Voltage Sag Analysis and Solution for an Industrial

Plant with Embedded Induction Motors

Angel Felce Guillermo Matas Ysmael Da Silva
Inelectra S.A.C.A. Inelectra S.A.C.A. Inelectra S.A.C.A.
Caracas, Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela
Angel.Felce@inelectra.com Guillermo.Matas@inelectra.com Ysmael.Dasilva@inelectra.com

Abstract—— In this paper a power quality (PQ) problem in an
industrial plant is analyzed and its possible solutions explored,
specifically regarding voltage sags. It is analyzed a plant’s
electrical system sensitivity regarding voltage sags, how does the
magnitude depression and its duration affect the performance of
the electrical loads (mainly induction motors). Several proposals
are discussed and explored for voltage sag mitigation and their
feasibility for the plant’s PQ problem. Finally, settings of the
voltage sag mitigation equipment (timer or “latching” relay) are
made analyzing voltage recovery times after voltage sag has
occurred.
Keywords-voltage sag; power quality (PQ); induction motor;
industrial plant
duration of the sag and the type of load fed by the depressed
voltage:
• Electromechanical relays and motor contactors in low
voltage systems are reported to drop out, when voltage
sag is in the range 50% - 70% lasting some cycles. [11]
• 120 V AC PLC I/O disrupts by sags of less than 86%
magnitude and more than 16 ms duration. [5]
• Many DC drives will trip if the voltage magnitude on
any of the supply phases falls below 90%. [5]
A typical voltage sag waveform is shown in Fig. 1.

I. INTRODUCTION
800

Voltage sags are short duration reductions in rms voltage 600

caused by faults in the electric supply system and the starting
of large loads, such as motors [1]. The IEC 61000-4-30 defines 400
the voltage dip (sag) as “a temporary reduction of the voltage
at a point of the electrical system below a threshold”. In IEEE 200
Std. 1159-1995 a voltage sag is defined as “an rms variation
with a magnitude between 10% and 90% of nominal voltage V (V)
0
and a duration between 0.5 cycles and one minute” [2]
Voltage sags are also generally created on the electric -200
system when faults occur due to lightning; accidental shorting
of the phases by trees, animals, birds, human error such as -400
digging underground lines or automobiles hitting electric poles,
and failure of electrical equipment. Sags also may be produced -600
when large motor loads are started, or due to operation of
certain types of electrical equipment such as welders, arc -800
furnaces, smelters, etc. In the case of a short-circuit fault, the 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
t (s)
0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Utility system would detect the resulting over-current, and

perform a feeder breaker trip for disconnecting the down-
stream loads from the system, followed, if it is possible, by a
re-closure operation for clearing the fault and therefore
maintain the service continuity of the electric supply for the
majority of its customers.[3]
Voltage sags, transients, and momentary interruption of
power together constitute 92% of the PQ problems encountered
by typical industrial customers. [4]
The effects produced by these disturbances over industrial
customers are variable depending on the magnitude and
Figure 1. Typical Waveform of a Voltage Sag Caused by Remote Fault-
Clearing
The high costs associated to these disturbances explain the
increasing interest towards voltage sag mitigation techniques.
The cost of mitigation intervention should be compared against
the loss of revenue, accounting all the economic factors
involved.
As reference, an index cost of momentary interruptions in
industrial plants in terms of $/kW Demand is shown in Table I.
[6]

INELECTRA S.A.C.A.

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 B. Utility Company Actions
TABLE I. INDEX COST OF MOMENTARY INTERRUPTIONS
• Reduce the number of voltage sags, actuating over the
Cost of Momentary installations in those zones having high indices of
Type of Industry Interruption faults and verifying that protection system works
($/kW Demand) properly.
Minimum Maximum
Automobile Manufacturing 5 7.5 • Reduce the duration of voltage sags ensuring optimized
Rubber and Plastics 3 4.5 fault clearing times (protection coordination).
Textile 2 4
Paper 1.5 2.5 • Increase the short circuit level of the zone, so the
Printing (newspapers) 1 2 influence of faults in neighbor zones will be less
Petrochemical 3 5 severe. This action could be done increasing the
Metal Fabrication 2 4 redundancy of the network or connecting generators.
Glass 4 6
Mining 2 4 • Prevent the fault apparition eliminating the surrounding
Food Processing 3 5 vegetation, cleaning outdoors insulators, improving
Pharmaceutical 5 50 cable shielding, improving towers grounding, changing
Electronics 8 12 spacing between aerial conductors, using underground
Semiconductor Manufacturing 20 60 cables, increasing protection against animals.
II. VOLTAGE SAG MITIGATION • Modify the employed methods to eliminate faults
Mitigation of voltage sags could be performed in several optimizing the location of fuses and re-closers, using
forms and areas of the electric power system. Some of them solid-state circuit breakers (SSCB) to reduce the
require the intervention of the Utility Company. Methods for clearing fault times, using solid-state transfer switch
voltage sag mitigation are summarized as follows: (SSTS) to reduce the switching time between sources.

A. Plant Indoors Actions III. PLANT’S ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM AND

VOLTAGE SAG PROBLEM
• Transformers with tap changers.
The plant’s power electrical systems key one-line diagram
• Saturable reactance regulators. is shown in Fig. 2; it is fed from the Venezuelan National
• Motorized variacs. Interconnected System’s substation (Utility) at 115 kV. The
voltage level is reduced through two transformers to 13.8 kV at
• Electronic voltage regulators. Substation #1. This Substation feeds the whole plant, which is
composed by other four substations at 4.16 / 0.48 kV who
• Static voltage regulator (SVR). subsequently feeds several Motor Control Centers and other
• Soft commutation line conditioners. loads. The whole plant’s power consumption is around 30
MVA.
• Ferro-resonant transformers.
Utility

• Magnetic synthesizers. 115 kV

• Uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

• Motor-generator set. S/S 1
115 / 13.8 kV 115 / 13.8 kV

• Superconductor magnetic energy storage NO

(SMES).
• Air compressed energy storage. S/S 2 S/S 3
13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV

• Dynamic voltage restorer (DVR). NO NO

• Dynamic sag corrector (DySC)

ATS ATS

M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV

• Use of DC contactors.
• Use of timer relay (“latching” relay) with adjustable S/S 4 S/S 5

delay time to latch AC contactors during voltage sags. 13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV 13.8 / 4.16 kV

NO NO

• Insert series reactor to limit post-sag inrush and reduce ATS ATS

the setting of under-voltage protection for AC drives M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV M 4.16 / 0.48 kV

(VFD).

Figure 2. Plant´s Key One-Line Diagram

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 The plant’s electrical heart is composed primary by 322
induction motors, whose rated power varies from ½ HP to 8500
HP at voltages of 480 V, 4.16 kV and 13.8 kV. The total power 30
consumption of these motors is around 26 MVA, which
represents 86.7% of the total plant’s power consumption. Few 25
of these motors are controlled using variable speed drives. 20
Disconnected load
The voltage sag that affect the plant’s operation are not (MVA) 15
caused indoors rather are caused in the Venezuelan National 10
Interconnected System, mainly due to short-circuit faults. The
5
more important events registered in the Venezuelan National
Interconnected System are phase-to-ground failures, occurred 0

50
0
30
mostly during the beginning of the rainy season, and

0
20
90

0
sometimes combined with some troubles in the operation of the

15
50

0
12
40
protection system (some failures were cleared by backup Sag depth

5
Sag duration

10
30
(%Vnom)

0
(ms)
relays). Some of these problems are produced by sub-inversion

in the sector.
The industrial plant studied in this work as a sample case is
connected to the transmission system, and in consequence, it is
exposed directly to the mentioned events. This situation has
been present during more than a decade and it affects the
normal plant’s operation since motor’s AC contactors drop out
causing the stop of the production. Due to these facts, an
indoors voltage sag solution is required to mitigate plant’s
operation interruption or at least make a safe stop and prepare it
to start again. Large interruptions require investments in the
Utility sector and they are long-term ones.
IV. PLANT’S SENSITIVITY STUDY AGAINST
VOLTAGE SAGS
The sensitivity study is made to analyze how affected motor
loads could be when voltage sags are produced at Utility
busbar. The methodology used to develop this study was
provoking voltage depressions of different magnitude and
duration and registering motor shedding caused mostly by
contactors drop out.
AC contactors installed in this Industrial Plant drop out
after 90 milliseconds when voltage drops below 60% of its
nominal value. In addition, it is assumed that static load does
not disconnect during or after a voltage sag of any magnitude
has occurred.
Motor shedding in terms of MVA caused by different sag
magnitude and duration is shown in Table II, noticing that the
total apparent power consumed by induction motors before
voltage sag is produced, is 26 MVA. Fig. 3 illustrates values
shown in Table II.
TABLE II. MOTOR SHEDDING (MVA) CAUSED BY VOLTAGE SAGS
Depth Sag Magnitude (%)
90 70 50 40 30 20
50 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sag Duration (ms)
50
20
Figure 3. Motor Shedding Caused by Voltage Sags.
As seen in Table II and Fig. 3, when voltage sags depth is
lower or equal to 40%, all motors remain operative. Otherwise,
when voltage sag depth is greater and/or duration is longer,
almost all motors are disconnected. It is interesting to highlight
that voltage sag of 100 ms and 50% depth do not disconnect
motors; despite that contactor drop-out voltage is 60% during
90 ms.
This study shows how weak the electrical system is against
voltage sags and how important is to have continuity and
quality in electrical service.
V. PLANT’S SOLUTION ASSESSMENT FOR
VOLTAGE SAG PROBLEM
As indicated before, many solutions are available for
mitigating voltages sags, but also there are special problems or
consideration inherent to each solution. For example, taking
actions in the transmission or distribution system is
responsibility of the Utility Company and some of these
solutions are not so easy to apply whether the complex of the
system or the great investment of money and time to make
these changes. Raising the system availability in the plant’s
area would mean the construction of new transmission lines
that, among others, have the problem of passage rights; they
also are long-term investment.
Other options could be taken indoors the plant to mitigate
the effect of voltage sags; one of the attractive solutions is the
use of UPS, but the range of power that this device can handle
is about 1 MVA, so the installation of this equipment isn’t
feasible due to the amount of power consumed by the motor
loads (26 MVA). [4]
The Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) is also an attractive
solution. It could handle voltage sags of 50% depth, and its
rated maximum power is around 50 MVA [8], but the high

100 26 26 0 0 0 0 costs related to this equipment make it too expensive.

125 26 26 20.4 0 0 0
150 26 26 26 0 0 0 Since voltage sags are not caused inside the plant’s
200 26 26 26 0 0 0 electrical system and there is only one supply source (Utility),
300 26 26 26 0 0 0 the employment of Solid State Circuit Breakers (SSCB) and
Solid State Transfer Switch (SSTS) will not have substantial
effect on sag.

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 Other indoor equipment used to mitigate voltage sag effects
will be not enough strong to handle such amount of power or
support voltage depressions greater than 15 – 20%.
Other way in which voltage sag effects could be minimized
consist on increasing or improving the immunity of equipment,
in this case contactors. One way is to use battery fed DC
contactors, but this would mean replacing all of the existing
AC contactors and installing batteries and chargers, which also
will require not available extra space.
A less costly and simple solution consist on combining the
use of an UPS and the timing delay of a relay for feeding AC
contactors belonging to the motors, in order to ensure the motor
operation during the voltage sags considered as short-time type.
The UPS would feed the starter coil, but controlled by the
timer relay. The timer relay will be off-delay type, so it will
maintain each starter coil energized during the time settled at
the timer relay. The effect will be to maintain connected all
motors during a pre-determined time equal to the timer setting.
If the time duration of the voltage sag is greater than the settled
time, all motors will be disconnected.
The timer setting will be chosen using a simulation program
in order to search for a trade off between voltage / electrical
system operation feasibility and preservation of plant operation.
This strategy would be able to maintain full operation for
short-time voltage sags (duration between 0-300 milliseconds),
but it is not possible to extend the strategy for longer periods.
In consequence, if the voltage sag is greater than the settled
time, all motors will be disconnected. In consequence, a second
strategy is required.
The second strategy consists on installing Electronic Restart
Modules (ERM) for the critical motors. The non-critical motors
will be restored manually by Operators since their function are
less important for a fast restore of full Plant Process operation.
If voltage sag duration is greater than the timer’ setting is,
only previously disconnected motors considered as critical will
be automatically restored to operation if the voltage returns to
its normal value between a predetermined period. The motors
will be reconnected in a predetermined sequence, grouped in
steps, avoiding connecting them at the same time. The element
for performing this action will be an Electronic Restart Module
(ERM).
Because it low cost, the small size of the components
involved and it short installation time (not requiring large
modifications), this solution was chosen for mitigating voltage
sag in this existing Plant.
VI. SETTINGS OF “TIMER RELAY”
Protection system total clearing time in the concerned area
of Venezuelan Interconnected System is between 150-300 ms.
It means it is desirable to set the off-delay timer using a delay
time greater than 300 milliseconds plus an additional time for
allowing the voltage recovery of the system, assuming that the
failure was effectively cleared.
The tentative voltage setting could be 80% of rated voltage,
since it is the allowable minimum voltage for motor operation.
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This voltage setting will start the timer for disconnecting the
motors also.
This initial time and voltage settings will be used in the
simulation program in order to asses the electrical system
response. The goal is revising if the voltage profiles of the
Plant Electrical System are maintained at its pre-failure value
(over 90% of rated values) after a voltage restoration in the
Venezuelan Electrical Interconnected System, indicating that
the strategies are feasible for maintaining Plant operation.
The voltage sag was simulated using time duration equal to
100, 150 and 300 ms and a voltage depth of 90% (the
maximum registered one). If the Plant operation because
system voltage profile is maintained between permissible
values at this limit condition, it implies that less severe sags can
be successfully handled using the same arrangement.
In addition, several sags scenarios were simulated in order
to assess the voltage recovery time (maximum calculated
elapsed time for reaching 80% of system rated voltage,
measured from the instant in which the fault is cleared) and the
voltage stabilization time (maximum calculated elapsed time
for reaching the pre-fault voltage, measured from the instant in
which the fault is cleared).
TABLE III. LONGEST TIME BUS RECOVERY
Sag
Voltage Voltage
Recovery Stabilization
Duration
Time Time
(ms)
(ms) (ms)
100 38 430
150 35 460
300 30 520
As seen in Table III, the longest recovery time for voltage
sag of 300 milliseconds is 30 ms with a successful restoration
of the corresponding Plant voltage to its pre-fault value.
Fig. 4, 5 and 6 show the voltage performance of the more
affected busbar in function of time of the longest voltage
recovery curve, for 100, 150 and 300 ms duration sags.
Figure 4. Voltage Performance for 100 ms Voltage Sag.
0-7803-8486-5/04/$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
 These motors represent only the 25% of total plant load.
Simulation results indicate that this re-starting strategy may be
successfully implemented.

VIII. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SOLUTION

The remaining expected life of the Plant, from business
point of view, is seventeen years.
The forecasted total cost of installing the modifications is
estimated as 770,000.00 US$.
Considering the fact that sags produce near 750,000.00 US$
per year of net loss, and using a referential interest rate equal to
10%, the net present value of the investment is US$
11,072,187.30, considering that all the net loss produced by the
sags will constitute savings (maximum saving amount).
Figure 5. Voltage Performance for 150 ms Voltage Sag.
This solution could be not totally effective. Considering a
pessimistic scenario in which only the 50% of annual sags are
mitigated, the net present value of the investment is still
positive, and equal to US$ 5,151,093.65.
The break-even point is found when savings are equal to
US$ 48,766.34 per year (6.5% of maximum saving amount). At
this level of saving, the net present value is zero.

IX. CONCLUSIONS
Voltage sags are power quality problems that cause severe
damage to several industry processes. Actual electrical power
systems or equipment are not immune against voltage sag. This
has been shown in the sensitivity study.
Several methods for voltage sag mitigation are already
developed and have different areas of action; there are actions
that could be taken in the transmission and/or distribution grid,
preventive actions and improvement of voltage sag immunity
Figure 6. Voltage Performance for 300 ms Voltage Sag. in equipment. For this reason, adding capacitors to the Utility
busbar was simulated also, founding some improvements in
Plant reaction.
VII. RE-STARING STRATEGY
The studied case presented some particular characteristics
If effective sag duration is grater than the setting of timer that distinguish it. These are that its predominant load is
relay, all plant motors will be disconnected. Only critical motorized (induction motors) which causes that after a voltage
motors will be automatically restarted when normal voltage sag the voltage recovery is not immediately due to the re-
restoration occurs if they were in operation before the sag acceleration of such equipment. Other characteristic is that
occurred. All remaining motors will be re-started by Operators some of the methods for voltage sag mitigation are not already
manually. suitable form the Plant. In addition, actions taken by the Utility
Four reacceleration groups were used in the simulation, Company are long-term solutions.
using the following time intervals measured from normal A “Timer relay” combined with an ERM module was use to
voltage restoration. avoid AC contactors early drop out due to transient voltage
depressions and to obtain the subsequent re-start of critical
TABLE IV. REACCELERATION GROUPS motors; due to its simplicity related to installation process and
its lack of substantial modifications to the electrical power.
Delay time
from Improving the immunity against voltage sags was the most
Group Quantity of
number
voltage
motors
attracting option in terms of cost and operation impact.
restoration
(s) Simulation results reveal that it is possible to minimize
1 0 3 Plant sensitivity regarding voltage sags using the proposed
2 3 11 solution.
3 8 11
4 12 27

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