Symmetrical Components
• The normal operating mode of a power system is balanced three
phase system.
• A number of undesirable but unavoidable incidents can temporarily
disrupt this condition. Such incidents can be said as a fault.
A fault may occur on a power system due to a number of reasons.
Some of the causes are
• Insulation failure of the system
• lightning
• Falling of a tree along a line
• Wind and ice loading on the transmission lines
• Vehicles colliding with supporting structures
• Overloading of underground cables
• Birds shorting the lines etc.
• In all the cases, the basic thing that happens is, one or more
conductors that normally operate with a potential difference come in
contact with one another or to ground simply saying a short circuit
occurs.
• When a system is subjected to a fault viz short circuit on one or more
lines, the current flowing into the fault depends on the path met by
the current and on the severity and nearness of the fault to the
source of power.
• Faults may occur at different points in a power system and
accordingly the magnitude of fault current varies. Short circuit faults
are basically classified as
1. Symmetrical faults
2. Unsymmetrical faults
Symmetrical faults
• In symmetrical faults, all the three phases are short circuited to each
other and to earth also.
• Such faults are balanced and symmetrical in the sense that the
voltages and currents of the system remain balanced even after the
fault and it is enough if we consider any one phase.
• A three-phase short circuit occurs rarely but it is the most severe type
of fault involving largest fault currents.
• For this reason, the balanced short circuit calculations are performed
to determine these large currents to be used to determine the ratings
of the circuit breakers.
Unsymmetrical faults
• In unsymmetrical faults only one or two phases are involved.
• In such faults, voltages and currents become unbalanced and each
phase is to be treated individually for calculation purposes.
• Depending upon the phases involved, the faults can be classified as
1. Line to Ground fault (LG fault)
2. Line to Line fault (LL fault)
3. Line to Line to Ground fault (LLG fault)
The computation of fault currents for unsymmetrical faults requires the
knowledge of symmetrical components.
Symmetrical components
• Need for symmetrical components
For a balanced system, the solution is made on a single phase basis.
When the system is unbalanced, the voltages, currents and the phase
impedances of the different phases become unequal.
Such a system can be solved by a symmetrical per phase technique
known as the method of symmetrical components.
It provides a means of extending per phase analysis to systems with
unbalanced loads or with unbalanced end conditions like short circuit
or fault.
Fortescue's theorem
• The method of symmetrical components consists of resolving an
unbalanced set of 'n' related phasors into 'n' sets of balanced phasors
called symmetrical components of the original unbalanced phasors.
Positive sequence components
• Positive sequence components consisting of three phasors with equal
magnitudes, equally displaced from one another by 120° and phase
sequence is same as that of original phasors.
Negative sequence components
• Negative sequence components consisting of three phasors with
equal magnitudes, equally displaced from one another by 120° and
phase sequence is opposite to that of original phasors.
Zero Sequence components
• Zero sequence components consisting of three phasors with equal
magnitudes and in 0° phase displacement.
• It exists only when the fault is a grounded fault if the nearest neutral
is grounded.
Q) The symmetrical components of phase a voltage in a 3 phase
unbalanced system are Va0 = 10<180 v , Va1 = 50<0 v, Va2 = 20<90 v.
Determine the phase voltages Va, Vb and Vc.
Ans:
Va = 44.72<27 V
Vb = 74.69<-134 V
Vc = 37.7<118 V
Va = 100<0 kV
Vb=33<-100 kV
Vc=38<176.5 kV
Va0 = 18.78-10j kV
Va1 = 50.66+14.32j kV
Va2=30.55-4.26j kV
Ia0 = 100+50j A
Ia1 = 546.41+156.47j A
Ia2 = -146.41 – 56.47j A
