SUB-STATION

The present-day electrical power system is A.C. Electric power is generated, transmitted and
distributed in the form of alternating current. The electric power stations are located far away
from the consumers or load centers. At many places in the power system, it is desirable and
necessary to change some characteristic of electric supply.
Definition
A substation can be defined as an assembly of apparatus installed to perform voltage
transformation, switching, power factor correction, power and frequency –converting operation.
The sub-stations are used to change some characteristic of electric supply in the power system.
 Voltage
 A.C. to D.C.
 Frequency
 Power Factor
FACTORS GOVERNING THE SELECTION OF SITE
 Sub-stations are important part of power system.
 The continuity of supply.
 Near the load centre (at the centre of gravity of load) of its service areas.
 Proper access for incoming sub transmission lines and outgoing primary feeders.
 Easy access for repairs and maintenance, abnormal occurrences such as possibility
of explosion or fire etc.
 Enough space for future expansion.
 Minimum capital cost.
CLASSIFICATION OF SUB-STATIONS
Sub-stations are usually classified according to

 Service requirement
 Design (constructional features).

ACCORDING TO SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

1. Transformer sub-stations:
 Transform power from one voltage level to another.
 Transformer will be the main component

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 2. Switching sub-stations:
 Switching operations of power lines

3. Synchronous (Power factor correction) Substations:

 Improves the power factor of the system.
 Located at the receiving end of transmission lines.
 Synchronous condensers for p.f improvement.

4. Frequency changer sub-stations:

 Convert normal frequency to other useful.

5. Converting sub-stations:
 Convert a.c. power into d.c. power
 Electric traction, electroplating, electric welding, battery charging, etc.

6. Industrial sub-stations:
 Industrial consumers (huge amounts of power)
 Individual sub-stations

ACCORDING TO DESIGN (CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES)

A sub-station has many components (e.g. insulators, bus bars, transformers, circuit breakers,
switches, fuses, instruments etc.) which must be properly protected for continuous and reliable
service.
Indoor sub-stations:
 Equipment are installed indoor (within a building)
 Generally used for voltages upto 11 kV only
 Atmosphere is contaminated with impurities such as metal corroding gases and fumes
, conductive dust etc.

Outdoor sub-stations:
 For voltages beyond 11 kV, equipment is invariably installed outdoor
 More clearances between conductors and the space required for switches, circuit
breakers and other equipment
 Not economical to install the equipment indoor.

Underground sub-stations:
 In thickly populated areas
 The space available for equipment and building is limited and the cost of land is high.
Pole-mounted sub-stations:
 These are used for distribution purposes only
 Equipment installed overhead on H-pole or 4-pole structure
 It is the cheapest form of sub-station

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 Table 1.0: Comparison between Outdoor and Indoor Sub-Stations

S.N
Particular Outdoor Sub-station Indoor Sub-station
o

1 Space required More Less

2 Time required for Less More

erection

3 Future extension Easy Difficult

4 Fault location Easier because the equipment is Difficult because the equipment is
in full view enclosed

5 Capital cost Low High

6 Operation Difficult Easier

7 Possibility of fault Less because greater clearances More

escalation can be provided

TRANSFORMER SUB-STATIONS
In majority of the majority of the sub-stations, transformer is the main component employed to
change the voltage level. Depending upon the purpose served, transformer substation can be
classified into :
(i) Step-up sub-station
(ii) Primary grid sub-station
(iii) Secondary sub-station
(iv) Distribution sub-station
Figure 1 below shows the positions of substations (all of which have transformer as their major
component) in a typical electrical power grid (network)

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Figure 1: Block diagram of supply system showing the positions of substations in a typical
electrical power grid (network)
Step-up sub-station:
 The generation voltage (16 kV) is stepped up to high voltage 330 kV
 Electric power transmitted by 3-ph, 3-wire overhead system to the outskirts of the city
 These are generally located in the power houses
 Outdoor type

Primary grid sub-station:

 From the step-up sub-station, electric power is received by the primary grid sub-
station
 Reduces the voltage level to 132 kV for secondary transmission
 Electric power is transmitted at 132 kV by 3-phase, 3-wire system to various
secondary sub-stations located at the strategic points in the city

Secondary sub-station:
 From the primary grid sub-station, electric power is received by the secondary grid
sub-station
 The voltage is further stepped down to 33Kv (or 11kV in some cases)
 The 33 kV lines run along the important road sides of the city.

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  Big consumers (having demand in excess of 50 kW) are generally supplied power at
33 kV. An example is the Rida plastics industries in Bida that has its own dedicated
feeder at the 132/33kV substation along Zungeru road.

Distribution sub-station:
 The electric power from 11 kV lines is delivered to distribution sub-stations
 These sub-stations are located near the consumer’s localities
 Step down the voltage to 400 V, 3-phase, 4-wire for supplying to the consumers.

EQUIPMENT IN A TRANSFORMER SUB-STATION

1.Bus-bars:
 When a number of lines operating at the same voltage have to be directly connected
electrically, bus-bars are used as the common electrical component
 Bus-bars are copper or aluminum bars (rectangular x-section)
 Operate at constant voltage
 The incoming and outgoing lines in a sub-station are connected to the bus-bars.

The most commonly used bus-bar arrangements in sub-stations are :

(i) Single bus-bar arrangement
(ii) Single bus-bar system with sectionalisation
(iii) Main and transfer bus-bar arrangement
2. Insulators:
 They support the conductors (or bus-bars) and confine the current to the conductors
 The most commonly used material is porcelain
There are several types of insulators
 pin type
 suspension type
 post insulator etc

3. Isolating switches :
 To disconnect a part of the system for general maintenance and repairs
4.Circuit breaker:
 An equipment which can open or close a circuit under normal as well as fault
conditions
 It is so designed that it can be operated manually (or by remote control) under normal
conditions and automatically under fault conditions
 For the fault conditions operation, a relay circuit is used with a circuit breaker.
5. Power Transformers:

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  To step-up or step-down the voltage
 Except at the power station, all the subsequent sub-stations use step-down
transformers

6. Instrument transformers:
 The lines in sub-stations operate at high voltages and carry current of thousands of
amperes
 The measuring instruments and protective devices are designed for low voltages
(generally 110 V) and currents (about 5 A)
 They will not work satisfactorily if mounted directly
 This difficulty is overcome by installing instrument transformers
 Transfer voltages or currents in the power lines to values which are convenient for
measuring instruments and relays

There are basically of two types

(i) Current transformer (C.T.)
(ii) (ii) Potential transformer (P.T.)

(i) Current transformer (C.T.):

• It is a transformer which steps down the current to a known ratio
• The primary consists of one or more turns of thick wire connected in series with the
line
• The secondary consists of a large number of turns of fine wire and provides for the
measuring instruments and relays a current which is a constant fraction of the current
in the line
• Suppose a current transformer rated at 100/5 A is connected in the line to measure
current. If the current in the line is 100 A, then current in the secondary will be 5A.
Similarly, if current in the line is 50A, then secondary of C.T. will have a current of 2·5 A.
Thus the C.T. under consideration will step down the line current by a factor of 20.
(ii) Potential transformer:
 It is a transformer which steps down the voltage to a known ratio
 The primary consists of a large number of turns of fine wire connected across the line.
 The secondary winding consists of a few turns and provides for measuring instruments
and relays a voltage which is a known fraction of the line voltage.
• Suppose a potential transformer rated at 66kV/110V is connected to a power line. If line
voltage is 66kV, then voltage across the secondary will be 110 V.

7. Protective relays:

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 • These are installed for protection of equipment against faults or over loads

8. Metering and Indicating Instruments:

• These are installed to watch and maintain the circuit quantities.
• e.g. ammeters, voltmeters, energy meters etc.
• The instrument transformers used with them for satisfactory operation.

9.Miscellaneous equipment.
(i) Lightening arresters.
(ii) Fire fighting equipment
(iii) sub-station auxiliary supplies

SYMBOLS FOR EQUIPMENT IN SUB-STATIONS

There are different symbols for representing the various equipment found in substations. The
table 2 below shows the different symbol corresponding to the various equipment.

Table 2: Symbols for Equipment in Sub-Stations

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BUS-BAR ARRANGEMENTS IN SUB-STATIONS
• Important components in a sub-station.
• There are several bus-bar arrangements
• The choice depends upon various factors such as system voltage, position of sub-
station, degree of reliability, cost etc.

1. Single bus-bar system

2. Single bus-bar system with sectionalisation

3. Main and Transfer bus-bar system

Single bus-bar system

 It consists of a single bus-bar
 All the incoming and outgoing lines are connected to the same bus bar.
 Low initial cost
 Less maintenance and simple operation
 The equipment connections are very simple and hence the system is very convenient
to operate
 If the fault occurs on any section of the bus, the entire bus bar is to be de-energized
for carrying out repair work.
 This results in a complete interruption of the supply.
 Not used for voltages above 33kV.
 The indoor 11kV sub-stations are single bus-bar arrangement.

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Figure 2: schematic representation of a single bus-bar system
The two 11kV incoming lines connected to the bus-bar through circuit breakers and isolators.
The two 400V outgoing lines are connected to the bus bars through isolator, circuit breaker and
step down transformer (11kV/415 V) from the bus bars
Advantages of the single Bus bar system:
 Each of the outgoing circuit requires a single circuit breaker.
 It is the cheapest
 The relaying system is simple
 The maintenance cost is low

Disadvantages:
 Maintenance without interruption of supply is not possible.
 Expansion of substation without shutdown is not possible

Single Bus-Bar System with Sectionalisation

 The single bus-bar is divided into 2 or 3 sections
 Load is equally distributed on all the sections.
 Any two sections of the bus bar are connected by a circuit breaker and isolators.
 If a fault occurs on any section of the bus, that section can be isolated without
affecting the supply from other sections.
 The repairs and maintenance of any section of the bus bar can be carried out by de-
energizing that section only, eliminating the possibility of complete shutdown.
 This arrangement is used for voltages up to 33 kV.

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Figure 3: Schematic representation of single bus-bar system with sectionalisation
Two 33 kV incoming lines connected to sections I and II through circuit breaker and isolators (as
shown in figure 3, above).Each 11kV outgoing line is connected to one section through
transformer (33/11 kV) and circuit breaker. Each bus-section behaves as a separate bus-bar.
Advantages Single Bus-Bar System with Sectionalisation:
 The operation is simple as in case of the single bus bar
 For maintenance or repair of the bus bar, only one half of the bus bar is required to be
de-energized.
 The relaying system is simple
 The maintenance cost is low

Disadvantages:
 In case of a fault on the bus bar, one half of the section will be switched-off.
 Maintenance without interruption of supply is not possible.

Main and Transfer bus-bar system:

 It consists of two bus-bars, a “main” bus-bar and a “Transfer or spare” bus-bar
 Each bus-bar has the capacity to take up the entire sub-station load.
 The incoming and outgoing lines can be connected to either bus-bar with the help of a
bus-bar coupler
 bus-bar coupler consists of a circuit breaker and isolators.
 Generally, the incoming and outgoing lines remain connected to the main bus-bar.
 In case of repair of main bus-bar or fault occurring on it, the continuity of supply to
the circuit can be maintained by transferring it to the Transfer bus-bar.

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  Frequently used for voltages exceeding 33kV.

Figure 4: Schematic representation of the main and transfer bus-bar system with sectionalisation

The arrangement of main and transfer bus-bar system (as shown in figure 4 above) in a
typical sub-station. The two 33kV incoming lines can be connected to either bus-bar by a
bus-bar coupler. The two 11 kV outgoing lines are connected to the bus-bars through
transformers (66/11 kV)and circuit breakers
Advantages of the Main and Transfer bus-bar system:
 It ensures supply in case of bus fault.
 In case of any fault on the bus bar, the circuit can be transferred to the transfer bus.
 It is easy to connect the circuit from any bus.
 The maintenance cost decreases.

Disadvantages:
 Requires one extra circuit breaker.
 Switching is somewhat complicated while maintaining a breaker.
 Failure of bus bar or any circuit breaker results in shutdown of the entire substation.

PROTECTION SCHEME
• No power system can be designed in such a way that it will never fail; but, failure modes
in power systems can be controlled to limit damage and thereby enhance reliability.
• These failures are what protection engineers refer to as “faults”

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 • It is very important in power systems to prevent faults and mitigate against the
consequences of the faults
• The ill effects of faults are minimized by quickly isolating the faulty element(s) from the
rest of the healthy system, thereby limiting disturbance to a small area in time and space.
Requirements of a protection system
• a. Sensitivity
• b. Selectivity
• c. Reliability
• d. Discrimination
e. Simplicity and economy
Sensitivity
• The protective system must be alive to the presence of the smallest fault current.
• The smaller the fault current it can detect, the more sensitive it is.
Selectivity
• In detecting the fault and isolating the faulty element, the protective system must be very
selective. Ideally, the protective system should Zero in on the faulty element and isolate
it, thus causing minimum disruption to the system.
Reliability
• A protective system is of no use if it is not reliable. There are many ways in which
reliability can be built into the system. Good engineering judgement plays a great part in
enhancing the reliability of the protective system. In general, it is found that simple
systems are more reliable. Systems which depend upon locally available information,
tend to be more reliable and dependable than those that depend upon the information at
the remote end. However, in spite of best efforts to make the system reliable, we cannot
rule out the possibility of failure of the (primary) protection system. Therefore, we add
features like back-up protection to enhance the reliability and dependability of the
protective system.
Discrimination
• How the protective system should respond to the abnormal operating conditions needs
careful consideration. It may or may not be required to take cognizance of the abnormal
operating condition. Some examples of abnormal operating conditions are starting
currents of motors, inrush currents of transformers and stable power swings. Magnitude
wise, these currents may qualify as faults, but there is no need to provide protection from

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 them. Thus, the protective system must be able to discriminate between the normal
operating conditions, abnormal operating conditions and faults.
Simplicity and Economy
• A protective system should be less complex as possible and have minimal cost.

COMPONENTS OF A PROTECTIVESYSTEM
The major components of a protection scheme otherwise known as protective system transducers
are:
• Current transformers
• Voltage transformers
Current transformers and voltage transformers form a very important link between the power
system and the protective system. These transducers basically extract the information
regarding current and voltage from the power system under protection and pass it on to the
protective relays. While doing this, they insulate the low-voltage protective system (both
personnel and protective apparatus) from the high-voltage power system.
Current transformers
• The current transformer has two jobs to do. Firstly, it steps down the current to such
levels that it can be easily handled by the relay current coil. The standard secondary
current ratings used in practice are 5 A and 1 A. This frees the relay designer form the
actual value of primary current. Secondly, it isolates the relay circuitry from the high
voltage of the power system.
• Ideally, the current transformer should faithfully transform the current without any errors.
In practice, there is always some error. The error creeps in, both in magnitude and in
phase angle. These errors are known as ratio error and phase angle error.

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RELAYS

Classification of Relay according to functional descriptions

For the purpose of system protection, we may classify relays according to the following
functional descriptions:
1. Over current relay
A relay that operates or picks up when its current exceeds a predetermined value. Over current
relays can be instantaneous, that is, with no intentional time delay

2. Differential relay
A relay that, by its design or application is intended to respond to the difference between
incoming and outgoing electrical quantities associated with protective apparatus. Typical
applications of differential relaying is in protection to buses, generators, and transformers.
Schematic of the percentage differential relay is shown in figure 5 below.

Figure 5: Schematic of the percentage differential relay.

3. Directional relay
A relay that responds to the relative phase position of a current with respect to another current or
voltage reference.

4. Distance relay
A generic term covering those forms of protective relays in which there sponse to the input
quantities is primarily a function of the electrical circuit distance between the relay location and
the fault point.
Distance relays are designed to respond to current, voltage, and the phase angle between the
current and voltage. These quantities can be used to compute the impedance seen by the relay.
which is proportional to the distance to the fault.

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Classification of Relay according to physical Technology
Relays are often classified according to the physical technology of their construction. Hence, we
speak of electromechanical relays and static relays.

1. Electromechanical Relays
Electromechanical relays represent a mature technology for protective devices that have been
widely used for many years and are still applied for many purposes. These devices have been
proven to be sturdy and reliable and are often favored by protection engineers for many
applications because of their reliable performance and low cost.

2. Static relay
A relay or relay unit in which there is no armature or other moving element, the designed
response being developed by electronic, solid-state, magnetic, or other components without
mechanical motion.“The introduction of static relays has resulted in devices that have improved
sensitivity, speed, and repeatability over the electromechanical designs. Nearly all static relays
are more shock proof than electromechanical designs, and most are very fast in their operation.
There set time is much shorter than most electromechanical designs since there is no mechanical
travel required as with parting contacts. This allows closer coordination. The static design shave
lower maintenance, lower (VA) burden, and smaller size, all of which are favorable. A major
disadvantage of static relays is their susceptibility to transients of even small magnitude, causing
them to require more care for shielding the installation. Also, static designs Also, are more
temperature sensitive, and therefore operate over a narrower temperature range than
electromagnetic devices.

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