Cairo University Faculty of Engineering

Accelerated Distance Protection For Transmission Lines

Based on Accurate Fault Location

Prepared by:
- Eng. Amr Mohamed Anwar
- Eng. Amr Saad Ibrahim

Under Supervision :
Prof . Dr. Doaa Khalil
 Introduction about
Distance Protection Scheme
 Introduction about
Distance Protection Scheme
➢ Distance Relay uses Voltage and current inputs to
measure Impedance from relay to fault.
➢ The relay is set to percentage value (Zs) of the total line
impedance (ZL).
➢ If the measured impedance (Zm) is less than (Zs), so the
fault is within the zone of protected line section and
the relay will send a trip signal.
➢ If the measured impedance (Zm) is greater than (Zs), so
the fault is out of protected line zone.
 Zones of Protection
➢ Due to the tolerance in the circuit components, the
measuring accuracy cannot be perfect, so it is usual to
set the relay at 80% of the total protected line
impedance. This is referred as zone 1.
➢ The remaining 20% of protected line is protected by
changing the setting of the relay to reach 50% into zone
and this is referred as zone 2.
➢ another distance relay is added for backup protection,
this is referred as zone 3.
Zones of Protection
 Problem Statement
➢ Generally, in distance protection schemes, only zone-1
includes accelerated operation while its reach is
typically about 80% of the line’s length.
➢ Only the faults that occur in the common area of both
relays’ zone-1 would be cleared instantaneously and
most of the occurred faults near both ends of the
protected lines are cleared after the zone-2 adjustable
time delay of 20–30 cycles.
➢ This delayed fault clearance can result in considerable
damages to the equipment and reduces the power
system stability.
Problem Statement
 Suggestion Solutions to Provide High-Speed
Protection for Transmission Line.
1. Pilot Protection Scheme.
➢ The term “Pilot” refers to a
communication channel
between two or more ends of
transmission line to provide
instantaneous clearing over
100% of the line.
➢ However, pilot protection add
to complexity, reduce the
reliability and high cost of
communications.
 Suggestion Solutions to Provide High-Speed
Protection for Transmission Line.
1. Travelling Wave based method for transmission line
protection.
➢ Travelling-wave-based
methods provide high-speed
protection for transmission
lines and are not affected by
the line distributed capacitive
current.
➢ However, they usually require
a much higher sampling
frequency, the specific type of
current transformers and are
also sensitive to disturbances.
 Paper Objectives
1. Enhance Distance protection for transmission lines.

2. Develop a non-pilot high speed distance protection

scheme:
➢ Not influenced by fault resistance or remote
source impedance variations,
➢ Suitable for three phase and single-phase faults.

3. Provide a protection system based on local distance

relay only.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
1. Introduction
➢ As can be seen from Fig. 1, for the faults that occur at the common area of R1 and R2
relays (e.g. fault point FRS), both relays identify the fault in zone-1. Consequently, the
fault is cleared without any adjustable time delay. While for the faults that occur near
one end of the line (e.g. fault points FS and FR), the nearest relay to the fault point sees
the fault in zone-1, but the farther relay sees it in zone-2. As a result, the CB of the
farther relay operates after the zone-2 adjustable time delay of 20–30 cycles, and the
fault is cleared with a significant delay. The total fault clearing time is the interval
between the fault inception and the fault clearance by the CBs at both ends of the line
➢ This time can be divided into two parts.
The first part is the interval between the
fault inception and the RCB operation
instant. The second part is the duration
time between the operation of the RCB
and the local CB. For the faults that occur
at the fault points FS or FR, the duration
of the second part is much longer than
the first part. The main goal of this paper
is to reduce the duration time of the
second part. The following description is
aimed to describe how to reduce this
time.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
1. Principle of the proposed algorithm
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
2. Principle of the proposed algorithm

➢ To describe the basic principle of the proposed method, a typical single-circuit line with
distance relays (R1 and R2) and circuit breakers (CB1 and CB2) at both ends of the line is
considered, as shown in Fig. 2 (a). In this figure, the protected line is defined as a sub-
network that is connected to the remaining network by the surrounding buses. To
simplify the introduction of the algorithm, the shunt capacitances of the line are
neglected for the initial discussion. In the following, the R1 relay is considered as the case
study example and other relays have similar performances.
➢ Fig. 2 represents the positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence circuits of the protected line
during an A-G single-phase-to-ground fault at the distance of m p.u. from the sending-
end, respectively. By using Kirchhoff voltage law (KVL) in the dashed line loop of Fig. 2,
the following equation can be derived:
V1S + V2S + V0S = mZ1LI1S + mZ2LI2S + mZ0LI0S + 3RFI1F (1)
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
2. Principle of the proposed algorithm
➢ where 1, 2, 0 denote variables of the positive-, negative-, and zero sequence circuits; Z1L,
Z2L, Z0L are sequence impedances of the transmission lines; I1S, I2S, I0S and V1S, V2S,
V0S are sequences of current and voltage signals at the sending-end, respectively; I1F,
I2F, I0F are sequences of fault current; and RF indicates the fault resistance. Also,
positive- and negative-sequence line impedances are assumed to be equal, i.e. Z1L=Z2L.
According to the symmetrical component's theory, the voltage and current signals of the
faulted phase A at the sending-end side (IAS and VAS) can be written as:
- IAS = I1S + I2S + I0S (2)
-VAS = V1S + V2S + V0S (3)
-It is derived from (1)-(3) that:
-VAS = mZ1LI1S + mZ2LI2S + mZ0LI0S + 3RFI1F (4)
-VAS = mZ1LIAS + m(Z0L − Z1L)I0S + 3RFI1F (5)
-Since the sequence components of the fault current during an A-G fault are equal
(IF1=IF2=IF0), the fault current is given by:
-IF = I1F + I2F + I0F = 3I1F = 3I2F = 3I0F (6)
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
2. Principle of the proposed algorithm
➢ During a single-phase-to-ground fault A-G, the fault current is IF=IAS+IAR, where IAR
denotes phase A current at the receiving-end. The single-pole accelerated trip method is
widely employed in transmission line protective principles to enhance the power system
stability and line availability after single-pole tripping. After single-pole tripping on phase
A of CB2, the current of the opened phase A at the receiving-end becomes zero IAR=0,
and the fault current is supplied only from the sending-end. Consequently, the fault
current is defined as:
-IF= IAS + IAR During A − G fault
-IAS After CB2 operation (7)
➢ Since IAS is measured by the R1 relay, thus after the CB2 operation instant, the fault current
IF=IAS is calculable at the R1 relay location. According to (5)-(7), after the CB2 operation
instant, the impedance (ZSeen=RSeen+jXSeen) seen by the A-G element of the relay R1 is
given by:
-ZSeen = VAS / ( IAS + K0I0S) = mZ1L + ZF (8)
-ZF = 3RFI1F / (IAS + K0I0S) = RFIF / (IAS + K0I0S) = RFIAS / (IAS + K0I0S) = |ZF|∡β (9)
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
2. Principle of the proposed algorithm
➢ where K0 and are defined as (Z0L− Z1L)/Z1L. Also, the angle of the fault impedance ZF is
also defined by the deviation angle (β). When a fault with the fault resistance RF occurs,
due to the unknown impedance ZF, the accurate fault location cannot be obtained by
using (11)

3. Accurate fault location

➢ The geometrical relationship of ZSeen, mZ1L, and ZF is shown in Fig. 3. After the CB2
operation instant, the fault impedance ZF in (9) includes the available current signals
(IAS, and I0S), the known impedances (K0=(Z0L− Z1L)/Z1L), and the unknown fault
resistance RF. Since the fault resistance RF is not needed to calculate the deviation angle
(β), consequently, it can be obtained by:
- β = angle( IF /( IAS + K0I0S) ) = angle( IAS /( IAS + K0I0S) ) (10)
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
3. Accurate fault location
Considering the geometry rules in Fig. 3, the following equation can be derived:
- tan(β) = AB / CD = (XSeen − mX1L) / ( RSeen − mR1L ) (11)
Solving (11) in terms of fault location (m) leads to:
- m = Abs ( tan(β)RSeen − Xseen ) / ( tan(β)R1L − X1L ) (12)

➢ In (12), R1L and X1L are the real and imaginary parts of the protected line positive-
sequence impedance (Z1L), respectively. Also, RSeen and XSeen are the real and imaginary
parts of the ZSeen impedance seen by the relay R1, respectively. Therefore, in (12) the
deviation angle (β), RSeen, and XSeen are available through local measurements, and R1L
and X1L are known variables.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
3. Accurate fault location

➢ In (7) the fault current has been derived by neglecting the shunt capacitances of the line.
However, the high accuracy of the fault location calculation in long transmission lines
requires consideration of the line shunt capacitances. Fig. 4 shows the π model of phase A
of the line during a single-phase-to-ground fault A-G, after the single-pole operation of CB2.
As can be seen from Fig. 4, the values of the shunt capacitances depend on the fault
location m. Consequently, to calculate the fault current IF, it is necessary to obtain the value
of m. On the other hand, the fault current IF is required to calculate the accurate value of
m. Therefore, such compensation requires iterative calculations, so that in the first step, the
fault location m is calculated without considering the shunt capacitances of the line. Then,
according to Fig. 4 and using the initial value of m, the fault current IF can be derived by:
- IF = YEqual( mZLIAS − VAS( 1 + 0.5m2 BLZL )) − (0.5mBLVAS − IAS) (13)
where BL is the shunt admittance of the line, and
- YEqual = BL ( (1 − m) / (2 + (1 − m) 2 BLZL)) + 0.5 ) (14)
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
3. Accurate fault location

➢ Having obtained the updated fault current IF by (13), the deviation angle (β) and
consequently fault location m are calculated again using this accurate fault current. The
fault location estimation is continuously updated by an iterative procedure until the
difference between the last two estimates becomes less than a preassigned limit (|mk+1-
mk| less than 0.01
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
4. Flowchart of Proposed Scheme
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method

5. Simulation verification and discussion

 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Case of study

The sampling rate is set to 100 samples per cycle in 60-

Hz system.

➢ simulation studies carried out on the Western System Coordinating Council (WSCC) 9-bus
system.
➢ WSCC system modeled in the PSCAD.
➢ The measured signals derived in PSCAD then imported to MATLAB software to implement
the proposed scheme.
➢ The sampling rate is set to 100 samples per cycle in 60-Hz system.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Fault Resistance

➢ Fig. 9. Estimated fault location by the relay R1 for a SL-G fault with RF=30 Ω at 0.9 p.u. of
line-1.
➢ t-Start is the moment at which Z-Seen enters zone-2 of the relay R1.
➢ R2 send trip command to CB2 after 1 cycle of fault occurrence.
➢ CB2 opens its pole at t= 0.15s.
➢ m enters the ATZ for more than t2 ms.
➢ the accelerated trip command is issued to CB1 at t = 0.167 s.
➢ the operation time top= 17 ms.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method

➢ Table 1 - Results for a SL-G fault Occurred at different locations and fault resistances.
➢ Maximum error remains within a limit of 0.12%.
➢ maximum operation time top is 18 ms, compared to conventional
zone-2 delay of 300 ms.
➢ The performance of the algorithm in high-resistance faults has been investigated.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method

➢ Fig-10 shows Estimated fault location the fault impedance has reactive or capacitive
components.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• External Faults

➢ The fault points F2 and F3 are at 0.3 and 0.85 p.u. of line-2 length, respectively.
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Remote Source Impedance Variation

➢ The source impedances are not constant and may vary within a wide range in some specific
operating conditions. Accordingly, severe variations in remote source impedance may
reduce accuracy.
➢ a) 1.5 × Z2th, 1.5 × Z0th, and b) 0.5 × Z2th, 0.5 × Z0th with RF=30 Ω.
➢ The maximum fault location error for case-a and case-b is 0.13% and0.12%, respectively
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Different Type of Faults
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Effect of Current Transformer Saturation
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Three-Pole RCB Operation
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
• Comparison With Other Methods
 Proposed High-Speed Distance
Protection Method
6. Conclusion
➢ A non-pilot impedance-based algorithm is presented in this paper shows that after the RCB
operation instant, the accurate fault current can be obtained by utilizing the local signals. By
using the accurate fault current, the fault location can be determined correctly. Then, for
the faults occurring at the entire length of the protected line, the accelerated trip can be
issued.
➢ the main achievements of the proposed scheme can be summarized as follows:
1. The local voltage and current phasors just for a few cycles are sufficient to accurately determine the
RCB operation instant and fault location.
2. No need for excessive computational burden and additional high-frequency complex sensors.
3. No need for further signal measurement just conventional distance relay required.
4. The derived fault location formulas are independent of fault resistance.
5. The proposed method is robust against external faults.
6. The proposed method is robust against variations of the remote source impedances.
7. The presented method in both single- and three-pole operation modes of the CB is efficient
Thank you