EARTH FAULT CONDITION WITH GENERATOR IN LV, MV

AND HV SYSYTEM

EARTH FAULT CONDITION WITH GENERATOR IN LV SYSTEM:

In low-voltage (LV) electrical systems, earth fault control is critical for
ensuring safety and reliability. Here's an overview of how generators can
help in managing earth faults:

1. Understanding Earth Faults

• An earth fault occurs when there is an unintended connection

between a live conductor and the earth.

• This can lead to dangerous conditions, including electric shock,

equipment damage, and fire hazards.

2. Role of Generators:

• Generators can contribute to earth fault control in several ways:

a. Earthing Systems:

• Solidly Earthed Generators: Directly connect the generator

neutral to the ground, providing a low-impedance path for fault
currents. This helps clear faults quickly by triggering protective
devices.

• Resistance Earthed Systems: Use a resistor between the

generator neutral and earth. This limits the fault current to a
safe level, reducing the risk of equipment damage while still
enabling fault detection.

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b. Protection Devices:

• Earth Fault Relays: Detect earth fault currents and trigger

disconnection of the faulty section of the system.

• Circuit Breakers: Designed to interrupt the current flow in case

of a fault, helping to isolate the faulted equipment.

Let us consider with a case study in ETAP and deep dive into EARTH
FAULT with generator in LV SYSTEM respectively.

NORMAL CASE

Consider a 11 KV grid connected system which could be an industry or a

commercial building where it is step down to 0.415 KV, 2 MVA, typical
impedance connected to (DELTA-STAR) grounded system which is
feeding the auxiliary feeders in downstream respectively. A standalone

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diesel generator of 1.6 MVA with typical 0.8 Power factor has been
connected to the LV bus in order to meetup the demand if the grid
connected system, is in quite disconnected mode. And if the grid fails to
whatever reason to be outage mode the DG will come into picture which
will be in standalone mode to feed the auxiliary feeders respectively.

In normal mode, the power is coming from the grid to the auxiliary
feeders, the transformer is connected intentionally in (DELTA-STAR)
grounded system or LV star solidly grounded due to the LV system will
have single phase loads that need to be protected from single line to
ground fault (SLG) that is considered to severe among all fault current.
In most of the cases the protection devices such as ACB, MCB, MCCB.
fuses which don’t have any special mechanism to protect earth fault.

EB CASE

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Let’s take in our case the LVCB is of molded case circuit breaker with
having thermal magnetic release, thermal is for overload protection and
the magnetic part is for short circuit protection, so if the SLG fault occurs
that is detected by the phase principle that is either by thermal or
magnetic relay need to be pick by them respectively.

Otherwise, we need to add additional earth fault relay to detect the fault
with in the full load amps. Assume there is a SLG fault in LV system of

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higher resistant of 1 ohm, in this case the thermal magnetic relay may
not detect the fault current, in these scenarios we need to go with
additional earth leakage relay.

In LV system mostly all the thermal magnetic relay such as MCB,

MCCB, FUSE which are all operating above its full load amps and there
so no special care to detect the earth fault at much lower current, less
than its full load amps respectively.

DG CASE
Similarly, when the EB CASE fails or grid system is in outage, the diesel
generator will be in standalone mode to meet up the auxiliary demand.
The DG also have the same solidly grounded system to support the LV
systems connected loads, the solidly grounded while allow to detect the
SLG FAULT

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If we are going with resistance grounding for generators in LV system,
even with a small resistance value if we are going with SLG fault is limits
to very small value and hence the protection system in the LV system
which may not able to detect the fault respectively.

EARTH FAULT with generator in MV SYSTEM:

In a medium voltage (MV) system, earth faults (ground faults) involving
generators can have significant impacts on system stability, protection
schemes, and safety. Below is an overview of the earth fault condition
for generators in MV systems:

1. Earth Fault in MV Systems:

An earth fault occurs when one phase of the system gets connected to
the earth (ground) unintentionally, causing current to flow through the
ground. In an MV system, this type of fault can be particularly severe
because of the higher voltages involved.

2. Effects of Earth Faults on Generators:

When a generator in an MV system experiences an earth fault, the

following issues can arise:

• Increased Fault Current: The generator will feed fault current

into the earth fault, which can lead to high magnitudes of fault
current depending on the grounding method.

• Voltage Imbalance: A phase-to-ground fault causes a

significant voltage drop in the faulted phase, creating a voltage
imbalance that may affect connected equipment and lead to
system instability.

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 ▪ Thermal Stress: Excessive fault current can cause thermal stress
on the generator windings and other connected components,
potentially leading to equipment damage.

▪ Mechanical Stress: High fault currents can create mechanical

forces that can damage the rotor and stator components of the
generator.

▪ Protection Operation: The protection systems (like overcurrent,

earth fault relays, and differential protection) should quickly detect
and isolate the fault to protect both the generator and the rest of
the system.

3. Grounding Methods and Impact on Earth Faults:

The severity of an earth fault and its impact on the system is highly
influenced by the grounding method of the generator:

• Solid Grounding: The generator is directly connected to the

earth. In the case of an earth fault, this configuration will result in
high fault currents, requiring robust protection schemes. It also
causes immediate disconnection to avoid damage.

• Low Resistance Grounding (LRG): A resistor is placed between

the neutral point of the generator and earth. This limits the earth
fault current, reducing damage to equipment. The fault current is
typically limited to a few hundred amperes.

• High Resistance Grounding (HRG): A high resistance limits the

fault current to very low values (a few amps). This reduces the
stress on the generator and allows the system to continue
operation with a fault present for a short time, depending on the
operational philosophy.

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 • Ungrounded (Isolated) System: No intentional connection
between the generator neutral and earth. The first earth fault
results in very low fault current, but if not addressed, a second
earth fault can lead to severe damage. This system is often used
where continuity of supply is critical.

4. Protection Schemes for Earth Faults:

To protect generators from earth faults, various protection schemes are

employed:

• Overcurrent Protection: Detects high current flow due to earth

faults and trips the generator.

• Differential Protection: Compares the current entering and

leaving the generator. If there is an imbalance, the system trips the
generator.

• Neutral Grounding Resistor (NGR) Protection: Monitors the

current through the neutral grounding resistor in low-resistance
grounded systems.
• Earth Fault Relays (51G, 64G): Specific earth fault relays monitor
for ground faults and trip the generator to protect against damage.
• Restricted Earth Fault (REF) Protection: Provides high
sensitivity and fast operation for detecting earth faults close to the
generator neutral.
• In a medium voltage (MV) system, earth faults (ground faults)
involving generators can have significant impacts on system
stability, protection schemes, and safety. Below is an overview of
the earth fault condition for generators in MV systems:
• Earth Fault Relays (51G, 64G): Specific earth fault relays monitor
for ground faults and trip the generator to protect against damage.

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 • Restricted Earth Fault (REF) Protection: Provides high
sensitivity and fast operation for detecting earth faults close to the
generator neutral.

Let us consider with a case study in ETAP and deep dive into EARTH
FAULT with generator in MV SYSTEM respectively.

Assume there is an industry, which receives power supply about 110KV

from the grid and it is step down to 11KV which has motors and auxiliary
loads respectively.

In EB CASE:

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When the power supply is coming only from the grid to the auxiliary
loads and motors, while the Generator is kept out of service. In this
scenario still the transformer winding configuration is with (delta to star)
but with star resistance grounding on the LV side in order to reduce the
single line to ground fault current say about 300 to 400 amps. But in our
case, we are going the current is about 400A with 15.8ohms.

In a MV system if motors are connected then we have to go with (delta-

star) with resistance earthed system, if SLG fault occurs w.r.t motors
then there is higher possibility of chances stator core of the motor get
damaged. So that why as a power system engineers we need to ensure
the SLG fault w.r.t MV system.

These resistance NGR limits the SLG fault well below the what’s the
capability of stator core of the motor ratings.

Let’s take an example of domestic usage motors with rating 3 HP, if the
winding gets damaged due overload or short circuit which can sorted by
local winding shop itself and get rewinded so we need not to go back to
the OEM.

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Whereas if the motors connected to 11KV system is connected with
(DELTA – STAR) solidly earthed system, then the stator core of the
motor can get saturated or damaged heavily. And hence only the
winding of motor can be cleared with local shop to get rewinding but
stator core of the motor can’t able to restored not easily. The cost of
stator core of the motor will not be much economical and hence its
difficult and time consuming, so the consumer may have to go with
another new motor respectively.

Generators rated from 3.3 kV to 21 kV are grounded either through high

resistance or low resistance to limit the earth fault current. If earth fault
current magnitude is high, the core damage at the point of fault in
generator will be high. In case of damage to core, repairs cannot be
carried out at site. The machine has to be sent back to manufacturer’s
works for repair resulting in prolonged loss of production. To limit the
damage to the core, manufacturers allow only a limited earth fault
current. This information is usually provided in ‘core damage curves’
supplied by manufacturer.

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The above graph with respect to stator core winding of the motor which
connected to generators. In general, the stator winding will have higher
withstand capability of short circuit current and the stator core is having
lesser withstand capability with short circuit current.

In the above graph the current vs time is given with respect to generator
but it also been seen as well as for motors so higher the time lesser the
current can able to withstand, if the short circuit current is about the
50KA then the stator core can able to withstand only about 1.8 to 2 sec
only. So, it conveys it essential important factor to limit the SLG fault
current in the system.

When we are running 110/11KV and getting power supply from the grid
and connected local load with an industry. If there is lighter phase shift in
the scenario of cogeneration plant comes, the 110/28KV stepdown
transformer from the grid has already the winding is earthed with
resistance earthed system and the generator has also its resistance
grounding NGTR. So, both the resistance will get cumulatively added
and the fault current will be flowing through stator core and we need to
check whether it damaging the stator core or not. Due to circulating
current between two neutrals, we need to go with current limiting
methods such as by adding unit transformers or some special
precautions to eliminate it.

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EARTH FAULT with generator in HV SYSTEM:
An earth fault happens when one conductor touches the ground, leading
to:

• Unbalanced currents and voltage in the system.

• Potential damage if not quickly detected and isolated.

Earth Faults and Generators:

In systems with generators, earth faults can cause:

• Overheating and voltage imbalances in the generator.

• Stress on generator insulation due to unbalanced forces.

Generator Grounding:

Generators are grounded (solidly or with resistors/reactors) to manage

fault currents, protecting the generator from large fault currents while
ensuring proper fault detection and isolation.

Protection Systems:

Key protection methods include:

• Differential protection for detecting internal generator faults.

• Neutral overcurrent and directional earth fault protection for fault

detection and isolation.

• Restricted Earth Fault (REF) protection for close-range faults.

Consider with larger scale power plant say about 800MW which is step
up and connected to nearest substation, which could 400 or 765 KV
system which pumps to this grid and connected to downstream auxiliary
loads respectively.

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In these scenarios the generator should be earthed in such a way SLG
fault in the generator should less than the stator core damage curve
which is specified above.

So as power system engineer, we need to ensure while buying the

generator from the manufacturers to check whether the value is stator
core damage curve will limited than the SLG fault from the various
manufacturers.

In general, for the high-capacity generators limit the SLG fault current to
5A.

While selecting the SLG fault to be limited, we need to take account of

bus duct which will be present near the generator and bus 68
respectively.

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So, we need take account busduct capacitance, the upstream
transformer secondary DELTA winding capacitance, LV side of the
generator step up transformer and capacitance of the auxiliary
transformer that could be station or unit transformers or delta winding
transformer and also if we generator circuit breaker (GCB) we need that
also.

And so that we can able to get the value of capacitive current so that we
can able to design in such a way that the NGT should be designed in
such a way that limits the current that is above the capacitive current.

In NGT to limit the SLG fault in large capacity generators what’s the
current we are limiting should be less than stator core damage curve
and also it should be higher than the capacitive current induced because
of delta winding of LV generator transformer, busducts and even
generator capacitance itself, if it has GCB that capacitance also need to
be taken in account and DELTA winding of any other auxiliary
transformer or unit station transformers connected to the system
respectively.

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So, we need to find the capacitive current so that we need to size the
NGT and that NGR grounding resistor value in such a way that the SLG
fault is limited higher than the capacitive current so, typically it would be
in the range of 5A.

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