Paper accepted for presentation at the 2011 IEEE Trondheim PowerTech

Modeling and Simulation of Capacitor Voltage

Transformer Transients using PSCAD/EMTDC
Jayachandra Sakamuri and D. John Yesuraj, Member, CIGRE WG A3.22

voltage transformer resonates with capacitance of CVT which

Abstract--This paper describes the modelling of capacitor voltage
transformer and simulation of its behaviour during transients
using PSCAD/EMTDC. To damp out ferroresonance in CVT few
ferroresonance methods have been proposed and used. In this
paper, some of the suppressing circuits, series resonance type,
parallel resonance type, and electronic type are reviewed.
Specifications of these circuits and effects of various parameters
on their performances are discussed. During line faults, when the
primary voltage collapses, the CVT generates transients due to its
energy storage elements. The effect of ferroresonance
suppression circuits on the transient response of CVT is also
studied and the proposed electronic type ferroresonance circuit is
best suited to suppress low voltage transients and high voltage
ferroresonance oscillations.
Index Terms--CVT, Ferroresonance, PSCAD, Modeling
Transient Response, Simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
generates high voltage across the components [1], [2]. Hence,
the CVT is equipped with over voltage protection device and
ferroresonance suppression circuit (FSC). The CVT FSC may
be passive or active based on whether this circuit stores energy
or not and these can be further categorized as (1) series
resonance type, 2) power frequency blocking type , 3) fast
saturation type , and 4) electronic type, based on the working
principle [7]-[9]. However, these papers concentrated more on
ferroresonance compared to transient response of CVT
In this paper, a typical 420 kV CVT is used for analysis.
The performance of the CVT with different FSCs is simulated
for ferroresonance and transient response conditions. The
existing FSCs can damp the ferroresonance oscillations but
can not mitigate transient response oscillations due to CVT
primary short circuit [3]-[5]. The proposed electronic type
FSC can suppress the ferroresonance oscillation within short
time as well as it can sense the transient condition and

E LECTRIC power systems are subjected to many types of

disturbances that result in electrical transients due to
lightning, fault, line energization/deenergization,
suppress the oscillations to get the better response. The
electronic type FSC is best suited to meet the above two
requirements according to IEC 60044-5 [12]. Section II
switching of inductive/capacitive loads. When a sudden explains the basic model of CVT. Different ferroreonance
change in the system state occurs, the energy storage elements suppression circuits are explained in section III.
such as inductors and capacitors cannot allow instantaneous Feroresonance analysis and simulation results using
change to follow the new state and hence transients occur PSCAD/EMTDC are presented in section IV, transient
before it reaches a final steady state. Capacitor voltage response results with different FSCs are presented in section
transformers (CVTs) are widely used to transform the line V, and the paper is concluded in section VII.
voltages at transmission and sub-transmission levels to
designated low voltage levels for monitoring, protection and II. CVT MODELING
control applications. The dynamic performance of protective
relays depends on the signals produced by the CVTs, and
these signals depend on the overall transient response of the
CVT and the type of transients generated by the power system.
Proper design and tuning of CVT assure that its output
waveform is an exact replica of the input waveform under
steady state conditions. However, under transient conditions,
such as, faults and switching incidents, the CVT output
deviates from its input due to the inductive, capacitive, and
nonlinear components of CVT. Therefore, the response of the
CVT during transients must be well known and quantified.
The performance of a CVT is also affected by a phenomenon
called ferroresonance, a special case of resonance, which can
occur when a non-linear inductance of the intermediate
Fig. 1. CVT schematic diagram

Jayachandra Sakamuri and D. John Yesuraj are with R&D Department,
Instrument Transformer Division of Crompton Greaves Ltd, Ambad, Nashik,
India-422010(e-mail:jayachandra.naidu@cgglobal.com;
johnyesuraj.D@cgglobal.com).
Schematic diagram of the typical 400 kV CVT used in this
study is shown in Fig. 1. The CVT model composed of
capacitive voltage divider (C1 and C2), compensating reactor
(L), intermediate transformer (VT), over voltage protection

978-1-4244-8417-1/11/$26.00 2011
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device (S), drain coil (D), metal oxide varistor (MOV),

ferroresonance suppression device (Zd),earth switch (ES), and
burdens B1, B2.. The parameters of the CVT are given in the
APPENDIX.
The CVT transients are simulated using PSCAD. The VT
losses and magnetization characteristics shown in Fig. 2 are
considered in the model. A metal oxide varistor is used to
limit the high voltages in the CVT secondary whose simulated
characteristics are shown in Fig. 3 [6].
Voltage [p.u.]

Fig. 4. CVT secondary voltage without any FSC

A. Series Resonance Filter

This is an active FSC and involved energy storage elements. A
series RLC filter shown in Fig. 5 can be used as FSC.
Parameters of the filter are chosen in such a way that it
resonates at 1/3rd of fundamental frequency at which dominant
Current [p.u.]
farroresonance oscillations occur [1],[2]and hence filters
Fig. 2. Transformer magnetization characteristics impedance, shown in (1) is equal to R and a maximum load (in
W) is connected. The filter impedance is maximum at
fundamental frequency and hence acts as an open circuit.
1
Z ( j ) = R + j L (1)
C
The filter parameters are chosen as R = 75 , L=1.825H, and
Voltage [V]

C= 50F at 50 Hz fundamental frequency connected across

200 V auxiliary winding. Therefore the variation of impedance
and active power load of the filter with frequency is shown in
Fig. 6.

Current [A]
Fig. 5. Series RLC Filter.
Fig. 3. Voltage Vs Current characteristics of MOV

III. FERRORESONANCE SUPPRESSION CIRCUITS

Impedance [], Power [W]

Ferroresonance oscillations occur in a CVT with no / low load 16.66 Hz

condition when the equivalent capacitance of the coupling
capacitor, in series with the nonlinear inductance (due to
saturation of the magnetic core of the VT), resonates in the
presence of periodic driving source at sub harmonic
frequencies (majorly 1/3rd of fundamental frequency) [1].

The ferroresonance simulations were based on the test

recommended by IEC60044-5 [12]. This includes short
circuiting any one of the secondary winding of intermediate
voltage transformer (VT) for a maximum duration of 100ms
and opening the short after that while the CVT is kept
energized.
In order to analyze the importance of FSC in transient high
voltage damping, the CVT is simulated for ferroresonance
without any FSC and the overvoltage on the secondary side of
CVT is shown in Fig. 4.
Frequency [Hz]
Fig. 6. Impedance, power Vs frequency characteristics of series RLC filter
B. Power Frequency Blocking Filter
The circuit shown in Fig. 7 is a series-parallel RLC filter
consisting of two inductors Lf1 and Lf2 with the mutual
coupling Mf, a capacitor Cf, and damping resistor Rf, tuned to
the fundamental frequency with a high Q factor. The damping
resistor is used to attenuate ferroresonance oscillations [9].
The filter impedance, shown in (2) is high at the fundamental

frequency. Therefore, this filter has no loading effect on the
CVT under normal operating conditions.
( L + M )(1 2C ( L + M ))
f2 f f f1
Z ( j ) = R + j M (2)
2 f
1 C f ( L f 1 + L f 2 + 2M f )
At off-nominal frequencies, the impedance of the filter
gradually approaches to the resistance of the damping resistor.
The variation of impedance, active power load with frequency
is shown in Fig. 8. But this filter impacts the transient
response [3]. The filter is designed at 50 Hz frequency
connected at 63.5 V using the method given in [9], and the
values are
M f = 0.1146H , C f = 19.7F , R f = 7.5
L f 1 = 0.2292H , L f 2 = 0.0573H
Fig. 7. (a) Power frequency Filter (b) Digital model of the filter
Impedance [], Power [W]
Frequency [Hz]
Fig. 8. Impedance, power Vs frequency characteristics of power frequency
blocking filter
C. Electronic Switch
The damping burden is connected across the CVT secondary
by switching on a power electronic device in case of fault
(either ferroresonance or transient condition). Under normal
operating conditions there is very low and inherent burden
connected, hence accuracy of the CVT also good. This
technique leads to size reduction of the electromagnetic unit of
CVT as it does not involve bulky inductor and capacitor. It
3
also damps the dangerous high voltage oscillations due to
ferroresonance within less time compared to other techniques
[10], [11]. As it does not involve any energy storage elements,
it wont affect the transient response of the CVT. Moreover,
by switching on the electronic device in case of transient
condition, it can further damp the low voltage oscillations by
bringing the damping resistance across CVT secondary. To
design the FSC, the following points are considered.
The magnitudes of high voltage oscillations without
any FSC are approximately 2.5 p.u. and the CVT
should withstand (a voltage of 1.5 p.u). for about 30s
according to IEC 60044-5 [12]. Hence the FSC can
be turned on if the voltage exceeds 1.5 p.u so that it
will not affect the normal CVT operation.
The switch can be made ON for a specified duration
until fault is cleared.
In case of fault, the damping burden should be
connected in both positive and negative half cycles
hence switch should be selected accordingly
The switch can also be turned on if the RMS value of
the CVT voltage falls below certain low value to
suppress the low transient oscillations.
The schematic of the FSC with two back-to-back thyristor is
shown in Fig. 9
.
Fig. 9. Electronic switch (Thyristor) FSC
IV. FERRORESONANCE SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulations using PSCAD/EMTDC have been carried out to
test the effectiveness of introduced FSCs on suppression of
ferroresonance of CVT. To establish the ferroresonance
condition, the breaker S2 of Fig.1 is closed, whose ON
resistance is 40m, for 0.1s and then opened. Ferroresonance
is said to be suppressed if the RMS voltage value deviation is
less than 10% according to 60044-5 [12]
A. Performance of Series RLC Filter
Simulation results of CVT with series RLC filter with the
specified parameters in section 3.1 are given in Fig. 10. The
ferroresonace oscillation got damped with in 0.5s. The
disadvantage of this circuit is under normal operating
conditions, there exists a current (0.32 A) flowing through the
filter and hence a burden of 7.5 W at a power factor of 0.12
lag, which can affect the accuracy and transient performance
of CVT. The size of the CVT is also high due to the bulky
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inductor and capacitor, and the VA rating of the VT has to be above 1.6 p.u. The enlarged view of currents through RLC
increased to meet the specified accuracy requirements. series filter and MOV is shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 12. Zoomed view of ILC and Ivar

B. Performance of Power Frequency Blocking Filter

With power frequency blocking filter (PBF) values given in
section III, along with the MOV, the ferroesonance is
suppressed within 0.15s as shown in Fig. 13. Here,
ferroresonance over voltages are eliminated in fewer cycles
and damping time of this FSC is lower than that of series RLC
filter. But PBF affects the transient response as it involved
energy storage elements [3],[4]. The size of this filter is high
as it involves a bulk inductor and capacitor.
Fig. 10. CVT secondary instantaneous voltage, RMS voltage, and current
through the filter (ILC) with series RLC filter as an FSC

Fig. 11. CVT secondary instantaneous voltage in presence of MOV, RMS Fig. 13. CVT secondary voltage, its RMS value, current through the filter
voltage, and current through the RLC filter (ILC) and metal oxide varistor (IPBF) and MOV (Ivar), with power frequency blocking filter as an FSC
(Ivar).

Simulation results with the addition of MOV are shown in C. Performance of Electronic Switch
Fig. 11. In this case the damping time is reduced to 0.3s as the The electronic switch FSC is connected at 200 V with a
MOV conducts immediately when the fault voltage exceeds damping resistance R. Once the fault is detected, the switch is

ON for a fixed duration (say 80ms). After this time, if the fault
still exists then the switch is continued to be ON until the fault
is completely cleared .The MOV is also included in the circuit
to damp the oscillations more effectively. The simulation
results with a damping resistance of R = 80 is given in Fig.
14.The zoomed view of currents through thyristor switch and
MOV are given in Fig 15 and from which one can see that the
MOV is ON if the voltage goes beyond 1.6 p.u and thus it will
limit the fault level. The thyristor switch is ON for duration of
80 ms once it detects the fault voltage above the set value (1.6
p.u) thereby it suppresses the oscillations completely. The
performance of this FSC for different damping resistance
values is shown in Fig. 16. With lower resistance,
ferroresonance is more effectively damped out. However,
there is an optimum resistance, which depends on circuit
configuration, by which the best suppression is obtained. With
R=80, ferroresonance is suppressed within 0.1s
Fig. 14. CVT secondary voltage, RMS voltage, and current through the
switch (Ithy) and MOV (Ivar) with electronic switch as an FSC
Fig. 15. Zoomed view of Ithy and Ivar
V. TRANSIENT RESPONSE
Characteristics of the transient response of the CVT is the
ratio of secondary voltage at a specified time after application
5
of a primary short circuit to the peak value of the secondary
voltage before application of short circuit [12]. The CVT
Fig. 16. CVT RMS output voltages with damping resistances of R = 160,
100, 40, and 20 with electronic switch FSC
response to a temporary, close in, line to ground fault is
simulated by short circuiting the high voltage source of CVT
with close-open operation of breaker S1 of Fig. 1, while S2 is
kept open. During the test the burden shall be 100 %, 25% and
0% of rated burden and it can be controlled by using breakers
S3 and S4.
The dependency of CVT transient response on different
parameters such as point on the primary, transmission line
voltage wave where the fault occurs, magnitude of stack
capacitance, VT turns ratio, magnitude and power factor of
burden and its composition and connection, exciting current of
VT, and type of ferroresonance circuit have been studied in
[3]. Among the above mentioned transient response deciding
parameters, VT turns ratio, exciting current of VT, and
Ferroresoannce suppression circuit are controllable.
Remaining all parameters are either customer dependent or
system fault dependent. The transient response is also critical
if the fault occurs at zero crossing of the primary voltage. In
this work the effect of Ferroresoannce suppression device, and
VT magnetising current on transient response is studied. An
attempt is made to improve the transient response with the
help of thyristor based electronic FSC.
A. Effect of Point on the Primary
The transient response of the CVT without any suppression
device but with 50 VA burden at 0.8 pf with fault applied at
primary voltage zero crossing is shown in Fig. 17. Here the

secondary voltage of CVT oscillates at sub harmonic
frequency and takes more time (more 0.3s) to get suppressed.
The corresponding CVT primary and secondary voltage when
the fault applied at primary crest voltage point is shown in Fig.
18. As seen from this Fig., at crest fault initiation, the
discharge is a ringing high frequency oscillations caused by
the parasitic capacitance of the compensating reactor and
intermediate voltage transformer and due to lower VT burden.
But after 25 ms of fault initiation, these oscillations were
suppressed.
Fig. 17. CVT Primary and secondary voltages without any FSC and fault
applied at primary voltage zero crossing.
Fig. 18. CVT Primary and secondary voltages without any FSC and fault
applied at crest point of primary voltage.
B. Effect of Ferroresonance Suppression Circuit
The effect of different FSC's on transient response is studied
in this section. The effectiveness thyristor FSC to suppress
transient oscillations is also explained.
B1. Series RLC Filter with 300 W Permanent Burden
A 300 W permanent burden along with series RLC FSC can
be used to suppress Ferroresoannce oscillations as series RLC
filter alone cannot suppress Ferroresoannce. The effect of this
6
FSC on transient response with fault applied at primary zero
crossing is shown in Fig. 19. Only CVT secondary voltage is
shown here for better visibility of the results. The peak voltage
is 20 V and it is taking more than 200 ms to suppress the
oscillations and hence it can meet only 3PT1 of IEC 60044-5
[12].
Fig. 19 Transient Response of CVT with Series RLC FSC and 300 W
Permanent Burden with a fault applied at primary voltage zero crossing
B2. Power Frequency Blocking Filter
The PBF parameters explained in section III have been used in
the simulation and the results are shown in Fig. 20. With this
FSC the peak magnitude is high and steady state settling time
is bit low compared to series RLC filter FSC. The results
shows that CVT is only meeting 3PT1 transient response class
of IEC 60044-5.
Fig. 20 Transient Response of CVT with Power Frequency Blocking Filter
RLC FSC with a fault applied at primary voltage zero crossing.
B2. Electronic switch FSC
The thyristor based Electronic switch FSC do not affect the
transient response of CVT because it is a pure passive FSC
without any energy storage elements. With proper sensing of
transient response condition, the higher damping burden can
be connected across CVT secondary by triggering the thyristor
to suppress the transient oscillations. The transient response
with a thyristor FSC connected at 200V with a damping
resistance of 50 is shown in Fig. 21a. The transient response
with the same FSC configuration but with damping burden of
25 is shown in Fig. 21b. The response is good with thyristor
FSC and better with 25 burden compared to 50. In this
way by properly choosing the damping burden transient
oscillations can be suppressed with thyristor FSC.
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Fig. 21 (a) Thyristor FSC with 50 burden Fig. 23 Transient Response of CVT with Electronic switch FSC with reduced
VT magnetizing current

VI. APPENDIX
Table I Typical 420 kV CVT Technical Data
Parameter Value Description
Vp 231 kV Rated primary voltage of CVT (Ph-n)

Vs 63.5 V Rated secondary voltage of VT (Ph-n)

Vt 200 Rated tertiary voltage of VT (Ph-n)

C1 4361 pF High voltage capacitance

Fig. 21 (b) Thyristor FSC with 25 burden
C2 113160 pF Intermediate voltage capacitance
Fig. 21 Transient Response of CVT with Electronic switch FSC with a fault
applied at primary voltage zero crossing. Lc 86.21 H Inductance of the compensating reactor

C. Effect of VT magnetising current. Rc 320 Resistance of compensating reactor

Ld 15 mH Drain coil inductance

If the VT magnetizing current is more, the more the energy
stored in the capacitor and compensating reactor and hence Lp 8.5 H VT primary leakage inductance
more the subsidence transient. The magnetizing current of VT
can be reduced by reducing the air gaps in the core. The
Ls 1 mH VT secondary leakage inductance

magnetizing current considered for CVT discussed so far is
12mA at rated voltage. If the magnetizing current is reduced
to 4 mA, then the transient response is studied with both series
RLC FSC and Thyristor FSC. Fig. 22 shows the transient
response results of a typical 400 kV CVT with reduced
magnetizing current with series RLC filter as FSC. The
transient response is better compared to higher magnetizing
current shown in Fig. 17. The test results using Thyristor FSC
is shown in Fig. 23. This is the best result among all. The
result shows that the CVT is meeting all the transient response
classes such as 3PT1, 3PT2, and 3PT3 of IEC 60044-5 [12].
Lm 2596 H Magnetization inductance of VT
Rm 5.12 M Core loss resistance of VT
VII. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the detailed model for transient
studies and investigation of ferroresonance behaviour of
typical 420 kV CVT with PSCAD/EMTDC. Various
ferroresonance suppression circuits have been reviewed and
their performance has been investigated for ferroresonance
and transient response test conditions. The ferroresonance
damping time using series RLC filter is more (0.5s) and it also
affects the transient response and accuracy of the CVT due to
low power factor permanent burden imposed by this filter. The
performance of power frequency blocking filter for the
ferroresonance (time =0.15s) and transient response conditions
is better than the series RLC filter. But it still affects the
accuracy and transient response due to its energy storage
elements.

The time domain simulation results show that electronic

Fig. 22 Transient Response of CVT with Series RLC FSC with reduced VT
magnetizing current
switch FSC can appropriately damp out ferroresonance within
less time (0.1s). The transient response with this FSC is much
better than the other two FSCs. The transient response study
shows that it is critical for a fault at primary zero crossing.
With the reduced VT magnetizing current, the transient
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performance is better with series RLC filter. With Electronic D. John Yesuraj received his M.Tech in High
FSC and with reduced VT magnetizing current, the transient Voltage Engineering from Anna University
Chennai, India. He is presently working as Dy.
response is much better and meeting all the classes, 3PT1 , General Manager (R&D), Instrument Transformers
3Pt2 and 3PT3 of IEC 60044-5. This technique also leads to Division, Crompton Greaves Ltd, Nashik, India. He
improved accuracy compared to the other FSCs. With all the has vast experinece in design and development of
three FSCs, adding a metal oxide varistor can limit HV and UHV instrument tarnsformers and lightning
arresters. His research interests include power
overvoltage in the first cycle and significantly reduce the system transient studies, dielctric evaluation ,
damping time. Although the existing FSCs (series RLC, and condition monitoring of power system components.
power frequency blocking filter) perform well for damping
ferroresonance, they cant improve the transient response due
to their energy storage elements. Hence, with the electronic
switch FSC, the ferroresonance can be damped within five
cycles as well as transient response can be improved by
properly sensing the fault situation and controlling it
accordingly.

VIII. REFERENCES

[1] S. K. Chakravarthy and C. V. Nair, "Ferroresonant oscillations in

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[2] B. S. Ashok Kumar and Suat Ertem, "Capacitor voltage transformer
induced ferroresonance causes, effects and design considerations,"
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[3] A. Sweetana, "Transient response characteristics of capacitive potential
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[4] D. Hou and J. oberts, "Capacitive voltage transformers: Transient
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[5] I. Sule, U. O. Aliyu, and G. K. Venayagamoorthy, "Simulation model
for assessing transient performance of capacitive voltage transformers,"
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[6] B. Zitnik, M. Babuder, M. Muhr, M. Zitnik, and R. Tottapillily,
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Jayachandra Sakamuri received his M.Tech in

Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur, India. He also worked on his
M.Tech thesis at Technical University of Berlin,
Germany. He is presently working as Sr. Executive
(R&D), Instrument Transformers Division, Crompton
Greaves Ltd, Nashik, India. His research interests
include power system transient studies, smart grid,
renewable energy integration, high voltage insulation
monitoring.