Turn-to-Turn Fault Protection Schemes

for Magnetically-Controlled Shunt

Reactors (MCSR)
Prepared By:
M. Asghar Khan
PhD Student (1164300030)
School of Electrical & Electronics Engineering,
North China Electric Power University (NCEPU),
P. R. China
1

Contents
What is an MCSR?
MCSR Basic Structure/Components (Design)
Working Principle (Operation) of MCSR
Faults in MCSR
Faults Protection Schemes Used for MCSR
Turn-to-Turn Faults in MCSR
Existing Protection Schemes for MCSR Turn-toTurn Faults
References

What is an MCSR?
MCSR is a three-phase static device operating on the
principle of continuous regulation of inductive
reactance and can be used to:
a) Provide inductive reactance to compensate for the
effects of high charging current of long
transmission lines and pipe-type cables
b) Compensation of reactive power and stabilization
of voltage level in HV/EHV electric networks
3

Design of MCSR
Three-phase shunt reactors may consist of:
a) Three-leg or
b) Five-leg design (alternatively shell type)
)For transmission voltages the Five-leg core
type or shell type are mainly used
)They make the three phases magnetically

Fig. Three-leg shunt reactor core

independent, while three-leg cores lead to

magnetic coupling between phases
)One major advantage with a five leg reactor
(or shell type) compared with a three leg reactor
is that the construction to reduce vibrations and the
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long term use is much more stable and
stronger
Fig. Five-leg shunt reactor core with three wound limbs

Operation (General) of MCSR

Shunt reactors are mainly used in transmission networks
Their function is to consume the excess reactive power generated
by overhead lines under low-load conditions, and thereby stabilize
the system voltage
They are quite often switched in and out on daily basis, following
the load situation in the system
Shunt reactors are normally connected to substation busbar, but
also quite often directly to the overhead lines
Alternatively, they may also be connected to tertiary windings of
power transformers
The shunt reactors may have grounded, or reactor grounded
neutral
5

MCSR Basic Structure

Constructively, CSR represents a device consisting of [7]
(also [12] Slide 17):
1) Electromagnetic part (the magnetic conductor, windings)
2) Semiconductor converter
3) Automatic control system
)The figure presents the basic circuit of one phase of such a
reactor with a shell-core magnetic conductor and two
half-cores carrying the power windings PW connected to the system
Voltage ES and sections of the control winding CtW
connected in opposition, to which the direct voltage source
ECtW is connected.

Fig. The basic circuit of a CSR one phase6

MCSR Basic Structure

The arrangement of the windings
on the magnetic system of a CSR
phase, as shown in the figure [2]
In most constructions of
high-capacity CSRs intended for
voltage levels of 220 kV and
above, a separate special
Fig. The cross-section of the CSR magnetic system
winding (the compensation

winding CpW) is provided for, which is divided into two

aiding-connected sections, each of which embraces a
half-core

MCSR Basic Structure

The terminals of the three phases
are connected in delta
The windings are placed on the
magnetic conductor of CSR in the
following order:

CpWCtWPW
Fig. The cross-section of the CSR magnetic system
8

MCSR Basic Structure

The arrangement of the windings

on the magnetic system of a CSR

phase, which consists of two
half-cores (1), the upper (2) and
the lower (3) horizontal yokes, and
two side yokes (4), is shown in fig.
Two sections of the control
winding CtW are placed onFig.
theThe cross-section of the CSR magnetic system
half-cores, connected in opposition, and switched to a
controllable direct voltage source
The power winding PW embraces two adjacent half-cores
carrying the control windings

MCSR Basic Structure

The creation of separate paths for
alternating and direct fluxes, and
the opposite connection of PW and
CtW sections ensure the
independence of electromagnetic
processes in the PW and CtW
windings located at the same
magnetic conductor
Fig. The cross-section of the CSR magnetic system
10

MCSR Basic Structure

The magnetic system
of a CSR phase

11

MCSR Basic Structure

In order to interconnect separate
single-phase devices into a three-phase
one, the power windings are connected
by the Y/Y with the grounded neutral
scheme and each phase of the power
winding is made of parallel branches
with an input terminal to the middle,
as shown in the figure [2]
Fig. The schematic electrical diagram of a threephase three-winding CSR

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MCSR Basic Structure

In each phase, the sections of the
control winding are connected in
series-opposition, while the terminals of
all the phases are connected in parallel
and switched to the terminals of the
converter

Fig. The schematic electrical diagram of a threephase three-winding CSR

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MCSR Basic Structure

Windings of an MCSR:
1) Power Winding: Let us assume that there is only one
power winding PW, while the control winding and the
[2]
compensation winding are absent or open
)The power windings of a three phase
CSR are connected directly to the highvoltage buses and, by analogy with the
high-voltage windings of transformers, are
connected by the Y/Y with the grounded
neutral scheme

Fig. The connection scheme of the CSR power

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MCSR Basic StructureFig. The connection scheme of the control

Windings of an MCSR:

2)

windings of CSR phases

Control Winding: Let us assume

that the compensation winding is

absent or open (there are only CtW
[2]
and PW)
The control winding of CSR serve

the function of biasing its magnetic

conductor by direct current
The control windings of all the
phases are connected in parallel and switched to a
controllable direct voltage source

15

MCSR Basic Structure

Fig. The connection scheme of the

control windings of CSR phases

Windings of an MCSR:
2)

Control Winding : Applying direct

voltage to the control winding will

cause a transient in it, during which
the current in the winding will
increase to the steady-state value
determined by the expression
= /, where is
direct current resistance of CtW, is the voltage of the
source connected to CtW

16

MCSR Basic Structure

Windings of an MCSR:
3) Compensation Winding: The compensation
[2]
winding of CSR is delta-connected (see figure) and
serves two main functions:
i. Compensates 3-fold harmonic components
ii. Serves as the secondary winding of the supply
transformer, to which semiconductor converters
providing the magnetic biasing of the reactors
magnetic conductor are connected along with filtering
and compensating units (FCU), if they are required
Fig. The connection scheme of the
compensation windings of CSR phases

17

MCSR Basic Structure

Schematic diagram of a
three-phase MCSR
Without compensation
Windings [12]

18

MCSR Basic Structure

Iron core structure and
winding arrangement of
a single-phase MCSR [12]

19

MCSR Basic Structure

Main circuit diagram of a
three-phase MCSR [12]

20

Working Principle of MCSR

The MCR is controlled by
changing magnetic
permeability of the core [6]
Magnetization of the steel
is being controlled by DC
in control windings of the
Reactor, thus achieving
magnetic biasing of the steel
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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

The MCSR in EHV system is
usually made up of three singlePhase reactors
The reactor consists of:
a) Two parallel iron core lambs
(I and II)
b) Two bypass yokes (III and IV)
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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

Each
lamb has two windings:

a) Working windings (1 and 2 )

b) Control windings (3 and 4)
)Alternating magnetic flux
and (having same
direction) are excited in lamb
I & II under AC voltage
)Direct magnetic flux will be
Excited in iron core lamb I and II
by DC control voltage

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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

The
direction of in lamb

I & II are adverse

The paths of AC magnetic flux
, and DC magnetic flux
are shown in the figure
By changing the DC voltage,
The capability of MCSR can be
Regulated
Which regulate the saturation
Degree of iron core 1 and 2

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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

In that case, direct magnetic
flux make the magnetic flux
of iron core raise or lower
Which will always saturate
two iron core of the reactor in a
Power frequency period

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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

The saturation degree of
iron core can be expressed as
below:
=
= Saturated stagnation point
of magnetization curve
= Direct magnetic flux
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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

Operation

States:

In practice, there are three basic operation states:

1) State 1: Minimum output, saturation degree = 0
2) State 2: Middle output, saturation degree 0 < <

3) State 3: Maximum output, saturation degree 0 <

< 2
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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

1)
State 1: Minimum output,
saturation degree = 0
When DC control voltage is zero,
both iron core remains unsaturated,
i.e., ,
So the output current is zero
The figure shows the relationship
among magnetic flux B, magnetic
intensity H and output current I

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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

2) State 2: Middle output,
saturation degree 0 < <
There are three sub-working states
in this period
i.

Iron core I is unsaturated, while

Iron core II is saturated

ii. Both iron core I & II are saturated
iii. Iron core I is saturated while iron

core II is an unsaturated

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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

2)
State 2: Middle output,
saturation degree 0 < <
According to the magnetization
curve, there is output current only
during the saturation stage of iron
core
The relationship are shown in the
figure when =
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Working Principle of MCSR (Contd)

3)
State 3: Maximum output,
saturation degree 0 < < 2
In this case, = 2
Both of the iron cores are constantly
saturated in a period as shown in fig
Obviously, the iron core is in extreme
saturation state
Output current is nominal, and
capacity of MCSR is also nominal accordingly

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Faults Types (Failure Modes) in MCSR

The failures encountered with oil-immersed reactor installations
can be categorized as follows [3]:
a) Faults resulting in large changes in the magnitude of phase
current, such as bushing failures, insulation failures, etc.
b) Turn-to-turn faults within the reactor winding, resulting in
small changes in the magnitude of phase current
c) Miscellaneous failures such as auxiliary power winding faults,
overvoltage, low oil, loss of forced-cooling, and pole
disagreement
34

Faults Protection Used for MCSR

Three typical scenarios are existed:
a) Protection for bus connected oil immersed reactors
b) Protection for line connected oil immersed reactors
c) Protection for dry-type reactors connected to the
tertiary winding of a transformer

35

Faults Protection Used for MCSR

(Contd)
The following protection requirements are common for all
types of shunt reactors:
Protect for internal faults to ground or to alternate phases
Protect for internal partial winding or turn-to-turn faults
Prevent unnecessary false tripping of the reactor during
switching operations and external ground faults
Provide adequate breaker failure protection and pole
discrepancy protection
Additionally, for oil immersed reactors:
Prevent rupture of reactor tank during internal fault
36

Faults Protection Used for MCSR

(Contd)
Protection for line connected oil immersed reactors:
Relaying practices:
Protection for large-magnitude faults: Relaying
protection for faults producing large increases in the
magnitude of phase current is generally a combination
of
Overcurrent (50/51) and
Differential (87) or
Distance (21) relaying
37

Faults Protection Used for MCSR

(Contd)

According to the questionnaire issued by the WG B5.37 [1], these

protection devices are commonly applied to bus connected oil
immersed shunt reactors:
Reactor phase differential protection
Restricted earth fault protection
Instantaneous overcurrent protection
Time delayed overcurrent protection
Time delayed earth fault overcurrent protection
Distance protection
Tank leakage protection
Breaker failure protection
Special schemes for turn to turn faults
Pole discrepancy protection
Buchholz protection / Sudden pressure relay

38

Causes of Turn-to-Turn Faults in

MCSR
Phase to Phase and Phase to Ground faults can be caused by
turn-turn faults
The location of the turn-turn fault is most likely in the windings
closest to the high voltage part of the shunt reactor, caused
by for example an impulse voltage from electrostatic discharge
like lightning storms
Each winding on the shunt reactor can be seen as an inductance
parallel with a leakage capacitance and capacitance to
ground
The inductive part acts stiff on inrush currents, and the
capacitive part causes an exponential distribution of voltage
over the winding, with maximum at the top due to high frequency
39

Causes of Turn-to-Turn Faults in

MCSR
The capacitive part consists of the insulation material e.g. paper
1) If the highest voltage difference between the windings on top of the shunt
reactor exceeds the capacitive insulation level, the insulation material
deteriorates and causes a turn-turn fault between two windings
)A possible way to protect for this is to design the shunt reactor with
more insulation in the top and equip the system with a surge
arrester, to limit high currents
2) Another cause of the turn-turn fault is vibrations
)Vibrations create insulation material fatigue which in turn reduces the level
of insulation and can cause a turn-turn faults
)Samples from oil and material could tell the condition of the shunt reactor
insulation
40

Causes of Turn-to-Turn Faults in

MCSR
3) Turn-turn faults can also be caused by excessive water in
insulation paper, which can give raise to water vapor bubbles
when temperature increases, thus creating a low dielectric
strength region leading to electric arc
The main risk for short-time failures is the reduction in dielectric
strength due to the possible presence of gas bubbles in a region
of high electrical stress, which are the windings and leads
These bubbles are likely to occur when the hot-spot temperature
exceeds 140C for a reactor with winding insulation moisture
content above 2%
This critical temperature will decrease as the moisture
concentration increases
41

Turn-to-Turn Faults in MCSR

A turn to turn fault (fault between turns within the phase
winding) is a damaging condition to shunt reactors
Once the arc between some turns has been initiated,
the fault may develop to flashover the entire winding
If not detected, this resulting phase to neutral fault may
then also result in thermal damage of the healthy
phases
Even one shorted turn will cause a high magnitude
circulating current in the fault location
42

43

44

45

46

Turn-to-Turn Faults in MCSR

(Contd...)
However, seen from the outside, the phase currents and the
voltages can be of the same order of magnitude as could be
expected during normal service
The ultimate aim of the turn to turn protection is to be able to
detect a fault as a result of one shorted turn in the winding
Turns to turn faults are not only the most common
failures in shunt reactors but it is the most challenging
fault type to detect
This is a real challenge and calls for dedicated protection
schemes for turn to turn faults
47

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults
Protection schemes dedicated to the
detection of turn to turn faults:
In oil immersed shunt reactors, the Buchholz/Pressure
relief protection (63) represents a quite dependable
protection for this type of fault
Many utilities consider the 63 protection element as a
main protection function due to the limitation from
electrical protection schemes
New methods for detecting turn to turn faults that
benefit from the possibilities offered by numerical
protection have been developed in recent years
48

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd)
Protection schemes dedicated to the
detection of turn to turn faults [1]:
a) Earth fault overcurrent protection controlled by
directional zero sequence relay
b) Earth fault overcurrent controlled by directional
negative sequence relay
c) Split phase protection

49

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
a) Earth fault overcurrent protection controlled by
directional zero sequence relay:
)Use of directional earth fault protection

controlled by a directional relay is applied

as turn to turn fault protection in North
America
)The scheme uses a zero sequence directional
relay to control (release) an earth fault
overcurrent protection in the neutral
50

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
a) Earth fault overcurrent protection controlled by
directional zero sequence relay:
)The blue arrow in the figure below indicates
the forward operating direction
)With the indicated direction it is apparent
that the scheme might not operate for phase to
earth faults
)This is of no concern as this scheme is
exclusively provided for detection of internal
Winding turn to turn faults
51

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
a) Earth fault overcurrent protection controlled by
directional zero sequence relay:
)As shown in fig, both protections are

connected to the CT in the neutral to earth

connection and not to a residual connection
on the terminal side
)This minimizes the risk of undesirable
operation of the earth fault protection or the
directional relay due to unequal saturation of
phase CTs during inrush conditions
52

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
b) Earth fault overcurrent controlled by directional Negative
sequence relay:
This is a variant of the scheme above and also
exclusively used for the detection of winding turnTo-turn faults
The scheme is using a negative-sequence
directional relay to control (release) an earth
fault overcurrent protection in the neutral as
seen in figure
The blue arrow indicates the forward operating
direction
53

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
b) Earth fault overcurrent controlled by
directional Negative sequence relay:
As with the zero-sequence scheme above, adequate
sensitivity can be achieved by reinforcement of the
Negative sequence polarizing voltage
Again this additional polarizing voltage is produced
By passing some relay operating current through an
impedance of a value less than the impedance of the
shunt reactor
54

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
b) Earth fault overcurrent controlled by
directional Negative sequence relay:
During energization there is a possibility for apparent
high levels of negative sequence currents due to
unequal saturation of the phase CTs
It is therefore necessary to block this turn to turn
protection until after the DC component of the phase
currents have completely decayed
55

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
c)

Split Phase Protection:

Some shunt reactors are designed with two

parallel windings per phase, see figure
With this design it is possible to apply a simple,
sensitive and secure turn to turn fault protection,
the so called split phase protection
In this design, the two neutral ends per
phase are brought together in opposite direction
through a CT
56

Existing Protection Schemes for

MCSR Turn-to-Turn Faults (Contd...)
c)

Split Phase Protection:

The protection itself is a simple and sensitive

3 phase overcurrent protection
A sensitive setting is possible due to the fact that
only unbalances between the two parallel winding
causes a current flow on the CTs secondary side
A typical pick up threshold for the overcurrent
protection is approximately 2.5% of reactor rated current
57

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
58

Thank you all for attention!

59