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ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

Relay Protection Setting Calculation of Power Transformer

Based on ETAP

Jinguo Wei*
Datang Guanyinyan Hydropower Development co., Ltd., Panzhihua Sichuan 617000,
China
*[email protected]

Abstract. The conventional relay protection setting calculation method considers the internal
interference of the transformer and obtains the setting value quickly, which leads to large
harmonic interference of the transformer and affects the secondary setting calculation results.
Therefore, the setting calculation method of the power transformer relay protection based on
the Electrical Transient Analysis Program (ETAP) is designed. The harmonic transfer
characteristics of the power transformer are extracted, and the harmonic interference of the
power transformer is proposed. Then the ETAP software is adopted to establish the calculation
principle of the power transformer relay protection setting and improve the calculation
accuracy of the secondary setting. Through comparative experiments, it is verified that the
second fixed value of the algorithm is close to the actual fixed value and can be applied to real
life.

1. Introduction
In the process of power system operation, abnormal faults often occur. When a fault occurs in the
power system, if it cannot be maintained in time, it will affect its stable operation effect. To solve this
problem, relay protection has appeared in the power system, which can handle every element in the
line and eliminate the fault of the power transformer in a short time. Transformer relay protection can
cut off the faulty element and switch it to another transformer to ensure a stable supply of electric
energy. At the same time, relay protection can also send out early warning information in time before
the fault occurs, and provide better fault solutions for the power system. Since there are many of data
on relay protection, the setting calculation is needed. Therefore, researchers have designed a variety of
calculation methods. The Firefly-based calculation method and the distribution network automation
system-based calculation method are widely used.
The Firefly-based calculation method mainly uses the Factor Analysis (FA) algorithm to optimize
the calculation process of relay protection setting value, which improves the effectiveness of relay
protection set-up calculation by suppressing internal interference and shortening the time of manual
calculation to obtain set-up values quickly. The calculation method based on the distribution network
automation system mainly applies the distribution network automation system to analyze the relay
protection and submit it to the operation and maintenance for setting, which is to improve the effect of
relay protection setting calculation [2]. ETAP is software for electrical analysis and management,
which can make targeted calculations according to the operation of the power system and provide
relevant solutions [3]. Therefore, this paper applies ETAP to design the setting calculation method for
the power transformer relay protection.

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ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

2. Design of ETAP method for relay protection setting calculation of power transformer

2.1. Extracting harmonic transfer characteristics of power transformer

When the harmonic is transmitted in the power system, resonance anomalies occur, which lead to
harmonic amplification and harmonic interference to the transformer. As the main component
connecting different voltage levels, it is very important to extract the harmonic transfer characteristics
of the power transformer [4-6]. The structure of power transformers is not completely consistent, and
the degree is negligible. In this paper, it is assumed that the structure of the power transformer is
uniform, and the branch effect is neglected [7]. Taking the equivalent inductance Xt of the transformer
as the only invariant, the resistance and inductance per unit length of the conductor in the transformer
are as follows.

 1
 Rs  2 m
 c

X  1
 a
2 m c
(1)
R
Where s is the resistance per unit length of the conductor in the transformer, a is the
X
inductance per unit length of the conductor in the transformer, m is the radius of the conductor,  is

the conductivity, c is the transmission depth, and  is the angular frequency. At different harmonic
frequencies, the impedance value of the copper conductor of the transformer is different. The
harmonic resistance value is about k times the fundamental resistance value, and the harmonic
reactance value is about k times the fundamental reactance value [8]. Therefore, the equivalent
harmonic resistance and reactance of the transformer are as follows.
 Rm  k Rs

 X t  k X a (2)
R X
Where m is the equivalent harmonic resistance value of the transformer, t is the equivalent
harmonic reactance value of the transformer, and k is a constant. Therefore, the harmonic impedance
value of the power transformer under the action of the kth harmonic is as follows.

Z k  k Rs  lkX a
(3)

Where
Z k is the harmonic impedance value of the power transformer under the action of kth
harmonic and l is the number of fundamental waves [9]. When the harmonic order of the transformer
is not high, the capacitance effect of the transformer is not obvious. At this time, the equivalent circuit
of harmonic transmission is displayed in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the equivalent harmonic circuit of the transformer.

As shown in Figure 1, Rm and Xt are the equivalent harmonic resistance and reactance of the
transformer, respectively. During the setting calculation of the electromechanical protection of the

2
ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

transformer, the values of Rm and Xt should be considered to ensure that the calculation results are
consistent with the actual results.

2.2. Setting principle of the power transformer relay protection based on ETAP
To verify whether the calculation method designed in this paper has the use value, the harmonic
transmission data of the power transformer is packaged into files and imported into ETAP, and the
relay protection is calculated [10]. The setting calculation principle of the zero sequence current in
ETAP software is as follows.
I 0  Rk Rt 3I 0 max
(4)

Where
I 0 is the fixed value of zero-sequence current. Rk and Rt are the resistance values of
I 0 max
current k and t sections. is the maximum zero-sequence current at the end. When the above relay
I
protection short circuit fault occurs, the fault point is 0 max , and the second fixed value of the current
of the inter-phase short circuit of the transformer bus is set as follows.
I z  Rk Rt Z k I d max
(5)
I I
Where z is the secondary current constant value and d max is the maximum unbalanced current
value of the end line. The setting principles of inter-phase distance protection and differential
protection in ETAP software are as follows.

Gz  Rk Z k

 K z  Rk Z k  Rt Zt (6)
Gz
Where is the phase-to-phase fault impedance value of the transformer relay protection line
module,
K z is the over current impedance value of the transformer relay protection differential
Z I G K
protection, and t is the overload signal. The set z , z , and z are imported into the ETAP
software again. Compared with the target database, if the data is consistent, the corresponding
protection scheme is proposed for zero-sequence current fault, inter-phase distance protection, and
differential protection. If the data is inconsistent, the ETAP analysis is carried out again until it is
consistent with the target database, which provides a guarantee for the stable operation of the power
system.

3. Experiment
r makes an experimental analysis of the above method. The final experimental results are presented in
the form of a comparison between the calculation method based on Firefly in Reference [1], the
calculation method based on the distribution network automation system in Reference [2], and the
ETAP-based calculation method designed in this paper. The specific experimental process and results
are shown in the following section.

3.1. Experimental process

In the calculation process of this experiment, the lower-level grid exports the parameters and circuits
of the power transformer as a standard XML exchange file. Then, the interactive file is imported into
the target area to complete the import of the parameters of the power transformer relay protection
setting calculation. We import the data into the target database of ETAP and exchange the data into a
standard format according to the requirements. For the imported data, we check the parameters and

3
ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

circuits according to the file structure, select to receive the import results or give up the import
operation to ensure the accuracy of the setting calculation results. The process of importing data on
ETAP software in this experiment is shown in Figure 2.

Start

Select the spliced file to be imported

Set the corresponding relationship of
voltage level

Select the target area to import

Whether needs a comparative

import
No
Yes

Set the stations and lines to be reserved in the

target area
Set the equivalent station and line to be
deleted in the file
File import data vs. target retention data

Set transformer operation mode

Import the target area and generate an

integrated splicing report

End
Figure 2. ETAP software import data flow charts.
In Figure 2, when the ETAP software is used and the lines, components, and parameters in the
import file are completely consistent with the target database, the report can be spliced directly. When
the import file is inconsistent with the target database, the process of line reservation, deletion,
comparison, and splicing can be carried out to ensure that the data input into ETAP is more accurate.
The power transformer single loop network connection in the target area is shown in Figure 3.
A Transformer B Transformer
Outgoing line Interconnection Outgoing line
switch switch switch

500 kV busbar

Section switch Section switch

Figure 3. Wiring diagram of single loop network of the power transformer.

In Figure 3, transformer A and transformer B are conducted with outgoing line switches,
interconnection switches, section switches, etc. When connected to the 500 kV bus, the wiring form is
relatively simple and reliable, which can ensure the normal load demand of the power system.

4
ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

3.2. Experimental results

Under the above experimental conditions, a variety of relay protection types are randomly selected for
the rectification calculation in this paper. Under the condition that the actual quadratic fixed value is
consistent, the quadratic fixed value of the algorithm in Reference [1], the quadratic fixed value of the
algorithm in Reference [2], and the quadratic fixed values of the algorithm designed in this paper are
compared. The experimental results are indicated in Table 1.
Table 1. Experimental results.
Type of Actual The quadratic fixed The quadratic fixed The quadratic fixed
relay secondary value/A of the value/A of the value/A of the algorithm
protection fixed algorithm in algorithm in designed in this paper
value/A Reference [1] Reference [2]
Short 179.91 179.81 179.89 179.90
circuit
between
phases
Inter-turn 158.43 158.33 158.41 158.43
short circuit
Power 112.03 112.13 112.04 112.03
direction
Overvoltage 122.76 122.66 122.78 122.76
Overcurrent 489.30 489.20 489.31 489.30
Differential 170.15 170.05 170.16 170.16
Resistance 117.31 117.21 117.29 117.31
Zero 134.48 134.38 134.46 134.48
sequences
As shown in Table 1, the relay protection types, such as phase-to-phase short circuit, turn-to-turn
short circuit, power direction, overvoltage, overcurrent, differential, impedance, and zero sequences
are randomly selected in this paper. The secondary settings of each type are different and vary from
112.03 A to 489.30 A. During the setting calculation, the closer the secondary setting calculation of
the algorithm is, the better the effect of relay protection is, which plays an important role in the stable
operation of the power system. When other conditions are the same, the difference between the
secondary setting of the algorithm in Reference [1] and the actual secondary setting is ± 0.1 A, and the
calculation error is relatively large, which affects the protection effect of the power system. The
difference between the secondary setting of the algorithm in Reference [2] and the actual secondary
setting is ± 0.02 A. The calculation error is reduced, but there are still related uncertainties, which
affect the protective effect of the power system. However, the secondary setting of the algorithm
designed in this paper is close to the actual secondary setting, only the setting of B _ 500 kV bus and
G _ 500 kV bus is ± 0.01 A. Different from the actual one, the other bus settings are consistent with
the actual secondary setting, which can ensure the effectiveness of the calculation method and play a
protective role for power transformers and is in line with the purpose of this study.

4. Conclusion
In recent years, the operating range of power systems has been expanded to higher living conditions
for people. During the long-term operation of the power system, abnormal faults often occur, such as
transformer faults, relay faults, and so on, which can lead to the paralysis of the whole system.
Therefore, this paper adopts the ETAP to design the setting calculation method of power transformer
relay protection. The calculation is carried out from the aspects of zero-sequence protection, phase-to-
phase distance protection, and differential protection so that the setting calculation value of relay
protection is closer to the actual value, which is more conducive to improving the operation stability of
the power system.

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ECCST-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2480 (2023) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2480/1/012018

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