Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

S2-5: System simulation, parameter determination and relay testing

New testing method for line differential relays M. BORRIELLI I.S.A. S.R.L. Italy mauro.borrielli@isatest.com

KEYWORDS Traditional and advanced testing methods for line differential relays

THE REPORT INTRODUCTION Automatic test sets have become common tools for those who are involved in relay testing. The reason of this great success is in part due to the introduction of the microprocessor, in part to the necessity to provide a better quality of the energy provided by the utilities. The quality program now requires a constant monitoring of all devices in service. Moreover, the increasing demand of energy requires more and more installations, with a constantly increasing number of devices to install and to check time to time. On the other hand, the market globalisation asks companies to be more and more competitive, sometime with the unpleasant effect of a personnel reduction: those who remain are required to keep the same quality level of service. The increasing number of devices to be checked and the personnel reduction force companies to pretend an even faster service: verifying relays is part of this service and the faster is done the better it is. As partners of power utilities since 1938, ISA commitment is to provide new ideas to help the power utilities perform their maintenance programs with advanced testing tools and skilled methods. LINE DIFFERENTIAL RELAY: PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION. Line Differential Relays are used to protect HV lines as well as the most common Distance Relays. But they work in a different way: Distance relays measure voltages and currents in order to calculate the ratio Z=V/I: when this ratio is within a value that corresponds to certain protected zone, the relay operates the circuit breaker and open the line on its proper side. The other side of the line is opened by another distance relay. The two relays normally exchange some information (direction of the fault, for instance) but they can work stand alone. A line differential relay is made of two different relays installed at both ends of the line. They have to exchange information regarding the magnitude and the phase angle of each single current measured at the ends.

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

During the normal operation the currents I1 and I2 have nearly the same value. The little difference is due to the capacitance to hearth and between conductors. So the difference I1 I2 0 During a fault the currents I1 and I2 have different value and opposite phase angle. The result is an high differential current: ID = I1 I2 The information regarding module and phase angle of the two currents is transferred from one side to the other by means of fibre optic or PLC. HOW TO TEST: TRADITIONAL METHOD. Since the two relays are installed at the two ends of the line, the test must be performed with two test set. Beside this, since the two relays sense the fault exactly at the same time, also the two equipments must inject the fault exactly at the same time... and with a predefined phase angle. In order to do this, it is necessary 1. a very high accuracy synchronization device. This could be a GPS, providing a time tag with an accuracy down to 100 ns. 2. the reaction time of the instrument at the two ends be the same. 3. the test equipment be able to control the phase angle at the injection. We call this control of the Absolute Angle. The program allows testing the relay by a series of time tests. The operation is the following. The operators prepare a test plan before going to the different sites where the relays are located. This test plan defines: the current values to be tested, the sequence of phases to be tested and so on. At the site, the user must prepare the synchronisation mean. After this, both test sets are connected to the relay to be tested and powered on. Now the two operators get in touch by phone and confirm that the set-up is completed. The two operators must stay in touch by phone during the test. After this, both operators start the program, program the first set of values and start the first test. The two equipments wait for the synchronization pulse before applying currents. After first test, both operators will set the next set of values. Tests can continue this way, at the selected rate, until they all are performed. With ISAs GPS, it is possible to press STOP at any time: impulses will be stopped. This method requires that the two equipments are of the same model. In fact, in case the two equipments at the two ends are of different make, or model, a compensation is required to take into consideration the different reaction time of the two instruments at the time of the GPS clock.

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

LIMITS OF THIS METHOD The limit of the above mentioned test method is that only two points of the restraint characteristic are tested:

These points are very far from the restraint characteristic. However, this is not sufficient to determine if pickup is fine as well as the other two slopes. Therefore, the method is sufficient to verify the stability for external faults and the operation in case of internal faults. But not sufficient for verifying the other parameters HOW TO TEST: ADVANCED METHOD The way a test is performed for transformer differential relay might suggest us a new method for searching the characteristic. Supposing we test a Tx differential relay, usual testing program will apply a testing method that sounds as the following sequence: 1. Select a fault type: Single phase L1 2. Select a Restraint current, IR = 0.5 A 3. Calculate the differential current IDn = 0.3 A (from the nominal characteristic) 4. Calculate the HV and LV currents based on:

IR =

I1 + I 2 2

ID = I1 I 2

5. And therefore the two currents are I1 = 0.65 A I2 = 0.35 A @ 180

6. The injection of these values may or may not lead to a trip of the differential protection element: it all depends whether this point falls above the real operating characteristic or not. If the relay does not trip, the differential current must be increased until the relay trips; the test starts again from point #4 If the relay trips, the differential current must be reduced until the relay stops tripping; the test starts again from point #4

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

7. at the end of this first procedure, the testing procedure has found two points across the nominal characteristic: Point ID1: where the relay trips Point ID2: where the relay does not trip

8. After this, it is enough to execute a binary search with ID1 and ID2 as extreme limits to find the threshold with the requested accuracy. 9. the following scheme resumes the test sequence just described

After this, the testing program proceeds to the next point, IR = 1 A for instance. Note, the number of injections to achieve one result depends upon the requested accuracy in determining the threshold. The above test stops after 6 injections if the search accuracy is higher, the test would stop after 10 or 15 injections. APPLYING THE TEST METHOD TO LINE DIFFERENTIAL RELAYS This method can be applied to line differential relays as well. What complicates the life of the operator is that the two sets of currents are not injected at the same location as for a transformer differential relays. Therefore, the system to be put in place is something where The 2 test equipments are equivalent to one The 2 relays are equivalent to one

The two test equipments must therefore work as one single equipment testing a transformer differential relay. The synchronization of the output currents, easy to achieve with one single test equipment for Tx differential relays, in case of line differential testing is achieved by means of a GPS Requirements for the GPS Since the number of injections to achieve a single result could be high, it is not convenient to use a GPS device where the user must program the time of the synchronizing trigger. If the relay is uncalibrated by 5%, the most advanced searching method may perform 5 or 6 injections. If the number of points to be tested is 10, the number of injection would be 50, to 60 and therefore it is not convenient and definitely high time consuming having to set the time for each test. Therefore, a GPS able to generate a sequence of pulse is to be preferred. The currents are injected only at each sync pulse of the GPS Requirements of the test equipments at the two ends of the line to run the automatic test are as follows: 1. they must be of the same kind 2. they must be controlled by the same software running on separate PC at each end. 3. all setting parameters must be the same for the software running at each end: nominal characteristic nominal current

4. the testing procedure must be set in the same way otherwise the method wont work: 4

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

maximum current, maximum time for each injection this is very important as the two instruments must stop the injection at the same time accuracy of the search Note that this will establish when the test for one specific point is finished. The points to test.

Finally, the two test sets must be informed about their location. If we call the two substation as Station A and Station B, the software must drive the test set to generate two different sets of current, each one corresponding to each end. In the software of ISA DRTS/6, this is achieved in the System Line tab

this way, when the program requires to inject IR = 2 and ID = 1, the local equipment in the A position will generate the Local Current, the other will generate the Remote current:
Substation A Substation B

At both ends of the line there will be two operators. The steps to achieve a successful line differential test are the following: 1. select the nominal characteristic of the relay 2. select the points to be test 3. prepare the GPS to start a sequence of clocks, one every 5 or 10 seconds 4. get in touch by phone theres always a phone in a substation 5. when both are ready run the test just after the GPS issues a synchronization pulse. 6. The two instruments wait for the next synchronization clock, then the currents corresponding to that particular value of IR ID1 are injected. Should the trip for that point, both software will recalculate a new point: same IR, ID2 < ID1 Shouldnt the relay trip for that point, the next value will be IR, ID2 > ID1

7. and wait for the next GPS pulse to inject the new values. 8. The steps used to increase or decrease the ID must be of course the same at both sides. ISA software decides the searching steps based on the specified accuracy search. 9. This sequence is carried on until the threshold is reached with the specified accuracy 10. then both equipments will switch to test the next point. 5

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

APPLYING THIS METHOD WITH ISA DRTS/6

The use of DRTS/6 for testing line differential relays is easy. Run the Diff-87 program from our TDMS software and then select:

1. The type of protection 2. Your location A or B 3. Maximum acceptable error 4. Nominal current 5. Read the instructions 6. Select the nominal characteristic, the same at both ends

Relay Protection and Substation Automation of Modern Power Systems (Cheboksary, September 9-13, 2007)

7.

Select the test type, the same at both ends

8. and then press the start button you get the following worming message:

By pressing the OK button results like this may be achieved:

This test has been performed with NGC personnel in UK. Those points below the nominal characteristic were never been seen before.