Over Current Protection and Characteristics

Overcurrent Protection finds its application from the fact that in the event of fault the current will
increase to a value several times greater than maximum load current. A relay that operates or
picks up when its current exceeds a predetermined value (setting value) is called Over-current
Relay. Over-current protection protects electrical power systems against excessive
currents which are caused by short circuits, ground faults, etc. Over-current relays can be used to
protect practically any power system elements, i.e. transmission lines, transformers, generators,
or motors. For feeder protection, there would be more than one over-current relay to protect
different sections of the feeder. These over-current relays need to coordinate with each other
such that the relay nearest fault operates first.

Using time, current and a combination of both time and current are three ways to discriminate
adjacent over-current relays. Over-current Relay gives protection against:
 Phase faults
 Earth faults
 Winding faults
Short-circuit currents are generally several times (5 to 20) full load current. Hence fast fault
clearance is always desirable on short circuits.
Primary requirement of Over-current protection is that the protection should not operate for
starting currents, permissible over-current, and current surges. To achieve this, the time delay is
provided.
Over-current Relay Ratings:
In order for an over-current protective device to operate properly, over-current protective device
ratings must be properly selected. These ratings include voltage, ampere and interrupting rating.
Current limiting can be considered as another over-current protective device rating, although not
all over-current protective devices are required to have this characteristic
Voltage Rating:
The voltage rating of the over-current protective device must be at least equal to or greater than
the circuit voltage. The over-current protective device rating can be higher than the system
voltage but never lower.
Ampere Rating:
The ampere rating of a over-current protecting device normally should not exceed the current
carrying capacity of the conductors As a general rule, the ampere rating of a over-current
protecting device is selected at 125% of the continuous load current.
Depending on the time of operation of relays, they are categorized as follows:
a) Instantaneous Over-current Relay
b) Inverse time over current Relay
c) Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) over-current Relay
d) Very Inverse Relay
e) Extremely Inverse Relay
a) Instantaneous Over-current Relay:
Instantaneous Over-current Relay is one in which no intentional time delay is provided for the
operation. The time of operation of such Relay is approximately 100 ms. Instantaneous Over-
current relay is employed where the impedance between the source and the Relay is small as
compared with the impedance of the section to be provided.

Following are the important features of an Instantaneous Over-current Relay:

1) Operates in a definite time when current exceeds its Pick-up value.

2) Its operation criterion is only current magnitude.

3) Operating time is constant.

4) There is no intentional time delay.

5) Coordination of definite-current relays is based on the fact that the fault current varies with the
position of the fault because of the difference in the impedance between the fault and the source

6) The relay located furthest from the source operate for a low current value

7) The operating currents are progressively increased for the other relays when moving towards the
source.
b) Inverse time over current Relay:
Inverse time over-current Relay is one in which the time of actuation of Relay decreases as the
fault current increases. The more the fault current the lesser will be the time of operation of the
Relay. Normally it has more inverse characteristic near the pick-up value which in turn means
that if fault current is equal to pick-up value then the relay will take infinite time to operate.
c) Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) over-current Relay:
Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) over-current Relay is one in which the operating time is
approximately inversely proportional to the fault current near pick-up value and then becomes
constant above the pick-up value of the relay.

From the picture, it is clear that there is some definite time after which the Relay will operate. It
is also clear that the time of operation at Pick-up value is nearly very high and as the fault current
increases the time of operation decreases maintaining some definite time.

d) Very Inverse Relay:

Very Inverse Relay is one in which the range of operation is inverse with respect to fault current
over a wide range. This happens so as the CT saturation occurs at a later stage but as soon as CT
saturation occur there will not be any flux change and hence the current output of CT will
become zero and hence the time of operation will nearly become constant.

e) Extremely Inverse Relay:

Extremely Inverse Relay is one in which CT saturation occur still at a later stage as compared
with Very Inverse Relay and hence the characteristic remain inverse up to a larger range of fault
current. The equation describing the Extremely Inverse Relay is I2t = K where I is operating
current and t is time of operation of the Relay.
 IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) Standard Curve for Inverse Relays:
As per IEC, the time of operation of any Inverse relay can be calculated from the formula given
below.
Here,

K = Time of actuation
α, β = Constant which depends on the type of Relay
I = Fault Current
I0 = Pick-up current
Value of α and β for different types of Relay:
Sr. No. Type of Relay α β
Inverse time over current Relay /
1) 1. 0.02 0.14
IDMT
2) 2. Very Inverse Relay 1.00 13.5
3) 3. Extremely Inverse Relay 2.00 80.00
Example: Suppose the pick-up current for an IDMT relay is set at 0.8 A and the fault current is
80 A then the time of actuation can be calculated as
K = 0.14/[ (80/0.8)0.02– 1]
= 0.14/[1.096-1] = 0.14/0.096 = 1.45 seconds