Symmetrical Fault in Power System
Symmetrical Fault in Power System
Types of faults:
Power system faults may be categorized as one of four types; in order of
frequency of occurrence, they are:
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Faults classifications:-
the faults can be classified into: series fault(open circuit fault) an shunt
fault or (short circuit fault)
1-Faults may lead to fire breakout that consequently results into loss of
property, loss of life and destruction of a power system network.
2-Faults also leads to cut of supply in areas beyond the fault point in a
transmission and distribution network leading to power blackouts; this
Interferes with industrial and commercial activities that supports
economic growth, stalls learning activities in institutions, work in offices,
domestic applications and creates insecurity at night.
Symmetrical faults:-
A three phase symmetrical fault is caused by application of three
equal fault impedances Zf to the three phases, as shown in fig.
below
If Zf=0 the fault is called a solid or a bolted fault
These faults can be of two types:
A- line to line to line to ground fault (LLLG fault)
B- line to line to line fault(LLL fault)
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The life of a fault
The life of a fault can be divided into the following times which occur in
sequence:-
1. The sub-transient period which lasts for only a few cycles, These are
the sub transient reactance xd” for the first 10 to 20 ms of fault
2. The transient period which lasts for a much longer period (tens of
cycles), the transient reactance xd' for up to about 500 ms
3. The steady state period which lasts till a major change in the
transmission network takes place (like a circuit breaker opening or a line
failing), the steady state reactance xd (synchronous reactance).
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The DC offset current is unidirectional transient component of
short circuit current
Location of reactors:-
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Fuse:-
Fuse can be seen in fig.below.it opens the circuit whenever exists in the
system. It consists of a thin copper wire enclosed in a glass or casing with
two metallic contacts. The high fault current rises the temperature of the
manual replacement of wire each time when it blows
Circuit breaker:-
One type of the circuit breaker can be seen in fig. below .it is the most
common protection device that can make or break the circuit either
manually or through remote control under normal operating conditions.
There are several types of circuit breakers available depending on the
operating voltage, including air breake,oil,vacume and SF6 circuit
breakers.
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Fault current transients in machines
•The AC current flowing in the generator during the sub-transient period
is called the sub-transient current and is denoted by I”. The time constant
of the sub-transient current is denoted by T” and it can be determined
from the slope. This current can be as much as 10 times the steady-state
fault current.
•The AC current flowing in the generator during the transient period is
called the transient current and is denoted by I’. The time constant of the
transient current is denoted by T’. This current is often as much as 5 times
the steady-state fault current.
•After the transient period, the fault current reaches a steady-state
condition Iss. This current is obtained by dividing the induced voltage by
the synchronous reactance:
Load motor:-
There are three basic types of motors: synchronous motors, induction
motors, and DC motors. DC motors of course may only be connected to
an AC network through some kind of AC/DC rectifier circuit; this circuit
effectively isolates the motor from affecting the AC network during
faulted conditions. On the other hand, synchronous motors and induction
motors are directly connected to the AC network. Although during
normal (unfaulted) conditions, the current flows into the motor (and
therefore would not, of themselves, result in higher fault currents), during
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fault conditions, both types of motors look like a voltage source to the
rest of the network and therefore contribute fault current just as a
synchronous generator does. In fact, for purposes of fault analysis, a
synchronous motor should be treated exactly as we treat a synchronous
generator. Induction motors, on the other hand, differ from synchronous
machines in that they do not have an independent field source. As a
result, induction motors do not sustain their internal voltage. Typically,
induction motor contribution to fault current decays within a few cycles,
before circuit breaker operation, and therefore are not generally of
concern in fault studies
solution:-
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Example2:-
Consider a single generator supplying a balanced R+jX load as shown in
the diagram below. The steady-state, pre-fault voltage at bus 2 is 1.02 pu.
Using the impedance values of Zext=j0.1pu, Xd=1.0 pu, X’d=0.2 pu,
X’’d=0.1pu, ZL=j10.0, compute the Thevenin impedance and voltage of
this circuit looking into the network from the fault point at bus 2.
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Solution:-
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Given a fault at bus 2 through a fault impedance of Zf=j0.1pu, compute
the subtransient current into the fault.
If you were to purchase a circuit breaker for bus 2, what is the minimum
interruptible current rating you should ensure that it has?
The circuit breaker must be able to interrupt 1.73 times the rms steady-
state fault current, which would be (to account for the DC component),
Iss =1.73*3.4448=5.9595pu.
Example3:-
The one-line diagram of a three bus system is shown below. Each
generator is represented by an emf behind the transient reactance. All
impedances are in per unit on a 100 MVA base and for simplicity,
resistances are neglected. The following assumptions are
made:
1.Shunt capacitances are neglected and the system is considered on no-
load.
2. All generators are running at their rated voltage and rated frequency
with their emfs in phase.
Determine the fault current, bus voltages, and the line currents during the
fault when a balanced three-phase fault with impedance Z f = 0.16 pu
occurs on
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Solution:-
Part (a): The fault on bus 3 is simulated by connecting a fault impedance
Zf =j0.16 pu as shown in the figure below.
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The fault current at bus 3 is
Where Z33 is the faulted bus. To solve for this, the delta is first changed to
an equivalent Y then the circuit is simplified as shown next page. Note
that all values are pu.
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The short circuit currents in the lines are found as follows:
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