2019 2nd International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Power Systems (ICHVEPS) - Bali - Indonesia

Case Studies of Magnetizing Inrush Current Effect on

Differential & REF Transformer Protection
Muhammad Fadli Nasution Fajli Mustafa Shaga Shaulgara
Maintenance, UPT Durikosambi Maintenance, UPT Durikosambi Engineering, UPT Durikosambi
PT PLN (PERSERO) UIT JBB PT PLN (PERSERO) UIT JBB PT PLN (PERSERO) UIT JBB
Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Transformers is one of the most critical equipments Current differential relaying is the most commonly used
for electrical energy transfers in a power system. In several cases, practice for protecting transformers from internal faults.
magnetizing inrush phenomenon can lead to mal-operation of However In the case of power transformer applications, There
differential & REF protection. The phenomenon of magnetizing are possible sources of false operating current in differential
inrush is a transient condition that occurs when any abrupt relays, magnetizing inrush currents is one of them. Magnetizing
changes of the magnetizing voltage. It is not fault condition, and inrush currents transformer produce false differential currents
therefore transformer protection must remain stable during the that could cause relay miss operation[1]-[3].
transient condition.
II. MAGNETIZING INRUSH CURRENT
This paper describes and analyzes a case studies where
protective relay with magnetizing inrush restraint still send
To set transformer protection secure from magnetizing
tripping signal when the magnetizing inrush happen. This paper inrush current, it is a must to have a basic understanding of this
uses fault wave recording to discuss the operation behavior and phenomenon, especially characteristics of these events.
reasons of corresponding protection relay. The results of the
A. Magnetizing inrush phenomenon
studies confirm that the magnetizing inrush current event affects
not only differential protection but also REF protection. Transformer energization is a typical cause of inrush
currents, When a transformer is energized, a transient current,
Keywords— Transformers; Differential Protection; Magnetizing known as magnetizing inrush current, generally flows for a short
Inrush; Protective Relays; period of time until normal flux condition are establish [5].
Magnetizing inrush occurs in a transformer whenever the
I. INTRODUCTION polarity and magnitude of the residual flux do not match with
The Transformer is a crucial component of the electrical the polarity and magnitude of the instantaneous value of steady-
power system. Transformer are everywhere among all voltage state flux[6].
level, and existing in many different sizes and type, for reliable
The windings in a transformer are linked magnetically by the
performance of electrical power system, it is necessary to protect
flux in the transformer core, which is calculated by faraday’s
the transformer from various type of faults.
law:
∅
Transformer faults are categorized into two classes: external = . = (1)
faults and internal faults. Internal faults are those that occur
inside the transformer enclosure and external faults that occur where is excitation voltage, is the winding number of turns,
inside the current transformer (CT) locations. External faults are ∅ is the time-varying magnetic flux, and is the flux linkage of
those that occur outside the transformer. These faults include the winding (coil) [7][8].
overloads, overvoltage, under frequency, and external system
short circuits[1][2]. Ampere’s law states that the magnetic flux ∅ proportional to
magnetomotive force:
The fundamental objective of system protection is to provide ℱ
∅= (2)
isolation of a problem area in the power system quickly while ℛ
keeping unaffected equipment energized, to fulfill one of the
most basic principles in protection, Reliability. Reliability is an where ℱ is magnetomotive force and ℛ is Reluctance[8]. The
assurance that the protection will perform correctly, one aspect reluctance in the magnetic circuit is same as resistance in electric
of reliability is security. It defines the ability to avoid the circuit. Reluctance varies depending on material of the core.
unnecessary operation of protection during operation, and faults Reluctance is the opposition force that opposes the flux flow in
and problems outside the designated zone of operation. So the the magnetic circuit.
protection should only trip when fault exists in the protective Magnetomotive force ℱ is magnetic potential, it is a motive
zone[1]-[4]. force that produces magnetic flux:
ℱ= . = (3)

978-1-7281-2669-2/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

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winding produces a magnetic field in the core when the core is transformer de-energized. Typically, the amount of flux that
excited by a winding of turns carrying current I, or Integral of remains in the core is anywhere from 30% to 80% of the
magnetic field intensity around a closed path [8]. maximum core flux and can be positive or negative. Depending
From equation (1), (2), and (3) the excitation voltage drives on the sign[9][10] and the residual flux level[14], the
the flux in the core. An increase in the excitation voltage transformer core may be more or less likely to go into saturation
therefore, increases the flux. Anytime the excitation voltage condition. The point at which a transformer is de-energized
applied to a transformer is changed, a magnetizing inrush current influences the amount of flux that remains in the transformer
flows. This magnetizing inrush current flows because all core, this point is not controlled. The residual flux in the
transformers must establish flux in the core to magnetically link transformer will gradually die out due to the resistance in the
the windings together. system. Therefore, the amount of remnant flux present in the
There is a significant difference exists between steady state core is an unpredictable variable[10][14].
operation and transient operation of a transformer[9][10]. In 2) The saturation characteristic of the transformer core:
steady state operation transformer has been energized, the flux The point when the transformer core saturates are affected by
requirement is very small, and therefore the magnetizing inrush many factors, but primarily core design[9][10]. The design of
current is very small. the transformer also affect the parameter of the magnetizing
In transient operation, when excitation voltage abruptly inrush current [15].
increases, the required flux also increases. Because of the 3) Switching point of energizing transformers: When the
nonlinear characteristic of the magnetization curve, causes transformer energizes the position on a wave at which the
saturation of the transformer. During saturation, higher amounts excitation voltage increases determines the parameter of
of magnetomotive force are needed to generate magnetic flux. magnetizing inrush current. However, the energizing voltage
This means the magnetizing inrush current, which creates the angle is generally not controllable[9][10][14].
magnetomotive force to cause flux in the core, will
4) Power system impedance: The strength of the source
disproportionately rise. This magnetizing inrush current can be
several times the full load rating of the transformer posing a energizing the transformer directly affects the parameter of
significant challenge to the differential relay. magnetizing inrush current[9][10].

B. The event causing magnetizing inrush current D. Characteristics of transformer inrush current
There are several events on the power system that causes a The following summarizes the main characteristics of inrush
significant increase in excitation voltage of the transformer and currents:
results magnetizing inrush current flowing: 1) Generally contain dc offset: The inrush current may
1) Energization of a transformer: When the transformer include large and slow decaying DC component. Its peak value
energizes, the excitation voltage on one winding is increased may reach 6 to 30 times of the rated current[16].
from 0 to full voltage[5][6][11]. 2) Rich Harmonic component: In magnetizing inrush
2) Voltage recovery after clearing an external fault: An currents, the predominant harmonic is the second. The
external fault may significantly reduce the system voltage. minimum possible second harmonic component which could be
When this fault is cleared, the excitation voltage returns to the obtained is in the order of 16 to 17% of the fundamental[6].
normal system voltage level[11]. 3) Asymmetrical waveform: the waveform of inrush current
3) Sympathetic Inrush: Energizing a transformer to the owns the obvious asymmetrical character. The waveform in its
power system with energized parallel transformer can cause a anterior half cycle is spiry and the values of the corresponding
voltage drop. This voltage drop may cause a saturation of the sampled points are large. But in the posterior half cycle, the
already energized transformer in the negative direction. This waveform becomes very flat and its magnitude is small[17].
saturation causes magnetizing inrush current to supply the flux. E. 2nd Harmonic Blocking method
This event called Sympathetic inrush[11][12][13]. Transformer inrush restraint functions are intended to block
the differential protection from operating during magnetizing
Although usually considered in conjunction with the three inrush event. There are many different methods that have been
events above, magnetizing current inrush can also be triggered studied and proposed for restraining the differential element
by the occurrence of a fault, the change of character of a fault during a transformer inrush condition.
(for example, the change from a single-phase-to-ground fault to
a two-phase-to-ground fault), and out-of-phase To recognize inrush current conditions, the majority of
synchronizing[1]. differential relays use harmonic restraint. Although there are
some variations in implementation, the differential relay will not
C. Factors affecting the inrush current operate when
The parameter of magnetizing inrush current depends on several |2 |
factors, including: > 2 (4)
| |
1) Residual Flux (Remanent flux): Residual flux is the
amount of flux that remains in the transformer core when

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 A standard ratio of 12-20% usually set for this operation,
various harmonic restraint methods have been
studied[9][10][11][14][18][19].
1) Per-Phase Method: This is the earliest and simplest
harmonic restraint method. In this method, the relay performs
inrush restraint individually in each phase. This method is very
reliable but not very secure because the magnitude of 2nd
harmonic will be different in each phase. Differential operation
for a phase with a small second harmonic ratio may cause an
Fig. 1. Transformer Differential Protection
undesirable trip for a three-phase transformer.
2) Cross-Blocking Method: In this method, the restraint In practice, the differential current for a normally operating
signal from one phase will block differential operation for all transformer is always greater than zero due to CT measurement
other phases. In other variation called two-out-of-three restraint error, the position of the load tap changer, and other factors
method, the blocking signal activated if two phases have high introducing noise into the measurement signals. Percentage
harmonic content. This method prevents the possibility of false differential protection has been applied for many years to
tripping by improving the security because this technique improve the security of differential protection[14][18][20].
allows the phase with a ratio of low harmonic to be cross- Differential elements compare an operating current with a
blocked by a phase with a higher ratio. But This technique is restraining current. The operating current ( ) can be obtained
well secure but not so dependable, because If there is an internal from the phasor sum of the currents entering the protected
fault in one or two phases, the high second harmonic ratio in a element:
healthy phase may block the percent differential protection until = + (5)
the fault spreads to all three phases.
3) Average Blocking Method: In this method, the second The differential element will operate when the operating
harmonic ratio used for blocking the three phases is the average current ( ) is above a certain ratio of the restraint current ( )
of the second harmonic ratio for each phase, this method
> . , ℎ (6)
provides good security due to the increase of the average ratio
provided by the phases with a high second harmonic content.
4) Harmonic Sharing Method: The ratio of second
harmonic calculated from the sum of the second harmonic from
three phases divided with fundamental of each phase. The
harmonic summing method improves the security against false
operation while maintaining dependability for detecting actual
faults because when the actual faults occur the fundamental
current will rise and harmonic ratio will be low.
III. DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
The fundamental objective of system protection is to provide
isolation of a problem area in the power system quickly, so that Fig. 2. Transformer Percentage Differential Protection Slope
the shock to the rest of the system is minimized and as much as
possible is left intact[3], so do the transformer protection. Main B. Restricted earth fault protection (REF)
purpose of transformer protection is to detect internal Restricted earth fault protection (REF) or ground differential
transformer faults with high sensitivity, with immunity to protection is increasingly used for the protection of transformer
operation on external faults. windings. This applies particularly to a star-connected winding
A. Transformer Differential Protection with an impedance-earthed neutral since conventional earth fault
protection using overcurrent elements fails to provide adequate
Current differential relaying is the most commonly used protection
practice for protecting transformers that are rated approximately
10 MVA (three-phase, self-cooled rating) or more[1]. The most commonly used REF algorithm is the dual slope
Differential protection is a practical application of kirchoff’s percentage restraint differential algorithm. The differential
current law. For protective relaying purposes this law can be current defined in the REF is the vector summation of all
restated as "If all the currents flowing into and out of the junction measured phase and residual currents of a protecting winding
or region of an electric circuit through all the legitimate paths [21][22].
are added together and do not equal zero, then there exist one or
more improper paths to the junction which represent failures of The operating current ( ) of REF is the difference between
insulation." The term "failures of insulation" is often replaced by the ground current ( ) and the residual current (3 )
such terms as "faults," "short circuits," or "breakdowns," all of = |3 − | (7)
which describe the same electrical misadventures[20].

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 The differential element will operate when the operating As explained in the previous section that there are several
current ( ) is above a certain ratio of the restraint current ( ) characteristics when the magnetizing inrush occurs.
> . , ℎ (8) Magnetizing inrush current occurs only on one side of the
winding, indeed fig 5 fault record shows that a very large current
only occur on the HV side while on the LV side the current is
zero.

TABLE I. CASE I FAULT RECORD

No Parameter HV Side LV Side

1 IA 75.07 A 0A

2 IB 73.30 A 0A

3 IC 45.22 A 0A

4 IN Measured 3.216 A 0A

Fig. 3. REF protection

IV. CASE STUDY

The main objective of Differential & REF protection is to
provide the ability to detect internal transformer faults with high
sensitivity, along with a high degree of immunity to operation
on system faults for which tripping of the transformer is not
required. Magnetizing inrush is not an internal fault, but in some
case, this phenomenon followed by Differential or REF
protection trip. This paper will discuss two real case fault that
recorded when mal operated relay happen.
A. Case I Magnetizing inrush during transformer
energization
A 60 MVA transformer is energized from the HV side and
followed by the REF HV trip command. Figure 4 shows the
sequence of events that happen, the event is starts by the 2nd
harmonic block event for all phases and followed by the REF
trip command which causes the trip of the transformer.
In modern relays the 2nd harmonic block is used to avoid
differential protection operation when magnetizing inrush
phenomenon occurs in transformers.
Fig. 5. Case 1 fault record

Magnetizing inrush currents consist of High DC component

and 2nd harmonic content. Fig 6 shows that current on the HV
side has 2nd harmonic content 71.0%, 41.2% and 107.9%
respectively for IA HV, IB HV and IC HV, with the 2nd
harmonic amount so high, it indicate that the magnetizing inrush
happen when the transformer energize.
Magnetizing inrush current is a condition that occurs due to
the saturation of transformers core, this affect the current
waveform becomes asymmetrical and has a flat section called
the dead angle. Indeed Fig7 shows that the HV side current
waveform have the dead angle.
The three characteristic explained above show that the
magnetizing inrush current occurs when the transformer
Fig. 4. Case 1 event record energized.

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 is different and make the inrush current on each phase different.
It is creates a REF diff current on the protection relay and causes
trip transformers as shows in fig 8 where REF HV diff = 45.80
A and REF HV bias = 39.14 A.

Fig. 8. Case 1 REF diff HV record

B. Case II Magnetizing inrush during external fault clearing.

Fig. 6. Case 1 HV Side harmonic content record
A lightning struck facility near a substation with bad
grounding mesh and affect the transformer, followed by REF LV
protection operation and make transformers trip. As shown in
figure 9 the 2nd harmonic block function appears before the REF
LV trip command.

Fig. 9. Case 2 relay fault record

The relay record shows the occurrence of magnetizing inrush

current with the appearance of its characteristics. The great
amount of current that occurs when magnetizing inrush happen
shown by figure 10, phase A current LV side significantly rise
among the others phase.

Fig. 7. Case 1 Instantaneous HV Side current record

Magnetizing Inrush condition that only occurs on one side of

the winding makes the differential current appear as show in the
fig 5 where IA diff = 0.3692 PU and IA Bias= 0.1847 PU, it is
already above the differential protection setting but with the 2nd
harmonic block the relay does not command the CB of
transformer trip.
For differential protection, second harmonic blocking or
restraint is commonly used to avoid differential operation due to
inrush current condition. The typical set point for the second
harmonic restraint is 20% of fundamental current, as show in fig
6 the amount of 2nd harmonic content is high enough to trigger
2nd harmonic block command.
The 2nd harmonic inrush blocking function of transformer
differential relays maintains security of the differential Fig. 10. Case 2 LV side current record
protection during transformer inrush events however, it is rarely
used to block the REF protection. The measured currents contains great amount of DC and
2nd harmonic components shown by figure 11, where DC
In three-phase transformers, magnetizing inrush occurs on
all three windings while energize. Even though with the same contain of IA= 71.4% and 2nd harmonic percentage of IA =
design, in reality the response of each winding to this condition 101.1%.

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