Relaying 230 KV, 100 Mvar C-Type Filter Capacitor Banks: Abstract
Relaying 230 KV, 100 Mvar C-Type Filter Capacitor Banks: Abstract
Relaying 230 KV, 100 Mvar C-Type Filter Capacitor Banks: Abstract
=
1
(5)
str
s
bottom
N
Z
Z = (6)
+
=
bottom top
top
top
Z Z
Z
V V
max
(7)
+
=
bottom top
bottom
bottom
Z Z
Z
V V
max
(8)
2
str
s
top
s
bottom
unbalance
N
Z
V
Z
V
I
= (9)
( ) [ ]
100 %
=
s u c c
c top
N N N V
N V
OV (10)
where,
Z
c
= Impedance of capacitor can,
Z
e
= Impedance of capacitor element,
Z
f
= Impedance of string with failed capacitor
element,
V
c
= Rated voltage of each capacitor unit, kV
Q
c
= Reactive power rating of capacitor unit, Mvars
N
c
= Number of series sections per capacitor unit
N
s
= Number of shorted series sections in one string
N
u
= Number of series-connected capacitor units per
string
Z
s
= Impedance of healthy string,
Z
top
= Impedance of top half of main capacitor
section,
Z
bottom
= Impedance of bottom half of main capacitor
section,
V
top
= Voltage across top half of main capacitor
section, kV
V
bottom
= Voltage across bottom half of main capacitor
section, kV
V
max
= Maximum line-to-neutral system voltage, kV
I
unbalance
= Unbalance current flowing through current
transformer, A
%OV = Percent overvoltage on remaining series
sections, %
Page 4
Typically, a table is developed to show the unbalance
current and %OV for multiple series section failures.
Table 1 includes the calculation results for the main
section of a 242 kV 100 Mvar C-Type harmonic filter
bank. A detailed example calculation for the main
section unbalance current is included in the Appendix.
# Failed
Series
Sections Zf Zs Ztop Zbottom Vtop Vbottom
Unbalance
Current %OV
Elements () () () () (V) (V) (A)
(% of
rated)
0 2114.6 2114.6 264.4 264.4 69859.4 69859.4 0.00 100.0%
1 2048.5 2114.6 263.3 264.3 69718.8 69999.9 0.53 103.0%
2 1982.4 2114.6 262.1 264.3 69571.6 70151.3 1.10 106.2%
3 1916.3 2114.6 260.9 264.3 69412.6 70310.2 1.70 109.6%
4 1850.2 2114.6 259.7 264.3 69243.2 70479.7 2.34 113.3%
5 1784.2 2114.6 258.3 264.3 69062.1 70660.8 3.02 117.2%
6 1718.1 2114.6 256.9 264.3 68868.1 70854.7 3.76 121.3%
7 1652.0 2114.6 255.4 264.3 68659.9 71063.0 4.55 125.8%
Table 1. Main Capacitor Section Unbalance Calculation Results
The alarm setting was chosen to detect a single series
section failure. A setting of 80% of the calculated value
will provide adequate margin. Thus a setting of 0.4 A
primary was used.
The trip setting was chosen to detect multiple series
section failures. The bank should be taken off line
before the remaining capacitor sections are subjected to
a voltage greater than 110% of their rating. Typically, a
string is rated at nominal system voltage; however for a
filter bank the string is rated at a voltage higher than
nominal. To account for possible overvoltage due to
harmonics, a setting that correlated to two series section
failures was chosen. From Table 1 it can be seen that
the bank would still be operating below 110% of its
rating for two series section failures. However, it was
decided to go with the more conservative approach due
to the unknown voltage developed by harmonics. Thus
a setting of 0.8 A primary was selected.
Tuning Capacitor Section (51-CT)
A capacitor unit failure is detected in the tuning section
of the filter bank in the same manner as that of the main
capacitor section. A separate 51-CT (capacitor, tuning)
element is used, one per phase. However, since the
tuning section consists of capacitors, reactors and
resistors, the equations involved in calculating the
unbalance current due to a failed series section is
somewhat different than for the main capacitor section.
Equations (11-22) may be used to calculate this
unbalance current.
( )
c
c
c
Q
V
Z
2
= (11)
c
c
e
N
Z
Z
=
1000
(12)
( )
s u c e f
N N N Z Z = (13)
c u s
Z N Z = (14)
( )
s str f
f s
tune top
Z N Z
Z Z
Z
+
=
1
_
(15)
str
s
tune bottom
N
Z
Z =
_
(16)
main
main
jZ
V
I
=
max
(17)
main
tune bottom tune top
tune
I
L j jZ jZ
R
R
I
+
_ _
2
2
(18)
( )
tune top tune tune top
jZ I V
_ _
= (19)
( )
tune bottom tune tune bottom
jZ I V
_ _
= (20)
Page 5
2
_ _
str
s
tune top
s
tune bottom
unbalance
N
Z
V
Z
V
I
= (21)
( ) [ ]
100 %
_
=
s u c c
c tune top
N N N V
N V
OV (22)
where,
Z
c
= Impedance of capacitor can,
Z
e
= Impedance of capacitor element,
Z
f
= Impedance of string with failed capacitor element,
Z
top_tune
= Impedance of the top half of the tuning
section,
Z
bottom_tune
= Impedance of the bottom half of the tuning
section,
V
c
= Rated voltage of each capacitor unit, kV
Q
c
= Reactive power rating of capacitor unit, Mvars
N
c
= Number of series sections per capacitor unit
N
s
= Number of shorted series sections in one string
N
u
= Number of series-connected capacitor units per
string
N
str
= Number of parallel strings per phase
Z
s
= Impedance of healthy string,
Z
top
= Impedance of top half of main capacitor
section,
Z
bottom
= Impedance of bottom half of main capacitor
section,
V
top
= Voltage across top half of main capacitor section,
kV
V
bottom
= Voltage across bottom half of main capacitor
section, kV
V
max
= Maximum line-to-neutral system voltage, kV
I
unbalance
= Unbalance current flowing through current
transformer, A
%OV = Percent overvoltage on remaining series
sections, %
As with the main capacitor section, a table is developed
to analyze the behavior of the string for multiple series
section failures. Table 2 shows the %OV and
unbalance current produced by multiple series section
failures. A detailed calculation for the tuning section is
included in the Appendix.
# Failed
Series
Sections Zf Zs
Ztop
(tune)
Zbottom
(tune)
Vtop
(tune)
Vbottom
(tune)
Unbalance
Current %OV
Elements () () () () (V) (V) (A)
(% of
rated)
0 91.94 91.94 11.49 11.49 3037.6 3037.6 0.00 50.0
1 61.30 91.94 10.82 11.49 2858.9 3037.6 7.77 70.6
2 30.65 91.94 9.19 11.49 2440.5 3050.7 26.5 120.6
3 0.00 91.94 0.00 11.49 0.0 3031.4 131.88 0.0
Table 2. Tuning Capacitor Section Unbalance Calculation Results
The alarm setting is chosen to detect a single series
section failure. A setting of 80% of the calculated value
will provide adequate margin. Thus a setting of 6.2 A
primary will be used.
The trip setting is chosen to detect multiple series
section failures. Typically, a bank is tripped off line
when the voltage across the remaining capacitor cans
exceeds 110% of their nominal rating. However, for the
case of the tuning section, the bank should be tripped
after the second series section failure regardless of the
percent overvoltage. This is done because a failure of a
series section within the tuning section can have an
impact on the tuning of the bank. The tuning section
capacitors are un-fused and have a voltage rating of
twice nominal voltage. This is evident in the %OV data
for zero failed sections. This rating minimizes the
probability of a failure and allows operation with one
shorted series section.
The tuning section bridge current used to indicate
capacitor unit failures is ideally zero under healthy bank
(balanced) conditions. As discussed above with the
Main Capacitor, in practice there will be some small
current flow in the bridge circuit due to tolerances in the
capacitors that yield bank structures not perfectly
balanced. Accommodating this error would require de-
Page 6
sensitizing the protective settings. To increase
sensitivity, nulling logic was incorporated into the
relay: during bank commissioning, this error signal is
measured, committed to relay memory and used to
compensate the real-time protective algorithms.
Because this compensation process involves both the
magnitude and phase angle of the inherent error signal,
a reference phasor is required for coherent phase
accounting. The relay uses the reactor current, of the
associated phase, as that reference.
Tuning Reactor (L)
The tuning reactor protection consists of an
undercurrent relay (37-L); a fundamental frequency
definite time over current relay (51-L); thermal image
protection (49-L), employing harmonics and thermal
time constants; fundamental frequency impedance
protection (21-L); and a summed harmonic over voltage
element (59-L).
When the reactor begins to fail (short turns, etc.), the
total impedance of the filter bank begins to increase.
Assuming a nearly constant bus voltage, this increase in
bank impedance will cause a decrease in the amount of
current flowing through the reactor. As a result, an
undercurrent relay (37-L) monitoring reactor current is
required to detect this particular failure mode of the
tuning reactor.
Additional protection based upon the reactor impedance
is used to enhance the detection of reactor failures. The
impedance-based reactor relay monitors the
fundamental frequency voltage across the reactor and
fundamental frequency reactor currents to determine the
actual reactor impedance on a per-phase basis.
Although the bus work and CTs contribute some
resistance, this value is neglected by the real-time
measurement via a compensation set when the unit is
commissioned. Figure 5 shows the manner in which the
impedance-based method works. The offset mho
elements are inward looking. That is, the elements only
operate when the reactor impedance falls outside of a
given mho circle. Essentially, the sensitivity of the
protection is such that a single shorted series section can
be detected and an alarm issued with identification of
phase-involvement. If the number of shorted series
sections is large enough to cause an impedance range
shift beyond the alarm region, then a trip command is
issued.
R
Impedance
Plane
+X
L
Alarm Radius
Trip Radius
Nominal Impedance
Alarm Impedance
Trip Impedance
Figure 5. Tuning Reactor Impedance Protection (21-L)
Figure 5 illustrates the concept of offset impedance
circles of normal range and of the alarm zone and the
trip zone. Note that during the commissioning process,
any errors due to the CTs and VTs are included in the
initial measured impedance and are compensated. This
error-nulling process allows the setting of a smaller,
more sensitive, radius impedance circle around the
initial measured impedance.
To protect the tuning reactor from a possible overload
condition caused by excessive exposure to harmonic
current, thermal image relays are provided. A 100
Mvar filter bank at the 230 kV level is an effective sink
for system harmonics. Harmonics can cause thermal
damage to the reactors. By nature, harmonic overloads
are not constant over time: rising and falling over a
fixed detection window. Therefore, a thermal
protection algorithm is employed that estimated the
temperature of both the reactors insulator cap and
winding hot-spot. The ambient temperature, an
important input to this algorithm, is measured via a
conventional thermo-couple and a 4-20 mA transducer
circuit.
The relays 49-L (inductor) thermal element is based
upon the following equation:
T
L
= 0.00069 (I
L
2
+ (I
Lo
2
- I
L
2
)e
-t
47
) + T
ambient
(C)
which estimates the inductor winding temperature
where,
I
L
=
i
I
i
2
.
I
Lo
= I
L
calculated at the previous iteration.
I = rms inductor current of the i
th
harmonic.
t = calculation iteration time (minutes).
i = harmonic index (1, 3, 5, 7).
1,3,5,7
= 1.0, 1.12, 1.35, 1.69.
The reactor manufacturer provided the above analytic
expression along with the conversion factors, time
constant and harmonic gains. Response from the relay
Page 7
is recommended when a calculated inductor winding
temperature of 150 C is reached. This calculated
temperature is considered an absolute value, not a
temperature rise.
In addition to the above, the manufacturer recommends
estimating the temperature of the critical insulating cap
of the inductor assembly. The relay included this via its
49-C (cap) element by using the following expression.
T
C
= 0.00037 (I
C
2
+ (I
Co
2
- I
C
2
)e
-t
24
) + T
ambient
(C)
which estimates the inductor insulation cap temperature
where,
I
C
=
2
i
2
I
i
2
.
I
Co
= I
C
calculated at the previous iteration.
I = rms inductor current of the i
th
harmonic.
t = calculation iteration time (minutes).
i = harmonic index (1, 3, 5, 7).
The inductor manufacturer recommends relay response
when calculated insulation cap temperature reaches
120 C
Harmonic reactor currents cause instantaneous
harmonic reactor voltages which can stress the turn-to-
turn insulation of the reactor. Note that higher
harmonics of same magnitude produce a higher voltage
due to the higher angular frequency (). The harmonic
voltage is summed arithmetically and compared to a set
value which provides sufficient turn-to-turn overvoltage
protection. The analytic expression used in this over
voltage element is as follows:
V
L
= 0.377 L
i I
i
which estimates the instantaneous inductor harmonic
voltage stress where,
L = inductance (mH)
I = rms inductor current.
i = harmonic index (1, 3, 5, 7).
The inductor manufacturer recommends relay response
when calculated voltages reach 20 kV.
Damping Resistors
The two damping resistors are protected using a rms
definite time overcurrent relay (51), thermal image
protection (49) employing rms currents and resistor
thermal time constants, and a unique rms percentage
restraint biased differential protection (87).
Although a single device would suffice, two parallel-
connected resistors for damping out harmonics are used
in order to provide redundancy and create a quasi-
differential zone of protection. Note that in a situation
of perfect resonance between the tuning L and the
tuning C, there will be only harmonic current in the two
resistors. The currents that flow through each resistor
are measured and the rms current computed. The
protection provided is a simple rms (harmonics
included) definite time over current element on a per-
resistor and per-phase basis: the 51-R. However, the
possibility of short-term (below the time-delay setting
of the 51 elements) repeated rms current overloads
necessitates the use of thermal tracking elements
(49-R), employing thermal time constants of the
resistors and permissible temperature rise allowed. The
ambient thermal temperature is also used in the resistor
thermal model. The analytic expression for the thermal
model of the resistors follows a form similar to that
discussed above for the filter bank inductor.
One component of the protection problem involves
detecting either an opened or shorted resistor when
typically only very small harmonic current flows
through the component. Normally, differential (87)
protection is applied for unit protection, where the
current in is equal to the current out. In this particular
case it is applied to protect two separate resistors, since
currents in the two resistors are expected to be identical
as identically rated resistors and CTs are used. The
objective is to detect a difference of resistor currents
which may indicate failure of either unit. The relay
calculates a restraint current, which is an average of the
two resistor currents and the differential current, which
is the difference between the two resistor currents.
RMS sensing is utilized to incorporate the harmonic-
rich signals. Figure 6 depicts the slope characteristic of
this differential element.
Differential
Current
I
R1
I
R2
Operate
Region
Non-Operate
Region
Restraint
Current
I
R1
+ I
R2
2
Slope Setting
Figure 6. Differential Slope Characteristic
Page 8
During the commissioning process the inherent
differential current is determined and input into the
relay. This inherent differential current is subtracted
from the calculated differential current which nulls out
all the measurement errors and permits a tighter setting
for the differential current element operation. Classical
differential protection is applied, where the differential
current pickup is a percentage of the average current.
This unique method provides for greater security in the
event of a large temporary over current and consequent
CT saturation. Also both resistors are protected by this
one differential (87) element employing only two CTs.
Traditional differential protection would have required
two CTs to protect one resistor.
Conclusions
The C-Type filter bank provides an economical means
of applying shunt capacitor banks in harmonic rich
environments with confidence that resonance conditions
will be avoided. The protection of such a filter bank
can be complex due to the fact that the filter is
comprised of many components. The schemes shown
in this paper provide a reliable and cost effective means
of thoroughly protecting a C-Type harmonic filter bank.
The availability of a flexible protection hardware
platform, in terms of graphical programmability and
expandable voltage/current inputs, permitted the
incorporation of all protective elements within a single
relay device.
Bibliography
1. IEEE Recommended Practices and
Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electrical Power
Systems, IEEE Std. 519-1992
2. IEEE Guide For The Protection Of Shunt
Capacitor Banks, IEEE Std. C37.99-2000
3. Horton, et al Unbalance Protection of
Fuseless, Split-Wye, Grounded, Shunt Capacitor
Banks IEEE Transaction on Power Delivery July 2002
pp. 698-701
4. L. Fendrick, et. Al., Complete Relay
Protection for Multi-String Fuseless Capacitor Banks
Georgia Tech Protective Relaying Conference, May
2002.
5. ANSI/IEEE C37.015-1993, IEEE Application
Guide for Shunt Reactor Switching
Randy Horton received the B.S.E.E. degree from the
University of Alabama at Birmingham and the M.E.E. degree
from Auburn University all with specialization in electric
power systems. He is currently employed at Alabama Power
Company as a Senior Engineer in the Protective Equipment
Application group. Randy is a member of several IEEE
PSRC working groups and is a registered professional
engineer in the state of Alabama.
Ted Warren is currently employed as a Senior Engineer in the
Protective Equipment Application group at Alabama Power
Company in Birmingham, Alabama. He has also worked as a
protection engineer with Alabama Electric Cooperative and
has worked in the industrial automation field. He received a
B.E.E. degree from Auburn University in 1993. Ted is a
registered professional engineer in the State of Alabama.
Timothy R. Day is a Senior Relay Application Engineer in
the Protective Relay Group of Cooper Power Systems,
Franksville, Wisconsin. His present professional endeavors
include modeling and analysis of electrical power systems to
assess and optimize protection schemes. Timothy enhances
existing protective algorithms and develops customized
schemes for the Edison Idea line of relays and incorporates
Coopers power system simulator to verify scheme
modifications. He received a M.S.E.E. from Washington
State University in 1991.
Jack McCall is currently the director for Cooper Power
Systems Protective Relay Group, located in South
Milwaukee, WI. He has an MS in Electric Power
Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a
BSEE from Gannon University. Previous positions within
Cooper include Marketing Manager for Coopers Power
Capacitor Group and Power Systems Engineer for Coopers
Systems Engineering Group. He is a Member of the IEEE
Power Engineering Society and has authored numerous
papers on transients, harmonics, and capacitor applications in
power systems.
Arvind Chaudhary received the B.S.E.E. degree from the
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India; the M.S.E.E.
degree from North Carolina State University, Raleigh; and
the Ph.D. degree with a concentration in electric power
engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg. He is a Staff Engineer with the
Protective Relays, Cooper Power Systems, South Milwaukee,
WI. He is responsible for relay applications for the Cooper
line of relays and relay settings for power system equipment.
He is the recipient of the 2000 IEEE PES Chicago Chapter
Outstanding Engineer Award. Also, he is a member of the
Technical Committee of the International Power Systems
Transients Conferences of 1999, 2001, and 2003. His
previous experience has included Sargent & Lundy
consulting engineers (19911998) and Bharat Heavy
Electricals Limited, India (19791983).
Page 9
APPENDIX
Example Main Section Unbalance Current Calculation
Given:
phase per strings of Number 8
sections series failed of Number 1
can capacitor per sections series of Number 8
string per capacitors of Number 4
Mvar 577 . 0
kV 465 . 17
kV
3
242
max
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
str
s
c
u
c
c
N
N
N
N
Q
V
V
( )
= = 64 . 528
2
c
c
c
Q
V
Z
= = 08 . 66
c
c
e
N
Z
Z
( ) = = 49 . 2048
s u c e f
N N N Z Z
= = 57 . 2114
c u s
Z N Z
( )
=
+
= 26 . 263
1
s str f
f s
top
Z N Z
Z Z
Z
= = 32 . 264
str
s
bottom
N
Z
Z
V 82 . 69718
max
=
+
=
bottom top
top
top
Z Z
Z
V V
V 95 . 69999
max
=
+
=
bottom top
bottom
bottom
Z Z
Z
V V
(primary) A 532 . 0
2
=
=
str
s
top
s
bottom
unbalance
N
Z
V
Z
V
I
( ) [ ]
% 02 . 103 100 % =
=
s u c c
c top
N N N V
N V
OV
Page 10
Example Tuning Section Unbalance Current Calculation
Given:
ns) calculatio above (from section capacitor main entire of Impedance 64 . 528
phase per strings of Number 8
sections series failed of Number 1
can capacitor per sections series of Number 3
string per capacitors of Number 1
resistor Damping 360
rad/s 377 f 2
inductance reactor Tuning mH 98 . 60
rating Mvar capacitor Tuning Mvar 401 . 0
rating voltage capacitor Tuning kV 072 . 6
kV
3
242
max
=
=
=
=
=
=
= =
=
=
=
=
main
str
s
c
u
c
c
Z
N
N
N
N
R
L
Q
V
V
max
=
main
main
jZ
V
I ;
I
main
= 264.29 A primary.
( )
= = 94 . 91
2
c
c
c
Q
V
Z
= = 64 . 30
c
c
e
N
Z
Z
( ) = = 29 . 61
s u c e f
N N N Z Z
= = 94 . 91
c u s
Z N Z
( )
=
+
= 82 . 10
1
_
s str f
f s
tune top
Z N Z
Z Z
Z
= = 49 . 11
_
str
s
tune bottom
N
Z
Z
(primary) A 29 . 264
2
2
_ _
=
+
=
tune
main
tune bottom tune top
tune I I
L j jZ jZ
R
R
I
( ) V 85 . 2858 _
_
_ = = tune top
tune top
tune tune top V jZ I V
( ) V 53 . 3037 _
_
_ = = tune bottom
tune bottom
tune tune bottom V jZ I V
(primary) A 77 . 7
2
_ _
=
= unbalance
str
s
tune top
s
tune bottom
unbalance I
N
Z
V
Z
V
I
( ) [ ]
% 62 . 70 100 %
_
=
=
s u c c
c tune top
N N N V
N V
OV
Page 11
Relaying 230 kV, 100 Mvar C-Type Filter Capacitor Banks
KWP
6/03
2003 Cooper Power Systems, Inc.
Bulletin 03019 June 2003 New Issue
P.O. Box 1640
Waukesha, WI 53187
www.cooperpower.com