Substations
• Substations are places where voltage level is controlled and electrical
energy is distributed.
• The main equipment in a typical substations are:
• Power Transformers
• Circuit Breakers
• Isolator (disconnect switch)
• Instrument Transformers
• Voltage Transformers (VTs)
• Current Transformers (CTs)
• Etc.
Substations
Circuit breakers:
• Are used to interrupt fault current to protect other equipment
• Thus, large arcing in between switching contacts, which must be
extinguished:
• Oil circuit breaker (see the figure below).
• Vacuum circuit breaker.
• Air blast breaker.
• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) circuit breaker.
The contacts of circuit breakers are
located inside Arc Chamber,
hence cannot be seen directly!
Substations
Isolators/Disconnect Switches,
physically separate part of the
network from the rest of it.
Unlike Circuit Breakers, isolators:
• are used to open a circuit under no load,
hence no live circuit should be closed or
open by isolator operation.
• Do not have Arc Chamber, hence their
contacts can be seen.
• Are manual and slow
Isolators are generally used on both ends of the breaker in order that repair
or replacement of circuit breaker can be done without a danger
Substations Layout
Substations
Layout
Main criteria of choosing a layout for
a substation are:
• Simplicity, without losing flexibility i.e.
• Ease of maintenance.
• Minimum outage during fault or maintenance.
• Room for future extension.
• And of course, money!
Substations Layout
The most common layouts are:
1) Single Busbar
Advantages:
Simple in design and operation
Very cheap
Disadvantages:
Not effective in operation and protection since
a short circuit on the busbar disconnects all feeders!
To mitigate this problem, bus sectionalizer can be used:
Substations
Layout
(a) Sectionalized by Isolator, after a (b) Sectionalized by Circuit Breaker,
fault on the bus, all feeders will be After a fault on one section, the rest
disconnected. But, during the remain energized. More expensive
replacement of the faulted section of compared with (a).
the bus, rest of the system operates.
If there are more than one incoming, interruption of system can be reduced to a good
extent. However, still for maintenance on each feeder that feeder will be disconnected.
Substations Layout
2) Main & Transfer Bus System:
Coupler can be used to substitute the
main bus by transfer bus as follow:
i) isolators at both side of the coupler breaker is closed.
ii) the bypass isolator(s) (Q12) of the feeder(s) that is to be transferred to the
transfer bus is closed.
iii) The coupler breaker is closed to energize the transfer bus
If the main breaker (Q0) is to be fixed/replaced, the steps will be followed
after energizing the transfer bus:
iv) Open Q0
v) Open the two isolators on both sides of Q0
Now it is safe to fix/replace Q0 without disrupting the feeder
Substations Layout
3) Double Bus System
Two operational options:
i) Either of busbars operates as main and
the other as a reserve bus.
ii) Both busbars are energized at the same time i.e.
bus coupler and both isolators Q11 and Q12 are closed ( similar to single
bus, which is sectionalized by Circuit Breaker).
In a main & transfer layout, the transfer bus can only be used
temporarily as there is no CB in its feeder. However, in double bus
system both busbars can be used permanently at the same time. It comes
at the price of not being able to replacing/fixing Q0 (main CB) without
losing the feeder, unlike main & transfer layout
Substations Layout
4) Double Bus System
with Bypass Isolators
Bypass isolators (Q01) are used to bypass the main breakers (Q0). Hence, the
advantages of Double Bus and Main and Transfer Bus systems exist here:
• Both busbars can be permanently energized at the same time (Double Bus)
• Either bus can operate as reserve bus for the other (Double Bus)
• Q01 can be used to bypass Q0 for maintenance without disrupting the
feeder (Main and Transfer Bus)
Substations Layout
5) One and A Half Breaker Bus System
There are 3 breakers (closed normally) for each 2
feeders!
• Both busbars are energized at normal operation.
• Fault on a bus, causes no interruption on any
feeder.
• It can (temporarily) operate without any bus.
• Breakers must be rated to supply both
feeders! i.e. expensive.
• Protection of tie-breaker is complicated since it must cover both feeders.
In previous structures, a fault on the (main) bus disconnects all feeders. Not
appropriate for important and/or large loads!
Substations Layout
6) Double Breaker Bus System
There are 2 breakers for each feeder!
Both busbars are energized and all feeders
are fed by both busbars.
• Thus, no interruption in case of fault on a
bus
• No tie-breaker, hence, protection is easier compared with one and a half
breaker scheme.
• Rating of each breaker is equal to its associated feeder.
• Cannot operate without busbars (fault on both bus at the same time)!
• More expensive.
• Not very popular on its own – used normally in combined systems.
Substations Layout
7) Ring Bus System
• There is one breaker for each feeder
• Cheaper compared to 2 and 1.5 breaker systems
• There are two paths for each feeder, hence, no
interruption for a feeder if one breaker is out.
• Almost impossible to extend in future and hence it is unsuitable for
developing system.
• Breakers’ rating must be able to handle (almost) all the feeders’
current
• Since protection design is complex, normally used for 4-feeders
systems
Substations Layout
8) Many combined schemes such as 3-bus system, and 2-
bus and a transfer bus system, etc. are also possible!
