Case Study Of Sympathetic Interaction Between Transformers Caused By Inrush Transients

M. Sengl, nonmember, B. Alboyaci, nonmember, S. ztrk, nonmember, H.B. Cetinkaya, nonmember

AbstractIn power systems transients caused by energization of power transformers are one of the common problems. In power systems sympathetic inrush phenomenon is not uncommon when two transformers are connected in parallel. The transformer already connected to supply system can experience unexpected saturation during the inrush transient of an incoming transformer. Inrush conditions of a transformer produce false differential currents that could cause relay misoperation. In this paper sympathetic inrush phenomenon between transformers is analyzed. Saturable transformer and power system is modeled by STRI-SIMPOW simulation program. Simulation results are compared with test results that are obtained from SCOPEMETER 199-C (200MHz) energy analyzer. Keywords: Inrush current, parallel transformers, sympathetic inrush

d)

energizing of a transformer in parallel with a transformer that is already in service.

Since the magnetizing branch representing the core appears as a shunt element in the transformer equivalent circuit, the magnetizing current upsets the balance between the currents at the transformer terminals, and is therefore experienced by the differential relay as a false differential current. A. Inrush Due To Switching-in Initial magnetizing due to switching a transformer in is considered the most sever case of an inrush. When a transformer is de-energized, the magnetizing voltage is taken away, the magnetizing current goes to zero while the flux follows the hysteresis loop of the core. This results in certain remanent flux left in the core. When, afterwards, the transformer is re-energized by an alternating sinusoidal voltage, the flux becomes also sinusoidal but biased by the remanence. The residual flux may be as high as 80-90% of rated flux [3], and therefore, it may shift the flux-current trajectories far above the knee-point of the characteristic resulting in both large peak values and heavy distortions of the magnetizing current. It is shown in Fig.1.

I. INTRODUCTION

OWER transformers are the most important and very expensive component in a power system. Avoiding damage to power transformers is very expensive. The operating conditions of transformer protection do not make the relaying task easy. Transformers are usually protected by means of a differential scheme. The transformer differential relay should be designed such that it does not misoperate during magnetizing inrush [1] and overexcitation conditions which fool differential relay operation. II. MAGNETIC INRUSH

The study of transformer excitation inrush phenomenon has spanned more than 50 years [5]. Magnetizing inrush occurs in a transformer whenever the polarity and magnitude of the residual flux do not agree with the polarity and magnitude of the ideal instantaneous value of steady-state flux. Although usually considered a result of energizing a transformer, the magnetizing inrush may be also caused by [2]: a) occurrence of an external fault, b) voltage recovery after clearing an external fault, c) change of the character of a fault,
M. Sengl is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, 41040 TURKEY (e-mail: mehlika@isnet.net.tr). B. Alboyaci is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, 41040 TURKEY (e-mail: alboyaci@kou.edu.tr). S. Oztrk is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, 41040 TURKEY (e-mail: semra@kou.edu.tr). H.B. Cetinkaya is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, 41040 TURKEY (e-mail: cetinkaya@kou.edu.tr). Presented at the International Conference on Power Systems Transients (IPST05) in Montreal, Canada on June 19-23, 2005 Paper No. IPST05 - 125

Fig.1 Illustration of the magnetizing inrush

Fig.2 shows a typical inrush current. The waveform displays a large and long lasting dc component, is rich in harmonics, assumes large peak values at the beginning, decays substantially after a few tenths of a second, but its full decay occurs only after several seconds.

Fig.3 Connections leading to the sympathetic inrush Fig.2 Typical inrush current

The slope, magnitude and duration of inrush current depend on several factors [3]: a) size of a transformer, b) impedance of the system from which a transformer is energized, c) magnetic properties of the core material, d) remanence in the core, e) moment when a transformer is switched in, f) way a transformer is switched in (inner, outer winding, type of switchgear). B. Sympathetic Inrush Due To Parallel Energization One aspect of this transient that has largely been ignored in the relevant literature is the effect of the inrush current on the transformers that are already in operation. The traditional method for calculating inrush current assumes that the transformer is being switched onto a system to which there are no other transformers connected. In practice, however, transformers are normally energized in parallel with other transformers that are already in operation. In any system model that including a generator connected to a bus through a transmission line having a resistance R and an inductance L is shown in Fig.3. The transformer T1 is energized, and the transformer T2 is being energized by closing the breaker B. As the breaker B closes, an inrush current is established in the primary winding of the transformer T2, and is supplied by the generator through the impedance of the transmission line. The inrush current has a dc component, which decays with a somewhat long time constant. This decaying dc component produces a voltage drop in the resistance of the transmission line. The dc voltage drop is of a polarity as shown in Fig.3 for an assumed positive dc component flowing in the direction shown. Since the generator output is purely ac, and cannot be affected by this voltage drop, it is clear that the voltage of bus A acquires a negative dc component. This results in a negative change in the flux linkages of the two transformer cores. As the transformer T2 was assumed to have a saturating flux in the positive direction the effect of this flux change is to take T2 out of saturation, and cause a possible saturation of T1 in the negative direction. Consequently, the inrush current in T2 decreases in time, and the inrush in T1increases in the opposite direction up to dc components in the two inrush currents become equal to each other [4].

Fig.4 Typical sympathetic inrush currents

This phenomenon, which has been pointed out as one of the reasons for false operation of transformer differential relays and prolonged temporary harmonic overvoltages on power systems. III. MEASUREMENTS A. Simulated System Results Electrical system simulated by software STRI SIMPOW. SIMPOW is a program that can make digital simulation and analysis of electrical power systems. It is developed by ABB and in 2004 transferred to STRI [6]. The system is composed of a 210 kV, 170 MVA generator and two 210/10.2 kV 170 MVA three phase saturable power transformers, a transmission line of 5 km in length. The power transformers have a delta connection in the primary windings and a star connection in the secondary windings. It is modeled using DSL (Dynamic Simulation Language) in STRI SIMPOW. Single line diagram of the system is shown in Fig.5.

Fig.5 Single line diagram of the system

The transformer TR1 is energized at the instant 0.05 sec. by closing the breaker. As the breaker closes, an inrush current is established in the primary winding of the transformer then at the instant 0.5 sec the transformer TR2 is energized. Fig.6 and Fig.7 shows the waveforms of the transformer TR1 and the transformer TR2 phase currents.

1) Harmonic Analysis In this paper harmonic analysis of current waveforms are made using Discrete Time Fourier Transform (DTFT). It was decided that for reasons of numerical accuracy, the sampling rate is 1000 samples/s or 20 samples for one 50 Hz period which more than adequately satisfies the Nyquists criterion. The data sets are obtained from simulated system by software SIMPOW. The data sets belong to simulated system are used for obtaining the second harmonic components of current signals. Measuring fundamental and second harmonics of differential current, an algorithm based on the one cycle Discrete Fourier Transform and an amplitude estimator which uses 20 samples in order to find the magnitudes of harmonics are used. Magnitudes of harmonic frequencies are obtained by the Discrete Fourier Transform, using a sliding window of one cycle. The harmonic analysis shows high even harmonics in current. Even harmonics are the characteristic harmonics of transformer saturation and they are used to restrain the operation of the differential protection of the transformer during energizing. Even harmonics are not common in power systems and basically depict the asymmetry between the positive and negative half cycle of waveform. nd Fig.8 and Fig.9 show the amplitude of the 2 harmonic of the transformers TR1 and TR2 phase-a current.

Fig.6 Phase currents of the transformer TR1

Fig.8 The transformer TR1 phase-a current and its 2nd harmonic component

Fig.7 Phase currents of the transformer TR2

Fig.9 The transformer TR2 phase-a current and its 2nd harmonic component

B. Real System Test Results To test the system two three phase 1kVA, 240/120V transformer is used. The winding resistance, winding reactance, magnetizing resistance, magnetizing reactances are 1.06ohm, 1.21ohm, 1669ohm and 1462ohm, respectively. The transformer TR1 is energized at the instant 0.57 sec. by closing the breaker. As the breaker closes, an inrush current is established in the primary winding of the transformer then at the instant 3.1 sec the transformer TR2 is energized. Fig.10 shows the waveforms of the transformer TR1 and the transformer TR2 phase-a currents.

Fig.12 shows the percentage of the 2 harmonic to fundamental of the transformers TR1 phase-a current. It is seen that when the transformer TR2 is energized the percentage harmonic is raises about 20%. The percentage of second harmonic to fundamental is depend on the moment of energizing, remenance flux, ect. So the percentage may not exceed the threshold and differential relay can misoperate.

nd

Fig.12 The percentage of the 2nd harmonic to fundamental

IV. CONCLUSIONS In this paper, the sympathetic interaction between transformers that takes place during the inrush transient has been investigated. The transformer already connected to supply system can experience unexpected saturation during the inrush transient of an incoming transformer. The sympathetic inrush current may not have a sufficient amount of the second harmonic in it to prevent the relay from tripping. Sympathetic inrush current magnitude is depend on transformer energization angle, magnetic core properties and residual flux. It is seen that the dc voltage drop in the transmission line causing by dc component of inrush current is the major cause of sympathetic inrush. This interaction is greatly reduced if: a) The line resistance is small b) The incoming transformer is energized at zero crossing voltage. If these conditions couldnt respond, the problem can be dealt with satisfactorily by the use of separate differential relays.

Fig.10 Phase-a currents of the transformers TR1 and TR2

1) Harmonic Analysis In this paper harmonic analysis of current waveforms are made using Discrete Time Fourier Transform (DTFT). It was decided that for reasons of numerical accuracy, the sampling rate is 1000 samples/s or 20 samples for one 50 Hz period which more than adequately satisfies the Nyquists criterion. The data sets are obtained from real test system by using SCOPEMETER 199-C. nd Fig.11 shows the amplitude of the 2 harmonic of the transformers TR1 phase-a current.

V. ACNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Levent Alhan who is senior vice president of ABB in Turkey for his support on this work. VI. REFERENCES Periodicals:
[1] Fig.11 Phase-a current of the transformer TR1 M.A. Rahman and Gangopadlyay, Digital simulation of magnetizing inrush currents in three phase transformers, IEEE Trans.on Power Delivery, vol. 1, pp. 235-248, Oct. 1986.

[2]

[3]

A.Kulidjian, B. Kasztenny and B. Campbell, "New magnetizing inrush restraining algorithm for power transformer protection,IEE Developments in Power System Protection Conf., pp.181-183, 2001. K. Karsai, D. Kerenyi and L. Kiss., Large power transformers,ELSEVIER,1987.

Books:
[4] S. H. Horowitz and A. G. Phadke, Power System Relaying, John Wiley& Sons Ldt. 1995.

Technical Reports:
[5] A. Guzman, S. Zocholl, G. Benmouyal and H. J. Altuve, "Performance analysis of traditional and improved transformer differential protective relays," SIMPOW Power System Simulation & Analysis Software, Release 10.8, Copyright(c) STRI ABB, 2004.

[6]

VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Mehlika Sengl was born in Erzurum in Turkey, on August 15, 1976. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering in 1998 and 2000 from The University of Kocaeli respectively. She is a PhD. Student at TheUniversity of Kocaeli. Since 1998, she has been working as a research assistant at The University of Kocaeli. Her areas of interest include power plants, modelling and control of power plants, transformer protection.

Bora Alboyaci received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1995 from the Technical University of Yildiz. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 1998 and 2001 from The University of Kocaeli respectively. From 1995 to 1996, he worked for TEMAS Consulting Engineering, and his last position was a Consultant Engineer. Since 2001, he has been working as an Assoc.Prof.Dr. at The university of Kocaeli. He is leading two projects at the same university as the power quality of distribution systems and distribution transformer loading evaluations.

Semra ztrk received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1982 from the Technical University of Istanbul. She received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from The Technical University of Istanbul. Since 1999, she has been working as a Professor at The University of Kocaeli. She has been working in an administrative affair. Her areas of interests include power system planning, energy transmission and distribution, Optimization of power plants and power system analysis.

Hasan Basri Cetinkaya was born in Kocaeli in Turkey, on October 22, 1975. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering in 1998 and 2001 from The University of Kocaeli respectively. He is a PhD. student at The University of Kocaeli. Since 2001, he has been working as a research assistant at The University of Kocaeli. His areas of interest include FACTS, transmission system transients, reliability and stability of power systems.