MODULE 2

PROTECTION OF AC GENERATORS
Stator Protection
 Discuss the
At the end of this lesson you
different stator and
will be able to:
rotor protection
schemes.
The modern electric power system consists of several
elements such as generators, transformers, station bus-
bars, transmission lines and other associated equipment.
It is imperative to protect these elements from different
types of faults, which are likely to occur sooner or later.
1. Generator is a costly equipment and one of the major links in
a power system.
2. Generator is not a single equipment but is associated with the
unit-transformers, auxiliary transformer, station bus-bars,
excitation system, prime-mover, voltage regulating equipment,
cooling system, and etc. The protection of generator, is
therefore, to be coordinated with the associated equipment.
3. The generator capacity has sharply risen in recent
years from 30 MW to 500 MW with the result that loss of
even a single machine may cause overloading of the
associated machines in the system and eventual system
instability.
The basic function of protection applied to generators is,
therefore, is to reduce the outage period to a minimum by
rapid discriminative clearance of faults.
• Failure of prime mover (turbine) resulting in operation of
the generator as a synchronous motor
• Failure of field
• Unbalanced loading and, subsequent heating of generator
• Overloading
• Overvoltage at generators terminals
• Overspeed
• Ventilation failure
• Current leakage in the body of the generator
Such faults occur mainly due to the insulation failure
of the stator coils.
The main types of stator winding faults are:
• Phase-to-earth faults
• Phase-to-phase faults
• Inter-turn faults involving turns of the same winding
The stator winding faults are the most dangerous and are
likely to cause considerable damage to the expensive
machinery. So automatic protection is absolutely necessary
to clear such faults in the shortest possible time in order to
minimize the extent of damage.
Phase-to-phase faults and phase inter-turn faults are less
common, these usually develop into an earth fault. Inter-turn
faults are more difficult to be detected.
Arcing to core, which welds laminations together causing
eddy current hot spots on subsequent use. Repairs to this
condition involve expenditure of considerable money and
time.
Severe heating in the conductors damaging them and the
insulation with possible fire breaks.
 Faults Cause(s) Effect Protection
Phase-to-earth due to the Arcing to core, automatic
faults insulation failure of severe heating protection
the stator coils.
Phase-to-phase Arcing to core,
faults severe heating
Faults in the rotor circuit may be either earth faults
(conductor-to-earth faults) or inter-turn faults, which are
caused by severe mechanical and thermal stresses.
The field system is normally not grounded (i.e. remains
isolated from the earth) and, a single fault between field
winding and rotor body due to insulation breakdown does
not give rise to any fault current.
However, a second earth fault will short-circuit some part of
the rotor winding and may thereby develop unsymmetrical
field system, giving unbalanced force on the rotor. This can
cause severe vibration of the rotor with possible damage to
the bearings. Thus a single earth fault can be tolerated for a
while but it should not be allowed to continue. Rotor earth
fault protection is provided in case of large generators.
Owing to the fault, there may be an unbalance in the three-
phase stator currents. According to the theory of
symmetrical components, unbalance three-phase currents
have a negative sequence component, which rotates at
synchronous speed in a direction opposite to the direction of
rotation of rotor. So double frequency currents are induced
in the rotor. This causes overheating of rotor and possible
damage to the rotor.
Unbalanced currents may also cause severe vibration, but
the overheating problem is more acute.
Rotor temperature indicators are used with large generators
for detecting rotor overheating due to unbalanced loading of
generator.
Rotor open-circuit faults, though rare, can cause arcing and
thus result on serious conditions.
 Faults Cause(s) Effect Protection
fault between field none
winding and rotor
second earth fault severe vibration of the Rotor earth fault
rotor with possible protection
severe mechanical and damage to the
thermal stresses bearings.
unbalance in the three- overheating of rotor Rotor temperature
phase stator currents. and severe vibration indicators
Rotor open-circuit arcing
faults
1. Differential Protection for Generators
2. Modified Differential Protection for Generators
3. Biased Circulating Current Protection (Percentage Differential
Relay Protection)
4. Self Balance Protection System
5. Balance Earth Fault Protection
6. Stator Inter-Turn Protection
7. Stator Overheating Protection
 BIASED CIRCULATING
CURRENT PROTECTION
(PERCENTAGE DIFFERENTIAL RELAY PROTECTION)
• This system, also called the Merz-Price protection system, is
the most common type of protection used for stator windings
against phase-to-phase or phase-to-ground faults.
• It is the standard practice of manufacturers to recommend
differential protection for generators rated 1 MVA or higher,
and most of such generators are protected by differential
relays. Above 10 MVA, it is almost universally the practice to
use differential relays. Generally, percentage differential
relaying is used, protecting about 80% of the stator winding.
• Differential circulating current protection scheme or Mertz
Price circulating current scheme is a most popular protection
scheme for alternator stator protection.
• It function on the concept of comparing the two currents in and
out of stator coil. In normal condition the two current will be
same, if fault occurs there will be some difference , and Merz
price circulating current scheme works by detecting this
difference or differential current.
• When differential relaying is used for protection, the CTs at
both ends of the generator winding must be of equal accuracy;
otherwise if the error is excessive, it will cause a maloperation
of the relay.
• To safeguard against such operation, biased circulating current
protection is used. Such a protection provides a biasing
feature which automatically increases the relay setting in
proportion to the load or through fault current, i.e., the relay is
set to operate not a definite current, but at certain percentage
of the through current.
The restraining coils produce torque opposite to the
operating torque. Under normal and through fault
conditions, restraining torque is greater than operating
torque. Thereby relay remains inactive. When internal
fault occurs, the operating force exceeds the bias force
and hence the relay is operated.
The protection of a three-
phase star-connected
generator by means of
percentage differential
relay. CTs connected in
star are provided on both
the out going sides and
the machine winding
connection to earth.
The restraining coils are
energized by the secondary
connections of CTs in each
phase, and the operating
coils are connected to the
central tapping on the
restraining coils an the
neutral pilot wire.
For the greatest sensitivity of differential relaying the primary
current rating of the CTs must be equal to the rated full-load
current of the generator. In practice it is about 25% higher.
Self Balance Protection
Scheme of Generator
It consists of two cables
connected to the two
ends of each phase and
the cables are passed
through the circular
aperture of the ring type
CTs.
Under normal operating
conditions, the current
flowing through two
cables in the central
aperture of the CT will be
in opposite directions
and so there will be no
magnetization of the CT.
This system is also effective for
phase-to-phase faults but not
useful for protection against
fault between the turns of the
same phase for ordinary
generator winding. In case the
winding of each phase is
designed in two parallel paths,
such a protection will be useful.
In small size generators, the neutral ends of the three phase
windings are sometimes connected internally to a single terminal.

Under such conditions, it is not possible to use the circulating

current protection because the neutral end is not accessible and
protection is therefore provided against earth faults only by using
balanced earth-fault protection scheme.
Three line CTs, one mounted
in each phase, have their
secondaries connected in
parallel with that of a single
CT mounted on the conductor
joining the star point of the
generators to earth. A relay
is connected across the
secondaries of the CTs.
Under normal working
conditions, the currents
flowing in the secondaries of
the line CTs sum up to zero
and current flowing in the
secondary of neutral CT
(CT1) is also zero. Thus, the
relay remains de-energized.
When an earth fault occurs
within the protected zone (i.e.
left of the line CTs), the fault
current flows through the
primary of neutral CT and the
corresponding secondary
current flows through the
relay which trips the circuit
breaker.
In case the earth fault
develops external to the
protected zone (i.e. right of
the line CTs), the sum of the
currents at the terminals of
the generator is exactly equal
to the current in the neutral
connection and as such, no
current flows through the relay
operating coil.
In case the earth fault occurs
nearer the neutral terminal or
when grounding of neutral is
through a resistance or through
a distributing transformer, the
fault current may be so low that
the secondary current of the CT
becomes lower than the pick-up
current of the relay. The relay
thus remains inoperative and
the fault continues to persists in
the generator winding which is
highly undesirable.
Merz-Price circulating current protection system does not provide
protection against turn-to-turn faults (short circuits between the
turns) on the same phase winding of the stator because the
current produced by such a fault flows in a local circuit between
the turns involved and does not create the difference between the
currents entering and leaving the winding as its two ends where
the CTs are mounted.
Generator Inter-turn Fault Protection Based on Cross-
Differential Protection
The primaries of CTs are
inserted in these parallel paths
and the secondaries are
cross-connected. When there
is no fault, currents flowing
through the two parallel pats of
the stator winding will be equal
and therefore no current will
flow through the relay
operating coil.
During inter-turn fault in the
phase winding, the currents
flowing through the two parallel
paths will be different and a
current proportional to the
difference of two currents will
flow through the relay
operating coil which will close
the trip circuit and isolate the
machine from the power
system.
Generators having single winding per
phase or those generators whose parallel
windings are not accessible can be
protected by using zero sequence
component of voltage caused by the
reduction of the emf induced in the faulty
phase.
In this arrangement, a voltage transformer
is connected between each phase
terminal and the neutral of the winding.
The secondary leads are connected in
open delta.
• Generally, stator overheating is caused by sustained overloads
or by cooling system failure.
• The practice is to embed resistance temperature-detector coils
or thermocouple in the slots below the stator coils of the
generators of large capacity (above 1 MVA) for protection
against overheating.
• Enough of such detectors are located at different places in the
windings so that an indication can be obtained of the
temperature conditions throughout the stator.
Detector operated relaying system using a Wheatstone bridge
circuit and a directional relay.
Rotor Protection
Field circuits are operated unearthed and it is not
necessary to trip such a circuit completely if there is only
one earth fault but the relay should be provided to give an
indication that the fault has occurred so that the
generator may be taken out of service at leisure since the
incidence of second fault would cause serious damage.
In this arrangement, a
high resistance is
connected across the
rotor circuit and its
midpoint is grounded
through a sensitive
relay.
In this arrangement, either dc or ac
voltage is impressed between the field
circuit and ground through a sensitive
overvoltage relay and current limiting
resistor or capacitor (in case of ac
voltage). A single earth fault in the rotor
circuit will complete the circuit
comprising the voltage source (ac or dc),
sensitive overvoltage relay and earth
fault and thus earth fault will be sensed
by the relay.
DC injection method is simple
and has no problems of leakage
currents. If dc is used, the
overvoltage relay can be more
sensitive than if ac is used. With
ac, the relay must not pick up on
the current that flows normally
through the capacitance to
ground, and care must be taken
to avoid resonance between the
capacitance and the relay
inductance.
• Loss of excitation on the generator can endanger the
generator or the connected system or both.
• In absence of field current, alternators run as an
induction generator and thus heavy currents are
inducted in the rotor teeth and wedges.
Underground moving coil relay connected across a shunt
in series with the field winding for loss of excitation
protection.
• Field failure due to failure of exciter may not be
detected by it as it may be held in by ac induced from
the stator.
• An undercurrent relay fast enough to drop out on ac
cannot be employed as it would be affected by ac
induced during synchronizing and during external
faults.
 Protection against Rotor
Overheating because of Over excitation
In case of overcurrent due to overexcitation in the rotor
circuit, a dc relay is usually provided. This relay senses
and initiates alarm. However, application of such relay is
very much limited as relaying of dc quantities is relatively
uncommon and the rotor windings are designed to
tolerate over currents due to overexcitation.
Rotor Temperature Alarm
• Such a protection is provided only in case of large generators.
It indicates the level of temperature and not the actual hot spot
temperature.
• In this arrangement, resistance is measured by comparing
voltage and current by a double actuating quantity moving coil
relay, the operating coil being used as the voltage coil and
restraining coil as current coil. The relay measure the ratio
voltage and current i.e. a resistance giving a measure of rotor
temperature.
In this arrangement, resistance is
measured by comparing voltage
and current by a double actuating
quantity moving coil relay, the
operating coil being used as the
voltage coil and restraining coil as
current coil. The relay measure
the ratio voltage and current i.e. a
resistance giving a measure of
rotor temperature.
Automatic Field Suppression and
Use of Neutral Circuit Breaker
• In the event of a fault on a generator winding even though the
generator circuit breaker is tripped, the fault continues to be
fed as long as the excitation will exist because emf is induced
in the generator itself.
• For quick removal of the fault during emergency, it is
necessary to disconnect the field simultaneously with the
disconnection of the generator. Thus, it is absolutely
necessary to discharge its magnetic field in the shortest
possible interval of time.
• It is to be ensured that all the protection system not
only trip the generator circuit breaker but also trip the
automatic field discharge switch.
• The field discharge switch is an automatic control unit
designed to remove the voltage from the generator
after its isolation from the system.
In the event of fault, the
circulating relay contact is
closed and so the trip coils
TC1, TC2 and TC3 are
energized. The trip coil
TC1 opens the main circuit
breaker while the trip coil
TC3 opens the neutral
circuit breaker.
The trip coil TC2 opens
the upper contacts,
shorts the lower contacts
so as to short-circuit the
field winding through
resistor R. Thus the
energy of the generator
is dissipated in the
resistor R.
An alternative arrangement of field suppression and dissipation of
energy of the generator.
• This arrangement is similar to the original arrangement
except that alternator field winding is also discharged
through resistor R2 by using trip coil TC4.
• This process of discharging consists of the isolation of
the exciter from the generator rotor field winding and
involves the dissipation of magnetic energy stored in
the inductive reactance of the rotor and the main
exciting windings.
The quality of operation of an automatic field discharge
system depends upon the rate of decrease of field, which in
turn depends upon the time constant of the field winding.
This term is also known as the field discharge time constant,
Td. Normally, the value of field discharge time contant lies
between 3 and 8 seconds.
The discharge time Td is defined as the time required for the
drop in voltage at the generator stator terminals to a
minimum value, usually 500 V.
The value of resistance R2 in the rotor circuit is determined
on the basis of a fall in generator voltage to 30% of normal
voltage within 3 to 4 seconds. Resistance R2 comes out to
be roughly 4 to 5 times rotor winding hot resistance.
The resistance R1 should be roughly equal to 10 times the
exciter field winding resistance.
The value of resistance R2
in the rotor circuit is
determined on the basis of a
fall in generator voltage to
30% of normal voltage
within 3 to 4 seconds.
Resistance R2 comes out to
be roughly 4 to 5 times rotor
winding hot resistance.
The resistance R1 should be
roughly equal to 10 times
the exciter field winding
resistance.
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& Sons.
• Gupta, J. B. (2015). Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power. S.K.
Kataria & Sons
• Glover, Duncan J. (2012) Power System Analysis and Design 5th Edition
Cengage Learning Connecticut, U.S.A.
• Wildi, Theodore (2002) Electrical Machines, Drives, and Power Systems
Pearson Education, Inc. New Jersey U.S.A
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