Advanced Power

System Protection
EE574

EE 24703 (Graduate Course)

Power system Protection
Generator Protection-1
 Generator protection

• Electric rotating machinery represents a class of equipment that is

very complex and, therefore, subject to many different types of
failure.

• The ac windings are subject to the same types of failures as

transformers, and protection must be provided to remove faulted
machines to preserve system integrity as well as to limit the
damage to the equipment.

• Machines are also subject to faults in the magnetic

lamination insulation that can lead to heating and eventual
significant damage.
 Generator protection
• Machines are also subject to the problems associated with
overheating and the loss of life of insulation that accumulates
due to overheating.

• Therefore, the cooling media that control the heating of

current-carrying windings and the magnetic steel circuits are
possible causes of machine failure that must be considered.

• Rotating machines, like transformers, are also subject to

failure due to over-fluxing. This can be caused by overvoltage
or underfrequency, exactly as in transformers.
 TYPES OF GENERATOR PROTECTION
• There are many different types of faults that synchronous
generators may experience and, therefore, many different
types of protection.

• All generators will not have the same level of protection,

however. As a general rule, the larger, more expensive
machines will have the greatest number of different
protective systems simply because serious damage of these
units is very costly
 TYPES OF GENERATOR PROTECTION
• All synchronous generators must have stator protection, and
most units have several types of protection, each of which
guards against different types of problems.

• There is little disagreement-regarding the need for basic

stator short-circuit protection, and most engineers agree that
this is best done using differential protection.
 TYPES OF GENERATOR PROTECTION
• All synchronous generators must have stator protection, and
most units have several types of protection, each of which
guards against different types of problems.

• There is little disagreement-regarding the need for basic

stator short-circuit protection, and most engineers agree that
this is best done using differential protection.

• Beyond this basic protection the opinions vary as to the need

for special relaying. Some argue that too many protective
systems increase the preventive maintenance and testing
time, resulting in a reduction of protective system reliability,
and therefore tend to favour simpler systems and frequent
testing.
 TYPES OF GENERATOR PROTECTION
• Others prefer more elaborate protective systems on the
theory that generator outages are very costly and even
moderate limitations on the amount of damage will more
than pay for the additional relaying and testing.

• The final decision rests on the benefit derived from the

added complexity in terms of improved generator availability.
This is not easy to measure accurately since major outages are
rare events.
TYPES OF GENERATOR PROTECTION
 STATOR PROTECTION

• Stator faults result from insulation breakdown that causes an arc to

develop, either from phase to phase or from the phase conductor
to the grounded magnetic steel laminations of the stator.

• The cause of the insulation breakdown may be due to overvoltage,

overheating, or mechanical damage of the winding insulation due
to faults.

• The overvoltage that may cause an insulation failure might be due

to lightning or switching surges, which are usually protected against
by surge protective devices.
 Phase Fault Protection

• Phase faults in generators are rare, but they can occur and
must be protected against.

• Phase faults can develop in the winding end turns, where all
three phase windings are in close proximity, or in slots if there
are two coils in the same slot. Phase faults often change to
ground faults, but they must be detected in either event.

• The standard method of protection against phase faults is the

differential relay, and usually the percentage differential type
of relay.
Phase Fault Protection
 Ground Fault Protection

• Most of the generator stator winding faults are phase-to-ground faults.

This is true because the windings are always in close contact with steel
slots that are at ground potential and, in some designs, are not close to
other phase conductors except for the end turns.
•In many cases, resistance grounding is achieved using a distribution
transformer, as shown in Figure 18.3.
• As long as the neutral is to be grounded, adding impedance (usually
resistance) has the advantage of limiting the fault current of phase-to-
ground faults, and thereby limiting the damage done by these faults.
•If the neutral impedance is high enough, the ground fault current may be
limited to rated generator current, or even less.
•There is no general agreement as to the best value for this current-
limiting impedance. If the impedance is too high, the fault current is low
and the phase relaying lacks sensitivity.
 Ground Fault Protection
• Most of the generator stator winding faults are phase-to-ground faults.
This is true because the windings are always in close contact with steel
slots that are at ground potential and, in some designs, are not close to
other phase conductors except for the end turns.
•In many cases, resistance grounding is achieved using a distribution
transformer, as shown in Figure 18.3.
• As long as the neutral is to be grounded, adding impedance (usually
resistance) has the advantage of limiting the fault current of phase-to-
ground faults, and thereby limiting the damage done by these faults.
•If the neutral impedance is high enough, the ground fault current may be
limited to rated generator current, or even less.
•There is no general agreement as to the best value for this current-
limiting impedance. If the impedance is too high, the fault current is low
and the phase relaying lacks sensitivity.
Grounding Methods
 Turn to Turn Fault Protection
• Differential stator winding protection will not detect turn-to-turn
faults until they become shorted to ground.
•Turn-to-turn faults are rare, but they can have high currents and
produce significant core damage.
•The greatest danger is fire, which is aided by forced air cooling that
supplies ample amounts of oxygen to the fire.
•Hydrogen cooled machines present less of a fire hazard since hydrogen
will not support combustion.
•Since the probability of turn-to-turn faults is low, protection is usually
not provided. There is always the back-up protection provided by
ground fault relaying, since turn-to-turn faults will eventually develop
into ground faults.
• The only type of turn-to-turn differential fault protection that is
feasible is for those generators with multi-turn coils in their windings, as
shown in Figure 18.6.
Turn to Turn Fault Protection
 Stator Open Circuit Protection

Stator open circuit protection is usually not provided, since no

permanent damage is likely although it is possible that
damage will accumulate due to a high resistance connection.

An open circuit in one of the stator windings will cause single

phasing of the generator and high negative-sequence
currents. This will cause an alarm to alert the operator of the
condition. Open circuits are highly unlikely in a generator, and
any possible damage will occur slowly; hence there is no need
for prompt tripping of the unit.
 Overheating Protection
Overheating of a synchronous generator may occur due to
one of the following causes:
1. Overload.
2. Failure of the ventilation or hydrogen cooling system.
3. Shorted laminations in the stator iron.
4. Core bolt insulation failures in the stator iron.

Temperature detection is often accomplished using

embedded thermocouples.
Another measurement technique is to record the input and
output cooling medium to note any marked changes in the
readings.
All these devices are used to detect and alarm the operator.
The output of the indicator maybe used to shut down the
unit.
 Overvoltage Protection
One type of overvoltage in a generator is that due to transient
surges caused by lightning or switching surges. These
transients are protected by surge protective devices that are
designed for this purpose.
 Unbalanced Current Protection
1. One open phase of a line.
2. One open pole of a circuit breaker.
3. A close-in unbalanced fault that is not promptly
cleared.
4. A stator winding fault.
Unbalanced Current Protection
 Backup Protection
There are two types of backup protection that might be applied to
a generator: backup of relays protecting the generator protection
zone and backup of relays protecting external zones.
Some types of backup protection may be graded to coordinate
with both internal and external protective devices.
 ROTOR PROTECTION
In this section, we consider some other types of rotor problems and
the protective systems used to avoid or limit rotor damage.

Shorted Field Winding Protection

Shorted turns in the generator field winding have the potential for
distorting the field across the air gap, as illustrated in Figure 18.9. This is
due to the unsymmetrical ampere turns of mmf in different parts of the
field winding.
Grounding Field Winding
 Open circuit field
Field winding open circuits are rare, but prompt action is required
when an open occurs because it will be accompanied with arcing
that can do great damage to the rotor iron.
 OTHER GENERATOR PROTECTION SYSTEMS
Over-speed Protection
It has been noted above that over-speed causes overvoltage, which may be
protected against using overvoltage relays. Basically, however, over-speed
control is part of the turbine control system. Most large steam turbine controls
have two or three separate speed control units, with one of these being strictly
a mechanical centrifugal device that will close the turbine control valves even if
electrical power is lost to the controls that require electric input. Over-speed
protection must be selective and must not shut the unit down due to a
temporary loss of load, even if the cause is serious, for example, a short circuit.
Short circuits anywhere near a generator will collapse the voltage and the
generator experiences a loss of load. Since the turbine power is unchanged,
the turbine-generator unit will over-speed until the governor throttles the
turbine input back. Faults are usually temporary, however, and there is no
need to shut the unit down unless the fault is on the generator or GSU
transformer. Other nearby faults have exactly the same effect on the
generator, however, and the protections must be designed to discriminate.
Faults in the generator or step-up transformer will trip the unit before over-
speed can become a problem.
OTHER GENERATOR PROTECTION SYSTEMS