Capacitor protection Summary Slide

Capacitor Protection

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Protection Application Handbook

Capacitor Protection

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Capacitor protection
Capacitor banks- General

Phase compensation of loads

Reactive generation for voltage control

Series reactors used to limit inrush current Harmonic filters used for thyristor capacitor banks

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Capacitor protection
Shunt Reactors-General

400 kV
130 kV

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40 Mvar Circuit-Breaker Capacitor Switch

60 Mvar XX Mvar

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Shunt Reactors-General

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Shunt Capacitor Configurations

D-connected

Single Y-connected
Double Y-connected Earthed or unearthed

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Earthing of Shunt Capacitors

Solidly Earthed Shunt Capacitors

Increases the capacitive earth fault current in high-impedance earthed systems

Reduces the stress on the switching devices

Unearthed Shunt Capacitors

Safety Regulation may prescribe unearthed shunt capacitors Sensitive earth fault protection may be easy to arrange

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Capacitor protection
Bank Connections and Grounding

Grounded Wye Advantages:

Lower cost (insulation of neutral) switch duty not as severe (recovery voltages are reduced) mechanically, structure is simpler High inrush currents may occur in station grounds which may and cause instrumentation problems (protection relay performance) An open phase produces zero-sequence harmonic currents and cause telephone interference Need for current limiting fuses if only one series group

Grounded Wye Disadvantages:

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DOUBLE Y-CONNECTED UNEARTHED CAPACITOR

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Shunt Capacitor Faults

Terminal shunt faults

Capacitor unit failures

Capacitor unit over voltages Capacitor rack arc-over

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Abnormal Conditions

Inrush currents

Transient over voltages

Temporary over voltages Out rush currents

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General conditions as per IEC 60871-1 (1997)

Capacitors should be able to withstand 10% over voltage The capacitors should tolerate 30% overcurrent (r.m.s. value) arising from overvoltage and harmonics. Depending on the capacitance deviations, which may be not more than 1.15 Cn, the maximum current may be up to 1.15 x 1.3 = 1.5 In Capacitors may not be reconnected until they have discharged to 10% of their rated voltage.

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CAPACITOR UNITS AND FUSES
P

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Unit Overcurrent Protection

External or internal fuses Risk for damage: P < Pmax Fusing: P > Pmin Often done by manufacturer

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Capacitor protection
Capacitor Bank Protections

Short -circuit protection

(3I >>)

Ground-fault protection

(I )

Overload protection (3I/U >) Under current protection (I/U <)

Unbalance protection

(IN-N)

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Capacitor protection
Short- circuit protection

Provides protection against short circuits and earth faults Two or three phase over current along with earth fault relay used

This should be set to as short a time as possible without causing spurious tripping due to switching transients.

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PHASE-TO-PHASE RACK FAULT

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Ground- fault protection

Protection settings have to be coordinated with the existing ground-fault protection of the network and carried out individually in each case without any general guidelines.

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BANK OVERCURRENT PROTECTION Using

I> I>

I> I>
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Capacitor bank overload relay

This protection prevents capacitor overload due to overvoltage and/or harmonic currents. The overload protection is measuring in three phases for banks with grounded neutral. For banks with insulated neutral it is usually measuring in two phases. The SPAJ 160C is actually a maximum-valuedetecting voltage protection whereby the relay converts measured capacitor currents, including harmonics up to the 13th, to a maximum voltage value. Its characteristic corresponds to the voltage tolerance levels according to ANSI/IEE std. 18 and IEC 60871-1.

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Capacitor protection
Under current relay

This protection disconnects the bank from the busbar upon voltage failure, to prevent reconnection of a charged capacitor. The relay can inhibit reclosing of the capacitor bank circuit breaker for a preset discharge time, trec by means of an auxiliary contact connected in the closing circuit.

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Capacitor protection
Unbalance relay

Detects asymmetry due to

Blown internal fuses Short circuits across bushings Short circuits between capacitor units /racks

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If capacitor value decrease below 5/6 of nominal value bank must be taken out of service
Faulty elements taken out by fuses cause increase in voltage level Capacitors can withstand 110% of rated voltage

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Unbalance Protection Schemes

Provide early unbalance alarm signal to indicate the operation of fuses (internally or externally fused capacitors) or failure of capacitor elements (fuseless capacitors) Trip the bank for unbalances that are large enough to indicate that continuing operation may result in damage to remaining good capacitors or elements from overvoltage Many schemes available for detecting unbalances

Most installations will require an individual engineering analysis to determine the most appropriate detection scheme

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UNBALANCE PROTECTION Double Y-connected unearthed Capacitor Neutral Unbalance Overcurrent Relay

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I>

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SPAJ 160 C : Unbalance , Overload and Under current functions

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Capacitor protection

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Questions to be answered

What is the % of allowable unbalance current in a healthy bank. Is there any standard IS or IEC for this? Capacitor failure rates is very high compared to other devices (e.g: NDPL). Why? With internal fuses replacement not possible. Why not provide them external to capacitor. Often clearance between terminal of capacitor and other live parts is not enough.

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