Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

Fast Bus Transfer Systems –

A System Solution Approach
Amit Raje, Member ,IEEE, Anil Raje and Arvind Chaudhary, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— A Bus Transfer System (BTS) is designed to action that avoids the loss of process continuity is extremely
provide process continuity to the loads attached to a motor bus desirable, provided it does not compromise the safety features
while transferring the bus from one source to another. A of the entire system.
successful bus transfer under contingent conditions provides
Bus transfer has been employed in various power
immense value and benefits to continuous process operations that
cannot afford an interruption of power supply to plant generation and process industry scenarios using different
auxiliaries. This paper describes some real-world bus transfer philosophies and methods. Considerable research and survey
requirements and implementations in power plants and work has been done in the field in the past [1] [2].
continuous process industry plants. Emerging trends such as use Traditionally, bus transfer has been included in the switchgear
of Generator Circuit Breakers (GCB), new switchgear package of a typical medium voltage installation for power
configurations, islanded captive power generation and their generation utilities and continuous process industries.
impact on bus transfer system requirements are analyzed. A
systems solution approach rather than a product-based approach However, its sphere of influence transcends the electrical
is emphasized to meet the overall technical bus transfer systems of the plant, because the efficacy of a BTS directly
requirements. affects the operations, revenue and short-term as well as long-
term performance parameters of the plant.
Index Terms— Bus Transfer System (BTS), Automatic Bus A bus transfer operation reflects on three vital parameters
Transfer (ABT), Continuous Process, Fast, In-Phase, Residual of the plant from the operation and maintenance (O&M) point
Voltage, Islanding, Generator Circuit Breaker, System Solutions.
of view: the duration of open-circuit condition of the motor
bus, the electrical and mechanical stress endured by the
I. INTRODUCTION
motors and associated equipment during the bus transfer, and

A Bus Transfer System (BTS) is designed to provide

process continuity to the loads attached to a motor bus
while transferring the bus from one source to another.
the blocking of the BTS during a short circuit condition at the
motor bus. While the first parameter decides the speed with
which power feed is restored for plant operations, the second
Such systems find immense use and importance in several and third parameters affect the safety and reliability aspects of
critical situations in continuous process industries the plant. These considerations merit an in-depth
(petrochemical plants, chemical plants, semiconductor understanding and judicious implementation of such systems.
manufacturing plants, paper mills, textile mills, etc.) and
fossil-fuel-fired as well as combined cycle gas turbine plants II.BUS TRANSFER CONFIGURATIONS AND NEW REQUIREMENTS
& nuclear power generation stations. The BTS directly
A BTS is typically employed in several different switchgear
contributes to saving revenue loss, avoiding large capital
configurations. Some such configurations and special
losses associated with material wastage on a break in process
requirements encountered by the authors, including popular
continuity, and avoiding large operation and maintenance
configurations such as the Main-Tie and the Main-Tie-Main
costs and delays associated with process restarts. A BTS also
schemes, are detailed here.
safeguards against potential safety hazards that relate to
sudden process interruptions. A. Main-Tie (2-Breaker Scheme)
Bus transfer is best appreciated by virtue of its automatic The 2-breaker scheme is employed to service a single motor
operation on the contingency of the old source currently bus from two alternate sources. The normal source feeds the
servicing the plant motor load, such that the old source gets motor bus through the Main breaker, while the alternate
disconnected from the motor bus, and the healthy alternate source feeds the motor bus through the tie breaker.
available source gets connected to the motor bus. Such an A typical example is that of a thermal power plant, where
the unit auxiliaries, such as boiler feed pumps, forced draft
 and induced draft fans, cooling water pumps, etc., are supplied
Manuscript received July 10th, 2008.
Amit Raje is with Aartech Solonics Limited, E-2/57, Arera Colony, through unit boards. The configuration in Fig. 1 shows a
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 462016 India (phone: +91-755-2463593, +91- single unit board, although higher capacity units typically
9993091164 ; tel/fax: 91-755-4276335; e-mail – have two or more unit boards.
[email protected] ).
Anil Raje is with Aartech Solonics Limited. (email: The unit board can be fed from two sources. The Unit
[email protected]) Auxiliary Transformer (UAT) (normal source) supplies
Arvind Chaudhary is with the Protective Relays Group of Cooper Power locally generated power to run the auxiliaries when the unit
Systems (email:[email protected]).
incoming breaker (UAT I/C) is closed. The station board

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

(alternate source) supplies power to the auxiliaries from the breaker to BUS I. Similarly, SOURCE II transformer is
grid when both tie breakers (TIE-1 and TIE-2) are closed, and connected through I/C - II incoming breaker to BUS II. BUS I
UAT I/C is open. and BUS II are connected using the TIE breaker. There are
several bus transfer scenarios depending upon the choice of
the normal supply to the motor buses.
GTB EHV BUS STB
SOURCE I SOURCE II
GT ST

ST I/C
UAT

GENERATOR
UAT I/C BTS
I/C I I/C II
UNIT STATION BREAKER BTS BREAKER
BOARD BOARD

TIE-1 TIE-2
(NC) BUS I BUS II
M M
TIE
BREAKER
M M M M
Fig. 1. Thermal power plant: Main-Tie BTS configuration.

During startup, the generator transformer breaker (GTB) is Fig. 2. Process industry: Main-Tie-Main BTS configuration
open until the generator is synchronized with the grid. Until 1) Normally closed TIE breaker: The entire motor bus
then, the station board supplies the unit board. After the comprising BUS I and BUS II is transferred between
generator is synchronized, the unit board is transferred to the SOURCE I and SOURCE II.
UAT so that the unit feeds its own auxiliaries. Such a transfer 2) Normally open TIE breaker: Each source supplies power
is referred to as a Station-to-Unit transfer. There are several to a single motor bus. In case of source failure, the motor bus
prioritized and categorized unit tripping conditions such as connected to the failed source is transferred to the source
generator trip, load throw off, turbine trip, boiler trip etc. through the TIE breaker.
along with UAT / GT transformer trips on differential, Since process continuity is the prime consideration in
winding temperature, oil temperature etc. under which it is industrial plants, automatic transfers determined by different
required to automatically transfer the unit board from the UAT auto-initiation criteria for source contingencies as well as
to the station board. These transfers are referred to as Unit-to- source equipment failure conditions are employed. Manual
Station transfers. Automatic transfers on unhealthy bus transfers are commonly conducted during planned start-ups
conditions determined by different auto-initiation criteria are and shutdowns. Typical breaker-failure logics safeguard the
also employed in order to constantly provide a healthy supply motor buses from a permanent paralleling position.
to the motor bus. Manual transfers are commonly conducted
C. New Bus Transfer System Requirements
during planned start-ups and shutdowns.
Typical breaker-failure logic safeguards the unit board from a 1) Introduction of Generator Circuit Breaker
permanent paralleling condition. TIE-2 is a normally closed Introduction of Generator Circuit Breaker (GCB) provides
(NC) breaker, used as a backup measure to safeguard the unit the important benefit of eliminating the bus transfer
from a dangerous generator back-feed condition, in case both requirement incase of unit tripping conditions as the GT can
TIE-1 and UAT I/C fail to open. back-charge the unit board in such conditions. However,
under conditions such as GT trip or UAT trip on differential,
B. Main-Tie-Main (3 Breaker Scheme)
winding temperature, oil temperature, or auto transfer
Fig. 2 shows a 3-breaker scheme employed to service two conditions to detect upstream source failures - an automatic
motor buses from two alternate sources. Each source feeds a fast transfer is still required to constantly provide a healthy
single motor bus through its main incoming breaker. A tie supply to the motor bus. Manual transfers are also commonly
breaker is provided for coupling the two motor buses. conducted during planned start-ups and shutdowns where
A typical example is that of a process industry, serviced there is an option now available to charge the unit board by
by two separate stations SOURCES I and II, each capable to back-charging (through the GT/UAT) or the station board.
meet the load on both the Buses I & II, off the grid. The Several such schemes are now successfully commissioned in
SOURCE I transformer is connected through I/C- I incoming thermal and nuclear power generation installations.

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

light. Originally, UAT sizing was considered purely on the

basis of the unit board loads. Two recent 1x250 MW projects
GTB EHV BUS STB now employ designs wherein the UAT is sized to cater to
entire unit board + station board loads. Even at the incidence
GT ST of higher initial capital cost, the system can now operate even
its station loads through the unit (at cost to the GENCO) and
GCB
ST I/C only incase of unit source failure, it is required to transfer the
UAT
entire set of ‘unit + station’ boards from the UAT to the ST.
To provide for the entire flexibility of bus transfers in this
GENERATOR case, a Main-Tie-Main / 3 Breaker Scheme / Unit-to-Station &
UAT I/C BTS Station-to-Unit scheme, as they are sometimes referred to, is
UNIT STATION used as shown in Figure 4.
BOARD BOARD 3) Islanded Turbine Operation at House load
An islanded transfer has the capability to transfer between
two asynchronous sources, such as the co-generation unit and
TIE-1 TIE-2
(NC) the grid or an islanded turbine operation, while maintaining
M M process continuity.
In the case of an islanded turbine operation, modern
turbines are able to sustain operations at house load for a few
Fig. 3. Thermal power plant with GCB: Main-Tie BTS hours. This feature is especially pertinent during grid failure
configuration. conditions and their recovery/restoration. During this system,
the grid/station board and the unit board sources are
2) Deregulation, UAT sizing, Distribution of Loads and asynchronous with respect to each other.
Bus Transfer In the instance of a contingency of a turbine trip during
such operations, or a planned load transfer of the unit board to
the station, the islanded transfer can use the IN PHASE mode
GTB EHV BUS STB to trip the incoming breaker coming from the unit auxiliary
transformer and send an advanced closing command to the
GT ST station tie breaker, so that it closes at the zero-crossing
instance of the slip between the grid and the unit board. It is
GCB
UAT
worthwhile to note here that such a transfer is not possible
using the fast method of transfer, as it is not recommended to
perform a fast transfer between two non-synchronous sources
GENERATOR or equivalent.
UAT I/C BTS ST I/C Thus, the real advantage of the turbines now capable of
UNIT STATION
islanded house load operations can be most advantageously
BOARD BOARD used with such an islanded transfer operation capability.
4) Islanded Transfers with Co-Generation Plant
Consider the case of a plant with a co-generation unit that
TIE-1 TIE-2
(NC)
prefers to operate in isolation from the grid, using its co-
M M generation unit for economy, reliability, or regulation
considerations. While the incentive for a co-generation unit to
tie to the grid is to earn from the export of power, it is
Fig.4. Thermal power plant with GCB and UAT sized to take challenging to isolate the plant from the grid in the event of a
station board load: Main-Tie-Main BTS configuration. grid contingency by means of a sophisticated islanding
system, especially in the case of weak grids, complex
Due to deregulated scenario in the power sector, significant distribution systems and with peaky load conditions / power
differential tariffs are now applicable on the unit board load flows. Thus a grid failure, which may be frequent,
whether consumed through the UAT (at cost to the GENCO) automatically results in loss of expensive plant processes.
or through the station board (at grid purchase price from the Alternately, consider the case of islanded operation of a
TRANSCO). This brings more attention on the need to plant with islanded transfer capability, wherein a co-
maintain unit board loads from the UAT at all times with the generation unit feeds all the critical auxiliaries. Thus the grid
facility of bus transfer to ensure healthy supply to the motor may not be in sync with the co-generation, with independent
bus at times of unit tripping. frequency and voltages, resulting in continuous slip cycles
UAT sizing considerations and distribution of loads between the two. In the instance of a considerably infrequent
between unit and station boards are also being revisited in this contingency of the co-generation unit, the islanded transfer

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

uses the in-phase mode to trip the incoming breaker coming provided with a tie to the unit board. A proposed bus transfer
from the co-generation unit and send an advanced closing scheme does a transfer between the unit tie and the GCB, and
command to close the grid incoming breaker at near phase later more plant boards are disconnected from the grid one-by-
coincidence. one and connected to the unit board which is fed by the
generator. Such schemes are being actively considered,
ISLANDED GRID especially by industrial customers to mitigate their grid
SOURCE I SOURCE II connectivity related problems.

MV GRID
SOURCE
CO-GEN
UNIT
CO-GEN GRID
UNIT CONNECT
UNITS
I/C I I/C II
BKR BTS
BKR

BTS GRID I/C

BREAKER
GCB
US
TIE BKR
M M M M UNIT BUS II BUS III
BOARD UNIT TIE
CRITICAL UNIT NON–CRITICAL BREAKER
AUXILIARIES PLANT AUXILIARIES
CRITICAL UNIT OTHER PLANT
Fig. 5. Islanded Transfers with Co-Generation Plant AUXILIARIES AUXILIARIES

Thus the grid can serve only as a backup measure while Fig. 6. Bus Transfer involving GCB and Grid Tie
reliable operations of the plant and its power situations are
significantly within the controls of the plant operation. In 6) Integrated Load Shedding and Bus Transfer
several cases with several generators as shown in Fig. 5, it is Requirements
prudent to supply all the critical unit auxiliaries through an
islanded captive generator, while other generators and loads in SOURCE I LIMITED CAPACITY
SOURCE II
the plant are connected to the grid at all times. Integrated
process plants with co-generation find such schemes of great REAL TIME POWER
utility. FLOW DATA
5) Grid connection requirements from Transco
Various process industries owning small captive power
units face the problem that although they may be employing a
GCB, they are not permitted to back-charge their unit board
from the GT/UAT due to TRANSCO stipulations allowing the
I/C I I/C II
interconnects to EHV grid to inject power only, and not draw BTS
BKR BKR
power from the EHV grid. The station source tapped from a
MV grid may not be as reliable as the EHV grid, and licensing
a separate station transformer from the EHV grid is expensive
and redundant for such industries. Alternately, a co-generation BUS I BUS II
unit primarily provided to feed nominal plant load may not be TIE
allowed to feed into the MV grid. Special bus transfer scheme BREAKER
M M
configurations are required to be devised in such situations in
a customized manner.
In one instance, as shown in Fig 6, the unit auxiliary board
Fig. 7. Bus Transfer with Integrated Load Shedding
was directly fed from the co-generation unit through a GCB,
while other plant boards were connected through several bus Bus transfer may require coordination and integrated load
ties with one end connected to the grid and the other end shedding to be carried out if the new source is not able to take

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

entire bus loads or there are grid imposed power import continuous process applications.
restrictions. In such cases, real time power flow measurements 9) Retrofitting Slow Bus Transfer Systems
in the system are coupled with bus transfer logics for issue of Slow transfer systems employing under-voltage relays and
optimum load shedding commands in prioritized manner related bus transfer logic are used in a variety of applications,
(from low priority to high priority) are required. especially provided in the 1980’s or earlier. A retrofit of such
In an application, as shown in Fig. 7, real time power flow bus transfer systems with modern microprocessor based fast
data is constantly monitored by a bus transfer system. Incase bus transfer systems offer tremendous value to the customer.
of a bus transfer requirement to a source with limited capacity, Apart from direct advantages related to process continuity,
as established from the real time power flow data, an other advantages such as improved health of motors (as
intelligent prioritized tripping of loads is conducted in observed by significant reduction in maintenance expenses)
coordination with bus transfer with frequency monitoring, to over a longer period of time have also been observed. Careful
ensure that the new source is not overloaded on bus transfer. application engineering is required to retrofit new systems
A similar scheme has been recently studied for an integrated onto existing switchgear infrastructure and have been
steel plant application. successfully engineered and commissioned by the authors for
7) Distinguishing Source Loss and Source Faults and an entire 4x210 MW plant recently.
Process Time Constants 10) Station-to-Station Scheme
A source loss occurs when an upstream source becomes A Station-to-Station scheme typically takes care of a pair of
dead. A source fault on the other hand is when a live upstream two station boards in a 3 breaker Main-Tie-Main
source gets faulted. While both cases warrant a bus transfer, configuration and an automatic fast transfer requirement is
the treatment of bus transfer differs. Incase of a source loss, often not considered in system designs, although this may be
the affected bus exhibits spin down characteristics and critical incase of important auxiliaries being provided on the
accordingly auto transfer detection and transfer initiation is station boards.
required to effect a bus transfer in the earliest possible
manner. Incase of a source fault, the bus will also get de-
energized depending on the nature of the fault. The motors
connected to the bus shall also feed the fault till the faulted
source is disconnected. When the source breaker is tripped,
the bus voltage may also swell momentarily before exhibiting
its spin down characteristics. As such the problem of doing
bus transfer incase of a source fault is much more challenging,
especially incase of very sensitive loads and drives.
Depending on the process time constant, intelligent auto
transfer criteria, coupled with fast protection, (e.g. sub-cycle
protection) interfaced with bus transfer logics or solid state
bus transfer systems are necessary to provide such critical
solutions. For longer process time-constants, simpler slow
transfer schemes with load tripping and re-acceleration
schemes may also be feasible.
8) Bridging Power Supply to the Transfer Bus Fig. 8. 4x210 MW Thermal Power Plant – LBB Trip
The open circuit bus transfer is based on the back emf resulting in Unit & Station Board AC Failure
support provided by induction motors to the bus during spin
down. Where such support is not available due to load The authors are aware of an exceptional incident where a plant
characteristics (or for e.g. extensive use of adjustable speed consisting of 4 210 MW units (say Unit#1-4) had 2 units each
feeding into separate 220kV lines (say Unit#1,4 – Line#1 &
drives without regenerative support), bridging power supply
Unit#2,3 – Line#2). This installation was provided with
may be required to provide external support to the bus. As
automatic fast transfer schemes only for Unit-to-Station, and
such, capacitors which are commonly employed in several
Manual-Only schemes for Station-to-Station fast bus transfer.
applications for power factor improvement inline with utility Incidentally, the Station Transformers ST#1,4 for Unit#1,4
requirements also provide reactive support thus helping to were also connected to Line#1, and ST#2,3 for Unit#2,3 were
maintain the voltage profile during spin down. However, connected to Line#2 which is not a standard practice in the
where real power support is required, bridging power supply interest of redundancy. Unit#1 was being withdrawn for
sources such as synchronous generators, flywheels, batteries, shutdown, when its Generator Transformer Breaker (GTB#1)
ultra-capacitors may also be considered. The duration, power mal-operated and did not trip. This resulted in an LBB
and energy requirements are critical to size such bridging condition on the Line#1, tripping all the feeds from that line in
power supply requirements and the interface is also quite the plant, which included GTB#4 for Unit#4 (operating at full
challenging, especially for MV systems. Several such load) along with STB#1, 4. Protective logics immediately
requirements have come to light, especially in industrial initiated a Unit-to-Station transfer for Unit#1, 4; which

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

successfully transferred Unit#1,4 unit boards to ST#1,4 system.

respectively. 3) System Requirements
However, this was not of any use since ST#1, 4 had also lost a) The required controls should be simple to increase
its incoming feed from Line#1. The backup DG Supply also overall reliability.
malfunctioned and failed to startup. Thus both Units#1,4 b) The BTS should automatically operate on
suffered total AC Failure. Had there been an automatic contingency detected by external or internal
Station-to-Station Scheme, the station boards fed from ST#1, protective elements. The protective elements should
4 could have transferred to ST#2, 3 avoiding this condition. provide fast contingency detection, yet be immune to
As a matter of fact, Unit#4 suffered station battery bank non-contingency system transients.
failures for both its backup DC supply banks due to the c) The BTS should detect any breaker operation failure
sudden surge in load, and the DC Jacking Oil Pump (JOP)
during bus transfer and take intelligent corrective
also lost supply within a few minutes of this event leading to
action to best meet above process and electrical
irreparable damage to its turbine bearings and several months
requirements.
of unit outage. Automatic station-to-station bus transfer
schemes are now under consideration for this plant.
11) Integrated Unit-to-Station + ½ Station-to-Station IV. BUS TRANSFER METHODS
Schemes The choice of the transfer method plays a critical role in the
While a Unit-to-Station scheme typically takes care of bus amount of stress the electrical system may be subjected to
transfer requirements for a unit board, and a Station-to-Station during the transfer. The methods differ in the processing,
scheme typically takes care of a pair of two station boards; an sequencing, and timing related to the closing of the alternate
integrated Unit-to-Station + ½ Station-to-Station scheme takes source breaker and the opening of the normal source breaker.
care of bus transfer requirements of a pair of 1 Unit Board and The nature of the system dynamic conditions and the nature of
1 Station Board with only marginal limitations compared to the motor loads connected to the motor bus determine the
the original full fledged schemes such as availability of choice of an optimal bus transfer method. The fast transfer
transfer direction between station incomers. method, in-phase transfer method, and the residual voltage
This scheme however offers significant advantages in terms of
transfer method are all open-circuit ‘break before make’
economy (per scheme) along with a superior automatic fast
transfers. The momentary paralleling transfer or ‘hot’ transfer
bus transfer facility for station boards which is usually not
is a ‘make before break’ transfer. Details on various bus
considered in system designs, yet may be critical incase of
important auxiliaries being provided on the station boards and transfer methods are beyond the scope of this paper, but can
other considerations as described above. These schemes were be referred to earlier papers [14] [15] by the author.
recently implemented and successfully commissioned in a
4x250 MW Mega Power Plant recently. c) BUS TRANSFER INITIATION

The need of a bus transfer can be motivated by a variety of

III. TYPICAL FEATURE REQUIREMENTS
reasons. Thus, the means of initiating a bus transfer can be
Irrespective of transfer configurations, a BTS typically has further classified as manual, protective, or auto transfer.
the following feature requirements [4]:
1) Process Requirements A. Manual Transfer
a) Continuity of electrical service to the loads such that Manual transfer is used for planned transfers during startup,
operation of the mechanical process system is not shutdown, or certain kinds of maintenance activities of the
disturbed. plant. The actuating mechanisms may be either local or remote
b) Load-shedding should not be required to allow the using SCADA systems over a communication link. The
auxiliary system to reaccelerate. combination of backup transfer method(s) (e.g. Fast-In Phase-
2) Electrical Requirements Residual Voltage) is also required to be manually selected
a) Loads should not slow down to the point that large before actuation.
and sustained transient currents are required for
B. Protective Transfer
motors to reaccelerate.
b) Excessive transient torques that overstress the motor The protective transfer(s) are initiated automatically on the
windings, rotor, shaft, and driven equipment should pickup of different protective relay elements input to the BTS.
be avoided. For instance, a Main-Tie configuration BTS in a thermal
c) The BTS should be blocked to operate under a short power plant has Class A (generator trip, load throw-off) and
circuit condition at the motor bus. For a source short Class B (turbine and boiler trips) inputs, which actuate
circuit condition, parallel bus transfer must be immediate changeover of the unit board from the UAT to the
blocked. However, an open circuit of the faulted station board. Since Class B trips actually cause unit tripping
source bus transfer can be allowed under this when the reverse power relay operates, corresponding bus
condition. transfer can also be suitably coordinated. Similarly, a Main-
d) There should be no adverse effects on the protection Tie-Main configuration BTS in a continuous process industry

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 Fifteenth National Power Systems Conference (NPSC), IIT Bombay, December 2008

has incoming source transformer trip and transmission line commands.

trip condition logic inputs for protective transfers. In the event of a dead bus condition (failure to close of new
source breaker), the bus exhibits spin- down characteristics as
C. Auto Transfer
discussed earlier. Correspondingly, depending on the
Modern microprocessor-based protection systems offer the detection time for the dead bus condition, it may be possible
digital processing capabilities required to do continuous to re-close the old source breaker (provided it is healthy) in
intelligent system monitoring in real-time. Auto transfer the fast/in-phase/residual voltage mode. The in-phase mode is
initiation logic use these processing capabilities on the bus PT most likely in this situation, since the phase drift would
voltage inputs in order to determine the healthiness of the bus. normally be expected to be significant before new source
Thus, auto transfer initiation criteria are established based on breaker closure failure is detected. A successful closing of the
under-voltage, over-voltage, under-frequency, over-frequency, old source breaker using the in-phase method can keep the bus
(df/dt) limits, etc. or many combinations thereof. The ultimate energized. This can help increase the operator confidence for
choice of the auto-initiation criteria is determined by the speed opting for safer open circuit condition-based fast transfers
and reliability of its response to detect contingencies and its even for manual/planned bus transfers, wherein parallel
immunity to non-contingency system transients. transfers were used earlier.

V.BTS INTEGRATED REQUIREMENTS C. Online Testing

A complete and integrated BTS solution also needs to meet The online testing of the BTS enables the operator to
certain key requirements. periodically ascertain if all the functions of the BTS are
operating healthily. It is also possible to operate, monitor, and
A. Monitoring BTS Readiness Conditions consequently report the operation of the respective breaker
Since the BTS performs system critical activities, it is tripping and closing contacts, after the insertion of a high
typically recommended to continuously monitor the status of resistance in series to these contacts during this test mode.
certain system conditions as a precondition to ascertaining its This fictitious bus transfer gives the operator the highest
readiness to conduct bus transfer. These usually include: degree of confidence, before actuating a planned manual bus
a) Breaker Status (52a, 52b consistency) transfer under the existing system conditions.
b) Valid System Breaker Configuration State
c) Breaker in Service Condition (75S) VI. CONCLUSIONS
d) PT Fuse Failure Condition (98X) The use of a high-speed bus transfer system is very effective
e) PT Cubicle in Service Position (75S) and beneficial to mitigate the problems related to the loss of
f) In Circuit Monitoring of Breaker Trip/Close Circuits process continuity in power plants and continuous process
g) Breaker Over-Current Condition (86A) plants. The availability of an alternative source of supply can
h) New Source Voltage / Frequency Healthiness be best utilized if a high-speed bus transfer system is used to
B. Breaker Failure Detection and Corrective Action transfer the motor bus from the normal source of supply to the
A breaker may fail to operate due to electrical and/or alternative source, in the event of a contingency of the normal
mechanical reasons during a bus transfer. This may result in source. This can provide enormous savings in revenue, plant
dead bus/permanent paralleling, depending upon the failure of load factor and O&M expenditure in the short term, while
closing of new source breaker or opening of old source reducing motor maintenance in the long term. Customized
breaker respectively. Such a situation may be detected from application engineered system solutions incorporating such
the monitoring of the breaker NO/NC status inputs (52a, 52b) high-speed bus transfer technology are proven for providing
and/or the current flowing in the old source breaker and the significant benefits in both utility power plants as well as
new source breaker. continuous process industries.
In the event of a permanent paralleling condition, the
recently closed new source breaker is tripped. If this breaker VII. REFERENCES
fails to open as well, further upstream breakers may be sent [1] D. L. Hornak and D. W. Zipse, “Automated Bus Transfer Control for
Critical Industrial Processes,” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications,
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by the author (2) in 1982 and resulted in a dangerous [2] R. D. Pettigrew and P. Powell, “Motor Bus Transfer – A Report
generator back-feed condition for a 210 MW thermal power Prepared by the Motor Bus Transfer Working Group of the Power System
Relaying Committee,” IEEE Transfactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 8, No. 4,
generation unit with a Main-Tie BTS configuration. This October 1993, pp 1747-1758.
consideration needs to be taken into account before deciding [3] R. H. Daugherty, “Analysis of Transient Electrical Torques and Shaft
on the type of switchgear for backup measures. In this Torques in Induction Motors as a Result of Power Supply Disturbances,”
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, 101: 2826-2836, August
situation, the station tie is preferred to be a breaker rather than 1982.
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logic to trip the station tie breaker if both the UAT incoming of auxiliary loads during bus transfer,” Proceedings of the American Power
and TIE breaker do not open on their respective tripping Conference, Published by Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA.
vol 56, pt 2, 1994, pp 1273-1278

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[5] S. C. Srivastava, K. N. Srivastava and G. N. Murty, “Transient Residual are driven towards converting techno-entrepreneurship ideas and concepts to
Voltage Analysis during Isolated Operation of a group of Induction Motor practically implement-able products and services for a wide range of industrial
Loads,” Electric Machines and Power Systems, vol 22 no 2 March-April applications.
1994, pp 289-309.
[6] S. S. Mulukutla and E. M. Gulachenski, “A Critical Survey of
Arvind Chaudhary (S’83, M’85, SM’94) received
considerations in maintaining process continuity during voltage dips while
the B.S.E.E. degree from the Indian Institute of
protecting motors with reclosing and bus-transfer practices,” IEEE
Science, Bangalore, India, the M.S.E.E. degree from
Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 7, No. 3, August 1992, pp 1299-1305
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and the
[7] NEMA MG-1 Motors and Generators, National Electrical Manufacturers
Ph.D. degree with a concentration in electric power
Association, Washington, D.C., 1987.
engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
[8] ANSI C50.41, Polyphase Induction Motors for Power Generating
State University, Blacksburg. He is a Staff Engineer
Stations, New York: American National Standards Institute, 1982
with the Protective Relays Group, Cooper Power
[9] NEMA MG-1 Motors and Generators, National Electrical.
Systems, South Milwaukee, WI. He is responsible
Manufacturers Association, Washington, D.C., 1982
for relay applications for the Cooper line of relays
[10] C. C. Young and J. Dunki-Jacobs, “The Concept of In-Phase Transfer
and relay settings for power system equipment. He is
Applied to Industrial Systems Serving Essential Service Motors,” AIEE
the recipient of the 2000 IEEE PES Chicago Chapter Outstanding Engineer
Transactions, vol. 79, January 1961, pp. 508-518.
Award. He is a member of the Substation Subcommittee of the IEEE Power
[11] A. Raje, A. A. Raje and A. Chaudhary, “High Speed Motor Bus
System Relaying Committee. Dr. Chaudhary is also a member of the
Transfer,” 3rd International R&D Conference on Sustainable Development of
Technical Committee of the International Power Systems Transients
Water and Energy Resources, Central Board of Irrigation and Power
Conferences 1999, 2001, and 2003. His previous experience has included
(CBIP),Jabalpur, India, Feb 2000, pp 57-64
Sargent & Lundy consulting engineers (1991-1998) and Bharat Heavy
[12] A. Raje, A. A. Raje and A. Chaudhary, “High Speed Motor Bus Transfer
Electricals Limited, India (1979-1983).
Experiences,”,SWICON-2000, 5th International Conference on Switchgear
and Controlgear, IEEMA, India, Nov 2000, pp 25-34.
[13] A. Raje, A. A. Raje, J. McCall, A. Chaudhary, “Bus Transfer Systems –
Requirements, Implementation and Experiences”, IEEE PPIC Conference,
Toronto, Canada, June 2002.
[14] A. Raje, A. A. Raje, J. McCall, A. Chaudhary, “Bus Transfer Systems –
Requirements, Implementation and Experiences”, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Feb 2003.
[15] A. Raje, A. A. Raje, A. Chaudhary, “Fast Bus Transfer Systems for
Critical Process Continuity”, IEEE IAS 2004 PCI-India Conference, Nov
2004.

VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Amit Raje did his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Technology, (Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India, ‘91-’95). He then did his M.S. in
Electrical Engineering from the University of
Minnesota, (Minneapolis, MN, USA, ‘95-’96) in
Power Systems. He has worked as a Senior Engineer
with Open Systems International, (Plymouth, MN,
USA) during ‘96-’97 in the field of Energy
Management Systems. Since 1997, he has headed the
R&D division of Aartech Solonics (Bhopal, MP,
India) and has focused on the research, development,
testing, engineering and commissioning of Fast Bus Transfer Systems for the
utility and process industries. In April 2007, he succeeded his father, Anil
Raje – Original Pioneer of Fast Bus Transfer Systems in India – as Managing
Director of the company. He is a professional IEEE member and has authored
several international conference technical papers in the past. His other field of
work is related to development of tamper proof microprocessor based energy
meters, and has filed a patent in this regard. His research interests are focused
on the development of innovative, embedded and integrated power system
solutions to consumers, utilities and industries.

Anil Raje is currently the Chairman of Aartech

Solonics Limited (Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India).
He received the B.E. in Electrical Engineering from
M.A.C.T. (Maulana Azad College of Technology,
now known as M.A.N.I.T. Maulana Azad National
Institute of Technology) ; Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh, India, ’62-’66). He started his career with
the switchgear division of Larsen & Toubro
(Bombay, Maharashtra, India) quickly switching to
an entrepreneurial career in 1971. In 1988, he
founded Aartech Solonics Limited for the manufacturing of application
engineered control-gear equipments and system solutions. Herein, he
pioneered the design, development and implementation of the first generation
Fast Bus Transfer Systems for thermal power stations and process industries;
now widely used in India. Currently, his main technical interests and activities

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