Sensitive, digital transient ground fault function

Testing and experiencing the innovative function in SIPROTEC 5

www.siemens.com/siprotec

Description 0.01
Verlauf Energie

Energie Pw

Low-impedance ground faults are generally managed 0.008 Schwelle rückw.

Schwelle vorw.

reliably with protection devices like the SIPROTEC 7SN60. 0.006

The high sampling rate of SIPROTEC 5 devices allows for

Erdschlusseintritt

0.004

the integration of new, sensitive digital procedures for the 0.002

reliable detection of high-impedance ground faults. The

Energie/norm.

parts of the signal which are caused by the discharging -0.002

and charging of the ground capacitances of the grid are of -0.004

particular interest here. -0.006

-0.008
Signal
0.15

i0(t)
u0(t) -0.01
0.06 0.065 0.07 0.075 0.08 0.085 0.09
0.1 Zeit[s]

Figures: Energy characteristic, low and high-impedance

0.05
A - kV (sek.)

0
Erdschlusseintritt

-0.05
Radial systems do not pose a problem for determining the
direction. In meshed systems, operational zero-sequence
-0.1
currents can falsify the resulting direction. These opera-
-0.15
tional zero-sequence currents are eliminated by the new
algorithm in order to determine the correct direction.
0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15

Zeit[s]

Figure: High-impedance ground fault Einspeisung Einspeisung

SS1 SS2
110 kV Y Y
The active power in the zero-sequence system is a good 20 kV Y
Δ
Y
Δ

criterion to detect the direction of the ground fault. As the

charging takes place over a longer period of time with SS1 SS2

high-impedance ground faults, this part of the active pow-

er is available during this time period and can be integrat- Kupplung,
SS normalerweise offen
ed right from the ignition of the fault. This results in the
active energy in the zero-sequence system.
Energy
0.01

Energy
Thres-back.
0.008 Thres-forw. SS SS
SS
0.006

0.004
Ignition gnd. fault

Geschlossener Ring Geschlossener Ring

0.002

Figure: Meshed systems / loops

Energy/norm.

-0.002

-0.004

-0.006

-0.008

-0.01
0.09 0.095 0.1 0.105 0.11 0.115 0.12

Time[s]
Integrated and sensitive

Tests in the customer system Results

The algorithm was developed based on simulations and The reliability of the new digital function was impressively
fault records and was tested in a pilot application in a confirmed during the system and simulation operation.
specific system section. The test system was transferred to
• “Evaluation and comparison with other installed sys-
a simulation and further examinations were carried out
tems have shown good compliance. The results have
based on it.
been very good so far.”
Examinations with simulation data Operating experiences since 7SJ85 V3.00
Fault location and fault-contact resistance on line La, for
• “...extensive 110 kV grid... with at the moment 13
example, were modified systematically in the simulation to
SIPROTEC 5 devices with transient ground fault detec-
be able to estimate the limits of the procedure. This
tion... Approx. 240 transient ground faults have oc-
showed that ground faults with fault-contact resistances
curred in the first 10 operating months and all of
of 5 kohms can be detected reliably.
them were detected 100% correctly, in forward as
Ln2
well as in reverse direction.”
Excerpt from customer feedback
Ln4
G
Benefits of the innovative transient ground fault
T4 G4
A1 La A2 function
Ln3 Ln1
Lb1 Lb2 Lb3 • Cost savings thanks to integration in SIPROTEC 5
B1 B2
T1

• Very high sensitivity - detection of high-impedance

G G1
faults with fault resistances of up to 5 kohms
LG2
LG1 • Detection of very short ground faults of few
G

G T3 G3
milliseconds
G2 T2
• Ideally suited for closed loops or meshed systems, as
Figure: System configuration for the simulation
not impacted by operational zero-sequence currents
• Easy setup of the function

For all products using

security features of
OpenSSL, the
Siemens AG following shall apply:
Energy Management Division This product includes
Freyeslebenstraße 1 software developed
91058 Erlangen, Germany by the OpenSSL
Project for use in the
Ground_fault_Profile_V2.docx OpenSSL Toolkit
(www.openssl.org),
Printed in Germany | © 05.17 Siemens AG cryptographic soft-
ware written by Eric
E-Mail: support.energy@siemens.com Young
Tel: +49 180 524 70 00 (eay@cryptsoft.com)
and software devel-
oped by Bodo
Moeller.