Detailed file regarding

WAPDA/NTDC Junior
Engineer/JE Interview
Preparation

Rising Engineers and

Association (Electrical and
Electronics Engineers
Preparation) Group

Prepared by:
Group Admin
Engr.Mehran Marwat
Assistant Engineer (Operations) 220KV G/S,
NTDC Loralai, Quetta
What is anti-fog insulator?
They are most likely Called Fog Type insulators. They are same as insulators but a little higher insulation
value. Taken into account these factors Location, voltage, ph of the water, pollution levels,
temperatures ranges, Flash over voltage, seismic loads, mechanical loads, wind loads etc.

What is the relation between voltage and frequency in a grid?

V/f ratio is directly proportional to maximum flux means voltage is directly proportional to flux and
frequency is inversely proportional to flux. If frequency decreases, v/f increases. It means flux also
increases .if voltage increases, flux also increases .over fluxing will occur which can cause heating of
transformer core.

Why power transformers are designed to have maximum efficiency near full load while
distributors’ transformers near half load?
Due to the continuous changing load on a distribution transformer, they are designed for giving
maximum efficiency at 50% of loading because efficiency is maximum when cu losses= iron losses but in
distribution t/f cu losses vary according to demand.

What are basic tests of power transformer?

(1) Megger test :
Insulation Resistance Testing, Commonly known as the Megger test. It measures the quality of
insulation within the transformer. Some variations will be obtained depending on the moisture,
cleanliness and the temperature of the insulation. It is recommended that tank and core should
always be grounded when this test is performed. Each winding should be short-circuited at the
bushing terminals. Resistances are then measured between each winding and all other windings
and ground.

(2) TTR (Transformer Turns Ratio test):

The Transformer Turns Ratio test is used to make sure that the Turns Ratio between the
windings of the transformer is correct. With this information, you can decide what the output
voltage of the transformer will be. The ratio is calculated under no-load conditions.

(3) C&DF test (Capacitance and Dissipation Factor (C&DF) Test) :

Capacitance and Dissipation Factor (C&DF) Test Sets are used for evaluating the nature and
quality of electrical insulation materials and systems. By measuring dissipation factor losses in
electrical insulation, these units can indicate the presence of contaminants, fractures and
punctures.

(4) Short Circuit Test:

The test is conducted on the high-voltage (HV) side of the transformer where the low-voltage
(LV) side or the secondary is short circuited. A wattmeter is connected to the primary. An
ammeter is connected in series with the primary winding. ... The ammeter reading gives the
primary equivalent of full load current IL. The purpose of a short-circuit test is to determine the
series branch parameters of the equivalent circuit of a real transformer.
(5) Open Circuit Test:
Open circuit test or no load test on a transformer is performed to determine 'no load loss (core
loss)' and 'no load current I0'. Usually high voltage (HV) winding is kept open and the low voltage
(LV) winding is connected to its normal supply.

(6) Dissipation/power factor measurement (Tan Delta) Test:

Dissipation/power factor measurement (Tan Delta) on power transformers. The condition of the
insulation is essential for secure and reliable operation of your transformer. Measuring
capacitance and dissipation/power factor helps you to determine insulation condition in
bushings or between windings.
This test will detect the dryness of transformer insulation. It is the ratio of the power
dissipated divided by the input volt-ampere multiplied by 100. The test is made with a
capacitance bridge, and the connections are the same as for the Megger test. This test can be
repeated during the service life of the transformer and verified against the result obtained
during manufacturing to check if the insulation is malfunctioning or decaying.

(7) Winding Resistance Test:

Winding resistance is calculated by measuring the voltage and current simultaneously, with the
current as close to the rated current as possible. Performing this test will allow you calculate and
compensate for major component of load losses as a whole.

(8) SFRA Test:

Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA) is a powerful and sensitive method to evaluate the
mechanical integrity of core, windings and clamping structures within power transformers
by measuring their electrical transfer functions over a wide frequency range. SFRA is a proven
method for frequency measurements.

(9) Magnetic Balance Test:

Magnetic balance test of transformer is the core-balance test, also known as the magnetic
balance test. Magnetic Balance test is carried out by applying a low single phase voltage at 50 or
60 Hz to each H.V winding in succession and measuring all the other voltages both on high
voltage and low voltage side .

(10) Polarity Test: This test on a transformer is either additive or subtractive. When voltage
is applied between the primary bushings and the resultant voltage between the secondary
bushings is greater, then it means that the transformer has additive polarity. Polarity is a vital
concern if transformers are to be paralleled or bank connected. Three-phase transformers are
also checked for polarity by the same means.

11)Phase Relation Test: This

test will detect if transformers have been connected in a correct phase relationship. It calculates the
angular displacement and relative phase sequence of the transformer, and can be tested at the
same time as ratio and polarity tests. The voltages of the phase of primary and secondary can be
recorded and comparisons made to get the phase relation.
 (13) Transformer Oil Tests:

An oil sample will detect several things on a transformer. The following tests can be performed
with the oil sample.

 Acid number
 Dielectric breakdown
 Power factor
 Moisture content
 Interfacial tension
Oil tests are really useful to determine the condition of the insulation and the oil so based on
these results a maintenance program can be established.

What is Knee and Threshold voltage?

Knee voltage is that in which semi-conductor device start conducting while threshold voltage is
the maximum voltage a device can withstand. After that threshold value, the device goes to
breakdown state.
The forward voltage at which the current through the PN junction starts increasing rapidly is
known as knee voltage.

What Are The Conditions For The Parallel Transformers?

Both transformers should have
1. Same Voltage ratio
2. Same polarity
3. Same %age impedance each on its MVA base.
KVA rating must not exceed 1 ratio 3 (1:3).
4. Same phase sequence and phase difference
5. Same frequency 6. Same Vector group

 If We Give DC Supply To The Transformer Then What Will Happen?

For D.C, impedance Z=R, as frequency is zero, series inductive reactance XL is zero (XL=2(pai) fL),
hence current flow would be high hence damage the winding.
 What is vector group of transformer? Vector group is phase displacement between
primary and secondary of transformer .For example: Dyn11 means here capital D is the high
voltage side and small y is the low voltage side and n for neutral is ground .11 means y low
voltage side leading high voltage side by 30 degree or high voltage side lagging low voltage side
by 330 degree.

 What are tapings/Tap changer in Transformers? Why it is done on HV Side?

To adjust the output voltage and reactive power flow, taping is performed. It is done on HV
side because at HV side, current is low .so there is less sparking when tapings change and excess
sparking can damage the insulation .We can access HV winding easily because HV windings are
around LV windings and LV windings are near to the core of Transformer. That’s why less
insulation is required b/w LV windings and Core of T/F. A fine voltage regulation is possible with
high voltage winding as it carries large number of turns.
T/F Oil: Normally there are two types of transformer oils are used and these are, Naphtha Based
Transformer Insulation Oil. Paraphin Based Transformer Insulation Oil.

T/F Oil tests important: (used in NTDCL)

 DGA (dissolve gas analysis) Test:

The breakdown of electrical insulating materials and related components inside a transformer
generates gases within the transformer. The identity of the gases being generated can be very useful
information in any preventive maintenance program. There are several techniques for detecting
those gases and DGA is recognized as the most informative method. This method involves sampling
the oil and testing the sample to measure the concentration of the dissolved gases. It is
recommended that DGA of the transformer oil be performed at least on an annual basis with results
compared from year to year.

 DES (Dielectric Strength) Test/ BDV (Break-down Voltage) Test:

BDV Test is a very important testing procedure for the insulation oils in transformer. When the
testing result shows a very low value, the oil has to be replaced or purified.

For mineral oil, a generally accepted minimum dielectric strength is 30 kV for transformers with a
high-voltage rating of 230 kV and above and 27 kV for transformers with a high-voltage rating below
230 kV. New oil should have a minimum dielectric strength of 35 kV by ASTM methods of testing.

Buchholz relay:
Buchholz relay is a type of oil and gas actuated protection relay universally used on all oil immersed
transformers having rating more than 500 kVA. Buchholz relay is not provided in relays having rating
below 500 kVA from the point of view of economic considerations.

Working: Buchholz relay is used for the protection of transformers from the faults occurring inside
the transformer. Short circuit faults such as inter turn faults, incipient winding faults, and core faults
may occur due to the impulse breakdown of the insulating oil or simply the transformer oil.
It’s a gas actuated relay and it works for internal faults when temperature of T/F rise, breakdown of
oil occurs which will produce gas to operate the relay.

Construction: Buchholz relay can be used in the transformers having the conservators only. It is
placed in the pipe connecting the conservator tank and the transformer tank. It consists of an oil
filled chamber. Two hinged floats, one at the top of the chamber and the other at the bottom of the
chamber which accompanies a mercury switch each is present in the oil filled chamber. The mercury
switch on the upper float is connected to an external alarm circuit and the mercury switch on the
lower is connected to an external trip circuit.

 When does a buchholz relay operate? Buchholz relay operates during three conditions:

1. Whenever gas bubbles are formed inside the transformer due to severe fault.
2. Whenever the level of transformer oil falls.
3. Whenever transformer oil flows rapidly from the conservation tank to the main or from the main
tank to the conservation tank.
Limitations: It can sense the faults occurring below the oil level only. The relay is slow and has a
minimum operating range of 0.1second and an average operating range of 0.2 seconds.

Which Parameters of a Transformer Remains Constant? And Which Vary?

Frequency and power constant while voltage and current change. If frequency changes but voltage
remain constant then only hysteresis losses change but eddy current losses remains unchanged.

W(hys) =B^(1.6)*f

B=V/f

W(edd)=B^(2)*f^2

(In eddy current formulae, effect of frequency is cancelled when u put B=V/f)

Auto-Transformer:
Transformer in which primary and secondary windings are interrelated. Both primary and secondary
share common single winding. The main advantage of this type of transformer design is that it can
be made a lot cheaper for the same VA rating, but the biggest disadvantage of an autotransformer is
that it does not have the primary/secondary winding isolation of a conventional double wound
transformer. Uses of Auto-transformers are

1. Voltage regulator

2. Starter for induction motor

Requirements of a Good Substation Earthing

The object of an earthing system in a substation is to provide under and around the substation a
surface that shall be at a uniform potential and near zero or absolute earth potential as possible.

The primary requirements of a good earthing system in a substation are:

 It stabilizes circuit potentials with respect to ground and limits the overall potential rise.
 It protects life and property from over voltage.
 It provides low impedance path to fault currents to ensure prompt and consistent operation of
protective devices during ground faults.
 It keeps the maximum voltage gradient along the surface inside and around the substation
within safe limits during ground fault.

 Maximum Permissible Resistance of Earthing System

Large power station 0.5 ohms
Major sub-station 1.0 ohms
Small sub-station 2.0 ohms
In all other cases 8.0 ohms
The earth continuity inside an installation 1.0 ohms
 What is percentage impedance? What does it signify? What is meant by transformer having
6.5% impedance on MVA base?
Impedance voltage is the minimum voltage applied on one side of transformer to flow full load
current when the other side of transformer short circuited.
“The percentage impedance of a transformer is the voltage drop on full load due to the winding
resistance and leakage reactance expressed as a percentage of the rated voltage."
"It is also the percentage of the normal terminal voltage at one side required to circulate full-
load current under short circuit conditions on other side."
The impedance of a transformer has a major effect on system fault levels. It determines the
maximum value of current that will flow under fault conditions.
It is easy to calculate the maximum current that a transformer can deliver under symmetrical
fault conditions. By way of example, consider a 5 MVA transformer with an impedance of 5%.
The maximum fault level available on the secondary side is:
5 MVA x 100/5 = 100 MVA
And from this figure the equivalent primary and secondary fault currents can be calculated.
A transformer with a lower impedance will lead to a higher fault level and vice versa.

Transformer Types:
 On the basis of voltage level
(i) Step-up and (ii) Step-down
 Depending upon uses
(i) Power T/F (ii) Distribution T/F (iii) Instrument T/F (CT & PT)
 On the basis of design
(i) Two winding T/F and (ii) Auto (single winding transformer)
 On the basis of operation
(i) Single phase T/F and (ii) Three phase T/F
 On the basis of insulation
(i) Oil immersed T/F and (ii) Dry type T/F

What is step potential and touch potential?

When a fault occurs the current flows in the ground due to potential difference or gradient
hence effecting the person in two ways...either by step potential or touch potential.

Step potential (E-Step): It is the potential developed between the two feet on the ground of a
man or animal when short circuit occurs. This results in flow of current in the body leads to
electrical shock.

Touch potential (E-Touch): It is the potential that is developed between the ground and the
body of the equipment when a person touches the body during fault condition. When operating
personnel touch an electrical equipment during short circuit condition, fault current flows
through the human body. This is defined as touch potential.
What is the need of batteries at the substation?
 To provide an uninterrupted & reliable power supply to control the switch gears & monitor the
status of feeders in case of power failure.
 In a Substation DC power is supplied in following feeders of a panel:
 Tripping and Closing circuit of Circuit breaker
 Protection Relay
 Isolator control circuit
 Indication lamp, Alarm, Facia
 PLC Control panel
 Emergency lamps in Control room
All of the above are minimum requirements and supply to the above circuits should be available in any
condition. Suppose the Station Transformer is failed, in that case supply should be available for the
panels of line and Power Transformer, Busbar protection etc., which are still in service. Hence battery
set is provided for backup purpose. Nowadays in EHV Substations, it is a practice to provide two battery
sets each with a Battery charger.

Why bundling of conductors is done in transmission lines?

Bundled conductors are used in electrical transmission system above 220 kV to get better voltage
regulation. Up to 220 kV, single stranded conductors are used. But it is not possible to use single
stranded conductor above 220 kV systems. In bundled conductors two or more stranded conductors are
used per phase.

 It reduces the reactance of the electric transmission line.

 It also reduces corona loss, which improves the transmission efficiency
 Bundled conductor lines do have the higher capacitance to neutral, when compared to
single lines. This results in higher charging currents which helps in improving the power
factor.
 In bundled conductor, as the GMR (geometric mean radius) of the conductor increases,
the inductance per phase of the conductor decreases.
 radio interference is also reduced or minimized
 Reduce skin effect
 What is GMD and GMR?
GMD & GMR stands for Geometrical Mean Distance and Geometrical Mean Radius. This
concept is very useful in Power System for the calculation of Inductance and Capacitance of
Transmission Line. GMR is self-geometric mean radius between two strands of the conductor
and GMD is the geometric mean distance between 2 conductors of a phase (bundle
conductors.
 Grading Of Cables: Grading of cable is the process of achieving uniform distribution
of dielectric stress or voltage gradient in a dielectric of cable. Voltage gradient or
dielectric stress is maximum at the surface of the conductor and minimum at the
inner surface of a sheath.
 What is the difference between autotransformer and isolation transformer?
An isolation transformer consists of a primary and secondary coils winding that are electrically
separated by a main insulation. ... An autotransformer has a primary and a secondary coil
winding that are partly shared. As such, smaller sizes can offer the same capacity.
What is the purpose of transposition of overhead lines?
The basic definition for transposition of transmission line is to rotate the conductors which
result in the conductor or a phase being moved to next physical location in a regular sequence.
Purpose of Transposition:

 It is done to equalize the Inductance and Capacitance in all phases.

 The transposition arrangement of high voltage lines also helps to reduce the system power loss.

 Transposition arrangement of power line also helps to reduce the effect of inductive
coupling.
 It also reduces radio interference with other communication lines, as in case of three
phase system, electrical flux linkage between conductors produces imbalance in the
system.

Power outage: A power outage (also called a power cut, a power out, a power blackout,
power failure or a blackout) is a short-term or a long-term loss of the electric power to a
particular area.

 Gas Insulated Sub-Stations Advantages and Disadvantages:

Gas Insulated Substations are preferred in the places where the land requirement for the
Substation is difficult such as in populated areas and highly polluted areas where outdoor
Switchyard is not preferred as It occupies very less space (1/10th) compared to ordinary
substations.
In Gas Insulated Substations all the switching electrical
equipment such as circuit breakers, isolators, earth switches, and bus bars are completely
enclosed inside modules which are filled with SF6 gas. These modules are factory made
and site assembled. Hence takes very little time for commissioning compared to air insulated
Substations.
The main advantage of this Gas Insulated Substation is because of its compact size due to
a high dielectric strength of the SF6 gas. And the availability and reliability of the GIS
Substations are more compared to air-insulated substations (Faults occurring chances of
Air insulated substation or conventional substations are more). Hence GIS substations are
provided where the high reliability of electric power is required such as nuclear plants and
and other important facilities where un-interruption of power is more required.
Some of the places where Gas insulated substations are preferred are:
1. Large towns where space available is limited
2. Industrial complexes where uninterruption of power is necessarily
3. Mountain regions and valleys
4. Underground substations
5. Off-shore (On sea or lake) substations
6. HVDC transmission system terminal substations

 Why the rating of transformer is in KVA?

Copper losses (I²R) depends on current which passing through transformer winding while Iron
losses or core losses or Insulation losses depends on Voltage. ... That's why the transformer
rating may be expressed in VA or kVA, not in W or kW.
Reasons for using Stones in Substation:
 Power Transformers installed in the substations will have oil as cooling and insulating
medium. Oil leakage takes place during operation or when changing the oil in the
transformer. This oil spillage which can catch fire is dangerous to the switchyard operation.
So Stones is provided to protect from fire when oil spillage takes place.
 To absorbed the heat radiated by radiator during cooling of oil.
 To reduce the vibration in transformer caused due to magnetostriction in core.
 To increase the tower footing resistance.
 During Short circuit current Step and Touch potential increases. So to reduce the step
potential and touch potential when operators work on switch yard, Stones in the
substation is provided
 Stones eliminate the growth of small weeds and plants or grass inside the Substation,
which may cause damage to transmission lines and it will also form current leakage.
 To avoid entry of animals like Rats, snakes, Lizards etc.
 As water beneath the substation may provide conductivity for electricity ,so pebbles are
provided to break the surface of water since water surface has high conductivity ,so that
flow of electricity is not continuous.

Bonding, Grounding and Earthing:

Bonding: Bonding is simply the act of joining two electrical conductors together. These may be
two wires, a wire and a pipe, or these may be two Equipments.
Bonding itself, does not protect anything. If the grounded box is bonded to the other box,
the other box is also at zero electrical potential. Bonding to electrical earth is
used extensively to ensure that all conductors (person, surface and product) are at
the same electrical potential. When all conductors are at the same potential no discharge
can occur.

Grounding: Grounding means connecting the live part (it means the part which carries current
under normal condition) to the earth, for example neutral of power transformer. It is done for
the protections of power system equipment and to provide an effective return path from the
machine to the power source. Black wire is used for it as nomenclature.

Earthing: Earthing means connecting the dead part (it means the part which does not carries
current under normal condition) to the earth, for example electrical equipment’s frames,
enclosures, supports etc. The purpose of earthing is to minimize the risk of receiving an electric
shock if touching metal parts when a fault is present. Generally green wire is used for this as a
nomenclature.

Main Points:
 When we take out the neutral for a three phase unbalanced connection and send it to
ground, it is called grounding. Grounding is done to balance unbalanced load. While
earthing is used between the equipment and earth pit so as to avoid electrical shock
and equipment damage.
 Earthing is used for the safety of the human body in fault conditions while Grounding
(As neutral earth) is used for the protection of equipment. Earthing is a preventive
measure as it provides low resistance path to the fault current while Grounding is just
a return path.
  Why secondary of potential transformer should not be short circuited?
Since, the power (P=VI) in a transformer (input and output) is same, the current rises to a
very high level. Thus, a very high resistance is maintained at the secondary terminal to limit
the current (which appears as open circuit)... Short circuiting the secondary would burn out
the windings.

 Why secondary of CT is never open circuited?

If the primary circuit has current flowing, the secondary circuit should never be opened. This can cause
very high voltages to occur due to the Ampere-Turns of the primary that start magnetizing the core.
In case secondary winding is kept open, then secondary current will be zero while the primary current of
CT will remain same. Therefore the opposing mmf of secondary will no longer exist. Hence the net mmf
is due to primary current only i.e. N1I1 (N1 = No. of Turns in Primary, I1 = Primary Current) which is very
large. This large mmf will produce large flux in the core and will saturate the core. So it will cause very
high voltage peaks across the secondary terminals of the CT. This large voltage across the secondary
terminals will be very dangerous and will lead to the insulation failure and will lead to failure of CT. The
failure of CT will lead to outages (Power off) of transmission elements causing loss of power and
consequently loss of revenue.
Thus, the secondary of CT must always be shorted when primary is energized.

 In what way is the tertiary winding used in transformers?

Tertiary winding is used in a transformer in Delta connection. Tertiary Winding is one winding, in
addition to primary and secondary winding is used. It is mostly used in high rating Transformers. This is
done to reduce the even harmonics in the Transformer. Therefore for Star-Delta(Y-Delta) Transformer,
tertiary winding is not needed but for Star-Star(Y-Y) Transformer, it is needed.

 If a step down Transformer is connected with its output and Input interchanged,
does it work as a step up transformer?
Sure why not,
Step down voltage transformer is nothing but current step up transformer.
If we give supply to secondary of the step up transformer then we get output which is greater than
input.
 But drawback is that rating is fixed,
Means if Transformer is of 11KV/440V,
Then we get only 11KV to the secondary side when we energies the 440V side.
Not more than 11 KV so this is the limitation.
1) Differential Protection of Transformer:
Generally Differential protection is provided in the electrical power transformer rated more than 5MVA.
The Differential Protection of Transformer has many advantages over other schemes of protection.

 The faults occur in the transformer inside the insulating oil can be detected by Buchholz
relay. But if any fault occurs in the transformer but not in oil then it cannot be detected by
Buchholz relay. Any flash over at the bushings are not adequately covered by Buchholz
relay. Differential relays can detect such type of faults. Moreover Buchholz relay is provided
in transformer for detecting any internal fault in the transformer but Differential Protection
scheme detects the same in more faster way.
 The differential relays normally response to those faults which occur in side the differential
protection zone of transformer.

Differential Protection Scheme in a Power Transformer:

Principle of Differential Protection scheme is one simple conceptual technique. The differential relay
actually compares between primary current and secondary current of power transformer, if any
unbalance found in between primary and secondary currents the relay will actuate and inter trip both
the primary and secondary circuit breaker of the transformer. Suppose you have one transformer which
has primary rated current Ip and secondary current Is. If you install CT of ratio Ip/1A at the primary side
and similarly, CT of ratio Is/1A at the secondary side of the transformer. The secondaries of these both
CTs are connected together in such a manner that secondary currents of both CTs will oppose each
other.In other words, the secondaries of both CTs should be connected to the same current coil of a
differential relay in such an opposite manner that there will be no resultant current in that coil in a
normal working condition of the transformer. But if any major fault occurs inside the transformer due to
which the normal ratio of the transformer disturbed then the secondary current of both transformers
will not remain the same and one resultant current will flow through the current coil of the differential
relay, which will actuate the relay and inter trip both the primary and secondary circuit breakers.

2) Restricted Earth Fault Protection of Transformer:

The scheme of restricted earth fault protection is very sensitive for internal earth fault of electrical
power transformer. The protection scheme is comparatively cheaper than differential protection
scheme. In this scheme, the CT secondary of each phase of an electrical power transformer are
connected together. Then common terminals are connected to the secondary of a Neutral Current
Transformer or NCT. During an internal fault, the neutral current transformer only carries the unbalance
fault current and operation of Restricted Earth Fault Relay takes place.
The CT or Current Transformer connected to the neutral of a power transformer is called Neutral
Current Transformer or Neutral CT or simply NCT. Whenever there is an unbalancing in between three
phases of the power transformer, a resultant unbalance current flow through the closed path connected
to the common terminals of the CT secondaries. An unbalance current will also flow through the neutral
of the power transformer and hence there will be a secondary current in Neutral CT because of this
unbalance neutral current. In Restricted Earth Fault scheme the common terminals of phase CTs are
connected to the secondary of Neutral CT in such a manner that secondary unbalance current of phase
CTs, and the secondary current of Neutral CT will oppose each other. If these both currents are equal in
amplitude there will not be any resultant current circulates through the said closed path. The Restricte
Earth Fault Relay is connected in this closed path. Hence the relay will not respond even there is an
unbalancing in-phase current of the power transformer.
Definition of Protective Relay:

A relay is automatic device which senses an abnormal condition of electrical circuit and closes its
contacts. These contacts in turns close and complete the circuit breaker trip coil circuit hence make the
circuit breaker tripped for disconnecting the faulty portion of the electrical circuit from rest of the
healthy circuit.

Pickup Level of Actuating Signal: The value of actuating quantity (voltage or current) which is on
threshold above which the relay initiates to be operated. If the value of actuating quantity is increased,
the electromagnetic effect of the relay coil is increased, and above a certain level of actuating quantity,
the moving mechanism of the relay just starts to move.

Reset Level: The value of current or voltage below which a relay opens its contacts and comes in
original position.

Operating Time of Relay: The time which elapses between the instant when actuating quantity
exceeds the pickup value to the instant when the relay contacts close.

Reset Time of Relay: The time which elapses between the instant when the actuating quantity
becomes less than the reset value to the instant when the relay contacts return to its normal position.

Reach of Relay: A distance relay operates whenever the distance seen by the relay is less than the pre-
specified impedance. The actuating impedance in the relay is the function of distance in a distance
protection relay. This impedance or corresponding distance is called the reach of relay (from fault
location to relay location).

Power system protection relays can be categorized into different types of relays:
Types of protection relays are mainly based on their characteristic, logic, on actuating parameter and
operation mechanism.
 Based on operation mechanism protection relay can be categorized as electromagnetic
relay, static relay and mechanical relay.
1. In an electromagnetic relay, these closing and opening of relay contacts are done by the
electromagnetic action of a solenoid.
2. In the mechanical relay, these closing and opening of relay contacts are done by mechanical
displacement of different gear level system.
3. In static relay it is mainly done by semiconductor switches like thyristor.
4. In digital relay on and off state can be referred as 1 and 0 state.

 Based on Characteristic the protection relay can be categorized as-

1. Definite time relays
2. Inverse time relays with definite minimum time (IDMT)
3. Instantaneous relays.
4. IDMT with inst.
5. Stepped characteristic.
6. Programmed switches.
7. Voltage restraint over current relay.
  Based on of logic the protection relay can be categorized as-
1. Differential.
2. Unbalance.
3. Neutral displacement.
4. Directional.
5. Restricted earth fault.
6. Over fluxing.
7. Distance schemes.
8. Bus bar protection.
9. Reverse power relays 10. Loss of excitation 11. Negative phase sequence relays etc.

 Based on actuating parameter the protection relay can be categorized as-

1. Current relays.
2. Voltage relays.
3. Frequency relays.
4. Power relays etc.

 Based on application the protection relay can be categorized as-

1. Primary relay.
2. Backup relay.
 Primary relay or primary protection relay is the first line of power system protection
whereas backup relay is operated only when primary relay fails to be operated during
fault. Hence backup relay is slower in action than primary relay. There are some situations
when we have to disconnect main relays from the system for preventive maintenance or
trouble shootings. In those cases due to presence of backup relays, we do not have to
interrupt the equipment or circuit. During this time, back up protection scheme takes care
of the protection of the system.
 Any relay may fail to be operated due to any of the following reasons,
1. The protective relay itself is defective.
2. DC Trip voltage supply to the relay is unavailable.
3. Trip lead from relay panel to circuit breaker is disconnected.
4. Trip coil in the circuit breaker is disconnected or defective.
5. Current or voltage signals from CT or PT respectively is unavailable.
As because backup relay operates only when primary relay fails, backup protection relay should
not have anything common with primary protection relay.
 Some examples of Mechanical Relay are-
1. Thermal
o OT trip (Oil Temperature Trip)
o WT trip (Winding Temperature Trip)
o Bearing temp trip etc.
2. Float type
o Buchholz
o OSR
o PRV
o Water level Controls etc.
3. Pressure switches.
4. Mechanical interlocks. 5. Pole discrepancy relay.
Feeder Protection Relays:
Different types of relays are used for feeder protection like electromagnetic type relays, static type
relays etc. But now a day we are using Numerical relays for all protections. The benefits of
Numerical relays are,
1. Accurate tripping,
2. Less tolerance,
3. Fault events and counter storage
4. Display of fault parameters on screen
5. Fault parameters means current, voltage, resistance and reactance values during fault and
fault distance, Numerical relays can store thousands of tripping events.
Distance protection of feeders:
The main inputs needed for distance protection is Voltage and Current from corresponding
feeder PT and CT. According to site conditions we will set certain impedance values in relay
settings (i.e., R and X values) for fault detection. Relay will monitor Current and Voltage in
the feeder line (PT and CT secondary), and from these values, the relay will calculate
Impedance value Z. i.e., Z = V/I. In normal load condition the impedance values on line will
be high. But when fault comes on the feeder line, the impedance will decrease and
becomes less than the impedance setting in the relay, then the distance relay will trip with
in 40 ms in zone 1 (different zones are there) and isolate power equipment’s from fault.
I.e., during fault, relay will trip and show the fault parameters like fault current, voltage,
reactance, resistance and fault distance on relay screen. As the impedance of a
transmission line is directly proportional to its length, it can easily be concluded that a
distance relay can only operate if fault is occurred within a predetermined distance or
length of line.
 For Distance protection now a day Quadrilateral characteristics is used.

Electromagnetic Relays:
Electromagnetic relays are those relays which are operated by electromagnetic action. Modern
electrical protection relays are mainly microprocessor based, but still electromagnetic relay holds
its place. It will take much longer time to replace all electromagnetic relays by microprocessor
based static relays.

Electromagnetic Relay Working: Practically all the relaying device is based on either one or more
of the following types of electromagnetic relays.

1. Magnitude measurement
2. Comparison
3. Ratio measurement
Principle of electromagnetic relay working is on some basic principles. Depending upon
working principle these can be divided into following types of electromagnetic relays.
1. Attracted Armature type relay,
2. Induction Disc type relay
3. Induction Cup type relay
4. Balanced Beam type relay
5. Moving coil type relay
6. Polarized Moving Iron type relay
Important terms of Relay:

1) Pick Up Current of Relay:

The current for which the relay initiates its operation i.e.; the moving parts of the relay initiate to move
to change the position of the contacts in the relay is called pick up current of relay.

2) Current Setting of Relay:

As per these system requirements, the pickup current of the relay is adjusted. This is known as the
current setting of the relay. This is achieved by providing the required number of tapping in the coil.
These taps are brought out to a plug bridge. The number of active turns in the coil can be changed by
inserting a plug in different points in the bridge. The current setting of relay is expressed in percentage
ratio of relay pick up current to the rated secondary current of CT.
That means,

3) Plug Setting Multiplier of Relay (PSM):

Plug setting multiplier of relay is referred as ratio of fault current in the relay to its pick up current.

4) Time Setting Multiplier of Relay (TSM):

The operating time of an electrical relay mainly depends upon two factors:
1. How long distance to be traveled by the moving parts of the relay for closing relay contacts
and
2. How fast the moving parts of the relay cover this distance.
So far by adjusting relay operating time, both of the factors to be adjusted. The adjustment of
traveling distance of an electromechanical relay is commonly known as time setting. This
adjustment is commonly known as time setting multiplier of relay. The time setting dial is
calibrated from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.05 sec.

5) Calculation of Relay Operation Time:

For calculating actual relay operating time, we need to know these following operations.
1. Current setting.
2. Fault current level.
3. Ratio of current transformer.
4. Time / PSM curve.
5. Time setting.
 Types of Distance or Impedance Relay:
There are mainly two types of distance relay
1) Definite distance relay.
2) Time distance relay.

1) Definite Distance Relay:

This is simply a variety of balance beam relay. Here one beam is placed horizontally and
supported by hinge on the middle. One end of the beam is pulled downward by the
magnetic force of voltage coil, fed from potential transformer attached to the line. Other
end of the beam is pulled downward by the magnetic force of current coil fed from current
transformer connected in series with line. Due to torque produced by these two
downward forces, the beam stays at an equilibrium position. The torque due to voltage
coil, serves as restraining torque and torque due to current coil, serves as deflecting
torque.
 Under normal operating condition restraining torque is greater than deflecting torque.
Hence contacts of this distance relay remain open. When any fault occurs in the feeder,
under protected zone, voltage of feeder decreases and at the same time current increases.
The ratio of voltage to current i.e. impedance falls below the pre-determined value. In this
situation, current coil pulls the beam more strongly than voltage coil, hence beam tilts to
close the relay contacts and consequently the circuit breaker associated with this
impedance relay will trip.

2) Time Distance Impedance Relay:

This delay automatically adjusts its operating time according to the distance of the relay
from the fault point. The time distance impedance relay will not only be operated
depending upon voltage to current ratio, its operating time also depends upon the value of
this ratio. That means,

Over Current Relay:

In an over current relay or o/c relay the actuating quantity is only current. There is only one current
operated element in the relay, no voltage coil etc. are required to construct this protective relay.

Working Principle of Over Current Relay:

In an over current relay, there would be essentially a current coil. When normal current flows
through this coil, the magnetic effect generated by the coil is not sufficient to move the moving
element of the relay, as in this condition the restraining force is greater than deflecting force. But
when the current through the coil increases, the magnetic effect increases, and after a certain level
of current, the deflecting force generated by the magnetic effect of the coil, crosses the restraining
force. As a result, the moving element starts moving to change the contact position in the relay.
Types of Over Current Relay:
Depending upon time of operation, there are various types of Over Current relays, such as,
1. Instantaneous over current relay.
2. Definite time over current relay.
3. Inverse time over current relay.
  Inverse time over current relay or simply inverse OC relay is again subdivided as inverse
definite minimum time (IDMT), very inverse time, extremely inverse time over current
relay or OC relay.

1. Instantaneous Over Current Relay (IOC):

Construction and working principle of instantaneous over current relay is quite simple.
Here generally a magnetic core is wound by a current coil. A piece of iron is so fitted by
hinge support and restraining spring in the relay, that when there is not sufficient current
in the coil, the NO contacts remain open. When the current in the coil crosses a preset
value (pickup current value), the attractive force becomes enough to pull the iron piece
towards the magnetic core, and consequently, the no contacts get closed.
 There is no intentional time delay applied. But there is always an inherent time delay
which we cannot avoid practically. In practice, the operating time of an instantaneous relay
is of the order of a few milliseconds.
 Examples of Instantaneous O/C relay are:
Attracted armature relay, solenoid type relay and Balance beam relay

2. Definite Time Over Current Relay (DTOC): This relay is created by applying intentional time delay
after crossing pick up the value of the current. A definite time overcurrent relay can be adjusted to issue
a trip output at an exact amount of time after it picks up. Thus, it has a time setting adjustment and
pickup adjustment.
3. Inverse Time Over Current Relay (ITOC):
Inverse time is a natural character of any induction type rotating device. Here, the speed of rotation of
rotating part of the device is faster if the input current is more. In other words, time of operation
inversely varies with input current. This natural characteristic of electromechanical induction disc relay
is very suitable for overcurrent protection. If the fault is severe, it will clear the fault faster.

Inverse Definite Minimum Time Over Current Relay or IDMT O/C Relay:
Ideal inverse time characteristics cannot be achieved, in an overcurrent relay. As the current in the
system increases, the secondary current of the current transformer is increased proportionally. The
secondary current enters the relay current coil. But when the CT becomes saturated, there would not
be a further proportional increase of CT secondary current with increased system current. From this
phenomenon, it is clear that from trick value to certain range of faulty level, an inverse time relay shows
specific inverse characteristic. But after this level of fault, the CT becomes saturated and relay current
does not increase further with increasing faulty level of the system. As the relay current does not
increase further, there would not be any further reduction in time of operation in the relay. We define
this time as the minimum time of operation. Hence, the characteristic is inverse in the initial part, which
tends to a definite minimum operating time as the current becomes very high. That is why the relay is
referred as inverse definite minimum time over current relay or simply IDMT relay.

 Definite Time Lag Relay: (Operating time of relay is constant)

During relay coordination in electrical power system protection scheme, there is some time intentionally
required, to operate some specific relays after some specific time delays. Definite time lag relays are
those which operate after a specific time. The time lag between instant when the actuating current
crosses the pickup level and the instant when relay contacts finally closed, is constant. This delay does
not depend up on magnitude of actuating quantity. For all actuating quantity, above pick up values, the
relay operating time is constant.

Hall Effect Transducer: The Hall Effect element is a type of transducer used
for measuring the magnetic field by converting it into an emf. The direct measurement of the magnetic
field is not possible. Thus the Hall Effect Transducer is used. The transducer converts the magnetic
field into an electric quantity which is easily measured by the analogue and digital meters.
Over flux Relay/Over-Excitation Relay of Transformer: Transformer Overflux Protection is
provided to protect the Transformer core from over fluxing. A Transformer is designed to operate at a
particular flux level. In case the flux in the core of Transformer exceeds a certain level, the core loss
increases which may lead to overheating of components which in turn may result into internal fault.
Therefore, over flux protection is provided.

 The flux in the core increases with either increasing voltage or decreasing frequency. During
start-up or shutdown of generator-connected transformers, or following a load rejection, the
transformer may experience an excessive ratio of Volts to Hertz (V/f), that is, become
overexcited. When a transformer core is overexcited, the core is operating in a non-linear
magnetic region, and creates harmonic components in the exciting current.

Assuming Number of turns constant, Flux is directly proportional to V/f.

 Let us assume that Transformer Primary is connected with 220 kV. Thus normal voltage of
primary of Transformer will be 220 kV at a frequency of 50 Hz. Also assume that the PT ratio is
220 kV/110 V.

Therefore,

V/f ratio = 110/50 = 2.2

Normally the setting of over fluxing is kept 110% of nominal value or 1.1 Pu. This means at a flux level
of 1.1×2.2 = 2.42, the Transformer will operate safely but above 2.42, the Transformer core will be
subjected to over flux and over-flux relay will trip.

 Why MHO relay is preferred for long transmission lines, reactance relay in case of short
transmission lines and impedance relay in case of medium transmission lines?
These major factors determine the relay usage for transmission lines

1. Power swing

2. stability on normal load

3. fault resistance

4. directional property

5. cost

Major relays we use

 Impedance relay (Used for Medium T/L)

 Reactance relay (Used for Short T/L)

 Mho relay (Used for Long T/L) Reason is explained on next Page :
1) Long transmission lines:

Since Long lines are highly subjected to power swings (Load shedding cumulative effect adds on and
effects the long transmission lines majorly).

 Mho relay can protect from power swing better than simple impedance relay.
 Mho relay has the directional property also which is essential in transmission lines.

2) Short transmission lines:

Ground faults are highly subjected here because of the trees falling down during the heavy winds. So
fault resistance can effect in estimating the reach of the distance relay.

Reactance relay is immune to the fault resistance but isn’t directional and also unstable at normal load.

So the mho relay is used in conjunction with the reactance relay here.

3) Medium transmission lines:

Here simple impedance relay with added directional property element is used rather than the mho relay
due to the cost factor.

Differential Busbar Protection

Current Differential Protection

The scheme of busbar protection, involves, Kirchhoff’s current law, which states that, total current
entering an electrical node is exactly equal to total current leaving the node. Hence, total current
entering into a bus section is equal to total current leaving the bus section. The principle of differential
busbar protection is very simple. Here, secondaries of all CTs are connected parallel. That means, S1
terminals of all CTs connected together and forms a bus wire. Similarly S2 terminals of all CTs connected
together to form another bus wire. A tripping relay is connected across these two bus wires.

At external faulty condition, there is no current flows through relay. Now consider a situation when fault
is occurred on the bus itself. At this condition, also the faulty current is contributed by all feeders
connected to the bus. Hence, at this condition, sum of all contributed fault current is equal to total
faulty current. Now, at faulty path there is no CT. (in external fault, both fault current and contributed
current to the fault by different feeder get CT in their path of flowing). The sum of all secondary currents
is no longer zero. It is equal to secondary equivalent of faulty current. So at this condition current starts
flowing through relay and it makes trip the circuit breaker corresponding to all the feeders connected to
this section of the busbar and the bus becomes dead.
Overvoltage Protection:

There are always a chance of suffering an electrical power system from abnormal over voltages. These
abnormal over voltages may be caused due to various reason such as, sudden interruption of heavy
load, lightening impulses, switching impulses etc. These over voltage stresses may damage insulation of
various equipment’s and insulators of the power system. Although, all the over voltage stresses are not
strong enough to damage insulation of system, but still these over voltages also to be avoided to ensure
the smooth operation of electrical power system. These all types of destructive and non-destructive
abnormal over voltages are eliminated from the system by means of over voltage protection.

Voltage Surge:

The over voltage stresses applied upon the power system, are generally transient in nature. Transient
voltage or voltage surge is defined as sudden sizing of voltage to a high peak in very short duration. The
voltage surges are transient in nature that means they exist for very short duration. The main cause of
these voltage surges in power system are due to lightning impulses and switching impulses of the
system. But over voltage in the power system may also be caused by, insulation failure, arcing ground
and resonance etc.

The voltage surges appear in the electrical power system due to switching surge, insulation failure,
arcing ground and resonance are not very large in magnitude. These over voltages hardly cross the twice
of the normal voltage level. Generally, proper insulation to the different equipment of power system is
sufficient to prevent any damage due to these over voltages. But over voltages occur in the power
system due to lightning is very high. If over voltage protection is not provided to the power system,
there may be high chance of severe damage. Hence all over voltage protection devices used in power
system mainly due to lightning surges.

Switching Impulse or Switching Surge:

When a no load transmission line is suddenly switched on, the voltage on the line becomes twice of
normal system voltage. This voltage is transient in nature. When a loaded line is suddenly switched off
or interrupted, voltage across the line also becomes high enough current chopping in the system mainly
during opening operation of air blast circuit breaker, causes over voltage in the system. During insulation
failure, a live conductor is suddenly earthed. This may also cause sudden over voltage in the system.

Resonance:

If emf wave produced by alternator is distorted, the trouble of resonance may occur due to 5th or higher
harmonics. Actually for frequencies of 5th or higher harmonics, a critical situation in the system so
appears, that inductive reactance of the system becomes just equal to capacitive reactance of the
system. As these both reactance cancel each other the system becomes purely resistive. This
phenomenon is called resonance and at resonance the system voltage may be increased enough.

Methods of Protection against Lightning:

These are mainly three main methods generally used for protection against lightning. They are

1. Earthing screen.

2. Overhead earth wire. 3. Lighting arrester or surge dividers.

1. Earthing Screen:

Earthing screen is generally used over electrical substation. In this arrangement a net of GI wire is
mounted over the sub-station. The GI wires, used for earthing screen are properly grounded through
different sub-station structures. This network of grounded GI wire over electrical sub-station, provides
very low resistance path to the ground for lightning strokes. This method of high voltage protection is
very simple and economic but the main drawback is, it cannot protect the system from travelling wave
which may reach to the sub-station via different feeders.

2. Overhead Earth Wire:

This method of over voltage protection is similar as earthing screen. The only difference is, an earthing
screen is placed over an electrical sub-station, whereas, overhead earth wire is placed over electrical
transmission network. One or two stranded GI wires of suitable cross-section are placed over the
transmission conductors. These GI wires are properly grounded at each transmission tower. These
overhead ground wires or earth wire divert all the lightning strokes to the ground instead of allowing
them to strike directly on the transmission conductors.

3. Lightning Arrester:

The previously discussed two methods, i.e. earthing screen and over-head earth wire are very suitable
for protecting an electrical power system from directed lightning strokes but these methods cannot
provide any protection against high voltage travelling wave which may propagate through the line to the
equipment of the sub-station. The lightning arrester is a devices which provides very low impedance
path to the ground for high voltage travelling waves. The concept of a lightning arrester is very simple.
This device behaves like a nonlinear electrical resistance. The resistance decreases as voltage increases
and vice-versa, after a certain level of voltage.

The functions of a lightning arrester or surge dividers can be listed as below.

1. Under normal voltage level, these devices withstand easily the system voltage as electrical
insulator and provide no conducting path to the system current.

2. On occurrence of voltage surge in the system, these devices provide very low impedance path
for the excess charge of the surge to the ground.

3. After conducting the charges of surge, to the ground, the voltage becomes to its normal level.
Then lightning arrester regains its insulation properly and prevents further conduction of
current, to the ground.

 There are different types of lightning arresters used in power system, such as rod gap arrester,
horn gap arrester, multi-gap arrester, expulsion type LA, value type LA.
 In addition to these the most commonly used lightning arrester for over voltage protection
now-a-days gapless ZnO lightning arrester is also used.
 Zinc Oxide Lightning Arrester: (used nowadays)
This type of arrester comprises of numbers of solid zinc oxide disc. This discs are arranged one
by one to form a cylindrical stack. The number of zinc oxide discs used per lightning arrester
depends upon the voltage rating of the system. This stack is kept inside a cylindrical housing of
polymer or porcelain. Then the stack is placed inside the housing and highly pressed by heavy
spring load attached to end cap at top. The equipment connection terminal for line is projected
from top cap and connection terminal for earth is projected from the bottom cap.

Arcing Horns:
Arcing horns form a spark gap across the insulator with a lower breakdown voltage than the air path
along the insulator surface, so an overvoltage will cause the air to break down and the arc to form
between the arcing horns, diverting it away from the surface of the insulator preventing it from flash-
over.

Surge Arrestors:
A surge arrester is a device that protects electrical power systems from damages caused by lightning.
When a powerful electric surge travels from the power system to the surge arrester, the high voltage
current is sent directly to the insulation or to the ground to avoid damaging the system. OR A surge
arrester is a device to protect electrical equipment from over-voltage transients caused by external
(lightning) or internal (switching) events.

What is the difference between lightning and surge arrester?

Lightning arrestor is connected to a conductor which runs along the walls and goes into the earth. Surge
arrestor gives the protection against surge currents or voltages in a circuit. Surges can be produced
because of short circuit, lightning, sparking etc.

Surge Diverters:
Surge diverters work by capturing the excess electricity that would otherwise be absorbed into the
house's electrical circuit. They will help protect the property by diverting this power away from the
house by “shunting” it to the earth. Any electricity over 260 volts will automatically be diverted to the
ground.
POWER TRANSFORMER: Power Transformer is a static electrical device .By electromagnetic
induction, it transforms electrical power from one or more circuits to one or more other circuits at the
same frequency usually with a change in voltage and current levels. Specially designed transformers can
also affect a change in phase angle between input and output voltages/currents.

IMPORTANCE OF POWER TRANSFORMER IN POWER SYSTEM:

 The invention of transformer had made it possible to efficiently transmit large amounts of
electrical power over long distances. In the transmission of electric power, the function of the
Transformer is to raise or step-up the voltage at the generator to a much higher value and to
step down the voltage to the utilization value at the load center where the power is used. This
reduces the size of transmission conductor and hence installation and maintenance costs are
reduced.
 Thus in transmitting power from generators to load centers transformers play a vital part. Power
transformer are of higher KVA ratings (more than 500KVA) and are operated at high KV ratings.
These are used to step up and step down the voltage at Grid Stations.
 Voltage ratings of power transformers installed in WAPDA power System are
500/220KV,220KV/132KV,132KV/11.5KV,132KV/66KV, 66KV/11KV, 132KV/11KV whereas
generated voltages of 6KV to 30KV are also stepped up, through power Transformers to EHV &
HV transmission levels at generating stations.

Working Principle and T/F Equation:

When an alternating e.m.f. is applied to the terminals of the primary winding of a transformer,
an alternating magnetic flux is established in the core which induces an e.m.f in both primary
and secondary windings due to mutual induction. Induced voltages in primary and secondary
windings are directly proportional to number of turns of windings.
 E=4 Kf. Øm N f
Where E= RMS value of induced Emf
Kf= form factor of e.m.f wave (1.11 for sine wave)
F.F=Vr.m.s/ Vd.c
f= Frequency of the supply in hertz (50 Hz)
Øm=Total magnetic flux through the core in webers.
N=No.of turns in the winding considered

 For a sine wave of voltage;

E= 4(1.11) Øm N f = 4.44 Øm N f

 V1/V2 = N1/N2 = I2/I1 (RELATION OF TURNS RATIO WITH VOLTAGE & CURRENT RATIOS)

ANALOGY BETWEEN ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC CIRCUITS

Transformer has two active parts an iron core and windings.
In core, magnetic flux circulates which links both primary & secondary windings, causing induced
voltage in these windings.

Following analogy holds between magnetic & electric circuits; (on next page)
 Electric circuit Magnetic circuit
Electromotive force EMF Magneto motive force MMF=NI
Current, I Flux, Ø
Impedance, Z Reluctance (Ψ)

CONSTRUCTION OF POWER TRANSFORMER

(i) Active parts of a Transformer,
a) Core b) Winding
a) CORE:
Core is made of low carbon, grain oriented cold rolled Silicon steel. Thin laminations of enamel
coated Si-steel are binded to form the core. The ferromagnetic metal of core provides a low
reluctance path for magnetic flux.
b) WINDING:
Winding are mounted on core. Alternating power supply
Is connected with primary winding and power is
Transferred to secondary winding to which a load is connected.

(ii) Conservator Tank:

In addition to main tank, a small tank above the main tank is called conservator tank. It is an oil
reservoir which maintains the oil in main tank at full level. When oil expands, due to heat, in
main tank it travels upward to conservator tank and when it contracts, oil flows from
conservator to main tank.

(iii) Breather:
As we know moisture weakens the dielectric strength of oil .Breather is filled with silicon gel or
other moisture absorbing compounds. The transformer exhales and in hales through the
breather when oil expands or contracts in main tank. Breather absorbs moisture and prevents it
to enter into transformer and mix with oil.

(iv) Thermometer:
Two temperature gauges are installed on transformer showing the oil and winding temperature.
Temperatures of Power Transformer are recorded on log sheet half hourly and those must not
increase beyond the maximum limits.

(v) Position Of Bucholz relay:

Bucholz relay is connected in between the main tank and conservator tank. It detects the incipient fault
inside the transformer. It is a very important protection of transformer which saves it from internal
faults.

(vi) H.V, L.V BUSHINGS AND ARC-GAP: External terminals of transformer are connected to
the windings inside the transformer H.V & L.V bushings provide insulation between terminals and top
plate transformer body. Arc Gaps or Arcing horns protect transformer from high voltage surges. The gap
between the forks of an Arc gap is adjustable. It is kept about 1CM/KV. It may vary depending upon
atmospheric conditions e.g. humidity & pollution in air.
(vii) TOP PLATE AND GASKETS: In main tank which is filled with transformer oil (Insulating Oil) core
and winding is immersed, top plate and gaskets seal the main tank.

(viii) COOLINGFANS/TUBES: Capacity/KVA rating of transformer depends strongly in working and

atmospheric temperatures. By reducing temperature, we can enhance the capacity of a transformer.
Cooling Fins and Tubes increase the area exposed to air and hence increase the temperature transfer
rate from transformer to atmosphere.

(ix) FANS & PUMPS: Forced cooling is provided by fans and pumps. By fanning air incident on
transformers/tubes temperature of transformer is lowered. Pumps do the forceful speedy circulation of
oil enhancing the cooling rate.

 The life of a transformer depends on the life of its insulation which in turn depends on the
temperature developed inside it. Increase in temperature results in deterioration of insulation.

 The extent of over-load that a transformer can take depends upon various factors viz. The
winding or oil temperatures, surrounding air temperature. Duration of the over load in 24 hours,
and general loading conditions during the remaining day.

Recurrent Short Time Overload Condition:

A recurrent short time overload is one of limited duration that is imposed in accordance with a
known schedule. It is regarded as occasional and not occurring oftener than approximately once
every 24 hours.

Emergency Short time Overload Condition:

An emergency short time overload is an unexpected overload of limited duration e.g. a transfer
of load of another transformer for a day or so, and is to be regarded as an infrequent
occurrence.

EFFECTS OF OVERLOADING
Overloading: As the load on a transformer is increased i.e. secondary current as well as primary
current increase resulting an increase in Power Losses in windings which are also called
as Cu losses and equal to I^2R Losses.
As the Cu-losses are directly proportional to square of current i.e. that if current is increased
twice, the Cu-losses are increased by 4 times as of the previous. The overloading increases
power losses inside a transformer and hence the temperature of power transformer is increased
affects the physical life time span of transformer.
Temperature rise also decides KVA rating of transformer. By lowering working temperature of a
transformer, its KVA/MVA capacity can be enhanced.
* By employing forced cooling i.e. fanning and pumping etc. The transformers capacity can be
increased.
e.g.
Cooling Mode Capacity of 1-phase, Auto Transformer
500KV/220KV at Gatti Grid Station NTDC
ONAN (Oil natural, Air Natural) 90MVA (oil immersed natural cooling)
ONAF (Oil natural, Air Forced) 120MVA (oil immersed forced air)
OFAF (Oil Forced, Air Forced) 150MVA (oil forced air forced)
 TRANSFORMER LOSSES
There are two types of losses inside the Transformer:-
a) Cu-Losses
b) Core Losses

a) Cu-LOSSES
Power losses inside the windings of a transformer are called Cu-losses and equal to I^2R Losses.
These losses depends upon load and are proportional to square of the load current.
b) CORE LOSSES
Power losses in core are called Iron losses or core losses. These are independent of load. There
are further divided into:
–Eddy current losses
–Hysteretic losses

 EDDY CURRENT LOSSES

Eddy current losses are resulted due to current flowing in the core due to induced e.m.f in the
core produced by the magnetic flux in the core.
 HYSTERISIS LOSSES
Power losses in the core due to the reversal of alternating flux in the core.

PARALLEL OPERATION OF TRANSFORMER

DEFINITION:
Parallel operation of transformers involves two or more transformers connected to carry a
common load when a given transformer is insufficient in capacity to deliver a particular load, it
may either be taken out of circuit and replaced with a larger unit or an additional unit may be
added to the circuit by connecting its primary side to the same source of supply and its
secondary side to the same load circuit. The second unit is then operating in parallel with the
first unit.

ADVANTAGES OF PARALLEL OPERATION

a) Enhanced power capacity of Grid Station.
b) Load sharing between transformers.
c) Increased reliability of system operation.
d) Convenience in maintenance.

CONDITIONS FOR PARALLEL OPERATION

There are certain definite conditions which must be fulfilled in order to avoid any local
circulating currents and to ensure that the transformers share the common load in proportion
to their KVA rating.
The conditions are:-
 The same polarity
 The same phase sequence
 The same inherent phase angle difference between primary and secondary terminals (same
vector group)
 The same voltage ratio with almost same characteristic of tap changer
 The same percentage impedance
 KVA ratings ratio should not exceed three to one (3:1)
  Fault clearing Time or Breaker Tripping time = Relaying Time + Breaker Opening Time + Arching
Time.

 Relaying Time= Time start from when a relay circuit sense a fault current & up to closing of
the trip circuit of the circuit breaker.
 Breaker Opening time = Time start from closing of the circuit breaker trip circuit to the
opening of the circuit breaker contacts.
 Arching Time = Time start from opening of the contacts of the circuit breaker to the final arc
extinction.

• Duplicate Protection
Nowadays, relay schemes have backup relaying as such. The new standard to protect a power
system consists of two independent relay scheme where neither of them has intentional time
delay. In addition breaker failure protection is provided on all high voltage and some low
voltage breakers.
• Zone Protection: Power system is divided into zones which can be protected by a
specialized group of relays and which can also be separated from the rest of the system.
Z1 = in this zone 85 % area of protected line is included. In this zone tripping occurred
speedily.
Z2 = in this zone 50% area of next line is included.

CT CORES:
•There are different cores in a CT. metering core, over-current CT core, differential CT core
provided that if it is CT of power transformer.
•Metering core has 15VA burden.
•Over current core has 30 VA burden.
•Differential CT core has 60 VA burden.

The characteristics of protection core and metering core are different; have different designs
and cannot be interchanged with each other. When more fault current occurs then mechanical
system of meter pivot, jewel etc damages and hence metering core is made smaller and should
saturate earlier therefore. But protection
core should give exact replica of system
current at fault condition. So protection core
would saturate later.
CT Saturation:
CT saturation is point where the excitation
impendence collapses and whole of the
primary current is utilized in exciting the core
of CT i.e. the Ip becomes the Iexe and
secondary output of the CT out ceases. The
cause of CT saturation is fault current which flows on fault or if CT is opened accidentally at
secondary side. DC transients are present in the fault current which superimpose on AC quantity
having less time but high magnitude. These transients saturate the CT core.
Ankle Point:
Ankle point is a point where Ve and Ie are linear i.e. Ve and Ie are directly proportional.
Operating point of CT should be in linear portion.
Knee Point : It is a point where an increase of 10% in Vexc causes an increase of 50% in Iexc
and this is the point of saturation of CT. Measuring CT operates between zero and ankle point
and saturation level is low. Protection CT operates satisfactory up to knee point and saturation
level is high. Protection CT cannot be used instead of measuring CT and vice versa.

Accuracy Classes of Protection Core CT:

IEC standard (Institute of Electro technical Commission).
According to this standard protection core of CT is normally designated as 5p20.
I = 5 = Composite error = ±5%
II = P = Protection Class CT
III = 20= ALF (Accuracy limit factor) = 20 times of rated current it can withstand and then at the
same time remaining within or up to ±5% accuracy limits.

Accuracy Class of Metering Core CT:

Normally it is written on name plate of metering core of CT as 0.5SF5
I= ±0.5% ratio error at 100 → 120% of nominal load.
II= SF5 means that saturation factor is 5.
If CT is of 500/5A then SF 5 x 5 = 25A and CT saturates at 25A.

Numeric relays:
These relays are digital relays having two over current and one earth fault and three
instantaneous elements. These relays have a number of LED, s that indicates the fault. These
relays also record the fault / date and time. The plug setting and operating time can be adjusted
on operating panel given on the relay. These relays can be operated both on AC and DC. They
also indicate the load of each phase. This relay is now widely used in WAPDA.

Extremely inverse type:

This type of relay is used for the protection of 11kv feeders. It has two over current,
One earth fault and three instantaneous elements. This relay is wildly used as with
Increase of faulty current its operating time decreases.

DC SUPERVISION RELAY:
This relay supervise the trip circuit of C.breaker and brings up an alarm if the supply or
operation of mechanism is faulty.
This relay has three units a,b,c. In normal condition when breaker is in closed position “a” and
“c” units are picked up. If the trip circuit becomes open circuited or if the supply fails unit “a” is
no longer held picked up, contact opens causing “c” to drop out.
In open position unit “b” is supplied through breaker auxiliary contact NC and it detects the
control circuit in open position in similar way as “a” in closed position.

CT Burden (VA): Current transformer burden is defined as the load connected across its
secondary. ... The burden in a CT metering circuit is the largely resistive impedance presented to
its secondary winding. Typical burden ratings for IEC CTs are 1.5 VA, 3 VA, 5 VA, 10 VA, 15 VA,
20 VA, 30 VA, 45 VA and 60 VA.
Capacitor voltage transformer:
A capacitor voltage transformer (CVT or CCVT), is a transformer used in power systems to step
down extra high voltage signals and provide a low voltage signal, for metering or operating
a protective relay.
Other applications:
The CVT is also useful in communication systems. CVTs in combination with wave traps are used
for filtering high-frequency communication signals from power frequency. This forms a carrier
communication network throughout the transmission network, to communicate between
substations. The CVT is installed at a point after Lightning Arrester and before Wave trap.

What is inductive voltage transformer?

An inductive voltage transformer is a normal transformer in which the line whose voltage is to
be measured is put on primary side and with desired turns ratio gives the secondary
low voltage to be measured. It is generally used upto 132kV.

What are the reasons that Over-current relays are not used for Long lengths but for
only short lengths (sub transmission/distribution) lines only?

We know that in transmission line LG, LLG, LLL fault takes place.
Fault impedance of different fault is follow like this LG>LLG>LLL
So LG fault has maximum impedance over other faults.
Suppose we set relay current setting such that it can protect 50% transmission line of LLG fault.
So relay will function accurately for LLG fault.
But for LG Fault (Impedance is high) relay is under reach i.e. it cannot provide protection to 50%
transmission line and able to protect only say 35% of transmission line.
For LLL Fault (Impedance is low compared to LLG) relay over reach i.e. it cannot provide
protection to 50% transmission line but able to protect only say 60% of transmission line.
So overcurrent relay will malfunction under such conditions.
And usually Long transmission line are EHV lines, so relay malfunction is threat to stability of
power system.

Earth Leakage Relay:

It detects as well as protects the system by opening the protected circuit when
the residual current exceeds the set value. ELR is a relay that send a signal to the shunt coil of a
circuit breaker (MCB/MCCB or ACB) whenever the leakage current exceeds the set level.

What is difference between earth fault and earth leakage?

Earth leakage is in the limit of mA, it can be a result of a live wire contacting the device body. As
for the earth fault, it's in the limits of A. It can be a result of a phase to ground fault.

Inrush current of transformer: Inrush Current is a form of over current that occurs during
energisation of a transformer and is a large transient current which is caused by part cycle
saturation of the magnetic core of the transformer. For power transformers, the magnitude
of inrush current is initially 6 – 10 times the rated load current.
If turn-on occurs when the AC voltage wave is at its peak value, there will be no inrush
current drawn by the transformer.
Power Swing and its effect on Protection System:
Power swings refer to oscillation in active and reactive power flows on a transmission line
consequent to a large disturbance like a fault. The oscillation in the apparent power and bus
voltages is seen by the relay as an impedance swing on the R-X plane. If the impedance
trajectory enters a relay zone and if stays there for sufficiently long time, then the relay will
issue a trip decision on power swing. Tripping on power swings is not desirable.
A distance relay may classify power swing as a phase fault (L-G) if the impedance trajectory
enters operating characteristic of the relay.

Teleprotection of Transmission Line:

Protection relays in conjunction with communication links provide the best possible means of
selectively isolating faults on HV lines, transformers, reactors and other important items of
electrical plants.
To prevent the system from failure and damage, the teleprotection system has to selectively
disconnect the faulty part by transferring command signals within the shortest possible time.

Surge Impedance:
If the line is lossless, i.e. the resistance and conductance are zero, then the characteristic
impedance reduces to √ (L/C), a pure resistance. When dealing with high frequencies or with
surges due to lightening, losses are often neglected and surge impedance becomes important.

Surge Impedance Loading (SIL):

It is the power delivered by a line to a purely resistive load equal to its surge impedance. The
line is assumed to have no resistance.

SIL is also called natural power of the line. Sometimes it is convenient to express the power
transmitted by a line in terms of per unit of SIL which is the ratio of the power transmitted to
the surge impedance loading.
The permissible loading of a transmission line may be expressed as a fraction of its SIL and SIL
provides a comparison of load carrying capabilities of lines.

What is power swing block?

A Power Swing Block (PSB) function is available in modern relays to prevent unwanted distance
relay element operation during power swings. The main purpose of the PSB function is to
differentiate between faults and power swings and block distance or other relay elements from
operating during a power swing.

Load encroachment:
Load encroachment occurs when the impedance crosses the loadability limit of the operating
characteristic. The loadability of an impedance relay is normally stated in MVA, at nominal
operating voltage and a specific power factor.
Three-Stepped Distance Relaying Scheme:
Distance relays are the preferred choice for the protection of High Voltage lines. In three
stepped distance protection, the relay is set for protection of line in three steps in different
zones with suitable time delay between each step for back up.
Shunt Reactor:
A shunt reactor is an absorber of reactive power, thus increasing the energy efficiency of the system. It
is the most compact device commonly used for reactive power compensation in long high-voltage
transmission lines and in cable systems. The shunt reactor can be directly connected to the power line
or to a tertiary winding of a three-winding transformer. The shunt reactor could be permanently
connected or switched via a circuit breaker. To improve the adjustment of the consumed reactive power
the reactor can also have a variable rating. If the load variation is slow, which it normally is (seasonal,
daily or hourly), a variable shunt reactor (VSR) could be an economical solution for some customer
applications.

Series reactors: Series reactors are used as current limiting reactors to increase the impedance of a
system. Such reactors are also used to limit the starting currents of synchronous electric motors and to
compensate reactive power in order to improve the transmission capacity of power lines.

Generation: The level of generation voltage in Pakistan is 11.5 kV

Transmission: In order to bring generated power from powerhouses to load centers transmission
system is developed. It consists of transmission lines and grid stations. The transmission voltage used in
Pakistan are: -
1-Primary voltage 500 / 220 KV 2-Secondary voltage132 / 66KV

Types of transmissions lines: -

1-Primary transmission 500 / 220kv
2-Secondary transmission 132 / 66 kV
Types of transmissions lines according to circuits: -
Horizontal: -
500/66kv single horizontal circuits are used in our system.
Vertical: -
220kv and 132kv single / double vertical circuits are used in our system.
Delta: -
132kv and 66kv delta circuits are also used in our system.
To reduce the line losses, high voltages are feeded in transmission lines.
Grid station: -
It is a link between high voltage transmission lines and low voltage distribution system. A number of
lines enter and goes out from grid station.
Yard: - It is a place where transformer and its controlling equipment are installed.
There are three main objects of grid station’
1. To reduce voltage 2. Switching 3. Fault clearance
Grid stations are constructed near the load centers and are of two types.
1 – Primary grid 500 / 220kv
2 - Secondary grid 132 / 66kv.
Distribution: The responsibility of distribution is to construct 11kv feeders, frequent maintenance
works, Billing and to collect revenue from consumers. Distribution transformers up to 630 KVA are used.
POLY PHASE OR 3 PHASE CIRCUITS: -
More than one phase supply is called poly phase supply.
Advantage of 3 phase over single phase
The rating of 3Phase machine is greater than single phase. The rating of 3 phase motor is
about 1.5 times higher than a single phase motor of same size.
The power factor in 3 phases is higher than single phase.
The 3 phase motors are self-starting.
In 3 phase transmission system there is saving of ¾ rate of copper material than in single
phase at the given voltage and same power.
Parallel operation of 3 phase alternator is simple than single phase alternator.
The voltage regulation is less in 3-phase system.
3 phase motors are smooth in running and are more dependable.
The time of 3 phase tripping is less than single phase.

PHASE SEQUENCE
It is the order or sequence in which the current or voltage in different phases attain their
maximum values. The phase sequence is usually denoted by R, Y, B or A, B, C or 1,2,3.

Inductive reactance
An opposition to current flow created by the inductance. This type of opposition is called
inductive reactance.
Or The effect of inductance is called inductive reactance. XL denotes it.

Capacitive reactance
In capacitor an opposition to the flow of current due to electrostatic field is called capacitive
reactance .It is denoted by Xc.
Impedance
It is the total opposition to the flow of current .It is denoted by Z.
Phase angle.
The angular separation between current and voltage is called phase angle.
Apparent power
It is the product of current and voltage. It is expressed in VA, KVA, and MVA.
True power
It is the watt of an A.C circuit. It is the product of current, voltage and cosine of the phase angle.
It is expressed in W, KW, and MW.
Reactive power
It is the magnetizing power of an A.C circuit. It gives rise to phase angle. It is expressed in
KVAR.
Types of isolator
Horizontal break (center break) 220 / 132 kV
Vertical break (side break) 500 kV

Interlocking of isolator
1- Electrical interlocking with breaker
The isolator cannot be open when the breaker is closed.
2-Mechanical interlocking: This system is used in hand operated mechanism.
3-Interlocking of earth switch with isolator: The earth switch cannot be close yet isolator is
open.
WAVE TRAP OR LMU
This equipment is installed at the grid station for telecom purpose. Usually it is installed at end
of line before line isolator on one or more phases. It is a combination of number of capacitors
that reduces the voltage for telecom purpose (PLC). It is filled with oil. Some time it is also used
for tripping purpose.
SHUNT REACTOR
This equipment is installed on very high voltage transmission lines like 500kv in parallel. It is an
inductive load and used to ground extra voltage of long 500kv lines generated due to
capacitance. Its one end is connected to line and other is grounded.
Shunt reactor reduces the extra voltage according to its capacity. It is used on 200 km or 250
km longer lines at one end or both ends .one unit is used for each phase and three units make a set.
Its capacity is in MVAR.
Laying of earthling mesh in GRID Station:
The earthling mesh is laid in the ground up to depth of 3 ft. .A 3 ft long copper rod is pierce into ground
up to the wet soil. If wet soil is at more depth then long copper rods up to twenty meters may be used.

Tap changer:
 Tap changer is used to increase / decrease voltage. In power transformer on load tap
changer is mostly used. It is usually installed on primary side.
 Tap changer is used to step up or step down system voltage with variation of load. This is
installed usually on primary side, as load on primary side is less then secondary.
Types of tap changer
1- On load tap changer
The tap position of this tap changer can be changed on load. This tap changer is used in power
transformer.
2- Off load tap changer
The tap position of this transformer cannot be changed on load position. It can be changed by
switching off the transformer. This type of tap changer is used in distribution transformer.
Operation of tap changer
1- Automatic
In this method required voltage are adjusted on voltage regulator, which automatically changes
the tap position.
2- Remote
Tap position can also be changed from control panel in the control room. The position
Indicator indicates the tap position of power transformer.
3- Manual
If tap position cannot be changed by remote operation due to any fault. It can be changed by
hand using handle provided by manufacturer.
Parts of tap changer
Tap changer consists of following parts; -
1- Selector switches 2- Diverter switch
3- Reversing switch 4- Motor drive unit.
1- Selector switch
Its function is to select required tap. It has some moving and fixed contacts. The leads from tap
winding which is 10 % of main winding are joined with the contacts of selector switch.
2- Diverter switch
This switch is fixed in main winding in a separate tank .It provides the path for current from one
tap to another. This switch is dipped in oil. Due to sparking this oil must be tested as per routine
maintenance and this sparking may also damage main winding. Therefore it is mounted in a
separate tank.
 3- Reversing switch
The function of this switch is to reverse the polarity of winding. This switch is attached with
selector switch.
4- Motor drive unit
This unit is used to operate the whole parts of tap changer. All above parts are attached
together with a shaft or gearbox, which is coupled with the pulley of a three-phase motor.
This motor is attached with main shaft either with gearbox or belt. If a gearbox is provided in the drive
unit lubricate it with special Mobile oil.

Electrical Bus-Bar and its Types

Definition: An electrical bus bar is defined as a conductor or a group of conductor used for collecting
electric power from the incoming feeders and distributes them to the outgoing feeders. In other words,
it is a type of electrical junction in which all the incoming and outgoing electrical current meets. Thus,
the electrical bus bar collects the electric power at one location. The bus bar system consists the isolator
and the circuit breaker. On the occurrence of a fault, the circuit breaker is tripped off and the faulty
section of the busbar is easily disconnected from the circuit.

The electrical bus bar is available in rectangular, cross-sectional, round and many other shapes. The
rectangular bus bar is mostly used in the power system. The copper and aluminium are used for the
manufacturing of the electrical bus bar.

The various types of busbar arrangement are used in the power system. The selection of the bus bar is
depended on the different factor likes reliability, flexibility, cost etc. The following are the electrical
considerations governing the selection of any one particular arrangement.

 The bus bar arrangement is simple and easy in maintenance.

 The maintenance of the system did not affect their continuity.
 The installation of the bus bar is cheap.

The small substation where continuity of the supply is not essential uses the single bus bar. But in a large
substation, the additional busbar is used in the system so that the interruption does not occur in their
supply. The different type of electrical busbar arrangement is shown in the figure below.

 Single Bus-Bar Arrangement

The arrangement of such type of system is very simple and
easy. The system has only one bus bar along with the switch.
All the substation equipment like the transformer,
generator, the feeder is connected to this bus bar only. The
advantages of single bus bar arrangements are

 It has low initial cost.

 It requires less maintenance
 It is simple in operation
 Drawbacks of Single Bus-Bars Arrangement

 The only disadvantage of such type of arrangement is that the complete supply is disturbed on the
occurrence of the fault.
 The arrangement provides the less flexibility and hence used in the small substation where continuity of
supply is not essential.

 Single Bus-Bar Arrangement With Bus

Sectionalized:
In this type of busbar arrangement, the circuit
breaker and isolating switches are used. The
isolator disconnects the faulty section of the
busbar, hence protects the system from complete
shutdown. This type of arrangement uses one
addition circuit breaker which does not much
increase the cost of the system.

Advantage of single Bus-bar Arrangement with

Bus Sectionalization:

The following are the advantages of sectionalized

bus bar.

 The faulty section is removed without affecting the continuity of the supply.
 The maintenance of the individual section can be done without disturbing the system supply.
 The system has a current limiting reactor which decreases the occurrence of the fault.

Disadvantages of Single Bus-Bar Arrangement with Sectionalization:

 The system uses the additional circuit breaker and isolator which increases the cost of the system.
 Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement
Such type of arrangement uses two type of busbar namely, main busbar and the auxiliary bus bar. The
busbar arrangement uses bus coupler which connects the isolating switches and circuit breaker to the
busbar. The bus coupler is also used for transferring the load from one bus to another in case of
overloading. The following are the steps of transferring the load from one bus to another.

1. The potential of both the bus bar kept same by closing the bus coupler.
2. The bus bar on which the load is transferred is kept close.
3. Open the main bus bar
 Thus, the load is transferred from the main bus
to reserve bus.
Advantages of Main & Transfer Bus
Arrangement:

 The continuity of the supply remains same even

in the fault. When the fault occurs on any of the
buses the entire load is shifted to another bus.
 The repair and maintenance can easily be done
on the busbar without disturbing their
continuity.
 The maintenance cost of the arrangement is less.
 The potential of the bus is used for the operation
of the relay.
 The load can easily be shifted on any of the
buses.

Disadvantages of Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement:

 In such type of arrangements, two bus bars are used which increases the cost of the system.
 The fault on any of the bus would cause the complete shutdown on the whole substation.
 Double Bus Double Breaker Arrangement
This type of arrangement requires two bus bar and two circuit breakers. It does not require any
additional equipment like bus coupler and switch.

Advantages of Double Bus Double Breaker

 This type of arrangement provides the maximum

reliability and flexibility in the supply. Because
the fault and maintenance would not disturb
their continuity.
 The continuity of the supply remains same
because the load is transferrable from one bus
to another on the occurrence of the fault.

Disadvantages of double bus Double breaker

 In such type of arrangement two buses and two

circuit breakers are used which increases the cost of the system.
 Their maintenance cost is very high. Because of its higher cost, such type of bus-bars is seldom used in
substations.
  Sectionalized Double Bus Bar Arrangement:

In this type of bus arrangement, the sectionalized

main bus bar is used along with the auxiliary bus bar.
Any section of the busbar removes from the circuit
for maintenance and it is connected to any of the
auxiliary bus bars. But such type of arrangement
increases the cost of the system. Sectionalization of
the auxiliary bus bar is not required because it would
increase the cost of the system.

 One and a Half Breaker Arrangement:

In this arrangement, three circuit breakers are required
for two circuits. The each circuit of the bus bar uses the
one and a half circuit breaker. Such type of arrangement
is preferred in large stations where power handled per
circuit is large.

Advantages of One and a Half Breaker Arrangement:

 It protects the arrangement against the

loss of supply.
 The potential of the bus bar is used for
operating the relay.
 In such type of arrangement, the additional circuits are easily added to the system.

Disadvantages of One and a Half Breaker Arrangement: The circuit becomes complicated because of
the relaying system and their maintenance cost is very high.
Ring Main Arrangement: In such type of arrangement, the end of the bus bar is connected back to the
starting point of the bus to form a ring.

Advantages of Ring Main Arrangement

 Such type of arrangement will provide two paths for the

supply. Thus the fault will not affect their working.
 The fault is localized for the particular section. Hence
the complete circuit is not affected by the fault.
 In this arrangement, a circuit breaker can be maintained
without interrupting the supply.
 Disadvantages of Ring Main Arrangement

 Difficulties occur in the addition of the new circuit.

 Overloading occurs on the system if any of the circuit breakers is opened.
 Mesh Arrangement
In such type of arrangement, the circuit breakers are installed in the mesh formed by the buses. The
circuit is tapped from the node point of the mesh. Such type of bus arrangement is controlled by four
circuit breakers.

When a fault occurs on any section, two circuit

breakers have to open, resulting in the opening of
the mesh. Such type of arrangement provides
security against bus-bar fault but lacks switching
facility. It is preferred for substations having a large
number of circuits.

 If air gap in plates of transformer is increased, what will be the effect?

 Putting an air gap in a magnetic circuit increases the reluctance and reduces the
coupling between any two windings by increasing leakage flux. You won't get
saturation effects because the gap reduces the flux not increases it.
 Yes it does reduce the magnetic flux linked with the Secondary coil. And this loss is
called leakage flux.
Leakage Flux: is defined as the magnetic flux which does not follow the particular intended path
in a magnetic circuit.

This loss is comparatively small, reason being that the

core is made of strong ferromagnetic material which
pull the magnetic field lines towards itself. But since we
work to achieving near ideal conditions for better
efficiency, we must avoid this minor loss too.
  WELCOME TO NTDC

National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC) was incorporated on 6th November, 1998 and
commenced commercial operation on 24th December, 1998. It was organized to take over all the
properties, rights and assets obligations and liabilities of 220 KV and 500KV Grid Stations and
Transmission Lines/Network owned by Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority
(WAPDA). NTDC operates and maintains sixteen 500 KV and forty three 220 KV Grid Stations, 5893 km
of 500 KV transmission line and 10963 km of 220 KV transmission line in Pakistan.

MAIN FUNCTIONS

 System Operator

 Transmission Network Operator

 Contract Registrar and Power Exchange Administrator

i) System Operator: For secure, safe and reliable operation, control and dispatch of generation facilities.

ii) Transmission Network Operator: For Operation & Maintenance, Planning, Design and expansion of
the 500 kV and 220 kV transmission network.

iii) Contract Registrar and Power Exchange Administrator (CRPEA): As CRPEA, to record and monitor
contracts relating to bilateral trading system.

NATIONAL ELECTRIC POWER REGULATORY AUTHORITY (NEPRA) Role:

NEPRA's main responsibilities are to:
1. Issue Licenses for generation, transmission and distribution of electric power;
2. Establish and enforce Standards to ensure quality and safety of operation and
supply of electric power to consumers;
3. Approve investment and power acquisition programs of the utility companies; and
4. Determine Tariffs for generation, transmission and distribution of electric power.

 Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA):

(CPPA-G) is a Company incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, 1984 and wholly owned by the
Government of Pakistan (the “GOP”). Since June 2015, CPPA-G has assumed the business of National
Transmission and Dispatch Company (the “NTDC”) pertaining to the market operations and presently
functioning as the Market Operator in accordance with Rule-5 of the NEPRA Market Operator
(Registration, Standards and Procedure) Rules, 2015 (the “Market Rules”).
The Company is currently performing eight major functions segregated into six core and two support
functions. The core functions include

(i) settlement, (ii) power procurement on behalf of DISCOs, (iii) finance, (iv) legal and corporate affairs,
(v) strategy and market development, (vi) monitoring and coordination. The support functions include
(vii) human resource management and (viii) information technology.
The main tasks performed by the company are as follows:

1. Perform the business of billing and settlement

2. Procurement of electric power on behalf of the DISCOs, including import of power from other
countries. Also perform the demand aggregation function
3. Developing and implementing competitive power markets based on policies guidelines of the Federal
Government and/or requirements of NEPRA.

Vision: "To become a world-class power market operator by providing the optimum environment for
trading electricity in the Pakistani power market"

 National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC):

 Economic Load Dispatch keeping the quality of power flow in the standard prescribed
limits.
 The National Power Control Centre Islamabad was inaugurated by Mr. Ghulam Ishaq
Khan, President of Pakistan on 20th January, 1990. This is first phase of the giant
project. It envisages implementation of the modern computerized load dispatch
facilities for operating WAPDA's power system, by setting up of one National Power
Control Centre (NPCC) at Islamabad and two Regional Control Centers at Islamabad and
Jamshoro for northern and southern parts of the network respectively. The main
functions of these Power Control Centers are given below:
1. Real time control of the load generation, power exchanges, voltage regulation,
generation reserves and the transmission network;
2. Follow up of efficiency, fault analysis, compilation of statistics, reporting and
accounting;
3. Short and long term planning, including load prediction, and generators, schedules,
power balance planning, coordination of unit out-ages for maintenance and planning
for reserves; and
4. Arranging of routine and emergent shutdowns on generators, transmission lines,
power transformers and other components of the power system.
Above functions are to be performed by the Power Control System with the help of hi-
tech computers and other modern facilities for power supervisory control, data
acquisition and energy management. Under this project all 500 KV, 220 KV and some of
the important 132 KV grid stations have been connected to the SCADA (Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition) system.
 Frequency Control through AGC (Automatic Generation Control). Presently AGC is only
used for 2 units of terbela.
 Jb koi 220kv grid trip kr jaye to matlb load disconnect hogaya, generators get over
speeding due to which frequency increases. If a generating station trip then load
increases on remaining generating station because of overloading of generators speed
of generator decreases and frequency decreases and NPCC frequency ko RTU's(remote
terminal units) k through control karti hai because apk pass real time data araha hota
hai jaise hi frequency decrease hoti hai load shedding hoti hai kuch grids ki.
 Also Frequency can be controlled through Governor Control Point. Governor is a
mechanical device installed on turbine which controls the valve to control the stem flow
onto turbine.
  Load Dispatch System Upgrade Project:

National Power Control Center (NPCC) was established in 1985 in Islamabad to control 500kV and 220kV
transmission system throughout the country but with the passage of time, most of the equipment has
become obsolete and its capacity is not sufficient to control expanding power grid system and require
up-gradation.

Term August 2005 to February 2013 (7 year)

Total Amount of Aid 3839 million Yen

Project Location Throughout Pakistan

Executing Agency National Transmission & Dispatch Company

Project Summary

This project is aimed at Modernization & Up-gradation of Load Dispatch Center at National Power
Control Center (NPCC) Islamabad by converting it from current analogue system to digital system. Main
components include Digital Processing System (DPS), Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA),
Energy Management Sysetm (EMS), 8 Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and telecom system: Optical Fiber
Ground Wire (OPGW), equipment for 8 Regional Control Centers (RCCs).

Project Highlights

Under this project, Data Processing System is being up-graded by installing latest servers, workstations
and Local Area Network to ensure proper functioning of SCADA for real time power network operation,
EMS for automated frequency control, load forecast, unit commitment, economic dispatch, optimal
power flow etc. Remote terminal units are also being installed at all 500kV & 220kV substations, all
GENCO thermal power stations and some WAPDA owned hydropower stations. In telecommunication
system, the backbone telecommunication system is being replaced by laying OPGW (Optical fibers
ground wires) on existing 500, 220 and 132 kV transmission lines. The existing NTDC’s old telephone
system will be replaced by a new system to meet the requirements of traffic, quality, redundancy and
reliability. For RCCs, painted mimic boards with hotline telephone link with NPCC are being provided in
this project.

 Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB):

Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) is the sole representing agency of the Federal
Government that was established in May 2003 with the main objective to facilitate, promote
and encourage development of Renewable Energy in Pakistan and with a mission to introduce
Alternative and Renewable Energies (AREs) at an accelerated rate. The administrative control of
AEDB was transferred to Ministry of Water and Power in 2006. The Government of Pakistan has
inter alia mandated AEDB to:-
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  Implement policies, programs and projects through private sector in the field of ARE.
 Assist and facilitate development and generation of ARE to achieve sustainable economic
growth
 Encourage transfer of technology and develop indigenous manufacturing base for ARE
Technology
 Promote provision of energy services that are based on ARE resources
 Undertake ARE projects on commercial scale (AEDB Act 2010)
 The Government of Pakistan has tasked the AEDB to ensure 5% of total national power
generation capacity to be generated through renewable energy technologies by the year 2030.
In addition, under the remote village electrification program, AEDB has been directed to
electrify 7,874 remote villages in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces through ARE technologies.

 National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON):

National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON) has now been transformed into National Energy
Efficiency & Conservation Authority (NEECA).In order to achieve the challenging task of energy
efficiency and conservation in all sectors of economy, a need was felt to introduce credible law
which has now been provided through the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2016
recently passed by the National Assembly and the Senate and as notified in the gazette in July 2016.
The Act shall provide for the establishment of institutions and enunciation of mechanisms and
procedures so as to provide for effective conservation and efficient use of energy in all sectors of the
economy.

The strategy going to be adopted by NEECA for promoting energy efficiency and conservation shall
cover whole spectrum of activities starting from identification of energy efficiency and conservation
opportunities and including technology demonstration, undertaking pilot projects, information and
outreach, training and education, and development of plans and policies for promoting mitigation,
energy efficiency and conservation best practices.

 Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB): It was created in 1994 as a "One-Window
Facilitator" on behalf of the Government of Pakistan (GOP) to promote private investments in
power sector. In 2012 PPIB was made a statutory organization through Private Power and
Infrastructure Board Act 2012 (Act VI of 2012). The role of PPIB has been further expanded by
the GOP (Govt of Pakistan) by allowing it to facilitate public sector power and related
infrastructure projects in IPP mode, for which PPIB's Act has been amended in November
2015. PPIB approves IPPs, issues LOIs & LOSs (including Tripartite LOSs), approves Feasibility
Studies, executes Implementation Agreements (IAs) and provides GOP guarantees.
 NESPAK (National Engineering Services Pakistan):
NESPAK enjoys the reputation of being one of the top engineering consultancy organizations in Asia and
Africa. NESPAK was established in 1973 as a private limited company by the Government of Pakistan.
The objective of its creation was to create a pool of talented engineers, attain self-reliance in
engineering consultancy and replace foreign consultants. Currently, NESPAK has total strength of over
5100 employees, 3490 completed projects and 381 ongoing projects.
The Total estimated turnover for the year 2016-2017 is Rs. 8.8 Billion with the total cumulative cost of
the projects undertaken by NESPAK is US $ 288 Billion.
  CASA (Central Asia, South Asia) : (1.16 billion $ project)

High voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations will also be included as part of the project, as well
as a 477 kilometer long, 500 kilovolt alternating current transmission line between Datka, Kyrgyzstan
and Khujand, Tajikistan. A 1,300 MW AC/DC converter station will be constructed in the city of
Sangtuda, Tajikistan, as well as a 300 MW converter station in Kabul, Afghanistan. A 750km HVDV line
will be constructed between Sangtuda, and the city of Peshawar, Pakistan, via the Salang Pass and
Kabul. In Peshawar, a 1,300 MW converter station will be built and connected to Pakistan's electric grid
> Transmission lines are designed to transmit 1,300 MW of electricity, with Afghanistan allotted 300
MW of electricity and Pakistan 1000 MW of electricity. Initially, however, Pakistan will receive 700 MW,
while Afghanistan will be supplied 300 MW. Due to lack of power, Afghanistan will not be provided with
300 Mw. All 1300MW will be delivered to Pakistan now.

 Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)

WAPDA, the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority, was created in 1958 as a Semi-
Autonomous Body for the purpose of coordinating and giving a unified direction to the development of
schemes in Water and Power Sectors, which were previously being dealt with, by the respective
Electricity and Irrigation Department of the Provinces. Since October 2007, WAPDA has been bifurcated
into two distinct entities i.e. WAPDA and Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO). WAPDA is
responsible for water and hydropower development whereas PEPCO is vested with the responsibility of
thermal power generation, transmission, distribution and billing.

o WAPDA is now fully responsible for the development of Hydel Power and Water Sector Projects.

o PEPCO has been fully empowered and is responsible for the management of all the affairs of
corporatized nine Distribution Companies (DISCOs), four Generation Companies (GENCOs) and
a National Transmission Dispatch Company (NTDC). These companies are working under
independent Board of Directors (Chairman and some Directors are from Private Sectors).
 o The Companies are administratively autonomous and leading to financial autonomy by
restructuring their balance sheets by bringing their equity position to at least 20 percent,
required to meet the prudential regulations and to facilitate financing from commercial sector
(approved by ECC).

o The Loan Liability Transfer Agreements (LLTA) has been signed with Corporate Entities and
execution of loan transfer is complete.

o All Entities have the physical possessions of all their operational assets.

o On 24th Feb. 2007 Ministry of Water & Power notified NEPRA approved Tariff for all Distribution
Companies replacing unified WAPDA Tariff.

o Legal Agreements such as Business Transfer Agreements, Operation Development Agreement,

Energy Supply Agreement, Business Supplementary Agreement and Fuel Supply Agreement etc.
were executed between WAPDA and Corporate Entities to facilitate commercial operations.

o Regulatory instruments like Grid Code, Distribution Codes, Performance Standard for
Distribution Companies and Transmission Companies were drafted and got approved from
(www.nepra.org.pk) in 2007.

o All major lenders gave their consent for transfer of their loan from WAPDA to Corporate Entities,
thus 326 loan assumption agreements were signed amongst respective Companies, WAPDA and
EAD (Economic Affairs Division) GOP.

o CPPA is established under the coverage of NTDC for payments from DISCOs to IPPs, GENCOs and
NTDC. Ultimately, it will function independently under Federal Govt. and all forthcoming IPPs
will be under CPPA.

The Charter of Duties of WAPDA is to investigate, plan and execute schemes for the following fields:

o Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Power.

o Irrigation, Water Supply and Drainage.

o Prevention of Water logging and Reclamation of Waterlogged and Saline Lands.

o Flood Management.

o Inland Navigation.

The Authority comprises of a Chairman and three (3) Members working through a Secretary.
WAPDA is one of the largest employers of human resources in Pakistan. Over the years WAPDA has
built-up a reservoir of Technical know-how and expertise which has made it a modern and progressive
organization.

 National Power Parks Management Company Ltd (NPPMCL):

Access to reliable, affordable and uninterrupted supply of energy is the key to economic growth
and welfare of any society. Unfortunately, Pakistan is in the middle of a major socio-economic
crisis because of non-availability of electricity on a sustained and affordable basis. The crisis is
basically caused by major supply side constraints. Analysts are of the view that energy demand
 in Pakistan has increased four-fold in the last 25 years; it is expected to increase eight-fold by
2030, and by a factor of 20 in the year 2050.

 To achieve energy autarky in Pakistan, the country needs massive investment in power
generation and associated infrastructure. The vision statement of National Energy Policy
2013 outlines that: “Pakistan will develop the most efficient and consumer-centric
power generation, transmission, and distribution system that meets the needs of its
population and boosts its economy in a sustainable and affordable manner.”

 In line with its policy, the Government of Pakistan took an unprecedented initiative to
inject 2400 MW into the national system through its own resources. National Power
Parks Management Company Private Limited was established and entrusted with the
task to give shape to this resolve of the Government under the auspices of Ministry of
Water & Power. The company immediately took up the task and now is in the Process of
establishing two state of the art Re-gasified Liquid Natural Gas (RLNG) based Combined
Cycle Power Plants; 1223 MW CCPP at Balloki, District Kasur and 1230 MW CCPP at
Haveli Bahadur Shah, Jhang. These state of the art plants are providing cheap electricity
to the national grid owing to their unparalleled latest technology and high efficiency.
Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) contracts for both the projects were
awarded in the last quarter of 2015 and Operation and Maintenance (O &M) contracts
for both plants were awarded within 18 month of ground breaking.Haveli Bahadur Shah
began combined cycle commercial operations on 9th May, 2018 and Balloki achieved
Combined cycle COD on July 29th 2018.The company has its offices in Lahore and
Islamabad.

 Indus River System Authority (IRSA) :

Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) was signed amongst the Provinces on 16.03.1991
and approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on 21.03.1991. Under Clause 13
of the WAA ’91, the need to establish an Indus River System Authority was recognized
and accepted for the implementation of the Accord. The Authority would have its HQs
at Lahore (shifted to Islamabad) and having representation from all the Provinces. IRSA
was established for regulating and monitoring the distribution of water sources of Indus
Rivers in accordance with the Accord amongst the Provinces and to provide matters
connected therewith and ancillary thereto. IRSA was established vide Act No. XXII of
1992 passed by the Parliament and approved by the President of Pakistan on, the 6th
December 1992.

 Pakistan Power Park Management Company Limited (PPPMCL) : Comes under Ministry of Water
and Power Government of Pakistan .
 SCADA: SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. It is a type of software
application program for process control. SCADA is a central control system which consist of
controllers network interfaces, input/output, communication equipments and software.
SCADA systems are used to monitor and control the equipments in the industrial process
which include manufacturing, production, development and fabrication. The infrastructural
processes include gas and oil distribution, electrical power, water distribution. Public utilities
include bus traffic system, airport. The SCADA system takes the reading of the meters and
checks the status of sensors in regular interval so that it requires minimal interference of
 human. A large number of processes occur in large industrial establishment. Every process you
need to monitor is very complex because each machine gives different output. The SCADA
system used to gather the data from sensors and instruments located at remote area. The
computer then processes this data and presents in a timely manner. The SCADA system
gathers the information (like leak on a pipeline occurred) and transfer the information back to
the system while giving the alerts that leakage has occurred and displays the information in a
logical and organized fashion. The SCADA system used to run on DOS and UNIX operating
systems.
 On-Load Tap-Changing Transformer: (in explained way)
Definition: The transformer which is not disconnected from the main supply when the tap
setting is to be changed such type of transformer in known as on-load tap changing transformer.
The tap setting arrangement is mainly used for changing the turn ratio of the transformer to
regulate the system voltage while the transformer is delivering the load. The main feature of an
on-load tap changer is that during its operation the main circuit of the switch should not be
opened. Thus, no part of the switch should get the short circuit.
In tap changing transformer different types of an impedance circuit are used for limiting the
current during the operation of a tap changing. The impedance circuit may be resistor or reactor
type, and by the impedance circuit, the tap changer can be classified as the resistor and reactor
type. Nowadays the current limiting is carried out by using a pair of resistors.
 Difference between power transformer and auto transformer:
 In an autotransformer, portions of the same winding act as both the primary and secondary
sides of the transformer. In contrast, an ordinary transformer has separate primary and
secondary windings which are not electrically connected. The winding has at least three taps
where electrical connections are made.
 An autotransformer can also be used to step the supply voltage up or down by reversing the
connections. The autotransformer has many uses and applications including the starting of
induction motors, used to regulate the voltage of transmission lines, and can be used to
transform voltages when the primary to secondary ratio is close to unity.

 Why can autotransformers handle more power than conventional transformers

of the same size?
Autotransformers can handle more power than conventional transformers of the same physical size.
Clearly, the single winding of the autotransformer can be bigger than the two windings of a conventional
transformer occupying the same physical space.

Prepared by :
Engr. Mehran Marwat
  What is the use of wave trap?
Wave Traps are used at sub-stations using Power Line Carrier Communication (PLCC). PLCC is used to
transmit communication and control information at a high frequency over the power lines. This reduces
need for a separate infra for communication between sub-stations.

 What is PLCC substation?

Power line carrier communication (plcc).PLCC Technology  PLCC system uses the same High Voltage
transmission line connecting two sub-stations for telecommunication purpose too.  PLCC is used in all
power utilities as a primary communication service to transmit speech, telemetry and protection
tripping commands.

 What is feral resonance?

Ferro resonance or nonlinear resonance is a type of resonance in electric circuits which occurs when a
circuit containing a nonlinear inductance is fed from a source that has series capacitance, and the circuit
is subjected to a disturbance such as opening of a switch.

 There are three basic types of current transformers: wound, toroidal and bar.
 Wound Current Transformer – The transformers primary winding is physically connected in series
with the conductor that carries the measured current flowing in the circuit. The magnitude of the
secondary current is dependent on the turns ratio of the transformer.
 Toroidal Current Transformer – These do not contain a primary winding. Instead, the line that
carries the current flowing in the network is threaded through a window or hole in the toroidal
transformer. Some current transformers have a “split core” which allows it to be opened,
installed, and closed, without disconnecting the circuit to which they are attached.
 Bar-type Current Transformer – This type of current transformer uses the actual cable or bus-bar
of the main circuit as the primary winding, which is equivalent to a single turn. They are fully
insulated from the high operating voltage of the system and are usually bolted to the current
carrying device.

MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker)

Characteristics

 Rated current not more than 100 A.

 Trip characteristics normally not adjustable.
 Thermal or thermal-magnetic operation.
MCCB (Moulded Case Circuit Breaker)

Characteristics

 Rated current up to 1000 A.

 Trip current may be adjustable.
 Thermal or thermal-magnetic operation.

Air Circuit Breaker

Characteristics

 Rated current up to 10,000 A.

 Trip characteristics often fully adjustable including configurable trip thresholds and delays.
 Usually electronically controlled—some models are microprocessor controlled.
 Often used for main power distribution in large industrial plant, where the breakers are
arranged in draw-out enclosures for ease of maintenance.

Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Characteristics

 With rated current up to 3000 A,

 These breakers interrupt the arc in a vacuum bottle.
 These can also be applied at up to 35,000 V. Vacuum circuit breakers tend to have longer life
expectancies between overhaul than do air circuit breakers.

RCD (Residual Current Device / RCCB (Residual Current Circuit Breaker)

Characteristics
 Phase (line) and Neutral both wires connected through RCD.
 It trips the circuit when there is earth fault current.
 The amount of current flows through the phase (line) should return through
neutral.
 It detects by RCD. any mismatch between two currents flowing through phase
and neutral detect by -RCD and trip the circuit within 30Miliseconed.
 If a house has an earth system connected to an earth rod and not the main
incoming cable, then it must have all circuits protected by an RCD (because u
might not be able to get enough fault current to trip a MCB)
 RCDs are an extremely effective form of shock protection
The most widely used are 30 mA (milliamp) and 100 mA devices. A current flow of 30
mA (or 0.03 amps) is sufficiently small that it makes it very difficult to receive a dangerous shock. Even
100 mA is a relatively small figure when compared to the current that may flow in an earth fault
without such protection (hundreds of amps)

A 300/500 mA RCCB may be used where only fire protection is required. eg., on lighting circuits,
where the risk of electric shock is small.
  Litz wire:

Litz wire is a type of specialized multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current
(AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in
conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz.

 What does a ceiling fan capacitor do?

Ceiling fan uses a single phase induction motor to run it. That’s why; P.f of a ceiling fan is lagging. To
overcome this drawback, a capacitor is used. It is connected across a part of the winding in the
fan motor. This creates a phase difference between the windings (one part with the capacitor connected
and other part without the capacitor).

 What is the purpose of core in transformer?

The purpose of any magnetic core is to provide an easy path for flux so as to have high coupling
between primary and secondary windings in case of a transformer. Having core helps in obtaining
required flux density with less number of turns or less amount of magnetizing current.
The core is constructed of thin laminations electrically isolated from each other in order to minimize
eddy currents. A laminated core has a higher resistance than a non-laminated one with the same
number of domains. It therefore does not get such big currents induced in it.

 Why do we consider taking stepped core while designing a transformer?

To avoid the overall losses and increased cost, the best option is to use “stepped-core” (or cruciform
core), which utilizes the space, better than other type of cores and the length of mean-turn of the
winding is lower compared to the rectangular or square cores. The maximum amount of conductor is in
contact with core so the air gap is reduced hence the leakage flux is reduced a lot and the entire copper
is utilized properly. It is more economical to use circular shape coils around the stepped core
because they are mechanically stronger. Saving of Copper material means saving of cost and
less stress on the coils at HV are the basic reasons for suing stepped core in T/F.

 Transformer Types:
  As per construction, transformers are classified as,

1. Core type

2. Shell type

3. Berry type: These types of transformer are generally kept in tightly fitted sheet metal tanks. The tanks
are constructed of specific high quality steel plate cut formed and welded into the rigid structures. The
tanks are filled with the special insulating oil. The entire transformer assembly is immersed in the oil.
The oil served two functions, keep the coils cool by circulation and provides the transformers an
additional insulation

 Difference: One of the major difference between the core type and the shell type transformers
is that in core type transformer, the winding encircles the core (P & S windings wrapped
around each side leg), whereas, in shell type transformer, the core encircles the winding of the
transformer ( windings wrapped around the center leg).
1. Core Type: The H.V. & L.V. both are placed on same limb
concentrically. L.V. is placed near to core.

The advantage of such transformer is:

1. Maintenance and repair is easy.

2. Ventilation & cooling of transformer windings is easy.

3. Less leakage flux, as windings are placed concentrically.

4. Higher efficiency and better regulation.

Mostly, power and distribution transformers are of core type.

 Core type transformers are popular in High voltage

applications like Distribution transformers, Power
transformers, and obviously auto transformers. Reasons are,
 High voltage corresponds to high flux. So, for keeping your iron loss down you have to use
thicker core. So core type is better choice.
 At high voltage you require heavy insulation. In core type winding putting insulation is easier. In
fact LV (low voltage) winding itself acts as an insulation b/w HV (high Voltage) winding and core.
 Whereas, Shell type transformers are popular in Low voltage applications like transformers
used in electronic circuits and power electronic converters etc. Reasons are,
 At low voltage, comparatively you require more volume for the copper wires than that of iron
core. So the windows cut on the laminated sheets have to be of bigger proportion with respect
to the whole size of the transformer. So, shell type is a better choice.
 Here you don't care about the insulation much and insulation is thin and light. So you can put
the winding anyway you want in the shell.
 Why must relays and circuit breakers in power stations be operated on DC rather than AC?
 In power stations relays, circuit breakers (CB) and communication equipment like PLCC (power
line carrier communication) works on DC (mostly 220 Volt or 48 Volt).
The main reason for using DC supply in control circuits of relays and CB is its reliability. The DC
supply is obtained from AC to DC converter or from battery bank installed at battery room in
substation.
Suppose we are using AC supply for control circuit of relays or CB and if there is failure of AC
supply then the control circuit of relay or CB will be inactive as it is not getting any supply for its
operation. During such instant if fault occur on line then due to non-availability of supply relay
will not be able to sense the fault since AC supply to control circuit is failed and hence CB will
also unable to isolate the faulty portion of line. This fault will cause serious damage to the
equipment’s installed in the power station.
To avoid such situation AC supply in power station first converted to DC using rectifier. If AC
supply fails then there is battery bank in the power station connected in parallel so that when
AC supply tripped the battery bank comes to picture and supply to the control circuit of relay
and CB will not get interrupted.

 It’s also known that 230 V AC is 325 volts peak, 650 peak to peak. So an AC supply can actually
apply greater voltage than 230 volts DC.

 Renewable Energy
There are many forms of renewable energy. Most of these renewable energies depend in one
way or another on sunlight. Wind and hydroelectric power are the direct result of differential
heating of the Earth's surface which leads to air moving about (wind) and precipitation forming
as the air is lifted. Solar energy is the direct conversion of sunlight using panels or collectors.
Biomass energy is stored sunlight contained in plants. Other renewable energies that do not
depend on sunlight are geothermal energy, which is a result of radioactive decay in the crust
combined with the original heat of accreting the Earth, and tidal energy, which is a conversion of
gravitational energy.

 How Does a Wind Turbine Generate Electricity?

Wind power converts the kinetic energy in wind to generate electricity or mechanical power.
This is done by using a large wind turbine usually consisting of propellers; the turbine can be
connected to a generator to generate electricity, or the wind used as mechanical power to
perform tasks such as pumping water or grinding grain. As the wind passes the turbines it moves
the blades, which spins the shaft. There are currently two different kinds of wind turbines in use,
the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) or the Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT). HAWT
are the most common wind turbines, displaying the propeller or ‘fan-style’ blades and VAWT are
usually in an ‘egg-beater’ style.
Wind power involves converting wind energy into electricity by using wind turbines. A wind
turbine is composed of 3 propellers-like blades called a rotor. The rotor is attached to a tall
tower. On average wind towers in residential settings are about 20m high. The reason why the
tower is so tall is because winds are stronger higher from the ground and there’s less of a
buffeting effect.
 The speed of the wind rotates the blades of a rotor (between 10 and 25 rpm), producing
kinetic energy. The rotor then drives a generator that converts the mechanical energy into
electricity. The power of modern onshore wind turbines is in excess of 3 MW.

Difference
between
Manual
Switch and smart switch (home automation):

 The Manual Switch block is a toggle switch that selects one of its two inputs to pass through
to the output.
 A smart switch is still a light switch, but with advanced features that help automate your home.
They resemble traditional switches and plug into the same spaces that traditional outlets are
found, except:

1. They have radio wave capabilities that allow the switches to connect to a nearby wireless
network and become part of the Internet of Things. This makes the devices “smart” and gives
them an array of capabilities, including app or voice control.

2. Their design tends to be a bit more complicated. Some may have extra buttons for more specific
light control, while others may come with additional sensors or light indicators.

 Generator Manufacturers in Pakistan:

  Ignite Power , Perkins , Grupel , Lovol , Lister Petter
 Jasco , Honda , Elemax ,Yamaha ,Homage ,EuroPower ,Grannitto ,Aurora ,Hyundai
,GreenPower ,Firman ,Loncin ,Dynamac ,Lifan ,EMPower ,Angel

 Conductors galloping is the high-amplitude, low-frequency oscillation of overhead power

lines due to wind. The movements of the wires occur most commonly in the vertical plane,
although horizontal or rotational motion is also possible. The natural frequency mode tends to
be around 1 Hz, leading the often graceful periodic motion to also be known as conductor
dancing. The oscillations can exhibit amplitudes in excess of a meter, and the displacement is
sometimes sufficient for the phase conductors to infringe operating clearances (coming too
close to other objects), and causing flashover. The forceful motion also adds significantly to the
loading stress on insulators and electricity pylons, raising the risk of mechanical failure of either.

 A Stock bridge damper is a tuned mass damper used to suppress wind-induced vibrations on
slender structures such as overhead power lines . The dumbbell-shaped device consists of two
masses at the ends of a short length of cable or flexible rod, which is clamped at its middle to
the main cable. The damper is designed to dissipate the energy of oscillations in the main cable
to an acceptable level. Its distinctive shape gives it the nickname "dog-bone damper".

 Why reverse power relay is used?

The reverse power relay is used to protect a synchronous generator, running in parallel, from
motoring. The function of the reverse power relay is to prevent a reverse power condition in
which power flows from the bus bar into the generator.

 How the relays know to trip the circuit? (Due to electromagnet (heart) of the relay)
Relay Design: A relay is an electromagnetic switch that is used to turn on and turn off a circuit
by a low power signal, or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal.
There are only four main parts in a relay. They are

 Electromagnet
 Movable Armature
 Switch point contacts
 Spring
When current starts flowing through the control coil (wrapped around electromagnet),
the electromagnet starts energizing and thus intensifies the magnetic field. Thus the upper
contact arm starts to be attracted to the lower fixed arm and thus closes the contacts causing a short
circuit for the power to the load. On the other hand, if the relay was already de-energized when the
contacts were closed, then the contact move oppositely and make an open circuit.

Electrical Transmission Tower Types and Design

The main supporting unit of overhead transmission line is transmission tower. Transmission towers
have to carry the heavy transmission conductor at a sufficient safe height from ground. In addition to
that all towers have to sustain all kinds of natural calamities. So transmission tower designing is an
important engineering job where all three basic engineering concepts, civil, mechanical and electrical
engineering concepts are equally applicable.
A power transmission tower consists of the following parts,

1. Peak of transmission tower

2. Cross arm of transmission tower

3. Boom of transmission tower

4. Cage of transmission tower

5. Transmission Tower Body

6. Leg of transmission tower

7. Stub/Anchor Bolt and Base plate assembly of transmission

tower.

The main parts among these are shown in the pictures.

Peak of Transmission Tower

The portion above the top cross arm is called peak of transmission
tower. Generally earth shield wire connected to the tip of this
peak.

Cross Arm of Transmission Tower

Cross arms of transmission tower hold the transmission conductor. The dimension of cross arm depends
on the level of transmission voltage, configuration and minimum forming angle for stress distribution.

Cage of Transmission Tower

The portion between tower body and peak is known as cage of transmission tower. This portion of the
tower holds the cross arms.

Transmission Tower Body

The portion from bottom cross arms up to the ground level is called
transmission tower body. This portion of the tower plays a vital role for
maintaining required ground clearance of the bottom conductor of the
transmission line.

Design of Transmission Tower

During design of transmission tower the following points to be considered in mind,

 The minimum ground clearance of the lowest conductor point above the ground level.

 The length of the insulator string.

 The minimum clearance to be maintained between conductors and between conductor and
tower.

 The location of ground wire with respect to outer most conductors.

 The mid span clearance required from considerations of the dynamic behavior of conductor and
lightening protection of the line.

 To determine the actual transmission tower height by considering the above points, we have
divided the total height of tower in four parts,

1. Minimum permissible ground clearance (H1)

2. Maximum sag of the conductor (H2)

3. Vertical spacing between top and bottom conductors (H3)

4. Vertical clearance between ground wire and top conductor (H4).

Types of Transmission Tower

According to different considerations, there are different types of transmission towers. The transmission
line goes as per available corridors. Due to unavailability of shortest distance straight corridor
transmission line has to deviate from its straight way when obstruction comes. In total length of a long
transmission line there may be several deviation points. According to the angle of deviation there are
four types of transmission tower,

1. A – Type tower – angle of deviation 0o to 2o.

2. B – Type tower – angle of deviation 2o to 15o.

3. C – Type tower – angle of deviation 15o to 30o.

4. D – Type tower – angle of deviation 30o to 60o.

 As per the force applied by the conductor on the cross arms, the transmission towers can be
categorized in another way-

1. Tangent suspension tower and it is generally A - type tower.

2. Angle tower or tension tower or sometime it is called section tower. All B, C and D types of
transmission towers come under this category.
  Apart from the above customized type of tower, the tower is designed to meet special usages
listed below, these are called special type towers,

1. River crossing tower

2. Railway/ Highway crossing tower

3. Transposition tower

 Based on numbers of circuits carried by a transmission tower, it can be classified as-

1. Single circuit tower

2. Double circuit tower

3. Multi circuit tower.

 Dead-end Towers: angle deviation <60 degree

 Suspension Towers: angle deviation < 5 degree

 Transmission towers relay electric current, and come in several major types.

 Lattice Steel Towers

 Tubular Steel Poles
 Single and Double Circuit Towers
 Guyed Towers
 Suspension Straight Towers
 Suspension Angle Towers
 Anchor and Angle Tension Towers
 Terminal Transmission Towers

 Note about Over-excitation Relay: This protection must be connected to a transformer

winding with fixed number of turns.
If the transformer is supplied with tap changer the protection must be connected to a side without tap
changer. The side with the tap changer can withstand different voltages depending on the tap changer
position and is therefore not suitable for over excitation protection.
  Future of Renewable energy resources:

To keep up with the world's trend towards a cleaner, greener future Pakistan needs to invest heavily in
Solar, wind, tidal, and Biomass energy.

 Biomass: Being an agricultural economy Pakistan has a huge potential in leading the Biomass
Energy revolution. Pakistan has about 26,000,000 hectares of agricultural land which produces
wheat straw, rice straw, cane husks, cotton stalks, bagasse and other plant residue as a
byproduct which can be used as bio fuel. Animal manure produced by the 67,000,000 cattle and
municipal solid waste produced by sprawling major cities, is a very good bio fuel for energy
production at low costs. Currently there is little to no work being done in Pakistan towards a bio
energy powered future.
 Tidal: Pakistan has a coastline which is 1,045 km-long and is ripe for harnessing tidal wave
energy. The Indus river delta in Sindh which is 170 km-long has a vast amount of potential to be
used for production of electricity from tidal energy. Currently there is no work being done on
harnessing tidal wave energy in Pakistan and there are no plans for this in the near future.
  Wind : The government of Pakistan with assistance of China, has implemented wind power
energy generation plants in areas such as Bin Qasim, Keti Bandar, Jhimpir and Gharo where
electricity production has been a problem before.
Punjab on the other hand, being the most populous province of Pakistan with 111,000,000
residents does not have a single operational wind farm to date.
Pakistan has a mind blowing potential to produce 50,000 megawatts of energy using wind
power alone as reported by the Pakistan meteorological department.

 Solar: Last, but maybe the most important production method of clean renewable energy with
the highest potential in Pakistan. With the prices dropping at an exponential rate for the
production of solar panels, it is ripe time that Pakistan dips its toes into solar power production
and doubles down on renewable energy investments. To date, Pakistan is producing 2000 MW
of solar energy from two Photovoltaic installations, whereas the total potential of Pakistan is
close to 10 GW.
Thal, Kharan, Thar and Cholistan deserts are vast areas of unused land where sunlight shines for
approximately 8.5 hours throughout the day and 300 days of consistent sunshine throughout
the year, giving an average solar irradiance of 5.3 kwh/m²/day which puts Pakistan in the top
50 Solar Insolation Nations as reported by the NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE)
Data.

 Quaid-E-Azam Solar Park : The flagship solar installation of Pakistan which was supposed to
reach a fully operational capacity of 1 GW in 2017 has been struggling to maintain an output of
100 GW as of 2018. Like every other government project in Pakistan, this project has been facing
delays due to operational difficulties, corruption, tariff conflicts and plans of privatization. The
project which had a cost $131 million has been behind its completion date by a year and will be
delayed for the upcoming few years due to the ongoing corruption probe by the NAB.

 What is the main difference between surge impedance and characteristics impedance of a
transmission line?

In a power system network the characteristics impedance is given by the ratio of square root of series
impedance of transmission line (Z) to the shunt admittance of transmission line(Y).
Characteristics impedance = sq rt(Z/Y).
Z=R+jX , Y=G+jB
The characteristics impedance is calculated for the transmission line with losses.
The term Surge impedance is reserved for the special case of loss less line.
For the loss less line the resistance(R) and conductance(G) are zero.
Now the characteristics impedance of the transmission line is reduced to pure resistance in terms of
dimensions. Surge impedance = sqrt(L/C)
where, L -> inductance of transmission line
C ->capacitance of transmission line.
  What type of connection is used at transformers used at generation side and distribution side
(start, delta)? Why?

Generator side: The transformers are generally step up transformers with LV winding (i.e. primary)
connected in Delta and HV winding (i.e. secondary) connected in Star.
The advantages of using transformer's primary in delta are:
1) The line current gets divided by √3 and hence the cross-sectional area of the conductor to be used in
each of the three phases of the primary winding will be reduced. Thus saving in copper.
2) Delta connection provides a path for the third order harmonic current and hence no distortion
because of it.
The advantage of using transformer's secondary in star is:
1) On the secondary side, the line voltage is high and thus using star connection, the phase voltage will
be 1/√3 times line voltage. Thus the cost of insulation is saved. Also, the cost of insulation throughout
the transmission line is reduced.

Distribution Side: The transformers in distribution side are step down transformers. The HV winding is
connected to source and LV winding is connected to load. Here the LV winding (i.e. secondary) is always
star connected to provide a neutral point to consumers by which 3-phase can be converted to 1-phase.
The HV winding (i.e. primary) may be delta or star based upon the KVA rating of transformers and
economical aspects of insulation and cross-sectional area of conductor to be used.

 Errors in Current Transformer or CT

 The Current Error or Ratio Error in Current Transformer or CT:

From phaser diagram it is clear that primary current Ip is not exactly equal to the secondary current
multiplied by turns ratio, i.e. KTIs. This difference is due to the primary current is contributed by the core
excitation current. The error in current transformer introduced due to this difference is called current
error of CT or sometimes ratio error in current transformer.

 Phase Error or Phase Angle Error in Current Transformer:

For an ideal CT, the angle between the primary and reversed secondary current vector
is zero. But for an actual CT there is always a difference in phase between two
currents due to the fact that primary current has to supply the component of the
exiting current. The angle between the above two phases in termed as phase angle
error in current transformer or CT. Here in the pharos diagram it is β the phase
angle error is usually expressed in minutes.

 Cause of Error in Current Transformer

The total primary current is not actually transformed in CT. One part of the primary current is consumed
for core excitation and remaining is actually transformers with turns ratio of CT so there is error in
current transformer means there are both ratio error in current transformer as well as a phase angle
error in current transformer.

 How to Reduce Error in Current Transformer

It is desirable to reduce these errors, for better performance. For achieving minimum error in current
transformer, one can follow the following,

1. Using a core of high permeability and low hysteresis loss magnetic materials.

2. Keeping the rated burden to the nearer value of the actual burden.

3. Ensuring minimum length of flux path and increasing cross-sectional area of the core, minimizing
joint of the core.

4. Lowering the secondary internal impedance.

 Reflection coefficient: The reflection coefficient is a parameter that describes how much of an
electromagnetic wave is reflected by an impedance discontinuity in the transmission medium.
The reflection coefficient is a very useful quality when determining VSWR or investigating the
match between, for example, a feeder and a load.

 Reflection coefficient is a parameter closely associated with VSWR indicating the portion of the
signal that is reflected at the end of a feeder, etc.
 Where do we use the Fourier, Laplace and Z transforms, and why? What are the differences
among them?
 Laplace transform: A mathematical transformation from one domain to another. A time domain
analog signal is transformed to the Laplace domain by using a kernel, e^(−st), where t stands for
time and s is a complex number further represented as: s=σ+jω. As defined, the s-plane is a 2D
plane with a real and imaginary axis.

 Fourier transform: The kernel for the Fourier transform is : e^(−jω).It is a special case of the
Laplace transform evaluated along the imaginary axis.

 Z transform: This is the most useful since it is a digitization of the Laplace transform, and in
reality all DSP chips work with digital signals. Conformal mapping yields: z=e^s = e^ (σ+jω). This
mapping maps the imaginary axis of the s-plane to the unit circle on the z-plane. DC (ω=0) maps
to z = (1,0) and Nyquist (ω=π) maps to z = (-1,0).

 Discrete Fourier Transform: Special case of the Z-transform, evaluated at discrete points along
the unit circle (just like Fourier transform was a special case of the Laplace transform evaluated
on the imaginary axis).

 What causes galloping power lines? The most common cause of galloping lines is ice
that builds up on one side of a power line as a result of strong winds. Storms at any time
of the year can pack damaging winds, which can knock down power lines and blow trees
and limbs on to power lines, which can cause power outages.

 Difference between Galloping and Vibrations in T/L:

The conductors of transmission lines are subjected to a variety of motions caused by the wind.
The most common motions are Aeolian vibration, sub-conductor oscillation (bundled
conductors), galloping (generally associated with a light ice coating) and wind sway. Unless
controlled, motions of conductors can produce damage to the conductor and other elements of
the transmission system that will negatively affect the reliability and serviceability of the system.
Sub-conductor oscillations, galloping and wind sway are associated with higher wind velocities,
and in the case of galloping a light to moderate ice coating is required to initiate the motion.
These motions are generally characterized as low frequency, high amplitude. Aeolian vibration,
which is the subject of this paper, is associated with smooth (non-turbulent) winds in the range
of 2 MPH to 15 MPH, and can occur on a daily basis. In contrast to galloping and sub-conductor
oscillations, Aeolian vibration is characterized as high frequency, low amplitude motion.

 Power Triangle: The power which is actually consumed or utilized in an

AC Circuit is called True power or Active Power or real power. It is
measured in kilowatt (kW) or MW. The power which flows back and
forth that means it moves in both the direction in the circuit or react
upon it, is called Reactive Power. The reactive power is measured in
kilovolt-ampere reactive (kVAR) or MVAR. The product of root mean
square (RMS) value of voltage and current is known as Apparent Power.
This power is measured in KVA or MVA.
 Voltage in single phase meter is 220V and in three phase meter is 440V.

 Current Energy/Power data :

Demand: 12300MW
Generation: 14000MW
DISCO, S are drawing only: 11500MW (They are taking 11500MW only from NTDC)
Shortfall: 800MW
Generation Capacity: 28000MW
Transmission Capacity: Upto 22000MW

DISCO,S are drawing only 11500MW (hydel:2762MW ,GENCO,S: 1421MW, IPPs: 7160MW ,
nuclear: 951MW and the shortfall of 800MW is due to load shedding by DISCO,s advisedly in
those areas where people don't pay the bill. The less demand is due to the winters only, as in
summer, demand increased upto 24000/25000MW and generation was 20500MW due to the
old infrastructure of DISCO,s. So was shortfall of 4500MW. By the way installed capacity of
Pakistan is 28000MW. Pakistan is going to export 1000MW to Tajikistan and Afghanistan in
winter, 2018 currently, says Express Tribune and DAWN.

 Energy Mix:
Hydel: 29% , Nuclear: 4.5% , Thermal: 65.5% Others (Solar,Wind,etc): 1%

 What Grid Code:

 Shut
Reactor
 compensation at the receiving end might help to reduce the effect of Ferranti Effect. Shunt
Reactor absorbs the excess reactive power generation during no load / light load condition and
thus helps in stabilizing the voltage of Transmission Line.

 Clean Sources of Power;

Solar, Wind, Hydel, Geothermal, Natural Gas, Tidal, Nuclear, Waves

 Geothermal:
Most power plants need steam to generate electricity. The steam rotates a turbine that
activates a generator, which produces electricity. Many power plants still use fossil fuels to boil
water for steam. Geothermal power plants, however, use steam produced from reservoirs of
hot water found a couple of miles or more below the Earth's surface. There are three types of
geothermal power plants: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle

 Dry steam power plants draw from underground resources of steam. The steam is piped
directly from underground wells to the power plant, where it is directed into a
turbine/generator unit. There are only two known underground resources of steam in the
United States: The Geysers in northern California and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming,
where there's a well-known geyser called Old Faithful. Since Yellowstone is protected from
development, the only dry steam plants in the country are at The Geysers.

 Flash steam power plants are the most common. They use geothermal reservoirs of water with
temperatures greater than 360°F (182°C). This very hot water flows up through wells in the
ground under its own pressure. As it flows upward, the pressure decreases and some of the hot
water boils into steam. The steam is then separated from the water and used to power a
turbine/generator. Any leftover water and condensed steam are injected back into the
reservoir, making this a sustainable resource.

 Binary cycle power plants operate on water at lower temperatures of about 225°-360°F (107°-
182°C). These plants use the heat from the hot water to boil a working fluid, usually an organic
compound with a low boiling point. The working fluid is vaporized in a heat exchanger and used
to turn a turbine. The water is then injected back into the ground to be reheated. The water and
the working fluid are kept separated during the whole process, so there are little or no air
emissions.

 Why 500kv is used? Why not 550KV or 666 KV etc.?

Our infrastructure is liable to 500kv.We can use 550KV, 400KV but then we have to design all
the equipment’s for that voltage. And secondly it also depends on MW to be transmitted. We
have interconnected system. For this reason voltage should b same and if we increase the
voltage then the insulation of conductors ,transformers, switchgear and other apparatus should
be increased and we have to change the whole system in this way.
 The generation companies tends to generate round figure voltages like 10kV, 20kV, 60kV, 120kV
etc. But this huge voltage needs to be transmitted over huge distance. The overhead lines
 through which the power will be transmitted have its own impedance which will cause a
considerable amount of voltage drop. This drop as being calculated is near about 10% based on
all Physical factors. That’s why generation companies add 10% more in their actual target which
neutralizes the line losses and the receiving end gets the targeted result. So,
 Net Voltage = Target Voltage + 10% of Target Voltage
 → 132kV = 120kV + 12kV (10% of 120kV)
 → 66kV = 60kV + 6kV
 → 11kV = 10kV + 1kV

 What is BIL and how does it apply to transformers?

BIL is an abbreviation for Basic Insulation Level. Insulation levels in electrical equipment are
characterized by the withstand voltages used during the impulse test. Impulse test is a dielectric
test which consists of the application of a high frequency steep wave front voltage between
windings and between windings and ground. The BIL of a transformer is a method used to
specify the magnitude of the voltage surge that a transformer can tolerate without any damage
to the windings and live parts of the transformer. When lightning impulse over voltage appears
in the system, it is discharged through surge protecting device before the transformer gets
damaged. BIL rating specifies the minimum voltage that transformer can withstand under this
condition.
The method of testing of the transformer for BIL has been defined and set by IEEE and ANSI
standards. The wave shape has been also defined which is
commonly known as 1.2/50 μs voltage wave. The impulse
wave shape shows the magnitude of the voltage in KV (Kilo
volts), Rise time (tf, time that takes the voltage rise from zero
to its peak value in μs (Micro seconds)), and duration of the
surge (T) sometime referred as Tail time (time that takes the
voltage drop to 50% of its peak value in μs (Micro seconds).

 Can we drive whole load of Pakistan on wind:

No, because wind is not a reliable source of energy and its output varies from time to time. Also
frequency matching problem is more pronounced, as speed is slow. Secondly there are only few
areas where we can use wind energy like some parts of Sindh.
Pakistan need above 22,000 MW which is very difficult to achieve with wind turbines.

 What is XLPE SWA PVC cable?

Applications: Power cable suitable for power networks, direct burial, outdoors, indoors and
in cable ducts. Conductors: Plain annealed stranded copper. Insulation: XLPE (Cross linked polyethylene)
Bedding: PVC (Polyvinyl-Chloride) Armor/Protection: SWA (Galvanized single wire armor).
 What is the difference between the XLPE and PVC insulated Cable?
 XLPE is Cross-linked Polyethylene. The process of cross-linking or vulcanization consists of
producing chemical bonds at intervals between the long molecular chains to give a “ladder”
effect which prevents slippage between molecules. As a result of cross-linking, the material
becomes heat resistant and does not soften at high temperatures. It develops resistance to
stress cracking and ageing. With the change in structure, the XLPE derives superior electrical
 properties. XLPE Cables have higher current rating and longer service life compared to PVC
Cables. Under short circuit condition, this cable can withstand up to 250ºC temperature
compared to 160ºC for PVC cables.

 It also has higher overloading capacity under emergency conditions. XLPE Cables are ideal for
transmission and distribution of power because it has high
corrosion resistance under polluted atmosphere along with better resistance power against
chemicals and corrosive alkalis. Not only this, it can withstand vibration and hot impacts. It also
has 100 times more moisture resistance capacity compared to PVC. XLPE cables are used from
low voltage (600/1000 V) to 132 kV applications.

 Is XLPE thermoplastic or thermosetting?

This is why thermoset materials are sometimes called cross-linked. This is abbreviated with an
XL, as in XLPE for cross-linked polyethylene. Unlike thermoplastics, once thermoset materials
are molded, it is irreversible. If heat is continually applied to thermoset insulation it will burn
rather than melt.

 PVC Cables:
 PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) is widely used in electrical cable construction for insulation, bedding and
sheathing. It was the 1950s when PVC started to replace rubber insulated and sheathed cables
in general household wiring due to its ease of processing. PVC is cost-effective and also has
excellent ageing properties and typically exceeds a 25 to 30 year service life.
 It’s considered to be one of the most versatile of the common thermoplastics due to the fact
that its properties can be easily modified - although PVC is inherently hard and rigid it is easily
modified with plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricants and various other ingredients .
 Cable with a PVC insulation or sheathing is flame retardant, which is an important consideration
for electric cables in most applications. PVC can be made resistant to a wide range of chemicals
including oils, acids and alkalis, and is tough, durable and resistant to abrasion. The addition of
various additives can improve its temperature range, typically from -40 to 105°C, as well as the
resistance to sunlight, reduced smoke emission and improved water resistance.
 Voltage: 6350/11000v as main power distribution cable

 What is PILC cable?

PILC, paper insulated, lead covered high voltage mains power cable. Conductor: Plain annealed
stranded compacted copper. Core identification: Numbered cores. Insulation: M.I.N.D (Mass
impregnated non-draining) paper insulated, lead or lead alloy sheathed.
 PILC cables are generally used for 66 kV up to 33 kV applications.

 What is EPR cable?

Today, two dielectrics, namely XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) and EPR (ethylene propylene
rubber) are the choices for insulation in high voltage extruded cables rated up to 230 kV.
 The physical and electrical properties of cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) and ethylene
propylene rubber (EPR) are compared in the context of their use in transmission class cables.
Results indicate that the 138-kV XLPE cable has AC withstand/breakdown strength at least 25%
higher than the 150-kV EPR cable. The XLPE cable exhibits about 70% higher impulse strength
than the EPR cable. The loss factor of the XLPE cable is at least 20 times lower than that of EPR
cable. Thus with XLPE cables, the yearly energy savings can be on the order of 15 MWh/cct. Km
 for a 69-kV system, 52 MWh/cct. Km for a 138-kV system and 127 MHh/cct. Km for a 230-kV
system.

Efficiency of transmission Line

Power sent from sending end - line losses = Power delivered at receiving end.

 Extra High Voltage 110 kV, 132 kV, 220 kV, 400 kV
 Ultra-High Voltage 765kV
 High Voltage Direct Current ±500kV

 Why surveying is important?

 To optimize cost of transmission line
1) Line length, number of locations, deviations.
2) Minimum river crossings.
3) Minimum forest areas.
4) Accessibility, right of way considerations.
5) To assess route constraints and do construction planning.
 To ensure statutory clearances
1) Ground clearance.
2) Horizontal/Right of way clearance.
3) Clearances from power lines, railway lines, road crossings etc.

PLS CADD Power Line Systems –

Computer Aided Design and Drafting
PLS-CADD is the most powerful overhead power line design program.
PLS-CADD is a sophisticated three-dimensional engineering model.
The model can be viewed in a number of different ways: profile views, plan views, plan &
profile sheets, 3-D view etc. PLS-CADD supports
both automatic and manual spotting.

Tower Spotting
NORMAL SPAN:
It is the design span
ACTUAL SPAN:
It is the actual distance between two adjacent towers
NULL POINT:
It is a point in a span where the position of the conductor is lowest (or) it is a point in a span where the
sag is maximum.
WEIGHT SPAN:
The distance between two adjacent null points
WIND SPAN:
It is the distance between two center points of adjacent spans.

Transmission Tower Erection

Method of Tower Erection:
There are four main methods of erection of steel transmission towers which are described
below:
1) Build-up method or Piecemeal method.
2) Section method.
3) Ground assembly method.
 4) Helicopter method.

1) Build Up Method of Tower Erection

This method is most commonly used in India for the erection of 66kV, 132kV, 220kV and
400kV transmission line towers. This method consists of erecting the towers, member
by member. The tower members are kept on ground serially according to erection
sequence to avoid search or time loss.
2) Section Method of Transmission Tower Erection
In the section method, major sections of the tower are assembled on the ground and
the same are erected as units. These Units are erected with the help of mobile cranes.
3) Ground Assembly Method of Tower Erection
This method consists of assembling the tower on ground, and erecting it as a complete
unit. The complete tower is assembled in a horizontal position on even ground.
In India, this method is not generally adopted because of prohibitive cost of mobile
crane, and non-availability of good approach roads to tower locations.
4) Helicopter Method
In the helicopter method, the transmission tower is erected in section. Sometimes a
completely assembled tower is raised with the help of helicopter. This method is mostly
used where access to the tower location is limited.

Stringing of Conductors: (pulling the stranded conductors off)

There are four methods that can be used to install overhead transmission conductors:
1) Slack stringing: This type is normally limited to lower voltage lines and smaller
conductors. The conductors are normally placed on “Reels” or “Jack Stand” and
it is unreeled from the drum and dragged along the ground by vehicle or pulling
device.
2) Semi-tension stringing: Semi tension methods do not necessarily keep the
conductor completely clear of the ground, or the lines used to pull.
3) Full-tension stringing: This ensures that these current-carrying cables are
“clipped” into the support clamps in the best possible condition, which is the
ultimate goal of the work itself.
4) Helicopter stringing: Maximum efficiency can be achieved when structures are
set and pilot lines are pulled with the helicopter, and then the conductor
stringing is done in a conventional manner.
 Conductor Joints:
The points of conductor joints are the weakest spots in the overhead-lines system. Special
attention has to be paid to their mechanical strength and to warrant lowest possible transition
resistance. In overhead-line systems, rivet connectors, crimp connectors and bolted
connectors are being employed for joining stranded conductors. Moreover cone-type
connectors can be found.

Insulators and its Types:

 Pin Insulator
Pin Insulator is earliest developed overhead insulator, but still popularly used in power network
up to 33 KV system. Pin type insulator can be one part, two parts or three parts type, depending
upon application voltage. In 11 KV system we generally use one part type insulator where whole
pin insulator is one piece of properly shaped porcelain or glass.
 As the leakage path of insulator is through its surface, it is desirable to increase the
vertical length of the insulator surface area for lengthening leakage path. We provide
one, two or more rain sheds or petticoats on the insulator body to obtain long leakage
path. In addition to that rain shed or petticoats on an insulator serve another purpose.
We design these rain sheds or petticoats in such a way that while raining the outer
surface of the rain shed becomes wet but the inner surface remains dry and non-
conductive. So there will be discontinuations of conducting path through the damp pin
insulator surface.
 In higher voltage like 33KV and 66KV manufacturing of one part porcelain pin insulator becomes
difficult. Because in higher voltage, the thickness of the insulator becomes more and a quite
thick single piece porcelain insulator is not practical to manufacture. We generally use two parts
pin insulators for 33KV, and three parts pin insulator for 66KV systems.

 Post insulator
Post insulator is more or less similar to Pin insulator, but former is suitable for
higher voltage application. Post insulator has higher numbers of petticoats and
has greater height. We can mount this type of insulator on supporting structure
horizontally as well as vertically. The insulator is made of one piece of porcelain
and it has clamp arrangement are in both top and bottom end for fixing.

 Suspension Insulator:
In higher voltage, beyond 33KV, it becomes uneconomical to use pin insulator because size,
weight of the insulator become more. Handling and replacing bigger size single unit insulator are
quite difficult task. For overcoming these difficulties, suspension insulator was developed.
 In suspension insulator numbers of insulators are connected in series to form a string and the
line conductor is carried by the bottom most insulator. Each insulator of a suspension string is
called disc insulator because of their disc like shape.
Advantages of Suspension Insulator
1. Each suspension disc is designed for normal voltage rating 11KV (Higher
voltage rating 15KV), so by using different no. of discs, a suspension string
can be made suitable for any voltage level.
2. If any one of the disc insulators in a suspension string is damaged, it can be
replaced easily.
3. Mechanical stresses on the suspension insulator are less since the line
hanged on a flexible suspension string.
4. As the current carrying conductors are suspended from supporting structure
by suspension string, the height of the conductor position is always less than
the total height of the supporting structure. Therefore, the conductors may
be safe from lightening.
Disadvantages of Suspension Insulator
1. Suspension insulator string costlier than pin and post type insulator.
2. Suspension string requires more height of supporting structure than that for pin or post
insulator to maintain same ground clearance of current conductor.
3. The amplitude of free swing of conductors is larger in suspension insulator system,
hence, more spacing between conductors should be provided.
 Three types are cemented cap, interlinking suspension, and core suspension insulators.

 Strain Insulator
When suspension string is used to sustain extraordinary tensile load
of conductor it is referred as string insulator. When there is a dead
end or there is a sharp corner in transmission line, the line has to
sustain a great tensile load of conductor or strain. A strain insulator
must have considerable mechanical strength as well as the
necessary electrical insulating properties.
 Stay Insulator
For low voltage lines, the stays are to be insulated from
ground at a height. The insulator used in the stay wire is
called as the stay insulator and is usually of porcelain and is
so designed that in case of breakage of the insulator the
guy-wire will not fall to the ground.

 Shackle Insulator or Spool Insulator

The shackle insulator or spool insulator is usually used in low voltage
distribution network. It can be used both in horizontal and vertical position.
The use of such insulator has decreased recently after increasing the using
of underground cable for distribution purpose. The tapered hole of the
spool insulator distributes the load more evenly and minimizes the
possibility of breakage when heavily loaded. The conductor in the groove of
shackle insulator is fixed with the help of soft binding wire.

 Electrical Insulator is a very high resistive path through which practically no current can flow. In
transmission and distribution system, the overhead conductors are generally supported by
supporting towers or poles. The towers and poles both are properly grounded. So there must be
insulator between tower or pole body and current carrying conductors to prevent the flow of
current from conductor to earth through the grounded supporting towers or poles.
 Properties of Insulating Material
1. It must be mechanically strong enough to carry tension and weight of conductors.
2. It must have very high dielectric strength to withstand the voltage stresses in High Voltage
system.
3. It must possess high Insulation Resistance to prevent leakage current to the earth.
4. The insulating material must be free from unwanted impurities.
5. It should not be porous.
6. There must not be any entrance on the surface of electrical insulator so that the moisture or
gases can enter in it.
7. There physical as well as electrical properties must be less affected by changing temperature.

 Porcelain Insulator (as a material):

Porcelain in most commonly used material for overhead insulator in present days. The porcelain
is aluminium silicate. The aluminium silicate is mixed with plastic kaolin, feldspar and quartz to
obtain final hard and glazed porcelain insulator material. The surface of the insulator should be
glazed enough so that water should not be traced on it. Porcelain also should be free from
porosity since porosity is the main cause of deterioration of its dielectric property. It must also
be free from any impurity and air bubble inside the material which may affect the insulator
properties. Properties of Porcelain Insulator:
Dielectric Strength: 60 KV / cm Compressive Strength: 70,000 Kg / cm2
Tensile Strength 500 Kg / cm2
 Why does a capacitor block DC but pass AC?
  Capacitor is a device designed to hold capacitance, Capacitor was historically first known as an
electric condenser, Capacitance is the ability to store energy in the form of an electric charge.
 Capacitor in AC circuit: In below given circuit diagram,
We use a AC supply source, a capacitor and a lamp in
series.

In case of AC supply capacitor works as close circuit

(pass AC supply) because that the ratio of peak voltage to
peak current is due to capacitive reactance (denoted XC).XC
approaches zero as ω approaches infinity. If XC approaches
0, the capacitor resembles a short wire that strongly passes
current at high frequencies.

 Capacitor in DC circuit: In Case of DC circuit the

capacitor not passes current through it, because in DC case it works as an open
circuit. When we connected a DC power source (battery or any other source),
capacitor and a bulb (Lamp) in series, the lamp or bulb not turned on. DC
power source has zero frequency, due to zero frequency it’s work as an open
circuit, capacitive reactance XC is infinity. When XC approaches infinity as ω
approaches zero. If XC approaches infinity, the capacitor resembles an open
circuit.

 Is relay work on DC voltage? Is there working principal of AC relay and DC relay are different?
 DC or AC? Relays may be of any type: AC or DC. However, in general, DC relays are widely
preferred to AC relays in control systems of HT switchgear.
 Why? HT switchgears require a reliable power source for operation, which shall work even in
the event of power failures. We have battery banks as power backup for tackling such an event.
These battery banks inherently provide a DC output. If we use AC relays, we require an
additional inverter connected to the battery banks. The more equipment we add, higher is the
probability of failure. We therefore prefer DC relays that can directly work on output from the
battery bank.
 What is the difference between AC and DC relays?
 AC relays require higher margin of safety in terms of insulation resistance with respect to RMS
voltage.
 AC relays have a shading coil to overcome the problem of intermittent nature of alternating
voltages.
 DC relays have freewheeling diodes across them for faster commutation and dropping. This is
because DC does not have natural zero crossing unlike AC.

 Generation Code: The Generation Code covers the guiding principles, operating procedures and
Technical standards governing operation of the Electrical Power System Grid and all
interconnected generating facilities.
 What is diaphragm in transformer?
The rubber diaphragm and capsule for the large power transformer is a protective device to
prevent degradation of the transformer oil and ageing of insulation materials to prolong service
life of the transformer. It can be used in a fully sealed oil reservoir tank on the 110 kv, 220 kv
and 500kv transformers.

 What is the purpose of breather in transformer?

Function of Silica Gel Breather: Most of the power generation companies use silica gel
breathers fitted to the conservator of oil filled transformers. The purpose of these silica gel
breathers is to absorb the moisture in the air sucked in by the transformer during the
breathing process.

 What is MOG alarm in transformer?

The Magnetic Oil Gauge (MOG) is a device by which we can indicate the level of liquid/oil inside
the tank or conservator of power transformer. MOG also gives us an alert low oil level indication
with making mercury switch. It is connected at the bottom of the conservator tank.

 What is Color of silica gel in transformer?

Silica gel in the breather will be blue when installed and they turn to pink colour when they
absorb moisture which indicates the crystals should be replaced. These breathers also have an
oil cup fitted with, so that the dust particles get settled in the cup.

 What is OTI and WTI in transformer?

The thermometer is used for oil-insulated transformers to measure the temperature
of transformer oil (OTI) or the windings temperature (WTI) using the thermal image principle.

 What is PRD in transformer?

PRD (Pressure Relief Device) is a device which is used for avoiding high oil pressure builds up
inside the transformer during fault conditions. It is fitted on the top of the main tank.
The PRD allows rapid release of excessive pressure that may be generated in the event of a
serious fault. This device is fitted with an alarm/trip switch.

 Generator step-up transformers (GSU)

Generator step-up transformers (GSU) are the critical link between the power station and the
transmission network, often operated day and night at full load. They must be built to withstand
extreme thermal loading without ageing prematurely. ABB have successfully passed the world's
first and highest voltage short circuit test, on a 315 mega volt ampere (MVA), 765 kilovolt (kV)
generator step up transformer (GSU). GSU take the voltage from the generator voltage level up
to the suitable transmission voltage level. These transformers are located in a power station and
are built as single-phase or three-phase units.
There are two (2) basic technologies for designing and manufacturing: core and shell.
 Types of Conservator Tank:
 Atmoseal Type Conservator (Air-bags are used)
 In this type conservator of transformer, an air cell made of NBR material is fitted inside the
conservator reservoir. The silica gel breather is connected at the top of this air cell. The oil level
in the power transformer rises and falls according to this air cell deflated and inflated. When the
air cell gets deflated the air inside the air cell comes out via breather and on the other hand if
the cell is inflated the outside air comes in through breather.
This arrangement prevents direct contact of oil with air, thereby reduces ageing effect of oil.
The space available outside the cell in conservator tank is totally filled by oil. Air vents are
provided on the top of the conservator for venting accumulated air outside the air cell. The
pressure inside the air cell must be maintained 1.0 PSI.

 Diaphragm Sealed Conservator

Here diaphragm is used as a barrier between transformer oil and atmospheric air. In this case
the conservator of transformer is made of tow semicircular halves as shown below. The diphram
is held between the the two halves and bolted. As oil expands it pushes up the diaphragm. The
position of the diaphragm is indicated by the oil level indicator i.e. magnetic oil gauge (Here
MOG is not shown in the figure above) as the rod of this MOG is connected to the diaphragm.
When the oil level falls down in the conservator, the diaphragm
deflects and the atmospheric air fills the vacant place. This air is
sucked through silica gel breather which is connected to the top
middle of conservator tank of transformer. (Here silica gel breather is
not shown in the figure above) This type of conservator has one
advantage over air cell conservator. If gas is pressurized to a high
level, it gets dissolved in oil. Over a period of time the amount of gas
in oil reaches the saturation point. If at this stage, the load of
transformer is suddenly dropped or the ambient temperature falls
severely, the pressure falls, oil becomes supersaturated and the gas
bubbles will be evolved. If there is a pimp connected in the cooling circuit, it will help generating
bubbles. These bubbles may cause insulation failure in the region of strong fields. (Here silica gel
breather, MOG, Drain Valves, Air Pockets, Conservator to main tank connections are not shown
in the figure above).
 Clearance and Creepage Distance:
 Clearance is the shortest distance in air between two conductive parts. Larger clearances may
be required due to mechanical influences such as vibration or applied forces.
 Creepage (Leakage distance) is the shortest path between two conductive parts measured
along the surface of the insulation. When a flashover occurs in the system this Creepage
distance helps the flashovers not to interfere with the live systems.

 It represents the shortest distance along the surface of the insulator between the conductive
ends of the insulator. The objective in insulator design is to create an insulator shape that will
prevent current from “leaking” along the surface of the insulator from live electrical circuits to
ground. Current leakage is bad and will cause damage and eventually failure of the insulator.
Insulator geometry is critical to maintaining good creep distance. Engineers add “sheds” to the
insulator to maximize the creep distance. This helps in two ways. First, the geometry of a shed
increases the surface distance on the insulator from end to end. This increases the creep
distance. Second, the sheds are engineered in way to remove environmental contaminants
(salt, pollution, dust, etc.) from the insulator in rainy weather.

 Environmental contaminants have a strong effect on insulator performance. The more surface
contaminants on the insulator, the more likely you will have leakage current since many of the
contaminants are conductive. In general, areas of high contaminants require more than
31mm/kV of creep distance whereas clean areas need only 16mm/kV.Creep distance is a
critical aspect of insulator design. The higher the voltage level and the higher the contaminant
level, the more creep distance you will need.

 Improving the PF can maximize current-carrying capacity, improve voltage to equipment, reduce
power losses, and lower electric bills. The simplest way to improve power factor is to add PF
correction capacitors to the electrical system. PF correction capacitors act as reactive current
generators. Improving power factor means reducing the phase difference between voltage and
current.

 Synchronous Generators: The synchronous generator or alternator is an electrical machine

which converts the mechanical power from a prime mover into an AC electrical power at a
particular voltage and frequency. The synchronous motor always runs at the constant speed
called synchronous speed.
 The working principle of alternator is very simple. It is just like basic principle of DC generator. It
also depends upon Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction which says the current is induced
in the conductor inside a magnetic field when there is a relative motion between that conductor
and the magnetic field.

 Why an over excited synchronous generator generates reactive power and an under
excited synchronous generator absorbs reactive power?
Let us consider that the stator winding of synchronous generator is being excited by a DC source
and the rotor (Armature ) of synchronous generator carries 3-phase winding on it and supplies
power at output terminals with the help of slip rings, than:-
1) An over excited synchronous generator generates reactive power as its excitation is
increased (over excited ) means the magnetic field strength of the stator winding of the
synchronous generator is now increased more by increase in DC excitation , so in such a case
more flux will induce in stator winding and when this induced flux will interact with the rotor
(Armature ) 3-phase winding than more power (reactive power) will get developed. Thus the
over excited synchronous generator generates more reactive power on this principle.
2) Similarly Under excited synchronous generator absorbs reactive power as when it is under
excited means the DC excitation of the synchronous generator has been reduced, which results
in decrease in magnetic flux of stator. Thus when this less/low flux interact with rotor than it will
generate lagging reactive power i.e., it will absorbs reactive power. Thus the under excited
synchronous generator absorbs the reactive power on this principle.

 Types of Generator Protection: The various forms of protection applied to the generator can be
categorized into two manners,

1. Protective relays to detect faults occurring outside the generator.

2. Protective relays to detect faults occurring inside the generator.

 Other than protective relays, associated directly with the generator and its associated
transformer, there are lightning arrestors, over speed safe guards, oil flow devices and
temperature measuring devices for shaft bearing, stator winding, transformer winding and
transformer oil etc. Some of these protective arrangement are of non-trip type i.e. they only
generate alarm during abnormalities.
 But the other protective schemes ultimately operate master tripping relay of the generator. This
should be noted that no protective relay can prevent fault, it only indicates and minimizes the
duration of the fault to prevent high temperature rise in the generator otherwise there may be
permanent damage in it. It is desirable to avoid any undue tresses in the generator, and for that
it is usual practice to install surge capacitor or surge diverter or both to reduce the effects of
lightning and other voltage surges on the machine. The protection schemes usually applied to
the generator are discussed here below in brief.
 Protection against Insulation Failure
The main protection provided in the stator winding against phase to phase or phase to earth
fault, is longitudinal differential protection of generator. Second most important protection
scheme for stator winding is inter turn fault protection. This type of protection was considered
unnecessary in previous days because breakdown of insulation between points in the same
phase winding, contained in the same slot, and between which a potential difference exists, very
rapidly changes into an earth fault, and then it is detected by either the stator differential
 protection or the stator earth fault protection. A generator is designed to produce relatively
high voltage in comparison to its output and which therefore contains a large number of
conductors per slot. With increasing size and voltage of the generator, this form of protection is
becoming essential for all large generating units.
 Stator Earth Fault Protection:
When the stator neutral is earthed through a resistor, a current transformer is mounted in the
neutral to earth connection. Inverse Time Relay is used across the CT secondary when the
generator is connected directly to the bus bar. In case of generator feeds power via a delta star
transformer, an Instantaneous Relay is used for the same purpose. In the former case, the earth
faults relay is required to be graded with other fault relays in the system. This is the reason why
Inverse Time Relay is used in this case. But in the latter case, the earth fault loop is restricted to
the stator winding and primary winding of the transformer, hence, there is no need of grading
or discrimination with other earth fault relays in the system. That is why Instantaneous Relay is
preferable in the case.
 Rotor Earth Fault Protection
A single earth fault does not create any major problem in the generator but if the second earth
fault is occurred, however, part of the field winding will become short-circuited and resulting
and unbalanced magnetic field in the system and consequently there may be major mechanical
damage to the bearings of the generator. There are three methods available to detect the types
of fault in the rotor. The methods are,
Potentiometer method
AC injection method
DC injection method
 Unbalanced Stator Loading Protection:
Unbalancing in loading produces negative sequence currents in the stator circuit. This negative
sequence current produces a reaction field rotating at twice of synchronous speed with respect
to the rotor and hence induce double frequency current in the rotor. This current is quite large
and causes overheating in the rotor circuit, especially in the alternator. If any unbalancing
occurred due to fault in the stator winding itself, that would be cleared instantaneously by the
differential protection provided in the generator. If the unbalancing is occurred due to any
external fault or unbalanced loading in the system, it may remain undetected or may persist for
a significant period of time depending on the protection coordination of the system. These
faults then be cleared by installing a negative phase sequence relay with the characteristics to
match the withstand curve of the machine.
 Protection against Stator Overheating:
Overloading can causes overheating in the stator winding of the generator. Not only
overloading, failure of cooling systems and insulation failure of stator laminations also cause
overheating of the stator winding. The overheating is detected by embedded temperature
detectors at various points in the stator winding. The temperature detector coils are normally
resistance elements which form one arm of the Wheatstone bridge circuit. In the case of smaller
generator normally below 30 MW, the generators are not equipped with embedded
temperature coil but are usually fitted with thermal relay and they are arranged to measure the
current flowing in the stator winding. This arrangement only detects overheating caused by
overloading and does not provide any protection against overheating due to failure of cooling
systems or short circuited stator laminations. Although over current relays, negative phase
sequence relays, and devises for monitoring constant flow are also used to provide a certain
degree of thermal overload protection.
 Low Vacuum Protection: This protection usually is in the form of a regulator which compares
the vacuum against atmospheric pressure, it is normally fitted to the generator set above 30
MW. The modern practice is for the regulator to unload the set via the secondary governor until
normal vacuum conditions are restored. If the vacuum conditions do not improve below 21 inch
the stop valves are closed and the main circuit breaker is tripped.
 Protection against Lubrication Oil Failure: This protection is not considered essential since the
lubrication oil is normally obtained from the same pump as governor oil and a failure of the
governor oil will automatically make stop valve to close.
 Protection against Loss of Boiler Firing: Two methods are available for detecting the loss of
boiler firing. In the first method, normally opened (NO) contacts are provided with the fan
motors which may trip the generator if more than two motors fail. The second methods use a
boiler pressure contacts which unload the generator if boiler pressure falls below approximately
90%.
 Protection against Prime Mover Failure: If the prime mover fails to supply mechanical energy
to the generator, the generator will continue to rotate in motoring mode that means it takes
electrical energy from the system instead of supplying it to the system. In steam turbine set the
steam acts as a coolant maintaining the turbine blades at a constant temperature. Failure of the
supply will therefore result in overheating due to friction, with subsequent distortion of turbine
blades. The, failure of steam supply can cause severe mechanical damage in addition of
imposing a heavy motoring load on the generator. Reverse power relay is used for this purpose.
As soon as the generator starts rotating in motoring mode, the reverse power relay will trip the
generator set.
 Over Speed Protection: While it is the general practice to provide mechanical over speed
devices on both steam and hydro turbine, which operate directly on the steam throttle valve or
main step valve, it is not usual to backup this devises by an over speed relay on steam driven
sets. It is, however, considered good practice on hydroelectric units, as the response of the
governor is comparatively slow and the set is more prone to over-speed. The relay when fitted is
usually supplied from the permanent magnet generator used for the control of governor.
 Protection against Rotor Distortion: The cooling rates following shutdown, at the top and
bottom of the turbine casing, are different and this uneven temperature distribution tends to
cause destruction of the rotor. To minimize the disruption, it is common practice to turn the
rotor at low speed during the cooling down period. In the view of the forces involved with large
modern rotor, it is now standard practice to fit shaft eccentricity detectors.
 Protection against Difference in Expansion between Rotating and Stationary parts: During the
running up period, the rate of heating of the rotor differs from that of the casing, due to the
difference in mass. As a result, the rotor expands at a different rate to the casing and it is
necessary to overcome this unequal expansion. To this end, proposition is made on the larger
machine for independent supplies of steam to be set to certain joints on the casing. It is
desirable therefore to provide a means of measuring the axial expansion to assist the operator
to feed the steam to the correct points and also to provide indication of any dangerous
expansion. The shaft axial expansion detector is basically similar to the equipment described for
rotor distortion equipment, except that the detector magnets are fixed to the turbine casing.
 Protection against Vibration: Vibration detectors are usually mounted on the bearing pedestals.
The detector consists of a coil mounted on springs between U shaped permanent magnets. The
voltage output from the coil, which is proportional to the degree of vibration, is passed from the
coil into integrating circuits and then into interval indicating instrument.
 Back up Protection of Generator: Back up protection should always be given in highly rated
machine like synchronous generator or alternator. If faults occurred had not been cleared by the
appropriate protection scheme then back up protection relays should be operated to clear the
fault. Over current relays are generally used for this purpose. Because the synchronous
reactance of modern machine is often greater than hundred percent, the sustained fault current
fed from the machine into an external fault is invariably below the normal full load current. The
normal IDMT relays would not prove satisfactory because their current settings must be close to
the full load and their time sitting short if operation is to be obtained, resulting in probable lack
of discrimination with other over current relays in the system. Further, the over current relay
would most probably operate for loss of field on the machine, disconnecting it prematurely. To
overcome this problem, it has become customary to apply an over current relay in combination
with under voltage relay, the latter relay controlling the fault settings of the former.
 Differential Protection of a Generator: Differential
protection for a generator is mainly employed for
the protection of stator windings
of generator against earth faults and phase-to-
phase faults. The stator winding faults are very
dangerous, and it causes considerable damage to
the generator.

 Grounding Transformer: The grounding

transformer is used to provide a path to an
ungrounded system or when the system neutral is not available for some reason, for example,
when a system is delta connected. It provides a low impedance path to the neutral and also
limits the transient overvoltage when the ground faults occur in the system. The grounding of
the system can be done in the following way,

 By using a delta-star grounding transformer.

 By using a zig-zag grounding transformer

 Delta-Star Grounding Transformer

In a case of delta-star grounding transformer, the delta side is closed to provide a path for zero-
sequence current. The star winding must be of the same voltage rating as the circuit that is to
be grounded, whereas the delta voltage rating can be chosen to be any standard voltage level.
 The selection of the type of grounding depends on the type of
the system and its voltage levels. The following considerations
are made for the selection of the grounding

 Transient overvoltage developed.

 The Magnitude of ground-fault current as a percentage of 3-
phase fault current.
 Dip in line voltage due to fault conditions.
Generally, solid grounding is used for a low-voltage system up
to 600V. For voltages up to 11KV resistance grounding is used.
  Solid Grounding:
A power system is said to be effectively grounded or solidly grounded when
the neutral of a generator, power transformer or grounding transformer
are directly connected to the ground through a conductor of negligible
resistance and reactance. A part of a system or system is said to be solidly
grounded when the positive-sequence impedance of the system is greater
or equal to the zero sequence resistance, and positive sequence reactance
is three times greater than or equal to the zero sequence reactance.
For the solidly neutral grounded system, it is necessary that the ground
fault current should not exceed 80% of the three-phase fault. It is usually
used for keeping the fault current within safe limits.

 Neutral Grounding: In neutral grounding system, the neutral of the system or rotating system or
transformer is connected to the ground. The neutral grounding is an important aspect of power
system design because the performance of the system regarding short circuits, stability,
protection, etc., is greatly affected by the condition of the neutral. A three phase system can be
operated in two possible ways,
1. With ungrounded neutral
2. With a grounded neutral

1. Ungrounded Neutral System

In an ungrounded neutral system, the neutral is not connected to the grounded. In
other words, the neutral is isolated from the ground. Therefore, this system is also
known the isolated neutral system or free neutral system shown in the figure
below.

2. Grounded Neutral System

In neutral grounding system, the neutral of the system is connected to the ground.
Because of the problems associated with ungrounded neutral systems, the neutrals
are grounded in most of the high-voltage systems.

 Some of the advantages of neutral grounding are as follows

1. Voltages of phases are limited to the line-to-ground voltages.

2. Surge voltage due to arcing grounds is eliminated.
3. The over-voltages due to lightning discharged to ground.
4. It provides greater safety to personnel and equipment.
5. It provides improved service reliability.
  Method of Neutral Grounding: The methods commonly used for grounding the
system neutral are,

1. Solid grounding (or effective grounding)

2. Resistance Grounding
3. Reactance Grounding
4. Peterson-coil grounding (or resonant groundings)

 The selection of the type of grounding depends on the size of the unit, system voltage and
protection scheme to be used.

 Thevenin’s Theorem:
A more general statement of Thevenin’s Theorem is that any linear active network consisting of
independent or dependent voltage and current source and the network elements can be
replaced by an equivalent circuit having a voltage source in series with a resistance, that voltage
source being the open circuited voltage across the open circuited load terminals and the
resistance being the internal resistance of the source.
In other words, the current flowing through a resistor connected across any two terminals of a
network by an equivalent circuit having a voltage source Eth in series with a resistor Rth. Where
Eth is the open circuit voltage between the required two terminals called the Thevenin voltage
and the Rth is the equivalent resistance of the network as seen from the two terminals with all
other sources replaced by their internal resistances called Thevenin resistance.
 Zig-Zag Transformer:
A zig-zag transformer is used for providing grounding on the transformer. It provides insulation between
the ground and the component so that the system component may not be affected by the fault
currents. Zigzag transformer terminates the harmonics of the power system. It also protects the power
system by reducing the stress of the voltage under a fault
condition.
The zig-zag transformer has no secondary winding. It is a three-
limbed (branched) transformer. Each limbed has got two
identical windings. One set of windings is connected in the star
to provide the neutral point. The other ends of this set of
windings are connected to the second set of windings as shown
in the figure below. The direction of current in the two windings
on each limb is opposite to each other.
Under normal operating conditions the total flux in each limb is
negligibly small. Therefore, the transformer draws very small
magnetizing current. Under fault conditions, the impedance of
the grounding transformer is very low.
In order to limit the fault current, a resistor is connected in series
with the neutral grounding. It is designed for a short-time kVA
rating and for carrying the rated current for a very short time of
10 seconds.
  Resistance grounding:
In this type of neutral grounding, the neutral of the system is connected to ground through one or more
resistance. Resistance grounding limits the fault currents. It protects the system from transient
overvoltages. Resistance grounding decreases the arcing grounding risk and permits ground-fault
protection. The value of resistance used in the neutral grounding system should
neither be very high nor be very low shown in the figure below.

A very low resistance makes the system to the solidity grounded, whereas a very high
resistance makes the system ungrounded. The value of resistance is chosen such that
the ground-fault current is limited, but still sufficient ground current flows permit the
operation of ground faults protections. In general, the ground fault may be limited up
to 5% to 20% of that which occur with a three-phase line.

 Reactance Grounding
In reactance grounded system, a reactance is inserted between the neutral and
ground to limit the fault current as shown in the figure below.
To minimize transient overvoltages, the ground fault current in a reactance
grounded system should not be less than 25% of the three phase fault current. This
is considerably more than the minimum current desirable in resistance grounded
systems.

Peterson Coil Grounding: Peterson coil is an iron

core reactor connected between transformer neutral and ground. It is used for limiting the capacitance
earth fault current which is flowing when the line ground fault occurs in the line. The coil is provided
with the tapping so that it can be adjusted with the capacitance of the system. The reactance is selected
so that the current through the reactor is equal to the small line charging current which would flow into
the line-to-ground fault.

For balanced conditions

If IC is equal to IL there will be no current through the ground, and there will
be no tendency of the arcing grounds to occur. With the help of Peterson
coil neutral grounding, arc resistance is reduced to such a small value that
it is usually self-extinguishing. Therefore, Peterson coil is also known as a
ground fault neutralizer or arc suppression coil. Peterson coil is rated for a
short time of about 5 minutes, or it is designed to carry its rated current
continuously. It reduces the transient faults which occur due to lightning
and also minimized the single line-to-ground voltage drops.
  Reciprocity Theorem:
Reciprocity Theorem states that – In any branch of a network or circuit, the current due to a
single source of voltage (V) in the network is equal to the current through that branch in which
the source was originally placed when the source is again put in the branch in which the current
was originally obtained. This theorem is used in the bilateral linear network which consists
bilateral components.
 Superposition Theorem:
Superposition theorem states that in any linear, active, bilateral network having more than one source,
the response across any element is the sum of the responses obtained from each source considered
separately and all other sources are replaced by their internal resistance. The superposition theorem is
used to solve the network where two or more sources are present and connected.
In other words, it can be stated as if a number of voltage or current sources are acting in a linear
network, the resulting current in any branch is the algebraic sum of all the currents that would be
produced in it, when each source acts alone, all the other independent sources are replaced by their
internal resistances. It is only applicable to the circuit which is valid for the ohm’s law (i.e., for the linear
circuit).

 Compensation Theorem
Compensation Theorem states that in a linear time invariant network when the resistance (R) of
an uncoupled branch, carrying a current (I), is changed by (ΔR). The currents in all the branches
would change and can be obtained by assuming that an ideal voltage source of (VC) has been
connected such that VC= I (ΔR) in series with (R + ΔR) when all other sources in the network are
replaced by their internal resistances.

In Compensation Theorem, the source voltage (VC)

opposes the original current. In simple words
compensation theorem can be stated as – the
resistance of any network can be replaced by a voltage
source, having the same voltage as the voltage drop
across the resistance which is replaced.

 Norton’s Theorem:
Norton’s Theorem states that – A linear active network consisting of independent or dependent voltage
source and current sources and the various circuit elements can be substituted by an equivalent circuit
consisting of a current source in parallel with a resistance. The current source being the short-circuited
current across the load terminal and the resistance being the internal resistance of the source network.

The Norton’s theorems reduce the networks equivalent to the circuit having one current source, parallel
resistance and load. Norton’s theorem is the converse of Thevenin’s Theorem. It consists of the
equivalent current source instead of an equivalent voltage source as in Thevenin’s theorem. The
determination of internal resistance of the source network is identical in both the theorems.

In the final stage that is in the equivalent circuit, the current is placed in parallel to the internal
resistance in Norton’s Theorem whereas in Thevenin’s Theorem the equivalent voltage source is placed
in series with the internal resistance.
  Maximum Power Transfer Theorem:
Maximum Power Transfer Theorem can be stated as – A resistive load, being connected to a DC
network, receives maximum power when the load resistance is equal to the internal resistance
known as (Thevenin’s equivalent resistance) of the source network as seen from the load
terminals. The Maximum Power Transfer theorem is used to find the load resistance for which
there would be the maximum amount of power transfer from the source to the load.

 The maximum power transfer theorem is applied to both the DC and AC circuit. The only
difference is that in AC circuit the resistance is substituted by the impedance. The maximum
power transfer theorem finds their applications in communication systems which receive low
strength signal. It is also used in speaker for transferring the maximum power from an amplifier
to the speaker.

 Mesh Current Analysis Method:

Mesh Current Analysis Method is used to analyze and solve the electrical network having various
sources or the circuit consisting of several meshes or loops with a voltage or current sources. It is also
known as Loop Current Method.
In the Mesh Current method, a distinct current is assumed in the loop and the polarities of drops in each
element in the loop is determined by the assumed direction of loop current for that loop. The unknown
in mesh current analysis is the current in different meshes, and the law which is applicable to solve the
circuit by the mesh current method is known as Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law(KVL) which states that –
“In any closed circuit, the net voltage applied is equal to the sum of the product of current and
resistance or in another word in any closed circuit; the sum of the voltage rise is equal to the sum of
voltage drop, in the direction of current flow”.

 Millman’s Theorem
The Millman’s Theorem states that – when a number of voltage sources (V1, V2, V3……… Vn) are in
parallel having internal resistance (R1, R2, R3………….Rn) respectively, the arrangement can replace by a
single equivalent voltage source V in series with an equivalent series resistance R. In other words; it
determines the voltage across the parallel branches of the circuit, which have more than one voltage
sources, i.e., reduces the complexity of the electrical circuit.
This Theorem is given by Jacob Millman. The utility of Millman’s Theorem is that the number of parallel
voltage sources can be reduced to one equivalent source. It is applicable only to solve the parallel
branch with one resistance connected to one voltage source or current source. It is also used in solving
network having an unbalanced bridge circuit.

 Tellegen’s Theorem
Tellegen’s Theorem states that the summation of power delivered is zero for each branch of any
electrical network at any instant of time. It is mainly applicable for designing the filters in signal
processing. It is also used in complex operation systems for regulating the stability. It is mostly used in
the chemical and biological system and for finding the dynamic behavior of the physical network.

Tellegen’s theorem is independent of the network elements. Thus, it is applicable for any lump system
that has linear, active, passive and time-variant elements. Also, the theorem is convenient for the
network which follows Kirchhoff’s current law and Kirchhoff’s voltage law.
  Conductance:

The base of the Admittance triangle is known as Conductance, shown in the figure above.

The value of conductance is always positive irrespective of the circuit parameters.

 Susceptance:

The perpendicular of the Admittance triangle is called Susceptance.

Susceptance is positive for capacitive reactance and is negative for inductive reactance.

 Peak Value, Average Value and RMS Value

 Peak Value
Definition: The maximum value attained by an alternating
quantity during one cycle is called its Peak value. It is also
known as the maximum value or amplitude or crest value.
The sinusoidal alternating quantity obtains its peak value at
90 degrees as shown in the figure below. The peak values of
alternating voltage and current is represented by Em and Im
respectively.
 Average Value
Definition: The average of all the instantaneous values of an alternating voltage and currents
over one complete cycle is called Average Value.
If we consider symmetrical waves like sinusoidal current or voltage waveform, the positive half
cycle will be exactly equal to negative half cycle. Therefore, the average value over a complete
cycle will be zero. The work is done by both, positive and negative cycle and hence the average
value is determined without considering the signs. So the only positive half cycle is considered
to determine the average value of alternating
quantities of sinusoidal waves.
  R.M.S Value
Definition: That steady current which, when flows through a resistor of known resistance for a given
period of time than as a result the same quantity of heat is produced by the alternating current when
flows through the same resistor for the same period of time is called R.M.S or effective value of the
alternating current.
In other words, the R.M.S value is defined as the square root of means of squares of instantaneous
values.
Ieff = square root of mean of squares of instantaneous values = R.M.S value
Root Mean Square is the actual value of an alternating quantity which tells us an energy transfer
capability of an AC source. The ammeter records the RMS value of alternating current and voltmeter
record’s the root mean square (R.M.S) value of alternating voltage. The domestic single phase AC supply
is 230 V, 50 hertz, where 230 V is the R.M.S value of alternating voltage.
The values of voltage and the current system in a DC circuit is constant, so there is no issue in evaluating
their magnitudes, but in an AC system, the alternating voltage and current vary from time to time and
hence it is necessary to evaluate their magnitudes. The following three ways (peak value, Average value
and R.M.S value) given above are adopted to express the magnitude of the voltage and current.

 Parallel Resonance:
Parallel Resonance means when the circuit current is in phase with the applied voltage of an AC
circuit containing an Inductor and a Capacitor connected together in parallel.
 Synchronous Machine:
Synchronous Machine constitutes of both synchronous motors as well as synchronous
generators. An AC system has some advantages over DC system. Therefore, the AC system is
exclusively used for generation, transmission and distribution of electric power. The machine
which converts mechanical power into AC electrical power is called as Synchronous Generator
or Alternator. However, if the same machine can be operated as a motor is known as
Synchronous Motor.
A synchronous machine is an AC machine whose satisfactory operation depends upon the
maintenance of the following relationship.

…………..> Eq-1

Where,

Ns is the synchronous speed in revolution per minute (r.p.m)

f is the supply frequency

P is the number of poles of the machine.

When connected to an electric power system, a synchronous machine always maintains the
above relationship shown in the equation (1).
 If the synchronous machine working as a motor fails to maintain the average speed (Ns) the
machine will not develop sufficient torque to maintain its rotation and will stop. Then the motor
is said to be Pulled Out of Step.
In case, when the synchronous machine is operating as a generator, it has to run at a fixed
speed called Synchronous speed to generate the power at a particular frequency. As all the
appliances or machines are designed to operate at this frequency. In some countries, the value
of the frequency is 50 hertz.

 Working Principle of Synchronous Generator

The synchronous generator works on the principle of Faraday laws of electromagnetic induction. The
electromagnetic induction states that electromotive force induced in the armature coil if it is rotating in
the uniform magnetic field. The EMF will also be generated if the field rotates and the conductor
becomes stationary. Thus, the relative motion between the conductor and the field induces the EMF in
the conductor. The wave shape of the induced voltage always a sinusoidal curve.

 Applications of Synchronous Generator

The three-phase synchronous generators have many advantages in generation, transmission and
distribution. The large synchronous generators use in the nuclear, thermal and hydropower system for
generating the voltages.
The synchronous generator with 100MVA power rating uses in the generating station. The 500MVA
power rating transformer use in the super thermal power stations. The synchronous generators are the
primary source of the electrical power. For the heavy power generation, the stator of the synchronous
generator design for voltage ratings between 6.6 kV to 33 kV.

 Sumpner's Test or Back-To-Back Test on Transformer:

Sumpner's test or back to back test on transformer is another method for
determining transformer efficiency, voltage regulation and heating under loaded
conditions. Short circuit and open circuit tests on transformer can give us parameters
of equivalent circuit of transformer, but they cannot help us in finding the heating information.
Unlike O.C. and S.C. tests, actual loading is simulated in Sumpner's test. Thus the Sumpner's test
gives more accurate results of regulation and efficiency
than O.C. and S.C. tests.

 Method: Sumpner's test or back to back test can be

employed only when two identical transformers are
available. Both transformers are connected to supply
such that one transformer is loaded on another.
Primaries of the two identical transformers are
connected in parallel across a supply. Secondaries are
connected in series such that emf's of them are
opposite to each other. Another low voltage supply is
connected in series with secondaries to get the
readings, as shown in the circuit diagram shown below.
  What is lightning?

Lightning is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere when two neighboring clouds
of opposite charges strike each other or between a negative cloud and a grounded object on
earth. It is associated with an electrical discharge and huge sound during a thunderstorm. The
phenomenon of Lightning introduces lightning surges in transmission network. The Lightning
strokes on transmission lines are of two type direct strokes and induced strokes. When a
thunder cloud directly discharges on a transmission line tower or line wire it is called a direct
stroke. It is the most severe form of lightning stroke and is rare on transmission systems and
only induced strokes occurs.
When a thunderstorm generates negative charges at its ground end, the earthed objects
develop induced positive charge. The earthed objects of interest are transmission lines and
towers. Normally, it is expected that the lines are unaffected because they are insulated by
strings of insulators.
However because of high field gradients involved the positive charges leak from the tower along
the insulator surfaces to the line conductors. This process may take considerable time in the
order of some hundreds of seconds. When the cloud discharges to some earthed object other
than the line conductor, the transmission line conductor is left with a high concentration of
positive charge which cannot leak suddenly. The transmission line and the ground will act as a
huge capacitor carrying a positive charge and hence over voltages occur due to these induced
charges. This would result in a stroke which is commonly known as an “induced” lightning
stroke.
As a result of a direct stroke or an induced stroke, a large current impulse is injected into the
line conductor which produces a voltage surge in the line as high as 5,000kV. However on an
average most of the lightning strokes give rise to voltage surges of less than 1000kV on
overhead lines.

 What is Impulse?

An impulse is defined as a unidirectional voltage (or current) rising quickly to its peak value and then
decaying slowly to zero. An impulse voltage is characterized by its peak value Vp, its front time “tf” and
its tail time or time to half “tt”. Thus an impulse has 2 parts i.e. a rising part which is usually realized by
charging a capacitor and a decaying part which is realized by discharging a capacitor.
Impulse voltages are used to simulate the stresses imposed on high voltage apparatus due to lightning
or switching surges.

 Why is Lightning Impulse test done on Distribution transformers?

Insulation is recognized as one of the most important constructional elements of a transformer. Its chief
function is to confine the current to useful paths, preventing it flow into harmful channels. Any
weakness of insulation may result in failure of the transformer. A measure of the effectiveness with
which insulation performs is the dielectric strength of transformer. The purpose of the impulse test is to
determine the ability of the transformer insulation to withstand the transient voltages due to lightning.
It is well known that power system components are subjected to severe over voltage due to internal
switching or external lightning surges. Consequently the integrity of the individual components, devices,
and subsystems must be checked through high voltage surge testing.
  Lightning Impulse Test on Transformer (400KV/15KV, 160MVA) (ABB)

 System disturbances from lightning can be represented by three basic wave shapes- full wave,
chopped wave and front-of-waves.
 Lightning Impulse is generated using an Impulse Generator in impulse test.
 Max. Test voltage amplitudes:
> 2.1 MV lightning impulse
> 1.6 MV switching impulse

 Under voltage relays: A relay that has

contacts that operates when the voltage drops
below a set voltage. Under voltage relays are
used for protection against voltage drops, to
detect short-circuit faults, etc.
Applications of under voltage relay:

1. Power control panels where the raw power is

controlled and monitored before supplying to
the load.
2. Crane/ Hoists where the special application
motor protection is very important.
3. Motor protection in escalator/ conveyor belts.
4. In electrical substations, where the PT secondary is monitored continuously.
5. In agricultural sectors, where the pump protection is important because of under voltage supply
in village areas.
6. Panels installed in Building, shopping mall to ensure the correct voltage parameters supplied to
costly equipment.

Frequency relays: (Over-frequency/Under-frequency)

The frequency relay SPAF 140C is designed to be used for the protection of
power generators and other AC equipment against over-frequency and
under-frequency. The operation of the relay can be based on the definite
time principle, on the rate of frequency change principle, or on a
combination of these two principles. In generator protection applications
the relay protects the generator and the prime mover against hazardous
over- speeding and/or under-speeding. The relay can also be used for the
protection of large synchronous motors in networks where automatic
network restoration is used. The relay isolates the motor from the network
in the event of an outage, averting dangerous unsynchronized connection.

The relay module includes four frequency stages. Each frequency stage can
be set to operate as an over-frequency (f>) stage or an under frequency (f<)
stage with definite time characteristic.
Further, each stage can be set to function as a rate of change of frequency (df/dt) stage. When the start
frequency of a stage is set below the rated frequency, the stage operates as an under-frequency stage.
Correspondingly, the stage has the function of an over-frequency stage, when the start frequency is set
above the rated frequency. The frequency setting cannot be the same as the rated frequency.
The operation of the df/dt function of a protection stage is based on the same principle as the frequency
function, which means that if a stage operates as an under-frequency stage, the sign of the df/dt
function is negative.

 Then the df/dt function starts once the absolute value of the rate of frequency drop exceeds the
set df/dt value. When required by the application, the definite time principle and the rate of
change principle can be combined so that the criteria for operation of both functions have to be
fulfilled at the same time to enable operation of the stage. Once a preset condition is fulfilled,
the stage starts and, at the same time, it activates a timing circuit. No start signal can be
assigned for the output relays. When the stage times out, the relay produces a trip signal. The
trip signal can be assigned to the desired output relay.

 Over-speed Protection of Generators: For Over-speed protections, 6 speed sensors are

connected to sense the speed along with mechanical over-speed switch for back-up protection if
the sensors fail to sense the speed. Normally for 3000 RPM, 3 settings are there, 31000, 32000,
and 33000.

 HVDC Circuit Breaker:

The HVDC circuit breaker is a switching device that interrupts the flow of abnormal direct
current in the circuit. When the fault occurs in the system, the mechanical contacts of the circuit
breaker are pulled apart and thus their circuit is open. In HVDC circuit breaker, circuit breaking is
difficult because the current flow through it is unidirectional and there is no zero current.

 The main application of the HVDC circuit breaker is to interrupt the high voltage direct current
flows in the network. AC circuit breaker easily interrupts the arc at natural current zero in the AC
wave. At zero current, the energy to be interrupted is also zero. The contact gap has to recover
the dielectric strength to withstand natural transient recovery voltage.

 With DC circuit breakers, the problem is more complex as the DC waveform does not have
natural current zeros. Forced arc interruption would produce high transient recovery voltage
and restrike without arc interruption and ultimate destruction of the breaker contacts. In
designing of HVDC circuit breakers, there are three main problems to be overcome. These
problems are;
> Creation of artificial current zero
> Prevention of restrikes arc
> Dissipation of stored energy
 The artificial current zero principles are used in HVDC circuit breakers
for arc extinction. By introducing a parallel L-C circuit, the arc current
is subjected to oscillations. These oscillations are severe and have
several artificial current zeros. The breaker extinguishes the arc at
one of the artificial current zeros. The crest current of the oscillation
must be greater than the direct current to be interrupted.
  Phase Failure Relay: monitors three phase AC supplies for
 Phase failure
 Phase Imbalance
 Incorrect Phase Sequence

The Phase Failure Relay is a phase-voltage-balance monitoring device designed for use with magnetic
controls to automatically prevent three phase motors or other equipment from operating or attempting
to start up under open phase or single-phase conditions, thereby eliminating burnouts and consequent
down-time frequently incurred by phase failure.
Phase Failure Relay is not a thermal device. It operates on the principle of phase voltage unbalance
which may occur in a three phase system. It also protects against phase loss.
 Operation:
Phase Failure Relay is a self-contained power sensing device. In normal operation the incoming phases
of the three phase voltage applied to our power-sensing network are in balance. When any phase
becomes more than 12% unbalanced from the other two (either low or high), or a phase loss occurs, the
sensing network will deliver an output voltage to activate the transistor circuit. This will cause the
master output relay on the Phase Failure Relay to trip (either dropout or pickup depending upon model).
A time delay of approximately 1 ½ seconds is incorporated to eliminate the possibility of nuisance
tripping.
 Applications:
Phase Failure Relay can be used to protect any magnetically controlled three phase equipment that
would be damaged if subjected to abnormal phase conditions such as single phasing. It is designed to
monitor any three phase supply line, and can be used with any type of actuating controls such as push
button stations, thermostats, pressure or float switches. It may also be used in a trip circuit utilizing
manually operated starters in conjunction with shunt or capacitive trip devices. Typical applications are
as follows:
 Any three phase motor.
 Unattended motors, such as ventilation fans.
 Pumps, refrigeration equipment, air conditioning units, welders, and computers.

 What is negative sequence relay?

A relay which protects the electrical system from negative sequence component is called
a negative sequence relay or unbalance phase relay. The negative sequence relay protects the
generator and motor from the unbalanced load which mainly occurs because of the phase-to-
phase faults.

Time Settings for Distance Relay: (used in NTDC lines)

Tz1=instantaneous time= <100ms=less than 0.1 sec,,,,, Tz2 = 450,300ms msec = 0.45 sec

Tz3 = 700 msec = 0.7 sec

 160MVA 220/132KV Autotransformer T1 Relays Settings

HV Side Main CT Ratio: 1200/1 LV Side Main CT Ratio: 1600/1

Name Of Equipment Controlling Name of Protection & Settings

breakers relay Type
160MVA 220/132KV D1Q2,D1Q3,E1Q1 (a) HV O/C and E/F Relay Type CT Ratio=1200/1
Autotransformer T1 MCGG 52
O/C setting=0.4A
Characteristics=SI
TDS=0.3, Inst:20A
E/F Setting=0.2A,
Characteristics=SI
TDS=0.3 Instt; 20A
(b) LV O/C and E/F Relay CT Ratio=1600/1
MCGG 52
O/C setting=0.5A TDS: 0.175
E/F Setting=0.2A, TDS=0.175
O/C Instantaneous: 20A
E/F Instantaneous : 1A
Characteristics=SI
(c) Tertiary O/C Relay Type CT Ratio=1200/1
MCGG 22
O/C setting=0.35 , TDS=0.32
Characteristics=Definite Time
(d) REF-87 Relay type MCAG- O/C setting=0.2A , t=20ms
14

(e) Over load Relay type CT Ratio=1200/1

CTU-12, (Stage 1)
Setting=0.7 A,
TDS: 0.1 time=10min
(f) Over load Relay type CT Ratio=1200/1
SPAJ 140C, (Stage 2)
Setting=0.8 A, time=180sec
(g) Over excitation Relay Type Alarm=113V, Trip=115V
RATUB, ABB
K=1 Start knob: 2.1

(h) Differential Relay Type HV side: O/C Setting=0.3 A

MBCH HV Side
LV side: O/C Setting=0.3 A
Rated Current=1 A
(i) Breaker Failure MCTI 40,
O/C Phase plug setting =0.8
MCTI39
t=300ms
 10/13MVA 132/11.5KV Transformer T3:

Equipment Circuit Breakers Relay Installed Relay Settings

10/13 MVA E10Q1 (a) Differential Relay HV Side:
132/11.5 KV Power 7UT SIEMENS
CT Ratio=100/1
Transformer T3
0.26 A
LV side:
CT Ratio=800/5
1.83A
(b) O/C, E/F Relay O/C setting=0.65A
7SJ5001 SIEMENS
E/F Setting=0.2A
Characteristics: NI

 HVDC:
 Line-Commutated Current Sourced Converters
The invention of mercury arc rectifiers in the nineteen-thirties made the design of line-
commutated current sourced converters possible.
In 1941, the first contract for a commercial HVDC system was signed in
Germany: 60 MW were to be supplied to the city of Berlin via an underground cable of 115 km
length. The system with ±200 kV and 150 A was ready for energizing in 1945. It was never put
into operation. Since then, several large HVDC systems have been realized with mercury arc
valves.
The replacement of mercury arc valves by thyristor valves was the next major development. The
first thyristor valves were put into operation in the late Nineteen-seventies. The outdoor valves
for Cahora Bassa were designed with oil-immersed thyristors with parallel/series connection of
thyristors and an electromagnetic firing system. Further development went via air insulated air-
cooled valves to the air insulated water-cooled design, which is still state of the art in HVDC
valve design.
The development of thyristors with higher current and voltage ratings has eliminated the need
for parallel connection and reduced the number of series-connected thyristors per valve. The
development of light-triggered thyristors has further reduced the overall no. of components and
thus contributed to increased reliability. Innovations in almost every other area of HVDC have
been constantly adding to the reliability of this technology with economic benefits for users
throughout the world.
 Self-Commutated Voltage Sourced Converters:
Voltage sourced converters require semiconductor devices with turn-off capability. The
development of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) with high voltage ratings have
accelerated the development of voltage sourced converters for HVDC applications in the
lower power range. The main characteristics of the voltage sourced converters are a compact
design, four-quadrant operation capability and high losses.
Siemens is offering voltage sourced converters for HVDC applications with ratings up to 250 MW
under the trade name HVDC plus Power Link Universal Systems.
 Main components of HVDC are are:
 Thyristor valves
 AC,DC and active Harmonic filters
 Converter transformers
 Smoothing reactors
 Surge Arrestors
 DC transmission circuits
 DC transmission lines
 High speed Dc switches
 Earthing /Grounding Electrodes

 Booster Transformer:
Booster transformer is one which is often used towards the end of a power line to raise the
voltage to the desired value. It is used for controlling the voltage of a feeder at a point far away
from the main transformer.

The secondary of the booster transformer is connected in series with the line, and its primary is
supplied from the secondary of the regulating transformer. The output winding of the regulating
transformer is so connected to the primary of the booster transformer that the voltage injected
in the line VB is in phase with the supply VS.
By changing taps on the regulating transformer, the magnitude of VB can be changed and thus
feeder voltage VF can be regulated. The rating of regulating transformer is only the fraction of
that the main transformer. It is given by the expression.
 The advantage of the above system is that the regulating equipment is independent of the main
transformer so that a failure in the former will not throw the latter out of service.
Booster transformer is used in railways for eliminating the flow of stray current. The stray
current disturbs the communication system and also damages the electronic devices of the
trains passing through them.

 Regulating Transformer:
Definition: The transformer which changes the
magnitude and phase angle at the certain point in
the power system is known as the regulating
transformer. It is mainly used for controlling the
magnitude of bus voltage and for controlling the
power flow, which is controlled by the phase angle of
the transformer. They provide the small component
of voltage between the line or phase voltage.
The main function of the regulating transformer is to
control the magnitude of voltage and power flow of
the transmission line. The regulating transformer is of
two types. One is used for changing the magnitude of
voltage which is called online tap changing
transformer and the other is called phase shifting
transformer. The regulating transformer compensates
the fluctuation of voltage and current.

 Scott-T Transformer Connection:

Definition: The Scott-T Connection is the
method of connecting two single phase
transformer to perform the 3-phase to 2-
phase conversion and vice-versa. The two
transformers are connected electrically but
not magnetically. One of the transformers is
called the main transformer, and the other is
called the auxiliary or teaser transformer.

 Advantage of series reactors:

Yes it behaves as an inductive load.
Sometimes we have to limit the short circuit
current and bring down the value of fault
current to a small value; in that case series reactors are used. When there is no other option
then it is wise to use. Series reactors have advantages in case of surges or lightening.
 Short circuit current carrying capacity depend upon the short circuit impedance of the source
when a fault occurs in a system the resistance of a system equal to zero and the maximum
current flow from the source but there is short circuit impedance which oppose the flow of
current.

 What is the difference between smart meters and power metering using powerline
communication?
Smart meters allow bidirectional flow of power and communication. In simple words, under the
smart grid, companies can control the power flow of an individual consumer (shut down the
supply or restore it) and consumer and company can communicate back to back as well via
smart metering. Company can send tariff and pricing signals to consumer to which the later
responds. Smart Grid - Advanced Metering Infrastructure - Advanced Meter Reading (AMR)
Power meter using PLC is a technology of AMR. The mode of communication under PLC, as the
name suggests, is Power Line_the pre exiting transmission lines. Doesn’t require additional
infrastructure or communication lines.

 If dc load is put on ac what will happen?

There are different cases. In case of semiconductors breakdown occurs and device will damage.
In case of dc machines, overall efficiency of machine decreases. For example if a shunt or series
DC motor is run on AC, torque produced is pulsating and uni-directional.

 Advantages of proximity effect:

Overall effective area decreases and internal resistance increases which reduce skin effect.

 What will happen to the size of conductors and insulators If transmission frequency is tripled?
If frequency increases, overall impedance increases; means more inductive reactance, skin
effect, corona etc. So in order to reduce that, we have to increase the size of conductor.
While I think Insulator size remains same as voltage is not increased.

 Characteristic impedance value for overhead line is about 400ohm and for underground cables
value is 40 ohm.
 How CPEC is important Related to Power Projects?
10400 MW energy capacity will be added in the system through CPEC and shortfall of electricity
will be eradicate.

 Reciprocal of quality factor is called dissipation factor

 Why do we not use impedance relay in all types of T/L?
Impedance relay has unreliable operation during power swings. In case of faults involving
arching, the impedance relay will under reach i.e.; it will not operate even if the fault is within its
zone of protection. A simple impedance relay doesn't have directional feature, it has less
selectivity feature.
Factors Affecting the Proximity Effect:

The proximity effect mainly depends on the factors like conductors’ material, conductor diameter,
frequency and conductor structure. The factors are explained below in details Frequency – The
proximity increases with the increases in the frequency.

Diameter – The proximity effect increases with the increase in the conductor.

Structure – This effect is more on the solid conductor as compared to the stranded conductor (i.e.,
ASCR) because the surface area of the stranded conductor is smaller than the solid conductor.

Material – If the material is made up of high ferromagnetic material then the proximity effect is more on
their surface.

 Why can autotransformers handle more power than conventional transformers

of the same size?
Autotransformers can handle more power than conventional transformers of the same physical size.
Clearly, the single winding of the autotransformer can be bigger than the two windings of a conventional
transformer occupying the same physical space.

 How is reactive power produced? What are the effects of reactive power in the grid?
In case of purely resistive load like incandescent lamp, electrical energy is directly
converted into useful work (light and heat energy in this particular case), no
intermediate electric or magnetic field is required in between. And hence no any power
is wasted in creating electrical or magnetic field. Therefore the total Power is entirely
Active Power that does useful work and there's no any requirement of Reactive Power.

However in case of inductive loads like motors, electrical energy can't directly be
converted into useful work (rotation of motor in this particular case). This is because, to
convert electrical energy into rotational energy, magnetic field has to be created in
between the gaps of stator and rotor of Motor. Hence, some amount of energy has to
be used in creating magnetic field. The portion of power that contributes in creating
magnetic field is known as Reactive Power. From view point of efficiency, reactive
power may be seen as power loss because its role is limited to creating magnetic field
and does not contribute in driving load. Nevertheless, reactive power isn't actually a loss
because it creates magnetic field without which electrical energy in stator could not
have been converted to rotational energy in rotor.
  My posting is at GBHP : Hmaare hann 290MW k generators installed hen unko jb
chalaaty hn jese hi woh busbar k sath sync hojata hai to automatically 20MW ki
commamd le leta hai ... uss k bad humein khud se usko 290MW ki command deni hoti
hai ... agr sync hone k bad hm usko koi command naa dein to kuch tym (30, 40 seconds)
k bad wo khud e reverse power pe trip hojata hai ... reverse power relay usko trip
krwaa deti ha .q k uss tym generator as a motor kaam krna shuru krdeta ha mtlb bajae
system ko power dene k woh system se power lenaa shuru krdeta ha which is too much
dangerous situation.

 How Load management on different generators is done ? Agr aik trip kr jaye incase to
baqi generators pe to load ziada hojata hai then frequency disturb hoti hai. How it is
controlled?

Yes 290MW ka generator agar trip hojae to frequency distrub hojati hai ... tou NPCC baqi plants se
generation ko increase kraaa dety hn ... taa k frequency control me rhy. For example ... system ki
frequency 49.5HZ chal rhi ho aur uss tym 290MW ka ek generator trip hojata hai kisi b reason ki wja se
... to frequency 49hz se b nechy chali jaegi aur lines trip hojaengi khud se hi aur black out hone ka b
chances hen ... aur agr 50.5hz frequency chal rhi ho uss tym 290MW ka ek generator trip hota hai ... to
frequency 49.5 tk aaskti hai us tym itni dangerous situation nahin ... it all depends k uss tym system ki
frequency kia chal rhi hy jis tym generator trip hota ha.

Hmaare hann jo generators installed hen uski designing aesi hai sync hone k bad wo 20mw khud se
generate krna shuru krdeta ha issiliye sync hone k foran bad hm 290mw ki command dete hn generator
ko ... hr plant ki apni designing hoti hy hr generator ki apni designing hoti h ... I'm talking about
generators installed at Ghazi Bharota Power House (GBPH).

 Pressure relieve device (PRD) is equivalent of bucholz relay. In case of transformer

internal faults oil temperature will rise so does the pressure. This pressure will need the
easiest exit path and PRD will provide that path.
 As we know all the generating stations are interconnected and the frequency of these
G/Stations was continuously monitored by NPCC. On NPCC demand control room
engineers increase/decrease load on generating units.. I have seen in GBPH power
house there is special SCADA PLC through which NPCC can control whole generation and
switchyard control using ALFC (automatic load frequency control) command.
 RTU on these specific units receive commands from central station then they changes
load reference set point (In Alternators) to increase their input power(Valve Opening) to
meet the load and this load reference set point is set with help the of speed changer
motor.
 Impedance relay has unreliable operation during power swings. In case of faults
involving arching, the impedance relay will under reach i-e it will not operate even if the
fault is within its zone of protection.As a simple impedance relay doesn't have
directional feature, it has less selectivity feature.
  Types of Switches

A switch is a device which is designed to interrupt the current flow in a circuit, in other words, it can
make or break an electrical circuit. Every electrical and electronics application uses at least one switch to
perform ON and OFF operation of the device. So the switches are the part of a control system and
without it, control operation cannot be achieved. A switch can perform two functions, namely fully ON
(by closing its contacts) or fully OFF (by opening its contacts).
When the contacts of a switch are closed, the switch creates the closed path for current flow and hence
load consumes the power from source. When the contacts of a switch are open, no power will be
consumed by the load as shown in below figure.

There are numerous switch applications found

in wide variety fields such as home,
automobiles, industrial, military, aerospace
and so on. In some applications multi way
switching is employed (like building wiring), in
such cases two or more switches are
interconnected to control an electrical load
from more than one location.

Switches can be of mechanical or electronic types,

 Mechanical switches must be activated physically, by moving, pressing, releasing, or

touching its contacts.

 Electronic switches do not require any physical contact in order to control a circuit.
These are activated by semiconductor action.

 Mechanical Switches
o Single Pole Single Throw Switch (SPST)
o Single Pole Double Throw Switch (SPDT)
o Double Pole Single Throw Switch (DPST)
o Double Pole Double Throw Switch (DPDT)
o Push Button Switch
o Toggle Switch
o Limit Switch
o Float Switches
o Flow Switches
o Pressure Switches
o Temperature Switches
o Joystick Switch
o Rotary Switches
 Electronic Switches
o Bipolar Transistors
o Power Diode
o MOSFET
o IGBT
o SCR
o TRIAC
o DIAC
o Gate Turn-Off Thyristors

Mechanical Switches

Mechanical switches can be classified into different types based on several factors such as method of
actuation (manual, limit and process switches), number of contacts (single contact and multi contact
switches), number of poles and throws (SPST, DPDT, SPDT, etc.), operation and construction (push
button, toggle, rotary, joystick, etc.), based on state (momentary and locked switches), etc.

 Based on the number of poles and throws, switches are classified into following types.
The pole represents the number of individual power circuits that can be switched.
Most of the switches are designed have one, two or three poles and are designated as
single pole, double pole and triple pole.
  The number of throws represents the number of states to which current can pass
through the switch. Most of the switches are designed to have either one or two
throws which are designated as single throw and double throw switches.

1. Single Pole Single Throw Switch (SPST)

 This is the basic ON and OFF switch consisting of one input contact and one output contact.
 It switches a single circuit and it can either make (ON) or break (OFF) the load.
 The contacts of SPST can be either normally open or normally closed configurations .

2. Single Pole Double Throw Switch (SPDT)

 This switch has three terminals, one is input contact and remaining two are output contacts.
 This means it consist two ON positions and one OFF position.
 In most of the circuits, these switches are used as changeover to connect the input between two
choices of outputs.
 The contact which is connected to the input by default is referred as normally closed contact and
contact which will be connected during ON operation is a normally open contact.

3. Double Pole Single Throw Switch (DPST)

  This switch consists of four terminals, two input contacts and two output contacts.
 It behaves like a two separate SPST configurations, operating at the same time.
 It has only one ON position, but it can actuate the two contacts simultaneously, such that each
input contact will be connected to its corresponding output contact.
 In OFF position both switches are at open state.
 This type of switches is used for controlling two different circuits at a time.
 Also, the contacts of this switch may be either normally open or normally closed configurations.

4. Double Pole Double Throw Switch (DPDT)

 This is a dual ON/OFF switch consisting of two ON positions.

 It has six terminals, two are input contacts and remaining four
are the output contacts.
 It behaves like a two separate SPDT configuration, operating at
the same time.
 Two input contacts are connected to the one set of output
contacts in one position and in another position, input contacts
are connected to the other set of output contacts.

Push Button Switch

 It is a momentary contact switch that makes or breaks connection

as long as pressure is applied (or when the button is pushed).
 Generally, this pressure is supplied by a button pressed by
someone’s finger.
 This button returns its normal position, once the pressure is
removed.
 The internal spring mechanism operates these two states (pressed
and released) of a push button.
 It consists of stationary and movable contacts, of which stationary
contacts are connected in series with the circuit to be switched while movable contacts are
attached with a push button.
 Push buttons are majorly classified into normally open, normally closed and double acting push
buttons as shown in the above figure.
 Double acting push buttons are generally used for controlling two electrical circuits.
Toggle Switch

 A toggle switch is manually actuated (or pushed up or down)

by a mechanical handle, lever or rocking mechanism. These are
commonly used as light control switches.
 Most of these switches come with two or more lever positions
which are in the versions of SPDT, SPST, DPST and DPDT switch.
These are used for switching high currents (as high as 10 A) and
can also be used for switching small currents.
 These are available in different ratings, sizes and styles and are
used for different type of applications. The ON condition can be any of their level positions,
however, by convention the downward is the closed or ON position.

Limit Switch

 The control schemes of a limit switch are shown in

above figure , in which four varieties of limit switches
are presented.
 Some switches are operated by the presence of an
object or by the absence of objects or by the motion
of machine instead of human hand operation. These
switches are called as limit switches.
 These switches consist of a bumper type of arm
actuated by an object. When this bumper arm is
actuated, it causes the switch contacts to change
position.

Float Switches

 Float switches are mainly used for controlling DC and AC motor

pumps according to the liquid or water in a tank or sump.
 This switch is operated when the float (or floating object) moves
downward or upward based on water level in a tank.
 This float movement of rod or chain assembly and counterweight
causes to open or close electrical contacts. Another form of float
switch is the mercury bulb type switch that does not consist of any
float rod or chain arrangement.
 This bulb consists of mercury contacts such that when the liquid level rises or falls, the state of
contacts also changes.
 The ball float switch symbol is shown in the above figure. These float switches can be normally
open or normally closed type.
Flow Switches

 These are mainly used to detect the movement of liquid or air flow
through a pipe or duct. The air flow switch (or a micro switch) is
constructed by a snap-action.
 This micro switch is attached to a metal arm .To this metal arm, a
thin plastic or metal piece is connected.
 When a large amount of air passes through the metal or plastic
piece, it causes the movement of metal arm and thus operates the
contacts of the switch.
 Liquid flow switches are designed with a paddle that inserted across the flow of liquid in a pipe.
When liquid flows through the pipe, force exerted against the paddle changes the position of the
contacts.
 The above figure shows the switch symbol used for both air flow and liquid flow. The flag symbol
on the switch indicates the paddle which senses the flow or movement of liquid.
 These switches again normally open or normally closed type configurations.

Pressure Switches

 These switches are commonly used in industrial applications in order to

sense the pressure of hydraulic systems and pneumatic devices.
 Depends on the range of pressure to be measured, these pressure
switches are classified into diaphragm operated pressure switch, metal
bellow type pressure switch and piston type pressure switch.
 In all these types, pressure detection element operates a set of contacts
(which can be either double pole or single pole contacts).
 This switch symbol consist a half-circle connected to a line in which flat
part indicates a diaphragm. These switches may be either normally open or normally closed type
configurations.

Temperature Switches

 The most common heat sensing element is the bimetallic strip that operates on the principle of
thermal expansion.
 The bimetallic strips are made with two dissimilar metals (that
are having different thermal expansion rates) and are bonded
with each other.
 The switch contacts are operated when the temperature causes
the strip to bend or wrap. Another method of operating the
temperature switch is to use mercury glass tube.
 When the bulb is heated, mercury in the tube will expand and
then generates pressure to operate the contacts.

Joystick Switch

 Joystick switches are manually actuated control devices used mainly

in portable control equipment’s.
  It consists of a lever which moves freely in more than one axis of motion.
 Depending on the movement of the lever pushed, one or more switch contacts are actuated.
 These are ideally suited for lowering, raising and triggering movements to the left and right.
 These are used for building machinery, cable controls and cranes. The symbol for the joystick is
shown below.

Rotary Switches

 These are used for connecting one line to one of

many lines.
 Examples of these switches are range selectors
in electrical metering equipment, channel
selectors in communication devices and band
selectors in multi-band radios.
 It consists of one or more moving contacts
(knob) and more than one stationary contact.
 These switches are come with different
arrangement of contacts such as single pole 12-way, 3-pole 4-way, 2-pole 6-way and 4-pole 3-
way.

 Electronic Switches

The electronic switches are generally called as solid state switches because there are no physical
moving parts and hence absence of physical contacts. Most of the appliances are controlled by
semiconductor switches such as motor drives and HVAC equipment’s.
There are different types of solid state switches are available in today market with different sizes and
ratings. Some of these solid state switches include transistors, SCRs, MOSFETs, TRIACs and IGBTs.

Bipolar Transistors

A transistor either allows the current to pass or it blocks the current as similar to
working of normal switch.
In switching circuits, transistor operates in cut-off mode for OFF or current blocking
condition and in saturation mode for ON condition. The active region of the
transistor is not used for switching applications.
Both NPN and PNP transistors are operated or switched ON when a sufficient base
current is supplied to it. When a small current flows though the base terminal
supplied by a driving circuit (connected between the base and emitter), it causes to
turns ON the collector-emitter path.
And it is turned OFF when the base current is removed and base voltage is reduced
to a slight negative value. Even though it utilizes small base current, it is capable to
carry much higher currents through the collector- emitter path.
Power Diode

A diode can perform switching operations between its high and low state
impedance states. Semiconductor materials like silicon and germanium are used
for constructing the diodes.
Usually, power diodes are constructed using silicon in order to operate the device
at higher currents and higher junction temperatures. These are constructed by
joining p and n type semiconductor materials together to form PN junction. It has
two terminals namely anode and cathode.

When the anode is made positive with respect to cathode and by the application of voltage greater than
the threshold level, PN junction is forward biased and starts conducting (like ON switch). When the
cathode terminal is made positive with respect to anode, PN junction reverse biased and its blocks the
current flow (like OFF switch).

MOSFET

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is a

unipolar and high frequency switching device. It is a most commonly
used switching device is power electronic applications. It has three
terminals namely drain (output), source (common) and gate (input).
It is a voltage controlled device, i.e., by controlling input (gate to source)
voltage, resistance between the drain and source is controlled which
further determines the ON and OFF state of the device.

MOSFETs can be a P-channel or N-channel devices. The N-channel

MOSFET is tuned ON by applying a positive VGS with respect to the
source (provided that VGS should be greater than threshold voltage).

P-channel MOSFET operates in a similar manner of N-channel MOSFET but it uses reverse polarity of
voltages. Both VGS and VDD are negative with respect the source to switch ON the P- channel MOSFET.

IGBT

IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) combines the several advantages of bipolar
junction power transistor and power MOSFET. Like a MOSFET, it is a voltage controlled
device and has lower ON state voltage drop (less than that of MOSFET and closer to power
transistor).
It is a three terminal semiconductor high speed switching device. These terminals are
emitter, collector and gate.
Similar to the MOSFET, IGBT can be turned ON by applying a positive voltage (greater than
the threshold voltage) between the gate and emitter. IGBT can be turned by reducing the
voltage across the gate-emitter to zero. In most of the case it needs negative voltage to
reduce turn OFF losses and safely turn OFF the IGBT.
SCR

A Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) most widely used high speed

switching device for power control applications. It is a unidirectional
device as a diode, consisting of three terminals, namely anode,
cathode and gate.

An SCR is turned ON and OFF by controlling its gate input and

biasing conditions of the anode and cathode terminals. SCR consists
of four layers of alternate P and N layers such that boundaries of
each layer forms junctions J1, J2 and J3.

TRIAC

Triac (or Triode AC) switch is a bidirectional switching device which is

an equivalent circuit of two back to back SCRs connection with one
gate terminal.
Its capability to control AC power in both positive and negative peaks
of the voltage waveform often makes these devices to be used in
motor speed controllers, light dimmers, pressure control systems,
motor drives and other AC control equipments.

DIAC
A DIAC (or Diode AC switch) is bidirectional switching device and it consists
of two terminals which are not named as anode and cathode. It means that a
DIAC can be operated in either direction regardless of the terminal
identification. This indicates that the DIAC can be used in either direction.
When a voltage is applied across a DIAC, it either operates in forward
blocking or reverse blocking mode unless the applied voltage is less than the
breakover voltage. Once the voltage is increased more than breakover
voltage, avalanche breakover occurs and device starts conducting.

Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO)

A GTO (Gate Turn off Thyristor) is a bipolar semiconductor switching device. It has
three terminals as anode, cathode and gate. As the name implies, this switching
device is capable to turn OFF through gate terminal.
A GTO is turned ON by applying a small positive gate current triggers the
conduction mode and turned OFF by a negative pulse to the gate. GTO symbol
consists of double arrows on the gate terminal which represents the bidirectional
flow of current through gate terminal.
  Solar Energy Technologies
 Solutions for Today’s Energy Needs
Overview
Solar energy is the cleanest, most abundant renewable energy source available. The U.S. has some of
the world’s richest solar resources. Today's technology allows us to harness this resource in several
ways, giving the public and commercial entities flexible ways to employ both the light and heat of
the sun.

There are three primary technologies by which solar energy is commonly harnessed: photovoltaics (PV),
which directly convert light to electricity; concentrating solar power (CSP), which uses heat from the sun
(thermal energy) to drive utility-scale, electric turbines; and heating and cooling systems, which collect
thermal energy to provide hot water and air conditioning.

Solar energy can be deployed through distributed generation, whereby the equipment is located on
rooftops or ground-mounted arrays close to where the energy is used. Some technologies can be further
expanded into utility-scale applications to produce energy as a central power plant.

 Photovoltaic Technology
Photovoltaic (PV) technologies directly convert energy from sunlight into electricity. When sunlight
strikes the PV module, made of a semiconductor material, electrons are stripped from their atomic
bonds. This flow of electrons produces an electric current. PV modules contain no moving parts and
generally last thirty years or more with minimal maintenance.

PV electricity output peaks mid-day when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, and can offset the
most expensive electricity when daily demand is greatest. Homeowners can install a few dozen PV
panels to reduce or eliminate their monthly electricity bills, and utilities can build large “farms” of PV
panels to provide pollution-free electricity to their customers.

Semiconductors are used in most electronic products, including computer chips, audio amplifiers,
temperature sensors and solar cells. Traditionally, PV modules are made using various forms of silicon,
but many companies are also manufacturing modules that employ other semiconductor materials often
referred to as thin-film PV. Each of the various PV technologies have unique cost and performance
characteristics that drive competition within the industry. Cost and performance can be further affected
by the PV application and specific configuration of a PV system.

 Concentrating Solar Power

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants use mirrors to concentrate the sun’s thermal energy to drive a
conventional steam turbine to make electricity. The thermal energy concentrated in a CSP plant can be
stored and used to produce electricity when it is needed, day or night. Today, over 1,400 MW of CSP
plants operate in the U.S., and another 340 MW of CSP projects will be placed in service within the
next year.

The two commercialized CSP technologies are Power Towers and Parabolic Troughs. Other CSP
technologies include Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) and Dish Engine. CSP specific conditions to
produce power, such as areas where direct sunlight is most intense (e.g., the U.S. Southwest) and
contiguous parcels of dry, flat land.
  Solar Heating and Cooling
Solar heating and cooling technologies collect thermal energy from the sun and use this heat to provide
hot water and space heating and cooling for residential, commercial and industrial applications. There
are several types of collectors: flat plate, evacuated tube, Integral Collector Storage (ICS), thermosiphon
and concentrating. These technologies provide a return on investment in 3-6 years.

Water heating, space heating and space cooling accounted for 69 percent of the energy used in an
average U.S. household in 2005 – representing significant market potential for solar heating and cooling
technologies. For example, solar water heating systems can be installed on every home in the U.S., and a
properly designed and installed system can provide 40 to 80 percent of a building’s hot water needs.
Similarly, solar space heating and cooling systems circulate conditioned air or liquid throughout a
building using existing HVAC systems, without using electricity.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of thermal power plants?

Thermal power plants have been the main source of power in the world for centuries. With my
experience in Thermal and Gas power plant as a part of India’s largest power generating companies the
following are the Pros and Cons that come to my mind.
Advantages:-

1. Coal thermal power plants provide the cheapest electricity worldwide.

2. They form the backbone of grid as they provide stable output and are more reliable than
renewable sources that tend to fluctuate.
3. Coal/lignite/peat is readily available all over the world.
4. The technology for thermal power plant is easily accessible and well established not like other
sources like nuclear, solar thermal, Geothermal etc.
5. Requires less land per Megawatt with respect to Hydro, Solar, Wind etc.
6. Easy and simple to maintain and operate.
Disadvantages:-

1. Needs large amount of Coal and Water so have to be placed a large water sources and coal
mine. Else the logistics cost will be too high. A Power plant of 3000MW typically requires 35,000
to 45,000 tonnes of coal.
2. It is the prime contributor to CO2 emissions all over the world. With the Climate change a
restriction is now placed on all countries in this regard.
3. Nearly 20% to 30% of coal is rejected as Ash, which is a waste and needs to be
dumped. Unutilized ash is collected in Ash dykes that form the largest land usage in a typical
thermal power plant. It is also detrimental to environment.
4. Apart from CO2, other harmful gases like NOx and SOx are also generated lead to Acid Rain.
Though with advanced combustion and other techniques these are lowered and also captured.
5. Some liquid effluents are also discharged as the byproduct of water / chemical treatment and
runoff of various oil / chemicals.
6. Thermal power plant take a lot of time to start up (generally 4–8 hrs) and don’t do well in cycling
that is large up and down in power generation and mostly designed for constant load. Therefore
any fluctuation is power demand can be detrimental to it life cycle.
7. A large quantity of ash is released from the Chimney and the coal dust that lead to a high
particulate matter in the surrounding areas. Though nearly 99% is captured using ESP still a
significant amount escapes.
  Ice storage air conditioning (ICE):

Ice storage air conditioning is the process of using ice for thermal energy storage. This is practical
because of water's large heat of fusion: one metric ton of water (one cubic meter) can store 334 mega
joules (MJ) (317,000 BTU) of energy, equivalent to 93 kWh (26.4 ton-hours).
Ice was originally obtained from mountains or cut from frozen lakes and transported to cities for use as
a coolant. The original definition of a "ton of cooling capacity" (heat flow) was the heat needed to melt
one ton of ice in a 24-hour period. This heat flow is what one would expect in a 3,000-square-foot
(280 m2) house in Boston in the summer. This definition has since been replaced by less archaic units:
one ton HVAC capacity is equal to 12,000 BTU per hour. A small storage facility can hold enough ice to
cool a large building from one day to one week, whether that ice is produced by anhydrous
ammonia chillers or hauled in by horse-drawn carts.

 Merits and demerits of diesel Power Plants:

Merits

1. The design and layout of the plant are quite simple.

2. It occupies less space, as the number and size of the auxiliaries are small.
3. It can be placed at any position.
4. It can be started quickly and can pick upload in a short time.
5. There are no standby losses.
6. It requires less quantity of water for chilling.
7. The overall price is much less than that of the steam power station of the same content.
8. The thermal efficiency of the plant is more eminent than that of a steam power station.
9. It requires less operating staff.
Demerits

1. The plant has high running charges as the fuel (i.e., diesel) used is costly.
2. The plant does not operate satisfactorily under overload conditions for a longer period.
3. The plant can only generate small power.
4. The cost of lubrication is generally high.
5. The maintenance charges are generally high.

 What are advantages of nuclear power plants over thermal or hydroelectric power plants?
 Geographical limitations - nuclear power plants don't require a lot of space; they do not
need a large plot like a wind farm. But they have to be built near a large body of
water for cooling purposes - using the water as a heat sink. They are usually found on
the coast so there is no risk to drinking water sources.
 Nuclear power stations do not contribute to carbon emissions - no CO2 is given out - it
therefore does not contribute to global warming.
 Nuclear power stations do not produce smoke particles to pollute the atmosphere or
emit gases that contribute to acid rain.
 Nuclear energy is by far the most concentrated form of energy - a lot of energy is
produced from a small mass of fuel. This reduces transport costs - (although the fuel is
 radioactive and therefore each transport that does occur is expensive because of
security implications).
 Nuclear power is reliable. It does not depend on the weather.
 We can control the output from a nuclear power station to fit our needs.
It is relatively easy to control the output - although the time factor for altering power
output is not as small as for fossil fuel stations. It is said to have a long 'start up' time. It
cannot respond immediately to demand. That is why electricity companies try to 'even
out' demand by using tariffs that encourage use at off peak time prides.
 Nuclear power produces a small volume of waste (although that waste is radioactive).
 Low Fuel Cost - The main reason behind the low fuel cost is that it requires little amount
of uranium to produce energy. When a nuclear reaction happens, it releases million
times more energy as compared to traditional sources of energy. Only about 28 gram of
uranium releases as much energy as produced from 100 metric tons of coal.

 What is power plant engineering?

Power plant engineering deals with the study of energy, its sources and utilization of
energy for power generation. The power is generated by prime movers (example
Hydraulic turbines, steam turbines, diesel engines). Large amount of power is generated
using prime movers in a site or layout called power plants, where all the equipment’s
and machineries required for power generation is located.

Smart Grid:
The electric grid which is smart compare to traditional grid is known as smart grid. It
detects local changes in power usage and reacts automatically without the need of
human intervention.
• It allows two way communication between grid and consumers. It allows real time
communication between consumer and utility so that consumers can tailor their energy
consumption based on individual preferences such as price and/or environmental
concerns.
• Smart grid is developed using modern digital communication technologies. Grid
communicates with cellular tower in order to push vital parameters such as
instantaneous power usage, cumulative power usage, maximum demand etc.
In short, the digital technology that allows for two-way communication between the
utility and its customers, and the sensing along the transmission lines is what makes the
grid smart. Like the Internet, the Smart Grid will consist of controls, computers,
automation, and new technologies and equipment working together, but in this case,
these technologies will work with the electrical grid to respond digitally to our quickly
changing electric demand.
 A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operational and energy measures
including smart meters, smart appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy efficient
resources. Electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of
electricity are important aspects of the smart grid.
 Features:
 Load Handling: The sum/total of
the power grid load is not stable
and it varies over time. In case of
heavy load, a smart grid system can
advise consumers to temporarily
minimize energy consumption.
 Demand Response Support:
Provides users with an automated
way to reduce their electricity bills
by guiding them to use low-priority
electronic devices when rates are
lower.
 Decentralization of Power Generation: A distributed or decentralized grid system
allows the individual user to generate onsite power by employing any appropriate
method at his or her discretion.
 And yes it can be used in ntdc and Discos for proper handling of load and electricity
theft which will directly help generation section and transmission losses etc.

Benefits or advantages of Smart Grid

Following are the benefits or advantages of Smart Grid:
➨It reduces electricity theft.
➨It reduces electricity losses (transmission, distribution etc.)
➨It reduces electricity cost, meter reading cost, T&M operations and maintenance
costs etc.
➨It reduces equipment failures due to automatic operation based on varying load
conditions. Demand-Response reduces stress on assets of smart grid system during peak
conditions which reduces their probability of failure.
➨It reduces sustained outages and reduces consecutively associated restoration cost.
➨It reduces air emissions of CO2, SOx, NOx and PM-2.5. Hence smart grid contributes
to keep environment green.
➨It reduces oil usage and wide scale black-outs. Hence smart grid provides security to
the people by providing continuous power.
➨Smart grid is capable of meeting increased consumer demand without ading
infrastructure.

Drawbacks or disadvantages of Smart Grid

Following are the drawbacks or disadvantages of Smart Grid:
➨Continuous communication network should be available.
➨During emergency situation, network congestion or performance are big challenges in
smart grid system.
 ➨Cellular network providers do not provide guaranteed service in abnormal situations
such as wind storm, heavy rain and lightning conditions.
➨Some smart meters can be hacked which can be used to increase or decrease the
demand for power.
➨It is expensive to install smart meter compare to traditional old electricity meter.

 Micro-grid:
A micro grid is a small-scale power production and delivery system comprising
distributed generation facilities co-located with the loads they serve. Microgrids
encompass multiple types of energy generation resources, storage systems, and
efficiency programs, allowing for optimal utilization of renewable energy resources and
facilitating advanced energy management, demand response, and load reduction
solutions.
Micro grids are able to be connected to the utility grid to purchase power from the grid
or sell power back to the grid as conditions dictate. Micro grids can be designed to
operate “islanded”, when the utility grid is not available.
 Benefits:
Economic: Improved efficiency and long term predictable energy cost
Resiliency: Field-proven reliability improvement over grid-only interconnections
Environmental: Reduction in harmful emissions resulting from optimal use of renewable
resources and energy efficiency programs.
 Why are Micro grids important to the World?
They improve the efficiency of the larger power grid. They offer power resilience
against natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and storms. They can power
disaster relief centers during regional and national crises. They are secure against cyber
and physical attacks. They are great for the environment because they use renewables
resources. They create jobs and education opportunities.
 Types of microgrids:
 Campus Environment/Institutional Microgrids:
The focus of campus microgrids is aggregating existing on-site generation with multiple
loads that located in tight geography in which owner easily manage them.
 Community Microgrids:
Community Microgrids can serve a few up to thousands of customers and support the
penetration of local energy (electricity, heating, and cooling). In a community microgrid,
some houses may have some renewable sources that can supply their demand as well
as that of their neighbors within the same community. The community microgrid may
also have a centralized or several distributed energy storages. Such microgrids can be in
the form of an AC and DC microgrid coupled together through a bi-directional power
electronic converter.
 Remote Off-grid Microgrids: These microgrids never connect to the Macrogrid and
instead operate in an island mode at all times because of economic issues or
geographical position. Typically, an "off-grid" microgrid is built in areas that are far
distant from any transmission and distribution infrastructure and, therefore, have no
 connection to the utility grid. Studies have demonstrated that operating a remote area
or islands' off-grid microgrids, that are dominated by renewable sources, will reduce the
levelized cost of electricity production over the life of such microgrid projects.
Large remote areas may be supplied by several independent microgrids, each with a
different owner (operator). Although such microgrids are traditionally designed to be
energy self-sufficient, intermittent renewable sources and their unexpected and sharp
variations can cause unexpected power shortfall or excessive generation in those
microgrids. This will immediately cause unacceptable voltage or frequency deviation in
the microgrids. To remedy such situations, it is possible to interconnect such microgrids
provisionally to a suitable neighboring microgrid to exchange power and improve the
voltage and frequency deviations. This can be achieved through a power electronics-
based switch after a proper synchronization or a back to back connection of two power
electronic converters and after confirming the stability of the new system. The
determination of a need to interconnect neighboring microgrids and finding the suitable
microgrid to couple with can be achieved through optimization or decision making
approaches.
 Military Base Microgrids:
These microgrids are being actively deployed with focus on both physical and cyber
security for military facilities in order to assure reliable power without relying on
the Macrogrid.
 Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Microgrids:
These types of microgrids are maturing quickly in North America and Asia Pacific;
however, the lack of well –known standards for these types of microgrids limits them
globally. Main reasons for the installation of an industrial microgrid are power supply
security and its reliability. There are many manufacturing processes in which an
interruption of the power supply may cause high revenue losses and long start-up time.

 Difference between smart grid and Scada:

Scada is network controlling but smart grid is two way communications between
suppliers and consumers. So i will say Scada is part of smart grid. Scada will control
network and smart grid will get benefits of scada and other intelligent devices to
improve power efficiency in different ways.

 Rupee value decreases or increase due to the difference in demand and supply of
dollars into and out of country. If a dollars are coming into the country are more,
through external remittances, exports and other investments in your country then
rupee will be increased because number of dollars in the country will be more but if the
dollar going out of the country will be more due to payments of debts, dollars paid as a
result of imports and dollars etc., then the value of rupee will be decreased.

 Symmetrical faults give rise to symmetrical fault currents and the fault current can be
calculated by single phase solution of balanced 3-Φ system.
 Unsymmetrical faults like L-N, L-L or L-L-N give rise to unsymmetrical fault currents and for
their analysis, the method of sequence components is used. In this method, A 3-Φ
Unsymmetrical fault current can be represented as the sum of two balanced components i.e.
+ve & -ve sequence components & a zero sequence component.
 Positive sequence components have equal magnitude and their phase sequence is same
as that of original unsymmetrical fault current. The circuit impedance that resists the
flow of +ve sequence current is known as +ve sequence impedance.
 Negative sequence components have equal magnitude but their phase sequence is
opposite to that of original unsymmetrical fault current. The circuit impedance that
resists the flow of -ve sequence current is known as -ve sequence impedance.
 The zero sequence components are of equal magnitude and they are in phase with each
other. Neutral current is equal to sum of zero sequence currents flowing through each
phase. In case of delta connection or in case of ungrounded star connection, neutral
current will be zero; hence zero sequence currents will not flow.

Microgrids in Pakistan: (Article 10,March 2016)

Pakistan has four decades of experience building micro hydropower plants with the
cooperation of local communities to bring electricity to these isolated regions. Since
2014, Pakistan’s Rural Support Programmes Network has worked with the “Smart
Village Initiative” started by a team based at Cambridge and Oxford universities in the
United Kingdom, to further expand energy.
About 70 million people in Pakistan have no access to electricity – the majority of them
in rural areas. There are about 3 million households where grid connectivity is not
feasible, according to Alternative Energy Development Board of Pakistan.
Small hydropower projects and microgrids that generate their own electricity can plug
this gap. Yet Pakistan is only producing 128 out of a potential of 3,100 MW of electricity
from small hydropower projects.
In Pakistan the growth of micro hydropower projects has been led by the Aga Khan
Rural Support Programme and the Sarhad Rural Support Programme, who have both
received the prestigious Ashden international award for their work.
They worked with rural support programmes and local village organisations to help
communities build micro-hydropower projects across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit–
Baltistan, Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir
districts.
Communities contribute time and labour (known as “sweat equity”) which creates a
sense of ownership and helps sustain the projects. The projects typically generate
between 5-100 KW of power.
By 2015, the Sarhad Rural Support Programme had constructed 166 micro-hydropower
projects and brought power to around 275,000 people. Similarly, the Aga Khan Rural
Support Programme has supported 191 micro-hydro schemes producing 14.35 MW of
power.
The government and NGOs provide initial financial and technical support but the
hydropower plants are maintained by the communities in the long run for the benefit of
 future generations. Over 90% of these micro-hydro systems are well maintained at
affordable cost, according to follow up surveys, and these projects have transformed
the education, health and lifestyle of communities.

 POLARITY, PHASE SEQUENCE AND VECTOR GROUP of transformers:

Any two single phase transformers have the same polarity when their instantaneous
terminal voltages are in phase. With this condition a volt meter connected across similar
terminals will indicate zero. In paralleling three phase transformers of the same voltage
ratio, polarity may be neglected. For satisfactory paralleling conditions the angular
displacement and phase rotation between the two units to be paralleled must be the
same. For example, a Y-Y connected transformer having an angular displacement of 0
degrees cannot be connected in parallel with a Y-Δ connected transformer having an
angular displacement of 30 degree. The secondary voltages of these two connections
would be 30 degrees out of phase with each other. If connected in parallel, voltage will
exist within the parallel connection and thereby resulting in circulating current between
two transformers.

 SAME VOLTAGE RATIO

 PERCENTAGE IMPEDANCE

 Ratio of rated
power should not be greater
than 3:1 in transformers to be
connected in parallel.
EARTHING AT GRID STATION:
For the safety of equipment and worker the whole equipment installed in Grid station is
properly earthed. If they are not grounded the possibility Of fatal accidents arise.
Normally the potential of some parts of equipment remains zero but in case of fault or
insulation failure they become dangerously charged now if a person comes in contact with
these parts the possibility of electrical shock arise. Due to this the metal parts are properly
earthed.

Role of earthling
To provide earthling to power transformer and neutral of capacitor bank.
To connect every structure, body of transformers and other equipment’s body to earth
mesh.
To provide easy path for lightening and extra voltage through rod gaps, surge arrester
and sky wire to ground.
To discharge trapped charge through less resistance path for maintenance purpose.
To provide a grounding mat below ground surface and around the grid station which will
have uniformly zero potential w.r.t ground and the lowest earth resistance.

Laying of earthling mesh

The earthling mesh is laid in the ground up to depth of 3
ft. A 3 ft long copper rod is pierce into ground up to the
wet soil. If wet soil is at more depth then long copper
rods up to twenty meters may be used.

 Temperature effect on capacity of

battery
Capacity of battery is directly proportional to temperature.
Mathematically;

AEDB small Hydro Micro-grid projects:

SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS VIABLE IN PAKISTAN
Seeing Solar Energy Potential in Pakistan, it is envisaged that most of the solar energy applications that
are being used around the world are very much practical in the country.
Photovoltaic (PV)
Studies conducted by the World Bank and some national agencies in Pakistan suggest that PV power
systems become competitive with conventional energy sources for small power applications such as for
telecommunication in remote areas. If installed, about 20 MW PV installations will generate an average
32.195 million kWh of energy annually on a 35% annual plant factor. Since the cost of implementing the
option is much higher than the benefits available, the implementation of PV option has not met any
considerable success over the years. The manufacturing and assembling of plants and equipment would
improve the employment level in the country and reduce solar costs.

OFF-GRID APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV)

Solar Photovoltaic Technologies can be deployed for various off-grid applications as given below:
Solar street lighting
Street lighting shares around 300 MW of total electricity consumption of the country. It is anticipated
that this load would reach to around 500MW in coming days due to new installations in planning and
design stages. All such load can be shifted to solar energy. Solar Street Lighting Systems powered
through Solar PV modules can meet with this load. The development authorities in the country are
exploring the opportunities of this shift. Their planning departments are currently working out prospects
for making all new installations of street lighting through solar energy applications.
Commercial Lighting (Bill Board Lighting, Search Lighting, garden lighting etc.)
Commercial lighting load is increasing as the life style of the people is changing. The provincial and city
governments are planning to shift all this much load to solar energy. This renders a potential of around 5
MW for solar PV modules in coming days.
Solar Water Pumping
The irrigation system in most of the Arid Agricultural Areas is either dependent upon rain or water
pumps. This load accounts for more than 1,000 MW Currently, these pumps are either operated through
grid or through diesel generators. The federal and provincial governments are planning to shift this load
to solar energy. Efficient solar energy water pumps are available in the market. The companies that are
supplying pumps can be contacted for supply of PV modules.
Rural Electrification
Under Roshan Pakistan Program and Parliamentarian Schemes for Rural Electrification, more than 8,000
villages are going to be electrified through renewable energy technologies. A big share out of which
would be done through solar home systems powered through solar PV modules. If 80% out of these are
electrified through Solar PV module of 80 W capacity, than this accounts for a total load of around 25
MW in coming days.
Captive Power Generation through Solar PV Application
Government has allowed captive power generation through renewable energies. In this regard, no
license or approval from any governmental authority is required. If found economically suitable, than
solar PV module can be the best choice for this purpose. It is anticipated that if 100,000 households opt
for captive power generation through solar PV modules than this can account for 30 MW requirement
for solar PV modules in near future.

ON-GRID APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV)

As like off-grid applications, Solar Photovoltaic Technologies have definite prospects for various on-grid
applications. A few of them are discussed below:
Commercial Power Projects
A huge acreage of land is lying barren in different parts of the country. The areas that are located in
most potential areas and where grid is also available, photovoltaic technologies can be deployed for on-
grid power generation project. Grid tied power projects of various capacities can be installed in various
parts of the country. A few investors are intending to initiate grid tied PV projects of 2 – 5 MW capacity.
If one or two successful projects of such capacities are executed, a lot many investors will jump into such
projects.
Net Metering Projects
Government of Pakistan allows the opportunity for net metering to the households, commercial and
industrial entities. Under such mechanism a small power producer establishes a power producing facility
at its premises. The power generated through this facility is sold to the national grid. In the same time
the individual acts like the user as well and purchases the power from the grid. At the end of the month,
the individual is liable to net meter his actual consumption and total power generation through his
facility. The individual is liable to pay or to be paid the difference of amounts calculated through
aforesaid mechanisms. The small investors are eyeing at this opportunity and would be looking forward
to execute such projects in near future. In fact more than 2 projects are already running on this concept.
Solar energy would be having the maximum prospects and would see its maximum market share if this
concept got popularized. It is anticipated that through such applications, the PV industry would see an
annual requirement of more than 50 MW.
Solar Thermal – Electric
Solar thermal technologies collect the sun’s radiant energy to create a high-temperature at the source
that can be converted into electricity via a number of thermodynamic conversion cycles. Though solar
thermal generation system is a proven technology in the USA, Germany and France where such systems
have been providing electricity to grid systems on a competitive basis with conventional fossil fuel-fired
thermal power plants, no solar power plants exist in Pakistan at present. These technologies are
currently in the development and demonstration phase in the country.
Solar Building Technologies
Active heating systems provide hot water for space heating with mechanical assistance while passive
heating and cooling systems use little or no mechanical assistance and rely rather on the design of the
building to achieve specific thermal requirement goals. The application of solar building technologies is
assessed to be high in Pakistan. However, the country does not have building regulations, which support
the applications of solar building technologies. The Building Energy Code developed by ENERCON
includes a chapter on solar technologies but this document is only for voluntary compliance and has not
so far been adopted formally by any municipality.
Solar Water Heaters
According to a Household Energy Survey Study (HESS) Project conducted by the Planning Commission in
1991, water heating in the domestic sector is estimated to have consumed about 145,600 TOE of natural
gas. Companies in Pakistan manufacture these devices commercially. This amount of energy and
corresponding emissions will be saved for every solar water heater that is installed. The initial
investment cost of manufacturing solar water heaters will be higher than that of the natural gas and
electric water heaters already available in the market. Consumers experience 10-20% higher prices
when they choose a solar water heater instead of a conventional water heater. However, by replacing
conventional water heaters with solar water heating systems, significant amount of natural gas will be
saved annually. The cumulative potential of GHG emission reduction of the solar water heater option
has been projected as 4.10 million tons of CO2 by 2020. The saving in emissions will arise from reduced
natural gas consumption for water heating in the domestic sector.
Prepared by:
Engr. Muhammad Mehran Yousaf