Motor thermal and electrical protection

Thermal overload Abnormal operating conditions

Process caused (excessive load) Overvoltage and undervoltage

High ambient conditions (hot, Underfrequency
blocked ventilation) Voltage and current unbalance
Power supply Issues Load loss
(voltage/current unbalance,
harmonics) Jamming
Phase faults Jogging
Ground faults

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Motor mechanical failure modes

Broken rotor bar

Mechanical jam
Roller-bearing failure
Speed (over / under)
Foundation looseness
Shaft misalignment
Static and dynamic eccentricity

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Thermal protection
Risks for overheated motor

Stator windings insulation degradation (for stator limited motors)

Insulation lifetime decreases
110

100
For F-Class insulation,
by half if temperature exceeds 90
A B F H stator temperature of

Percentage of life (%)

80
165ºC decreases
thermal limit by 10ºC 70 motor lifetime 50%
60

Rotor conductors deforming 50

40
A-Class (105 ºC)

or melting (for rotor-limited, 30

B-Class (130ºC)
F-Class (155 ºC)
thermal limit is defined by
20

10 H-Class (180 ºC)

motor stall time) 0

0 50 100 150
Temperature (ºC)
200 250 300

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Overload protection—thermal model

Thermal model tracks motor heating

for both stator and rotor
Main parts of thermal model
• Overload pickup level
• Overload curve
• Running and stopped cooling-time constants
• Hot / cold stall time ratio
• RTD and unbalance biasing
• Motor state machine

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Motor states

Stopped Running
• Current < 0 threshold • Previous state Starting or Overload
• Contactor / breaker is open • Current drops below overload pickup
level
Starting
• Previous state Stopped and current > 0 Overload
• Previous state Running
• Motor current must increase to level
greater than overload pickup within • Current rises above overload pickup level
seconds • Thermal capacity used (TCU) begins to
accumulate
• Otherwise, motor algorithm declares
Running state
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Additional synchronous-motor states

SM Stabilizing
• Previous state Running
• Field applied; waiting for Load Application Delay to expire
SM Running
• Previous state SM Stabilizing
• Now, load is on motor; currents must be less than overload (FLA • OL)
SM Resync
• Previous state SM Running
• Power Factor protection trip; motor running without DC field; waiting to return to SM
Running
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Motor thermal limit curves

Thermal limit curves:

Thermal limit dictated by A. Cold running overload
overload curves A B. Hot running overload
C. Cold locked rotor curve
• Running overload C D. Hot locked rotor curve
• Locked rotor (starting) E. Acceleration curve
B @ 80% rated voltage
Match curve to thermal damage D F. Acceleration curve
@100% voltage
curve from motor manufacturer
E
• Standard curves F
• Construct customized curves

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Thermal overload pickup and service factor (SF)

Set to maximum allowed by motor service

Set slightly above motor service factor (SF)
by 8–10% to account for measuring errors
If RTD biasing, thermal overload setting
can be set higher
Maximum overload is 125%, limited
by motor feeder
SF Thermal overload pickup
1.0 1.1
1.15 1.25
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Thermal capacity / thermal capacity used

Thermal capacity represents

motor thermal condition Ambient
temperature
Thermal capacity used, TCU,
is percentage of motor thermal
limit used during motor operation Thermal
Motor Unbalanced
losses current
energy
Running motor has some level of
TCU, because of motor losses
Thermal trip when TCU equals 100% Thermal
capacity
used

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Selecting thermal overload curves

Set overload curve below cold thermal limit

and above hot thermal limit
If only hot curve provided by manufacturer,
then must set below hot thermal limit Cold

Hot

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Hot / cold stall time ratio (HCR)

Motor manufacturer provides locked-rotor thermal limits

COLD: motor @ ambient temperature
HOT: motor @ rated temperature for
specific class and service factor
NEMA standard temperature rises for motors to
1500 hp and service factors 1 and 1.15, respectively
TCU rises and falls based on average current and HCR
Relay employs HCR to calculate TCU at which motor
settles for current below overload pickup
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Determine hot / cold safe stall ratio from curves

From thermal limits curves run vertical Overload curve method

line that intersects hot and cold curves at
stall point or LRA
Cold
Read locked-rotor times LRThot, LRTcold LRTcold = 8 s
Hot
Calculate hot / cold ratio: 6 s / 8 s = 0.75
If hot and cold times are not provided LRThot = 6 s

then HCR is 1.0 (worst case)

LRC = 5.4 • FLA

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Determine hot / cold safe stall ratio from data sheet

LRThot 30 s
HCR = = = 0.86
LRTcold 35 s

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Setting custom overload curve

Custom or voltage-dependent overload

curve might be required
• Motor-starting current infringes on
thermal-damage curve
• Motor drives high-inertia load—
acceleration time exceeds safe stall time
(see Item 3)
• Tailor thermal damage curve to motor
• Successful start without compromising
protection, with full motor service during running

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Voltage-dependent, dynamic, thermal-limit curve

High-inertia start longer than allowed 80% 100%

voltage voltage
safe-stall time
• Account for current change during acceleration
• Need acceleration thermal limits for TCU calculations
• During acceleration, motor thermal limit
grows, along with motor speed
Voltage indicates current level—starting current proportional to system
voltage during motor acceleration
Relay shifts acceleration thermal-limit curve based on measured line
voltage during start
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 Building voltage-dependent overload protection
Thermal limits for Custom curves and
high-inertia motor intersect points

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Relay shifts acceleration curve based on measured start voltage
80% voltage 100% voltage

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Current unbalance

Rotor
Negative-sequence currents
(or unbalanced phase currents) N
cause additional rotor heating
Main causes of current unbalance
• Blown fuses
• Loose connections
• Stator turn-to-turn faults S
Stator
• System voltage distortion and unbalance
Rotor bars
• Faults

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Equivalent current, IEQ, accounts for current unbalance

Equivalent current biases thermal model in response to current unbalance

I2 2
2
IEQ = Im • 1 + K • I1

where
• Im — real motor current
• K—unbalance bias factor
• I1 and I2 — positive- and negative-sequence components of motor current
K factor reflects extra heating caused by negative-sequence motor current

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K factor reflects extra heating from negative-sequence current

NEMA de-rates motor based on

voltage unbalance
When K = 8, derating is identical to

Derating
NEMA recommended derating curve
Calculate K
• Typical: K = 175 / ILR2
• Conservative: K = 230 / ILR2
where ILR is locked rotor current Percent voltage unbalance

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RTD bias modifies TCU based on stator temperature

Accelerates thermal trip for hot stator windings

Separate from overload model
Relay uses calculated thermal capacity

RTD thermal capacity used

unless RTD thermal capacity is larger
Trips at maximum temperature only
if average current is greater than
overload pickup setting
Backup protection for loss of cooling and
for unusually high ambient temperature Maximum stator RTD temperature

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Running cool time

Motor current less than overload pickup

Motor cooling rate
− t
TCused = TCused_start – TCused_end • e τ + TCused_end

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Motor cooling

Cooling-time constants (CTC) for Running and Stopped

Typical ratio of stopped to running CTC is 2:1
Motors cool in five time constants
Running, Stopped
100% load
Thermal capacity used

Cool time constant = 15 mins

Thermal capacity used

TCU_start = 85%
Cool time constant = 15 mins Cool timeratio
Hot/cold constant
= 0.8 = 30 mins
TCU_start = 85% TCU_start = 100%
IEQ / OL PKP = 100%
Hot / cold ratio = 0.8 Hot / cold ratio = 0.8
IEQ / OL PKP = 100% TCU_end = 0%

Time, minutes Time, minutes

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TCU at 80% motor rated current

Ieq hot
TCUend = • 1− • 100%
OL_PKP cold

Thermal capacity used

0.8 0.8
TCUend = • 1− • 100% Cool time constant = 15 mins
1 1
TCU_start = 85%
Hot / cold ratio = 0.8
TCUend = 16% IEQ / OL PKP = 80%
TCUend = 20%

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Overall cooling takes longer from 100% load

Stopped Stopped
from 100% from 85%
Thermal capacity used

Thermal capacity used

Cool time constant = 30 mins Cool time constant = 30 mins
TCU_start = 100% TCU_start = 85%
Hot / cold ratio = 0.8 Hot / cold ratio = 0.8
TCU_end = 0% TCU_end = 0%

Time, minutes Time, minutes

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