Introduction10.1Convention of direction10.2Conditions for direction comparison10.3Circulating current system10.4Balanced voltage system10.5Summation arrangements10.6Examples of electromechanicaland static unit protection systems10.7Digital/Numerical current differentialprotection systems10.8Carrier unit protection schemes10.9Current differential scheme– analogue techniques10.10Phase comparison protectionscheme considerations10.11Examples10.12References10.13
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10.1 INTRODUCTION
The graded overcurrent systems described in Chapter 9,though attractively simple in principle, do not meet allthe protection requirements of a power system.Application difficulties are encountered for two reasons:firstly, satisfactory grading cannot always be arrangedfor a complex network, and secondly, the settings maylead to maximum tripping times at points in the systemthat are too long to prevent excessive disturbancesoccurring.These problems led to the concept of 'Unit Protection',whereby sections of the power system are protectedindividually as a complete unit without reference toother sections. One form of ‘Unit Protection’ is alsoknown as ‘Differential Protection’, as the principle is tosense the difference in currents between the incomingand outgoing terminals of the unit being protected.Other forms can be based on directional comparison, ordistance teleprotection schemes, which are covered inChapter 12, or phase comparison protection, which isdiscussed later in this chapter. The configuration of thepower system may lend itself to unit protection; forinstance, a simple earth fault relay applied at the sourceend of a transformer-feeder can be regarded as unitprotection provided that the transformer windingassociated with the feeder is not earthed. In this casethe protection coverage is restricted to the feeder andtransformer winding because the transformer cannottransmit zero sequence current to an out-of-zone fault.In most cases, however, a unit protection systeminvolves the measurement of fault currents (and possiblyvoltages) at each end of the zone, and the transmissionof information between the equipment at zoneboundaries. It should be noted that a stand-alonedistance relay, although nominally responding only tofaults within their setting zone, does not satisfy theconditions for a unit system because the zone is notclearly defined; it is defined only within the accuracylimits of the measurement. Also, to cater for someconditions, the setting of a stand-alone distance relaymay also extend outside of the protected zone to caterfor some conditions.Merz and Price [10.1] first established the principle of current differential unit systems; their fundamentaldifferential systems have formed the basis of many
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highly developed protection arrangements for feedersand numerous other items of plant. In one arrangement,an auxiliary ‘pilot’ circuit interconnects similar currenttransformers at each end of the protected zone, asshown in Figure 10.1. Current transmitted through thezone causes secondary current to circulate round thepilot circuit without producing any current in the relay.For a fault within the protected zone the CT secondarycurrents will not balance, compared with the through-fault condition, and the difference between the currentswill flow in the relay.An alternative arrangement is shown in Figure 10.2, inwhich the CT secondary windings are opposed forthrough-fault conditions so that no current flows in theseries connected relays. The former system is known asa ‘Circulating Current’ system, while the latter is knownas a ‘Balanced Voltage’ system.Most systems of unit protection function through thedetermination of the relative direction of the faultcurrent. This direction can only be expressed on acomparative basis, and such a comparative measurementis the common factor of many systems, includingdirectional comparison protection and distanceteleprotection schemes with directional impedancemeasurement.A major factor in consideration of unit protection is themethod of communication between the relays. This iscovered in detail in Chapter 8 in respect of the latestfibre-optic based digital techniques. For older ‘pilot wire’systems, only brief mention is made. For more detaileddescriptions of ‘pilot wire’ techniques, see reference[10.2] in Section 10.13.
10.2 CONVENTION OF DIRECTION
It is useful to establish a convention of direction of current flow; for this purpose, the direction measuredfrom a busbar outwards along a feeder is taken aspositive. Hence the notation of current flow shown inFigure 10.3; the section
GH
carries a through currentwhich is counted positive at
G
but negative at
H
, whilethe infeeds to the faulted section
HJ
are both positive.Neglect of this rule has often led to anomalousarrangements of equipment or difficulty in describingthe action of a complex system. When applied, the rulewill normally lead to the use of identical equipments atthe zone boundaries, and is equally suitable for extensionto multi-ended systems. It also conforms to the standardmethods of network analysis.
10.3 CONDITIONSFOR DIRECTION COMPARISON
The circulating current and balanced voltage systems of Figures 10.1 and 10.2 perform full vectorial comparisonof the zone boundary currents. Such systems can betreated as analogues of the protected zone of the powersystem, in which CT secondary quantities representprimary currents and the relay operating currentcorresponds to an in-zone fault current.These systems are simple in concept; they arenevertheless applicable to zones having any number of boundary connections and for any pattern of terminalcurrents.To define a current requires that both magnitude andphase be stated. Comparison in terms of both of thesequantities is performed in the Merz-Price systems, but itis not always easy to transmit all this informationover some pilot channels. Chapter 8 provides a detaileddescription of modern methods that may be used.
10.4 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM
The principle of this system is shown in outline inFigure 10.1. If the current transformers are ideal, thefunctioning of the system is straightforward. The
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End
H
End
G
Relay
I>
Figure 10.1: Circulating current system
Fault
H GJ
Source
+_++
Source
Figure 10.3: Convention of current directionFigure 10.2: Balanced voltage system
End
G
RelayRelay
H
End
H I>I>
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