APPLICATION OF RECLOSING SCHEMES IN THE PRESENCE OF

CAPACITOR BANK RINGDOWN

LABHESH M. GANATRA opening of line breakers, the capacitor may not have a
Protection Engineer path for discharge and may cause problems if breakers
PRATAP G. MYSORE are reclosed.
Consulting Engineer
KALYAN K. MUSTAPHI If three-phase or single-phase voltage transformers (VTs)
Consulting Engineer or some other means of faster bleed down are available in
ADI MULAWARMAN the disconnected part of the system, reclosing can be
Protection Engineer done faster. How quickly the reclosing can be done is
Northern States Power Company difficult to determine, since bleed down via VTs occurs
Minneapolis, Minnesota as a nonlinear “ring down.”

DR. BRUCE MORK The Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) was

Assoc. Professor used to study the discharge phenomenon of capacitor
GOVIND GOPAKUMAR banks in an ungrounded system. In this particular system,
Graduate Student all loads are supplied via delta-connected distribution
Michigan Technological University transformers. Single-phase VTs are connected to phase
Houghton, Michigan A.

INTRODUCTION The impetus behind this study was the installation of two
7.2-MVAR capacitor banks at a switching station on a
Installation of shunt capacitor banks on transmission three-terminal 69-kV line for voltage profile support.
lines for local voltage support raises concerns about Another requirement was to have the capacitor banks on
performance capabilities of existing line breakers. line during automatic reclosing for the 69-kV three-
Questions on reclosing philosophies are also raised in terminal line faults. The main objective in performing
cases where a capacitor bank with trapped charge is this simulation was to address concerns about the time
attached to the line being closed. The traditional taken for capacitor banks on the line to discharge after
approach has been either to trip capacitor banks for line deenergization. Auto-reclosing time delay could be
faults before reclosing or to provide fast discharge of decided upon only after this discharge time was
capacitor banks through three-phase voltage transformers determined. In addition, there were concerns whether
(VTs). If the disconnected system is ungrounded or the Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) ratings of the
partially grounded (via a single-phase VT) following the 1940s vintage circuit breakers were being exceeded.

Figure 1. The Traverse Case Study

 Table 1. Reclosing scheme
TRIP OPERATION
1 • Reclose all circuit breakers after 5 seconds
• All MODs open after 7 seconds of dead voltage
2 • Reclose all circuit breakers 15 seconds after
the first reclose attempt
• MODs close a few seconds after the line
section potential is restored
3 • Lock out
Note: All reclosers require synch. check:
≥ 75% voltage, ≥3 seconds, ±30° window.

SYSTEM STUDY
Figure 2. Capacitor discharging through VT
The study area includes a three-terminal 69-kV line. The
retained for operational advantages, and simulation
Traverse Switching Station (Figure 1) is the three-
results would indicate whether existing circuit breakers
terminal node. If there is a fault on the line, all three
were adequate and whether additional means of
circuit breakers will be tripped. Table 1 shows the
discharging the capacitor banks would be needed.
present practices followed for tripping and restoration.
All reclosing occurs three seconds after being enabled,
EXPECTED BEHAVIORS
providing synch check conditions are met. The reclosing
and the Automatic Sectionalizing (AS) schemes are
The system to be modeled is relatively complex, and the
coordinated to isolate the faulted line section should the
behaviors of the complete three-phase circuit are difficult
first reclose attempt fail. Reclosing after the second trip,
to visualize. Single-phase illustrative examples are
should the fault persist, is delayed long enough to allow
presented to help conceptualize the basic behavior.
motor operated switches (MODs) of the AS scheme to
Nonlinear ring down of a de-energized capacitor through
open. With the line sections now disconnected from each
a VT is considered, followed by an explanation of TRV.
other at Traverse, a second reclose is attempted after a
15 second time delay. If the fault has still not cleared, the Capacitor Bleed down
circuit breaker associated with the faulted line section is
When a line with a connected capacitor bank is
tripped and locked out. The other two line sections
deenergized normally or due to the presence of a fault, it
remain energized. The corresponding line MODs at
is isolated and becomes a floating system. This is because
Traverse will reclose after a suitable delay, if the voltages
of the lack of a solid ground connection. The only ground
are normal and in synchronism. The MOD of the faulted
connection is provided by the single phase voltage
line section will remain open and a system tie is restored
between the two unfaulted line sections.

System loads in this area are tapped at the lines via delta-
connected transformers. Therefore, when the circuit
breakers are opened to deenergize the faulted line, these
delta-connected transformers cannot provide a zero
sequence discharge path for trapped charges in the
capacitor banks. The synch-check VTs, installed only on
phase A, do provide a high-impedance discharge path to
ground via their magnetizing inductances. The delta-
connected windings of the distribution transformer
provide positive and negative sequence discharge paths.

Since EMTP modeling techniques have advanced greatly

in recent years, it was decided to investigate these
possible problems by performing a detailed time-domain Figure 3. Typical λ -I curve for a magnetic core
simulation. Existing reclosing time delays had to be
transformers. Consequently the trapped charge on the 150
_NODE5
capacitor bank bleeds down through the VT’s. This
discharge occurs not only on the phase that the VT is 100
connected to but also on the other two phases. The
discharge transient on the adjacent phases can be 50
attributed to the coupling that exists between the phases

Flux Linked
and the coupling through delta-connected windings of 0
tapped transformers on the line. Figure 2 shows a
simplified per-phase case of a 69-kV capacitor bank -50
discharging through a VT. The discharge path is an RLC
circuit, resulting in a damped LC “ringdown”. For this -100
VT, R= 3.25 kΩ and the flux linked vs. current (λ-i)
characteristic of LM is given in Figure 3. Due to the -150
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
nonlinear inductance, ringdown may be nonsinusoidal Seconds
and its frequency may be hard to predict. Conceptually,
the frequency may be approximated as (a)
1
f ≅ (1)
60000
_NODE2
2π Lsat C
40000
where Lsat is the effective inductance of the saturable
magnetic core of the VT. This effective inductance Lsat is
20000
actually the value of the incremental inductance LINC at
the peak value of flux linked λp. According to Lenz’s Volts
0
Law, the voltage drop across LM is defined as the time
derivative of λ. If a sinusoidal approximation is applied,
-20000
the peak voltage ep across LM is related to λp by
e p = 2π fλ p (2)
-40000
Two cases are presented here to illustrate the possible
ringdown transients. In each case, the circuit breaker -60000
opens at 50 ms when the capacitor bank voltage is at its 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Seconds
peak. In the first (Figure 4), C=30pF (0.05 KVAR).
(b)
Voltage ringdown is a decaying sinusoid of 140 Hz. Flux
linked drops from its 60-Hz level of 150 Wb-turns to only Figure 4. (a)Flux linked in the VT, (b) Voltage across
60 Wb-turns which is in the linear range of LM (see VT during ringdown with capacitance C=30pF.
Figure 3). In the second case (Figure 5), C=1µF (1.8
MVAR). The voltage rings down quickly and
600
nonsinusoidally. Ringdown frequency is less than 60 Hz _NODE5
500
and decreases markedly with time. Flux linked jumps
from its 60-Hz level of 150 Wb-turns to over 600 Wb- 400

turns, which is far into saturation. Excursions this far 300

into saturation are accompanied by very large current 200
surges, providing faster rate of decay.
Flux Linked

100
0
Since VTs are designed to operate below the knee of the
λ-i curve for steady state 60 Hz, it can be said that a -100

ringdown of f > 60 Hz will not cause VT saturation and -200

will be a slowly decaying sinusoid. A ringdown of f < 60 -300

Hz will be nonsinusoidal, will decay more quickly, and -400
will drive the VT into saturation. According to Eqn. 1 it -500
can be shown that the C required for 60 Hz ringdown of 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Seconds
this VT is approximately 0.15nF ( 0.3 KVAR ). A larger
capacitor bank would ringdown nonsinusoidally, while a µ F.
Figure 5. (a) Flux linked in the VT, C=1µ
smaller one will ringdown sinusoidally.
 1
60000 where, ω 0 = .
_NODE2 LC
40000
Since C is very small, ω0 is usually very large. The above
expression shows how the voltage across the circuit
20000
breaker can at instants be up to twice the rated voltage.
This was one of the concerns that was addressed in this
study.
Volts

-20000
DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIENT MODEL
-40000
In order to investigate the system behavior under
transient conditions, the Electromagnetic Transient
-60000 Program (EMTP) was used. EMTP provides the user
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Seconds with the ability to model the power system in the time
domain, taking into account nonlinear and frequency
Figure 5. (b) Voltage across VT during ringdown, dependent behaviors of various components.
C=1µ µ F.
Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) Nonlinear Component Modeling
This is the transient voltage that appears across the poles Eqn. 1 represents the expression for evaluating the
of a circuit breaker when it interrupts a circuit. Figure 6 inductance using a piecewise linear representation of the
shows a conceptual network to explain the phenomenon λ-i curve shown in Fig. 3. Both pseudo-nonlinear and
of TRV across a circuit breaker (4). The inductor and true nonlinear representations are possible (1).
capacitor represent the source impedance and the
bushing/stray capacitance of the circuit breaker. The For a nonlinear inductor, the value of LM is updated at
expression for the TRV is given by the following each time step from the piecewise linear curve. As shown
differential equation: in Figure 2, VTs are modeled using a series connection
d 2Vc Vc V of resistor R and nonlinear inductor LM to represent the
2 + = m cos(ω t ) (3) saturable magnetic iron core. The parameters for a VT
dt LC LC may vary quite a lot depending on the manufacturer.
Table 2 shows a range of parameters for three 50-kV,
Solving the above differential equation for the voltage 50 Hz VTs as taken from a well-documented case (3).
across the capacitor Vc gives:
Features of the Model
Vc = Vm (cos ω t − cos ω 0 t ) (4) The model aims at simulating the system shown in
Figure 1. Two transmission lines to the Arlington station

Table 2. Linear parameters to model VT’s

RP XP XT NP:NT BMAX

VT#1 3250Ω 2500Ω 0.01Ω 20000:23 1.05T

VT#2 3218Ω 3094Ω 0.01Ω 36320:42 0.77T

VT#3 7588Ω 4833Ω 0.01Ω 25000:29 0.833T

Figure 6. Circuit to explain Transient Recovery

Voltage
are simulated using distributed parameter models 100000

evaluated at 60 Hz. The line section between the

Arlington and Penelope stations was modeled using eight 50000
pi sections, with delta-connected transformers connected
to the nodes between each section. This was done so that 0
the 45-MVA load at 0.9 pf could be distributed over the

Volts
entire section. The loads on the secondary of each
-50000
transformer were modeled as series-connected lumped
ARLSA ARLA
resistors and inductors. The bounds of the system model ARLSB ARLB
ARLSC ARLC
was set at the stations at Carver Co., Wilmarth, and -100000

Winthrop. The external systems connected to these buses

were modeled as lumped Thevenin equivalent source and -150000
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
impedance. The Thevenin impedance was modeled as a Seconds
three-phase coupled R-L network.
Figure 7. TRV across the Arlington breaker for a
The 14.4-MVAR capacitor banks at Traverse and the single phase fault on Phase A
5.4-MVAR capacitor banks at Le Sueur and at Penelope
were modeled as lumped capacitors with lumped series three phase fault. The peak TRV observed was 104.3 kV,
resistors. These resistors act as damping resistors. EMTP 108.1 kV and 99.2 kV for the single line fault on A, B, &
is prone to numerical oscillations due to the method of C phases respectively. For a three phase fault the peak
numerical integration employed. These effects are best TRV was seen to be 115.3 kV. All simulated TRV levels
mitigated by connecting time-step-dependent damping were within breaker limits.
resistors in series with capacitors or parallel with
inductors (1). Capacitor Bleed-down Transient

RESULTS Figs. 11 and 12 show the discharge oscillation for the

Traverse capacitor bank after deenergizing the line at the
Simulations were conducted to observe the transients Arlington and Wilmarth ends respectively. The capacitor
mentioned in the previous section. Various cases were banks were discharged completely in 0.3 sec, with
studied to observe the worst possible transients. The cases discharge to half voltage occurring in 10 ms. The time
discussed here include a) Restrike at the Arlington circuit taken for the discharge was seen to be sufficiently small
breaker for a single phase fault on each of the three so as to allow the normal 5-second auto-reclosing time
phases, b) Restrike at the Arlington breaker after a three interval on this line after a fault. Figs. 10 & 11 also
phase fault close to the breaker, c) Deenergization of line clearly show the frequency variation in the discharge due
for unfaulted condition by opening the Arlington breaker, to the saturable magnetic core of the voltage transformer.
d) Deenergization of line for an unfaulted condition by
80000
opening the Wilmarth breaker.
60000

Transient Recovery Voltage Transient 40000

20000
The transient voltage across the capacitor was examined
0
for a single phase to ground fault on each of the three
Volts

-20000
phases. The circuit breaker was rated for voltages up to
2.0 p.u. or 112.7-kV peak. Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10 show -40000

the TRV across the breaker for a single phase fault on A, -60000
ARLSA ARLA
B, C phases with restrike and for a three phase fault with -80000 ARLSB ARLB
ARLSC ARLC
restrike on all three phases. The restrike was simulated at -100000
the peak voltage of the faulted phase for the single phase -120000
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
fault and at the peak voltage in all three phases for a Seconds

Figure 8. TRV across Arlington breaker for a single

phase fault on Phase B.
 80000 60000
TRVCA
60000 TRVCB
TRVCC
40000
40000

20000
20000
0
Volts

Volts !
-20000 0
-40000

-60000
-20000
ARLSA ARLA
-80000 ARLSB ARLB
ARLSC ARLC -40000
-100000
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Seconds
-60000
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Seconds
Figure 9. TRV across Arlington breaker for a single
phase fault on Phase C. Figure 11. Discharge oscillation in capacitor bank at
This figure also illustrates that the trapped charge in all Traverse with the line deenergized at Arlington.
three phases of the capacitor is discharged although the
voltage transformer is connected to only one of the
phases. REFERENCES

CONCLUSIONS 1. Dommel, H. W., EMTP Theory book , Microtran

Power System Analysis Corporation, Vancouver,
Transients in power systems have the ability to damage 1992.
power equipment and reduce power reliability. EMTP 2. Meliopoulos, A. P. S., Power System Grounding and
modeling ensures that system transients can be predicted Transients - An Introduction, Marcel Dekker, Inc.,
so that designs and materials may be modified New York, 1988.
accordingly. Simulations showed that circuit breakers 3. Iravani, M. R., et. al. “Modeling and Analysis
were within their TRV limits and that no additional Guidelines for Slow Transients - PartIII, Study of
measures to speed up capacitor bank discharge had to be Ferroresonance,” Slow Transients Task Force, PE-
implemented. However, care should be taken to ensure 438-PWRD-0-07-1998.
that the voltage transformer should be able to withstand 4. Greenwood, A., Electrical Transients in Power
the temperature rise due to the discharge of the energy of Systems, 2nd Ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc., New
the capacitor bank into it. This was not taken into York, 1991.
account in the study.
60000
TRVCA
150000 TRVCB
ARLSA ARLA TRVCC
ARLSB ARLB 40000
ARLSC ARLC
100000

20000
50000
Volts !

0
Volts

-50000 -20000

-100000 -40000

-150000
-60000
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Seconds 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Seconds

Figure 10. TRV across the Arlington breaker for a Figure 12. Discharge oscillation in capacitor bank at
three phase fault. Traverse with the line deenergized at Wilmarth.