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MOODY
digital protection.
pair costs for any paper mill. This article presents the reasons
Background
1077-2618/03/$17.002003 IEEE
37
38
Isystem
Current
Igen current ground decay
Time (s)
Generator
Breaker Trips
Generator ground-fault relay.
When a generator stator ground fault is detected by protective relays, the generator is shut down by tripping the generator breaker, field breaker, and turbine. The system
contribution to the fault will immediately be removed when
the generator breaker trips, as illustrated in Figure 1. The
generator stator ground current, however, will continue to
flow after the tripping. The generator short-circuit current
cannot be turned off instantaneously because of the stored
energy in the rotating machine. The flow of damaging generator fault current will continue for several seconds after the
generator has been tripped. This long decay time results in
the vast majority of the damage occurring after tripping [3].
Reducing the decay time is very difficult; however, reducing
the fault current during the generator coast-down can be
done. As machines get older, the possibility of stator ground
faults increase. Reducing the damage, therefore, becomes a
IN
where
51
G
R
87 - Generator
Differential
87G - Generator
Ground Differential
51G - Neutral Overcurrent
3
Sensitive stator ground fault protection.
39
40
Signal
R
C
Squarewave
Generator
R
C
Measuring
Circuit
Dual-Level
Loss-of-Field Protection
Gen.
Rotor
Return
Signal
Ground
Machine
Frame
Ground
Negative Sequence
(Unbalanced Current) Protection
There are a number of system conditions that can cause unbalanced three-phase currents in a generator. These system
conditions produce negative sequence components of current that induce a double-frequency (120 Hz) current on
the surface of the rotor. The skin effect of the double-frequency rotor current causes it to be forced into the rotor
surface, causing excessive rotor temperatures in a very short
time. The general flow of this current in a cylindrical machine rotor is shown in Figure 7. The current flows across
the metal-to-metal contact of the retaining rings to the rotor forging wedges. Because of the skin effect, only a very
small portion of this current flows in the field windings.
Excessive negative sequence heating beyond rotor thermal
limits results in failure. These limits are based on the following equation, for a given generator:
K = I t,
2
2
7
Unbalance currents in the rotor surface.
Permissible I2
(percent of stator rating)
Indirectly cooled
10
Directly cooled
to 960 MVA
41
sequence relay is usually the only protection. The low magnitude of negative sequence currents created by this type of
event (typically 10-33% of stator rating) prevents other
fault relays from providing protections. For electromechanical negative sequence relays, the minimum pickup
can be set to only about 60% of the stator-rated current
CT
50
27
VT
42
GEN
50
Overcurrent
I > p.u.
27
Undervoltage*
V < p.u.
AND
Pickup
Delay
Output
Contact
Dropout
Delay
Inadvertent or accidental energizing of synchronous generators has been a particular problem within the industry in
recent years. A number of machines have been damaged or,
in some cases, completely destroyed when they were accidentally energized while offline. The frequency of these occurrences has prompted the industry to recommend that
the problem be addressed through dedicated protective relay schemes. Operating errors, control-circuit malfunctions, or a combination of these causes, have resulted in
generators becoming accidentally energized while offline.
In industrial applications, the major cause of inadvertent
energization of generators is the closing of the generator
breaker through the mechanical close/trip control at the
breaker itself, thereby defeating the electrical interlocks.
Due to the severe limitation of conventional generator
relaying to detect inadvertent energizing, dedicated protection schemes have been developed and installed. Unlike
conventional protection schemes that provide protection
Sequential Tripping
43
Relay
Voltage
Regulator
(a)
GEN
R
60
(b)
To
Protective
Relay and
Voltage
Regulator
11
(a) Voltage balance relay. (b) Modern VT loss of potential
44
3-CT
52
To Bus Diff.
3-CT
Metering
3-CT
VT
24
59
27
81
27
59
24
50
BF
50
BF
87
G
Field
64F
87
Exciter
50
60
FL
40 51V 32
46
50
27
87
G
46
32 51V
40
60
FL
27
3-CT
3-CT
51G
Upgrade
Function
1-CT
51G
87
G
12
Mill generator protection.
3-CT
45
#1
Transformer
50 MVA
ABNORMAL
OPERATIONS
SEQUENCES CAN
PRESENT SERIOUS
INCIDENTS THAT
REQUIRE ACCURATE
EVENT DATA TO
ASSESS AND
RESOLVE.
#2
Transformer
50 MVA
Utility Substation
APS 2
APS 1
46
#12 GEN
40 MVA
#11 GEN
42 MVA
G-11
2-01
2-02
Syn Bus 2
1-30
1-20
20-A
4-20
Bus 4 Loads
G-12
3-20
Bus 3 Loads
13
Luke Mill one-line diagram.
Loss-of-field oscillograph.
Relay Trip
14
avert a mill shutdown from undershortcomings when compared to curvoltage from the reactive power upset.
rent IEEE recommended generaMAJOR
Inputs to the two generator relays from
tor-protection practices. This article
the turbine stop valve, the field breaker,
identifies these protection areas and
POWER-SYSTEM
and main breaker enabled exact times to
the risks of not addressing the shortbe obtained for the related events. Secomings. It also points out the advanEVENTS ARE
quence of events and oscillography captages of using multifunction digital
tured by the new relays verify the
relaying to upgrade generator protecRARE, YET DATA
following:
tion as a technology that offers many
ANALYSIS IS
advantages over older electromechanin The relay event log showed multical relays. The completed upgrade prople reverse power (32) pickups,
CRITICAL TO
ject at MeadWestvacos Luke Mill in
however, the setting was too high
Maryland provided a number of examto time out to trip. For about 2
RETURNING THE
ples of these benefits in uncovering
min after the turbine trip, the
mill problems that, if they had gone
generator motored with field,
GENERATOR TO
undetected, could have resulted in
supplying up to 25 Mvar to supcostly mill shutdowns or damage to
port bus voltage after the accidenSERVICE.
mill generators.
tal loss of the incoming utility tie.
The current can be seen to be 90
lagging the voltage in the Figure
14 oscillograph.
References
n When the field breaker opened, reactive power flow
[1] Guide for AC Generator Protection, ANSI/IEEE C37.102-1995.
reversed in 18 cycles and the generator drew in leading current rising to 800 A from the system to re-establish field, as shown in Figure 14. The unit was [2] Recommended Practices for the Protection and Coordination of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems, ANSI/IEEE 242-2001.
now motoring without field as an induction machine
and placing large reactive load on the mill system,
with the bus voltage sagging to about 11 kV when [3] B. Bailey, J. Bowen, G. Dalke, B. Douglas, J. Fischer, J.R. Jones, D.
generator tripping occurred.
Love, C. Mozina, N. Nichols, C. Normand, L. Padden, A. Pierce, P.
n Fortunately, the new relaying tripped the unit on
Pillai, L. Powell, D. Shipp, N.T. Stringer, and R. Young, Gounding
loss-of-field about 2 s after the field breaker opened.
and ground fault protection of multiple generator installation on
Separate bus tie (Breaker 1-20, Figure 13) relay
medium-voltage industrial and commercial systems, in Conf. Rec.
data verified the tie was in overload and timing to
IEEE IAS 2002 Annu. Meeting, vol. 3, pp. 1888-1895.
trip the bus for a total mill bus shutdown.
n Initially, the operator believed he had followed normal operating procedure and that the utility tie had [4] L.J. Powell, The impact of system grounding practices on generaopened on overload from the loss of the generator.
tor fault damage, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol.37, pp. 218-222,
The relay data provided unbiased evidence to show
Jan./Feb. 2001.
he had, in fact, misoperated and tripped the utility
tie breaker.
n Data from relay waveforms verified that when mo[5] American National Standard for Cylindrical Rotor Synchronous Gentoring with and without field, the generator did not
erators, ANSI/IEEE C50.13-1987.
exceed maximum rated Mvar loading per the capability curve. Motoring at no load (with field and
within rating) does not harm the generator, but long [6] Guide for AC Generator Ground Protection, ANSI/ IEEE
C37.l01-1993.
periods can overheat turbine blading. Loss-of-field is
serious, as the rotor is not designed to handle the
large induced slip currents. This event was at no load [7] Guide for Abnormal Frequency Protection for Power Generating
and tripped in 2 s, per the oscillographs shown in
Plants, ANSI/IEEE C37.106-1987.
Figure 14. The decay of stator amps after the field
breaker opened is followed by the rise of reactive current, which increased to 800 A (rated current is [8] Tutorial on the Protection of Synchronous Generators, IEEE 95TP 102.
1,787 A). Major power-system events involving mill
generation tend to be rare. Yet, should one occur, Charles J. Mozina (cmozina@beckwithelectric.com) is with
having data to analyze the incident is critical to re- Beckwith Electric Co., Inc., in Largo, Florida, USA. Douglas C.
Moody (dcmoody@meadvestvaco.com) is with MeadWestvaco
turning the generator to service.
Corp. in Luke, Maryland, USA. Moody is a Senior Member of
the IEEE, and Mozina is a Member of the IEEE. This article first
Conclusions
There are a number of functional protection areas on appeared in its original form at the 2002 IEEE IAS Pulp and
mill generators 20 years or older that have significant Paper Technical Conference.
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