‫بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم‬

‫السالم عليكم ورحمة الله‬

 Generator Protection

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam

Control and Protection Division (STPG)
Relay Code
Code Name

12 Over Speed Relay

21 Distance Relay
25 Synchronizing Relay
27 Under Voltage Relay
32 Reverse Power Relay
40 Field Failure Relay
46 Negative Phase Sequence Relay
49 Thermal Relay
50 Instantaneous Over Current Relay
51 Time Delay Over Current Relay
59 Over Voltage Relay
Relay Code

Code Name

60 Voltage Balance Relay

64 Ground Relay
67 Directional Over Current Relay
78 Out of Step Relay
81 Over/Under Frequency Relay
86 Lock Out Relay
87 Differential Relay
Function of Generator and major component:

Stator: Use to generate the output power

Rotor: Use to make magnetic field

Exciter: To control Rotor magnetic filed VS Output Voltage

ABNORMAL RUNNING CONDITION:
(operation condition internal)

Loss of Excitation
Unbalance Load
Failure of Prime-mover
Over Speed
Over Voltage
Over Fluxing
Over / Under Frequency
Out of step
System Condition: (external)

 Short Circuit
 Over Load
 Loss of Load
 Unbalance Load
 Loss of Synchronism
Generator Fault Statistic:

Generator Fault %
One Phase Earth Fault 60
Two Phase Earth Fault 18
Two Phase Short cct. 5
Three Phase Short cct. 10
Others 7
Generator Fault:

• Insulation Failure
§Stator
§Rotor
• Excitation System Failure
• Prime mover Failure
• Bearing Failure
• Excessive Vibration
• Low Steam Pressure
Generator Protection:

Prime Mover Protection.

Rotor Protection.

Stator Protection
Generator Protection:

Prime Mover Protection.

Rotor Protection.

Stator Protection
Prime Mover Protection:

Reverse power protection

Generator Protection:

Prime Mover Protection.

Rotor Protection.

Stator Protection
Rotor Protection:

Rotor earth fault protection

Negative sequence protection

Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running)

Generator Protection:

Prime Mover Protection.

Rotor Protection.

Stator Protection
Stator Protection:

Over voltage protection

Over current protection
Over load protection
Differential protection
Distance protection
Inter turn fault protection
Earth fault protection
Standards:

Must conform to international standards such

as- IEC 144 / BS 5420 / VDE/VDI 0435 / IEC 947 / EN60947
 References

1. IEEE Std 242, IEEE Recommended Practice for Protection and Coordination of
Industrial and Commercial Power Systems (IEEE Buff Book).
2. IEEE Std C37.102, IEEE Guide for AC Generator Protection.
3. IEEE Std C37.101, IEEE Guide for Generator Ground Protection.
4. ANSI C50.13, Cylindrical-Rotor Synchronous Generators.
5. NEMA Std MG-1, Motors and Generators.
Prime Mover Protection:

 Reverse power protection

 Reverse power protection:
The reverse power relay is used to protect a synchronous
generator, running in parallel, from motoring.
Reverse power relay is similar to a watt-hour meter and
provides logic action to trip when power is flowing in to the
generator.
When the input to the turbine is stopped the generator
continuous to rotate as synchronous motor taking power from
the bus-bar.
During the motoring action of the generator the power flows
from the bus-bars to the machine and this condition is called as
REVERSE POWER.
A synchronous Generator / Alternator is expected to supply
active power to the system in normal operating condition.
If the turbine i.e. prime mover fails the Generator / Alternator
connected to the system will continue to operate as
synchronous Motor drawing active power from the system.
This reversal of power flow due to loss of prime mover can
be detected by reverse power relay.
The consequences of generator motoring and the level of
power drawn from the power system will be dependent on
the type of prime mover as under this condition prime mover
acts as a load for synchronous Motor.
For steam turbines, the motoring power is around 0.5-3 % of
rated power of Generator.
Under the failure of prime mover, due to motoring of turbine
windage loss will be more in turbine blades as there is no steam
to cool it down. Thus it will lead to damage of turbine.
Reverse Power element of Numerical Relay calculates
the three phase active power using its current and voltage
input based on the following formula,

P = VaIaCosØa + VbIbCosØb + VcIcCosØc

Normally reverse power setting is kept less than 50% of the
motoring power.
For example if the motoring power of steam turbine is 4%
then reverse power setting shall be kept less than 2%.
It shall also be noted that reverse power protection is
provided with a time delay of around 5 sec to prevent
spurious operation due to disturbances or following
synchronization.
Causes of Reverse Power in Generator:

One cause of reverse power flow in a generator is failure of prime

mover.
Failure of prime mover may be because of failure of Governor or
failure of Governor Valve or maloperation of Boiler Pressure Control
System.
Another cause of reverse power flow occurs during synchronization
of Generator.
The general practice for synchronizing a Generator is to close the
breaker when the needle on the synchroscope is moving clockwise
and crossing 11 O’clock position as shown in figure below.
Picture taken from Yokogawa Meters and Instruments Corporation
The position of needle is at 12 O’clock. Suppose the frequency of
Generator is less than the frequency of Grid, in this case the needle
of synchroscope won’t move in clockwise i.e. fast direction rather
it will move anticlockwise direction i.e. toward slow direction.
If we close Generator circuit breaker in such condition, then the
Grid will try to take the Generator to synchronous speed by feeding
power to the Generator and motoring of Generator will take place.
Thus in such case also reverse power will flow.
 Condition for Reverse Power:

Following are the possible circumstances in which reverse power

condition may arise.
i. When number of units are operating in parallel and failure of one unit
may result in feeding power to the suffered unit from healthy units.
ii. When one of the unit from all connected parallel units is overloaded
and its consequence would be reduced speed. Due to reduction of
speed, frequency decreases and ultimately emf generated goes on
decreasing and finally a critical stage is reached where is machine
(alternator) is driven as motor.
iii. When load is suddenly thrown off, terminal voltage of bus-bar
increases instantly. If this condition is not detected properly again
alternator will run as synchronous motor.
 Effects Of Reverse Power:

In case of steam turbine:

When reverse power flow to the steam turbine generator it acts as a motor. As
the control valves have been closed, there is no steam inside the steam turbine.
There will be no cooling effect provided by the steam during normal operation,
turbine blades will experience heating effect that will cause the last stage
blades to be broken.
But normally steam turbine is shutdown under reverse power.
when the shutdown command is given to the Steam turbine controller control
valves will be closed and in this scenario if the steam inside the turbine is not
condensed till the last stage then it will be condensed on the turbine blades
which is not favorable for steam turbine blading.
That’s why steam turbine is shutdown in reverse power so that all the steam
within the turbine is condensed.
In case of gas turbine:

Revers power is not that dangerous, as there is no voltage and

current involve.
The only fact in reverse power is the rotation speed of prime
mover is not controllable.
To control a prime mover the only key is to control the fuel to it.
But in reverse power the alternator is driving the prime mover
feeding from grid. And the grid is not controllable.
So the speed of prime mover is uncontrollable.
In case of synchronous generator if the field current is present and
is stable then there is no critical situation.
Everything will be smooth and the gas turbine will be rotating
with the motoring effect without any damage.
But if the field current is not present, it will act as a induction
motor.
It depends on the design of the turbine compressor that how much
load it will require.
During this condition the rotor can be overheated which will
damage its insulation.
Low Forward Power Protection of Generator:

Low Forward Power means the output of Generator is sufficiently

reduced.
This is basically a check not a protection i.e. Generator is tripped
after having a check that its forward power has reduced.
When the machine is generating and the CB connecting the
generator to the system is tripped, the electrical load on the
generator is cut.
This could lead to generator over-speed if the mechanical input
power is not reduced quickly.
Large turbo-alternators, with low-inertia rotor designs, do not have
a high over speed tolerance.
To reduce the risk of over speed damage to Turbine, it is
sometimes chosen to interlock non-urgent tripping of the generator
breaker and the excitation system with a low forward power check.
The delay in electrical tripping, until prime mover input power has
been removed is acceptable for non-urgent protection trips.
Note:

“There are two types of tripping of Generator in broad sense, one is

Non-urgent where immediate tripping of Generator is no required
and another is Urgent tripping where immediate tripping is required.
To be more accurate, if there is a fault in the Generator then it needs
immediate tripping while if there is some problem in process side
i.e. steam cycle then immediate tripping of Generator is not
required. Here in this case it is better to utilize the trapped steam in
between the Steam Stop Valve and Turbine. There is classification of
Generator Protection as Class A, Class B and Class C.
For urgent trips for example, stator current differential protection
the low forward power interlock should not be used.
To prevent unwanted relay alarms and flags, a low forward power
protection element can be disabled when the circuit breaker is
opened.
The threshold setting of the low forward power protection function
should be less than 50% of the power level that could result in a
dangerous over speed transient on loss of electrical loading.
Normally no time delay is provided for Low Forward Power
Protection.
Dead Machine Protection of Generator:

Dead Machine Protection in a Generator is provided to

ensure that Generator is not energized accidentally in
standstill condition or when the Generator is on Turning
Gear.
Accidental energization of Generator when the machine is
not running can cause severe damage to the machine.
Suppose the Breaker is closed when the Generator is at standstill
condition, the Generator will behave as an Induction Motor with
surface of rotor core and rotor winding slot wedges acting as rotor
current carrying conductors.
This abnormal current in the rotor can cause arcing between the
components like slot wedge to core leading to rapid overheating and
damage.
Generally, the time to damage the generator stator from the high in-
rush currents received during energizing at standstill is in the order of
a few seconds.
The bearing, however, may be damaged more quickly due to the lack
of oil pressure.
Thus it is very important to provide a fast and reliable protection to
protect Generator from accidental energization at standstill condition.
Have a look at the values of electrical parameters when there is an
accidental closer of circuit breaker when Generator is at standstill
condition.

Voltage across the Terminal of Generator = Low as the Generator

behaves as an Induction motor.

Current in the Armature winding = High

Thus we should use the above two conditions to design Dead

machine protection scheme. In Dead Machine Protection scheme, an
instantaneous over-current element in combination with under-
voltage element is used to detect Dead Machine condition.
Rotor Protection:

 Rotor earth fault protection

 Negative sequence protection

 Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running)

Rotor Protection:

 Rotor earth fault protection

 Negative sequence protection

 Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running)

 Rotor earth fault protection
The Rotor Protection relay is used in synchronous motors and
generators to identify the presence of an earth fault in the rotor
winding.
While the winding in the rotor is insulated from the ground during
normal operation, the Rotor is subjected to stresses due to
vibration, heat, etc.
These stresses can cause the winding to give way in a particular
place and the winding can get earthed.
While a single earthing in the winding is not immediately
damaging. It sets the stage for damage if a second failure should
occur.
The second earthing can cause a short-circuit through the rotor
causing extensive damage to the rotor and the winding.
The currents produced during a rotor earth fault can cause
excessive vibration and disturb the magnetic balance inside
the alternator.
These forces can cause the rotor shaft to become eccentric
and in extreme cases cause bearing failure.
It is necessary that any earthing in the rotor is detected at the
earliest.
In slip ring rotors, carbon deposits on the slip rings may
compromise the insulation resistance of the rotor.
The slip rings need to be inspected for any deposits.
There are mainly three types of rotor earth fault protection
scheme used for this purpose:

1.Potentiometer method
2.AC injection method
3.DC injection method
1.Potentiometer Method of Rotor Earth Fault Protection
in Alternator:

The scheme is very simple. Here, one resistor of suitable value

is connected across the field winding as well as across exciter.
The resistor is centrally tapped and connected to the ground via
a voltage sensitive relay.
Any earth fault in the field winding as well as exciter circuit
closes the relay circuit through earthed path.
At the same time the voltage appears across the relay due to
potentiometer action of the resistor.
This simple method of rotor earth fault protection of alternator
has a big disadvantage. This arrangement can only sense the earth
fault occurred in the any point except the center of the field
winding.
From the circuit it is also clear that in the case of earth fault on the
center of the field circuit will not cause any voltage to be appeared
across the relay.
That means simple potentiometer methods of rotor earth fault
protection, is blind to the faults at the center of the field winding.
This difficulty can be minimized by using another tap on the resistor
somewhere else from the center of the resistor via a push button.
If this push button is pressed, the center tap is shift and the voltage will
appear across the relay even in the event of central arc fault occurs on
the field winding.
2.AC Injection Method of Rotor Earth Fault Protection
in Alternator:
The Rotor Earth Fault Protection Device consists of a current
injection device which applies an AC voltage to the rotor
winding by means of a slip ring fitted on the rotor.
The current is applied to the rotor through a coupling capacitor.
In the normal condition, the system is floating and the current
flowing through the device is zero as the resistance is high.
When a fault occurs, the current increases causing the relay to
operate.
The relay can be configured for alarm or trip depending on the
practicality.
 3.DC Injection Method of Rotor Earth Fault Protection
in Alternator

The drawback of leakage current of AC injection method can

be eliminated in DC Injection Method.
Here, one terminal of DC voltage sensitive relay is connected
with positive terminal of the exciter and another terminal of
the relay is connected with the negative terminal of an
external DC source.
The external DC source is obtained by an auxiliary
transformer with bridge rectifier.
Here the positive terminal of bridge rectifier is grounded.
It is also seen from the figure below that at the event of any
field earth fault or exciter earth fault, the positive potential of
the external DC source will appear to the terminal of the relay
which was connected to the positive terminal of the exciter.
In this way the rectifier output voltage appears across the
voltage relay and hence it is operated.
Rotor Protection:

 Rotor earth fault protection

 Negative sequence protection

 Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running)

 Negative sequence protection:

Relay which protects the electrical system from negative

sequence component is called a negative sequence relay or
unbalance phase relay.
A negative phase sequence or unbalance relay is essentially
provided for the protection of generators and motors against
unbalanced loading that may arise due to phase-to-phase
faults.
Negative sequence relays are mainly required for the phase to
phase fault protection.
The negative sequence relay has a filter circuit which operates only
for the negative sequence components.
The relay always has a low current setting because the small
magnitude overcurrent can cause dangerous situations.
The negative sequence relay has earthing which protects them from
phase to earth fault but not from phase to phase fault.
The phase to phase fault mainly occurs because of the negative
sequence components.
The construction of the negative sequence relay is shown in the
figure below. The Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4 are the four impedance of the
circuit which is connected in the form of the bridge.
The impedance is energized by the current transformers.
The relay operating coil is connected to the midpoint of the circuit as
shown in the figure below.
The Z1 and Z3 are purely resistive and the Z2 and Z4 are both resistive
and inductive in nature.
The impedance Z2 and Z4 are adjusted in such a manner that the
current flowing through them is always lagging by an angle of 60º
than those current which is flowing through Z 1 and Z3.
The current flowing through the junction A is split into two parts i.e.
I1 and I4. The I4 lagging by an angle of 60º regards I1
Similarly, current from phase B split at junction C into two equal
components I3 and I2, I2 lagging behind I3 by 60º.
The current I4 lags by an angle of 30º to the I1. Similarly, I2
lags by an angle of 30º concerning IB and I3 leads IB by 30º.
The current passing through the junction B is equal to the
sum of I1, I2, and IY.
The flow of Positive Sequence Current – The phasor diagram of
positive sequence components is shown in the figure below.
When the load is in balanced conditions, then there is no negative
sequence current. The current flows through the relay is given by
the equation

So the relay remains operative for a balanced system.

The flow of Negative Sequence Current – The figure above shows
that the current I1 and I2 are equal. Thus, they cancel each other.
The current IY flows through the operating coils of the relay.
The current setting value of the relay is kept less than the normal full
load rating current because the small overload current can cause the
serious conditions.
The flow of Zero Sequence Current – The current I1 and I2 are
displaced from each other by an angle of 60º.
The resultant of the current is in phase with the current I Y. The total
current twice of the zero sequence current flows through the operating
coil of the relay.
The relay can be inoperative by connecting the CTs in the delta. In
delta connection no zero sequence current flows through the relay.
Induction type Negative Sequence Relay
The construction of induction type negative phase sequence relay is
similar as that of an induction type overcurrent relay. This relay consists
of a metallic disc usually made up of an aluminium coil, and this is
rotating between two electromagnets the upper and the lower
electromagnets.
The upper electromagnet has two winding, the primary winding of the
upper electromagnet is connected to the secondary of the CT connected
in the line to be protected. The secondary winding of the upper
electromagnet is connected in series with the windings on the lower
electromagnet
The primary winding of the relay has three terminals because of the
centre tapping. The phase R energized the upper half of the relay by the
help of CTs and auxiliary transformer while the lower half is energized
by the phase Y. The auxiliary transformer is so adjusted that their output
is lagged by an angle of 120º instead of 180º.
The operation for Positive Sequence Currents –
The current IR and IY flow through the primary windings of the
relay. The current flows in the opposite direction.
The current I’R and I’Yare equal in magnitude.
The balanced current kept the relay inoperative.

The operation for Negative Sequence currents –

The negative sequence current I flow in the primary winding of
the relay because of the fault current.
The relay starts operating when the magnitude of the fault current is more
than that of the relay setting.
Protection against unbalanced operation

A generator is connected to grid using a Δ/Y transformer. The Δ -

winding on the generator side, traps the zero sequence current from
flowing through the phase winding. positive and negative sequence
currents will find their way into stator winding. Positive sequence
currents cannot discriminate between balanced and unbalanced
operating conditions. On, the other hand, negative sequence
currents clearly indicate the abnormality. It can be used as an
effective discriminant for unbalanced system operation. Negative
sequence currents create an emf. wave in opposite direction to the
direction of rotation of rotor.
It sweep across the rotor induces second harmonic currents in rotor,
which can cause severe over heating and ultimately, the melting of
the wedges in the air gap.
ANSI standards have established that the limits can be expressed as

dt =K

Where i₂ is the negative sequence current flowing. The machine

designer establishes constant k. It can be in the range of 5 – 50. An
inverse-time overcurrent relay excited by negative sequence current
can be used for this protection.
Rotor Protection:

 Rotor earth fault protection

 Negative sequence protection

 Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running)

 Prot. Against loss of excitation (asynchronous running):

Loss of field or excitation can be caused in the generator due

to excitation failure.
In larger sized generator, energy for excitation is often taken
from a separate auxiliary source or from a separately driven
DC generator.
The failure of auxiliary supply or failure of driving motor
can also cause the loss of excitation in a generator.
Failure of excitation that is failure of field system in the
generator makes the generator run at a speed above the
synchronous speed.
In that situation the generator or alternator becomes an
induction generator which draws magnetizing current from
the system.
Although this situation does not create any problem in the
system immediately but over loading of the stator and
overheating of the rotor due to continuous operation of the
machine in this mode may create problems in the system in
long-run.
Therefore special care should be taken for rectifying the field
or excitation system of the generator immediately after
failure of that system.
The generator should be isolated from rest of the system till
the field system is properly restored.
There are mainly two schemes available for protection against loss of
field or excitation of a generator.
In 1st scheme, we use an undercurrent relay connected in shunt with
main field winding circuit.
This relay will operate if the excitation current comes below its
predetermined value.
If the relay is to operate for complete loss of field along, it must have a
setting lies well below the minimum excitation current value which can
be 8 % of the rated full load current.
Again when loss of field occurs due to failure of exciter but not due to
problem in the field circuit (field circuit remains intact) there will be an
induced current at slip frequency in the field circuit.
This situation makes the relay to pick up and drop off as per slip
frequency of the induced current in the field.
This problem can be overcome in the following manner.
In this case a setting of 5 % of normal of full load current is
recommended.
There is a normally closed contact attached with the
undercurrent relay.
This normally closed contact remains open as the relay coil is
energized by shunted excitation current during normal
operation of the excitation system.
As soon as there is any failure of excitation system, the relay
coil becomes de-energized and the normally closed contact
closes the supply across the coil of timing relay T 1.
As the relay coil is energized, the normally open contact of this
relay T 1 is closed. This contact closes the supply across another
timing relay T 2 with an adjustable pickup time delay of 2 to 10
seconds.
Relay T 1 is time delayed on drop off to stabilize scheme again
slip frequency effect. Relay T 2 closes its contacts after the
prescribed time delay to either shut down the set or initiate an
alarm.
It is time delayed on pickup to prevent spurious operation of the
scheme during an external fault.
For larger generator or alternator, we use a more sophisticated
scheme for that purpose.
For larger machines, it is recommended to trip the machine after a
certain prescribed delay in presence of swing condition resulting
from loss of field.
In addition to that there must be subsequent load shedding to
maintain stability of the system.
In this scheme of protection, an automatic imposition of load
shedding to the system is also inherently required if the field is
not restored within the described time delay.
The scheme comprises an offset mho relay, and an instantaneous
under voltage relay.
As we have said earlier that it is not always required to isolate
the generator immediately in the event of loss of field, unless
there is a significant disturb in system stability.
We know that system voltage is the main indication of system
stability.
Therefore the offset mho relay is arranged to shut the machine down
instantaneously when operation of generator is accompanied by a
system voltage collapse.
The drop in system voltage is detected by an under voltage relay
which is set to approximately 70 % of normal rated system voltage.
The offset mho relay is arranged to initiate load shedding to the
system up to a safe value and then to initiate a master tripping relay
after a predetermined time.
Generator Protection:

Prime Mover Protection.

Rotor Protection.

Stator Protection
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
  Over voltage protection:
There are always a chance of suffering an electrical power system
from abnormal over voltages.
These abnormal over voltages may be caused due to various reason
such as, sudden interruption of heavy load, lightening impulses,
switching impulses etc.
These over voltage stresses may damage insulation of various
equipments and insulators of the power system.
Although, all the over voltage stresses are not strong enough to
damage insulation of system, but still these over voltages also to be
avoided to ensure the smooth operation of electrical power system.
These all types of destructive and non destructive abnormal over
voltages are eliminated from the system by means of overvoltage
protection.
any voltage between one phase conductor and earth or between
phase conductors having a peak value exceeding the corresponding
peak of the highest voltage for equipment
Voltage Surge:

The over voltage stresses applied upon the power system, are
generally transient in nature.
Transient voltage or voltage surge is defined as sudden sizing of
voltage to a high peak in very short duration.
The voltage surges are transient in nature, that means they exist
for very short duration.
The main cause of these voltage surges in power system are due
to lightning impulses and switching impulses of the system.
But over voltage in the power system may also be caused by,
insulation failure, arcing ground and resonance etc.
The voltage surges appear in the electrical power system due to
switching surge, insulation failure, arcing ground and resonance
are not very large in magnitude.
These over voltages hardly cross the twice of the normal voltage
level. Generally, proper insulation to the different equipment of
power system is sufficient to prevent any damage due to these
over voltages.
But over voltages occur in the power system due to lightning is
very high.
If over voltage protection is not provided to the power system,
there may be high chance of severe damage.
Hence all over voltage protection devices used in power system
mainly due to lightning surges.
Switching Impulse or Switching Surge:

When a no load transmission line is suddenly switched on, the

voltage on the line becomes twice of normal system voltage.
This voltage is transient in nature.
When a loaded line is suddenly switched off or interrupted,
voltage across the line also becomes high enough current
chopping in the system mainly during opening operation of
air blast circuit breaker, causes over voltage in the system.
During insulation failure, a live conductor is suddenly earthed.
This may also caused sudden over voltage in the system.
If emf wave produced by alternator is distorted, the trouble of
resonance may occur due to 5th or higher harmonics.
Actually for frequencies of 5th or higher harmonics, a critical
situation in the system so appears, that inductive reactance of the
system becomes just equal to capacitive reactance of the system.
As these both reactance cancel each other the system becomes
purely resistive.
This phenomenon is called resonance and at resonance the system
voltage may be increased enough.
But all these above mentioned reasons create over voltages in the
system which are not very high in magnitude.
But over voltage surges appear in the system due to lightning
impulses are very high in amplitude and highly destructive.
The affect of lightning impulse hence must be avoided for over
voltage protection of power system.
Methods of Protection Against Lightning:

1.These are mainly three main methods generally used for

protection against lightning. They are Earthing screen.
2.Overhead earth wire.
3.Lighning arrester or surge dividers.
Earthing Screen:

Earthing screen is generally used over electrical substation.

In this arrangement a net of GI wire is mounted over the sub-
station.
The GI wires, used for earthing screen are properly grounded
through different sub-station structures.
This network of grounded GI wire over electrical sub-station,
provides very low resistance path to the ground for lightning
strokes.
This method of high voltage protection is very simple and
economic but the main drawback is, it can not protect the system
from travelling wave which may reach to the sub-station via
different feeders.
Overhead Earth Wire:

This method of over voltage protection is similar as earthing screen.

The only difference is, an earthing screen is placed over an
electrical sub-station, whereas, overhead earth wire is placed over
electrical transmission network.
One or two stranded GI wires of suitable cross-section are placed
over the transmission conductors.
These GI wires are properly grounded at each transmission tower.
These overhead ground wires or earth wire divert all the lightning
strokes to the ground instead of allowing them to strike directly on
the transmission conductors.
Lightning Arrester:

The previously discussed two methods, i.e. earthing screen and over-
head earth wire are very suitable for protecting an electrical power
system from directed lightning strokes but system from directed
lightning strokes but these methods can not provide any protection
against high voltage travelling wave which may propagate through
the line to the equipment of the sub-station.
The lightning arrester is a devices which provides very low
impedance path to the ground for high voltage travelling waves.
The concept of a lightning arrester is very simple.
This device behaves like a nonlinear electrical resistance.
The resistance decreases as voltage increases and vice-versa, after a
certain level of voltage.
The functions of a lightning arrester or surge dividers can be listed as
below.
1.Under normal voltage level, these devices withstand easily the
system voltage as electrical insulator and provide no conducting path
to the system current.
2.On occurrence of voltage surge in the system, these devices provide
very low impedance path for the excess charge of the surge to the
ground.
3.After conducting the charges of surge, to the ground, the voltage
becomes to its normal level. Then lightning arrester regains its
insulation properly and prevents regains its insulation property and
prevents further conduction of current, to the ground.
There are different types of lightning arresters used in power
system, such as rod gap arrester, horn gap arrester, multi-gap
arrester, expulsion type LA, value type LA.
In addition to these the most commonly used lightning arrester
for over voltage protection now-a-days gapless ZnO
lightning arrester is also used.
V/f Protection:

During start-up or shut down, the speed of the generator will

deviate significantly from the nominal speed. As per the emf.
equation (E = 4.44f m N), over fluxing of the core is not simply a
consequence of over voltages with respect to nominal voltage.
Over fluxing occurs when V/f ratio exceeds its nominal value.
Over voltage protection is implemented after normalizing the
terminal voltage by the frequency of the generator.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
 Over current protection:

Overcurrent protection uses as back-up protection for protection

generators from faults between two windings of stator (two phases
of stator).
Setting of overcurrent protection depends from two settings:
current setting of relay protection and time setting of relay
protection.
Current setting of relay protection represents minimal value of
current under which relay protection will send signal to breaker to
act and this value is higher from value of rated current in generator
(higher from maximum allowed value of current in generator).
Time setting of relay protection represents time after that relay
need to send signal to breaker to break fault.
when we talk about time setting of relay protection, we need to
have on mind time delay.
Time delay represents time during other protections need to act
before overcurrent protection acts in case where is overcurrent
back-up protection for protection of generator.
Then there is voltage restrained time overcurrent protection
(ANSI 51V) which is commonly applied on generators.
The pickup setting of these relays reduces (becomes more
sensitive) when the applied voltage reduces.
It is supposed to aid in sensing faults that are electrically close
to the generator terminals as there is insufficient fault
impedance to maintain the voltage at the generator.
It is especially useful in tripping out faults that have persisted
long enough for the generator fault decrement curve to get to the
portion where the synchronous reactance is the characteristic
impedance.
When this happens the fault current will be at the same levels as
normal load currents and increased sensitivity is needed.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
 Over load protection:
The thermal overload relay has three bimetal pole, or strip, relays that are
equipped with bimetal tripping elements. The current for the motor runs
through these three elements. The tripping elements and poles are heated
directly by the electrical current or indirectly by the current by passing through
the insulated heating winding that forms part of the protective housing around
the pole, or strip. When too much electrical current passes through the pole, it
causes it to overheat. As the pole overheats, it begins to bend. This causes the
tripping elements to engage, releasing the relay and causing the contacts to
switch positions, shutting off the electrical supply to the motor. Because they
are designed to help avoid overheating and causing damage to the motor, the
temperature readings given by the thermal overload relay might be hotter than
the motor actually is. The relay works to shut off the excess electrical current
before it reaches the motor which results in the temperature discrepancy.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
 Differential protection:

Any internal fault inside the stator winding is cleared by mainly

differential protection scheme of the generator or alternator. The
differential protection is provided in the generator by using
differential relay.
Generally instantaneous attracted armature type relays are used
for this purpose because all they have high speed operation and
also they are free from being affected by any AC transient of
the power circuit.
There are two sets of current transformers one CT is connected to
the line side of the generator and other is connected to the neutral
side of the generator in each phase. If there is any major mismatched
in the current transformer’s characteristics of both sides of the
generator, there may be high chance of malfunctioning of
differential relay during the fault external to the stator winding and
also may be during normal operating conditions of the generator. To
ensure that the relay does not operate for the faults external to the
operated zone of the protection scheme, a stabilizing resistor is fitted
in series with the relay operating oil. It also ensures that if one set of
CT has been saturated, there will be no possibility of malfunctioning
of the differential relay.
The mismatches cause spill current to flow through the relay operating
coil. To avoid the effect of spill current, percentage biasing is
introduced in differential relay
Differential current pickup setting/bias setting of the relay is
adopted based on the maximum percentage of allowable
mismatch adding some safety margin.
The spill current level for the relay is to just operate it; is
experienced as a percentage of the through fault current causing
it. This percentage is defined as bias setting of the relay.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
 Distance protection

If the generator's performance is plotted on a four-quadrant

rectangular graph having reactance as its vertical axis and
resistance as its horizontal axis, then the machine's operating
condition can be represented by a point in the first-quadrant, say
R, X. A line from the origin to R, X, represents its impedance, Z.
As the event continues the path from R, X drifts (in most cases
seconds, in rare cases tens of seconds) into the fourth-quadrant,
where R is positive, but X is negative. The "impedance
protective relay" is designed to detect the transgression, and trip
the machine!
 40Z–Generator Under Excitation Protection Introduction

This is another type of protection which operates on the positive

sequence impedance plane. We first look at the electrical quantity
that changes most when a generator losses synchronism. This is
none other than the system impedance measured at the generator
stator terminals. When the generator losses its field/ excitation,
the first occurrence will be the terminal phase voltages decrease
and the stator currents increase in time. On the impedance plane,
this effect causes a decrease in the system impedance and also a
change in power factor while the generator losses its
synchronism.
Under this condition, the generator could operate in an
asynchronous condition. The magnetic flux on the rotor poles dies
away slowly and the rotor angle of the unit gradually increases.
The system impedance on the impedance diagram (measured by the
generator protection relay) will travel from the load point in a
synchronous condition to move along a locus with an progressively
increased rotor angle into an anti-phase position. This operating
point will finally reach an impedance value equal to the machine
reactance in the opposite plane.
Due to this apparent change in impedance, a protection can
be designed to have zoned characteristics of mho type to
observe the change and provide a comprehensive coverage
of the system impedance under asynchronous condition.
With these protection features in place, the action of the
relay can be configured to provide either an alarm or trip to
the system.
For a proper protection against generator asynchronous operation,
the phase mhos must operate to cover the expected travelling orbit
corresponding to the generator asynchronous condition as
complete as possible on the impedance plane. This requires the
considerations for the protection settings based on the expected
slip values of the generator and the travelling orbit under the
asynchronous condition. Given the the usual locus of travel, a mho
characteristic centred on the negative reactance - Xd, offset by50
to 70% of the generator transient reactance – Xd’ is considered
adequate.
The basic parameters of the generator and system that influence
the reach settings that shape and gives the diameter of phase mho
zones are as follow: 1. Generator direct axis reactance Xd in
secondary ohms.
Out-of-Step Protection:
With modern generators having large Xd and EHV transmission having
low reactance, it is likely that the electrical center, a consequence of out-
of step condition would be within the generator step-up transformer
unit. To detect this condition, distance relay looking into the generator
(or into the transformer-generator unit) should be installed. Even a
distance relay used for loss-of-field protection will pick-up on such
power swing. If the swing moves out of the relay characteristic, before
the timer runs down, then, no trip action will be initiated. However, if
the swing persists for sufficient time, the loss-of-excitation distance
relay will operate on power swing.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
  Inter turn fault protection

This type of faults is generated if the insulation between conductors

(with different potential) in the same slot is punctured. This type of
fault rapidly changes to earth fault.
The high voltage generator contains a large number of conductors
per slot in the stator winding hence, in these cases the additional
inter turn fault protection of the stator winding may be essential.
Moreover in modern practice, inter turn protection is becoming
essential for all large generating units.
Differential protection for stator does not provide protection
against the inter-turn faults on the same phase winding of the
stator. The reason is that the current produced by the turn to turn
fault flows in the local circuit between the turns involved and
thus it does not create any difference between the current
entering and leaving the windings at its two ends where the CTs
are mounted.
The coils of the modern turbo generator are single- turn , so there
is no need to provide inter –turn fault protection for the turbo
generator. But the inter turn protection is necessary for the multi
turn generator like hydro electric generator. Some times stator
windings are duplicated to carry heavy current. In this case stator
winding have two different paths.
In this type of protection primaries of the CTs are inserted
in the parallel paths and secondaries are inter connected.
Under the normal condition current flowing through the
two parallel paths of the stator winding will be same and no
current flowing through the relay operating coil. Under the
inter turn fault, current flowing through the two parallel
path will be different and this difference in current flowing
through the operating coil and thus causes the circuit
breaker to trip and disconnect the faulty section. This type
of protection is very sensitive.
Parallel Wound Generator:
The schematic diagram of a biased transverse differential protection
for stator inter-turn faults is shown in the figure .
This type of protection requires special arrangements for the
winding. To identify the fault occurring between turns, each
winding (phase) is split into two as shown in the fig. Under
normal conditions, the current through the two windings are equal.
Hence, the currents through the secondary of the two CTs are
equal and no current flows through the operating coil of the relay
and so the relay will not operate. If there is any fault between the
turns the current through the two CTs will not be equal and hence
the difference of the currents flows through the relay operating
coil. The relay will pickup and close the trip circuit to isolate the
fault sections.
Generator with single winding per phasor having
inaccessible parallel winding
This type of protection uses zero sequence components
of voltage caused by the reduction of emf in the faulted
phase, When the fault occurs, the zero sequence voltage
appears across tertiary winding of the voltage
transformer which is connected to the operating coil of
the three element directional relay and hence the relay
operates.
 Restricted Ground Fault Protection by Differential System

If the generator neutral is solidly earthed or grounded, it is possible

to protect complete windings, against phase to ground fault.
As neutral is earthed through a resistance to limit the earth fault
current, with this type of earthing , it is not possible to protect
complete winding from earth-fault and percentage of winding
protected, depends upon the value of the neutral earthing resistor
and the relay setting. The setting should be such that the protection
does not operate for earth faults on EHV side. Earth faults are not
likely to occur near the neutral point due to less voltage with
reference to earth. It is the usual practice to protect about 80 to
85% of generator winding against earth-faults. The remaining 20 to
15% winding from neutral side is left unprotected by the
differential relay. Hence a separate earth fault protection is
provided to take care of the complete winding against earth faults.
During earth fault in the generator winding (G.W), the fault current
IF, flows through a part of the winding and neutral to ground circuit.
The corresponding secondary current IS flows through the operating
coil (OC) and the restricted earth fault (R.E.F) relay coil of the
differential protection shown in the figure above.
If the earth fault IF occurs at point F of the generator winding,
VaF is available to drive earth fault current IF through the neutral
to ground connection. If point ‘F’ in nearer to ‘a’ i.e., nearer to
neutral point, the forcing voltage VaF is relatively less. Hence
earth fault current IF will be small. It is not practicable to keep
the relay setting too sensitive to sense the earth fault currents of
small magnitudes. Hence, the practice is to protect about 85% of
the generator winding against phase to earth fault and to leave
the 15% portion unprotected by the differential protection against
earth faults.
The resistance R limits the earth-fault current show in the figure above.
If R is too small (solid earthing) is not used. Solid earthing is limited to
3.3KV. For low resistance earthing, the resistance R is such that full
current passes through neutral for a full line to neutral voltage. For a 60
MW generator, the resistance is of such a value that the earth is about
200A. In high resistance earthing, maximum earth fault current is of the
order of 10A, which is normally used in distribution transformers and
generator transformer units. With higher neutral resistance, the earth
fault current is reduced. Hence lesser percentage of winding is protected
by the restricted earth fault protection.
Stator Protection:

 Over voltage protection

 Over current protection
 Over load protection
 Differential protection
 Distance protection
 Inter turn fault protection
 Earth fault protection
  Earth fault protection

The star point or neutral point of stator winding of an alternator is

grounded through an impedance to limit the ground fault current.
Reduced ground fault current causes less damage to the stator core
and winding during ground or earth fault. If the ground impedance is
made quite high, the ground fault current may become even less than
normal rated current of the generator. If so, the sensitivity of phase
relays becomes low, even they may fail to trip during fault.
 a current lower than rated current makes it difficult to operate
differential relays for ground fault. In that case, a sensitive ground/earth
fault relay is used in addition to the differential protection of alternator.
What type of relaying arrangement will be engaged in stator earth fault
protection of alternator depends upon the methods of stator neutral
earthing. In the case of resistance neutral earthing the neutral point of
stator winding is connected to the ground through a resistor.
If the generator is connected directly to the substation bus bars,
the relay connected across the CT secondary, would be an
inverse time relay because here, relay coordination is required
with other fault relays in the system.
But when the stator of the alternator is connected to the primary
of a star Delta transformer, the fault is restricted in between
stator winding and transformer primary winding, therefore no
coordination or discrimination is required with other earth fault
relays of the system. in this case instantaneous armature
attracted type relay is preferable to be connected across the CT
secondary.
It is should be noted that, 100 % of the stator winding cannot be
protected in resistance neutral earthing system.
How much percentage of stator winding would be protected
against earth fault, depends upon the value of earthing resistance
and the setting of relay. The resistance grounding of stator winding
can also be made by using a distribution transformer instead of
connecting a resistor directly to the neutral path of the winding.
Here, primary of a distribution transformer is connected across
earth and neutral point of the stator winding.
Secondary of the transformer is loaded by a suitable resistor and
one over voltage relay is also connected across the secondary of
the transformer. The maximum allowable earth fault current is
determined by the size of the transformer and the value of loading
register R.
Generator Protection
•Loss of Field (40Q, 40Z)
•Over/Under Frequency (81O/81U)
•Over excitation and Overvoltage (24, 59)
•Out of Step (78)
•Negative Sequence (Current Unbalance) (46)
•Inadvertent Energization (27, 50, 60, 81, 62, 86)
•Loss of Voltage Transformer (60)
•System Backup (51V, 21)
•Conclusion