Unit-2

Distribution substation

Distribution type substations are placed where the main voltage distributions are stepped-
down to supply voltages to the consumers using a distribution network. The voltage of any
two phases will be 400 volts, and the voltage between neutral and any phase will be
230volts. Distribution substations are located near to the end-users.

Distribution Substation Layout

Classification Of Substation Based On Design

They are classified as

 01. Indoor Type Substations

 02. Outdoor Type Substations

01. Indoor Type Substation – This type of substations are installed inside the building. Indoor
type substations are usually 11 KV but sometimes it can be erected to 33 kV and 66 KV.

02. Outdoor Type Substation – The outdoor type substations are classified as pole mounted and
foundation mounted substation.

a. Pole Mounted – This type of substation is used for the distribution of power in the local areas. If
the transformer rating is 25 KVA, 125 KVA, or below 250 KVA then pole-mounted substation can
be used.

b. Foundation Mounted – If the transformer rating is above 250 KVA then the weight of the
transformer will become more at that time pole-mounted substation cannot be used.

Classification Of Substation Based On Operating Voltage

The substation classified on the bases of operating voltage is:

 a. HV Substation
 b. EHV Substation
 c. UHV Substation
a. HV Substation – This type of substation i.e., High Voltage Substation, is used if the voltage is
between 11 kV to 66 KV.

b. EHV Substation – This type of substation i.e., Extra High Voltage Substation, is used if the
voltage is between 132 KV to 400 KV.

c. UHV Substation – This type of substation i.e., Ultra High Voltage Substation, is used if the
operating voltage is above 400 KV.

Classification Of Substation On The Basis Of Importance

The substations are classified as:

a. Town Substation – These substations are used in towns that step-downs the voltage from 33
KV to 11 KV. If this substation fails then the whole city will suffer from power shortage.

b. Grid Substation – In this type of substation, a bulk amount of power is transmitted from one
place to another place.

Classification Of Substation Based On The Service Rendered

The substations are classified as:

a. Transformer Substations – These types of substations are used to transfer voltage based on
need, they transfer power from one voltage to another voltage.

b. Switching Substation – These types of substations are used only for switching purposes not
for changing characteristics. This type of substation is helpful while repairing lines or doing
maintenance of the line.

c. Converting Substation – These types of substations are used for converting the current from
ac to dc or vise-versa and for converting frequency.

Classifications Of Substation Based On Duty

 01. Generating Substation

 02. Primary Substation
 03. Distribution Substation

01. Generating Substation – This type of substation is used in generating stations to step up the
voltage of the line.

02. Primary Substation – This type of substation is used to step down the voltage coming from
transmission lines.

03. Distribution Substation – This type of substations is located in cities that are used to step-
down the voltage from 11 KV to 440 volts (between three phases) and 230 volts (between phase
and neutral).
Distribution substations are typically located in areas that provide:

1. Proximity to load centres: Near residential, commercial, or industrial areas to minimize

transmission losses and ensure reliable power supply.

2. Accessibility: Easy access for maintenance, operation, and upgrading, considering factors like
road connectivity and available space.

3. Safety: Away from hazardous areas, such as flood zones, high-voltage transmission lines, or
other potential safety risks.

4. Environmental considerations: Avoiding ecologically sensitive areas, such as wildlife habitats

or water sources.

5. Security: Locations with low risk of vandalism, theft, or terrorism.

6. Space availability: Sufficient land area to accommodate the substation, including equipment,
transformers, and switchgear.

7. Community acceptance: Locations that minimize visual impact and noise pollution, ensuring
community acceptance.

8. Geological stability: Areas with stable soil conditions to prevent subsidence or settlement issues.

Substation equipments and its functions

(1) Lightening Arrester.

 Lightening arrestors are the instrument that are used in the incoming lines so that to prevent
the high voltage entering the main station.

 This high voltage is very dangerous to the instruments used in the substation. Even the
instruments are very costly, so to prevent any damage lightening arrestors are used.

 The lightening arrestors do not let the lightening to fall on the station. If some lightening
occurs the arrestors pull the lightening and ground it to the earth.

 In any substation the main important is of protection which is firstly done by these lightening
arrestors.

 The lightening arrestors are grounded to the earth so that it can pull the lightening to the
ground.

 The lightening arrestor works with an angle of 30° to 45° making a cone.

(2) Capacitor Voltage Transformer (CVT):

 A capacitor voltage transformer (CVT) is a transformer used in power systems to step-down

extra high voltage signals and provide low voltage signals either for measurement or to
operate a protective relay.
  In its most basic form the device consists of three parts: two capacitors across which the
voltage signal is split, an inductive element used to tune the device to the supply frequency
and a transformer used to isolate and further step-down the voltage for the instrumentation or
protective relay.

 The device has at least four terminals, a high-voltage terminal for connection to the high
voltage signal, a ground terminal and at least one set of secondary terminals for connection to
the instrumentation or protective relay.

 CVTs are typically single-phase devices used for measuring voltages in excess of one
hundred kilovolts where the use of voltage transformers would be uneconomical.

3) Wave trap:

 Wave traps are used at sub-stations using Power line Carrier Communication (PLCC). PLCC
is used to transmit communication and control information at a high frequency over the
power lines.

 This reduces need for a separate infra for communication between sub-stations.

(4) Instrument Transformers:

 The line in sub-stations operate at high voltages and carry current of thousand amperes.

 The measuring instruments and protective devices are designed for low voltages (generally
110 V) and current (about 5 A). Therefore they will not work satisfactorily if mounted
directly on the power lines.

 This difficulty is overcome by installing instrument transformer on the power lines.

 The function of these instrument transformer is to transfer voltages or currents in the power
lines to values which are convenient for the operation of measuring instruments and relays.

These are two types of instrument transformer

(i) Current Transformer (CT) (ii) Potential Transformer (PT)

(i) Current Transformer (CT):

 A current transformer is essentially a step-up transformer which step down the current to a
known ratio.

 The primary of this transformer consists of one or more turns of thick wire connected in
series with power line.

 The secondary consists of large number of turns of fine wire and provides for measuring
instruments and relays a current which is a constant fraction of the current in the line.

 Suppose a current transformer rated at 100/5 A is connected in the line to measure the
current.
  If the current in the line is 100 A. Then current in the secondary will be 5 A

 Similarly, if current in the line is 50 A, then secondary of CT will have current of 2.5 A

 Thus the CT under consideration will step-down the line current by a factor 20.

(ii) Potential Transformer (PT)

 It is essentially a step-down transformer and step down the voltage to a known ratio.

 The primary of this transformer consists of large number of turns of fine wire connected
across the line.

 The secondary winding consists of a few turns and provides for measuring instruments and
relays a voltage which is known fraction of the line voltage.

 Suppose a potential transformer rated at 66 kV/110 V is connected to power line. If line

voltage is 66 kV, then voltage across secondary will be 110 V.

(5) Bus-Bars:

 The bus is a line in which the incoming line come into and get into the instruments for
further step up or step down.

 The first bus is used for putting the incoming line in a single line.

 There may be double line in the bus so that if any fault occurs in the one the other can still
have the current and the supply will not stop.

 A bus bar in electrical power distribution refers to thick strips of copper or aluminum that
conduct electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation, or other electrical
apparatus.

 The size of the bus bar is important in determining the maximum amount of current that can
be safely carried.

 Bus bars are typically either flat strips or hollow tubes as these shapes allow heat to dissipate
more efficiently due to their high surface area to cross sectional area ratio.

(6) Circuit Breaker:

 The circuit breakers are used to break the circuit if any fault occurs in any of the instrument.

 These circuit breaker breaks for a fault which can damage other instrument in the station.

 For any unwanted fault over the station we need to break the line current. This is only done
automatically by the circuit breaker.

 There are different types of circuit breakers used for any substations. They are
 a. SF6 circuit breakers b. Oil circuit breaker

c. Spring circuit breakers. d. Vacuum circuit breaker

7) Power Transformer:

 A power transformer is used in a sub-station to step-up or step-down the voltage.

 The modern practice is to use 3-phase transformers in sub-stations; although 3 single phase
bank of transformers can also be used.

 In case of a 220KV or more KV line station auto transformers are used. While in case of
lower KV line such as less than 132KV line double winding transformers are used.

(8) Isolator:

 The use of this isolator is to protect the transformer and the other instrument in the line.

 The isolator isolates the extra voltage to the ground and thus any extra voltage cannot enter
the line.

 Thus an isolator is used after the bus also for protection.

 Isolator is installed before and after the circuit breaker

(9) Protective Relaying:

 Protective relays are used to detect defective lines or apparatus and to initiate the operation of
circuit interrupting devices to isolate the defective equipment.

 Relays are also used to detect abnormal or undesirable operating conditions other than those
caused by defective equipment and either operate an alarm or initiate operation of circuit
interrupting devices.

There are different types of relays.

i. Over current relay ii. Distance relay

iii. Differential relay iv. Directional over current relay

10) D.C. Power Supply (D.C. Battery and Charger):

 All but the smallest substations include auxiliary power supplies.

 AC power is required for substation building small power, lighting, heating and ventilation,
some communications equipment, switchgear operating mechanisms, anti-condensation
heaters and motors.

 DC power is used to feed essential services such as circuit breaker trip coils and associated
relays, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and communications equipment.
Earthing :-

 The substation earthing system comprises of a grid (earth mat) formed by a horizontal
buried(0.5 m below the surface of substation floor in the entire substation area except for the
foundations.) conductors.
 Substation Earthing Methods: Substation earthing uses corrosion-resistant MS rods and flats,
buried at specific depths, to connect various parts to the earthing grid.
 Equipment Earthing: Each substation equipment, like transformers, insulators, and isolators,
has specific methods and points of connection to the earthing grid.
 Multiple Risers: (These are generally mild steel rods bent in vertical and horizontal shapes
and welded to the earthing mesh at one end and brought directly up to equipment/structure
foundation.)Ensuring at least two risers from different directions for all steel structures and
equipment enhances reliability and safety.
 Special Connections: Certain equipment, like lightning arrestors and transformers, require
additional connections for surge protection and fault detection.

The points we must earth in an electrical substation include:

1. The neutral point of different voltage levels
2. The metallic enclosure of all current carrying equipment
3. The framework of all current carrying equipment
4. All the metallic structure even not associated with current carrying equipment

Feeders
A feeder is a conductor which connects the sub-station (or localized generating station) to the area
where power is to be distributed. Generally, no tappings are taken from the feeder so that current in
it remains the same throughout. The main consideration in the design of a feeder is the current
carrying capacity.
Distributor
A distributor is a conductor from which tappings are taken for supply to the consumers.The current
through a distributor is not constant because tappings are taken at various places along its length.
While designing a distributor, voltage drop along its length is the main consideration since the
statutory limit of voltage variations is ± 6% of rated value at the consumers’ terminals.
Radial System.
In this system, separate feeders radiate from a single substation and feed the distributors at one end
only. Fig shows a single line diagram of radial system for a.c. distribution. The radial system is
employed only when power is generated at low voltage and the substation is located at the centre of
the load.

This is the simplest distribution circuit and has the lowest initial cost. However, it suffers from the
following drawbacks :
( a) The end of the distributor nearest to the feeding point will be heavily loaded.
( b) The consumers are dependent on a single feeder and single distributor. Therefore, any fault on
the feeder or distributor cuts off supply to the consumers who are on the side of the fault away from
the substation.
( c) The consumers at the distant end of the distributor would be subjected to serious voltage
fluctuations when the load on the distributor changes. Due to these limitations, this system is used
for short distances only.
Ring main system.
In this system, the primaries of distribution transformers form a loop. The loop circuit starts from
the substation bus-bars, makes a loop through the area to be served, and returns to the substation.
Fig. shows the single line diagram of ring main system for a.c. distribution where substation
supplies to the closed feeder LMNOPQRS.

The distributors are tapped from different points M, O and Q of the feeder through distribution
transformers. The ring main system has the following advantages :
( a) There are less voltage fluctuations at consumer’s terminals.
( b) The system is very reliable as each distributor is fed via two feeders. In the event of fault on any
section of the feeder, the continuity of supply is maintained. For example, suppose that fault occurs
at any point F of section SLM of the feeder. Then section SLM of the feeder can be isolated for
repairs and at the same time continuity of supply is maintained to all the consumers via the feeder
SRQPONM.
Interconnected system.
When the feeder ring is energised by two or more than two generating stations or substations, it is
called inter-connected system. Fig. shows the single line diagram of interconnected system where
the closed feeder ring ABCD is supplied by two substations S and S at points D and C respectively.

Distributors are connected to points O, P, Q and R of the feeder ring through distribution
transformers. The interconnected system has the following advantages :
( a) It increases the service reliability.
( b) Any area fed from one generating station during peak load hours can be fed from the other
generating station. This reduces reserve power capacity and increases efficiency of the system.