SERIES REACTOR

Modelling of Series Reactor using Digsilent Powerfactory

Simulation Software

Pradeep.P
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POWERFACTORY
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SERIES REACTOR

Reactors are coils with a high reactance value compared to their resistance, which lowers
the short circuit to a healthy level to protect the equipment or installation. Series reactors reduce
the short circuit kVA of the equipment protection circuit breaker installed.

The short circuit current and the short circuit kVA of the system having the percentage
reactance of X% are respectively given by,

𝐼𝑆𝐶= 1
𝑋(𝑝.𝑢)

The above formula indicates that the short circuit current and short circuit kVA will be smaller
if the % of Reactance is larger.

Advantages:

• The system's efficiency is not much affected because the reactor's Reactance is more
significant than its resistance.
• The fault current is reduced.
• It is used to protect the circuit breakers of the inadequate rating.
• It reduces the short circuit kVA requirement of the circuit breaker.

Location of the reactors:

Reactors are placed across a power system to reduce short circuit current. These reactors can
be connected in series with the generators, feeders, or bus bars.

Generator reactors:

Reactors and generators are connected in a series

shown in figure 1. The reactor can be considered part of
the generator's leakage reactance in this scenario. As a
result, its effect protects the generator during a short
circuit.
Figure 1: Generator Reactors
Disadvantages:
The main drawback of this type of reactor is that if a fault happens on one of the feeders, it will
damage the existing network. Because of these disadvantages and modern power station generators
have sufficient leakage reactance to prevent them from short-circuit, it is not standard practice to use
separate reactors for the generators.

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Feeder reactors:

Feeder reactors are connected in series with each

feeder, as shown in figure 2. Since most short circuits
occur on feeders, many reactors are used for such
circuits. Two principal advantages are claimed for the
feeder Location of Reactors in the Power System.
Figure 2: Feeder Reactors
Advantages:
• The voltage drop across a reactor in faulty conditions will not affect the bus bar's voltage. As
a result, the chances of losing synchronism are minimized.
• A fault on a feeder will not affect any other feeder.

Disadvantages:
The drawback of such reactors is that they do not protect the generators from short circuit
faults across the bus bars. Reactors also have a constant voltage drop and power loss during normal
operation.

Bus bar reactors:

Bus Bar reactors are connected via bus bars. Bus bar reactors divide the bus bar into smaller
Sections. If the voltage level remains constant, no current flows through these reactors, and each
section acts as a separate bus bar. If a fault occurs on a section of the bus bar, the reactor prevents
the fault from reaching other sections, and only the fault section is affected. Hence, a bus bar should
be large enough to protect the system but should not disturb its synchronism.

The following methods describe how to decrease the continuous voltage drop and power
losses in the case of feeder and generator reactors:

1) Ring system:

Bus-bar reactors are used to connect the various bus

segments. This system is divided into parts made up of
generators and feeders, which are connected by a common
bus bar, as shown in figure 3. Usually, one feeder is fed from
a single generator in this arrangement. Figure 3: Bus bar reactors (Ring System)

A small amount of power goes through the reactors under normal operating conditions. As a
result, the reactor's voltage drop and power loss are minimal, and the bus bar reactor is made from a
high ohmic resistance to minimize the voltage drop across it.

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2) Tie-Bar system:

Figure 4 depicts the tie-bar system. When

comparing the ring system to the tie-bar system, it is clear
that the tie-bar approach is suitable. There are two
reactors in series between sections, so the Location of
Reactors in the Power System must have nearly half the
Reactance of those used in a similar ring system.
Figure 4: Bus bar reactors (Tie Bar System)
Another benefit of the tie-bar system is its ability to connect additional generators to the
system without requiring changes to the existing reactors. However, this approach has the
disadvantage of using an extra bus bar, namely the tie-bar.

Advantages and disadvantages:

This method offers greater flexibility. By increasing the number of sections, the switch gears
perform more effectively without requiring system changes. However, this technique is complicated
and requires an extra bus, i.e., a tie bar.

Note: Since the series reactors used should not have a saturation problem, the core of the reactors is
replaced with circular coils or bars of normal copper set in a number of specially shaped
concentrate slabs.

MODELING OF SERIES REACTORS

In this scenario, a simple network is modelled with a grid short circuit current of 40 kA, and table
1 shows the grid and cable parameters.

Figure 5 shows that the fault current is 35.07 kA without a series reactor. As a result, cable
impedance comes into the picture. So, because the fault current is higher, it can determine the
reactor's value and plan to reduce it from 35 kA to 20 kA.

Using manual calculation, the value of the reactor is determined. Using the value of grid
impedance, the cable impedance and series reactor are assumed to be unknown values (X), and the
fault current is limited to 20 kA. The values need to be in p.u, so the p.u calculation is done on the
following page.

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Figure 5: Without Series reactor

Table 1: Grid and cable parameters

Parameters
Base impedance 100 MVA
Voltage rating 33 kV
Maximum Short Circuit Current 40 kA
Grid
X/R 14
+ve Sequence Impedance 0.0697 ohms
Run 2R
Cable
Length 1000 m
Size 400 Sq.mm

Therefore, we consider that the voltage base is 33 kV, and the base MVA is 100.

(33)2 (33)2
𝑍𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 = = = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟖𝟗 𝒐𝒉𝒎𝒔
𝑀𝑉𝐴𝑏 100

𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 0.00697
𝒁𝒑.𝒖 𝑪𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 = = = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟔𝟒 𝒑. 𝒖
𝒁𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆 10.89

𝑴𝑽𝑨𝑺𝑪 = √𝟑 ∗ 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 ∗ 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑀𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐶 = √3 ∗ 40 ∗ 33 = 2268.30 𝑘𝐴
(𝒌𝑽)𝟐 (33)2
𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑮𝒓𝒊𝒅 = = = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟕𝟔𝟑 𝒐𝒉𝒎𝒔
𝑴𝑽𝑨𝑺𝑪 2268.30

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To find the 𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 ∶

𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝑰𝒇 =
√𝟑 ∗ (𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑮𝒓𝒊𝒅 + 𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 + 𝒁𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓)
33
20 𝑘𝐴 =
√3 ∗ (0.4763 + 0.0697 + 𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟)
33
√3 ∗ (0.4763 + 0.0697 + 𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟) =
20 𝑘𝐴
√3 ∗ (0.4763 + 0.0697) + √3 ∗ (𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟) = 1.65
(0.945) + √3 ∗ (𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟) = 1.65

1.65 − 0.945
𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟎𝟕𝟎 𝒐𝒉𝒎𝒔
√3

The resistance value is calculated and used in modelling in the series reactor. The calculated
resistance Limits the fault current to 20 kA, as shown in figure 6.

Case 1:
In this case, the rated power of the Series reactor is 10 MVA with a resistance of 0.4070 ohms.

Figure 6: With Series reactor

Since the fault current depends on the voltage and impedance, it does not vary even if the
reactor's rated power is Changed.

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Case 2:

In this case, the rated power of the Series reactor is 50 MVA with a resistance of 0.4070 ohms.
Figures 7 & 8 show the simulation results after changing it to 50 MVA since the fault current
remains constant.

Figure 7: Power Rating of the Series reactor

Figure 8: Power Rating of the Series reactor

Observation from case 1 and Case 2:
Comparing the case 1 and 2 simulation results, the reactor rated power is changed, and the resistance
of the reactor is kept constant, the fault current remains the same.

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Case 3: In this case, the rated power of the Series reactor is 10 MVA, and the short circuit voltage
uk input (Impedance) is used. The impedance is 3 %, and as a result, the fault current changes,
as shown in Figure 11.

Clicking this option ,we can

change the Short ciruit
Voltage uk (Impedance)

Figure 9: Settings in Series Reactor

Figure 10: Series Reactor- short circuit voltage uk input (Impedance)

Figure 11: With Series Reactor (Rated power of 10 MVA & SC Voltage 3%) - Simulation results

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Case 4: In this case, the rated power of the Series reactor is 50 MVA, and the short circuit voltage
uk input (Impedance) is used. The impedance is 3 %, and as a result, the fault current changes,
as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: With Series Reactor (Rated power of 50 MVA & SC Voltage 3%)- Simulation results

Observation from case 1 and Case 2:

Comparing the case 3 and 4 simulation results, the series reactor rated power is changed, and the
reactor impedance is kept constant. As a result, the fault current also changed accordingly.

Reference:

• Industrial Power System Analysis Digsilent power factory Training at Power Projects.
• Principles of power system V.K Metha- Rohit Metha,4th Edition.