Advanced CT Supervision Method for Transformer

Differential Protection System

Nayan Shah Murali Kandakatla Juha Ylinen

ABB Corporate Research ABB Corporate Research ABB Oy,
Vadodara, India Bangalore, India Vaasa, Finland
nayan.shah@in.abb.com murali.kandakatla@in.abb.com juha.ylinen@fi.abb.com

Abstract—Advanced CT secondary supervision algorithm has results in high CT secondary voltages across the terminals
been designed to detect CT secondary failure based on phase which may damage the relay and be a safety hazard to
currents available for differential protection. This algorithm is maintenance personnel.
used for monitoring current transformer secondary circuit where
separate reference current transformer input for comparison is The simplest method for detecting current transformer
not available or where separate voltage channel for calculating or secondary failure is by comparing currents from two
measuring zero sequence voltage is not available. Algorithm can independent three-phase sets of CTs or CT cores measuring
be used for detecting single phase failure on current transformer the same primary currents. The other method widely used is
secondary for protection application involving two or three sets the detection of zero sequence current and zero sequence
of three phase current transformers. voltage. If zero sequence current is detected in the absence of
zero sequence voltage, it is an indication of current
The new algorithm is fast, independent of the transformer
transformer secondary failure. However both the above
vector group and can distinguish CT secondary failure from
other primary system faults, such as broken primary conductor.
methods have disadvantages that they require additional set of
Proposed method uses fast sub-cycle measuring principle to current transformer or voltage transformer.These methodscan
detect the possible CT secondary failure using "current zero" not applied where additional current channel or voltage
criteria. The algorithm is fast enough to block the necessary channel in the relay are not available.
protection functions before false tripping. In order to secure In this paper an advanced CT secondary circuit supervision
correct operation, the method also monitors the change in algorithm is presented, which can be used, for detecting CT
negative sequence current (ΔI2), making it immuneto primary secondary failure used for unit protection of two or three
system faults. In addition the change in phase angle difference
winding transformer. The new algorithm is fast, independent of
between healthy phases is also observed, to make algorithm
effective under low load conditions.
the transformer vector group and can distinguish CT secondary
failure from other primary system faults, such as broken
Keywords- current transformer; secondary supervision; primary conductor. The method uses sub-cycle measuring
differential protection principle to detect the CT secondary failure using "current
zero" criterion. However the method has a limitation that it
I. INTRODUCTION cannot detect failure in case of the transformer is on no-load
condition or when two simultaneous CT secondary failures
CURRENT transformers are extensively used in power
system for protective relaying purposes. Failures in CT occur.
secondary circuit can cause malfunction of the protective II. ADVANCED CT SUPERVISION ALGORITHM
relays resulting in false tripping especially in differential
protection. In modern numerical multifunction protection The logical diagram for the advanced CT secondary failure
relays, CT secondary failure also causes malfunctioning of detection is shown inFig. 1.
other protection functions, such as negative sequence
A. No load detection
protection.
The no load detection module helps identifying whether the
Authentic detection of CT secondary failure is challenging, absence of current is due to lack of loading on the transformer
when the requirement is differentiate from primary faults or a secondary CT open circuit.
(such as broken primary conductor protection).And at the
same time it also needs to be very fast, as the transformer The function detects if any two phase currents of any set of
differential protection has typically one fundamental cycle current transformersis below Minimum operate current. The
operation time before final tripping decision. Blocking of setting value of Minimum operate current depends on the type
differential protection (also other protection functions such as of equipment to be protected, for example in case of
negative sequence protection) upon detection of CT secondary transformer protection Minimum operate current depends on
failure is common practice to avoid any mal-operation. Also no load current rating. Typically it can be set equal to
open circuit on secondary side of current transformer may transformer no load current rating.

1
 If all the three phase currents of any two sets of current in phase angle difference between healthy phases in any of the
transformers are zero, the transformer is considered under no CT sets.
load condition and the function is internally blocked.
This criterion is useful, during low load condition, where a
current zero condition does not result in sufficient change of
I_A_Wdg1 negative sequence current (ΔI2).According to this criterion, a
CT_Fail
I_B_Wdg1 No load primary system fault occurring on phase ‗A‘ can result into
detection change in phase angle difference between phases ‗B‘ and ‗C‘.
I_C_Wdg1
CT_Fail_GrpW1 This change in phase angle difference between healthy phases
I2_Wdg1 is evaluated in all sets of current transformers, and if no
I_A_Wdg2 change is detected in any set of CT, it‘s an indication of CT
CT_Fail_GrpW2 secondary failure.
I_B_Wdg2 CT failure
detection During the current zero condition, ifboth the above
I_C_Wdg2
CT_Fail_GrpW3 conditions (i) and(ii) occursimultaneously, output
I2_Wdg2 signal‗CTFail‘ is setimmediately as an indication of a CT
I_A_Wdg3
secondary failure.
Alarm
I_B_Wdg3 Internal C. Internal blocking
blocking This module blocks the CT supervision function under
I_C_Wdg3
following conditions in order to avoid any false operation
I2_Wdg3 during a primary system fault situation.
(a) Magnitude of any phase current for any group of current
transformer, exceeds the Maximum operate current setting.
Figure 1.Logical diagram for CT secondary failure detection. The RMS magnitude of phase current is calculated from peak-
B. CT failure detection to-peak algorithm.
This module detects the CT secondary failure in aset of (b) Magnitude of negative sequence current I2 on healthy set
current transformers. The module continuously monitors the of current transformer exceeds Maximum Negative Sequence
value of three phase currents in all setsof current transformers current setting.
to detect any sudden drop in current value to zero. Current
zero condition (also referred as current zero state) is III. APPLICATION EXAMPLES
continuously monitored for each phase measured with raw The operation of the CT supervision algorithm is
sample based measuring algorithm. Thealgorithm detects demonstrated withsimulations:
current zero condition within one fundamental power system
cycle, thus providing fast enough blocking information to For simulation purposes, a three winding transformer with
prevent false tripping of the protective relay. rating132kV/11kV/11kV and type YN/yn/d11 is considered.
The winding 1rating is 30MVA, with 21MVA on winding
Processing of the measured signals include the use of 2and 9MVA on winding 3.
numerical peak measuring filter.The window length of
samples in the filter is set equal toor larger than power system The following cases are illustrated as examples:
half cycle, but less than a full cycle. A. CT secondary failure on phase ‘A’ of transformerwinding2
Besides the detection of current zero condition, the
following two criteria are evaluated to confirm the CT 132kV/11kV/11kV,
secondary failure: 30MVA
Yn/yn/d11 Phase ‘A’ of CT
132kV 11kV
secondary broken
(i) Current zero condition in the faulty CT set due to CT A A

secondary failure does not result in negative sequence current B B

I2on healthy CT sets. C C Winding 2 load

21MVA

For a genuine CT secondary failure the magnitude of I 2 will

Winding 1 Winding 2
change only on the side where current zero condition has been CTs to IED CTs to IED
detected. After a current zero condition in any of the phases is
detected, CT secondary failure is ascertainedby comparing the
change of negative sequence current (ΔI2) in healthy CT sets
Winding 3
against pre-defined threshold. In case the threshold is not CTs to IED
exceeded, the CT secondary failure is confirmed by this
A

criterion. Threshold value can be selected to suit desired 11kV

Winding 3 load
sensitivity level and the value needs to consider the normal 9MVA

measuring errors in ΔI2, from measurements and

computations. Figure 2. CT secondary failure on phase A of transformer winding 2.
(ii) Current zero condition due to CT failure does not result

2
 B. Brokenphase ‘A’ lineconductor on transformer winding2

132kV/11kV/11kV,
30MVA
Yn/yn/d11 Phase ‘A’ of winding 2
132kV line conductor broken 11kV
A A

B B

C C
Winding 2 load
21MVA

Winding 1 Winding 2
CTs to IED CTs to IED

Winding 3
CTs to IED

C
11kV
Winding 3 load
9MVA

Figure 4. Broken phase ‗A‘ lineconductor on transformer winding2.

Figure 3. Current for CT secondary failure on phase A of transformer

winding2.

The transformer is considered to be operating at full load

condition. A CT secondary failure happens on CT connected to
Phase A on transformer winding 2 as shown in Fig. 2 resulting
incurrent zero condition seen by relay in phase ‗A‘ of winding
2. As this being a CT secondary problem, IED should indicate
it as a CT failure based on the described algorithm.
As per the algorithm, on detection of current zero condition,
the change in negative sequence current is evaluated on healthy
sets of CTs i.e. CTs connected on winding 1 and winding 3 of
the transformer in this example. As shown inFig. 3,
nosignificant change in negative sequence current (less than the
pre-set threshold value) on winding 1 and winding 3 is
observed. Further no significant change is observed in phase
angle difference between phase B and phase C on winding 1,
winding 2 and winding 3 of the transformer at the instance of
current zero condition.
Thus evaluating above two criteria clearly indicates the
failure in CT secondary and the algorithm sets―CT Fail‖
output. Figure 5. Current for broken phase A conductor on transformer winding2

3
 A three winding transformer is considered to be operating
at full load condition. Phase ‗A‘ conductor gets broken on
winding 2 of transformer as shown inFig. 4.This results in
current zero condition in phase ‗A‘ ofwinding 2. As the current
zero condition is due to broken phase conductor, this result in
change in negative sequence current on the winding 1 as well
as on winding 2.
This instantaneous change in negative sequence current at
current zero condition in both winding 1 and winding 2, is an
indication of power system failure and not due to CT secondary
failure, as also observed from the graphs obtained from the
algorithm.
C. CT secondary failure on phase ‘A’ of transformer
winding 1.
132kV/11kV/11kV,
30MVA
Phase ‘A’ of CT Yn/yn/d11
132kV 11kV
secondary broken
A A

B B

C C
Winding 2 load
21MVA

Winding 1 Winding 2
CTs to IED CTs to IED

Winding 3
CTs to IED
A

11kV
Winding 3 load
9MVA

Figure 6. CT secondary failure on phase A of transformer winding 1.

The three winding transformer is considered to be operating

at 30% of rated load. CT secondary failure happens on CT
connected to Phase ‗A‘ of transformer winding 1, as shown
inFig. 6. This results in current zero conditionseen by relay in
Figure 7. Currents for CT secondary failure in phase A of transformer
phase ‗A‘ of winding 1.This being a CT secondary problem, winding1.
the algorithm should detect the CT failure.
As per the algorithm described, on detection of current zero D. Lightly loaded transformers
condition, the change in negative sequence current is Detecting CT secondary failure for lightly loaded
evaluated on healthy sets of CTs i.e. CTs connected on transformer (<10% of rated load) using change in negative
winding 2 and winding 3 of the transformer in this example. sequence current criteria might get challenging, as current zero
As shown inFig.7, nosignificant change in negative sequence condition may not results in measureable change in negative
current on winding 2 and winding 3 is observed. Further no sequence current. However under such conditions, detecting
significant change is observed in phase angle difference change in phase angle difference of the healthy phases will be
between phase B and phase C on winding 1, winding 2 and reliable.
winding 3 of the transformer at the instance of current zero
condition. Table I. summarizes measured change in phase angle
difference of healthy phases for fault indicated. For all the
Thus by evaluating above two criteria, it clearly indicates the indicated cases the transformer is considered to be 10%
failure in CT secondary and activates the ―CT Fail‖ output. loading.

4
 TABLE I. OBSERVED CHANGE IN PHASE ANGLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REFERENCES
PHASESB,C DURING A CT SECONDARY FAILURE ON PHASE A.
[1] ABB‘s 615 Series ANSI Technical Manual, 1MAC050144-MB C.
Fault Type Winding 1 Winding 2 Winding 3 [2] Gerhard Ziegler, Numerical Differential Protection: Principles And
Applications. Wiley-VCH, 2006.
On winding 1 ΔӨBC = 60° ΔӨBC = 0° ΔӨBC = 0° [3] Armando Guzman, Stan Zocholl, Gabriel Benmouyal, Hector J. Altuve,
Onwinding 2 ΔӨBC = 17° ΔӨBC = 0° ΔӨBC = 0° ―A current-based solution for transformer differential protection – Part I:
Problem statement‖, IEEE transaction on Power Delivery, Vol 16, No4
On winding 3 ΔӨBC = 17° ΔӨBC = 0° ΔӨBC = 60° October 2001
[4] Z Gajic, ―Differential protection methodology for arbitrary three-phase
power transformers,‖ Internatinal conference on Developments in Power
IV. CONCLUSION System Protection 2008 pp. 44-49.
[5] IEEE Std C37.91-2000, ―IEEE guide for protective relay applications to
The new algorithm for advanced CT supervision method power transformer‖.
described employs simple logic, is fast in operation and does [6] Z Gajic, ―Differential protection for arbitrary three-phase power
not require any voltage or current reference. Simulation shows transformers,‖ Doctoral Dissertation 2008.
that it operates satisfactory for single CT failures for two and [7] Cvorovic B and Edwards A., ―A Novel Current-Based Diffential CT
three winding transformers; however this algorithm may not Supervision function‖, DPSP 2008, pp. 213-217.
work if more than one CT secondary failures occur [8] Sevov, L. Cardenas J, and Y.Sun., ―CT failure detection for differential
simultaneously. The logic has been implemented for CT protection applications,‖ Protective Relay Engineers conference, 2008
secondary supervision employed for two winding transformer. pp. 498-511.