Maintenance and Testing of Electrical Machine

Week No- 12 Lecture No: 37

Topic Name: Protection of transformers

Introduction

Transformers are one of the most critical and expensive components of any distribution

system. Transformers are static devices, totally enclosed and generally oil immersed.

Transformers operate based on the principle of Faraday’s Law of Electromagnetic

Induction.Transformers are used to deliver the power to the consumer without changing its

power and frequency. It is used to step up or step down the voltage levels in power systems,

making it a crucial component for the transmission and distribution of electrical energy.

Power transformers play an important role in modern power systems, and their protection is of

great importance to assure stable, reliable and secure operation of the whole system. Chances

of faults occurring on them are very rare. However, the consequences of even a rare fault may

be very serious unless the transformer is quickly disconnected from the system. Also, the

Chance of fault occurring on them are very rare compared to transmission line But the damage

caused by faults usually takes more time and money to repair compared to transmission lines.

This necessitates providing adequate automatic protection for transformers against possible

faults.Small distribution transformers are usually connected to the supply system through series

fuses instead of circuit breakers. Consequently, no automatic protective relay equipment is

required. However, the probability of faults on power transformers is undoubtedly more and

hence automatic protection is absolutely necessary.

conditions may arise, power transformers may suffer only three main abnormal conditions which

are:

Open Circuits- An open circuit in one phase of a three-phase transformer can lead to

undesirable heating. This type of fault can happen in various parts of the transformer, such as in

the winding, leads, or connections. However, in practice, relay protection is not typically

provided for open circuits because this condition is generally considered relatively harmless.

When such a fault occurs, the transformer can be manually disconnected from the system.

Overheating -of the transformer is usually caused by sustained overloads or short- circuits

and very occasionally by the failure of the cooling system. The allowable overload and the

corresponding duration are dependent on the type of transformer and class of insulation used for

the transformer. The temperature in the oil-cooled transformer is considered maximum when its

95*C, beyond which the life expectancy of the transformer decreases and it has detrimental

effects in the insulation of the wire. The relay protection is also not provided against this

contingency and thermal accessories are generally used to sound an alarm or control the banks of

fans. Large transformers have oil or winding temperature detection devices, which measure oil or

winding temperature, typically there are two ways of measurement, one is referred to hot-spot

measurement and second is referred to as top-oil measurement

Winding short-circuits- Winding short-circuits, also known as internal faults, are serious issues

in transformers. These faults can arise from the deterioration of winding insulation due to factors

such as overheating, mechanical injury, or aging as well as over voltages due to lightning,

Switching surges & Minor faults. Internal faults are dangerous because they can lead to severe
damage to the transformer, including the possibility of an oil fire due to prolonged arcing. For

these reasons, prompt detection and isolation of the transformer from the system are crucial.

Protection Systems for Transformer Protection - Transformer protection involves various

methods to safeguard transformers from faults and abnormal conditions. Here are some

commonly used protection methods:

Buchholz devices provide protection against various incipient faults, such as insulation failure of

windings, core overheating, and oil level drops due to leaky joints.

Earth-fault relays offer protection specifically against earth faults.

Overcurrent relays are primarily designed to protect against phase-to-phase faults and

overloading.

The Differential system (or circulating-current system) protects against both earth faults and

phase faults.

Protection Technique

Complete Transformer protection typically requires a combination of different systems. The

choice of which systems to use depends on factors like-

The size of the Transformer- Larger transformers, which handle higher voltages and power

levels, require more sophisticated protection systems. This includes differential protection,

overcurrent protection, and Buchholz relays. Smaller transformers may require simpler

protection, such as basic overcurrent protection, fuses, or relays.

Type of cooling -

Oil-Immersed Transformers use oil for cooling and insulation. Protection for oil-immersed

transformers often includes Buchholz relays, which detect gas accumulation due to internal

faults.
Dry-Type Transformers are air-cooled and don’t use oil, so the protection systems focus on

monitoring temperature and ensuring proper airflow. Over temperature relays and cooling fan

controls are common in these setups.

Transformer Location in the Network –

Substation Transformers located in substations are critical for grid stability. Protection for

these transformers typically includes differential protection, overcurrent protection, and ground

fault protection.

Distribution Transformers are typically located closer to the end users and might have less

complex protection systems. Standard protections include overcurrent and earth fault protection,

as well as surge protection to handle issues from the distribution network.

Type of Load It Serve-Transformers serving industrial loads, such as factories or manufacturing

plants, need robust protection due to the heavy and sometimes erratic nature of the loads.

Protection systems might include harmonic filters, overload protection, and differential

protection to safeguard against the high stress these loads can place on the transformer.

Transformers serving residential or commercial loads typically face more predictable and lower

levels of demand. Protection systems here focus on overcurrent and earth fault protection, as well

as surge protection to handle lightning strikes or other external surges.

Buchholz Relay- The Buchholz relay is a gas-operated device installed in oil-immersed

transformers to protect against various faults. Buchholz, relay sounds an alarm for slow-

developing (incipient) faults and disconnects the transformer from the power supply in the case

of severe internal faults. It's typically placed in the pipe that connects the conservator to the main

tank. It's common practice to use Buchholz relays in all oil-immersed transformers with ratings

above 750 kVA.

It takes the form of a domed vessel placed in the connecting pipe between the main tank and

the conservator. The device has two elements. The upper element consists of a mercury type

switch attached to a float. The lower element contains a mercury switch mounted on a hinged

type flap located in the direct path of the flow of oil from the transformer to the conservator.

The upper element closes an alarm circuit during incipient faults whereas the lower element is

arranged to trip the circuit breaker in case of severe internal faults.

The operation of Buchholz relay is as follows:

1. In case of incipient faults within the transformer, the heat due to fault causes the

decomposition of some transformer oil in the main tank. The products of decomposition

contain more than 70% of hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas being light tries to go into the

conservator and in the process gets entrapped in the upper part of relay chamber. When a

predetermined amount of gas gets accumulated, it exerts sufficient pressure on the float to

cause it to tilt and close the contacts of mercury switch attached to it. This completes the alarm

circuit to sound an alarm.

2. If a serious fault occurs in the transformer, an enormous amount of gas is generated in the

main tank. The oil in the main tank rushes towards the conservator via the Buchholz relay and

in doing so tilts the flap to close the contacts of mercury switch. This completes the trip circuit

to open the circuit breaker controlling the transformer.

Advantages

(i) It is the simplest form of transformer protection.

(ii) It detects the incipient faults at a stage much earlier than is possible with other forms of

protection.
The Buchholz relay is a critical device for protecting oil-immersed transformers. Its ability to

detect gas accumulation and sudden oil surges provides an effective means of identifying and

responding to internal transformer faults.

Earth-Fault or Leakage Protection- An earth-fault occurs when the insulation around the

transformer winding partially fails, allowing a small amount of current to leak to the ground.

This leakage current is much lower than the current in a short-circuit. However, Earth-fault can

continue for a long period and cause considerable damage before it ultimately covert to short-

circuit, which would then trigger disconnection from the system. To prevent this, earth-fault

relays are essential, as they can rapidly detect and disconnect the fault at an early stage. These

relays function similarly to sensitive overcurrent relays, activating as soon as they detect an

earth-fault or leakage. One effective method to protect a transformer from earth-faults is by

using core-balance leakage protection.

Working -

Under core balance protection The three wires from the primary winding of a power

transformer pass through the core of a current transformer, which has a single secondary

winding. A relay is connected to this secondary winding. Under normal conditions, when there

is no earth-fault, the sum of the instantaneous currents in the three phases is zero, so no

magnetic flux is created in the core of the current transformer, and no current flows through the

relay. As a result, the relay doesn't activate. However, if an earth-fault occurs, the sum of the

three-phase currents is no longer zero. This imbalance creates a magnetic flux in the core of the

current transformer, generating an electrical current in the secondary winding. This current
powers the relay, causing it to trip the circuit breaker and disconnect the faulty transformer

from the system.

Combined Leakage and Overload Combined Protection-

The core-balance protection mentioned has a limitation: it can't protect against overloads. If a

fault or leakage occurs between phases (r-b,y,b like that ), the core-balance relay won't

activate. To address this, transformers usually have combined protection for both leakage and

overloads. The earth relay is set to a low current level and only responds to earth or leakage

faults. On the other hand, the overload relays are set to a higher current level and are designed

to activate when there are faults between the phases.

Figure shows the schematic setup for combined leakage and overload protection. In this

protection system, two overload relays and one leakage or earth relay are connected as shown.

The two overload relays are adequate to protect against phase-to-phase faults. The trip contacts

of the overload relays and the earth-fault relay are connected in parallel. Consequently, the

circuit breaker will be tripped if either the overload relay or the earth relay is activated.
Differential Protection –

Differential protection is widely used for transformer protection due to its high reliability and

sensitivity in detecting internal faults such as phase to phase and phase to ground fault.

Differential protection is used for detecting the fault in a particular zone. Therefore, we call it

also unit protection. The important point is that the differential relay should not trip in case of

through fault condition.

Although Buchholz relay is effective at detecting faults within the transformer’s insulating oil,

but it is unable to detect faults that do not involve the oil. For example, flashovers at the

bushings are not adequately covered by Buchholz relays, but differential relays can detect these

faults. Although Buchholz relays can identify internal transformer faults, differential protection

schemes can do so more quickly.

Working Principle –

It works on principle that under normal operating conditions, the current entering the

transformer should equal the current leaving it. Any difference between these currents indicates

a fault within the transformer.

Differential Protection Configuration--CTs are installed on both the primary and secondary

sides of the transformer. The CTs on the two sides are connected by pilot wires and one relay is
used for each pair of CT. These CTs measure the current on each side and send these

measurements to a differential relay. The secondary of these both CTs are connected together

in such a manner that secondary currents of both CTs will oppose each other. In other words,

the secondary of both CTs should be connected to the same current coil of a differential relay

in such an opposite manner that there will be no resultant current in that coil in a normal

working condition of the transformer. But if any major fault occurs inside the transformer due

to which the normal ratio of the transformer disturbed then the secondary current of both

transformers will not remain the same and one resultant current will flow through the current

coil of the differential relay, which will actuate the relay and inter trip both the primary and

secondary circuit breakers.

Normal Condition-

Under normal conditions (no fault), the currents measured by the CTs on both sides of the

transformer will balance out after accounting for the transformer turns ratio. The differential

relay sees little to no difference and does not operate.

Internal Fault Condition: If there is an internal fault (e.g., winding short-circuit), the currents

measured by the CTs will no longer balance. The differential relay detects a significant

difference and trips the circuit breakers to isolate the transformer, preventing further damage.

Although the differential protection provides the best overall protection. But following factors

affect the differential current in transformers and should be considered while applying

differential protection. These factors can result in a differential current even under balanced

power in & out conditions.

CT Saturation: Differential protection can be affected by CT saturation during heavy external

faults, which can cause mal operation. External fault currents can lead to CT saturation. This
can cause relay operating current to flow due to distortion of the saturated CT current.

Alternatively, the harmonic current present in the saturated CT can cause a delay in the

operation of the differential relay during internal faults. Proper selection of CT ratios is

essential to minimize problems due to the saturation.

Mismatched CTs: Differential protection relies on CTs to accurately measure currents entering

and leaving the transformer windings. Any mismatch in the performance or characteristics of

CTs, such as different turn’s ratios or phase shifts, can lead to inaccuracies in differential

current measurements. Regular calibration, testing, and ensuring CT consistency help mitigate

this problem.

Inrush Currents: During transformer energization, inrush currents can occur due to the

magnetization of the transformer core. These currents can mimic fault currents and cause

differential relays to operate incorrectly, resulting in nuisance tripping. Inrush current detection

algorithms or harmonic blocking filters are commonly used to mitigate this problem.

Tap Changer Operation: Most transformers have means for tap changing which makes this

problem even more difficult. Tap changing will cause differential current to flow through the

relay even under normal operating conditions. The above difficulty is overcome by adjusting

the turn-ratio of CTs on the side of the power transformer provided with taps.

There is usually a phase difference between the primary and secondary currents of a 3-phase

power transformer. Even if CTs of the proper turn-ratio are used, a differential current may

result due to the phase difference between the currents on two sides. Such a different current

may operate the relay though there is no fault. Hence it is necessary to correct the phase

difference. To compensate for this, the C.T. connections should be such that the resultant

currents fed into the pilot wires from either side are displaced in phase by an angle equal to the
phase shift between the primary and secondary currents. To achieve this, secondary of CTs on

star connected side of a power transformer are connected in delta while the secondary of CTs

on delta connected side of a power transformer are connected in star. Here’s the table with the

specified power transformer and current transformer connections.

Figure shows differential protection scheme for three phase transformer delta/delta power

transformer against phase-to ground and phase-to-phase faults. CTs on the two sides of the

transformer are connected in star. This compensates for the phase difference between the power

transformer primary and secondary.

Percentage differential Protection-. It is the advanced form of differential protection relay.

The relay consists of an operating coil and restraining coil. The operating coil is connected to

the mid –point of restraining coil. The percentage differential relay consist restraining coil for
overcoming the trouble arising out of differences in the current ratio for the high value of an

external fault. As the name implies, the restraining-coil is used to produce the restraining force,

it means prevents the closing of the trip circuit and the operating-coil is used to produce the

operating force which means the operating coil tends to close the trip circuit contacts. The

restraining-coil is connected with the secondary winding of the current transformers, and the

operating coil is connected in between the equipotential point of the CT. Under normal

operating conditions and through load condition the torque developed by the restraining coil is

greater than the operating coil torque. Thus the relay remains inoperative. When an internal

fault occurs, the operating torque exceeds the restraining torque then the trip circuit contacts

are closed to open the circuit breaker contact.

The differential current in the operating coil is proportional to (I1-I2), and the restraining coil is

proportional to (I1-I2)/2 as the operating current is connected to the midpoint of the restraining

coil. For external faults both I1 and I2 increase and thereby the restraining torque increase,

which prevents the mal-operation.