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Method of Operation Operating Polygons

In total there are five independent and one additional controlled zone for each fault impedance loop. Figure Polygonal characteristic (setting values are marked by dots) shows the shape of the polygons as example. The first zone is shaded and forward directional. The third zone is reverse directional. In general, the polygon is defined by means of a parallelogram which intersects the axes with the values R and X as well as the tilt Dist. A load trapezoid with the setting RLoad and Load may be used to cut the area of the load impedance out of the polygon. The axial coordinates can be set individually for each zone; Dist, RLoad and Load are common for all zones. The parallelogram is symmetrical with respect to the origin of the RXcoordinate system; the directional characteristic however limits the tripping range to the desired quadrants (refer to Direction determination below). The R-reach may be set separately for the phase-phase faults and the phase-earth faults to achieve a larger fault resistance coverage for earth faults if this is desired. For the first zone Z1 an additional settable tilt exists, which may be used to prevent overreach resulting from angle variance and/or two ended infeed to short-circuits with fault resistance. For Z1B and the higher zones this tilt does not exist.

Polygonal characteristic (setting values are marked by dots)

Determination of Direction
For each loop an impedance vector is also used to determine the direction of the short-circuit. Usually similar to

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the distance calculation, ZL is used. However, depending on the quality of the measured values, different computation techniques are used. Immediately after fault inception, the short-circuit voltage is disturbed by transients. The voltage memorized prior to fault inception is therefore used in this situation. If even the steadystate short-circuit voltage (during a close-up fault) is too small for direction determination, an unfaulted voltage is used. This voltage is in theory quadrature to the actual short-circuit voltage for both phase-earth loops as well as for phase-phase loops (refer to Figure Direction determination with quadrature voltages). This is taken into account when computing the direction vector by means of a 90 rotation. In Table Voltage and current values for the determination of fault direction the allocation of the measured values to the six fault loops for the determination of the fault direction is shown.

Direction determination with quadrature voltages Voltage and current values for the determination of fault direction Loop Measuring Current (Direction) Actual short-circuit voltage Quadrature voltage UL1-E UL2-E UL3-E UL2 - UL3 UL3 - UL1 UL1 - UL2

L1-E

IL1

L2-E

IL2

L3-E

IL3

1) L1-E1) IL1 - IE

UL1-E

UL2 - UL3

1) L2-E1) IL2 - IE

UL2-E

UL3 - UL1

L3-E1) IL3 - IE1) IL1 - IL2

UL3-E

UL1 - UL2

L1-L2

UL1 - UL2

UL2-L3 - UL3-L1

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L2-L3

IL2 - IL3 IL3 - IL1

UL2 - UL3 UL3 - UL1

UL3-L1 - UL1-L2 UL1-L2 - UL2-L3

L3-L1

1) with consideration of earth impedance compensation If there is neither a current measured voltage nor a memorized voltage available which is sufficient for measuring the direction, the relay selects the Forward direction. In practice this can only occur when the circuit breaker closes onto a de-energized line, and there is a fault on this line (e.g. closing onto an earthed line). Figure Directional characteristic in the R-X-diagram shows the theoretical steady-state characteristic. In practice, the limits of the directional characteristic when using memorized voltages is dependent on both the source impedance and the load transferred across the line prior to fault inception. Accordingly the directional characteristic includes a safety margin with respect to the borders of the first quadrant in the RX diagram (Figure Directional characteristic in the R-X-diagram).

Directional characteristic in the R-X-diagram Since each zone can be set to Forward, Reverse or Non-Directional, different (centrically mirrored) directional characteristics are available for Forward and Reverse. A non-directional zone has no directional characteristic. The entire tripping region applies here.

Characteristics of the Directional Measurement

The theoretical steady-state directional characteristic shown in Figure Directional characteristic in the R-Xdiagram applies to faulted loop voltages. In the case of quadrature voltages or memorized voltage, the position of the directional characteristic is dependent on both the source impedance as well as the load transferred across the line prior to fault inception. Figure Directional characteristic with quadrature or memorized voltages shows the directional characteristic using quadrature or memorized voltage as well as taking the source impedance into account (no load transfer). As these voltages are equal to the corresponding generator voltage E and they do not change after fault inception, the directional characteristic is shifted in the impedance diagram by the source impedance ZS1 = E1/I1. For the fault location F1 (Figure Directional characteristic with quadrature or memorized voltagesa) the short-circuit location is in the forward direction and the source impedance is in the reverse direction. For all fault locations, right up to the device location (current transformers), a definite Forward decision is made (Figure Directional characteristic with quadrature or memorized voltagesb). If the current direction is reversed, the position of the

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directional characteristic changes abruptly (Figure Directional characteristic with quadrature or memorized voltagesc). A reversed current I2 now flows via the measuring location (current transformer) which is determined by the source impedance ZS2 + ZL. When load is transferred across the line, the directional characteristic may additionally be rotated by the load angle.

Directional characteristic with quadrature or memorized voltages

Determination of Direction in Case of Series-compensated Lines

The directional characteristics and their displacement by the source impedance apply also for lines with series capacitors. If a short-circuit occurs behind the local series capacitors, the short-circuit voltage however reverses its direction until the protective spark gap has picked up (see Figure Voltage characteristic while a fault occurs after a series capacitor.).

Voltage characteristic while a fault occurs after a series capacitor. a) without pickup of the protective spark gap b) with pickup of the protective spark gap The distance protection function would thus detect a wrong fault direction. The use of memorized voltages however ensures that the direction is correctly detected (see Figure Determination of direction in case of seriescompensated linesa).

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Since the voltage prior to the fault is used for determining the direction, the zeniths of the directional characteristics in dependence of the source impedance and infeed conditions before the fault are thus far displaced that the capacitor reactance which is always smaller than the series reactance does not cause the apparent direction reversal (Figure Determination of direction in case of series-compensated linesb). If the short-circuit is located before the capacitor, from the relay location (current transformer) in reverse direction, the zeniths of the directional characteristics are shifted to the other direction (Figure Determination of direction in case of series-compensated linesc). A correct determination of the direction is thus also ensured in this case.

Determination of direction in case of series-compensated lines

Assignment to the Polygons and Zone Pick-up

The loop impedances calculated according to Sub-section Distance protection, general settings are assigned to the set characteristics of each distance zone. To avoid unstable signals at the boundaries of a polygon, the characteristics have a hysteresis of approximately 5 % i.e. as soon as it has been determined that the fault impedance lies within a polygon, the boundaries are increased by 5 % in all directions. As soon as the fault impedance of any loop is definitely within the operating polygon of a distance zone, the affected loop is designated as picked up. Pickup signals are generated for each zone and converted into phase information, e.g. Dis. Z1L1L1 (internal message) for zone Z1 and phase L1. This means that each phase and each zone is provided with separate pickup information. The information is then processed in the zone logic and by additional functions (e.g. teleprotection logic, Section Teleprotection for distance protection). The loop information is also converted to phase-segregated information. Another condition for pickup of a zone is that the direction matches the direction configured for this zone (refer also to Section Power swing detection (optional)). Furthermore the distance protection may not be blocked or switched off completely. Figure Release logic for one zone (example for Z1) shows these conditions.

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Release logic for one zone (example for Z1) In total, the following zones are available: Independent zones: 1st zone (fast tripping zone) Z1 with X(Z1); R(Z1) -, RE(Z1) -E; delayable with T1-1phase or T1multi-phase, 2nd zone (backup zone) Z2 with X(Z2); R(Z2) -, RE(Z2) -E; may be delayed by T2-1phase or T2multi-phase, 3rd zone (backup zone) Z3 with X(Z3); R(Z3) -, RE(Z3) -E; may be delayed by T3 DELAY, 4th zone (backup zone) Z4 with X(Z4); R(Z4) -, RE(Z4) -E; may be delayed by T4 DELAY, 5th zone (backup zone) Z5 with X(Z5)+ (forward) and X(Z5)- (reverse); R(Z5) -, RE(Z5) -E, delayable with T5 DELAY. Dependent (controlled) zone: Overreaching zone Z1B with X(Z1B); R(Z1B) -, RE(Z1B) -E; may be delayed by T1B-1phase or T1Bmulti-phase.

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