BUSBAR PROTECTION

DAY 10, ABB TRAINING(SIVASANKARAN S)

BY PRAVEEN.AN,ABB
WHAT IS A BUS?

• All connections are at the same voltage.

• Made of bus bar such as in switchgear or, overhead transmission line
conductor or tube such as in open air substations.
• Node
• Zero Impedance
BUS CONFIGURATIONS

• Single Bus/Single Breaker

• Breaker and A Half
• Double Bus/Double Breaker
• Main and Transfer
• Ring
 SINGLE BUSBAR SCHEME
Advantages of Single Bus System
• This is very simple in design.
• This is very cost effective scheme.
• This is very convenient to operate.
Disadvantages of Single Bus System

• One but major difficulty of these type of arrangement is that, maintenance of equipment of any
bay cannot be possible without interrupting the feeder or transformer connected to that bay.
• The indoor 11 KV switch boards have quite often single bus bar arrangement.
CONTD.,
ONE AND HALF BREAKER BUS SYSTEM

• In Switchyard different Bus Bar arrangements are used for evacuation of

power generated but the two most used schemes are One and Half Breaker
Bus System and Double Bus Bar arrangement. In high voltage Switchyard like
in 400 kV Switchyard One and Half Breaker Bus System is used due to many
advantages of this scheme.
Cost is also less compared to Two Main and Transfer Bus Scheme.

ADVANTAGES OF ONE AND HALF BREAKER

SCHEME
• Its high security against loss of power supply
• Area requirement is less in this arrangement compared to Two Main and
Transfer Scheme.
• Cost is also less compared to Two Main and Transfer Bus Scheme.
• Either bus may be taken out any time without loss of service to the feeders.
CONTD.,
 DOUBLE BREAKER BUS SYSTEM
• In double breaker bus bar system two identical bus bars are used in such a way that any
outgoing or incoming feeder can be taken from any of the bus similar to double bus bar
system. Only difference is that here every feeder is connected to both of the buses in parallel
through individual breaker instead only isolator as shown in the figure.
• By closing any of the breakers and its associated isolators one can put the feeder to
respective bus. Both of the buses are energized and total feeders are divided into two groups,
one group is fed from one bus and other from other bus similar to previous case. But any
feeder at any time can be transferred from one bus to other.
• There is no need of bus coupler as because the operation is done by breakers instead of
isolator. For transfer operation, one should first close the isolators and then the breaker
associated with the bus to where the feeder would be transferred and then he or she opens
the breaker and then isolators associated with the bus from where feeder is transferred.
CONTD.,
 MAIN AND TRANSFER BUS SYSTEM
Switching Operation for Transferring a Feeder to Transfer Bus from Main Bus without Interruption of Power
• First close the isolators at both side of the bus coupler breaker.
• Then close the bypass isolator of the feeder which is to be transferred to transfer bus.
• Now energized the transfer bus by closing the bus coupler circuit breaker from remote.
• After bus coupler breaker is closed, now the power from main bus flows to the feeder line through its main
• breaker as well as bus coupler breaker via transfer bus.
• Now if main breaker of the feeder is switched off, total power flow will instantaneously shift to the bus coupler breaker
and hence this breaker will serve the purpose of protection for the feeder.
• At last the operating personnel open the isolators at both sides of the main circuit breaker to make it isolated from rest
of the live system.
•
CONTD.,
 PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS
• High bus fault currents due to large number of circuits connected:
• CT saturation often becomes a problem as CTs may not be sufficiently
rated for worst fault condition case
• large dynamic forces associated with bus faults require fast clearing times
in order to reduce equipment damage

• False trip by bus protection may create serious problems:

• service interruption to a large number of circuits (distribution and sub-
transmission voltage levels)
• system-wide stability problems (transmission voltage levels)

• With both dependability and security important, preference is always

given to security
BUS PROTECTION TECHNIQUES

• Interlocking schemes
• Overcurrent (“unrestrained” or “unbiased”) differential
• Overcurrent percent (“restrained” or “biased”) differential
• Linear couplers
• High-impedance bus differential schemes
• Low-impedance bus differential schemes
 INTERLOCKING SCHEMES
• Blocking scheme typically used
• Short coordination time required
• Care must be taken with possible saturation of feeder CTs
• Blocking signal could be sent over communications ports (peer-to-peer)
• This technique is limited to simple one-incomer distribution buses
OVERCURRENT (UNRESTRAINED) DIFFERENTIAL

• Differential signal formed by summation of all currents feeding the bus

• CT ratio matching may be required
• On external faults, saturated CTs yield spurious differential current
• Time delay used to cope with CT saturation
• Instantaneous differential OC function useful on integrated microprocessor-
based relays
CONTD.,
HIGH IMPEDANCE DIFFERENTIAL

• Operating signal created by connecting all CT secondaries in parallel

• CTs must all have the same ratio
• Must have dedicated CTs
• Overvoltage element operates on voltage developed across resistor connected in secondary
circuit
• Requires varistors or AC shorting relays to limit energy during faults
• Accuracy dependent on secondary circuit resistance
• Usually requires larger CT cables to reduce errors  higher cost
CONTD.,
PERCENT DIFFERENTIAL

• Percent characteristic used to cope with CT saturation and other errors

• Restraining signal can be formed in a number of ways
• No dedicated CTs needed
• Used for protection of re-configurable buses possible
LOW IMPEDANCE DIFFERENTIAL (DISTRIBUTED

• Data Acquisition Units (DAUs) installed in bays

• Central Processing Unit (CPU) processes all data from DAUs
• Communications between DAUs and CPU over fiber using proprietary protocol
• Sampling synchronisation between DAUs is required
• Perceived less reliable (more hardware needed)
• Difficult to apply in retrofit applications
CONTD.,
REFERENCE

• [1] A. R. Leoni and J. E. Bowen, “Improving Safety and Reliability Via Cost-
Effective Upgrades of Existing Systems”,
• IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 130-138, Jan./Feb. 2007 [2] H. J. Li
of Westinghouse, “Applied Protective Relaying”, 1979