Methodology for Generators Protection Studies Based on Electromechanical Dynamic Simulations

Abstract

This paper presents a simulation methodology based on the electromechanical dynamics modeling of electrical systems that allows the evaluation of the performance of generator protection schemes. The proposed approach takes into consideration dynamic phenomena of interest in the range of protective devices operation with appropriate computational requirements for integrated analysis of generation, transmission and distribution systems. The use of the time-domain simulation allows the analyst to understand the operative chronology, providing a comprehensive picture of the protection coordination and actuation. Moreover, the simulation methodology can be used to analyze unbalanced systems and faults, since a detailed three-phase representation is adopted. Also, the modeling platform developed for the analysis of protection systems provides an extensive flexibility to introduce new relays and protective function models. The developed methodology is implemented in a simulation platform using Object Oriented Modeling and contains a module to automate generators protection studies. In this way, it is possible to automatically simulate a list of credible disturbances and compare the protection performance with expected results previously provided by an analyst. Results of tests conducted with data from actual generator power plants are presented, showing the benefits of the proposed approach.