Current Differential Protection

2011NFChin

Current Differential Protection Concept Unit type of protection for a particular protected zone. Comparison of all currents in & out of the protection zone Presence of differential (spill) current indicates fault(s) within protected zone Current Differential Protection Must consider: Normal spill current Spill current due to maximum throughfault current flow
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Current Differential Protection

IThrough
Protected Zone
I1 I2

I1-I2 87

2011NFChin

Current Differential Protection

Principle of operation

For external conditions: Normal load I1 - I2 << External faults For internal faults I1 - I2 = IFAULT
2011NFChin

Current Differential Protection Must consider: Stability limit The rms value of the current flowing through the protected zone (Ithrough ) up to which the protection scheme remains stable Sensitivity to ensure successful application of any current differential protection scheme to a plant item The existence of a stability limit is due to the performance limits of practical current transformers used to produce the secondary currents in the comparison process.
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Stability and Sensitivity

I1-I2 External Fault

I1-I2 Internal Fault

IR I1+I2 2

IR I1+I2 2
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Stability
2011NFChin

Sensitivity

Current Differential Protection Practical scheme design: Need to increase the stability to meet practical system application Means to prevent mal-operation due to spill current Biased current differential scheme High impedance differential scheme

2011NFChin

Biased Current Differential Protection Scheme

The operating threshold of the differential current detector (operating circuit) must increase with increase in through current flow A means must be provided to measure the through current (bias circuit) and adjust the operating threshold according to the amount of through current
2011NFChin

IThrough=IF Protected Zone

B IF OP

Irelay=IS+B IF

Biased Current Differential Relay Characteristics

Consider a single-phase biased current differential protection relay
I1 I2

10T

10T I1-I2

Bias Circuit

Bias Circuit

100T

Operate Circuit

2011NFChin

Biased Current Differential Relay Characteristic

Bias = Spill (Differential) Current Average Through Current I I = 1 2 I1 + I2 2

A ssum net am e pere-turns to operate the relay =10

100(I1 I2 ) (10I1 + 10I2 ) = 10 (I1 + I2 ) . I1 I2 = 01 + 0.2 2 y = c + mx

Equation of a Straight Line

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Biased Current Differential Relay Characteristic Ioperate = Isetting + B Ithrough

Differential Current

B = bias setting = slope of the straight line

Slope=B Stability Limit

Isetting

Sensitivity

Ithrough
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Biased Current Differential Relay Characteristic Different designs have similar characteristics

Theoretical Differential Current Practical Digital

IThrough
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Application to Transformer Protection

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Current Differential Protection Current differential protection relay bias characteristic Polar form Effect of bias is to make protection operates when the ratio of the 2 currents exceeds a certain value. It is also appropriate to present the relay bias characteristic on a polar diagram relating the ratio of the 2 terminal currents which has magnitude and phase angle. Ideally I1/I2 =1.00 To cater for practical magnitude and phase differences a circle with a radius 0.5 to provide stability is used
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Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme

A relay with an effective high impedance is connected in the differential circuit Relay operating voltage = VS Relay operating current = IS
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Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme Principle of operation

Under external (load or fault) conditions there is no differential current flow Under practical system conditions a small differential current flow is possible The differential current must not exceed the relay threshold of operation under maximum through (load or fault) conditions
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Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme

Principle of operation

Under external (load or fault) conditions there is no or small differential current flow the potential difference across the differential circuit terminals = 0 or <<
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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme Principle of operation

Need to establish the open-circuit voltage that could appear across relay circuit under worst external conditions Then raise the relay operating voltage to be greater than the highest open-circuit voltage by increasing circuit impedance high
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High Impedance Differential Scheme

Principle of Operation
IF
CT1

R1 = RCT1 + RL1 R2 = RCT2 + RL2

R2ZM1 IF (R1 ) ZM2 VO/ C = R1 + R2 + ZM1 1+ ZM2 VO/ Cmax = IFR1 = IF (RCT1 + RL1)
2011NFChin

Protected Zone

CT2

IF
R1 ZM1 R2 ZM2

IF

VO/C

When ZM1 0 and ZM2

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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme VO/C MAX = IF (RCT+2RL + R0)

IF= Maximum through fault current RL= One way connecting cable resistance RCT= CT winding resistance R0= other series connected burdens To achieve through fault stability the differential relay operating voltage must be given a setting voltage VS such that: VS VO/C MAX IF (RCT+2RL + R0) Traditionally, VS = VO/C MAX = IF (RCT+2RL + R0) If relay operating current = IS , relay circuit impedance = RS VS = IS x RS Current transformer output VK 2 x VS
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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme Setting voltage VS VS VO/C MAX Points to consider: One CT is completely saturated for an external fault does not describe what actually happens The CT that saturates will only saturate during parts of each current waveform cycle The spill current waveform seen by the relay element will be highly non-sinusoidal Therefore: VS K x VO/C MAX K x IF (RCT+2RL + R0) K= Stability factor 1.0
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Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme Effective setting

CT must supply minimum current to operate relay plus currents to all CT magnetising impedances Effective setting: IEFF = IRELAY+ n x IMAG
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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme Types of relay Voltage calibrated (adjustable) with constant operating current Current calibrated (adjustable) with the use of stabilising resistor RS to adjust the operating voltage To calculate the stabilising resistor RS Relay setting current = IS Voltage setting = VS Total relay circuit impedance = VS / IS Relay impedance RR = VARELAY/(IS)2
R S=

(VS / IS) {VARELAY/(IS)2}

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2011NFChin

Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme Voltage limitation: For internal faults, the CTs are forced to drive current into the high impedance load forcing the CTs into saturation and producing distorted output Distorted output voltage will be developed across the relay circuit with peak value VP that may be estimated from: VP = 2 2 {VK(VF VK)} VK = CT knee-point voltage VF = IF (RS + RR) neglecting CT magnetising currents and assume no saturation
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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme Voltage limitation: If VP >3 kV, voltage limiting device in the form of non-linear resistors sometimes called metrosil, may be necessary to be fitted across the relay circuit. The metrosil characteristic is given by: VP = C IP where VP & IP are the peak voltage & current respectively C = A constant whose value is dependent on the metrosil construction = A constant whose value = 0.2 to 0.25 The values of C & are chosen to limit the metrosil peak voltage to less than 3 kV typically at maximum fault current.
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Metrosil

Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme

Overall effective setting With metrosils fitted the CT must now supply minimum current to operate relay, currents to all CT magnetising impedances and current to the metrosil Effective setting: IEFF = IRELAY+ n x IMAG + IMETROSIL To ensure the primary operating current not adversely affected the metrosil constant C must be sufficiently high to restrict the metrosil current at relay setting voltage VS .

Typical metrosil current limits:

30mA for use with 1A CTs 100mA for use with 5A CTs
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Current Differential Protection

High impedance differential scheme CT Requirements The successful application of high impedance differential scheme depends on correct CT specifications Equal ratio Class PX Turn ratio error < 0.25% RCT limit Low reactance Magnetising current at specified voltage VK 2 x V S
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Current Differential Protection High impedance differential scheme Advantages: Simplicity Dependability Security - High transient stability on external faults Ease of maintenance Stability limit and sensitivity are easily determined Disadvantages: High requirements for the CTs For certain applications, eg protection of busbars, the CT secondary circuits may be switched and the sensitivity may change due to re-configuration of the busbar layout.
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Application to Busbar protection

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Application to Transformer Windings Restricted Earth Fault Protection

3 Phase 3 wire Delta winding

Rs

87 Alternative 3 phase 4 wire

3 Phase 4 wire

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Current Differential Protection Application to feeders: Same basic principle of operation Only biased differential scheme is used Must have communication links between the input and output ends of the protected zone to enable comparison of current signals: Metallic pilot wires Optical fibres Microwaves Power line carrier
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Current Differential Protection Application to feeders: Communication link to enable the comparison of the 2-end currents

Two signals are required Bias current Operating current (the differential current)

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Current Differential Protection Application to feeders: In order to minimise the requirements on the communication link to enable the comparison of the 2-end currents it is necessary to reduce the amount of information on the 2-end currents to be transmitted: Phase segregated comparison scheme Composite scheme

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Current Differential Protection

Equivalent single phase current to represent the 3 phase currents The 3-phase input currents are converted into a single-phase representing current before comparison by: Using summation current transformer

Combination of phase sequence components of current Iequivalent = M.I1 + N. I2 + Q. I0

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Current Differential Protection Equivalent single phase current to represent the 3 phase currents The use of a single-phase representing current: Different sensitivities for different fault types

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Current Differential Protection

Biased current differential scheme arrangements for feeders

The requirements: To derive the bias current To determine the differential current The circulating current biased differential scheme. The balanced voltage biased differential scheme.
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Current Differential Protection Pilot-wire protection scheme Circulating current scheme

Balanced voltage scheme

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Current Differential Protection Phase comparison: Current differential scheme compares both magnitude and phase angle of the current signals from the 2 ends. The transmission of signal from one end to the other needs certain bandwidth. To reduce this bandwidth only phase information of the current signals can be transmitted for the comparison Phase comparison

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Current Differential Protection

Phase comparison: A simple way to transmit the phase information is to use the current waveform to modulate a high frequency carrier signal

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Current Differential Protection Phase comparison: Communication links: High frequency power line carrier channel Voice frequency over: Pilot wires Optical fibres Microwaves Power line carrier

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Current Differential Protection

Phase comparison: In order to cater for: Propagation time of signal CT phase angle errors Equipment errors Line capacitance current A stability angle is provided in the tripping decision process

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Current Differential Protection

Improvement in communication facilities for current differential scheme: Use of frequency modulation signalling over modern multiplexed communication channels

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Current Differential Protection

Digital design of current differential scheme: Need digital communication channels Provides much better performance with true comparison of the current signals Enable multi-terminal current differential protection scheme design

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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Digitally sampled current signals need to be synchronised for a correct comparison

Synchronise sampling in both relays & direct comparison of samples Asynchronous sampling with continuous time difference measurement and then vector transformation in software
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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Asynchronous sampling with continuous time difference measurement and then vector transformation in software

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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Asynchronous sampling with continuous time difference measurement and then vector transformation in software

2011NFChin

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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Using the determined time shift to align the current vectors

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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Alternatively - determine the sampling time shift and adjust the sampling time accordingly

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Current differential scheme for feeder protection

Digital current differential protection scheme Alternatively - determine the sampling time shift and adjust the sampling time accordingly

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