Distance Protection

Introduction
The basic principle is that the apparent impedance
seen by the relay reduces drastically in case of
. line fault
If the ratio of apparent impedance to the positive •
sequence impedance is less than unity,
it indicates a fault
.This protection scheme is inherently directional •
Impedance relay and Mho relay use this •
.principle
Phase Fault Protection

 Three Phase Fault

Protection
• For a balanced
(transposed) transmission
line (fig 21.1)
 Let T =

)sequence transformation matrix),then

• Applying sequence transformation matrix

Where Z0 = Zs +Zm; [zero sequence impedance]

             Z1 = Zs - Zm; [positive sequence impedance]
             Z2 = Zs - Zm; [negative sequence impedance]
• Thus,    
 Three Phase Fault Protection contd.
• If a bolted 3  fault occur at percentage (%) distance, x of the line (fig
21.2) Then the fault model is given by  

For a solid fault, Vn = 0. Thus, 

• In the sequence domain

For a 3-phase fault,

Ib = a2 Ia
Ic = a Ia
I0 = 0; I1 = Ia ; I2 = 0;
So only positive sequence network is excited. Hence
Also, for the case of fault , it can be verified
that

•The relay input voltage is the line voltage and not the
phase voltage. Similarly, current input is the difference of
line currents and not actual line currents.

•Per unit distance to fault is given by ratio of apparent

impedance seen by the relay to the positive sequence
impedance of the line .
 Line to Line Fault
Protection
• Consider a bolted L-L
fault on the phase b-c
of the system (fig
21.3).

•system is considered
unloaded .Then the
governing equations in 3-
phase coordinates given
by
where
a relay input as given above can measure both 3-
phase fault and L-L fault.
Similarly, for a-c L-L fault
And for a-b L-L fault

Similarly for c-a L-L fault

Earth Fault Protection
 Single Line to Ground Fault
• The 3-phase model is given
by
• The governing equation is given by
• Thus, ratio equals and not .A
fundamental requirement of distance
relaying is that the relay input voltages
and currents have to be configured in
such a way that for any type of bolted
fault (Zf = 0), the apparent impedance
seen by relay is given by . Therefore, it
follows the above equation can be
modified as :
The above equation becomes
since then

The above equation can be expressed as

where m is called compensation factor for zero

sequence current.
Similarly, it can be shown for b-g and c-g faults

the ground fault relays require a different input

configuration from phase fault relays (3- phase
and L-L)
• Overall Distance Protection Scheme
A L-L-G fault can also be detected by the S-
L-G relay equations. There are 10 types of
shunt faults against which a system has to
be protected. They are:
3-phase fault ,3 L-L faults, 3 S-L-G faults
and 3 L-L-G faults.
 there would be errors introduced when the fault has some
impedance
.Hence, the apparent impedance
seen by the relay will not exactly lie on transmission line
impedance AB. Rather it would lie in a region shown by
trapezoid in fig 21.5. Also, note that arcing faults are
primarily resistive in nature.
• Mho relay circles usually enclosed a larger
area than the quadrilateral characteristics
for identical line impedance and arcing
impedance parameters. Thus, they are
more susceptible to nuisance tripping.
Hence, these characteristics have been
superceded by the trapezoidal
characteristics.
Review Questions  
• 1. What are the advantages of distance relays over
overcurrent relays?
• 2. Show that for a bolted fault per unit distance to a
fault in a transmission is the ratio of apparent
impedance seen by the  relay to the positive
sequence impedance of line.
• 3. Derive an equation for locating a-b fault in a
transmission line.
• 4. Why does the distance ground fault relay require
a different configuration?
‫المحاضرة االخيرة‬
Setting
of Distance Relays
 1 Zones of Protection
 2 Zone 1 Protection
• Zone 1 Setting
 3 Infeed and Outfeed Effects
 4 Zone 2 and Zone 3 Setting
 5 Overlap Problem for Zone 2
 6 Problem of Load Encroachment
• Solution for Load Encroachment
• Zones of Protection
• A distance relay has to perform the dual
task of primary and back up protection.
• The primary protection should be fast and
without any intentional time delay.
• Back up protection should operate if and
only if corresponding primary relay fails.
• Distance relays are provided with multiple
zones of protection to meet the stringent
selectivity and sensitivity requirements.
Fig. Primary and Backup Protection
Zone 1 of Protection

• Zone 1 provides the fastest protection.

• There is no intentional time delay.
• Operating time can be of the order of 1
cycle.
• It is set to cover 80% of the line length.
• It is because of the difficulty in
distinguishing between faults which are
close to bus B.
Zone 1 Setting
Zone 1 does not cover the entire length
because of the following
 Limited accuracy of CT and PT because of
Partial or complete saturation of CT during fault.
• It results in errors in measurement of apparent
impedance.
• This makes it difficult to determine fault location at the
boundary accurately.
 Working of numerical algorithms is prone to
errors because of
• Model limitation of transmission line.
• Transients accompanied with the fault.
• With only local measurements and a small
time window, it is difficult to determine fault
impedance accurately.
• The impedance seen by the relay for fault F
will depend upon the current contribution from
the remote end. Thus,
ZR = xZl + ZF + ZF IBF / IAF

Fig. A Fault With Impedance Zf

• There are infeed and outfeed effects associated
with working of distance relays.

Fig. Infeed and Outfeed Effect

Consider relay R1 for a fault F.

IBF = IAB + IED
Hence,
VR1 = IABZl1 + xZl2 IBF

VR1/IAB = Zl1 + xZl2 + xZl2 IED / IAB

• If there is an equivalent generator source at E, then it

feeds the fault current. Thus IAB and IED are in phase.
This is known as infeed effect. Thus relay R1 perceives
fault to farther away from its actual location.
• If there is an equivalent load at bus E, relay perceives
fault to be at a point closer than its actual location.
Setting of Zone 2
• Zone 2 protection is delayed by coordination time
interval.
• Zone 2 is set to 120% of primary line impedance.
• It also provides back up protection to a part of the
• adjacent line.
• If ZP +1.5ZB > 1.2ZP, where ZP and ZB are the positive
sequence impedance of primary and the shortest back
up line, then zone 2 is set to reach 50% of shortest back
up line.
• Else if the shortest back up line is too short then Z2 is
set to 1.2ZP.
Setting of Zone 3
• It is set to cover the longest remote line. The appearent
Impedance of the primary line (considering infeed) is added
to 150% of the remote line impedance duly corrected for
the infeed.
• It is set up to operate with a time delay of 2CTI.
Fig. Three Zones of Protection
Overlap Problem for Zone 2
• If the reach of Z2 of relay R1 is extended too
much, then it can overlap with Z2 of relay R3.
• Both R1 and R3 will compete to clear the fault.
• In order to avoid this situation Z2 of relay R1 has
to be further slowed down by CTI.
• This will further delay the fault clearing time in
20% region of primary line.
• It is not possible to avoid this overlap problem
when the shortest line to be backed up is too
short.
• In such situations, pilot relaying can be used to
improve speed.
Fig. Overlap Problem of Z2
• Load Encroachment Problem

Fig. Power Flow on Line

The apparent impedance seen by the relay R for the

steady state positive sequence model of a transmission
line is given by,
ZR =|Vi |2 /Pij − jQij = |Vi |2 / [P2ij + Q2 ij ] (Pij + jQij )
The following conclusions can be derived from
the above equation:
• Quadrant of ZR in the R-X plane correspond to the
quadrant of apparent power Sij in Pij − Qij plane.
• The apparent impedance seen by the relay is
proportional to square of the magnitude of bus voltage.
• The apparent impedance seen by the relay is inversely
proportional to the apparent power flowing on the line.
• During peak load conditions, these effects will reduce the
apparent impedance seen by the relay to a small value
to fall within Z2 or Z3 characteristic.
• Then the relay will pick up and trip the circuit after its
time dial setting requirements are met and the relay is
said to trip on load encroachment.
Solution for Load
Encroachment
• Loads have large power factor and hence
Zapp with large R / X ratio.
• But faults are more or less reactive in nature
and X/ R ratio is high.
• In order to prevent tripping on load
encroachment, relay characteristics are
modified by excluding an area in R-X plane
corresponding to high power factor.
Fig. Distance Relay Characteristic Modified For Load Encroachment
Example
• Consider a protection system shown in fig
22.5. Identify the primary relays for back
up by relay R1.Relay R1 not only backup's
line BC but also parallel line AB.
Therefore, for relay R1 acting as back up,
the primary relays are R5 and R4. Now
assuming that pu impedance of all
transmission lines in Fig 22.5 is  pu
Ω/km, determine the setting of zone 1,
zone 2 and zone 3 relays of R1.
]]because BA is the shortest back up line

]]because BC is the longest back up line

• This approach for setting of distance
relays presented is known as kilometric
distance approach because the set values
of impedances are proportional to lengths.
In doing so, we have neglected effect of
load currents and as well as the effect of
change in operating condition in the
system. More accurate settings can be
computed by evaluating fault impedance
seen by the relay for a fault by using short
circuit analysis programs
Review Questions 
• 1.Why is zone 1 protection of distance relays always set
below 100% line length?
• 2.What is meant by infeed effect? How will it affect the
performance of a distance relay? 3.What is the effect of
overlap in Z2 of relay?
• 4.How can the relay overlap problem in Z2 be solved?
• 5.What is meant by load encroachment?
• 6.How can tripping of a relay on load encroachment be
prevented?

M.youssif

• With Best wishes

Pilot Protection with Distance
Relays
• 1 Directional Comparison Schemes
• 2 Directional Comparison Blocking Pilot
System
• 3 Directional Comparison Unblocking Pilot
System
• 4 Directional Comparison Overreaching
Transfer Trip Pilot System
• 5 Directional Comparison Underreaching
Transfer Trip System
Directional Comparison Schemes
• Pilot protection is used for lines to provide the
high speed simultaneous detection of phase and
ground faults for 100% line length.
• The idea behind this scheme is to obtain the
response of the distance relay element at other
end to speed decision making.
• This scheme requires additional communication
signals.
• It can quickly clear the fault anywhere on the
primary line.
Commonly used directional comparison
schemes are the following:
 Directional comparison blocking
 Directional comparison unblocking
 Overreaching transfer trip
 Under reaching transfer trip
• Non-permissive
• Permissive
Fig. Directional Comparison Blocking
• It uses directional fault detectors to detect
faults in the direction of primary line.
• It uses blocking signal from the remote
end in case the fault is not on the primary
line.
• Relays R1 and R2 are enabled with fault
detectors and carrier starts.
• Fault detectors correspond to Z2 and it
overreach the primary line.
• The channel signals between A and B are
initiated by carrier starts.
Fig. Directional comparison Unblocking Pilot System
• The basic principle is that after detecting a fault
in the right direction, the relay is put in block
mode for CTI.
• Use unblock signals from the remote if the fault
is on the primary line.
• If R2 observes a fault in the direction of bus A, it
sends an unblock signal to R1 and vice versa.
• If the fault is in the primary line, both the relays
will trip the line immediately.
• For fault F2, R2 will not send unblock signal to
R1 and it will issue trip signal for back up action.
Fig. Directional Comparison Underreaching Transfer Trip pilot system
• In this scheme, if the fault is detected from
both ends of the line, trip signal is initiated.
• Else, back up protection is initiated.
• Logical AND-ing of trip of both FD1 and
FD2 provides the trip output at both ends
of the line.
• For internal fault, both FD1 and FD2
operate to shift respective transmitters to
trip mode.
• In case of external fault, FD1 or FD2 will
pick up depending on the location of fault
and a timer is initiated for back up action.
Fig. Directional comparison Underreaching Transfer Trip Pilot system
• The underreaching terminology implies
that the FDs are to be set so as to overlap
but not to overreach any remote terminal.
• With external faults, neither FD1 nor FD2
picks up.
• For internal faults in the overlap area of
FD1 and FD2, both will pick up.
• For clearing internal faults quickly which
are not in the overlap region, OR-ing of the
trip decisions is used.
• Summary
• Directional comparison blocking system
• Directional comparison unblocking pilot
system
• Directional comparison overreaching
transfer trip pilot system
• Directional comparison underreaching
transfer trip pilot system