INTRODUCTION

ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION
Now days the demand of electrical power is increasing very rapidly. For fulfilling these huge power
demands the modern time requires creation of bigger and bigger power generating stations. These
power generating stations may be hydro – electric, thermal or atomic. Depending upon the availability of
resources these stations are constructed different places. These places may not be nearer to load centers
where the actual consumption of power takes place. So it is necessary to transmit these huge power
blocks from generating station to their load centers. Long and high Voltage transmission networks are
needed for this purpose. Power is generated comparatively in low voltage level. It is economical to
transmit power at high voltage level. Distribution of electrical power is done at lower voltage levels
as specified by consumers. For maintaining these voltage levels and for providing greater stability a
number of transformation and switching stations have to be created in between generating
station and consumer ends.These transformation and switching stations are generally known as
electrical substations. Depending upon the purposes, the substations may be classified as

Step Up Substation
Step up substations are associated with generating stations. Generation of power is limited to low voltage
levels due to limitations of the rotating alternatr. These generating voltages must be stepped up for
economical transmission of power over long distance. So there must be a step up substation associated
with generating station.
Step Down Substation
The stepped up voltages must be stepped down at load centers, to different voltage levels for different
purposes. Bichena substaion is one of the Step Down Substation established near to the twon bichena.The feeder
of these substation comes from Debre Markos substation through 66kv Transmission line.So, this 66kv
input processed is step downs to 33/15 and 15KV via 6.5MVA and 12.5MVA power transformer.Now,
the substation gives power for different woreda towns and some factories. The substation mainly has 7
outgoing feeders. From these5 feeders i.e bichena,dejen,debrewerk,midrok and kuy are
66kv/15kv.and two of the feders are i.e tik and telma are 66kv/33kv
 Table1.1 the substation with the corresponding feeders

substation feeder Line

Bichena 66/15kv

Dejen 66/15kv

Bihena midrok 66/15kv

kuy 66/15kv

Debrewerk 66/15kv

Telma 66/33kv

Tik 66/33kv

THE SINGLE LINE DIAGRAM OF THE SUBSTATION

As it is shown above the incoming is 66KVvoltage from debremarkos main substation thrugh 66kv
line and the out comings are 66/33KV and 66/15KV feeders to different twons and rural areas.As soon as
This 66KV reaches to the substations it is connected to the bus bar and current
transformer. This current transformer step downs the incoming current and uses measurement system as
well as for protection of the main transformer. After the current transformer, it given to the main two
step down transformers these are 66/15KV and 66/33KV.After these transformer ,the line is given
to the breaker, for controlling system

Figure 1.1.woring flow diagram of substation

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SUBSTATION

There are so many electrical equipment’s available in Bichena substation. This electrical equipment’s
including:-Wave trap, Busbar,Transformer, Circuit breaker (CB), Lightning arrester, Surge counter,
Disconnector and DC battery.
 Wave Trap
Wave trap is an instrument using for tripping the wave. The function of this trap is that it traps the
unwanted waves. station for trapping the high frequency communication signals sent on the line from
remote sub-station and diverting them to the telecom panel in the substation control room. It is
connected to the main incoming feeder so that it can trap the waves which may be dangerous to
the instruments her in the substation.

Figure. Wave trapping

BUS BAR
Bus bars are used to carry large current and to distribute current to multiple circuits within
switchgear or equipment. Bus bar is a line in which the incoming feeder come in to and get in to the
instruments for further step up or step down. There are a single bus bar and a single bus bar, but in this
substation only single bus bar is available. In electrical power distribution substation,a busbar is a strip of
copper or aluminum that conducts electricity within a switch board, distribution board, substation or
other electrical apparatus.

POWERTRANSFORMERS
Power transformers are consists of two or more windings for each phase and these windings are
usually wound around an iron core. The iron core improves the efficiency of the transformer by
concentrating the magnetic field and reduces transformer losses. The high-voltage and low-voltage
windings have a unique number of coil turns.Specifically in Bichena substation, there are two step-down
transformers. These are:-66/33 kv and 6/33/15 kv step down transfrmer.
The 66/15 Transformer step downs the incoming 66 kV to 15kv, while the 66/33/15 transformer
step downs the incoming 66 kv to33 kv and15 kv.

INSTRUMENT TRANSFORMERS

Instrument transformers are used for measuring voltage and current in electrical power systems, and for
power system protection and control. Where a voltage or current is too large to be conveniently used by an
instrument, it can be scaled down to a standardizedlow value. Instrument transformers isolate measurement,
protection and control circuitry from the high currents or voltages present on the circuits being measured
or controlled.

CURRENT TRANSFORMER (CT)

Current transformer is a measurement device designed to provide a current in its secondary coil
proportional to the current flowing in its primary. Current transformers can perform circuit control,
measure current for power measurement and control, and perform roles for safety protection and
current limiting. They can also cause circuit events to occur when the current reaches a specified level.

Figure. current transformer

Voltage Transformers (VT)

Voltage transformers (VT) or potential transformers (PT) are another type of instrument transformer,
used for metering and protection in high voltage circuits.The potential transformer uses a bus isolator
to protect itself. The main use of this transformer is to measure the voltage through the bus. This is
done so as to get the detail information of the voltage passing through the bus to the instrument.There are
two main cmponents in it.thee are measerment and protection.

Figure .voltage transformer

 EARTHING TRANSFORMER
Earthing transformer is twisted between the power transformer and the breaker. It is used to protect the
power transformer from reverse current, which burns the power transformer, occurs during any
accidental fault or failure. How does it protects is, by Earthing the reverse current flowing to the earth
or by scarifying itself.

Figure .ear thing transformer

Circuit Breakers (CB)

A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical

circuit from damage caused by over load or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition
and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a fuse, which
operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically
resume normal operation.

Lightening Arrester

Lightening arresters are the instrument that are used in the incoming feeders so that prevent the high
voltage entering the main stations or in other words lightening arresters are devices for
limiting surge voltages due to lightning strikes or equipment faults or other events, to prevent damage
to equipment and distribution of service. Also called surge arresters. The lightning arresters are
grounded to the earth so that it can pull the lightening to the ground. Lightning Arresters
are installed on many different pieces of equipment such as power poles and towers power
transformers, circuit breakers , bus structures, and steel super structures in substations.
 Surge Counter
Surge counters are connected in series with the surge arresters to count the action times of the
arrester.Structure and Working principle of Surge Counter The surge counter is mainly composed of:-
 Valve
 Silicon bridge rectifier
 Capacitor and
 Electromagnetic counter

The surge current and power frequency current pass through the surge arresters are used to fetch voltage
from the valve which is actually nonlinear resistor. Then, the capacitor is unidirectional charged
through the silicon bridge rectifier. After wards, the capacitor discharges to the coils of the
electromagnetic counter in dc and thus moves the counter to realize the record of action times.

Figuer surge arestor

Disconnector

In electrical engineering, a disconnector or isolator switch is used to make sure that an electrical
circuit can be completely de-energized for service or maintenance. Such switches are often found
in electrical distribution and industrial applications where machinery must have its source of driving
power removed for adjustment or repair. Highm voltage isolation switches are used in electrical substations
to allow isolation of apparatus such as circuit breakers and transformers, and transmission lines, for
maintenance. In some designs the isolator switch has the additional ability to earth the isolated
circuit thereby providing additional safety. Such an arrangement would apply to circuits which inter-
connect power distribution systems where both end of the circuit need to be isolated. The major
difference between an isolator and a circuit breaker is that an isolator is an off-load device intended to be
opened only after current has been interrupted by some other control device.

Figure .disconnector

Dc Battery
Batteries are essential components in a substation. They provide the (tripping) current by which
protective relays can trip high-voltage circuit breakers in the event of a fault.Generally all control
systems in the substation uses a Dc power supply.

Figure .DC battery

GENERAL RECOMMENDATION TO THE SUBSTATION
In electric power distribution, a recloser, or autorecloser, is a circuit breaker equipped with a
mechanism that can automatically close the breaker after it has been opened due to a fault. Reclosers
are used on overhead distribution systems to detect and interrupt momentary faults. Since many short-
circuits on overhead lines clear themselves, a recloser improves service continuity by automatically
restoring power to the line after a momentary fault. In order to prevent damage, each station along the
network is protected with circuit breakers or fuses which will turn off power in the event of a short
circuit. This presents a major problemdealing with transient events. For instance, a tree limb that is blown
off a tree during a windstorm and lands on the line may cause a short circuit that could cause damage.
However, the fault will quickly clear itself as the limb falls to the ground. If the only protection system
is the breakers at the distribution centers, large areas of the grid would be blacked out while the repair
crew resets the breakers.

Reclosers address this problem by further dividing up the network into smaller sections. For instance,
the city grid example above might be equipped with reclosers at every branch point on the network.
Reclosers, because of their position in the network, handle much less power than the breakers at the
feeder stations, and therefore can be set to trip at much lower power levels. This means that a single
event on the grid will cut off only the section handled by the single recloser, long before the feeder
station would notice a problem. A normal breaker could also be used for this role, but, because they
are distributed geographically throughout the grid, as opposed to being centralized at feeder stations,
resetting a breaker might take considerable time. For this reason, reclosers are used to automatically re-
connect after a brief interval. There is a strong likelihood that the fault will be gone when the
power is restored. If the fault is still present, the recloser opens again.

The control system for a recloser allows a selected number of attempts to restore service after adjustable
time delays. For example a recloser may have 2 or 3 "fast" reclose operations with a few seconds delay,
then a longer delay and one reclose; if the last attempt is not successful, the recloser will lock out and
require human intervention to reset. If the fault is a permanent fault (downed wires, tree limbs lying
on the wires, etc.) the autorecloser will exhaust its pre - programmed attempts to re-energize the
line and remain tripped off until manually commanded to try again. About 80-90% of faults on
overhead power lines are transient and can be cured by autoreclosing.The result is increased availability
of supply.

Autoreclosers are made in single-phase and three-phase versions, and use either oil, vacuum,
interrupters. Controls for the reclosers range from the original electromechanical systems to digital
electronics with metering and SCADA functions. The ratings of reclosers run from 2.4– 3.8 kV for
load currents from 10–1200 A and fault currents from 1–16 kA.

Auto reclosers in action

Residential customers in areas fed by affected overhead power lines can occasionally see the effects of
an autorecloser in action. If the fault affects the customer's own distribution circuit, they may see one
or several brief, complete outages followed by either normal operation (as the autorecloser succeeds in
restoring power after a transient fault has cleared) or a complete outage of service (as the autorecloser
exhausts its retries). If the fault is on an adjacent circuit, the customer may see several brief "dips"
(sags) in voltage as the heavy fault current flows into the adjacent circuit and is interrupted one or more
times. result in electronic devices losing time settings, losing data in volatile memory, halting,
restarting, or suffering damage due to power interruption. Owners of such equipment may need to
protect electronic devices against the consequences of power interruptions and also power surges.
Sectionalizes
Reclosers may cooperate with down-stream protective devices called sectionalizes, usually a
disconnect or cutouts equipped with a tripping mechanism triggered by a counter or a timer.A sectionalize
is generally not rated to interrupt fault current and is therefore cheaper than a recloser. Each
sectionalize detects and counts fault current interruptions by the recloser (or circuit breaker). After
a pre-determined number of interruptions, the sectionalize will open, thereby isolating the faulty
section of the circuit, allowing the recloser to restore supply to the other non-fault sections.there fore the
substatin should have reclosure and sctonaliser at the aperoperate point on the line.