Protection

system
Of Generator
By
Susobhan Patra

Protection system of Generator

Protection General understanding?

What we already know.

Operation of the BOILER, TURBINE, GENERATOR are closely coupled

A trip on any one of the three has a direct impact on the continued
operation of the other two causing interruption to power production
process

Why Trip On occurrence of any unsafe or abnormal operating

condition the BOILER, TURBINE, GENERATOR are tripped individually

Basic Interlocks of BTG

Fuel
ESV
Generator

Boiler
Fuel
Shut off
Valve

GCB

Turbine
Bus
FB
Pump

Excitation

What does TRIP mean

Boiler trip :

Stops fuel feed to Furnace

Purpose To clear out combustibles from the Boiler and prevent any
explosive condition from persisting

Turbine trip :

Close all steam admission valves (ESV, GOV Valves)

Purpose Stop steam admission to ensure turbine coasts down and Open all
drain lines of steam admission pipes upstream / down stream valves to
prevent accumulation of water which may enter the Turbine

Generator trip :

Opens CB connecting Generator to Grid

Purpose Isolate system from faulty generator

Opens Field Circuit Breaker to cut-off excitation

Interlocks at TGS

86 G

86 B/ MFR

86 U

86 T/ RL1/7

Timer

GENERATOR FAULTS

A. Stator Faults --These include the following:

[a] Phase-to-earth faults
[b]Phase-to-phase faults
[c]Inter -turn faults.
B. Rotor Faults
C. Abnormal Running Conditions
[a] loss of excitation,
[b] Unbalanced loading,
[c] Overloading,
[d] Failure of prime mover
[e] Over speeding &
[f] Over voltage
[g] Over fluxing.

86U & 86G.

86U- This is activated by any of the following trip initiating relays
1. Stator earth fault protection :

The relays used are 64G, CAG 14 and (59N and 27 N3 ) . The generators are
grounded by single phase grounding transformers which limit the F/F current
through a maximum of above 3A.
64G this is a voltage operated IDMT relays set to protect 0-95% of the generator
winding
CAG 14 this is a current operated instantaneous relay for protection of 0-90% of
the winding.
Ragea relay- this is an instantaneous relay and operates by sensing absence of third
harmonic current flowing in the generator neutral through winding to ground
capacitances. It has two elements.
59N-It is a tripping relay which protect 0-95% of the generator.
27N3- this relay gives annunciation by resetting the relay flag if it resets go on
operating the machine.

2. Generator Differential protection: 87G

This relay is provided for protection against phase to phase fault of generator
winding. Here C.Ts are connected on all the 3 phases at both line side and
neutral side of the winding. To prevent malfunctioning due to dissimilarities in
CT characteristics, a percentage bias differential relay is used.

3. Overall Differential Protection: 87GT

This relay provides protection against phase fault in GT winding and operates in
the principle that under normal condition current seen by the generator CTS are
always equal to summation of current seen by UT 10.5 KV CTS, and GT 33KV
CTS.
4. UT Differential Protection: 87UT
5. Field Failure: 40G (Rotor open)
On loss of field, magnetic linkage between rotor & stator reduces. This
protection operates by seeing reversal of effective reactance in case of field
failure in a generator and is provided by an offset mho relay, which operates
in a time delay 25 sec. But if there is under voltage (80% of rated terminal
voltage) along with field failure, this mho relay operates instantaneously (400
ms). If MW generation is low when the field failure occurs this relay may not
trip on MW value.

6.Reverse Power Protection: 32

Protection against motoring.
This protection operates by sensing active power reversal at machine terminal (in
case of a generator MW flows out to the bus-bar from machine but in a motor
active power flows in from the bus-bar). A time delay is provided before actual
tripping to take care of sudden reversal of active power for a short duration e.g.,
in case of synchronizing (machine moving faster than the system). This relay used
is 0.5% of rated power that is 300 KW with a time delay of 30sec.
There is not enough steam in turbine to carry away the heat, resulting turbine
heating

7.Low Forward Power Protection: 37

If turbine trip first with condenser vacuum very low 86U will be tripped
immediately but RL 1/7 trips say due to over speed, relay 37 is energized its timer
2/37. Time delay is 12 secs.
This time is provided for carrying away the trapped steam inside the turbine.

8. Generator Overvoltage Protection: 59G

Over voltage cause damages of generator and transformer winding insulation.

It senses generator terminal voltage. It operates in conjunction with a T/D relay
2/59 to take care of sudden short duration over-voltages (e.g., over-voltages cost
by tripping of a high loaded cable feeder). The relay is set to operate at a voltage
of 110% of the terminal voltage with time delay of 10 sec.

9. Generator Over fluxing Protection: 59F

Over fluxing cause core saturation in generator transformer and protective CTS etc.
resulting in a large amount of magnetizing current flow. This protection senses flux
by measuring v/f ratio which is proportional to flux. This relay also has a T/D relay
(2/59F). The relay is set at 2/1.15 with a time delay 25 sec.

10. Generator Back up Impedance Protection: 21G

It actually measures the effective impedance or V/I ratio of the fault hence over
current will cause this relay operation its protective zone is up to 33KV GT circuit
breaker. It is a back-up protection. This relay is set at a time delay of 2 sec.

11. Generator Under voltage Protection: 27G

This relay is activated at 80%of the rated voltage with a fixed time delay of
200ms.This relay gives an alarm only there is no direct tripping of generator due to
under voltage .Generator tripping is instantaneous in conjunction of the field
failure relay 40G.

12. UT HV side O/C Protection: 50, 51 R,Y,B

The relays used are 50(R, Y, B) which are of instantaneous type and 51(R, Y, B) which
are of inverse type.

13. Interlocked O/C Protection: 51I (LBB)

This is basically provided for bus zone protection. If there is any fault in 33KV bus-bar
then bus-bar protection relay 96BB operates which in turn activate 511 relay This
will energize a timer2/511 and trips the generator after 0.2secs.

14. GT Restricted E/F Protection: 64GT

This is an instantaneous relay provided for E/F protection of the GT winding. This
type of protection is provided to detect earth-faults within the protected zone of the
transformer. A C.T is fitted in each of the protected winding, and the C.T secondary
windings are connected in parallel to relay. Ideally the output of the C.Ts is
proportional to the sum of the zero sequence currents. In the line and neutral earth
connection if the latter is within protected zone.
For internal earth fault this sum is equal to two times the total fault current, but for
external faults zero-sequence currents are either absent or sum up to zero in the line
and earth fault connection.

15. UT Restricted E/F Protection: 64US

Its operating principle is same like discussed before. This is provided for protection
of LV side.

16. UT Restricted E/F Protection: 64US

This is a IDMT relay. This relay provides for back-up earth fault protection in case of
an earth fault outside the restricted E.F relay zone.

17. GT Buchholz Protection:

18. UT Buchholz Protection:
19. UT OLTC Buchholz Protection:
20. UT Winding Temperature VH:
21. Turbine Lub Oil Pressure VL:
22. Turbine AS VH:

23. Rotating Rectifier Arm Failure:

24. Rotor E/F Protection: 64F1, 64F2

First rotor earth fault will not cause any problem in the machine but second rotor E/F
will result in damages in rotor winding and in high vibration of the rotor. This will
result in bent shaft and damage bearings.
First rotor E/F will only generate an annunciation. It is so designed that it will give even
if the first rotor E/F occurs when the machine on barring gear are stationary.
If the first rotor E/F annunciation can not be reset here by indicating a permanent
fault. The machine should be immediately shut down and the second rotor E/F relay
to be put in circuit.

Rotor E/F Protection

86G : This is activated by any of the following trip

initiating relays
1. GT O/C & E/F Protection: 51R,N,B

Over current relay is set at 150% with a time delay of 0.4 sec.
Earth fault relay is set at 20% with a time delay of 0.9 sec.

2. Generator NPS Protection: 46G

This senses the amount of ve seq. current flowing out of generator terminals.
When there is an unbalance in generator terminal voltage and current for
Unbalance external load, a flux is generated in the stator winding which rotates in
the reverse direction (of original flux/positive sequence flux) with a frequency
double the system frequency relative to the rotor

3.
4.

GT Winding & Oil Temp VH

Stand by E/F Protection: 64S
This is an IDMT relay .This provides back-up against E/F. The relay is set to pick up for
an E/F current of 20% the rated current with a time delay of 0.2 second.

5.

BUS-BAR Differential Protection: 86BB

The relay used is 96BB which is used for 33KVBus Zone Protection

TURBINE TRIP CONDITIONS: 86T

TG Lub oil pressure Very Low
Condenser vacuum Very Low
Power Oil Pressure Very Low

Optional :

HP EXHAUST TEMPERATURE HIGH

3 OUT OF 4 GOVERNOR VALVES TRIPPED
THRUST WEAR HIGH
AXIAL SHIFT VERY HIGH
ECCENTRICITY VERY HIGH
MAIN STEAM PRESSURE LOW
MAIN STEAM TEMPERATURE LOW