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Bus Bar Protection

Bus Protection

The word bus is derived from the Latin

word omnibus which means common
for all.

It may be noted that under the normal

power flow condition the sum of
incoming currents is equal to the sum
of outgoing currents,

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Bus Protection

A fault at the busbar is quite rare but can cause enormous damage.

When protective relays operate to isolate the busbar from the system, there is a large
disruption to- the loads.

The switchyards, substations and kiosks are well shielded.

The causes of faults experienced on busbars are: weakening of insulation because of

ageing, corrosion because of salty water, breakdown of insulation because of over
voltages, foreign objects, and so on.

Because of the low probability of busbar faults, for many years, it was considered
unnecessary to provide explicit protection to busbars. However, as the system voltage
went on increasing and short-circuit capacities went on building up, it was no. longer
advisable to leave busbars unprotected on a primary basis.

Differential Protection of Busbars

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Differential Protection of Busbars

The CT ratios of all the CTs are equal and are based on the primary current of that feeder
which carries the maximum current

External and Internal Fault

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External and Internal Fault

CT Behavior

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At low values of primary current, voltage E to be induced by the secondary winding is quite
low.

The working flux in the CT is also very low. Thus the magnetizing current requirement is
correspondingly low.

If the primary current increases, initially, the secondary current also increases proportionately.
This causes the secondary induced voltage to increase as well.

Increased secondary voltage can only be met with an increase in the working flux of the CT.

As the flux increases, the transformer needs to draw a higher magnetizing current.

Because of the nonlinear nature of the B-H curve for the CT, as the knee of the excitation
characteristics is passed, any further increase in flux demand causes a disproportionately large
increase in the magnetizing current requirement of the CT.

CT Operation Beyond Knee Point

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Circuit Model of Saturated CT

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External Fault

High Impedance Differential Schemes

One CT gets
saturated and the
other two are
operating normally

for simplicity, all

leakage
reactances have
been neglected.

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High Impedance Differential Schemes

The OC relay needs to be restrained from tripping on external faults

(with one CT completely saturated).

It can be accomplished by connecting a high resistance (known as

the stabilizing resistance) in series with the OC relay.

The stabilizing resistance should be of such a value that under the worst
case of maximum external fault and full saturation of one CT, the
current through the OC relay is less than its pick-up value.

Such schemes are known as high impedance busbar differential

schemes.

Finding Stabilizing Resistance Value

Let the pick-up value of the OC relay be


The value of the resistance associated with the saturated CT be   


.
Assume that the OC relay is not connected. Find the voltage across it will be

 





 









 

 

Under this condition, the current through the relay be less than or equal to its
pick-up value Ipu

 



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Assuming n feeders and further assuming that the magnetizing current of each unsaturated CT
is same and equal to I0 and noting that the transformation ratio of all the CTs is same and equal
to N, the general expression:

 






   1




Where the subscript k varies from 1 to n - 1, n being the total number of feeders terminating on the bus.\

Ignoring I0,




"#
is the maximum external fault current up to which the
$

differential scheme remains stable.

%,',(' 

 


Minimum Internal Fault

Determine the minimum internal fault current
%,)*+,*)(*, that can be detected by the high impedance
busbar differential scheme.

 
%,(),- 



%,(),- 






%,(),- 


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Minimum Internal Fault Current





.

 

 

.




 
 
.
 I01 I02  I03

%,(),- 
 

Assuming I01  I02  I03 
4

%,(),*)(
 3I4



 
%,(),*)(  3
4

%,(),*)(  
  3
4

For the general case of n feeders terminating on the busbar, the minimum internal fault current
that can be detected by the high impedance busbar differential scheme will be given by

%,(),*)(

 
  
4

Stability Ratio

The stability ratio S of the high impedance busbar differential scheme is defined as the ratio of
maximum external fault current for which the scheme remains stable to the minimum internal
fault current for which it operates.

%,'*+,(')((

%,)*+,())((

The higher the value of stability ratio S, the better is the quality of differential protection.

Stability ratios of a few tens are common in EHV busbar differential schemes.

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