Commissioning of 100% Stator Earth Fault Protection (20Hz Injection)

a) Basics of the protection:

Generator stator is one of the most important components in the turbine-generator
assembly. So, it’s protection against earth faults is very critical protection and
reliability of that protection needs to be ensured at all the time.
Generator stator is generally grounded through neutral grounding transformer. A load
resistance is connected across the secondary of this transformer. The value of this
resistance is chosen as such to limit earth fault current through generator stator. A
single earth fault at the terminal of a phase winding will cause around 5-10A to flow
through that winding. This low magnitude current will not damage the stator. But if a
second earth fault occurs in the stator, then high impedance grounding of the
generator will be totally bypassed and abnormally high current will circulate through
generator stator winding which may damage the stator permanently.
So, it is necessary to detect that first stator earth fault and rectify it.
Differential protection cannot detect stator earth faults. Why? Let’s take an example of
a 16.5kV, 250MVA Generator. Full load current of this generator is around 8800A. Pick
up of differential protection is set at 10% of rated winding current. So in this case
differential pickup will be 880A. Previously it was said that during stator earth fault,
5-10A current will flow through the faulted phase that too if the fault occurs at the
terminal of that phase. If the fault position moves towards the neutral point, then this
fault current magnitude will be much lower. It can be easily seen that this fault current
magnitude is well below differential pick up value and hence differential protection
will not actuate for a stator earth fault.
So, a special protection is needed for this purpose. A standard protection is applied
based on voltage unbalance principle. During an earth fault in a phase winding,
voltage of that phase will be reduced and vector sum of all three phase voltages will
give some unbalance voltage magnitude based on which relay will issue trip
command. But it has been seen, that this principle will operate successfully only if
earth fault occurs up to 95% of the winding from phase side. If fault occurs in that 5%
of the winding from neutral side, then magnitude of that voltage unbalance is very less
and below the minimum sensitivity level of the relay.
So, for that remaining 5% of the winding some other principle was needed. Third
harmonic principle-based protection was used for this purpose. It was seen that
during normal running condition a substantial amount of third harmonic voltage is
generated in generator neutral and phase terminals and they are opposite in sign.
During fault condition relative magnitude of those third harmonic voltages change,
based on which a trip command can be issued. But this principle also had its share of
problems. These magnitudes of third harmonic voltages were not constant and
 differed from generator to generator based on their physical formation. They also
change with load current of the generator. So, it was very difficult to adopt a standard
protection settings. Moreover, during standstill condition, no third harmonic voltage
appears across the generator. At that time this protection is of no use.
Finally, the most interesting and sophisticated 100% stator earth fault protection
based on sub harmonic injection principle was adopted and is currently used
extensively. In this scheme a sub harmonic square wave voltage (preferably 20Hz) is
injected across the secondary of the NGT through some filter and voltage divider
circuit. In normal standstill or running condition there is only capacitance between
generator stator winding and earth. Resistance value is very high or near to infinity. So
in normal condition a small 20Hz capacitive charging current will flow through the
generator stator winding whose secondary reflection through NGT will be measured
by the relay. Relay will calculate resistance value based on those 20Hz injected voltage
and 20Hz measured current. In normal condition resistance measured will be very
high. But as soon as stator insulation degrades or earth fault develops in stator
winding, resistive component of that 20Hz current will increase and resistance
measured by relay will fall to very low value even zero. Based on that relay will issue
trip command. A basic connection diagram of this scheme is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: 200% SEF Scheme

Figure 1
b) Important Settings Parameters:
i) Resistance Conversion Factor: It can be seen that relay measures 20Hz
voltage & current in secondary terms. Resistance measured by the relay is
basically secondary resistance which needs to be converted to primary
resistance by some conversion factor. Let’s say relay is getting I20 Current and
V20 voltage.
Relay is getting 20Hz current through a miniature CT. So, actual 20Hz current
through NGT secondary will be 𝐼20 × 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜.
Relay is getting 20Hz voltage through voltage divider. So, actual 20Hz voltage
across NGT secondary will be 𝑉20 ÷ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜.
NGT Secondary resistance will be:
𝑉20
𝐼20 × 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 × 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
To transfer this secondary resistance to NGT primary side, multiplication
with square of NGT ratio has to be done.
So primary side resistance will be:
𝑉 𝑁𝐺𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 2
( 𝐼20 ) × 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜×𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
20
From this we can deduce the formula of Resistance Conversion Factor as:
𝑁𝐺𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜2
𝑅𝐶𝐹 =
𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑇 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 × 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
The commissioning was done for a 250MW Generator.
NGT is rated as 15.75kV/240V.
Voltage Divider Ratio is 2/5.
Miniature CT ratio is 400/5.
So RCF is calculated to be 134.57. This data is given to generator protection
relay.
ii) Correction Angle:
In the resistance measurement, inaccuracies are incorporated due to
miniature CT phase angle error, and NGT transformation error. To
compensate these errors, an angle correction setting is used in the relay. It
will be adjusted during calibration period. Preliminarily it is set at 0°.
iii) Series Resistance:
If the connection circuit is observed carefully, it can be seen that in resistance
measurement, always NGT resistance will be included. This will be measured
later and will be compensated. Preliminarily this setting is kept at 0Ω.
 iv) Trip and Alarm Settings:
In normal condition, it has been seen that generator stator resistance lies
around 40-100kΩ range. So, alarm settings is kept at 10kΩ with a time delay
of 10s and trip settings is kept at 2kΩ with a time delay of 1s. These
resistance values of 10kΩ & 2Ω are primary resistance values. If the relay
accepts secondary settings value, then these resistance values have to be
converted to secondary terms by dividing them with RCF. Resolution in relay
may not allow to input exactly these values. In that case nearest resistance
values may be incorporated.
Someone may think why we use 1s time delay for tripping when we know
this is a generator internal fault. Why we don’t make this protection tripping
instantaneous like differential protection?
First of all, this resistance measurement is based on a superimposed 20Hz
signal. So, lot of filtering and noise cleaning are associated with the
measurement process which requires some time for making a confirm
decision. In later testing it can be seen that the difference in 20Hz current
during fault and non-fault condition is very minimal. So, relay makes
subsequent measurements to improve the accuracy.
It was also mentioned earlier that first stator earth fault is not that
detrimental for the generator. So, a time delay of 1s can be spared to reach a
confirmed decision instead of generating wrong trip command
instantaneously.

c) Step 1 Injection:
With above settings, generator neutral isolator was kept open and 20Hz injection
was carried out. Following readings were taken from the relay:
20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.4V
20Hz Current (I20) 33mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 13Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 1749.41Ω
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 0° to 1°

As generator neutral isolator was open, generator capacitance did not come in the
picture. The 20Hz current was divided in two parts. One was through the load
resistor and another was very small 20Hz magnetizing current of the NGT. Now as
the injection point of 20Hz voltage was before the miniature CT, the CT recorded the
current flow through load resistor which is 33 mA. So, the voltage across load
resistor was around (0.033×80×0.34) V or 0.89V and voltage across voltage divider
was around (0.89×2/5)V or 0.36V which is roughly shown as 0.4V by the relay.

Figure 2

Resistance measured by the relay is V20/(I20×cos (Ɵ20+ Correction Angle))

(correction angle was kept at 0ᵒ ) which is equal to 13 Ω and it is complemented by
the fact that in this condition only resistances in the circuit are 20Hz bandpass filter
resistance (8Ω), load resistance (0.34Ω) and associated cable and lead resistances.
This resistance measurement is well below the tripping stage of 20 Ω (sec) or 2.69
kΩ (pri) and the relay was giving trip signal.
The injection point of 20 Hz voltage was not correct in this circuit. The CT
should never read the current through the loading resistor. That’s why the
 injection point was rectified and was connected directly to the load resistor as
shown in FIGURE 3.

d) Step 2 Injection:
After circuit rectification injection was done (Figure 3) and results were recorded:
20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.5V
20Hz Current (I20) 0.5mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 9999Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 9999.99 kΩ
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 30° to 40°

Figure 3

In this case the current measured by CT is only the magnetising current of the NGT
from LV side i.e., 0.5 mA (sec) or 40 mA (Pri). Resistance measured is infinite which
is in order with the circuit.
e) Step 3 Injection:
Generator neutral isolator was closed. 20 Hz voltage was injected in this condition.
The results are shown in the table.
20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.4V
20Hz Current (I20) 11.7mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 9999Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 9999.99 kΩ
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 87.5° to 92°

The 20Hz current flow in this condition is due to the generator capacitance only. The
current being a capacitive one should lead the voltage by around 90ᵒ. This is
complemented by test results. This phase angle sign may be different depending on
the convention adopted by different relay manufactures. If sign is found opposite
then miniature CT polarity is needed to be reversed.

f) Step 4 Injection:

According to Figure No. 4, a short circuit was applied across the star point of the
generator. Results are given in the table. The resistance value of 3Ω is the transfer
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Figure 4
 resistance of the NGT.

20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.1V

20Hz Current (I20) 34.4mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 3Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 0.46 kΩ
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 21.7°
The series resistance setting parameter was set to 3Ω (sec). After settings update the
test was repeated and this time resistance value came to be 0 Ω.

20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.1V

20Hz Current (I20) 34.4mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 0Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 0.06 kΩ
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 14.6°

g) Step 5 Injection:
Then a variable resistor (decade box) was connected across the star point of the
generator and injection was done as per Figure 5. Fine tuning was done by varying
the correction angle settings. The test results are tabulated as below:
Resistance V20 I20 R20sec R20pri Ɵ20 Correction Angle
50 kΩ 0.4 V 11.1 mA 9996Ω 1344.46 kΩ -88.4ᵒ 0ᵒ
50 kΩ 0.4 V 11.1 mA 9996Ω 1344.46 kΩ -93ᵒ -6ᵒ
40 kΩ 0.4 V 11.2 mA 9996Ω 1344.46 kΩ -91.1ᵒ -6ᵒ
40 kΩ 0.4 V 11 mA 200 Ω 26.88 kΩ -81.3ᵒ +6ᵒ
40 kΩ 0.4 V 11 mA 224 Ω 31.43 kΩ -80.4ᵒ +4ᵒ
40 kΩ 0.4 V 11 mA 281 Ω 37.80 kΩ -85.1ᵒ +2ᵒ
30 kΩ 0.4 V 11 mA 244 Ω 31.43 kΩ -78.9ᵒ +2ᵒ
20 kΩ 0.4 V 10.8 mA 169 Ω 20.82 kΩ -76.6ᵒ +2ᵒ
10 kΩ 0.4 V 10.8 mA 84 Ω 11.36 kΩ -64.1ᵒ +2ᵒ
5 kΩ 0.4 V 11.6 mA 42 Ω 5.65 kΩ -48.9ᵒ +2ᵒ
2 kΩ 0.3 V 15.8 mA 17 Ω 2.33 kΩ -22ᵒ +2ᵒ

In this testing supervision threshold of 20Hz voltage settings was kept at 0.3V
(Range is 0.3V-15V) and supervision threshold of 20Hz current settings was kept at
5mA (Range is 5mA-40mA). Alarm settings was kept at 74 Ω (secondary) or 9958 Ω
(Primary) and trip settings was kept at 20 Ω(secondary) or 2691 Ω (Primary).
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Now during testing, it was found that when the resistance was below trip settings,
tripping was issued from relay and up to 5kΩ resistance, alarm was also issued from
the relay. But above 5 kΩ, although resistance calculation was made correctly, no
alarm was coming from the relay. It was found that during testing up to 5kΩ
resistance no 20Hz generator failure event was appearing in the relay. But beyond 5
kΩ resistance, 20Hz generator failure alarm was appearing.
It may be noticed from the above table that 20Hz Biased Voltage i.e., V20 is
marginally equal to the supervision threshold of 20 HZ Voltage. This was the
probable cause of this 20Hz Generator failure alarm.
Biased voltage across the relay needed to be increased. So, it was decided to use full
ratio of voltage divider i.e., 5/5 instead of 2/5 ratio.
As voltage divider ratio was changed, resistance conversion factor also changed and
new RCF value of 53.8 was updated in the relay. Again, the test was repeated and test
results are tabulated below:
 Resistance V20 I20 R20sec R20pri Ɵ20 Correction Angle
Open 1.1 V 11.5 mA 9996Ω 537.78 kΩ -89ᵒ +2ᵒ
Circuited
40 kΩ 1.1 V 11.2 mA 733Ω 39.43 kΩ -82.4ᵒ +2ᵒ
20 kΩ 1.0 V 10.9 mA 415Ω 22.31 kΩ -77.4ᵒ +2ᵒ
10 kΩ 1.0 V 11.0 mA 214Ω 11.53 kΩ -64.6ᵒ +2ᵒ
8 kΩ 1.0 V 11 mA 177 Ω 9.51 kΩ -60.5ᵒ +2ᵒ
5 kΩ 1.0 V 11.6 mA 111 Ω 5.96 kΩ -48.3ᵒ +2ᵒ
1.5 kΩ 0.7 V 17.8 mA 37 Ω 2.01 kΩ -14.5ᵒ +2ᵒ

The problem of 20Hz generator failure event did not arise as 20Hz biased voltage
was around 1 V, which is way above supervision threshold settings of 0.3 V.
h) Step 6 Injection:
Lastly one short circuit was applied at GT LV side and 100% SEF Tripping was
checked and was found to be in order. The test results are found as follows:
20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.3 V
20Hz Current (I20) 33.9 mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 6Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 0.31k Ω
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 21.7ᵒ

i) Normal Running Condition Values:

Generator was synchronised after this commissioning process and normal running
condition values were noted for future reference.
20Hz Voltage (V20) 0.8 V
20Hz Current (I20) 11.8 mA
Secondary Resistance (R20sec) 787 Ω
Primary Resistance (R20pri) 42.34k Ω
Angle between 20Hz voltage & current (Ɵ20) 86ᵒ