Power System Protection II

Ep-52022
Chapter-7
Rotating machinery protection

Date : Presented by :
17.6.2024 Group-I

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Presented By:

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Outline of Presentation
1. Introduction
2. Rotating Machinery Protection
3. Phase Fault Protection
4. Ground Fault Protection
5. Rotor Faults
6. Unbalanced Currents
7. Overload
8. Overspeed
9. Abnormal Voltages and Frequencies
10. Circuit Breaker Application
11. Generator Breaker
12. Startup and Motoring
13. Sequential Tripping
14. Simultaneous Tripping
15. Conclusion
16. Reference

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Introduction
 Rotating Machine is one which has a moving (rotating)
part, called rotor and the stationary (non-movable) part,
called stator.
 The common examples of rotating electrical machines are
motors and generators.
 The rotating machines possible more failures or abnormal
operating conditions than any other system elements.
 The effects of these failures can damage system
performance and the cost.

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 Some of the abnormal conditions that must be dealt with
are the following;
1. Winding Faults
stator – phase and ground faults
2. Overload
3. Overspeed
4. Abnormal voltages and frequencies

For generators, we must consider the following;

5. Underexcitation
6. Motoring and startup

For motors, we are concerned with the following;

7. Stalling (locked rotor)
8. Single phase
9. Loss of excitation (synchronous motors)
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Rotating Machinery Protection
 Short circuit failures on rotating machines are detected by
some type of differential relay or overcurrent relay.
 Many failures are mechanical in nature and use mechanical
devices such as limits , pressure , or float switches for
removing the problem.
 The proper solution for each of the failures is applied to
correct a specific problem.
 In some instances, tripping of the unit is required; in other
cases reduction in load or removing some specific
equipment is the proper action.

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 Differential Relay
 Differential relay is a protective device that detects the
difference between incoming and outgoing currents in
protected system or equipment.
 This relay is very commonly used for protecting
transformers ,generators, motors and busbars from faults.

Figure 1: Differential Relay

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 Overcurrent Relay

 Overcurrent relay is a device that operates when the

current exceeds a predetermined value.
 The main function of the overcurrent relay is to protect
circuits and electrical devices from damaging effects of too
much current.

Figure 2: Overcurrent Relay

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Phase Fault Protection
 For rotating machine, short circuits in a stator winding are
protected by phase fault protection (differential protection
include CTs and overcurrent relay).
 The CTs used for the generator differential protection are
located in the buses and leads adjacent to the generator
winding.
 For motor differential circuit, six CTs must be used. Three
CTs should be located within the switchgear in order to
include the motor cables within the protection zone. The
other three CTs are located in the neutral connection of the
motor.
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Figure 3:Generator differential connection with overcurrent relay
 Figure 3 shows the basic generator differential connection
using a simple overcurrent relay. The CTs limit the zone of
protection.
 For an external fault, the relay sees I1− I2, which is zero or
very small.
 For an internal fault, the relay will see I1 + I2 which can be
very large.
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 This big difference between the current in the relay for an
internal fault compared to an external fault makes the
setting very easy.
 This basic differential connection would be ideal if the CTs
always received the primary currents accurately.
 Actually , the CTs will not always give the same secondary
current for the same primary current.
 The difference in secondary current cause the error current.
 The error current is not much during normal condition but
during short circuit condition, the error current is much
greater and flow into the overcurrent relay even in the
external fault.

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 Overcurrent relay must then be set above the maximum
error current and so the sensitivity of the relay is weak.
 The percentage differential relay solves this problem
without sacrificing the sensitivity.
 For external faults, the restraining windings receive the
error current and function to desensitize the operating
winding, particularly at high currents.
 The effect of the restraint windings is negligible on internal
faults, since the operating winding has more ampere-turns.

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Figure 4: Generator differential using percentage differential relay

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Ground Fault Protection
 A ground fault is an unwanted electrical connection
between a line and the ground.
 It can be caused by insulation breakdown, bad weather, or
physical stress.
 75-85% of all faults are ground faults.
 Ground fault protection is the process of isolating and
clearing faults in a power system using protective devices.
 The method of grounding affects the amount of protection
that is provided by a differential relay.

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Ground Fault Protection Methods

There are three methods of grounding. They are;

 Direct connected and solidly grounded method;

 Neutral impedance grounding method;
 Neutral impedance grounding with neutral CT and relay
method.

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  When the generator is solidly grounded, there is sufficient
phase current for a phase-to-ground fault to operate almost
any differential relay.

Figure 5: Direct connected and solidly grounded generator

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  If the generator has a neutral impedance to limit ground
current, the higher the grounding impedance, the less the
fault current magnitude and the more difficult it is for the
differential relay to detect low-magnitude ground faults.

Figure 6: Neutral impedance grounding

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  CT and a relay are connected between ground and the
neutral point of the circuit, sensitive protection will be
provided for a phase-to-ground fault since the neutral relay
sees all of the ground current.

Figure 7: Neutral impedance grounding with neutral CT and relay

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Rotor Faults
 The field circuits of modern motors and generators are
operated ungrounded.
 A single ground on the field of a synchronous machine
produces no immediate damaging effect.
 The occurrence of a second ground fault will cause severe
unbalance, rotor iron heating, and vibration.
 The ground in the detecting circuit is permanently
connected through the very high impedance of the relay
and associated circuitry as shown in figure 6.
 If a ground occurs in the field winding or the buses and
circuit breakers external to the rotor, the relay will pick up
and actuate an alarm.
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 Figure 8: Generator field ground detector

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Unbalanced Currents
 Unsymmetrical faults may produce more severe heating in
machines than symmetrical faults or balanced three-phase
operation.
 The negative-sequence currents that flow during these
unbalanced faults induce 120 Hz rotor currents, which tend
to flow on the surface of the rotor forging and in the
nonmagnetic rotor wedges and retaining rings.
2
 The resulting I R loss quickly raises the temperature.
 If the fault persists, the metal will melt, damaging the rotor
structure.

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 For generators, such operation is very often the failure of
the protection or equipment external to the machine.
 For large motors, the unbalance can be caused by the supply
equipment, for example, fused disconnects.

 Typical conditions that can give rise to the unbalanced

generator currents are:
1. accidental single-phasing of the generator due to open
leads or buswork
2. unbalanced generator step-up transformers
3. unbalanced system fault conditions and a failure of the
relays or breakers
4. planned single-phase tripping without rapid reclosing.

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Overload
 Overload practices are different for generators and motors.
 In the case of generators, overload protection is used to
provide backup protection for bus or feeder faults rather
than to protect the machine directly.
 In the case of motors, overload protection is used to
protect them against overheating.
 Thermal overload relays offer good protection for light and
medium (long-duration) overloads, but may not be good
for heavy overloads .

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  A long-time induction overcurrent relay offers good
protection for heavy overloads but overprotects for light
and medium overloads .
 A combination of two devices can provide better thermal
protection but the complication in settings, testing and so
on, this application is rarely used.
 Today, digital relays for motor protection are widely used.

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 Overspeed
 Overspeed protection for generator is usually provided on
the prime mover.
 Prime mover is something that rotates the electrical
generator shaft constantly to generate electrical energy.
 In practical situations, overspeed cannot occur unless the
unit is disconnected from the system.

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  When still connected to the system, the system frequency
forces the unit to stay at synchronous speed.
 During overspeed, the turbine presents a greater danger
than the generator.
 Overspeed is not a problem with motors since the normal
overcurrent relays will protect them.

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Abnormal Voltages and Frequencies
In order to understand the protection that should be
provided against abnormal voltages and frequencies:

 Overvoltage
 Undervoltage
 Overfrequency
 Underfrequency

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 Overvoltage
 Overvoltage is a condition where the voltage is increased its
design limit.
 Overvoltage may result in thermal damage to cores due to
excessive high flux in the magnetic circuits.
 Flux is directly proportional to voltage and inversely
proportional to frequency (flux=VHz-1 ) and overvoltage
exists whenever the per unit VHz-1 exceeds the design
limits.
 Overvoltages may be caused due to various reason such as,
sudden interruption of heavy load, lightening impulses,
switching impulses etc.
 Overvoltage can be protected with circuit breakers, surge
protector, and fuses.

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 Undervoltage

 Undervoltage occurs when the average voltage of a three-

phase power system drops below intended level.
 Undervoltage presents a problem to the generator only as it
affects the auxiliary system.
 In motor, undervoltage decrease motor speed and increase
in motor current.
 Undervoltage relays can be used to protect against voltage
drops and to detect short-circuit faults, etc.

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 Overfrequency

 Overfrequency is a condition where the frequency of the

electricity generated by the generator is too high.
 Overfrequency is related to the speed of the unit and is
protected by the overspeed device.
 It is possible to use an overfrequency relay as backup to
mechanical devices.

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Underfrequency

 Underfrequency is a condition where the frequency of an

electrical supply drops below normal parameters.
 Underfrequency is a system condition that affects the
turbine more than the generator.
 The turbine is more susceptible because of the mechanical
resonant stresses which develop as a result of deviations
from synchronous speed.
 The trubine underfrequency can be protected by load
shedding.
 Load shedding is a process that strategically reduces or cuts
off electricity supply to different consumers.

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  Appropriate load shedding will cause the system frequency
to return to normal before the turbine trouble-free limit is
reached.
 From the protective relay point of view, a simple frequency
relay can be used.
 However, the turbine blades still lose life every time the
turbine passes through a low-frequency operating zone.

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Circuit Breaker Application
There are many circuit breaker designs depending upon
the particular application;
• Oil circuit breakers
• Air circuit breakers
• Vacuum circuit breakers
• Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) circuit breakers.

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  Oil circuit breakers use the oil as both the insulating and
the arc extinguishing medium. The energy in the arc causes
the oil to expand, enlarging and cooling the arc.

 Air circuit breakers extinguish the arc by moving and

stretching it into an insulating arcing chamber or arc
chute.

 Vacuum circuit breakers extinguish the arc in a gap of less

than 13 mm (0.5 in) because there are no constituents in
the vacuum that can be ionized to support the arc.

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  Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6 ) circuit breakers extinguish the arc
using one of two methods:

1. the puffer design method : blows the arc out with a small
amount of gas blasted in a restricted arc space;
2. the rotating arc design method : uses the electromagnetic effect
to rotate the arc through SF6 that cools and extinguishes it.

 Nowadays, vacuum and SF6 circuit breakers are more

commonly used.
 These circuit breakers are drawout types allowing the
breaker to be removed for maintenance.

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Generator Breaker
 Generator breaker is common between generator and bus
bar.
 Without a generator breaker to remove the generator
contribution from the fault, the generator will continue to
feed the fault until the generator field decays.
 This can take as much as 7–10 s.
 During this time, the energy in the fault will result in
extensive physical damage to all of the connected
equipment and greatly increases the possibility of fire.

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  With a generator breaker, the generator contribution from
the fault is removed in three to five cycles by tripping the
high-voltage breakers.

Figure 9: Generator Breaker Location

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Startup and Motoring
 Steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy
from pressurized steam and uses it to rotate output shaft.
 The rotors(shaft) of the turbine can be arranged to
compound in tedem (end to end)compound or cross-
compound.
 A cross-compound turbine–generator unit consists of two
shafts.
 Each shaft has its own steam turbine, generator, and
exciter.
 Either shaft could have a synchronous speed of 1800 or
3600 rpm.

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 When the unit is ready to be synchronized to the system, the
two shafts must be at their respective synchronous speeds.
 In steam turbine, the steam flow goes from the steam
generator through the high-pressure turbine, back to the
steam generator and then to the low- or intermediate-
pressure turbine.
 If the speed of the two shafts were controlled only by the
steam, the two shafts could never maintain the same speed
ratio and so they could not be synchronized to the system.
 To correct this problem, a cross-compound machine must
have its excitation applied to each generator by on turning
gear.

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Sequential Tripping
 The purpose of sequential tripping a synchronous
generator is to minimize the possibility of damaging the
turbine as a result of an overspeed condition.
 Sequential tripping is the proper action in the event of a
mechanical failure.
 Sequential tripping is accomplished by tripping the prime
mover before tripping the generator and field breakers.
 Sequential tripping is essential because overspeeding the
turbine is a more damaging operating condition than
motoring.

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Simultaneous Tripping
 Simultaneous tripping is tripping the boiler, closing all of
the steam valves and opening the generator and field
breakers at the same time.
 Simultaneous tripping is the proper action in the event of
an electrical failure.

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Conclusion
 Short circuit failures on rotating machines are detected by
some type of differential relay or overcurrent relay.
 Many failures of rotating machines are mechanical in
nature.
 For phase faults, differential protections with percentage
differential relays are almost invariably used.
 For ground faults, the protection depends upon the
method of grounding.
 In order to understand the rotating machinery protection,
the protection against abnormal voltages and frequencies
must be examined.
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Reference
 Power System Relaying by Stanley H. Hotowitz,
Arun G. Phadke
 [Link]

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 Thank You

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