Protection Application Reactor Protection

Handbook
ABB Group - 1 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
General

Shunt reactors are used in EHV systems to limit the over

voltages due to capacitive VAR generation in Long
Transmission Lines

The shunt reactors are normally connected

Through isolators to a line
Through circuit breakers to a busbar
Through circuit breakers to the tertiary of a
Interconnecting transformer
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 Reactor protection
Different locations of reactor
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 Reactor protection
A B C A B C

L R

Lp Lp Lp

Ln
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 Reactor protection
Different locations of reactor

Bus Reactors are breaker controlled in order to facilitate

voltage control in a transmission system
Line Reactors control charging over voltages by
compensating partially shunt capacitances in EHV lines
NGRs are connected to line reactor banks in order to
suppress secondary arcs after isolation of primary single
phase faults
ABB Group - 5 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors

Dry Air-core Reactors

Rated voltage usually lower than 34.5 kV
Cooling by natural convection
Oil-immersed Reactors
Coreless and gapped iron-core reactors
Self-cooling or forced cooling
ABB Group - 6 -
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 Reactor protection
Internal Faults
Faults occur in shunt reactors due to insulation
breakdown, ageing of insulation, overheating due to
over excitation, oil contamination and leakage

Dry air-core reactors

Phase-to-phase faults , resulting in high magnitude phase current
Phase-to-earth faults ,, resulting in a low-magnitude earth-fault current,
dependent upon the size of the system earthing.
Turn-to-turn faults within the reactor bank, resulting in a very small
change in phase current
Oil-immersed reactors
High current phase-to-phase and phase-to-earth faults.
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Turn-to-turn faults within the reactor winding.

Miscellaneous failures such as loss of cooling or low oil
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 Reactor protection
Abnormal Conditions

Inrush currents

Inrush currents flow in connection with energisation

Inrush currents usually lower than 200% of rated current

Transient overvoltages
Temporary overvoltages
ABB Group - 8 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactor Protections

Differential protection
Distance protection
Phase overcurrent protection
Restricted earth fault protection
Mechanical fault detectors
Oil temperature and winding temperature protection
ABB Group - 9 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection

Main Protections
A 3ph high impedance differential relay should be used .
It gives higher sensitivity for internal faults

If only one neutral CT available single phase high

impedance relay can be used
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 Reactor protection
DIFFERENTIAL RELAY

R R R
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 Reactor protection
RESIDUAL DIFFERENTIAL CURRENT RELAY

R
ABB Group - 12 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Back-Up protections

A 3ph over current relay (Separate earth fault relay is

not required as residual current is equal to load current
during internal as well as external faults and no increase
in sensitivity is possible)
Alternatively impedance relay
ABB Group - 13 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
DISTANCE RELAY

Z<
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 Reactor protection
PHASE AND RESIDUAL OVERCURRENT RELAYS

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 Reactor protection
ZERO SEQUENCE OVERVOLTAGE PROTECTION

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 Reactor protection
Reactor Monitors

Mechanical fault detectors

Sudden gas pressure protection
Buchholz protection
Oil level monitoring
Temperature Monitoring
The oil thermometer
The winding thermometer
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 ABB Group - 18 -
15-Sep-17
Reactor protection
 CBIP manual on Protection
of Generators, generator Reactor Protection
transformers and 220kV
and 400 kV networks
ABB Group - 19 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
1.0 GENERAL

Shunt reactors are used in EHV systems to limit the overvoltages due
to capacitive VAR generation in Long Transmission Lines

The shunt reactors are normally connected

(a) through isolators to a line

(b) through circuit breakers to a busbar

through circuit breakers to the tertiary of a Interconnecting transformer

Faults occur in shunt reactors due to insulation breakdown, ageing of

insulation, overheating due to overexcitation, oil contamination and
leakage
ABB Group - 20 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Recommendations for provision of protection and monitoring equipment
for Reactors are as follows:

(a) Reactor differential Protection

(b) Reactor REF Protection

(c) Reactor backup protection(Impedance type or definite time O/C and E/F)

(d) Protections and monitors built into reactor (buchholz, winding

temperature, oil temperature, pressure relief, oil level, Fire protection)
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 Reactor protection
2.0 Special Comments

2.1

No duplication of reactor protections needs to be done but the

protections and monitors shall be divided in two groups viz Gr A
and Gr B.

Group A Group B

Reactor differential relay Buchholz trip

Reactor backup relay Reactor R.E.F relay

Oil temperature trip Winding temperature trip

Pressure relief trip Oil level high / low trip, Fire protection
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trip
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 Reactor protection
DC sources shall be supervised

Both Gr A and Gr B protections shall give out tripping impulses to HV,

MV AND LV (if applicable), circuit breakers.
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 Reactor protection
2.2

Connection of restricted earth fault protection on the neutral side

shall be from residually connected bushing CTs or from the ground
side CT.

2.3

The impedance or overcurrent backup protection may not be able to

detect inter-turn fault in the reactor, for which buchholz may be the
only answer, unless the number of turns involved is very high.
ABB Group - 24 -
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 Reactor protection
3.0 Setting Criteria

The magnitude and nature of the switching-in currents should be

considered when determining settings of reactor protections

3.1

Typical settings of o/c relays are:

Current Setting- 1.3 x Rated current Time setting - 1 sec

3.2

Typical settings of impedance relays are:

Reach - 60% of Reactor Impedance Time setting - 1 sec

ABB Group - 25 -
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 CBIP manual on Reliable
fault Clearance and Back- Shunt Reactors
UP Protection for EHV
and UHV Transmission
Network
ABB Group - 26 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors
In the above paragraphs some important application
aspects connected with the reactor protection and
some recommendations have been brought out and
these should be considered. A few of these are,
brought out below.
ABB Group - 27 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors
A true Main-2 protection scheme is usually not
provided in case of reactors. But as operating
requirements change and single contingency limits
are pressed the level of Main-2 protection may need
to be re-evaluated in future.
In place of impedance relay a phase and ground
over current protection can also be used as back-up
protection
ABB Group - 28 -
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 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors
Numerical relays offer the best characteristic since
digital filters remove harmonics and DC offset
currents from the inrush. Numerical back-up phase
over current and ground over current relays can
therefore be set much more sensitive than
conventional types and are recommended to be
used
The voltage relays provided on the line take good
care of shunt reactor overexcitation. Therefore
separate over excitation protection is generally not
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considered necessary.
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 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors
In case of mechanical type of fault detectors like
Buchholz and PRDs, for higher reliability, duplicating
of the initiating contacts may be considered on a
case-to-case basis
Fast clearance of faults in the reactor is important for
stability of the system and limiting equipment
damage. Therefore adequate protections should be
provided.
ABB Group - 30 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Shunt Reactors
The reactors are normally used in 400 kV and 765
kV networks. As per the current practice it is
common to group various Main 1, Main 2 and back-
up reactor protections in two groups of protections
(Group A and Group B) connected to separate DC
sources. No change is suggested in this practice.
This should cover to some degree the need for
maintenance of protective equipment with the reactor
energized. Reference may be made to CBIP Manual
No 274 Protection of Generators, Transformers and
220kV and 400kV Networks, which gives details of
ABB Group - 31 -

current practices being followed.

15-Sep-17
 Protection Application Reactor Protection
Handbook -Settings
ABB Group - 32 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Overloading

Consequence of high voltage

Causes high temperature
ABB Group - 33 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
RESIDUAL DIFFERENTIAL CURRENT RELAY

R
ABB Group - 34 -
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 Reactor protection
Restricted earth fault relay

Fault current to be considered is neutral current for

an external earth fault
ABB Group - 35 -
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 Reactor protection
PHASE AND RESIDUAL OVERCURRENT RELAYS

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ABB Group - 36 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Phase over current relays
The pick up current seting must be set above highest
possible load current
In many cases it is also required to work as overload
protection of reactor
The operate time of phase overcurrent relay has to be
choosen so that the fault time is so short that equipment will
not be distryed at the same time selectivity is assured.
This means operation has to be delayed more than the
normal earth fault clearance time for line protection system
ABB Group - 37 -
15-Sep-17
 Reactor protection
Residual over current relays
Earth fault current is fed from the reactor. Therefore
need to trip exists. In most cases it should be
considered as back up to line protection. Current
setting is usually low. Time setting should be long to
be selective wrt line protection.
ABB Group - 38 -
15-Sep-17
 ABB Group - 39 -
15-Sep-17
Reactor protection