Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664

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Electric Power Systems Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/epsr

Equivalent statistics based inrush identification method for differential

protection of power transformer☆☆
C. Mo 1, T.Y. Ji 2, L.L. Zhang 3, *, Q.H. Wu 4
School of Electric Power Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510641, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Second harmonic restraint as a traditional inrush identification method is widely used in power transformer
Inrush current protection. However, it may fail in the case of inrush current with a high remanence in transformer and may
Power transformer restrain the protection relay for an unnecessarily long time in the cases such as an internal fault during current
Statistical moment
transformer saturation or an internal fault contaminated by inrush current. Therefore, this paper proposes an
Differential protection
Current transformer
equivalent statistics-based inrush identification method to improve the reliability and sensitivity of transformer
differential protection. Firstly, the waveform of differential current is intercepted and reshaped so that it can be
abstractly seen as a probability density function. Then, the equivalent statistics are used to quantify the features
of the function’s waveform. On this basis, a group of criteria is presented to discriminate disturbances from
internal fault. A large number of simulation studies and experimental tests have been conducted to verify the
effectiveness of the proposed method, and the results indicate that it outperforms the second harmonic restraint
method.

1. Introduction due to current transformers (CTs) saturation, a shunt capacitor or the

The principle of differential protection based on Kirchhoff’s law
judges whether the transformer faults according to the difference of
current at both ends of the transformer. However, the differential cur­
rent may exceed the threshold in inrush cases, resulting in the misop­
eration of the protection relay. Therefore, the inrush identification is of
great significance to the safety and stability of the power grid.
To identify an inrush current from internal fault, the second har­
monic restraint (SHR) based on the second harmonic content of differ­
ential current is widely used in transformer differential protection.
However, the second harmonic content of the inrush current in modern
power transformers greatly reduced due to improvement of the material
for the core [1,2]. In reference [3], it is found that the second harmonic
content of the inrush current in ultra high voltage transmission systems
may be less than 10% under particular excitation conditions. Besides,
the second harmonic content of the internal fault current may increase
distributed capacitances on long extra high voltage transmission lines
[4,5]. Therefore, the SHR may invalid in the above cases.
Accordingly, to enhance the reliability of protection relay, some
methods based on characteristics of differential current in the frequency
domain have been proposed by researchers. Combined with the SHR and
the relationship between fundamental and second harmonics on phase
angle, an improved second harmonic restraint is proposed in reference
[6]. The method has the advantage of simple criterion, but it can not be
used in the Yn-d11 connected power transformers unless additional CT
is installed; besides, it may be invalid in cases of an internal fault with CT
saturation or symmetrical inrush current. Based on the third harmonic
content of a virtual cycle constructed by the first half-wave of inrush
current, a virtual third harmonic restraint is proposed in reference [7].
Compared with the SHR, the method is more powerful in inrush iden­
tification; however, when CT is seriously saturated, a contaminated
virtual period will be constructed, which may lead to misjudgment of the

☆
This work was supported by the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (No. CSEE-YESS-2019022) and the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52077081).
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: epmochun@mail.scut.edu.cn (C. Mo), tyji@scut.edu.cn (T.Y. Ji), epzhangll@scut.edu.cn (L.L. Zhang), wuqh@scut.edu.cn (Q.H. Wu).
1
[orcid=0000-0003-3286-0526]
2
[orcid=0000-0003-2788-1349]
3
[orcid=0000-0002-6118-9228]
4
[orcid=0000-0002-0598-8367]

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2021.107664
Received 14 June 2021; Received in revised form 23 August 2021; Accepted 31 October 2021
Available online 13 November 2021
0378-7796/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Mo et al. Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664

method. Reference [8] reported a method to identify inrush current by 2.1.2. Internal fault current
using the instantaneous power of the differential current. Although this Different from that inrush current cases, the differential current,
method is universal because it is not affected by transformer parameters, without considering conditions like CT saturation and high remanence,
it is not immune to CT saturation. is almost a sine wave in fault cases, as shown in Fig. 2(a). The sinusoidal
On the other hand, considering the characteristics of differential characteristic of the waveform is related to both initial angle and system
current on the waveform, researchers have also proposed a series of impedance, but not to the type of fault. Accordingly, the waveform of the
methods. Both references [9] and [10] use the characteristics of differ­ differential current may be a sinusoidal waveform in particular fault
ential current’s waveform in fault case as a sinusoidal waveform, the conditions, as shown in Fig. 2(b).
methods can make decisions quickly, but the effect of CT saturation can
not be ignored. As an effective means of signal processing, wavelet
transform (WT) has also been used to identify inrush current [11–14]. 2.2. Statistical moment
However, the identification methods based on WT have a large amount
of calculation and their performance is affected by the selection of Assuming that the probability of a random variable X on the interval
∑
wavelet basis. Compared with the WT-based methods, the methods [xk , xk+1 ] is pk , and that the series ∞
k=1 xk pk meets absolute convergence,
based on mathematical morphology (MM) have the advantages of low then the definition of the origin moment of X can be given as:
computational burden and easy online analysis [15,16], however, they ∑
∞
are affected by the length of structural elements. Besides, there are some E(X) = x k pk (1)
intelligent recognition methods [17–19]. Although these methods k=1

perform well in particularly extreme cases, they need a large number of

training sets and require a large amount of calculation. which is also called expectation of X. Based on the definition of expec­
In recent years, methods based on statistical analysis have attracted tation, k-order central moment mk can be expressed as (2), and the
the attention of researchers. Generally, they can be divided into two definition of standard deviation expressed as (3) when k = 2.
categories: one is to use the waveform correlation of differential current {
mk = E [X − E(X)]k
}
(2)
[20,21], and the other is to analyze the statistical moment of differential
current [22–25]. These methods have the advantages of small calcula­ √̅̅̅̅̅̅
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
( )
tion and simple criterion, but the effect is unsatisfactory in some extreme σ (X) = m2 = E X 2 − [E(X)]2 (3)
cases (such as high remanence in transformer, CT saturation, energizing
on internal fault, etc.). Therefore, this paper proposes equivalent sta­ According to the third-order central moment m3 , the skewness is defined
tistics, which are used to construct a method for inrush identification. as (4) and can be calculated by (5).
The proposed equivalent statistics-based method has the advantages of m3
Skew(X) = (4)
low computation burden and is immune to CT saturation; moreover, it σ3 (X)
still has a satisfactory performance in extreme cases. ( ) ( )
The rest of this paper organizes as follows. In Section 2, the char­ E X 3 − 3E(X)E X 2 + 2E3 (X)
Skew(X) = (5)
acteristics of differential current on the waveform are analyzed, then the ( ( )
E X 2 − E2 (X)
)3/2
concept of equivalent statistics is given. A method based on equivalent
statistics is presented in Section 3. In Section 4, a large number of Similarly, for a given fourth-order central moment m4 , the kurtosis is
simulation studies have been conducted to verify the feasibility of the defined as (6) and can be calculated by (7).
proposed method. Section 5 demonstrates the effectiveness of the pro­
m4
posed method in the experimental data. Finally, Section 6 gives a sum­ Kurt(X) = (6)
σ4 (X)
mary of the paper.
( ) ( ( ) )
E X 4 − 4E(X) E X 3 + E3 (X)
2. Methodological background Kurt(X) = ( ( 2) )2
E X − E2 (X)
( ) (7)
2.1. Characteristics of waveform 6E2 (X)E X 2 + E4 (X)
+ ( ( ) )2
E X 2 − E2 (X)
2.1.1. Inrush current
Generally, the waveform of the inrush current is non-sinusoidal and In general, the statistics derived from the statistical moments can be
biased due to the hysteresis characteristics of the core of transformers. In used to describe the characteristics of the probability density function of
the process of inrush increasing, the slope of the waveform increases as X. As shown in Fig. 3, the larger the standard deviation, the more flat the
the core entering saturation. As a result, the waveform of the inrush waveform is, or vice versa. Similarly, the larger the kurtosis, the sharper
current is a pyramidal wave, as shown in Fig. 1(a). Besides, unlike the waveform is. When the waveform is symmetrical, the skewness is 0,
standard sinusoids, the waveform of an inrush current may be left-right otherwise not 0.
asymmetric in a half cycle since the influence of the other two-phase Accordingly, the waveform of the differential current in one cycle
currents [26], as shown in Fig. 1(b). Therefore, the waveform of the can be regarded as the waveform of f(x) in Fig. 3, then the above sta­
differential current may present a peak wave with a narrow width and a tistics can be used to quantify the characteristics of the differential
certain skewness in inrush current cases. current to inrush identification.

Fig. 1. Inrush currents produced at power transformers with different wiring Fig. 2. Fault currents under different initial angles. (a). Initial angle of 0∘ . (b).
modes. (a). Mode of Yn-yn0. (b). Mode of Yn-d11. Initial angle of 90∘ .

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C. Mo et al.
Fig. 3. Characteristics of probability density function reflected by standard
deviation, kurtosis, and skewness. (a). σ represents the standard deviation and
σ1 < σ2. (b). Kurt represents the kurtosis and Kurt1 > Kurt2. (c). Skew repre­
sents the skewness.
2.3. Equivalent statistical moment
In statistics, for the distribution function F(x) of a continuous
random variable X, if there is a non-negative function f(x) that satisfies
∫ +∞
− ∞ f(x)dx = 1 and all real numbers x satisfy (8):
∫x
F(x) = f (x)dx (8)
− ∞
Then the function f(x) is called the probability density function of X and
the probability P{⋅} of X on the interval [xk , xk+1 ] can be expressed as (9):
P{xk < X < xk+1 } = F(xk+1 ) − F(xk ) (9)
where xk and xk+1 are two arbitrary real numbers, and k ∈ N∗ .
In order to introduce the equivalent statistical moment, a continuous
waveform of differential current within a cycle is needed to intercepted
firstly. Afterwards, regarding the functional relationship of differential
current i(t) with time t as the equivalent statistical relationship of
probability density function with a random variable, then the equivalent
relation: X→T, f(x)→i(t) and F(x)→S(t) can be obtained, as shown in
Fig. 4, then the equivalent probability P{⋅} on interval [tk , tk+1 ] can be
expressed as (10):
P{tk < T < tk+1 } =
S(tk+1 ) − S(tk )
(10)
Sarea
Fig. 4. Equivalent probability density function of differential current i(t).
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Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664
where tk and tk+1 (k ∈ N∗ ) are two adjacent sampling moments, Sarea is
the integral area of the waveform that the differential current i(t) in­
tercepts in one cycle, Sk is the integral area between two adjacent
sampling points and can be solved by (11):
(ik + ik+1 )Δt
Sk = (11)
2
where ik and ik+1 are two adjacent sampling points, Δt is the sampling
interval between two adjacent sampling points. According to the defi­
nition of expectation and the formula of (10), the equivalent expectation
of the differential current in one cycle can be obtained by (12):
( )
∑
n− 1
(ik + ik+1 )
E(T) = ∑n− 1 ( ) tk (12)
k=1 j=1 ij + ij+1
Based on the result of (12), the equivalent statistics σ (T), Skew(T),
and Kurt(T) of the differential current within a cycle can be calculated
by using (3), (5) and (7), respectively. Accordingly, the characteristics of
the differential current on the waveform can be described by these
equivalent statistics.
3. Identification method
3.1. Equivalent statistical analysis
In this section, the equivalent statistical analysis for a fault current is
taken as an example to give the first set of criteria of the proposed
method. Intercepting differential current in one cycle as the input after
the fault inception, as shown in Fig. 5(a), and it needs to be reshaped to
the general waveform as shown in Fig. 4 before the equivalent statistics
can be applied.
Firstly, it is necessary to determine the positions of the maximum and
minimum on waveform as shown in Fig. 5(a). Afterwards, compare the
absolute values of the two extreme points to determine the polarity of
the waveform. When the absolute value of the maximum point is greater
than that of the minimum point, the polarity of the waveform is
considered to be positive, otherwise is negative. For the waveform with
positive polarity, it is divided into two parts according to the position of
the minimum point, then the minimum point is taken as an end point to
reconstruct a waveform, as shown in Fig. 5(b). On the contrary, the
waveform needs to take positive polarity and then reconstruct a wave­
form by the same process. After the reconstruction is completed, the
waveform needs to be shifted above the timeline, as shown in Fig. 5(c).
Finally, the influence of decaying DC component on equivalent statis­
tical analysis is eliminated by using its Taylor expansion [4], as shown in
Fig. 5(d).
After the above process called waveform transformation, the equiv­
alent statistics of the final waveform shown in Fig. 5(d) can be easily
Fig. 5. Process of the waveform transformation. (a). Determining the extreme
point. (b). Waveform reconstruction. (c). Waveform translation. (d). Waveform
compensation.
C. Mo et al. Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664

obtained. Meanwhile, the equivalent expectation Eref (T), standard de­ Table 1
viation σref (T), skewness Sref (T), and kurtosis Kref (T) of a sinusoidal Deviations of equivalent statistics in different cases.
waveform are calculated. Finally, the deviations of equivalent statistics Cycle Deviations in Both Cases (Fault/Inrush)
between the sinusoidal waveform and the final waveform are calculated
Ee (T) % σe (T) % Se (T) % Ke (T) %
by (13):
⎧ 1st 4.8/17 0.4/33 1.1/38 0.7/30
⎪
⎪ |E (T) − E(T)| 2nd 1.9/20 0.8/35 0.5/40 0.1/34
⎪ Ee (T) = ref
⎪ × 100%
⎪
⎪ Eref (T) 3rd 1.8/20 0.7/36 0.4/47 0.1/40
⎪
⎪ 4th 1.8/19 0.5/35 0.6/61 0.1/52
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨ Se (T) = |Skew(T)| × 100%
⎪ 5th 1.8/19 0.5/35 0.5/74 0.1/63
|σ (T) − σ (T)| (13)
⎪
⎪
⎪ σe (T) = ref × 100%
⎪
⎪ σref (T)
⎪
⎪ [ ]
⎪
⎪ λ1 0
⎪ Ke (T) = |Kref (T) − Kurt(T)| × 100%
⎪
⎪ D= (16)
⎩ K (T) 0 λ2
ref

where Ee (T), Se (T), σ e (T) and Ke (T) are the deviations of the equivalent
statistics.
Since the waveform of the differential current in fault case is an
approximately sinusoidal waveform, four deviations in (13) are small,
while at least one is large in inrush current case due to the waveform is a
nonsinusoidal peak-wave. Figs. 6(a) and 6(b) shows the waveform of the
differential current in the first five cycles under both cases of fault
current and inrush current respectively, the deviations of the four
equivalent statistics calculated by (13) are recorded in Table 1. It can be
seen from the table that the deviations are much larger in inrush current
case than the fault case. Therefore, an inrush current can be identified by
defining four appropriate thresholds of Eth , σth , Sth , and Kth .
3.2. Influence of CT saturation
where λ1 and λ2 are two singular values of M. Based on their product, the
deformation coefficient τ which is used to judge the correlation between
the waveform of differential current and of sinusoidal is defined as (17):
⃒ ⃒
⃒E(T)Kurt(T) − σ (T)Skew(T)⃒
τ = λ1 λ2 = ⃒⃒ ⃒ (17)
Eref (T)Kref (T) ⃒
Fig. 7(a) shows two internal fault currents with CT saturation under
different degrees, and the corresponding deformation coefficient τ is
shown in Fig. 7(b). Moreover, the deformation coefficient whose the
inrush current is shown in Fig. 6(b) also draws on Fig. 7(b). It can be seen
from Fig. 7(b) that τ is much greater than 1 in inrush cases while less
than 1 in fault cases, and the deeper the CT saturation is, the smaller the
deformation coefficient is. Therefore, an internal fault with CT satura­
tion can be distinguished by setting a proper threshold τth .

In power systems, CTs at both ends of a transformer may be saturated 3.3. Influence of remanence
due to artificial wrong selection of ratio of CT, on-load voltage regula­
tion of transformer, etc [27]. Therefore, the influence of CT saturation In extreme inrush current cases, the remanence of a transformer may
on inrush identification should be considered. A matrix Fref that de­ reach 90% of rated flux, which may affect the identification of the
scribes sinusoidal characteristics is defined based on four equivalent proposed method. Therefore, another criterion should be constructed on
statistics of a sinusoidal waveform. Similarly, a matrix F that describes the premise that σ e (T) > σth to improve the ability of the proposed
the characteristics of the differential current on waveform is defined, method, and it is expressed as (18):
and a matrix M is defined to describe the correlation between the two ( )
{
+1, σ(T) ≥ σ ref (T)
matrices. The relationship among Fref , F, and M is expressed as (14): η = sign σ(T) − σref (T) = (18)
− 1, σ(T) < σ ref (T)
Fref × M = F (14)
where sign(⋅) is a sign function.
[ ] [ ]
Eref (T) σref (T) E(T) σ(T) Finally, the flow chart of the proposed method is shown in Fig. 8. The
where Fref = ,F = .
Sref (T) Kref (T) Skew(T) Kurt(T) method contains three sets of criteria, among which the first set of
Considering that singular value decomposition (SVD) is often used to criteria is used as the main criterion (based on (13)) to identify the
extract the key information in a matrix or to characterize the rotation typical inrush, the second (based on (17)) and the third (based on (18))
and expansion of a matrix in space [28,29]. Therefore, to quantify the set of criteria are used as additional criteria to enhance the performance
correlation between Fref and F, the process of SVD is performed for M, of the method in extreme cases.
then (14) is expressed as (15):
( ) 3.4. Setting of parameters
Fref × U × D × VT = F (15)

where U is called the left singular matrix, V is called the right singular
matrix, and D is expressed as (16):
To determine the thresholds (Eth , σth , Sth , Kth and τth ) and the optimal
sampling frequency for the proposed method, Fig. 9(a) shows 20
representative examples of internal faults with different initial angles
and system impedance, and they are analyzed under different sampling
frequencies. As shown in Fig. 9(b), the optimal sampling frequency is

Fig. 6. Waveform of differential current in different cases. (a). In the case of Fig. 7. Results of the first five cycles. (a). Waveform of fault current with CT
internal fault. (b). In the case of inrush. saturation under different degrees. (b). The values of τ.

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C. Mo et al. Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664

cesses only need to traverse the sampling point within one power fre­
quency cycle, and do not involve multiple iteration or recursion.
Therefore, the method has linear complexity, which is represented by
O(n), where n is the window’s length. Compared with the discrete
Fourier transform [O(n2 )] and the fast Fourier transform [O(nlog2 n)]
which are commonly used in SHR, the computational complexity of the
proposed method is remarkably smaller. Although the proposed method
is recommended to operate at a high sampling frequency of 4.0 kHz (n =
80) while SHR can operate at a low sampling frequency, e.g. 0.8 kHz
(n = 16), the calculation cost of the proposed method [O(80)] is still
roughly equivalent to that of SHR [O(162 ) or O(16log2 16)]. Accordingly,
the method can meet the requirements of online computing.

4. Simulation experiment

4.1. Simulation model

In order to verify the reliability of the proposed method, a simulation

Fig. 8. Flow chart of the proposed method.
Fig. 9. 20 representative examples of internal fault. (a). The ratio of reactance
to resistance. (b). Maximum deviations at different sampling frequencies.
model with two transformers connected in parallel is established in
PSCAD / EMTDC, as shown in Fig. 10. The transformers have the same
parameters which are set according to the standard [30]. The connection
mode of both transformer’s windings are Yn-d11, and their rated voltage
Un1 /Un2 and rated capacity Sn are 220 kV/10.5 kV and 120 MVA,
respectively.
The simulation studies in this section are mainly divided into four
categories: inrush current cases, internal fault cases, internal fault
contaminated by inrush current cases, and other disturbances cases;
moreover, the performance of the proposed method under another type
of transformer is investigated. The simulated time is set to 1 s, and the
sampling frequency is set to 4 kHz (The rated frequency is 50 Hz). Be­
sides, the performance of the proposed method is compared with that
SHR with restrictive ratio R of 15%.

4.2. Identification of inrush current

recommended to be 4 kHz because the maximum deviations of equiv­
alent statistics among the examples are relatively stable, where τe =
Figure 11(a) shows an inrush current of phase-A when transformer
τ/100 for comparison convenience. Based on this sampling frequency,
T1 is no-load energized at 0∘ , where the three-phase remanence is ϕA =
Eth , σ th , Sth and Kth all are set to 10%, τth is set to 1.15 to allow a margin.
90%, ϕB = − 90%, and ϕC = − 90%, respectively. Transformer T2
operates at rated voltage with 90% rated load, and the system imped­
3.5. Influence of noise
ance Zs is set at 10 + j70 Ω. The deviations of four equivalent statistics
are shown in Fig. 11(b), τ and η are shown in Fig. 11(c), and the second
In this subsection, example 1 shown in Fig. 9(a) is added with white
harmonic content of the differential current shown in Fig. 11(d).
noise with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) to test the anti-noise
As can be seen from Fig. 11(b), the value of σe is greater than 10%
ability of the proposed method. Based on the sampling frequency of 4
during the simulated process, thus the proposed method needs to make a
kHz, the deviations of equivalent statistics of example 1 are recorded in
further decision. As shown in Fig. 11(c), since η is constant at − 1, then
Table 2. The results show that when SNR is as low as 20 dB, the influence
the case is determined as an inrush current. However, SHR fails to block
of noise on the value of Se (T) can not be ignored. Nevertheless, the
in inrush case due to the second harmonic content of differential current
proposed method can still identify the fault current yet a filtering pro­
shown in Fig. 11(d) is as low as 9.53%, which is far less than the
cess is recommended in this case.
threshold of 15%.
Fig. 12(a) shows an inrush current of phase-A when transformer T1 is
3.6. Computational complexity no-load energized at 0∘ , where the three-phase remanence is ϕA = −
10%, ϕB = 10%, and ϕC = 10%, respectively; and the CT saturation at
According to the composition of the proposed method, the compu­ the high voltage side of transformer T1. Transformer T2 operates at
tational complexity of the method mainly comes from the calculation
process of the waveform transformation, the equivalent statistics, and
their corresponding deviations. However, these three calculation pro­

Table 2
The deviations of equivalent statistics of example 1 under different SNRs.
SNRs Deviations of Equivalent Statistics

Ee (T) % σe (T) % Se (T) % Ke (T) % τe (T) %

20 dB 4.277 1.002 8.999 0.827 1.021

40 dB 0.910 1.418 0.167 0.297 0.994
60 dB 3.449 0.772 0.761 0.131 0.965
Original 3.457 0.707 0.799 0.189 0.965
Fig. 10. Simulation model built in PSCAD/EMTDC.

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C. Mo et al.
Fig. 11. Analysis of the inrush current with high remanence (The mark Trip
shown in Fig. 11(a) indicates the moment that protection relay is triggered; The
dotted lines in Fig. 11(c) and Fig. 11(d) represent the threshold values 1.15 and
15%, respectively.). (a). Waveform of the differential current. (b). Deviations of
the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ and η. (d). Second harmonic content of
differential current.
rated voltage with 90% rated load, and the system impedance Zs is set at
5 + j70 Ω. As shown in Fig. 12(b), the proposed method needs further
decision-making to identify the inrush current due to more than one
equivalent statistic’s deviation exceeds the threshold of 10%. Never­
theless, the minimum of τ shown in Fig. 12(c) is 1.774, which is far
greater than the threshold of 1.15, thus the case finally determined as an
inrush current. As shown in Fig. 12(d), the second harmonic content of
differential current is much greater than the threshold of 15%. There­
fore, both methods can effectively identify the inrush current.
To test the reliability of the proposed method comprehensively,
considering the variation range of the system resistance Rs from 10 to 90
Ω (step size is 20 Ω) together with the system reactance Xs from 90 to 10
Ω (step size is − 20 Ω); the energizing angle of transformer T1 varies
from 0∘ to 360∘ (step size is 18∘ ); the variation range of the remanence of
phase-A from 0% to 90% (step size is 30%) together with the variation
range of phase-B and phase-C are all from − 90% to 0% (step size is
30%); moreover, the CT saturation is considered, then a total of 840
groups of simulation examples with different inrush current scenarios
are carried out. The identification results of both the proposed method
and SHR are indicated in Table 3, and it reveals that the method can
accurately identify the inrush currents in all simulated studies.
4.3. Identification of internal fault current
Figure 13(a) shows an internal fault current when a phase-to-earth
fault occurs in phase-A of the high voltage side of transformer T1 with
the initial angle is 0∘ , and the system impedance Zs is set at 10 +j90 Ω. It
can be seen from Fig. 13(b) that the deviations of four equivalent sta­
tistics are all far less than 10%, thus the proposed method does not need
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Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664
Fig. 12. Analysis of the inrush current with CT saturation. (a). Waveform of the
differential current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ
and η. (d). Second harmonic content of differential current.
Table 3
Identification results of the inrush currents under different conditions.
Comparison Methods The Misjudgment Rate (Error/Total)
CT Unsaturated CT Saturation
Proposed Method 0/420 0/420
SHR 12/420 2/420
to make a further decision, that is, it does not need to check the values of
τ and η. The case is identified as an internal fault by using only the first
set of criteria. As shown in Fig. 13(c), the second harmonic content of
differential current is lower than the threshold of 15% nearly one cycle
after the fault occurs; accordingly, the SHR can also identify the internal
fault current in the first cycle.
Based on the parameters of fault current set in the previous para­
graph, Fig. 14(a) shows the internal fault current of phase-A in the case
of CT saturation. It can be seen from Fig. 14(b) that more than one
equivalent statistic’s deviation exceeds the threshold of 10% when CT is
saturated seriously, therefore, the proposed method needs to further
check the decisions of the other criteria. As shown in Fig. 14(c), because
τ in the first cycle is 0.893 as well as η is + 1, the proposed method can
still identify the fault in the first cycle. However, it can be seen from
Fig. 14(d) that the second harmonic content of the fault current exceeds
the threshold of 15% lasting 110.7 ms after the fault occurs. Therefore,
compared with SHR, the proposed method greatly reduces the time of
that protection relay to cut off a fault in the case of CT saturation.
To test the sensitivity of the proposed method comprehensively,
considering the variation range of the system resistance Rs from 10 to 90
Ω (step size is 20 Ω) together with the system reactance Xs from 90 to 10
Ω (step size is − 20 Ω); the variation range of the initial angle from 0∘ to
360∘ (step size is 18∘ ); under four kinds of fault conditions (single-phase
C. Mo et al.
Fig. 13. Analysis of the internal fault with CT unsaturation. (a). Waveform of
the differential current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Second
harmonic content of differential current.
Fig. 14. Analysis of the internal fault with CT saturation. (a). Waveform of the
differential current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ
and η. (d). Second harmonic content of differential current.
grounding fault, two-phase grounding fault, two-phase fault, and three-
phase fault), and considering CT saturation, in total of 840 groups of
simulation examples with different fault scenarios are carried out. The
identification time of both the proposed method and SHR are presented
in Table 4. It can be seen from the table that the proposed method can
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Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664
Table 4
The required time for internal faults identification under different conditions.
Comparison Methods CT Unsaturation CT Saturation
Max/Mean Max/Mean
Proposed Method 20.0/20.0 ms 20.0/20.0 ms
SHR 21.7/18.4 ms 170.0/23.9 ms
identify the faults in the first cycle, while the required time for SHR in
the case of CT saturation is more than one cycle, which can reach 170.0
ms in severe cases. Accordingly, the proposed method reduces the time
to trip of protection relays in the case of CT saturation.
4.4. Identification of internal fault contaminated by inrush current
Different from phase-to-phase fault (or phase-to-ground fault), turn-
to-turn fault (or turn-to-ground fault) is minor. When transformer with
turn-to-turn fault is energized, inrush current will be more dominated,
and thus the second harmonic content of differential current is high,
which leads to a longer tripping delay for protection relays equipped
with SHR.
Figure 15(a) shows a turn-to-turn fault current on transformer T2
with the energizing angle being 0∘ . The fault is located at 6.5% of the
winding partition of phase-B, and the system impedance Zs is set at 10 +
j70 Ω. As shown in Figs. 15(b) and 15(c), although the impact of inrush
current on the fault current causes at least one equivalent statistic’s
deviation exceed the threshold of 10%, τ in the first cycle is 1.134 which
is less than the threshold of 1.15, and η is constant at + 1; therefore, the
proposed method can still guide the protection relay to trip in the first
cycle. As shown in Fig. 15(d), because the second harmonic content of
differential current is higher than the threshold of 15% lasting 368.8 ms
after the transformer is energized, the protection relay equipped with
Fig. 15. Analysis of the turn-to-turn fault. (a). Waveform of the differential
current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ and η. (d).
Second harmonic content of differential current.
C. Mo et al.
SHR will block the tripping for an unnecessarily long period.
Figure 16(a) shows a turn-to-ground fault current on transformer T2
with the energizing angle being 0∘ . The fault is located at 6.7% of the
winding partition of phase-B, and the system impedance Zs is set at 5 +
j10 Ω. As shown in Figs. 16(b) and 16(c), in the case of turn-to-ground
fault, the deviations of the four equivalent statistics are not all less
than the threshold of 10% at the same time. Hence, a further decision is
needed. As τ in the first cycle is 1.133 and η is + 1, the protection relay
can still trip in the first cycle by using the proposed method. As shown in
Fig. 16(d), the protection relay equipped with SHR will have an un­
necessary time delay, since the second harmonic content of differential
current is higher than the threshold of 15% lasting 109.3 ms after the
transformer is energized.
To test the sensitivity of the proposed method in both cases of turn-
to-turn fault and turn-to-ground fault, let the system resistance Rs vary
between 10 and 90 Ω (step size is variable) together with the system
reactance Xs vary between 90 and 10 Ω (step size is variable); the fault
inception angles vary between 0∘ and 360∘ (step size is 90∘ ); the fault
locations in the winding partition of phase-A or phase-B be set to 6%,
7%, 8%, 10%, respectively. Therefore, a total of 105 groups of simula­
tion examples under different fault conditions are carried out. The re­
sults are shown in Table 5, which reveal that the proposed method can
greatly shorten the tripping time of the protection relay in the case of
internal fault contaminated by inrush current.
4.5. Identification of other disturbances
Considering other disturbances that transformer protection relay
may need to deal with, the subsection sets up 120 examples of sympa­
thetic inrush current, 43 examples of recovery inrush current, and 60
examples of the external fault with CT saturation to test the performance
of the proposed method. In these simulation studies, the main
Fig. 16. Analysis of the turn-to-ground fault. (a). Waveform of the differential
current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ and η. (d).
Second harmonic content of differential current.
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Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664
Table 5
The required time for internal fault identification during inrush current.
Types of Fault Identification Time (Max/Mean)
Proposed Method SHR
Turn-to-Turn 20.0/20.0 ms 453.7/36.4 ms
Turn-to-Ground 20.0/20.0 ms 213.8/34.7 ms
parameters that affect the disturbances are considered (such as the
system impedance, the initial angle of disturbance, CT saturation, etc.).
Besides, comparative studies with SHR are conducted, and the results
are indicated in Table 6. The results show that the proposed method can
make correct guidance for protection relay in these disturbances, and it
improves the reliability of differential protection above that of the SHR
in the case of sympathetic inrush current.
4.6. Identification under another type of transformer
This subsection investigates the identification performance of the
proposed method for various disturbances under another type of trans­
former—the Yn-Yn0 connected transformer model which is reported in
reference [31]. The main parameters (including the initial angle of
disturbance, system impedance, as well as remanence of transformer
and CT saturation, etc.) that affect the disturbances are considered in the
simulation studies; and, comparative studies between the proposed
method and SHR (the threshold R is set to 15%) are also carried out. The
results of the simulation experiments are listed in Table 7, and it can be
seen that the proposed method can reliably identify the disturbances on
Yn-Yn0 connected transformers.
5. Experimental studies
To further verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we test
the performance of the proposed method under a three-phase 800/220
V, Yn-d11 connected transformer. Cases of inrush current, internal fault
current, and that of internal fault current contaminated by inrush cur­
rent are conducted in laboratory experiment.
Figure 17 shows a case of inrush current when the transformer is
energized at 166∘ . As shown in Fig. 17(b), the deviations of the four
equivalent statistics do not satisfy the condition that they are all less
than 10% at the same time, so the proposed method needs to make
further decisions. As shown in Fig. 17(c), since the minimum value of τ is
1.396, as well as η is − 1, it can be identified as an inrush current.
Meanwhile, because the second harmonic content of differential current
exceeds 15% during the disturbance, as shown in Fig. 17(d), SHR can
also correctly identify the inrush current.
Figure 18 shows a case of an internal fault with an initial angle of 0∘ .
As shown in Fig. 18(b), since the deviations of the four statistics in the
first power frequency cycle are all less than 10%, the proposed method
can guide the protection relay to trip in the first cycle. As shown in
Fig. 18(c), the second harmonic content of differential current is less
than 15% after the fault lasts for one power frequency cycle, SHR can
also release the protection relay correctly in the first cycle after the fault
inception. Accordingly, both methods can guide the protection relay to
trip in time.
Figure 19 shows a case of internal fault current contaminated by
inrush current. As shown in Figs. 19(b) and 19(c), although the
Table 6
Identification results of the proposed method under other disturbances.
Types of Disturbance Misjudgment Rate (Error/Total)
Proposed Method SHR
Sympathetic Inrush 0/120 18/120
Recovery Inrush 0/43 0/43
External Fault 0/60 0/60
C. Mo et al. Electric Power Systems Research 203 (2022) 107664

Table 7
Identification results of the proposed method under another type of transformer.
Types of Disturbance Misjudgment Rate (Error/Total)

Proposed Method SHR

Inrush Current 0/40 2/40

Sympathetic Inrush 0/22 0/22
Recovery Inrush 0/13 0/13
External Fault 0/19 1/19

Fig. 18. Analysis of the internal fault. (a). Waveform of the differential current.
(b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Second harmonic content of
differential current.

Fig. 17. Analysis of the inrush current. (a). Waveform of the differential cur­
rent. (b). Deviations of the equivalent statistics. (c). Values of τ and η. (d).
Second harmonic content of differential current.

deviations of the four statistics in the first power frequency cycle after
fault inception are not all below 10%, the value of τ is 1.140 and η is + 1.
Accordingly, it can be identified as an internal fault current and the
protection relay will trip in time after fault inception. However, because
the second harmonic content of differential current exceeds 15% and
lasts 28.1 ms after the transformer is energized, as shown in Fig. 19(d),
the protection relay equipped with SHR will have an unnecessary delay.
Compared with SHR, the tripping time of the protection relay can be
greatly reduced by using the proposed method.

6. Conclusion

Considering the influence of remanence and current transformer

saturation on differential current, an inrush current identification
Fig. 19. Analysis of the internal fault current contaminated by inrush current.
method based on equivalent statistics is proposed. To test the perfor­
(a). Waveform of the differential current. (b). Deviations of the equivalent
mance of the proposed method, a simulation model with two trans­
statistics. (c). Values of τ and η. (d). Second harmonic content of differen­
formers connected in parallel is established in PSCAD / EMTDC, and
tial current.
various faults and disturbances simulation studies are carried out. The
simulation results indicate that the method can effectively identify the
laboratory experiments. Besides, compared with the second harmonic
disturbances in a power frequency cycle. Moreover, the effectiveness of
restraint method, the proposed method can not only effectively block
the proposed method is also verified by using the data collected from
the protective relay in the cases of the inrush current generated in a

9
C. Mo et al.
transformer with high remanence, but also shortens the response time of
protective relay in both cases of internal fault contaminated by inrush
current and internal faults with current transformer saturation.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
C. Mo: Methodology, Writing – original draft, Validation. T.Y. Ji:
Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. L.L. Zhang: Formal
analysis, Visualization, Data curation. Q.H. Wu: Supervision, Project
administration.
Declaration of Competing Interest
We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with
other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our
work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or
kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as
influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript
entitled “Equivalent Statistics Based Inrush Identification Method for
Differential Protection of Power Transformer”.
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