Chapter 9: Induction Motor Protection

Contents:
 9.1 Introduction
 9.2 Various Faults and Abnormal Operating conditions
 9.3 Starting Current
 9.4 Electrical Faults
 9.5 Abnormal Operating Conditions from Supply Side
 9.6 Abnormal Operating Conditions from Mechanical
Side
Introduction
 Workhorse of Modern age
 Ruggedness and simplicity

FHP Mdeium Big

FHP >50HP >1500HP

<1kW >40kW >1000kW

 1kW=1.34102HP
 Protection Depends on the size (HP/kW rating) of Induction
Motor
A fractional horsepower motor (FHP) is an electric motor
with a rated output power of 746 Watts or less.
Various Faults and Abnormal Operating
Conditions
Starting Current
Electrical Faults
 Faults on motor Terminals
The phase-fault current at the terminals of a motor is
considerably larger than any normal current such as
starting current or an internal-fault current.
High set of instantaneous over-current relay is
recommended for fast, reliable, inexpensive and simple
protection.

 Phase Faults inside the motor

 Ground Faults inside the motor
 Inter-turn Faults
 Protection against phase faults as well as ground faults can
be provided using either fuses or over-current relays
depending upon the voltage rating and size of the motor.
 Most motors will be protected by HRC fuses .
 The fusing current should be greater than the starting
current of the motor.
 The fuse operating time should be less than permissible
locked rotor time of the motor.
 The locked rotor time is the time for which the rotor can be
safely stalled with full supply voltage applied to the stator.
Phase Faults inside the motor
 Big motors, which are high voltage. motors, will need to be
provided with an over-current protection for increased
accuracy of protection
 The thermal capability characteristic of the motor should
be kept in mind while applying over-current protection.
 The OC relay characteristic should be below the thermal
capability characteristic
 In case of high impedance ground faults inside the motor,
the fault current may happen to be less than the full-load
current.
 Such faults are difficult to detect using over-current
approach.
 A current balance type of protection caters for such faults
Phase Faults inside the motor
 In case of big motors, if the motor kVA rating is less than
half of the supply transformer kVA rating, over-current
relays can be relied upon
 If kVA rating is more than half of the supply transformer
kVA rating, the current for a three-phase fault may be less
than five times the current for locked rotor condition.
 In such cases, it is recommended to use percentage
differential protection
 Assume a motor is connected to a supply transformer
with 8% impedance.
 The maximum fault current at the transformer secondary
is
  The max. motor starting current

where XM is the motor impedance

XM must be greater than 0.32 per unit on the transformer kVA base

If the motor has a starting current of six times the full load, then
XM = 1/6 = 0.167 on the motor rated kVA base.
With a motor kVA half of the transformer kVA, an XM of 0.167 would
be 0.333 on the transformer base, which is greater than 0.32.
Phase Faults inside the motor
Ground Faults inside the Motor
 When the motor is running normally, the instantaneous sum of all
the three line currents is zero. Thus, there is no net flux in the core.
Hence, the pickup coil does not have any voltage induced in it.
 Now, consider a ground fault . The three line currents do not sum
up to zero.
 Thus, there is a net primary mmf proportional to the fault current
If, returning to the supply neutral through the fault path. There is,
thus, a flux in the CT core.
 The pick-up coil has a voltage induced which can be sensed by an
electronic circuitry or the pick-up coil can be made to drive the
operating coil of a sensitive relay.
 If an electronic circuit is used to sense the voltage developed by
the pick-up coil, the current balance relay described above can be
made extremely sensitive and can detect earth fault currents
down to a few tens of milli amperes.
 Very high sensitivity, however, is likely to cause some nuisance
tripping.
Inter-turn faults
 Inter-turn faults on the same phase are difficult to
detect
 They do not cause appreciable change in the current
drawn by the motor.
 Such faults cause hot spots to develop, leading to
deterioration of insulation.
 No specific protection against inter-turn faults is
needed for most motors except very big motors
 Embedded temperature detectors may be relied upon to
provide protection against inter-turn faults.
Abnormal Operating Conditions from
Supply Side
 9.5.1 Unbalanced Supply Voltage
 9.5.2 Single Phasing
 9.5.3 Reduction in supply Voltages
 9.5.4 Reversal of Phases
 Unbalanced Supply Voltage
 Large induction motors are very sensitive to unbalances in
supply voltage.
 The negative sequence component is particularly troublesome
 This is because the motor offers very small impedance to the
negative sequence currents.
 The negative sequence impedance is less than the positive
sequence stand still-impedance
 Thus, a 4% negative sequence supply voltage causes more than
24% negative sequence current to be drawn by the motor
 The starting current of the motor is six times the full-load
current.
 This causes increased heating of the stator
 The magnetic field due to negative sequence rotates at
synchronous speed Ns in direction opposite to that of the
rotor which is rotating at a speed equal to (sNs),
 which is slightly less than the synchronous speed, where s
is the slip of the motor.
 This causes currents of lf(2 - s)] frequency, i.e. almost
double the supply frequency, to be induced in the rotor
circuit.
 Because of skin effect, the rotor offers five to ten times its
normal resistance to these double frequency currents, thus,
causing excessive heating of the rotor.
 Therefore, for large motors any unbalance in the supply
voltage needs to be quickly detected and corrective action
taken.
Unbalanced Supply Voltage
Unbalanced Supply Voltage
 There are certain situations where the negative sequence
relay does not operate correctly.
 If there is an open circuit fault between the supply and
the relay then the relay measures the negative sequence
voltage across the motor, which is substantial and,
therefore, the relay operates correctly
 However, if the open circuit is between the relay and the
motor then the negative sequence relay ends up
measuring the negative sequence component of the
supply voltage,
 which is very small and does not cause the relay to pick
up
Unbalanced Supply Voltage
Unbalanced Supply Voltage
 Single Phasing
 Single phasing can occur because of a non-closure of one pole of a
three-phase contactor or circuit breaker, a fuse failure
 Single phasing causes negative sequence current to flow.
 The motor has a limited ability to carry negative sequence currents,
because of thermal limitations.
 Single phasing causes the motor to develop insufficient torque,
leading to stalling,
 making the motor to draw excessive current and finally leads to burn
out unless the motor is tripped.
 Thus, there is a thermal limit on the amount of the negative sequence
current that can be safely carried by the motor.
 The quantity represents the energy liberated as heat due to
negative sequence current I2.
 is thermal capability of motor to carry negative sequence
current
Single Phasing
Single Phasing

 The characteristic of a relay for detecting imbalance in

the line currents.
 The relay consists of two units. One unit balances Ia,
against Ib while the other balances Ib against Ic.
 When the currents become sufficiently unbalanced,
torque is developed in one or both units causing the
relay to trip
 The relay can be set to pick up when negative
sequence current I2 = 5-30% of the full-load current
Reduction in Supply Voltage
 The torque developed by an induction motor is
proportional to the square of the applied voltage,
therefore, any small reduction in voltage has a marked
effect on the developed torque.
 The reduced torque may cause the motors to lose speed
and draw more current.
 Large motors should be disconnected when a severe
low voltage condition persists for more than a few
seconds.
 Under-voltage relays may be used for protection
against reduced supply voltage
Reversal of phase sequence
 When there is a reversal of phase sequence, possibly
due to reversal of phases
 The motor rotates in a direction opposite to its normal
direction of rotation.
 In several applications, such as hoists and elevators,
this is a serious hazard.
 In such situations, a phase sequence detector, which is
generally a part of under-voltage/over-voltage, or a
negative phase sequence protection scheme, can be
used to instantaneously trip the motor
Abnormal Operating Conditions from
Mechanical Side
Failure of Bearing and Rotor Jam
 Bearing failure or rotor jam causes excessive load
torque on the motor.
 This is reflected in the increase in stator current.
 In order to discriminate between rotor jam and other
operating conditions that can also cause over-current,
the high current is not recognized as a jam condition
unless the motor has reached its rated speed and the
current is in excess of 20% of full load persisting for at
least twice the locked rotor time setting.
Overload
 Thermal overload relays offer good protection against
short, medium, and long duration of overloads but
may not provide protection against heavy overloads
 The long time induction over-current relays provide
good protection against heavy overloads but over-
protection against light and medium overloads
 Therefore, a combination of both the relays provides
adequate protection
Overload
Overload
Overload
Resistance Temperature Detector Relays
(RTDs)
 These relays operate from one or more RTDs that monitor the
temperature of the machine winding, motor or load bearings or
load case.
 They are usually applied to large motors of 1500 HP and above.
 RTD which is embedded in the machine connected to a
Wheatstone bridge. The arms of the bridge are adjusted so that the
bridge is balanced at normal temperature.
 A sensitive relay in the form of a contact making dc galvanometer
may be connected as a detector
 The RTD is an excellent indicator of average winding temperature
 Influenced by ambient temperature, ventilation conditions and
recent loading history.
 Several types of RTDs are available for use in temperature
monitoring,
Resistance Temperature Detector Relays
(RTDs)
Data Required for Designing Motor
Protection Scheme
 HP rating
 Supply Voltage
 Full-load current
 Permissible continuous allowable temperature rise
 Locked rotor current
 Permissible maximum time with locked rotor
 Accelerating time
 Starting voltage