Sensitive Stator and Rotor Earth Fault Protection at Genertors

Dr. Hans-Joachim Herrmann Siemens AG, PTD EA1 !urem"er#, German$

Die#o Gao Siemens Po%er Automation &td.'SPA(, TS !an)in#, P.R.*hina
Large hydro power plants are designed in a unit connection. The neutral point of the generator is
isolated or high ohmic earthed. The probability of a phase to earth fault - the stator earth fault - is
much higher than the other fault types. To detect this type of fault within a generator is one of the
important protection tasks. This contribution focuses on the stator earth fault protection in general
and highlights a principle which covers 100 % of the stator winding.
By virtue of the galvanic isolation of the rotor an earth fault in the rotor leads to very small fault
currents and doesn!t damage the rotor. "f a second earth fault occurs at another location in the field
system the current will be flowing through the affected turns. The field current from a large machine
can be high causing serious damage on the rotor and the e#citer. "f a large part of the field-winding
is short-circuited the flu# may result in a mechanical force which is strong on one pole but weak on
the opposite one. The result is an unbalanced force which in large machines may be of the order of
$0-100 tons. This causes violent vibrations which may damage bearings or even displace the rotor
to damage the stator. Therefore it is important to design the protection as sensitive as possible.
+e$%ords, %tator earth fault protection 100% protection range &0-'(-in)ection method rotor earth
fault protection sensitivity numerical protection
1. Stator Earth Fault Protection
1.1 -asics o. stator earth .ault /rotection
*igure 1 shows a typical design of a unit connection with the components generator step-up
transformer and au#iliary transformer. +epending on the plant configuration a generator circuit
breaker may be additionally available. The possible location of an earth fault is marked by the circle
in figure 1. Transient overvoltages involved with isolation ageing lead to earth faults predominantly
on the terminal side of the generator. ,echanical problems can also cause isolation damage and an
earth fault arises out of that. The fault location can be anywhere in the stator winding and an earth
fault close to the neutral point of the generator is possible too.
To minimi(e the damage of the stator core and winding the fault current is normally limited up to 10
- and in worst case situations up to &0 - .see figure &/. The fault current is determined by the sum
of the earth capacitances on the generator side and the load resistor.
*igure 10 Typical plant design *igure &0 "nfluence of fault current and duration on
damage of a stator core
1
"n pra#is there e#ist two ways of calculating the necessary load resistance 1L. "n literature 213 the
argumentation starts with the possibility of transient overvoltages during intermittent earth faults at
isolated generator star points. - grounding of the star point only serves for limiting these transient
overvoltages but a compromise must be found between the permitted fault current and the allowed
transient overvoltage. The general design rule describes e4uation .1/.

=
E
L
C
1
R
.1/
with0 56 sum of the earth capacitances
-ccording 213 this design limits the transient overvoltage in the healthy phases to a ma#imum of &.$
times of the phase to earth voltage.
-nother argumentation in literature 2&3 highlights the risk of an overfunction by the stator earth fault
protection due to an earth fault on the high voltage side of the step-up transformer. The
displacement voltage on '7-side can lead to a disturbance voltage on generator side via the
capacitive voltage divider according figure 8.
*igure 80 +isturbance from the high voltage side
The load resistor on the generator side minimi(es the disturbances influence of the displacement
voltage from the high voltage side and determines the protective range .90% :0% or :$%/ which
can be covered.
*or typical unit connections both calculation methods lead to nearly identical load resistances
determined by the given earth and coupling capacitances.
E0am/le,
:0 % protection range0 ; < 0.1=
>enerator voltage0 ?@=> < &0 k7= @etwork voltage0 ?@@et < $$0 k7 = f@ < $0'(
56 < 1.A *Bphase= 5coup < 10 n*
,ethod 10
=

= =

758
10 1,4 3 50 2
1

C
1
R
6 -
E
L
,ethod &0 A 0.8 A 10 10 50 2
3
10 550
0.8 C
3
U
F I
9 -
3
coup
Ne N,
e!"# C
=

=
=

= 721
0,8
3
10 20
0,1
2
1

I
3
U
$
2
1
R
3
C
% N&
L
The factor *earth <1 is used for isolated networks. *or safety reasons the factor 0.9 .possibility of
open transformer star point/ is recommended in solidly earthed networks. @ormally the actual
displacement voltage will be lower and the re4uired load resistor may be higher than calculated.
&
The final discussion to this topic is the location of the load resistor. @ormally a secondary resistor
with a transformer is used. Cne way is the connection on the neutral side of the generator with a
neutral transformer. This cost optimi(ed solution lives with the risk of failures on the high voltage
side of the neutral transformer due to transient overvoltages e.g. lightning overvoltages. 6arthing of
the generator is then possible. Therefore this application re4uires unconditionally a 100% stator
earth fault protection.
- different preferred solution is an absolutely free neutral point of the generator. @othing is
connected on generator star point and this minimi(es the additional risk of unintentional earthing of
the star point. The secondary load resistor is connected on a five-limb earthing transformer which is
located on the generator main leads .see chapter 1.8 figure $/.
1.1 Protection "ased on the dis/lacement volta#e
The measurement of the displacement voltage on the generator side is the standard application of
stator earth fault protection at unit connection schemes. +ue to harmonics .especially the 8
rd
harmonics/ and the re4uirement for a high sensitivity the measurement of the fundamental
fre4uency should be used. Dith a correct selection of the load resistor a protective range of :0% or
:$% can be reached. There e#ist no limitations from the numerical relay. -n accurate measurement
of a low voltage is always possible.
"n applications at pump storage power stations the protection should cover a wide fre4uency
operating range especially at starting conditions with ?Bf < const. Cnly the fre4uency tracking
guarantees the same accuracy over a wide fre4uency band. "n 283 this function is active from 11'(.
1. 1223-stator-earth-.ault /rotection %ith 12-H4-in)ection method
+ue to the risk of an earth fault close to the generator star point a secure protection principle is
re4uired and shall be based on a different measuring method to avoid common mode failures. -
further re4uirement is the independence from the operating conditions of the generator. "t was found
out that the risk of an earth fault during a startup process or after refurbishment is sometimes higher
than at continuous operation.
+uring the construction of the large power plants in >ermany in the seventies the utilities demanded
a secure measuring principle. The in)ection principle based on the &0-'(-fre4uency was developed
and within the numerical technology permanently improved.
The basic principle is e#plained in figure A. - &0-'(-voltage with a low magnitude .E 1% of rated
generator voltage/ operates as an electromotive force .e.m.f/ on the neutral point of the generator.
"n case of an earth fault a closed loop e#ists and a &0-'(-fault current flows. The detection of the
earth fault is independent of the fault location in the stator winding. - further feature is the activation
of the protection before a plant goes into service. The &0-'(-generator must be switched on and
then the protection becomes automatically active.
*igure A0 Basic idea of &0-'(-in)ection method
8
*igure $ represents a more detailed drawing with the necessary additional accessories. The band
pass smoothes the &0-'(-s4uare voltage and additionally protects the &0-'(-generator in the case
of an earth fault with a full displacement voltage. The &0-'(-e.m.f. on the load side results from the
voltage divider0 load resistor and &0-'(-series resistance of the band pass .9/. Therefore a design
re4uirement for the load resistor e#ists. The resistor shall be higher than 0.$ .worst case 0.8/. "n
this case the secondary in)ected &0-'(-voltage is close to .0.$B9.$/F&$ 7 1.$ 7. The
re4uirement for a higher secondary load resistor can be easy fulfilled if a higher secondary voltage
on the neutral transformer is used or the primary voltage is the same as the phase to earth voltage
of the generator .saturation degree shall be according the rated generator voltage/. - reduced
transformer ratio by the factor of 8 automatically leads to a 8 times higher load resistor.
*igure $0 Gractical design of the &0-'(-in)ection method
The numerical protection samples the in)ected voltages and measured current. Dith *"1-filters the
&0-'(-components are calculated and further on a special Hfailure replicaI for determination of the
fault resistance is used. The advantage is a higher sensitivity against the pure &0-'(-current
measurement. 6specially at large hydro generators due to the larger stator earth capacitances a
higher capacitive &0-'(-current will be measured under fault free conditions. "n that case there
e#ists no safety margin for a reliable setting of a &0-'(-current stage. The used model in 283
eliminates the disturbance influence of the earth capacitances. The literature gives additional setting
recommendations and describes the commissioning procedure.
1.5 A//lication on di..erent /lant conditions
- standard protection philosophy for large power plants is the design of two protection groups with
independent principles for the same protection task. -t least the displacement voltage should be
available in one group and in the other group the &0-'(-in)ection method.
Both principles shall be additionally controlled by a fre4uency tracking. "n a transient operating
range of a generator between 10 '( and A0 '( a low (ero se4uence fre4uency close to &0 '( is
possible from the generator side. Both signals one from the generator and other from the &0-'(-
generator can superimpose like a power swing and lead to an overfunction of the &0-'(-protection
.unwanted pickup/. Therefore the &0-'(-protection will internally be blocked temporarily. This
feature is very important at pump storage power stations during startup .may be also via starting
with a static fre4uency converter/ and also during braking.
*igure J summari(es both the redundancy and the fre4uency operating range.
*inally the performance of the 100% stator earth fault protection will be e#plained with an e#ample.
+uring commissioning of a large hydro power plant an additional device for insulation measurement
was installed. This device failed temporarily and caused a transient stator earth fault. *igure K
shows the stored fault record in the protection relay. The transient fault conditions can clearly be
recogni(ed and the binary traces on the bottom show the pickup and the trip by the protection.
A
*igure J0 1edundancy and fre4uency operating range
*igure K0 *ault record of a transient stator earth fault
*igure 90 Cffline calculation of the earth fault resistance form the fault record
Dith this fault record the measured fault resistance could be calculated offline and figure 9 shows
the result. The measured resistance was for a certain time below the threshold which is marked by
the dotted lines .pickup at J0 and dropout at 9J - these are secondary setting values/.
$
1. Rotor Earth Fault Protection
1.1 Protection /rinci/les
-s mentioned in the introduction a sensitive rotor earth fault protection is also re4uired for large
generators. Two protective stages one for alarm only and one for trip are necessary due to the risk
of a double earth fault and the possibility of big damages on the generator side.
*rom the measurement point of view there e#ist two criteria for limitation of the sensitivity. Cne is
the rotor earth capacitance and the other comes from the e#citation system as harmonics in a wide
bandwidth. These influences affect the accuracy of the protection.
The e#citation system is isolated and in the case of a single rotor earth fault there is no closed loop.
*or this reason an e#ternal source is necessary. Cne wide spread application uses the generator
voltage from the secondary side of the voltage transformers itself as an -5-source. The connection
to the rotor circuit is reali(ed via coupling capacitors. *or this coupling there e#ist in practice
different designs. Cne option is shown in figure :. The rotor earth capacitances cause a leakage
current and limit the sensitivity if only a current measuring method is used. - fault model consisting
of fault resistance and rotor earth capacitance eliminates one disturbance source and yields a
higher sensitivity. Dith the measured voltage and current the fault resistance can be calculated and
sensitivity up to 80k can be reached. 'owever disturbances from the e#citation side limit this
advantage in most applications. Gractical settings for an alarm stage are therefore around 10 to 1$
k.
*igure :0 5onnection principle of the -5 in)ection method
The alternative solution - low fre4uency s4uare wave principle .L*-principle/ - unites both the
elimination of the rotor earth capacitances and the attenuation of disturbance influence from
e#citation e4uipment side. -t low disturbances a sensitivity up to 90k can be reached without any
problems. *or detailed discussions see the ne#t chapter.
- parallel operation of both principles which were e#plained reduces the sensitivity on both sides
because the principles influence each other. The -5 principle measures the coupling resistors from
the L*-principle in parallel with the fault resistance .see figure 11/. Cn the other side the coupling
capacitances of the -5 principle operate as an additional large rotor earth capacitance for the L*-
principle. These capacitors can not be fully charged and therefore they limit the sensitivity.
- usual practice is the permanent application with one measuring principle. "n the case of a
detected failure in the protection by the self supervision a change over to the second in)ection
principle will be e#ecuted manually or by logic .see figure 10/.
J
*igure 100 1edundancy via a change over 283
1.1 Sensitive rotor earth .ault /rotection %ith s6uare in)ection method
This well proven measuring principle was successful used in the analog static relays and was
adapted for numerical applications. The basic principle with the necessary e4uipment is shown in
figure 11. - low fre4uency s4uare wave generator with a fre4uency range between 1 to 8 '(
charges the rotor earth capacitances via a series resistor .1%/. -fter these capacitances are fully
charged there can only flow a current determined by the fault resistance. Dith the known voltage
source and the coupling resistor the rotor earth resistance can be calculated. To avoid over
functions due to +5 offsets caused by e#citation voltage the protection uses only the difference
voltage. The rotor earth capacitances will always be charged in both directions. "f two successive
measuring results are the same the measuring is declared valid. This minimi(es measuring errors if
there is a change in the e#citation voltage.
*igure 110 Grinciple of s4uare wave in)ection
Through the used low fre4uency the noise margin to harmonics of the e#citation e4uipment is much
higher compared with the -5 method and therefore the disturbance influence is lower. -s
mentioned before a sensitivity up to 90k can be reached. The normal setting for the alarm stage
is between A0 and 90k. The trip stage is set appro#imately at $k.
*igure 1& gives a feeling for the measuring principle. This was recorded during a commissioning on
a 1000 ,7- generator with rotating diodes. The first curve shows the control voltages. This voltage
is used for triggering the measurement and calculating the actual e.m.f.-voltage. The second curve
shows the voltage drop via the measuring shunt 1, of figure 11. The change in the s4uare waves
indicates different fault resistances which were simulated by test resistors. Cn the bottom there are
the binary traces with the pickup and the trip signals. The trip delay was set to 0.$ s.
K
*igure 1&0 1ecord during a commissioning test
- standard 4uestion is always the connection to different e#citation systems. Dith static e#citers a
symmetrical connection is recommended. -n asymmetrical connection is also possible but the
series resistors or capacitors must always be connected in parallel. *igure 18 summari(es the
different ways of interfacing.
*igure 180 5onnection to different e#citation systems
*inally the testing will be briefly e#plained. The self supervision function in the numerical protection
detects failures in the in)ection e4uipment. But there are situations that not all broken wire
conditions can be detected. ,ay be there is an interruption on one series resistor. "n this case the
feeding is only via one resistor .A0 k/ but the assumed resistance in the firmware is &0 k instead
of actual A0 k and leads to a measuring error. Therefore the implemented test function shall be
activated. Dith the known e#ternal test resistor a broken wire condition can reliably be detected.
The available 5*5-logic allows an automatic test whose activation is possible manually or from
remote control. *or more details see 283.
9
. Summar$
The contribution dealt with two important topics for hydro generators the stator and rotor earth fault
protection. These protection principles are basic functions in each large power plant. -t hydro power
plants there e#ist special operating conditions particularly in pump storage power station
applications.
Cne ma)or attention in the paper was the sensitivity and the protective range which can be covered.
"t was clearly shown that the 100 % stator earth fault protection with the &0-'(-in)ection method
covers the full stator winding and is nearly independent from the operating conditions of the
generator.
The rotor earth fault protection with a low fre4uency s4uare wave in)ection is characteri(ed by a
high sensitivity. 'igh ohmic rotor earth faults can be detected. Two stages with different settings
shall be the standard one for alarm and the other for trip.
Dith practical e#amples the performance of both protection functions was shown.
5. &iterature
213 "666 >uide for the application of neutral grounding in electrical utility systems.
Gart "" L >rounding of synchronous generator systems published by "666 @ew Mork 1:9:
2&3 Glanning ,achine Grotection %ystems %iemens application guide
@o. 6$0A00-?009:-?A1&--&-KJ00
283 %"G1CT65 K?,J& 7A.J ,ultifunction >enerator ,otor and Transformer Grotection
1elay ,anual @o 5$800->11KJ-51A:-A
Author Resume
Dr. Hans-Joachim Herrmann
Born in 1:$1 and have &7-year!s protection e#perience. 'e graduated from Technical ?niversity of +resden in 1:KK.+uring
1:KK-1::1 worked as -ssistant Grofessor on the Technical ?niversity of Nittau. Then )oin %"6,6@% as ,ember of Groduct
,anagement Grotection in the Ener#$ -utomation +ivision. ?p to now there are totally appro#. 80 5ontributions in Gapers
and 5onferences published. 'e is also the 5o-author of a Grotection Book .in 1ussian/ and the author of a Book H@umerical
GrotectionI .in >erman/.
Die#o Gao
Born in 1:K$ and have 9-year!s protection e#perience. "n &00A he )oined %iemens Gower -utomation Ltd. .%G-/ serving as
a technical support engineer on generator-transformer protection.
: