Power System Protection Dr. Prof.

Mohammed Alzuhairi
Tutorial Sheet No.1 Part-I

Unit – 1

1. Explain the essential qualities of protection

A protection apparatus has three main functions/duties:

1). Safeguard the entire system to maintain continuity of supply
2). Minimize damage and repair costs where it senses fault
3). Ensure safety of personnel.
These requirements are necessary, firstly for early detection and localization of faults,
and secondly for prompt removal of faulty equipment from service.
In order to carry out the above duties, protection must have the following qualities:
• Selectivity: To detect and isolate the faulty item only.
• Stability: To leave all healthy circuits intact to ensure continuity or supply.
• Sensitivity: To detect even the smallest fault, current or system abnormalities and
operate correctly at its setting before the fault causes irreparable damage.
• Speed: To operate speedily when it is called upon to do so, thereby minimizing
damage to the surroundings and ensuring safety to personnel.
To meet all of the above requirements, protection must be reliable which means it
must be:
• Dependable: It must trip when called upon to do so.
• Secure: It must not trip when it is not supposed to.

2. What is pick up value?

It is the minimum current in the relay coil at which the relay starts to operate.

3. Define reach.
It is the distance up to which the relay will cover for protection.

4. Define blocking.
It means preventing the relay from tripping due to its own characteristics or due to
additional relays.

5. What are the advantages of static relay over electromagnetic relay?

o Low power consumption as low as 1mW

o No moving contacts; hence associated problems of arcing, contact bounce, erosion,
replacement of contacts
o No gravity effect on operation of static relays. Hence can be used in vessels ie,
ships, aircrafts etc.
o A single relay can perform several functions like over current, under voltage, single
phasing protection by incorporating respective functional blocks. This is not possible
in electromagnetic relays
o Static relay is compact
o Superior operating characteristics and accuracy
o Static relay can think , programmable operation is possible with static relay

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 o Effect of vibration is nil, hence can be used in earthquake-prone areas
o Simplified testing and servicing. Can convert even non-electrical quantities to
electrical in conjunction with transducers.

6. What is static relay?

It is a relay in which measurement or comparison of electrical quantities is made in a
static network which is designed to give an output signal when a threshold condition
is passed which operates a tripping device.

7. What is a programmable relay?

A static relay may have one or more programmable units such as microprocessors or
microcomputers in its circuit.

8. Define energizing quantity.

It refers to the current or voltage which is used to activate the relay into operation.

9. Define operating time of a relay.

It is defined as the time period extending from the occurrence of the fault through the
relay detecting the fault to the operation of the relay.

10. Define resetting time of a relay.

It is defined as the time taken by the relay from the instant of isolating the fault to the
moment when the fault is removed and the relay can be reset.

11. What is primary protection?

Primary protection is the protection in which the fault occurring in a line will be
cleared by its own relay and circuit breaker. It serves as the first line of defense.

12. What are the functions of protective relays?

To detect the fault and initiate the operation of the circuit breaker to isolate the
defective element from the rest of the system, thereby protecting the system from
damages consequent to the fault.

13. What is back up protection?

Is the second line of defense, which operates if the primary protection fails to activate
within a definite time delay.

14. State the significance of double line fault.

It has no zero sequence component and the positive and negative sequence networks
are connected in parallel.

15. State the significance of single line to ground fault.

In single line to ground fault all the sequence networks are connected in series. All the
sequence currents are equal and the fault current magnitude is three times its sequence
currents.

16. State the various types of unsymmetrical faults.

Line to ground, line to line and double line to ground faults

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 17. State the different types of faults.
Symmetrical faults and unsymmetrical faults and open conductor faults.

18. Give the consequences of short circuit.

Whenever short-circuit occurs, the current flowing through the coil increases to an
enormous value. If protective relays are present, a heavy current also flows through
the relay coil, causing it to operate by closing its contacts. The trip circuit is then
closed, the circuit breaker opens and the fault is isolated from the rest of the system.
Also, a low voltage may be created which may damage systems connected to the
supply.

Unit -2

Mark the correct statement by (√ ) and wrong statement by (Χ) ,or select the correct answer
in each of the following:

1. The relay function is to cause fast disconnection of equipment from power system to
minimize damages during normal conditions: [ X]

2. Numerical relays are those in which the measured quantities are converted into lower
voltage but similar signals, which are then combined or compared directly to reference values
to produce the desired output. The measured quantities are treated by Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) subroutine. [X]

3. In a power system, instrument transformers and communication infrastructure are

considered as secondary systems. [√ ]

4. □ Protection relays closest to the fault location should operate first and circuit breakers
closest to fault should be opened first.

5. □ As protection relays or circuit breakers may fail to operate during a fault on occasions,
back-up is necessary.

6.□ Short circuit and earth faults are considered as abnormal conditions in a power system.
7. □ Wattmetric, induction –cup and shaded – pole relays are solid –state relay type.
8.□ In an attracted armature type relay, if the restraining force is greater than the operating
force then rely will operate.

9. □ Analog relays are those in which the measured quantities are converted into lower
voltage but similar signals, which are then combined or compared directly to reference values

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in level detectors to produce the desired output. The measured quantities are treated by Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) subroutine.

10. □ Digital relays are those in which the measured ac quantities are sequentially sampled
and converted into numeric data form. A microprocessor performs mathematical and/or
logical operations on the data to make trip decisions using Digital Signal Processing.

Unit -3

Full in the blanks either objective or instructive for the following:

1. In a power system, instrument transformers and communication infrastructure are

considered as secondary systems. True or False?

2. Power frequency, overvoltage or undervoltage are considered as short – circuit faults. True
or False?

3. In an attracted armature type relay, if the restraining force is greater than the operating
force then rely will not operate. True or False?

4. Primary protection should operate------------- the Backup protection.

before after

5. Wattmetric and shaded – pole relays are --------------------------------------------

electromagnetic induction type relays. digital type relays

attracted armature type relays

6. An electromagnetic relay of attracted armature type has a constants K1= 0.6 and K2= 8. If a
current flow through its winding is I = 5A, then the net force produced on the relays armature
is:

(a) - 4.00 N (b) 5.00 N (c) 1.00 N (d) 7.00 N

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Unit-4

1. An RC circuit, used to produce time delay for a solid – state relay, is shown in Fig. 1. For
a step input voltage vi(t) = 6u(t), the output voltage vo(t) = 3V and C = 10 μF. Determine
the time delay (tdelay) for the following cases: (a) R = 10 k Ω; and (b) R = 1 M Ω. Sketch the
output vo(t) versus time for cases (a) and (b).

Fig.1

Solution