Advanced protection scheme for power transformers based on IEC 61850 standard

Power transformers of medium and large sizes are very critical and vital
components for power systems. Due to its significance and cost, its protection
needs to be appropriately addressed. Transformer protection should be fast and
reliable. To provide early cautioning of electrical failures and prevent disastrous
losses, appropriate monitoring of power transformer should be selected.
The IEC 61850 standard-based protection scheme for power transformers (photo credit: SEL)
This results in the damage limit and the reliability improvement of the power
supply. The requirements of the protective relays include dependability (no
missing operations), security (no false tripping), speed of operation (short fault
clearing time) and stability. Therefore, a transformer differential relay is used to
meet the protection requirements of the medium and large power transformers.
The differential scheme approach compares the currents at the primary and
secondary on the protected zone of the transformer by calculating and
monitoring a differential current.
In case the computed value of the differential current is greater than the set
value, this indicates an internal fault.
A switching-in or an external fault recovery can cause a sudden change in the
input terminal voltage of a transformer and the large current drawn by the
transformer from the supply is known as inrush current. Energising a
transformer which is in parallel with a transformer that is already in service can
cause a similar magnetizing inrush condition, known as “sympathetic inrush”.
The inrush condition results in the saturation of the transformer core.
Magnetizing inrush current that arises in a transformer is identified by
comparing the polarity and magnitude of residual flux which does not
correspond to polarity and magnitude of an ideal instantaneous value of steady-
state flux.

Magnetizing inrush current can be as high as ten times of full load current. The
inrush condition phenomenon would typically cause the trip element of the
transformer differential to mis-operate, if not adequately blocked or restrained.
 Fig
ure 1 – Magnetizing inrush current phenomenon (no residual flux initially in transformer)
Transformer inrush currents usually are rich in harmonics in general and
in second harmonic particularly. The second-harmonic ratio is traditionally used
for transformer differential protection in order to block or restrain the differential
trip elements during transformer magnetizing inrush current conditions.
Presently there are three types of schemes that are being used for the
magnetizing inrush current determination:
1. First scheme makes use of data obtained from the transformer incoming
currents only. The method is based on the principle of second harmonics
restraint.
2. Second scheme makes use of information that is obtained from the
transformer terminal voltage variation. This method is based on the voltage
restraint principle.
3. Third scheme makes use of information that is obtained from both the
transformer’s currents and voltages. This method is based on the flux
characteristic principle using the low-voltage acceleration criterion.
This thesis used the first scheme which is the second harmonic restraint
method for magnetizing inrush current determination. Extra reliability to the
power system is provided by the backup overcurrent protection schemes.
Backup overcurrent relaying scheme is attached to the main protection with its
own relaying system. The primary role of the backup overcurrent relay is to
operate in case of any failure or tripping of the circuit breakers due to the main
protection.
The main protection which is the transformer differential scheme may fail
due to:
1. The mechanical defect of moving regions of the transformer differential relay,
2. Transformer differential relay DC supply failure
3. Tripping pulse of the transformer differential relay failure to the breaker
4. Current or voltage supply failure to the transformer differential relay from CT
or VT circuits
However, this thesis is not considering the above failure conditions of the
transformer differential scheme. In this specific situation, another type of
protection called backup overcurrent relaying scheme is applied. Hence,
backup overcurrent relaying scheme has every configuration setting separate
from the main transformer differential protection.
 Fig
ure 2 – Reverse harmonic blocking scheme for transformer protection
The reason is the backup overcurrent relay must not fail to operate in case of
the failure of the main protection scheme. As a backup overcurrent protection
scheme, it must be slower in action than the main differential protection one, so
that it should only work in case the main differential protection scheme of the
transformer fails.

With reference to Figure 2 above, the transformer differential relay has the
magnetizing inrush current function, which blocks the differential relay from
tripping for inrush conditions. Nevertheless, the overcurrent relay employed
as backup protection to the transformer differential protection scheme does not
have the inrush current function, and it will trip during inrush conditions.
This thesis used the differential relay SEL-487E as the main protection and
backup overcurrent protection SEL-751A.
Figure 3 – Left: Differential relay SEL-487E as the main protection; Right: Backup overcurrent
protection relay SEL-751A
In order to restrain SEL 751A overcurrent relay from tripping during inrush
conditions, a blocking scheme based on second harmonic restraint current is
employed. The second harmonic restraint scheme uses the harmonic blocking
element (87HB) of the SEL-487E to send a blocking signal to the SEL 751A to
inhibit it from tripping during inrush current conditions.

The IEEE 14-bus system is simulated in the DIgSILENT and RSCAD software

environments to generate a fault and inrush current conditions. The lab-scale
test bench setup is implemented to test the phase percentage differential
protection schemes using SEL-487E IED and Omicron CMC 356 test injection
device.
 Figure 4 –
Omicron CMC 356 test injection device
The demonstration of the IEC 61850 standard-based reverse harmonic blocking
scheme is implemented in the CSAEMS laboratory using Omicron test injection
device CMC 356, SEL-487E and 751A protection IEDs. Finally, implementation
and testing of the IEC 61850 standard-based hardware-in-the-loop simulation
are performed using RTDS and protection IEDs.
The hardware-in-the-loop simulation is conducted for external and internal faults
and inrush current conditions
Figure 5 – Transformer differential and overcurrent protection scheme test bench
The research aim is to investigate hardwired and IEC 61850 GOOSE
applications to the transformer protection schemes. The test bench setup
provides the lab scale illustration of how the physical power transformer is
protected by using differential protection (SEL-487E), and backup overcurrent
(SEL-751A) relays as shown in Figure 5.

The current signals (CT2 and CT3) on both (LV and HV) sides of the power
transformer are injected into the S and T windings current channels of the
SEL-487E using the OMICRON test injection device. The CT1 current signals
are injected into the SEL-751A current channels. Each end of the power
transformer is connected to the switching device circuit breakers (CB1 and
CB2) respectively.
For internal events, the SEL-487E and SEL-751A IEDs current coils are
energised and send trip signals to the binary contact of the test injection device
as shown in Figure 1.2.

The pickup and trip signal of the circuit breakers are represented using the
binary signal connected to the output port (OUT101) of the SEL-487E and
(OUT102 and OUT103) of the SEL-751A, which are mapped to the binary
inputs 1 and 2 of the test injection device as shown in Figure 5.