Determining Settings for Capacitor Bank Protection

Terrence Smith – GE Digital Energy/Multilin

Abstract - As the electric power grid is pushed to its power system conditions or failed elements inside the
limits, efficiencies can be gained by properly using shunt bank. A key function of the protective system should be to
capacitor banks. Protective relaying must be provided recognize a failed capacitor elements and alarm, allowing
for these banks that will protect the system from the bank to be de-energized and repaired when it is least
abnormal conditions that could be caused by the needed by the power system.
capacitor bank as well as provide protection to the
capacitor bank from abnormal conditions caused by Capacitor Construction
system conditions or capacitor failed elements. Failed
capacitor elements can cause failure of the entire bank Capacitors are made up of groups of elements. An
due to overvoltage on the individual failed elements. As individual element is the most basic part of the capacitor
elements fail, the subsequence overvoltage caused by and consists of two electrodes separated by a dielectric.
the failure increases the risk of further failures. The These elements are then “grouped” into element groups
optimum solution is to recognize the condition of failed that are connected in series to form the capacitor unit.
elements with alarms and perform maintenance, The capacitor unit or “can” is a series of grouped elements
replacing the failed elements, when the bank is least housed in a case with terminals brought out so that the
needed by the system. Trip functions must also be unit can be connected inside of a capacitor bank to
provided to protect healthy elements from the introduce reactance to the power system. The capacitor
overvoltage caused by the failed elements. unit serves as the basic building block of a shunt capacitor
Conditions associated with failed elements can easily bank.
be calculated and can be measured by microprocessor-
based relays. This paper will examine the calculation of
protective settings necessary to completely protect a
shunt capacitor bank. After a brief review of capacitor
bank design and failure mechanisms, the paper will
examine and demonstrate calculations for both
grounded and ungrounded banks. The general setting
calculations to be examined include: phase overcurrent
function, negative sequence overcurrent, bank
overvoltage, and bus overvoltage. Additionally,
calculations will be shown for current differential and
voltage differential for alarm points for failed elements
and for trip points for failed elements.

I. Introduction
Shunt Capacitor banks provide reactive power support
to the power system, which serves to: increase efficiencies,
flatten the voltage profile, improve system stability, and
delay costly investment to improve the power system.
Shunt Capacitor Banks deliver these benefits while being
relatively inexpensive and easy to construct. All of these
benefits to the power system have caused these devices to
proliferate across the power system and necessitated the
reliable operation of the capacitor banks. Several
microprocessor-based relays have appeared that are
specifically designed to provide protection and control of
capacitor banks. Protective functions should be capable of
protecting the power system from abnormal conditions of
the bank as well as protecting the bank from abnormal
Figure 1 Capacitor Unit
Capacitors units are intended to be operated at or
below their rated voltage and frequency and are sensitive
to these values ( KVA ≈ 2πfV ).
2
Additionally, IEEE
standard 18 and 1036 define specific ratings that effect
capacitor bank design and protection design. Specifically,
these standards dictate that:
a) Capacitor units must be capable of continuous
operation of up to 110% of rated terminal RMS voltage
and a crest voltage not exceeding of rated RMS
voltage. The crest voltage should include harmonics
but not transients.

978-1-4244-6075-5/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEEPage 1 of 9

b) Capacitor units must be capable of continuous
operation at 135% of nominal current.
c) Capacitor units must not give less than 100% nor
more than 115% of rated reactive power at rated
voltage and frequency.
d) Capacitor units must be capable of up to 135% of
rated reactive power caused by the effects of:
• RMS voltage in excess of rated voltage, but
less than 110% of rated voltage.
• Harmonic voltages superimposed on the
fundamental frequency.
• Reactive power manufacturing tolerance of
up to 115% of rated reactive power.
Capacitor Bank Construction
The use of fuses for protecting the capacitor units and
the fuse location plays an important part in the design of
the shunt capacitor banks. Also, since the method of
fusing affects the failure mechanism of the unit, it affects
the design of the bank protection. Capacitor banks can be
externally fused, internally fused, fuseless or un-fused.
Fused capacitor banks consist of parallel groups of
capacitors which are then connected in series to generate
the required bank reactive power rating. Fuseless
capacitor banks must be connected in series and then
these series strings can be connected into parallel groups
to obtain the desired bank reactive power rating.
Externally Fused Capacitor Banks
Externally fused capacitor banks have an external fuse
mounted between the capacitor unit and the capacitor
fuse bus. This fuse protects the capacitor unit. These units
are capable of being designed for a relatively high voltage
since the external fuse can interrupt a high-voltage fault.
A failure of the capacitor element welds the foils
together effectively shorting the group of elements. The
remaining elements in the capacitor unit continue to be in
service but with a higher voltage across them. If a second
element fails, the process repeats itself until successive
failures cause the fuse to operate.
Internally Fused Capacitor Banks
Each capacitor element is fused inside the capacitor
unit in internally fused capacitor banks. Upon failure of the
element the fuse removes the failed element only. The
other elements remain in service with a slightly higher
voltage across them. Internally fused capacitor banks can
have larger capacitor units because the entire unit is not
expected to fail. Additionally, the internally fused capacitor
bank is composed of more series groups of units and
fewer parallel groups of units. The internally fused
capacitor bank poses significant challenges related to
Page 2 of 9
recognizing failed elements. First, no visual indication is
available indicating a failed element and blow fuse as with
the Fused Capacitor bank. Second, failure of an individual
element and blowing of its fuse permits the remaining
elements in the group of elements to stay in service. It is
unlikely that failure of individual elements can be detected,
by protective relaying.
Figure 2 Internally Fused Capacitor Bank
Fuseless Capacitor Banks
Fuseless capacitor banks, as the name implies, consist
of series strings of capacitor units without any fuses
protecting the individual units. Fuseless capacitor bank
designs are typically the most prevalent in modern day.
Fuseless capacitor banks offer the advantages of
smaller size, lower losses, lower probability of case rupture
and the ability of achieving more sensitive protection.
Fuseless capacitor banks are facilitated by the use of
film/foil dielectric material in the capacitor design. This
design assures that the capacitor element will fail by
shorting with a weld that is sufficient to carry rated
current. The design limits the gas generated by the failure
and allows the unit to be continuously energized with one
of the group of elements shorted. Fuseless capacitor
banks are not without their own disadvantages. Without
the external fuse element, visual indication of the faulted
capacitor is lost. Also, an element failure causes an
overvoltage on the remaining groups of elements in the
capacitor. This overvoltage makes subsequent failures
more likely. Disadvantages of a fuseless capacitor bank
can be overcome with sensitive protective relaying. The
protective relay protecting the bank must now be sensitive
enough to detect the failed elements and alarm on this
condition before subsequent failures overstress the
remaining units. The relay must also be capable of
protecting the units from this overvoltage and trip before
further damage can occur.
 Configuration
Capacitor banks must be designed such that the
minimum number of units in parallel will not allow more
than 110% of nominal voltage to exist on the remaining
units when one of the parallel units is isolated. In a similar
manner, the minimum number of units in series is must be
sufficient so that when on parallel group is bypassed it
does not allow more than 110% of nominal voltage to exist
on the remaining units. The 110% rating comes from IEEE
standard 18-2002, which requires capacitors to withstand
110% continuous rated overvoltage.
The maximum number of capacitor units that may be
placed in parallel is designed to limit the discharge
transient. When a capacitor bank unit fails, the other units
in the parallel group contain a stored charge. This stored
charge is discharged through the fuse holder and the
failed capacitor unit. The fuse holder and unit must be
capable of withstanding this discharge transient.
Discharge transients can be severe enough to rupture the
unit case or explode the fuse holder, possibly damaging
adjacent capacitor units or substation bus. In order to limit
the discharge transients, standards impose a limit of 4650
KVAR per parallel group.
The two most common designs of shunt capacitor
banks are externally fused capacitor banks and fuseless
capacitor banks. Each design has its own set of
advantages and challenges. The primary advantages of
the externally fused capacitor bank are that it gives a
visual indication of the failed unit and, since the units are
individually fused, the sensitivity of the capacitor protective
relay is not as important. The externally fused capacitor
bank has a higher installation cost and maintenance cost.
The installation cost is higher for the externally fused bank
because of the additional equipment and space required
for the fuses. Since the fuses are exposed to the
environment, they degrade over time and must be
replaced, which increases maintenance cost. Also, the
fuses must be inspected for failures which increases
maintenance costs.
The fuseless bank, because of its lack of fusing, has a
lower installed cost and smaller footprint. The sensitive
protective relaying can typically raise an alarm for failed
elements, reducing the need for visual inspection of the
bank and lowering maintenance costs. Additionally, failure
of an element inside of a fuseless bank results in a smaller
discharge transient making rupture of the capacitor unit
less likely. The fuseless bank has two main disadvantages.
First, there is no visual indication of a failed element and
second the failed element creates an overvoltage
condition on the remaining units. This highlights the need
to have sensitive bank protection that can correctly isolate
the bank for failed elements before the remaining
elements can be damaged by overvoltage. Ideally, the
protective relay would be able to raise an alarm on failed
Page 3 of 9
elements allowing maintenance personnel to replace the
unit with the failure at a time when the reactive support
from the bank is least needed. If failures continued to the
point of endangering remaining elements from
overvoltage, the relay should isolate the bank. The relay
should also be capable of determining the faulted phase
so that maintenance personnel won’t have to test the
complete bank to locate the faulted unit.
Grounding Methods
Most transmission shunt capacitor banks are
connected in one of the two Wye configurations described
below. Distribution capacitor banks may be connected in
either Wye or delta. Some larger banks may use an H
configuration on each of the phases.
Grounded Wye-connected banks
Grounded Wye capacitor banks are composed of series
of parallel-connected capacitor units per phase with the
neutral point solidly grounded. The configuration offers
some protection from surge overvoltage and transient
overcurrent. When this type of bank becomes large
enough that the stored energy in the units endangers the
units or fuses (parallel groups above 4650 KVAR) the bank
may be broken into two parallel Wye sections.
Ungrounded Wye-connected banks
Ungrounded Wye banks are composed of series of
parallel-connected capacitor units per phase with the
neutral point floating. These banks do not permit zero
sequence currents, third harmonic currents, or large
capacitor discharge currents during system ground faults.
The ungrounded bank neutral must be insulated for full
line voltage because it is momentarily at phase potential
when the bank is switched or when one capacitor unit fails
in a bank configured with a single group of units.
Delta Connected Units
Delta connected units are typically only used with
distribution voltages are consist of a single series group of
capacitors rated at line-to-line voltage. Since the banks
consists of one series group of units, no overvoltage
occurs across the remaining units when a faulted unit is
isolated.
H Connected Units
In an H configuration bank each phase is configured in
an H with a current transformer connected between the
horizontal piece of the H measuring the current difference
in the two legs. During normal conditions the two legs are
balanced and no current flows in the current transformer UpperVoltage
secondary. When a capacitor fuse operates, the two legs MatchFactor ( K ) = Equation 1
LowerVoltage
are no longer balanced and current flows in the CT
secondary circuit. This facilitates very sensitive protection The upper voltage in equation one will be the nominal
for large banks with multiple units in parallel. bus voltage. The lower voltage will be the voltage across
the tank circuit under nominal conditions. To determine
II. Capacitor bank Protection the voltage across the tank circuit, the current through the
capacitor bank must be calculated and the drop across
The following discussion describes typical protection the tank circuit is simply the tank impedance times the
schemes for typical banks. Protective relay algorithms are bank current. The bank current can be found from ohms
well documented for these types of protection, this law once the impedance of the capacitor units is known.
discussion will document calculations for this protection by The impedance of a capacitor unit is given by equation 2.
analysis of several case studies.
(Vrated) 2
Zunit = Equation 2
III. Case Study 1 Fuseless, Grounded Bank with a Tank kVARrated
Circuit.
Capacitor Impedances for the main bank and the tank
capacitor are shown in equation 3 and 4 below.
For case study one consider the schematic diagram
shown in figure 3. This is a fuseless, grounded Wye (16.7 KV ) 2
capacitor bank connected to a 145KV bus. The bank Zupperunit = = 464Ω Equation 3
600 KVAR
consists of three parallel strings of five 16.7kV, 600kVAR
units per phase for a total bank size of 27,000 kVAR. (825V ) 2
0 Z tan kunit = = 4.08Ω Equation 4
0
0
167 KVAR
Once the capacitor unit impedances are know, the
300/5

16.7KV 600KVAR
9 Elements/Can
current can be calculated using ohms law as shown in
83.13KV/115V
equation five.

Vbus 145 KV / 3
I= = = 108 A Equation 5
Z bank ((5 × 464) / 3 + 4.08)Ω

Once the nominal current is known, the tank voltage

and match factor can be calculated as shown in equations
six and seven.
0.8KV 167KVAR

Protective
Relay V tan k = I × Z tan k = 108 A × 4.08Ω = 439V Equation 6
87

Figure 3 Case Study One Vupper 145KV / 3

The bank will use voltage differential to detect failed
capacitor elements. The voltage differential algorithm
senses the change in voltage balance between two
voltages due to the failed elements. In the case study, the
two voltage locations are the bus voltage and the tank
voltage. The tank voltage is the voltage drop measured
around the small capacitor at the bottom of the bank.
Since the tank voltage is much smaller than the bus
voltage the relay algorithm requires a setting of “match
factor” to match the two voltages. The match factor is
applied to the lower voltage to cause it to match the upper
voltage. The match factor can be calculated from
equation 1 below.
K= = = 190.7 Equation 7
Vlower 439V
Now that the match factor has been set, the operate
quantity for which the protective relay will alarm and trip
at must now be calculated. The operate quantity is
generally of the form of equation eight.
Voperate = Vupper + K × Vlower Equation 8
The operate voltage must be set to trip the bank before
the failed elements cause an overvoltage on the remaining
elements and should provide an alarm when enough
element failures occur that the relay can reliably
determine the voltage differential. As a general rule the
bank should be tripped offline before the overvoltage on
the failed elements exceeds 110% of the nominal rated
voltage of the element and should alarm when the voltage
exceeds 105%. The voltage across a group of capacitor

Page 4 of 9
elements in a capacitor unit that will provide these values
is as calculated in equation 9 and 10 below.
KVrating 16.7 KV
Vtrip = 1.10 × = 1.10 ×
# elements 9 Valarm = 1.05 × Vrated × 5 = 1.05 × 16.7 KV × 5 = 87.675KV
Equation 9
KVrating 16.7KV
Valarm = 1.05 × = 1.05 × = 1948V Equation
# elements 9
10
Before the operate quantities are calculated, the tank
voltage and associated capacitor element voltage
associated with the element voltages to trip and alarm at
must be calculated as shown in equation 11 and 12.
VL−n
V tan k = Z tan k Equation 11
Z total
VL − N − Vtan k
Vel =
(# SeriesUnits×# SeriesGroup −# FailedGroups
Equation 12
Table one below shows the calculated values of tank
voltage and capacitor element voltage with various
numbers of failed elements. From the table and equation
nine and ten, the tank voltage associated with trip should
be 457. and the tank voltage associated with alarm should
be 449V.
Table 1 – Differential Voltage Tabulation
#of Failed
Elements Vtank Vel
0 438.8586 1850.598
1 442.1676 1892.582
2 445.6305 1936.515
3 449.258 1982.536
4 453.0623 2030.798
5 457.0565 2081.468
6 461.2554 2134.732
7 465.6749 2190.792
Using operate equation of equation 8 and a tank
voltage of 457V and 449V, this gives a trip and alarm
setting for the voltage differential function as shown in
equation 13 and 14 below.
Valarm = 83.716 KV − 191 × 449 = 2043V
Vtrip = 83.716 KV − 191 × 457 = 3571 Equation 14
In addition to protecting the bank from over voltages
associated with failed elements, the bank must also be
protected from system over voltages that would damage
the capacitor units. This setting is governed by IEEE
standard 18-2002 which requires a capacitor unit to be
able to continuously withstand an overvoltage of 110% of
nominal rating. If each of the five series units equally
share the bus voltage this give an overvoltage setting as
given in equation 15 below.
= 2041V
Equation 15
Vtrip = 1.10 × Vrated × 5 = 1.10 × 16.7 KV × 5 = 91.85KV Equation 16
In addition to protecting the bank from over voltages,
protection must also be provided for short-circuit faults in
the bank. This is accomplished with overcurrent and
negative sequence overcurrent elements. For grounded
banks, overcurrent settings of 135% of nominal current
and for ungrounded banks, overcurrent settings of 125%
of nominal current are used for tripping [2]. This setting is
based on the IEEE 18-2002 requirement that the capacitor
withstand 135% of nominal current. Negative sequence
elements provide protection for arc-over within the
capacitor bank and typical settings are set at 10% of rated
bank current with sufficient time delay to coordinate with
other relays in the system [2]. For this bank, the
requirements for overcurrent and negative sequence
would give a pickup value of 145 Amps pickup on
overcurrent and 10.8 Amps pickup on negative sequence.
IV. Case Study 2 Fuseless, Ungrounded Wye Bank
For case study two, a bank similar to the bank used in
case study one will be considered except this bank will be
an ungrounded bank. This bank is shown in figure four
and will be protected with a voltage differential element, a
neutral overvoltage element, bus overvoltage element and
overcurrent elements. In practice the use of the neutral
overvoltage element and the voltage differential gives
redundancy that is not typically used, but is added here to
include both scenarios with one case study.
Bus overvoltage and time overcurrent elements will be
calculated in the same manner as in case study one as
shown in equation 15 and 16.
The voltage differential algorithm for the ungrounded
bank is slightly different than the grounded bank because
the voltage a the neutral point of the bank may reside at
something other than ground potential. This voltage must
be measured by a potential transformer and included in
Equation 13 the algorithm. A typical algorithm for voltage differential in
an ungrounded bank is as shown below in equation 17.
Vop = (V Bus − V x − k (V tan k − V X ) Equation 17
The voltage Vx is the neutral point voltage measured
by a neutral point potential transformer shown on the
bottom of figure 4. Under balanced, normal conditions, the
operate voltage would be zero and the voltage Vx would be
zero or near zero so the equation to calculate the match
Page 5 of 9
factor settings is as given in equation 7 and the calculation ⎛ 1 1 1 ⎞ Va Vb Vc
of the pickup settings is the same as in case study one. − V x × ⎜⎜ + + ⎟+ + + =0 Equation 20
⎟
0
⎝ Z a Zb Zc ⎠ Za Zb Zc
0
0
⎛ 1 1 1 ⎞ V A VB VC VB VB VC VC
300/5
− VX ⋅ ⎜⎜ + + ⎟+
⎟ Z +Z +Z +Z −Z +Z −Z =0
⎝ Z A Z B ZC ⎠ A A A B A C A
16.7KV 600KVAR
9 Elements/Can
83.13KV/115V Equation 21

⎛ 1 1 1 ⎞ 1 ⎛ 1 1 ⎞ ⎛ 1 1 ⎞
− VX ⋅ ⎜⎜
Z
+
Z
+
Z ⎟⎟ + Z ⋅ (VA + VB + VC ) + VB ⋅ ⎜⎜ Z − Z ⎟⎟ + VC ⋅ ⎜⎜ Z − Z ⎟⎟ = 0
⎝ A B C ⎠ A ⎝ B A ⎠ ⎝ C A ⎠

Equation 22

⎛ 1 1 1 ⎞ 1 ⎛ 1 1 ⎞ ⎛ 1 1 ⎞
− VX ⋅ ⎜⎜ + + ⎟⎟ + ⋅ (VA + VB + VC ) + VB ⋅ ⎜⎜ − ⎟⎟ + VC ⋅ ⎜⎜ − ⎟⎟ = 0
⎝ Z A Z B ZC ⎠ Z A ⎝ ZB Z A ⎠ ⎝ ZC Z A ⎠

Equation 23
Protective
Relay
⎛ Z Z ⎞ ⎛ Z ⎞ ⎛ Z ⎞
V X ⋅ ⎜⎜1 + A + A ⎟ − 3 ⋅ V 0 + V B ⋅ ⎜1 − A ⋅ ⎜⎜1 − A
VX
⎟⎟ + VC ⎟=0
⎟ ⎜ Z ⎟
87

⎝ Z B ZC ⎠ ⎝ B ⎠ ⎝ ZC ⎠
Figure 4: Case Study Two Equation 24

On the ungrounded bank shown in figure four, neutral Equation twenty-four allows the introduction of
overvoltage elements can also be used to protect the bank balance factors shown in equations twenty-five and
from element failures. This algorithm, at a very basic level, twenty-six.
compares the zero sequence voltage on the bus to the Za X
capacitor bank neutral point voltage (Vx). Under normal, k ab = ≈ a Equation 25
Zb Xb
balanced conditions the voltage measured from the
neutral point to ground will be very nearly zero. When a Za X
group of capacitor elements fails, the voltage at the k ab = ≈ a Equation 26
Zb Xb
neutral point with reference to ground increases. A
problem arises with sensitive protection in that the banks The algorithm operate equation can then be defined by
may not be exactly balanced. IEEE standard 18-2002 only equation twenty-seven.
dictates that the capacitor give not less than 100% and
not more than 115% of rated reactive power at rated 1
voltage. This gives each capacitor unit 15% of tolerance V op = (1 + k ab + k ac )V x − 3V 0 + Vb (1 − k ab ) + V c (1 − k ac ) )
3
window, which may affect neutral voltage. The neutral
overvoltage algorithm in the protective relay must take Equation 27
this tolerance into consideration. To calculate the voltage Using the algorithm of equation twenty-seven, four
caused by capacitance differences, consider Kirchhoff’s settings must be calculated, the match factors kab, kac and
current law for the neutral point as shown in equation pickup voltages for alarm and trip on failed elements. The
eighteen. balance factors kab and kac may be difficult to calculate
Ia + Ib + Ic = 0 Equation 18 because the exact impedance of each string of capacitors
cannot be accurately calculated. The better option would
Equation eighteen can be resolved into voltage terms be to initially place the bank into operation and either use
using ohms law as shown in equation 19. auto-setting functions of the relay or measured values to
calculate the match factors. If calculations from measured
Va − V x Vb − V x Vc − V x
+ + =0 Equation 19 values are desired, equation nineteen and eighteen can be
Za Zb Zc solved for the impedance of each string, using metered
values available in the relay. Equation twenty-eight
Where Va,Vb,Vc is the phase bus voltage
demonstrates calculation of the impedance of the a phase
Vx is the neutral point voltage
string.
Za,Zb,Zc is the phase impedance
Va − V x
Equation 19 can be rearranged as follows in equations = Za Equation 28
twenty through twenty-four. Ia

Page 6 of 9
 Once the actual impedances are known and the voltage drop across the tank circuit, element voltage drop
balance factors are set, the next step becomes setting the becomes equation thirty-three.
values for operate quantities for trip and alarm points. VL − N
Vel =
Reference one derives equation twenty-nine to determine (# SeriesUnits×# SeriesGroups − # FailedGroups
the percent operate voltage as a function of the percent
change in capacitance of a phase string. Equation 33

1 1 X health − X failed
ΔVop % = ΔX c % = × × 100 Equation 29 0

3 3 X healt 0
0

300/5

Equations nine and ten from case study one and table
16.7KV 600KVAR
9 Elements/Can
83.13KV/115V

one show that to prevent overvoltage on the non-failed

elements, alarm should occur at three failed groups of
elements and trips should occur at five failed groups. In
order to calculate the percent change in the capacitor
bank impedance, it is first necessary to calculate the
healthy bank impedance shown in equation thirty.
5 × 464Ω
Z health = + 4.08Ω = 777.4Ω Equation 30
3 Protective
Relay

Impedances for three and five failed elements are 87

shown in equations thirty-one and thirty-two.

1
Z 3Failed =
1 1 1
+ +
5 × 464 5 × 464 4 × 464 + (9 − 3)( 464 / 9)
Equation 31
1
Z 5Failed =
1 1 1 #of Failed
+ +
5 × 464 5 × 464 4 × 464 + (9 − 5)(464 / 9)
Equation 32
Using equation 29 and the results from equations
thirty-two and thirty-one, the percent operate quantities
are 1.32% and 0.771%.
V. Case Study 3, Parallel Grounded Wye Bank C
In case study three, the same 16.7KV, 600KVAR
capacitor unit is used that was used in case studies one
and two. The bank for case study three has been modified
by removing the tank circuit and using two parallel series
strings of capacitors for an 18,000KVAR rated bank. This
arrangement necessitates the use of a phase current
unbalance element as the primary means of sensitive
protection used to sense failed capacitor elements. The
bank arrangement can be seen in figure five.
In case study three, overvoltage, overcurrent and
negative sequence elements will be set in a similar manner
as in case study one, except the impedance changes due
to the absence of the tank circuit and third parallel string.
Equations nine and ten can still be used to calculate the
allowable element voltage before alarm or trip conditions
occur, but, in case study three, due to the removal of the
Figure 5 – Case Study Three
+ 4.08 = 759.4Ω Using equation thirty-three, the element voltage
associated with failed elements can be calculated as in
table two below.
Table 2-Element Voltage Case Study Three
+ 4.08 = 746.5Ω
Elements Vel
0 1860.351
1 1902.632
2 1946.879
3 1993.233
4 2041.849
5 2092.895
6 2146.559
7 2203.047
Using the allowable element overvoltage values
calculated in equations nine and ten and table two, the
alarm point should be at two failed elements and the new
trip point should be at four failed elements.
Once alarm points are known, the next step is
calculating phase current unbalance conditions
associated with two and four failed elements. The phase
current unbalance element operates from the differential
signal measured by the core-balance CT at the bottom of
each phase string. The core balance CT measures the
vector sum of the two currents of the two parallel strings.
When the two parallel stings in each bank are perfectly
balanced, this current is zero, but as in case study two, the
capacitors will never be perfectly balanced. This inherent

Page 7 of 9
unbalance from manufacturing tolerances requires an
unbalance factor in order to maintain sensitive protection.
Equation thirty-four below shows an algorithm, for the A
phase element, based on an unbalance factor K.
I opA = I Diff − kI a Equation 34
Reference one[1] has derived the balance factor and
operate signal as shown in equations thirty-five below.
Where 1 and 2 represent quantities for series string one
and two respectively.
Z − Z 2a
k a = 1a Equation 35
Z1a + Z 2a
In practice, it may be impossible or impractical to
measure the actual impedance of each capacitor string.
Initially, the unbalance factor should be set to zero and
adjusted by using actual measured values from the in-
service bank or by using auto-setting features of the
protective relay.
protective relay can sense these values. For case study
three, if a 50:5 ratio core balance CT is chosen, the
secondary alarm current would be 167mA. The relay must
have current conversion range of less than 167mA on the
low end of its range for this CT ratio to be acceptable. The
low values of currents also demonstrate the need for the
balance factor K. Without the use of the balance factor in
the algorithm, the natural bank unbalance would cause
this method to be insensitive to failed elements.
VI. Case Study 4, Two Double Grounded Wye Bank
Case study four’s bank is nearly identical to the bank in
case study three except case study four’s bank is a double
grounded wye bank which doubles to size of the bank to
36,000KVAR. The bank for case study four is shown in
figure six below. This bank will use neutral current
unbalance protection as its means of sensitive bank
protection.
52

Under compensated conditions the differential current

caused by the bank inherent unbalance is removed by the 19.1KV 600KVAR
9 Elements/Can

KIa term in the operate equation. Now, in order to

determine operate current, it only becomes necessary to
determine the differential current caused by the alarm
number of failed elements (2) and the trip number of failed
elements(4). These values may then become the operate
currents for alarm and trip conditions. Equation thirty-six
below shows differential current.
Vbus Vbus
I diff = I a1 − I a12 = − Equation 36
Z a1 Z a 2 Protective
Relay

Figure 6 -Case Study 4, Double Wye Grounded Bank

Equation three, from case study one, calculated
capacitor unit impedance as 464 ohms and assuming
failures in the first string, equations thirty-seven and thirty- Neutral current unbalance algorithms are based on the
eight give the differential operate quantities, for alarm and balance between interconnected neutral currents of two
trip conditions, in primary values. parallel banks. This algorithm uses measured differential
current between the two neutrals from a core balance
current transformer seen at the bottom of figure six. If the
83.7 kV 83.7 kV
I diff = − = 1.67 amps two banks are perfectly balanced, the differential current
7 464 × 5 between the two banks would be zero, but, as mentioned
464 × 4 + 464 ×
9 previously, the inherent bank unbalance from
Equation 37 manufacturing differences require a more complicated
algorithm that takes the inherent unbalance into account.
83.7kV 83.7 kV An operate algorithm for neutral current unbalance is
I diff = − = 3.52amps
5 464 × 5 shown in equation thirty-nine[1].
464 × 4 + 464 ×
9
Equation 38 I op = I diff − kI 1 Equation 39
The relatively low values of trip and alarm current
calculated in equation thirty-eight and thirty seven As in previous case studies, calculation of the balance
highlight an important consideration in designing this factor prior to bank energization is impractical so either
bank: the CT ratio chosen for the core balance CT must be auto-settings of the protective relay or measured values
capable of providing enough secondary current that the must be used to set the balance factor k. If measured

Page 8 of 9
values are used, calculations should be relatively simple
because k should equal the measured differential current
divided by the positive sequence current flowing to the two
banks.
Once the balance factor is calculated and applied,
inherent bank unbalance from manufacture tolerances are
essentially removed from the operate equation.
Calculation of trip and alarm conditions can be simplified
to: operate current equals measured differential current.
Measured differential current is defined by equation forty
below where the subscript 1 and 2 represent current into
bank one and two.
I diff = I a1 + I b1 + I c1 − ( I a 2 + I b 2 + I c 2 ) Equation 40
If the failed elements are assumed to be in the A-phase
string of bank one, the equation simplifies to equation
forty-one.
Va V protection would be impossible because inherent
I diff = I a1 − I a 2 = − a Equation 41
Z a1 Z a 2
From case study three, the alarm and trip points to
prevent damage to un-failed elements occurs at two and
four failed elements. Equations forty-two through forty-
four calculate impedances for alarm and trip with two and
three failed elements and healthy bank impedance and
equations forty-five and forty-six calculate pickup values
for alarm and trip on the neutral current unbalance
element.
1 sense the values. Once the bank is properly designed and
Z 2Failed = = 761.53Ω
1 1 1 match factors are used to compensate inherent
+ +
5 × 464 5 × 464 4 × 464 + (9 − 2)(464 / 9)
Equation 42
failed elements so the neutral current unbalance element
will be prone to the same considerations regarding
instrument transformers discussed in case study three.
When comparing these two algorithms, the neutral current
unbalance is typically cheaper, since it requires fewer
instrument transformers. Maintenance costs are lower
with the phase current unbalance since it can identify the
phase with failed elements
VII. Conclusion
Calculations for protection of fuseless capacitor banks is
easily accomplished with fundamental electrical equations
such as Ohms law and Kirchoff’s current rules. The high
sensitivity necessary to detect failed capacitor elements
demonstrated in the case studies shows the need for
match factors or balance factors in the sensitive
protection algorithms. Without these factors sensitive
unbalance of the bank and instrument transformer error
would cause false alarms and trips. Since it is impractical
to calculate inherent bank unbalance or instrument
transformer error, the calculations for balance factors
shown in this paper should be taken as a starting point
reference for the settings, actual settings should reflect
either metered values from the in service bank or, more
preferably, auto-setting functions of the protective relay.
Additionally, the relatively low pickup values highlight the
need to properly design the banks protection system and
size the instrument transformers so that the relay can
unbalance, pickup value calculations for sensitive
protection are relatively easy to perform.

1 References
Z 4Failed = = 748.98Ω
1 1 1 [1.] B. Kasztenny, Joe Schaefer, Ed Clark
+ + “Fundamentals of Adaptive Protection of Large
5 × 464 5 × 464 4 × 464 + (9 − 4)(464 / 9)
Capacitor Banks”, Presented to the 60th Annual
Equation 43 Georgia Tech Protective Relay Conference, May 3-
5 × 464 5, 2006.
Z health = = 773.33Ω Equation 44 [2.] IEEE Std. C37.99-2000: “Guide for the Protection of
3
Shunt Capacitor Banks”, June 2000.
83.716 Kv 83.716 Kv [3.] C70 Capacitor Bank Protection and Control System
I opAlarm = − = 1.677 A
773.33Ω 761.53Ω Relay Instruction Manual, GE Publication GEK-
Equation 45
113480.
[4.] IEEE Std. 18-2002: “IEEE Standard for Shunt Power
83.716 Kv 83.716 Kv Capacitors”
I opAlarm = − = 3.52 A
773.33Ω 748.98Ω
Equation 46

The operate quantities calculated for the neutral

current unbalance are identical to the operate quantities
for phase current unbalance calculated in case study
three. These two elements have the same sensitivity to

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