ABB CI520V1 3BSE012869R1 Communication unit
Busbar protectionThe protection algorithms are based on two
well-proven measuring principles which have
been applied successfully in earlier ABB lowimpedance busbar protection systems:
• a stabilized differential current measurement
• the determination of the phase relationship
between the feeder currents (phase comparison)
The algorithms process complex current vectors which are obtained by Fourier analysis
and only contain the fundamental frequency
component. Any DC component and harmonics are suppressed.
The first measuring principle uses a stabilized
differential current algorithm.
The currents are evaluated individually for
each of the phases and each section of busbar (protection zone).
Fig. 7 Tripping characteristic of the stabilized
differential current algorithm.
In Fig. 7, the differential current is
and the restraint current
where N is the number of feeders. The following two conditions have to be accomplished
for the detection of an internal fault:
where
kst stabilizing factor
kst max stabilization factor limit.
A typical value is kst max = 0.80
IK min differential current pick-up value
The above calculations and evaluations are
performed by the central unit.
The second measuring principle determines
the direction of energy flow and involves comparing the phases of the currents of all the
feeders connected to a busbar section.
The fundamental frequency current phasors
1..n (5) are compared. In the case of an internal fault, all of the feeder currents have almost the same phase angle, while in normal
operation or during an external fault at least
one current is approximately 180° out of
phase with the others.
The algorithm detects an internal fault when
the difference between the phase angles of all
the feeder currents lies within the tripping
angle of the phase comparator (see Fig. 8).

The task of processing the algorithms is
shared between the bay units and the central
processing unit. Each of the bay units continuously monitors the currents of its own fee-der,
preprocesses them accordingly and then filters the resulting data according to a Fourier
function. The analog data filtered in this way
are then transferred at regular intervals to the
central processing unit running the busbar
protection algorithms.
Depending on the phase-angle of the fault,
the tripping time varies at Idiff/Ikmin5 between 20 and 30 ms including the auxiliary
tripping relay.
Optionally, the tripping signal can be interlocked by a current or voltage release criteria
in the bay unit that enables tripping only when
a current above a certain minimum is flowing,
respectively the voltage is below a certain
value.
Breaker failure protection
The breaker failure functions in the bay units
monitor both phase currents and neutral current independently of the busbar protection.
They have two timers with individual settings.
Operation of the breaker failure function is
enabled either:
• internally by the busbar protection algorithm (and, if configured, also by the internal line protection, overcurrent or pole
discrepancy protection features) of the bay
level
• externally via a binary input, e.g. by the line
protection, transformer protection etc.
After the delay of the first timer has expired, a
tripping command can be applied to a second