1

Case Study: Adaptative Overcurrent Protection

Scheme Applied to an Industrial Plant with
Cogeneration Units
Antonio H. M. Soares, Jose C. M. Vieira, Member, IEEE

relays or due to the conservatism of some protection

Abstract – Although digital protection has been widely employed engineers that use digital relays as electromechanical ones.
in power system industry, many protection practices are still the In this work, the benefits of a protection system composed
same employed to electromechanical relays. Consequently, the by digital relays are demonstrated. The focus is on the
potentialities and benefits of digital relays are not fully explored.
In this context, this work presents the advantages of digital overcurrent coordination in an industrial plant with three
protection to coordinate overcurrent relays in an industrial plant cogeneration units, presenting total capability of 41.88MVA.
with three cogeneration units, resulting in three operating This document is organized as follows. In Section II some
scenarios. It is shown that conventional practices did not result in basic principles of overcurrent coordination are presented.
an efficient solution and an adaptative protection scheme was The industrial plant electrical system is described in Section
proposed, which guaranteed overcurrent coordination for all the
III. In Section IV the problems found during the overcurrent
considered operating scenarios.
coordination study are presented. In Section V and Section VI
Index Terms—Digital protection, overcurrent coordination, the proposed adaptative scheme and the gains obtained with
cogeneration. its application are presented, respectively. Finally, the main
conclusions are presented in Section VII.
I. INTRODUCTION

T he increase usage of microprocessor-based relays in the II. OVERCURRENT COORDINATION – BASIC PRINCIPLES
different power industry segments has been stimulated by The design of a new electrical system must be followed by a
advancements in microelectronic technology, high reliability set of technical studies to define the equipment ratings,
level, programming flexibility, good operational performance establish protection device settings and determine feasible
and low cost/benefit ratio ([1]). Several protection and control operating conditions. Such studies always consist of power
functions grouped in an unique device allow the design of flow and short circuit calculations, motor starting, arc flash
compact switchgears and the creation of specific protection hazard and overcurrent coordination ([2]-[3]). Overcurrent
schemes composed by the association of two or more coordination studies – the focus of this work – should
protection functions. Moreover, the microprocessor-based consider the components short-circuit and nominal ratings,
relays metering and oscilography functions, their low burdens, and short-circuit currents. Then, the overcurrent protection
programmable logic, communication capabilities, and devices can be adjusted and coordinated to clear a fault
different groups of settings for each protection characteristic without extensive damages to the electrical system
complete the main functions of such devices. Therefore, it can components. Moreover, two basic overcurrent coordination
be noted that a protection system composed by characteristics must be observed:
microprocessor-based relays can improve the reliability and • The faulted portion of the electrical system should be fast
safety of a power system, since fault clearing times can be removed from service;
reduced, false operation cases can be minimized and fault • Only a minimum portion should be removed from service
diagnostic can be provided by the analysis of oscilography in a faulted system. This is called selectivity.
records. Nevertheless, in many situations all the To coordinate two overcurrent protection devices in series,
functionalities of digital relays are not properly used, the one nearest to the fault location must be the first line of
consequently the advantages of their application are not fully defense against damages caused by the abnormal condition –
explored. This may occur due to the lack of personnel capable this is the primary protection. The other device, characterized
of handling with the large amount of parameters of digital as back up protection, is adjusted to operate if the primary
protection fails to clear the fault. Moreover, back up
protection must operate at a selected time interval after the
primary protection operates – this is the coordination time
Antonio H. M. Soares is with School of Engineering of São Carlos/USP. (e- interval. In case of relay-to-relay coordination, such interval
mail: [email protected]).
Jose C. M. Vieira is with School of Engineering of São Carlos/USP. (e-mail: should consider the circuit breaker opening time, the relay
[email protected]). overtravel, relay tolerance and setting errors. When

978-1-4244-1904-3/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE

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 2

coordinating electromechanical overcurrent relays, the desired substation busbar through a feeder and a 40MVA transformer
coordination time interval is in the range 0.3 to 0.4 seconds, (TR-4). This branch will be referred in this work as
on the other hand, when coordinating static or interconnection branch. The transformers TR-AUX1 and TR-
microprocessor-based relays, this range can be 0.2 to 0.3 AUX2 provide ancillary services to the cogeneration facility.
seconds ([4]). The total industry load is about 55MVA, which is supplied
Further guidelines to set overcurrent relays can be easily by the transformers TR-1, TR-2 and TR-3. During normal
found in technical literature ([2], [4]). Some important aspects operating condition, all generators are in service.
that must be taken into account are: Nevertheless, abnormal conditions that result in the
disconnection of one or more generators must be considered,
• Nominal ratings of equipments and conductors; because the short-circuit levels can change significantly. Such
• Maximum and minimum short-circuit currents; abnormal conditions comprise faults or maintenance services.
• Short-circuit withstanding capabilities of equipments and All the relays presented in Fig. 1 are microprocessor-based
conductors; ones, except R-TR3, which is an electromechanical
• The types of the relays to be coordinated overcurrent relay. Moreover, only the phase overcurrent
(microprocessor, static and electromechanical); protection functions of the microprocessor-based relays
• Motor start up and transformers inrush currents. (ANSI 50 and ANSI 51) are covered in this work. The
interconnection branch relays settings presented in this work
The overcurrent coordination analysis is graphically were calculated to detect faults at both 138kV and 11.5kV
executed by using a time overcurrent plot, in which the levels. The short-circuit current flowing through this branch
operating characteristics (curves) of devices and the for faults at both voltage levels is high enough to trip the
equipments overcurrent withstanding curves are plotted. interconnection branch relays. Consequently, the relays’
Further details are given in the following sections. overcurrent units were not configured with directional feature.
Faults at 11.5kV region were not covered in this work, but
III. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM they were part of the complete coordination study made for
the industrial plant of Fig. 1.
The electrical system studied in this work comprised an
The software DIgSILENT PowerFactory ([5]) was
industrial plant located in the southeast of Brazil. In this plant,
employed to perform the short-circuit calculations and the
there is a cogeneration facility of 41.88MVA composed by
overcurrent coordination study.
two steam-turbine generators and one gas-turbine generator.
The single line diagram of the system and the relays location
IV. OVERCURRENT COORDINATION PROBLEMS
are presented in Fig. 1. Only the relays analyzed in this paper
are shown. All the relays are identified by the letter “R”. In this section, the problems encountered during the
Thus, the name R-G1 means relay protecting generator 1. overcurrent coordination study are presented. In all the cases
analyzed, the coordination among R-TR3 and all the relays in
the cogeneration facility is verified in case of a solid three-
DIgSILENT

External Grid

SUB phase fault in the primary of TR-3. Then, three possible

R-Plant operating scenarios are analyzed.
Bus 138 kV
It is worth pointing out that a complete overcurrent
R-TR3 R-Pri-TR-4
coordination study comprises the analysis of all overcurrent
TR-1 TR-2 TR-3 TR-4

R-Sec-TR-4
protection devices in an electrical system and overcurrent
Sec-TR1/TR2
Sec-TR3 ground fault protection. Nevertheless, the idea of this work is
R-F2-COGEN
to use only the part of the coordination study that presented
serious coordination problems. Such part comprises the
R-F1-COGEN
Bus COGEN - 11.5 kV generators, interconnection branch and TR-3. The adaptative
R-G1 R-G2 R-G3
protection scheme was also employed to overcurrent ground
fault protection, and it was not shown here due to lack of
Bus G1 Bus G2 Bus G3
TR-AUX1 TR-AUX2
space.

G
~
G
~
G
~
A. Scenario 1 – All the generators in service
M M
G1 G2 G3
Fig. 2 shows the relays’ curves and short-circuit currents
~ ~

Fig. 1 Single line diagram of the electrical system. for the above-referred fault. The short-circuit currents are
plotted in vertical lines and their values are referred to
The generators are described below: 138kV. The relays and equipments are identified in the
• G1: steam-turbine – 12.50MVA – 11.5kV; graphic by an information box attached to their curves. From
• G2: steam-turbine – 12.50MVA – 11.5kV; Fig. 2 it can be seen that the total short-circuit current
• G3: gas turbine – 16.88MVA – 11.5kV. (symmetrical and initial value) is about 10.1kA and the
The cogeneration facility is connected to the 138kV instantaneous unit of R-TR3 operates in about 30ms. The

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 3

short-circuit current contribution of the three generators C. Scenario 3 – Only G1 or G2 in service

flowing in the interconnection branch is about 530A (vertical Fig. 4 presents the coordination problems in scenario 3. In
dashed line). In this case, the relays of the interconnection this situation, the interconnection branch relays do not sense
branch R-F1-COGEN, R-F2-COGEN, R-Sec-TR-4 and R-Pri- the short-circuit current for any three-phase or double-phase
TR-4 operate in 2 seconds. The time inverse characteristics of short-circuit occurred at 138kV level. Therefore, if a solid
all of these relays were adjusted to present equal settings three-phase fault occurs at the primary of TR-3 and R-TR3
because they protect the same circuit, therefore, the does not operate, only the generator relay (R-G1 or R-G2)
coordination among them was neglected. Therefore, their operates to clear the fault in about 4 seconds!
curves are coincident. The instantaneous overcurrent unit After analyzing the three scenarios presented previously, it
(ANSI 50) of R-Pri-TR-4 was activated in order to provide is clear that the overcurrent protection coordination and
fast protection in case of faults at the primary of TR-4. The effectiveness are degraded as the number of generators out of
instantaneous units of the other branch relays were service increases. As the three scenarios are possible
deactivated to avoid miscoordination. Moreover, the short- operating situations, different overcurrent relays settings are
circuit contributions of each generator, referred to 138 kV, are required for each one aiming for providing a faster,
182A, 182A and 252A for G1, G2 and G3, respectively. Thus, coordinated and efficient overcurrent protection. This is
their respective relays would operate in about 3 seconds, if R- discussed in the next section
TR3 and the interconnection branch relays fail. For

DIgSILENT
Total short-circuit current x=9850.000 pri.A
100

comparison, the generators’ currents referred to 11.5kV level

R-Sec-TR-4
are: 2.2kA, 2.2kA and 3kA, about 3.5 times larger than the [s]

generator rated currents. Note that all the relays are 10

R-G1
R-G2
R-F1-COGEN
R-F2-COGEN
TR-4
coordinated, but the coordination time intervals are larger Through fault
protective curve

than the desired values, as stated in Section 2. Thus, if R-TR3 R-Pri-TR-4

fails, damages in the cogeneration facility can occur because 1

Interconnection branch x=360.000 pri.A

high currents will flow during 2 seconds. R-TR3

G1/G2 contribution x=182.000 pri.A

R-Pri-TR-4
DIgSILENT

Total short-circuit current x=10100.000 pri.A 0.1

100

[s] R-Pri-TR-4
R-F1-COGEN TR-4
R-F2-COGEN Through fault
R-G1 protective curve
R-G2 0.01
10
138.00 kV 10 100 1000 10000 [pri.A] 100000
R-G3
11.50 kV 1000 10000 100000 1000000

R-Sec-TR-4
Fig. 3 Time overcurrent plot of scenario 2: G3 out of service.
1
R-TR3
Interconnection branch x=530.000 pri.A
G1/G2 contribution x=182.000 pri.A

DIgSILENT
Total short-circuit current x=9668.000 pri.A
R-Pri-TR-4 100
G3 contribution x=252.000 pri.A

R-Sec-TR-4
0.1 [s]
R-G1 R-F1-COGEN
or R-F2-COGEN TR-4
R-G2 Through fault
10
protective curve

0.01
138.00 kV 10 100 1000 10000 [pri.A] 100000
R-Pri-TR-4
11.50 kV 1000 10000 100000 1000000 1
R-TR3
G1 or G2 contribution x=182.000 pri.A

Fig. 2 Time overcurrent plot of scenario 1: all generators in service. R-Pri-TR-4

0.1
B. Scenario 2 – Two generators in service
If one of the generators is out of service, the current
flowing in the interconnection branch in case of a three-phase 0.01

fault at primary side of TR-3 is smaller than in scenario 1. It 138.00 kV 10 100 1000 10000 [pri.A] 100000

11.50 kV 1000 10000 100000 1000000

changes from 530A to 360A, referred to 138kV. This situation
is presented in Fig. 3, which considered G3 out of service. As Fig. 4 Time overcurrent plot of scenario 3: only G1 or G2 in service.
a consequence, the operating time of the interconnection
branch relays increases to about 4 seconds, if R-TR3 fails. V. PROPOSED SOLUTION
Moreover, note that the interconnection branch relays’ pickup To solve the overcurrent coordination problems reported in
is 200A, which is very close to 360A. Thus, such relays may the previous section, it is proposed an adaptative protection
not operate for any non-solid fault at the 138kV level, if the scheme subjected to the quantity of generators in service. The
fault impedance is high enough to limit the branch short- basic idea is to change the settings of the interconnection
circuit current contribution below 200A. branch relays (R-F1-COGEN, R-F2-COGEN, R-Sec-TR-4 and
R-Pri-TR-4) if the operating scenario changes. Such idea can

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 4

be readily implemented because the microprocessor-based the algorithm sends a signal to the relays, activating the
relays used have four groups of settings for each protection selected settings. After that, the system returns to the
function. Moreover, by activating logical inputs, the desired monitoring function (breaker status reading).
group of settings can be selected. TABLE II
CONTROL LOGIC TABLE
A. Adaptative overcurrent protection scheme Groups
Breaker Status
G1 G2 G3
The first step of the proposed solution was to establish how Group 1 1 1 1
many groups of settings were necessary, according to the Group 2 1 0 1
operating scenarios. This is shown in Table I. Group 2 1 1 0
Group 2 0 1 1
TABLE I - GROUPS OF SETTINGS Group 3 1 0 0
Group 3 0 1 0
Group Scenarios
Group 3 0 0 1
Group 1 1 – all generators in service

Group 2 2 – two generators in service Initialization

Group 3 3 – one generator in service

The proposed adaptative scheme requires some Breaker status reading

communication system between each relay and a central
control computer (CCC), similar to the system presented in
([6]). The communication system will not be detailed in this
paper. The functions of the CCC are listed below: No
• Read the status of the generators’ circuit breakers; Any breaker status
change?
• Select the group of settings according to a control logic
and Table I;
Yes
• Send a digital signal to the relays R-F1-COGEN, R-F2-
COGEN, R-Sec-TR-4 and R-Pri-TR-4 to change the Logical processing
group of settings if any change in the breakers’ status
occurs.
It is important to configure the CCC to execute the
Relays configuration
previous functions periodically.
The control logic necessary to select the group of settings
is based on Table II, which establishes the group to be Fig. 5 Central control computer algorithm.
activated in relation to the generators availability. In this
table, 1 means breaker closed (generator in service) and 0 VI. RESULTS
means breaker opened (generator out of service).
The application of the proposed adaptative scheme to the
The algorithm to be executed by CCC is depicted in the
operating scenarios 2 and 3 resulted in a more efficient (fast)
block diagram of Fig. 5. Each block is detailed below:
overcurrent protection and coordination. The settings of each
group were obtained by performing an overcurrent
• Initialization: the adaptative protection system must be coordination study for each operating scenario separately.
initialized with the current configuration of the Settings of Group 1 are the same presented in Fig. 2. Settings
generators’ circuit breakers and the corresponding group of groups 2 e 3 are presented in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, respectively.
of settings adjusted in the interconnection branch relays. Fig. 6 shows the relays settings considering the generator
• Breaker status reading: the system monitors the G3 out of service, but the same settings are valid in case of
generators’ breakers status, which can be changed by G1 or G2 out of service. This corresponds to scenario 2
operators or by the protection system operation. Then, (Group 2). In Fig. 6, the relays whose settings were modified
the algorithm checks if any change has occurred in are identified by “Sc2” after their names. The settings
comparison to the previous record. If the breakers’ status corresponding to Group 1 (scenario 1) are presented for
has changed, the algorithm follows to the next block, comparison reasons – they have received the same names as
otherwise it monitors continuously the generators’ circuit presented in Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Note that if a solid three-
breakers at certain time intervals, until a change is phase short circuit occurs at the primary side of TR-3 and R-
detected. TR3 fails, the interconnection branch relays will operate in
• Logical processing: Table II is evaluated by the algorithm 900ms, much faster than 4 seconds presented in Section IV.B.
and the corresponding group of settings is selected. Also note that the sensibility of those relays increased in
Relays configuration: after selecting the group of settings,

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 5

comparison to Group 1 settings: the pickup changed from Finally, to fully explore all the functionalities of
200A to 130A, both values referred to 138kV. microprocessor-based relays and reach their maximum
Fig. 7 shows the settings of Group 3, considering only G1 efficiency, it is desired that protection technicians and
or G2 in service. The relays whose settings were modified are engineers have a thorough knowledge, with some background
identified by “Sc3” after their names. The settings in power system, programming skills, relay software
corresponding to Group 1 (scenario 1) are also presented for operation, digital electronic, protection and computer
comparison reasons. Observe that the coordination time networks.
interval between R-TR3 and the interconnection branch relays
is about 1.5 seconds for a solid three-phase fault at the VIII. REFERENCES
primary side of TR-3. In this case, the pickups of the
interconnection branch relays were adjusted in 60A (referred [1] A. T. Johns and S. K. Salman, Digital Protection for Power Systems.
to 138kV), which has increased the relays sensibility in London: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1995, p. 203.
comparison to the situation presented in Fig. 4. [2] T. P. Smith, “Power system studies for cement plants,” IEEE Industry
Applications Magazine, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 56-65, July-Aug. 2007.
[3] IEEE Recommended Practice for Industrial and Commercial Power

DIgSILENT
100
Interconnection branch x=360.000 pri.A
System Analysis, IEEE Std 399-1997, Sep. 1997.
Total short-circuit current x=9850.000 pri.A [4] IEEE Recommended Practice for Protection and Coordination of
[s]
R-G1 Industrial and Commercial Power Systems, IEEE Std 242-2001, 2001.
R-G2
[5] DIgSILENT User’s Manual, 2003.
10 R-Pri-TR-4 [6] A. Y. Abdelaziz, H. E. A. Talaat, A. I. Nosseir, and A. A. Hajjar, “An
R-Sec-TR-4
R-F1-COGEN
adaptative protection scheme for optimal coordination of overcurrent
R-Pri-TR-4 (Sc2)
R-F2-COGEN
relays,” Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 61, pp. 1-9, 2002.
R-Sec-TR-4 (Sc2)

1 R-F1-COGEN (Sc2) R-TR3

R-F2-COGEN (Sc2)
G1/G2 contribution x=182.000 pri.A

IX. BIOGRAPHIES
0.1

Antonio H. M. Soares graduated in Computer Science from Federal University

of Piaui, Teresina, Brazil, in 2007. At present he is a Master student at the
Department of Electrical Engineering at School of Engineering of Sao Carlos,
0.01
138.00 kV 10 100 1000 10000 [pri.A] 100000
Sao Carlos, Brazil. His research interests include overcurrent protection and the
development of computer applications for power systems analysis.
11.50 kV 1000 10000 100000 1000000

Fig. 6 Time overcurrent plot - Group 2 settings. Jose C. M. Vieira (S’98-M’07) graduated in Electric Engineering from Federal
University of Uberlandia, Uberlandia, Brazil in 1996, received his M.Sc. and
DIgSILENT

100
G1 or G2 contribution x=182.000 pri.A Total short-circuit current x=9668.000 pri.A Ph.D. degrees from State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil in 1999 and
R-G1 2006, respectively. From 1999 to 2003, he was with Figener, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
or
[s] R-G2 R-Pri-TR-4 as a Consulting Engineer. From 2006 to 2007 he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at
R-Sec-TR-4
University of Campinas. At present, he is an Assistant Professor at School of
10 R-F1-COGEN
R-F2-COGEN
Engineering of Sao Carlos, in Sao Carlos, Brazil. His research interests are
R-Pri-TR-4 (Sc3) distributed generation, power system control, dynamics and protection.
RF-Sec-TR-4 (Sc3)

R-TR3
1
R-F1-COGEN (Sc3)
R-F2-COGEN (Sc3)

0.1

0.01
138.00 kV 10 100 1000 10000 [pri.A] 100000

11.50 kV 1000 10000 100000 1000000

Fig. 7 Time overcurrent plot - Group 3 settings.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented and adaptative overcurrent protection
system, which has used the communication, logic and control
functionalities of microprocessor-based relays. The proposed
solution was simple and efficient and guaranteed the relays
overcurrent coordination for all the operating scenarios
analyzed. It is worth pointing out that the results shown here
were part of the whole overcurrent coordination study, thus
other factors not reported in this paper were considered in
defining the settings of each scenario.

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