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Breaker Failure Protection

PSRC K2 WG

Last Publication on Breaker Failure Protection by PSRC

An IEEE PSRC Report , Summary Update of Practices on Breaker Failure Protection, IEEE Transaction Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-101, No. 3, pp 555-563 , March 1982

Why a Guide ?

Things have changed in 20 years. New Engineers need guidance. Breaker Failure Function being incorporated in multifunction relays.

PSRC K2

Established 2001 60 Working Group members

K2 Members

Roger Hedding, Chair S.Anderson Alex Apostlov John Appleyard Roy Ball George Bartok Ron Beazer Ken Behrendt Robert Beresh Martin Best Gustav Brunello Art Buanno Zeeky Bukhala

Arvind Chaudhary, Vice Chair Simon Chano Terry Crawley Randy Crellin Randy Cunico Albert N. Darlington Paul Drum Walt Elmore David Emigh Jon Ferraro Kelly Gardner Tony Giuliante George Gresko

K2 Members

Irwin Hassenwinkle Stan Horowitz Randy Horton Mohamed Ibrahim Bob Jackson Gerald Johnson Peter Kemp Tim Kern Shoukat Khan Mike Kloiber Gary Kobet Tom Lanigan Larry Lawhead Bill Lowe Vahid Madani Walter McCannon Mike McDonald Dean Miller

Pratap Mysore Mukesh Nagpal George Nail Russell Patterson Frank Plumptre Elmo Price Dan Reckerd Don Sevcik Charles Sufana Joe Uchiyama Sahib Usman Don Ware James Whatley Roger Whittaker Skip Williams Ray Young Rich Young

Assignment

This working group will investigate issues pertaining to breaker failure protection which will include : breaker failure mechanisms, fault detectors, breaker failure circuits, effect of bus configurations, effect of multifunction microprocessor relays, and the effect of modern breaker control schemes. Prepare a guide covering the application of breaker failure protection to power circuit breakers.

Why Breaker Failure Protection ?


FAULT B A 3 1 LOAD 7 LOAD 2 5 LOAD 8 4 6 C

Figure 1 - Remote Breaker Clearing

Basic Breaker Failure Scheme

62-1 50BF BFI AND Timer Breaker Failure Scheme Output

Timing Chart
PROTECTIVE RELAY TIME BREAKER INTERRUPT TIME 50BF CURRENT DETECTOR RESET TIME

FAULT CLEARED
MARGIN TIME TIME AUX TRIP RELAY TIME

62-1 BREAKER FAILURE TIMER TIME BFI

LOCAL BACKUP BREAKER INTERRUPT TIME TRANSFER TRIP TIME REMOTE BACKUP BREAKER INTERRUPT TIME

FAULT OCCURS TOTAL FAULT CLEARING TIME

Two Components

Current Detector Breaker Failure Timer

Current Detector

Detects current flow Pick up for minimum fault If phase current set above load current If ground current set above unbalance Drop out not delayed by dc offset Use 52a only if no current

Timer

Longer than it takes the breaker to clear a fault Shorter than the Critical Clearing Time plus some margin. Could be longer for Line to Ground Faults than for Three Phase Faults

Critical clearing Time


Dictated by Transient Stability limit Somewhere between 7 and 30 cycles Results from Stability Study

Total Clearing Time


The sum of : BFI pick up + Breaker Failure Timer + Auxiliary trip relay time + Local back up breaker time + (Transfer trip time if remote)

Transient Stability time


Severity of Fault Loading on System Mass of Generators Type of Fault

Circuit Breaker Failure Modes


Failure to Trip Failure to Clear

Failure to Trip

Contacts do not open after trip circuit energized. Short or open in Trip coil Mechanical problem with breaker

Failure to Clear

Contacts open but fault not extinguished. Current continues to flow Mechanical or Dielectric problem Why auxiliary switches not reliable

Breaker Failure ReTrip


62-1 50BF BFI AND Timer Breaker Failure Scheme Output

62-2 Timer (Time Delay May be Zero Time) Re-Trip the Breaker

Elimination of 50BF Reset Time


50BF

Enables 50BF AND 62-1 BFI Timer

Breaker Failure Scheme Output

Addition of Control Timer


Control timer 50BF Enabled only after 62-1 times out 62-1 Enable BFI Timer AND Breaker Failure Scheme Output

Breaker Failure Seal-In

62-1 50BF BFI OR AND Timer Breaker Failure Scheme Output

Minimum Fault Current

Use where current magnitude may not be enough to pick up current detector Transformers Generators Harmonic Filters

Minimum Fault Current

62-1 50BF 52a BFI OR AND Timer Breaker Failure Scheme Output

Ring Bus Application


21/ 79 21/ 79

Ring Bus

Ring Bus

Separate Ct inputs into relay Careful of current distribution after one breaker opens in setting current detectors. Another Working group (K5) to look into this issue.

Distributed Breaker Failure


GOOSE
Breaker Failure Protection

Relay

Relay

Relay

Trip

Fault Point

Design Considerations

Total Breaker Failure clearing time should be less than system stability limit. Independent of type of failure detected Should operate during loss of dc to breaker

Conclusions

BFP should operate only when desired Timer setting should allow adequate margin between backup breaker clearing and system critical clearing time. Multiple timers can be used for different types of faults Use auxiliary contacts as last resort for BFI.

Conclusions

Phase current detectors should be set above load to protect from scheme operating during testing. Seal in circuits should be used to insure breaker failure scheme does not drop out prematurely Care should be taken when applying breaker failure to ring bus and breaker and one half .

Questions ?

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