Basic of Protection Systems
Basic of Protection Systems
Important considerations when design protection system.
1. Types of fault and abnormal Conditions to be protected against
2. Quantities available for measurement
3. Types of protection available
4. Speed
5. Fault position discrimination
6. Dependability / reliability
7. Security / stability
8. Overlap of protections
9. Phase discrimination / selectivity
10. CT’s and VT’s ratio required
11. Auxiliary supplies
12. Back-up protection
13. Cost
14. Duplication of protection
Types of protection
A - Fuses
For LV Systems, Distribution Feeders and Transformers, VT’s, Auxiliary
Supplies
B - Over current and earth fault
Widely used in All Power Systems
1. Non-Directional
2. Directional.
C - DIFFERENTIAL
For feeders, Bus-bars, Transformers, Generators etc
1. High Impedance
2. Low Impedance
3. Restricted E/F
4. Biased
5. Pilot Wire
D - Distance
For transmission and sub-transmission lines and distribution feeders, also used as back-up
protection for transformers and generators without signaling with signaling to provide unit
protection e.g.:
1. Time-stepped distance protection
2. Permissive underreach protection (PUP)
3. Permissive overreach protection (POP)
4. Unblocking overreach protection (UOP)
5. Blocking overreach protection (BOP)
6. Power swing blocking
7. Phase comparison for transmission lines
8. Directional comparison for transmission lines
E - Miscellaneous:
1. Under and over voltage
2. Under and over frequency
3. A special relay for generators, transformers, motors etc.
4. Control relays: auto-reclose, tap change control, etc.
5. tripping and auxiliary relays
Speed
Fast operation: minimizes damage and danger
Very fast operation: minimizes system instability discrimination and security can be costly
to achieve.
Examples:
1. differential protection
2. differential protection with digital signaling
3. distance protection with signaling
4. directional comparison with signaling
Fault position discrimination
Power system divided into protected zones must isolate only the faulty equipment or section
Dependability / reliability
Protection must operate when required to Failure to operate can be extremely damaging and
disruptive Faults are rare. Protection must operate even after years of inactivity Improved by
use of:
1. Back-up Protection and
2. duplicate Protection
Security / Stability
Protection must not operate when not required to e.g. due to:
1. Load Switching
2. Faults on other parts of the system
3. Recoverable Power Swings
Overlap of protections
1. No blind spots
2. Where possible use overlapping CTs
Phase discrimination / selectivity
Correct indication of phases involved in the fault Important for Single Phase Tripping and
auto-Reclosing applications
Current and voltage transformers
These are an essential part of the Protection Scheme. They must be suitably specified to meet
the requirements of the protective relays.
1A and 5A secondary current ratings, Saturation of current transformers during heavy fault
conditions should not exceed the limits laid down by the relay manufacturer.
Current transformers for fast operating protections must allow for any offset in the current
waveform. Output rating under fault conditions must allow for maximum transient offset.
This is a function of the system X/R ratio.
Current Transformer Standards/Classes:
British Standards: 10P, 5P, X
IEC: 10P, SP, TPX, TPY, TPZ
American: C, T.
Location of CTs should, if possible, provide for overlap of protections. Correct connection of
CTs to the protection is important. In particular for directional, distance, phase comparison
and differential protections. VT’s may be Electromagnetic or Capacitor types. Busbar VT’s:
Special consideration needed when used for Line Protection.
Auxiliary supplies
Required for:
1. Tripping circuit breakers
2. Closing circuit breakers
3. Protection and trip relays
AC. auxiliary supplies are only used on LV and MV systems.
DC. auxiliary supplies are more secure than ac supplies.
Separately fused supplies used for each protection.
Duplicate batteries are occasionally provided for extra security.
Modern protection relays need a continuous auxiliary supply.
During operation, they draw a large current which increases due to operation
of output elements.
Relays are given a rated auxiliary voltage and an operative auxiliary voltage range.
the rated value is marked on the relay. Refer to relay documentation for details of operative
range. it is important to make sure that the range of voltages which can appear at the relay
auxiliary supply terminals is within the operative range.
IEC recommended values (IEC 255-6):
Rated battery voltages:
12, 24, 48, 60, 11 0, 125, 220, 250, 440
Preferred operative range of relays:
80 to 10% of voltage rated
AC. component ripple in the dc supply:
<10% of voltage rated
COST
The cost of protection is equivalent to insurance policy against damage to plant, and loss of
supply and customer goodwill.
Acceptable cost is based on a balance of economics and technical factors. Cost of protection
should be balanced against the cost of potential hazards there is an economic limit on what
can be spent.
Minimum cost:
Must ensure that all faulty equipment is isolated by protection
Other factors:
1. Speed
2. Security/Stability
3. Sensitivity:
Degree of risk in allowing a low level fault to develop into a more severe fault
4. Reliability
Total cost should take account of:
1. Relays, schemes and associated panels and panel wiring
2. Setting studies
3. Commissioning
4. CT’s and VT’s
5. Maintenance and repairs to relays
6. Damage repair if protection fails to operate
7. Lost revenue if protection operates unnecessarily
Distribution systems
1. Large number of switching and distribution points, transformers and feeders.
2. Economics often overrides technical issues
3. Protection may be the minimum consistent with - statutory safety regulations
4. Speed less important than on transmission systems
5. Back-up protection can be simple and is often inherent in the main protection.
6. Although important, the consequences of maloperation or failure to operate are less
serious than for transmission systems.
Transmission systems
1. Emphasis is on technical considerations rather than economics
2. Economics cannot be ignored but is of secondary importance compared with the need
for highly reliable, fully discriminative high speed protection
3. Higher protection costs justifiable by high capital cost of power system elements
protected.
4. Risk of security of supply should be reduced to the lowest practical levels
5. High speed protection requires unit protection
6. Duplicate protections used to improve reliability
7. Single phase tripping and auto-reclose may be required to maintain system stability
Next
Basic of protection system
Introduction
The purpose of an electrical power generation system is to distribute energy to a
multiplicity of points for diverse applications.
The system should be designed and managed to deliver this energy to the utilization
points with both reliability and economy.
As these two requirements are largely opposed, it is instructive to look at the
relationship between the reliability of a system and its cost and value to the consumer,
which is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Relationship between reliability of supply,
its cost and value to the consumer.
It is important to realize that the system is viable only between the cross-
over points A and B. The diagram illustrates the significance of reliability in system
design, and the necessity of achieving sufficient reliability.
On the other hand, high reliability should not be pursued as an end in itself,
regardless of cost, but should rather be balanced against economy, taking all factors into
account.
The greatest threat to a secure supply is the shunt fault or short circuit, which
imposes a sudden and sometimes violent change on system operation.
The large current which then flows, accompanied by the localized release of a
considerable quantity of energy, can cause fire at the fault location, and mechanical
damage throughout the system, particularly to machine and transformer windings. Rapid
isolation of the fault by the nearest switch-gear will minimize the damage and disruption
caused to the system.
A power system represents a very large capital investment. To maximize the return on this
outlay, the system must be loaded as much as possible. For this reason it is necessary not
only to provide a supply of energy which is attractive to prospective users by operating
the system within the range AB (Figure 1.1), but also to keep the system in full operation
as far as possible continuously, so that it may give the best service to the consumer, and
earn the most.
Revenue for the supply authority. Absolute freedom from failure of the plant and
system network cannot be guaranteed.
The risk of a fault occurring, however slight for each item, is multiplied by the
number of such items which are closely associated in an extensive system, as any fault
produces repercussions throughout the net-work. When the system is large, the chance of
a fault occurring and the disturbance that a fault would bring are both so great that without
equipment to remove faults the system will become, in practical terms, inoperable.
The object of the system will be defeated if adequate provision for fault clearance
is not made. Nor is the installation of switchgear alone sufficient; discriminative
protective gear, designed according to the characteristics and requirements of the power
system, must be provided to control the switchgear.
In addition to relays the term includes all accessories such as current and voltage
transformers, shunts, D.C. and A.C. wiring and any other devices relating to the
protective relays.
For example, observation simply of the magnitude of the fault current suffices in
some cases but measurement of power or impedance may be necessary in others. Relays
frequently measure complex functions of the system quantities, which are only readily
expressible by mathematical or graphical means.
In many cases it is not feasible to protect against all hazards with any one relay.
Use is then made of a combination of different types of relay which individually protect
against different risks. Each individual protective arrangement is known as a 'protection
system'; while the whole coordinated combination of relays is called a 'protection scheme'.
Reliability
The need for a high degree of reliability is discussed in Section 1. Incorrect operation can
be attributed to one of the following classifications:
1. Design
This is of the highest importance. The nature of the power system condition which is
being guarded against must be thoroughly understood in order to make an adequate
design. Comprehensive testing is just as important, and this testing should cover all
aspects of the protection, as well as reproducing operational and environmental conditions
as closely as possible. For many protective systems, it is necessary to test the complete
assembly of relays, current transformers and other ancillary items, and the tests must
simulate fault conditions realistically.
2. Installation.
The need for correct installation of protective equipment is obvious, but the complexity
of the interconnections of many systems and their relation-ship to the remainder of the
station may make.
Difficult the checking of such correctness. Testing is therefore necessary; since it
will be difficult to reproduce all fault conditions correctly, these tests must be directed to
proving the installation. This is the function of site testing, which should be limited to
such simple and direct tests as will prove the correctness of the connections and freedom
from damage of the equipment.
One of the particular difficulties of protective relays is that the time between
operations may be measured in years, during which period defects may have developed
unnoticed until revealed by the failure of the protection to respond to a power system
fault. For this reason, relays should be given simple basic tests at suitable intervals in
order to check that their ability to operate has not deteriorated.
Testing should be carried out without disturbing permanent connections. This can
be achieved by the provision of test blocks or switches.
Draw-out relays inherently provide this facility; a test plug can be inserted
between the relay and case contacts giving access to all relay input circuits for injection.
When temporary disconnection of panel wiring is necessary, mistakes in correct
restoration of connections can be avoided by using identity tags on leads and terminals,
clip-on leads for injection supplies, and easily visible double-ended clip-on leads where
'jumper connections' are required.
The quality of testing personnel is an essential feature when assessing reliability
and considering means for improvement. Staff must be technically competent and
adequately trained, as well as self-disciplined to proceed in a deliberate manner, in which
each step taken and quantity measured is checked before final acceptance.
Important circuits which are especially vulnerable can be provided with
continuous electrical super-vision; such arrangements are commonly applied to circuit
breaker trip circuits and to pilot circuits.
4. Protection performance
The performance of the protection applied to large power systems is frequently assessed
numerically. For this purpose each system fault is classed as an incident and those which
are cleared by the tripping of the correct circuit breakers and only those are classed as
'correct'.
The percentage of correct clearances can then be determined.
This principle of assessment gives an accurate evaluation of the protection of the system
as a whole, but it is severe in its judgment of relay performance, in that many relays are
called into operation for each system fault, and all must behave correctly for a correct
clearance to be recorded.
Selectivity.
Protection is arranged in zones, which should cover the power system completely, leaving
no part unprotected. When a fault occurs the protection is required to select and trip only
the nearest circuit breakers. This property of selective tripping is also called
'discrimination' and is achieved by two general methods:
Protective systems in successive zones are arranged to operate in times which are graded
through the sequence of equipments so that upon the occurrence of a fault, although a
number of protective equipments respond, only those relevant to the faulty zone complete
the tripping function. The others make incomplete operations and then reset.
Alternatively, the zone may be unrestricted; the start will be defined but the extent will
depend on measurement of the system quantities and will therefore be subject to variation,
owing to changes in system conditions and measurement errors.
Stability.
This term, applied to protection as distinct from power networks, refers to the ability of
the system to remain inert to all load conditions and faults external to the relevant zone. It
is essentially a term which is applicable to unit systems; the term 'discrimination' is the
equivalent expression applicable to non-unit systems.
Speed.
The function of automatic protection is to isolate faults from the power system in a very
much shorter time than could be achieved manually, even with a great deal of personal
supervision. The object is to safeguard continuity of supply by removing each disturbance
before it leads to widespread loss of synchronism, which would necessitate the shutting
down of plant.
It will be noted that phase faults have a more marked effect on the stability of the
system than does a simple earth fault and therefore require faster clearance.
It will be seen that protective gear must operate as quickly as possible; speed, however,
must be weighed against economy.
For this reason, distribution circuits for which the requirements for fast operation
are not very severe are usually protected by time-graded systems, but generating plant
and EHV systems require protective gear of the highest attainable speed; the only
limiting factor will be the necessity for correct operation.
Sensitivity
Sensitivity is a term frequently used when referring to the minimum operating current of
a complete protective system. A protective system is said to be sensitive if the primary
operating current is low.
When the term is applied to an individual relay, it does not refer to a current or
voltage setting but to the volt-ampere consumption at the minimum operating current.
A given type of relay element can usually be wound for a wide range of setting
currents; the coil will have an impedance which is inversely proportional to the square of
the setting current value, so that the volt-ampere product at any setting is constant.
This is the true measure of the input requirements of the relay, and so also of the
sensitivity. Relay power factor has some significance in the matter of transient
performance.
For D.C. relays the VA input also represents power consumption, and the burden is
therefore frequently quoted in watts.
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The reliability of a power system has been discussed in earlier sections. Many factors may
cause protection failure and there is always some possibility of a circuit breaker failure.
For this reason, it is usual to supplement primary protection with other systems to 'back-
up' the operation of the main system and ensure that nothing can prevent the clearance of
a fault from the system.
Back-up protection may be obtained automatically as an inherent feature of the
main protection scheme, or separately by means of additional equipment.
Time graded schemes such as over current or distance protection schemes are
examples of those providing inherent back-up protection; the faulty section is normally
isolated discriminatively by the time grading, but if the appropriate relay fails or the
circuit breaker fails to trip, the next relay in the grading sequence will complete its
operation and trip the associated circuit breaker, thereby interrupting the fault circuit one
section further back. In this way complete back-up cover is obtained; one more section is
isolated than is desirable but this is inevitable in the event of the failure of a circuit
breaker.
Where the system interconnection is more complex, the above operation will be
repeated so that all parallel infeeds are tripped.
If the power system is protected mainly by unit schemes, automatic back-up protection is
not obtained, and it is then normal to supplement the main protection with time graded
over current protection, which will provide local back-up cover if the main protective
relays have failed, and will trip further back in the event of circuit breaker failure.
Such back-up protection is inherently slower than the main protection and,
depending on the power system configuration, may be less discriminative. For the most
important circuits the performance may not be good enough, even as a back-up
protection, or, in some cases, not even possible, owing to the effect of multiple infeeds.
In these cases duplicate high speed protective systems may be installed. These provide
excellent mutual back-up cover against failure of the protective equipment, but either no
remote back-up protection against circuit breaker failure or, at best, time delayed cover.
Breaker fail protection can be obtained by checking that fault current ceases
within a brief time interval from the operation of the main protection. If this does not
occur, all other connections to the bus bar section are interrupted, the condition being
necessarily treated as a bus bar fault. This provides the required back-up protection with
the minimum of time delay, and confines the tripping operation to the one station, as
compared with the alternative of tripping the remote ends of all the relevant circuits.
The extent and type of back-up protection which is applied will naturally be
related to the failure risks and relative economic importance of the system. For
distribution systems where fault clearance
Times are not critical, time delayed remote back-up protection is adequate but for
EHV systems, where system stability is at risk unless a fault is cleared quickly, local
back-up, as described above, should be chosen.
Ideal back-up protection would be completely independent of the main protection.
Current trans-formers, voltage transformers, auxiliary tripping relays, trip coils and D.C.
supplies would be duplicated. This ideal is rarely attained in practice. The following
compromises are typical:
a. Separate current transformers (cores and secondary windings only) are used
for each protective system, as this involves little extra cost or accommodation
compared with the use of common current transformers which would have to
be larger because of the combined burden.
b. Common voltage transformers are used because duplication would involve a
considerable increase in cost, because of the voltage transformers them-selves,
and also because of the increased accommodation which would have to be
provided. Since security of the VT output is vital, it is desirable that the supply
to each protection should be separately fused and also continuously supervised
by a relay which will give an alarm on failure of the supply and, where
appropriate, prevent an unwanted operation of the protection.
c. Trip supplies to the two protections should be separately fused. Duplication of
tripping batteries and of tripping coils on circuit breakers is sometimes
provided. Trip circuits should be continuously supervised.
d. It is desirable that the main and back-up protections (or duplicate main
protections) should operate on different principles, so that unusual events that
may cause failure of the one will be less likely to affect the other.
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3. Back-up protection.
A protective system intended to supplement the main protection in case the latter should be
in-effective, or to deal with faults in those parts of the power system that are not readily
included in the operating zones of the main protection.
4. Biased relay.
A relay in which the characteristics are modified by the introduction of some quantity other
than the actuating quantity, and which is usually in opposition to the actuating quantity.
5. Burden.
The loading imposed by the circuits of the relay on the energizing power source or sources,
expressed as the product of voltage and current (volt-amperes, or watts if D.C) for a given
condition, which may be either at 'setting' or at rated current or voltage.
The rated output of measuring transformers, expressed in VA, is always at rated current or
voltage and it is important, in assessing the burden imposed by a relay, to ensure that the
value of burden at rated current is used.
6. Characteristic angle.
The phase angle at which the performance of the relay is declared. It is usually the angle at
which maximum sensitivity occurs.
7. Characteristic curve.
The curve showing the operating value of the characteristic quantity corresponding to
various values or combinations of the energizing quantities.
8. Characteristic quantity.
A quantity, the value of which characterizes the operation of the relay, e.g. current for an
over current relay, voltage for a voltage relay, phase angle for a directional relay, time for
an independent time delay relay, impedance for an impedance relay.
13. Discrimination.
The quality whereby a protective system distinguishes between those conditions for which it
is intended to operate and those for which it shall not operate.
14. Drop-out.
A relay drops out when it moves from the energized position to the un-energized position.
32. Pick-up.
A relay is said to 'pick-up' when it changes from the un-energized position to the energized
position.
39. Rating.
The nominal value of an energizing quantity which appears in the designation of a relay.
The nominal value usually corresponds to the CT and VT secondary ratings.
43. Setting.
The limiting value of a 'characteristic' or 'energizing' quantity at which the relay is designed
to operate under specified conditions.
Such values are usually marked on the relay and may be expressed as direct values,
percentages of rated values, or multiples.
44. Stability.
The quality whereby a protective system remains inoperative under all conditions other than
those for which it is specifically designed to operate.
a. Self-reset.
The contacts remain operated only while the controlling quantity is applied,
returning to their original condition when it is removed.
b. Hand or electrical reset.
These contacts remain in the operated position after the controlling quantity is
removed. They can be reset either by hand or by an auxiliary electromagnetic element.
The majority of protective relay elements have self-reset contact systems, which,
if it is so desired, can be made to give hand reset output contacts by the use of auxiliary
elements.
Hand or electrically reset relays are used when it is necessary to maintain a signal
or a lock-out condition. Contacts are shown on diagrams in the position corresponding to
the un-operated or de-energized condition regardless of the continuous service condition
of the equipment. For example, a voltage supervising relay, which is continually picked-
up, would still be shown in the de-energized condition.
A 'make' contact is one that closes when the relay picks up, whereas a 'break'
contact is one that is closed when the relay is un-energized and opens when the relay
picks up. Examples of these conventions and variations are shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6 indications of contacts on diagrams.
A protective relay is usually required to trip a circuit breaker, the tripping
mechanism of which may be a solenoid with a plunger acting directly on the mechanism
latch or, in the case of air-blast or pneumatically operated breakers, an electrically
operated valve. The relay may energize the tripping coil directly, or, according to the coil
rating, and the number of circuits to be energized, may do so through the agency of
another multi-channel auxiliary relay.
The power required by the trip coil of the circuit breaker may range from up to 50
watts, for a small 'distribution' circuit breaker, to 3000 watts for a large extra-high-voltage
circuit breaker.
The basic trip circuit is simple, being made up of a hand-trip control switch and the
contacts of the protective relays in parallel to energize the trip coil from a battery, through
a normally open auxiliary switch operated by the circuit breaker. This auxiliary switch is
needed to open the trip circuit when the circuit breaker opens, since the protective relay
contacts will usually be quite incapable of performing the interrupting duty. The auxiliary
switch will be adjusted to close as early as possible in the closing stroke, to make the
protection effective in case the breaker is being closed on to a fault.
Protective relays are precise measuring devices, the contacts of which should not
be expected to perform large making and breaking duties. Attracted armature relays,
which combine many of the characteristics of measuring devices and contactors,
Occupy an intermediate position and according to their design and consequent
closeness to one or other category, may have an appreciable contact capacity.
Most other types of relay develop an effort which is independent of the position of
the moving system.
At setting, the electromechanical effort is absorbed by the controlling force, the
margin for operating the contacts being negligibly small. Not only does this limit the
'making' capacity of the contacts, but if more than one contact pair is fitted any slight
misalignment may result in only one contact being closed at the minimum operating
value, there being insufficient force to compress the spring of the first contact to make,
by the small amount required to permit closure of the second.
For this reason, the provision of multiple contacts on such elements is undesirable.
Although two contacts can be fitted, care must be taken in their alignment, and a small
tolerance in the closing value of operating current may have to be allowed between them.
These effects can be reduced by providing a small amount of 'run-in' to contact make in
the relay behavior, by special shaping of the active parts.
For the above reasons it is often better to use inter-posing contactor type elements
which do not have the same limitations, although some measuring relay elements are
capable of tripping the smaller types of circuit breaker directly. These may be small
attracted armature type elements fitted in the same case as the measuring relay.
In general, static relays have discrete measuring and tripping circuits, or modules.
The functioning of the measuring modules will not react on the tripping modules. Such a
relay is equivalent to a sensitive electromechanical relay with a tripping contactor, so that
the number or rating of outputs has no more significance than the fact that they have been
provided.
For larger switchgear installations the tripping power requirement of each circuit
breaker is considerable, and, further, two or more breakers may have to be tripped by one
protective system.
There may also be remote signaling requirements, interlocking with other
functions (for example auto-reclosing arrangements), and other control functions to be
performed. These various operations are carried out by multi-contact tripping relays,
which are energized by the protection relays and provide the necessary number of
adequately rated output contacts.
Operation indicators.
As a guide for power system operation staff, protective systems are invariably
provided with indicating devices. In British practice these are called 'flags', whereas in
America they are known as 'targets'. Not every component relay will have one, as
indicators are arranged to operate only if a trip operation is initiated. Indicators, with very
few exceptions, are bi-stable devices, and may be either mechanically or electrically
operated. A mechanical indicator consists of a small shutter which is
Released by the protective relay movement to expose the indicator pattern, which,
on GEC Measurements relays, consists of a red diagonal stripe on a white background.
Electrical indicators may be simple attracted armature elements either with or
without contacts. Operation of the armature releases a shutter to expose an indicator as
above.
An alternative type consists of a small cylindrical permanent magnet magnetized
across a diameter, and lying between the poles of an electromagnet. The magnet, which is
free to rotate, lines up its magnetic axis with the electromagnet poles, but can be made to
reverse its orientation by the application of a field. The edge of the magnet is colored to
give the indication.
Relay tripping circuits.
Auxiliary contactors can be used to supplement protective relays in a number of ways:
a. Series sealing.
b. Shunt reinforcing.
c. Shunt reinforcement with sealing. These are illustrated in
Figure 7.
When such auxiliary elements are fitted, they can conveniently carry the operation
indicator, avoiding the need for indicators on the measuring elements.
Electrically operated indicators avoid imposing an additional friction load on the
measuring element, which would be a serious handicap for certain types. Another
advantage is that the indicator can operate only after the main contacts have closed.
Figure 7 Typical relay tripping circuits.
With indicators operated directly by the measuring elements, care must be taken to line
up their operation with the closure of the main contacts. The indicator must have operated
by the time the contacts make, but must not have done so more than marginally earlier.
This is to stop indication occurring when the tripping operation has not been
completed.
Ta. Series sealing.
The coil of the series contactor carries the trip current initiated by the protective
relay, and the contactor closes a contact in parallel with the protective relay contact.
This closure relieves the protective relay contact of further duty and keeps the tripping
circuit securely closed, even if chatter occurs at the main contact. Nothing is added to the
total tripping time, and the indicator does not operate until current is actually flowing
through the trip coil.
The main disadvantage of this method is that such series elements must have their
coils matched with the trip circuit with which they are associated.
The coils of these contactors must be of low impedance, with about
5 % of the trip supply voltage being dropped across them.
When used in association with high speed trip relays, which usually interrupt their own
coil current, the auxiliary elements must be fast enough to operate and release the flag
before their coil current is cut off.
This may pose a problem in design if a variable number of auxiliary elements (for
different phases and so on) may be required to operate in parallel to energize a common
tripping relay.
b. Shunt reinforcing.
Here the sensitive contacts are arranged to trip the circuit breaker and
simultaneously to energize the auxiliary unit, which then reinforces the contact which is
energizing the trip coil.
It should be noted that two contacts are required on the protective relay, since it is
not permissible to energize the trip coil and the reinforcing contactor in parallel. If this
were done, and more than one protective relay were connected to trip the same circuit
breaker, all the auxiliary relays would be energized in parallel for each relay operation
and the indication would be confused. The duplicate main contacts are frequently
provided
As a three point arrangement to reduce the number of contact fingers.
3.1.2 Construction:
Electromagnetic.
Solid state.
Microprocessor.
Computerized.
Nonelectric (thermal, pressure ......etc.).
3.1.3 Incoming signal:
Current.
Voltage.
Frequency.
Temperature.
Pressure.
Velocity.
Others.
3.1.4 Type of protection
Over current.
Directional over current.
Distance.
Over voltage.
Differential.
Reverse power.
Other.
Figure 1 Armature-type relay
In some cases a letter is added to the number associated with the protection in order to
specify its place of location, for example G for generator, Τ for transformer etc.
Nonelectric relays are outside the scope of this book and therefore are not referred to.
3 . 2 . 1 Attraction relays
Attraction relays can be supplied by AC or DC, and operate by the movement of
a piece of metal when it is attracted by the magnetic field produced by a coil. There are
two main types of relay in this class.
The attracted armature relay, which is shown in figure 1, consists of a bar or plate
of metal which pivots when it is attr acted towards the coil.
The armature carries the moving part of the contact, which is closed or opened
according to the design when the armature is attracted to the coil. The other type is the piston
or solenoid relay, illustrated in Figure 2, in which α bar or piston is attracted axially within the
field of the solenoid. In this case, the piston also carries the operating contacts.
It can be shown that the force of attraction is equal to K1I2 - K2, where Κ1 depends upon the
number of turns on the operating solenoid, the air gap, the effective area and the reluctance of
the magnetic circuit, among other factors. K2 is the restraining force, usually produced by a
spring. When the relay is balanced, the resultant force is zero and therefore Κ112 = K2,
So that
I K 2 / K 1 constant .
In order to control the value at which the relay starts to operate, the restraining tension
of the spring or the resistance of the solenoid circuit can be varied, thus modifying the
restricting force. Attraction relays effectively have no time delay and, for that reason, are
widely used when instantaneous operations are required.
T = B.l.a.N.i
Where:
T= torque
B = flux density
L =length of the coil
a = diameter of the coil
N = number of turns on the coil
i = current flowing through the coil
Figure 3 Inverse time characteristic
From the above equation it will be noted that the torque developed is proportional to the
current. The speed of movement is controlled by the damping action, which is proportional to
the torque. It thus follows that the relay has an inverse time characteristic similar to that
illustrated in Figure 3. The relay can be designed so that the coil makes a large angular
movement, for example 80º.
3 . 2 . 3 Induction relays
An induction relay works only with alternating current. It consists of an electromagnetic system
which operates on a moving conductor, generally in the form of a disc or cup, and functions
through the interaction of electromagnetic fluxes with the parasitic Fault currents which are
induced in the rotor by these fluxes. These two fluxes, which are mutually displaced both in
angle and in position, produce a torque that can be expressed by
T= Κ1.Φ1.Φ2 .sin θ,
Where Φ1 and Φ2 are the interacting fluxes and θ is the phase angle between Φ1 and Φ2. It
should be noted that the torque is a maximum when the fluxes are out of phase by 90º, and
zero when they are in phase.
d1
i1 1 cos t
dt
And
d 1
i 1 1 cos ( t )
dt
Figure 4 shows the interrelationship between the currents and the opposing forces. Thus:
F α Φ2 Φ1 sin θ α T
Induction relays can be grouped into three classes as set out below.
This type of relay has a cylinder similar to a cu which can rotate in the annular air gap between the
poles of the coils, and has a fixed central core, see Figure 7. The operation of this relay is very
similar to that
The torque is a function of the product of the two currents through the coils and the cosine
of the angle between them. The torque equation is
Where K, .Κs and Φ are design constants, Ι1 and I2 are the currents through the two coils
and θ12 is the angle between I1 and I2.
In the first two types of relay mentioned above, which are provided with a disc, the inertia
of the disc provides the time-delay characteristic. The time delay can be increased by the
addition of a permanent magnet. The cup-type relay has a small inertia and is therefore
principally used when high speed operation is required, for example in instantaneous units.
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