Answer bank of POWER SYSTEM LABORATORY

1.The neutral shift is the deviation of the potential of the load's neutral point in respect to
system neutral, which ideally, should be very close to zero volts in respect to true earth ground
potential.

2. A “floating” neutral occurs when the connection to the ground breaks or becomes loose,
which causes the neutral bar to “float.” This can happen in your panel or between the utility
and your electric panel. It can be caused by a mechanical issue or other issues like rust or
corrosion.

3. the cause for neutral inversion or neutral shift is unbalanced impedances on different
phases to ground. These unbalances can arise due to different reasons such as: Transmission
lines that are not transposed which results in unequal impedances (both inductance and
capacitanc

4. Effects of Floating Neutral:

Floating neutral is very dangerous in an AC system. Following disturbances may observe

 Unbalance voltage can develop at a neutral point and it will affect the stability of the
system and connected equipment
 Due to floating ground unbalance or faulty current may not detect by the relay and the
connected protection system will not operate.

How to Test for a Floating Neutral?

As we know the neutral is always grounded, and the voltage at the neutral point with respect to
the ground always should be zero in normal conditions. If a floating neutral condition appears,
some unbalanced voltage should be present at the neutral point with respect to the ground. By
checking voltage between neutral and ground, it can test in the system.

How to fix floating Neutral?

Floating neutral is very unsafe for the system. Floating neutral can be attended by the grounding
of the neutral wire of the system.

5. In a balanced three-phase system, the phase voltages should be equal or very close to
equal. Unbalance or imbalance is a measurement of the inequality of the phase voltages.
 Voltage imbalance is the measure of voltage differences between the phases of a three-phase
system.

A balanced signal path is a two-conductor circuit in which both conductors (and all circuits
connected to them) have the same impedance with respect to ground and to all other
conductors. In an unbalanced signal path, the conductors do NOT have the same impedance
with respect to ground.

6. Some of the possible causes of faults are,

 Overvoltage due to switching surges.

 Severe lightning strokes.
 Aging of conductor.
 Heavy wind, rains, and snowfall.
 Falling trees on the transmission line.
 Excessive internal and external stresses on the conductors.
 High changes in atmospheric temperatures.

Four major classes of faults occur in practice in a three-phase transmission network. These are
single line to ground fault or SLG fault, line to line fault or double line fault denoted as LL or DL
fault, double line to ground fault mentioned as LLG or DLG fault and triple line fault, i.e., LLL or
3L fault.06

Open Circuit Faults:

The open-circuit fault happens due to the failure of one or two conductors. These faults take
place in series with the line so referred to as a series fault. Such types of faults have a strong
impact on the reliability of the system.

Harmful Effect of Faults on Power System

The heavy current due to fault causes excessive heating which may result in fire or explosion.
Sometimes the short circuit current takes the form of an arc that may cause considerable
damage to the element of the power system.

8. Voltage Stability is a severe problem in power systems, which steadily reach operating
limits imposed by economic and environmental conditions. Whenever there is a change in
load the system voltage level changes.

A flat voltage profile means that the voltage magnitude at any point along our transmission line
is the same.
 A voltage profile has great importance to customers, as it is a primary requirement for quality
voltage-controlled electrical equipment. DGs can provide voltage support at the end of a
feeder to increase the voltage

Voltage fluctuations can be caused by lightning, strong winds, trees or animals touching
the power lines and even accidents involving these power lines

The reasons are the poor protective system, unbalanced load, aged and improper
infrastructure and short fall in power generation than demand.2

Loose or corroded connections either at the house or on the powerlines can cause
voltage fluctuations. This is often seen as flickering lights. Low voltage due to overloading on
the network, loose connections, or too small a conductor wire carrying power to your house may
cause dimming of your lights.

10. Methods of voltage control in power system

 Using excitation control or voltage regulators at generating stations.

 By using tap changing transformers.
 Using induction regulators.
 By using shunt reactors.
 By using shunt capacitors.
 Using synchronous condensers.

13. These parameters are used for the analysis of an electrical network. It is also used for
determining the performance of input, output voltage and current of the transmission network.

ABCD parameters are also known as transmission parameters because they provide a link
between supply and receiving end voltages and currents considering the circuit
elements to be linear.

14. The influence of inductance and capacitance on the receiving end voltage of AC
transmission lines at light load conditions is the root cause of the Ferranti effect. Shunt
compensation and series compensation can be employed in transmission lines to reduce
the Ferranti effect

How to reduce Ferranti effect:

 Ferranti effect can be reduced by installing shunt compensation

devices at receiving end. The compensation device is a shunt
 reactor which is connected in parallel with the transmission line.
It reduces the voltage level by absorbing the reactive power.
 Running the transmission line with higher load. I.e if you have
two line both carries 5 % load in each side means, we can
switch of the one transmission line and the remaining load can
be diverted in to another one.

17. he acceptable Earth Resistance at earth MEEB busbar shall not be more than 1 ohm. For
achieving this value more than one earth pits can be installed if necessary depending upon the
soil resistivity. In places where space is not available to provide parallel earth pits then longer
earth rods may be provided.

The resistance of the main earthing conductor, measured between the main earthing
terminal/connection or bar and the earth electrode, including the connection to the earth
electrode, shall be not more than 0.5 Ohm

The limit for the Earth Continuity Test is (0.1 + R)Ω. Where the R value is the resistance of the
protective conductor (earth wire) within the supply cable.

Permissible Values of Earth Resistance

EHT stations – 1.0 ohms. 33KV SS – 2 ohms. DTR structures – 5 ohms. Tower foot
resistance – 10 ohms.

20. The system ground is a special circuit designed to protect the entire distribution system of a
residence. Equipment ground is essentially a circuit designed to protect individual components
of an electrical system. Grounded conductors are used to providing a path to the ground for
system and equipment grounds

25. Over time this oil is exposed to mechanical and electrical stress as well as to chemical
contamination. When the functionality is reduced it can lead to power outages. To maintain and
extend the life of the power transformer and to avoid severe breakdowns, regular testing
of the transformer oil is very important.

The breakdown voltage of transformer oil is a vital monitoring technique for testing
the transformer oil’s resistance to the ultimate electrical stress. Under normal
conditions, it is mainly determined by the degree of contamination; however, when
the oil includes moisture, it has a more significant effect on the breakdown voltage
when it is higher or includes impurity particles.
26 The dielectric strength of the oil will decrease with time and based on the service conditions
where the transformer is located. The dielectric strength of transformer oil is expected to be 33
kV

27 Dielectric strength is calculated by dividing the breakdown voltage by the thickness of

the sample.

29he magnitude of earth-fault current is usually low compared to the phase-fault currents because
the fault impedance is much higher for earth-faults than for phase-faults. It also depends On the type
of neutral earthing, i.e. whether solidly earthed, insulated or earthed through some resistance or
reactance.

Overcurrent Earth Fault Protection – Earth-fault protection can be provided with normal overcurrent
relays, if the minimum earth-fault current is sufficient in magnitude. The magnitude of earth-fault
current is usually low compared to the phase-fault currents because the fault impedance is much higher
for earth-faults than for phase-faults. It also depends On the type of neutral earthing, i.e. whether
solidly earthed, insulated or earthed through some resistance or reactance. Whatever the case may be
the earth-fault current will be small compared to the phase-fault currents in magnitude.

37 A generator is subjected to electrical stresses imposed on the insulation of the machine, mechanical
forces acting on the various parts of the machine, and temperature rise. These are the main factors
which make protection necessary for the generator or alternator

39: Step by step procedure for direct inspection method

Algorithm: Step 1: Start the program Step 2: Get the number of buses in problem Step 3: Get the
impedance value between the buses Step 4: Calculate the admittance value by the reciprocal of
impedance Y = 1/Z Step 5: Calculate elements of bus admittance matrix Step 6: For diagonal element
(i==j) Y(I,j) = ∑ ? (?, ?)

They are necessary for planning, operation, economic scheduling and exchange of power between
utilities. The principal information of power flow analysis is to find the magnitude and phase angle of
voltage at each bus and the real and reactive power flowing in each transmission lines.

Step by step procedure to formulate bus admittance matrix by Singular transformation method

Formation of Ybus Using Singular Transformation:

1. Graph Theory: ...

2. i.e., number of links equals number of elements less the number of tree branches. ...
3. Primitive Network: ...
4. Network Variables in Bus Frame of Reference: ...
5. Bus Incidence Matrix: ...
6. The matrix elements are: ...
7. For the specific system shown in Fig.
The bus incidence matrix is rectangular and hence singular. Hence, (22) gives a singular transformation
of the primitive admittance matrix [y].

40. CLASSIFICATION OF BUSES

Bus

The meeting point of various components in a power system is called a bus. The
bus is a conductor made of copper or aluminum having negligible resistance .At
some of the buses power is being injected into the network, whereas at other
buses it is being tapped by the system lods.

Bus admittance matrix

The matrix consisting of the self and mutual admittance of the network of the
power system is called bus admittance matrix (Ybus).

Methods available for forming bus admittance matrix

Direct inspection method.

Singular transformation method.(Primitive network)

Different types of buses in a power system

PV Bus, PQ bus, slack bus

Need for slack bus

 The slack bus is needed to account for transmission line losses. In a power
system the total power generated will be equal to sum of power consumed by
loads and losses. In a power system only the generated power and load power
are specified for buses. The slack bus is assumed to generate the power
required for losses. Since the losses are unknown the real and reactive power
are not specified for slack bus.

Effect of acceleration factor in load flow study

Acceleration factor is used in gauss seidal method of load flow solution to

increase the rate of convergence. Best value of A.F=1.6

Generator buses are treated as load bus

If the reactive power constraint of a generator bus violates the specified limits
then the generator is treated as load bus.

28 Principle of arc extinction in Horn gap arrestor

Arc rises upward, arc length increases, arc resistance increases, arc current
decreases, arc is resistive in nature. Arc behaves Ohm’s law , arc voltage
decreases to a level insufficient to sustain the arc . As a result arc extinguishes .

21. Buchholz Relay : is a gas actuated relay to be located in a glass pipe

connecting tank of transformer & the conservator. Its functions are to protect the
transformer from incipient/ minor fault as well as major fault

23. Function of upper float is- When upper float is tilted due the low gas
pressure generated due to minor/ incipient fault, therby close its associated
mercury switch and its sound an alarm.
24.Function of lower float : When lower float is tilted due to high gas pressure
generated due to major fault , therby close the associated mercury switch and to
energise trip coil of C.B. in order to disconnect the transformer from service
Buchholz relay is always placed below the conservator tank. What will happen if Buchholz relay
is placed above the conservator tank

If high eddy currents, local overheating, or partial discharges occur within the tank, bubbles of
resultant gas rise to the top of the tank. These rise through the pipe between the tank and
the conservator. As gas bubbles migrate along the pipe, they enter the Buchholz relay and rise
into the top chambeIf high eddy currents, local overheating, or partial discharges occur within
the tank, bubbles of resultant gas rise to the top of the tank. These rise through the pipe
between the tank and the conservator. As gas bubbles migrate along the pipe, they enter the
Buchholz relay and rise into the top chambe

25 Advantages of Buchholz relay

1. This relay senses the internal developing faults in a transformer at an
early stage. Hence it protects the costly oil-immersed transformers from
damage.

2. The operation and handling of this relay are quite easy.

Limitations of Buchholz relay

1. This relay is used only in the oil-immersed transformers.

2. Using this relay in transformers for rating less than 500 KVA is
uneconomical.

3. It can only detect the fault below the oil level.

4. The response time of this relay is high.

3. It can only detect the fault below the oil level.

4. The response time of this relay is high.

30 Two different types of multipliers in IDMT Relay are

PSM - Plug setting multiplier & TSM- Time setting multiplier

PSM is in the range of 2 to 12 . Higher the value of Fault current more is PSM

TSM is in the range of 0.1 to 1

FAULT CURRENT
31 PSM = Rated rel ay current X c . t . ratio X % SETTING OF RELAY .

Corresponding operating time is obtained from a given operating

characteristics of relay for TSM=1

32 Actual operating time = Operating time obtained for TSM = 1 x Given

TSM

33. Machines to be protected by using biased differential relay are power

transformers and alternators as well as transmission lines

34. Plain differential relay is provided with only operating coil . In the absence of
restraining it can result in Pseudo tripping of relay in the absence of internal fault

And under the conditions of a) mismatch of C.T. characteristics b) C.T.

saturations under s.c. condition c) tap changing transformer

I 1−I 2
35 Biasing factor = I 1+ I 2/2