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Differential Protection

Differential protection is a unit scheme that compares the current on the primary side of a transformer with
that on the secondary side. Where a difference exists (other than that due to the voltage ratio) it is
assumed that the transformer has developed a fault and the plant is automatically disconnected by
tripping the relevant circuit breakers. The principle of operation is made possible by virtue of the fact that
large transformers are very efficient and hence under normal operation power-in equals power-out.
Differential protection detects faults on all of the plant and equipment within the protected zone, including
inter-turn short circuits.

Principle of Operation
The operating principle employed by transformer differential protection is the Merz-Price circulating
current system as shown below. Under normal conditions I1and I2 are equal and opposite such that the
resultant current through the relay is zero. An internal fault produces an unbalance or 'spill' current that is
detected by the relay, leading to operation.

Design Objectives
An ideal scheme is required to be:

Extremely stable under through fault conditions


Very fast to operate for an internal fault
Design Considerations
A number of factors have to be taken into account in designing a scheme to meet these objectives.
These include:
The matching of CT ratios
Current imbalance produced by tap changing
Dealing with zero sequence currents
Phase shift through the transformer
Magnetising inrush current
Each of these is considered further below.

The Matching of CT Ratios


The CTs used for the Protection Scheme will normally be selected from a range of current transformers
with standard ratios such as 1600/1, 1000/5, 200/1 etc. This could mean that the currents fed into the
relay from the two sides of the power transformer may not balance perfectly. Any imbalance must be
compensated for and methods used include the application of biased relays (see below) and/or the use of
the interposing CTs (see below).

Current Imbalance Produced by Tap Changing


A transformer equipped with an on-load tap changer (OLTC) will by definition experience a change in
voltage ratio as it moves over its tapping range. This in turn changes the ratio of primary to secondary
current and produces out-of-balance (or spill) current in the relay. As the transformer taps further from
the balance position, so the magnitude of the spill current increases. To make the situation worse, as the
load on the transformer increases the magnitude of the spill current increases yet again. And finally
through faults could produce spill currents that exceed the setting of the relay. However, none of these
conditions is 'in zone' and therefore the protection must remain stable ie. it must not operate. Biased
relays provide the solution (see below).

Dealing with Zero Sequence Currents


Earth faults down stream of the transformer may give rise to zero sequence current, depending upon
winding connections and earthing arrangements. Since zero sequence current does not pass through a
transformer, it will be seen on one side only producing spill current and possible relay operation for an
out-of-zone fault. To prevent such occurrence, zero sequence current must be eliminated from the
differential scheme. This is achieved by using delta connections on the secondary side of any CTs that
are associated with main transformer windings connected in star.

Where CT secondaries are connected in star on one side of a transformer and delta on the other,
allowance must be made for the fact that the secondary currents outside the delta will only be 1/√3 of the
star equivalent.

Phase Shift Through the Transformer


Having eliminated the problem of zero sequence currents (see above) through faults will still produce
positive and negative sequence currents that will be seen by the protection CTs. These currents may
experience a phase shift as they pass through the transformer depending upon the transformer vector
group. CT secondary connections must compensate to avoid imbalance and a possible mal-operation.

Magnetising Inrush Current


When a transformer is first energised, magnetising inrush has the effect of producing a high magnitude
current for a short period of time. This will be seen by the supply side CTs only and could be interpreted
as an internal fault. Precautions must therefore be taken to prevent a protection operation. Solutions
include building a time delay feature into the relay and the use of harmonic restraint driven, typically, by
the high level of second harmonic associated with inrush current.

Other Issues

Biased Relays
The use of a bias feature within a differential relay permits low settings and fast operating times even
when a transformer is fitted with an on-load tapchanger (see above). The effect of the bias is to
progressively increase the amount of spill current required for operation as the magnitude of through
current increases. Biased relays are given a specific characteristic by the manufacturer.

Interposing CTs
The main function of an interposing CT is to balance the currents supplied to the relay where there would
otherwise be an imbalance due to the ratios of the main CTs. Interposing CTs are equipped with a wide
range of taps that can be selected by the user to achieve the balance required.

As the name suggests, an interposing CT is installed between the secondary winding of the main CT and
the relay. They can be used on the primary side or secondary side of the power transformer being
protected, or both. Interposing CTs also provide a convenient method of establishing a delta connection
for the elimination of zero sequence currents where this is necessary.
Modern Relays
It should be noted that some of the newer digital relays eliminate the need for interposing CTs by enabling
essentials such as phase shift, CT ratios and zero sequence current elimination to be programed directly
into the relay.

Tutorial Index

INTERPOSING CURRENT TRANSFORMERS

There are C.Ts. which are interposed between the main C.T. and the burden so that the secondary current of
the main C.T. is adjusted as required by the burden.

When used in providing transformer differential protection, these C.Ts are also used to correct the phase
shift, which may result due to particular method of connection used for the transformer windings.

Reference is made to interposing C.Ts. while discussing the formation of specifications of main C.Ts. Briefly
detailed below are the various applications of interposing C.Ts.

a) When the main C.T. s having rated secondary current of 1 Amp. And the burden requires a rated current of 5
Amp., an I.C.T. is used , at the load end so that the lead burden is fed by 1 Amp. Current. The lead burden on the
I.C.T. is negligible as it placed very close to the burden (figure 3).

b) The arrangement suggested in ‘a’ above may also be used when the main C.T. is having rated secondary of 5
Amps. And the burden requires a rated current of 1 amp. In this case however, the I.C.T. of ratio 5/1 Amp will have to
be placed at the main C.T. end to reduce the effect of lead burden on the main C.T. ( figure 4).

c) In the case of transformer differential protection when the main C.T. ratios do not match. If phase shift is
introduced due to the ,mode of connections of the transformer on the H.T. and L.T. side, I.C. Ts. Can be used to
correct the phase shift. It is assumed here that all main C.Ts. are star connected ( figure 5).

d) For suppressing zero sequence currents from the out of balance current. This is achieved by providing an
additional secondary winding on I.C.Ts. which is connected in closed delta (figure 6).

e) If high ratio is selected for the main C.T. against a low load current, I.C.Ts. may be used across the main C.T. to
reduce the ratio effectively and satisfactorily cater ti the rated current requirement of the burden (figure 7).

f) If it is desired to control/reduce the saturation factor of the main C.T. to restrict the maximum current flowing
through the burden. Such an application may be necessary in the case of thermal protection provided to a motor and
when it is desired that the thermal protection does not operate during the starting of the motor (figure 8).>

g) When, for the main C.T., it is not practicable to provide I.S.F. sufficiently low for various reasons an I.C.t., suitably
designed, maybe used for limiting the I.S.f. to the desired level. (figure 9). this application, however, is not
recommended as it gas already been contended that I.S.F. need not be restricted to a low value.

In all above applications it must be borne in mind that an I.C. T. imposes burden on the main C.t. if this
burden is required to be restricted to a certain value, the value must be specified to enable the manufacturer
to design the I.C.T. suitably. If this value of burden (expressed in VA) is too low, it may result into an
uneconomical design of the I.C.T.

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