POWER TRANSFORMER DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION

ABSTRACT

This paper describes enhancements to specific aspects of traditional transformer differential protection, and how these enhancements are able to overcome typical weaknesses and drawbacks of the traditional function. The improvements in functionality and performance that can be attained are presented.

INTRODUCTION

The three most typical weaknesses of differential protection relays for power transformers and autotransformers have been:

Long operating times for heavy internal faults followed by main CT saturation. Unwanted operations for external faults and transformer inrush. Bad sensitivity for low-level internal faults, such as winding turn-to-turn faults.

These above weaknesses can be overcome by quickly and correctly determining the position of the fault. Fault position (internal / external) can be determined by comparing the direction of flow of the negative sequence currents on all sides of the power transformer. The comparison of negative sequence current direction is eminently suitable as the principle of operation for such an internal / external fault discriminator because:

Negative sequence currents do not occur (at least at significant levels) on a healthy network the existence of relatively high negative sequence currents is therefore in itself proof of a disturbance on the network. The source of the negative sequence currents is at the point of fault, from which point they distribute through the negative sequence network. Negative sequence currents occur for phase-to-phase and phase-to-earth faults, as well as for transformer turn-to-turn faults. Negative sequence currents are always properly transformed from one transformer winding to another irrespective of the vector group of the transformer. Negative sequence currents are not affected by through-load currents.

The internal / external fault discriminator simply determines the position of the source of the negative sequence currents with respect to the zone of protection. If the source of the negative sequence currents is found to be outside the zone, then the fault is external. If the source is found to be inside the zone, the fault is internal. The internal / external fault discriminator only works if the power transformer is connected to some load, so that currents can flow through it, or at least through two windings in the case of a three-winding power transformer. INTERNAL / EXTERNAL FAULT DISCRIMINATOR PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION

An explanation of the used current reference directions is shown in Figure 1. All primary currents that flow towards the transformer will have the same direction. Likewise, all primary currents that flow away from the transformer will have the same direction. A primary current on any si de that flows towards the transformer will have the opposite direction to a primary current on another side that flows away from the transformer.

IW1

IW2

E1S1

Z1S1

Z1S2

E1S2

IW1

IW2

Relay
FIGURE 1: Primary currents with the same direction

Consider now a power transformer with a turns ratio equal to one, and a phase displacement of zero degrees. For an external fault, the fictitious negative sequence source will be located outside the differential protection zone at the fault point. Thus the negative sequence currents will enter the healthy power transformer on the fault side, and leave it on the other side, properly transformed. According to the current direction definitions, the negative sequence currents on the respective power transformer sides will have opposite directions. In other words, the internal / external fault discriminator will see these o currents as having a relative phase displacement of exactly 180 as shown in Figure 2.

INSS1 ZNSS1

Yy0; 1:1

INSS1

INSS2 ZNSS2

ENS
Negative Sequence Zero Potential INSS1 INSS1

Relay

FIGURE 2: Flow of negative sequence currents for power transformer external fault

For an internal fault the fictitious negative sequence source will be located within the differential protection zone. Thus the negative sequence currents will flow out from the faulty power transformer on both sides. According to the definitions, the negative sequence currents on the respective power transformer sides will have the same direction. In other words, the internal / external fault discriminator will see these currents as having a relative phase displacement of zero electrical degrees, as shown in Figure 3. In reality, for an internal fault, there may be some small phase shift between the negative sequence currents due to different negative sequence source impedance angles.

INSS1

Yy0; 1:1

INSS2

ZNSS1

ZNSS2

ENS
Negative Sequence Zero Potential INSS1 INSS2

Relay

FIGURE 3: Flow of negative sequence currents for power transformer internal fault

Modern numerical transformer differential relays use matrix equations to automatically compensate for any power transformer vector group and turns ratio. This compensation is done automatically in the online process of calculating the traditional differential currents. It can be shown that exactly the same matrix equations can be used for the negative sequence currents as those used to calculate the traditional differential currents. When the above compensation is made, the 0 / 180 degree rule is again valid for the phase displacement between the negative sequence currents from the two sides for internal / external faults respectively. For example, for any unsymmetrical external fault, the negative sequence current contributions from the HV and LV sides of a power transformer will be exactly 180 degrees apart and equal in magnitude, regardless of the power transformer turns ratio and vector group phase displacement. Figure 4 shows the trajectories of the two phasors representing the negative sequence current contributions from the HV and LV sides of a Yd5 power transformer for an unsymmetrical external fault after compensation for the transformer turns ratio and vector group phase displacement. The relative phase angle between these two phasors is 180 electrical degrees at any point in time. There is not any current transformer saturation for this case.

"steady state" for HV side neg. seq. phasor

90 60

150
10 ms

30

180
0.1 kA
10 ms

0
0.2 kA 0.3 kA 0.4 kA

210

330

240 270

"steady state" for LV side neg. seq. phasor

Contribution to neg. seq. differential current from HV side Contribution to neg. seq. differential current from LV side

FIGURE 4: Trajectories of negative sequence current contributions from HV and LV sides of a Yd5 power transformer for an external fault

The internal / external fault discriminator is based on the above-explained facts. Its operation is based on the relative position of the two phasors representing HV and LV negative sequence current contributions, compensated by means of the matrix equations. It essentially performs a directional comparison between these two phasors. First, the LV side phasor is positioned along the zero degree line. After this, the relevant position of the HV side phasor in the complex plain is determined. The overall directional characteristic of the internal / external fault discriminator is shown in Figure 5.

FIGURE 5: Operating characteristic of the internal / external fault discriminator

In order to perform a directional comparison between the two negative sequence current phasors, their magnitudes must be high enough to be sure they are due to a fault. On the other hand, to guarantee a good sensitivity of the internal / external fault discriminator, the value of this minimum limit must not be too high. The recommended value for this minimum limit is around 4% of the HV side rated current of the power transformer. The relative position between the two negative sequence phasors will only be checked if the magnitude of both is above this limit. If either of the negative sequence current contributions is too small (less than the minimum limit), no directional comparison will be is made to avoid the possibility of producing a wrong decision. This magnitude check also guarantees stability of the algorithm when the power transformer is energized, i.e. for initial current inrush, the internal / external fault discriminator algorithm will declare neither an internal nor an external fault. The operating characteristic of the internal / external fault discriminator also includes a boundary line that sub-divides the characteristic into internal and external fault regions. If the magnitude requirement is fulfilled, i.e. the magnitude of both HV and LV side negative sequence current phasors are above the minimum limit, the internal / external fault discriminator will determine the relative phase angle between them. If the negative sequence current contributions from the HV and LV sides are in phase, the fault is internal (i.e. both phasors are within the internal fault region). If the negative sequence current contributions from the HV and LV sides are 180 degrees out of phase, the fault is external (i.e. the HV phasor is outside the internal fault region). For all external fault conditions, the relative angle is theoretically equal to 180 degrees. For internal faults, the angle will be around 0 degrees, as differences in the negative sequence source impedance angles on the HV and LV sides of the power transformer may cause some deviation from the ideal 0 degree value. However, during heavy faults, CT saturation might cause the measured phase angle to differ from 180 degrees for external faults, and from around 0 degrees for internal faults. See Figure 6 for an example of a heavy internal fault with transient CT saturation. Severe current transformer saturation is actually the most dangerous enemy of the internal / external fault discriminator. However very effective means to counteract the negative effects of main CT saturation have been integrated into the algorithm. At heavy faults, approximately 5ms time-to-saturation of the main CTs is sufficient to permit a correct discrimination between internal and external faults.

Directional Comparison Criterion: Internal fault as seen from the HV side 90 120
35 ms

60

excursion from 0 degrees due to CT saturation 30 definitely an internal fault

150

180 external fault region

trip command in 12 ms Internal fault declared 7 ms after internal fault occurred

0.5 kA

210
1.0 kA

330

240
1.5 kA

300

270 HV side contribution to the total negative sequence differential current in kA Directional limit (within the region delimited by 60 degrees is internal fault)

FIGURE 6: Operation of the internal / external fault discriminator for an internal fault with CT saturation

USING THE INTERNAL / EXTERNAL FAULT DISCRIMINATOR TO ENHANCE THE TRADITIONAL TRANSFORMER DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION FUNCTION

The internal / external fault discriminator is a very powerful and reliable supplementary criterion to the traditional power transformer differential protection. It detects even minor faults, with a high sensitivity and a high speed, and at the same time discriminates between internal and external faults with a high degree of dependability. When the good properties of traditional power transformer differential protection are combined together with the advanced features of the internal / external fault discriminator, a high performance differential protection for power transformers and autotransformers is achieved. If a fault is detected, i.e. the start signal/s are set by the ordinary differential protection (the measured differential current/s are above the pickup threshold), and at the same time the internal / external fault discriminator characterises this fault as internal, then any eventual block signals produced by either the harmonic or the waveform restraints can be ignored. This assures that the response times of the enhanced differential protection are below one power system cycle (i.e. below 20ms for a 50Hz system) for all internal faults. Even for heavy internal faults with severely saturated current transformers, the new differential protection will operate well below one cycle because the harmonic distortions in the differential currents do not slow down the differential protection operation. Practically, an unrestrained operation is achieved for all internal faults. External faults happen ten to a hundred times more often than internal ones. Many power transformer differential protection relays have shown rather poor external fault stability. If a disturbance is detected, and the internal / external fault discriminator characterises this as an external fault, additional criteria are posed on the differential function before its trip is allowed. This assures high stability for external faults. However, at the same time, the differential function will still trip correctly for evolving faults. The principle of the internal / external fault discriminator can be extended to power transformers and autotransformers with three windings. If all three windings are connected to their respective networks, then three directional comparisons can be done, but only two comparisons are necessary in order to positively determine the position of the fault with respect to the protected zone. The directional comparisons that are possible are: primary - secondary, primary - tertiary, and secondary - tertiary. The rule applied by the internal / external fault discriminator in case of three-winding power transformers is:

If all comparisons indicate an internal fault, then it is an internal fault. If any comparison indicates an external fault, then it is an external fault.

If one of the windings is not connected, the algorithm automatically reduces to the two-winding version. Nevertheless, the whole power transformer is protected, inclusive of the non-connected winding. Example unsymmetrical internal fault for three-winding transformer

For a Yd1d5 three-winding power transformer, an internal L2-L3-Ground fault was simulated on the secondary d1 winding using ATP.

Primary currents in kA

4 2 0 -2 -4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

int. fault

iB = primary (Y) line current L2 iA iB iC iN

Secondary currents in kA

100

50

ib = secondary (d1) line current L2 int. fault

ia ib ic

-50 0 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Inst. diff. curr. in kA

instaneous diff. curr. L2

5

int. fault

inst diff L1 inst diff L2 inst diff L3

-5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Time in ms, internal fault at t = 13 ms

FIGURE 7: Currents for an L2-L3-Ground internal fault on the secondary d1 winding of an Yd1d5 power transformer

The currents on the primary and secondary sides, and the instantaneous differential currents, are shown in Figure 7. The primary - secondary and primary - tertiary directional comparisons made by the internal / external fault discriminator are shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9. Both of them steadily indicate that the fault is internal. Deviations of the relative phase angle from zero degrees in Figure 8 and Figure 9 were mainly due to current transformer saturation. In Figure 10 it can be noticed that a trip output from the usual restrained differential protection (signal named tripRestrained) was delayed due to harmonic and waveform block criteria (this signal was also unstable). The usual unrestrained differential protection limit, which was set to ten times transformer rated current, was not exceeded due to the heavy CT saturation, and thus no help from this unrestrained differential protection was obtained either. However, the enhanced differential protection was able to quickly detect the internal fault and issue a trip output in 15ms (signal named tripNegSeqUnrestrained).

Comparison Between Contributions: Primary - Secondary 90 external fault zone 150 120 60 57 ms after fault 30

180

0.2

210 external fault zone

0.4 0.6 kA

240 270

300

internal fault declared here

Negative sequence differential current phasor (in kA) Directional limit (within 60 degrees is internal fault)

FIGURE 8: Internal / external fault discriminator operation between primary and secondary windings

Comparison Between Contributions: Primary - Tertiary 90 external fault zone 150 trip 120 60 57 ms after fault 30

180

0
0.2

210 external fault zone

0.4 0.6 kA

330 internal fault zone

240 270

300

Negative sequence differential current phasor (in kA) Directional limit (within 60 degrees is internal fault)

FIGURE 9: Internal / external fault discriminator operation between primary and tertiary windings

Binary signals of the power transformer differential protection

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 fault 10 20 int. fault declared 30 40 50
trip in 15 ms

start-L1 start-L2 start-L3 trip tripRestrained tripUnrestrained tripNegSeqUnrestrained tripNegSeqSensitive blockDueToCurr2ndHarm-L1 blockDueToCurr2ndHarm-L2 blockDueToCurr2ndHarm-L3 blockDueToCurr5thHarm-L1 blockDueToCurr5thHarm-L2 blockDueToCurr5thHarm-L3 blockDueToWaveAnalysis-L1 blockDueToWaveAnalysis-L2 blockDueToWaveAnalysis-L3 InternalFault ExternalFault
60 70 80

Time in ms, internal fault at t = 13 ms

FIGURE 10: Binary output signals from the enhanced differential protection

That the negative sequence current-based directional principle yields a fast and reliable discrimination between external and internal faults is easy to understand in the case of unsymmetrical faults, where the negative sequence current source is expected to exist. But the principle is just as efficient in the case of a wholly symmetrical three-phase fault. Theoretically the negative sequence currents do not exist during a symmetrical three-phase fault. However, when a symmetrical three-phase fault occurs, negative sequence currents (the negative sequence current source) will be present during the initial stage of such a fault until the dc components in the fault currents die out. As far as the internal / external fault discriminator is concerned, this interval of time is long enough for it to declare either an internal or an external fault. Figure 11 shows, for a Yd1d5 power transformer, the magnitude of the negative sequence differential current as calculated by the differential function for an absolutely symmetrical internal three-phase fault on the Y side, as well as the magnitude of the HV, MV and LV side negative sequence currents. It took about 20ms in this example for the CTs to reach heavy saturation. The existence of the false negative sequence currents after CT saturation was not a surprise. However, much more interesting was that the negative sequence system appeared immediately following the inception of the internal symmetrical fault.
The total negative sequence differential current and its three components
1.4

Currents in kA (transformer rated current I1 = 0.523 kA)

1.2

IdifNegSeqTotal IdifNegSeqContrPri IdifNegSeqContrSec IdifNegSeqContrTer total negative sequence differential current

current transformer saturation sets in heavy ct saturation

0.8

0.6
rated current

0.4

0.2

3-phase internal fault

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Time in ms, internal symmetrical fault at t = 13 ms

FIGURE 11: Negative sequence current magnitudes for an internal three-phase fault on a Yd1d5 transformer

Primary - Secondary
90 120 150 60

Primary - Tertiary
90 120 60

30

150

30

180

180

210 240 300 270

330

210 300 270

330

240

Magnitude of negative sequence differential current (in kA) Directional limit (within 60 degrees is internal fault)

FIGURE 12: Directional tests for an internal three-phase fault on a Yd1d5 transformer, first 25 ms

Figure 12 shows that for 22ms after the inception of the symmetrical three-phase fault, both directional tests correctly indicated an internal fault, which is long enough time to disconnect the faulty power transformer.

SENSITIVE TURN-TO-TURN FAULT PROTECTION

The sensitive, negative sequence current-based turn-to-turn fault protection detects low-level faults, which are not detected by the traditional differential protection. The sensitive protection is independent from the traditional differential protection and is a very good complement to it. The essential part of this sensitive protection is the internal / external fault discriminator. The sensitive protection requires no start signal from the traditional power transformer biased differential protection. If the magnitudes of the HV and LV negative sequence current contributions are above the minimum limit, their relative displacement is determined. If the disturbance is characterized as an internal fault, then a separate trip request will be placed. Any decision on the way to the final trip request must be confirmed several times in succession in order to cope with eventual CT transients. This causes a short additional operating time delay due to this security count. The trustworthy information on whether the fault is internal or external is typically obtained in about 10ms after fault inception, depending on the set minimum limit, and the magnitudes of the fault currents. For very low-level turn-to-turn faults, the overall response time of this protection is about 30ms. Example 300/300/100MVA, 400/115/10.5kV YNautod5 transformer with tertiary winding not connected

This autotransformer was protected by two numerical, two-winding differential protections from different manufacturers. While in service, it had been subjected to fault conditions on three occasions. The first was the explosion of its 400kV bushing on phase L3. This was followed about nine months later by a near-by 110kV external fault in phase L1. Approximately four months later, another near-by 110kV fault occurred, this time in phase L3. Approximately eighteen minutes after the second phase L3 external fault mentioned above, the autotransformer was tripped by the Buchholtz protection relay. Both numerical differential protections did not operate. No other current measuring or impedance measuring backup protection started. By oil analyses it was confirmed that extensive and long-lasting electrical arcing within the autotransformer tank had caused the Buchholtz relay operation. Thus, the autotransformer was shipped to the factory for repair. During the factory inspection, a winding fault in phase L3 was found. It was concluded that it was a turn-to-turn fault that involved only four turns close to the autotransformer neutral point in the common winding of phase L3. Figure 13 shows the affected common winding part in phase L3. Disturbance recordings were available from the numerical differential relays protecting the autotransformer. These recordings were used to test the sensitive differential protection algorithm.

In Figure 14 the relevant instantaneous currents are shown. During the entire turn-to-turn fault, all measured phase currents were smaller than 60% of the autotransformer rating. Therefore the traditional differential currents were smaller than the pre-set differential minimum operation level (which was set at 30% of the autotransformer rating), and so the traditional differential protection could not and did not operate for this fault, e.g. no start signal was set (see Figure 15).

FIGURE 13: Turn-to-turn fault at the end of the common winding of the Autotransformer Tr3

Currents in kA

0.5

Power transformer HV side terminal currents

0
turn-to-turn fault

iHV-L1 iHV-L2 iHV-L3

-0.5 2
Power transformer LV side terminal currents

Currents in kA

0 turn-to-turn fault -2 0.5

Calculated Instantaneous differential currents (referred to the HV side)
normally, these currents are zero with zero sequence removed

iLV-L1 iLV-L2 iLV-L3

Currents in kA

0 turn-to-turn fault -0.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

idif-L1 idif-L2 idif-L3 180

Time in milliseconds

FIGURE 14: Measured currents from the HV and LV sides, and the instantaneous differential currents as calculated by the traditional differential protection during the internal turn-to-turn fault

However, the internal / external fault discriminator consistently saw this low-level turn-to-turn fault as internal (see Figure 16). This independent but sensitive negative-sequence current-based differential protection therefore detected the fault, characterized it as internal, and issued a trip request in 12ms (see Figure 15). The trajectory of the HV side negative sequence current contribution reached its steadystate point approximately 20ms after fault inception. Finally, the sensitive differential function issued a trip output in 27ms, excluding the output relay contact closing time (see Figure 15). Therefore, whereas

traditional differential protection was unable to detect and operate for this low-level turn-to-turn fault, relying instead on operation of the Buchholz relay, the sensitive differential function would have been able to detect it, and trip autotransformer.

Binary output signals. Case: Tumbri-Croatia-internal-inter-turn-fault.ascii 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 20 40 60 80

inter-turn fault fault detected in 12 ms trip request in 26 ms no start signal ! inter-turn fault trip in 27 ms

STL1 STL2 STL3 TRIP TRIPRES TRIPUNRE TRNSUNRE TRNSSENS BLK2HL1 BLK2HL2 BLK2HL3 BLK5HL1 BLK5HL2 BLK5HL3 BLKWAVL1 BLKWAVL2 BLKWAVL3 INTFAULT EXTFAULT 160 180 200

100

120

140

Time in milliseconds

FIGURE 15: Output signals from the enhanced differential protection algorithm for the autotransformer internal turn-to-turn fault

Directional Comparison Criterion: Internal fault as seen from the HV side If one or the other of currents is too low, then no measurement is done 90 120 60 (negSeqROA = 60 deg)

150

30

10

19

180 External fault region 210

30 A 40 A

steady-state position for this internal fault 0 Internal fault declared 12 ms after fault

20 A

330

240 300 270 Contribution to total neg. seq. diff. current from HV side (in A) Directional limit (within negSeqROA degrees is internal fault)
50 A

FIGURE 16: Operation of the internal / external fault discriminator during the autotransformer internal turn-to-turn fault CONCLUSIONS By using advanced numerical technology, it is now possible to protect power transformers and autotransformers with an enhanced differential protection that has much higher operation speed, security and sensitivity than traditional transformer differential protection. Operation of the new internal / external fault discriminator for power transformers has been successfully tested by using simulation files produced by ATP, disturbance recording files captured during independent transformer differential protection testing on an analogue network simulator, and from the disturbance recordings captured in the field. All these tests have indicated excellent performance of the internal / external fault discriminator for power

transformers and autotransformers. It detects even minor faults, with a high sensitivity and speed, and at the same time discriminates with a high degree of dependability between internal and external faults.