Distance protection is comparatively simple to apply andit can be fast in operation for faults located along mostof a protected circuit. It can also provide both primaryand remote back-up functions in a single scheme. It caneasily be adapted to create a unit protection schemewhen applied with a signalling channel. In this form it iseminently suitable for application with high-speed auto-reclosing, for the protection of critical transmission lines.
11.2 PRINCIPLES OF DISTANCE RELAYS
Since the impedance of a transmission line isproportional to its length, for distance measurement it isappropriate to use a relay capable of measuring theimpedance of a line up to a predetermined point (thereach point). Such a relay is described as a distance relayand is designed to operate only for faults occurringbetween the relay location and the selected reach point,thus giving discrimination for faults that may occur indifferent line sections.The basic principle of distance protection involves thedivision of the voltage at the relaying point by themeasured current. The apparent impedance socalculated is compared with the reach point impedance.If the measured impedance is less than the reach pointimpedance, it is assumed that a fault exists on the linebetween the relay and the reach point.The reach point of a relay is the point along the lineimpedance locus that is intersected by the boundarycharacteristic of the relay. Since this is dependent on theratio of voltage and current and the phase anglebetween them, it may be plotted on an
R
/
X
diagram. Theloci of power system impedances as seen by the relayduring faults, power swings and load variations may beplotted on the same diagram and in this manner theperformance of the relay in the presence of system faultsand disturbances may be studied.
11.3 RELAY PERFORMANCE
Distance relay performance is defined in terms of reachaccuracy and operating time. Reach accuracy is acomparison of the actual ohmic reach of the relay underpractical conditions with the relay setting value in ohms.Reach accuracy particularly depends on the level of voltage presented to the relay under fault conditions.The impedance measuring techniques employed inparticular relay designs also have an impact.Operating times can vary with fault current, with faultposition relative to the relay setting, and with the pointon the voltage wave at which the fault occurs.Depending on the measuring techniques employed in aparticular relay design, measuring signal transient errors,such as those produced by Capacitor VoltageTransformers or saturating CT’s, can also adversely delayrelay operation for faults close to the reach point. It isusual for electromechanical and static distance relays toclaim both maximum and minimum operating times.However, for modern digital or numerical distance relays,the variation between these is small over a wide range of system operating conditions and fault positions.
11.3.1 Electromechanical/Static Distance Relays
With electromechanical and earlier static relay designs,the magnitude of input quantities particularly influencedboth reach accuracy and operating time. It wascustomary to present information on relay performanceby voltage/reach curves, as shown in Figure 11.2, andoperating time/fault position curves for various values of system impedance ratios (
S.I.R.’s
) as shown in Figure 11.3,where:and
Z
S
=
system source impedance behind the relay locationZ
L
=
line impedance equivalent to relay reach settingS I RZ Z
SL
. . .
=
•
11
•
D i s t a n c e P r o t e c t i o n
Network Protection & Automation Guide• 172•
1051005204060801009510040206010510080105951002010040506065000
m p e d a n c e r e a c h ( % Z o n e 1 s e t t i n g )
% relay rated voltage(a) Phase-earth faults% relay rated voltage(b) Phase-phase faults% relay rated voltage(c) Three-phase and three-phase-earth faults
m p e d a n c e r e a c h ( % Z o n e 1 s e t t i n g ) m p e d a n c e r e a c h ( % Z o n e 1 s e t t i n g )
Figure 11.2: Typical impedance reachaccuracy characteristics for Zone 1
Chapt11-170-191 20/06/02 15:37 Page 172
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