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Abstract. Existence of a relatively high negative- The internal-external fault discriminator determines
sequence current is in itself a proof of a disturbance the position of the fictitious source of the negative-
on the power system, possibly a fault. The paper sequence currents with respect to the zone protected
describes the usage of the negative-sequence by the differential protection. If the source of the
currents in order to both detect and positively negative-sequence currents is found to be inside the
determine the position of the fault with respect to zone, then the fault is internal. If the source is found
the protected zone, and thus avoid some typical to be outside the zone, the fault is external.
weaknesses of the power transformer differential
The algorithm of the internal-external fault
protection. Some examples of these are long delays
discriminator is based on the theory of symmetrical
for heavy internal faults, unwanted operations for
components. As far back as in 1933, Wagner and
external faults, and insensitivity to low-level turn-
Evans [2] stated that:
to-turn faults, which can be left to develop into
high-level faults – with more severe damage to the 1. The fictitious source of the negative-sequence
power transformer – before they can be detected. currents is at the point of fault.
2. The negative-sequence currents distribute
Keywords. Relay protection, power transformer,
through the negative-sequence network.
sensitive differential protection, negative-sequence
3. The negative-sequence currents obey the first
currents, internal-external fault discriminator.
Kirchhoff's law.
I. INTRODUCTION
Two of the most typical weaknesses of the power The internal-external fault discriminator, based on
transformer differential protection are long delays the above principles, has shown itself to be very
or even a failure to operate in case of heavy internal fast and reliable. Thus, when a fault is positively
faults with current transformer saturation, and characterized as internal, all eventual block
unwanted operations for external faults. A CIGRE (restrain) signals, such as for example the harmonic
survey for the period 1995-1996 [1] states that the block signals, or the waveform block signals, can
differential protection fails to operate for internal be ignored, and the differential protection can
faults or operates for external faults in 3 % of cases. operate very quickly. Operate times of a little more
than ½ of the period, where otherwise operate times
Long delays for heavy internal faults – they can be of at least one period or – as a worst case - several
of the order of several tens or even hundreds of periods could be expected, are not unusual. Other
milliseconds – are a consequence of the harmonic advantages besides those mentioned above are
distortion of the fault currents as they are seen by obtained, such as better sensitivity of the protection.
the differential relay. The harmonic distortion is
due to initial heavy saturation of the current However, the internal-external fault discriminator
transformers under fault conditions. The harmonic only works when the protected transformer is not
restrain can delay / prevent immediate operation of just energized, but is as well connected to load.
the restrained (percentage) differential protection. Both detection of faults, and a secure discrimination
Further, power transformer differential protections between internal and external faults can be achieved
show a tendency for unwanted operations for faults based on an analysis of the negative-sequence
external to the protected zone with the power differential current, or more exact, based on an
transformer – particularly for external earth faults. comparative analysis of its two (or three at three-
winding transformers) separate contributions to the
These disadvantages can be avoided if the position total negative-sequence differential current.
of the fault (internal or external with respect to the Supplemented with the fault discriminator, the
protected zone) is quickly and correctly determined. power transformer differential protection:
An internal - external fault discriminator, based on
the negative-sequence differential current, or more • operates promptly for heavy internal faults,
precise, on the separate contributions to the total
• detects low-level internal faults, as inter-turn,
negative-sequence differential current from both
(all) power transformer sides, can do the job. • is stable against external faults.
II. PRINCIPLE OF THE DISCRIMINATOR transformer HV side (primary, winding 1) in order
to form a common basis for the comparison of the
• Default connection of current transformers negative-sequence currents from both (all) power
In order to avoid misunderstandings about what is transformer sides. The coefficients can as well
meant by “the same direction”, and what by the remove the zero-sequence currents, where required,
“opposite direction”, an explanation is in its place. but this is of no consequence in this respect.
Because the negative-sequence differential currents
+: positive direction of a current
are symmetrical, only one differential current needs
+ + fault to be calculated, for example the negative-sequence
Y y differential current in phase L1, i.e. Idns_L1. The
-Ins real and imaginary parts are calculated separately.
W1 W2 Uns The negative-sequence differential current must be
+ + calculated on a regular basis, e.g. at a rate of 1 kHz.
zone of protection
neg. seq. neutral bus
Idns _L1 a11 a12 a13 Ins_A b11 b12 b13 Ins_a
Figure 1. The commonly used (default) connection
of current transformers, and the definition of the Idns _L2 = a21 a22 a23 * Ins_B + b21 b22 b23 * Ins_b
positive direction of a current. Transformer Yy0. Idns_ L3 a31 a32 a33 Ins_C b31 b32 b33 Ins_c
For an external fault (with the fictitious negative-
sequence source at the point of fault) the negative-
Contribution to total Contribution to total
sequence currents enter the healthy power
negative seq. current negative seq. current
transformer on one side, and leave it on the other from HV side (e.g. Y) from LV side (e.g. d)
side, properly transformed. According to Figure 1,
the negative-sequence currents on the respective The total negative-sequence differential current
sides of the (Yy0) power transformer are of the Idns_L1 is very low (theoretically zero) in case of
opposite directions; or more precisely, the an external fault, and high (theoretically higher than
differential protection sees the currents as opposite, zero) in case of an internal fault. More important,
with a relative phase shift of 180˚ between them. however, than the total negative-sequence
differential current itself, are in this context the two
For an internal fault (with the fictitious negative- (or three for a three-winding power transformer)
sequence source at the point of fault) the negative- contributions to the total negative-sequence
sequence currents leave the faulty transformer on differential current: the one from the HV (W1) side,
both sides. According to Figure 1, the currents on and the other from the LV (W2) side. These two
the respective sides of the (Yy0) power transformer contributions are compared as to their directions by
have the same direction; the differential protection the fault discriminator, in order to find out whether
sees these currents with a relative phase angle of 0˚. the fault is internal or external.
In reality, the relative phase angle between these
currents may differ somewhat from 0˚, due to • Internal - external fault discriminator
possible different negative-sequence impedance
The two contributions to the total negative-
angles of the electrical circuits to the left, and to the
sequence differential current are expressed as
right, from the internal fault. Further, the
phasors, each with its magnitude and phase position
magnitudes of the negative-sequence currents
in the complex plane, as, for example, in Figure 2.
depend on the magnitudes of the negative-sequence
For a trustworthy directional comparison of the two
impedances of circuits on the respective sides.
phasors, magnitude of each of them must be above
In general, to be able to talk about 180˚, or 0˚, any a certain minimum value otherwise no comparison
phase shift introduced by the transformer, e.g. 30˚ is allowed. This threshold which is a setting must
of an Yd1 transformer, must be compensated. be set well above the small values of the negative-
sequence currents that can be measured during
• Negative-sequence differential current normal operation of the power system. A practical
The same coefficient matrices can be used for the value is 2 % of transformer rated current, or higher.
calculation of the purely negative-sequence If both contributions to the total negative-sequence
differential currents as for the calculation of the differential current exceed the threshold, (which in
“usual” differential currents (containing generally itself is as a sign that a disturbance must have
all symmetrical components) only that in order to happened, as the negative-sequence currents are a
get the negative-sequence differential currents superimposed, a pure-fault quantity), the directional
purely negative-sequence currents must be fed. The comparison is carried out. The relative phase angle
matrix coefficients allow for both power between the phasors is determined. Based on the
transformer phase shift (e.g. 30˚) and transformer value of this relative phase angle, an internal or an
ratio (e.g. 2:1). The coefficients are such that the external fault is declared. See Figure 3.
magnitudes of all currents are referred to the power
Figure 2 illustrates the situation for an external Figure 3 shows a polar plot where the relative phase
single-phase earth fault on the earthed Y side of an angle between the two phasors from Figure 2 is
Yd1 transformer. There was no appreciable current displayed, which was near 180˚ practically all the
transformer saturation. Observe that at any point of time. There could be no doubts that the fault was
time, the angle between the two contributions was external. Note the internal - external fault boundary,
180˚. The geometric sum of the two contributions, here determined with ± 60˚. An internal fault would
which is equal to the negative-sequence differential be declared if the relative angle initially stayed
current, was practically zero at all times, which within ± 60˚ under at least a short interval of time.
corresponds to the fact that the fault was external.
The internal - external fault boundary, determined
Contributions to total negative sequence diff. curr. from HV & LV windings for by the so called Relay Operate Angle ± 60˚, as in
an external fault. Power transformer (Yd1) phase shift and ratio compensated.
Figure 3, has been found optimal. It was verified by
90°
120° 60° "steady state"
more than 250 tests with simulated faults. The
Im
for HV side (W1) Relay Operate Angle is a setting with a range from
neg. seq. phasor ± 30˚ to ± 120˚. The default (i.e. the recommended)
150° 30° value is ± 60˚, which favours somewhat security in
6 ms
comparison to dependability. (Security is a measure
of the relaying equipment not to trip incorrectly.
Re
180°
4 ms
0°
Dependability is a measure of the relaying
4 ms equipment's ability to correctly clear a fault.)
0.2
0.4
The directional test is very fast: the first indication
6 ms
about the position of the fault is obtained typically
210° 330°
0.6 kA
in 2 to 3 milliseconds. In order to cope with any
"steady state" 9 ms possible transients the directional test must have
11 ms
for LV side (W2)
neg. seq. phasor
240° 300° some short intentional delay. Any decision on the
270° character of a fault (internal – external) must be
Contribution to total neg. seq. diff. curr. from secondary winding confirmed several times in succession to be
Contribution to total neg. seq. diff. current from primary winding
accepted (“security count”). The overall response
Figure 2. Trajectories of the phasors representing time is inversely proportional to the magnitudes of
the contributions to the negative-sequence the fault currents. The very trustworthy information
differential current from the Yd1 power transformer on whether a fault is internal or external is obtained
HV and LV sides, for an external earth fault on the typically in 6 to 8 milliseconds after the fault.
HV side. The Yd1 transformer phase shift and ratio If any of the two negative-sequence currents is too
compensated. No current transformer saturation. small, no decision is taken regarding the relative
Directional comparison between the two contributions position of the fault, and the feature remains
to the total negative sequence differential current inactive rather than to produce a wrong decision.
If on this line, 90 The relative angle is in such cases assigned the
Internal -
the measurement
120° 60°
external
value of 120˚, (2.09439 radians), see Figure 3.
of angle was fault
impossible boundary The internal - external fault discriminator only
150
30 works if the protected power transformer is
External
fault
connected to a load, so that currents can flow on
region both sides of the power transformer, or at least two
180° 0° sides in case of a three-winding power transformer.
The good side of this is for example, that the initial
"Steady-
state" 0.2 magnetizing current inrush is not recognized as an
for this internal fault which would result in unwanted trips.
external 0.4 330
fault • Current transformer saturation
0.6 kA
240 300° Internal fault One of the most important factors which must be
region
270 considered when setting the directional boundary
Magnitude of contribution from HV side (primary) in kA (i.e. the Relay Operate Angle) is the current
Directional limit (within ± 60 degrees is internal fault)
transformer saturation. The case documented in
Figure 3. Trajectory of a phasor with a magnitude Figure 2 and Figure 3 was a rather favourable one,
equal to the magnitude of the contribution from the with negligible current transformer saturation.
HV (W1) side of the power transformer, and a Current transformer saturation may cause the
phase angle equal to the relative phase angle measured phase angle to differ from 180˚ for
between both contributions. The angle is 180˚ external faults, and from 0˚ for internal faults. If
the fault was definitely external. Observe the the differential protection is fed by the secondary
internal - external fault boundary. current of a saturated current transformer, the
magnitude of the fundamental harmonic component Between 5 to 10 milliseconds to full current
of the true power system current is apparently transformer saturation are sufficient to produce a
decreased, while the phase position is apparently correct discrimination between faults. Current
shifted in the positive direction (i.e. counter- transformers typically saturate in 20 milliseconds.
clockwise) by up to 45˚, or even more in cases of
more extreme saturation. This fact alone should
limit the Relay Operate Angle to at least ± 45˚. III. IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROTECTION
Figure 4 and Figure 5 illustrate conditions for an
external, and an internal fault, respectively, with • No extra delays at heavy internal faults
transient current transformer saturation. In Figure 5, As the fault discriminator proved to be very
due to current transformer saturation, the trajectory reliable, it has been given a high priority. If, for
leaved temporarily the internal fault region, but by example, a fault has been detected, and the start
that time, the trip command had already been given. signals have been set by the restrained differential
Neither could only three points in the external fault protection, while the fault classified as internal,
region change the decision of the discriminator. then any block signals, produced by either the
harmonic or the wave-form restraints, are ignored.
External fault with transient current transformer saturation
90
As a result, the operate times of the protection are
120 60°
Internal - below 20 milliseconds even at heavy internal faults
60 ms external
after fault with severely saturated current transformers, where
fault boundary otherwise delays of several tens or even hundreds
150 30
of milliseconds could be expected.
• Better sensitivity to low-level internal faults
180° 0° If, for some reason, for example because of
Current
saturation
uncompensated movements of an On-Load-Tap-
Internal
sets in app.
0.2
fault Changer, the operate - restrain characteristic of the
14 ms after
external fault 210 330
region restrained differential protection must be set
relatively high, then minor internal faults cannot be
0.4 kA
External detected before they evolve into major ones, with
fault
region
240
0.6 kA
300° higher unbalanced currents at the terminals of the
270
protected transformer. A majority of transformer
Magnitude of contribution from HV (Y) side (in kA)
Directional limit (within ± 60 degrees is internal fault)
failures can be traced to internal winding insulation
failure, usually turn-to-turn faults. If only a couple
Figure 4. An external fault with appreciable current of turns are short-circuited, then the fault may not
transformer saturation, the first 60 ms after fault. be felt by the restrained differential protection in
spite of the very high fault currents within the
Internal fault with transient current transformer saturation
If measurement cannot
short-circuited part of the winding. Such faults may
90
be executed, then Internal - be left to develop into more serious and costly-to-
120° 60° external
angle is assigned
the value of 120 fault
repair faults, often including transformer iron core.
degrees. boundary
Neither 35 ms
30
A special new protection, based exclusively on the
internal, 37 ms internal - external fault discriminator has been
nor external
fault introduced, which is an independent part of the
is declared
8 ms
complete power transformer differential protection,
180°
11 ms
0° [3]. This protection is called the Sensitive Negative-
External sequence Differential Protection. It has no logical
Internal
fault
region
0.5
fault connection with the restrained differential
210 1.0 330
declared protection algorithm. No start signal must be issued
8 ms
after fault by the restrained differential protection in order to
1.5 kA activate the Sensitive Negative-Sequence
240 300°
Differential Protection. The latter starts
270
Magnitude of the total neg. seq. differential current (kA)
independently whenever the magnitudes of both
Directional limit (within ± 60 degrees is internal fault) contributions to the total negative-sequence
differential current are higher then the minimum
Figure 5. An internal fault with severe current threshold, as discussed in the paragraph ‘Internal -
transformer saturation; the first 37 ms after fault. external fault discriminator’. This threshold can be
Trajectory of a phasor with a magnitude equal to set as low as 2 % of the power transformer rated
the magnitude of the total negative-sequence current. If a low-level fault has been detected in
differential current, and a phase angle equal to the this way, and found to be internal, a trip command
relative phase angle between both contributions to is issued after a short intentional delay, added as an
the total negative-sequence differential current. extra precaution. Inter-turn faults including more
than about 1 % of turns of a winding can be The above reasoning is valid if the zero-sequence
detected. Operate times in the range of 30 ms to 40 currents have been eliminated from the differential
ms can be expected, which can be compared to the currents where necessary (a majority of power
electro-mechanical Buchholtz- or sudden pressure transformers cannot transform the zero-sequence),
relays with their operate times of 50 ms to 150 ms. and movements of an eventual On-Load-Tap-
Changer compensated for. In that case, major false
• Stability against external faults differential currents for an external fault can only
External faults happen at least ten times more often appear if current transformers saturate. The
than internal faults in power transformers. To avoid instantaneous differential currents are in such cases
eventual stability problems following transformer heavily polluted with higher harmonic components.
disconnection for external faults, and the high cost Figure 6 shows how the internal – external fault
of unwanted outages, security against external discriminator sees a case where a dominant, heavier
faults has become increasingly important. external fault occurred first, followed by a low-
Consequently, if an external fault or disturbance has level (internal) turn-to-turn fault. The external fault
been detected, any trip request is cancelled. was a single-phase earth fault (L1-E) on the earthed
There is, however, an exception to this rule, which Y side of an Yd1 transformer (at t = 42 ms), while
copes with simultaneous lower-level internal faults, the internal fault was an inter-turn fault (10 %) in
such as inter-turn faults, which may occur phase L2 on the HV-side Y winding (at t = 62 ms).
immediately after (and often due to) an external Point A in Figure 6 corresponds to the external fault
fault. The idea behind this feature is as follows. only. Point B corresponds to simultaneous external
If an external fault is being signalized by the fault and internal faults. Point C corresponds to the
discriminator, and one or more start signals have situation where the external fault would be cleared
been set, but at the same time, no harmonic block by some other protection, while the internal fault
signals exist, then a simultaneous low-level internal persisted. In a real application, the restrained
fault can be suspected. The faulty transformer can differential protection would operate already at
be disconnected immediately, without having to point B and disconnect the faulty transformer, in
wait for the external fault to be cleared first by spite of the fact that the point B lied deep in the
some other protection. As a special precaution block region because of the dominant external fault.
measure against any unwanted trip, the so called The faulty power transformer would be
“cross-blocking” logical scheme (an On / Off disconnected 20 ms (exclusive the output relay)
setting option otherwise) is imposed temporarily. after the inception of the internal fault in spite of
the fact that an external fault was being signalized.
External fault followed by an internal low-level turn-to-turn fault Evolving faults: an external fault followed by an internal fault.
90 Power transformer HV side (primary) currents
internal -
120° 60° external 4 iA external
Currents in kA
150 30 -2
external 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
and B internal Power transformer LV side (secondary) currents
internal fault
external fault →
Currents in kA
20
faults only ia
0 ib
180° 0°
A C -20 ic
ia
external -40
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
0.2
fault
Instantaneous differential currents (zero sequence component subtracted)
only 1.5
0.4 L2
Currents in kA
Differential currents in kA
3
symmetrical faults”. Thanks to the transient
Fundamental frequency differential current, L2
existence of the negative-sequence system, faults 2.5
2-nd harmonic differential current, phase L2
can be distinguished as internal or external, even for 2
Total negative sequence differential current
50
Power transformer LV side (secondary, winding 2) currents Figure 11. Magnitudes of some of the differential
3-ph → currents for a symmetrical internal fault. After the
Currents in kA
int. fault ib
1st period, the negative-sequence-, and the 2nd
ia
0 ib
ic harmonic differential currents decay exponentially
ia ic
-50
and simultaneously with the DC offset of the fault
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
currents as they are seen by the protection relay.
Instantaneous differential currents
10 Trajectory of the contribution from the HV side of power transformer
Currents in kA
3-ph →
int. fault L2 idiff-L1 0.7
Imaginary part of the contribution from the HV side in kA →
0 idiff-L2 Im 9 ms
L3 idiff-L3 0.6
L1 10 ms
-10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0.5
Time in milliseconds → 11 ms
0.4