Fundamentals of Protection Practice

- CLASSIFICATION OF RELAYS

1- electromechanical
2- static
3- digital
4- numerical

- ZONES OF PROTECTION

- SELECTIVITY AND SENSITIVITY

1- Selectivity by time grading

Protection systems in successive zones are arranged to operate in times that are graded through the
sequence of equipments so that upon the occurrence of a fault, although a number of protection
equipments respond, only those relevant to the faulty zone complete the tripping function.

2- Selectivity by using unit protection

It is possible to design protection systems that respond only to fault conditions occurring within a clearly
defined zone. This type of protection system is known as 'unit protection'. Certain types of unit protection
are known by specific names, e.g. restricted earth fault and differential protection. Unit protection can be
applied throughout a power system and, since it does not involve time grading, is relatively fast in
operation. The speed of response is substantially independent of fault severity.

Sensitivity is a term frequently used when referring to the minimum operating level (current, voltage, power
etc.) of relays or complete protection schemes. The relay or scheme is said to be sensitive if the primary operating
parameter(s) is low.

- PRIMARY AND BACK-UP PROTECTION

1- Local back-up
Local back-up protection is achieved by protection which detects an un-cleared primary system fault at its
own location and which then trips its own circuit breakers, e.g. time graded overcurrent relays.
2- Remote back-up
Remote back-up protection is provided by protection that detects an un-cleared primary system fault at a
Page 1 of 20
 remote location and then issues a local trip command, e.g. the second or third zones of a distance relay.
In both cases the main and back-up protection systems detect a fault simultaneously, operation of the back-up
protection being delayed to ensure that the primary protection clears the fault if possible. Normally being unit
protection, operation of the primary protection will be fast and will result in the minimum amount of the power system
being disconnected. Operation of the back-up protection will be, of necessity, slower and will result in a greater
proportion of the primary system being lost.

- Main and Back-up achievement in reality

a. Separate current transformers (cores and secondary windings only) are provided
b. Voltage transformers are not duplicated because of cost and space considerations. Each protection relay
supply is separately protected (fuse or MCB) and continuously supervised to ensure security of the VT
output. An alarm is given on failure of the supply and, where appropriate, prevent an unwanted operation
of the protection.
c. Trip supplies to the two protections should be separately protected (fuse or MCB). Duplication of tripping
batteries and of circuit breaker tripping coils may be provided.

- Contact systems

Page 2 of 20
Signaling and Intertripping
1- Protection Signaling Required for:
- Unit protection schemes with relays located remotely
- Some Distance protection schemes
2- Intertripping
- Remote operation of CB as a result of local event

Various types of communication links:

1- Pilot wires
2- Carrier channels at high frequencies over the power lines
3- Radio channels at very high or ultra high frequencies
4- optical fibres

Intertripping types:

1- Direct Tripping  reliable and secure communication required

2- Permissive Tripping  less onerous communication requirement
3- Blocking Scheme  Loss of the communications channel is less serious ; risk of a spurious trip is higher
Page 3 of 20
Typical Protection Schemes

1. Cables and overhead lines

Page 4 of 20
Page 5 of 20
Page 6 of 20
Page 7 of 20
Page 8 of 20
Page 9 of 20
Page 10 of 20
2- Transformers

Page 11 of 20
Page 12 of 20
3- Busbars

Page 13 of 20
4- Networks

Page 14 of 20
TCS

The ANSI Codes of Protection Systems

The ANSI(American National Standards Institute) has standardized the codes to be used for protection relays. Each
protective function is indicated by a specific no. such as 50 for instantaneous overcurrent protection and 59 for
overvoltage protection.

Following is the list of the functions. The codes are sometimes followed by an alphabet which gives some additional
information for instance, the code 51G may indicate an overcurrent ground relay. 50N may indicate a ground
sensitive overcurrent relay based on neutral current measurement. 87T may indicate that a differential relay may be
used for Transformer protection.

1 - Master Element 51 - AC Time Overcurrent Relay

2 - Time Delay Starting or Closing Relay
3 - Checking or Interlocking Relay
4 - Master Contactor
5 - Stopping Device
6 - Starting Circuit Breaker
7 - Anode Circuit Breaker
8 - Control Power Disconnecting Device
9 - Reversing Device
10 - Unit Sequence Switch
11 - Reserved for future application
12 - Overspeed Device
13 - Synchronous-speed Device
52 - AC Circuit Breaker
53 - Exciter or DC Generator Relay
54 - High-Speed DC Circuit Breaker
55 - Power Factor Relay
56 - Field Application Relay
57 - Short-Circuiting or Grounding (Earthing) Device
58 - Rectification Failure Relay
59 - Overvoltage Relay
60 - Voltage or Current Balance Relay
61 - Machine Split Phase Current Balance
62 - Time-Delay Stopping or Opening Relay
63 - Pressure Switch

Page 15 of 20
14 - Underspeed Device 64 - Ground (Earth) Detector Relay
15 - Speed - or Frequency, Matching Device 65 - Governor
16 - Reserved for future application 66 - Notching or Jogging Device
17 - Shunting or Discharge Switch 67 - AC Directional Overcurrent Relay
18 - Accelerating or Decelerating Device 68 - Blocking Relay
19 - Starting to Running Transition Contactor 69 - Permissive Control Device
20 - Electrically Operated Valve 70 - Rheostat
21 - Distance Relay 71 - Level Switch
22 - Equalizer Circuit Breaker 72 - DC Circuit Breaker
23 - Temperature Control Device 73 - Load-Resistor Contactor
24 - Over-Excitation Relay (V/Hz) 74 - Alarm Relay
25 - Synchronizing or Synchronism-Check Device 75 - Position Changing Mechanism
26 - Apparatus Thermal Device 76 - DC Overcurrent Relay
27 - Undervoltage Relay 77 - Pulse Transmitter
78 - Phase-Angle Measuring or Out-of-Step Protective
28 - Flame Detector
Relay
29 - Isolating Contactor 79 - AC Reclosing Relay
30 - Annunciator Relay 80 - Flow Switch
31 - Separate Excitation Device 81 - Frequency Relay
32 - Directional Power Relay 82 - DC Reclosing Relay
33 - Position Switch 83 - Automatic Selective Control or Transfer Relay
34 - Master Sequence Device 84 - Operating Mechanism
35 - Brush-Operating or Slip-Ring Short-Circuiting,
85 - Carrier or Pilot-Wire Receiver Relay
Device
36 - Polarity or Polarizing Voltage Devices 86 - Lockout Relay
37 - Undercurrent or Underpower Relay 87 - Differential Protective Relay
38 - Bearing Protective Device 88 - Auxiliary Motor or Motor Generator
39 - Mechanical Conduction Monitor 89 - Line Switch
40 - Field Relay 90 - Regulating Device
41 - Field Circuit Breaker 91 - Voltage Directional Relay
42 - Running Circuit Breaker 92 - Voltage and Power Directional Relay
43 - Manual Transfer or Selector Device 93 - Field Changing Contactor
44 - Unit Sequence Starting Relay 94 - Tripping or Trip-Free Relay
45 - Atmospheric Condition Monitor 95 - Reluctance Torque Synchrocheck
46 - Reverse-phase or Phase-Balance Current Relay 96 - Autoloading Relay
47 - Phase-Sequence Voltage Relay
48 - Incomplete Sequence Relay
49 - Machine or Transformer, Thermal Relay
50 - Instantaneous Overcurrent or Rate of Rise,
Relay

Page 16 of 20
CURRENT TRANSFORMERS:

1- METERING OR INSTRUMENTS
- measures under normal load conditions
- Accuracy classes for metering cores are 0.1 (laboratory), 0.2, 0.5 and 1

2- PROTECTION AND DISTURBANCE RECORDING

- a lower accuracy is required but also a high capability to transform high fault currents
- Protection classes are 5P and 10P according to IEC 185. Further cores for transient behavior are defined in
IEC 44-6

In each current transformer a number of cores can be contained. From three to six cores are
normally available and the cores are then one or two for measuring purposes, and two to four for
protection purposes.

- METERING CORES:

To protect instrument and meters from high fault currents the metering cores must be saturated
10-40 times the rated current depending of the type of burden. Normally the energy meters have
the lowest withstand capability. Typical values are 12-20 times the rated current.The instrument
security factor “Fs”, indicates the overcurrent as a multiple of rated current at which the metering
core will saturate. This is given as a maximum value and is valid only at rated burden. At lower
burdens the saturation value increases approximately to “n”.

According to IEC 185 the accuracy class shall be fulfilled from 25 to 100% of the rated burden.
meas. error e (%) angle error (min)
class purpose
at In resp ALF at In
0.2 0,2 10 rev. metering
0.5 0,5 30 stat. metering
1 1 60 instrument
5P 1,0 at In, 5 at ALF*In 60 protection
10P 3 at In, 10 at ALF*In 180 protection

- PROTECTION CORES:

The main characteristics of protection CT cores are:

- Lower accuracy than for measuring transformers.
- High saturation voltage.
The factors defined the cores are:
- The composite error with class 5P and 10 P. The error is then 5 respectively 10%, at the specified
ALF and at rated burden.
- The Accuracy Limit Factor “ALF” indicates the overcurrent as a multiple, times the rated current, up
to which the rated accuracy (5P or 10P) is fulfilled (with the rated burden connected).

Page 17 of 20
 - The ALF is given as a minimum value and in the same way as for FS for a metering Core, the
overcurrent factor is changed when the burden is different to the rated burden.

TRANSIENT BEHAVIOR of CTs:

The short-circuit current can be expressed as:

where “iK” is the instantaneous value of the fault current, “Ik” is the instantaneous amplitude value
of the fault current and “Ø” is the phase angle, at the fault inception.
The fault must occur between two extreme conditions:
- 1. Ø=90° i.e. a fault at voltage maximum.The fault current will be a pure sinus vawe. To transform
the fault current without saturation, the ALF factor must be ALF“Ik/In”.
- 2. Ø=0° i.e. a fault at voltage zero. The short circuit current will have full a symmetry with a
maximum DC component. Fortunately these cases are quite rare as faults normally occur close to
voltage maximum rather than close to voltage zero.
The DC component will build up a DC flux in the core and an interposed AC flux.The flux will
increase and decrease according to the time constants. The rise is dependent of the network time
constant “T1” (L/R) and the decay follows the current transformers secondary time constant “T2”.

The quotient between the maximum value of the DC component and the maximum value of the
AC component is called the transient factor “Kt”.

To manage a correct transformation of the current during an auto reclosing sequence the core
must be further increased with a remanence factor “Kr”.

Page 18 of 20
VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER: (IEC 186)

VOLTAGE FACTOR:

Voltage transformers are normally connected phase to earth. In the event of a disturbance in the
network the voltage across the VT's (CVT's) will be increased in the healthy phases. IEC specifies
the voltage factors:
- 1,9 for systems not being solidly earthed.
- 1,5 for solidly earthed systems.
The VT's must not be saturated at the voltage factor. The saturation is specified to be 30 sec for
systems with tripping earth fault protection and 8 hours if no Earth fault tripping protection is used.

BURDEN AND ACCURACY CLASSES:

Following burdens are preferred values. 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500 VA
The accuracy class is fulfilled for 25-100% of rated burden.

For metering windings a high accuracy for voltages in range (80-120 %) of nominal voltage is
required. Accuracy classes for metering cores are (0.1 laboratory), 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0.

For protection windings a lower accuracy is required but a high capability to transform voltages
from 5 - Vf*rated voltage to allow protection relays measure and disconnect the fault.

Page 19 of 20
 - Ferro resonance in a magnetic VT
The damping of ferro-resonance is normally done with a 27-60 Ω, 200 W resistor connected
across the open delta winding. The resistor value should give a current as high as possible but a
current
below the thermal rating of the voltage transformer.
- Ferro resonance in a capacitive VT
The IEC standard specifies that CVT´s must be provided with ferro-resonance damping devices.
Normally this consists of a saturating reactor and a resistor in each phase.

FUSING OF SECONDARY CIRCUITS

VOLTAGE DROP IN SECONDARY CABLING

The voltage drop and angle error in the secondary cabling should be lower than the error given by
the class specification of the transformer.

Page 20 of 20