TheBasicsofElectricalBusProtections

The Basics of Electrical Bus Protections (Overcurrent, Differential and Undervoltage) on photo MICOM protection
relay, credit E. Csanyi

Overcurrent,DifferentialandUndervoltage
Whenweexamineelectricalprotectionschemes,thebestplacetostartiswithelectricalbus
protections,astheyaretheeasiesttoprotect.Theyutilizethefundamentalconceptof
theovercurrentrelay(Figure1).Anovercurrentrelayisanelectromagneticdeviceinwhich
currentinthecoilsurroundingametalcoreproducesmagneticfluxinthecore.
Whenthereisasufficientcurrentflow,thefluxwillattractthearmature(metalflap),whichwill
movetoclosetheattachedcontacts.

Figure 1 Overcurrent Relay

Twootheritemsareindicatedinthediagram.OneisthedirectionofCTs.IfcurrentI1Pflowsin
theprimarytowardstheprimaryspotmark,simultaneouslyoutputcurrentI1Swillflowoutofthe
CTatthesecondaryspotmark.
Thisisanimportantconcepttoremember.

CurrentTransformers(CTs)transformthecurrentinmagnitude,butretainthesame
waveformandphaserelationship.

OnecanpicturethecurrentgoinginasI1PandoutasI1Sinstantlyreducedinsizebyafactorof
2000/5.ThesecondpointtonoteistheCTratio(2000/5A).Thisisstandardnotationthat2000
Ampsintheprimarywillproduce5Ampsonthesecondary.

BusDifferentialProtection
Thedifferentialprotectionutilizestheovercurrentrelayjustdiscussed.Foreaseofdescriptionwe
willindicateonlyonephaseofathreephasesystem,astheotherphasesareidentical.
ThedifferentialrelayisfedbyCTsontheoutsideoftheprotectedbus.Recallingthespot
conventionofCTs,onecanseeinFigure2below,thatifcurrentI1Pflowsintothebus,thenan
equivalentcurrentI1SwillflowinthesecondarywindingofCT1.SimilarlycurrentI2Pwillflowout
ofthebuswithacorrespondingI2Sflowinginthesecondary(notedirection).

Ifthebusishealthycurrentinequalscurrentoutandtherewillbeacirculating
currentinthesecondarycircuitasshown.Nocurrentwillflowinthe
overcurrentrelay.

Notethatthecurrentflowintheovercurrentrelayisequaltothedifference(where
differentialrelaygetsitsname)intheinputcurrents.Inthiscasetheyareequalandthe
differentialcurrentiszero.

Figure 2 Differential Protection

IfthebusinFigure2happenstofault(eitherphasetophaseorphasetogroundfault),the
currententeringandleavingthebuswillnotbethesame.Hencethedifferenceseenbythe
relay(I1S I2S)willnotbezero.
Ifthefaultisofhighenoughmagnitudetopickuptheovercurrentrelaythedifferentialprotection
willoperatetotripbreakersXandY,plusblockanyreclosureofthesebreakers,initiate
breakerfailureprotectionandanyotheractionsrequiredbythatspecificprotectionzone.

Figure3showsthecurrentdirectionsforthemostseverefault,aninternalbusfaultfedfromboth
endsofthebus.Ifyouconsiderthefigurecarefullyyouwillnoticethatanynumberofbreakers
ortransformerscouldbeaddedtothebus.CarewouldhavetobetakentoensuretheCTratios
andspotmarkswerecorrectandthatthesecondarycircuitswereaddedinparallel.
Figure4givesanexampleofwhatitwouldlooklikeifatransformerwerefedoffthebus.

Figure 3 Differential Operation

Figure 4 Ended Differential Protection

BusOvercurrentBackup
Normallyabusprotectionwouldbemadeupoftwohighspeeddifferentialrelaysthatwehave
justdiscussed.ThiswouldformaduplicatedorAandBbusprotection.Refertoprevious
Figure2forconfiguration.

Forlowvoltagebuses(13.8kVandbelow)thereoftenisnobreakerfailure
protectionprovidedonthebreakers(XandYinthefigureabove).Insucha
caseduplicate(AandB)protectionscannotbeused.
Zoneprotectionwithduplicateprotectionsandnobreakerfailureprotectionwillonlyworkifthe
breakersneverfail.Thusoneofthetwoprotectionshastobemadeintoabackup,tocoverthe
casewherethebreakermightnotopen.Thiscreatesalargeroverlappingzoneasshownby
Figure5.

Figure 5 Bus Zones with Backup

InFigure5,youcanseethestandardbusdifferentialzoneandtheextrabusbackup
zonethatincludestheloadsL1andL2suppliedoffthebus.
Supposeanelectricalfault(phasetophaseorphasetoground)oroverloadoccursonfeeder
L1.TheprotectionforL1shouldoperatetotripbreakerX.IfbreakerXdoesnottripwithina
certaintimethebusbackupprotectionwilloperatetoopensupplybreakerSandremoveall
supplyfromthebus.
AcloseupofthebusbackupprotectionisshowninFigure6below.

Figure 6 Overcurrent Backup

Theovercurrentbackuprelaywillseethetotalcurrentsuppliedtothebus,whereasthe
differentialrelayonlyseesthedifferencebetweensupplycurrentandloadcurrentasdiscussed
previously.Therelaysettingsforovercurrentbackupprotectionsaresomewhatdifficultand
usuallyemployaninstantaneousandtimedcomponent.
Afterall,theobjectiveisthatbreakersXandYshouldclearthefaultbeforethebackupprotection
operatestotripthemainsupplybreakerS.
// Theinstantaneousovercurrentsettinghastobeabovethetotalexpectedcurrentinrushor
loadingexpectedonthebus,butbelowtheminimumbusfaultlevel.Forcoordination,thesetting
alsohastobealsohigherthananyindividualloadsetting.
Ifthiscannotbeobtainedtheinstantaneouselementisblocked.
// Thetimedovercurrentsettinghastocoordinatewithalloftheloadsfedfromthebustoallow
theseparateprotections(ZoneL1,L2inFigure9)tooperatefirst.

BusGroundFaults
Busphasetogroundfaultsarefarmorecommonthanphasetophaseorthreephasefaults.They
aregenerallyduetobreakdownofinsulationbysomeforeignmaterialormoisture.Duetothe
severeaffectontheconnectedloadsaswellasstructuraldamage,thesehavetobe
instantaneouslyclearedfromtheelectricalsystem.

Thedifferentialrelaypreviouslydiscussedisutilizedtoprotectthebusagainstthis
typeoffault.

BusUndervoltageProtection
Busundervoltageprotection(sometimescallednovolttrip)issuppliedonmanybusesfortwo
reasons:
1// Manyloads,especiallymotors,aresusceptibletolowvoltage.Asthevoltagesupplytoa
motordecreases,themotorwillattempttodeliverthesameamountoftorqueforagivenloadand
willdrawhighercurrentstodothis.
Thiswillresultinexcessiveheatingofthemotorwindings,resultingininsulationdamageand
reducedmachinelife
2// Anotherbenefitofthistypeofprotectionistopreventallloadsfromautomatically
restartingatthesametime,whenvoltagetoasystemisrestored.Loadsareusuallyintroduced
slowlytoallowthegeneratortostabilizeitspowerproductionbeforemoreloadsareplacedonthe
generator(therearethermallimitsonratesofloading/unloadingofturbinegenerators
anyway,whichhelpinthissituation).

Iftheloadsareallautomaticallyreconnectedatoncetoareenergizedbus,thevoltageon
thatbuswilllikelydropandtheloadswilllikelytripagainonundervoltage.Another
dangerofautomaticreloadingifthevoltageisquicklyrestoredisthatthesupplyandload
voltageswillbeoutofphase,resultingincurrentsurgesandmechanicalstressesonthe
machine.

Undervoltageprotectioncanbeachievedbyanelectromagneticrelay(anexampleisshownin
Figure7).Thisrelayholdsthearmaturetothecoilaslongasthevoltageremainsabovethe
desiredamount,keepingthenormallyopencontactsoftherelayclosed.

Figure 7 Undervoltage Relay Protection

Ifvoltagedrops,thecoilcannolongerholdthearmatureandtherelaycontactswillopen.Inthis
typeofprotection,therewillalsobeatimedelaybuiltin(usuallybyatimer)topreventoperation
duringvoltagetransients(i.e.,ifthevoltageisquicklyrestored,thetripwillnotoccur).
Thevoltagedropandtimedelayarechosensuchthatreenergizingtheloadwillnotresultin
excessivedemandsonthesystem.
Reference//ScienceandReactorFundamentalsElectrical|CNSCTechnicalTrainingGroup