S.D.

Suhasini : Impact Of Harmonics On The Protection of VFD Driven Induction Motor Proceedings of the National Power Engineering Conference (NPEC10) Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai 15, 2 & 3 December 2010, pp. 195-199

IMPACT OF HARMONICS ON THE PROTECTION OF VFD DRIVEN INDUCTION MOTOR

S.D.Suhasini1 J. R. Mundkar2 Agnel Polytechnic, Navi Mumbai-400709. 2 A.C. Patil College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai-410210
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ABSTRACT Three-phase squirrel-cage induction motors are widely used in the industrial motor driven systems. Variable frequency drives (VFDs) which allow softstart as well as speed control of motors produce PWM voltage. Also the harmonics introduced by the VFD causes unintended operation of the protection equipment. Numerical relays are used in the protection schemes of these high voltage motors. The location of current transformer (CT) is an important criterion in the protection circuit. Impact of the harmonics on the protection of VFD driven induction motor is analysed. A suitable protection strategy for AC induction motor driven by VFD is presented. 1. INTRODUCTION Variable frequency drives are used for starting and controlling the speed of induction motors. With rapid developments in electronics, solid state devices have become very popular in electric drives. Harmonics produced by line-commutated converters are related to the pulse-number of the device [1]. The converters are classified according to the pulse number and increasing the pulse number greatly improves the performance of the converter. The inverters used in VFD are classified according to the type of voltage control. In the case of inverters with constant link voltage, the principle of (pulse width modulation) PWM is used. Current harmonics in the VFD input stage can also feed back into the power bus grid, and can disrupt other types of equipment in the premises [2]. The motors have to be protected against any abnormal operating conditions like overcurrents, overvoltages, short-circuits etc. Current transformers in co-ordination with numerical relays are used for the protection. But the choice of the location of the current transformer plays a crucial role in the protection strategy due to the effect of harmonics. An inappropriate location of the CT can cause mal-operation of the protection equipment. After a thorough study of the drive system, certain protection strategies for the motor are recommended.

2.INVERTERS FOR VFD The VFDs are classified in the form of the variable-voltage/variable frequency power that is supplied to the motor [3]. They are classified as: Variable-Voltage Inverter which is also known as a voltage-source inverter (VSI). In this class of VFDs, the controlled variable is the voltage of the motor. The current is determined by the motors impedance. Current-Source Inverter (CSI) is also known as a six-step current inverter. In this class of VFDs, the controlled variable is the current to the motor. The voltage is determined by the motors impedance. Pulse width Modulated (PWM) Inverter does not change the amplitude of the controlled variable to the motor (typically voltage). They change the rms value by turning the controlled value ON and OFF at a relatively high frequency while varying the pulse width. 3. BASIC OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF VFD Introduction of a VFD allows "soft starting" and constant speed adjustments according to load requirements. The process therefore can be more closely monitored and controlled, with tremendous energy savings as well as performance improvement [4]. The voltage on an alternating current (ac) power supply rises and falls in the pattern of a sine wave. When the voltage is positive, current flows in one direction; when the voltage is negative, the current flows in the opposite direction. This type of power system enables large amounts of energy to be efficiently transmitted over great distances. In VFD applications, the starting current of motor is minimized. The rectifier in a VFD is used to convert incoming ac power into direct current (dc) power. One rectifier will allow power to pass through only when the voltage is positive. A second rectifier will allow power to pass through only when the voltage is negative. Two rectifiers are required for each phase of power. Since most large power supplies are three phase, there will be a minimum of 6 rectifiers. Appropriately, the term 6 pulse is used to describe a drive with 6 rectifiers. A VFD may have multiple rectifier sections, with 6 rectifiers per section,

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enabling a VFD to be 12 pulse, 18 pulse, or 24 pulse. After the power flows through the rectifiers it is stored on a dc bus. The dc bus contains capacitors to accept power from the rectifier, store it, and later deliver that power through the inverter section. The dc bus may also contain inductors, dc links, chokes, or similar items that add inductance, thereby smoothing the incoming power supply to the dc bus. The final section of the VFD is referred to as an inverter. The inverter contains transistors that deliver power to the motor. The Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a common choice in modern VFDs. The IGBT can switch on and off several thousand times per second and precisely control the power delivered to the motor. The IGBT uses a method named pulse width modulation (PWM) to simulate a current sine wave at the desired frequency to the motor. Motor speed (rpm) is dependent upon frequency. Varying the frequency output of the VFD controls motor speed.

4. EFFECTS OF HARMONICS ON PROTECTION EQUIPMENT Due to extensive application of nonlinear loads like VFDs the load current usually contains harmonic components that affect the operating characteristic of the overcurrent relay [5]. Current with a high crest factor can also nuisance-trip peak sensing devices. The current waveform distortions contain low order harmonics with different THD levels. The waveform distortion of load current will alter tripping time of overcurrent relays. Harmonicrich currents will have higher effective rms value as compared to non-distorted sinusoidal waveforms. The total harmonic distortion of load current is defined as: %THD1=(Ih/I1rms)*100 ,where Ih=(I2rms2+ I3rms2 + I4rms2 +...........+ Inrms2) Waveform distortion does affect the performance of protective relays and may cause them to operate improperly. However, for overloaded conditions (or for low magnitude faults) the current may contain substantial harmonics and distortion can become a significant factor. The effect of harmonic currents leads to a shortened operation time of the relays. The relay performance depends on THDI waveform distortion. The higher the THDI, the greater is the variation in tripping time. As the magnitude of the fundamental current increases the relative impact of harmonic current on relay tripping is reduced. The voltage or current spikes fed back in to the distribution system create a high current crest factor and so the peak to RMS current ratio is higher than

1.414. Current having a high crest factor can also cause inaccurate secondary current in transformers. High current peaks may lead to transformer saturation. When the saturated secondary current is fed through a resistance, the resulting voltage wave wil1 have suppressed or flattened peaks. The current transformation under saturated conditions is therefore nonlinear. It is impossible to generalize the behaviour of any relay response to harmonics without actual tests, as the actual test results show larger deviations than that of theoretical calculation and software simulation. Relays exhibit a tendency to operate slower and/or with higher pickup values rather than to operate faster and/or with lower pickup values [6]. The overvoltage and over-current relays exhibit various changes in the operating characteristics. Depending on harmonic content, the operating torque of the relays could be reversed. While selecting CTs for the protection, care should be taken to select CTs which will not saturate over the expected operating frequency range of the VFD. The CT performance at low frequency/high harmonic should be evaluated. At reduced frequencies the CT capacity is correspondingly reduced, e.g. at 10% frequency the CT capability is about 10%. However the drive-side fault current is relatively small (because of isolation from AC system). Therefore, the CT only has to be designed for motor contribution currents (relatively small currents). The relay performance at higher harmonics should also be verified as the harmonics at low currents can be considerable. The settings would have to be appropriately adjusted for those conditions. 5. TYPICAL VFD DRIVEN INDUCTION MOTOR PROTECTION CIRCUIT-A CASE STUDY A VFD driven, 6.6kV, 260kW induction motor driving a variable speed load is considered. The motor is fed from 6.6kV bus. The circuit breaker receives undervoltage, underfrequency trip signals from bus PT. The multi-protection relay (MPR) receives signal from various CTs. It covers all types of fault conditions like overvoltage, overcurrent, ground fault, voltage unbalance and differential current protection etc. When the CT is located before the VFD, the numerical relay connected in differential mode will trip due to the current distortion seen by it which is caused by VFD. Hence, an analysis has been done with regard to the location of CT before and after VFD. Consider the configuration shown in figure 1. In this configuration the protection CT is located before the VFD. When the motor is operating using a variable

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frequency drive, the current seen at the line side CT is fundamental current super-imposed with harmonic current and current seen at neutral side CT is the motor load current with very less harmonic content. If the VFD is 6-pulse one, then the characteristic harmonics seen by the line side CT contains 5 th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th harmonics. These currents superimpose on the fundamental component of current, which is why the input current to a VFD is higher than the output current. Hence there is difference in the current seen by the CT. This differential current is more than the relay setting which caused mal-operation of the relay. For the twelve-pulse system, the input current will have harmonic components at multiples of 11, 13, 23, 25, 35, 37, etc of the fundamental frequency. The 5th and 7th harmonics are absent in the twelve-pulse system. The problem with 12-pulse configuration is that the two rectifiers must share current exactly to achieve the theoretical reduction in harmonics. This requires a converter transformer. Considering full-load operation, the full-load current drawn by the motor is 26.9A. The VFD is a 6-pulse converter, with the total harmonic distortion of 39.92% as per ETAP analysis. As the order of pulse increases, the total harmonic distortion will decrease.

Fig.1. Single line diagram (case study)

The following single line diagram as shown in Fig. 2 was simulated using ETAP.

Fig.2. Single line diagram simulated using ETAP

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The ETAP simulation results: Harmonic Spectrum Analysis: The maximum distortion occurs for lower order harmonics and decreases progressively for higher order harmonics as shown in Fig. 3.

for which the relay is set, the relay operated. The relay setting can be increased but it will not clear the motor stator faults quickly. Hence, keeping the same relay settings, some modifications can be done with respect to the location of the CT so that the line current entering the motor is the same as the current leaving the neutral i.e. the differential current is zero at normal operating condition. 6. RECOMMENDED PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR INDUCTION MOTOR 1. The protection CT should be located after the VFD as shown in Fig. 4. In this case the harmonic currents dont affect the CT performance. The line current at the input of the motor is the same as the current leaving the neutral side of the motor. The differential current is zero and hence the differential relay is unaffected by the harmonics. In the event of excess inrush of currents seen by the motor, the differential relay operates to trip the circuit breaker.

Fig.3. Harmonic Spectrum Voltage distortion: The values of voltage distortion are tabulated as shown in Table 1. The voltage distortion is 0.74% at bus 3. Table 1

Current distortion: The fundamental current is 26.9A and the RMS current is 30.17A as shown in Table 2. Table 2

Fig.4. Recommended protection for induction motor using 6CTs 2. The second option is to incorporate a selfbalancing differential protection via a sensitive 3phase instantaneous overcurrent trip [7] as shown in figure 5. A typical application would be the use of three current transformers, one per phase (Self Balancing Differential Protection). This provides the ability to monitor each phase of an incoming line and thereby alert the user to any conditions of unequal current, either in the power source or in the motor windings. It can be set to detect faults as low as 5% to 10% amps primary current. The 50/51 element is also used; the 51 element is set to provide standard motor overload protection. However the inverse over current protection time curves is selected very conservatively (i.e. not selected just below motor withstand curves, which is generally

From the results tabulated in Table 2, the CT before VFD sees a current of 30.17Amps and neutral CT of the motor sees a current of 26.9Amps. This current difference shows that the percentage differential current is 12%. The relay setting provided for percentage differential current is 10%. Since the differential current is more than the value

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done conventionally so as to maximize availability during overload conditions). This is implemented because motor withstand curves at sub nominal frequency currents are not available (where the motor will be starting and operating for significant periods of time). The differential element (87) is set conventionally, as a typical motor differential function. The important issue for this protection is to ensure the selected relay would operate over a wide range of frequencies.

REFERENCES 1. David D Shipp, Power Quality and Line Considerations for Variable Speed AC Drives, IEEE Transactions on Industry, Vol. 32, no. 2, March/April 1996. Anbal.T. De Almeida, Senior Member, IEEE, Fernando J. T. E. Ferreira, and Dick Both Technical and Economical Considerations in the Application of Variable Speed Drives with Electric Motor Systems, IEEE Transactions and Industry Applications, VOL. 41, NO. 1, Jan/Feb 2005.

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Fig.5. Recommended protection for induction motor using 3CTs 7. RECOMMENDED PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR INDUCTION MOTOR Theoretical and experimental analyses of this paper have shown the influence of harmonics on the differential protection of induction motor. The following inferences can be made: The harmonics generated by the VFD can cause maloperation of the protection equipment. Harmonic currents add to the fundamental line currents, which is why the input current to a VFD is higher than the output current. Considering the deleterious effects caused by harmonics the motor should be protected. As a part of the protection strategy, a suitable location of the current transformer should be selected in the motor protection circuit. The self-balancing differential scheme protection for the induction motor recommended. of is Les Manz, Member IEEE Applying Adjustable-Speed Drives to Three-Phase Induction NEMA Frame Motors , IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 33, no. 2, March/April 1997 Barton.J.Sauer Consulting Applications Engineer, Patrick A. Brady, Principal Business Developer, Siemens Energy & Automation, Application of AC induction motors with Variable Frequency Drives, 2009 IEEE

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M.A.S. Masoum, SM IEEE, S.M. Islam, SM IEEE, K. Tan, M IEEE, N.X. TUNG, Impact of Harmonics on Tripping Time of Overcurrent Relays. IEEE STD 519-1992 (Revision of IEEE Std 519-1981) IEEE Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electrical Power Systems. Adjustable Speed Drive Motor Protection Applications and Issues, Jon Gardell, Chairman Prem Kumar, Vice Chairman

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