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Analyse on Relay Maloperation of Assembling


Capacitor Bank for Internal Fault Protection

Liang Ma, Junjie Xiong Luojiang Qian*, Yong Liu


Dept. of Power system School of Electrical Engineering
Jiangxi Electric Power Research Institute Wuhan University
Nanchang, China Wuhan, China
*ljqian@whu.edu.cn

AbstractIn this paper, internal fault protective relay As general shunt capacitor bank, the protection of
maloperation of assembling capacitor bank caused by switching- assembling capacitor consists of system protection and bank
on transient harmonics is analyzed. Mathematical expressions protection. System protection is required to handle abnormal
describing the adaptive settings of single-wye, dual-wye and system conditions, such as over- and under-voltages and
bridge connections are given. The realistic action of internal fault excessive transient over-currents within a system and to
protections under high amplitude harmonic conditions is possibly disconnect directly the entire capacitor bank in order to prevent
very different from theoretic setting. Major impact of harmonic further damage to the capacitors. On the other hand, bank
is to change the maximum allowed fault units in the capacitor protection is required to protect internal faults and the main
banks on which the relay action settings are tight depend. The
concerns are unbalance problems within the bank. Different to
paper deduces this change under harmonic condition and actual
general shunt capacitor bank, the bank protection of
investigation results corroborate the rationality of the research
work. Corresponding measure against the relay maloperation is
assembling capacitor involves additionally independent fuse
discussed. protection for each small unit besides of unbalance protection
so that banks normal operation is less affected even when a
Keywords- internal fault; protective relay maloperation; part of units lose due to internal fault.
assembling capacitor bank; harmonic According to investigations for the operation status of
assembling capacitors, a quite frequent unbalance protection
I. INTRODUCTION maloperations of bank occur in substations [2]-[4]. The evident
Application of shunt capacitors for supporting voltage and phenomena are the switching-on failures of breakers. This
improving system power factor is a common practice in power failure appears prominent in dual-wye or bridge connection
industry [1]. Assembling capacitor is a special sort of shunt banks which generally possess a larger capacitance of reactive
capacitor bank which is comprised of many small iron-shell power compensation.
capacitor units in N series sections and every section contain M This paper focuses on causation analyses for the solution of
units in parallel connection as Fig 1. Benefiting from compact the operation failure problems. There are many possible impact
space size and free-maintenance, assembling capacitors have ingredients of resulting in unbalance protection maloperations
been more and more widely used in substations in near ten during the switch-on of the breaker. However, a high amplitude
years. rush of transient harmonic is deemed major factor concluded
reactor in series for current limit
from verification simulation-tests executed in some after-fault
investigation works. Practical investigations, in most case, also
capacitor unit show that the numbers of fault capacitor unit within the trouble
L Pf(%) fault units in a section
bank have not been sufficient for the unbalance reaching action
settings of protection relay.
The number of maximum allowed fault units (denoted
N sections in series
C as Pf max series sec tion ) in the capacitor banks is the most
important parameter for the action settings of the unbalance
protection. Due to the settings being based on fundamental
operation frequency, allowed Pf max could be changed under
M units in parallel harmonic condition at the same settings. In this paper,
harmonic-impacted Pf max changes are analyzed and at same
Fig.1. Internal connection of assembling capacitor
time the fundamental-frequency-based settings keep unchanged.

978-1-4244-4813-5/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE


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Consequently, the matter of relay maloperation as well as (CT) is used to structure difference current measure, shown as
breaker switch-on failure is revealed. Fig 3.

II. RELAY ACTION SETTINGS OF UNBALANCE


L
PROTECTION
Steady overvoltage multiple limits are considered the
benchmark of unbalance protection settings for any sort of
shunt capacitors, including assembling capacitor banks. Refer
to the authors agone research work and the configuration C/2 C/2
shown in Fig 1, secure internal unit fault ratio Pf(%) in a
section should be I0
3k v N 3N CT
Pf (1)
3k v N 2k v Fig3 Unbalance current protection

where N is number of assembling capacitor and kV is steady Corresponding relay action setting value Idz can be
overvoltage multiple limit [5]. deducted as below
According to China State Standard GB/T15543-1995 [6],
steady overvoltage limit kV =1.1, thus for the most typic N=4 3Pfmax
Idz = I (4)
and N=6, the allowed fault units Pfmax can be written 12N(1 Pfmax )(1 KL ) +10Pfmax 6KL Pfmax
Pf max = 10.9% for N = 4 where I is the rated current of capacitor bank (RMS).
(2)
Pf max = 10.2% for N = 6
C. Current Difference Protection for Bridge Connection
Following gives unbalance protection settings for single-
Unbalance protective relay for bridge connection is to
wye, dual-wye and bridge connections respectively.
detect the current in connection wire between middle points of
both capacitors of each phase. Three electromagnetic current
A. Voltage Difference Protection for Single-wye Connection transformers (CT) are used to structure difference current
Unbalance protective relay for single-wye connection is to measure, shown as Fig 4.
detect zero sequence voltage of each phase. Electromagnetic
voltage transformers (PT) are used to structure difference
voltage measure, shown as Fig 2.

U0 L Idiff Idiff Idiff


L L L
PT
C C C C

2C
L
2C
Fig4 Bridge difference current protection

Fig2 Difference voltage protection Corresponding relay action setting value Idz can be
deducted as below
Corresponding relay action setting value Udz can be easily
deducted as below 3Pfmax
Idz = I (5)
3 Pf max 6N(1 Pfmax )(1 KL ) + 8Pfmax 6KL Pfmax
U dz = U s (3)
3 N (1 Pf max )(1 K L ) + 2 Pf max
where KL= 2LC is reactor ratio in series on fundamental-
frequency, Us is the rated bus voltage (L-N, RMS). III. HARMONIC IMPACT TO PROTECTIVE RELAY
The relay setting values of internal fault protection are
B. Unbalance Current Protection for Dual-wye Connection generally smaller, so the bank protections are more sensitive
Unbalance protective relay for dual-wye connection is to for harmonics than external system protection. Here aiming at
detect the current in connection wire between neutrals of both commonly used electromagnetic type relay (with voltage or
single-wye capacitors. An electromagnetic current transformer current coil) take analysis.
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A. Harmonic Impact to Voltage Difference Relay for N=6 respectively in the most unfavorable harmonic rush.
High multiple harmonics enlarge the coil impedance of The illusory accretion Pfmax make the relay have reject action
voltage relay and get the coil current descend. Decreased potential in practical range Pfmax = 10.9~11.3% for N=4 and
difference I is 10.2~10.6% for N=6. However, there scarcely are reject action
reports concerned with voltage difference relay in actual
2 system by reason of so thin maloperation range.
h (n)
I(%) = 1 + h (n
2
) 1+ (6)
n n n2 B. Harmonic Impact to Current Unbalance/Difference Relay
Either neutral unbalance protection for dual-wye
where n is multiple of fundamental frequency and h(n) is n -
connection or middle-point difference protection is
multiple harmonic distortion of the capacitor voltage.
substantially to detect zero sequence current in capacitor bank
Since the torque of relay is proportional to the square of branch. On the same matter, the extra harmonics current
coil current RMS, in order to the relay acting at the flowing through measure CT is zero sequence harmonics. This
fundamental-frequency setting of Eq (3) under harmonics directly augments the current of relay coil and action torque.
condition, realistic voltage should be
For neutral unbalance protection of dual-wye connection,
2 additional zero sequence harmonics current unbalance I0(n) is
h
U dz' = 1 +
( n)
2 (7) Pf
n n I0(n) = (n) (10)
4N (1 Pf ) + 2Pf
Corresponding maximum allowed fault units Pfmax is
where (n) is the harmonic distortion percent of n multiple
h(2n ) harmonic current through capacitor branch.
[3 N (1 K L ) 1 +
n n2 For middle-point difference protection of bridge connection,
Pf' max = (8)
h 2 additional zero sequence harmonics current difference Idiff(n) is
3N (1 K L ) + 3 2 1 +
( n)
2
n Pf
n
I diff ( n ) = (n) (11)
Combining Eq (1) with (8), it can be derived 2 N (1 Pf ) + 2 Pf
Respectively combining Eq (4) with (10) and Eq (5) with
h(2n ) (11) as well as adopting approximate processes [7], the Pfmax
[3N (1 K L ) + 1] 1 +
Pf' max n n2 changes of both neutral unbalance current protection and
= (9) middle-point difference current protection under harmonic
Pf max h(2n )
3N (1 K L ) + 3 2 1 + condition have same expression, i.e.
n n2
Pf' max 1
For the most common case of KL=6% assembling capacitor (12)
bank, transient harmonic multiple will be n= 1 K L =4.082 Pf max 1 + (2n)
during switch-on term of the breaker. The Pfmax change under
This expression doesnt involve parameters KL and N
different harmonic distortions is shown in Fig 5.
because of their series in properties. It can be visually shown
in Fig 6.

Fig5 Pfmax change under harmonic voltage condition (KL=6%)

As well known, switching-on overvoltage of capacitor bank


hardly exceed 2 pu, and h (n) < 1 pu. From Fig 5 and Eq (2),
Pfmax will increase about extra 4% to 11.3% for N=4 and 10.6% Fig6 Pfmax change under harmonic current condition
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During switch-on of capacitor breaker, transient rush switching-on transient harmonic term have a high grade of
harmonic current may severely reach over 6 pu, i.e. (n)6. error action possibility in actual system because of wide
From Fig 6 and Eq (2), Pfmax will tempestuously decrease about maloperation range Pfmax (about 9.2% for N=4 and 8.6% for
84% to 1.7% for N=4 and 1.6% for N=6 in the term. The N=6.). Corresponding measures should be used to avoid this
illusory descending Pfmax make the relay have error action risk.
probability in practical range Pfmax =1.7~10.9% for N=4 and
1.6~10.2% for N=6. So wide maloperation range gives a REFERENCES
reasonable explanation why the switching-on failures
frequently appear in dual-wye or bridge connection banks.
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current unbalance / difference longer than the pp:26 27
overcurrent protection of the system protection for the [3] ZHANG Dali; Discussion on the Accident of A Big Capacity
Assembling Shunt Capacitor, Wuhan: High Voltage Engineering, Nov.
sake of avoiding internal relay acts ahead external 1995, vol.21. No.3, pp.55-56.
relay because the switch-on rush belongs to external [4] Zhou Cunhe; Operation Safety of Assembling Capacitor, Xian: Power
impact. Capacitors, No.4, 2003, pp:8 9.
If digital microcomputer relay were used, an extra filter [5] Liang Ma; Caixia Rong; Luojiang Qian; Fei Ye; Analysis of Harmonic
Environment for Assembling Capacitors and Validation on RTDS
program should be allocated into the sampling signal Simulator. Power and Energy Engineering Conference, 2009. APPEEC
processes so that the harmonics are obstructed from 2009. Asia-Pacific, 27-31 March 2009, Wuhan, China, Page(s):1 - 4
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[7] Liang Ma; Caixia Rong; Luojiang Qian, Technology ReportAnalysis
IV. CONCLUSIONS of Operation Condition on Reactive Power Compensate Equipments in
Substation and Study of Preventive Measures against Failures, Jiangxi
Although the zero sequence voltage difference relays for EPRI, 2008
single-wye connected assembling capacitor banks under
transient harmonic condition have reject action trend, practical
hazard is quite lower due to thin maloperation range Pfmax
.
(about 0.4%).
The zero sequence current unbalance/difference relays for
dual-wye/bridge connected assembling capacitor banks during

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