Copyright 2008 ABB. All rights reserved.

Function description for high impedance busbar protection

Type des.
Prep.
Appr.

Part no.

/ Hamdy Faramawy
/ Apell Gert

Doc. kind

2013-07-16
Approved

Resp. dept

Title

Information
Application note: Function description
for high impedance busbar protection

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FILE: 1MRG008054; SAVEDATE: 2013-07-10 07:51; TEMPLATE: TECHN_DOC_STAND_P.dot C; SKELETON:

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Table of contents.
1

Introduction.............................................................................................................. 3

Description of high impedance functions in 670 and 650 Series ......................... 4

2.1
CT secondary circuit supervision.................................................................. 5
2.2
Set values for CT supervision and bus wire shortening scheme ................... 5

CT requirements and performance......................................................................... 7

Time /current characteristics for high impedance protection function................ 9

Guidelines for the setting calculation for high impedance protection in

670 and 650 Series................................................................................................. 11
5.1
Setting the pickup value ............................................................................. 11
5.2
Setting of the stabilizing resistor ................................................................. 11
5.3
Non-linear resistor (Metrosil) ...................................................................... 11
5.4
Relay primary sensitivity............................................................................. 12

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Introduction

High impedance protection system is a simple technique which requires that all CTs used in the
protection scheme have relatively high knee point voltage, similar magnetizing characteristic and the
same ratio. These CTs shall be installed in all ends of the protected object. In order to make the scheme,
all CTs belonging to one phase shall be connected in parallel.
Typical high impedance differential scheme is shown in Figure 1. Note that only one phase is shown in
this figure. Due to the parallel CT connections the high impedance differential relay can only measure
the operating quantity. That means that there is no any stabilizing quantity in such schemes. Therefore in
order to guaranty the stability of the relay during external faults the operating quantity must not exceed
the set pickup value.

Fig.1 Typical high impedance differential scheme

For external faults, even with severe saturation of some of the current transformers, the voltage across
the CT paralleling point shall not rise above the relay pickup value. To achieve that a suitable value for
setting resistor Rs shall be selected in such a way that the saturated CT provides a much lower
impedance path as compared with the measuring branch. Thus, in case of an external fault causing
current transformer saturation, the non-saturated current transformers will drive most of the spill
differential current through the secondary winding of the saturated current transformer and not through
the measuring branch. The voltage drop across the saturated current transformer secondary winding will
appear also across the measuring branch; however it will typically be relatively small. Therefore, the
pick-up value of the relay has to be set above this false operating voltage.
In case of an internal fault, the fault current tries to flow through the measuring branch. Due to high
ohmic value of setting resistor this will result in a steep voltage increase across the whole scheme and
fast saturation of all current transformers. The differential relay is designed to operate under such
conditions.
To ensure reliable operation with internal faults, the knee-point voltage of the current transformers used
in the scheme must be about two times the set pickup voltage.
Often the non-linear resistors are required in order to limit the over voltages during internal fault to less
than 2kV peak value, which is standard insulation level for used for secondary equipment and wiring.
The differential protection sensitivity corresponds to the sum of magnetizing currents of all parallel
connected current transformers, current drawn by non-linear resistor and the relay operating current for
set pick-up voltage.

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Description of high impedance functions in 670 and 650 Series

High impedance function as implemented in 670 and 650 Series is based on phase segregated
protection function. Depending on the ordered type of the IED, up to nine single-phase high impedance
function can be available.
For each of such single phase function, the measuring principle is based on one single CT input into
the IED with external stabilizing resistor and voltage dependent resistor (see Figure 1).
The tables 1, shows, examples of the operating currents for different sets of operating voltages and
selected resistances for 1A CT input.

Table 1: Operating value for 1A CT input.

Set value for alarm

Set value for time delay of the alarm

Set value for Trip

Pulse prolongation

Figure 2: Simplified logic diagram for measured analogue quantities within one phase.

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2.1

CT secondary circuit supervision

Any interruption of a CT secondary circuit up to the paralleling interconnections will cause an unbalance
current in the protection function equivalent to the load being carried by the relevant primary circuit. Even
though this degree of spurious output is below the effective setting the condition cannot be ignored,
since it is likely to lead to differential protection unwanted operation under any through fault condition.
In the conventional schemes, the supervision was carried out to detect such conditions by connecting a
separate sensitive alarm relay across the bus wires of each zone. Since a relay of this order of sensitivity
is likely to operate during through faults, a time delay, of few seconds, is applied to avoid unnecessary
alarm Signals.
2.2

Set values for CT supervision and bus wire shortening scheme

In the present design of high impedance function as available in 670 and 650 Series, the supervision of
CT bus wires is integrated within the main protection function (setting U>Alarm). Each single phase high
impedance function has separate operating alarm level with settable time delay which is used to give
alarm for problems with associated CT secondary circuit. The output of the alarm stage shall be used to
activate an external shorting of the differential circuit CT bus wires and hence avoiding continuous high
voltage in the CT circuit and the possible unwanted operation of the differential protection function.

Figure 3: Setting parameter for high impedance protection function.

CT input
Blocking input

Trip output signal

Alarm output signal

Figure 4: Input /Output configuration for high impedance function.

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Figure 5: Principle diagram for external CT shorting relay.

CT circuit shorting is performed by an external auxiliary, heavy-duty throw over relay (e.g. ABB
COMBIFLEX type RXMVB 2) activated from the alarm output from the respective zone. The same
solution is used for main zones and check zone. CT alarm reset shall be initiated manually by the
operator, after the CT circuit problem has been corrected.

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CT requirements and performance

Current transformer requirements specified for high impedance protection application are based on the
following conditions:
-During external faults, the scheme must remain stable.
-For internal faults, the current transformer must be able to drive sufficient current through the high
impedance circuit to secure the tripping.
For external faults, the requirements are based on the assumption that the CT on the faulted circuit is
completely saturated (worst condition). The voltage impressed upon the high-impedance differential
relay connected across the CT summation point can be calculated as:

U R1

I Max
* RCT R L
CT _ ratio

U R1

= Voltage developed across the relay for through fault conditions associated with fully saturated
CT (V).
I Max = Magnitude of the maximum primary through fault current.
CT_ratio = Ratio of the used CTs in the scheme
RCT = CT secondary winding resistance ()

RL

= The resistance of the secondary cable from the CT up to a common junction point (). The loop
resistance containing the phase and neutral wires must be used. Note that typically the CT
circuits with longest cable run from the CT summation point shall be used for this calculation.

If voltage UR1 is smaller than the set voltage, then the relay will not operate for external fault and will
remain stable. This condition defines the stability limit for the scheme and used also as base to set
scheme pick up level for internal fault. Thus, the relay set value Us shall be set higher than value
calculated for external fault.
During internal fault, all CTs conducting the fault current will be feeding into high impedance relay, which
will be actually connected in parallel with any idle CTs (passive load circuits). The voltage developed
across the relay will approach the open circuit secondary voltage that the CTs can produce. Even for a
moderate internal fault this voltage will be in excess of the value calculated for the maximum external
fault as described above. Hence the current through the relay can reach value which is several times
higher than the actual set value.
For an internal fault, the CTs attempt to force secondary current through the high-impedance differential
relay and a relatively high voltage is developed to operate the measuring unit. However, for reliable
performance and to obtain high speed operation for internal faults, rated equivalent secondary e.m.f. Eal
of the used CTs must be higher than the set voltage, Us. This is essential so that the operating current
through the relay is a sufficient multiple of the applied current setting.
In accordance with the data stated in the application manual, for reliable and secure performance of the
high impedance differential function in 670 and 650 Series, the rated equivalent secondary e.m.f. Eal
(i.e. the knee point voltage) of the CTs must be larger than or equal to the required equivalent secondary
e.m.f. Ealreq below:

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In simple words the knee point voltage of used CTs shall be at least twice the set voltage level!
Note that all used CTs within the high-impedance differential protection scheme should have identical
turn ratios. Consequently auxiliary CTs cannot normally be used. Finally the used CT core shall be
dedicated to this protection. Thus the other protection devices shall not be connected to this scheme.

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Time /current characteristics for high impedance protection function

For numerical based high impedance function relay currently available in 670 and 650 Series, the time
versus measured current characteristics included in the Fig 7 below. To demonstrate function
performance in comparison to same function used in electromechanical high impedance differential relay
Figure 6 is provided as well. Finally the trip time for different fault current level is included in Table 2 as
well.

Fig.6: Time /current characteristics for electromechanical high impedance relay.

Fig 7. Time /Current characteristics for high impedance function in 670 and 650 Series.

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Multiples of pick up set value (V)

Measured trip time (msec.)

Multiples of pick up set value(A)

1.2

43

1.2

27

17

10

10

Table 2: Typical operate time for high impedance function in 670 and 650 Series
The minimum operate time of the protection function is 8msec at 10 times pick up set value. The operate
time will remains at 8 msec for higher applied voltage.

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Guidelines for the setting calculation for high impedance protection in 670 and 650 Series

5.1

Setting the pickup value

The stability of a high impedance differential scheme depends upon the fact that the relay set voltage is
greater than the maximum false voltage which can appear across the relay circuit under a maximum
through fault condition (i.e. external fault). This voltage can be determined by means of a simple
calculation, which is already described in this document:

U R1

I Max
* RCT R L
CT _ ratio

For stability, the relay set voltage (setting U>Trip) should be made higher than this calculated value UR1.
A safety factor of 1,1 can be used if it is necessary to accommodate future fault current variations.
Then check that the selected set voltage value does not exceed the 50% of the saturation voltage (i.e.
knee point voltage or Eal) of the used CTs.
5.2

Setting of the stabilizing resistor

Since the current measuring relay used in the scheme has a low burden, an external stabilizing resistor
is required. The stabilizing resistor value RS is then given by:
RS= U>Trip / IS
U>Trip = relay set voltage (see Figure 3)
IS = Desired relay pick up current
Note that pickup current IS shall not be less than 4% of the CT input rating (i.e. 40mA for 1A rated CT
input). At the same time the relay pickup for the built-in Alarm Stage shall not correspond to current less
than 2% of the CT input rating (i.e. 20mA for 1A rated CT input). This alarm pickup is calculated as
follows:
IA=U>Alarm / RS
U>Alarm = relay alarm voltage (see Figure 3)
IA = relay pick up current for the built-in alarm feature
Setting resistors which are offered together with 670 and 650 Series are adjustable. The selected RS
value shall be adjusted for every installation. For more details see ABB Document with ID: SA2007000725.
The actually used RS value shall be set in the IED under parameter SeriesResistor (see Figure 3).
5.3

Non-linear resistor (Metrosil)

During internal fault, the current will cause high voltage spikes across the relay. The peak voltage value
Vpeak produced under internal fault conditions can be estimated in accordance with the following formula:
=2 2

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Note that all symbols used in this formula are previously defined in this document.
To protect the CTs, the secondary wiring, and the relay from damage due to excessively high voltages,
a non-linear resistor is typically connected in parallel with the relay circuit (see Figure 1). These nonlinear resistors (metrosils) are externally mounted together with the setting resistor. Refer to the IED
Product Guide and the ABB Document with ID: SA2007-000725 for additional information.
5.4

Relay primary sensitivity

The minimum primary operating current or the relay sensitivity can be calculated as follows:
=

Iop = primary current pickup

n = number of CTs in parallel.
Ie = excitation current of each CT at the set voltage
IM = current through the metrosil at the set voltage
IS = relay pick up current

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REVISION
Rev. ind. Page (P)
Description
Chapt. (C)

Date
Dept./Init.

A
B
C

2012.11.30
2013.02.25
2013.07.09

7/3
11/5
09/07

CT requirements and performance added.

Setting guidelines added
Minor corrections

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