SIEMENS

LECTURE ON

BUS BAR PROTECTION

BY
SIEMENS PAKISTAN ENGINEERING COMPANY
LTD

Slide 1
BUS BAR PROTECTION
It is true that the risk of a fault occurring on bus
bar is very small, but it cannot be entirely
ignored. However, the damage resulting from one
un cleared fault, because of the concentration of
fault MVA, may be very extensive indeed, up to
the complete loss of the station by fire.

Serious damage to or destruction of the

installation would probably result in
widespread and prolonged supply interruption to
the consumers. Such situation is never wanted by
the Utilities as well as by the consumers.

Slide 2
BUS BAR PROTECTION
Finally, system protection will frequently not
provide the cover required. Such protection may
be good enough for small distribution
substations, but not for important stations.

Even if distance protection is applied to all

feeders, the bus bar will lie in the second zone of
all the distance protections, so a bus fault will be
cleared relatively slowly, and the resultant
duration of the voltage dip imposed on the rest of
the system may not be tolerable.

Slide 3
BUS BAR PROTECTION
The majority of bus faults involve one phase and
earth, but faults arise from many causes and a
significant number are inter phase clear of earth.
In fact, a large proportion of bus bar faults result
from human error rather than the failure of
switchgear components.

Slide 4
Need for busbar protection

power concentration

A busbar is a point of convergence of many circuits

generation
transmission
load

Slide 5
Need for busbar protection
A busbar is
a point of convergence of many circuits
a concentration of power
high, destructive fault currents result !

A busbar fault
endangers the stability of the grid
a fast and selective fault clearance is required
(100…200ms incl. CB operation)
a high degree of availability/ dependability is a
demand
(EHV: redundant BBP „main1“/“main2“)
leads to serious damages of the switchgear
fastest and selective fault clearance is required
may endanger human live
fastest fault clearance is required

Slide 6
Reasons and probability of a busbar fault

Reasons
mechanical problems (isolators, CTs)
insulation problems (pollution, flash over)
human errors (switch-onto-fault)

Probability
ca. 1 fault / 10 years
but: the effects can be tremendous!!
(outage, cost)

Slide 7
Principles of busbar protection

Reverse interlocking
Limited application range (no power reversal, single bus

Distance protection
Slow fault clearance time (> 300ms)

Differential protection
☺ fast, selective, wide application range

Slide 8
 Principles of busbar protection (1)

Reverse Interlocking

22 O/C
UMZ
Blocking
t= 50ms

x
t= xxxms
power direction

x
x

Supposition :
11 O/C O/C O/C No reverse supply
+
Pick - up
+
Pick - up Pick +
- up

11 Line protection trips and blocks 50ms Stage in incoming - feeder protection

22 Incoming - feeder protection trips in 50ms, because no feeder protection picked up

Slide 9
 Principles of busbar protection (2)

Busbar Protection with Distance Protection

22
Z Incoming feeder protection

x
x

Setting advice:
First stage of the incoming-
11 Z Z Z feeder protection is shorter
than the first stage of the
outgoing feeder protection,
(delay 300ms).
Outgoing feeder Protection

11 Outgoing feeder protection trips undelayed in the first distance stage

22 Incoming feeder protection trips in the first stage with increased first – zone time (300ms)

Slide 10
Principles of busbar protection (3)

Current differential protection principle

I1 I2

I3 I4

Principle: First Kirchhoff-law

Fault-free operation: I1+I2+....I n = 0

Fault in busbar-area: I1+I2+....I n ≠ 0

Slide 11
BASIC PRINCIPLES: Kirchhoff’s knot rule

Slide 12
BUS BAR PROTECTION (SPLITING INTO ZONES)

Slide 13
BUS BAR PROTECTION (SPLITING INTO ZONES)

Slide 14
 BUS BAR PROTECTION
PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS
Although not basically different from other circuit
protection, the key position of the busbar intensifies the
emphasis put on the essential requirements of speed and
stability. The special features of busbar protection are
discussed below.
SPEED
Busbar protection is primarily concerned with:

a. limitation of consequential damage

b. removal of busbar faults in less time than could be

achieved by back-up line protection, with the object of
maintaining system stability

Slide 15
 BUS BAR PROTECTION
Some early busbar protection schemes used a low
impedance differential system having a relatively long
operation time, of up to 0.5 seconds. The basis of most
modern schemes is a differential system using either low
impedance biased or high impedance unbiased relays
capable of operating in a time of the order of one cycle
at a very moderate multiple of fault setting.

To this must be added the operating time of the tripping relays but
an overall tripping time of less than two cycles can be
achieved. With high-speed circuit breakers, complete
fault clearance may be obtained in approximately 0.1
seconds.

Slide 16
BUS BAR PROTECTION
STABILITY
The stability of bus protection is of very high importance.
Bearing in mind the low rate of fault incidence, amounting
to no more than an average of one fault per bus bar in
twenty years, it is clear that unless the stability of the
protection is absolute, the degree of disturbance to which
the power system is likely to be subjected may be
increased by the installation of bus protection. The
possibility of incorrect operation has, in the past, led to
hesitation in applying bus protection.

It would certainly do so during a through fault, producing

substantial fault current in the circuit. In order to maintain
the high order of integrity needed for bus bar protection, it
is an almost invariable practice to make tripping depend on
two independent measurements of fault quantities.

Slide 17
BUS BAR PROTECTION
Moreover, if the tripping of all the breakers within
a zone is derived from common measuring relays,
two separate elements must be operated at each
stage to complete a tripping operation. The two
measurements may be made by two similar
differential systems.

If two systems of the unit or other similar type are

used they should be energized by separate
current transformers in the case of high
impedance unbiased differential schemes.

Slide 18
BUS BAR PROTECTION

Slide 19
BUS BAR PROTECTION
Setting different Zones

Slide 20
BUS BAR PROTECTION (effect of ct
location)

Slide 21
BUS BAR PROTECTION (equivalent circuit of
high impedance differential protection)

Slide 22
BUS BAR PROTECTION

A.C circuit of high impedance circulating current

scheme for double bus arrangement Slide 23
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS

Slide 24
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
The SIPROTEC 7SS52 numerical protection
is a selective, reliable and fast protection
for bus bar faults and breaker failure in
medium, high and extra-high voltage substations
with various possible bus bar configurations.
The protection is suitable for all switchgear
types with iron-core or linearized current
transformers. The short tripping time is especially
advantageous for applications with high fault
levels or where fast fault clearance is required
for power system stability. The modular hardware
allows the protection optimally matched to the
bus bar to be configuration.
Slide 25
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
The decentralized arrangement
allows the cabling costs in the substation
to be drastically reduced. The 7SS52
Bus bar protection caters for single, double
or triple bus bar systems with or without
and quadruple bus bar systems without
transfer bus with up to: 48 bays, 16 bus
couplers, and 24 sectionalizing isolators
and 12 bus bar sections.

Slide 26
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
Bus bar protection functions
• Bus bar differential protection
• Selective zone tripping
• Very short tripping time (<15 ms)
• Extreme stability against external fault,
short saturation-free time (≥2ms)
• Phase-segregated measuring systems
• Integrated check zone
• 48 bays can be configured
• 12 bus bar sections can be protected
• Bay-selective inter tripping

Slide 27
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
Additional protection functions
• End-fault protection with inter trip or
bus zone trip
• Backup over current protection per bay
unit (definite-time or inverse-time)
• Independent breaker failure protection
per bay unit
Features
• Distributed or centralized installation
• Easy expansion capability
• Integrated commissioning aids
• Centralized user-friendly configuration
/ parameterization with DIGSI
Slide 28
• Universal hardware
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)

Slide 29
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)

Slide 30
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)

Slide 31
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
Differential protection is based on the Law of
Kirchhoff: in a healthy system, the sum of
currents
in a node must be zero. This is the ideal case. But
CT errors and measuring errors need to be
considered.
For that reason, the protection needs to
be stabilized.
The differential criteria and the restraint criteria
are defined as follows:
Differential current: IDiff = |I1 + I2+…. In |
Restraint current: IRestraint = |I1| + |I2 |+ ….|In|

Slide 32
LATEST NUMERICAL BUS BAR PROTECTION BY
SIEMENS (continues)
Fig. 3 shows, how IDiff and IRestraint are being
derived.
It can be seen, that for load or through-flowing
currents the differential criteria is almost zero,
whereas the restraint quantity rises instantly.
In case of an internal fault both, the differential
and the restraint quantity rise at the same time.
Hence, even within a few milliseconds, the
protection
relay can decide whether there is an internal or
external fault.

Slide 33
Derivation of I differential and I restraint (fig 3)

Slide 34
CENTRAL UNIT

Slide 35
BAY UNITS

Slide 36
 High impedance
Power Transmission and Distribution
A comparison

- Low
impedance
HIGH IMPEDANCE BUS BAR PROTECTION
RELAYS
In biased diff relays, there is restraining coil in addition to the
operating coil. The circulating current flows through the
restraining coil and the spill current flows through the operating
coil.
By inserting a resistance in series with relay operating coil of
diff protection, the spill current through the relay coil will be
reduced. The resistance connected is called stabilizing
resistance. The relay is called High Impedance Relay. This
relay is an alternative to the biased differential relay.
The high impedance relay is an attracted armature type
instantaneous relay with setting of the order of 25mA.
During normal condition, the vector sum of currents in
array is zero. During fault, the unbalance current flows
through the High Impedance producing voltage drop.

If the relay measuring system responds to voltage drop

instead of circulating current , the saturation of one of the
CTs does not cause instability of the protection.

Slide 38
HIGH IMPEDANCE BUS BAR PROTECTION
RELAYS (continues)
The discrimination between internal and external faults is made
by the voltage applied to the relay. On internal faults, the
voltage is high and on external faults, the voltage should be
low and will be nearly zero unless unequal saturation of the
current transformers exists. The maximum voltage occurs
when one CT is completely saturated and is calculated as below
Vs=If/ CT ratio (Rct + 2 RL)
If = Max rupturing capacity of BB
Rct= CT internal winding resistance
RL = Loop resistance of the wires

The relay is set by calculating this maximum possible

voltage and applying a safety factor of 1.2

The Current Transformer Knee point voltage should be 2

times the above calculated voltage.
Slide 39
High Impedance Relays: advantages

insensitiv to CT saturation
cheap solution for simple
systems
U>

I1 I2 In

Slide 40
 High impedance Relays: disadvantages

all CTs must have the same ratio

BB protection needs separate CT core
check zone needs separate CT core
no integration of feeder (back up) protection
current wires must endure high voltages
isolator replica requires switching of
secondary currents
U> risk of primary CT damage

I1 I2 In

Slide 41
Low Impedance Relays: Advantages

no special CT requirements
class X not necessary
different CT ratios allowed
CT core can be shared with feeder
protection
no separate core necessary for check
zone
complex configuration can be handled
with medium effort
high reliability Idiff Istab
fully static isolator replica
(no current switching)

Slide 42
 low impedance Relays: disadvantages

can be expensive for simple systems

Idiff Istab

Slide 43
END OF THE LECTURE

Slide 44