1.

INTRODUCTION
A substation may be defined as an assembly of apparatus, which transforms the
characteristics of electrical energy from one form to another form.
 At generation stations the electric power is produced at low voltages. The electric power
should not be transmitted at these low voltages due to large amount of line losses and
economical reasons.
 To minimize the losses and for economical transmission the low voltages are stepped up to
high voltages and transmitted to far off place.
 The consumers do not use such higher voltages directly and so they must be transformed to
low voltages for distribution purpose and done in these substations .
 So the substation may be called as link between generation stations and consumers.
 The transmission voltages are 66KV,110KV,132KV,220KV,400KV etc.
 The distribution voltages generally used are 6.6KV,11KV and 33KV.
 Substations usually contain transformers in order to change voltage levels; they are
connected to a "bus" via a circuit breaker.
 Specifically, substations are used for some or all of the following purposes:
1. Connection of generators, transmission or distribution lines, and loads to each other;
2. Transformation of power from one voltage level to another;
3. Interconnection of alternate sources of power;
4. Switching for alternate connections and isolation of failed or overloaded lines and
equipment;
5. Controlling system voltage and power flow;
6. Reactive power compensation;
7. Suppression of overvoltage and detection of faults, monitoring, recording of information,
power measurements, and remote communications.

The following aspects must be taken into consideration:

1. Low capital cost.
2. Reliability of the supply power.
3. Low operating cost
4. High efficiency
5. Low cost of energy generation.
6. Simplicity of design.
7. Reserve capacity to meet future requirements
Single Line Diagram of 132/33KV Substation
A 132KV/33KV EHV sub-station where
the incoming power is received at 132
KV from a generating station.

The power factor is corrected here and

the voltage is stepped down to 33KV
and power is then transferred to
distribution system of the grid to meet
the requirements of the end consumers
at their suitable voltage.
Equipments at 132KV Substation
1. Power Xmer 2. Lighting Arrester
3. Instrument Xmer i.e CT & VT 4. Capacitor Voltage Xmer
5. HT Fuse 6. Isolating Switches (Isolator)
7. Insulators 8. Control & Relay Panel
9. Station Xmer 10. Capacitor Bank
11. Battery & Batter Charger 12. Wave Trap/Wave Drum
13. Power Line Carrier Communication(PLCCC) 14. Circuit Breaker
Power Line Carrier Communication - PLCC
Power Line carrier Communication (PLCC) has evolved a long way from its earliest use in
metering at remote locations to its present day applications in home automation, high speed
internet access, smart grid etc.
Earlier telephones used as the medium of communication for exchange of voice messages for
operational support, maintenance, control etc and as a method of connectivity at remote
locations. The telephone lines ran parallel to the power lines. This had so many disadvantages:
1. The use of telephone circuits over large distances and at difficult terrains like mountains
was very expensive.
2. Noise interference due to currents flowing in parallel power lines over the telephone
circuits.
3. Frequent shut down of telephone cables during harsh weather conditions like snows in
winter, storms etc. made them less reliable.

The Power line carrier Communication (PLCC) uses the existing power infrastructure for
the transmission of data from sending to receiving end. It works in full duplex mode. PLCC
system consists of three parts:
1. The terminal assemblies include the receivers, transmitters and protective relays.
2. The coupling equipment is the combination of line tuner, coupling capacitor and the wave
or line trap.
3. The 50/60 Hz power transmission line serves as path for relaying data in the PLCC
bandwidth.
Coupling Capacitor
 It forms the physical coupling link between transmission line and the terminal assemblies
for the relaying of carrier signals.
 Its function is to provide high impedance to power frequency and low impedance to carrier
signal frequencies.
 They are usually made up of paper or liquid dielectric system for high voltage application.
 The ratings of coupling capacitors range from 0.004-0.01µF at 34 kV to 0.0023-0.005µF at
765kV.
Drain Coil
 The purpose of drain coil is to provide high impedance for carrier frequency and low
impedance for power frequency.
Line Tuner
 It is connected in series with the coupling capacitor to form a resonant circuit or carrier
signal frequency high pass or band pass filter.
 Its function is to match the impedance of the PLC terminal with the power line in order to
impress the carrier frequency over the power line.
 In addition it also provides isolation from power frequency and transient overvoltage
protection.
Power Line Channel Characteristics
Characteristic Impedance
The characteristics impedance of transmission line is given by :
Attenuation (dB):-Attenuation losses can be due to the impedance mismatching, resistive
losses, coupling losses and various other losses that occur in the line trap, line tuner, power line.
Noise
The signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) must be high at the receiving end, other wise the carrier
frequency shows erratic patterns at the receiving end. The noise level limit the attenuation that
PLCC channels can tolerate.
Bandwidth
The wider bandwidth means faster the channel, but it also leads to the accentuation of noise. For
relaying purpose, AM channel bandwidth is around 1000Hz to 1500Hz and for FSK bandwidth
it is 500Hz to 600Hz
Applications of PLCC in Power Systems
Protective Relaying
For the purpose of carrier aided protection, PLCC channels use modulation schemes namely
the Amplitude modulation(AM) for blocking schemes and Frequency Shift keying(FSK) for
unblocking, permissive and direct-trip schemes.
Telemetry
It is used to monitor electrical quantities like voltage, current, power etc. at remote locations.
The analog data is converted in binary which is used to shift the FSK frequency HIGH and
LOW and then transmitted over narrow band SSB channel.
Telephony
Voice messages are sent over SSB narrow band mode with bandwidth ~3khz.
Home Automation and Home Networking
It is classified as low voltage power line communication. Using low voltage electrical
network at home to control appliances by sending or receiving data through power line. It is
used as narrow-band PLCC for home automation and metering purposes, and broadband
PLCC for internet.
Limitations of PLCC
1. Power line communication is limited by the existing electrical infrastructure where it is
being employed and thus affects powerline channel parameters such as power
attenuation, noise, impedance and bandwidth.
2. It requires high SNR ratio.
3. The power line network is usually not matched and varies with time at different
loadings. This leads to attenuation of carrier power.
4. The carrier frequency suffers reflection losses at various points in its path from
transmitter, coaxial cable, line tuner unit, coupling capacitor, power line to transmitter.
 Electrical Bus-Bar and its Types
 An electrical bus bar is defined as a conductor or a group of conductor used for collecting
electric power from the incoming feeders and distributes them to the outgoing feeders. In
other words, it is a type of electrical junction in which all the incoming and outgoing
electrical current meets. Thus, the electrical bus bar collects the electric power at one
location.
 The bus bar system consists the isolator and the circuit breaker. On the occurrence of a fault,
the circuit breaker is tripped off and the faulty section of the busbar is easily disconnected
from the circuit.
 The electrical bus bar is available in rectangular, cross-sectional, round and many other
shapes. The rectangular bus bar is mostly used in the power system. The copper and
Aluminium are used for the manufacturing of the electrical bus bar.
 The most common of the bus-bars are 40×4mm (160 mm2); 40×5 mm (200 mm2) ; 50×6 mm
(300mm2) ; 60×8 mm (480 mm2) ; 80×8 (640 mm2) and 100×10 mm (1000 mm2).
 The various types of busbar arrangement are used in the power system. The selection of the
bus bar is depended on the different factor likes reliability, flexibility, cost etc. The following
are the electrical considerations governing the selection of any one particular arrangement.
1. The bus bar arrangement is simple and easy in maintenance.
2. The maintenance of the system did not affect their continuity.
3. The installation of the bus bar is cheap.
 The small substation where continuity of the supply is not essential uses the single bus bar.
But in a large substation, the additional busbar is used in the system so that the interruption
does not occur in their supply. 
The different type of electrical busbar arrangement is shown in the figure below.
1. Single Bus-Bar Arrangement 2. Single Bus-Bar Arrangement With Bus
Sectionalized

3. Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement 4. Double Bus Double Breaker Arrangement
Step & Touch Potential
When a fault occurs, the fault current flow to the ground due to which the potential
gradient near the electrical equipment developed. This potential gradient may affect a person
in two ways, either by step-to-step contact or by touch contact.
Step Potential: Voltage between the feet of a person
When current is flowing from the tower to the earth
ground, the ground potential rises at the tower and a
voltage gradient will occur based on the resistivity of
the soil, resulting in a potential difference between two
points on the ground. This is called a Step Potential as it
can cause voltage between a persons feet.
For the step voltage, the current flows in from one foot,
passes through the body and flows out through the
other foot. The total resistance encountered is the body
resistance plus resistance of two feet in series.

Touch Potential: Voltage between energized object

and feet of a person
If the ground connection between the tower and the soil
is high resistance (common with some soil conditions),
the tower itself (and any conductive item touching the
tower) can be energized. Touch potential is the voltage
between the energized object and the feet of a person in
contact with the object.
Methods to Limit Step Potential and Touch Potential:
Step potentials and touch potentials can be reduced by employing one of the following methods:
1. By proving low resistance path to ground
2. By providing insulation layer between operating personnel and earth
3. By proper placing of ground conductors

Some of the methods employed to reduce step potential and touch potential in substation 
are:
4. Multi-grounded neutral helps to reduce the dangerous step potential and touch potential
during line-to-ground faults. By creating low impedance path back to the source, faults are
quickly cleared by fault interrupters.
5. Using a reactor on the substation transformer neutral helps to limit the step and touch
potentials. While utilities normally use the neutral reactors to limit the fault currents. the
reduction of ground fault currents also reduce the step and touch potentials and reduces
current in grounding and bonding connectors.
6. By wearing electric hazard shoes. These shoes when dry can have offer millions of ohms of
resistance which can save the operating personnel against these dangerous potentials. By
using insulating materials such as rubber gloves can protect the personnel.
7. By providing resistive surface layers in and around the substation. It is often provided with
the surface of crushed rock or pebbles which acts as insulation medium between the
operating personnel and earth.
Mesh Potential is the potential difference between the metallic object connected to the grid,
and the potential of the soil within the grid. It is significant because a person may be standing
inside the grid at a point with a large voltage relative to the grid itself
Thermoscan Images