GENERATOR Protections

PREPARED BY:
FAROOQ HUSSAIN
JE-PRD (UTY)
INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTION SYSTEM
The purpose of an electrical system is to supply energy economically and reliably. The greatest
threat to the security of a system is short circuit which imposes sudden violent changes to the
system. The large current flow accompanied by release of heat can cause fire and hence great
damage. There are many other abnormal conditions like Overloads, Under-Voltage, Over-
Voltage, Open phase, Unbalanced Phase currents, Reversal of Power, Under Frequency & Over
Frequency, Power Swings against which Protection is needed.

The objectives of electrical protection system and co-ordination are to prevent injury to
personnel, to minimize damage to the system components and to limit the extent of service
interruption.

Generator is the most important part of an electrical power system. The failure of the
generators directly link to the production loss. Generator protection requires some special
consideration of many abnormal conditions that are not present with any other system
elements.

SALIENT FEATURES OF A PROTECTION SYSTEM

 Rapid isolation of fault by nearest switch gear will minimize the damage.

 Minimize equipment damage and repair.

 Minimize downtime and interruptions in power supply.

 Relays are extensively used in protection systems but fuses and direct acting ac tripping
systems are also used.

 The relays detect the fault and supply information to circuit breaker which performs the
function of circuit interruption.

PROTECTIVE RELAY
A Protective relay is a device which detects a fault and initiates the operation of circuit breaker
to isolate the defective element from rest of the system.

Main Components:

A sensing element (PT or CT)

Power source

A Trip Coil

Aided by Circuit Breakers

 BUS BAR
BUS BAR

CB TRIP COIL CB TRIP COIL

RELAY COIL RELAY COIL

CT CT

F F

a: normal condition b: actuated condition

Sensing Elements or Instrument Transformers

 AC type relays are actuated by current & Voltage supplied by Current and Potential (or
Voltage) Transformers.

 They supply protective relays with current & voltage of magnitude proportional (but
reduced) to those of the power circuit.

 They provide insulation against high voltage & protect apparatus & operating personnel
from contact with high Voltage

Protective Relays

 Mostly operate by virtue of the current and / or voltage supplied by the PTs & CTs
connected in various combinations to the system element that is to be protected.

 Through the individual or relative change in these two quantities, faults signal their
presence, type and location to protective relays.

 Having detected the fault the relays operate trip circuit which results in opening of the
circuit breaker and hence disconnection of the faulty circuit.
GENERATOR FAULTS
Stator Winding Faults

 Occur mainly due to insulation failure of stator faults

– Phase to phase faults

– Phase to ground faults

– Inter turn faults

 Can cause considerable damage to machinery

 Arcing to core may weld winding core

 Severe heating damages winding and may cause fire

Field Winding or Rotor circuit faults

 These may be earth faults or inter turn faults due to thermal stresses

 Field system is normally not grounded therefore single fault does not cause any harm

 The second fault will cause short circuit and unsymmetrical field.

 Thus a single fault can be tolerated but it should not be allowed to continue

 Reduced excitation may occur due to short circuit or open circuit or fault in AVR

 In this condition, generator speeds up and runs as induction generator

 This will overheat the rotor winding due to induced current in it

Abnormal Operating conditions

– Failure of Prime Mover

– Failure of field

– Unbalanced loading

– Over-loading

– Over-voltage

– Over-speed

– Ventilation failure

– Current leakage from body of Generator

 GENERATOR PROTECTIONS
OVER CURRENT (51)
The basic causes of over current in a system are:
1. Short circuit
2. Ground fault
3. Overload conditions
On short circuiting the resistance of the load decreases hence increasing the flow of current.

V=IR (Ohm’s Law)

V = Voltage applied
I = Current
R = Resistance

Such protections should be provided to stop the generator to continuing to supply short circuit
current to a fault in the adjacent system because the fault may not have been removed by other
protective equipment. Ideally the fault should be isolated by the nearest breaker but if it fails to
do so then this is a backup relay that will protect the generator from damage. Conductor is
designed to pass a limited amount of current excessive flow of current will causes heating up of
conductor. An overcurrent protection device protects the circuit by opening the device when
the current reaches a value that will cause an excessive or dangerous temperature rise in
conductors.

H = I2 R t

H = Heat Generated
I = Current
R = Resistance
t = Time

It is installed on all three phases. It may also actuate on low voltage.

P = √3 VI cosф

P = Power
V = Voltage
I = Current
Cosф = Power factor

GROUND OVER CURRENT (51-G)

In three phase star connection generator neutral point is usually earthed to protect stator
winding. A resistance is inserted to earthing lead to limit the earth fault current to the rated
which is called NGR (Neutral Grounding Resistance). At neutral point the net current at star
 point should be zero. It is the protection against line to ground fault. Ground over-current
occurs due to imbalance of phases, which will cause increase/decrease in flow of current in one
phase. This imbalance is picked up by ground over current relay. Ground-overcurrent
protection is provided by either time-overcurrent relays or instantaneous overcurrent relays.
Sensitive ground-fault protection is desirable to minimize damage to circuit equipment and
conductors.

DIFFERENTIAL (87)
Differential relay is used to detect internal generator phase to phase fault. A differential relay
operates by summing the current flowing into and out of a circuit zone. Normally the current
flowing into a circuit zone equals the current flowing out, in which no differential current flows
in the relay. If a fault occurs in the circuit zone part of the current flowing in will be deflected
into the fault and the current flowing out will be less than the current flowing in. Thus there is a
differential current that will flow into the relay.

Differential protection is a very reliable method of protecting generators, transformers, buses,

and transmission lines from the effects of internal faults.

GENERATOR

I1 I2

i1 Current i2
i1-i2
relay

In a differential protection scheme in the above figure, currents on both sides of the equipment
are compared. The figure shows the connection only for one phase, but a similar connection is
usually used in each phase of the protected equipment. Under normal conditions, or for a fault
outside of the protected zone, current I1 is equal to current I2 . Therefore the currents in the
current transformers secondaries are also equal, i.e. i1 = i2 and no current flows through the
current relay.

If a fault develops inside of the protected zone, currents I1 and I2 are no longer equal, therefore
i1 and i2 are not equal and there is a current flowing through the current relay.
GROUND DIFFERENTIAL (87-G)
Ground differential relay is used to detect internal generator phase ground fault.

GENERATOR

I2
I1

Current i2
i1-i2
relay

i1

In a ground differential protection scheme in the above figure, currents on both sides of the
equipment are compared. The figure shows the connection only for one phase, but a similar
connection is usually used in each phase of the protected equipment. Under normal conditions,
or for a fault outside of the protected zone, current I1 is equal to current I2 . Therefore the
currents in the current transformers secondaries are also equal, i.e. i1 = i2 and no current flows
through the current relay.

If a fault develops inside of the protected zone, currents I1 and I2 are no longer equal, therefore
i1 and i2 are not equal and there is a current flowing through the current relay.

UNDER VOLTAGE (27)

The causes of under voltage of a generator are:

1. Sudden increase of load

2. Loss or decrease of excitation current
3. Tripping of other generators of grid

An under voltage relay removes a generator from service when a low-voltage condition
develops, so that the generator will not induce excessive current to compensate for the
decreased voltage. When a generator is connected to a grid with other generators in service, it
can cause flow of current towards the generator as well.
OVER VOLTAGE (59)
During start-up, there is a definite rate of voltage rise with frequency. Similarly during
shutdown the voltage decrease as the frequency decreases. If the generator suddenly gets off-
load then the voltage may rise above the normal. Generator core may heat-up due to saturation.
Voltage increase may cause damage to running load by increasing the current flow (according
to Ohm’s law).

LOSS OF FIELD OR EXCITATION (40)

There are a number of events that may result in an accidental removal of the source
of excitation to the generator. This can happen for both brushless and externally excited units.
For instance, a unplanned opening of the field breaker, a failure of the exciter, a flashover in the
brush-rigging, a failure of the automatic voltage regulator (AVR), and a short-circuit in the field
winding, can all result in a loss-of-excitation condition. When a synchronous generator loses
excitation, it will tend to act as an induction generator, its speed increases by some amount of
up to 3 to 5% of normal. The amount of speed increase depends on the generator’s load prior to
losing its excitation. A lightly loaded unit will experience a much smaller increase in speed than
one fully loaded. Additionally the stator current will normally increase because the generator
without its field will operate as an induction machine, receiving its excitation VARs from the
network. Accordingly the stator current may increase by up to 100% of its nominal value. The
increase in line current will be aggravated by the overheating of rotor components. A fully
loaded unit that loses its field may experience serious damage very quickly under these
conditions. Therefore the protection against loss-of-field occurrences is set to alarm and trip the
unit relatively quickly.

ROTOR GROUND PROTECTION (64-F)

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. Hence, 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. Hence, the slip rings need to be inspected for
any deposits.
 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.

ANTI-MOTORING / REVERSE POWER (32)

This protective function trips the unit when power flows from the system to the generator. In
this situation, depending on the generator’s field condition, the alternator is driven as a
synchronous or induction motor. If it is driven as an induction motor, negative-sequence
currents will be established in the rotor, potentially damaging windings, wedges, retaining-
rings, and forging. In either case, reverse power condition may adversely affect the integrity of
the prime mover. Of all the prime movers, steam turbines are the most sensitive to motoring.
They also happen to operate on less power input (only a few percent of rated load, compared to
combustion turbines requiring up to 50% of rated power). For these reasons steam-driven
generators require sensitive settings for the reverse power relays (32).

UNDER FREQUENCY (81)

Over and under frequency operation generally results from full or partial load rejection or
overloading conditions. Load rejection can be caused by a fault in the system or load shedding.
Overload conditions may arise from tripping a large generator or a transmission line. What
frequency the machine will attain following load rejection or overload is a function of how much
load has changed and the governor droop characteristics. For instance, a governor with a 5%
droop characteristic will cause a 1.5%speed increase for a 30% load rejection. The
manufacturers provide withstand curves that should be used in setting the function (81) relay.

LOCKOUT RELAY (86)

Lock out Relay is the Master Trip relay which is triggered by any other security (It is a latch
relay once operated we have to reset it manual). It is used for Generator protection,
Transformer protection, and Turbine protection. If it operated because of any fault in above the
after clearing all the fault we have to reset it by hand (normally available 110Volts or 220Volts
DC). Locks out relays are having multiple contacts for various trip circuits as per requirement.

S No. Generator Security Relay
1 Over current
2 Ground over current
3 Differantial Protection
4 Ground differantial
5 Under voltage
Generator Protections
Cause Setting Action
1060 Amps for 380 sec
51 Increase in current due to overloading. 1137Amps for 100 sec 86/2 relay actuation
1234 Amps for 34 sec
Sudden increase due to grounding of all
51-G 500 Amps 86/2 relay actuation
three phase
Difference in current between any of the
87 10% 86/1 relay actuation
phase
Difference in current between one phase
87-G 10% 86/1 relay actuation
and ground
Sudden increase of load or tripping of any
27 10% (5670 volts) 86/2 relay actuation
generator or decrease in excitation

Sudden decrease of load due to tripping

6 Over voltage
7 Loss of field
8 Rotor ground protection
9 Antimotoring
59 8% (6804 volts) 86/2 relay actuation
of MV motors or increase in excitation
40 Loss of excitaion due to fault -- 86/2 relay actuation
64-F Excitaion field grounds. 50 volts 86/3 relay actuation
32 Reverse current flows in generator 110 volts or 1 amp 83/3 relay actuation

Sudden increase of load or tripping of any

10 Under frequency 81 generator or decrease in speed of 48 Herts Alarm sounds
generator

NOTE:
86/1 relay = Prime mover trip + main breaker open + excitation breaker opens
86/2 relay = Main breaker open + excitation breaker opens
86/3 relay = Main breaker open
Prepared By:
Farooq Hussain
 GENERATOR
CTs 03 Nos. on each phase CTs 03 Nos. on each phase
CTs for 87G and for 87, 32, 51, 40 and for 87, 87G, DCS and panel
51G excitation indication

Generator circuit
breaker, 42 G1 A/B

NGR PT for
Excitation excitation

CTs for
excitation
Earth isolator
28gT1 A/B

DC

01 PT on each phase for 32,

59, 40, 27, 81, DCS and local
indication
Control supply
from DCPB

Star and Line Panels Line Panel SS-1