Presentation 01.

Comprehensive Testing of Generator Protection Systems

Rich Hunt / Mital Kanabar / Zhiying Zhang / Vijaysarathi Muthukrishnan, GE Digital Energy, USA
Manish Das, GE Energy, USA / Mike Southwood / Jovan Momic, Eastern Power, Canada
Wenping Wang, Ontario Power Generation, Canada

Introduction
Close
52
Trip 25
Generators are one of the most expensive 24 27P 59P 59_2 59N 81O 81U 81R

components of the power system, as well as,

important components for stable and reliable
32 40 21P 50P 50N 51P 51N 46 67P67_2 67N 68 78
operation of a power system. Functionality,
49
settings and equipment defects undetected by
G EX Injection 64F
protective relays may lead to outages of Module
Meterin
generators that impose unnecessary costs to 87S
g

power utilities, and stress the power system

network for no reason. Therefore, the generator 87G 50G 51G
27TN 27X 59X
protection system needs to be tested carefully R
Injection
64TN
Module
considering dependability, reliability (operate 64S
reliably and fast during internal faults) and security
(does not mis-operate for external faults) aspects
of the protective relaying system. Literature Fig. 1 A typical multifunctional generator protection
categorizes the types of protection tests as follows: system
 Certification/Functional/Type tests
 Commissioning Codes of
 Periodic maintenance generator Description of protection elements in
protection a typical generator protection IED
 Troubleshooting elements
In addition to above tests, some literature has 21P Phase distance backup
further sub-categorized these tests or used 24 Volts per hertz
different terminologies, e.g. application tests,
performance tests, acceptance tests, conformance 25 Synchro-check
tests, upgrade tests, etc. The following section 27P Phase under-voltage
highlights various functions available in a typical 27TN Third harmonic neutral under-voltage
multifunctional generator protection system.
27X Auxiliary under-voltage
32 Sensitive directional power
A Typical Multifunctional 40 Loss of excitation
Generator Protection 46 Generator unbalance

Fig. 1 shows a typical state-of-the-art 49 Thermal overload (RTD)

multifunctional generator protection system with 50G Ground instantaneous overcurrent
encircled codes of various protection functions. In
50N Neutral instantaneous overcurrent
addition to protection IED, injection modules can
also be included for sub-harmonic (20 Hz) based 50P Phase instantaneous overcurrent
100% stator ground (64S), as well as to detect and 50SP Split phase protection
locate field ground fault (64F) by low frequency 50/27 Accidental energization
injection (0.1-3 Hz). The protection functions with
respective codes in the figure are listed in Table I. 51G Ground time overcurrent
In addition to protection functions, modern 51P Phase time overcurrent
multifunctional generator protection system also 59N Neutral overvoltage
facilitates other functionalities for control,
59P Phase overvoltage
communication, metering, monitoring, diagnosis,
etc. are tabulated in Table II. 59X Auxiliary overvoltage
59_2 Negative-sequence overvoltage
Field ground protection (low-freq.
64F
injection based)
Sub-harmonic injection - 100% stator
64S
ground

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.2

64TN
100% stator ground third harmonic Why Certification/Functional/Type
neutral voltage
Testing?
Negative-sequence directional
67_2
overcurrent The purpose of these tests is to validate the entire
67N Neutral directional overcurrent
design of the protection system/device(s), as well
as the performance of the developed protection &
67P Phase directional overcurrent control elements in various power system
68/78 Power swing detection scenarios. Typically, the functional testing is
81A Frequency out-of-band accumulation carried out by relay manufacturers using real-time
system simulated platforms or made-to-scale
81O Over-frequency
(small) generator-motor machines, while
81R Rate of change of frequency considering full range of all expected operating
81U Under-frequency conditions [1].
87G (RGF) Restricted ground fault protection
Considerations for
87S Stator differential
Table I List of protection functions available in a typical
Certification/Functional/Type Testing
multifunctional generator protection IED Further sub-categories under Certification/Type
Testing
Additional functions  Functional and system type tests
Breaker control  Steady state functional tests
 Transient/dynamic performance tests
VT fuse failure
 Physical and electrical environment tests
In-built Phasor Measurement Unit (IEEE C37.118)  Pilot project tests
Communications (IEC 61850, DNP3.0, IEC 60870-5-104, Rigorous functional and system testing of any
Modbus) with advanced cyber security features product protection system is performed by
Event recorder manufacturer’s product validation department
before releasing any product revision. Few
Data logger
examples of this testing include: i) each specified
Oscillography product feature, e.g. protection functions, control,
Metering monitoring, metering, communication, etc. is
performing as expected; ii) various system
Contact I/Os
conditions, and check for any interdependencies
Analog/Transducer I/Os (DCMA, RTD, etc.) within the same group of protection systems; iii)
Flexible/Programmable Logic schemes compatibility tests among system revisions
Flexibility of user-defined protection & control schemes/ (firmware, hardware, configuration tool, etc.), as
elements well as other product devices (e.g. stator or rotor
Self-testing and setting Targets/Flags injection modules with main protection IEDs); iv)
Trip circuit monitoring
Processing performance/stress tests (confirm
capability of all processors while most of the
Multiple groups of protection functions (user-defined
protection group transition) functions/features are running at its maximum
Table II Additional functionalities of a typical generator usage; v) communication protocol conformance
protection IED and performance; vi) cyber security compliance;
vii) product configuration tool testing; viii) normal
run time for longer period (days or months), and
It can be inferred from the above two tables that checking functionalities after several times power-
today’s modern generator protection system up the device; ix) destructive system testing to
facilitates multiple protection, control, and understand product’s behavior in case of any
automation functionalities with diagnosis and self- hardware/firmware failures, etc. at the same time
test features. Following sections present testing check self-test indicators. The functional and
aspects related to generator protection system at system tests are also performed for any minor
different stages. change to make sure there is no any other
function/feature affected due to this change.
Certification/ Functional/Type In addition to above product validation testing,
Tests Of Generator Protection transient and dynamic testing is also performed by
simulating power system components in real-time
This section describes the important aspects of environment. With close-loop testing, various
certification/functional/type testing of a generator transient conditions can be simulated to verify the
protection system, with relevant examples. performance parameters, such as dependability,
security, speed, selectivity, etc. of the generator
protection & control elements.

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.3

The physical and electrical environmental testing is

a performed as per specified environmental
standards. These environmental compliance
standards may vary from geographical regions, for
example IEC 60255-x, EN 61000-x, IEEE/ANSI
C37.90.x [2], UL 508, etc. Normally, a product
manual lists of all compliance standards.
After gaining confidence from exhaustive
functional/type as well as transient/dynamic
simulation testing, manufacturers may further
carry-out pilot installation and testing at generating
sites.
Following tests may be performed by power utility
alone or also in collaboration with manufacturers.
 Application functionality tests
 Product pre-qualification tests
Certification/functional/type tests are “objective”
and carried out by manufacturers to validate the
Fig. 2 Differential protection element during stator
product for wide range of power utilities. Whereas, ground fault at 50% of the A-phase winding
application and product pre-qualification tests are
“subjective” and these are conducted using Inter-turn testing:
utility/system-specific parameters or requirements, Fig. 3 illustrates the locus of differential element for
where generator protection is applied to [3]. inter-turn fault created on A-phase winding of the
As an example of transient simulation testing using generator stator. It can be verified from the figure
real-time tool is demonstrated in following sub- that 3-phase differential elements cannot protect
section. generator stator for inter-turn fault. On the other
hand, the inter-turn fault can be detected by
Example –Transient Simulation Testing utilizing negative sequence component as a part of
generator unbalance protection element.
Latest development in digital simulators facilitates
complex transient models in real time, which allow
study of several applicable generating station fault
scenarios. A simulated 500 MVA, 22 kV
synchronous generator model is connected to a
power grid through a 22/230 kV GSU transformer.
The model allows different types of fault events to
test the various generator protection elements. The
examples of few generator protection functions
testing using RTDS are discussed in this section.

Differential protection testing:

Fig. 2 shows the generator stator differential
operating characteristic while a stator ground fault
was applied at 50% of the stator A-phase winding
on the real time digital simulation based generator
model. The stator differential element picked-up
instantaneously, and operated within a cycle.
Various scenarios can be tested to verify the
behavior of the element, and percentage of the Fig. 3 Three-phase differential protection elements for
stator winding protected. inter-turn fault in A-phase winding
The oscillography of generator currents on terminal
side phase currents, as well as calculated positive
and negative sequence components are illustrated
in Fig. 4. It can be observed from Fig. 5 that stator
differential did not operate, whereas, negative
sequence based generator unbalanced element
operated to clear the fault.

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.4

Dynamic Testing using Analog Model

Generator
For certain generator test cases, EMTP-type
simulation may not provide comprehensive
dynamic behavior of a generator, e.g. simulation of
true internal faults, natural third harmonic
generated by a generator, etc. In such limited
cases, a physical made-to-scale generator
machine model can be utilized. An example of
such generator model testing can be referred from
the reference [4]. Small scale generator model may
also facilitate to create various fault scenarios (in a
controlled environment) to validate the protection
functions.

Example – Pilot Installation & Testing

The pilot installation and testing of injection based
stator and rotor ground fault projection modules
Fig. 4 Plot of generator terminal side currents and
sequence components was carried out at 35 MVA, 13.8kV, natural gas
based generating station owned by Eastern Power
in Ontario, Canada. The stator and rotor ground
resistance were measured at various conditions.
The waveforms captured at the site demonstrated
stable measurements of these ground resistances
during normal operation.
Fig. 5 Captured oscillography from an IED for inter-turn Fig. 7 demonstrates the pilot installation at the site.
fault The field injection module was connected across
the field winding, which acted as low frequency
Loss of prime-mover element:
(0.1 to 3 Hz) voltage source, and the measured
A sensitive directional power protection was used ground resistance was transmitted to the main
to protect generator for loss of prime-mover in this generator protection IED via the communication
case here. As shown in Fig. 6, the multifunctional cable. Stator ground module was connected
generator protection IED detected the reversal in across 13.8kV/240V NGT to provide 100% stator
active power, and tripped the generator circuit ground protection (64S).
breaker within certain allowed delay.

Fig. 7 Functional testing setup at Eastern Power,

Fig. 6 Captured oscillography from an IED for loss of Canada
prime-mover fault

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.5

Commissioning Tests of Some power generation utilities also involve co-

ordination of generator capability limits with the
Generator Protection corresponding protection settings, e.g. loss of field,
unbalance current, reverse power flow, etc.
This section presents considerations and field
experiences of generator protection Primary injection based testing
commissioning.
Some power utilities also perform primary injection
test while generator is not in service [5]. The
Why Commissioning Testing? intention of primary injection is to verify: 1) polarity
Typically, the commissioning testing is carried out of CTs from both ends for differential element; 2)
at installation site by power utility. Followings are polarity of CT/VT, especially for polarized/
the objective of the commissioning tests: directional related elements; 3) consistency in
secondary circuit connections. The challenge for
 Check if received protection system is such testing is the availability of high-voltage
intact after shipping source to inject in primary circuit. If allowed, the
 Verify the installation and proper primary injection can also be performed during
wiring/connections generator short-circuit testing (which eliminates
 Confirm protection functions selection in need of any external primary injection source),
multifunctional devices, and their setting while limiting currents to nominal/rated value.
groups Since, this is only polarity/connection testing, there
 Check interconnection with other system is no need to inject high current/voltage to operate
devices/equipment at the site any element, but only sufficient to verify polarities.
The commissioning tests should be performed for
any new installation or significant modification to Logic scheme testing
an existing system [1]. Advanced multifunctional digital IEDs have PLC
(Programmable Logic Controller) functionalities to
Considerations for Commissioning significantly reduce complexity of hardwiring for
Testing different protection & control logics. Using which,
various logical protection and control schemes can
be implemented as a part of one or more IEDs
Verification of wiring/circuit
(e.g. generator protection IED, breaker control
Some generation utilities include visual-verification IED). Major logic schemes include multiplexing of
of wiring to check the complete agreement with the multiple protection element operation driving to CB
elementary diagrams prior to start device testing. contacts, interlocking schemes, LOR (Lock-Out-
Although, the wiring errors can be detected from Relay) scheme, breaker-failure schemes, etc.
directly performing primary/secondary injection
In addition, generator protection system has
based testing, it involves risk of incorrect operation
different tripping modes associated with different
or safety due to wrong wiring. The three-line,
protection element operations [6]. Therefore, it is
elementary, or schematic diagrams should be used
recommended that generator tripping mode is also
for the purpose of checking the connection [5].
included in the logic scheme testing.
Secondary injection testing – including Furthermore, large generators are also part of
protection setting & setting groups System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS),
After selecting a specific manufacturer’s protection generator dispatching/scheduling, or Wide Area
device, a P&C engineer derives settings of all Situation Awareness (WASA) schemes. And
desired protection & control functions based on the hence, the logic schemes involving generator
system specific parameters of generating station. protection system schemes should also be tested
Make sure that derived settings are within the as well at this stage.
accuracy ranges specified by the manufacturers.
Trip circuit testing
The testing of each enabled/configured protection
The close circuit integrity should be tested between
element is carried out using a secondary injection
generator protection relay tripping contacts and
module (to inject all required three phase voltage
respective breaker(s) trip coils. Since generator
and current signals). Test switches can be utilized
plant is shut-down, actual OPEN/CLOSE operation
for this test to isolate the IED from rest of the
of CBs can be verified from operation of relay
circuit, and also short CT secondary.
output contacts, as well as, the status of the CB
Further, multifunctional IEDs have capability to can be monitored/confirmed in the device. Tripping
configure multiple setting groups, and also allow initiated by LOR should also be included as a part
switching among these setting groups adaptively. If of this testing.
implemented, the generator protection IED should
also be tested considering these setting group
changing conditions.

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.6

Monitoring & metering on first time running

Monitoring and metering of various analog/digital
values of a generator protection IED is performed
while generator is start-up first time. The tools
provided by IED manufacturers can also be used,
for example oscillography, event logger, data
recorder, etc.

Field Example – Site Commissioning

125 MW Hydro Generating Station, Spain

Rotor ground injection module as a part of a Fig. 9 Data captured for injection module based 100%
generator protection system was tested on 125 stator ground protection module
MW hydro generating station. It can be observed
from Fig. 8 that the field injection module was
connected across the static exciter, and the field
ground fault was created by connecting 5 kOhm
fault resistance on negative side of the exciter with
respect to ground bar in the exciter panel. Fig. 9
shows stable measurement in rotor ground
resistance while ramping up field voltage.

Fig. 10 Data captured for injection module based 100%

stator ground protection module at JEA site

Periodic Maintenance Tests of

Generator Protection
This section describes important considerations
and examples of period maintenance of generator
protection.

Why Periodic Maintenance Testing?

Fig. 8 Field testing setup at site
The objective of periodic maintenance testing is to
224 MVA Generator, JEA, USA validate the generator protection system is working
as expected, and detect if there is any failed
Commissioning of sub-harmonic injection based
components in generator protection system. In
100% stator ground protection was carried out at
addition to protective device, other important
JEA (previously known as Jacksonville Electric testing includes wiring, interfaces, communicat-
Authority) located in Jacksonville, FL, USA. The ions, etc. [1]. If only generator protection (e.g.
generator protection system was commissioned on
system-A) maintenance needs to be carried out, it
two simple cycle gas turbine/generator units, is desirable to isolate one of the redundant
protecting 224MVA, 18 kV generators. Fig. 10 protection device (using test switches) without
shows the data logged during generator start-up, affecting common portion of a redundant generator
with magnitude of sub-harmonic injected voltage, protection system-B.
current, as well as measured stator ground
resistance. The stable stator ground resistance can
be observed throughout the generator loading in Considerations for Periodic
Fig. 10. Maintenance Testing
The important items to be considered for periodic
maintenance testing of generator protection
systems are as follows:

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.7

Regulatory Requirements tools provided by multifunctional IEDs, e.g. event

Proper operation of protection and control system recorder, oscillography, data logger, etc. More
ensures the reliability of the electric power system. details of these tools will be provided in following
And hence, it is important to follow effective subsections. Although, this does not provide 100%
maintenance program by the asset owner (power check of protection functionalities, this method can
utility) which can uncover any hidden failures in the delay the necessity for periodic maintenance [3].
circuit. Many regions have regulatory body which During periodic monitoring, the generator plant as
setup guidelines/regulations to carryout well as protection system can remain in-service.
maintenance testing of the generator protection And, visual verification of the analog values
systems. An example of regulatory agency for integrity such as voltage, current, power (in
North America is NERC (North American Electric comparison to other devices on the corresponding
Reliability Corporation), which has established system) can be conducted. Further checking of
certain requirements for maintenance of trans- status of device using IED setup tool, active
mission and generation protection systems [7]. alarms, relay display messages/event log in the
relay, LED indications should be performed. Visual
Period/Interval for Maintenance Testing inspection of any damage, corrosion, dust or loose
Normally, the generator protection systems wires should be carried out as well. Even recorder
maintenance is coordinated to the possible extent file can be downloaded to re-verify any major or
with scheduled shutdown of the unit maintenance minor events related to protection system or
or minor replacements. Nevertheless, actual generating system.
period/interval of the generator protection system Periodic monitoring may not provide required level
maintenance can be derived from one of the of confidence, and hence it cannot completely
following methods discussed in the literature [1], replace the need for regular periodic maintenance
[3]: tests.
 Time-based maintenance interval
 Performance-based maintenance interval
Troubleshooting Tests of
 Cost-based maintenance interval
 Condition-based maintenance interval Generator Protection
The maintenance interval derived using time-based This section describes troubleshooting testing tools
technique is fixed, and may be in the range of available in a typical modern protection IED, and
months/years. Normally, reliability studies can be field experience utilizing them.
performed to obtain the optimum interval of the
generator protection systems [3], [8]. Performance
based maintenance interval is derived based on
Why Troubleshooting Testing?
analytical results or historical experience related to This test is normally performed after correct or
the occurrence of in-service failures of the incorrect operation of the protection systems by
protection systems [1]. On the other hand, cost- utility protection engineer in collaboration with
based maintenance interval involves deriving manufacturers. For any disturbance/fault in the
Break-Even-Point (BEP) between two cost generator station, it is recommended to collect
functions: 1) cost for testing generator protection status and data from all protection devices. Using
systems; 2) power supply interruption costs this information, the reliability of protection system
incurred due to mis-operation of protection caused can be evaluated using two parameters: 1)
by lack of periodic maintenance [3]. The condition- “security” parameter (protection system not
based maintenance interval method basically operated when not required); 2) “dependability”
utilizes parameters derived from experience of (protection system operated when required).
maintenance engineer, history of problems related Troubleshooting involves effective utilization of
to system components, application data, frequency troubleshooting tools, good engineering practices,
of faults, etc. and experience to identify the causes of operating
In any case, the maintenance testing interval problems.
should be in compliance with the respective
regulatory requirements mentioned earlier. Troubleshooting using Diagnosis Tools
Periodic Monitoring of Multifunctional IEDs
Due to economic reason or coordination issue in In addition to Digital Fault Recorders (DFRs), the
generator shut-down schedule, it may not be diagnosis tools provided by modern digital
possible to carry out comprehensive (secondary protective relays can also be utilized, the list of
injection based) period maintenance test whenever such tools are as follows:
required, and need to be delayed. In this scenario,
it is advantageous to perform at least periodic
1. Event recorder for SoE (Sequence of
monitoring by visual verification using diagnosis
Events): Modern multifunctional IEDs can store list

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.8

of more than 1000 events. Generally, each event

record shows the event identifier/sequence
number, cause/trigger, and accurate date/time
stamp (time of event occurred). In addition to log
event for protection element operation, the
advancement in technology allows detailed self-
testing of trip circuit monitoring, hardware, analog
and digital I/Os, software/firmware, maintenance
alerts, etc. The SoE within the multifunctional IED
can be downloaded using manufacturer’s device
setup tool.
Fig. 11 Event recorder captured at OPG nuclear power
2. Oscillography: It captures waveforms at the plant
high sampling rate as well as other analog and
digital data at the point of trigger. The
oscillography triggers can be defined by the users
or based on pick-up or operation of any protection
group elements. Normally, IED can store pre-fault,
during fault, and post-fault data in the standard
format, e.g. COMTRADE [9]. The oscillography
data can be used to diagnose behavior of the
device during system transients.
3. Data logger: the data loggers can store
measured and calculated values for even longer
duration than oscillography at lower sampling rate.
Some IEDs offer non-volatile memory based
storage to retain the logged data even if power of Fig. 12 Event recorder captured at OPG nuclear power
an IED is lost. plant
4. Vector diagram representation: The vector
diagram representation tool allows user to view Field Example – Differential mal-
and compare various input signals to the device operation
capture by oscillography. The entire captured
oscillography can be played back in vector diagram Combustion turbine-generation unit, 109 kVA, 13.8
to diagnose the signal behavior during an event. In kV was on scheduled outage for testing generator
addition, the vector representation provides visual and transformers at one of the major US utilities.
verification of angular relationship among the Generator differential relay keep operating every
signals. time generator load approached to 20 MW. The
oscillography from the generator protection IED
5. User-programmable fault reports: Advanced
(the waveforms of generator of both sides current
multifunctional IEDs can provide user-configurable signal), as well as the status of protection elements
multiple fault reports. This allows user to select are captured for this event (as shown in Fig. 13).
pre-fault and fault triggers to generate such reports
Generator neutral side CTs were tested for ratio,
storing various information, such as, relay name,
saturation, and insulation resistance. All CT tests
firmware revision, time of trigger, and specification were acceptable. Further, it was also confirmed
of triggers, and measured values for the complete that signal processing module of the digital
duration of event. generator protection relay was normal as well.
Thereafter, the digital protection device was
Field Example – Event Logger replaced, however, the neutral side current signals
Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 show typical diagnosis tools were still distorted, and 87G continued to mis-
(event logger and vector viewer) of a operate while loading generator to 20 MW. By
multifunctional IED, which helped a P&C engineer analyzing the logged COMTRADE data obtained
at Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) to quickly from device using MATLAB, the even order
troubleshoot a nuclear power Standby Generator harmonics were observed at the generator neutral
(SG) tripped on start-up. When the SG was side current signals. The secondary circuit cables
synchronized with the station bus, and the SG were running with batter-charger (power electronic
began to rise in power per the commissioning work converter) cables. While tracing secondary circuits
plan, the protective relay tripped the SG on (CT wiring) connected to the relay, the wrong as
differential protection. well as loose connections in secondary circuit were
found and fixed, and harmonics disappeared.

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.9

Georgia Tech Protective Relaying

Conference, May 2002.
[5] IEEE C37.103 -2004, IEEE guide for
differential and polarizing relay circuit testing
[6] IEEE Std C37.102,-2006, IEEE Guide for AC
Generator Protection.
[7] NERC standard PRC-005, Transmission and
Generation Protection System Maintenance
and Testing,
[8] R. Billington, M. Fotuhi-Firuzabad, T.S. Sidhu,
2002. "Determination of the Optimum Routine
Fig. 13 Data captured for 87G digital generator Test and Self-Checking Intervals in Protective
protection relay Relaying Using a Reliability Model", IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 17, No.
3, August, pp. 663-669.
Summary
[9] IEEE Std C37.111-1999, IEEE Standard for
This paper presents important aspects of generator Common Format for Transient Data
protection system testing at different stages, such Exchange (COMTRADE) for Power Systems.
as: i) functional/type/certification testing by
manufacturers in order to validate the developed [10] NERC standard PRC-003, Regional
functionalities/features of the product; ii) Procedure for Analysis of Mis-operations of
commissioning testing by power generating site Transmission and Generation Protection
engineers to verify that the installed generator Systems,
protection system working as expected; 3) periodic [11] NERC standard PRC-004, Analysis and
maintenance to check healthiness of entire Mitigation of Transmission and Generation
protection system and circuit, at a regular interval; Protection System Mis-operations.
4) troubleshooting to understand the protection
response in case of any power system event [12] C. Mozina et al., “Commissioning and
occurrence. Utilizing IED tools (i.e. oscillography, maintenance testing of multifunction digital
event recorder, data logger, metering/actual relays,” IEEE Industrial and Commercial
values, exporting all required information) at the Power Systems Technical Conference, pp.
time of commissioning, maintenance, and 82–91, May 2–6, 2004.
troubleshooting is explained with examples. The [13] IEEE Std C37.115, Test Methods for Use in
important considerations while commissioning, e.g. the Evaluation of Message Communications
secondary/primary injection, logic/schemes, trip Between Intelligent Electronic Devices in an
circuit, etc. are discussed. The regulatory Integrated Substation Protection, Control and
requirements, and various methods to derive Data Acquisition System
optimum interval for periodic maintenance are
described briefly. Troubleshooting tools from digital [14] Working Group F-8 of the Relay Input
generator protection IED and field example of Sources Subcommittee of the IEEE Power
tracing root cause of false-trip are presented. System Relaying Committee. Digital
Simulator Performance Requirements for
Relay Testing. IEEE Transactions on Power
Literature Delivery, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 1998.

[1] IEEE C37.233, guide for power system [15] M. S. Sachdev, T. S. Sidhu, P.G. McLaren,
protection testing, 2009. “Issues and Opportunities for Testing
Numerical Relays,” PES Meeting, pp. 1185-
[2] IEEE C37.90.X, standards for physical and 1190, 2000.
electrical environmental testing of relays and
relay systems associated with electric power [16] Working Group I10 of the Relaying Practices
apparatus. Subcommittee. A Survey of Relay Test
Practices 1991 Results. IEEE Power System
[3] CIGRÉ Working Group 34.10, “Analysis and Relaying Committee Report. IEEE
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Schemes,” 2000. 3, July 1994
[4] D. Finney, M. Adamiak, B. Kasztenny, [17] G60 Generator Protection System Manual,
“Dynamic testing of generator protection Publication# GEK-113381
using a model generator platform,” 56th

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium

 Presentation 01.10

About the Author

Rich Hunt MSEE, PE, is a
Market Development Leader
with GE Digital Energy,
responsible for IEC 61850
strategy and process bus
solutions. Rich has over 20
years’ experience in the electric
utility industrial. Rich earned
the BSEE and MSEE degrees
from Virginia Tech, and is a
Senior Member of IEEE, a Member of the Main
Committee of the IEEE Power System Relaying
Committee, and a member of CIGRE.

© OMICRON 2013 – International Protection Testing Symposium