TRANSFORMER PROTECTION

Transformer Technology Design and Operation University of Queensland July 2009

Transformer windings damaged by excessive through fault current

Fault Rate
In the order of 1 fault per 100 years per transformer

TYPES OF TRANSFORMER FAULT

Phase-ground faults - from winding to core or winding to tank Phase-phase faults - between windings Interturn faults - between single turns or adjacent layers of the same winding Arcing contacts Local hotspots caused by shorted laminations External faults causing thermal or mechanical damage overloads

TYPES OF TRANSFORMER FAULT

Low level internal partial discharges (moisture ingress or design problems) Bushing faults (internal to the tank) Tapchanger faults (often housed in a separate tank) Terminal faults (external to the tank, but inside the transformer zone)

Protection Grouping
As far as possible, select one protection type in each protection group (X/Y or Main/Backup) to cover each type of fault. This will achieve the best diversity of fault coverage.

BUCHHOLZ RELAY
provides very sensitive protection for oilfilled transformers and reactors only suitable for transformers fitted with an oil conservator arguably the best overall transformer protection for internal faults can be sensitive to accidental bumps or pump starts

Buchholz Relay (EMB Germany)

BUCHHOLZ alarms for:

Local winding overheating - alarm Local core overheating (short circuited laminations) Bad contacts or joints Partial discharge Broken down core bolt insulation

BUCHHOLZ trips for:

Detection of loss of or low oil due to
1. 2. 3. Leaky pipe joints Tank faults Contraction of oil under low temperatures and light load

major internal faults (inter-turn faults or faults involving earth) which result in oil surges to the conservator.

BUCHHOLZ PRINCIPLE There are two floats in the relay:

upper float - detects accumulation of gas generates alarm only lower float - detects surge in oil - trips in less than 100ms optional loss of oil trip, associated with trip float

Normal state
alarm float to ground level gas receiver

contacts mercury wetted relayfor alarm to conservator reverse flow oil guard trip float
contacts

adjustable tripping vane to transformer

mercury wetted relay for trip

screw removal for low oil trip

Gas build-up alarm

GAS OIL

Oil surge trip

oil surge

Pressure Relief Device

Qualitrol brand - a spring assisted pressure relief device relieves pressure impulses due to massive internal fault conditions. helps prevent the tank bursting or splitting relay contacts are also connected to trip the transformer.

Pressure Relief Device

Since pressure waves travel with a finite velocity, they may rupture the tank locally before the pressure wave has reached the pressure relief device, if it is some distance away. Several units are therefore often used on larger transformers.

Pressure Relief Device

Spring resets after pressure is relieved this prevents excessive oil loss uses hydraulic amplification to achieve fast operation - several ms

Qualitrol

Other pressure relief devices

On-load tap changer tanks may be fitted with a simpler gas impulse relay to protect against tapchanger failure

Overtemperature
generally regarded as overload protection also deals with failure of or interference with pumps and fans or shutting of valves to pumps Winding hot spot temperature is the main issue, but both oil and winding temperatures are usually measured and used to:
initiate an alarm trip circuit breakers control fans and pumps

Overtemperature
Two temperatures must be monitored
Winding temperature (WTI) - (short thermal ) this can rise rapidly, without much of an increase in oil temperature Oil temperature (OTI) - (long thermal ) this can rise slowly to a critical point without an unacceptable winding temperature increase

Temperature Measurement
most common device uses a Bourdon Tube (invented 1849) to measure temperatures
probe placed in oil-filled pocket at the top of transformer - mercury expansion in the probe causes the spiral Bourdon tube to try to straighten, rotating a mechanical arm

Conventional Bourdon tube based temperature indicator

(Kihlstrom) Typically two of these are used per transformer - one for winding (including load compensation) and one for oil

Winding temperature calculation

a calculated value of winding hot spot is made from measurements of oil temperature and load current a heater, driven by a load current CT, and together with a matching unit, is used as a thermal model of the main winding. heater can be located in the oil pocket placed in the top oil, (the hottest place) or in the WTI itself.

Typical bourdon tube scheme with winding temperature compensation

CT Matching unit
(transformer dependent)

heater

Alternatives
embedded fibre optic sensors for direct measurement of winding hot spot temp are also popular, especially during factory tests an RTD (resistance temperature detector) can also used to measure top oil temp winding temperature can also be calculated, (in e.g. a PLC or RTU) from measured top oil temp and load current these approaches have not displaced the proven, economical and robust Kihlstrom

Typical alarm and trip levels

(dependent on asset management policy)
winding alarm - 90C to 110C winding trip - 110C to 135C oil alarm - 80C to 95C oil trip - 95C to 115C Oil trip may be disabled if transformer is readily accessible by maintenance crews on the grounds they can visit sub and may be able to remedy problem. This is a controversial practice.

Temperature vs life
economic gains are possible from short time overloads - life used calculations may permit higher temperatures for short periods, but WTI trip needs to be more complex or monitored 110 C winding hot spot temperature gives standard 20-25 year life of insulation Roughly every 7 C increase in temperature doubles the rate of loss of life for paper in oil insulation

Fuses for Transformers

Used in transformers up to a rating of typically 1MVA, but no higher than10MVA fuses should be rated continuously for emergency overload this is a fundamental limit to their sensitivity to faults

Advantages of Fuses
Fuses provide reasonable protection at low cost good for low cost (small) transformers Some (HRC) fuses are actually better than a relay/circuit breaker combination in limiting the amount of damage to plant (and personnel)

Disadvantages of Fuses
The cost of replacement, including time They often do not offer protection at currents just above fuse rating - often failing explosively. This means fuses are for protection against faults, not protection against overloads No better sensitivity to earth faults than to interphase faults (c.f. O/C and E/F relays) Time-current characteristics are influenced by ambient temperature and pre-fault load current

Inrush Current Withstand

fuse must be able to withstand the magnetizing inrush current that occurs on energization
6x rated current for up to 1s 10x to 12x rated current for 100ms 25x rated current for 10ms

Lightning Performance
lightning-caused overvoltages may cause transient line charging and transformer inrush, leading to fuse deterioration or even spurious operation

Fuses Types for Transformers

High rupturing capacity (HRC) fuses for
ground level (padmount) transformers these are always also current limiting fuses Expulsion drop-out fuses for pole mounted transformers

High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) Fuses

For these current limiting fuses, the prospective peak fault current is not reached, except for low level faults Fully enclosed in a ceramic body with quartz filling and metal end caps Elements are quite expensive (up to hundreds of dollars) Only Full Range fuses guaranteed to safely break all currents which melt the element

Current limiting fuse

Current Limiting Characteristic

prospective current cut-off current

peak voltage

recovery voltage

Expulsion Drop-out (EDO) Fuses

For external use only, on distribution circuits not of the current limiting variety these interrupt at a current zero Used on distribution systems at 11 to 33kV and up to 3MVA

Expulsion Drop-out (EDO) Fuses

elements are low cost in order of $10 drop-out action prevents tracking across burnt sections of the fuse and provides a visual indication of operation Have a limited upper breaking current capability

Expulsion Drop-out (EDO) Fuses

Be aware there are two types
type K fast type T slow

Type K can sometimes blow spuriously, hence the development of type T Dont mix the two types

Expulsion drop-out fuse

Expulsion drop-out fuse after operation

Co-ordination of fuses
a margin between the maximum clearing time of the downstream fuse and the minimum melting time of the upstream fuse is required HRC fuses - charts used EDO fuses
75% of min. melting time rule tables of max coordination current

Chart for grading HRC Fuses

maximum total I2t minimum pre-arcing I2t

100

125

200

160

Fuse Rating

250

40

35

50

32

63

80

Graphically grading EDO Fuses (method 1) Fuse As max clearing time to be less than 75% fuse Bs min melting time at max fault current

Fuse grading chart 10 9 8 7 6 time (s) 5 4 3 2 1 0 10 100 Current (A) 1000

Max clearing time fuse B Min melting time fuse B

Max clearing time fuse A Min melting time fuse A

OVERCURRENT & EARTH FAULT PROTECTION RELAYS

Used in transformers up to approximately 50MVA For 10MVA tx provides main protection For 50MVA tx provides backup protection only Common at voltages up to about 66kV

Overcurrent (O/C) Protection

An overcurrent relay sees phase currents and hence all types of fault Overcurrent relay settings must be above transformer emergency overload as with fuses, this determines the fundamental limit to their sensitivity

Overcurrent (O/C) Protection

A suitable margin should also be allowed in the current setting for:
growth in load - always relay reset ratio - optional cold load pick-up - optional (often a relay feature) transformer taps - optional

Overcurrent (O/C) Protection

An instantaneous O/C element can usually be used to provide very fast clearance for faults close to the HV terminal Must be set such that LV faults are not seen - discrimination

Coping with load growth

allow for a number of years of forecast growth and review after this time .or base setting on transformer emergency rating
safer option, but slower and less sensitive if transformer capacity not fully utilised yet review needed only when transformer replaced

Cold load pickup two aspects

1. 2.

Starting current of motors lasts about 10s Restarting of heating, air-conditioning, or refrigeration plant after prolonged outage lasts many minutes

Cold load pickup motor starting current

Short term increase in load following energisation (from Areva NPAG)

Earth Fault (E/F) Protection

An earth fault (E/F) relay sees either transformer neutral or residual (sum of three phases) current, depending on CT location hence sees earth faults only E/F relays can be set well below load 10% of load typical.

NEF = Neutral Earth Fault relay

circuit breaker current transformer

Relay Locations

HV O/C & E/F HV NEF

LV NEF

LOAD

Physical Arrangements
Older installations often economically configured as 2 x O/C relays + 1 x E/F relay where a 2:1:1 current distribution is possible, 3 x O/C + 1 x E/F is better This improves sensitivity and speed

2:1:1 Current distribution - example

LV PHASE-PHASE FAULT a b c b a

c 33kV 11kV

2 x O/C + 1 x E/F arrangement

A

O/C
E/F O/C

Winding earth fault

Winding fault current is not easily seen at primary terminals (i.e. residual earth fault connection). A NEF relay, on the other hand, sees actual fault current, and so is a better option
From Network Protection and Automation Guide Areva

Grading Relays
Each O/C or E/F relay must be time graded with its neighbouring O/C or E/F relay There must therefore be a time margin between successive relay settings, typically around 0.4s for the highest fault current relays need to be graded only for highest fault current this ensures discrimination at all lower fault currents

Grading Relays
The requirement for time grading means that overcurrent and earth fault relays can be quite slow Next relays up in the hierarchy are differential relays

3.0
Relay grading chart

2.5
Time margin between relay curves at max fault current (100A here) must be 0.4s

2.0 time (s)

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0 10 100 Current (relay Amps) 1000

Contribution of delta winding to earth fault current example 1

fault point

only positive and negative sequence current from this side

only zero sequence current from this side

unearthed generator

star-star transformer impedance Z1 = Z2 = Z0 = Z

transmission line impedance = zero

star-delta transformer impedance Z1 = Z2 = Z0 = Z

HEALTHY PHASE CURRENT FLOW DURING AN EARTH FAULT

Contribution of delta winding to earth fault current example 2

fault point only positive and negative sequence current flowing on this side positive, negative and zero sequence current flowing on this side

unearthed generator

star-star-delta transformer impedance Z1 = Z2 = Z0 = Z

transmission line impedance = zero

CONTRIBUTION OF TRANSFORMER DELTA TERTIARY TO FAULT CURRENT DURING AN EARTH FAULT WITH UNEARTHED GENERATOR

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
two types, operating on very different principles: Biased differential relays based on the balance of ampere-turns High impedance differential relays based on Kirchhoffs Current Law

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
Sensitive down to <10% of rating fast operating (20 - 40 ms) Depending on CT location, will also detect terminal faults (a snake across a bushing, for example)

High Impedance Differential Protection

Especially sensitive, very fast One scheme required for each galvanically connected set of windings i.e. one for HV windings and one for LV windings if galvanically separate

High Impedance Differential Protection

ideal for auto-transformers, as HV and LV are galvanically connected thus requires only one three phase scheme for transformer (note: delta winding must be separately protected) Not usually applied to delta windings many CTs required for overlap

Principle of Hi-Z Diff

relay is stable for thru faults and load

RELAY

relay operates for faults to other windings or earth

RELAY FAULT

but relay does not operate for interturn faults!

RELAY

INTER-TURN FAULT

Why high impedance?

The relay must have a high impedance to prevent CT magnetising current from spilling into the relay for heavy through faults This approach was empirically derived in the 1950s The spill current arises because the CTs are not ideal current sources, but draw magnetizing current

CT Equivalent Circuit

leads + relay

RCT Zmag

Setting the relay

The relay is a simple, low impedance, attracted armature O/C relay, to which we must add a high resistance Assume each CT in turn goes short circuit (saturates) for external fault and calculate voltage across relay when this happens Set relay/resistor combination such that this voltage just operates relay

Setting the relay - example

TO OTHER CT's IN SCHEME

10 A

7A

3A

Rct
8 ohm 12000A CT1

R leads
2 ohm

R leads
SETTING RESISTOR (ca. 1000 ohm) RELAY <10 ohm

Rct

3600A CT2

V = 100V 10A x (8ohm + 2 ohm)

This CT saturates due to the fault current flowing through it. It now looks like a short circuit!

ALL CT's 1200:1

Vrelay setting

= ICT1 . ( R CT1 + R LEADS1 ) = 10A x (8 + 2) = 100V

HIGH IMPEDANCE DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION

two possible schemes
full scheme for interphase and earth faults Restricted Earth Fault (REF) scheme

Detects faults where current flows from inside to outside the CT defined zone Does not detect intra-winding faults, (shorted turns)

Full Hi Z Diff scheme

A

detects winding to earth faults and interphase faults, but not interturn faults

Hi Z Diff

Hi Z

Dif f

Z Hi

f Dif

Restricted Earth Fault (REF)

A

detects winding earth faults only not interphase or interturn faults

C
REF

BIASED DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION

based on the balance of ampere-turns between windings detects faults down to about 10% of rating Not quite as sensitive as Hi Z diff, but provides more comprehensive protection Some, especially older relays, prone to tripping spuriously on inrush current when energised

BIASED DIFFERENTIAL PRINCIPLE but without bias

1A 1:1 10:1 10:1 1A 1A 10A

RELAY PRINCIPLE OF DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION (LOAD CONDITION ILLUSTRATED - STABLE)

BIAS WINDINGS

BIAS WINDINGS

OPERATING WINDING

BIAS WINDINGS
introduced to compensate for undesired unbalance current flowing in the operate winding

Electro-mechanical biased differential relay Metropolitan-Vickers Type DT circa 1950 Moving coil design - 3.5VA and 2 x 0.2VA at In operating time: <1 cycle to 3.5 cycles 1 operate and 2 bias coils

Electro-mechanical biased differential relay

UNBALANCE CURRENTS CAUSED BY - 1

Mismatch between actual transformer turns ratio (tap changer range) and turns ratios of the CTs.
The CT ratios are selected to balance on the middle tap user must calculate this and allow for it in setting the relay

UNBALANCE CURRENTS CAUSED BY - 2

Transformer inrush current on energization.
Inrush current produces a current from the energizing side only, appearing as an internal fault. This current is characterized by the appearance of second harmonics, so additional restraint is required no setting calculations required

0.5 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

Inrush current

UNBALANCE CURRENTS CAUSED BY - 3

Magnetizing current in the CTs, especially as some saturation due to DC fault current sets in.
The amount of bias is increased under heavy through fault conditions to compensate for possible CT saturation no setting calculations required, but an adequate CT class must be selected

UNBALANCE CURRENTS CAUSED BY - 4

Overfluxing, caused by too high a voltage, or too low a frequency.
This is characterized by fifth harmonics. Fifth harmonic restraint is therefore added no user calculations or settings are required

Multiple CT inputs
relays with up to five bias windings, (to accommodate transformers connected to five other circuits) are available

Biased Differential Fault coverage

protects every winding on the transformer
(remember: each high impedance differential protects only one galvanically connected entity)

detects shorted turns

(remember: high impedance differential doesnt - the ampere turns balance principle is required for this)

CT connections and ratios for older type relays (pre early 90s)
CTs for a delta connected primary must be star connected CTs for a star connected primary must be delta connected The vector group of the protected transformer must be taken into account or the scheme wont balance

example: Vector group for Yd11

CT connections and ratios

compensates for the phase shift across a star-delta transformer.

The vector group of the transformer must be taken into account in connecting the CTs to ensure that through currents balance.

prevents any zero sequence currents flowing in the star winding from entering the relay
since they are not present in the line on the delta side.

CT ratio selection
The CT ratios must be opposite to the transformer ratio CT ratios must allow for the fact that current flowing into the relay from the delta connected CT's is root 3 times the CT secondary current
CT's with ratios such as 1000/0.577 are, for this reason, quite common.

CT connections

B O
B - BIAS WINDING O - OPERATING WINDING

B B O B B O B

BIASED DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION ARRANGEMENT FOR A STAR-DELTA TRANSFORMER

N A A2 B C2 B2 A1 A2 a2 a1 b c2 C B1 B2 b2 b1 c b2 a2 a

C1

C2

c2

c1

A B C

Yd1
N

a b c

A A2 B C2 B2 A1 A2 a2 a1

a a2 b2

B1

B2

b2

b1

c2

C1

C2

c2

c1

A B C

Yd11

a b c

OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS
if currents into the two sides of a relay are I1 & I2, then relay is constructed so that there are two counteracting forces:1.

A RESTRAINT or BIAS QUANTITY = (|I1| + |I2|)2

essentially, restraint is defined as |I1| + |I2|

2.

An OPERATE QUANTITY = |I1 - I2|

DIFFERENTIAL CURRENT I1 - I2

Typical internal fault curve

operating point

OPERATE REGION

0.5In

0%) cally 2 e (typi nt slop consta Bias increases here to setting allow for CT saturation

t tan ns co

) 0% 8 lly ica yp t e( p slo

CT saturation causes line to tip up

range
margin

0.1In Typical setting range 0.1In to 0.5In

RESTRAIN REGION

maximum slope of 'through current' curve depends on tapping range and CT mismatch

In BIAS CURRENT (I1+I2)/2

GE T60 relay

TAP CHANGER POSITION

For any setting of tap changer and through current, and given the CT ratios, the values of bias current and differential current can easily be calculated.

SETTINGS
typical setting allows: 15% margin above the line representing
the worst mismatch of transformer ratio & CT ratios (remember root 3 for delta CTs!)

to decide worst case - consider the overall scheme

at the top tap position .......... & then at the bottom tap position.

Tapping Factor & Tapping Range

There is a tapping factor for each tapping the tapping factor is the ratio Ud/UN where UN is the rated voltage of the tapped winding on the principal tapping (nominal tap) Ud is the open circuit voltage of the tapped winding on the tap under consideration

Tapping Range = extreme values of tapping factor

Example:
132/66kV 80MVA auto Transformer with a delta tertiary winding is protected by a biased differential relay Transformer tapping is on 132kV winding (just above the LV tap) Tapping range is -15 to +5% (ie 85% to 105% of 132kV = 112.2 to 138.6 kV) CT's HV LV 600/1 delta connected 1200/1 delta connected

What is the mismatch at the extremes of the tapping range?

Example:
132kV 66kV

600/1

1200/1

B R

Mismatch Calculation formula

CTuntappedwdg k1 (1 + T ) Nnom CTtappedwdg k 2 Mismatch = 2 CTuntappedwdg k1 CTtappedwdg k 2 + (1 + T ) Nnom
Where k1 = 3 for delta connected CTs k1 = 1 for star connected CTs T = tapping range (consider both extremes) Nnom is transformer ratio on nominal/principal tap

Bottom tap
For T = -0.15

1200 600 Mismatch = 2 1200 600

3 (1 + 0.15) 2 3 3 + (1 + 0.15) 2 3

=16.2%

Top tap
For T = +0.05

1200 600 Mismatch = 2 1200 600

(1 + 0.05) 2 3 3 + (1 + 0.05) 2 3 3

=4.9%

OR we can easily calculate the mismatch manually

132kV 66kV

600/1

1200/1

B R

1. calculate voltages at extremes of tapping range 132kV x 0.85 = 112.2kV bottom tap 132kV x 1.05 = 138.6kV top tap

132kV

66kV

600/1

1200/1

B R

2. Select a convenient current to work with same answer for any current, (load or fault), as we are working out a ratio (i.e. the slope Idiff Ibias) So assume 600A at 132kV

3. Calculate currents in windings of relay on the bottom tap On 132kV

Ibias132 = 600 A CT = 600 A 1200 = 1 .00 A

On 66kV
Ibias66 = 600 A 112 .2 kV CT 66 kV 112 .2 kV = 600 A 1200 66 kV = 0 .85 A

Irestraint = {|Ibias132|+|Ibias66|}/2 = 1.85/2 = 0.925A Idiff = Ibias132 - Ibias66 = 1.00 - 0.85 = 0.15

Slope of mismatch = Idiff Irestraint =0.15 0.925 = 16.2%

Allow a 20% margin above mismatch line, whose slope is 16.2%. This is simply a line with slope 16.2% x 1.2 = 19.4%

Idiff

Slope = 50%

Slope = 20%
Plenty of margin

Slope = 1.2x16.2%=19.4% Slope = 16.2%

(|Ibias_132 |+ |Ibias_66| ) 2

Repeat the process for the top tap, which is clearly not as onerous in this case

UNRESTRAINED ELEMENT
separate, less sensitive function, providing faster operation for HV terminal faults only differential element only - no bias of any type, fundamental or harmonic must be set to remain stable on the heaviest through fault and on energization see manufacturers manual

CT REQUIREMENTS
some CT saturation is permissible for through faults, mainly due to the DC component of the fault current Most manufacturers provide simple equations to determine CT class - no nasty calculations required

More than two circuits

Fundamental principle is... No pair of CTs should be paralleled if eithers circuit is capable of supplying fault current into the circuit to which the other CT is connected
separate restraint windings are required here for each set of CTs feeding the relay

More than two circuits

If neither can supply fault current to the other ...... they may be paralleled, as there is no possibility of spurious circulating current in the paralleled CTs Recommended practice, nevertheless, is to use a separate input winding for each CT

Overfluxing protection
Caused generally by too high a voltage or too low frequency May cause magnetizing current to increase to unacceptable levels/duration Generally provided in modern biased differential relays

Putting it all together - example

1MVA transformer fuses only 10MVA transformer O/C and E/F relays 20MVA transformer biased diff with back-up O/C and E/F 50MVA transformer - duplicate biased diff or biased diff plus high Z diff All with Buchholz, Pressure Relief Device and Overtemperature where possible

EARTHING TRANSFORMERS
operation protection

Earthing transformers
provides a good earth reference for a delta winding during earth faults restricts the voltage rise on the healthy phase during earth faults inoperative during balanced voltage conditions carry significant current only during earth faults (unless tertiary supply) - I0 only earthing transformer and associated power transformer always tripped together

earth fault currents

LOAD

Earthing Transformer

Technical Ratings
per phase impedance is equal to zero sequence impedance short time rating (typically 3 sec) continuous rating (typically 30A)

Calculation of fault current

I fault = 3 I _ et 3 V = Z _ et

Z _ et = ohms / phase V = phase to ground _ volts

V N

Z1=0

Z2=0 N Z0=0 N Z0et=9ohms

Construction
not supplied with conservators, but instead use diaphragms to accommodate oil expansion no conservator means no Buchholz protection no overtemperature protection either!

Protection of Earthing Transformers

two types of faults we need to consider:
internal faults - faults inside the earthing transformer, the result of insulation breakdown. external faults - faults on the system outside the earthing transformer. These can cause overheating of the earthing transformer

Internal Faults Overcurrent Protection

interturn, interwinding or winding-to-core faults fed from delta-connected current transformers, so that earth faults on the system, which generate a lot of zerosequence current, are not seen since inter-phase faults also not seen, setting can be very low

LOAD

O/C relay does not operate for external earth faults Def Time and IDMT E/F relays operate for external earth faults

O/C relay Def Time E/F relay IDMT E/F relay

Earthing Transformer

overcurrent setting must be

greater than the magnetising current greater than the maximum inrush current. This depends on
earthing transformers B-H characteristics the point-on-wave of the energisation the remanence of the core. one common estimate of upper bound is 50x the magnetising current

Earth Fault Protection

detects long term residual voltage, which may cause thermal damage
remember - no overtemperature sensor is provided

need to consider continuous and short-time ratings, and set earth fault below these curves combination of IDMT and definite time relays used to do this

thermal protection
1 10

adiabatic thermal limit 4

TIME - SECONDS

1 10

30

earthing transformer E/F relay - Definite Time

100

10

2300

1 10

actual thermal limit

earthing transformer E/F relay - IDMT downstream E/F relay

0.1 10

cont rating 30A

100 1 10 EARTH FAULT CURRENT - AMPS

EARTHING TRANSF THERMAL PROTECTION

max E/F current 2300A

1 10

biased differential protection

Earthing transformers are always included in the biased differential zone of their power transformer current transformer connections important
stability for external earth faults.

400/0.577 A 1600/1 a B b C N all 1600/0.333 N 0 N 0 N N OVERALL BIASED DIFFERENTIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR 132kV/33kV STAR-DELTA TRANSFORMER WITH EARTHING TRANSFORMER external earth fault c