Motor Protection

Engr. Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh

Lecturer(EE) 1
 Introduction
• Three phase motors can be classified into two types: induction and synchronous.
• An induction motor consists of two parts: the stator and the rotor. The stator core is
built of sheet-steel laminations that are supported in a frame. The windings are placed
in the stator slots 120 electrical degrees apart. Windings may be connected in “star”
(or wye) or delta configuration.
• The rotor of the induction motor is made of a laminated core with conductors placed
parallel to the shaft. The rotor conductors are embedded in the surface of the core, and
are not insulated from the core, because rotor currents follow the “least resistance”
path. The rotor conductors are shorted by end rings at both ends.
• Any motor failure will have the following cost contributors: repair or replacement,
removal, installation and loss of production.
• Most of the motor failure contributors and failed motor components are related to
motor overheating.
• Thermal stress can potentially cause the failure of all the major motor parts: Stator,
Rotor, Bearings, Shaft and Frame.

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 Motor protection overview
• There are two main risks for an overheated motor: Stator windings insulation
degradation and rotor conductors deforming or melting.
• Insulation lifetime decreases by half if the motor operating temperature exceeds
thermal limit by 10ºC.
• There are several conditions that can result in damage of three-phase motors. These
damages are a result of operating conditions or internal or external faults.
• External faults and operating conditions include under voltage, asymmetrical loading,
phase and ground faults on the motor feeder and overloading during starting and
running operation.
• Internal faults include ground faults, faults between windings and inter-turn faults.

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 Motor faults
• Motor faults or abnormal operating conditions can be traced back to (and
consequently the protection must recognize):
– Overload;
– Short-circuit;
– Ground fault;
– Too long starting;
– Locked rotor running;
– Unbalanced load;
– Excessive number of starts.

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 Different protection functions
• The anomalous operating conditions can be identified with different protection
functions which can also be a reserve for each other, for example short-circuit can be
identified using overcurrent protections and/or differential protections. The protection
functions to be provided for a motor are:
• relay 49: thermal image protection against overload;
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH70_pM2TEM
• relay 50: overcurrent short-circuit protection (which can be in association with the fuses);
• relay 87M: differential protection;
• relay 51G: overcurrent ground fault protection;
• relay 48: overcurrent protection against prolonged starting;
• relay 51LR: overcurrent protection against locked rotor during running;
• relay 46: negative sequence overcurrent protection;
• relay 66: number of starts control protection.

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 Overload Protection
• Three-phase motors are designed in such a way that overloads must be kept below the
machine thermal damage limit. The motor thermal limits curves consist of three
distinct segments, which are based on the three running conditions of the motor: the
locked rotor or stall condition, motor acceleration and motor running overload.
• The primary protective element of the motor protection relay is the thermal
overload element, and this is accomplished through motor thermal image modeling.
• This model must account for all thermal processes in the motor while motor is
starting, running at normal load, running overloaded and if motor is stopped.

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 Differential Protection
This protection function is mostly used to protect induction and synchronous motors
against phase-to-phase faults. This function requires two sets of CT’s, one at beginning
of the motor feeder, and the other at the star point.
Differential protection may be considered the first line of protection for internal
phase to phase or phase to ground faults. In the event of such faults, the quick response
of the differential element may limit the damage that may have otherwise occurred to
the motor.
The differential protection function can only be used if both sides of each stator
phase are brought out of the motor for external connection such that the phase current
going into and out of each phase can be measured. The differential element subtracts
the current coming out of each phase from the current going into each phase and
compares the result or difference with the differential pickup level. If this difference is
equal to or greater then the pickup level a trip will occur.

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 Ground fault Protection
Damage to a phase conductor’s insulation and internal shorts due to moisture within
the motor are common causes of ground faults.
A strategy that is typically used to limit the level of the ground fault current is to
connect an impedance between the neutral point of the motor and ground. This
impedance can be in the form of a resistor or grounding transformer sized to ensure that
the maximum ground fault current is limited to a level that will reduce the chances of
damage to the motor.
There are several ways by which a ground fault can be detected. The most desirable
method is to use the zero sequence CT approach, which is considered the best method
of ground fault detection methods due to its sensitivity and inherent noise immunity.
All phase conductors are passed through the window of a single CT referred to as a
zero sequence CT. Under normal circumstances, the three phase currents will sum to
zero resulting in an output of zero from the zero sequence CT’s secondary.

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 Ground fault Protection
If one of the motor’s phases were shorted to ground, the sum of the phase currents
would no longer equal zero causing a current to flow in the secondary of the zero
sequence CT. This current would be detected by the motor relay as a ground fault.

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 Unbalance Protection
Unbalanced load in the case of AC motors is mainly the result of an unbalance of the
power supply voltages.
The negative-sequence reactance of the three-phase motor is 5 to 7 times smaller
than positive-sequence reactance, and even a small unbalance in the power supply
will cause high negative sequence currents.
For example for an induction motor with a staring current six times the full load
current, a negative sequence voltage component of 1% corresponds to a negative
sequence current component of 6%.
The negative-sequence current induces a field in the rotor, which rotates in the
opposite direction to the mechanical direction and causes additional temperature rise.
Main causes of current unbalance are; system voltage distortion and unbalance, stator
turn-to-turn faults, blown fuses, loose connections, as well as faults.

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 Short Circuit
The short circuit element provides protection for excessively high overcurrent faults.
When a motor starts, the starting current (which is typically 6 times the Full Load
Current) has asymmetrical components.
These asymmetrical currents may cause one phase to see as much as 1.7 times the
RMS starting current.
As a result the pickup of the short circuit element must be set higher than the
maximum asymmetrical starting currents seen by the phase CTs to avoid nuisance
tripping. The breaker or contactor that the relay is to control under such conditions
must have an interrupting capacity equal to or greater than the maximum available
fault current.

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 Under voltage
If an induction motor operating at full load is subjected to an under-voltage
condition, full load speed and efficiency will decrease and the power factor, full load
current and temperature will increase.
The under-voltage element can be considered as backup protection for the thermal
overload element. If the voltage decreases, the current will increase, causing an
overload trip.
In some cases, if an under-voltage condition exists it may be desirable to trip the
motor faster than the overload element. The overall result of an under-voltage
condition is an increase in current and motor heating and a reduction in overall motor
performance.

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 Over voltage
When the motor is running in an overvoltage condition, slip will decrease as it is
inversely proportional to the square of the voltage and efficiency will increase slightly.
The power factor will decrease because the current being drawn by the motor will
decrease and temperature rise will decrease because the current has decreased
(based on I2t). As most new motors are designed close to the saturation point ,
increasing the V/HZ ratio could cause saturation of air gap flux causing heating The
overall result of an overvoltage condition is an increase in current and motor heating
and a reduction in overall motor performance.

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 Mechanical Jam
The mechanical jam element is designed to operate for running load jams due to
worn motor bearings, load mechanical breakage and driven load process failure.
This element is used to disconnect the motor on abnormal overload conditions
before motor stalls.
In terms of relay operation, the Mechanical Jam element prevents the motor from
reaching 100% of its thermal capacity while a Mechanical Jam is detected. It helps to
avoid mechanical breakage of the driven load and reduce start inhibit waiting time.

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 Load loss detection
Undercurrent protection is useful for indicating the loss of suction in a pump
application, or a broken belt in a conveyor application. The second method of load loss
detection is to use of the under-power protection element.

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Thank You