MUTHAYAMMAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(An Autonomous Institution)

(Approved by AICTE, New Delhi, Accredited by NAAC & Affiliated to Anna University)
Rasipuram - 637 408, Namakkal Dist., Tamil Nadu

16EED15
POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION AND SWITCHGEAR

Presented By,
R.Punitha.
Assistant Professor,
Department of EEE.

1
 16EED15 - POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION AND
SWITCHGEAR

UNIT I - INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTION SCHEMES

UNIT II - PROTECTIVE RELAY

UNIT III - APPARATUS AND LINE PROTECTION

UNIT IV - THEORY OF CIRCUIT INTERRUPTION

UNIT V - CIRCUIT BREAKERS

2
 COURSE OBJECTIVES

To educate the causes of abnormal operating conditions

(faults, lightning and switching surges) of the apparatus and system.
To introduce the characteristics and functions of relays and protection
schemes.
To impart knowledge on apparatus protection
To introduce static and numerical relays
To impart knowledge on functioning of circuit breakers

3
 COURSE OUTCOMES

 Ability to describe the different types of power system protection scheme

 Ability to explain about various relays and its operating characteristics.
 Ability to describe the apparatus protection.
 Ability to discover the circuit interruption in power system.
 Ability to explicate the different types of circuit breakers

4
 16EED15 - POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION AND
SWITCHGEAR

UNIT I INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTION SCHEMES

Principles and need for protective schemes, Nature and causes of faults, Types of
faults, Symmetrical components and its applications to fault analysis, Power system
earthing, Step and Touch potential, Zones of protection, primary and backup protec-
tion.
UNIT II PROTECTIVE RELAY

Non directional and directional over current relays, Distance Impedance, reactance
and mho relays, principle of operation – Torque equation – RX diagram – Differen-
tial protection, Static and numerical over current relays

UNIT III APPARATUS AND LINE PROTECTION

Alternator, transformer, induction motor, bus bar and feeder protection schemes,
CTs and PTs and their applications in protection schemes, microprocessor based pro-
tective schemes.
5
 16EED15 - POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION AND
SWITCHGEAR

UNIT IV THEORY OF CIRCUIT INTERRUPTION

Physics of arc phenomena and arc interruption, Restriking voltage, Recovery

voltage, rate of rise of restriking voltage, resistance switching, current chop-
ping and interruption of capacitive current.

UNIT V CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Introduction - Types of Circuit Breakers - Miniature, Earth leakage, Air blast,

Air break, oil, SF6 and Vacuum circuit breakers, advantages and disadvan-
tages - High voltage dc circuit breakers – Moulded Case Circuit Breaker -
Residual Current Circuit Breaker - Testing of circuit breakers.

6
TEXT BOOKS and REFERENCE BOOK

7
 REFERENCE BOOK

• V. Thiyagarajan, Protection and Switchgear, Lakshmi Publications, 2016

• U.A. Bakshi and M.V. Bakshi, Protection and Switchgear, Technical Publi-
cations, 2013

8
 POWER SYSTEM

Continued.,
Power System consists of
Generation
Transmission
Distribution
Classification of Resources
Natural resources are valuable to us. The broadest classification of re-
sources is done on the basis of their refill ability. Let us take a look, at
these two classifications.
Renewable resources
Non Renewable resources

9
 POWER SYSTEM

Continued.,

Renewable resources
Renewable resources are those resources that can be replenished or re-
newed naturally over time
Solar energy
Wind energy
Tidal
Biogas
Geothermal

10
 POWER SYSTEM

Continued.,

Non Renewable resources

Non-renewable resources are those natural resources that are available in
limited quantity. These resources cannot be renewed in short duration.
Hydro Electric power (Water)
Thermal energy (Coal)
Nuclear energy (U-236, Th)
Diesel Energy

11
 POWER SYSTEM

The power system is a network which consists of generation, transmis-

sion and distribution system.
It uses the form of energy and converts it into electrical energy.
The power system includes the devices connected to the system like
the synchronous generator, motor, transformer, circuit breaker, conductor,
etc.
In a power plant consists of transformer, transmission line, substations,
distribution line, and distribution transformer are the six main components
present in the power system.
The power plant generates the power which is step-up or step-down
through the transformer for transmission.
12
 STRUCTURE OF POWER SYSTEM

 Electricityis generated at a power plant (1),

 voltage is “stepped-up” for transmission(2)
 Energy travels along a transmission line to the area where the
power is needed (3)
 voltage is decreased or “stepped-down,” at another substation (4),
 distribution power line (5)
Carries that electricity until it reaches a home or business (6).
13
 Single Line Diagram

Single line diagram is the representation of a power system using the

simple symbol for each component. The single line diagram of a power
system is the network which shows the main connections and arrange-
ment of the system components

14
15
 UNIT-I INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTION SCHEMES

Principles and need for protective schemes, Nature and causes of

faults, Types of faults, Symmetrical components and its applica-

tions to fault analysis, Power system earthing, Step and Touch po-

tential, Zones of protection, primary and backup protection.

16
What is Switchgear ?

• Switchgear is the combination of switches, fuses or circuit breakers(CB)

used to control , protect & isolate electrical equipment.

• It is used de-energize equipment & clear faults.

17
 Primary Equipment & Components

Transformers - to step up or step down voltage level

Breakers - to energize equipment and interrupt fault current to isolate faulted
equipment
Insulators - to insulate equipment from ground and other phases
Isolators (switches) -to create a visible and permanent isolation of primary
equipment for maintenance purposes and route power flow over certain buses.
Bus - to allow multiple connections (feeders) to the same source of power
(transformer).

18
Primary Equipment & Components

Grounding -to operate and maintain equipment safely

Arrester -to protect primary equipment of sudden overvoltage (lightning
strike).
Switchgear - integrated components to switch, protect, meter and control
power flow
Reactors - to limit fault current (series) or compensate for charge current
(shunt)
VT and CT - to measure primary current and voltage

19
POWER SYSTEM WITHOUT PROTEC-
TION

20
21
22
23
24
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Why A System Needs Protection?

There is no fault free system.

Ensure safety of personnel.
Usually faults are caused by breakdown of insulation due to various
reasons : system over current, overvoltage, lighting, etc.

25
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

Four functions of protective relaying.

 To disconnect the abnormally operating part so as to avoid the damage

Within effective operation of the rest of the system.

 To prevent the subsequent faults arising due to the primary fault.

 To disconnect the faulty part as quickly as possible so as to

minimize the damage to the faulty part itself.

 To improve system performance, reliability and service continuity

26
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

The Essential Qualities of Protective Relaying.

A protective relaying scheme should have certain important qualities.

Such an essential qualities of protective relaying are,
1. Reliability
2. Selectivity and Discrimination
3. Speed and Time
4. Sensitivity
5. Stability
6. Adequateness
7. Simplicity and Economy

27
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,
1. Reliability

 A protective relaying should be reliable is its basic quality. It indicates the

ability of the relay system to operate under the predetermined conditions.

 The reliability of a protection system depends on the reliability of various
components like circuit breakers, relays, current transformers (C.T.s),
potential transformers (P.T.s), cables, trip circuits etc.
 The proper maintenance also plays an important role in improving the
reliable operation.
 This can be achieved by the factors like,
i) Simplicity
ii) Robustness
iii) High contact pressure
iv) Dust free enclosure
v)Good contact material
vi) Good workmanship
vii)Careful Maintenance 28
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

2 Selectivity and Discrimination

The selectivity is the ability of the protective system to identify the faulty
part correctly and disconnect that part without affecting the rest of the
healthy part of system.
The discrimination quality of the protective system is the ability to
distinguish between normal condition and abnormal condition and also
between abnormal condition within protective zone and elsewhere.
The protective system should operate only at the time of abnormal
condition and not at the time of normal condition.
Thus the protective system should select the fault part and disconnect only

the faulty part without disturbing the healthy part of the system

29
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,
3. Speed and Time

A protective system must disconnect the faulty system as fast as

possible. If the faulty system is not disconnect for a long time then,

1. The devices carrying fault currents may get damaged.

2. The failure leads to the reduction in system voltage. Such low
voltage
may affect the motors and generators running on the consumer side.
3. If fault persists for long time, then subsequently other faults may get

generated.
The total time required between the instant of fault and the instant of
final arc interruption in the circuit breaker is called fault clearing time. It

is the sum of relay time and circuit breaker time. 30

The fault clearing time should be as small as possible to have high speed
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

4. Sensitivity

The protective system should be sufficiently sensitive so that it can

operate reliably when required.
The sensitivity of the system is the ability of the relay system to
operate with low value of actuating quantity. It indicates the smallest
value of the actuating quantity at which the protection starts operating
in relation with the minimum value of the fault current in the protected
zone.
The relay sensitivity is the function of the volt-amperes input to the
relay coil necessary to cause its operation. Smaller the value of volt-
ampere input, more sensitive is the relay.
Thus 1 VA input relay is more sensitive than the 5VA input relay.

31
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

5. Stability

The stability is the quality of the protective system due to which the
system remains inoperative and stable under certain specified
conditions such as transients, disturbance, through faults etc.
In most of the cases time delays, filter circuits, mechanical and
electrical bias are provided to achieve stable operation during the
disturbances.

32
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

6. Adequateness

There are variety of faults and disturbance those may practically exists
in a power system. It is impossible to provide protection against each
and every abnormal condition which may exist in practice, due to
economical reasons. But the protective system must provide adequate
protection for any element of the system.
The adequateness of the system can be assessed by considering
following factors,
1. Ratings of various equipments
2. Cost of the equipments
3. Locations of the equipments
4. Probability of abnormal condition due to internal and external
causes.
5. Discontinuity of supply due to the failure of the equipment
33
 Principles and need for protective schemes

Continued.,

7. Simplicity and Economy

In addition to all the important qualities, it is necessary that the cost
of
the system should be well within limits.
In practice sometimes it is not necessary to use ideal protection
scheme which is economically unjustified.
In such cases compromise is done. As a rule, the protection cost
should not be more than 5% of the total cost. But if the equipments to
be protected are very important, the economic constrains can be
relaxed.
The protective system should be as simple as possible so that it can be

easily maintained. The simpler system are always more reliable.

34
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system

Any fault in electrical apparatus is nothing but the defect in its electri-
cal circuit which makes current path directed from its intended path.
Normally due to breaking of conductors or failure of insulation,
these faults occur.
The other reasons for occurrence of fault include
Mechanical failure,
Accidents,
Excessive internal and external stresses.

35
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system

A power system consists of generators, transformers, switchgear,

transmission and distribution circuits.
There is always a possibility in such a large network that some fault
will occur in some part of the system. The maximum possibility of fault
occurrence is on transmission lines due to their greater lengths and expo-
sure to atmospheric conditions.
The fault can not be totally eliminated from the system but their occur-
rence can be minimized by improving system design, quality of the
equipment and maintenance.

36
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system

The AC faults can also be classified as single line to ground fault, dou-
ble line to ground fault, three phase fault, that may occur in the system due
to
unbalance in current and voltage,
over voltages,
reversal of power,
power swings,
under frequency,
temperature rise and instability.
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system
Following table gives us an idea as to how the faults are distributed in the vari-
ous parts of the system
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system

In case of three phase system, the breakdown of insulation between

one of the phases and earth is known as line to ground fault.
In line to line fault, there is insulation breakdown between either of two
phases.
While the insulation breakdown between two phases and earth forms
double line to ground fault.
 Nature and Causes of Faults in a power system

The breakdown of insulation between three phases is nothing but three phase
fault. Following table gives occurrence of these faults.
It can be seen from the above table that most of the faults are line to ground
faults in case of overhead lines. A large number of these faults are transitory in na-
ture.
 Causes of Faults

There is a number of causes for the occurrence of a fault in the power sys-
tem. Some of the possible causes of faults are,
Overvoltage due to switching surges
Severe lightning strokes
Heavy wind, rains, and snowfall
Falling trees on the transmission line
High changes in atmospheric temperatures
Accident of vehicle with towers or poles of transmission line
Perching of birds on the lines
Accidental short circuit due to string, snakes
Chemical pollution
 Different types of faults in power system

Electrical fault is the deviation of voltages and currents from nominal

values or states.
Under normal operating conditions, power system equipment or lines
carry normal voltages and currents which results in a safer operation of the
system.
But when fault occurs, it causes excessively high currents to flow which
causes the damage to equipments and devices
Fault detection and analysis is necessary to select
or design suitable switchgear equipments, electromechanical relays, circuit
breakers and other protection devices.
Different types of faults in power system
 Different types of faults in power system

1. Active Faults
The “Active” fault is when actual current flows from one phase con-
ductor to another (phase-to-phase) or alternatively from one phase con-
ductor to earth (phase-to-earth). This type of fault can also be further classi-
fied into two areas, namely
“solid” fault
“incipient” fault.
 Different types of faults in power system

2. Passive Faults
Passive faults are not real faults in the true sense of the word but are rather
conditions that are stressing the system beyond its design capacity, so that
ultimately active faults will occur.

Overloading - leading to overheating of insulation

Overvoltage - stressing the insulation beyond its limits. Under frequency -
causing plant to behave incorrectly.
Power swings - generators going out-of-step or synchronism with each
other
 Different
Different types
types of
of faults
faults in
in power
powersystem
system

Transient faults are faults which do not damage the insulation perma-
nently and allow the circuit to be safely re-energized after a short period of
time.
A typical example would be an insulator flashover following a lightning
strike, which would be successfully cleared on opening of the circuit
breaker, which could then be automatically reclosed.
Transient faults occur mainly on outdoor equipment where air is the
main insulating medium. Permanent faults, as the name implies, are the re-
sult of permanent damage to the insulation.
In this case, the equipment has to be repaired and reclosing must not be
entertained.
 Different types of faults in power system

There are mainly two types of faults in the electrical power system.
Symmetrical faults
Unsymmetrical faults.
1.Symmetrical faults
 These are very severe faults and occur infrequently in the
power
systems.
These are also called as balanced faults and are of two types namely line
to line to line to ground (L-L-L-G) and line to line to line (L-L-L).
Only 2-5 percent of system faults are symmetrical faults.
If these faults occur, system remains balanced but results in severe dam-
age to the electrical power system equipments.
 Different types of faults in power system
Analysis of these fault is easy and usually carried by per phase basis.
Three phase fault analysis or information is required for selecting set-phase
relays, rupturing capacity of the circuit breakers and rating of the protective
switchgear.
 Different types of faults in power system
2. Unsymmetrical faults
These are very common and less severe than symmetrical faults. There are
mainly three types namely
 Line to ground (L-G),
Line to line (L-L) and
Double line to ground (L-L-G) faults.
 Different types of faults in power system
Line to ground fault (L-G) is most common fault and 65-70 percent of
faults are of this type. It causes the conductor to make contact with earth or
ground. 1
5 to 20 percent of faults are double line to ground and causes the two
conductors to make contact with ground.
Line to line faults occur when two conductors make contact with each
other mainly while swinging of lines due to winds and 5 to 10 percent of
the faults are of this type.
These are also called unbalanced faults since their occurrence causes
unbalance in the system. Unbalance of the system means that that imped-
ance values are different in each phase causing unbalance current to flow in
the phases.
 Different types of faults in power system
These are more difficult to analyze and are carried by per phase basis simi-
lar to three phase balanced faults
 Line to ground (L-G),
Line to line (L-L) and
Double line to ground (L-L-G) faults.
Frequency of Fault Occurrence
S. No. Type of Fault % occurrence
1 Line to Ground (L-G) 85
2 Double Line to Ground (L-L-G) 5
3 Line to Line (L-L) 8
4 L-L-L or L-L-L-G >2
Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis

For unbalance conditions the calculation of fault currents is more

complex. One method of dealing with this is symmetrical components. Us-
ing symmetrical components, the unbalance system is broken down in to
three separate symmetrical systems:
Positive sequence – where the three fields rotate clockwise
Negative sequence – where the three fields rotate anti-clockwise
Zero sequence – a single fields which does not rotate
Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis

Positive sequence
The positive sequence network rotates clockwise, with a phase
and of 120° between phase as per any standard a.c. system.
Negative sequence
Negative sequence network, rotates anti-clockwise
Zero sequence
The zero sequence network with each phase together (0°
apart).
Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis
Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis
 Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis
Mathematically, the relationship between the symmetrical networks and the actual
electrical systems, make use of a rotational operator, denoted by a and given form-
ally by:

Perhaps more simply, the a operator can be looked at as a 120° shift operator. It can
also be shown that the following conditions hold true:
Symmetrical components and its applications to
fault analysis
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING

The process of connecting the metallic frame of electrical equip-

ment or some electrical part of the system (e.g. neutral point in a star con-
nected system) to earth (i.e. soil) is called grounding or earthing.”
Methods of Neutral Grounding
i. Solid Grounding
ii.Resistance Grounding
iii.Reactance Grounding
iv.Resonant Groundings/Peterson coil Groundings
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
(i) Solid Grounding
“When the neutral point of a 3-phase system (e.g. 3- phase generator, 3
phase transformer etc.) is directly connected to earth (i.e. soil) through
a wire of negligible resistance and reactance, it is called solid ground-
ing or effective grounding.”
Fig. shows the solid grounding of the neutral point. Since the neutral
point is directly connected to earth through a wire, the neutral point is
held at earth potential under all conditions.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
 When there is an earth fault on any phase of the system, the phase
to earth voltage of the faulty phase becomes zero. However, the phase
to earth voltages of the remaining two healthy phases remain at nor-
mal phase voltage because the potential of the neutral is fixed at earth
potential.
 This permits to insulate the equipment for phase voltage. The neu-
tral is effectively held at earth potential. Therefore, there is a saving in
the cost of equipment
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
 DISADVANTAGES
The following are the disadvantages of solid grounding :
 Since most of the faults on an overhead system are phase to earth
faults, the system has to bear a large number of severe shocks. This
causes the system to become unstable.
 The solid grounding results in heavy earth fault currents. Since the
fault has to be cleared by the circuit breakers, the heavy earth fault
currents may cause the burning of circuit breaker contacts.
 The increased earth fault current results in greater interference in the
neighbouring communication lines.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
(ii) Resistance Grounding
In order to limit the magnitude of earth fault current, it is a common
practice to connect the neutral point of a 3-phase system to earth
through a resistor. This is called resistance grounding. When the neu-
tral point of a 3-phase system (e.g. 3-phase generator, 3-phase trans-
former etc.) is connected to earth (i.e. soil) through a resistor, it is
called resistance grounding.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING

If the earthing resistance R is very high, the system conditions be-

come similar to ungrounded System. If the value of earthing resistance R is
very low, the earth fault current will be large and the system becomes simi-
lar to the solid grounding system.

The value of R should neither be very low nor very high. Fig. shows
the grounding of neutral point through a resistor R.

In practice, that value of R is selected that limits the earth fault cur-
rent to 2 times the normal full load current of the earthed generator or trans-
former. The value of R is so chosen such that the earth fault current is lim-
ited to safe value but still sufficient to permit the operation of earth fault
protection system.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
Advantages of resistance earthing:
It improves the stability of the system.
 The earth fault current is small due to the presence of earthing
resistance. Therefore, interference with communication circuits is re-
duced.
 By adjusting the value of R, the arcing grounds can be minimized.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
The fault current IF lags behind the phase voltage of the faulted phase by a
certain angle depending upon the earthing resistance R. Suppose earth fault
occurs in phase B as shown in Fig.

The capacitive currents IR and IY flow in the healthy phases R and Y

respectively. If the value of earthing resistance R is so adjusted that IF2= IC,
the arcing ground is completely eliminated and the operation of the system
becomes that of solidly grounded system.

The lagging component IF2 is in phase opposition to the total

capacitive current IC. The fault current IF can be resolved into two compo-
nents viz.

i. IF1 in phase with the faulty phase voltage.

ii. IF2 lagging behind the faulty phase voltage by 90°.

However, if R is so adjusted that IF2 < IC, the operation of the system be-
comes that of ungrounded neutral system.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
Disadvantages of resistance grounding:

 A large amount of energy is produced in the earthing resistance during

earth faults. Sometimes it becomes difficult to dissipate this energy to at-
mosphere.
This system is costlier than the solidly grounded system.
Since the system neutral is displaced during earth faults, the equipment
has
to be insulated for higher voltages.

(iii) Reactance Grounding

In this system, a reactance is inserted between the neutral and ground

as shown in Fig. The purpose of reactance is to limit the earth fault current.
By changing the earthing reactance, the earth fault current can to changed to
obtain the conditions similar to that of solid grounding.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING

This method is not used these days because of the following disadvantages :

 High transient voltages appear under fault conditions.

 In this system, the fault current required to operate the protective device is
higher than that of resistance grounding for the same fault conditions.
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING

(iv) Resonant Grounding (Or) Arc Suppression Coil Grounding (or) Peter-
son Coil

We have seen that capacitive currents are responsible for producing

arcing grounds. These capacitive currents flow because capacitance exists
between each line and earth.

If inductance L of appropriate value is connected in parallel with the

capacitance of the system, the fault current IF flowing through L will be in
phase opposition to the capacitive current IC of the system.

If L is so adjusted that IL = IC, then resultant current in the fault will

be zero. “When the value of L of arc suppression coil is such that the fault
current IF exactly balances the capacitive current IC, it is called resonant
grounding.”
POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
 POWER SYSTEM EARTHING

The reactor is provided with tappings to change the inductance of the coil.
By adjusting the tappings on the coil, resonant grounding can be achieved. An
arc suppression coil (also called Peterson coil) is an iron-cored coil connected
between the neutral and earth as shown in Fig.

The Peterson coil grounding has the following advantages:

The Peterson coil has the advantages of ungrounded neutral system
 The Peterson coil is completely effective in preventing any damage by
an arcing ground.
 The lines should be transposed.
Due to varying operational conditions, the capacitance of the network
changes from time to time. Therefore, inductance L of Peterson coil re-
quires
readjustment.
 Step and Touch potential

• Awareness of step and touch potential, caused by ground po-

tential rise, is important for anyone working on high-voltage
power transmission systems.

• In a typical SNT application, the transmission line is de-ener-

gized and is bonded to the tower to be safe to work on. How-
ever, the transmission line itself acts as a very large antenna,
and can pick up large amounts of energy which must be
shunted to earth ground.

• If the tower ground is faulty, the ground potential may rise and
a dangerous condition can result.
71
Step and Touch potential

72
 Step and Touch potential
Step Potential: Voltage between the feet of a person
• When current is flowing from the tower to the earth ground, the
ground potential rises at the tower and a voltage gradient will occur
based on the resistivity of the soil, resulting in a potential difference
between two points on the ground.
• This is called a Step Potential as it can cause voltage between a per-
sons feet.
Touch Potential: Voltage between energized object and feet of a
person
• If the ground connection between the tower and the soil is high res-
istance (common with some soil conditions), the tower itself (and
any conductive item touching the tower) can be energized.
• Touch potential is the voltage between the energized object and the
feet of a person in contact with the object.
73
 Step and Touch potential

Monitoring step and touch potential with the SNT

• As power transmission systems become increasingly complex and
power corridors crowded, it becomes more common for parallel ener-
gized lines to couple energy (via electromagnetic induction) to de-en-
ergized lines.
• Further, with the sophisticated power control needed to manage green
energy, power levels on various lines can vary dramatically during a
work shift.
• The SNT-02 kit provides an easy-to-use method to continuously mon-
itor and alarm step-and-touch potential.
• Simply drive the special ground rod about 15 feet from the tower,
mount the instrument and connect the probe to the tower using a
standard hot stick.
74
 Step and Touch potential

Common Practice Better Practice

Measure step and touch po- Measure step and touch po-
tential before beginning work. tential before and continu-
ously during work.

Use a voltage meter to meas- Use the SNT to monitor and

ure potential. alarm the potential.

75
Zones of protection, primary and backup protection
• Protective Zones is a protective relaying scheme, the circuit breakers
are placed at the appropriate points such that any element of the en-
tire power system can be disconnected for repairing work, usual op-
eration and maintenance requirements and also under abnormal con-
ditions like short circuits.
• Thus a protective covering is provided around rich element of the
system. A protective zone is the separate zone which Es established
around each system element.
• The significance of such a protective zone I B that any fault occur-
ring within cause the tripping of relays which causes opening of all
the circuit breakers within that zone.
• The various components which are provided with the protective
zone are generators, transformers, transmission lines, bus bars,
cables, capacitors etc. No part of the system is left unprotected

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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection

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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection

• The boundaries of protective zones are decided by the locations of

the current transformer. In practice, various protective zones are
overlapped.
• The overlapping of protective zones is done to ensure complete
safety of each and every element of the system. The zone which is
unprotected is called dead spot.
• The zones are overlapped and hence there is no chance of existence
of a dead spot in a system.
• For the failures within the region where two adjacent protective
zones are overlapped, more circuit breakers get tripped than min-
imum necessary to disconnect the faulty element.
• If there are no overlaps, then dead spot may exist, means the circuit
breakers lying within the zone may not trip even though the fault
occurs. This may cause damage to the healthy system.
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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection

• The extent of overlapping of protective zones is relatively small.

The probability of the failures in the overlapped regions is very low;
consequently the tripping of the too many circuit breakers will be
frequent.
• The figure shows the overlapping of protective zones in primary re-
laying. The circuit breakers are located in the connections to each
power system element.
• This provision makes it possible to disconnect only the faulty ele-
ment from the system. Occasionally for economy in the number of
circuit breakers, a breaker between the two adjacent sections may be
omitted but in that Case both the power system are required to
be disconnected for the failure in either of the two.
• Each protective zone has certain protective scheme and each scheme
has number of protective systems.
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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection

Primary and Backup Protection:

The protection provided by the protective relaying equipment

can be categorized with two types as

1. Primary protection
2. Backup protection

1. Primary Protection
The primary protection scheme ensures fast and selective
clearing of any fault within the boundaries of the circuit element,
that the zone is required to protect. Primary Protection as a rule is
provided for each section of an electrical installation.
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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection

2. Backup protection

The backup protection comes into play only when the primary protec-
tion fails. The backup protection is provided as the main protection
can fail due to many reasons like,

1. Failure in circuit breaker

2. Failure in protective relay
3. Failure in tripping circuit
4. Failure in d.c tripping voltage

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Zones of protection, primary and backup protection
Thus it the backup protection is absent and the main protection
tails then there is a possibility of severe damage to the system. When
the primary protection is made inoperative for the maintenance pur-
pose, the backup protection acts like a main protection.

The arrangement of back up protective scheme should be such

that the failure in main protection should not the failure in bark up pro-
tection as well This is satisfied if back up relaying and primary relaying
do not have anything common.

Hence generally backup protection is located at different sta-

tions from the primary protection. Front the cast and economy point of
sew.
The backup protection is employed only for the protection
against short circuit and not for any other abnormal conditions.
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