Determining Settings for Capacitor Bank Protection Terrence Smith GE Digital Energy/Multilin

Abstract - As the electric power grid is pushed to its limits, efficiencies can be gained by properly using shunt capacitor banks. Protective relaying must be provided for these banks that will protect the system from abnormal conditions that could be caused by the capacitor bank as well as provide protection to the capacitor bank from abnormal conditions caused by system conditions or capacitor failed elements. Failed capacitor elements can cause failure of the entire bank due to overvoltage on the individual failed elements. As elements fail, the subsequence overvoltage caused by the failure increases the risk of further failures. The optimum solution is to recognize the condition of failed elements with alarms and perform maintenance, replacing the failed elements, when the bank is least needed by the system. Trip functions must also be provided to protect healthy elements from the overvoltage caused by the failed elements. Conditions associated with failed elements can easily be calculated and can be measured by microprocessorbased relays. This paper will examine the calculation of protective settings necessary to completely protect a shunt capacitor bank. After a brief review of capacitor bank design and failure mechanisms, the paper will examine and demonstrate calculations for both grounded and ungrounded banks. The general setting calculations to be examined include: phase overcurrent function, negative sequence overcurrent, bank overvoltage, and bus overvoltage. Additionally, calculations will be shown for current differential and voltage differential for alarm points for failed elements and for trip points for failed elements. I. Introduction Shunt Capacitor banks provide reactive power support to the power system, which serves to: increase efficiencies, flatten the voltage profile, improve system stability, and delay costly investment to improve the power system. Shunt Capacitor Banks deliver these benefits while being relatively inexpensive and easy to construct. All of these benefits to the power system have caused these devices to proliferate across the power system and necessitated the reliable operation of the capacitor banks. Several microprocessor-based relays have appeared that are specifically designed to provide protection and control of capacitor banks. Protective functions should be capable of protecting the power system from abnormal conditions of the bank as well as protecting the bank from abnormal
Figure 1 Capacitor Unit

power system conditions or failed elements inside the bank. A key function of the protective system should be to recognize a failed capacitor elements and alarm, allowing the bank to be de-energized and repaired when it is least needed by the power system. Capacitor Construction Capacitors are made up of groups of elements. An individual element is the most basic part of the capacitor and consists of two electrodes separated by a dielectric. These elements are then grouped into element groups that are connected in series to form the capacitor unit. The capacitor unit or can is a series of grouped elements housed in a case with terminals brought out so that the unit can be connected inside of a capacitor bank to introduce reactance to the power system. The capacitor unit serves as the basic building block of a shunt capacitor bank.

Capacitors units are intended to be operated at or below their rated voltage and frequency and are sensitive Additionally, IEEE to these values ( KVA 2fV ). standard 18 and 1036 define specific ratings that effect capacitor bank design and protection design. Specifically, these standards dictate that:
2

a)

Capacitor units must be capable of continuous operation of up to 110% of rated terminal RMS voltage and a crest voltage not exceeding of rated RMS voltage. The crest voltage should include harmonics but not transients.

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b) c) d)

Capacitor units must be capable of continuous operation at 135% of nominal current. Capacitor units must not give less than 100% nor more than 115% of rated reactive power at rated voltage and frequency. Capacitor units must be capable of up to 135% of rated reactive power caused by the effects of: RMS voltage in excess of rated voltage, but less than 110% of rated voltage. Harmonic voltages superimposed on the fundamental frequency. Reactive power manufacturing tolerance of up to 115% of rated reactive power. Capacitor Bank Construction

recognizing failed elements. First, no visual indication is available indicating a failed element and blow fuse as with the Fused Capacitor bank. Second, failure of an individual element and blowing of its fuse permits the remaining elements in the group of elements to stay in service. It is unlikely that failure of individual elements can be detected, by protective relaying.

The use of fuses for protecting the capacitor units and the fuse location plays an important part in the design of the shunt capacitor banks. Also, since the method of fusing affects the failure mechanism of the unit, it affects the design of the bank protection. Capacitor banks can be externally fused, internally fused, fuseless or un-fused. Fused capacitor banks consist of parallel groups of capacitors which are then connected in series to generate the required bank reactive power rating. Fuseless capacitor banks must be connected in series and then these series strings can be connected into parallel groups to obtain the desired bank reactive power rating. Externally Fused Capacitor Banks Externally fused capacitor banks have an external fuse mounted between the capacitor unit and the capacitor fuse bus. This fuse protects the capacitor unit. These units are capable of being designed for a relatively high voltage since the external fuse can interrupt a high-voltage fault. A failure of the capacitor element welds the foils together effectively shorting the group of elements. The remaining elements in the capacitor unit continue to be in service but with a higher voltage across them. If a second element fails, the process repeats itself until successive failures cause the fuse to operate. Internally Fused Capacitor Banks Each capacitor element is fused inside the capacitor unit in internally fused capacitor banks. Upon failure of the element the fuse removes the failed element only. The other elements remain in service with a slightly higher voltage across them. Internally fused capacitor banks can have larger capacitor units because the entire unit is not expected to fail. Additionally, the internally fused capacitor bank is composed of more series groups of units and fewer parallel groups of units. The internally fused capacitor bank poses significant challenges related to

Figure 2 Internally Fused Capacitor Bank

Fuseless Capacitor Banks Fuseless capacitor banks, as the name implies, consist of series strings of capacitor units without any fuses protecting the individual units. Fuseless capacitor bank designs are typically the most prevalent in modern day. Fuseless capacitor banks offer the advantages of smaller size, lower losses, lower probability of case rupture and the ability of achieving more sensitive protection. Fuseless capacitor banks are facilitated by the use of film/foil dielectric material in the capacitor design. This design assures that the capacitor element will fail by shorting with a weld that is sufficient to carry rated current. The design limits the gas generated by the failure and allows the unit to be continuously energized with one of the group of elements shorted. Fuseless capacitor banks are not without their own disadvantages. Without the external fuse element, visual indication of the faulted capacitor is lost. Also, an element failure causes an overvoltage on the remaining groups of elements in the capacitor. This overvoltage makes subsequent failures more likely. Disadvantages of a fuseless capacitor bank can be overcome with sensitive protective relaying. The protective relay protecting the bank must now be sensitive enough to detect the failed elements and alarm on this condition before subsequent failures overstress the remaining units. The relay must also be capable of protecting the units from this overvoltage and trip before further damage can occur.

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Configuration Capacitor banks must be designed such that the minimum number of units in parallel will not allow more than 110% of nominal voltage to exist on the remaining units when one of the parallel units is isolated. In a similar manner, the minimum number of units in series is must be sufficient so that when on parallel group is bypassed it does not allow more than 110% of nominal voltage to exist on the remaining units. The 110% rating comes from IEEE standard 18-2002, which requires capacitors to withstand 110% continuous rated overvoltage. The maximum number of capacitor units that may be placed in parallel is designed to limit the discharge transient. When a capacitor bank unit fails, the other units in the parallel group contain a stored charge. This stored charge is discharged through the fuse holder and the failed capacitor unit. The fuse holder and unit must be capable of withstanding this discharge transient. Discharge transients can be severe enough to rupture the unit case or explode the fuse holder, possibly damaging adjacent capacitor units or substation bus. In order to limit the discharge transients, standards impose a limit of 4650 KVAR per parallel group. The two most common designs of shunt capacitor banks are externally fused capacitor banks and fuseless capacitor banks. Each design has its own set of advantages and challenges. The primary advantages of the externally fused capacitor bank are that it gives a visual indication of the failed unit and, since the units are individually fused, the sensitivity of the capacitor protective relay is not as important. The externally fused capacitor bank has a higher installation cost and maintenance cost. The installation cost is higher for the externally fused bank because of the additional equipment and space required for the fuses. Since the fuses are exposed to the environment, they degrade over time and must be replaced, which increases maintenance cost. Also, the fuses must be inspected for failures which increases maintenance costs. The fuseless bank, because of its lack of fusing, has a lower installed cost and smaller footprint. The sensitive protective relaying can typically raise an alarm for failed elements, reducing the need for visual inspection of the bank and lowering maintenance costs. Additionally, failure of an element inside of a fuseless bank results in a smaller discharge transient making rupture of the capacitor unit less likely. The fuseless bank has two main disadvantages. First, there is no visual indication of a failed element and second the failed element creates an overvoltage condition on the remaining units. This highlights the need to have sensitive bank protection that can correctly isolate the bank for failed elements before the remaining elements can be damaged by overvoltage. Ideally, the protective relay would be able to raise an alarm on failed

elements allowing maintenance personnel to replace the unit with the failure at a time when the reactive support from the bank is least needed. If failures continued to the point of endangering remaining elements from overvoltage, the relay should isolate the bank. The relay should also be capable of determining the faulted phase so that maintenance personnel wont have to test the complete bank to locate the faulted unit. Grounding Methods Most transmission shunt capacitor banks are connected in one of the two Wye configurations described below. Distribution capacitor banks may be connected in either Wye or delta. Some larger banks may use an H configuration on each of the phases. Grounded Wye-connected banks Grounded Wye capacitor banks are composed of series of parallel-connected capacitor units per phase with the neutral point solidly grounded. The configuration offers some protection from surge overvoltage and transient overcurrent. When this type of bank becomes large enough that the stored energy in the units endangers the units or fuses (parallel groups above 4650 KVAR) the bank may be broken into two parallel Wye sections. Ungrounded Wye-connected banks Ungrounded Wye banks are composed of series of parallel-connected capacitor units per phase with the neutral point floating. These banks do not permit zero sequence currents, third harmonic currents, or large capacitor discharge currents during system ground faults. The ungrounded bank neutral must be insulated for full line voltage because it is momentarily at phase potential when the bank is switched or when one capacitor unit fails in a bank configured with a single group of units. Delta Connected Units Delta connected units are typically only used with distribution voltages are consist of a single series group of capacitors rated at line-to-line voltage. Since the banks consists of one series group of units, no overvoltage occurs across the remaining units when a faulted unit is isolated. H Connected Units In an H configuration bank each phase is configured in an H with a current transformer connected between the horizontal piece of the H measuring the current difference in the two legs. During normal conditions the two legs are

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balanced and no current flows in the current transformer secondary. When a capacitor fuse operates, the two legs are no longer balanced and current flows in the CT secondary circuit. This facilitates very sensitive protection for large banks with multiple units in parallel. II. Capacitor bank Protection The following discussion describes typical protection schemes for typical banks. Protective relay algorithms are well documented for these types of protection, this discussion will document calculations for this protection by analysis of several case studies. III. Case Study 1 Fuseless, Grounded Bank with a Tank Circuit. For case study one consider the schematic diagram shown in figure 3. This is a fuseless, grounded Wye capacitor bank connected to a 145KV bus. The bank consists of three parallel strings of five 16.7kV, 600kVAR units per phase for a total bank size of 27,000 kVAR.
0 0 0
300/5

MatchFactor ( K ) =

UpperVoltage LowerVoltage

Equation 1

The upper voltage in equation one will be the nominal bus voltage. The lower voltage will be the voltage across the tank circuit under nominal conditions. To determine the voltage across the tank circuit, the current through the capacitor bank must be calculated and the drop across the tank circuit is simply the tank impedance times the bank current. The bank current can be found from ohms law once the impedance of the capacitor units is known. The impedance of a capacitor unit is given by equation 2.
Zunit = (Vrated) 2 kVARrated
Equation 2

Capacitor Impedances for the main bank and the tank capacitor are shown in equation 3 and 4 below.
Zupperunit = Z tan kunit = (16.7 KV ) 2 = 464 600 KVAR (825V ) 2 = 4.08 167 KVAR
Equation 3

Equation 4

16.7KV 600KVAR 9 Elements/Can

83.13KV/115V

Once the capacitor unit impedances are know, the current can be calculated using ohms law as shown in equation five.
I= Vbus 145 KV / 3 = = 108 A Z bank ((5 464) / 3 + 4.08)
Equation 5

0.8KV 167KVAR

Once the nominal current is known, the tank voltage and match factor can be calculated as shown in equations six and seven.
Protective Relay
87

V tan k = I Z tan k = 108 A 4.08 = 439V K= Vupper 145KV / 3 = = 190.7 Vlower 439V

Equation 6

Figure 3 Case Study One The bank will use voltage differential to detect failed capacitor elements. The voltage differential algorithm senses the change in voltage balance between two voltages due to the failed elements. In the case study, the two voltage locations are the bus voltage and the tank voltage. The tank voltage is the voltage drop measured around the small capacitor at the bottom of the bank. Since the tank voltage is much smaller than the bus voltage the relay algorithm requires a setting of match factor to match the two voltages. The match factor is applied to the lower voltage to cause it to match the upper voltage. The match factor can be calculated from equation 1 below.

Equation 7

Now that the match factor has been set, the operate quantity for which the protective relay will alarm and trip at must now be calculated. The operate quantity is generally of the form of equation eight.
Voperate = Vupper + K Vlower
Equation 8

The operate voltage must be set to trip the bank before the failed elements cause an overvoltage on the remaining elements and should provide an alarm when enough element failures occur that the relay can reliably determine the voltage differential. As a general rule the bank should be tripped offline before the overvoltage on the failed elements exceeds 110% of the nominal rated voltage of the element and should alarm when the voltage exceeds 105%. The voltage across a group of capacitor

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elements in a capacitor unit that will provide these values is as calculated in equation 9 and 10 below.
Vtrip = 1.10 KVrating # elements = 1.10 16.7 KV = 2041V 9

nominal rating. If each of the five series units equally share the bus voltage this give an overvoltage setting as given in equation 15 below.
Valarm = 1.05 Vrated 5 = 1.05 16.7 KV 5 = 87.675KV
Equation 15

Equation 9

Valarm = 1.05

KVrating # elements

= 1.05
10

16.7KV V Equation = 1948 9

Vtrip = 1.10 Vrated 5 = 1.10 16.7 KV 5 = 91.85KV Equation 16

Before the operate quantities are calculated, the tank voltage and associated capacitor element voltage associated with the element voltages to trip and alarm at must be calculated as shown in equation 11 and 12.
V tan k =
Vel =

VLn Z tan k Z total

Equation 11

VL N Vtan k (# SeriesUnits# SeriesGroup # FailedGroups

Equation 12

Table one below shows the calculated values of tank voltage and capacitor element voltage with various numbers of failed elements. From the table and equation nine and ten, the tank voltage associated with trip should be 457. and the tank voltage associated with alarm should be 449V.
Table 1 Differential Voltage Tabulation

In addition to protecting the bank from over voltages, protection must also be provided for short-circuit faults in the bank. This is accomplished with overcurrent and negative sequence overcurrent elements. For grounded banks, overcurrent settings of 135% of nominal current and for ungrounded banks, overcurrent settings of 125% of nominal current are used for tripping [2]. This setting is based on the IEEE 18-2002 requirement that the capacitor withstand 135% of nominal current. Negative sequence elements provide protection for arc-over within the capacitor bank and typical settings are set at 10% of rated bank current with sufficient time delay to coordinate with other relays in the system [2]. For this bank, the requirements for overcurrent and negative sequence would give a pickup value of 145 Amps pickup on overcurrent and 10.8 Amps pickup on negative sequence. IV. Case Study 2 Fuseless, Ungrounded Wye Bank For case study two, a bank similar to the bank used in case study one will be considered except this bank will be an ungrounded bank. This bank is shown in figure four and will be protected with a voltage differential element, a neutral overvoltage element, bus overvoltage element and overcurrent elements. In practice the use of the neutral overvoltage element and the voltage differential gives redundancy that is not typically used, but is added here to include both scenarios with one case study. Bus overvoltage and time overcurrent elements will be calculated in the same manner as in case study one as shown in equation 15 and 16. The voltage differential algorithm for the ungrounded bank is slightly different than the grounded bank because the voltage a the neutral point of the bank may reside at something other than ground potential. This voltage must be measured by a potential transformer and included in the algorithm. A typical algorithm for voltage differential in an ungrounded bank is as shown below in equation 17.
Vop = (V Bus V x k (V tan k V X )
Equation 17

#of Failed Vtank Vel Elements 0 438.8586 1850.598 1 442.1676 1892.582 2 445.6305 1936.515 3 449.258 1982.536 4 453.0623 2030.798 5 457.0565 2081.468 6 461.2554 2134.732 7 465.6749 2190.792 Using operate equation of equation 8 and a tank voltage of 457V and 449V, this gives a trip and alarm setting for the voltage differential function as shown in equation 13 and 14 below.

Valarm = 83.716 KV 191 449 = 2043V Vtrip = 83.716 KV 191 457 = 3571V

Equation 13 Equation 14

In addition to protecting the bank from over voltages associated with failed elements, the bank must also be protected from system over voltages that would damage the capacitor units. This setting is governed by IEEE standard 18-2002 which requires a capacitor unit to be able to continuously withstand an overvoltage of 110% of

The voltage Vx is the neutral point voltage measured by a neutral point potential transformer shown on the bottom of figure 4. Under balanced, normal conditions, the operate voltage would be zero and the voltage Vx would be zero or near zero so the equation to calculate the match

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factor settings is as given in equation 7 and the calculation of the pickup settings is the same as in case study one.
0 0 0
300/5

1 1 1 Va Vb Vc Vx Z + Z + Z + Z + Z + Z =0 b c a b c a
1 1 1 VX Z + Z + Z B C A

Equation 20

V A VB VC VB VB VC VC + Z +Z +Z +Z Z +Z Z =0 A A A B A C A

16.7KV 600KVAR 9 Elements/Can

83.13KV/115V

Equation 21
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 =0 + + VC (VA + VB + VC ) + VB VX + + Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z B C A A A B C A

Equation 22
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 VX Z Z + VC Z + Z + Z + Z (VA + VB + VC ) + VB Z Z =0 B B C A A A A C

Equation 23
Protective Relay VX
87

ZA ZA VX 1 + Z + Z B C

Z 3 V 0 + V B 1 A Z B
Equation 24

+ VC

ZA 1 Z C

=0

Figure 4: Case Study Two On the ungrounded bank shown in figure four, neutral overvoltage elements can also be used to protect the bank from element failures. This algorithm, at a very basic level, compares the zero sequence voltage on the bus to the capacitor bank neutral point voltage (Vx). Under normal, balanced conditions the voltage measured from the neutral point to ground will be very nearly zero. When a group of capacitor elements fails, the voltage at the neutral point with reference to ground increases. A problem arises with sensitive protection in that the banks may not be exactly balanced. IEEE standard 18-2002 only dictates that the capacitor give not less than 100% and not more than 115% of rated reactive power at rated voltage. This gives each capacitor unit 15% of tolerance window, which may affect neutral voltage. The neutral overvoltage algorithm in the protective relay must take this tolerance into consideration. To calculate the voltage caused by capacitance differences, consider Kirchhoffs current law for the neutral point as shown in equation eighteen.
Ia + Ib + Ic = 0
Equation 18

Equation twenty-four allows the introduction of balance factors shown in equations twenty-five and twenty-six.
k ab = k ab = Za X a Zb Xb Za X a Zb Xb
Equation 25

Equation 26

The algorithm operate equation can then be defined by equation twenty-seven.

V op =

1 (1 + k ab + k ac )V x 3V 0 + Vb (1 k ab ) + V c (1 k ac ) ) 3
Equation 27

Equation eighteen can be resolved into voltage terms using ohms law as shown in equation 19.
Va V x Vb V x Vc V x + + =0 Za Zb Zc
Equation 19

Where Va,Vb,Vc is the phase bus voltage Vx is the neutral point voltage Za,Zb,Zc is the phase impedance Equation 19 can be rearranged as follows in equations twenty through twenty-four.

Using the algorithm of equation twenty-seven, four settings must be calculated, the match factors kab, kac and pickup voltages for alarm and trip on failed elements. The balance factors kab and kac may be difficult to calculate because the exact impedance of each string of capacitors cannot be accurately calculated. The better option would be to initially place the bank into operation and either use auto-setting functions of the relay or measured values to calculate the match factors. If calculations from measured values are desired, equation nineteen and eighteen can be solved for the impedance of each string, using metered values available in the relay. Equation twenty-eight demonstrates calculation of the impedance of the a phase string.

Va V x = Za Ia

Equation 28

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Once the actual impedances are known and the balance factors are set, the next step becomes setting the values for operate quantities for trip and alarm points. Reference one derives equation twenty-nine to determine the percent operate voltage as a function of the percent change in capacitance of a phase string.
Vop % = 1 1 X health X failed X c % = 100 X healt 3 3
Equation 29

voltage drop across the tank circuit, element voltage drop becomes equation thirty-three.
Vel = VL N (# SeriesUnits# SeriesGroups # FailedGroups
Equation 33

0 0 0
300/5

Equations nine and ten from case study one and table one show that to prevent overvoltage on the non-failed elements, alarm should occur at three failed groups of elements and trips should occur at five failed groups. In order to calculate the percent change in the capacitor bank impedance, it is first necessary to calculate the healthy bank impedance shown in equation thirty.
Z health = 5 464 + 4.08 = 777.4 3
Equation 30

16.7KV 600KVAR 9 Elements/Can

83.13KV/115V

Protective Relay
87

Impedances for three and five failed elements are shown in equations thirty-one and thirty-two.
Z 3 Failed = 1 1 1 1 + + 5 464 5 464 4 464 + (9 3)( 464 / 9)
Equation 31

Figure 5 Case Study Three associated with failed elements can be calculated as in table two below.
Table 2-Element Voltage Case Study Three

+ 4.08 = 759.4 Using equation thirty-three, the element voltage

Z 5 Failed =

1 1 1 1 + + 5 464 5 464 4 464 + (9 5)(464 / 9)

Equation 32

+ 4.08 = 746.5

Using equation 29 and the results from equations thirty-two and thirty-one, the percent operate quantities are 1.32% and 0.771%. V. Case Study 3, Parallel Grounded Wye Bank C

In case study three, the same 16.7KV, 600KVAR capacitor unit is used that was used in case studies one and two. The bank for case study three has been modified by removing the tank circuit and using two parallel series strings of capacitors for an 18,000KVAR rated bank. This arrangement necessitates the use of a phase current unbalance element as the primary means of sensitive protection used to sense failed capacitor elements. The bank arrangement can be seen in figure five. In case study three, overvoltage, overcurrent and negative sequence elements will be set in a similar manner as in case study one, except the impedance changes due to the absence of the tank circuit and third parallel string. Equations nine and ten can still be used to calculate the allowable element voltage before alarm or trip conditions occur, but, in case study three, due to the removal of the

#of Failed Elements 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Vel 1860.351 1902.632 1946.879 1993.233 2041.849 2092.895 2146.559 2203.047

Using the allowable element overvoltage values calculated in equations nine and ten and table two, the alarm point should be at two failed elements and the new trip point should be at four failed elements. Once alarm points are known, the next step is calculating phase current unbalance conditions associated with two and four failed elements. The phase current unbalance element operates from the differential signal measured by the core-balance CT at the bottom of each phase string. The core balance CT measures the vector sum of the two currents of the two parallel strings. When the two parallel stings in each bank are perfectly balanced, this current is zero, but as in case study two, the capacitors will never be perfectly balanced. This inherent

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unbalance from manufacturing tolerances requires an unbalance factor in order to maintain sensitive protection. Equation thirty-four below shows an algorithm, for the A phase element, based on an unbalance factor K.
I opA = I Diff kI a
Equation 34

Reference one[1] has derived the balance factor and operate signal as shown in equations thirty-five below. Where 1 and 2 represent quantities for series string one and two respectively.
Z Z 2a k a = 1a Z1a + Z 2a
Equation 35

protective relay can sense these values. For case study three, if a 50:5 ratio core balance CT is chosen, the secondary alarm current would be 167mA. The relay must have current conversion range of less than 167mA on the low end of its range for this CT ratio to be acceptable. The low values of currents also demonstrate the need for the balance factor K. Without the use of the balance factor in the algorithm, the natural bank unbalance would cause this method to be insensitive to failed elements. VI. Case Study 4, Two Double Grounded Wye Bank Case study fours bank is nearly identical to the bank in case study three except case study fours bank is a double grounded wye bank which doubles to size of the bank to 36,000KVAR. The bank for case study four is shown in figure six below. This bank will use neutral current unbalance protection as its means of sensitive bank protection.
52

In practice, it may be impossible or impractical to measure the actual impedance of each capacitor string. Initially, the unbalance factor should be set to zero and adjusted by using actual measured values from the inservice bank or by using auto-setting features of the protective relay. Under compensated conditions the differential current caused by the bank inherent unbalance is removed by the KIa term in the operate equation. Now, in order to determine operate current, it only becomes necessary to determine the differential current caused by the alarm number of failed elements (2) and the trip number of failed elements(4). These values may then become the operate currents for alarm and trip conditions. Equation thirty-six below shows differential current.
I diff = I a1 I a12 = Vbus Vbus Z a1 Z a 2
Equation 36

19.1KV 600KVAR 9 Elements/Can

Protective Relay

Equation three, from case study one, calculated capacitor unit impedance as 464 ohms and assuming failures in the first string, equations thirty-seven and thirtyeight give the differential operate quantities, for alarm and trip conditions, in primary values.
I diff = 83.7 kV 7 464 4 + 464 9 83.7 kV = 1.67 amps 464 5

Figure 6 -Case Study 4, Double Wye Grounded Bank Neutral current unbalance algorithms are based on the balance between interconnected neutral currents of two parallel banks. This algorithm uses measured differential current between the two neutrals from a core balance current transformer seen at the bottom of figure six. If the two banks are perfectly balanced, the differential current between the two banks would be zero, but, as mentioned previously, the inherent bank unbalance from manufacturing differences require a more complicated algorithm that takes the inherent unbalance into account. An operate algorithm for neutral current unbalance is shown in equation thirty-nine[1].
I op = I diff kI 1
Equation 39

Equation 37

I diff =

83.7kV 464 4 + 464 5 9

83.7 kV = 3.52amps 464 5

Equation 38

The relatively low values of trip and alarm current calculated in equation thirty-eight and thirty seven highlight an important consideration in designing this bank: the CT ratio chosen for the core balance CT must be capable of providing enough secondary current that the

As in previous case studies, calculation of the balance factor prior to bank energization is impractical so either auto-settings of the protective relay or measured values must be used to set the balance factor k. If measured

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values are used, calculations should be relatively simple because k should equal the measured differential current divided by the positive sequence current flowing to the two banks. Once the balance factor is calculated and applied, inherent bank unbalance from manufacture tolerances are essentially removed from the operate equation. Calculation of trip and alarm conditions can be simplified to: operate current equals measured differential current. Measured differential current is defined by equation forty below where the subscript 1 and 2 represent current into bank one and two.

will be prone to the same considerations regarding instrument transformers discussed in case study three. When comparing these two algorithms, the neutral current unbalance is typically cheaper, since it requires fewer instrument transformers. Maintenance costs are lower with the phase current unbalance since it can identify the phase with failed elements

VII. Conclusion
Calculations for protection of fuseless capacitor banks is easily accomplished with fundamental electrical equations such as Ohms law and Kirchoffs current rules. The high sensitivity necessary to detect failed capacitor elements demonstrated in the case studies shows the need for match factors or balance factors in the sensitive protection algorithms. Without these factors sensitive protection would be impossible because inherent unbalance of the bank and instrument transformer error would cause false alarms and trips. Since it is impractical to calculate inherent bank unbalance or instrument transformer error, the calculations for balance factors shown in this paper should be taken as a starting point reference for the settings, actual settings should reflect either metered values from the in service bank or, more preferably, auto-setting functions of the protective relay. Additionally, the relatively low pickup values highlight the need to properly design the banks protection system and size the instrument transformers so that the relay can sense the values. Once the bank is properly designed and match factors are used to compensate inherent unbalance, pickup value calculations for sensitive protection are relatively easy to perform. References [1.] B. Kasztenny, Joe Schaefer, Ed Clark Fundamentals of Adaptive Protection of Large Capacitor Banks, Presented to the 60th Annual Georgia Tech Protective Relay Conference, May 35, 2006. [2.] IEEE Std. C37.99-2000: Guide for the Protection of Shunt Capacitor Banks, June 2000. [3.] C70 Capacitor Bank Protection and Control System Relay Instruction Manual, GE Publication GEK113480. [4.] IEEE Std. 18-2002: IEEE Standard for Shunt Power Capacitors VIII. Biography Terrence Smith has been an Application Engineer with GE Digital Energy Multilin since 2008. Prior to joining GE, Terrence has been with the Tennessee Valley Authority as a Principal Engineer and MESA Associates as Program Manager. He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering majoring in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a professional Engineer registered in the state of Tennessee.

I diff = I a1 + I b1 + I c1 ( I a 2 + I b 2 + I c 2 )

Equation 40

If the failed elements are assumed to be in the A-phase string of bank one, the equation simplifies to equation forty-one.
I diff = I a1 I a 2 = Va V a Z a1 Z a 2
Equation 41

From case study three, the alarm and trip points to prevent damage to un-failed elements occurs at two and four failed elements. Equations forty-two through fortyfour calculate impedances for alarm and trip with two and three failed elements and healthy bank impedance and equations forty-five and forty-six calculate pickup values for alarm and trip on the neutral current unbalance element.
Z 2 Failed = 1 = 761.53 1 1 1 + + 5 464 5 464 4 464 + (9 2)(464 / 9)
Equation 42

Z 4 Failed =

1 = 748.98 1 1 1 + + 5 464 5 464 4 464 + (9 4)(464 / 9)

Equation 43

Z health =

5 464 = 773.33 Equation 44 3

I opAlarm =

83.716 Kv 83.716 Kv = 1.677 A 773.33 761.53

Equation 45

I opAlarm =

83.716 Kv 83.716 Kv = 3.52 A 773.33 748.98

Equation 46

The operate quantities calculated for the neutral current unbalance are identical to the operate quantities for phase current unbalance calculated in case study three. These two elements have the same sensitivity to failed elements so the neutral current unbalance element

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