Published for the Basler Electric Power Systems Group 3&1‡-DQXDU\

The 59N and Broken Delta Applications

On an impedance grounded system, phase to Method 1 is used by numeric multifunction
ground faults are detected by monitoring the zero relays, such as the BE1-11 family of products includ-
sequence components of the line voltages and trip- ing the 11f, 11i, 11g, 11t, and 11m and the BE1-1051
ping with a 59N function (high 3V0). Two ways relays and BE1-700V.
determine 3V0 are: Most applications of these products need (or work
1) Numerically calculated 3V0 from phase to best with) line to ground voltages so no additional
ground voltage inputs. A relay monitors the inputs are required to calculate the 3V0 quantity for
phase to ground voltages from a set of 3 VTs the 59N application.
connected Wye-ground/Wye- ground. The Method 2 is a more historic method that evolved
relay calculates 3V0 using the equation 3V0 =( before the era of numeric relays, but it still sees
VAG + VBG + VCG). substantial use, because of users' familiarity with past
2) Measured 3V0 from Wye-Gnd/Broken Delta practices, its ability to add a small zero sequence load
VTs. A relay with a single voltage input to help stabilize the system neutral, and because it
monitors the voltage across the broken delta allows a simple relay to be used. The BE1-59N was
derived from a set of 3 VTs connected Wye- designed for this application and is an easy relay to
ground/broken Delta. The voltage across use and set.
the broken delta is simply the sum of system Besides the BE1-59N, all Basler numeric mul-
phase to ground voltages, or 3V0. The Wye tifunction products can also monitor a broken delta
side of the Wye-ground/Broken delta VT voltage via their auxiliary voltage Vx input. Using
can either be directly connected to the high QXPHULFPXOWLIXQFWLRQSURGXFWVSURYLGHÁH[LEOHHDV\
voltage terminals or to the secondary of a to apply protection elements, and include ancillary
main step down VT. features customers expect in modern numeric multi-

Figure 1: 59N Broken Delta Schematic

function products such as fault location, oscillography, phase's voltage is impressed upon the neutral imped-
SER, metering, power quality, and a variety of com- ance. For a phase A to ground fault, Van=0, and the
munication protocols including IEC 61850. voltage across the neutral resistor is essentially the
In addition, the BE1-11 family of protection negative of the Phase A to neutral voltage. Mathemati-
products includes all the protection functionality cally:
required for feeder, intertie, generator, transformer,
and motor protection. All BE1-11 products are easily which means:
programmed with industry best BESTCOMSPlus®
interface software. All the BE1-11 family of prod-
ucts are programmed under one BESTCOMSPlus which therefore means:
shell, and includes many time saving features such as
preprogrammed logic schemes, logic libraries, and
BESTspace™. BESTspace is a unique process that
automatically arranges the setting steps based on the Since a broken delta sums the 3 phase voltages,
logic scheme, greatly reducing the likelihood of a
programming error.
In method 2, it is common to place a resistor in
the broken delta as shown in Figures 1 and 2. One From this line of reasoning, one should be able to
rationale for the resistance is that the resistance stabi- see that the worst case steady state fundamental fre-
lizes the measured voltage. It does this by quency voltage seen at the broken delta will be:
a) reducing the risk of ferroresonance, and
b) allowing the VT to act as a very small ground
bank. The VTR in the above equation is best thought of
The ground bank effect will help hold the system in terms of the winding turns ratio, rather than volt-
neutral voltage closer to ground, helping to prevent age ratios. This is highlighted because the question
small leakage impedance to ground from causing high of whether one should use VLL or VLN to calculate
neutral shifts. The ground bank effect also provides a VTR is avoided if one thinks in terms of winding turns
means for bleeding off the capacitive voltage buildup ratio.
associated with arcing ground faults on high imped- For an example, if normal system voltage was
ance grounded systems. The ability of the VT and 13.8kVLL and 7.97kVLG, and a VTR of 115 were
resistor to act as a ground bank and hence stabilize used, for a phase A fault, the worst case broken delta
the neutral is fairly limited and will be covered later. voltage would be:
The question of whether an unloaded VT is at
ULVNRIHQWHULQJLQWRIHUURUHVRQDQFHLVGLIÀFXOWWRDQ-
swer. One circuit for ferroresonance can be seen if the
delta presents a path for a phase to ground voltage
on one phase to energize another phase via the delta,
which in turn has a capacitance to ground, creating an With a VTR of 115, the normal secondary voltage
LC network where the L is saturable. If the circuit is during unfaulted conditions on each leg of the delta
lossy due to the resistance in the circuit, then reso- will be:
nance of the LC network is less likely, but on the other
hand, leaving the delta completely open removes the
resonant path. An argument could be made to leave
the resistance out entirely if this is the circuit of con- During a fault, secondary voltage on the two
cern. Past practice by engineers seems to indicate that unfaulted phases rises to 120V (=13800/115). Note
including the resistance is advisable. that 69.3 * 3 = 207.9V, which agrees with the earlier
This application note will not try to analyze the calculations for the maximum broken delta voltage
matter any further than indicated below. during the fault.
If the ground fault impedance is high or the
Voltages During a Ground Fault source ground impedance is low, the voltage that will
Refer to the phasor diagrams in Figure 2. During arise during a ground fault will be something less than
ideal normal operation with no ground fault or line to 3 per unit. The calculation of what will occur can be
ground current: analyzed using a set of simultaneous equations.
The circuit in Figure 2 is analyzed in a Mathcad™
(Revision 7) document, "59N_R#.MCD" found in the
"Downloads" section of the Basler Electric web site,
www.basler.com.

During a ground fault, virtually all of the faulted

 Figure 2: Phasor diagrams during line-to-ground fault

VT Voltage Rating fect other relaying in the system. Ignoring the voltage
It is important to note that, during a ground drop issue, sizing of the resistor to bring the VTs to a
fault, two of the VTs must withstand and reproduce high loading level results in two approaches to sizing
full line-line voltage. It would be an error to use a the resistor:
VT rated only for line-ground voltage. For instance, Approach 1 - Base resistance on VT continuous
in the wye-broken delta system described above, the current rating: Size the resistor so that the
normal system voltage is 13.8kVLL and 7.97kVLG, amps drawn are equal to the continuous cur-
and secondary voltage is 69.3 under normal operat- rent rating of the transformer bank, or
ing conditions but rising to 120V during a fault. The Approach 2 - Base resistance on VT 3 phase VA
VT in this case needs to be rated for 13.8kV/120V. rating: If the fault will be cleared quickly, size
the resistor so that power in the resistor is
equal to the full 3 phase VA of the transform-
Resistance Selection er bank, which, as seen below, will overcurrent
To obtain the maximum capability of the resistor the bank by a factor of sqrt(3).
to dampen system transients and dampen ferroreso- Approach 1 considerations:
nant circuits, a typical approach to sizing the resistor This approach needs to be used if the fault might
is to utilize one that can handle all the power that the be in place for an extended period. Assume the previ-
VTs can supply during a full neutral offset. Fully load- ous example where VSEC is 69.3 normally but rises to
ing the VT will cause some level of voltage drop and 120V during a fault. Assume a VT rated at 500 VA
error in the secondary, but if the VT is dedicated to per phase and 13.8kV/120V.
WKHEURNHQGHOWDFRQÀJXUDWLRQWKHYROWDJHGURSWKDW
will result will not cause any ill effects. However, if
the "aux VT" approach in Figure 1 is used, then one
might need to investigate if the fully loaded aux VT
will pull down the main VT secondary voltage and af-
 During a ground fault, ignoring voltage drop in quickly, then the short time rating of the resistor can
the VT when fully loaded, the resistor will see 207.9V be used to allow a smaller resistor watt rating. A "rule
per the previous example. To limit current to 4.167A, of thumb" is that a wire-wound power resistor can
handle a short time overload of:

The power in the resistor will be: where ts = time in seconds. Solving for the re-
quired continuous rating:

Since it is anticipated that the fault might be held In the above equation, if t is less than 1s, use t=1,
for an extended period, the resistor must be sized to and if t>25s, then it may be best to consider using a
handle this heat dissipation continuously. IXOO\UDWHGUHVLVWRU,IDŸUHVLVWRULVWREHXVHG
Approach 2 considerations: as in the above example, but all faults will be cleared
This approach will overload the VTs and is ap- in 5 seconds, then by the above equation and using
propriate only if the fault will be cleared before the a x2 safety margin, a 300W resistor might be used
overload can affect the VTs. Assume, again, a VT (1500*(5/50)* (2) = 300).
rated at 500VA per phase, for a total of 1500VA for all
three phases. Also ignore the voltage drop in the fully Ground Bank Effect of a VT
loaded VT and assume that the full 207.9V from the The ability of a VT to act as a small grounding
previous calculations is seen across the resistor. The bank and limit neutral voltage shift, is fairly weak, but
resistance required to load the V bank to 1500VA will it might be seen in cases where ground impedances
be: DUHYHU\KLJK$VDSRLQWRIFRPSDULVRQWKHŸ
UHVLVWRULQWKHSUHYLRXVH[DPSOHUHÁHFWHGWRWKHSUL-
PDU\E\975LVNŸ7KLVPLJKWKHOSVWD-
bilize a substation bus or a short transmission line with
only minor phase to ground capacitance or leakage
The current drawn during the fault will be: resistance. Directly related to this concept, the cur-
UHQWÁRZLQJLQWKHGHOWDZLOOÁRZWKURXJKWKHIDXOWHG
phase VT, which will tend to push some current from
the VT back into the ground fault. If the ground fault
impedance is large, there can be some tendency for
This current is sqrt(3) times the continuous the VT to sustain voltage on the faulted phase. The
current rating of the VT, calculated previ- Mathcad document mentioned on page 2 may help
ously. The power in the resistor will be: you to determine if the ground bank effect might be
noticeable in a ground fault in your system.

In this case, since the VT is overloaded, it is likely

For More Information
Visit our website at www.basler.com to access
that the intent is to clear the fault relatively quickly.
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Since the fault will be cleared quickly, the short time
on Page 2, the technical paper, A Review of Ferroreso-
rating of the resistor might be considered, allowing a
nance, and Application Notes on other topics.
smaller resistor to be used.
7RGLVFXVV\RXUVSHFLÀFDSSOLFDWLRQFRQVXOW%DVOHU
at the factory at (618) 654-2341.
Resistor Short Time Power Rating
The power calculated in the above examples
is rather large. However, if the fault will be cleared

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