International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)

ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-4 Issue-3, February 2015

Detection of Inrush Current in Transformers Based

on Instantaneous Reactive Power
D P Balachandran, R Sreerama Kumar, B Jayanand

Abstract—When a transformer is energized on no load there is a which cannot be forecasted, the detection of inrush current
transient inrush current which causes mal-operation of by these techniques is not always correct. This paper
protective relays. The challenge is to distinguish the inrush proposes a new decision making technique based on the
current from load and fault currents. In this paper, a new
technique, based on instantaneous reactive power theory is
polarity of average value of the instantaneous reactive
proposed for the detection of inrush current in single-phase power during inrush, load and fault currents. The proposed
transformers. During inrush current as the lower order method is more reliable as it considers both the voltage and
harmonics are significant, the average value of instantaneous the current signals. By this method any value of inrush
reactive power becomes negative, and hence this feature is current can be detected as it does not depend on threshold
utilized in this paper to distinguish inrush currents from other value.
currents. Investigations are carried out for different faults and
switching conditions on a single-phase transformer using
PSCAD software. The simulation results show that the proposed II. PRINCIPLE OF DETECTION
method is able to effectively identify inrush currents from other During the period of inrush current, transformers behave as
currents.
a non-linear load generating harmonics for a transient period
Keywords— Inrush current, transformer faults, instantaneous and p-q theory can be applied for calculating the
reactive power. instantaneous power components, real power (p) and
imaginary power (q).
I. INTRODUCTION
The p-q theory defines a set of instantaneous powers in time
Transformer is an expensive equipment and repeated
domain and is valid during steady state or transient, with or
switching on transformers no load/ light load condition is an
without harmonics. The instantaneous power in three phase
integral part of any practical power system. Whenever the
frame of reference is transformed into αβ0 reference through
transformer excitation voltage changed due to energization,
Clarke Transformation, consisting of a real matrix that
fault clearing process or voltage swell high transient
transforms three-phase voltages and currents into the αβ0-
magnetizing current - the inrush current- is produced. Such
stationary reference frame [9].Then the instantaneous real
currents are decaying generally results for several cycles,
power (p) and the imaginary power
which contain significant low order harmonics and dc
component. This causes current transformer saturation, mal-
(q) are given by
operation of differential protection relays, and can affect
both the reliability and stability of the whole power system
P = vα iα + vβiβ
[1], [2]. In the case of a traction line, when energized after
the removal of fault then all the transformers mounted on
q = vα iβ - vβiα
the locos of the stranded trains, draw inrush current
simultaneously tripping the healthier lines [3] So it is
The instantaneous real power (p) is the power that is being
necessary to detect inrush current from fault current to avoid
transferred from source to the load and the instantaneous
the false tripping of transformers and lines. The common
imaginary power (q) represents the energy exchange
technique to detect inrush current is based on the content of
between the phases without transferring energy. However
second order harmonics in the current waveform [4].
this concept cannot be applied to single-phase circuits as
However this requires a longer time and in modern
such because the instantaneous imaginary power (q) which
transformers the level of second harmonic is significantly
is an essential parameter of p-q theory cannot be calculated
reduced [5]. Moreover, the detection is based on a threshold
in single-phase circuits.
value below which the inrush currents are not detected. An
So by orthogonal transformation the ordinary single-phase
algorithm based on wavelet analysis of current has been
system is transformed into an equivalent two axes
reported in [6], [7] and [8]. However as these methods
orthogonal one [10]. If the voltage is sinusoidal and the load
utilize only the current signals,
current is non-linear, then the instantaneous real power (p)
and imaginary power (q) are given by [11]

p = p ̅ +p ̃
Manuscript Received on February 2015. q=q̅+q̃
Dr. D P Balachandran, Professor in EEE Mar Baselios College of
Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala
Dr. R Sreerama, Kumar vice Presidency projects, King Abdul Aziz where p ̅ and (p ) ̃represents the average and oscillating
University, Jeddah, Saudi Arbia components of real power (p), q ̅ and q ̃ represent the
Dr. B Jayanand, Professor in EEE Govt. Engineering College Thrissur,
Kerala, India
average and oscillating components of imaginary power (q)

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 Detection of Inrush Current in Transformers Based on Instantaneous Reactive Power

Detection logic current from faults both on primary and secondary side,
The instantaneous imaginary power (q) differs from the energization against fault, fault during normal operation and
conventional reactive power Q, because in the first case all inter-turn fault. Various cases considered and the simulation
harmonics in voltage and current are considered. The results are discussed in this section.
average value of instantaneous reactive power is given by Transformer parameters

= ∑ 3V+ I+ sin Φ -∑ 3V- I- sin Φ

where m=1,4,7 etc and n=2,5,8 etc . V+ and I+ represents

the components of positive sequence voltage and currents,
V- and I- represents the components of negative sequence
voltage and currents respectively. During inrush current as
the low order harmonics are rich, negative sequence
voltages and currents becomes large, the value of q ̅
becomes negative and this characteristic of power q ̅ is taken
for the detection of inrush currents. The flow chart of the Case i: Detection of inrush current from load and fault
detection scheme is shown in Fig.1. The current

Fig.2 shows the various plots obtained when the transformer

is energized at 0.1s, rated load current (4A) by switching an
R-L load at 0.4s and a line to ground fault at 0.5s followed
by the fault clearance at 0.55s.The first plot shows the
inrush current followed by load
and fault current; second plot the average reactive power q
and the last plot the detection signal. The plots indicate that
during inrush current average value of reactive power q ̅ is
negative for inrush current only. This negative occurrence of
reactive power is detected indicating the presence of inrush
current.

Fig.1. Flow chart for the detection of inrush current

voltage and current signals are monitored through potential
transformer and current transformer . The value of
imaginary power q is computed, filtered to eliminate the
oscillating component q ̃ to get the average reactive power
q ̅. When q ̅ goes negative, a negative going edge detector
out a high digital value indicating the presence of inrush
current. A timer provides the sufficient pulse duration to Fig.2 Effect of transformer energization, loading and
activate the detection circuit. fault
III. SIMULATION RESULTS Inrush current followed by load and fault current.
Reactive power q ̅ c) Detection signal
The effectiveness of the proposed technique is established
through the PSCAD simulation of various faults, voltage Case ii: Detection of inrush current due to voltage swells
swell, load and transient conditions on a single-phase 1kVA A prolonged and excessive voltage swell can cause the
230V/230V transformer, the parameters of which was transformers to enter into magnetic flux saturation causing
obtained through experiments is given in the following high electromagnetic stress. Often voltage sag and swell
Table. Magnetic core residual flux is represented by a dc
may occur consecutively. This change in voltage can lead to
current source in parallel with the low voltage winding; the
inrush current similar to the energization of transformer.
current is chosen to establish the required level of residual
Detection of inrush current due to voltage swell is also
flux linkage [12]. Polarity of the residual flux is changed by
reversing the dc source. Different cases of inrush current are tested. For this the transformer is energized and then
simulated by varying those major parameters that influence connected to the rated load and again switched to a
the characteristics of inrush current. These parameters are capacitive load at 0.5s creating a voltage swell of 430V peak
switching angle, magnitude and polarity of residual flux. at. 0.55s. Fig. 3 shows corresponding variation of the
The ability of the logic developed is tested to detect inrush transformer

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 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-4 Issue-3, February 2015

there is an inrush current of peak value 40A and this is

detected at 0.22s. At 0.4s transformer is subjected to the
rated load current and at 0.5s a line to ground fault is again
applied and cleared at 0.55s. At 0.55s there is negative
inrush current peak of 12A which is detected at 0.57s. In
this case also the instantaneous average reactive power q ̅
becomes negative only at the occurrence of inrush current.
Case iv Transients and capacitive load
Impulsive transients are sudden high peak events that raise
the voltage and/ or current levels either in positive direction
or in negative direction. Fig.4 shows the effect of
application of a positive and negative current transient to the
transformer by switching on a capacitive load at 0.5s for a
period of 0.05s. The first plot in the figure shows the inrush
current followed by transients by switching a capacitor
during no load and load on the transformer. Second plot
Fig.3 Effect of voltage swells shows the instantaneous average reactive power q ̅ which is
a) Transformer energization voltage always positive except during inrush current. Last plot
b) Inrush current followed by load current, capacitive shows the detection signal during inrush current.
current and inrush current
c) Average reactive power q ̅ d) Detection signal
voltage, primary current, average reactive power q and the
inrush current detection signal respectively. At 0.55s due to
the voltage swell, there is an inrush current of peak value
50A and this is detected at 0.57s. It can be observed that the
instantaneous reactive power q ̅ goes to negative only at the
occurrence of inrush currents.
Case iii: Detection of inrush current due to fault clearing
Inrush current is also generated during the fault clearing
process. For this the transformer is energized against a line
to ground fault, then connected to the rated load and again
subjected to the same fault. Fig. 4 shows corresponding
variation of the transformer fault current, instantaneous
reactive power and the inrush current detection signal
respectively.
Fig.4 Effect of transients and capacitive load
a) Inrush current followed by transient and capacitive
current
b) Average reactive power q ̅ c) Detection signal

IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a novel technique for the detection of inrush
currents from faults and load currents in single-phase
transformer has been presented. The method proposed is
based on instantaneous reactive power (p-q) theory. During
inrush current the instantaneous reactive power q becomes
negative and hence this feature is utilized to detect. The
proposed technique, which takes into account both the
current and the voltage signals, is superior to the state-of-
the-art technique for the detection of transformer inrush
current as it does not rely upon any threshold values of the
harmonic current signals. Further the proposed technique is
Fig.4 Effect of transformer energization during fault
simple, and has the capability of detection of inrush current
a) Fault current followed by inrush current, load current and
of any magnitude from the load and fault currents.
fault current
b) Average reactive power q ̅
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