Apparatus Protection (a supplementary note)

Contents:
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The X-R Diagram, relay comparators, mho-, impedance relay
L-4
1.3 Generator Protection
1.4 Transformer Protection
1.5 Bus Bar Protection
1.6 Transmission Line Over-current Protection
L-5 1.7 Pilot-wire Feeder Protection
(today)
1.8 Distance Protection
1.9 Power Line Carrier Protection
 Apparatus Protection - II
1.5 Bus Bar Protection
Bus bars are an essential link in the electric power system, and short circuits in
their zone have to be interrupted in the shortest possible time
Single bus - single breaker

ZONE 1

1 2 3 ------- n-1 n

• Distribution and lower transmission voltage levels

• No operating flexibility
• Fault on the bus trips all circuit breakers
2
Multiple bus sections - single breaker with bus tie

ZONE 1 ZONE 2

• Distribution and lower transmission voltage levels

• Limited operating flexibility

3
Double bus - single breaker with bus tie

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

• Transmission and distribution voltage levels

• Breaker maintenance without circuit removal
• Fault on a bus disconnects only the circuits being connected to that bus
Main and transfer buses

ZONE 1 MAIN BUS

TRANFER BUS

• Increased operating flexibility

• A bus fault requires tripping all breakers
• Transfer bus for breaker maintenance
5
Double bus – single breaker with transfer bus

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

• Very high operating flexibility

• Transfer bus for breaker maintenance
6
Double bus - double breaker

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

• High operating flexibility

• Line protection covers bus section between two CTs
• Fault on a bus does not disturb the power to circuits
7
Breaker-and-
ZONE 1
a-half bus

ZONE 2

• Used on higher voltage levels

• More operating flexibility
• Requires more breakers
• Middle bus sections covered by line or other equipment protection
 L1 L2
Ring bus

TB1

B1 B2

TB1

L3 L4

• Higher voltage levels

• High operating flexibility with minimum breakers
• Separate bus protection not required at line positions
9
10
 2 pu 2 pu
Fault
I CT-X CT-Y IP
P
X
I
S I
S Differential
• Note CT polarity dots
Relay
• This is an internal fault
IR-X IR-Y
representation
• Perfect waveforms, no
saturation

+2
2 + (+2) = 4
Both CT currents are
entering to relay coil
Current, pu

-2

DIFF CURRENT
11
 1 pu
I CT-X CT-Y I
P P

I I
S S Differential
• Note CT polarity dots
Relay
• This is a through-current
IR-Y representation
I
R-X
• Perfect waveforms, no
saturation
+1
1 + (-1) = 0
Current, pu

One CT current is entering and

-1
another is leaving the relay coil
DIFF CURRENT
12
1.6 Transmission Line Over-current Protection
For transmission line protection in interconnected systems, it is necessary to
provide the desired selectivity such that relay operation results in the least
service interruption while isolating the fault

This is referred to as relay coordination. There are various possible methods

to achieve the desired selectivity.

Time/current gradings are involved in three basic methods for radial or loop
circuits where there are several line sections in series

Three methods of relay grading

Time grading: The purpose of time grading is to ensure that the breaker
nearest to the fault opens first, by choosing an appropriate time setting for
each of the relays
The time settings increase as the relay gets closer to the source.
13
Principle of time grading

14
At each of the points 2, 3, 4, and 5, a protection unit comprising a definite
time-delay over-current relay is placed

The time-delay of the relay provides the means for selectivity

The relay at circuit breaker 2 is set at the shortest possible time necessary for
the breaker to operate (typically 0.25 second)

The relay setting at 3 is chosen here as 0.5 second, that of the relay at 4 at 1
second, and so on

In the event of a fault at F, the relay at 2 will operate and the fault will be
isolated before the relays at 3, 4, and 5 have sufficient time to operate

The shortcoming of the method is that the longest fault-clearing time is associated
with the sections closest to the source where the faults are most severe
Current grading: The fact that fault currents are higher the closer the fault is to
the source is utilized in the current-grading method
Relays are set to operate at a suitably graded current setting that decreases as the
distance from the source is increased

An example
of a radial
system with
current
grading

16
Excercise-1:
• Consider the radial system shown.
• Calculate the fault currents for faults FA, FB, Fc, FD, and FE.
• Propose relay settings on the basis of current grading, assuming a 30
percent relay error margin

17
The apparent power reduction can be considered as an increase in source
impedance (doubling of Xs)

As a result, lower fault currents arise. The consequences of this are illustrated
in the following example.

Excercise-2:
• Suppose that for the system of the above exercise-1, source level variations
result in changing Xs from 0.5 Ω to 1 Ω.
• Find the resulting fault currents and study their effects on relay response.

Xs = 1Ω
18
Inverse-time overcurrent relaying: Each of the two methods considered so far
has a disadvantage

Therefore the inverse-time overcurrent relay method has evolved because of the
limitations imposed by the use of either current or time alone

With this third method, the time of operation is inversely proportional to the fault
current, and actual characteristics are a function of both time and current settings

Some typical inverse-time

relay characteristics
• Relay type CO-7 is in
common use

Comparison of CO Curve
Shapes
A radial system
with time-graded
inverse relays
applied at breakers
1, 2, and 3

Time-graded
inverse relaying
applied to a radial
system

For faults close to the relaying points, the inverse-time over-current method
can achieve appreciable reductions in fault-clearance times

The operating time of the time-overcurrent relay varies with the current
magnitude. 20
There are two settings for this type of relay:
1. Pickup current is determined by adjusted current coil taps or current tap
settings (C.T.S.). The pickup current is the current that causes the relay to
operate and close the contacts.

2. Time dial refers to the reset position of the moving contact, and it varies the
time of operation at a given tap setting and current magnitude

The time characteristics are plotted in terms of time versus multiples of

current tap (pickup) settings, for a given time dial position

There are five different curve shapes referred to by the manufacturer:

21
(a) CO-7 Time-delay overcurrent relay characteristics

22
(b) Type CO-8
Time-current
curves

23
Excercise-3: Consider the 11-kV radial system in the diagram.

• Assume that all loads have the same power factor.

• Determine relay settings to protect the system assuming relay type CO-7
is used.

24
Solution:
The load currents are
calculated as follows:

The normal currents With the current

through the sections transformer ratios
are calculated as, given, the normal
relay currents are

25
We can now obtain the current tap settings (C.T.S.) or pickup current in such a
manner that the relay does not trip under normal currents

• For this type of relay, the current tap settings available are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
10, and 12 amperes.
• For position 1, the normal current in the relay is 5.25 A; we thus choose,

For position 2, the normal relay current is 8.53 A, and we choose

Similarly for position 3,

Observe that we have chosen the nearest setting higher than the normal current
The next task is to select the intentional delay indicated by the time dial
setting (T.D.S)
We utilize the short-circuit currents calculated to coordinate the relays. The
current in the relay at 1 on a short circuit at 1 is,

Expressed as a multiple of the pickup or C.T.S. value, we have

We choose the lowest T.D.S for this relay for fastest action. Thus,

27
CO-7 Time-delay overcurrent relay characteristics

By reference to the
relay characteristic,
we get the operating
time for relay 1 for a
fault at 1 as

28
To set the relay at 2 responding to a fault at 1, we allow 0.1 second for breaker
operation and an error margin of 0.3 second in addition to T11. Thus,

The short circuit for a fault at 1 as a multiple of the C.T.S. at 2 is

From the characteristics for 0.55-second operating time and 6.25 ratio, we get

29
CO-7 Time-delay overcurrent relay characteristics

30
The final steps involve setting the relay at 3.
For a fault at bus 2, the short-circuit current is 3000 A, for which relay 2
responds in a time T22 obtained as follows:

For the (T.D.S.)2 = 2, we get from the relay's characteristic,

Thus allowing the same margin for relay 3 to respond to a fault at 2, as for
relay 2 responding to a fault at 1, we have

31
 The current in the relay expressed as a multiple of pickup is

Thus for T3 = 0.90, and the above ratio, we get from the relay's
characteristic,

• We note here that our calculations did not account for load starting currents
that can be as high as five to seven times rated values
• In practice, this should be accounted for

32
1.7 Pilot-wire Feeder Protection
The application of graded overcurrent systems to feeder protection has two
disadvantages.

The first is that the grading settings may lead to tripping times that are too
long to prevent damage and service interruption

The second is that satisfactory grading for complex networks is quite difficult
to attain.

This led to the concept of " unit protection" involving the measurement of
fault currents at each end of a limited zone of the feeder and the transmission
of information between the equipment at zone boundaries

The principle utilized here is the differential (often referred to as Merz-price)

protection scheme.
• For short feeders, pilot-wire schemes are used to transmit the information.
33
Pilot-wire differential systems of feeder protection are classified into three
types:
(1) the circulating-current systems
(2) the balanced-voltage systems, and
(3) the phase-comparison (Casson-Last) system

All depend on the fact that, capacitance current neglected, the instantaneous
value of the current flowing into a healthy conductor at one end of the circuit
is equal to the instantaneous current flowing out of the conductor at the other
end, so that the net instantaneous current flowing into or out of the conductor
is zero if the conductor is healthy

If, on the other hand, the conductor is short-circuited to earth or to another

conductor at some point, then the net current flowing into or out of the
conductor is equal to the instantaneous value of the current flowing out of or
into the conductor at the point of fault
34
Circulating-current systems:
The basic principle of operation
of a circulating-current system
is shown, which illustrates its
application to a single-phase
feeder

The two equal-ratio current transformers, one at each end of the protective
circuit, have their secondary windings connected in series so that under load
or external fault conditions their induced secondary voltages add together to
produce a circulating current in the pilot-wire circuit

The relay R, shown connected at the midpoint of the pilot-circuit, carries the
difference between the two C.T. secondary currents

35
Differential protection
• Differential protection, as its name implies, compares the currents entering
and leaving the protected zone and operates when the differential between
these currents exceeds a pre-determined magnitude.
• This type of protection can be divided into two types, namely
– Balanced current
– Balanced voltage

Balanced current Protection

• The CTs are connected in series and the secondary current circulates
between them.
• The relay is connected across the midpoint thus the voltage across the relay
is theoretically nil, therefore no current through the relay and hence no
operation for any faults outside the protected zone.
• Similarly under normal conditions the currents, leaving zone A and B are
equal, making the relay to be inactive by the current balance.
36
Differential protection using current balance scheme (external fault
conditions)

Differential protection and internal fault conditions

37
Balance-voltages systems: The principle of operation of balance-voltage systems
of differential feeder protection is illustrated for a single-phase circuit

In this system, the two C.T.'s at the

ends of the protected circuit have
their secondary windings connected
in series opposition around the pilot
loop, so that under load or external
fault conditions, there is no current
in the relay that is connected in
series with the pilot wires Principle of balanced-voltage system

Under internal fault conditions, however, the C.T. secondary voltages are no
longer equal and opposite, so that the resultant voltage produces a current in the
pilot wires and relay

Operation of the relay disconnects the faulted circuit from the system
38
Balanced voltage system
• As the name implies, it is necessary to create a balanced voltage across the
relays in end A and end B under healthy and out-of-zone fault conditions.
• In this arrangement, the CTs are connected to oppose each other
Voltages produced by the secondary currents are equal and opposite; thus no
currents flow in the pilots or relays, hence stable on through-fault conditions.
• Under internal fault conditions relays will operate.

Balanced voltage system – external fault (stable)

39
Balanced voltage system,
internal fault (operate)

40
1.8 Distance Protection (Section protection)
Protection of lines and feeders based on comparison of the current values at
both ends of the line can become uneconomical

Distance protection utilizes the current and voltage at the beginning of the line
in a comparison scheme that essentially determines the fault position

A simple distance relay is A balanced-beam relay

offered by the balanced-
beam relay shown, with
one coil supplied by a
current proportional to
the fault current and the (V)
other supplied by a
current proportional to
the fault loop voltage

41
Distance or Impedance Protection
A distance relay, as its name implies, has the ability to detect a fault within a pre-
set distance along a transmission line or power cable from its location.

Basic principle
• The basic principle of distance protection involves the division of the voltage
at the relaying point by the measured current.

The apparent impedance so calculated is compared with the reach point

impedance.

If the measured impedance is less than the reach point impedance, it is assumed
that a fault exists on the line between the relay and the reach point.

Basic principle
operation of
impedance relay

42
Balanced beam principle of impedance relay
The voltage is fed onto one coil to provide restraining torque, whilst the current is
fed to the other coil to provide the operating torque.

Under healthy conditions, the voltage will be high (i.e. at full-rated level), whilst
the current will be low thereby balancing the beam, and restraining it so that the
contacts remain open.

Under fault conditions, the voltage collapses and the current increase
dramatically, causing the beam to unbalance and close the contacts.

43
Under normal conditions, the pull developed by the voltage electromagnet
exceeds that developed by the current electromagnet, and the contacts are
open

For a short circuit within reach of the relay, the current in the current coil
increases, while that in the voltage coil decreases, and thus the relay operates
to trip the circuit breaker

• The relay as described is a plain impedance relay.

• It will thus respond to faults behind it (third quadrant) in the X-R diagram
as well as in front of it.

One way to prevent this is to add a separate directional relay that will restrain
tripping for faults behind the protected zone

44
The reactance or mho relay with characteristics combines the distance-
measuring ability and the directional property

The term mho is given to the relay where the circumference of the circle
passes through the origin, and the term was originally derived from the fact
that the mho characteristic (ohm spelled backward) is a straight line in the
admittance plane

Early applications of distance protection utilized relay operating times that

were a function of the impedance for the fault. The nearer the fault, the shorter
the operating time. This is shown in next-slide.

This has the same disadvantages as overcurrent protection discussed earlier.

Present practice is to set the relay to operate simultaneously for faults that
occur in the first 80 percent of the feeder length (known as the first zone)

45
 Principle of time-distance protection

Faults beyond this point and up to a point midway along the next feeder are
cleared by arranging for the zone setting of the relay to be extended from the first
zone value to the second zone value after a time delay of about 0.5 to 1 second

The second zone for the first relay should never be less than 20 percent of the first
feeder length
46
The zone setting extension is done by increasing the impedance in series with the
relay voltage coil current

A third zone is provided (using a starting relay) extending from the middle of the
second feeder into the third feeder up to 25 percent of the length with a further
delay of 1 or 2 seconds
This provides backup protection as well. The time-distance characteristics for a
three-feeder system are shown.
Time-distance of protection

47
Three stepped distance protection
Zone 1: First step of distance protection is set to reach up to 80 to 90% of the length
of the line section. This is instantaneous protection i.e. there is no intentional delay.

Zone 2: Second zone is requires in order to provide primary protection to remaining

10 to 20% of the line and a cover up to 50% of the next line section. The operating
time of this zone is delayed so as to be selective with zone 1.

Zone 3: The third zone is provided with an intention to give full back up to adjoining
line section. It covers the line of the section, 100% of the next line section and reaches
farther into the system.

The motivation behind the extended reach of this step is to provide full back up to the
next line section. Its operating time is slightly more than that of zone 2.

48
49
50
1.9 Power Line Carrier Protection
Carrier-current protection systems utilize overhead transmission lines as pilot
circuits

A carrier-frequency signal (30-200 kHz) is carried by two of the line

conductors to provide communication means between ends of the line.

The carrier signal is applied to the conductors via carrier coupling into units
comprising inductance/capacitor circuits tuned to the carrier signal frequency
to perform a number of functions

The carrier signals thus travel mainly into the power line and not into
undesired parts of the system such as the bus bars

The communication equipment that operates at impedance levels of the order

of 50-150 Ω is to be matched to the power line that typically has a
characteristic impedance in the range of 240-500 Ω
51
A typical arrangement of a power line carrier coupling system

Power Line Carrier Coupling System

52
53
The line trap Ll and C1 is tuned to the middle of the carrier band required and
thus has a low impedance at power frequency and a high impedance to the
carrier signals

Thus the carrier frequencies are prevented from entering the bus bars. The
series tuning circuit L2, C2, and C3 is tuned to the carrier midband and is the
converse of the line trap in that it offers low impedance to the carrier signals
but high impedance to the power frequency waves.

T1 is an isolating transformer that also serves as a grounding coil for C3 so that

the capacitor will have ground potential at power frequency

T2 is also an isolating and impedance-matching transformer. C4 is used to tune

the shunt reactance of T1 and T2 at carrier midband frequency to minimize the
losses.

54
Modern line trap design for multichannel operation includes a series RLC
(resistance-inductance-capacitance) network across the trap so that the trap
presents an almost constant resistance over a wide band of frequencies to
offset the effect of bus bar reactance
Typical values for C2 and C3 are 2000 pF, and for L1, 200 μH corresponding to
150 kHz carrier frequency
Power line carrier systems are used for two purposes. The first involves
measurements, and the second conveys signals from one end of the line to the
other with the measurement being done at each end by relays
When the carrier channel is used for measurement, it is not practical to
transmit amplitude measurements from one end to the other since signal
attenuation beyond the control of the system takes place

55
As a result, the only
feasible measurement
carrier system compares
the phase angle of a
derived current at each
end of the system in a
manner similar to
differential protection

Phase-comparison protection:
The principle of phase-
comparison protection is
illustrated for an internal
fault

Principle of Phase Comparison with an Internal Fault

The scheme is such that if the current at a relaying point is of sufficient
magnitude, a carrier signal is transmitted to the relaying systems at both ends
of the line A and B

The carrier signal is transmitted only during the positive half-cycle of the
current wave. Consider an internal fault at F; the current iA flowing into line
AB measured at A is assumed to be sinusoidal as shown in graph (1)

The carrier signal generated at A and transmitted to relaying equipment at A

and B is denoted by fcA and is shown is graph (3)

The current iB flowing into line AB measured at B will have a magnitude

different than that of iA but will be almost in phase with iA as shown in graph
(2)

57
The corresponding carrier signal generated at B and transmitted to both A and
B is fcA and is shown in graph (4)

The detector at A sums fcA and fcB and rectifies the result to produce fD shown
in graph (5).

When the signal fDA is zero for a specified time, the relaying equipment at A
activates to trip breaker A

In Figure next-slide, the situation with an external fault at G is illustrated.

Observe now that iB is in a direction opposite to that for an internal fault

The sequence of graphs is self-explanatory. Note fDA does not assume a zero
value, and relaying equipment does not trip the breaker at A

58
Principle of phase
comparison with an
external fault

Radio and microwave

links are now being
applied in power
systems to provide
communication
channels for
teleprotection as well as
for supervisory control
and data acquisition

59
Carrier current protection using phase comparison

• In this type of relay we exploit the phase shift undergone by the current at
the end by which is nearest to the fault.

• The end which is far from the fault cannot distinguish any changes in the
phase of fault current and the closer end sees a sharp, almost 180˚ change
in the phase current.

• Under normal conditions, load currents and external fault currents can be
arranged to be exactly out of phase but in case of internal faults the currents
become in phase.

60
Phase
comparison
relaying

61
Example: Phase-comparison
relaying internal fault

62
63
Example:
Phase-comparison
relaying internal fault

64
65