66

PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION FOR THREX-WINDING POILER TRANSFORMERS DURING TRANSIENT

C.T. ls SATURATION

M. Mikrmt , Ti. liinkler and

B.

Witek

Silesian Technical University of Gliwice, Poland

LNTRODUCTION
h great number of papers has been published

in the past about the influence of unidirectional d.c.-components

in primary fault
currents on the behaviour of conventional
iron-cored current transformers and also
several books dealing with the transient
performance of C.T.s
were edited ( 1 ) (2).
It has been found, that in consequence of
iron-core saturation the secondary current
can be considerably distored and contain a
large amount of odd and even harmonics ( 3 )
(4). To avoid maloperations of protective
relays due to the saturation effect in
severe fault conditions, i.e. hi&
short-circuit currents, large primary time-constants, modified current transformers of the
TFT- and TPZ-classes for protective p u r p 0 ~ 0 ~
have been developed. On the other hand, new
measuring principles and protective
criterions have been proposed, which assure
the correct performance of protective relays
and/or systems even under significant distontions of current-waveforms ( 5 ) ,thereby
avoiding the use of air-gapped or linear
Also in modern analog differential
C.T.s.
relays for two-winding power transformers
a new criterion for the distinction between
out zone and in-zone faults during transient
C.T.
saturations has been applied ( 6 ) .
This criterion is based on the comparison
of the appearance-time of the first half-waves after fault inception of both the
operating and restraint currents in the
prot ective scheme.

This paper presents the results and conclusions from extended digital simulation
studies concerned with the performance of
three-w inding transformer differential protection under severe transient saturation of
conventional C.T.s.
The main goal of these
studies was t h e verification of the above
discrimination criterion under all possible
power system conditions, having also regard
to the harmonics produced by saturated C.T.s.
As a result of the investigations some
countermeasures a r e proposed which assure
the correct fault discriminations even for
extremely distorted current waveformes.

SIMULATED DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION SCHEME

........

fi where i=A,B,C
(1)
i
the restraint current Ire which is the sum
of the rectified phase currents in the
individual branches, multiplied by the
restraint factor h, i.e.
Op

Ire

=F

[Til

................. (2)

The operating conditions of the differential

protection are given by the following relation:

where b is the basic setting of the operating

current and I& the peak value of the
restraint current. A tripping signal is emitted when the current impuls It exists for a
illterVal
shorter
5 ma.
Digital model and protection algorithm
The digital model of the analysed differential protection scheme has been developed
from the equivalent circuit presented in
Fig. 2.a. It consists of the equivalent
located in
circuits of the three main C.T.s
the branches A , B and C and the respective
basic equations, describing the relations
between the main quantities (primary, secondary and exciting currents, transient flux
Two types of typical
in the iron core, etc.).
excitation curves were chosen (Fig. 2.b) and
fully asymetrical primary input currents of
the form

are assumed, where Im is the peak value of

the primary current and T p the primary time
constant.
According to the Eqns. ( 1 ) to (3) and Fig.2.a
a n algorithm for the simulation of the
protective scheme has been worked out which
is shown in Fig. 3 . It allows to check the
protective performance in transient fault
conditions for different relay settings and
amplification factors of the second and
fifth harmonics in the operational current.

botective structure and Operating princioles

PROTECTION PERFOWIANCE
The structure of the studied protective
scheme is shown in Fig. 1 in a simplified
form. It consists of three input units (INP)
and the main measuring unit (14).
Such a set
exists separately for each phase. The task
of the input units is the proper input-signal
fitting for the signal comparison in the
measuring unit, which in fact is a two-input
amplitude compax%tor where the following
quantities are compared:

the operating current f , being the

vector sum of the phaseOcurrents in the
branches A, B, C, i.e.

Scope of simulation studies

The investigations have been conducted for
large power transformers conuected with all
windings to active sources with various
d.c.-time
constants up to 300 ms and different short-circuit capacities. Identical
and/or different excitation curves of the
main C.T.s were assumed (curves 1 and/or 2
in Fig. 2.b) , as well as various time constants of the current transformers including
burdens. Moreover, the effect of the
has been taken
residual f l u x in C.T.-cores

67

into account.
Protection response during external faults
Comprehensive studies have shown that during
faults located beyond the protccted zonc
(fault point F1 in Fig. 1) there is always
a marked time differcnce between the appoarance of the restraint current wavefom and
tho operating curront waveform. The latter
one occurs for the possible relativo fault
currcnts (according to the powcr transformer
impedance voltages) not earlier than about
5
8 ms after the first impulse of tho
restraint current. Fig. 4 shows tho rolationship between the time-lag to of both currents after fault inception and the multiple
KF of the rated current of the power transconstants T p
former f o r various d.c.-time
and remanent factors ICR. These curves correspond to the conditions, when only the
C.T.c
is saturated (Fig. I),
whereas C.T.B
and c.T.13 are unsaturated.

If all C.T. ' s in the branchos A , B and C are

saturated, the time-lags are similar or oven
larger. Hence, the time-lag to can be used
as a univocal criterion for the discrimination between external and internal faults
under transient C.T. ' s
saturation a l s o in
differential protection schcmes of three-winding power transformers.

The simulation studies have also shown, that

the second and fifth harmonics produced by

saturated C.T,'s
have an expedient influence
on the performance of the differential protective scheme, since they additionaly
stabilize it during external faults,
especially if large values of amplification
factors for these harmonics are chosen.
Protection behaviour during in-zone faults
It can be seen from Pig. 1 that during an
in-zone fault at fault point F2 thc most
saturation hazard exists for the C.T.c,
especially when the fault current Icp is
very high and large time-constants of the
d,c.-component
in this current are expected.
The tr(o other C.T.-groups
(C.T.g
and C.T.n)
are to a lesser degree exposed to core
saturation, since the fault currents IQ, and
IBpare limited by the power transformer
inpedances.

The investigations have shown that irrespectively of the fault conditions and C.T.'s
parameters and excitation curves, both
compared currents, i.e. the oporating and
restraint currents, always appear immediatly
after the fault inception. This endrose the
validity of the above described criterion.
Unfortunately,the second and fifth harmonics
produced by transient saturated C.T.'s
are
in the analyzed fault conditions a danger
for the correct i.e. undelayed protective
performance. Their relativ magnitudes can be
in some cases s o high that the differential
relay will be restrained for a certain time
interval(up to several hundred milliseconds)
by the stabilizing bias circuit against
power transformer inrush and/or overexcitation effects. Pig. 5 shows as an example
the variation of the proportion of the first ,
second and fifth harmonics in the operating
current with time for a given ratio iF/iN
and d.c.-time
constant Tp. Taking into consideration that the second and fifth harmonics are subsequently amplified in the
harmonic restraint circuits, the explanation

f o r tho operation blockiw is evident. This

misoperation of the protective rclays can be
nitigratcd partly by the optimum choice of
harmonics in the harmonic restraint circuits
( 3 ) . IIorrnver, the total elimination of the
aturation effoct on the described protection
n e c d otiicr criberions. :Iere only two of
LIloi. arc ..:cntionod

"he first solution is based on the control

of the operatin(.; current magnitude, which
if greater than a certain level, e.g. 15 IN
(wherc ii? is the rated current of the protected transf o r u e r ) initiates the instantaneous
tripping of the power transforaer, irrespective of the proportion of harmonics in the
measurands. This solution, often used in
analog differential relays, can be easy
realized in digital schemes, what has been
shown in Fig, 3.

The second criterion is based on the fact

that the ma,=etizing

inrush current has

in

contrary to the operating current waveforms

-Dctectine
relative
time intervals of zeros (7).
these time intervals in the inrush
10%

current, the trip command can be blocked (8).

CONCLUSIONS
T o assure correct performance of differential
protective scheues of three-winding power
transformers during out-zone faults leading
to transient saturation of iron-cored protective current transformers, the criterion
based on the time-lag between the appearance
of the restraint current and operating current waveforms can be used. The second and
fifth harmonics generated by saturated
C.T.'s
give in this case a positiv effect
for the restaining conditions. However,
during in-zone faults the same harmonics
canlead to a certain delay in relay operation due to a temporal relay lockout.
As countermeasures, additionally to a careful
choice o f the amplification factors of the
second and fifth harmonics in the respective
filter circuits, other means have to be used,
based either on the control of the maximum
value of the operation current or on the
fact that there is a significant difference
in the time intervals of zeros in inrush
current waveforms and the operating current
waveforms during internal faults. Thus, no
modified current transformers of the TP
classes (TPY or TPZ) for the improvement of
the trans ient performance of three-w inding
transformer differential protection are
necessary.

MFERENCBS
1.

Wri&t,
A. , 1968, "Current transformers.
Their transient and steady state performance", Loridon Chapman and Hall (book),

2. lliszniewski, A . , 1982, llT.Ieasuri.ngtransformers in power systems". IiNT Iiarszawa

in Polish).
(book

3 . Tiiszniewski, A., l f i n k l e r , U., Sowa, P,

and Marczonelc, S., 1985, ItSelectionof
settings of transformer differential
relayst1,IEE Conference Publication,
NO. 249, 204-208,
Dawid, Z, and Sowa, p . , 1986,
"Lnterference harmonics in diff erential
protective schemes caused by saturated
current transformers", Proc. o f the 21st
UPEC, Imperial College, London, 146-149.

4. Vinkler, W.,

5.

Narayan, V. and Brulhart, G., 1985,

"Busbar protection with enhanced Rerformance" % Conference Publication, No.

&, 2;8-222.
6. Ilar, M.,

198 1 , "Neue DiEf erent ialrelais

fiCr Transfomatoren und Leitungent',
Brown Boveri Mitt,, 68, 70-78.

7, Mohibullach Basu and Basu, K.P.,

1979,

"Computerised evaluation of the magnetising inrush current in transformers",

Electric Power Systems Research, 2 ,
179-1 82.
8. Hill, 1985, "Disoussion on selection of

settings of transformer differential

relays", IEE Conference Publication,
No. &
Discussion Record, 7 1

B
M -Measuring unit INP -Input unit
Figure 1 Block diagram of a three-winding
transformer differential protection

RELAY

(b)

- I

V,=lSOOV= Knee-point em.f.

VR= Remanent e. m.f.

w

EXCITING

CURRENT(&

Figure 2 Differential protection model (a)

and excitation curves of C.T.'s
(b)

m
I

n = 112131...1~

N = total sample amounts

TS= sampling period
N 1 = amount of samples in a 5 ms
-time interval

12H=2nd harmonic restraint current

n= n t l

C.T.'s - output signals computations

IgH=
5th harmonic restraint current

total harmonic restraint

current

NO

IHn
I

Check

operation

criterion

= boundary harmonic restraint

current

F1, F2 = DFT
algorithm for harmonic analysis

I,,
. -

= harmonic restraint loop

= high current internal fault

d et oction

-- YES

I
END

Figure 3 Algorithm of the simulated differential protection scheme

30

t
0

10

I
W

I 5
o

I-

10

12

RELATIVE FAULT CURRENT IF/IN

KR =0,8 , Tp -200ms
K R = O ,Tp=200ms

KR=O ,Tp=20ms'

Figure 4 Time-lags between restraint and

operating current waveforms under
external faults

I F /I N = 6 0 , Tp-200ms
Figure 5 Magnitudea of harmonics in the
operating current under in-zone
faults with C,T.-saturation