ICT/REACTOR

PROTECTION

Mahendra S Hada
POWERGRID
Transformer Protection
Type of Fault

• Incipient faults

• Internal faults

• External fault
Transformer Protection
Cause of Fault

1. Insulation Breakdown
2. Phase to phase and Phase to Ground Fault
3. Reduced Cooling
4. Over heating due to over-excitation
5. Oil contamination and leakage
6. Aging of Insulation
7. Turn to Turn Fault
8. Overload Protection
Transformer Protection
Insulation Breakdown

Main causes of this are

• Aging of insulation due to over temperature during long
time.
• Contaminated oil.
• Corona discharges in the insulation.
• Transient over-voltages due to thunderstorms or switching
in the network.
• Current forces on the windings due to external faults with
high current.
• Insulation Breakdown of the windings will cause short
circuits and /or earth faults.
• These faults causes severe damaging on the windings and
the transformer core
Transformer Protection
Phase to Phase Fault

• Short circuits between the phases will give rise to

substantial fault current only limited by the source
impedance and the leakage impedance of the
transformer

Phase to Ground Fault

• When the faults current flows through earth return

path, the fault is called ground fault.
Transformer Protection
Turn to Turn Fault

• Turn to turn faults between a few turns is difficult to

detect by current measuring relays. Fault current is of
the order of rated current when 2 to 4% of the turns
are short circuited.
• The current in the short circuited loop is high (50-100
times In) and causes local damage and release of
gas.
• Therefore rate of rise of pressure relay may detect
this fault.
Transformer Protection
Ageing of Insulation

• Aging of insulation is a function of time and

temperature.

• Part of the winding operated at highest temperature

undergoes greatest deterioration.

• Improved cooling of transformer helps avoid

accelerated aging of the insulation.
Transformer Protection
Overheating
• The overexcited transformer flux is forced through
metal tank and other unlaminated parts of the
transformer and result in heating up.
• To get correct representation V/Hz relay should be
connected to PT measuring voltage of an untapped
transformer winding.

Oil Contamination and Leakage

• Quality of oil should be checked to ensure dielectric
strength at site.
• Silica gel breather helps avoid moisture.
• Oil level monitored to avoid breakdown of
Transformer Protection
Protection Relays: General Practise

• Differential relays
• Restricted Earth Fault relays
• Backup Over current/Earth Fault relays
• Backup Impedance Relays
• Over fluxing relays
• Buchholz
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection

This protection is generally called as

• Most of the Differential relays are Current differential
Relay “ UNIT PROTECTION”

BASIC requirement:
• The Differential Relay must not operate for load (or)
external fault
• The relay must operate for severe enough internal
fault
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection
It compares the current entering the transformer with the
current leaving the transformer
• If they are equal there is no fault inside the zone of
protection
• If they are not equal it means that a fault occurs
between the two ends
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection
Transformer differential relays are subject to several
factors that can cause miss- operation
• Different voltage levels, including taps, that result in
different primary currents in the connecting circuits
• Possible mismatch of ratios among different current
transformers.
 For units with ratio-changing taps, mismatch can
also occur on the taps. Current transformer
performance is different, particularly at high
currents
• Magnetizing inrush currents, which the differential
relay sees as internal faults
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection

To prevent miss-
operation percentage
characteristics are
used, with line current
Operating zone
restraint
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: ALSTOM P643/P645
Id/Iref

fe tic
`
ed
de is
si er
e ct
gl ra
in ha
rs tC
Fo ul
Fa = 0.8
k2
TRIPPING

.2
Is1/Iref= 0.2 k1=0 BLOCKING

Is2/Iref= 1.5 Ir/Iref

Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: SIEMENS/7UT613
Idiff
In
s tic
i
ter
c
a ra
Ch
u lt
Fa
1231
I-DIFF>>
TRIPPING 43 BLOCKING
12 e 2
op
S1l 241
1
Slope ADD-ON
1221
STABILISATION
I-DIFF>
Irest
1242 1244 In
Base Point 1 Base Point 2
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: ABB/RET670
Operate
Current

Operate Unconditionally

Operate Conditionally
Slope Section3
Section1 Section2 Section3
Restrain
Idmin
Slope Section2
End Section1 Retrain
Current

End Section2
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: Harmonic Restraint
• Since magnetizing inrush current has a high harmonic
content, particularly the second harmonic, this second
harmonic can be used to restrain and thus desensitize
a relay during energization.
• The method of harmonic restraint is not without its
problems.
• There must be enough restraint to avoid relay
operation on inrush, without making the relay
insensitive to internal faults that may also have some
harmonic content
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: Zero Sequence Filter
• Zero sequence current will flow in the differential
circuit for external ground faults on the wye side of a
grounded wye-delta bank; if the current transformers
were connected in wye, the relays would miss-
operate.
• With the current transformers connected in delta, the
zero sequence current circulates inside the current
transformers, preventing relay miss- operation
Transformer Protection
Differential Protection: Zero Sequence Filter
Transformer Protection
Over Excitation
• Over-excitation occurs when volts per hertz level rises
(V/Hz) above the rated value
• This may occur from
o Load rejection (generator transformers)
o Malfunctioning of voltage and reactive support
elements
• The voltage rise at nominal frequency causes the V/Hz to
rise
• This causes the transformer core to saturate and thereby
increase the magnetizing current.
• The increased magnetizing current contains 5th harmonic
component
• This magnetizing current causes the differential element to
pickup
Transformer Protection
Over Excitation
U/F % Timer Time Setting
110 T1 9000 secs
118 T2 90 secs
126 T3 49.5 secs
134 T4 18 secs
142 T5 4 secs
150 T6 1 sec
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault
• A percentage differential relay has a certain minimum
value of pick up for internal faults. Faults with current
below this value are not detected by the relay.

• Winding-to-core faults, which are single phase to

ground type, involving high resistance, fall in this
category. Therefore for such type of faults
RESTRICTED EARTH FAULT PROTECTION is used.
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault
• An external fault in the star side will result in current
flowing in the line CT of the affected phase and at the
same time a balancing current flows in the NCT,
hence the resultant current in the relay is therefore
zero. So this REF relay will not be actuated for
external earth fault.
• But during internal fault the NCT only carries the
unbalance fault current and operation of Restricted
Earth Fault Relay takes place. This scheme of REF
protection is very sensitive for internal earth fault of
electrical power transformer.
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: Setting Criteria
• The stability of a high impedance differential scheme
depends upon the relay circuit setting voltage being
greater than the maximum voltage which can appear
across the relay circuit under a given through fault
condition (i.e. external fault)
• This voltage can be determined by means of a simple
calculation which makes the following assumptions:
 One CT is fully saturated making its excitation
impedance negligible;
 The resistance of the secondary winding of the saturated
CT together with the leads connecting it to the relay
circuit terminals constitutes the only burden in parallel
with the relay;
 The remaining CT’s maintain their ratio.
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: Setting Criteria
• The minimum stability voltage is given by:
Vs = If x (Rct + Rl)

Vs = relay circuit setting voltage (stability voltage)

If = the maximum primary through fault current
Rct = CT secondary winding resistance
Rl = the maximum lead loop resistance

For stability, the relay circuit setting voltage should be

made equal to or exceed this calculated value
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: CT Requirement
• Current transformers for high impedance protection
should be specified in accordance with IEC60044.
The basic requirements are:
 All the current transformers should have identical
turns ratios;
 The knee point voltage Vk of the current
transformers should be at least twice the relay
voltage setting.
Vk > 2Vs
 The current transformers should be of the low
leakage reactance type.
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: Stabilising Resistor
• If the relay used in the scheme has a low burden, then
a series setting resistor will be required to provide the
relay circuit setting voltage for stability. Assuming the
relay burden is very small (can be neglected) and the
setting resistor value is then given by:

Rs = Vs / Is

• The stabilising resistor is an important component in

the scheme and should be selected to ensure that it
performs reliably for all operational conditions
Transformer Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: Non-linear Resistor
• To protect the CT’s, the secondary wiring, and the
relay from damage due to excessively high voltages,
a non-linear resistor is connected in parallel with the
relay circuit if the peak voltage would exceed 3kV. If
the calculated peak voltage is less than 3kV it is not
necessary to employ a non-linear resistor.

Vpk = 2 x (2Vk x [Vfs-Vk])1/2

Vpk = peak value of the voltage waveform
Vfs = value of voltage that would appear if CT did not saturate
Vfs = Ifs x (Rr + Rs)
Rr = relay resistance
Reactor Protection
Restricted Earth Fault: Setting Example
• Reactor Capacity = 240MVAr
• Rated Voltage = 765kV
• CT Ratio = 300/1
• Full Load Current = 181.1 Amp
• Worst through fault = 6 * Full load current
= 1086.8 Amp
= 3.62 Amp (Sec)
• REF Current pickup = 15% of Full load current
= 27.17Amp
= 0.091Amp (Sec)
• Loop Resistance(Rct+2*Rl) = 5Ω
• Voltage developed(Vs) = Max Fault Current * Loop
Resistance
= 3.62*4.5 = 16.30 V
• Stabilizing Resistor(Rs) = Vs/Is
= 16.30/.091 = 180 Ω