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Fast Ferroresonance Suppression of Coupling Capacitor Voltage Transformers

Milan Graovac, Reza Iravani, Senior Member, IEEE, Xiaolin Wang, and Ross D. McTaggart, Member, IEEE
AbstractThis paper describes a procedure for fast suppression of the phenomenon of ferroresosnance in coupling capacitor voltage transformers (CCVT) without major change in the CCVT design. It will be shown that it is possible to adjust parameters of the secondary overvoltage protection and the filter circuit so that the ferroresonance can be cleared in a very short time interval. The study cases reported in this paper show that ferroresonance is effectively cleared within two cycles. An implementation of metal oxide varistors (MOV) as part of passive ferroresonance protection is also addressed. The Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) is used for modeling transients and fine-tuning the ferroresonance suppressing circuit. The studies are conducted on the Trench TEHMP161A CCVT. Index TermsCCVT, CVT, electromagnetic transients, EMTP, ferroresonance.

I. INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1. CCVT circuit diagram for EMTP simulation.

CVT is a widely used apparatus for voltage measurement at transmission and subtransmission voltage levels. The output voltage of a CCVT is used for monitoring, protection relays and control applications. Proper design and tuning of CCVT components guarantee that its output is the required replica of the input (system voltage) under steady-state conditions. However, due to the CCVT energy storage elements and magnetic saturation nonlinearity, its output waveform deviates from the input waveform during transients [1], [2]. The phenomenon of ferroresonance is of particular concern during CCVT transients, and can cause noticeable deviation of CCVT response from the actual input waveform. CCVTs are equipped with overvoltage protection schemes and suppression circuitries to mitigate the phenomenon of ferroresonance. The required time to fully mitigate ferroresonance can be up to several cycles (of 60 Hz). The phenomenon of ferroresonance highly distorts the CCVT response during the first three to five cycles, and results in relatively mild distortion during the next four to six cycles. This characteristic behavior of CCVT is well understood and imposes no major difficulty in conventional applications. Rapid proliferation of 1) digital protection relays and 2) power electronic apparatus which require accurate voltage monitoring for their controls, indicates ever increasing fidelity
Manuscript received September 10, 2001; revised February 27, 2002. M. Graovac, R. Iravani, and X. Wang are with the Center for Applied Power Electronics (CAPE), Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G4, Canada (e-mail: graovac@ele.utoronto.ca; wang@ele.utoronto.ca; iravani@ecf.utoronto.ca). R. D. McTaggart is with the Instrument Transformer Division, Trench Group, Scarborough, ON M1P 3B5, Canada (e-mail: RossDM@ca.trenchgroup.com). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2002.803837

of CCVT response during transient regimes. This paper demonstrates that by means of fine-tuning of overvoltage protection and suppression circuits, the phenomenon of ferroresonance can be effectively mitigated within two cycles for the study system. The objective is to achieve this improvement without major change in the design and circuit topology of the CCVT. II. STUDY SYSTEM Fig. 1 shows schematic diagram of the Trench TEHMP161A CCVT used for the studies. The CCVT parameters are given in the Appendix. The CCVT is composed of 1) capacitive voltage divider ( and ), 2) Step-down transformer (SDT), 3) compensating reand its series reactor (CR), 4) overvoltage protection device , and 5) ferroresonance suppressing circuit consisting sistor of saturable reactor ( and ) in parallel with permanent load . In some designs, the burden side can also be equipped with and its loading resistor overvoltage protection device as part of the ferroresonance suppressing circuit. However, this in is not a necessary part for TEHMP161A CCVT. Switch is only introduced in the simulated circuit to imseries with pose transients, otherwise it is not part of the CCVT system. is the lumped resistance of the CCVT high voltage capacitive branch. Under normal conditions, the suppression circuit provides a . A salient feature of a CCVT equipped constant burden of with this kind of ferroresonance suppression circuitry is its flat frequency response up to several hundred Hz. To the contrary, a CCVT with tuned RLC filter based ferroresonance protection circuit does not exhibit flat frequency response [3], [4].

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Fig. 2.

Magnetization curve of L .

Studies also show that ferroresonance suppression RL circuit with saturable reactor has little effect on the CCVT transients. The current through the reactor is negligible unless the ferroresonance is present so the only ferroresonance suppression circuit component affecting the transient response is loading resistor [1]. Therefore, the CCVT transient response to a primary voltage collapse is less distorted when ferroresonance suppression RL circuit, with saturable reactor, is used. This results in significantly smaller distance relay overreach [2]. has a knee point at about 150% of the rated voltage, Fig. 2, and unless saturated has no effect on the CCVT response. Ferroresonance is accompanied with secondary side overvoltage and triggers conduction of (if it exists in which saturates the system). Consequently, the accumulated energy dissipates and . in ( ) represents either a spark-gap It should be noted that with pre-specified break-down voltage or a semiconductor switch (e.g., triac) which is triggered at a pre-specified voltage level. TEHMP161A CCVT utilizes a spark-gap. III. STUDY RESULTS The CCVT ferroresonance response is investigated under the is open and burden is a following conditions. Initially switch and lagseries RL branch which consumes 1 VA at 115 is closed ( m ) ging power factor of 0.85. Switch satuand after approximately seven cycles opened. Opening rates SDT and results in ferroresonance. DCG EMTP [5] is used for modeling the CCVT ferroresonance test. A. Case 1 This case investigates the effect of suppressing filter on the and are not CCVT ferroresonance phenomenon when included in the CCVT circuit. The ferroresonance suppressing in parallel with the satcircuit consists of resistor urable reactor. Filter reactor has the magnetization curve shown . is set in Fig. 2 and the internal resistance of to fire at 250 V. Fig. 3 shows the CCVT ferroresonance behavior. The first during the test. The second diadiagram shows voltage gram shows RMS values of the same voltage calculated from zero crossing to zero crossing. The third diagram is the enlarged version of the second one (around the rated RMS value). It is assumed that the ferroresonance is cleared if the RMS voltage value deviates less than 5% from the rated value of 115 V. It should be noted that half-cycle RMS results in higher deviation as compared with full-cycle RMS.

Fig. 3. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test when included in the system.

and

are not

Fig. 4. Measured CCVT secondary voltage during the ferroresonance test when and are not included in the system. Time scale is 100 ms/div.

Fig. 3 indicates that ferroresonance is cleared after nearly ten cycles. Overvoltage during the first cycle is very high. The lags voltage by almost reason is that current through 90 . Therefore, reactor saturates only after the voltage has already reached the peak value. The CCVT ferroresonance response of Fig. 3 closely agrees with the laboratory test result shown on Fig. 4 and satisfies ANSI C93.1 standard [6]. Figs. 3 and 4 clearly illustrate that CCVT output voltage is highly distorted during the first 4 cycles, and mildly distorted during the next several cycles. B. Case 2 This case investigates the phenomenon of ferroresonance and are also included in the CCVT when gap is set to 250 V. Fig. 5 shows model. Breakdown voltage of that ferroresonance is cleared in 13 cycles. Comparison of Figs. 3 and 5 indicates that presence of and has a detrimental effect on the CCVT response. The reason can be explained using Fig. 6.

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Fig. 7. CCVT response to ferroresonance test for R

= 6
.

Fig. 5. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test when included in the system.

and

are

Fig. 8. CCVT response to ferroresonance test for R

= 11 35
.
:

Fig. 6. Current components through ferroresonance.

and saturable reactor during

Fig. 6 shows distribution of current between the saturable rebranch during ferroresonance. Secondary actor branch and experiences a steep rise when the short-circuit curvoltage rent is interrupted by switch . Saturable reactor saturates before voltage reaches to the voltage breakdown level of . Thus reactor stores some energy during the first half-cycle of transient and returns a portion of this energy to the CCVT system is not included in during the next half-cycle. If branch the system, this energy will result in the peak voltage of about 500 V in the second half-cycle as shown in Fig. 3. Presence branch limits this peak voltage to about 400 V as of once again saturates during the shown in Fig. 6. Reactor second half-cycle and also returns some of its stored energy to the system in the third half-cycle. This in turn results in over-

voltage in the third half-cycle, but with a noticeably smaller peak value as compared with the previous half-cycle. After the second half-cycle, the SDT core is not saturated, but the transient will be experienced during the next few cycles. Duration of this transient behavior primary depends on the overvoltage during the second half-cycle. Fig. 6 also indicates that the ferroresonance can be more effectively mitigated if we have the following. and the current through is Phase shift between reduced. is increased to improve distribu Dissipated energy in and . tion of dissipated energy between . Fig. 7 shows the Both issues are addressed by increasing on the CCVT response to the effect of different values of . It should be noted that ferroresonance test when beyond a certain value reduces the effectiveness increasing since it can limit to a value below the breakdown of . voltage of Fig. 8 shows that the CCVT response can be further improved . by fine-tuning Fig. 9 shows that the phenomenon of ferroresonance is effecand tively damped out in one cycle when .

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Fig. 9. CCVT response to ferroresonance test when 11:35

.

= 6
and

Fig. 10. CCVT response to premature conduction of G .

Overvoltage protection device can be realized either by a must conduct only during spark-gap or a triac. In any case ferroresonance conditions and not as a result of system overvoltages which are reflected to the CCVT burden side. In this respect, triac is more advantageous as its firing instant and firing voltage can be more accurately controlled. Furthermore, triac has capability for large transient overcurrents without reaching to its thermal limit. Fig. 10 shows the CCVT response to the hypothetical scemalfunctions and pre-maturely conducts. Prenario in which initiates a transient process which remature conduction of sults in brief saturation of SDT after a few cycles. The transient . Fig. 10 indiis promptly cleared by the saturable reactor cates that saturable reactor also provides an inherent self-protection against internal failures. Tuned RLC ferroresonance suppression circuits do not have such a capability. C. Case 3 (either An alternative to overvoltage protection device is a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV). spark-gap or triac) and Advantages of MOV are 1) stable characteristic, 2) simple design and robust structure, and 3) high performance reliability. However, the concern is the limited amount of energy that MOV can dissipate. To examine the effectiveness of the MOV in the CCVT sysand its series resistance were replaced by a 130 tems, MOV. The energy rating of MOV is 210 J within 2 ms. is changed within the acceptable range to fine-tune the CCVT system. Fig. 11 shows the CCVT response to the ferroresonance

Fig. 11. CCVT response to ferroresonance test when G and R by MOV.

are replaced

test when . Fig. 11 shows that ferroresonance is cleared in four cycles. The total dissipated energy in MOV is 93 J which is significantly less than the rated value of 210 J.

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Fig. 12. Sharing the burden between the MOV and the saturable reactor during the ferroresonance test.

cycles, the suppression circuit of Case 1 (i.e., , and ) provides the desired solution. This approach is currently adopted in the Trench TEHMP161A CCVT. If high-speed (e.g., two-cycle) ferroresonance clearing is required, the suppression circuit can be augmented with the branch composed of and ; see Fig. 1. represents either a spark-gap or a triac. Theoretically, both triac and spark-gap provide the same performance when fired at the same voltage level. However, firing of the triac can be precisely controlled and practically the required performance can be achieved with a higher degree of precision. One solution to assure that spark-gap does not fire prematurely is to utilize a gap with a higher breakdown voltage. However, increasing the breakdown voltage will reduce effectiveness of the overall ferroresonance mitigation system. Fig. 13 shows the CCVT response to the ferroresonance test when the gap breakdown voltage is increased from 250 (Fig. 9) to 350 V. Comparison of Figs. 9 and 13 indicates that increasing breakdown voltage has increased the required time for clearing ferroresonance from one to five cycles, respectively. and The studies also indicate that the combination of can be replaced by a MOV. Although MOV is not as effective as a triac/spark-gap in clearing ferroresonance, it can be used in combination with the suppression filter for ferroresonance mitigation within two cycles. An advantage of MOV over triac/spark-gap is that it has a more stable characteristic, and it is easier to install, operate, and maintain.

V. CONCLUSIONS The study results presented in this paper demonstrate that the CCVT ferroresonance protection can be improved, without a major change in the design, to mitigate the phenomenon of ferroresonance within a prespecified time period. It is shown that the well-tuned triac/spark-gap overvoltage protection can clear the ferroresonance within two cycles. For cases when pre-mature breakdown failure of the burden-side overvoltage protection device is a concern, the MOV may be used. MOV based ferroresonance mitigation may not be as effective as triac/spark-gap protection, however it noticeably improves the CCVT ferroresonance response. In all the studied cases, the , is the primary countersuppression circuit, i.e., measure to the phenomenon of ferroresonance and either triac, spark-gap or MOV augments its ferroresonance damping effect.

Fig. 13. CCVT response to the ferroresonance test for V 6

, and R = 11:35
.

= 350 V,

APPENDIX Fig. 12 shows current components of MOV and saturable reduring ferroresonance. MOV conducts when is actor larger then 280 V. Therefore, it dissipates energy only during part of the second half-cycle. Fig. 12 also illustrates that the saturable reactor remains active and provides protection during the rest of the transient period. IV. DISCUSSION For conventional applications where the CCVT ferroresonance mitigation is acceptable within several cycles, e.g., 10 Tables I-IV contain technical data for use throughout this paper.
TABLE I TRENCH TEHMP161A CCVT TECHNICAL DATA

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TABLE II CCVT CIRCUIT PARAMETERS

[2] D. Hou and J. Roberts, Capacitive voltage transformersTransient overreach concerns and solution for distance relaying, in Proc. 22nd Annu. Western Protective Relay Conf.. [3] M. Kezunovic, Lj. Kojovic, V. Skendzic, C. W. Fromen, D. R. Sevcik, and S. L. Nilsson, Digital models of coupling capacitor voltage transformers for protective relay transient studies, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 7, pp. 19271935, Oct. 1992. [4] H. J. Vermeulen, L. R. Dann, and J. van Roojen, Equivalent circuit modeling of a capacitive voltage transformer for power system harmonic frequencies, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 10, pp. 17431749, Oct. 1995. [5] DCG/EPRI, Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP), Version 3.0, in Rule Book. Palo Alto, CA: Main Program, Nov. 1996, vol. 1. [6] Power-line carrier coupling capacitors and coupling capacitor voltage transformers (CCVT)requirements, ANSI C93.1-1999, May 1999.

Milan Graovac received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, all in electrical engineering in 1980, 1987, and 1992, respectively. From 1981 to 1993, he was with Electrical Engineering Department, University of Belgrade. He is now a Senior Research Associate at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. His research interests include power system reliability, dynamics and control, FE modeling, and power electronics.

TABLE III SDT MAGNETIZATION CURVE DATA

Reza Iravani (M85SM00) received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1976 from Tehran Polytechnique University and started his career as a consulting engineer. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1981 and 1985, respectively. He is a Professor at the University of Toronto. His research interests include power electronics and power system dynamics and control.

TABLE IV MAGNETIZATION CURVE DATA

Xiaolin Wang received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Xian Jiaotong University, China, in electrical engineering in 1982 and 1988. From 1982 to 1994, he was with Electrical Engineering Department at Xian Jiaotong University. He is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada. His research interests are electromagnetic transients and control/protection in power system.

REFERENCES
[1] M. A. Hudges, Distance relay performance as affected by capacitor voltage transformers, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., vol. 121, no. 12, pp. 15571566, December 1974.

Ross D. McTaggart (M85) was born in Oshawa, ON, Canada, in 1952. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Toronto and received the B.Sc. degree in 1976. He became a Professional Engineer in 1979. He worked as an Engineer at several electrical manufacturers before joining Trench Electric in 1986 to develop an SF6 current transformer product line up to 800 kV. When this was complete, he became the Engineering Manager and is now the R&D Manager at the Instrument Transformer Division. Mr. McTaggart is an active member of the IEEE and IEC instrument transformer standards committees and working groups.