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Using High-Speed Grounding Switches

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Using High-Speed Grounding Switches

Protection of power transformers //

Automatic high-speed grounding switches are applied for protection of power transformers when the cost of
supplying other protective equipment is deemed unjustifiable and the amount of system disturbance that the highspeed grounding switch creates is judged acceptable.
The switches are generally actuated by discharging a spring mechanism to provide the high-speed operation.
The grounding switch operates to provide a deliberate ground fault on one phase of the high-voltage bus supplying the
power transformer, disrupting the normally balanced 120 phase shifted three-phase system by effectively
removing one phase and causing the other two phases to become 180 phase shifted relative to each other.
This system imbalance is remotely detected by protective relaying equipment that operates the transmission line
breakers at the remote end of the line supplying the power transformer, tripping the circuit open to clear the
fault.
This scheme also imposes a voltage interruption to all other loads connected between the remote circuit breakers and
the power transformer as well as a transient spike to the protected power transformer, effectively shortening the
transformers useful life.

Cleaveland/Prices High speed grounding switch 115 kV 230 kV, 120 kA momentary / 71kA, 3 sec. (cleavelandprice.com)

Frequently, a system utilizing a high-speed ground switch also includes the use of a motor operated
disconnect switch and a relay system to sense bus voltage.
The relay systems logic allows operation of the motor operated disconnect switch when there is no voltage on the
transmission line to provide automatic isolation of the faulted power transformer and to allow reclosing operations of
the remote breakers to restore service to the transmission line and to all other loads fed by this line.
The grounding switch scheme is dependent on the ability of the source transmission line relay protection scheme to
recognize and clear the fault by opening the remote circuit breaker.
Clearing times are necessarily longer since the fault levels are not normally within the levels appropriate for
an instantaneous trip response.

500 kV Motor Operated Disconnect Switch (VIDEO)

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The lengthening of the trip time also imposes additional stress on the equipment being protected and should be
considered when selecting this method for power transformer protection.

High-speed grounding switches are usually considered when relative fault levels are low so that the risk of significant
damage to the power transformer due to the extended trip times is mitigated.
Resource: Electric Power Substations Engineering J. D. McDonald ( Get it from Amazon )