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ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 Bus Bar Protection

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam

Control and Protection Division (STPG)

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Bus Bar Protection:

High/Low Impedance Stability.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High Impedance Bus bar Protection
Principles and Calculations:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
The equivalent circuit of this bus bar protection scheme would look
like the following:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

That is far too complicated for our purposes. We can combine 52-2 CT, 52-3 CT,
and 52-4 CT into one CT to simplify the circuit to look like the following:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

But we’re going to apply an external fault through two feeders to make it
easier to understand.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Any current flowing through the 52-1 CT (52-1CT IP1) is shown on the left
hand side of our two-feeder equivalent circuit below. The primary current
creates a magnetic field (Ie1, Ze1) that usually uses a small amount of current
to inject the secondary current (IS1) into the CT secondary circuit.

The secondary winding is made from a conductor that has resistance and is
coiled around a core to create inductance. That impedance is shown on the
drawing as ZCT1. The external conductors connecting the CT to the rest of the
circuit also have an impedance that is represented by ZL1.

Our high impedance busbar protective equipment has a 2000Ω impedance

represented by the Rs, 87, 87Z, and MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor) in the middle
of the circuit.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
The 52-2 CT has the same characteristics as the 52-1 CT, which is
represented on the right-hand side of the equivalent circuit. The CTs are
connected in parallel with all polarity marks connected to the same point so
that external faults theoretically cancel each other out, and internal faults
combine to create larger currents during a fault for shorter trip times.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

What Happens Inside a High Impedance Bus bar Protection Scheme
During an External Fault When One CT Saturates?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

This scenario is THE reason why busbar protection can’t use simple
instantaneous overcurrent elements (50). We have the same fault current as
the ideal example in the previous single line drawing, but the 52-2 CT has
saturated. The CT could have saturated because of:
 The DC Offset that commonly occurs during faults (You can get more
info in the What is DC Offset?).
 Residual magnetism in the CT (Remanence) from previous faults or
improper testing.
 Too much burden on the CT secondaries.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

A normal CT has a CT ratio (1200:5 in our example), which defines the
turns-ratio (240:1 in our example). When 20,000A flows through the 240
turns in a properly functioning CT:
A normally insignificant amount of excitation current is used to create a
magnetic field inside the CT to maintain the current transformation, and
83.33A is injected out of the CT secondary terminals. (The actual CT ratio
may be slightly higher than the reported 240:1 to compensate for the
excitation current losses.)
When a CT saturates, the magnetic field requires more current than normal
to maintain the current transformation, which means that there is less
current injected into the CT secondary circuit. We’re showing the worst case
scenario in our example where ALL of the primary current is used in the
magnetic field, and zero amps is injected into the CT secondaries.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
One hundred percent CT saturation is rare because the waveform becomes
distorted when a CT saturates (as shown below), and most CTs will have
varying degrees of saturation throughout a cycle, which makes the math in our
equivalent circuit extremely difficult. Therefore, most high impedance bus bar
differential protection calculations use extremes to make the math easier.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High Impedance Bus bar Differential Protection Maximum
Voltage Calculation:

The high impedance differential bus bar protection has an impedance of

2000Ω. That means that the current will want to flow around the outside of
the equivalent circuit because the outside circuit has a lower impedance path
during external faults. When 52-2 CT fully saturates, its magnetic field
impedance is effectively 0.00Ω. Let’s see what that does to our equivalent
circuit.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

We can combine the ZCT1 and ZL1 impedance to get Z1 = 0.5Ω (0.387Ω + 0.113Ω).
Then we can simplify the ZL2, ZCT2, and Ze2 impedances to get Z2 = 0.5Ω (0.387Ω +
0.113Ω + 0.00Ω).
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
We can combine the Z2 and Z87 impedances to get 0.5Ω (2000Ω*0.5Ω / (2000Ω+0.5Ω)).

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The equivalent circuit impedance for the 52-1 CT is 1.0Ω when 52-2 CT is
saturating. Using Ohm’s Law, the voltage across 52-1 CT’s magnetic field
with 83.33A of fault current is 83.33V.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Anyone designing or creating settings for a high impedance bus bar
differential protection scheme should calculate the maximum
voltage that will be applied during an external fault with a 100%
saturated CT as we just did in our example. We will use this
maximum voltage to make sure that the CTs are sized appropriately
for the application. Our CTs must operate normally with a
secondary voltage of 83.33V.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High Impedance Bus bar Differential Protection Minimum Allowable
CT Saturation Voltage Calculation:

High impedance bus bar differential protection will not work properly if the
CTs are not sized correctly for the connected circuit. We calculated that the
voltage across the non-saturated CT, when another CT saturates, is 83.33V.
Any CT with a saturation voltage greater than 83.33V should work correctly
in our example. However, electrical engineers should always err on the side of
caution when designing protection schemes; so we usually double the high
impedance bus bar differential protection maximum voltage calculation to
determine the minimum CT saturation voltage to make sure that the CTs are
adequately sized for the application. Our CTs should operate normally when
166.66V (2 * 83.33V) appears across the secondary terminals to be safe.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

CT Ratings:

A protection class CT is usually defined

by its ratio, accuracy, construction, and
burden.
We’ve already discussed the CT ratio
(1200:5 in our example).
If you look back to the single line
drawing, you’ll see that there was
another designation beside the CTs
(C200).

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

This designation defines:

 The accuracy class in percent (10% if no number appears in front

of the letter).
 How the CT was constructed using a letter (C = Minimum
leakage flux and CT performance can be calculated).
 The burden and saturation voltage in volts (200).

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

How can a voltage define the burden, you might ask? All standard
protection class CT ratings are valid between 1 to 20x nominal
current. If our CT’s have 5A nominal secondary currents, they are
allowed to be +/-10% accurate between 5 and 100A secondary. If the
maximum burden is 200V, we can apply Ohm’s Law to determine
that the maximum impedance connected to the CT secondaries is
2.0Ω (200V / 100A). That’s the standard calculation that ALL CT
testers should know and apply when they are performing their CT
tests. Did you?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

All protection class CTs also have a saturation curve like the graph
below. The 200 in our rating means that if the voltage across the CT’s
magnetic field is greater than 200V, the CT is no longer guaranteed to
operate within its 10% error. 200V is greater than 166.66V (our
minimum allowable CT saturation voltage), so the CTs in our example
are appropriate for our application.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Determine CT Excitation Current:

We can use the CT saturation curve to see how much excitation

current will be used to maintain the current transformation at 83.33V
with these steps:
 Start by drawing a horizontal line from 83.33V until you reach the
1200:5 curve.
 Then draw a vertical line to the secondary excitation current x-
axis.
 Determine the excitation current using the log scale on the x-axis
(0.035A).

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
It is important to remember that this curve is a generic one, which gives an
approximation of what the CT characteristic should be, and not what
it actually is. Our class C CTs have a +/- 10% accuracy rating and when we
get numbers from this curve, there may be significant differences between
the information we calculate or obtain from the graph compared to actual
CT operation. We would have to isolate every CT in the circuit and measure
their performance to get exact performance numbers; or the design engineer
could order a special class X CT where the performance characteristics are
built and measured to ensure they meet exacting specifications.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Every high impedance bus bar differential scheme should use class X CTs
with exacting specifications to make sure we don’t get false trips due to CT
mismatch. If you use class X CTs, you don’t have to worry that your CTs
from the 1980s might not have the same operating characteristics as the new
feeder CTs added to the scheme in the 2010s; they should have almost
identical operating characteristics. The same CAN NOT be said for standard
class C CTs.
We don’t have the luxury of class X CTs in our example, so we’re going to
use the excitation current (0.035A) we measured from the graph for all
future calculations. The excitation voltage across the CTs will be less under
normal conditions, but we don’t want to constantly go back and forth to this
chart for every scenario. The chart states that the excitation current won’t
exceed 25%; so let’s use 0.035A (our number from the graph) for CT1 and
0.044A (0.035 * 1.25) for CT2.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
What Happens Inside a High Impedance Bus bar Protection
Scheme During an External Fault Without CT Saturation?

The following single line

shows an external fault with
CTs that are functioning as
per the excitation graph.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

We have 20,000A flowing into the primaries of the CTs in the opposite
direction. A perfect CT would send 83.33A into the secondary circuit, but
the CTs’ magnetic field requires some current to make the current
transformation (0.035A and 0.044A); so the actual CT output is 83.295A
for 52-1 CT, and 83.286A for 52-2 CT. (The CT would normally have
some hidden turns added to compensate for the excitation current.) The
difference in CT secondaries creates a differential current of 0.009A that
flows through the high impedance bus bar differential circuit. We can
apply Ohm’s Law to calculate 18.00V across the 87Z high impedance
bus bar protection circuit. This means that the 87Z pickup setting must be
greater than 18.00V to prevent mis-operations during external faults.
(The differential current would likely be higher in the real world due to
CT mismatch.)
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
What should the high impedance bus bar differential voltage setting be?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 High Impedance Bus bar Differential Protection Minimum Pickup
Setting Calculation:
The high impedance busbar differential protection scheme’s minimum
pickup setting is calculated using our first scenario with the saturated CT.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

We can re-organize and simplify the equivalent circuit to:

How much voltage is across the 87Z element in this scenario?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
The 87Z element is in parallel with Z2. The 87Z circuit has a much higher impedance
compared to the Z2 impedance, which makes the equivalent impedance almost 0.5Ω.
We can use Ohm’s Law to calculate that there will be 41.65V (83.295A * 0.5Ω) across
Z2 and 87Z during this scenario. Remember, we DO NOT want the relay to trip for
external faults; so the setting should be higher than 41.65V.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
Let’s imagine that we set the relay to 50V. We can calculate how much
differential current will cause the relay to trip under normal conditions
using Ohm’s Law. The 87Z is 2000Ω in our example with a 50V setting.
That means that 0.025A (50V / 2000Ω) of differential current will cause
the relay to trip. This setting might be OK with class X CTs with specific
operating characteristics, but we will probably get a false trip with normal
class C CTs, especially if we have different vintages of CTs in our high
impedance bus bar differential circuit.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Most design engineers add a safety factor starting at 1.5x the
minimum setting to account for potential increases in fault current.
We will increase the setting by a factor of two and then round up to
100V. This means that the differential current caused by CT mismatch
(0.05A or 100V/2000Ω) must be twice our previous setting, or higher,
to cause a mis-operation during normal conditions or through-faults.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

What Happens Inside a High Impedance Bus bar Protection Scheme
During an Internal Fault With One Source?
Here is a single line displaying what happens during an internal fault.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

We have 20,000A flowing into the 52-1 CT which should equal 83.333A
flowing out of its secondary terminals. However, the CT needs excitation
current to create secondary current. If we use our previously calculated
0.035A for this scenario (that amount would not technically apply here, but
we need to pick something and I don’t want to do more math for such a
small amount of current), 83.295A should flow out of the CT secondaries.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Since the 52-2 CT has zero amps flowing in the primary windings, zero
amps should flow out of the secondaries. Without a magnetic field
however, the 52-2 CT’s secondary winding is just a bunch of coiled
wire with a low impedance. The 52-1 CT secondary current will want to
flow through the low impedance in the 52-2 CT secondaries, but once a
small amount of current (0.044A from our previous example) starts flowing
in the secondary circuit, a magnetic field will be created and the CT will try
to maintain its turns-ratio. Zero amps of the primary should equal zero
amps on the secondary minus the excitation current. Once the magnetic
field is built, the 52-2 CT secondaries will become an open circuit (like it
does when you perform your saturation and ratio tests) and the remaining
current will flow through the 87Z circuit because it will now have a lower
impedance.
ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
Using Ohm’s Law, 83.251A through 2000Ω should create 166,502V.
The MOV will protect the secondary circuits from damage by limiting
the possible voltage to a number much smaller than 166,502V, but the
secondary voltage could rise to the system voltage without the MOV.
Either way, it is extremely unlikely that the voltage will reach those
heights because the CT should start saturating at 200V.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The CT is guaranteed to saturate during an internal fault and will
produce a waveform that looks like this:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Our relay better be able to operate when this waveform appears; so it is
often beneficial to use a single-purpose relay for a high impedance busbar
differential relay scheme to minimize the trip time. Some digital relays need
extra time to measure, apply filters, and analyze the waveform before they
can operate, which may mean that the fault may stay on the system longer
than necessary. The longer a fault stays on the system, the greater potential
for system de-stabilization, which could cause a larger system outage than
necessary.
The voltage during an internal fault should always be larger than our setting
and the relay should trip in the shortest time possible.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

What Happens Inside a High Impedance Busbar Protection Scheme
During an Internal Fault With Multiple Sources?
Most distribution busses have multiple sources and we should look at this
scenario to see what happens:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The CT secondary currents are headed in the same direction in
this scenario and will combine at the 87Z circuit to theoretically
produce 333,162V (166.581A * 2000Ω). Both CTs will drive the
highest voltage they can while in parallel, which will trip the
relay.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 Conclusion:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The dirty little secret about all forms of differential protection is that we know
the relay will trip for all internal faults. When we’re designing and testing
differential schemes, we’re primarily concerned with making sure the relay
will NOT trip during external faults. Did you notice that all of the important
calculations above occurred during external fault scenarios? Have you noticed
that most differential tests try to find the point where the relay will operate
during an external fault (currents 180° apart), instead of applying single
source or multiple source fault in the same direction?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High impedance differential schemes can filter out non-sinusoidal
differential current that occurs when CTs saturate during external
faults, but they cannot filter out true error caused by CT mismatch.
Therefore, it is important that you use class X CTs when you are
designing high impedance differential schemes, and that you are
aware that CT mismatch can cause mis-operations when using
standard protection class CTs.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

I hope this article helped you better understand high
impedance differential schemes.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High Impedance Differential Scheme Testing:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
High impedance differential relays are some of the easiest relays to test.

1. Isolate the relay from the trip circuit and voltage inputs.
2. Connect your test-set voltage channel across the relay AC input.
3. Connect your test-set sensing input to the relay trip output.
4. Perform an overvoltage pickup test.
5. Perform an overvoltage timing test.
6. Return the relay to service.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The only thing you really need to be concerned with is that many high
impedance differential relays have contacts applied in parallel with the
voltage input like the external ones shown in the previous drawing. These
contacts short the voltage inputs when the relay operates to help prevent high
voltages in the circuit. From your test-set’s perspective, a high impedance
load has suddenly changed to a short-circuit that overloads the channel. You
may have to get creative to find out what voltage was applied before the
overload, depending on how your test-set handles voltage channel overloads.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High Impedance Differential Scheme Basics

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

how tap and slope characteristics can compensate for:
 different voltage classes,
 different CT ratios,
 different CT accuracy classes,
 and phase shifts on either side of the protected device

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

We can apply the same principles to buss protection as shown in the
following diagram:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

This scheme can protect a buss, but we have some new concerns that
must be addressed:
 What happens when we want to add a feeder to the buss and there
aren’t enough inputs to the relay?
 There are a lot of calculations involved in traditional differential
protection that add time before the relay can trip. We want the
relay to trip as fast as possible.
 Generators and transformers have built-in current limiting
characteristics that aren’t found in busses. (CT saturation is much
more likely to occur in buss faults.)

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

High impedance differential protection can help with all of these problems,
but first we need to apply some rules:
 All CT’s connected to the high impedance differential must have the same:
o Ratio
o Accuracy class
o Construction, or operating properties
 All the CT’s must be connected in parallel
 The point where all the CTs tie together should be equidistant from all CTs
 The burden rating/saturation voltage must be sized appropriately
 No other equipment can be connected to the CT outputs

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Once we apply all of the rules, our high impedance differential protection scheme
starts to look like the following diagram:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

This scheme is the example used in Application Guidelines for
Microprocessor-Based, High-Impedance Bus Differential Relays (Stanley E.
Zocholl and David Costello, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.). The
87 relay was initially a simple overcurrent relay when a 20,000A fault current
was applied. They measured the following current through the relay:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

That’s a lot of differential current! But it’s not sinusoidal. Actually, it looks
a lot like the differential current (Idiff) in a saturated CT as shown in this
graph from Considerations for Using High-Impedance or Low-Impedance
Relays for Bus Differential Protection (Ken Behrendt, David Costello, and
Stanley E. Zocholl Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.)

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
A stabilizing resistance was added in series with the overcurrent element to
create a high impedance differential scheme as shown below:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Can you guess what happens to the current after we add the stabilizing resistor?
If we apply Ohm’s Law, 160A * 2000Ω = 320,000V across the 87Z element.
That can’t be right, can it?
The following graph shows what happened after the resistor was added to the
circuit.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Where did all that current go? This introduces a concept that doesn’t have a clear answer
in textbooks or papers. Here are some explanations:
 “To improve security during external faults, we add a large stabilizing resistance in
series with the low-impedance overcurrent relay. This reduces the differential current
to a milliamp level and allows the secondary current to flow between the
CTs.” Application Guidelines for Microprocessor-Based, High-Impedance Bus
Differential Relays (Stanley E. Zocholl and David Costello, Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories, Inc.)
 “… a high-impedance relay unit… tends to force the false-differential currents
through the current transformers rather than the relay operating coil.” Applied
Protective Relaying (1979 Westinghouse Electric Corporation)
 “This scheme loads the CTs with a high-impedance to force the error differential
current through the CTs instead of the relay operating coil.” Protective Relaying:
Principles and Applications Second Edition (J. Lewis Blackburn)

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Other papers and textbooks refer to this differential current as the “slush”
or “spill” currents. However, I don’t think they mean the sinusoidal
differential current caused by CT mismatch. I think they mean the non-
sinusoidal currents that occur when CTs saturate. If a CT saturates, the
normally high, non-sinusoidal currents will find the shortest path home.
2000Ω is a much higher impedance than the CT secondary circuits around
it because the current is flowing in the same direction during an external
fault. This means the non-sinusoidal currents will find a path through the
CT secondary currents instead of the differential circuit.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
Differential current still flows through the differential circuit, but it is the normal
sinusoidal differential current created by CT mismatch.
A high impedance differential relay can have a current setting that monitors the current
through the 87 element. In this case, the setting must be higher than 0.016Arms (peak *
0.707 = 0.022 * 0.707), otherwise the relay will trip for a fault outside the zone of
protection as per the measurements in the example.
The high impedance element can also be set in voltage. The voltage measured by the 87Z
element is 32V (0.016A * 2000Ω). This means the 87Z setting must be greater than 32V
or the relay will trip during faults outside the zones of protection. (Both settings should
be much higher. We’ll cover what the setting should be in the next post about high
impedance differential protection.)
Some high impedance differential relays are actually current relays that use Ohm’s Law to
create a setting in volts.
What happens if the fault is inside the zone of protection?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
In this situation, the current flowing into the zone of protection doesn’t
equal the current flowing out. The secondary currents aren’t mostly
cancelling each other out like they were in an external fault; they are both
pushing in the same direction and looking for the lowest impedance path
home. In this case, the internal impedances of the CTs are acting as open-
circuits (more on this in the next post); so the CTs try to push current
through the 2000Ω resistor. 166.66A through a 2000Ω resistor is
333,320V. The CTs probably won’t be able to generate 333,320V, but the
secondary voltage can theoretically rise to the system voltage.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

The system voltage (or 333,320V) is probably a little higher than the CT saturation voltage;
so the CTs will start to saturate immediately. The relay won’t be looking at the saturation
differential current we showed you earlier; it will see something like the red line in the
following graph:

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

This waveform shape can cause problems and time delays with digital
relays that must measure the voltage/current input, analyze the waveform,
and then evaluate whether to trip, or not. This can create extra time between
the fault inception and the relay operation that doesn’t happen with a solid-
state, or single-feature high impedance differential relay. High impedance
differential relay applications may be one of the few instances where you
might be better off installing the simplest relay possible.
System voltage can cause a lot of damage to the wiring and equipment
typically installed with CT secondaries! An MOV or other non-linear
resistor is always applied in parallel high impedance differential schemes to
limit the amount of voltage applied to the secondary circuit. When the
CT’s saturate, the non-linear resistor will clip the voltage peaks to keep the
secondary voltage at reasonable levels.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

In the end, our high impedance differential scheme will look like the
following diagram with:
 A stabilizing resistor (Rs) to force the false-differential currents through
the CTs instead of the differential circuit
 A current detection unit (87) or voltage detection unit (87Z) set to trip if
the differential current or voltage is greater than its setpoint
 An MOV to limit the possible voltage created across the differential
circuit
 An 86 contact that will close after the relay trips to ensure no dangerous
voltages are applied to the secondary circuit. It can also allow overcurrent
functions inside the relay to operate other protective elements, such as
breaker fail, if required

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.
I hope you’ll read the next post in this series to learn more about high
impedance busbar protection where we explain why 32V/0.016A would
be terrible settings for this relay.
We will really dig into the math while looking at the following topics in
the next high impedance differential scheme post:
 What size CT should you use?
 What happens inside the circuit during an external fault when one or
more CTs saturate?
 What happens inside the circuit during an internal fault?
 What happens inside the circuit during an internal fault when one or
more CTs saturate?

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 Bus bar Protection:

FL ,

Ism
Where n is number of pralled

Vs
Vs could be talked with enough margin
CT knee point voltage must be >4 Vs (Vk> 4Vs)

Stabilising Resistor Rs

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

Metrosil Resistor calculation:

Vp

Vf

If Vp>3 KV metrosil limiter will be required.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

CT supervision Relay:

Vs

Zm , R= Rs + R relay

= 10% from smallest current or 25A primary

Vs

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

BBP: CTR 1250/1A, Vk=515, Im= magnetizing current= 17,2 mA
Rct= 4.04Ω, CT class= PX, 2RL=0.46
33KV, 50Hz, 3ɸ, 25KA – 3 sec.
Max load current= 1250A, min fault level =17.66KA 3ɸ,
min fault level =14.95KA ɸ-1,
Parallel CTs =3, recommended P.V of sett=3 ˂307 of min FL
And > FL current, Ifl =350

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 FL =1.2*350= 420 A

Ism

Vs

With enough margin 120V

(Vk> 4Vs) ------- (515> 4*120) ------ (515> 480)

Stabilising Resistor Rs =400Ω

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

 Metrosil Resistor calculation: Vp

Vf

Vp = 5587 V

If Vp>3 KV metrosil limiter will be required.

Vp =5587> 3000 V metrosil Resistor limiter required.

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

CT supervision Relay:

Vs
Zm = =29942 Ω

R= Rs + R relay =400 Ω
= 10% from smallest current or 25A primary

Vs =7.89 V

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.

THANK YOU

ENG. YOUSIF ISHAG MOHAMED ELIMAM, STPG PROTECTION SECTION.