Electrical Power Systems: Assignment 1 (Substation Visit)
Electrical Power Systems: Assignment 1 (Substation Visit)
Electrical Power Systems: Assignment 1 (Substation Visit)
Assignment 1
Student ID : 4234685
Lecturer : IR Jimmy Lo
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Abstract
An inspection to the facilities of a public utility is directed. Students are to learn the components of equipment that the power system includes and to make a report of how the system and its components are working.
Introduction(Working of Substation)
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system where voltage is transformed from high to low or low to high by using transformers. A substation contains a number of components such as the transformer, the consumer incoming high voltage supply and associated switchgears and housed in a purpose built enclosure. The substation normally is found in the town area. By having a substation, the engineers can check and repair the flawed occurs in the substation. Substation can be considered as distribution substations, transmission substations, switching substations or any combination of them. In this report, we will emphasis on the distribution substation in the urban area. The overall report will be discussed on the components of equipment at the distribution substation and how the components are connected to make the power system works.
Distribution substation
A distribution substation transfer power from the transmission system to the distribution system of an area by reducing the voltage to suitable voltage value for the local distribution. The incoming for a distribution substation is normally 2 transmission lines. The incoming voltages to the distribution substation are typically medium voltage which is 33kV. Larger incoming voltages are depending on the areas to be supplied and the practices of local function. Besides the substation is changing the voltage, it is also use to isolate faults in either the transmission substation or the distribution system.
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A distribution substation consists of the following equipment: Switch Gear(Carrying Primary Current) In the substation there was a Switchgear placed beside the Capacitor bank carrying the primary current. It is a combination of electrical disconnect switches, fuses, or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. The switches can be operated manually to break a circuit for maintenance and can also break the circuit automatically in fault conditions, thereby protecting the system. Functions of Switch Gear Carrying the normal load current Making or breaking the normal load current Clearing the fault current (for which sensing devices like CT, PT, and various relays are employed)
Component of Switch Gear 1. Circuit Breaker 2. Current Transformer (CT) 3. Potential Transformer (PT) 4. Protective Relays 5. Measuring Instruments 6. Switches 7. Fuses 8. Surge Arresters 9. Isolators 10. Miniature Circuit Breakers(MCB) Some of the component which have been used in the Distribution Substation(Switch Gear) which we visited are explained below. Isolator Isolator is a mechanical switching device that used for isolating a circuit or equipment from the source of power, in case the circuit is being shorted for example, if there is lighting and some other source of load disturbing flow. The circuit is automatically broken through switches.It also used to carry load current continuously.
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Circuit Breaker A circuit breaker is an equipment which can open or close a circuit under normal as well as fault conditions. The circuit breaker is connected to the capacitor bank. This circuit breaker is used to switch on and isolate the power supply. It is designed to break a circuit which is carrying current at the time. Where large currents and/or voltages are present, the opening of the circuit may induce dangerous arcing, so means such as air blast must be used to "blow out" the arc. Air breakers are being phased out and replaced with vacuum. An isolator is only designed to isolate a circuit or other component after the current has already ceased, so it doesn't need to have any means to stop the arc. Thus in high voltage/high current installations such as in power stations or grid switching stations, the initial operation to isolate the circuit, whether planned or as a result of a fault, is by the circuit breaker, the isolator is then used to isolate the circuit breaker for maintenance or repair. Current Transformer and Voltage Transformer Instrument transformers means current transformer & voltage transformer are used in electrical for stepping down currents and voltages of the system for metering and protection purpose. Actually relays and meters used for protection and metering, are not designed for high currents and voltages.
Figure 1: Switch Gear Control and Protection Panel In this room, there are a lot of panels which represents the particular substation. Control and protection panel consist of typically a switchgear. As in substations switchgear is located on both the high voltage and the low voltage side of large power transformers. The switchgear on the low
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voltage side of the transformers is located in a building, with medium-voltage circuit breakers for distribution circuits, along with metering, control, and protection equipment. Protection relays in the switchgear are the brain that controls the Circuit Breaker We saw how the protection relays in the switchgear is the brain that controls the Circuit Breaker in case there is a requirement to create isolation. The Protection and Control Panel provides alarms that indicate which part of the transmission system is faulty so that problems can be minimized and avoided. It also indicates the tap position on the transformer. It helps in changing the tap position so that even though the input voltage fluctuates, the output remains steady.
Some of the component which have been used in the switch gear in the control and protection panel section are explained below. Protective Relay A protective relay is an electromechanical apparatus, often with more than one coil, designed to calculate operating conditions on an electrical circuit and trip circuit breakers when a fault is detected. Miniature Circuit Breakers we use more commonly Miniature Circuit Breaker or MCB in low voltage electrical network instead of fuse. It automatically switches off the electrical circuit during abnormal condition of
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the network means in over load condition as well as faulty condition. The fuse does not sense but Miniature Circuit Breaker does it in more reliable way. MCB is much more sensitive to over current than fuse. Transformer Transformer is a vital link in a power system which has made possible the power generated at low voltages to be stepped up to extra high voltages for transmission over long distances and then transformed to low voltages for utilization at proper load centers. With this tool in hands it has become possible to harness the energy resources at far off places from the load centers and connect the same through long extra high voltage transmission lines working on high efficiencies. At that, it may be said to be the simplest equipment with no motive parts.
Figure 3: Transformer
It consists of two parts which are the primary winding and secondary winding. The varying current at the primary winding creates magnetic flux in the transformers core and through the secondary winding. This magnetic flux induces electromotive force (EMF) or known as secondary winding voltage. If a load is connected to the secondary side, this current will flow where the electrical energy will be transported from the primary to the secondary side.
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where Vp,Np and Vs,Ns are voltages and number of turns in the primary and secondary side respectively. The type of transformer used in substation is a step down transformer. It steps down voltage form 33kV to desired 11.5kV.
Figure 4: Transformer Nameplate Functions In our visiting site, the substation has use a 3 (3-phase) transformer to step down the voltage primary 33kV to 11.5kV voltage secondary. Rating Referring to the transformer plate the rating is shown below. Rating Voltage: 33/11.5 kV Rating Power: 15/20 MVA No. of Phases: 3 Rated Frequency: 50 Hz Capacitor Rating (Capacitor Bank): 5MVar
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Voltage of Windings High Voltage Side(Primary) = 33kV Low Voltage Side(Secondary) = 11.5kV Turns Ration = 2.9 approximately Number of Winding No. of Windings =
Vector Group Vector group is a standard way of categorizing the primary and secondary winding configurations of three-phase transformers. Vector group for the substation transformer is Dyn1. It means that the primary side is having a Delta winding while the secondary side is having a Y winding with Neutral Point in voltage phase 30 degree. Winding Earth The winding earth usually connected to neutral line which is to be grounded. The earth wire current is calculated below.
Type of Cooling One characteristic of all transformers is that when they are energized they create losses in the circuit. Due to power loss in the transformer, heat is generated and this is mainly due to copper loss. So the transformers are designed to dissipate excess heat and therefore ensure longer insulation life. The current cooling method for the transformer in the substation is ONAN, but
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the information plate on it says that it will be upgraded to ONAF in future. Both cooling systems can be summarized as below. ONAN is a mode of operation in which oil circulates by convection. Air is passed through cooling tubes by natural passage. ONAF uses a fan to increase the air flow and cooling which therefore increases the rating of the transformer.
Voltage Impedance Voltage impedance is the amount of voltage applied to the primary side to produce full load current in the secondary side. As expressed in the nameplate the Voltage impedance is as follow. Side Primary Voltage 33 kV Tap Position 9th (Based on 15MVA at 75c) Current 262 A Percentage Impedance, Xs 10.8 %
P.U impedance under 100MVA base It can be calculated using the formula
Voltage Impedance x
For the rating power 15 MVA, P.U impedance = 72% Capacitor Bank
x(
)2
In a transmission line, the flow of reactive power in the line decides the receiving end voltage. Managing Voltage level at the receiving end is very important as higher voltage can damage the consumers equipment and there will be a great loss. In many cases, we see sudden voltage rise or fall due to lightning or due to any fault on the healthy phases and in any case damage to the equipment occurs. As already discussed, excess of reactive power as well as its scarcity should be monitored. For this purpose, compensation is done by using various devices. Here the reactor absorbs excess reactive power whereas the capacitor supplies for makeup of reactive power in cases of high demand. For low power factor loads, the reactive power demand is very high. Therefore, we need to increase the power factor using capacitor bank. This reduces the var demand by supplying the appropriate amount of reactive power to the load.
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Figure 5 :Power Factor In simple words capacitor bank is an array of capacitors connected into a circuit. They are used to control the voltage that is supplied to the customer by eliminating the voltage drop in the system caused by inductive reactive loads. To improve the power factor, capacitor bank is used. It reduced the reactive losses by reducing the power factor. The capacitor bank used in the substation was 5MVAr.
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Conclusion
This trip helped in gaining knowledge and understanding about the factors considered for transmitting power. The working principle of the transformer is studied and analyzed. The transformer acts as medium to increase or decrease the transmission voltage and deliver it to the load with the help of the cables. We learned how a Capacitor bank is used to improve power factor in power distribution. Moreover I gained knowledge about a switch gear that how much important it is in power distribution and the equipments included in switch gear like circuit breaker, isolator etc. Also we studied about the safety requirements and safety measures taken to minimize damage caused to both human life and system in case of any emergency condition. We have realized that a proper understanding of concepts can only be established when exposed to practical field.
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