Transformer Protection

By
A.CHANDRAMOHAN B.E.,

Transformer Protection
Transformer

is a major and very important

equipment in a power system.
It requires highly reliable protective
devices.
Protection scheme depends on the
capacity of the transformer.

Transformer Protection
For

small capacity transformers

(<500kVA) fuses are employed.
For transformers of medium capacity
(<5MVA) over current relays are used.
For large capacity transformers (>5MVA)
differential protection is employed.

Protective devices for a large

capacity transformers.

1.Differential Protection.
2.HV O/C Protection.
3.L/V O/C Protection.
4.Over fluxing Protection.
5.Restricted Earth Fault Protection.
6.Winding Temperature Monitor.
7.Oil Temperature Monitor.
8.Bucholz Relay.
9.Oil Surge Relay.
10.Pressure Relief Valve or Pressure Relief Device.

Faults in Transformers.
Generally two types of faults are
encountered by a transformer
namely through faults and internal
faults.
Through faults can be subdivided
into overload condition and external
short circuit condition.

Overload
Sustained overload can be detected by
monitoring the oil and winding temperatures.
Suitable corrective action is to be taken to
reduce the load by the shift engineer.
If the temperature exceeds the safe limit, the
transformer will be disconnected automatically
by the Winding temperature monitor with winding
temperature high indication.

Temperature control and

monitoring
Fan

On
65C
Oil Pump On
70C
Oil Temp. High Alarm
75C
Wdg. Temp. High Alarm
85C
Wdg. Temp. High Trip
95C

Heavy faults
1)

Multiphase and phase to earth faults

within the transformer and outside the
transformer at H.V., L.V. and tertiary
terminals.
2) Inter turn short in HV and LV winding.

Differential Protection.
300 A

600/1

600/1

300 A

Equipment under protection

0.5 A

0.5 A
Spill
Current

Pilot
wire

Inst. O/C
Relay

Load

Why hand reset trip relay?

The

hand reset feature is to minimize the

likelihood of a transformer breaker being
closed, there by subjecting the
transformer to further damage
unnecessarily.

Differential Protection: Behavior during normal load

300 A

600/1

600/1

300 A

Equipment under protection

0.5 A

0.5 A
Spill
Current

Pilot
wire

Inst. O/C
Relay

Load

Differential Protection: Behavior during External Fault

3000 A

600/1

600/1

3000 A

Equipment under protection

5A

5A
Spill
Current
Is zero

Pilot
wire

Inst. O/C
Relay

External
Fault

Differential Protection: Behavior during Internal Fault

3300 A

Internal
Fault

600/1

600/1

300 A

Equipment under protection

0.5 A

5.5 A
5.5 A
5.5 A
300 A

5A
R

Spill
Current 5 A
5.5 A

0.5A
Inst. O/C
Relay

0.5 A

Pilot
wire
300 A

0.5 A
Load

Restricted Earth Fault

A percentage

differential relay has a

certain minimum value of pick-up for
internal faults. Faults with fault current
below this value are not detected by the
percentage differential relay.
Winding-to-core faults, which are of the
single phase-to-ground type, involve high
resistance, fall in this category.

Restricted Earth fault

Therefore,

we must have a more sensitive

relaying scheme to cater for high resistance
ground faults.
Further, the reach of such protection must be
restricted to the winding of the transformer;
otherwise it may operate for any ground fault,
anywhere in the system, beyond the transformer.
Hence, such protection is known as restricted
earth fault protection.

Over current Protection

Differential

protection is used as main

protection. Over current protection is used
as a back up protection for sustained
through faults. Primary full load current
should be considered while setting the PS
of the over current relay. TLS should be
calculated taking into account of the third
zone time of the distance protection of the
transmission line.

Over Fluxing
The

flux and the applied voltage in a

transformer are related through the
expression V=4.44 m f N
where V is the rms value of voltage
f is the frequency
N is the number of turns in the
winding

Over Fluxing
m=V/(4.44

f N)
Whenever there is an over-voltage
(frequency remaining constant), the
transformer core is subjected to a higher
value of flux in order to be able to support
the higher applied voltage. By design.
Power transformers operate at the knee of
the saturation curve at normal voltage.

Over Fluxing
Hence,

any increase in the applied voltage, and

the consequent increase in flux density, drives
the transformer deeper in to saturation. The
transformer, therefore draws an excessive
magnetization current.
Hence, this condition is described as overfluxing.
This considerably increases the core loss, giving
rise to overheating of the transformer.

Over fluxing
It

can be seen that over-excitation can

also occur in case low frequency operation
of the transformer at rated voltage.
Therefore, to keep the working flux with in
the permissible design limits, the V/f ratio
must not exceed the permissible limit.
Over excitation can be detected by a socalled volts/hertz relay.

Over Fluxing Protection

The

flex density B in the transformer core

is proportional to V/f.
Power transformers are designed to
withstand 1.1 x V/f continuously.
Core design is such that higher V/f causes
higher core loss and core heating.

Over Fluxing Protection

V/f
Minutes

1.1
-

1.2 1.25 1.3 1.4

2

0.5

V is the line to neutral voltage and f is the system frequency.

Over fluxing relay is available both in instantaneous mode and IDMT

mode and in combination of both. It can be set at two stages, lower one for
for alarm and higher one for trip.

Restricted Earth Fault

When

the fault occurs near the neutral

point of the transformer, the voltage for
driving earth fault current is small. Hence,
fault current would be low.
If the relay has to sense such faults, it has
to be too sensitive and would therefore
operate for spurious currents, external
faults and switching surges.

Restricted Earth Fault

Hence,

the practice is to set the relay such

that it operates for earth fault current of
the order of 15% of the rated winding
current.
Such setting protects restricted portion of
the winding only. Hence, the name
Restricted Earth Fault protection.

RGF and Percentage Differential Zones of

Protection