TRANSFORMER PROTECTION

By: Engr. Nowshad Alam

Objectives of Transformer Protection

1. To detect internal faults (related to winding, core, terminals) with high degree of sensitivity and cause subsequent de-energization 2. Be immune to faults external to the transformer i.e. through faults. 3. To provide backup protection in case of sustained or un-cleared through faults on the system 4. To detection abnormal operational conditions such as over excitation, over voltage, overloading, loss of cooling, etc.

Why protection is so important?

1.
2. 3. 4. 5.

Transformers are high value equipments Damage may lead to considerable operational losses Normally lead time of transformer procurement is high (6 to 12 months) Transformer failure may lead to damaging of adjoining equipments & infrastructure Transformer damage may cause human injury and/or fatality

Broad Categories
1. Electrical: Electrical protection is implemented by sensing current flowing through it, voltage and frequency Mechanical: Mech. protection is implemented by sensing operational parameters like oil pressure/ level, gas evolved, oil & winding temperature.

2.

Nowadays, Transformer Management Relays are used which take care for all protections.

Protection Philosophy
Conditions
Winding Phase-Phase, Phase-Ground faults Winding inter-turn faults Core insulation failure, shorted laminations Tank faults

Protection Philosophy
Internal Faults Differential (87T), overcurrent (51, 51N) Restricted ground fault protection (87RGF) Differential (87T), Buchholz relay, Differential (87T), Buchholz relay, sudden pressure relay Differential (87T), Buchholz relay and tankground protection External Faults

Overloads Overvoltage Frequency Overfluxing External system short circuits Frequency decay rate

Thermal (49) Overvoltage (59) Over & Under Frequency (81O, 81U) Volts/Hz (24) Time overcurrent (51, 51G), Instantaneous overcurrent (50, 50G) / Phase & Neutral Frequency decay rate (81U-R)

Functional Block Diagram

Over Current Protection

Philosophy: 1. The philosophy of over current protection is to limit the fault current below the transformer through fault with stand capability. 2. The fault withstand capability in turn is based on mechanical capability of the windings against the fault current, rather on thermal capability. 3. Fault withstand capability duration is defined by manufacturer; e.g 1s Fault current withstand capability: A quick calculation for the Maximum Fault Current at the transformer secondary terminals is FC = FLA / %PU Z, where; FC = Fault Current; FLA = Full load ampere; %PU Z = Per Unit Impedance Voltage Over Current Setting Examples: 1. Phase TOC pick up: 1.21xCT; Time dial: 0.10 2. Phase IOC1 pick up: 2.41xCT; Phase IOC1 time delay: 1300ms 3. Phase IOC2 pick up: 7.24xCT; Phase IOC2 time delay: 0ms Note: Settings depend upon FC withstand capability and CT ratio

Over Fluxing
Transformer flux: Transformer flux is proportion to voltage and frequency Flux Voltage/frequency While designing transformer, the peak rated value of flux density is kept about 1.6 to 1.8 Tesla Saturation flux density of Core material, Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Silicone Steel (CRGOS) is about 1.9 to 2 Tesla. This corresponds to 1.1 times the rated value Operating any transformer above the rated flux will cause core overheating and severe damage Over-fluxing can be a result of; Overvoltage Low system frequency Over Fluxing Setting Example: The nominal volts per hertz ratio of the system, for 115V VT secondary and 50Hz frequency, is 2.3 V/Hz. Sample protection settings for V/f are: Pick up 1: 2.53 V/Hz; Delay 1: 65sec Pick up 2: 2.76 V/Hz; Delay 2: 8sec

Differential Protection
Differential Protection provides much better overall protection. The basic operating principle of the percent differential element can be described by the following diagram and its associated equations.
I r I restraint max( I1 , I 2 , I 3 ) I d I differential I1 I 2 I 3
%slope Id 100% Ir

Some factors resulting in flow of differential current even under balanced power in & power out conditions are: Magnetization inrush current; Current can be as high as 8 to 30 times the rated current Over Excitation; Concern in generator-transformer units & transmission lines with high capacitance, light load condition CT saturation; Flux beyond certain limit can cause CT saturation Mismatch between CTs Voltage control tap

Differential Protection Setting

Idifferential (xCT)

Percent differential pickup = 0.1 to 0.2; Cannot be zero to allow mismatch due to tap changes Percent differential slope 1 = 20% to 30% Set to ensure sensitivity to internal faults at normal operating current levels, to allow mismatch during tap changing, to accommodate CT mismatch Percent differential knee point = 1xCT Set just above the maximum operating current level of the transformer Percent differential slope 2 = 90% Restraints currents above the knee point; ensures stability under heavy through fault conditions

140%

SLOPE 2 90% OPERATE REGION 50% 90% RESTRAINT REGION

SLOPE 1 25% 15% 1,0 KNEEPOINT

Irestraint (xCT)

Harmonic Inhibit level: 20% Inhibition of differential protection if the 2nd harmonic of the same phase exceeds the HARMONIC INHIBIT LEVEL set point. ENERGIZATION INHIBIT Instantaneous differential element: 5xCT Differential current above which the unrestrained differential element will pick up.

Restricted Earth Fault (REF)

REF protection is applied to transformers having impedance grounded Wye windings It provides sensitive ground fault detection for low magnitude fault currents which would not be detected by the percent differential element The maximum phase to ground fault is restricted by the grounding resistance
I fault 0.05I gf (max) 0,05 400 200 A

SETTING: Suppose ground resistance is 400A. For a winding fault point at 5% distance from the neutral we have the following settings Restricted ground fault pick up: 0.1xCT Restricted ground fault slope: 1% Restricted ground fault delay: 0.10sec

pickup

20 A 10% CT 200 A
20 A 1% 1618 A

slope

Where 1618A=TF rated current.

Hot spot temperature Protection

Winding hot-spot temperature protection The ambient temperature, transformer loading, oil temperature and transformer design determine the winding temperature Excessive winding hot-spot temperatures cause degradation and eventual failure of the winding insulation Protection based on winding hotspot temperature can potentially prevent short circuits and catastrophic transformer failure. Temperature based protection functions alarm or trip when certain temperature conditions are met. Relays use IEEE C57.91 compliant thermal models to calculate the winding hot-spot temperature and the loss of life of the winding insulation.

100

Relative rate 10 of using life

With ambient of 20 C. Hot spot rise of 78 C is design normal. A further rise of 6 C doubles rate of using life.

1.0 98 0.1 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 Hot spot temp. C

Other Protections
Buchholz relay Buchholz relay is a safety device mounted on some oil-filled transformers, equipped with an external overhead oil reservoir called a conservator. The Buchholz Relay is used as a protective device sensitive to the effects of dielectric failure inside the equipment. Whenever there is an internal fault in the transformer such as arcing or excessive heating, the transformer oil is decomposed in different hydrocarbon gases like H2, CO2 and CO. The gases will flow towards conservator and accumulate in the upper part the Buchholz Container which causes fall of oil level in it. This will cause actuation of float switch. Transformers without conservators are usually equipped with sudden pressure relays, which perform a similar function as the Buchholz relay.

Pressure Relief Device

In case of short circuit due to an insulation failure, the dielectric arc between alive parts vaporizes the surrounding insulating fluid which generates a quick rise of the pressure inside the tank, with the risk of permanent deformations, or, even, of the failure of the tank walls with the consequent flow-out of hot oil. Due to the rapidity of this event, it is necessary to mount on the transformer an adequate protecting device which relieves quite suddenly the excess of pressure generated inside the tank by the above mentioned failure. Pressure Relief Devices have this protective function.

Transformer Condition Monitoring

Transformer Oil Di-electric Strength Dielectric Strength of Transformer Oil is also known as Breakdown Voltage (BDV) of transformer oil. BDV is measured by observing the voltage at which sparking occurs between two electrodes immerged in the oil, separated by specific gap. Minimum Breakdown Voltage or Dielectric Strength of transformer oil at which this oil can safely be used in transformer, is considered as 30 KV. Dielectric Dissipation Factor or tan delta of Transformer oil Tan is a measure of imperfection of dielectric nature of insulation materials like oil. When an insulating material is placed between live parts and grounded part of an electrical equipment, leakage current will flow. The leakage current through an insulation does have two components; one is capacitive or reactive and other one is resistive or active Value of (loss angle) is smaller, means resistive component of the current (IR ) is smaller which indicates high resistive property of the insulating material. High resistive insulation is good insulator. Hence it is desirable to have loss angle as small as possible.

Transformer Condition Monitoring ... Contd TRANSFORMER DISSOLVED GAS ANALYSIS (DGA)
DGA Limits and Interpretation
Status Condition1 Condition2 Condition3 Condition4 H2 Min 0 101 701 1801 Max 100 700 1800 0 121 401 1001 CH4 Min Max 120 400 1000 0 66 101 151 C2H6 Min Max 65 100 150 0 51 101 201 C2H4 Min Max 50 100 200 0 36 51 81 C2H2 Min Max 35 50 80 Min 0 351 571 1401 C0 Max 350 570 1400 TDCG Min 0 721 1921 4631 Max 720 1920 4630

Note: CO2 is not included in adding the numbers for analysis because it is not a combustible gas

Operating Procedure
Condition Condition1 Condition2 Condition3 Condition4 Operating Procedure Continue normal operation. Analyze individual gases. Exercise caution. Analyze individual gases to find cause. Determine load dependence. Exercise extreme caution. Analyze individual gases to find cause. Plan outage.Call manufacturer and other consultants for advice. Consider removal from service. Call manufacturer and other consultants for advice.

Gas Interpretation
Abnormal Gas for Cond 3&4 Hydrogen H2 Methane CH4 Ethane C2H6 Ethylene C2H4 Acetylene C2H2 Carbon Monoxide CO Carbon Dioxide CO2>15,000 Interpretation Corona, Arcing Sparking Local overheating Severe overheating Arcing Severe overheating Severe overheating

Concluding Remarks Depiction of Layers of Protection

Thank You!