Energy and Power 

/ Protection

Four Special Differential

Protections And Their
Respective CT
Requirements

Special cases of differential

protection
Although the manufacturers of relays dedicated to differential protection impose
the necessary CT secondary characteristics required for proper operation, it is
useful, for understanding and avoiding errors, to possess minimum knowledge
of this type of protection.
Four Special Differential Protections And Their Respective CT Requirements
(photo credit: elinstallatoren.se)
A differential protection monitors an area limited by CTs which measure
incoming and outgoing currents. If the outgoing currents are not consistent with
the incoming currents, this is normally because a fault has occurred in the
protected area.

Now, let’s examine following protections with their respective CT

requirements:
1.
1. High impedance protection ,
2. Pilot wire protection,
3. Percentage differential protection  and
4. Low impedance differential protection .
According to the type of protection and its use, relay manufacturers have had to
apply a variety of principles varying in complexity in order to guarantee the
stability of their relays against transient phenomena likely to cause nuisance
tripping of this protection.
<="" ins="" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" data-ad-status="unfilled"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height:
280px;">

1. High impedance differential protection

This type of protection is normally used for protection of motors, generators,
busbars as well as for “restricted earth fault” (REF) protection of
transformers.
General
This type of protection is used to protect an area with the same voltage level. In
healthy conditions, the input current i’e is identical to the output current
i’s and thus the differential current i’d = 0 (see figure 1)

Figure 1 – High
impedance differential principle
A high fault current can flow through the monitored area and cause CT
saturation, hence the risk of nuisance tripping of the protection (non stability).
The “stability” of the relay is obtained by connecting it in series with a
“stabilising” resistance Rst.
This resistance is calculated in such a way that the derived current in
the differential circuit (Rst + Rp) cannot reach the relay setting threshold when
the maximum through current saturates a CT with its DC component.
This results in (1): (Rst + Rp) ≥ (Rct + 2 RL) × Issc / Ir
where:

 Issc = maximum through current observed at the CT secondary,

 Ir = relay secondary setting current.
 Rst may vary between a few ohms and a few hundred ohms (exceptionally
it may be greater than 1000 ohms).
For the relay to operate properly at Ir if a fault occurs in the area, the knee
point voltage Vk must be greater than:
2 × (Rst + Rp + Rct + 2 RL) × Ir .
As a rule Rct + 2 × RL are negligible compared with R st + Rp thus (2):
Vk ≥ 2 × Ir × (Rst + Rp)
By combining the equations (1) and (2) we find (3):
Vk ≥ 2 × Issc × (Rct + 2 × RL)
These equations show that Rst (expression 1) and Vk have greater values when
Rct is high.A high value stabilizing resistance generates high overvoltages at
the CT secondary. Therefore when overvoltages in excess of 3000 V are
anticipated, a protection by a  non-linear resistance (Z nO) is added.
The result of these observations is that the CTs are optimized if R ct and Vk are
as low as possible and if the through current (seen from the CT secondary, i.e.
Iscc) is defined without excess.
Whatever the application where the high impedance differential is used,
all the CTs must have:
1. The same ratio,
2. The same magnetising curve (same minimum V k),
3. The same maximum Rct,
4. And comply with expression (3). For V k, since the relevant CTs are not at the
same distance from the relay, take the maximum R L.
For this protection, a maximum value of the magnetizing current I o must
also be defined at Vk  / 2 according to the required sensitivity.
For the relay to detect a current Ir, a voltage Vs = Vk / 2 must be developed at
the terminals of the parallel-connected CTs. For this purpose, the minimum
primary current Irms really detected by the relay will be:
Irms = n × (Ir + ρ × Io)
where:

 n = CT ratio and

 ρ = number of parallel-connected CTs (there may be many of them on a
busbar protection!)
Application to the “motor” differential protection
The maximum through current for which the motor must remain insensitive is in
this case the motor starting current:
Issc = Ist (seen at the secondary).
If you do not know this current Ist, you know that:
Ist < 7 × In motor

Application to the “generator” differential protection

The maximum through current is in this case the short-circuit current supplied
by this generator only. If you know the generator subtransient reactance X’’ %,
the following will be taken:

Issc = In × 100 / X”

If this value is not known, X’’ % = 15 will be taken.
Note – The peak voltage at the CT secondary must be calculated using:
Issc maxi = I”generator + Isc network

Application to the “busbar” differential protection

Figure 2 – High
impedance “busbar” differential protection
In this case, the through current is equal to switchboard I sc:
Issc = switchboard Isc seen from the CT secondary

Application to the “restricted earth fault” differential

protection of transformers (REF)

Figure 3 – Restricted earth fault protection of the secondary (a) or primary (b)
windings of a transformer
In the case of figure 3a , this protection detects the insulation faults at the
transformer secondary windings and up to the CTs located downstream.

In the case of figure 3b , this protection detects the insulation faults at the
transformer primary and advantageously improves the typical earth fault
protection which is sensitive to transformer violent inrush currents and to
the through currents resulting from a downstream asymmetrical short-circuit.
In this case also, we shall calculate R st and Vk based on the maximum through
current in the CTs for a fault outside the protected area. As a first
approximation, we can say that this current is less than the current limited by
the transformer
impedance, i.e.
Ithrough = Psct / (Un × √3)
where Psct = Pn × 100 / Zsc (transformer short-circuit power)
If we know the upstream short-circuit power (P u), a more accurate value can
be calculated replacing:
Psct with (Psct × Pu) / (Psct + Pu)
The through fault current must then be converted into I ssc seen at the CT
secondary.
Go back to contents ↑
<="" ins="" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" data-ad-status="filled"
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height:
280px;">

2. Line or cable differential protection with

pilot wires

Figure 4 – Line or cable differential protection with pilot wires

A relay of this type is installed at each end of the cable or the line. On the pilot
wires, each relay reproduces a voltage which is the image of the sum:

a×I1 + b×I2 + c×I3 + d×Ih

If the two voltages are different, both relays trip.

NOTE: Note that the coefficients a, b, c and d are different to ensure that all
fault types correspond to a sum other than zero. Consequently, the operating
threshold of a two-phase fault or of a phase-to-earth fault is slightly different
according to the faulty phase.
In this case also, class X CTs are required, and each manufacturer gives an
empirical formula for the minimum knee point voltage V k.
An example of the minimum knee point voltage required:
Vk mini = 0,5 ×N × kt × In × (Rct + X × RL)
where N, kt and X are constants associated with the relay response time, its
sensitivity and its type of connection.
Another example:
Vk mini = 50/In + If × (Rct + 2 × RL)
where
  In is the CT nominal secondary current (1 or 5 A),
 If is the through short-circuit current, seen at the CT secondary.
The stability of this relay is achieved both by complying with the required
knee point voltage and by a percentage differential operating
threshold which will increase with the through current by use of retaining
windings. The CTs at the ends of the line must have the same ratio and must
comply with the minimum Vk and maximum Io specified by the manufacturer.
However, their magnetizing curves and R ct do not need to be identical.
Go back to contents ↑

3. Percentage biased differential protection

for transformers
The term “percentage differential” stems from the fact that the operating
threshold increases with the through current.
Simple comparison of the currents in each upstream phase with the currents in
the same downstream phases is not suitable for transformer differential
protection.
This is because:
1. The upstream and downstream currents of a power transformer do not have
the same amplitude or the same phase angle,
2. When the transformer is energised, its magnetising current is only seen
upstream,
3. The presence of an earthing generator in the protected area (e.g. earthing
the transformer neutral) can trip the protection, while the fault is, for
example, located on a downstream feeder.

Precautions to be taken to solve these problems:

The aim is to ensure that the relay sees upstream and downstream
currents of the same amplitude and in phase during normal operating
conditions. This can be achieved by intelligent choice of CT ratio and
connections.
Matching CTs are used for this purpose and often help to eliminate the zero-
sequence current that could trip the protection when an earth fault occurs
outside the protected area. However, most of the new digital relays are able to
perform internally, by parameter setting, the adjustments necessary to “reset”
the currents, thus considerably simplifying their implementation.
Furthermore, it must be noted that all the “transformer differential” relays
are immunized to the 2 nd  order harmonic blocking their operation when
the transformer is energised.

CT voltage Vk
In 99 % of cases, a class X is requested. The minimum knee point voltage is
imposed and depends on the resistance of the secondary winding “Rct” of
the CT and of its real load Rr. More complex specifications are sometimes
mentioned, which include the X/R ratio of the network or the magnetising
current of the power transformer.
However, faced with the problems that users have in obtaining all these
parameters, relay suppliers sometimes provide simplified empirical formulas
which lead to a slight oversizing.

Examples of minimum knee point voltage imposed for the Schneider Electric’s
Sepam protection relay:
Vk mini = A × Ib (Rct + 2 × RL)
where:

2 × RL = total resistance of the secondary wiring,

Rct = CT secondary winding resistance,
Ib = power transformer nominal current seen at the CT secondary,
A = constant depending on transformer power
Some suppliers take into account the through current, for example:

on the star side of the power transformer,

and Vk ≥ 4 × If × (Rct + 2×RL + Rp) on the delta side of the power transformer.
The through current will be defined in the same way as for the restricted earth
fault protection.
NOTE: Use of matching CTs leads to different expressions of the knee point
voltage for the main CTs which must take into account the extra load that they
represent.
To conclude, the stability of this protection is ensured by:
1. The threshold which increases with the through current (restraint system),
2. The right choice of CT knee point voltage V k,
3. A system ensuring immunity to 2 nd order harmonics generated by inrush
currents,
4. The most sophisticated relays are also immune to 5 th order harmonics which
occur during power transformer overexcitation (saturation).
Go back to contents ↑

4. Low impedance differential protection

This protection is used for busbar differential protection. It is very costly
and space-consuming, as it requires a large number of modules and matching
CTs which need one or more cubicles according to switchboard size (see figure
5).
Figure 5 – Example of a low impedance differential protection for a double
busbar
In the case of a double busbar switchboard, the protection must be continually
“informed” on the position of the transfer switches in order to direct the
currents of each feeder and incomer to the relay associated with monitoring of
the busbar on which this feeder or incomer is connected.
The CTs associated with this sophisticated protection may have different
ratios. Their secondaries are also defined as class X in most cases.
However, as saturation can be tolerated, knee point voltage requirements are
less severe than for high impedance differential protection.