Course Code: EEE 4905

Course Title: Switchgear & Protection

Dr. Md. Raju Ahmed

Professor
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology (DUET), Gazipur

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 Objectives of this course

1. To learn about the protection schemes of electric power system.

2. To study the construction and operation of different types of relays used in power
system.

3. To study the construction and operation of different types of circuit breakers and
their applications

4. To learn about the protection schemes of electrical equipment's and systems.

5. To learn about the protection schemes against high voltages.

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 Learning Outcomes

After successfully completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Explain different types of switchgear equipment's and their application for protection
of power system.
2. Explicate the construction, operation and applications of different types of relays used
in power system.
3. Describe the construction, operation and applications of various types of circuit
breakers used in electric power system and their applications.
4. Design of protection system for transformer, alternator, bus-bar, transmission lines and
other electrical equipment's and systems.
5. Design and analysis of proper protection system against overvoltage and overcurrent.

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• Switchgear: The apparatus used for controlling, regulating and switching the
electrical circuit in the electrical power system is known as switchgear.
• The switches, fuses, circuit breaker, isolator, relays, current and potential
transformer, indicating instrument, lightning arresters and control panels are
examples of the switchgear devices.

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 Switchgear & Protection

Circuit Breaker Relay

• Construction • Construction
• Operation • Operation
• Applications • Applications
• Testing • Design of protection system

Dr. Md. Zakir Hossain

Associate Professor, EEE
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 Relay
• A device that detects the fault and initiates the operation of the circuit breaker to
isolate the defective element/section from the rest of the system.
• Relays detect the abnormal conditions in the electrical circuits by constantly measuring
the electrical quantities which are different under normal and faulty conditions.
• The electrical quantities which may change under fault conditions are voltage, current,
frequency and phase angle. Through the changes in one or more of these quantities, the
protective relay operates.

Detect the Faults

Functions of Relay
Initiate the Operation of Circuit Breaker

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 A Simplified Relay Circuit

Main Components:
Trip Coil Battery
o Circuit Breaker
o Relay Coil Circuit
Breaker
o Trip Circuit

o Controlling of High Voltage & Current

using Low Voltage & Current Relay
C.T.
Coil

Power Circuit
High Voltage & Current
Load Control Circuit
Low Voltage & Low Current
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 Operation of Relay to Open Circuit Breaker

Sequence of Operation:
Trip Coil Battery
o During Fault Current through
Faulty line increases. Circuit
o Relay Coil Energized Breaker
o Trip Circuit Closed
o Trip Coil Energized
o Circuit Breaker Open C.T. Relay
o Isolate the Faulty Section Coil

Fault

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Faulty section should detect and disconnect quickly
 If the fault is not cleared quickly, it may cause unnecessary interruption of service to the customers.

 Rapid disconnection of faulted apparatus limits the amount of damage to it and prevents the effects
of fault from spreading into the system.

Detection and disconnection

 The detection of a fault and disconnection of a faulty section or apparatus can be achieved by using
fuses or relays in conjunction with circuit breakers.

 A fuse performs both detection and interruption functions automatically but its use is limited for the
protection of low-voltage circuits only.

 For high voltage circuits (say above 3.3 kV), relays and circuit breakers are employed.
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 Fundamental Requirements of Protective Relaying

A Protective Relay should have the following qualities:

i. Selectivity
ii. Speed
iii. Sensitivity
iv. Reliability
v. Simplicity
vi. Eeconomy

i. Selectivity: It is the ability of the protective system to select correctly that part of the system in trouble
and disconnect the faulty part without disturbing the rest of the system.

A well designed and efficient relay system should be selective i.e. it should be able to detect the point at which the
fault occurs and cause the opening of the circuit breakers closest to the fault with minimum or no damage to the
system.

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 Fundamental Requirements of Protective Relaying

Single line diagram of a portion of a typical power system

If a fault occurs at bus-bars on the last zone, then only breakers nearest to the fault viz. 10, 11, 12 and
13 should open. In fact, opening of any other breaker to clear the fault will lead to a greater part of the
system being disconnected.
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 Fundamental Requirements of Protective Relaying

ii. Speed: How fast the relay can operate. The relay system should disconnect the faulty section as fast
as possible for the following reasons :
• Electrical apparatus may be damaged if they are made to carry the fault currents for a long time.
• A failure on the system leads to a great reduction in the system voltage. If the faulty section is not
disconnected quickly, then the low voltage created by the fault may shut down consumers’ motors and
the generators on the system may become unstable.
• The high speed relay system decreases the possibility of development of one type of fault into the
other more severe type.

iii. Sensitivity: It is the ability of the relay system to operate with (small variation) low value of
actuating quantity.

Sensitivity of a relay is a function of the volt-amperes input to the coil of the relay necessary to cause its
operation. The smaller the volt-ampere input required to cause relay operation, the more sensitive is the
relay.
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 Fundamental Requirements of Protective Relaying

iv. Reliability: It is the ability of the relay system to operate under the pre-determined
conditions.

v. Simplicity: The relaying system should be simple so that it can be easily maintained.
Reliability is closely related to simplicity. The simpler the protection scheme, the greater will
be its reliability.

vi. Economy. The most important factor in the choice of a particular protection scheme is the
economic aspect. Sometimes it is economically unjustified to use an ideal scheme of
protection and a compromise method has to be adopted. As a rule, the protective gear should
not cost more than 5% of total cost. However, when the apparatus to be protected is of utmost
importance (e.g. generator, main transmission line etc.), economic considerations are often
subordinated to reliability.

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 Basic Relays Types

Most of the relays in service on electric power system are of electro-mechanical type.

They work on the following two main operating principles :

i. Electromagnetic attraction
ii. Electromagnetic induction

Electromagnetic Attraction Relays

Electromagnetic attraction relays operate by virtue of an armature being attracted to the poles of an
electromagnet or a plunger being drawn into a solenoid. Such relays may be actuated by d.c. or a.c.
quantities.

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Electromagnet

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Electromagnetic Device

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Electromagnetic Relay

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 Types of Electromagnetic Attraction Relay

The important types of electromagnetic attraction relays are :

i. Attracted armature type relay.

ii. Solenoid type relay.
iii. Balanced beam type relay.

i. Attracted armature type relay.

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ii. Solenoid type relay.

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iii. Balanced beam type relay.

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 Induction Relays

 Electromagnetic induction relays operate on the principle of induction motor and are widely used
for protective relaying purposes involving AC quantities.

 An induction relay essentially consists of a pivoted aluminium disc placed in two alternating
magnetic fields of the same frequency but displaced in time and space.

 The torque is produced in the disc by the interaction of one of the magnetic fields with the
currents induced in the disc by the other.

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 Principle of Operation

The two AC fluxes 2 and 1 differing in phase by an angle  induce e.m.f.s’ in the disc
and cause the circulation of eddy currents i2 and i1 respectively. These currents lag
behind their respective fluxes by 90o.

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Principle of Operation

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 Principle of Operation

The following points may be noted from exp. (i):

a. The greater the phase angle α between the fluxes, the greater is the net force applied to the disc.
Obviously, the maximum force will be produced when the two fluxes are 90o out of phase.

b. The net force is the same at every instant.

c. The direction of net force and hence the direction of motion of the disc depends upon which flux is
leading.

The following three types of structures are used to displaced the two flaxes:
i. Shaded-pole structure
ii. Watthour-meter or double winding structure
iii. Induction cup structure
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