5 Bus -zo ne Pro tec tion

Syllabus
Interna l
Non-Unit Protection by Back-up Relays, Differential Protection ofBus bars, Externa l and
Fault, Protection a/Three -phase Busbars [1,4].

- Contents
5. 1 Introduction
5.2 Busbar Faults
· · · · Marl<s 3
5.3 Non-unit Protection By Back-up Relays ....... . Summer-18, Wlnter-18,
5.4 Differential Protection of Busbar
5.5 External and Internal Fault
5. 6 High Impedance Differential Protection of Busbar
5. 7 Frame Leakage Protection of Busbar
5. 8 Difficulties in Busbar Protection
5.9 Protection of Three Phase Busbars

(5 - 1)
Switchgear and Protection 5-2 Bus-zone p
rotect·
~
Bl Introduction
Busbars are the hearts of the power system. The various power system •
circuits
connected together using busbars. The Fig. 5.1.1 shows a busbar with m are
incoming lines and n number of lines going out to supply the loads. number of

l1n1 11n2 1inm

} m
incoming
lines

Busbars

} n
outgoing
lines

1Ln

Fig. 5.1.1 Busbar

Under normal conditions, sum of the incoming currents is equal to the sum of the
outgoing currents.

lint +Im2 + ... +Iinm = Iu +Iu + ... +ILn

The busbar faults are rare but if occurs there can be interruption of supply,
considerable damage and loss. Hence busbar protection is must and it must be fast
stable and reliable. The busbar protection needs to protect not only the busbar but the
apparatus associated with it such as circuit breakers, isolating switches, instrument
transformers etc.

&I Busbar Faults

The various busbar faults can be classified as,
1. Failure of insulation due to material deterioration.
2. Failure of circuit breaker.
3. Earth fault due to failure of support insulator.
4. Aashover due to sustained excessive over voltages.
5. Errors in the operation and maintenance of switchgear.
6. Earthquake and mechanical damage.
7. Accidents due to foreign bodies falling across the busbars.
8. Flashover due to heavily polluted insulator.

TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS® • an up-thrust for knowledge

 5-3 Bus-zone Protection
sr snd Protection
::..:.-------
sv;itchg8 ------------ -----------= -..:..:......- -__.:_:_:___~
tm'flj';1.-ilf44tf.i,i
• ■ •••■■ nr
1. State the various possible busbar faults.

IIJ Non-unit Protection By Back-up Relays GTU : Summer-18, Winter-18

Non-unit protection consists of the circuits that measure and compare the voltages
and currents at the relaying point. It is able to determine the location of the fault from
these values. It responds to the faults in the one direction only.
Non-unit protection is time graded protection. In non-unit protection, the reaction of
the protection system varies as the location of the fault changes. As location moves away
from the relay, the time of the operation increases. Thus overcurrent, distance and earth
fault back-up protection used to clear busbar faults are non-discriminat ive and slow in
operation due to time delays. Such non-unit protection can cause unnecessary tripping
and can cause discontinuity of supply.
Hence for the busbar protection unit protection schemes are used.

Review Question

1. Compare non unit protection with unit protection. GTU : Summer-18, Winte,~18, Marks 3

m"D1fferent ial Protection of Busbar

/
The differential protection of busbar is also known as circulating current protection
scheme.,
The circulating current principle states that under normal working conditions or
external fault conditions, sum of the currents entering the bus equals sum of the
currents leaving the bus. Under any abnormal conditions in the protected zone i.e. short
circuit or phase to phase faults, the current condition gets disturbed and sensing this the
relay can be operated.
The Fig. 5.4.1 shows the principle of circulating current protection of busbar.
l1, l2 ...... 16 are the currents in the circuits connected to the busbar.
Under normal condition, L I= 0.
i.e. 11 +12 +i 3 +i4 +i5 +i6 = 0 (vector sum)
No current flows through the relay and hence remains inoperative.
Under fault conditions,
11 +12 +13 + ... + 16 =if
where If - Fault current • Unbalanced current.

®
TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS - an up-thrust for knowledge
 Bus-zone Protection
5-4
---..:.
SWrtchgear and Protection

~ 12 ~ CT
i1

i2 - 13
i1
Bus
i3
CT

Relay

Is
Line s r
Fig. 5.4.1 Circulating current protection of busba

cur ren t flo ws thr ou gh the relay an d the rel ay op era tes .
The unbalanc ed
er and
ion s, cur ren ts in the sec on dar ies of CT bal anc e eac h oth
Un der no rm al condit is ino per ati ve. Un de r any
faul t
the rel ay. Th us rel ay
no current flows thr ou gh te it.
ws thr ou gh relay coil to activa
conditions, the fault cur ren t flo e ratio.
anc e of cur ren ts, all cu rre nt tra nsf orm ers mu st ha ve sam
To obtain exact bal c con dit ion s of iro n cored cur
rent
a dif fer enc e in the ma gn eti
But in practice there exists of external faults.
fal se op era tio n of the relay is possible, at the time
transformers and es of current
cur ren ts the re is a po ssi bil ity of sat ura tio n of the cor
For large fault n core is
rco me suc h dif fic ult ies , a spe cial typ e of C.T. ha vin g no iro
transformers. To ove
used. It is called linear coupler.
per ty tha t its
The linear coupler has a pro Busbar
vol tag e is pro po rtio nal to the
secondary
dary wi nd ing s
primary cur ren t and the secon
connected in
of all the linear couplers are
sho wn in the
series to the relay. This is
Fig. 5.4.2.
ts of linear Linear
The sum of the voltage ou tpu couplers
sum of the
couplers is equal to the vector
nected to the Relay
voltages in the circuits con
l conditions
busbars. Hence un der norma Fig. 5.4.2
e in the sec ond ary cir cui t is zero
overall voltag
Under fault
and relay is inoperative. I
tage in the second ary and th e re ay operates.
conditions, there is resultant vol

®
TECHNICAL PUBLICA TIO NS - an up-thrust for knowledge

J
 snd protection 5-5 Bus-zone Protection
swftchg98f

~ impedance relay can differentiate properly the internal and external faults
A hi! to normal low impedance relay. Hence in circulating current protection, high
cornP;r ce relays are used. A high resistance is connected in series with relay operating
~pe anet high impedance relay. This resistance is called stabilising resistance.
coil to g

Review Que JfM,i

protection of busbars.
1. Explain the differential
External and Internal Fault
In differential protection of busbars, to obtain exact balance of currents, it is necessary
that all C.T.s must be ideal having same ratio. But practically there exists a difference in
the magnetic conditions of iron cored C.T.s which can cause serious effect on the
operation of the protection scheme. When the primary current of C.T. exceeds its rated
value, then C.T. behaviour becomes non-ideal due to saturated core condition.

BIi Operation under External Fault

Consider the differential protection of busbar as shown in the Fig. 5.5.1.

CT2 CT1

Relay
CT3
' - - ' Saturated
CT due
IF to high iF

- - - . . - - F - External
fault

Fig. 5.5.1 Operation under external fault

oc In normal condition, i 1 + i 2 + i J is zero and relay is inoperative. When e-xternal fault

w;rs,. the primary of CT3 carries very high fault current iF. As pnrnary carries if
ch 15 very high compared to its rated current, CT3 goes into saturation. Hence its
secondary • cul . . .
ctr ates current which 1s much less than i 1 + i 2 . Hence the differential

®
TECHNICAL PUBL/CA T/ONS - an up-throst for knowledge
 Switchgear and Protection 5-6 Bus-zone Protection

current passes through the relay. Hence the protection circuit operates. Ideally it should
not operate for external faults. Thus there is maloperation of the protection scheme
under external fault condition.

lifj Operation under Internal Fault

Consider that the fault is now just above CT3 as shown in the Fig. 5.5.2, which is an
internal fault.

CT1

Internal fault
Zero Relay
current
----iF

Zero
current

Fig. 5.5.2 Operation under internal fault

Both en and CT2 carry normal currents. But due to internal fault, CT3 does not
carry any current. The secondary currents i 1 and i 2 of CTl and CT2 are normal currents
as the primaries of CTl and CT2 do not carry excessive high currents. \\7hlle Cf3 does
not cany any current as there is no source on CT3 side assuming singly fed system.
Hence the relay coil carries differential current i 1 + i 2 and the relay operates. Thus as
required, the protection scheme operates for internal faults.

Review Question

1. Explam the beltauiour of differential scl1e111e for busbar under ettemal and internal fault
conditton,.

IJI High Impedance Dlfferentlal Protection of Busbar

Another method to provide differential protection to busbar is based on sensing a
voltage drop across a high impedance, under fault conditions. The scheme is shown ill
the Fig. 5.6.1.
®
TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS - an up-thrust for knowledge
 r so,n:,:d:,_:_P_:ro:...t_ec_t_io_n _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _s_-_l____ ____ ___B_u_s-_z_on_e_P_ri_o_te_c_tio_n_
switchges -
::,::;.----- B C D Busbar

- f f r Trip
- -------'
--------------------- I
I

Tripping
CB circuit

CT II 11

Measuring
High Transformer unit
Lines impedanc e T
Fig. 5.6.1 High Impedance busbar protection

The basic principle remains same as differential scheme. Under normal conditio ns
vector sum of the currents in the lines is zero. Hence If i.e. current flowing through
high impedance 2 8 is zero. And the relay is inoperative.
During fault conditions, unbalan ced current exists. Such an out of balance current I f
flows through 2 8 causing a high voltage drop V z across it. It is given to a transfor mer.
A measuring unit is connecte d to the seconda ry of this transfor mer which measure s this
drop and trips the relay accordingly. Main advanta ge is that as voltage drop is sensed,
saturation of core of one of the current transfor mers has no effect on the protecti on
scheme.

Review Questio n

1. Explain the high impedance differential protection of busbar.

ID Frame Leakage Protection of Busbar

All busbar protection schemes are mostly designed for earth faults. Each conduct or is
surr~unded by the earthed metal barrier. All the metal framewo rks are bonded together
and insulated from earth. The switchg ear framewo rk is also insulate d from lead cable
sheaths.

_The arrangement of frame leakage protectio n to a single busbar substati on w ith a

5
Witchgear unit is shown in the Fig. 5.7.1. (See Fig. 5.7.l on next page)
Metal supporti ng frame work known as fault bus ls earthed through a CT· \Vhen the
f ault is th d
thi ere, a contact between con uctor and earth results. This drives current through
5
CT. This energizes the frame leakage relay.

®
TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS - an up-thrust for knowledge
 Bus-zone Prote t·

~~~~~~~~-~------ -~ == ~= =~ ------------...:..:.:.:c o
in _
5 8 --- .

:
Switchgear and Protection
----------------------j
:
A
B C : Busbar
: section
, I

:--.--- --~-----.--- --r- ---r - - ---r-

I

I
I
I
Switchgear
,- I
framework

I: : I: :
I
I 1
,I 1

I II
I I
II
I
I
I I I I
I
1 I
I
I I I
I I I
I I I
I I I
I
I
,___
I
--· I
I
I
1
___ __ , 1---

I
Feeder 1
' Frame
leakage
I
I
relay
I
I
I
I

,-,--~
I
I
Trip coll
I 1
Incoming I
transformer :
I
I I
' Check
relay
L- ◄--'
I
I
I
I To tripping circuit
I
I o---+-◄► of A.Ba nd C
I
I
I
I

of busbar
Fig. 5.7.1 Frame leakage protection
mer.
mo unt ed in neu tral ear th of the transfor
The CT energizing the check relay is
age relay are in series.
The contacts of check relay and frame leak
e both
ed bot h the rela ys mu st ope rate . Onc
Thus before trip pin g cirr uit gets ene rgiz ipment
the bre ake rs will trip con nec ting the equ
the relays operate due to ear th fault, all circuit
bus bar. Due to che ck rela y, acc iden tal ope rati on of sing le rela y to trip the
to the
gets avoided.

Rev iew Que stio n

ar.
1. Explain the frame leakage protection of busb

B J Difficulties in Busbar Protection

The various difficulties in the bus bar
pro tect ion are,
different.
1. Current levels for different circuits are
ed.
2. Large number of circuits to be protect
t
rati on of cores of cur ren t tran sfor mer s due to d .c. com pon ent in sh ort o·rcui
3. Satu
error.
current is possible whi ch produces ratio
4. Due to various bus sections, thescheme becomes complicated.
nee d to be cha nge d.
5. With large load changes, relay settings

TECHNICAL PUBLICA TION s® - an up-thrust for knowledge

 5-9 Bus-zone Protection
d protection
~esrsn

~e\'ieW auesti ·i&J

the difficulties in busbar protection ?

. pro ec Ion of Three Phase Busbars

-..--I-++-+--+--> 5:
CV
.s:
Q.
►
e:

I
---- -----------------
®
Fig. 5.9.1 Protection of three phase busbars
-------------
TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS - an up-thrust for knowledge
 on_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _s
s_w_itc_h_g_ea_r_a_n_d_P_ro_te_c_ti_ _- _1o___ ___ ___ _a_ u_ s_:-z::...:o:.:.::___
ne p
- rotecr
~
The differential scheme of protection can be used for three phase bush
resistance is inserte d in series with a relay which is called stabili sing resistan ars.
A
avoids the malop eration of the scheme under severe extern al faults. This schce. 1'hi
called high imped ance differential scheme. The conne ctions for each phase are sinf}erne ·s
ts
To avoid complications, the Fig. 5.9.1 shows connections for three independent s~
ar.
phase busbar s forming three phase system. The operat ion of the schem e is same as:
basic differential scheme of protection. Each busba r shown has two incoming lines
an
three outgoing lines.
d

Review Question

1. Explain the protection of three phase busbars.

□□□