Differences Between Indoor and
Outdoor Sub Station
Capital Cost : The Capital
required to install indoor substation
is very high because a lot of
buildings are to be manufactured in
case of Indoor substation while the
capital required for outdoor sub
station is small as compare to
Indoor sub station.
Civil Work : In case of Indoor
substation, first we have to prepare
building to host larger electrical
equipments like Transformers and have to
make cut outs for power cables that are
bringing power to the sub station. these
requires a lot of civil work and hence
increasing time required to install the sub
station in opposition to this only a small
construction work is required in outdoor
sub stations.
Fault Location : Indoor substations are
very compact in arrangement and hence if
there is any fault then the location of fault
become very difficult while in outdoor sub
stations the equipments are placed at
different locations so the fault can be
sensed easily.
Future Expansion : In Indoor sub
stations the buildings are constructed
according to the size of present
transformer so if in future we want to
increase the rating of sub station then we
have to demolish or make some civil
works in the building to host new
transformer while in outdoor substations
transformers are placed outside so they
may be replaced by just increasing the area
of fencing.
Safety : Indoor substations are more
safe as they restrict the entry of animals or
any unauthorized person near the
transformer while outdoor substations are
not much safe.
Appearance : Indoor sub stations looks
good because there is not and electrical
equipment that is visible from outside
while in outdoor sub stations appearance is
not very good.
Maintenance : Maintenance of Indoor
substation is not easy. It require both time
and specialized labor so it is costly while
maintenance of outdoor substation is
cheap.
Distribution Feeder Systems
Lets take a look at the four most
common distribution feeder systems
applied nowdays. There are few other
variations, but we will stick to the basic
ones.
Its very important to understand why and
where each of distribution feeder systems
(topologies) are used, because whatever
you do (design of secondary substations,
performing testing of secondary
switchgears or transformers or planning
etc.) this would be the very first thing to
know.
So, these are the distribution feeder
systems well speak about //
1. Radial
2. Parallel feeders
3. Ring main
4. Meshed systems
1. Radial
Many distribution systems operate using a
radial feeder system. A typical radial
feeder system is shown schematically in
Figure 2. Radial feeders are the simplest
and least expensive, both to construct and
for their protection system.
This advantage however is offset by the
difficulty of maintaining supply in the
event of a fault occurring in the feeder.
A fault would result in the loss of supply
to a number of customers until the fault
is located and cleared. The next level of
reliability is given by a parallel feeder
system.
3. Ring main
A similar level of system reliability to that
of the parallel arrangement can be
achieved by using ring main feeders. This
usually results from the growth of load
supplied by a parallel feeder where the
cabling has been installed along different
routes. These are most common in urban
and industrial environments.
Whilst the start and finish ends of the ring
are at the same location, power is delivered
by both pathways of the ring into
substations located around the ring.
Should a fault occur on a feeder cable at
any point around the ring the faulty
section may be isolated by the operation
of the protecting circuit breakers, at the
same time maintaining supply to all
substations on the ring.
In typical urban / suburban ring main
arrangements, the open ring is operated
manually and loss of supply restored by
manual switching.
Figure 4 A ring main feeder system
Current practice is to use distribution
automation, where operation and supply
restoration in the feeder rings is done
automatically by centrally controlled
supervisory systems.
This gives the advantages of ring main
systems as line voltage drops are reduced
at the various load substations there is a
firm supply (i.e. an alternative path is
available if the primary one fails) to each
load substation.
Equipment for substations :-
The power system is a constituent
of power generation, transmission and
distribution systems. For all the power
system operations, substations are
required for their course of action.
Substations are congregation of electrical
equipment through which consumers get
supply of electrical power from generating
stations. By varying the voltage levels or
frequency or any other aspects, the
required electrical quantity can be altered
in substations to provide quality power to
consumers
Based on the application of substations,
they are classified into different types:
Generation substation, Indoor substation,
Outdoor substation, Pole mounted
substation, Switching substation,
Transmission substation, Converter
substation and Distribution substation. In
rare cases like wind farm power generation
system, multiple hydroelectric and thermal
power plants one can observe the collector
substation which is used for transferring
power from multiple turbines into one
transmission unit.
The substation is an assembly of the
following major electrical equipments:
Electrical Power transformers
Instrument transformers
Conductors& Insulators
Isolators
Bus bars
Lightning arresters
Circuit breakers
Relays
Capacitor banks and miscellaneous
equipment
Electrical Power Transformer
Electrical Power transformer
A static electrical machine used for
transforming power from one circuit to
another circuit without changing frequency
is termed as Power transformer. The
transformers are generally used to step
down or step up the voltage levels of a
system for transmission and generation
purpose. These transformers are classified
into different types based on their design,
utilization purpose, installation methods,
and so on.
Instrument Transformers:
Instrument transformers
The current and voltage transformers are
together called as the
Instrument transformers.
Current Transformer
Current transformer is used for the
measurement of the alternating current by
taking samples of the higher currents of
the system. These reduced samples are in
accurate proportions with the actual high
currents of the system. These are used for
installation and maintenance of the current
relays in substations for protection purpose
which are normally have low-current
ratings for their operation.
Potential Transformer
Potential transformer is quite similar to the
current transformer, but it is used for
taking samples of high voltages of a
system for providing low-voltage to the
relays of protection system and also to the
low-rating meters for voltage
measurement. From this low-voltage
measurement, the actual systems high
voltage can be calculated without
measuring high voltages directly to avoid
the cost of the measurement system.
Conductors
The material or object that obeys the
electrical property conductance (mostly
made of metals such as aluminum and
copper) and that allows the flow of
electric charge is called conductor.
Conductors permit free movement of the
flow of electrons through them. These are
used for the transmission of power or
electrical energy from one place
(generating station) to another place
(consumer point where power is
consumed by the loads) through
substations. Conductors are of different
types and mostly aluminum conductors
are preferred in practical power systems.
Insulators
The metal which does not allow free
movement of electrons or electric charge
is called as an insulator. Hence, insulators
resist electricity with their high resisting
property. There are different types of
insulators such as suspension type, strain
type, stray type, shackle, pin type and so
on. A few types of insulators are shown in
the above figure. Insulators are used for
insulation purpose while erecting electric
poles with conductors to avoid short
circuit and for other insulation
requirements.
Isolators
Isolator is a manually operated
mechanical switch that isolates the faulty
section or the section of a conductor or a
part of a circuit of substation meant for
repair from a healthy section in order to
avoid occurrence of more severe faults.
Hence, it is also called as a disconnector or
disconnecting switch. There are different
types of isolators used for different
applications such as single-break isolator,
double-break isolator, bus isolator, line
isolator, etc.
Bus bars
The conductor carrying current and having
multiple numbers of incoming and
outgoing line connections can be called as
bus bar, which is commonly used in
substations. These are classified into
different types like single bus, double bus
and ring bus.
Lightening Arresters
The substation equipments such as
conductors, transformers, etc., are always
erected outdoor. Whenever light surges
occur then, a high-voltage pass through
these electrical components causing
damage to them (either temporary or
permanent damage based on the amount of
voltage surge). Therefore, to avoid this
difficulty, lightening arresters are placed to
pass the entire lightening surges to earth.
There are other arresters which are used to
ground the switching surges called as
surge arresters.
Circuit Breakers
For the protection of substation and its
components from the over currents or over
load due to short circuit or any other fault
the faulty section is disconnected from the
healthy section either manually or
automatically. If once the fault is rectified,
then again the original circuit can be
rebuilt by manually or automatically.
Different types of circuit breakers are
designed based on different criteria and
usage. But in general mostly used circuit
breakers are Oil circuit breaker, Air circuit
breaker, SF6 circuit breaker, Vacuum
Circuit Breaker, and so on.
Relays
Relays are used for disconnecting the
circuits by manual or automatic operation.
Relay consists of the coil which is excited
or energized and such that making the
contacts of relay closed activates the relay
to break or make the circuit connection.
There are different types of relays such as
over current relays, definite time over
current relays, voltage relays, auxiliary
relays, reclosing relays, solid state relays,
directional relays,inverse time over current
relays, microcontroller relays, etc. The
above figure shows some basic relays and
their operation.
Capacitor banks
A Capacitor bank is a set of many identical
capacitors connected in series or parallel
within a enclosure and is used for the
power factor correction and basic
protection of substation.These capacitor
banks are acts as a source of reactive
power, and thus, the phase difference
between voltage and current can be
reduced by the capacitor banks. They will
increase the ripple current capacity of the
supply. It avoids undesirable
characteristics in the power system. It is
the most economical method for
maintaining power factor and of correction
of the power lag problems.
The electric power can be transmitted
either by means of d.c. or a.c. Each
system has its own merits and demerits.
1. D.C. transmission.
For some years past, the transmission of
electric power by d.c. has been receiving
the active consideration of engineers due
to its numerous advantages.
Advantages. The high voltage d.c.
transmission has the following
advantages over high voltage a.c.
transmission :
1. It requires only two conductors as
compared to three for a.c.
transmission.
2. There is no inductance,
capacitance, phase displacement
and surge problems in d.c.
transmission.
3. Due to the absence of inductance,
the voltage drop in a d.c.
transmission line is less than the
a.c. line for the same load and
sending end voltage. For this
reason, a d.c. transmission line has
better voltage regulation.
4. There is no skin effect in a d.c.
system. Therefore, entire cross-
section of the line conductor
is utilized.
5. For the same working voltage, the
potential stress on the insulation is
 less in case of d.c. system than that 4. An a.c. line has capacitance.
in a.c. system. Therefore, a d.c. Therefore, there is a continuous
line requires less insulation. loss of power due to charging
6. A d.c. line has less corona loss and current even when the line is
reduced interference with open.
communication circuits.
7. The high voltage d.c. transmission
is free from the dielectric losses,
particularly in the case of cables.
8. In d.c. transmission, there are no
stability problems
and synchronizing difficulties.
Disadvantages
1. Electric power cannot be
generated at high d.c. voltage due
to commutation problems.
2. The d.c. voltage cannot be stepped
up for transmission of power at
high voltages.
3. The d.c. switches and circuit
breakers have their own
limitations.
2. A.C. transmission.
Now-a-days, electrical energy is almost
exclusively generated, transmitted and
distributed in the form of a.c.
Advantages
1. The power can be generated at
high voltages.
2. The maintenance of a.c. sub-
stations is easy and cheaper.
3. The a.c. voltage can be stepped up
or stepped down by transformers
with ease and efficiency. This
permits to transmit power at high
voltages and distribute it at safe
potentials.
Disadvantages
1. An a.c. line requires more copper
than a d.c. line.
2. The construction of a.c.
transmission line is more
complicated than a d.c.
transmission line.
3. Due to skin effect in the a.c.
system, the effective resistance of
the line is increased.