INTRODUCTION

In the early days of the electricity supply industry, protective equipment for plants
connected to a busbar installation was relied upon to clear busbar faults. This resulted in
time delayed fault clearance by time graded protections such as distance relays or
overcurrent time relays. With present day widely meshed power system networks with
line sections varying in length and numerous intermediate infeeds, fault clearance by
Zone 2 or Zone 3 of distance relay can be difficult plus the impossibility of selective
tripping of different bus sections. In order to maintain system stability and minimise
damage due to high fault levels time delayed tripping for busbar faults is no longer
acceptable. It is therefore necessary to detect busbar faults selectively with a unit form of
protection system.

BASIC REQUIREMENT OF A BUSBAR PROTECTION SCHEME

i)
It must be completely reliable, since the protection may only be called to operate
once or twice in the life of the switchgear installation and failure to operate under fault
conditions would be unacceptable.
ii)
It must be absolutely stable under all through fault conditions since failure to
stabilise would cause unnecessary widespread interruption of supply.
iii)
It must be capable of complete discrimination between sections of the busbars to
ensure that the minimum number of circuit breakers are tripped to isolate the fault.
iv)
It must possess high speed of operation to minimise damage and maintain system
stability.

TYPES OF BUSBAR PROTECTION SCHEME

Three types of busbar protection are commonly applied:
1. Frame to Earth (Leakage) Protection
2. Differential Protection
3. Directional Comparison (Blocking Schemes) Protection

FRAME LEAKAGE PROTECTION

This is a simple and economical form of busbar protection which is ideal for the protection
of phase segregated indoor metalclad switchgear where earth fault protection only is
required. The main basic requirement is that the frame of the switchgear must be
insulated from the true earth and between sections of the switchboard. This provision of
insulation between switchboard sections is the main disadvantage of this form of
protection plus the fact that it is not possible to discriminate between faults on two sets of
busbars running though common switchgear frames.

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Principle of Operation
The principle of operation of a frame leakage scheme is based on the fact that any
breakdown of the switchgear insulation will raise the potential of the frame to earth and
cause a current to flow in the connection between the frame bonding bar and earth. A
current transformer connected between the bonding bar and earth will therefore measure
this earth fault current and operate a protective relay. An instantaneous current relay is
sufficient for this application.
The current transformer ratio used is not critical provided the necessary fault setting can
be obtained.

IF

Outgoing
feeder
= I1 + I2

Frame-leakage
current
Switchgear
transformer
frame

Switchgear
frame
Generator

System
earthing

Earth

I1 + I2
I1

I1

Frame
insulation

I2
Earthing
electrode

Page 2

Insulation Requirement and Frame Earthing

The switchgear must be insulated as a whole, usually by standing it on concrete, taking
care that the foundation bolts do not touch any steel reinforcement. No other earth
connections of any type including incidental connections to structural steelwork should be
present. This is to ensure that :
The effective setting of the relay is not raised by any path shunting the principal earth
connection and current transformer.
No spurious tripping will take place for an external earth fault with current flowing into or
out of the switchgear frame.
The insulation achieved should be greater than 10 ohms to ensure stability under external
fault conditions.
All cable glands must be insulated to prevent circulation of spurious current produced by
high voltages induced in the cable sheaths under through fault conditions causing
flashover between gland and switchgear frame.

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
Two forms of differential protection are adopted for busbar protection, namely, `High
Impedance` and `Low Impedance`.
High Impedance Differential Protection
This is a unit type protective scheme in which currents entering and leaving the busbar
installation are compared continuously. The object is to provide fast operation at a low
fault setting on internal faults and yet retain stability up to the highest possible value of
short circuit current on through faults. Current transformers on each of the busbar circuits
are connected in parallel which will produce a resultant current to operate a relay for
internal busbar faults only. Theoretically such a system is unaffected by through faults,
but in practice the associated current transformer may not behave ideally when the
current exceeds a certain value. Errors in transformation due to saturation of the current
transformer cores may be sufficient to cause maloperation if special precautions are not
taken. In order to ensure stability for external faults the current through the relay is limited
by the insertion of an external resistor in series with the relay. This resistor is often
refered to as a stabilising resistor.
The stability limit of a busbar protection scheme is based on the maximum through fault
current. In general this takes the value of the associated switchgear rating irrespective of
the existing or anticipated fault levels.
Fault Setting Resistors
These are used to increase the effective primary fault setting by creating a shunt
resistance across the relay circuit. They are useful where a standard relay with a given
setting is used for all the busbar installations to achieve a given primary fault setting
throughout.

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Check Feature
A second line of defence is considered good practice in most schemes of busbar
protection, not to give security against maloperation of the primary protection due to
inherent defects but to prevent incorrect tripping as a result of damage to wiring and
equipment from extraneous sources. A check feature is provided by duplication of the
primary protection using a second set of current transformers on all circuits other than
bus section and coupler units. The check system is arranged in a similar manner to the
primary protection but forms one zone only covering the whole of the busbars and does
not discriminate between faults in the various sections of the busbars.
Use of Non-Linear Resistors (Metrosils) to Limit Voltage
Across Relay and Current Transformer Secondary Wiring
Under in-zone fault conditions, the high impedance relay circuit constitutes an excessive
burden to the current transformers, leading to the development of a high voltage the
waveform of which will be highly distorted with a peak value many times the nominal
saturation voltage. Non-linear resistors are used in parallel with the relay circuit to reduce
this voltage.

CT WIRING SUPERVISION
When a current transformer secondary winding or connections between current
transformers and the relay circuit become open circuited, the resultant out-of-balance
current will flow through the parallel combination of relay, metrosil, fault setting resistor
and current transformer magnetising impedance. This may cause the protection to
operate for load or through fault conditions depending on the effective primary setting.
The condition of an open circuit can be detected by measuring the voltage across the
relay circuit by a sensitive voltage operated relay as shown in the following figure. This
relay is set to operate when the out-of-balance current equals about 10% of the least
loaded feeder connected to the busbars or 25 amperes whichever is the greater.
If accurate details of current transformer magnetising characteristics are available, the
required setting can be calculated. Checks should be done on site to ensure that the
relay will not operate due to normal unbalance with the system and protection healthy.

CT1

I2
R

ZM2

ZM3

ZM4

R
I1
Super
vision
relay
Page 4

I3

I4

Operation of the supervision relay is arranged to give an alarm that the busbar protection
is faulty and to short circuit the buswires if this is necessary to prevent damage to the
protective relay and stability resistors.
When the busbar protection has a fault setting below full load of the connected feeders it
is very likely to operate due to an open circuit current transformer. In this case a check
feature is required to prevent tripping. At the same time it is important that the buswires
are short circuited via the supervision relay to prevent thermal damage to the protective
relay and stabilising resistors which would otherwise remain continuously picked up under
load conditions.
The supervision relay must have a time delay to prevent its operation due to genuine
busbar faults. A time delay of about 3 seconds is used.

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS
Current Transformer Design
An important advantage of using high impedance relay in a circulating current system is
the ability to predict the protective scheme performance in terms of primary fault setting
and through fault stability by calculation without heavy-current conjunctive tests. The
validity of the calculation is based on the assumption that all the current transformers are
of low reactance type. A low reactance current transformer is defined as one of which a
knowledge of the secondary exciting current, secondary winding resistance and turns
ratio is sufficient for an assessment of its performance. This covers current transformers
with uniformly distributed windings or whose core leakage flux is negligible.
Current Transformer Wiring
With high impedance circulating current schemes, it is of the utmost importance that the
lead burdens between the various sets of current transformer be kept as low as possible
in order to obtain the required stability and sensitivity. It is therefore advisable to run the
buswires in the form of a closed ring between all the circuit breaker control cabinets. This
avoids the need for numerous radial loops between the current transformers and the bus
zone panel which would be required if the buswires were formed in the bus zone panel.
A closed ring consisting of cores in multicore cables affords increased security against
maloperation which may result from unbalancing of the protection due to inadvertent
disconnection of bus wires. It also provides easy extension of the protection when new
circuits are to be connected into the protection zone.
An example of running a multicore cable ring in the case of a double busbar arrangement
is as follows :
i)

current transformers to marshalling kiosk.

ii)

marshalling kiosk to auxiliary switches in the busbar selector isolators.

iii)

loop between marshalling kiosks.

The size of conductor normally used for the interconnecting pilots is 2.5 mm. However, it
is occasionally necessary to use parallel cores to reduce the burden.

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BUSBAR SELECTOR AUXILIARY SWITCHES

In a lot of cases such as a double bus arrangement where on-load transfer of a circuit is
possible, current transformer outputs are switched to the correct buswires by means of
auxiliary switches on the selecting isolators. These auxiliary switches should close before
the main isolator closes and should open after the main isolator opens to ensure stability
during switching operation. This is shown in the following figure.

R
M
A

a b

c d

R
M
Current Transformer Location
The three alternative arrangements as shown in the following diagram :

F1

F1

F1
Interlocked
overcurrent
relay

Circuit
protection

F3

Circuit
Protection

F3
Circuit
protection

F4

Busbar

F3

Busbar
Protection

protection
Busbar
protection

F2
Overlapping C.T.s

Interlocked
overcurrent
relay

F4

All C.T.s on line side of

circuit breaker
Page 6

F2

All C.T.s on Busbar side of

circuit breaker

i)

current transformers for feeder and busbar protection overlapping the circuit
breaker

ii)

all current transformers on line side of circuit breaker

iii)

all current transformers on the busbar side of circuit breaker.

i)

In this arrangement faults at F1 and F2 are cleared correctly by the busbar and
feeder protection respectively. Faults at F3 between the circuit breaker and
feeder protection current transformers will be cleared by the busbar protection
and possibly also by the remote end of the feeder protection. No unnecessary
disruption to loads will result from this.
Faults at F4 will be seen by the feeder protection but also by the busbar
protection resulting in unnecessary tripping of the busbars for what is
essentially a feeder fault. This is the main disadvantage of this arrangement.

ii)

This is the most common arrangement where all the current transformers are
on the feeder side of the circuit breaker. However, there is a blind spot at
point F3 where faults are seen by busbar protection but not seen by the feeder
protection. With this arrangement it is therefore required to intertrip the
remote circuit breaker when busbar protection operates.
Intertripping can be achieved by unstabilising the feeder protection and can be
instantaneous or time delayed to allow clearance of faults on the busbar side
of the circuit breaker before intertripping.
Alternatively an interlocked overcurrent relay can be used to intertrip the
remote circuit breaker. This relay is interlocked with the busbar protection.

iii)

When all the current transformers are located on the busbar side of the circuit
breaker a fault at F3 between the current transformers and circuit breaker will
continue to be fed from the busbars after the circuit breaker has been tripped
by the feeder protection. An interlocked overcurrent relay which is interlocked
with the feeder protection is required to ensure that the busbars are only
tripped for this condition and not for faults on the feeder.

BUSBAR CONFIGURATIONS
Several switching schemes are available and there are many variants of each scheme.
When selecting a suitable scheme consideration should be given to the ability to take out
any circuit breaker or other equipment for maintenance without removing the
corresponding circuit from service, also the ability to isolate the busbar for maintenance,
some schemes being more flexible than others in this respect.
In addition to plain single and double busbar schemes, the following are some of the other
more popular arrangements:
1)

Double Busbar with Transfer

With this double busbar variation, each feeder has isolators to enable switching to main or
reverse/transfer bars, and also an additional isolator to enable the feeder breaker to be
bypassed. The reverse bar may then function also as a transfer bar and the bus coupler
breaker takes over the function of the feeder breaker to free it for maintenance.
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To apply discriminative busbar protective, suitable auxiliary switches are required on each
isolator to select the CTs for the correct zone, and the trip circuits to the appropriate
relays.

Main

Reserve / Transfer
By-pass

By-pass

Isolator

Isolator

2)

Triple Busbar

This is a double busbar scheme with a third, transfer busbar.

Under normal conditions all bus section and bus coupler breakers are closed. During
maintenance of a feeder breaker, the transfer bus is energised from the selected main or
reserve bus by the transfer breaker and the feeder bypass isolator closed on the transfer
bar. All bus section and bus coupler breakers remaining closed. For busbar protection
isolator auxiliary switches are required as previously.

Main

Reserve
Transfer CB

Transfer CB

Transfer

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3)

Mesh Busbar Scheme

The mesh busbar scheme is a frequently used EHV busbar configuration. A transformer
and a feeder are linked at each corner of the mesh and four circuit breakers used to
complete the mesh interconnection the arrangement being justified on the grounds of
economy.
F1
F3

T1

T3

T4

T2

F4

F2

The protection shown consists of a fully discriminative scheme with a relay at each
corner. A fault at any corner trips the two breakers associated with that corner and also
initiates any intertripping necessary to open circuit breakers at remove ends.
F1

F3

87

87

R1

R3

T1

T3

T2

T4

87

R4

Page 9

87

R2

4)

One and a Half Breaker Scheme

This is a very popular and economical scheme, three breakers and two feeders being
arranged between the two busbars. Under normal conditions all breakers are closed.
During maintenance of a feeder breaker only that breaker would be kept open.
During maintenance of a busbar, all the breakers connected to that busbar would remain
open to isolate that busbar.

When busbar protection is required, then each busbar is considered individually and a
single busbar scheme applied to each as shown, as with the protection for the mesh
busbar previously, the protection scheme does not require isolator auxiliaries for CT zone
selection or in the tripping circuits, the scheme being very simple, and this together with
the operational flexibility of this busbar configuration accounts for its popularity.

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87

87

BREAKER FAIL PROTECTION

Where breaker fail protection is applied to a system, back tripping of associated breakers
is required in the event of breaker failure. Often, breaker fail protection is arranged in
conjunction with busbar protection tripping circuits to initiate tripping of breakers on a
busbar zone associated with the failed breaker.
LOW IMPEDANCE PROTECTION
Low impedance busbar protection has a number of advantages:

Fast

Modular scheme design allows relays to relate to each circuit and function of the
protection

High sensitivity for phase and earthfaults. Protection for each phase can be relatively
independent

Extremely stable for external faults. This is achieved by using saturation detectors

Current transformers can be of different ratio, relatively smaller output and shared
with other protective devices

The current transformer secondary circuits are not switched

Continuous supervision of CT circuits and constant monitoring of vital circuits can be

included
Page 11

DIRECTIONAL COMPARISON (BLOCKING SCHEMES)

The use of numerical overcurrent relays enables busbar protection and backup protection
to be combined within the same unit. This allows the use of busbar protection at voltage
levels where the traditional high or low impedance protection would have been too
expensive.
Typically the overcurrent relays would be time co-ordinate in the normal manner providing
overcurrent and earthfault protection for the system. The instantaneous element in the
incomer relay can be prevented form operating by the overcurrent relays on the outgoing
feeders. Upon detection of a feeder fault the associated feeder relay would operate a
start contact, this contact would be wired to an opto isolator in the incomer relay which
upon energisation would block the instantaneous element of the incomer relay.

Incomer
Block
BLOCK t

O/C

Backt

IF2
O/C

O/C

O/C

O/C

By using directional relays it is possible to provide zones of protection, thus only removing
the faulty section of a busbar.

Page 12