Course: Introduction to Power

Engineering
Lecture No. 25

Course Instructors: Ms. Nisma Saleem

Power System
Protection
Protection of Alternators
 21.10 Functional Relay
Types

• (i) Induction type overcurrent relays

(ii) Induction type reverse power
relays
(iii) Distance relays
(iv) Differential relays
 Induction Type Overcurrent Relay (non- directional)
• This type of relay works on the induction principle and initiates corrective measures when
current in the circuit exceeds the predetermined value.

Induction Type Directional Power Relay

• This type of relay operates when power in the circuit flows in a specific direction.
• Unlike a nondirectional overcurrent relay, a directional power relay is so designed that it
obtains its operating torque by the interaction of magnetic fields derived from both
voltage and current source of the circuit it protects.
• Thus this type of relay is essentially a wattmeter and the direction of the torque set up in
the relay depends upon the direction of the current relative to the voltage with which
it is associated.
Induction Type Directional Overcurrent Relay

• The directional power relay discussed above is unsuitable for use as a directional
protective relay under short-circuit conditions.
• When a short-circuit occurs, the system voltage falls to a low value and there may
be insufficient torque developed in the relay to cause its operation. This difficulty is
overcome in the directional overcurrent relay which is designed to be almost
independent of system voltage and power factor.
 Distance or Impedance Relays

• The operation of the relays discussed so far depended upon the

magnitude of current or power in the protected circuit.
• However, there is another group of relays in which the operation is
governed by the ratio of applied voltage to current in the protected
circuit.
• Such relays are called distance or impedance relays.
• In an impedance relay, the torque produced by a current
element is opposed by the torque produced by a voltage
element.
• The relay will operate when the ratio V/I is less than a
predetermined
Time-Distance Impedance Relay
• A time-distance impedance relay is one which automatically adjusts its
operating time according to the distance of the relay from the fault point
i.e.
 Differential Relays

• A differential relay is one that operates when the phasor difference of two or
more similar electrical quantities exceeds a pre-determined value.
• Thus a current differential relay is one that compares the current entering a
section of the system with the current leaving the section.
• Under normal operating conditions, the two currents are equal but as soon as
a fault occurs, this condition no longer applies.
• The difference between the incoming and outgoing currents is arranged to
flow through the operating coil of the relay. If this differential current is equal
to or greater than the pickup value, the relay will operate and open the circuit
breaker to isolate the faulty section.
• There are two fundamental systems of differential or balanced protection viz.
(i)Current balance protection (ii) Voltage balance protection
21.18 Current Differential Relay
21.19 Voltage Balance Differential
Relay
 21.21 Types of
Protection
• (i) Primary Protection. It is the protection scheme which is
designed to protect the component parts of the power system.
• Thus referring to Fig. 21.29, each line has an overcurrent relay that
protects the line. If a fault occurs on any line, it will be cleared by its
relay and circuit breaker.
• This forms the primary or main protection and serves as the first line of
defense. The service record of primary relaying is very high with well
over ninety percent of all operations being correct.
• However, sometimes faults are not cleared by primary relay system
because of trouble within the relay, wiring system or breaker. Under
such conditions, back-up protection does the required job.
 21.21 Types of
Protection

• (ii) Back-up protection. It is the second line of defense in case of failure of the primary
protection.
• It is designed to operate with sufficient time delay so that primary relaying will be given enough
time to
function if it is able to. Thus referring to Fig. 21.29, relay A provides
back-up protection for each of the four lines.
• If a line fault is not cleared by its relay and breaker, the relay A on the group breaker will operate
after a
definite time delay and clear the entire group of lines.
• It is evident that when back-up relaying functions, a larger part is disconnected than when primary
relaying functions correctly.
• Therefore, greater emphasis should be placed on the better maintenance of primary relaying.
 Protection of Alternators
The generating units, especially the larger ones, are relatively few in
number and higher in individual cost than most other equipments.
Therefore, it is desirable and necessary to provide protection to cover
the wide range of faults which may occur in the modern generating plant.

Some of the important faults which may occur on an alternator are :

(i) failure of prime-mover (ii) failure of field
(iii) overcurrent (iv) overspeed
(v) overvoltage (vi) unbalanced loading
(vii) stator winding faults
i) Failure of prime-mover. When input to the prime-mover fails, the alternator runs as a
synchronous motor and draws some current from the supply system. This motoring conditions
is known as “inverted running”.

No automatic protection is not required as some other methods may apply to pick up load without
disturbing the system

(ii) Failure of field. The chances of field failure of alternators are undoubtedly very rare. Even if it does
occur, no immediate damage will be caused by permitting the alternator to run without a field for a
short-period. It is sufficient to rely on the control room attendant to disconnect the faulty alternator
manually from the system bus-bars. Therefore, it is a universal practice not to provide automatic
protection against this contingency.

(iii) Overcurrent. It occurs mainly due to partial breakdown of winding insulation or due to overload
on the supply system. Overcurrent protection for alternators is considered unnecessary because of the
following reasons
(a) The modern tendency is to design alternators with very high values of internal impedance so that
they will stand a complete short-circuit at their terminals for sufficient time without serious overheating.
On the occurrence of an overload, the alternators can be disconnected manually.

(b) The disadvantage of using overload protection for alternators is that such a protection might
disconnect the alternators from the power plant bus on account of some momentary troubles outside the
plant and, therefore, interfere with the continuity of electric service.

(iv) Overspeed. The chief cause of overspeed is the sudden loss of all or the major part of load on the
alternator. Modern alternators are usually provided with mechanical centrifugal devices mounted on their
driving shafts to trip the main valve of the prime-mover when a dangerous overspeed occurs.

(v) Over-voltage. The field excitation system of modern alternators is so designed that overvoltage
conditions at normal running speeds cannot occur.
(vi) Unbalanced loading. Unbalanced loading means that there are different phase currents in
the alternator. Unbalanced loading arises from faults to earth or faults between phases on
the circuit external to the alternator. The unbalanced currents, if allowed to persist, may
either severely burn the mechanical fixings of the rotor core or damage the field winding.
(vii) Stator winding faults. These faults occur mainly due to the insulation failure of the stator
windings. The main types of stator winding faults, in order of importance are :
(a) fault between phase and ground
(b) fault between phases
(c) inter-turn fault involving turns of the same phase winding
The stator winding faults are the most dangerous and are likely to cause considerable damage to
the expensive machinery. Therefore, automatic protection is absolutely necessary to clear such
faults in the quickest possible time in order to minimise the extent of damage. For protection of
alternators against such faults, differential method of protection (also knows as Merz-Price
system) is most commonly employed due to its greater sensitivity and reliability.
22.2 Differential Protection of Alternators
The most common system used for the protection of stator winding faults employs circulating-
current Principle. In this scheme of protection, currents at the two ends of the protected section are
compared. Under normal operating conditions, these currents are equal but may become unequal on
the occurrence of a fault in the protected section. The difference of the currents under fault
conditions is arranged to pass through the operating coil of the relay. The relay then closes its
contacts to isolate protected section from the system. This form of protection is also known as
Merz-Price circulating current scheme.
Operation.

Referring to Fig. 22.2, it is clear that the relays are connected in

shunt across each circulating path. Therefore, the circuit of Fig.
22.2 can be shown in a simpler form in Fig. 22.3. Under normal
operating conditions, the current at both ends of each winding
will be equal and hence the currents in the secondaries of
two CTs connected in any phase will also be equal. Therefore,
there is balanced circulating current in the pilot wires
and no current flows through the operating coils (R1, R2
and R3) of the relays.
When an earth-fault or phase-to-phase fault occurs, the
differential current flowing through the relay circuit operates
the relay to trip the circuit breaker.

(i) Suppose an earth fault occurs on phase R due to breakdown of its insulation to earth as shown in Fig.
22.2. The current in the affected phase winding will flow through the core and frame of the machine to earth,
the circuit being completed through the neutral earthing resistance. The currents in the secondaries of the
two CTs in phase R will become unequal and the difference of the two currents will flow through the
corresponding
relay coil (i.e. R1), returning via the neutral pilot. Consequently, the relay
operates to trip the circuit breaker.
(ii) Imagine that now a short-circuit fault occurs between the phases Y and B as shown in Fig. 22.2. The
short-circuit current circulates via the neutral end connection through the two windings and through the
fault as shown by the dotted arrows. The currents in the secondaries of two CTs in each affected phase
will become unequal and the differential current will flow through the operating coils of the relays (i.e.
R2 and R3) connected in these phases. The relay then closes its contacts to trip the circuit breaker.

It may be noted that the relay circuit is so arranged that its energising causes (i) opening of the
breaker connecting the alternator to the bus-bars and (ii) opening of the field circuit of the alternator.
 Modified Differential Protection for Alternators

If the neutral point of a star-connected alternator is earthed through a high resistance,

protection schemes shown in Fig. 22.2 or 22.4 will not provide sufficient sensitivity for
earth-faults. It is because the high earthing resistance will limit the earth-fault currents to a
low value, necessitating relays with low current settings if adequate portion of the
generator winding is to be protected. However, too low a relay setting is undesirable for
reliable stability on heavy through phase-faults. In order to overcome this difficulty, a
modified form of differential protection is used in which the setting of earth faults is
reduced without impairing stability.
22.4 Balanced Earth-fault Protection

In small-size alternators, the neutral ends of the three-phase windings are often connected
internally to a single terminal. Therefore, it is not possible to use Merz-Price circulating current
principle described above because there are no facilities for accommodating the necessary
current transformers in the neutral connection of each phase winding. Under these
circumstances, it is considered sufficient to provide protection against earth-faults only by the
use of balanced earth-fault protection scheme. This scheme provides no protection against
phase-to-phase faults, unless and until they develop into earth-faults, as most of them will.
If an earth-fault develops at F2 external to the protected zone, the sum of the currents at the terminals of
the alternator is exactly equal to the current in the neutral connection and hence no current flows
through the relay. When an earth-fault occurs at F1 or within the protected zone, these currents are no
longer equal and the differential current flows through the operating coil of the relay. The relay then
closes its contacts to disconnect the alternator from the system.