PX or P class CT choice

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A vital issue to the performance of protection systems.

I would first recommend buying a copy of IEC 61869-2 which details all the parameters for specifying CTs.
(The previous specification was IEC 60044. In Australia the Standard used to be AS 1675) The Contact Me
alternative is ANSI C57-13
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offline)
In principle though, for non-differential protection you can generally choose a class P CT.
For this you need to know Email Me

1. the CT ratio, accuracy (generally 10% will do for protection), A phone call is nearly always
2. maximum fault current, and welcome depending on the
3. the burden (leads plus relays) on the CT. time of night wherever I am in
the world.
You then need to calculate the required output VA upto the max fault current for the maximum burden. Based in Adelaide UTC +9:30
This is essentially an Ohms Law calculation making sure the voltage developed at the CT terminals at the hours e.g.
maximum fault current is sufficient to push the max fault current through the connected impedance. Note if
old electromechanical relays, the worst case biggest burden may in fact be an earth fault relay. April-September Noon
UK =
Although not specifically required for P class, you should also consider Excitation current as the effective
2030
setting of the relay is:
Adelaide
Ieff = Isetting + n.Iexcitation where n is number of CTs
e.g. if for an earth fault setting with a 4-CT arrangement, Isetting = 5% and Iexcitation = 5%, the effective October-March: Noon
setting is 25% so what you think is sensitive setting might not be !! UK =
2230
For differential protection you invariably need class PX. Adelaide
The kneepoint requirement for this is way different to the terminal voltage requirement associated with
non-differential applications. Office + 61 8 7127 6357
Calculating the Vkp, as the "internal" voltage rather than the terminal voltage, is to ensure that one CT will Mobile + 61 419 845 253
force current through the other CT when it is saturated during an external fault
i.e. also applying Ohms Law but as one CT connected to another CT and ignoring the differential relay or by post
parallel connection a snot involved for through faults: PO Box 757
Vkpmin >= Ifmax x 2 x (Rct + Rloop) Blackwood
SA 5051
Note that there is a direct relationship between the manufacturers Rct and their Vkp so you may have to Australia.
specify the formula to be satisfied rather than the actual values - i.e. if they use a lower Rct, then they
could have a lower Vkp.

In specifying PX class, it is not simply sufficient to ensure that Vkp exceeds the minimum. The objective is
to minimise dynamic performance at all current levels with different excitation currents, hence the slope of Extra Notes:
the magnetising curve needs to be as close as possible - these two CTs comply to the minimum V kp requir
e and have the same Excitation current but may lead to some reduction in stability for through currents due
to the different slopes of {Vkp2 / Ie2 } > {Vkp1 / Ie1 }. For a given current flowing through both CTs
requiring a certain voltage, the different excitation currents mean there will be a different outpout current
and hence will be seen as a false differential

(click to enlarge)

The other thing to note here is that PX specifies a WINDING Ratio, not a current ratio - the difference is
subtle but in a P class the turns are adjusted to achieve a certain current ratio accuracy where as PX you
want the CTs to be physically identical with exactly the same number of turns.
Consider two P class CTs connected in Merz-Price circulating current connection for a High Impedance
Differential application.
Both CTs are 10P20 .... so at 20 x rated current they are within 10% accuracy
Hence for a 1 A rated current CT, at maximum fault current of 20 x rated one could be producing 18 A and
the other producing 22 A. This means there could be a false differential current of as much as 4 A which
can ONLY flow through the relay.
Or a 5 A rated current, at maximum fault current of 20 x rated, one is producing 90 A and the other 110 A.
This is a false differential of as much as 20 A flowing through the relay.

Refer this child page to this page : PX class is not specified as Burden, P class is
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