Bus Bar Protection

Manoj Barsaiyan
29 August 2012

Presentation Outline
Introduction

Bus arrangements
Bus protection techniques

INTRODUCTION: Importance of Busbars

Busbars are the most important component in a power

network.
They can be open busbars in an outdoor switch yard, or
inside a metal clad cubicle restricted within a limited
enclosure with minimum phase-to-phase and phase-to
ground clearances.
They can be insulated as well as open
They form an electrical node where many circuits come
together, feeding in and sending out power

Bus bars : Taken for Granted

Bus bars are frequently left without protection because:
Low susceptibility to faults especially metal clad
switchgear
The bus bars and switchgear have a high degree of
reliability, to the point of being regarded as intrinsically
safe
Rely on system back-up protection
Problems with accidental operation greater than
infrequent bus bar faults

However, Bus bar faults do occur

Introduction:
The requirements for good protection
Speed
Limit damage at fault point
Limit effect on fault stability

Selectivity
Trip only the faulted equipment
Important for busbars divided into zones

Stability
Not to operate for faults outside the zone
Most important for busbars

Stability must be guaranteed

Reasons for loss of stability
Interruption of CT circuits imbalance
Accidental operation during testing

Tripping can be arranged two-out-of-two

Zone and check relays.

Bus Bar Protection Requirements

High bus fault currents due to large number of circuits

connected:
CT saturation often becomes a problem as CTs may not be
sufficiently rated for worst fault condition case
large dynamic forces associated with bus faults require fast
clearing times in order to reduce equipment damage
False trip by bus protection may create serious problems:
service interruption to a large number of circuits
(distribution and sub-transmission voltage levels)
system-wide stability problems (transmission voltage levels)
With both dependability and security important, preference is
always given to security

Bus arrangements :
Single bus - single breaker
ZONE 1

----

n-1

Distribution and lower transmission voltage

levels
No operating flexibility
Fault on the bus trips all circuit breakers

Bus arrangements :
Multiple bus sections - single breaker with bus tie

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

Distribution and lower transmission voltage

levels
Limited operating flexibility

Bus arrangements :
Main and transfer buses

MAIN BUS

ZONE 1

TRANFER BUS

Increased operating flexibility

A bus fault requires tripping all breakers
Transfer bus for breaker maintenance

Double bus single breaker

with transfer bus
ZONE 1

ZONE 2

Very high operating flexibility

Transfer bus for breaker maintenance

Double bus - double breaker

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

High operating flexibility

Line protection covers bus section between two CTs
Fault on a bus does not disturb the power to circuits

Breaker-and-a-half bus
ZONE 1

ZONE 2

Used on higher voltage levels

More operating flexibility
Requires more breakers
Middle bus sections covered by line or other
equipment protection

Ring bus

L1

L2

TB1

B1

B2

TB1

L3

L4

Higher voltage levels

High operating flexibility with minimum breakers
Separate bus protection not required at line
positions

TYPES OF PROTECTION SYSTEM

Frame-earth protection :
Used mainly for smaller busbar protection schemes at
distribution voltages and for metalclad busbars.
Differential protection :
Used for switchgears and EHV switchyards

Frame-earth protection for Switchgears

Bus Protection Techniques

Overcurrent (unrestrained or unbiased) differential

Overcurrent percent (restrained or biased)
differential
High-impedance bus differential schemes
Low-impedance bus differential schemes

Overcurrent (unrestrained) Differential

Overcurrent (unrestrained) Differential

Differential signal formed by

51

summation of all currents

feeding the bus
CT ratio matching may be
required
On external faults, saturated
CTs
yield
spurious
differential current
Time delay used to cope
with CT saturation
Instantaneous
differential
OC function useful on
integrated microprocessorbased relays

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION
CIRCULATING CURRENT DIFFERENTIAL PRINCIPLE

CURRENT DISTRIBUTION EXTERNAL FAULT

CURRENT DISTRIBUTION INTERNAL FAULT

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PRIOTECTION
A. HIGH IMPEDANCE TYPE

Relay Branch made High Impedance to limit differential

current due to unequal CT saturation on external fault.

Requires exclusive CT core of identical ratio and rating.

Simple in design and execution.

Advantages
Simple
Low cost
Different ratios of CTs can be used with the help of Aux CT

Disadvantages
High operating time
All CTs must have equal ratio
Low sensitivity
Degree of CT saturation level to be very low

Complications of Bus Bar Differential

All paralleled CTs must have the same ratio to ensure

that all secondary currents are compared on the same

base as the primary currents.
Protection should perform identically under all
conditions, including external faults with heavy
through current.

Complications of Bus Bar Differential

The reality is that all conventional iron-core current

transformers, regardless of ratio and accuracy class, are

susceptible to saturation.
This causes a difference current that appears to the
differential relay as an internal fault.
Bus differential relays, regardless of the design, must
differentiate between true internal bus faults, and false
differential currents caused by CT saturation for a fault
outside the bus differential zone of protection.

Complications of Bus Bar Differential

Objective of protections scheme is to provide secure

operation for external faults with CT saturation and

still provide fast operation for internal bus faults.
There are two most common techniques:
Low-impedance bus differential, and
High-impedance bus differential

High Impedance Differential

Overvoltage element

59

operates on voltage
developed across resistor
connected in secondary
circuit
Operating signal created
by connecting all CT
secondaries in parallel

CTs must all have the same ratio

Must have dedicated CTs

Cannot easily be applied to reconfigurable buses and

offers no advanced functionality

High Impedance relay

High Impedance Differential Protection

The relay branch is made high impedance either by

using a voltage operated high impedance relay or by

connecting an external series resistor (Stabilizing
resistor) in case of current operated differential relay
This type of protection requires special class PS CTs
(with low turns ration errors) of identical ratio and
ratings on all circuits
Exclusive CT cores are required for high impedance
schemes which cannot share common CT cores with
other protections
31

High Impedance Differential Protection

Setting Criteria for High Impedance Relays
Assuming CT-B completely saturated while CT-A fully

active, the maximum voltage that can appear across

the relay branch during through fault condition is
Vs = (IF /n) (RCT + 2RL) volts
The differential relay should be set above this voltage
to ensure stability on through fault
RL
A

VS

RCT
B

32

High Impedance Differential Protection

In case of over-current type of differential relays, the
above voltage setting can be achieved by adding a

series stabilizing resistor, such that the current is

limited to less than differential pickup current
Relay branch impedance Vs/Is, where Is = setting
current of differential relay
If relay burden at setting current "Is" = VA
Relay impedance Rr = VA / (Is)2
The external stabilizing resistor setting
Rst = Total relay branch impedance - Relay
impedance
= [Vs / Is] [VA / (Is)2]
33

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION (87)
HIGH IMPEDANCE SCHEME- Typical Setting Workout.

Max. Through fault Current (If) = 20,000A (Prim) / 20A(SEC)

Vs = 20 (5 + 1) = 120V

Stabilising Resistor (RST) = 120/0.2 1.0/0.2 = 600 - 25 = 575 ,

(assuming relay VA burden = 1 VA)

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION
HIGH IMPEDANCE SCHEME Typical Setting Workout.
Primary Fault Current setting (assuming number of circuits

connected to Bus Bar, N=10)

= CT Ratio (Is + N. Im)

= 1000 (0.20 + 10 x 0.03) = 500A.

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION (87)
HIGH IMPEDANCE SCHEME Need For Metrosils.

Peak Voltage across CT Secondary for Max. Internal Fault

= 2 2 [Vk x (Vp Vk)]

Vk = 240V, Vp = 20 (575 + 25) = 12000V
Peak Voltage = 22 [(240 x (12000-240)] = 5300V

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION
HIGH IMPEDANCE SCHEME Need For Metrosils.
If Peak voltage exceeds 3000V threatening secondary

insulation, Metrosils (Non-linear resistors) are used to limit

voltage to safe value (within 1000V) on internal fault.

Metrosil offers high resistance at lower voltage levels which

drastically reduces at higher voltages, thereby quenching

the voltage across relay branch.

Typical Metrosil Equation

V = C x I ( C = 900 , = 0.25)

Advantages
It avoids the problem of unequal CT performances.
It uses high impedance voltage relay.
Highly sensitive and fast.

Disadvantages
All CTs must have equal Turns ratio
All CTs must have high Knee point voltage preferably

twice the nominal value

The CT must be exclusively used for differential
protection.

Percent Differential

87
51

Percent characteristic used to

cope with CT saturation and
other errors
Restraining signal can be
formed in a number of ways
No dedicated CTs needed
Used for protection of reconfigurable buses possible

Low Impedance Differential (Distributed)

52

52
DAU

Data Acquisition Units (DAUs)

52
DAU

DAU

CU
copper

fiber

installed in bays
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
processes all data from DAUs
Communications between DAUs
and CPU over fiber using
proprietary protocol
Sampling synchronisation
between DAUs is required
Perceived less reliable (more
hardware needed)
Difficult to apply in retrofit
applications

Low Impedance Differential (Centralized)

52

52

52

All currents applied to a single

CU
copper

central processor
No communications, external
sampling synchronisation
necessary
Perceived more reliable (less
hardware needed)
Well suited to both new and
retrofit applications.

BUS BAR PROTECTION AND LBB

PROTECTION
BUS BAR PROTECTION
HIGH IMPEDANCE SCHEME -CT SUPERVISION (95)

Required to detect CT open circuit on load to prevent maloperation.

Connected for alarm & short CT bus wires on operation.
Time delayed to avoid operation on internal / external faults (3Sec)
Voltage relay with sensitive setting (2 -14V) is used.
Normally set to detect primary unbalance of 25A or 10% of least loaded
circuit. Also should not operate with normal unbalance on load.

Isolators
Reliable Isolator Closed signals are needed for the

Dynamic Bus Replica

In simple applications, a single normally closed contact
may be sufficient
For maximum safety:

Both N.O. and N.C. contacts should be used

Isolator Alarm should be established and non-valid combinations
(open-open, closed-closed) should be sorted out
Switching operations should be inhibited until bus image is
recognized with 100% accuracy
Optionally block 87B operation from Isolator Alarm

Each isolator position signal decides:

Whether or not the associated current is to be included in the
differential calculations
Whether or not the associated breaker is to be tripped

Isolator Typical Open/Closed Connections

LBB PROTECTION

29 August 2012

53

LBB Protection
In EHV substations, reliability of fault detection is
enhanced by providing duplicated protections
(either main 1/main 2 or main and backup

protection)
The D.C. sources for protection are also duplicated
for better redundancy, circuit breakers are provided
with duplicated trip coils
All these measures, improve the reliability of fault
detection and isolation, however, the possibility of
mechanical failures of the switchgear or interrupter
flash over cannot be covered by these means
A failure of the breaker therefore, result, in spite of
correct operation of the protection and energisation
54
of trip coils

LBB Protection
Has
Protection
Operated?

No

Reset
Breaker
Failure
Protection

Normal
Operation

Yes

Yes

Start
Breaker
Failure
Protection

Wait for
Fault
Clearance

Fault
Cleared?

No

Trip
Main
Breaker(s)

Trip
Back-up
Breaker(s)

55

LBB Protection
This situation can be corrected by providing local breaker

backup (LBB) or breaker fail protection

LLB protection comes into operation only if, the breaker fails
to trip, following energisation of its trip coil, through the
circuit trip relays
The main component of LBB protection is a current check
relay initiated by the circuit trip relays and a follower timer
The current check relay, on initiation, checks the presence of
the current in the faulted circuit and if it persists beyond a
preset time, proceeds to trip all other circuits connected to
the Bus bar to which the stuck breaker is connected, thereby,
ensuring local isolation
Tripping of remote breaker is also initiated through a
separate carrier channel, in case of line breakers to arrest
infeeds from remote end
56

Example Architecture Breaker Failure Tripping

Trip

Trip

Phase A AC signals wired

here, current status
monitored here

Phase B AC signals wired

here, current status
monitored here

Phase C AC signals wired

here, current status
monitored here

Trip

Breaker Fail Op command

generated here and send to
trip appropriate breakers

Trip

LBB Protection
Typical setting range for the current check relay and follower

timer
Application

Current check relay

Follower Timer
Range
Recommended Range
Recommended
Setting
Setting

Generator Circuit
5-80%
All other circuits (TFRs 20-30%
/Lines /Bus Coupler
etc.)

5%
20%

0.1-1sec
0.1-1sec

0.2 sec
0.2 secs

A more sensitive setting is generally adopted for Generator

application in view of the fact, that a stuck breaker situation

for certain abnormal conditions like motoring, may involve
very low current infeeds

61

LBB Protection
Fault
occurs

TIME- CHART

Current Detector
Dropout Time

Normal Clearing Time

Normal
Clearing
Protective Breaker Interrupting
Time
Time
~30ms
~60ms
<12ms

Failed
Breaker

Breaker
Failure
Initiating

Margin

Breaker Failure Timer

Back-up
Breaker
Interrupting
Breaker
Time
Failure
Tripping

Breaker Failure Total Clearing Time

Usually a time delay of 200 msecs is adopted which allows

sufficient time co-ordination with remote backup
protection

62

THANK YOU

29 August 2012

63