GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The Power Capacitor, as the name indicates, is the capacitor used on electric power system to:1. Reduce the reactive component of the line current, or
2. Reduce the inductive reactance of the transmission lines.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The development of power capacitor started immediately upon introduction of AC transmission and distribution system , when it was observed that:1. The AC motors take more current as compared to what we expect from the expression P = V x I 2. There were many disadvantages of this higher value of current.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
3. The impedance of AC transmission lines was found to be much higher than the resistance of the conductor due to the inductive reactance of the conductors, resulting in:i. Excessive voltage drop ii. Reduction of the power transfer capability of the lines.

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

In medium and high voltage systems, where the reactance of the Transmission lines and the transformers is not very high, we only need to reduce the line current by reducing its reactive component.
Most appliances which we use at homes, offices and factories are inductive in nature; hence their current lags the applied voltage

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

The capacitor, when connected across the supply

system draws current, which leads the supply voltage by 90 0 to nullify the lagging component of load current and reduce the line current.
The capacitor used for reducing the line current

(normally treated as power factor improvement) is called a Shunt Capacitor and the application is called Reactive power compensation.

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

On EHV lines, inductive reactance is considerably

higher than the HV lines due to greater conductor spacing and length
The high value of inductive reactance causes

excessive voltage drop in the lines, thereby reducing the receiving end voltage and decreasing the maximum power transfer capability of line.

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

In order to reduce the reactance of the line, the power

capacitors are connected in series with the load, near mid point of line.
The capacitor used in this manner is called a Series

capacitor and the application is called Series compensation

SERIES AND SHUNT CAPACITORS

POINTS TO REMEMBER
The shunt capacitor affects the magnitude of the line

current thereby reducing the voltage drop in the lines (IZ drop) and the power loss (I2 R loss) in the line. ***The series capacitor reduces the line reactance thereby reducing the voltage drop in the line (IZ drop) and increasing the maximum load transfer capacity of the lines.

CONSTRUCTION
The basic element of the capacitor is formed by two

aluminum foils, separated by some insulating medium, which can be paper, some synthetic material as polypropylene or a combination of both. Nowadays, the capacitors come with polypropylene dielectric and called All film capacitors. Each element is designed to have a voltage rating upto about 2 kV and KVAR rating upto about 10 KVAR(0.01 MVAR).

CONSTRUCTION
Then a number of these basic elements are packed

together in the stainless steel container and interconnected in series-parallel arrangement to achieve the required voltage and kVAR rating of the Capacitor unit.

CONSTRUCTION
4 Series & 10 Parallel = 8kV, 0.01MVAR*4(S)*10(P)= TOTAL 0.4MVAR

CONSTRUCTION
Suppose we want to make a 200 kVAR, 6.8kV capacitor

unit by using the basic element rated 1.7 kV, 5 kVAR. The total number of elements to be used will be obtained by dividing the total KVAR of the unit by kVAR rating of the element. Accordingly, the number comes to be 200/5 = 40.

CONSTRUCTION
In second step the number of elements to be

connected in series is obtained by diving the voltage rating of the capacitor unit by voltage rating of the capacitor element, which in this case comes to be 6.8/1.7 = 4. Forty Nos. capacitor elements will, therefore, be connected in four series group, each group containing 10 Nos. Parallel - connected elements..

CONSTRUCTION
The internal discharge resistor is provided for

discharging the capacitor unit after being disconnected from the supply source. The value of the resistance is selected such that the capacitor gets discharged to a voltage value below 75 Volts in about 5 minutes.

CONSTRUCTION
The value of the required resistance can be worked out by using following formula:
***R t / [C ln (Un2/Ur) ] Where t is the time for discharge from 1.414 Un to Ur expressed in seconds. R is the discharge resistance expressed in mega-ohms. C is the Capacitance expressed in micro-farads. Un is rated voltage of unit expressed in volts. Ur is permissible residual voltage expressed in volts.

CONSTRUCTION
The above limit of 75 volts also applies to high voltage

capacitor banks where a number of units are connected in Series, hence, the value of resistors in the units will have to be lowered according to number of Series-connected units. For safety reasons, the discharge through internal resistor shall not be relied upon and the units/ banks must be discharged by external means and properly earthed before undertaking any work on the bank.

FUSING PRACTICE
In order to isolate the faulty capacitor unit from the

system fuses are used. There are two different ways/ practices regarding fuses External fusing and Internal fusing. In external fusing, there is one fuse for the entire capacitor unit connected externally in series with the unit as we do for distribution transformer. In external fusing, a fuse is placed in series with each element within the capacitor unit.

FUSING PRACTICE

FAILURE MECHANISM- External fusing

The capacitor is a voltage sensitive device, hence, most

failures of the capacitor unit are caused by insulation failure, starting from failure of any one element in the unit. When insulation of one element fails, the two conducting plates get short circuited. The failure of one element in a series group of the unit shown in Fig.2 causes shorting of that group. Resultantly, the applied voltage of 6.8 kV, which was previously evenly distributed over 4 series group will now be distributed over 3 healthy groups.

FAILURE MECHANISM- External fusing

Thus the voltage across each element of 3 healthy

series group will be 6.8/3 = 2.267kV which is 33% higher than their rated voltage (1.7kV). International Standard requires the capacitor unit to be capable of continuous operation at 110% of rated voltage. Above this limit, one element in one of the three healthy group will fail in about ***30 minutes to 1 hour time (depending upon individual design and safety factor).

FAILURE MECHANISM-External fusing

When 2nd series group gets short-circuited by failure

of one of its elements, the applied voltage then divides over remaining two series group, thus each group getting voltage 2 times its rated voltage, causing failure of an element in a few minutes, leaving only one healthy series group, which now gets entire supply voltage, 4 times its rated voltage, which causes failure of the last group in seconds.

FAILURE MECHANISM-External fusing

The external fuse provided for isolation of the unit

may operate during this process depending upon rating/ characteristics of the fuses, number of parallel/ series connected units in the capacitor bank and bank configuration.

FAILURE MECHANISM- Internal fusing

In case of internally fused capacitor unit, the failure of

insulation of one element in the capacitor unit causes short-circuiting of that element. Resultantly, all the parallel connected elements in the faulty series group discharge through the faulty element which causes the fuse of the faulty element to operate and isolate the faulty element.

FAILURE MECHANISM- Internal fusing

This

will causes slight disturbance in voltage distribution among series groups. The effected group will be getting slightly higher voltage than the healthy series groups, depending upon No. of parallel-connected units and No. of series groups. The rise in voltage over faulty group should be less than 10% so that the unit could operate continuously.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

The individual capacitor units in normal production

range of various manufacturers have rated voltages upto 24kV and KVAR rating upto 1000KVAR. The reactive power to be compensated at one point may be of the magnitude in hundreds of MVA, at voltages upto 500kV. For compensation of this magnitude, we need to build a bank consisting of a number of capacitors units.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

For selection of the ratings of the capacitor unit for a particular bank, we proceed as follows:
1. Required connection scheme

i. 3-Phase Delta connected ii 3-Phase Star connect with grounded star point iii. 3-Phase Star connected with ungrounded Star point- single star iv. 3-Phase star connected with ungrounded star point- double star

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

For high voltage banks option d is the most commonly

used configuration because it has following merits. 1. No path for 3rd harmonic currents, which saves the capacitor units from overloading and over-heating 2. Interference with the communication circuits caused by flow of 3rd harmonic currents is avoided.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

3. The magnitude of short circuit current in case of short circuit between a phase and star point is restricted to 3 times the normal bank current, which, in case of grounded neutral will be many kilo-amps corresponding to fault level at particular location. 4. The unbalance protection scheme which is the primary protection for capacitor banks is cheap, simple and reliable.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

2. Selection of the Unit Type
In case of externally fused-capacitor units, the number of units to be connected in parallel in each series group has to be so selected that failure and resultant isolation of one faulty unit does not cause the voltage on the effected group to rise above 110% of the rated voltage of the capacitor units.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK Example

100 MVAR,145 kV, Double-star bank Phase to neutral voltage = 145/1.732 = 84 kV Rated voltage of unit =14 kV No. of series groups (S) =84/14=6 units per phase For S=6, No. of parallel-connected units (P)=10 (thumb Rule) No. of units in one star =3x6x10 =180 No.of units in bank =2x180=360 Capacity of unit =100,000/360= 277.7 kVAR

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

For a bank size of 100 MVAR, 277.7KVAR is a

reasonable rating, but for a 24 MVAR bank, the unit rating would be only 24000/360 = 66.7 KVAR. It will, therefore, be advisable to use internally-fused capacitor units for small and medium sized banks, because in this case there is no restriction on the number of parallel-connected units in a series group.

CONSTITUTION OF CAPACITOR BANK

3. Selection of Unit rating P , S and No. of stars determine the required minimum No. of units in the bank (N)= 3x PxS x No. of Stars Thus we get the maximum allowable kVAR rating of the capacitor unit= kVAR of Bank/ N
The units with lower kVAR rating can be used by increasing the No. of units (N) proportionately.

CONTROL OF CAPACITOR BANK

The capacitor bank can be switched on and off

automatically on the basis of:1. Reactive power /power factor of load 2. System voltage

CONTROL OF CAPACITOR BANK

In PEPCO/ NTDC transmission system, the capacitor

banks have been installed for voltage support, hence the control system is designed to: switch-on the bank when the system voltage remains lower than a pre-set value (90% of nominal system voltage) for a period of about 300 seconds=5mins switch it off when the voltage exceeds a preset value (110% of nominal system voltage) for a period of about 5 seconds.

CONTROL OF CAPACITOR BANK

The time delay for switching on the bank has to be

minimum 300 seconds to allow the capacitor to get discharged to a reasonable limit (10% of the rated voltage) for safe operation of the circuit breaker.

 The discharge time (T1) to 10% of rated voltage = 2.65RC

= 2.65t/ ln (2Un/Ur)
Where

t is the discharge time from 2Un to Ur Un is the rated voltage of unit expressed in volts Ur is the permissible residual voltage expressed in volts T1 is the discharge time expressed in seconds to 10% of rated voltage R is the discharge resistance in ohms C is capacitance of unit expressed in micro-farads

PROTECTION OF CAPACITOR BANKS

Unbalance protection

Primary protection for capacitor banks that senses the overvoltage in bank sections Over-current /Earth fault protection Over-voltage protection Under-current protection

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
Due to operation of fuses protecting the capacitor unit

or capacitor element within a capacitor unit, the voltage distribution among the series groups of element as well as series groups of capacitor units is disturbed. The voltage on effected series group tends to rise. The voltage rise on affected group has to be restricted to 10% to avoid stress on healthy units in the group. At this level the capacitor bank has to switched off.

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
The unbalance is measured in different ways for

different bank configurations: For grounded Y configuration by installing PTs Between mid point of each leg and star point. For ungrounded Y configuration by installing a PT between star point and ground. For ungrounded Double Y configuration by installing a CT between star points of two stars.

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
The PT between mid point of leg and starpoint

measures the voltage on lower segment of the leg. When the measured voltage differs from 50% of the Phase to neutral voltage , it means difference has occurred in upper and lower half of the leg. Increased voltage indicates problem in lower half. Decreased voltage indicates problem in upper half.

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
The PT between star point and ground measures the

drift of star point from zero. The phase to- star point voltage on affected leg increases and phase-to-star point voltage on healthy legs decreases. There is a relation between drift in star point potential and voltage rise on affected series group. The drift in star point potential corresponding to 10% voltage rise on affected group is calculated and protective over-voltage relay is set to trip the breaker at that stage.

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
In case of Ungrounded double star connection the CT

connected between two star points measures the current flow between two star points when un balance occurs on one side. There is a relation between current through CT and voltage rise on the affected series group. The value of current through CT corresponding to 10% voltage rise on affected group is calculated and a definite time over-current relay is set at that value of current to trip the bank.

UNBALANCE PROTECTION
The rise in voltage on affected group is a function of

following variables. 1. No. of series connected groups of units , S 2. No. of parallel- connected units in groups, P 3. No. of Failed units in the group , F 4. No. of series connected groups of elements in internally fused units. 5. No. of parallel connected elements in a series group in internally- fused capacitor units.

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS.

Where a single capacitor bank is switched on, the magnitude

and frequency of inrush current is quite high depending upon the short circuit power of the bus and KVAR rating of the bank as given below: f = fs ( S/Q)

Imax = 1.41 (ISC x IB) OR Imax = IB ( 2S/Q) f is system frequency, ISC is steady-state value of short circuit current, S is short-circuit power of bus and Q capacity of bank

SWITCHING PROBLEMS &OLUTIONS.

Where a capacitor bank is switched on with a bank already

energized on the bus , the magnitude and frequency of inrush current may be further high depending upon the s KVAR ratings of the banks and system voltage as given below: Imax = 10300 [ ( Q1 x Q2)/Leq (Q1+Q2)]
Where

f = 393 [fs VLL(Q1+Q2)/Leq(Q1 x Q2) ]

Q1, Q2 = Ratings of Capacitor banks (KVAR) Leq = Equivalent inductance between two banks (uH) fs = System frequency VLL = System voltage (kV)

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS.

In order to limit the magnitude of inrush current, the

following techniques are used.

Use of closing resistors or reactors with circuit

breakers. Use of fixed current limiting reactors with capacitor banks. Controlled switching ( point-on-wave switching)

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

In WAPDA system ,controlled switching technique

has been used for 132 kV capacitor banks. In this scheme, a relay called synchronized switching relay watches the system voltage wave and gives closing command to the circuit breaker at such an instant that the two poles of the circuit breaker (Say R, Y) close when VRY = 0 and the third pole closes 5 m/s later, when phase to ground voltage on phase B is zero

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

If the circuit breaker operates according to its

measured closing time (programmed in the relay), then there will be practically no inrush current and closing will be very smooth without any jerk on the system.

SWITCHING PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

There are two effects of putting in a shunt capacitor:

1. Load current is reduced 2. The receiving end voltage increases.

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

The reduction in line current depends upon the

reactive component of load current and the current drawn by the capacitor. The rise in the receiving end voltage depends on the magnitude of the capacitor current and the inductive reactance of the line. The capacitor bank of the same size would result in double voltage rise if the line reactance is doubled.

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

Whenever capacitive current flows through an

inductive reactance, there is rise in voltage corresponding to the product of capacitive current and inductive reactance. The Ferranti effect is due to line charging current flowing through line inductive reactance.

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

Another example is the effect of a current-limitig

reactor used with a capacitor bank. The voltage appearing on the capacitor bank is more than the system voltage depending upon the value of the capacitor bank and reactance of the reactor.

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

Similarly, a rise in voltage will be experienced when

inductive current flows through a capacitor. This effect is visualized when series capacitors are used on transmission lines.

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

The following formulae are normally used to calculate the percentage voltage rise in the receiving end voltage: 1. Voltage rise in the secondary side of the transformer:
%age voltage rise =( CKVAR/ TKVA )x %age impedance of T/F Where: CKVAR = Rating of capacitor bank in KVAR TKVA = Capacity of transformer in KVA

VOLTAGE SUPPORT BY CAPACITORS

Voltage rise on lines (ignoring line capacitance):

%age voltage rise =100 x XL/ XC OR %age voltage rise = (kVAR/10kV^2) x XL Where: XL = inductive reactance of line in Ohms kVAR = Capacity of capacitor bank in KVAR kV = Rated voltage in kV XC = Capacitive reactance of the bank

THE END