Current Transformer Saturation Prevention Using A Controlled Voltage Source Compensator
Current Transformer Saturation Prevention Using A Controlled Voltage Source Compensator
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
              Abstract—Current transformer (CT) saturation causes severe                                          In recent years, the new generation of digital relays is
           distortion in the measured current waveform which may lead                                          sometimes equipped with a software-based CT saturation
           to mal-operation of the protective devices. This paper proposes                                     detection/compensation unit [2]. This unit detects the inception
           a low-cost, power electronic device to prevent the CT from
           saturation. The proposed compensator is inserted in series with                                     of a CT saturation incident and tries to prevent the relay
           the relay in the CT secondary circuit and acts as a controlled volt-                                inappropriate operation by blocking its trigger command [7]
           age source (CVS). The proposed CVS generates a time varying                                         or by reproduction of the distorted samples of the CT output
           voltage to cancel the voltage developed across the CT burden;                                       current [8]. Various valuable algorithms have been presented in
           therefore, the CT magnetic flux remains almost constant and                                         the literature which focus on the detection of CT saturation [1],
           undistorted during the power system transients. It will be shown
           that this device can precisely compensate fault current, inrush                                     [9], [10], and to digitally compensate the CT distorted output
           current, and other probable transient currents despite of its                                       [4], [8], [11], [12]. These algorithms can be implemented only
           simplicity. The proposed device can be employed to compensate                                       into the modern digital relays [13]. In addition, they might not
           the already in-service CTs connected to non-digital and digital                                     be able to accurately reproduce the input current in all different
           relays. Comprehensive computer simulations are carried out                                          scenarios.
           to validate the effectiveness of the proposed compensator. The
           performance of a sample compensator of this type is validated                                          A major part of the already in-service relays are elec-
           through special high current laboratory experiments (carried out                                    tromechanical, static and initial digital type relays that do not
           over several hundred Amperes up to 1.6 kA) and the obtained                                         support digital inputs and modern communication protocols.
           results illustrate the capability of the proposed compensator to                                    For example, a power system asset analysis implemented by
           prevent CT saturation.                                                                              National Grid USA in New York State depicts that over 85%
             Index Terms—Current transformer (CT), CT compensation,                                            of the relay population in their system are non-digital relays
           CT saturation, hardware-based compensator.                                                          [14]. These types of relays cannot be equipped with the afore-
                                                                                                               mentioned software-based saturation compensation/detection
                                            I. I NTRODUCTION                                                   algorithms. In this case, hardware-based compensation of the
                                                                                                               CT is a low-cost and effective solution that can be employed.
           T     HE accurate and proper performance of protection de-
                 vices is directly related to the correct replication of power
           system high current waveform in the current transformer (CT)
                                                                                                                  A hardware-based CT compensator is an analog circuit
                                                                                                               inserted into the CT secondary circuit and prevents the CT
                                                                                                               from saturation. This type of compensators does not break
           secondary terminal [1]. Consequently, current waveform dis-
                                                                                                               the analog connection between the CT and the relay and
           tortion due to CT saturation significantly threatens the reliable
                                                                                                               can be employed to compensate a CT which is connected
           operation of the relays [2], [3]. CT saturation compensation is
                                                                                                               to either non-digital or digital relays. In [15]–[17], different
           a safe and effective way to prevent the relays mal-operation.
                                                                                                               hardware-based algorithms have been proposed to estimate
           This paper mainly focuses on the saturation compensation of
                                                                                                               and compensate the CT magnetizing current. These algorithms
           the already in-service CTs which may become undersized over
                                                                                                               are only applicable to measurement CTs. In [18], the dc
           the years due to: i) the unanticipated changes in the power
                                                                                                               offset component of a CT’s secondary transient current is
           system topology (i.e. transmission line construction) and thus,
                                                                                                               eliminated by injection of a similar compensating current into
           increase in the power system short circuit capacity [4], ii)
                                                                                                               the CT secondary winding terminals. A major drawback of
           implementation of auto-reclosing schemes in an existing power
                                                                                                               this method is the dependence of its performance on accurate
           network [5]. In these cases, replacement of the undersized CT
                                                                                                               estimation of the fault inception instant. Additionally, its
           is an expensive and undesired solution, where the number of
                                                                                                               performance will be affected by presence of noise [13]. In
           changes during a substation refurbishment needs to be kept
                                                                                                               [5], the CT has been compensated during the dead time of an
           minimum [6].
                                                                                                               auto-reclosing scheme. Through the dead time interval, the CT
              E. Hajipour and M. Vakilian are with the Center of Excellence in                                 primary winding is open-circuit and therefore, the proposed
           Power System Management and Control, Department of Electrical Engi-                                 hardware compensator of [5] could eliminate the CT residual
           neering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11365-11155, Iran (e-mail:
           e hajipour@ee.sharif.edu; vakilian@sharif.edu).                                                     flux employing a bi-directional controlled switching. However,
              M. Sanaye-Pasand is with the Electrical and Computer Engineering School,                         when the fault current is flowing in the power system, the CT
           College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 14395-515, Iran. He                            primary current is not zero and consequently, the proposed
           is also with the Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence,
           Electrical and Computer Engineering School, University of Tehran, Tehran                            compensator in [5] is not applicable. In [13] and [19], a resistor
           14395-515, Iran (e-mail: msanaye@ut.ac.ir).                                                         is dynamically inserted into the CT secondary circuit by a
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                                                                                   CVS Unit
                                                         vB                                                                                  Rt             Rt
                                                               -
                                                    +
                                                +
Magnetizing
                                                                                                          µ-Processor
                                                                                                                               λ(t)−λ(t0 ) = vB (τ )dτ +         vCV S (τ )dτ = 0 → λ(t) = λ(t0 ).
                                                                                              Analogue
                                                                                              Interface
                                                                   vCVS
                               Branch
                                                                                                                                             t0            t0
                                            vCT
                                                                                                                                                                                          (3)
                                                                     -
                                                -                                                                             where λ(t0 ) represents the CT magnetic flux at t0 .
                                                                                   i2         Process Unit                       Theoretically, (3) shows that in an ideal operation of the
                                                                                                                              proposed compensator, the CT magnetic flux remains constant
                                                                                                                              over time, independent of the magnitude and waveform of the
           Fig. 1.    Schematic diagram of the proposed compensator.                                                          CT primary current and therefore, the CT will not saturate.
                                                                                                                              This observation is valid for any current waveform such
                                                                                                                              as symmetrical sinusoidal current, fault current including a
           power electronic switch, generating a flux to oppose the time-                                                     decaying dc component, inrush current and combination of
           varying flux associated with the decaying dc component of the                                                      them.
           fault current. In this method, heat dissipation is a factor that                                                      To implement the aforementioned compensation algorithm,
           might hinder its application [1].                                                                                  firstly, the CT secondary current i2 (t) is sampled by a high
              It should also be noted that: while, all of the aforementioned                                                  precision current sensor. Then, as shown in Fig. 1, vB (t) can
           hardware-based methods only focus on the CT compensation                                                           be calculated as follows:
           under presence of a fault current, this paper opens a new                                                                                                   di2 (t)
           door to reproduce other saturated current waveforms, such as:                                                                       vB (t) = Rb i2 (t) + Lb                    (4)
                                                                                                                                                                         dt
           inrush current, harmonically polluted current [11], and evolv-                                                     where Rb and Lb are the resistance and inductance of the CT
           ing faults. This paper employs a low-voltage dc source, four                                                       secondary circuit. These parameters can be measured using
           power-electronic switches, and a low-cost microprocessor to                                                        the CVS unit as demonstrated in [20].
           prevent CT saturation. Using a simple switching strategy, the                                                         The proposed compensator estimates its required output
           proposed compensator applies a voltage (equal and opposite to                                                      voltage vCV S (t) based on the estimated vB (t) and through
           that of the CT burden) to the CT secondary circuit terminals.                                                      (2). Afterwards, the proper command is sent to the controlled
           Therefore, the voltage across the CT core is kept virtually                                                        voltage source (CVS) unit and it applies vCV S (t) to the CT
           zero and thus, the CT magnetic flux remains almost constant                                                        secondary circuit terminals.
           and undistorted. Theoretically, the proposed compensator can                                                          The following sections describe the proposed hardware of
           inhibit CT saturation independent of the CT primary current                                                        the CVS unit and its switching strategy to realize the relation
           waveform. In addition, this paper introduces a simple formu-                                                       in (2).
           lation to determine the appropriate parameters of the proposed
           compensator. The results of a wide range of simulations which
           are carried out on an accurate CT model has revealed the                                                           B. Hardware Implementation
           efficiency and reliability of the proposed method. Furthermore,                                                       Fig. 2 depicts hardware implementation of the pro-
           the performance of the proposed method is verified against a                                                       posed compensator. This hardware consists of a dc voltage
           sample protective CT, through experimental results.                                                                source, four power electronic switches (including freewheeling
                                                                                                                              diodes), an instant-on switching solid-state relay (IO-SSR),
                    II. T HE P ROPOSED C OMPENSATION A LGORITHM                                                               and a microprocessor which manages the switching sequence.
                                                                                                                              To minimize the adverse effect of the power plant noise on
           A. Theoretical Background of the Proposed Compensator
                                                                                                                              the proper performance of the proposed compensator, it is
              The schematic diagram of the proposed compensator struc-                                                        recommended to install this device adjacent to the relay in
           ture is illustrated in Fig. 1. The proposed compensator is                                                         the substation relay room.
           connected in series with the CT burden, which consists of                                                             Under normal operating condition of the power system,
           the CT internal resistance and reactance, the lead equivalent                                                      the proposed compensator is bypassed by the IO-SSR. This
           impedance, and the relay burden. Therefore, the voltage across                                                     normally closed (NC) contactor will prevent occurrence of any
           the CT magnetic core vCT can be obtained as follows:                                                               undesired open-circuit in the CT secondary circuit. After the
                                            vCT (t) = vB (t) + vCV S (t)                                                (1)   detection of a transient inception, the microprocessor issues
                                                                                                                              a control command to open the IO-SSR. Simultaneously, the
           where vB and vCV S represent the voltage developed across the
                                                                                                                              compensator which has been already bypassed by the IO-SSR,
           CT burden and the compensator output voltage, respectively.
                                                                                                                              is inserted into the CT secondary circuit. The typical response
             In this paper, the compensator output voltage vCV S is
                                                                                                                              time of an IO-SSR is less than 1 ms [21], while a CT would
           controlled such that it satisfies the following integral equation:
                                                                                                                              not become saturated at least for about 1/6 of cycle (3.3 ms
                          Zt                      Zt
                                                                                                                              for a 50 Hz power system) after the fault inception [22].
                             vCV S (τ )dτ = − vB (τ )dτ                   (2)
                                                                                                                                 In this paper, the instantaneous current algorithm [23] has
                                     t0                                   t0                                                  been employed for fast fault detection. In this method, a
              Therefore, the CT magnetic flux λ(t) can be computed using                                                      transient inception is detected when 16 consecutive samples
           (1) and (2) through the following relation:                                                                        of the CT secondary current i2 (t) exceed the CT nominal
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                                                                                                                      vB(V)
                                                                                                                                  30
                                                                                IO-SSR
                               VDC                                                                                                                     
                                                                                           vCVS
                                                                                                                                  20                   ΔTTd   d
                                                                                                                                  10                                 t2                       t4
                                                                                                                                                  t1                            t3
                                                                                                                                   0
                                                                                                                                       0               0.5                  1          1.5             2        2.5
                                Gates
                                                                                                                                   0
                                                         Control
                                                                                                                     vCVS (V)
                                                   Signal                            i2
                           μProcessor                                                                                                                                                                  2
                                                Conditioning                                                                    -V
                                                                                                                                -VDDC
                                                                                                                                            1            2                                    5
                                Signal Processing Unit                                                                                      on         on                                   on
                                                                                                                                       0               0.5                  1          1.5             2        2.5
           Fig. 2.    Hardware implementation of the proposed compensator.                                                                                                  Time (ms)
                                                                                                                                                                  Compare
           delay of 80 µs. It should be noted that during the operation of                                           vCVS                                                                    AND
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Close
           the compensator, the freewheeling diodes across the electronic                                                                                                                              IO-SSR
                                                                                                                                   meas.
           switches prevent the CT secondary current from being chopped                                                           vCVS
           abruptly [24].                                                                                                                                                                     Unhealthy Status
              In the proposed compensator, the microprocessor controls
                                                                                                               Fig. 4. The proposed logic used to detect the compensator unhealthy status.
           the CVS output voltage by turning the switches ON or OFF.
           By proper control of these switches, the microprocessor is
           able to generate arbitrary voltage pulses with desired width
                                                                                                               paper, the current sensor sampling rate is 200 kHz, while the
           and magnitude of [−VDC , 0, +VDC ].
                                                                                                               compensator output pulses are generated with delay frequency
                                                                                                               of fd = 1/∆Td = 25 kHz, as shown in Fig. 3.
           C. Switching Control Algorithm                                                                         As it can be seen in Fig. 3, there is a time delay of
              Fig. 3 depicts the basic concept of the proposed switching                                       ∆Td between vCV S (t) and vB (t). In this paper, ∆Td is set
           control algorithm. This figure demonstrates a typical voltage                                       to 40 µs. The effect of this time delay on the performance
           developed across the CT burden vB and its corresponding                                             of the proposed compensation method will be thoroughly
           compensator output voltage vCV S . As shown in Fig. 3, in                                           investigated in section III-B.
           the proposed switching strategy, time is discretized through                                           If the magnitude of VDC is not chosen properly, it is
                                                                                                                                     i                                     i
           application of a set of constant steps of ∆Td . At the beginning                                    possible to obtain δon    > 1, through (5). In this case, δon
                                                                                                                                                                          i
           of each time step ti , a control command δon        i
                                                                    is sent from                               should be set to +1, or −1; depending on the sign of δon .
           the microprocessor to the CVS. This command contains: 1)                                            A formula is introduced in section III, in order to select the
           polarity of the desired voltage sgn(δon     i
                                                         )=[−1,0,+1] and 2)                                    VDC parameter appropriately and to prevent obtaining a value
                                                                                                                    i
                                               i
           width of the required pulse |δon | in percentage of ∆Td .                                           of δon  > 1.
              In the proposed switching control, the pulse width is de-
           termined such that the integral of vCV S (t) over each step of                                      D. Self-Checking Routine
           ∆Td equals to the integral of vB (t) over the past recent time
           step. For example, in Fig. 3, the δon   5
                                                     is selected in a way that                                    Since the proposed compensator is installed in series with
           A1 equals A2 (A1 = A2 ). To achieve this, one may estimate                                          the CT secondary circuit, it should be ensured that any
            i+1
           δon   as follows:                                                                                   probable failure of its components would not affect the ap-
                                      Rti                  Rti                                                 propriate performance of the protection system. Therefore,
                   i+1
             VDC δon   ∆Td = −Rb           i2 (t)dτ − Lb       di2 (τ )                                        it is recommended to equip the device with a self-check
                                  " ti−1                 ti−1                  #                               scheme. The proposed logic to check the health status of the
                 i+1      −Rb
                                    Rti              Lb                                                        device is depicted in Fig. 4. F aultDetector unit, which was
             → δon = VDC ∆Td              i2 (t)dτ + Rb (i2 (ti ) − i2 (ti−1 ))
                                             ti−1                                                              described earlier, determines the power system condition. If
                                                                        (5)                                    power system operates under normal condition, F D would be
             The CT secondary current i2 (t) is sampled at a frequency                                         zero, otherwise F D = 1.
           of fs , 200 kHz in this paper. Therefore, the above integral                                           Under normal operation of the power system (F D = 0),
           would be substituted by a simple trapezoidal rule of integration                                    the IO-SSR switch is closed and all of the CVS switches are
           determination and summation. It should be noted that in this                                        kept in OF F state. Therefore, the output voltage across the
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                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                         meas.                     meas.                                                                 1
           CVS unit (vCV    S ) would be zero (vCV S = vref = 0). If                                                                          VXnew  5VXold
           occurrence of any failure causes IO-SSR to open, then, an
           open-circuit voltage would appear across the IO-SSR switch.
                                                                                                                     0.8
                                                                                                                                                 0.65                      VXnew  2VXold
           The compensator monitors the CVS output voltage (vCV     meas.
                                                                      S ),
                                                                                                                     0.6                                                       0.36
                                                                                                              
           and if any non-zero voltage is observed, it switches the
                                                                                                                     0.4
           CVS unit ON in order to short the CT secondary circuit.
           Simultaneously, an alarm signal (Equipment Failure EF as                                                  0.2
           stated in IEC 60044-8 [25]) will be sent to the substation
           control room.                                                                                                 0
                                                                                                                             0   0.1    0.2      0.3     0.4     0.5     0.6      0.7     0.8     0.9       1
              Under power system fault circumstance (F D = 1), the                                                                                     VXold VXnew
           IO-SSR switch is opened and the CVS unit compensates
           the voltage developed across the CT burden. If any failure                                          Fig. 5.       Appropriate value of α based on (8).
           threatens the proper operation of the CVS unit (such as burning
           of the switches), the measured output voltage of the CVS unit
              meas.
           (vCV  S ) would not be equal to the reference voltage (vref =                                       the primary system reactance and resistance up to the point of
           vCV S ) selected by the processor. The processor monitors the                                       desired power system fault.
           CVS output voltage, and if a difference is found between this                                          Assume that for an already in-service CT or for a newly
                                        meas.
           voltage and its reference (vCV  S 6= vref = vCV S ), then the                                       installed CT, it is required to increase the CT saturation voltage
           processor issues a close command to the IO-SSR and the CVS                                          from VXold to VXnew by using the proposed compensator.
           unit is bypassed. Simultaneously, an alarm signal (Equipment                                        Parameter α is defined as follows:
           Failure) will be sent to the substation control room.                                                                                  VDC
                                                                                                                                          α = √ new                           (7)
              As it can be seen, the IO-SSR and the CVS unit backup                                                                              2VX
           each other and therefore, considerably reduce the compensator                                          It is shown in the appendix that the new saturation voltage
           probability of threatening the proper operation of the protec-                                      of the CT would be equal or greater than VXnew , if α satisfies
           tion system under an unhealthy status.                                                              the following"constraint:
                                                                                                                                √                         #
                                                                                                                                   1 − α2     π       −1        V old
               III. S ELECTION OF T HE C OMPENSATOR PARAMETERS                                                             α               − − sin α ≤ X                      (8)
                                                                                                                                     α        2                VXnew
              It is trivial that if the magnitude of dc voltage source                                            Fig. 5 depicts the minimum value of α which satisfies the
           VDC is selected equal or larger than the maximum magnitude                                          equality condition of relation (8), while the ratio of VXold to
           of vB (t), then, the proposed compensator can completely                                            VXnew (the right hand side term in this relation) is varied. If
           cancel the burden voltage at each time step and therefore,                                          α is set to 1, then, the compensator completely cancels the
           CT saturation will be certainly prevented. In this case, the                                        effect of the voltage developed across the CT burden and
           CT magnetic flux remains constant over time. However, it                                            consequently, the CT magnetic flux remains constant over
           is quite reasonable and practical to design the compensator                                         time. While, If α < 1, then the magnetic flux λ(t) can vary
           in such a way that the CT magnetic flux varies between                                              over time, however it would not exceed the CT saturation
           its two saturation limits (positive and negative), and not to                                       flux and consequently, the CT will not saturate. In this case,
           exceed these limits. In response, the magnitude of dc voltage                                       the compensator supports the CT to feed its burden up to
           source VDC could be decreased to reduce the compensator                                             its nameplate rating without losing its accuracy. Refer to the
           requirement. To do so, the standard procedure of CT sizing                                          appendix for more detailed description.
           based on the CT saturation voltage VX is employed in this                                              The steps which should be followed for proper determina-
           section [26].                                                                                       tion of VDC are summarized as follows:
                                                                                                                  1) The real saturation voltage of the CT is obtained using
           A. Appropriate Magnitude of DC Voltage Source                                                             its nameplate information or through some proper tests
              For a CT, the saturation voltage VX is defined as that of                                              and is represented by VXold ;
           symmetrical voltage across the secondary winding of the CT                                             2) Based on the power system parameters, and the CT
           for which the peak induction just exceeds the saturation flux                                             burden, the required saturation voltage of the CT VXnew
           density [26]. The CT saturation voltage is a key parameter                                                (to avoid its saturation) is calculated through (6);
           for the proper CT sizing. For example, (without using any                                              3) By solving the equality condition in relation (8), the
           compensator) to avoid saturation of a CT due to a fault current                                           minimum acceptable value of α is determined.
           including a dc offset component and under a pure resistive                                             4) The appropriate value of VDC is calculated as follows:
                                                                                                                                                       √
           burden, the CT saturation voltage should be higher than the                                                               VDC ≥ α (1 + ε) 2VXnew                (9)
           right hand side term of (6), as it is determined
                                                            in [26]:                                                 where ε represents the error which is introduced into
                                                     X                                                                this computation process by inherent time delay of
                              VX > Is × Zs 1 +                         (6)
                                                     R                                                                the compensator, as will be discussed in the following
           where Is is the primary current divided by the CT turns ratio,                                             section.
           and Zs is the total secondary burden of the CT. X and R are                                             5) According to IEC 60044-8 [25], the rated auxiliary dc
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                   20
              %
                    0                                                                                                                       0
                        5        10        15        20        25       30        35        40        45
                                                        ffdd (kHz)
                                                             (kHz)                                                                   -500        (b)
                                                                                                                                       2.0
                                                                                                                                                                                                Bsat
                                                                                                                 B (T)
           Fig. 6. The compensation error ε contributed by the compensator time delay                                                       0
           (VXnew /V old = 4).
                    X
                                                                                                                                          -2.0   (c)
                                                                                                                                                  40   45   50   55   60     65        70       75        80
                                                                                                                                                                 Time (ms)
                    power supply voltage of an electronic current trans-
                    former (ECT) can be selected from the standard values                                      Fig. 7. a) The CT secondary current without (solid line) and with (dash
                    of {24 V, 48 V, 60 V, 110 V, 220 V}. Therefore, the                                        line) compensation, b) vB (dash line) and vCV S (solid line), c) the CT
                                                                                                               magnetic flux density without (solid line) and with (dash line) the proposed
                    nearest larger value of these standard levels should be                                    compensator.
                    chosen as VDC .
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                            100
                                                                                                                                  30          ideal
                                                                                                                    Current (A)
                                                                                                                                  20          Uncomp.
                                80                              67.1 A
                                                                                                                                  10          Comp.
                                                                                             }
                                                                                        440 V
                                60                48.8 A                                                                            0
            I2 (A)
                                                                                                   VDC
                                              35.2 A                                    220 V                                     -10 (a)
                                40       25.5 A                                         110 V                                           (b)
                                                                                                                               200
                                                                                                                 Voltage (V)
                                                                                        Uncomp.
                                20                                                                                                 0
                                0                                                                                        -200
                                     0         20          40             60     80        100
                                                                                                                            2 (c)
                                                                I1' (A)
                                                                                                                    B (T)
           Fig. 8.                   CT input/output ratio curves when the VDC parameter varies.                                   1
                                                                                                                                                                                     Compensated
                                                                                                                                                                                     Uncompensated
                                                                                                                                   0
                           20              ideal                                                                                   50                   100                  150                        200
            Current (A)
                            1
                                                                                                               current waveform is appeared in the first two cycles of the CT
                                                                                      Uncompensated
                                                                                                               primary current. Then, a permanent fault is happened. The du-
                                                                                      Compensated
                                                                                                               ration of this initial fault assumed to be 2 cycles, followed by
                            0
                            50                        100                      150                  200        an auto-reclosing dead time of 2 cycles. Afterward, the circuit
                                                                 Time (ms)                                     breakers are closed again and the second fault is experienced.
                                                                                                               As it can be seen in Fig. 11(b), the proposed compensator
           Fig. 9. a) The CT secondary current in the presence of a 2.5 kA fault, b)                           output voltage vCV S precisely follows the variation of vB .
           vB (t) (dash line) and vCV S (t) (solid line), c) the CT magnetic flux density.
                                                                                                               Fig. 11(c) illustrates how the compensator properly prevents
                                                                                                               the CT core from saturation, while without using the proposed
                                                                                                               compensator, the CT experiences a deep saturation. In this
           to the CT primary terminals, as shown in Fig. 9(a). Without                                         case, the CT maximum ratio error and its phase displacement
           using the compensation scheme, the CT experiences a deep                                            are less than 0.06%, and 5.2 minutes, respectively. This figure
           saturation, while the compensator prevents this phenomenon.                                         depicts that the proposed compensation methodology works
           Fig. 9(b) depicts the compensator output voltage vCV S and the                                      properly while it is independent of the current waveshape
           voltage across the CT burden vB . As it can be seen, in this                                        (inrush, fault, and combination of them). This promising
           case, the maximum of vB is less than VDC = 220 V (similar to                                        feature distinguishes the proposed compensator from others
           a case of α = 1), therefore, as shown in Fig. 9(c), the proposed                                    available in the literature [13], [15]–[19].
           compensator can properly maintain the magnetic flux density
           B virtually zero. This observation verifies the effectiveness of
           the proposed switching strategy. A typical full-cycle discrete                                                                        V. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
           Fourier filter (DFT) has been employed to extract the CT                                               In order to show the reliability and effectiveness of the pro-
           ratio error and the CT phase displacement. For the scenario                                         posed compensator, experimental test are also carried out. The
           considered here, the maximum CT ratio error and phase error                                         developed compensator consists of: i) a low-cost dsPIC33F
           are less than 0.04%, and 1.4 minutes, respectively.                                                 Microchip as the microprocessor, ii) a LA 25-NP LEM Hall
              Fig. 10(a) illustrates a similar fault with a magnitude of 3.5                                   effect current sensor with high immunity to external infer-
           kA. As it can be seen in Fig. 10(b), once α is selected less                                        ences, iii) four IRFP3710 IOR fast power MOSFET switches
           than 1 (0.36 in this study), the compensator lets the CT to                                         and, iv) a Siemens V2306 miniature power PCB relay as the
           supply its burden, without saturation, up to its nominal rating.                                    normally closed (NC) IO-SSR contactor. In addition, an AC-
           Therefore, the CT magnetic flux density deviates from zero;                                         DC converter (220 Vac to 24 Vdc) has been employed as the
           however, it is shown in the appendix that the CT magnetic                                           compensator dc voltage source.
           flux would stay certainly below the CT saturation flux λsat .                                          A 300:1 10P5-1VA protective current transformer is chosen
           Thus, the CT will not enter its saturation region. In this                                          to be compensated. The CT saturation voltage VXold is 4.82 V
           scenario, the CT maximum ratio error, and the CT maximum                                            and it is desired to increase this saturation voltage to VXnew =
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                                                                                                                                                              50:1                 I1
                                                                Ideal                                                Regulating                       R                                       Standard CT
                            20                                                                                                                             Transformer
             Current (A)
                                                                                                                    Transformer
                                                                Uncomp.                                                                                                                                             Ammeter
                            10                                  Comp.                                                                  Diode                                                                          A
                                                                                                                                                                               High Current
                                                                                                                220 V
                                                                                                                                  (transient test)
                              0                                                                                                                                                   Loop                         I2      Burden
                           -10 (a)
                                                                                                                                                                                        Clamp Test CT
                           200 (b)
            Voltage (V)
                                                                                                                                                          dsPIC33FJ256
                                                                                                                                          Analogue
                                                                                                                                          Interface
                      -200
                         2 (c)
                                                                                                                                                                         Switches Gates
                      B (T)
                              1            Comp.                                                                           USB
                                           Uncomp.
                                                                                                                                         Process Unit                                                  CVS Unit
                              0
                                  0   20    40       60   80    100      120      140      160      180
                                                          Time (ms)                                            Fig. 12.       Schematic diagram of the experimental test setup.
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
6 20 V 28 V 40 V Uncompensated
                             5                                    1179 A
                                                                                                     }
                                                                                                  40 V                        5
                                                                                                                Current (A)
                                                             1024 A                               28 V   VDC
                             4                                                                    20 V                        0
              I2 (A)
                             3
                                                                                                                              -5
                             2       240 A
                                                                                           Uncomp.                                 10      20       30          40      50         60         70          80
                             1                                                                                                                                  Time (ms)
                             0
                                 0         200   400   600   800      1000   1200   1400   1600                Fig. 15. Performance of the proposed compensator when VDC is selected
                                                             I1 (A)                                            less than its proper value.
           Fig. 13. Experimentally measured input/output ratio curves without and with                                                                             1) Regulating transformer
           the proposed compensator when the CT burden is 6 Ω.                                                                                              2) 50:1 single-phase power transformer
                                                                                                                                                                3) Under test and Standard CTs
                             4 (a)                                                                 Ideal                                                         4) The proposed compensator
              Current (A)
20
                       -20
                                 0               20           40               60            80          100
                                                                                                          0
                                                                   Time (ms)                                                       Clamp
                                                                                                                                                                               Under-Test CT
           Fig. 14. a) The measured CT secondary current without (dash line) and with
           (solid line) the proposed compensator, b) the recorded voltage across the CT
           burden vB (t) (dash line) and the compensator output voltage vCV S (t) (solid
           line).
                        old
           tion up to 4Ial  =1024 A. In Fig. 15, a 1360 A symmetrical ac
           current is applied to the CT when the compensator dc voltage                                                                                                      Standard CT
           source is set to 20, 28, and 40 V, respectively. As it can be
           seen, 20 V and 28 V dc voltage sources cannot prevent CT                                            Fig. 16.             Transient test setup and a typical recorded signal.
           saturation. However, if it is compared with the uncompensated
           CT, the depth of CT saturation is noticeably decreased. This
           figure shows how the compensator prevents CT saturation up                                          compensator prevents the CT deep saturation. However, the
           to its boundaries, even with improper sizing of VDC .                                               effect of a very slight saturation can be seen on the CT
                                                                                                               secondary current waveform which is due to overlooking the
           B. Transient Experiments                                                                            inductance of the CT burden. Fig. 17(c) depicts the voltage
              In order to verify the performance of the proposed method                                        measured across the CT burden vB and the compensator
           during a transient current injection, a diode is inserted into the                                  output voltage vCV S . Note that none of the known hardware-
           presented circuit in Fig. 12. Therefore, the CT primary current                                     based compensators can perform well in the presence of the
           would be a half-wave rectified waveform which is similar to                                         presented transient current. For example, since this current
           a typical inrush current. The regulating transformer is tuned                                       does not have negative half-cycles, dynamically insertion of a
           to obtain a primary current with maximum of 650 A. Fig.                                             resistor [13], [19] could not help to suppress the CT saturation.
           16 depicts the test setup and a typical recorded signal. As
           it can be seen, to achieve a higher current level, the high-
           current capacity primary conductor has been wound in multi-                                                                             VI. C ONCLUSIONS
           turns (four turns) around the CT under test.
              Fig. 17(a) illustrates the measured currents at the secondary                                      A hardware-based compensator using a controlled voltage
           terminals of both the standard and under-test CTs, without                                          source has been introduced to prevent CT saturation. This
           the proposed compensation. As it can be seen, the under-test                                        compensator cancels the voltage developed across the CT
           CT experiences a very deep saturation. Fig. 17(b) depicts the                                       burden and therefore, prevents the CT magnetic flux from
           results of a same test when the under-test CT is compensated                                        entering its saturation region. Some promising features of the
           with the proposed compensator. As it can be seen, the proposed                                      proposed compensation method are summarized as follows:
  0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
                                                                                                               Voltage (V)
                                                                                                                             VDC
                                                                                                                               50
                               1
                                                                                                                               00
                               0                                                                                              -50            vCT (t )  vB (t )  VDC
                                   (a)                                                                                       VDC
                                                                                                                             -100
                               2
               Current (A)
                                                                                                                                    00         5                    
                                                                                                                                                                      10             
                                                                                                                                                                                    315                    
                                                                                                                                                                                                         220
                               1
                                                                                                                                                     2
                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                               t (rad/s)
                                                                                                                                                              ωt   rad
                                                                                                                                                                       s              2
                               0
                                   (b)                                                                         Fig. A.1. The voltage across the CT terminal vCT (t) under ideal compen-
                                                                                                               sation and steady-state ac current injection.
                             10
            Voltage (V)
                               0                                                                                                                                               !
                                                                                                                                                                    V
                          -10                                                                                                                   θ = sin   −1
                                                                                                                                                                   √ DC                               (A.3)
                                   (c)                                                                                                                              2VXnew
                          -20
                                    40   60   80        100        120        140        160        180           The CT magnetic flux associated with vCT can be eval-
                                                       Time (ms)                                               uated by integration of (A.2). Here, the CT operates under
           Fig. 17. a) The CT primary (solid line) and secondary (dash line) currents                          steady-state condition and due to voltage waveform symmetry
           without the proposed compensator, b) CT primary (solid line) and secondary                          λ(2π) = λ(0). Therefore, the maximum CT magnetic flux
           (dash line) currents with compensation, c) recorded vB (dash line) and vCV S                        λmax can be written as:
           (solid line).                                                                                                                   VDC h          π      i
                                                                                                                                 λmax =            cot θ − + θ              (A.4)
                                                                                                                                           2πf            2
                The ability to compensate current signal for both non-
                          •                                                                                       It is required to limit this magnetic flux to the CT saturation
                digital and digital relays;                                                                    flux λsat that can be calculated based on the real CT saturation
              • The ability to compensate both in-service and newly                                            voltage VXold through the following relation [26]:
                installed CTs;                                                                                                                      V old
                                                                                                                                          λsat = √ X                        (A.5)
              • Eliminating the requirement for replacing the in-service                                                                             2πf
                CTs with larger ones;                                                                             Considering (A.4) with (A.5), one may conclude (A.6) in
              • Preventing false operation of the protective relays due to                                     order to avoid CT saturation:
                                                                                                                                                 π     i √
                CT saturation;
                                                                                                                                      h
                                                                                                                               VDC cot θ − + θ ≤ 2VXold                     (A.6)
              • Providing a simple theoretical control strategy with the                                                                         2
                                                                                                                                           √ new
                ability to compensate different possible current wave-                                            Defining α = VDC /( 2VX ), (A.6) can be rewritten as
                forms (fault current, inrush current, evolving fault, etc);                                    follows:       "√
              • Low-cost hardware preserving a simple hardware struc-
                                                                                                                                                          #
                                                                                                                                  1 − α2      π                  V old
                ture, while having a set of appropriate design parameters.                                                  α              − − sin−1 α ≤ X                  (A.7)
                                                                                                                                    α          2                VXnew
              The reliability and effectiveness of the proposed compen-
           sator has been verified through a wide range of simulation                                             2) Selection of ∆Td : Assume that the compensator output
           studies. The carried out experimental tests depicts the promis-                                     voltage vCSV has a time delay equal to ∆Td corresponding
           ing performance of the proposed device.                                                             to vB . In addition, vB has its maximum foreseen magnitude
                                                                                                               as presented in
                                                                                                                             √(A.1). Here, the voltage across the CT is:
                                       A PPENDIX                                                                   vCT (t) = 2VXnew √ [sin (2πf t) − sin (2πf (t + ∆Td ))]
                 D ERIVATION OF T HE F ORMULAS FOR T HE PARAMETERS                                                    → vCT (t) = 2VXnew cos (2πf t) [2 sin (πf ∆Td )]
                                                                                                                                                                        (A.8)
             1) Magnitude of VDC : Assume that it is determined to                                                Therefore, the CT magnetic   flux can be calculated as:
           increase the CT saturation voltage to VXnew . Therefore, the                                                                 √ new
                                                                                                                                         2VX sin (πf ∆Td )
           maximum anticipated steady state voltage across the CT                                                              λεmax =                                  (A.9)
                                                                                                                                                  πf
           burden would be:
                                    √                                                                             Considering λsat from (A.5), the error contributed by the
                          vB (t) = 2VXnew sin(2πf t)              (A.1)
                                                                                                               time delay ε can be calculated as follows:
              Fig. A.1 depicts this voltage across the CT burden. Assume                                                          λε        V new
                                                                                                                             ε = max = 2 Xold sin (πf ∆Td )            (A.10)
           that the compensator dc voltage source is equal VDC . Ideally,                                                          λsat      VX
           the compensator output voltage vCSV can cancel vB while it is
           less than VDC . Therefore, the voltage across the CT magnetic                                                                                 R EFERENCES
           core vCT wouldbe:
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRD.2016.2580585, IEEE
                                                                                                  Transactions on Power Delivery
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                                                                                                               department. From 2003 to 2004 and for part of 2007, he was on leave of
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                                                                                                               study at the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications of the
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                                                                                                               University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He has been the Director
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                1727–1734, Aug. 2015.                                                                                                         Tehran. His research interests include power system
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0885-8977 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.