Generator Protection….

Dr. O. P. Rahi
Electrical Engineering Department,
National Institute of Technology Hamirpur (H.P), India. 1
Contents
 Recap: Basic Principles of Protection
 Equipment Protection
 Generator Protection
 Peculiarities Associated with Generator/Alternator
 Generator Faults
 Abnormal Running Conditions
 Stator Winding Faults
 Rotor Faults
 Conclusion

2
Alternator
 Construction
 Armature/Stator
 Excitation/Field System/Rotor
 Prime Mover
 Step up Transformer
 UAT
 Hydro/Thermal generator

3
Generator Faults
 Abnormal Running Conditions
 Stator Winding Faults
 Rotor Faults

4
Abnormal Running Conditions
 Failure of prime mover
 Failure of field
 Over current (Overloading)
 Over speed
 Overvoltage
 Unbalanced loading
 Vibration
 Bearing overheating
 Voltage regulator failure
5
Stator Winding Faults
 Phase to phase fault
 Phase to earth fault
 Inter turn fault

6
Rotor Faults
 Field ground fault
 Loss of excitation
 Rotor overheating due to unbalanced
3-phase stator currents

7
Stator Protection
 %age differential protection
 Phase to earth fault protection
 Protection against stator inter-turn faults
 Stator overheating protection

8
9
10
11
12
%age Differential Protection of Stator

13
Biased Differential Protection

14
Unbalanced Stator Loading Protection
 Unbalancing in loading produces negative
sequence currents in the stator circuit.
 This current is quite large and causes
overheating in the rotor circuit, especially in
the alternator.
 These faults then be cleared by installing a
negative phase sequence relay with the
characteristics to match the withstand curve of
the machine.

15
Protection against Unbalanced Loading

16
Overload Protection/ Protection against
Overheating

 Overloading can causes overheating in the stator winding of

the generator. Not only overloading, failure of cooling
systems and insulation failure of stator laminations also
cause overheating of the stator winding.
 The overheating is detected by embedded temperature
detectors at various points in the stator winding.
 The temperature detector coils are normally resistance
elements which form one arm of the wheatstone bridge
circuit.
 In the case of smaller generator normally below 30 MW,
the generators are not equipped with embedded
temperature coil but are usually fitted with thermal relay
and they are arranged to measure the current flowing in the
stator winding. 17
Protection against Overheating

18
Stator Earth Fault Protection of
Alternator
 Here, one current transformer is connected across the neutral and
earth connection of the alternator.
 One protective relay is connected across the current transformer
secondary. The alternator can feed the power system in two
ways, either it is directly connected to the substation bus bar or it
is connected to substation via one star delta transformer. If the
generator is connected directly to the substation bus bars, the
relay connected across the CT secondary, would be an inverse
time relay because here, relay coordination is required with other
fault relays in the system.
 But when the stator is connected to the primary of a star Delta
transformer, the fault is restricted in between stator winding and
transformer primary winding, therefore no coordination is
required with other earth fault relays of the system.

19
20
Rotor Earth Fault Protection
 The rotor of an alternator is wound by field winding. Any single
earth fault occurring on the field winding or in the exciter circuit is
not a big problem for the machine. But if more than one earth
fault occur, there may be a chance of short circuiting between the
faulty points on the winding. This short circuited portion of the
winding may cause unbalance magnetic field and subsequently
mechanical damage may occur in the bearing of the machine due
to unbalanced rotation.
 Hence it is always essential to detect the earth fault occurred on
the rotor field winding circuit and to rectify it for normal
operation of the machine.
 There are various methods available for detecting rotor earth fault
of alternator or generator. But basic principle of all the methods is
same and that is closing a relay circuit through the earth fault
path. 21
Three Types of Rotor Earth Fault
Protection
 There are mainly three types of rotor earth
fault protection scheme used for this
purpose.

 Potentiometer method
 AC injection method
 DC injection method

22
Potentiometer Method of REFP

 Potentiometer Method of Rotor Earth Fault Protection in

Alternator
 The scheme is very simple. Here, one resistor of suitable value is
connected across the field winding as well as across exciter. The
resistor is centrally tapped and connected to the ground via a
voltage sensitive relay.
 Any earth fault in the field winding as well as exciter circuit closes
the relay circuit through earthed path. At the same time the
voltage appears across the relay due to potentiometer action of
the resistor.
 Disadvantage: This arrangement can only sense the earth fault
occurred in the any point except the center of the field winding.

23
AC Injection Method of REFP

24
AC Injection Method of REFP
 Here, one voltage sensitive relay is connected at any point of the
field and exciter circuit. Other terminal of the voltage sensitive
relay is connected to the ground by a capacitor and secondary of
one auxiliary transformer.
 Here, if any earth fault occurs in the field winding or in the exciter
circuit, the relay circuit gets closed via earthed path and hence
secondary voltage of the auxiliary transformer will appear across
the voltage sensitive relay and the relay will be operated.
 Disadvantage: There would always be a chance of leakage current
through the capacitors to the exciter and field circuit. This may
cause unbalancing in magnetic field and hence mechanical stresses
in the machine bearings.

25
DC Injection Method of REFP

26
DC Injection Method of REFP
 The drawback of leakage current of AC injection method can be
eliminated in DC Injection Method.
 Here, one terminal of DC voltage sensitive relay is connected with
positive terminal of the exciter and another terminal of the relay
is connected with the negative terminal of an external DC source.
The external DC source is obtained by an auxiliary transformer
with bridge rectifier.
 Here the positive terminal of bridge rectifier is grounded.
 In the event of any field earth fault or exciter earth fault, the
positive potential of the external DC source will appear to the
terminal of the relay which was connected to the positive
terminal of the exciter.
 In this way the rectifier output voltage appears across the voltage
relay and hence it is operated.
27
Loss of Field or Excitation Protection
of Alternator or Generator
 Loss of field or excitation can be caused in the generator due to
excitation failure.
 Stand alone generator & Grid Connected generator
 In larger sized generator, energy for excitation is often taken
from a separate auxiliary source or from a separately driven DC
generator.
 The failure of auxiliary supply or failure of driving motor can also
cause the loss of excitation in a generator. Failure of excitation
that is failure of field system in the generator makes the generator
run at a speed above the synchronous speed.
 In that situation the generator or alternator becomes an induction
generator which draws magnetizing current from the system.

28
Two Schemes Protection Against
Loss of Field
 In 1st scheme, we use an undercurrent relay connected in shunt
with main field winding circuit. This relay will operate if the
excitation current comes below its predetermined value. If the
relay is to operate for complete loss of field along, it must have a
setting lies well below the minimum excitation current value
which can be 8% of the rated full load current.
 In this case a setting of 5% of normal of full load current is
recommended. There is a normally closed contact attached with
the undercurrent relay. This normally closed contact remains open
as the relay coil is energized by shunted excitation current during
normal operation of the excitation system. As soon as there is any
failure of excitation system, the relay coil becomes de-energized
and the normally closed contact closes.

29
Protection Against Loss of Field
 For larger generators, it is recommended to trip the machine after a
certain prescribed delay in presence of swing condition resulting from loss
of field. Offset mho relay and under voltage relay
 There must be subsequent load shedding to maintain stability of the
system.
 In this scheme an automatic imposition of load shedding to the system is
also inherently required if the field is not restored within the described
time delay. The scheme comprises an offset mho relay, and an
instantaneous under voltage relay.
 System voltage is the main indication of system stability. Therefore the
offset mho relay is arranged to shut the machine down instantaneously
when operation of generator is accompanied by a system voltage
collapse.
 The drop in system voltage is detected by an under voltage relay which is
set to approximately 70 % of normal rated system voltage. The offset
mho relay is arranged to initiate load shedding to the system up to a safe
value and then to initiate a master tripping relay after a predetermined 30
time.
Protection Against Loss of Field

31
Conclusion
 Generator Overview
 Faults on Generator
 Protection of Generator against faults
 Next, protection of transformer

32
Thank you

33