SECTION 8: SYSTEM

PROTECTION
ESE 470 – Energy Distribution Systems
2 Introduction

K. Webb ESE 470

 System Protection
3

 Fault current may far exceed maximum current

ratings for power system equipment
 Thermal or mechanical damage may occur
 Goal of system protection equipment is to isolate
equipment after a fault as soon as possible
 HV and EHV systems – less than three cycles
 LV systems 5 – 20 cycles

 Remove faulted equipment from the system until

the fault is cleared
 Want to remove as little of the system as possible

K. Webb ESE 470

 System Protection Equipment
4

 Protection equipment detects and isolates faults

 Instrument transformers
 Relays
 Circuit breakers
 Reclosers
 Fuses
 Surge arresters

 Transmission networks (HV and EHV) protected

primarily by circuit breakers in conjunction with
instrument transformers and relays
 Lower-voltage distribution networks mostly employ
fuses and reclosers for protection
K. Webb ESE 470
5 Fuses, Reclosers & Surge Arresters

K. Webb ESE 470

 Fuses
6

 The simplest type of system protection equipment

is the fuse
 Designed to create an open circuit in response to an
overcurrent event
 Fusible link melts in response to excessive current

source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye

K. Webb ESE 470

 Fuses
7

 Fuses are small, simple, and inexpensive, but …

 If a fuse opens, it must be replaced to restore
service once the fault is cleared
 Manual intervention is required
 Fuses are typically cylindrical in shape
 Conductive fusible links, e.g. silver
 Arc-suppressing filler material, e.g. sand

source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye

K. Webb ESE 470

 Fuse Ratings
8

Voltage rating
source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye


 The maximum voltage a fuse can withstand

after opening

 Continuous current
 Maximum current the fuse can carry
without opening

 Interrupting current
 Maximum current a fuse can safely interrupt

 Time response
 Fuse melt time is proportional to current
magnitude relative to the fuse current rating
 Described by time-current curve
K. Webb ESE 470
 Fuse Timing
9

 For a given overcurrent magnitude, some fuses will

open faster than others
 In radial networks, fuses can
be time coordinated
 Fuses further downstream –
closer to the fault – will open
first
 Minimize loss of service F1
F2
 For example, for a fault at P1: X
 F3 should open, F1 should not F3 P1

 More complicated for non- source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye

radial systems
K. Webb ESE 470
 Reclosers
10

 Another type of system protection is the recloser

 Like fuses, common at the distribution level
 Internal control circuitry

 Interrupts (opens) a circuit on a fault condition

 Automatically recloses after some time delay

 Opens again if fault persists
 Attempts to reclose again after additional delay
 Preprogrammed to attempt to reclose several (e.g. three)
times
 If fault does not self-clear, recloser will remain open
 Manual intervention – possibly remote – required
K. Webb ESE 470
 Reclosers
11

 Useful for temporary faults

 Wind shorting phases
 Falling tree limbs

 Animals

 Lightening, etc.

 Most faults on overhead

lines are self-clearing
 Unlike fuses, manual
intervention is not
required unless fault does source: www.gwelec.com

not self-clear
K. Webb ESE 470
 Surge Arresters
12

 Surge arresters protect source: www.arresterworks.com

against very high

overvoltage events
 E.g., lightening strikes
 Low-impedance path to
ground for high voltage
source: www.arresterworks.com

 High impedance for

normal voltage levels
 Located at substations
and on transmission/
distribution lines
K. Webb ESE 470
13 Circuit Breakers & Relays

K. Webb ESE 470

 Circuit Breakers
14

 The other main category of system protection devices is

circuit breakers
 Interrupt and reclose a circuit when commanded to by
external control circuitry
 Circuit breakers are used in
conjunction with external
control circuitry
 Instrument transformers
 Voltage transformers
 Current transformers
 Overcurrent relays
 Located at substations and
generation facilities source: Magnus Manske

K. Webb ESE 470

 Circuit Breakers
15

1. Closed under normal 2. Opens in response to

operating conditions overcurrent

3. Arc wants to persist across 4. Compressed gas

gap between contacts extinguishes the arc

K. Webb Images source: http://spectrum.ieee.org, Erik Vrielink ESE 470

 Instrument Transformers
16

 Transformers used for measuring power-system

quantities – voltage or current
 Voltage transformers (VT)  Current transformers (CT)

source: www.trenchgroup.com source: www.trenchgroup.com

K. Webb ESE 470

 Overcurrent Relays
17

 Overcurrent relays
 Detect faults based on input from a current transformer
 Sends a control signal to circuit breaker to interrupt the
circuit
 Electromechanical relays  Solid-state, digital relay

source: Creative Commons, Wtshymanski source: Creative Commons, Zen 38

K. Webb ESE 470

 Overcurrent Relays
18

 Two main categories of overcurrent relays

 Instantaneous overcurrent relays
 Designed to trip very quickly when current exceeds the current
limit, or pickup current, 𝐼𝐼𝑝𝑝
 Time-delay overcurrent relays
 Designed to trip after some time delay when current exceeds
pickup current, 𝐼𝐼𝑝𝑝
 Amount of delay depends on amount that the current exceeds 𝐼𝐼𝑝𝑝

 Time-delay overcurrent relays have two adjustments

 Pickup current
 Time delay

K. Webb ESE 470

 Overcurrent Relays
19

 Trip and block regions for instantaneous and time-

delay overcurrent relays
 Instantaneous overcurrent  Time-delay overcurrent
relay: relay:

K. Webb ESE 470

 Time-Delay Overcurrent Relays
20
source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye

 Time-current
curves for a
typical electro-
mechanical
time-delay
overcurrent relay

K. Webb ESE 470

 Time Coordination of Relays
21

 Consider the following simple radial system

 A fault at P1 would cause breaker B1 to open

 Buses 1, 2, and 3 are all disconnected from the generator

 For a fault at P2, both B1 and B2 would experience an

overcurrent
 Ideally, only B2 would open, taking buses 2 and 3 offline, but
leaving bus 1 in service
K. Webb ESE 470
 Time Coordination of Relays
22

 Time coordination of relays

 Set time delay of B3 to be less than that of B2
 Set time delay of B2 to be less than that of B1
 Downstream breakers, those closest to the fault, will trip first
 Fault will be isolated before upstream breakers can trip
 Loss of load is limited
 Practical number of time-coordinated relays on a radial system is
limited to five or fewer
 Time coordination gets more complicated for non-radial systems

K. Webb ESE 470

 Directional Relays
23

 One goal of any system protection scheme is to remove as little of a

system from service as possible in the event of a fault
 Time coordination accomplishes this for radial systems
 For more complicated networks, other tools are needed
 Directional relays
 Trip for fault current in one direction only
 Current and voltage instrument transformers used to detect current
magnitude and direction
 Exploits the fact that line impedance is inductive

 For example, relay above could be configured to trip breaker B1 for a

fault at P2, but not a P1
K. Webb ESE 470
24 Zones of Protection

K. Webb ESE 470

 Zones of Protection
25

 Time coordination works for simple radial distribution

networks
 For more complicated networks, we use zones of protection
 Power system divided into zones – one zone for each:
 Generator
 Bus
 Transformer
 Transmission/
distribution
line
 Load source: Glover, Sarma, Overbye

K. Webb ESE 470

 Zones of Protection
26

 When a fault is detected anywhere in a zone:

 All breakers in that zone open
 Entire zone is isolated

 Rules for defining zones of protection:

 Zones must overlap
 No gaps between zones
 Circuit breakers define zone boundaries
 Breakers are located in the overlap regions

 All circuit breakers in a zone must be coordinated

 Multiple relays and instrument transformers for each circuit
breaker
 Communication between multiple relays and circuit
breakers within a zone is required
K. Webb ESE 470
 Zones of Protection – Example 10.7
27

 Define zones of protection for the following power system:

K. Webb ESE 470

 Zones of Protection – Example 10.7
28

K. Webb ESE 470

29 Distance Relays

K. Webb ESE 470

 Distance Relays
30

 An alternative to time coordination, directional relays, and

protective zones, is the use of distance (impedance) relays
 Distance relays
 Trip a breaker when a voltage-to-current ratio (line impedance to
the fault) falls below some threshold
 Near a fault
 Current increases drastically due to the fault
 Voltage decreases drastically
 Voltage-to-current ratio drops significantly
 Further from a fault
 Same fault current increase is experienced
 Voltage drops less or not at all
 Voltage-to-current ratio decreases, but not as much

K. Webb ESE 470

 Distance Relays
31

 Distance relays are adjusted for a certain reach

 Reach: percentage of the line over which a relay will
respond to a fault
 Distance relays often used in conjunction with
directional relays
 Monitoring for faults a certain distance down a line in only
one direction
 Typical configuration is for a circuit breaker to be
controlled by three directional impedance relays per
phase
 Three protective zones for each breaker
 Each zone has progressively longer reach and time delay

K. Webb ESE 470

 Distance Relays
32

 For example, protective zones for breaker B12:

 B12 trips instantly for fault at P1 (Zone 1)
 Reach of Zone 1 is 80% of line 1-2
 Prevents mistaking faults
on other lines near bus 2
for faults on line 1-2

 Consider a fault at P2
 Zone 2 for B12
 Medium time delay
 Zone 1 for B23 and B32
 No time delay
 B23 and B32 will trip
 If B23 fails, B12 will trip
after some delay
K. Webb ESE 470
 Distance Relays
33

 Note that zones for extend in one direction only

 Away from bus 1
 Directional distance relays

 Now consider a fault at P3

 Approximately same
impedance as P1, but
opposite direction
 Not in any B12 zone
 B12 will never trip for a
fault at P3
 P3 would be in Zone 1 for
B13 and B31

K. Webb ESE 470