Introduction

 Generator is the electrical end of a turbo-generator set.

Without Generator, turbine/boiler/any Power Plant Equipment
is meaningless. Generator is the most precious/valuable
equipment in PP which actually converts the mechanical
energy of turbine into electricity. So, Generator should be
protected from faults occurring within generator and also from
external faults/abnormal operating condition in the GRID
which affected the generator.
 Various relays/devices are used to detect the abnormalities in
operations and whenever fault conditions appear, they can give
warning alarms to the operators or trip the unit automatically.
 Generally automatic tripping are provided if the time for
operator to take corrective action is less or the fault is likely to
cause serious damage to the unit.
 FAULT IN THE GENERATOR
 Stator
 Phase to Phase fault.
 Inter – turn fault
 Earth fault (80% & 100%)
 Rotor
 Rotor E/F – Two stage relay: a) Alarm b) Trip
 Over voltage in the rotor.
 ABNORMAL OPERATING
CONDITIONS:
Which affects the generator
 Negative Phase sequence

 Loss of Excitation

 Over fluxing protection

 Reverse power

 Over-speeding

 Pole slipping/ Out of Step

 PROTECTION CATEGORY


 Complete Generator protection is divided into two category i.e.

 Class – A Protection
Class – B Protection
 CLASS – A: Protection where electrical isolation is an emergency.(
Insulation failure, ,S.C. etc.). Trip the GCB/Turbine/Boiler without
 time delay or Generator automatic trips.
 .Class – A follows;
 Gen. Differential Prot.
 Gen. 100% E/F
 Gen. SB E/F
 Gen. NVD
 Gen. O/C
 Rotor 2nd stage E/F
Gen. . Temp. high
 CLASS - B

 CLASS – B: Protection where external

abnormalities come into picture, such as temp.
rise. Generator trips through LFP relay.
 Class – B follows;
 Reverse power
 Voltage restrained O/C
 Thermal O/C
 Negative Phase sequence
 U/V and O/V 2nd stage
 Over fluxing/ Field failure
 Gen. over/under frequency.
 EARTH FAULT:
 When fault current flows through earth return path,
the fault is called Earth Fault.
 Possible causes are ;(a) Insulation failure, (b) due to
over heating (Failure of water/air circulation through
stator conductor).
 Earth fault may occur between any phase conductor
and core.
 It is usually practice to limit the earth fault current to
avoid extensive damage to the stator core.
 STAND BY EARTH FAULT:
 This protection is practically protects 95% of
generator winding. Therefore a current setting of
5% of in to be set.
 E/F current is generally limited to about 15/20Amps.
 Earth fault current of even 100A for few seconds can
cause external damage. So the earth fault is restricted
to 100Amps. By providing NGR of 63.5 ohms at
11KV Voltage Level.
 This is a Back-Up protection.
 100% STATOR EARTH FAULT:
 In this protection, where neutral voltage measurement is made
at generator terminals, (By Broken Delta), the third harmonic
voltage element is used.
 First earth fault very near to neutral produces negligible
current as driving voltage is nearly zero. But if a 2nd earth
fault occurs at machine terminal, line to ground fault is not
limited by NGR. The resulting fault current can be high.
Hence, the 1st E/F very near to neutral has to be detected early
and isolated.
 All generators produce continuous current of 3rd harmonic
voltage. Under normal condition, 3rd harmonic voltage is
present. If there is a fault near neutral, the amount of 3rd
harmonic voltage comes down and this is used for detection.
STATOR EARTH FAULT PROTECTION
Generator

Red

Yellow

Blue

CT Relay

Neutral Earth
Resistance
 ROTOR EARTH FAULT:
 Since rotor circuits operate ungrounded, a single earth fault is
caused by insulation failure due to moisture, ageing of
insulation or vibration of rotor etc. But existence of single
ground fault increases the chance of a second ground fault.
The occurrence of second earth fault can cause fault current
flows. This results unsymmetrical flux distribution. The air
gap flux is badly distorted. The rotor is displaced enough to
rub stator leading to severe vibrations and can damage the
bearing.
 Although a machine can continuously run on a single earth
fault but second rotor earth fault, if allowed to occur,
should be detected immediately and generator should be
tripped.
 DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
 Differential protection is very reliable method for stator
winding phase to phase fault. In this, currents on both
sides of the generator are compared.
 Under normal condition or for a fault outside of the
protected zone, current i1s is equal to current i2s.
Therefore, the currents in the CTs secondaries are also
equal, i1s=i2s and no current flows through the current
relays.
 If a fault develops inside of the protected zone, current i1s
and i2s are no longer equal, therefore i1s and i2s are not
equal and therefore a current flowing in the current relay.
 Negative Phase Sequence Protection:

 When the generator is connected to a balanced load, the phase currents are
equal in magnitude and displaced electrically by 120°. The ATs wave
produced by the stator currents rotate synchronously with the rotor and no
eddy currents are induced in the rotor parts.
 If there is an unbalanced loading of the generator, and then the stator
currents have a –ve sequence component. The stator field due to these –ve
sequence currents rotates at synchronous speed but in a direction opposite
to the direction of the field structure on the rotor. Thus, the –ve sequence
stator armature mmf rotates at a speed –Ns, while the rotor field speed is
+Ns. There is a relative velocity of 2Ns between the two.
 These causes double frequency currents, of large amplitude to be induced
in the rotor conductors and iron part. So both the eddy currents as well as
the hystersis losses increase due to these double frequencies induced
currents in the rotor.
 Unbalanced loading affects ;(a) Rotor heating (b) Severe vibration &
heating of stator.
 FIELD FAILURE PROTECTION:
 Acts as an Induction Generator.
 Possible Causes;
 AVR Fault
 Tripping of Field C.B.
 Open circuit or Short circuit occurring in the D.C. circuit.
 PMG failure
 In normal condition, generator when running shares the reactive demand of the
system. If excitation fails, synchronous generator runs at a super-synchronous
speed, draws reactive power from the power system instead of supplying the Qe.
In case, the other generators can’t meet the requirement of reactive power, this
shall result in large voltage drop which may ultimately result in instability.
 In this case, slip becomes –Ve result in slip frequency currents. Rotor gets
heated up due to induced currents in the rotor winding, core or damage the
winding if this condition is sustained. Stator heats up due to high stator currents
due to increase in reactive current from the system.
 By monitor (i) Field current, If
 (ii) Phase current & voltage.
 REVERSE POWER
PROTECTION:
 This protection is provided to protect against motoring.
 A generator is expected to supply active power to the connected system in
normal operation. If the generator primover fails, a generator that is connected
in parallel with another source of electrical supply will to begin to motor. This
reversal of power flow due to loss of prime mover can be detected by reverse
power element.
 Possible Causes:
 When immediately after Synchronising control valves are not operated which
may happen due to some fault in the system or some delay by the operating
personnel.
 In case of sudden closure of stop valves or control valves when the generator
unit is still connected to the grid.
 Reverse power operation is harmful to the turbine since without steam flow in
the turbine. If the turbine continues to rotate, it will result in heating of turbine
blades due to churning action. However, the period for the turbine to overheat
may vary from a few seconds to minutes depending upon the turbine &
operating conditions.
 OVER FLUXING PROTECTION:
 Fundamental Voltage- Flux relation:
 V = 4.44 * N * f * ø
 V/f = 4.44 * N * ø
 = K * ø = K * B/A
 V/f is a measure of flux in machine. That means, over fluxing can occur if the ratio
of voltage to frequency exceeds certain limits. High voltage or low frequency,
causing a rise in the V/f ratio, will produce high flux densities in the magnetic core
of the generator.This could cause the core of the machine to saturate & stray flux to
be induced in the unlamilated components that have not designed to carry flux. The
resulting eddy currents in the solid components e.g. core bolts & clamps and end of
core laminations can cause rapid overheating and damage.
 POSSIBLE CAUSES:
 AVR failure
 Load rejection under manual AVR control
 Excessive excitation with Generator Offline.
 Decreasing Speed with operator tries to maintain rated stator voltage.
 AUTO to Manual transfer of AVR.