Ground faults, voltage transformers

FIG. 29-8 Typical high-voltage ac motor starter illiistrating several protective schemes fuses, overload relays, ground-fault relays, and differential relays with the associated current transformer that act as fault-current sensors. In practice, the differential protection current transformers are located at the motor, hut the relays are part of the starter. 

When this balance is disturbed, due to either an unbalance in the loads or due to a ground fault, a residual or zero phase sequence voltage in the neutral circuit will appear. When one of the phases in the secondary of a three-phase transformer is open circuited and a three-phase supply is applied to its primary windings, there will appear... 

These are protection CTs lor special applications such as biased differential protection, restricted ground fault protection and distance protection schemes, where it is not possible to easily identify the elass of accuracy, the accuracy limit factor and the rated burden of the CTs and where a full primary fault current is required to be transformed to the secondary without saturation, to accurately monitor the level of fault and/or unbalance. The type of application tind the relay being used determine the knee point voltage. The knee point voltage and the excitation current of the CTs now form the basic design parameters for such CTs. They are classified as class PS CTs and can be identified by the following characteristics ... 

To determine the grounding parameters, consider a generator rated for 200 MW, 15 kV and the ground fault current limited to 15 A. Considering GFF as -J3, the voltage ratio of the grounding transformer with a 220 V secondary will be... 

On the other hand, as a mechanism of protection for the PT s are generally used fuses of 2 A in the high voltage side. However, this protection is only suitable for the case of full ground faults in PT, and prevents internal short circuits in the windings of the transformer. 

Outside the cell room itself, the transformers and rectifiers may be indoors or outdoors but always are enclosed to restrict entry to their immediate vicinities. The hazards are the high supply voltage itself, the possibility of explosion, and the risk of flash bums in case of a ground fault. The maintenance of this equipment and associated circuit breakers, switches, and relays is a subject for specialists, and other personnel should not enter the enclosures while equipment is activated. 

Voltage polarization depends upon the location of the relay and the location of the fault. It is possible that the residual voltage, at a particular location in the system, is not sufficient to actuate the voltage coil of the directional G/F relay. In such an event, current polarization is used to supplement voltage polarization. Current polarization is possible, provided that a star point is created on the system, even through a A/t> power transformer, if such a transformer is available in the same circuit. Figure 21.20. Else a grounding transformer may be provided as... 

A SELV system is an extra-low voltage system (50 Vac or 120 Vdc free of ripple when measured between any two conductors), which is electrically separated from the earth (or ground) and other systems (such as the primary winding of an isolating transformer) in such a way that a single fault cannot give rise to the risk of electric shock. A PELV system is also an extra-low voltage system, but is one that is not electrically separated from earth. In all other respects it must satisfy the requirements of a SELV system. 

This plant was operated with three electrical generators TG-2, TG-3 y TG-4. The power electrical system was synchronized to the public network through a "link" principal transformer. The electric network of this plant was ungrounded during a fault or there was not ground reference in system by a previous fault. Subsequently, in another site a fault occurs in a switchboard called "extension bus bar of TG-2" at voltage level of a 13.8 kV. The fault consists of an arc flash between bus bar and switchboard walls when the network was steady. Transient oscillations of the frequencies derived of the arc were timed to the circuit, and it was in resonance. The evidence shows that intermittent arc flash occurs, pa-omoted electro-erosion as is shown in Fig. 3.5.2.1. 

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