6/2/2017 GEMultilin:MotorProtectionPrinciples

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Systems DifferentialProtection
Markets This protection function is mostly used to protect induction and synchronous motors against phasetophase
Support faults.ThisfunctionrequirestwosetsofCTs,oneatbeginningofthemotorfeeder,andtheotheratthestar
point.Differentialprotectionmaybeconsideredthefirstlineofprotectionforinternalphasetophaseorphase
ContactUs togroundfaults.Intheeventofsuchfaults,thequickresponseofthedifferentialelementmaylimitthedamage

thatmayhaveotherwiseoccurredtothemotor.
MotorProtection Thedifferentialprotectionfunctioncanonlybeusedifbothsidesofeachstatorphasearebroughtoutofthe
Overview motorforexternalconnectionsuchthatthephasecurrentgoingintoandoutofeachphasecanbemeasured.
ProtectionPrinciples Thedifferentialelementsubtractsthecurrentcomingoutofeachphasefromthecurrentgoingintoeachphase
ApplicationGuide andcomparestheresultordifferencewiththedifferentialpickuplevel.Ifthisdifferenceisequaltoorgreater
then the pickup level a trip will occur. GE Multilin motor protective relays support both three and six CT
Resources
configurations. For three CT configuration both sides of each of the motors stator phases are being passed
throughasingleCT.Thisisknownasthecorebalancemethodandisthemostdesirableowingtoitssensitivity
andnoiseimmunity.
If six CTs are used in a summing configuration,
duringmotorstarting,thevaluesfromthetwoCTs
on each phase may not be equal as the CTs are
not perfectly identical and asymmetrical currents
may cause the CTs on each phase to have
different outputs. To prevent nuisance tripping in
thisconfiguration,thedifferentiallevelmayhaveto
be set less sensitive, or the differential time delay
may have to be extended to ride through the
problemperiodduringmotorstarting.Therunning
differential delay can then be fine tuned to an
application such that it responds very fast and is
sensitivetolowdifferentialcurrentlevels.
Biased Differential protection method allows for
different ratios for system/line and neutral CTs.
This method has a dual slope characteristic. To
prevent a maloperation caused by unbalances
between CTs during external faults. CT PhasetoPhaseFault
unbalancesariseasaresultCTaccuracyerrorsor
CTsaturation.

MotorFaults

FaultType ProtectionPhilosophy
InternalFault
Statorgroundfaults Ground/NeutralIOC/TOC(50/51G/N),NeutralDirectionalTOC(67N)
Statorphasefaults Phasedifferentialprotection(87),PhaseIOC/TOC(50/51P),Phaseshortcircuit(50
P)
ExternalFault
Overheating OverloadThermalmodelwithProgrammableCurvesandbiasedwithRTDand/or
Unbalance(49/51),VoltageDependantCurveforLargeInertiaLoads,
Overtemperatureviathermistorsand/orRTDs(38,49),Lockedrotor/mechanical
jam,StallProtection(39,51R),Jogging,Starts/hour,timebetweenstarts,
restarttimedelay(66),AccelerationTimeLogic,Reducedvoltagestart(19),
Incompletesequence(48),Overloadlockout(86)
Phaseunbalance OverloadThermalmodelwithProgrammable
Phasereversal NegativeSequenceOvervoltage(47)
Abnormalvoltage Overvoltage(57),Undervoltage(27)AbnormalfrequencyOverfrequency(81O),
Underfrequency(81U),Speedswitch(14)
Lossofload Undercurrent/minimumload(37),Underpower,SensitiveDirectionalPower(32)
BackSpin BackSpinDetection
Breakerfailure Breakerfailure(50BF)
Powerfactor Powerfactor(55)
FeederGround Ground/NeutralIOC/TOC(50/51G/N)NeutralDirectionalTOC(67N)
Fault
FeederPhaseFault Phasedifferentialprotection(87),PhaseIOC/TOC(50/51P),Phaseshortcircuit(50
P)

GroundFaultProtection
Damage to a phase conductors insulation and internal shorts due to moisture within the motor are common
causesofgroundfaults.Astrategythatistypicallyusedtolimitthelevelofthegroundfaultcurrentistoconnect
an impedance between the neutral point of the motor and ground. This impedance can be in the form of a
resistororgroundingtransformersizedtoensurethatthemaximumgroundfaultcurrentislimitedtoalevelthat

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6/2/2017 GEMultilin:MotorProtectionPrinciples
willreducethechancesofdamagetothemotor.
There are several ways by which a ground fault
canbedetected.Themostdesirablemethodisto
use the zero sequence CT approach, which is
considered the best method of ground fault
detection methods due to its sensitivity and
inherentnoiseimmunity. All phase conductors are
passedthroughthewindowofasingleCTreferred
to as a zero sequence CT. Under normal
circumstances,thethreephasecurrentswillsumto
zero resulting in an output of zero from the zero
sequence CTs secondary. If one of the motors
phases were shorted to ground, the sum of the
phasecurrentswouldnolongerequalzerocausing
a current to flow in the secondary of the zero
sequence CT. This current would be detected by
themotorrelayasagroundfault.
ZeroSequenceCTConfiguration

IfthecablesaretoolargetofitthroughthezerosequenceCTswindoworthetrenchistoonarrowtofitthe
zerosequence CT, the residual ground fault configuration can be used. This configuration is inherently less
sensitivethenthatofthezerosequenceconfiguration,owingtothefactthattheCTsarenotperfectlymatched.
Duringthemotorstart,themotorsphasecurrentstypicallyrisetomagnitudesgreaterthan6timesthemotors
fullloadcurrent.TheslightmismatchoftheCTscombinedwiththerelativelylargephasecurrentmagnitudes
produce a false residual current, which will be seen by the relay. This current can be misinterpreted by the
motorrelayasagroundfaultunlessthegroundfaultelementspickupissethighenoughtodisregardthiserror.

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