Summary
The ultra‐saturation phenomenon is one of the mal‐operations of the power transformer differential protection that may occur during the energization of a loaded power transformer. This paper presents a new model for investigating the ultra‐saturation phenomenon during the energization of a loaded three‐phase power transformer and considers its effects on the differential protection of the power transformer. To model the ultra‐saturation phenomenon, the nonlinear characteristic of the transformer core and the saturation effect of current transformers are taken into account. It is assumed that the load of the power transformer is a resistive and inductive load. The mal‐operation of the differential protection depends on a variety of factors, the most important of which are residual flux and inception angle. In this paper, the parameters mentioned will be studied in various scenarios. To verify the results of the proposed model, the ultra‐saturation phenomenon in an IEEE 14‐bus test system is also investigated. In this paper, simulation is performed by the programs PSCAD and MATLAB. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.