protection and control, part 1
TRANSCRIPT
VePi NewslettersThe Electrical Power Systems Division The
Protection & Control section Number: 1 Introduction:
In this coverage of power systems protection, the subject is
divided into three major parts. The first part will cover an
overview of power systems protection including an introduction to
the other major components, beside the relays, that constitute an
operative protection system. The second part will cover the
hardware aspect of the subject and the third will cover the
calculations, testing, setting of the protective relays. Also, it
will cover the sizing of breaking devices and the typical
protection schemes of transformers (power and distribution),
feeders, bus and motors. The presentation coverage will end by a
few numerical examples to emphasize the previously given protective
principles.
Protective relays are mostly installed in switchgear assemblies or
may be found in relay panels. The assembly will be divided into
compartments to accommodate the different equipment and devices.
The switchgear assembly will contain the circuit breakers and/or
load break switches plus power/current limiting fuses and/or
disconnect switches plus the instrument transformers (current and
voltage feeding the relays and meters) and control power
transformer. These assemblies will contain also the following
accessories (to complete the operative system): the test switches
(which come in a variety of designs to suit the different
applications) to isolate the relays from their transformers, assist
in testing the relays and provide the necessary protection
(shortening) of the current transformers terminals, terminal blocks
that come in different designs, current/voltage ratings, materials
of the insulation and screws/clamps to suit the diversified
requirements, the control wires, control circuit protection fuses
or molded case (or miniature) circuit breakers and power supply
(d.c. batteries or control power transformers) to operate the
breaking devices, provide indications locally, and supply the
auxilliary (supply) voltage to solid state/microprocessor based
relays.
Circuit breakers:
If circuit breakers are used in low voltage installations, the
protective devices will be an integral part of it; if switches are
used, then the protective devices will be separate and protection
is provided by fuses. Low voltage circuit breakers can be divided
broadly into molded case and power (air magnetic). In molded case
breakers, the protective device against overcurrent and short
circuit is provided by thermal-magnetic or electronic (solid state)
inegral protective device. With power breakers, the most commonly
used configurations will have the protective device as integral one
with the breaker. Some designs will have current transformers
(sensors) and relays separate from the breakers. The functions of
the protective devices vary according to the user requirements and
protective philosophy. In medium voltage installations, the most
common configurations will have separate protective devices (relays
or fuses) from circuit breakers or switches, though some designs of
circuit breakers may have integral protective devices (sensors and
relays). For integral protection from undervoltage conditions, the
breakers may be supplied with under voltage releases. The standards
that govern the design and testing of circuit breakers are either
the ANSI C37 or the IEC 56 series. The ANSI C37.04 and 06 gives the
ratings structure and preferred ratings for AC MV CBs,
respectively. Standard C37.09 gives the test procedure for AC MV
CBs, rated on a symmetrical current basis. Standard C37.010 gives
an overview of the application procedures for AC MV CBs. Standard
C37.16 covers the preferred ratings, related requirements and
application recommendations for LV power CBs. In general, the
ratings of the circuit breakers are the limits of the operating
conditions of the following parameters, for which the breakers are
designed (without causing damage to itself or the surroundings for
the projected lifetime of such device):
rated operating voltage range (eg. minimum, nominal and
maximum).
rated frequency (eg. 400 c/s or 50/60 c/s).
rated maximum continuous current (eg. 1200, 2000,...).
rated interrupting currents under the different operating voltages
of the breakers.
rated dielectric strength limit or maximum voltage withstandability
(eg. for power frequency voltages, impulse voltage wave shapes and
switching voltage impulses).
duty cycle to which the breakers are designed and tested.
rated operating times.
equipment to which the breakers will be suitable to apply and use
safely.
mechanical durability under no load, full load and short circuit
currents.
control circuit supply (operating) requirements.
Load break switches: Medium voltage load break switches in series
with power or current limiting fuses in medium voltage
installations is a common configuration. Though this design is much
simpler in design and maintenance than circuit breakers, it has its
disadvantages. The construction is of the fixed type (vs. draw out
with circuit breakers). If the fuse is blown, the cell door has to
be opened and the fuses replaced (vs. reclosing of breakers after
fault removal) - a relative safer operation. The breaker
construction is more compact than the switch (as clearances have to
be met in air). Low voltage switches can be of the molded case type
or the safety switch construction. Both types wil require fuses to
provide the protection to the system and connected equipment.
Current transformers: Instruments transformers are covered in ANSI
standard C57.13 and CSA CAN3 - C.13. Current transformers come in a
few forms to provide for the space limitations in certain designs
and the required high accuracy for others. Current transformers can
be classified broadly into bar, window, bushing and wound (for
higher accuracy). Current transformers for protection application
(rather than metering) do not require a high accuracy at rated
current as much as require their operation without saturation at
high fault currents. For eaxample a C.T rated 2.5 L 200 will have a
2.5 % error at 20 times its rated secondary current times the
burden connected to the secondary. If the rated secondary current
is 5 then the maximum burden to be connected is 2 ohm, if rated
secondary is 1 then the burden is 10. The 200 is the knee voltage
on the secondary exciting voltage vs. excitaton current curve of
C.T. The other important pieces of information that are required
about the C.T. are: the secondary resistance, cross section area of
the core and the saturation flux density for the silicone iron
grade used for the core so that the C.T. can be checked for its
proper operation under the given conditions. Current transformers
are subjected to heavy primary currrent for short periods of time
during faults. Mechanical damage may be caused by magnetic forces
in the windings due to the first cycle (and subsequent ones) peak
fault current and is proprtional to square the peak current.
Thermal damage to the transformer insulation (and maybe its copper)
may occur due to heating of the winding due to the integrated
effective value of the fault current over the time period until the
fault removal. (Note: the same discussion is applicable when sizing
cables and cable supports). Partial dicharge in instrument
transformers are obtained by testing at the factory and the
acceptable level varies depending on the requirement of the end
user, though the limit (a maximum value) is given as 50
picocoulomb. A measure of the condition of the isulating material
is the dielectric loss which is given by the dissipation or power
factor. An ideal insulation material should have a very low power
factor close to 0 ( = cos = tan ). Polarity of instrument
transformers is important with differential protection schemes.
Polarity markings designate the relative instantaneous directions
of current in the transformer leads. A high and a low voltage (or
current) leads have the same polarity at a given instant if the
current enters the high voltage lead and leaves the low voltage
lead at this instant (or vice versa), giving the effect as though
the two leads belong to the same continuous circuit. The polarity
of transformers can be additive (H1 & X1 are diagonally
opposite) or subtractive (H1 & X1 are adjacent). A.C. or D.C.
polarity tests can be performed at site to determine the polarity
of unmarked transformers.
Potential (voltage) transformers: This type of instrument
transformers provide an isolation between the high voltage circuit
and the control/metering circuit. It also provides a standard low
voltage signal irrelevant of the voltage class of the high voltage
system. In relay circuits, P.T. is used in voltage restrained,
voltage and distance relays. The burden of the loads to the
secondary of the P.T. winding should not exceed the maximum
designated to the P.T. Each P.T. is rated for thermal
withstandability at different ambient temperatures. According to
the standards there are three groups of potential transformers,
they define the rated voltage of the P.T. and what should be the
system voltage to which this P.T. shoud be applied to. They, also,
define the rated overvoltage factor and the duration of the
overvoltage for each group. Definition of PT groups.
Test switches: They come in many configurations and designs, some
are of the open style and others covered (opaque or transparent).
They can be front or back connected to the other devices. The
switch can come with different number of poles up to ten with any
combination of current type or potential type poles. Broadly, the
pole type can be classified accordingly: blank space, single pole
potential, ganged two or more potential poles, through bar, fuse
mounting clip (max. 30 amp.), single pole short circuiting
assembly, single pole test jack / short circuiting current assembly
and three pole short circuiting current assembly.
Terminal blocks: Terminal blocks come in many shapes and forms to
suit the specific needs of the user, standard feed through
terminals, C.T. double clamp, sliding link, knife disconnect
terminals, ground, neutral/disconnect, miniature feed-through
terminals, just to list a few types. They are rated up to 750 volt,
up to about 130 amp. Certain designs come up to 3-tier for dense
wiring applications. The material of the insulating material can be
black phenolic, melamine or polyamide.
Control wires: The three most commonly used types have as
insulating material TBS, SIS or teflon. The size varies to provide
the minimum possible burden on the C.T. or P.T. that it is
connected to. For C.T., sies AWG 8, 10 and 12 are common. For P.T.
sizes, AWG 12 and 14 arw not unusual. The ratings for TBS vs. SIS
are as follows: temperature rating: 90 C vs. 90 C, voltage rating
600 v vs. 600 V, solid or stranded for both from #14 to .2,
insulaqtion thickness for both is the same though the base material
of TBS is PVC (with cotton braid) and for SIS is XLPE (filled).
Wires with teflon insulation have higher temperature ratings.
Stationary batteries: The stationary battery is designed to serve
as an auxilliary /standby source of power to all devices connected
to it. The battery is normally mounted on racks and is continously
charged except for intermittent discharging periods of varying
times and power. Battery voltage gradually declines during
discharge and should not be permitted to drop below the minimum
tolerated by the load plus the line drop. To protect the battery
against over discharge, a low voltage relay (d.c.) can be used as
part of the installation. The rate at which the voltage declines
depends upon: the demand current of the load, duration of the
discharge, chemical design and type of cells, number and size of
plates in each cell, battery state of charge at beginning of
discharge, age of battery cells and temperature of cells. The
capacity of the battery is basically its ability to supply a given
current for a given period of time at a given cell temperature
without going below a minimum voltage (batteries are rated in
ampere-hour at a given discharge rate). Stationary batteries are
usually rated for 8-hour, 3-hour, 1-hour, 1- minute discharge. The
ampere-hour rating is simply the product of the discharge in
amperes multiplied by the given dicharge time period. For the lead
acid battery the positive plates are: the pasted (Faure) plate
which comprises of a latticework metallic grid with the opennings
filled with lead oxide paste. The grid may be made up of lead
antimony or lead calcium. The second type is the multitubular
plates, which use porous plates to contain the lead oxide. The grid
(lead antimony) is a row of spines extending from the top bar to
the bottom cap bar. Porous tubes filled with lead oxide (powedered)
with the grid forms the positive plate. This design provides more
AH of capacity per cubic foot of battery volume at moderate rates
of discharge. The third and last type is the plante type which is
considered to have the longest life expectancy of all lead acid
stationary battery designs. The positive plate consists of a grid
(lead antimony) of large area with thin layers of lead oxide. Such
plates have complex designs with circular opennings where
corrugated lead ribbons are rolled into spiral ribbons. The
negative plates irrelevant of the type of the positve plates are
built with pasted plate design. Metallic sponge lead is used on the
negative plates. The negative grid for the multitubular and plante
(positive plates) is made of lead antimony, with the pasted plate
it is either lead calcium or lead antimony. The grid of alloys
antimony or calcium serves both purposes gives physical support and
strength to the soft lead and acts as an electric conductor. The
grid achieves and retains a physical shape and conducts the current
to all parts of material.
For the nickel-alkaline batteries there are two types of plates,
the pocket type and the sintered type. The pocket type is used for
both positive and negative plates. The active material (nickel
hydrate - positive and cadmium sponge - negative plus addittives to
help conductivity) is sandwiched between two perforated strips
(nickel plated steel). The strips are crimped together and this
assembly is placed in a U- shape frame. After intermeshing the
positive and negative the insulator pins are put in place, through
the frame and plates. These elements are then put in a container
and the cell cover (with vent cap and appropriate hole for terminal
poles) is installed. There are three common ratings: high
(discharge shorter than 1 hour), medium rate (discharge shorter
than 4 hrs) and low (the battery will supposedly carry loads for up
to 20 hrs).
For lead acid batteries, the electrolyte is a solution of diluted
sulphuric acid. When the battery is fully charged, the positive
plate is lead peroxide and the negative one is sponge lead. The
specific gravity of the electrolyte is maximum at start of
discharge and the specific gravity gradually decreases as dicharge
occurs. Specific gravity for stationary batteries used for
switchgear applications, control and emergency lighting is
approximately 1.210. To determine the state of charge of the
battery, the gravity reading is compared with the full charge value
and to the specific gravity drop of a particular cell size at a
specific discharge rate. The reading has to be corrected to the
ambient temperature at time of measurement, if other than 25 deg C.
For the Ni-Cad the electrolyte is a solution of potassium hydroxide
diluted in water with normal specific gravity of 1.16 to 1.19 at 25
deg C. When the battery is fully charged the positive plate, nickel
hydrate, is highly oxidized and the negative plate is sponge
metallic cadmium. After discharge takes place the positive plate
reduces to lower oxide while the metallic cadmium in the negative
plate oxidizes. The specific gravity of the electrolyte can not be
used to indicate the state of charge of the battery. The specific
gravity readings will vary from normal rating when the electrolyte
temperature is lower or higher than 25 deg C, when the solution
level drops below the normal or the battery has been in service for
long time.
The charger is a static rectifier (scr), its function is to change
the single phase or three phase input (120, 208, 240, 480, 600V-
60HZ) to a d.c. output suitable for charging the battery and
maintainning a constant voltage throughout the battery's load
range. To prevent the self discharge phenomena (standing loss) the
charger maintains a float charge that continuously monitors and
corrects for these internal losses.
Relays: Every system is subject to short circuits and ground
faults, that should be removed quickly. The most common relay for
S.C. protection is the O/C relay. A short circuit on an electric
system is always accompanied by a corresponding voltage dip (an
overload will cause a moderate voltage drop). A voltage restrained
or voltage-controlled O/C relay is able to distinguish between O/L
and fault conditions.
Directional overcurrent: consists of a typical O/C unit and a
directional unit, which are combined to operate jointly, for a
pre-determined phase angle and magnitude of current. Such a relay
operates only for current flow to a fault in one direction and will
be insensitive to current flow in the opposite direction.
Directional power relays: comes in single or three phase versions
and they work on the watt-meter principle. The contacts (in
electromechanical construction), movable and fixed, get in contact
at a pre-determined value of power. It could be used for
directional overpower, to operate if excess energy flows out of an
industrial plant into the utility. It can also be used to sense an
under-power condition and separate two sources operating in
parallel.
Differential relays: the basic principle of operation for such
relays is the continuous comparison of two or more current
quantities. When a fault occurs, the resulting differential current
will cause the relay to operate. Differential protection schemes
for generators, motors, two winding transformer banks and buses are
common in industrial plants. In subtransmission and distribution
levels, differential protection is used with power transformers and
in bus protection schemes. It protects against abnormalities within
a zone and should be insensitive to faults outside this zone
(through faults), overexcitation or during energization or starting
conditions.
Ground fault relaying can be any of the following configurations:
residually connected, direct sensing or zero sequence (vectorial
summation).
A single window-type current transformer is mounted in such a way
to encircle all three phase conductors of incoming or outgoing
circuits. For 3-phase, 4 wire circuits, the neutral is also run
through the sensor and the secondary of this sensor is connected to
an O/C relay. For neutral relaying (direct sensing), a current
transformer is in the neutral grounding circuit and connected to
the O/C relay. The synchro-check relay is used to verify, when two
alternating current circuits are within the desired limits of
frequency, voltage and phase angle, to permit them to operate in
parallel.
The synchronizing relay monitors two separate systems that are to
be paralleled, initiating switching when the following three
conditions are met: the voltage difference of the two systems and
the frequency difference are within the pre-determined range. The
phase angle between the two systems voltage is zero, taking into
consideration the operating time of the switching devices.
Pilot wire relays, operate on the principle of comparing the
conditions at the terminals of the protected line. The relays will
operate if the comparison indicates a fault internally on the line,
they are insensitive to external faults. This scheme is used when
tie lines have to be protected, either between the industrial
system and the utility system or between major load centres within
the industrial plant.
Mi>Voltage relays can be classified according to their reason of
operation (i.e., overvoltage, undervoltage or both, voltage
unbalance, reverse phase voltage or excessive negative sequence
voltage).
Under/overvoltage relays are found in the following circuits:
capacitor switching control, a.c. & d.c. overvoltage protection
for generators, automatic transfer of power supplies, load shedding
on U/V and U/V protection for motors.
Voltage unbalance (comparing two sources), an example for the
application of such a relay is with the voltage restrained relays,
when the P.T. fuse blows. This is seen as a fault by the voltage
restraint relay. The use of balance relays can block the operation
of the restrained relay.
Reverse phase voltage relays are used to detect reverse connections
in three phase circuits, feeding motors, generators or
transformers.
Negative sequence voltage relays are used to detect single phase
conditions, as long as the sensing P.T. is on the load side of the
opened phase.
Negative sequence overcurrent relays are used for single phase
protection. The location of the current transformer with respect to
the opened point is insignificant.
Distance relays come in the following types: the MHO type,
impedance, reactance, MHO or admittance, OHM or angle impedance,
offset MHO, modified impedance, complex characteristics type,
elliptical characteristics and quadrilateral type. They measure
voltage, current and the ratio is expressed in terms of impedance.
The impedance can represent the equivalent impedance of a generator
or large synchronous motor or a transmission line. The MHO relay is
used to detect the loss of field of synchronous generators and
motors.
Frequency relays sense under or over frequency conditions during
system disturbances. The usual application of these relays is: to
selectively drop the load, based on the frequency, in order to
restore normal system stability, splitting up a grid by opening tie
lines to prevent complete system collapse, for the generators and
auxiliaries protection, when frequency supervision can prevent
turbines and drive damages and for isolating small systems having
their own generation from the main system.
Temperature sensitive relays usually operate in conjunction with
temperature detecting devices. These devices can be classified into
RTD (resistance temperature detectors) and thermocouples. They are
located in the equipment to be protected (embedded in the stator
winding or the bearings of the motor or generator). The temperature
detectors can have 10, 100 or 120 ohm and is connected in a bridge
configuration, with the temperature sensitive relay connected
diagonally across the bridge. Replica-type temperature relays have
their operating characteristics closely matching the heating curve
of the general purpose motor curves (in the light and medium
overload zones), thus they are used for overload protection of
motors in the medium voltage range.
Multi function relays: These relays are microprocessor based and
provide more than one protection function and even some indications
and metered data. They can be classified inrto feeder protection
units, induction motors protection and synchronous motors
protection units. They have the provision of being interrogated and
adjusted remotely through their communication ports and the local
network they are connected to.
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