International Journal of Engineering Research
Volume No.6, Issue No.7, pp : 366-370
Power Transformer Protection using Fuzzy Logic based Controller
Vikramsingh R. Parihar, Sagar D. Nimkar, Snehal Warudkar, Rajvi Deshmukh, Manisha Thakare
Department of EEE, PRMCEAM, Badnera- Amravati, India
Corresponding Email: vikramparihar05@gmail.com
Abstract : The Power Transformer is one of the most
expensive and important electrical equipment of a Power
Transmission System, the loss of this equipment through
catastrophic failure can be very costly. To avoid this,
methods and systems for monitoring and protecting of Power
Transformers in service are being developed. Since many
mal-operation cases of transformer differential protection
are caused by inrush current problems and thus, the rapid
discrimination of inrush current from internal fault is most
essential to avoid the inadvertent operation of the protective
relay. Therefore, measures must be taken to ensure that the
Power transformer differential relay operates precisely to
differentiate between fault and non-fault conditions to
ensure service reliability. This differential relay must
restrain from tripping during magnetizing inrush and
rapidly operate the tripping during internal faults. This
paper presents a new relaying algorithm to enhance the fault
detection sensitivities of conventional techniques by using
fuzzy logic approach of MATLAB/Simulink. The proposed
fuzzy-based relaying relies on the principle of harmonic-
current restraint, where the magnetizing-inrush current is
characterized by large second harmonic contents that are not
noticeably present in fault currents.
Keywords : Transmission system, fuzzy logic, internal
faults, magnetizing inrush, Power Transformer, protective
relay.
I. Introduction
A Power Transformer is one of the important elements in
power system. It is a piece of electrical equipment that needs
continuous monitoring and fast protection since it is very
expensive and an essential element for a power system to
perform effectively.
Power transformer internal faults may cause extensive damage
or power system instability. Thus, different transformer
protection schemes are used to avoid interruptions of the power
supply and catastrophic losses. The tasks of protecting (even
the tasks of operating and planning) these systems can no
longer be held in the traditional form because Electrical Power
Systems have grown so big to meet a growing demand for
electrical power.
Protective relaying principle exhibits certain limitations in
applications with power transformers. This is because the
detection of a differential current does not clearly distinguish
between internal faults and other possible conditions. This
brings the application of Artificial Intelligence methods as an
alternative or improvement to the existing protective relaying
functions.
DOI : 10.5958/2319-6890.2017.00039.3
ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
1 July 2017
To mitigate these problems, a number of protection criteria
have been developed which support the traditional differential
characteristics. They include the differential principle, direct
wave shape identification, protective algorithms based on
electromagnetic equations of the protected transformer, and
adaptive approaches, to name just some of the recognition
techniques introduced in recent decades. The measuring units
of contemporary relays are also improved by the use of
Fourier methods, Kalman filtering techniques and optimal
state observers.
Research work in the above areas naturally focuses on a multi-
criteria approach to power transformer relaying. One result of
which has been the development of a general fuzzy logic
based platform for a multi-criteria transformer relay that
introduces several new artificial intelligence (AI) related
concepts [2]. Fuzzy Logic systems (FL) are well suited for
solving various decision-making problems, especially when
the precise analytical model of the process/object to be tracked
is not known or is very complicated (e.g. non-linear); Power
Transformer protection belongs to the family of tasks that can
be quite well carried out with use of FL based decision
modules or classifiers. [3]
II. Design of Fuzzy Logic Based Protective Relay
2.1 The Design Objectives
The design of the fuzzy logic based protective relay is to
overcome the three main difficulties which handicap the
conventional differential protection. These difficulties induce
the differential relay to release a false trip signal without the
existence of any fault. The fuzzy logic based relay makes
differential relaying very reliable by overcoming the
following complications [15], [13]:
Magnetizing inrush current during initial energization,
CTs Mismatch and saturation,
Transformation ratio changes due to Tap changer.
2.2 The Design Considerations
The proposed digital differential relay is designed using a
simulation technique in Matlab/Simulink environment. The
aim is to protect the power transformer against internal faults
and avert interruption due to inrush currents. This algorithm is
built on the principle of harmonic-current restraint, where the
magnetizing-inrush current is characterized by large harmonic
components content that are not noticeably present in fault
currents. Due to the saturated condition of the transformer
iron, the waveform of the inrush current is highly distorted.
The amplitude of the harmonics, compared with the
fundamental is somewhere between 30% to 60% and the third
harmonic 10% to 30%. The other harmonics are progressively
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 International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
Volume No.6, Issue No.7, pp : 366-370 1 July 2017

less [4], [7], [13]. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is used to inrush current or an external fault, and the simulation goes
implement this approach. In general, any periodic signal f (t) back to step two to start the calculation again for the next
can be decomposed to its sine and cosine components as sample.
follows: In this algorithm the output currents of the CTS
undergo over two analytic processes, amplitude comparison
process and harmonic content calculation process.

Fig. 2.2: Matlab/Simulink Model of the proposed system

Fig. 2.1: Flow Chart of the proposed Fuzzy-based

Differential Relay Scheme

The software is implemented according to the following steps Fig. 2.3: The differential relay block contents
[15-16]:
Step 1: Reading data from the CTs.
Step 2: Data calculation, which is given as follows;
For the amplitude calculation, if the absolute difference (|Id1
Id2|) between the CTs output currents is greater than zero, the
logic (1) takes place, which indicates the case of an inrush
current or an internal fault. Otherwise, the logic
(0) takes place, which indicates a detection of an external
fault.
In the meantime, the harmonic calculation is performed. If the
percentage value of the second harmonic amplitude is in the
range of (0.3 to 0.7) of the fundamental component amplitude,
then the logic (0) occurs, that means recognition of inrush
current. Otherwise, the logic (1) takes place, which indicates a
detection of an internal or external fault.
Step 3: Taking the final decision:
If the logic cases received from both cases (a & b) in step two
are both (1), that indicates a detection of an internal fault.
Then a trip signal is released to stop the simulation. For the
other logic options of (0, 1) means an external fault, (1, 0) Fig. 2.4: The comparator block contents
means an inrush current, or (0, 0) indicate an occurrence of an

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 International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
Volume No.6, Issue No.7, pp : 366-370 1 July 2017

Fig. 2.5: The amplitude comparator block contents

Fig. 2.8: Rules Aggregation from the Rule Base for the
currents

III. Results and Tables

The results is given for different cases:
Case 1: magnetizing inrush current,
Case 2: magnetizing inrush with adding load,
Case 3: Three phase to ground fault at loaded transformer,
Case 4: Phase A to ground external fault at loaded
transformer,
Other cases of different types of faults and inrush currents
such as single line to ground fault, line-to-line fault, line to
line to ground fault and three phase fault in both cases loaded
and unloaded transformer are illustrated.

Fig. 2.6: The harmonic comparator block contents

Fig. 3.1: Case 1: Inrush currents waveforms of the three

Fig. 2.7: The ratio block contents phases at the primary side of the power transformer.

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 International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
Volume No.6, Issue No.7, pp : 366-370 1 July 2017

Fig. 3.2: Case 1: Harmonic comparator result: the 2nd Fig. 3.5: 2nd harmonic and the fundamental component
harmonic and the fundamental component. for the 2nd case.

Fig. 3.3: Case 1: Amplitude comparator results

Fig. 3.6: Increase of phase A, B & C currents due to the
occurrence of the fault at 0.5 sec for loaded transformer

Fig. 3.4: Normal load current starts flowing at 0.3sec.

Fig. 3.7: Zoomed trip signal, trip time is around 0.57msec

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 International Journal of Engineering Research
Volume No.6, Issue No.7, pp : 366-370
Fig. 3.8: 2nd harmonic & the fundamental component for
the case of 3 phase to ground fault at loaded transformer.
Fig. 3.9: Amplitude comparator result for the 3rd case.
IV. Conclusion
A fuzzy logic based relay for power transformer protection in a
transmission system has been designed in this work. This
design was tested on a real transformer system using real data
and Matlab/Simulink software. It was able to detect
magnetizing inrush current, magnetizing inrush with adding
load, three-phase to ground fault at loaded transformer, Phase
A to ground external fault at loaded transformer. It has been
shown that faults could occur in transformer systems with all
possible combination; hence, the importance of the fuzzy
membership functions capturing the various combinations. The
simplicity of this design based on fuzzy logic, means a
formidable reduction in energy loss
due to prolonged and constant outages mostly caused by
transformer fault during fault conditions, thereby improving the
reliability of power supply to customers and also reduce costs
associated with repairing damaged transformers, which makes
the objective, achievable.
DOI : 10.5958/2319-6890.2017.00039.3
ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
1 July 2017
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