Equipments in Transformer Substation:

The Equipments in Transformer Substation depends upon the type of sub-station, service requirement and the degree of protection desired. However, in general, the Equipments in Transformer Substation are:

1. Bus-bars: When a number of lines operating at the same voltage have to be directly connected electrically, bus-bars are used as the common electrical component. Bus-bars are copper or aluminium bars (generally of rectangular x-section) and operate at constant voltage. The incoming and outgoing lines in a sub-station are connected to the bus-bars. The most commonly used bus-bar arrangements in sub-stations are :

  • Single bus-bar arrangement

  • Single bus-bar system with sectionalisation

  • Double bus-bar arrangement

2. Insulators: The insulators serve two purposes. They support the conductors (or bus-bars) and confine the current to the conductors. The most commonly used material for the manufacture of insulators is porcelain. There are several types of insulators (e.g. pin type, suspension type, post insulator etc.) and their use in the sub-station will depend upon the service requirement. For ex­ample, post insulator is used for bus-bars. A post insulator consists of a porcelain body, cast iron cap and flanged cast iron base. The hole in the cap is threaded so that bus-bars can be directly bolted to the cap.

3. Isolating switches: In sub-stations, it is often desired to disconnect a part of the system for general maintenance and repairs. This is accomplished by an isolating switch or isolator. An isolator is essentially a knife switch and is designed to open a circuit under no load. In other words, isolator switches are operated only when the lines in which they are connected carry no current.

Equipments in Transformer Substation

Fig. 25.4 shows the use of isolators in a typical sub-station. The entire sub-station has been divided into V sections. Each section can be disconnected with the help of isolators for repair and maintenance. For instance, if it is desired to repair section No. II, the procedure of disconnecting this section will be as follows. First of all, open the circuit breaker in this section and then open the isolators 1 and 2. This procedure will disconnect section II for repairs. After the repair has been done, close the isolators 1 and 2 first and then the circuit breaker.

4. Circuit breaker: A circuit breaker is an equipment which can open or close a circuit under “normal as well as fault conditions. It is so designed that it can be operated manually (or by remote control) under normal conditions and automatically under fault conditions. For the latter operation, a relay circuit is used with a circuit breaker. Generally, bulk oil circuit breakers are used for voltages upto 66kV while for high (>66 kV) voltages, low oil circuit breakers are used. For still higher voltages, air-blast, vacuum or SF6 circuit breakers are used.

5. Power Transformers: A power transformer is used in a sub-station to step-up or step-down the voltage. Except at the power station, all the subsequent sub-stations use step-down transform­ers to gradually reduce the voltage of electric supply and finally deliver it at utilisation voltage. The modern practice is to use 3-phase transformers hi sub-stations ; although 3 single phase bank of transformers can also be used. The use of 3-phase transformer (instead of 3 single phase bank of transformers) permits two advantages. Firstly, only one 3-phase load-tap changing mechanism can be used. Secondly, its installation is much simpler than the three single phase transformers.

The power transformer is generally installed upon lengths of rails fixed on concrete slabs having foundations 1 to 1.5 m deep. For ratings upto 10 MVA, naturally cooled, oil immersed transformers are used. For higher ratings, the transformers are generally air blast cooled.

6. Instrument transformers: The lines in sub-stations operate at high voltages and carry current of thousands of amperes. The measuring instruments and protective devices are designed for low voltages (generally 110 V) and currents (about 5 A). Therefore, they will not work satisfactorily if mounted directly on the power lines. This difficulty is overcome by installing instrument transformers on the power lines. The function of these instrument transformers is to transfer voltages or currents in the power lines to values which are convenient for the operation of measuring instruments and relays. There are two types of instrument transformers viz.

  • Current transformer (C.T.)

  • Potential transformer (P.T.)

(i) Current transformer (C.T.): A current transformer in essentially a step-up transformer which steps down the current to a known ratio. The primary of this transformer consists of one or more turns of thick wire connected in series with the line. The secondary consists of a large number of turns of fine wire and provides for the measuring instruments and relays a current which is a constant fraction of the current in the line. Suppose a current transformer rated at 100/5 A is con­nected in the line to measure current. If the current in the line is 100 A, then current in the secondary will be 5A. Similarly, if current in the line is 50A, then secondary of C.T. will have a current of 2.5 A. Thus the C.T. under consideration will step down the line current by a factor of 20.

(ii) Voltage transformer: It is essentially a step down transformer and steps down the voltage to a known ratio. The primary of this transformer consists of a large number of turns of fine wire connected across the line. The secondary winding consists of a few turns and provides for measuring instruments and relays a voltage which is a known fraction of the line voltage. Suppose a potential transformer rated at 66kV/110V is connected to a power line. If line voltage is 66kV, then voltage across the secondary will be 110 V.

7. Metering and Indicating Instruments: There are several metering and indicating instru­ments (e.g. ammeters, voltmeters, energy meters etc.) installed in a sub-station to maintain watch over the circuit quantities. The instrument transformers are invariably used with them for satisfactory operation.

8. Miscellaneous equipment: In addition to above, there may be following equipment in a sub-station:

  • fuses

  • carrier-current equipment

  • sub-station auxiliary supplies

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