this peak voltage to about 400 V as

of
once again saturates during the
shown in Fig. 6. Reactor
second half-cycle and also returns some of its stored energy to
the system in the third half-cycle. This in turn results in over-

= 11 35
.
:

voltage in the third half-cycle, but with a noticeably smaller

peak value as compared with the previous half-cycle. After the
second half-cycle, the SDT core is not saturated, but the transient will be experienced during the next few cycles. Duration
of this transient behavior primary depends on the overvoltage
during the second half-cycle.
Fig. 6 also indicates that the ferroresonance can be more effectively mitigated if we have the following.
and the current through
is
Phase shift between
reduced.
is increased to improve distribu Dissipated energy in
and
.
tion of dissipated energy between
. Fig. 7 shows the
Both issues are addressed by increasing
on the CCVT response to the
effect of different values of
. It should be noted that
ferroresonance test when
beyond a certain value reduces the effectiveness
increasing
since it can limit
to a value below the breakdown
of
.
voltage of
Fig. 8 shows that the CCVT response can be further improved
.
by fine-tuning
Fig. 9 shows that the phenomenon of ferroresonance is effecand
tively damped out in one cycle when
.

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GRAOVAC et al.: FAST FERRORESONANCE SUPPRESSION OF COUPLING CAPACITOR VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS

Fig. 9. CCVT response to ferroresonance test when

11:35
.

= 6
and

161

Fig. 10. CCVT response to premature conduction of G .

Overvoltage protection device

can be realized either by a
must conduct only during
spark-gap or a triac. In any case
ferroresonance conditions and not as a result of system overvoltages which are reflected to the CCVT burden side. In this respect, triac is more advantageous as its firing instant and firing
voltage can be more accurately controlled. Furthermore, triac
has capability for large transient overcurrents without reaching
to its thermal limit.
Fig. 10 shows the CCVT response to the hypothetical scemalfunctions and pre-maturely conducts. Prenario in which
initiates a transient process which remature conduction of
sults in brief saturation of SDT after a few cycles. The transient
. Fig. 10 indiis promptly cleared by the saturable reactor
cates that saturable reactor also provides an inherent self-protection against internal failures. Tuned RLC ferroresonance suppression circuits do not have such a capability.
C. Case 3
(either
An alternative to overvoltage protection device
is a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV).
spark-gap or triac) and
Advantages of MOV are 1) stable characteristic, 2) simple design and robust structure, and 3) high performance reliability.
However, the concern is the limited amount of energy that MOV
can dissipate.
To examine the effectiveness of the MOV in the CCVT sysand its series resistance were replaced by a 130
tems,
MOV. The energy rating of MOV is 210 J within 2 ms.
is changed within the acceptable range to fine-tune the CCVT
system. Fig. 11 shows the CCVT response to the ferroresonance

Fig. 11. CCVT response to ferroresonance test when G and R

by MOV.

are replaced

test when
. Fig. 11 shows that ferroresonance is
cleared in four cycles. The total dissipated energy in MOV is 93
J which is significantly less than the rated value of 210 J.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2003

Fig. 12. Sharing the burden between the MOV and the saturable reactor during
the ferroresonance test.

cycles, the suppression circuit of Case 1 (i.e.,

,
and
) provides the desired solution. This approach is currently
adopted in the Trench TEHMP161A CCVT. If high-speed (e.g.,
two-cycle) ferroresonance clearing is required, the suppression
circuit can be augmented with the branch composed of
and
; see Fig. 1.
represents either a spark-gap or a
triac. Theoretically, both triac and spark-gap provide the same
performance when fired at the same voltage level. However,
firing of the triac can be precisely controlled and practically the
required performance can be achieved with a higher degree of
precision. One solution to assure that spark-gap does not fire
prematurely is to utilize a gap with a higher breakdown voltage.
However, increasing the breakdown voltage will reduce effectiveness of the overall ferroresonance mitigation system.
Fig. 13 shows the CCVT response to the ferroresonance test
when the gap breakdown voltage is increased from 250 (Fig. 9)
to 350 V. Comparison of Figs. 9 and 13 indicates that increasing
breakdown voltage has increased the required time for clearing
ferroresonance from one to five cycles, respectively.
and
The studies also indicate that the combination of
can be replaced by a MOV. Although MOV is not as effective as a triac/spark-gap in clearing ferroresonance, it can be
used in combination with the suppression filter for ferroresonance mitigation within two cycles. An advantage of MOV over
triac/spark-gap is that it has a more stable characteristic,
and it is easier to install, operate, and maintain.

V. CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 13. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test for V

6
, and R = 11:35
.

= 350 V,

The study results presented in this paper demonstrate that

the CCVT ferroresonance protection can be improved, without
a major change in the design, to mitigate the phenomenon of
ferroresonance within a prespecified time period. It is shown
that the well-tuned triac/spark-gap overvoltage protection can
clear the ferroresonance within two cycles. For cases when
pre-mature breakdown failure of the burden-side overvoltage
protection device is a concern, the MOV may be used. MOV
based ferroresonance mitigation may not be as effective as
triac/spark-gap protection, however it noticeably improves the
CCVT ferroresonance response. In all the studied cases, the
, is the primary countersuppression circuit, i.e.,
measure to the phenomenon of ferroresonance and either triac,
spark-gap or MOV augments its ferroresonance damping effect.

APPENDIX
Fig. 12 shows current components of MOV and saturable reduring ferroresonance. MOV conducts when
is
actor
larger then 280 V. Therefore, it dissipates energy only during
part of the second half-cycle. Fig. 12 also illustrates that the saturable reactor remains active and provides protection during the
rest of the transient period.

Tables I-IV contain technical data for use throughout this

paper.
TABLE I
TRENCH TEHMP161A CCVT TECHNICAL DATA

IV. DISCUSSION
For conventional applications where the CCVT ferroresonance mitigation is acceptable within several cycles, e.g., 10

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GRAOVAC et al.: FAST FERRORESONANCE SUPPRESSION OF COUPLING CAPACITOR VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS

TABLE II
CCVT CIRCUIT PARAMETERS

163

[2] D. Hou and J. Roberts, Capacitive voltage transformersTransient

overreach concerns and solution for distance relaying, in Proc. 22nd
Annu. Western Protective Relay Conf..
[3] M. Kezunovic, Lj. Kojovic, V. Skendzic, C. W. Fromen, D. R. Sevcik,
and S. L. Nilsson, Digital models of coupling capacitor voltage transformers for protective relay transient studies, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 7, pp. 19271935, Oct. 1992.
[4] H. J. Vermeulen, L. R. Dann, and J. van Roojen, Equivalent circuit
modeling of a capacitive voltage transformer for power system harmonic
frequencies, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 10, pp. 17431749, Oct.
1995.
[5] DCG/EPRI, Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP), Version
3.0, in Rule Book. Palo Alto, CA: Main Program, Nov. 1996, vol. 1.
[6] Power-line carrier coupling capacitors and coupling capacitor voltage
transformers (CCVT)requirements, ANSI C93.1-1999, May 1999.

Milan Graovac received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, all in electrical engineering in 1980, 1987, and
1992, respectively.
From 1981 to 1993, he was with Electrical Engineering Department, University of Belgrade. He is now a Senior Research Associate at the University of
Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. His research interests include power system reliability, dynamics and control, FE modeling, and power electronics.

TABLE III
SDT MAGNETIZATION CURVE DATA

TABLE IV
MAGNETIZATION CURVE DATA

REFERENCES
[1] M. A. Hudges, Distance relay performance as affected by capacitor
voltage transformers, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., vol. 121, no. 12, pp.
15571566, December 1974.

Reza Iravani (M85SM00) received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering

in 1976 from Tehran Polytechnique University and started his career as a consulting engineer. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1981 and 1985, respectively.
He is a Professor at the University of Toronto. His research interests include
power electronics and power system dynamics and control.

Xiaolin Wang received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Xian Jiaotong University, China, in electrical engineering in 1982 and 1988. From 1982 to 1994,
he was with Electrical Engineering Department at Xian Jiaotong University.
He is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada. His research interests are
electromagnetic transients and control/protection in power system.

Ross D. McTaggart (M85) was born in Oshawa, ON, Canada, in 1952. He

studied electrical engineering at the University of Toronto and received the B.Sc.
degree in 1976.
He became a Professional Engineer in 1979. He worked as an Engineer at several electrical manufacturers before joining Trench Electric in 1986 to develop
an SF6 current transformer product line up to 800 kV. When this was complete,
he became the Engineering Manager and is now the R&D Manager at the Instrument Transformer Division.
Mr. McTaggart is an active member of the IEEE and IEC instrument transformer standards committees and working groups.

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