Crowbar Protection and Co-ordination for HVDC

Power Supply
Sumit K Rathor
PG student of Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidhyalaya
Gujarat Technological University
rathorsumit2006@gmail.com

Abstract— This paper presents the protection of system under II. TRANSFORMER RECTIFIER UNIT.
the faulty condition, and co-ordination of different protective Transformer rectifier unit is combination of transformer
devices. Generally the HVDC equipments are very costly so
unit input 11kV and rectifier unit which convert AC to 90kV
protection is primary need for HVDC systems. In HVDC
systems solid state devices are used which have very fast
DC output as shown in fig 2.
switching characteristic while on AC side conventional
protective devices VCB & relay unit is provided which has
higher time of operation for switching so meanwhile another
protection require to isolate the DC system within fraction of
time so crowbar protections is provided. Normally crowbar is
provided for HVDC load side protection here in this paper we
have taken various supply topology and protection of them, and
application in microwave tubes. Simulation is done for HVDC
supply with crowbar using PSCAD/EMTDC and ETAP
software.

Keywords— Crowbar protection, Relay Co-ordination, Fault

modelling, bolted fault, arc resistance.

I. INTRODUCTION Figure:2 Transformer Rectifier Unit.

As HVDC devices dealing with high voltage high current
transmission and devices associates with HVDC like
converter, inverter, and loads are very costly and sensitive so
protection is basic need for these kinds of systems. Now a
day’s HVDC is applicable to number of area like one of them
is application to plasma generation for which different HVDC
topology is selected and microwave tube as load is used.
Load
3 4
Crowbar
Ι>
For converter 12pulse topology is selected and then RC filter
circuit is provided and by making series and parallel
combination 45kV and 90kV output is obtained.
III. TWELVE PULSE TOPOLOGY
There two main advantages to use multi-pulse
transformer/rectifier topologies are a reduction in the ac input
line current harmonics and a reduction in the dc output
voltage ripple. The input current harmonics are reduced
through the use of phase-shifting transformers. The
frequencies at which the harmonics will appear for an n-pulse
converter are computed by multiplying 1.1 by the
fundamental frequency of the system. The magnitude of the

harmonics is calculated by multiplying 1.2 by the amplitude

Transformer VCB
of the signal at the fundamental frequency. For example, if a
12-pulse transformer/rectifier system were to be
TRU
implemented, the first harmonics to contribute to the total
Figure:1 simple represtation of HVDC system harmonic distortion (THD) of the input line current would be
the 11th and 13th.
The simple representation of system shown in fig:1. This Harm = 6 kn ± 1 (1)
includes various stages starting transformer rectifier unit, 1
Mag =
microwave tube, protection (crowbar) etc. [1]. We will show 6 kn ± 1
each in detail and later and simulation is done for whole k= any positive integer
system on PSCAD/EMTDC (Power System CAD) software. n= number of six pulse converters.
As transformer Rectifier unit contains 2 transformer unit the protection requirement a crowbar circuit is provided that
(Delta-Delta, Start-Delta) and two 6pulse rectifier units so short-circuits the power supply DC output within 10microsec.
12pulse topology obtained

For Delta-Delta- 41.57*1.41

= 57.8 kV
Main : Graphs
Vdc12pY
70
60
50
40
30
y

20
10
0
-10
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 ...
...
...

Main : Graphs
Vdc12pY Vout
70
60

50
40
30
y

20
10
0
-10
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
Figure:3 Delta-Delta and total DC Output voltage
It can be seen that by using a phase-shifting transformer
and adding an additional 6-pulse diode rectifier bridge, the
harmonic content in the supply current is attenuated up to the
11th harmonic as opposed to the 5th for the traditional 6-
pulse bridge rectifier. The inter-phase transformers absorb the
difference in the instantaneous voltage produced by the two
6-pulse rectifiers. The inter-phase transformers prevent the
two bridges from interacting with each one another and allow
the conduction angle of the diode to remain at 120degree. For
this particular topology, each bridge rectifier processes 50%
of the load power. The cancellation of harmonics in the ac
input line current is achieved through the use of phase-
shifting transformers. For this example, the phase shift
employed by the transformer is 30degree. One of the issues
associated with this topology is that the turn’s ratio in the
secondary must approximate an irrational number (root3).
IV. PROTECTION CO-ORDINATION
These kinds of system in addition with over voltage, over
current, an arc fault protection are needed. In the event of an
arc fault, for microwave tubes the supply output voltage must
be brought to zero within 10-20microsec and the energy
deposited into the fault also must be limited to 911Joules.
But as the supply is of conventional type with no solid-state
devices it takes approximately 80msec to switch off the input
to the power supply by relay & circuit breaker. So to provide
Figure: 4 Test Wire, Crowbar & Over current Relay Co-ordination
...
...
... The crowbar takes short-circuit current for 80msec till
the input circuit breaker opens as shown in co-ordination
curve figure:4 which is tested using ETAP software
simulation for co-ordination AC side protection and DC side
well. In figure4 thick curve is for wire to be tested than
upside crowbar current than overcurrent relay operation as
function of time. At DC side crowbar protection in first
activated such that load does not get damage than after AC
side relay unit and VCB is activated.
V. CROWBAR PROTECTION
Crowbar system design and selection of switching
element depends primarily on factors like peak voltage, total
Coulombs to be switched, power supply follow through
etc[8]. Power supplies with fast switch off capabilities,
crowbar systems using ignitrons, thyratron etc. are preferred
and are in use worldwide[13]. The crowbar's speed of
response to an overload is a critical parameter. If the response
time is too slow, the output could rise to a level high enough
to damage the load. If the response is too fast, then spurious
noise can cause false tripping and create a nuisance condition.
In crowbar system, selection of switching element depends on
the factors like peak voltage, operation voltage range, peak
current, total coulombs to be switched etc [4].
VI. CROWBAR LOGIC
The logic circuitry for the crowbar protection is shown
in figure 5 which is developed in PSCAD/EMTDC. The
common reference signal is predefined to the comparator.
The actual value of current is use with the e same comparator
if it is higher than the reference provides 1(on to OR gate) or
provide zero signal.
Iz
A circuit path. So, that stored energy can be diverted to the
B Compar- Mono-
ator
stable
T1
block block T
Figure:5 Crowbar Logic
Than after it goes to monostable mode & activated for
the time period of some milli seconds so the fault current is
diverted from intended path to another during fault period
meanwhile fault should be cleared and another protection get
activated [5].
VII. CROWBAR INTERLOCK
In our circuit topology requirement is to protect the
load against damage due to overcurrent, or overvoltage
condition. As the load is microwave tube kind which is very
sensitive and costly equipment so require isolation of source
in case of the external or internal arc fault occurs. In case of
arc fault within the tube source must isolated from load
within 10micro second and energy dumped to fault should be
critically limited otherwise load may get damage. Here in AC
side conventional power supply is used which has clearing
time of 80ms including (relay and circuit breaker opening
time) so fast sensing and isolating circuit is need which is
fulfilled by crowbar. So interlock is provide with crowbar and
relay Vacuum circuit breaker at input side. As soon as
crowbar is activated another signal is send to relay unit than
VCB which isolate the source from load within 80-100ms [2].
VIII. WIRE BURN TEST
Wire burn test is done to test for effectiveness of
protection scheme for load as well as system as in figure6 test
set up. In wire test microwave tube is replaced by wire of
effective dimension which has equivalent resistance of load
(microwave tube)[2]. Then by replacing microwave tube, by
wire, arc fault is simulated. For fault series switch is used.
Considering pre fault condition with normal load current then
after as soon as fault is simulated current value get rises to
higher. In Crowbar logic value of fault current is compared
with reference value in comparator if it exceed protection is
activated. Now the fault current path is through crowbar
circuit which have lower resistance & impedance path
compared to the fault path. At the load side higher value of
resistance is provided, the value of resistance should be
chosen such that does not affect load current. Crowbar should
withstand the fault current till the input to power supply is
isolated. If the fault energy dumped in the wire is greater than
recommended energy, wire fuses, which implies failure of the
protection system. The wire burn test is considered successful
if the wire remains intact with the crowbar firing and
successful fault current diversion. Due to any fault condition
in load such as over voltage because of reflected power, short
circuit because of internal arc crowbar unit creates a short
ground and amplifier tube (Load) can be protected. Any
change in the system configuration warrants repetition of the
wire burn test for new configuration [4].
0.5[ohm] 2.4[ohm]
R=0
Crowbar Test Wire
0.225 [uF]
90kV DC
Figure:6 Crowbar Test setup
The crowbar unit also generates a positive trigger signal
at once after occurrence of any faults in load and a negative
trigger signal after vanish of that fault, which are feed to
control unit of solid state relay, so that it can remove and
feed input power respectively. This power supply facilitated
with local/remote operation, fully interlocked, over voltage
and over current protection system.
IX. CROWBAR ENERGY DUMPING CAPACITY
The design for energy dumping capacity of crowbar
system depends on the stored energy in system which is in
turn depends on energy storage element present in the
system like filter, load capacitor, inductor. During the fault
condition they releases the energy and the load should
capable to sustain that much of energy so in protection
crowbar should activated such that energy path is diverted to
crowbar. In our case energy in Joule [7].
E = 0 . 5 CV 2 (2)
= 0.5*(0.225uF)*(90kV)2
=911 Joule
X. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Output voltage and current monitoring serves the
purpose of status monitoring and protection in the event of
fault they are also fed to protection circuits that initiate
protection when the values exceed safe values. The limits to
initiate protections can be varied over ~20 to 100% of power
supply’s output ratings to take care of several loads. In actual
circuit implantation Hall effect DC Current Transducer is
used for the output DC current monitoring [3]. This signal is
an isolated signal. This signal provides continuous current
monitoring and protection from sustained over current fault.
It may be noted that it is not suitable for arc fault protection.
A Pulse current CT used for the detection of arc fault. It may
be noted that for continuous DC current monitoring through
pulse CT is not possible. This gives output for fast rising/
falling currents indicating arc fault. A comparator checks this
signal and initiates crowbar in the event of arc fault. As the
circuit has high charging current so crowbar current decays
slowly to zero but the crowbar circuit is in monostable mode
for certain period of time and divert the path of fault
current[13].
Main : Graphs
Iload
40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
y
XI. CONCLUSIONS
As soon as current rises crowbar circuit is activated
and fault current path is diverted to another low resistance
and impedance path as at load side high value resistance is
provided so current flows through crowbar side and fault
energy is dumped to dumping resister next to crowbar. So the
crowbar takes fault current 80-100ms and activated within
10-20microsecond till the VCB get open and isolate the
source from load side this kind of topology may useful for the
HVDC transmission lines.
REFERENCES
[1] “Development of 70kV 22A DC Power Supply for High Power RF
and Microwave Tubes” Y.S.S.Srinivas, Rajan Babu, Azad Makwana,
Kirit Parmar, S.V. Kulkarni, Institute for Plasma Research 23rd
National Symposium on Plasma Science & Technology (PLASMA-
2008)

15.0
10.0 [2] “Results Of 10-Joule Wire-Burn Test Performed On 70 Kv Rail-Gap
5.0 Crowbar Protection System For High Power Klystrons And Gyrotron”
0.0
...
Y.S.S.Srinivas, M.Kushwah, S.V. Kulkarni, IPR 2009.
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
... [3] “Crowbar protection system for 350 MHz Tetrode Amplifer” Sandip
...
Main : Graphs
Shrotriya, Manjiri Pande and V. K.Handu Vacuum Physics and
60
Icrwbr Instrumentation Division, B.A.R.C., Mumbai.
50
[4] “Compact 200kj Pulse Power System With A Simple Crowbar Circuit”
Yun-Sik Jing, Hong-Sik Lee, Jong-Soo Kim, Young-Bae Kim, Geun-
40
Hie, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI).
30
[5] “Design of the protection crowbar for the LHCD klystrons in JET”
y

20
10
0 no.263, Brookahen national laboratory, Associated university, inc.
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40
Fig:7 Wave form for load-fault current, crowbar current.
The supply can have 911 Joules of stored energy (E =
0.5 CV2). In the arc fault condition, the crowbar provides a
low impedance path to safely discharge the stored energy. It
diverts the energy discharge of the supply through the
crowbar device instead of tetrode tube. A spark gap based
crowbar protection system has been adopted for this purpose.
The result from PsCAD simulation with step time of solution
50 micro second and channel plot step 250 micro second.
From wave form we can conclude that in normal condition
load current is 25Amp as in case any arc fault occurs at load
side current rises to 38Amps [10].
Fusion Technology 1988, C.Christodoulopoulos et.al.
[6] “Heavy ion RF power amplifier, Accelerator division” Technica note
0.50 ...
... upton, New York 11973
...
[7] Y.S.Jin et al “Design and Performance of a 300 Kj Pulsed Power
Module for ETC Application,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 37, pp. 165-
168
[8] C. Friedrichs, J.Lyles, J.M.Doub, “Development Of A High Speed
Crowbar For Lansce” ,Particle Accelerator Conference,1997,
Vancouver, BC, Canada.
[9] M.K.Badapanda, P. R.Hannurkar, “Klystron bias Power Supplies for
Indus-2 Synchrotron Radiation Source”, The Institute of Electronics
and Telecommunication Engineers, Journal of Research.
[10] IEEE Std 551™-2006 “IEEE Recommended Practice for Calculating
Short-Circuit Currents in Industrial and commercial power system” pp
198-215.
[11] A.M. Gole, O.B. Nayak. T.S. Sidhu, M.S. Sachdev, "A Graphical
Electromagnetic Simulation Laboratory for Power Systems
Engineering Programs", IEEE PES 2008.
[12] EMTDC – “The Electromagnetic Transients & Controls Simulation
Engine”, User’s Guide, Manitoba HVDC Research Centre Inc., 2005.
[13] C. Friedrichs, J.Lyles, J.M.Doub, “Development Of A High Speed
Crowbar For Lansce,Particle Accelerator” Conference,1997,
Vancouver, BC, Canada,pg.3473-3475.

Fig 8: Load and Crowbar current with fault condition