Generator Protection

A generator experiences electrical stress on its

• Insulation,
• Mechanical forces on its parts, and
• Temperature rise.
These are the main reasons generator or alternator protection is
required. A properly maintained machine in beneficial running
condition maintains its stipulated rated performance for numerous
years and can tolerate overload.

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To ensure machine safety, overloads and abnormalities must be
prevented. Even with efficient design, construction, operation, and
preventive measures, machines can still
malfunction. Generator protection devices reduce faults quickly.

An electrical generator might have internal or external faults.

Generators are usually connected to an electrical system, so any
failure in the power system should be cleared from the generator
immediately to avoid irreparable damage.

Generator faults are numerous and varied. This is why generators

and alternators have many protections. Generator protection is
discriminative and non-discriminative. Coordination of systems
and settings is essential to achieving a sensitive, selective, &
discriminative generator protection mechanism.

Types of Generator Faults

• Internal Faults and

• External Faults
are the most common types of generator faults.

Internal faults are caused by difficulties within the generator

components, while external faults are caused by abnormal
operating conditions & malfunctions on external networks.

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Internal Fault Types in a Generator

Internal faults might be electrical or mechanical in design.

1). Stator Faults

• Overheating of windings: Overheating of the stator

windings can be generated by persistent overloads
• Fault in the windings from phase to phase: Phase-to-phase
& earth faults are induced by insulation failure.
• Phase-to-earth defect in windings: Phase-to-earth faults are
induced by insulation failure.
• Inter-turn fault
2). Faults in the Rotor

• Fault in the earth

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 • Short-circuit winding (wound rotor)
• Rotor overheating is caused by imbalanced currents
at stator, which can occur as a result of:
o Trip with a single pole
o Faulty stator winding

• Sequence of negative phases

3). Loss of Field / Excitation (An AC generator’s field is made up of

coils of conductors that obtain a voltage from an electrical source
(also referred to excitation) & generate a magnetic flux.

4). Out-of-Step Generator

5). Motor Function

6). Overheating bearings and a lack of lubrication oil pressure

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External Fault Types in a Generator

Faults in the external power system & abnormal operating

conditions include:

1). External short-circuiting

2). Generator connection that is not synchronized – An external

short-circuit, the switching off of an essential inductive load, or a
defect in the excitation system can all cause synchronism to be
disrupted.
3). Out of step (pole slippage or synchronization loss) -A network
system problem that is uncleared or slow to clear might cause
generators to slip poles or become “out-of-step” with the other
components of the system.Mechanical stresses on the shaft and
substantial power swings interrupt power system voltages.

4). Overloads – Overspeed is caused by an immediate shutdown of

the complete load or a significant drop in load.

5). Overspeed

6). Unbalanced phase sequence & negative phase sequence

7). Over and under frequency

8). Under-voltages & over-voltages

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Devices for Generator Protection

The most expensive components of power systems are generators.

The subsequent devices are used to safeguard AC & DC generators
from inherent faults.

Two categories can be utilized for categorizing the many different

generator protection measures:

• Protective relays to identify faults outside the generator

and
• Protective relays to identify faults inside the generator.
There are protection relays directly connected to the

• Generator and transformer,

• Lightning arrestors,
• Over speed guards,
• Oil flow and temperature measurement devices
for shaft bearing, stator winding, transformer winding, and
transformer oil.

Some of these preventive arrangements simply alarm during

irregularities and do not trip.

The other protective methods operate the generator’s master

tripping relay. It should be remembered that no protective relay
can avoid a fault, only indicate and decrease its length to prevent
high generator temperature rise and permanent damage. To
mitigate the impacts of lightning & other voltage surges on the

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generator, surge capacitors or diverters are usually installed.
Typical generator protection techniques are briefly covered below:

1). Protection from Insulation Failure

2). Protection for the Stator Earth Fault

3). Protection for a Rotor Earth Fault

4). Protection against Unbalanced Stator Loading

5). Protection from Stator Overheating

6). Low Vacuum Protection

7). Protection from the failure of the Lubricating Oil

8). Protection from Boiler Firing Loss

9). Protection from the failure of the Prime Mover

10). Over Speed Protection

11). Protection from Rotor Distortion

12). Protection against the expansion difference between Rotating

& Stationary Parts

13). Protection from Vibration

14). Backup Generator Protection

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Protection from Insulation Failure

The longitudinal differential protection of the generator serves as

the primary defence against phase-to-phase (or) phase-to-earth
fault in the stator winding. Inter-turn fault protection is the second-
most important safety method for stator windings.

In past experiences this type of protection wasn’t thought to be

necessary because a break in the insulation between two points in
the same phase winding that are in the same slot and have a
different potential quickly turns into an earth fault, which is then
picked up by either the stator differential protection (or) the stator
earth fault protection.

Protection for the Stator Earth Fault

When the neutral of the stator is connected to earth through a

resistor, a CT-current transformer is installed in the connection
between the neutral and earth. When the generator is connected up
straight to the bus bar, an inverter time relay is connected across
the CT secondary. For the same reason, an instantaneous switch is
used when a generator sends power through a delta-star
transformer.

In the first condition, the earth faults relay must be rated with the
systems other fault relays. In this condition, inverted time relay is
employed.

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Protection for a Rotor Earth Fault

If there is only one earth fault, it doesn’t cause any major problems
with the generator. However, if there is a second earth fault, part
of the field winding will short-circuit, causing an unbalanced
magnetic field in system

This can cause major mechanical damage to the generator’s

bearings. There are three ways to find out what type of problem is
in the rotor. These are the steps:

1). Potentiometer method

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2). AC injection method

3). DC injection method

Protection against Unbalanced Stator Loading

In the stator circuit, unbalanced loading results in negative

sequence currents. The negative sequence current induces a
double-frequency current in rotor by causing a reaction field to
rotate at twice the rotor’s synchronous speed. This too high current
overheats the rotor circuit, particularly in the alternator.

The differential protection built into the generator would instantly

correct any unbalancing that resulted from a malfunction in stator
winding itself. Depending on the way the system’s protection is
coordinated, an unbalance that results from an external
malfunction or an unbalanced load may go undetected or continue
for a long time. Installing a negative phase sequence relay with
characteristics compatible with the machine’s withstand curve will
then fix these errors.

Protection from Stator Overheating

The generator’s stator winding can overheat as a result of overload.

The stator winding can overheat for a number of reasons, including

• Overloading,
• Cooling system failure, &
• Insulation failure of the stator laminations.

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Temperature sensors implanted in stator winding are used to
identify the overheating at various locations. The resistance
components that make up the temperature detector coils typically
make up one arm of the Wheatstone bridge circuit.

Smaller generators, typically those under 30 MW, lack inbuilt

temperature coils but are instead typically equipped with thermal
relays, which are set up to monitor the current flowing through the
stator winding.

This setup only detects overheating brought on by overloading; it

offers no Défense against overheating carried on by faulty cooling
systems or shorted stator laminations.

Although devices for monitoring continuous flow,

• Negative phase sequence relays, &

• Over current relays
are also employed to some extent to provide thermal overload
protection.

Low Vacuum Protection

This protection, which is often installed on generating sets larger

than 30 MW, compares the vacuum with atmospheric pressure
using a regulator. The secondary governor is used by the regulator
to unload the set-in current practice till normal vacuum conditions
are again present. The primary circuit breaker trips and the stop
valves are closed if vacuum conditions do not improve to below 21
inches.

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Protection from the failure of the Lubricating Oil

Since the lubricating oil is typically obtained from the exact same
pump as the governor oil and since a failure of the governor oil will
cause the stop valve to automatically close, this protection isn’t
considered to be needed.

Protection from Boiler Firing Loss

There are two ways to find the loss of boiler firing.

In the first method, the fan motors have normally opened (NO)
contacts that can trip the generator if more than the two motors fail.

The second method makes use of boiler pressure contacts that, if

the boiler pressure drops below about 90%, unload the generator.

Protection from the failure of the Prime Mover

The generator will continue to operate in motoring mode, which

means it draws electrical energy from the electrical system rather
than delivering it to the system, if the prime mover is unable to
provide mechanical energy to the generator.

In a steam turbine, the steam serves as a coolant to keep the

temperature of the turbine blades constant. Due to frictional
warming brought on by a supply failure, turbine blade distortion
will develop.

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In addition to placing a significant driving strain on the generator,
the loss of steam supply can seriously harm mechanical
components. For this, a reverse power relay is employed. The
reverse power relay will be triggered by the generator set at the
point the generator starts to rotate in driving mode.

Over Speed Protection

While mechanical over speed mechanisms on steam and hydro

turbines that work directly on steam throttle valve (or) main step
valve are typical, it is uncommon to back these devices up with an
over speed relay on steam-driven sets.

On hydroelectric units, however, it is regarded as best practice

because the governor responds almost slowly and the set is more
likely to overspeed. When installed, the relay is often powered by
the permanent magnet generator that also controls the governor.

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Protection from Rotor Distortion

The top & bottom of the turbine casing cool at different rates after
shutdown, and this unequal temperature distribution tends to ruin
the rotor. It is common to rotate the rotor slowly through the
cooling down time in order to reduce disruption.

The fitting of shaft eccentricity detectors is now considered normal

procedure due to the stresses involved with large contemporary
rotors.

Protection against the expansion difference between Rotating &

Stationary Parts

Due to the differences in mass, the rotor heats up at a different pace

than the case during the running up phase. As a result, the rotor
and case expand at different rates, and this uneven expansion must
be overcome.

In order to accomplish this, it is suggested that certain joints on

casing of the bigger machine receive independent supply of steam.

Protection from Vibration

The bearing pedestals are often where vibration detectors are

installed. The detector comprises of two permanent magnets in the
shape of a U and a coil set on springs.

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The coil’s voltage output, which is inversely proportionate to the
intensity of the vibration, is then routed through integrating
circuits and into an interval-indicating instrument.

Backup Generator Protection

Always provide backup protection while using a machine with a

high rating, such as an alternator or synchronous generator.

Backup protection relays must be activated to clear faults if the

proper protection scheme was not able to fix them. For this, over
current relays are typically employed.

Modern machines frequently have synchronous reactance more

than 100%, hence the sustained fault current delivered from the
machinery into an external fault is always lower than the typical
full load current.

Because their current settings need to be closer to full load and their
time sitting must be short in order to achieve operation, ordinary
IDMT relays would not perform properly and would likely lack
discriminating ability with respect to the other system’s over-
current relays. This is because their time sitting must be short.

Furthermore, the machine would likely lose field and the over-
current relay could probably activate, disconnecting it too quickly.
It has become common practice to use an over-current relay along
with an under-voltage relay, with the latter relay governing the
fault settings of the former, in order to solve the issue.

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