POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION

Week-01
Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh
Lecturer (EE)
Sukkur IBA University
 Books:
1. Protective Relaying: Principles and Applications,
Fourth Edition By J. Lewis Blackburn, Thomas J.
Domin

2. Protective Relaying Theory and Applications By W.

A. Elmore

3. Power System Relaying, Fourth Edition By Stanley

H. Horowitz, Arun G. Phadke.

4. Principle of Power system By V.K Mehta.

INTRODUCTION TO POWER
SYSTEM PROTECTION
 Protection
Protection is the science, skill, and art of applying and setting
relays or fuses, or both, to provide maximum sensitivity to faults
and undesirable conditions, but to avoid their operation under all
permissible or tolerable conditions.
 Power System Protection
❖Electrical energy systems consists of various equipments
connected together. Typically, power is generated at lower voltages
(a few kV) (3-phase ac voltage source) which is stepped up by a
transformer and fed into a transmission grid.

❖A transmission grid is a meshed network of high voltage lines

(underground or overhead) and transformers. It can have multiple
voltage levels like 500 kV, 220 kV, etc.

❖The power is delivered to load centers which may be far off

(even thousands of km's apart).
❖This system has to be protected from abnormalities (For
example;

• A tree falling or touching an overhead line may cause a fault.

• A lightning strike can cause insulation failure.

• Pollution may result in degradation in performance of insulators

which may lead to breakdown.

• Under frequency or over frequency of a generator may result in

mechanical damage to its turbine requiring tripping of an
Alternator) which is the task of protection system.
❖Specially whenever human security is sacrificed or there exists
possibility of equipment damage, it is necessary to isolate and
de-energize the faulty equipment.
 Planning System Protection
❖One (Protection Engineer) can design into the electric system,
features that will:

1) Quickly isolate the affected portion of system and in this

manner maintain normal service for as much of system as
possible and minimize damage to affected portion of system

2) Provide alternate circuits, or automatic reclosing devices, or

both, where applicable, and in this manner minimize the duration
or the extent, or both, of supply and utilization equipment
outages.
 The Purpose of protection
✓ To safeguard the entire system to maintain continuity of
supply.

✓ To minimize damage and repair costs.

✓ To ensure safety of personnel.

 Objective and need of protection
❖The objective and need of electrical system protection and
coordination are to prevent injury to personnel, to minimize
damage to the system components, and to limit the extent and
duration of service interruption whenever equipment failure, human
error, or adverse natural events occur on any portion of the system.

❖The importance of electric supply in everyday life has reached

such a stage that it is desirable to protect the power system from
harm during fault conditions and to ensure maximum continuity of
supply.
❖For this purpose, means must be provided to switch on or off
generators, transmission lines, distributors and other equipment under
both normal and abnormal conditions.

❖This is achieved by an apparatus called switchgear. A switchgear

essentially consists of switching and protecting devices such as
switches, fuses, circuit breakers, relays etc. In this way, switchgear
protects the system from the damage and ensures continuity of supply.
 Importance of protection Knowledge
❖Every consumer(domestic, commercial or industrial) wants
uninterrupted power supply because electricity loss may result in:

✓ Financial loss ✓ Traffic jam

✓ Uncomforting ✓ Loss of money to generate
✓ Health loss electricity from small generators
✓ Anxiety (unease) ✓ Damage equipment
✓ Educational loss

“Therefore, Ideally there should be no power loss in the system”

✓ Practically , 100% reliable system, free from faults are
unavoidable. However, the frequency or rate of fault
occurring, and the possible damage can be minimized.

✓ Therefore, all the electric installations have invariably

protective devices to minimize the damage.

✓ Therefore, protection knowledge is very important to design a

good and reliable system.
Elements of Power system to be Protected

▪ Transmission Line Protection and feeder protection

▪ Transformer Protection

▪ Generator Protection

▪ Motor Protection

▪ Bus bar Protection

Overview of faults
 Faults and Its Reasons:
• “A fault in electrical equipment is defined as a defect in its
electrical circuit due to which the current is diverted from the
intended path”.
• Electrical powers system is growing in size and complexity in all
sectors such as generation, transmission, distribution and load
systems. Types of faults like short circuit condition in power
system network results in severe economic losses and reduces the
reliability of the electrical system.

• Electrical fault is an abnormal condition, caused by equipment

failures such as transformers and rotating machines, human errors
and environmental conditions. Theses faults cause interruption to
electric flows, equipment damages and even cause death of
humans, birds and animals.
• Faults are caused either by insulation failure or by conducting path
failures. The failure of insulation results in short circuits which are
very harmful as they may damage some equipment of the power
system.
• Most of the faults on transmission and distribution lines are caused
by over voltages due to lightning or switching surges or by external
conducting objects falling on overhead lines.

• The opening of one or two of the three phases makes the system
unbalanced. Unbalanced currents flowing in rotating machines set up
harmonics, thereby heating the machines in short periods of time. In
the case of cables, transformers, generators and other equipment, the
causes of faults are failure of solid insulation due to aging, heat,
moisture or overvoltage, mechanical damage, accidental contact with
earth.
• Sometime circuit breakers may trip due to errors in the switching
operation, testing or maintenance work, wrong connections, defects
in protective devices.

• The fault impedance being low, the fault current are relatively high.
During the fault, the power flow is diverted towards the fault and
supply to the neighboring zones is affected.

• The basic electrical quantities which are likely to change during

faults and abnormal conditions are current, voltage, phase angle
(direction), and frequency. Protective relays utilize one or more of
these quantities to detect abnormal conditions on a power system.
The fault must be cleared within a fraction of a second. If a short
circuit persists on a system for a longer, it may cause damage to
some important sections of the system.
• It must be realized that the faults can be minimized by improving
the system, design, quality of the equipment and maintenance.
However, the faults cannot be eliminated completely.

• Protection is needed not only against short circuits but also against
any other abnormal conditions which may arise on a power system.
• A few examples of other abnormal conditions are:
✓ Over speed of generators and motors,
✓ Over/Under voltage / frequency/current,
✓ Loss of excitation,
✓ Overheating of stator and rotor of an alternator,
✓ Reversal of power,
✓ Temperature rise,
✓ Power swings,
✓ Instability.
 Faults Analysis and Calculation:
• The purpose of fault analysis is to determine the values of voltages
and currents at different points of the system during the fault. Such
an analysis enables us to select appropriate protective schemes,
relays, and circuit breakers in order to save the system from the
abnormal condition within minimum time.

• When a short circuit occurs at any point in a system, the short-

circuit current is limited by the impedance of the system up to the
point of fault.

• Hence, the knowledge of the impedances of various equipment

and circuits in the line of the system is very important for the
determination of short-circuit currents.
• The knowledge of the fault currents is necessary for selecting the
circuit breakers of adequate rating designing the sub-station
equipment determining the relay setting. The per unit system is
normally used for fault calculations.

• Two broad classification of faults are:

✓ Symmetrical Faults: The faults which involve all the three phases is known
as the symmetrical fault.
✓ Unsymmetrical Faults (Single line to ground fault, Line to line fault, double
line to ground fault).

• Experiences has shown that majority of the faults in the

transmission line occur due to flashover of only one line to the
tower and ground.
FAULT STATISTICS
Table-01: % Causes Of Faults
CAUSES % OF TOTAL
1. Lightning 12
2. Sleet or snow, wind, mechanical (jumping conductors) 20
3. Apparatus failure 20
4. Switching to a fault 20
5. Miscellaneous (tree falling on line, birds, etc..) 28
Table-02: Frequency of fault occurrence in power system
EQUIPMENT % OF TOTAL
Overhead lines 50
Cables 10
Transformers 10
Switchgear 15
Control equipment 3
Instrument transformers (CTs & PTs) 2
Miscellaneous 10
 Table-03: Percentage occurrence of various faults in power system
Type of Fault % of occurrence
Three phase (3 ɸ) Faults 2%-----5%
Double line to ground (LLG) faults 5%-----10%
Double Line or Line to Line (LL) faults 8%-----15%
Single Line to ground faults 75%-----80%

• The most common type of fault on power system is L G fault.

• It is evident that 50% of the total faults occur on overhead lines.

Hence, it is overhead lines that require more attention while
planning and designing protective schemes for a power system.
 Harmful Effect of Faults on Power System:
On the occurrence of the fault, heavy short circuit current is
flowing in the circuit. This current have the following
disadvantages. Their consequences are explained below in details.

1.The heavy current due to fault causes excessive heating which

may result in fire or explosion.
2.Sometimes the short circuit current takes the form of an arc that
may cause considerable damage to the element of the power
system.
3.The stability of the power system may be adversely affected, and
even the complete shutdown of the power system may occur.
4.Damage to other apparatus in the system may be caused due to
overheating and due to abnormal mechanical forces set up.
 Short Circuit
• Whenever a fault occurs on a network such that a large current flows in one or
more phases, a short-circuit is said to have occurred.
• When a short circuit occurs, a heavy current called short circuit current flows
through the circuit. This can be beautifully illustrated by referring to Figure
where a single-phase generator of voltage V and internal impedance Zi is
supplying to a load Z. Under normal conditions, the current in the circuit is
limited by *load impedance Z. However, if the load terminals get shorted due to
any reason, the circuit impedance is reduced to a very low value ; being Zi in
this case. As Zi is very small, therefore, a large current flows through the circuit.
This is called short-circuit current.
 Short-Circuit, overload and Earth fault
• When a short-circuit occurs, the voltage at fault point is reduced to zero and
current of abnormally high magnitude flows through the network to the point of
fault.

• On the other hand, an overload means that loads greater than the designed values
have been imposed on the system. Under such conditions, the voltage at the
overload point may be low, but not zero. The undervoltage conditions may
extend for some distance beyond the overload point into the remainder of the
system. The currents in the overloaded equipment are high but are substantially
lower than that in the case of a short-circuit.

• Earth fault is the unintentional fault between the live conductor and the earth.
It also occurs, because of the insulation breakdown. When the fault occurs, the
short-circuit currents flow through the system, and this current is returned
through the earth or any electrical equipment. This fault current damaged the
equipment of the power system and also interrupted the continuity of the supply.
• A short-circuit current is differentiated from an overload by the
fact that the current is flowing outside of the normal path. These
currents are much larger than overload and can cause significant
damage in the form of thermal, magnetic, and arcing. Time is
critical in the interruption of short circuits from the system.
 Causes of short-circuit
A short circuit in the power system is the result of some kind of
abnormal conditions in the system. It may be caused due to
internal and/or external effects.

(i) Internal effects are caused by breakdown of equipment or

transmission lines, from weakening of insulation in a generator,
transformer etc. Such troubles may be due to ageing of insulation,
inadequate design or improper installation.

(ii) External effects causing short circuit include insulation failure

due to lightning surges, overloading of equipment causing
excessive heating; mechanical damage by public etc.
 Short-Circuit Currents
Most of the failures on the power system lead to short-circuit fault and cause heavy
current to flow in the system. The calculations of these short-circuit currents are
important for the following reasons :

(i) A short-circuit on the power system is cleared by a circuit breaker or a fuse. It is

necessary, therefore, to know the maximum possible values of short-circuit
current so that switchgear of suitable rating may be installed to interrupt them.

(ii) The magnitude of short-circuit current determines the setting and sometimes the
types and location of protective system.

(iii)The magnitude of short-circuit current determines the size of the protective

reactors which must be inserted in the system so that the circuit breaker is able
to withstand the fault current.

(iv) The calculation of short-circuit currents enables us to make proper selection of

the associated apparatus (e.g., bus-bars, current transformers etc.) so that they
can withstand the forces that arise due to the occurrence of short circuits.
Switchgear
 Switchgear
“The apparatus used for switching, controlling and protecting the
electrical circuits and equipment is known as switchgear”.

• The switchgear equipment is essentially concerned with switching

and interrupting currents either under normal or abnormal
operating conditions. It is an essential part of a power system.

• Switchgear devices includes fuses, circuit breakers, isolators,

relays, lightning arrestors, current transformers, voltage
transformers, and various associated equipment Every electrical
sub-station consists of almost all of these switchgear equipment.
Switch:

A switch is a device which is used to open or close an electrical

circuit in a convenient way. It can be used under full-load or no-load
conditions, but it cannot interrupt the fault currents.

❖When the contacts of a switch are opened, an arc is produced in the

air between the contacts. The switches may be classified into
(i) Air switches
(ii) Oil switches.
❖The contacts of the former are opened in air and that of the latter
are opened in oil.
Air Break Switch:
❖It is an air switch and is designed to open a circuit under load. In
order to quench the arc that occurs on opening such a switch, special
arcing horns are provided.

❖Arcing horns are pieces of metals between which arc is formed

during opening operation. As the switch opens, these horns are spread
farther and farther apart. Consequently, the arc is lengthened, cooled
and interrupted. Air-break switches are generally used outdoor for
circuits of medium capacity such as lines supplying an industrial load
from a main transmission line or feeder.
Isolator:

❖Isolators are disconnecting switches which can be used for

disconnecting a circuit under no current condition.

❖They are generally installed along with the circuit breaker in order
that repairs, and replacement of circuit breakers can be made without
any danger

❖It is not intended to be opened while current is flowing in the line.

They should never be opened until the circuit breaker in the same
circuit has been opened and should always be closed before the circuit
breaker is closed. After opening the isolator, the earthing switch can
be closed to discharge the trapped electrical charges.
Earthing Switch:
❖It is a switch connects a conductor to the earth so as to discharge
the charges on the conductor to the earth. Earthing switches are
generally installed on the frames of the isolators.

Fuse :
❖A fuse is a short piece of wire which melts when excessive current
flows through it for sufficient time.
❖It is inserted in series with the circuit to be protected.
❖Under normal operating conditions, the fuse element is at a
temperature below its melting point. Therefore, it carries the normal
load current without overheating. However, when a short circuit or
overload occurs, the current through the fuse element increases
beyond its rated capacity.
❖This raises the temperature, and the fuse element melts (or blows
out), disconnecting the circuit protected by it. In this way, a fuse
protects the machines and equipment from damage due to
excessive currents.

❖It is worthwhile to note that a fuse performs both detection and

interruption functions. However, fuse cannot be used on high
voltage system (3·3 kV) due to the fact that when a fuse blows, it
takes some time to replace it and consequently there is interruption
of service to the customers. In order to interrupt heavy fault
currents, circuit breakers are used.
Circuit Breaker:
• A circuit breaker is a switching and current interrupting device in a
switchgear.

• A device capable of making, breaking an electric circuit under

normal and abnormal conditions such as short circuits.

• A circuit breaker is an equipment which can open or close a circuit

under all conditions (no load, full load and fault conditions).
• It is so designed that it can be operated manually (or by remote
control) under normal conditions and automatically under fault
conditions. For the latter operation, a relay circuit is used with a
circuit breaker.
• The circuit breaker operate during the transient state.
❖Fig. shows a typical oil circuit breaker which essentially consists of
moving and fixed contacts enclosed in strong metal tank and
immersed in oil, known as transformer oil.

❖Under normal operating conditions, the contacts remain closed, and

the circuit breaker carries the full-load current continuously. In this
condition, the e.m.f. in the secondary winding of current transformer
(C.T.) is insufficient to operate the trip coil of the breaker.

❖When a fault occurs, the resulting overcurrent in the C.T. primary

winding increases the secondary e.m.f. This energizes the trip coil of
the breaker and moving contacts are pulled down, thus opening the
contacts and hence the circuit.
❖It is interesting to note that relay performs the function of detecting
a fault whereas the circuit breaker does the actual circuit interruption.
 Fuse and Circuit breaker difference:
❖The isolation of short circuits and overloads requires the
application of protective equipment that will both:

i) sense an abnormal condition and then

ii) remove the affected portion from the system.

❖In some types the sensing device and the interrupting device are
completely separated, interconnected only through external control
wiring.

❖In other types the sensing and interrupting functions are combined
in the same device.
 Fuse and Circuit breaker difference:
❖A fuse is both a sensing and interrupting device. It is connected in
series with the circuit and responds to thermal effects produced by
current flow through it. Its fusible element is designed to open at a
predetermined time depending on the amount of current that flows.

❖Circuit breakers are interrupting devices only and must be used in

conjunction with sensing devices to fulfill the detection function. In
the case of medium and high voltage (hundreds of kV) circuit
breakers, the sensing devices are separate protective relays or
combinations of relays.
Auto Reclosure:
❖Auto-reclosure are used to restore the service continuity after
interrupting a transient fault. High voltage circuit breakers used for
controlling overhead transmission lines are provided with such a
feature.
Relay:
“An automatic device which closes its contact when the actuating
quantity/quantities reach a certain predetermined magnitude/phase”. OR

❖A relay is a device which detects the fault and supplies information to the breaker
for circuit interruption.

❖Figure shows a typical relay circuit.

❖It can be divided into three parts:

(i) The primary winding of a current transformer (C.T.) (The circuit to be protected
carries a large current (normal or fault current) and is reduced to a suitable value for
relay operation with the help of a current transformer.) which is connected in series
with the circuit to be protected. The primary winding often consists of the main
conductor itself.
(ii) The second circuit is the secondary winding of C.T. connected to the relay
operating coil.
Relay Trip Circuit:
(iii) The third circuit is the tripping circuit which is a part of circuit breaker that
will react to action of relay coil during fault condition. which included a battery,
trip coil and relay contacts. It will react according to relay coil or relay contacts.

❖Under normal load conditions, e.m.f. of secondary winding of C.T. is small

and the current flowing in the relay operating coil is insufficient to close the relay
contacts. This keeps the trip coil of the circuit breaker unenergized.

❖Consequently, the contacts of the circuit breaker remain closed. When a fault
occurs, a large current flows through the primary of C.T. This increases the
secondary e.m.f. and hence the current through the relay operating coil. The relay
contacts are closed resulting in the energization of the trip coil of the circuit
breaker. Due to this, current starts flowing from battery and activates the circuit
breaker opening mechanism in order to isolate the faulty part from rest of the
healthy system.
 Instrument Transformers:
❖Instrument transformers are used in AC system for measurement of electrical
quantities such as voltage, current, and power. These devices are also used with
protective relay for protection of power system.
❖If we want to measure extremely high values of current and voltage then there are
two ways of measuring it.
❖One is to use high-capacity instruments which would be obviously costly.
❖Second way is to use the transformation property of current and voltage.
❖Current and voltage can be stepped down by using a transformer whose turn’s
ratio is known and then measuring the stepped down current and voltage by a
normal ammeter or voltmeter.
❖The original magnitude can be determined by multiplying the stepped down
magnitude with the turn’s ratio. Such specially constructed transformer with
accurate turn’s ratio are called as instrument transformer.

❖There are two types of instrument transformer:

1) Current transformer
2) Potential transformer.
 Current Transformer (CT):
❖ The current transformer is used to step down the current for measurement,
protection and control.
❖ Current transformer are put in series with the line in which the current is to
be measured. They are used to step down the current to such a level so that it can
easily be measured by using an ammeter.
❖ Most current transformers have the standard secondary rating of 5 amps with the
primary and secondary currents being expressed as a ratio such as 100/5. This
means that the primary current is 20 times greater than the secondary current so
when 100 amps is flowing in the primary conductor it will result in 5 amps
flowing in the secondary winding. A current transformer of say 500/5, will
produce 5 amps in the secondary for 500 amps in the primary conductor, 100
times greater.
❖ Standard secondary rating of CT’s are either 5 or 1 Amp’s. Common application
of CT available in market is “clamp meter”.
❖ The typical current transformer has a small number of turns in the primary, and
"N" times as many turns in the secondary. Since, in a transformer, "amperes X
turns" in the primary nominally equals "amperes X turns" in the secondary.
❖This means that the current in the secondary is 1/N times the current in the primary.
Thus, if N=100, a routine ammeter connected to the secondary and reading 1A full scale will
correctly indicate primary currents up to 100 amps.

❖If this ammeter is disconnected with the secondary left unconnected, then, the
secondary voltage of the transformer is 100 times the primary voltage.

❖In many applications such as 220 V AC power circuits, this amounts to a secondary voltage
will be 220,00 V AC. This is high enough to generate dramatic sparking and arcing or, at the
least, voltage breakdown in the current transformer itself.

❖By increasing the number of secondary windings, Ns, the secondary current can be made
much smaller than the current in the primary circuit. In other words, the number of turns
and the current in the primary and secondary windings are related by an inverse
proportion.

❖A current transformer, like any other transformer, must satisfy the amp-turn equation as
below:
 Example-01:
❖A bar-type current transformer which has 1 turn on its primary and 160 turns
on its secondary is to be used with a standard range of ammeters that have an
internal resistance of 0.2Ω. The ammeter is required to give a full-scale
deflection when the primary current is 800 Amps. Calculate the maximum
secondary current and secondary voltage across the ammeter.
Secondary Current:

Voltage across Ammeter:

❖It can be noticed that since the secondary of the current transformer is
connected across the ammeter, which has a very small resistance, the voltage
drop across the secondary winding is only 1.0 volts at full primary current.
 Potential Transformer (PT):
• The voltage transformer (VT) or potential transformer (PT) is an instrument transformer
used for metering and protection purpose.

• Potential transformers are basically step-down transformers used to step down the
voltage of high magnitude to a lower voltage which can be measured with standard
measuring instrument.

• These transformers have large number of primary turns and smaller number of
secondary turns.

• The construction of PT/VT is same as that of power transformer except for insulation
level, cooling, sealing etc.

• A potential transformer is typically expressed in high primary to secondary voltage ratio

(e.g132 kV/100 V). The protective relays are connected in the secondary circuits of PTs.
PTs are designed for of specific voltage rating like 400 kV / 110 V. This means that
when a PT primary is connected to 400 kV line, the secondary voltage will be 110V.
This secondary voltage is connected to various measuring instruments like voltmeter,
energy meter etc. and protection relays like distance relay direction earth fault relay etc.
Primary and back-up Protection
 Primary and back-up Protection
• The power system is divided into various zones for its protection.
There is suitable protective scheme for each zone. If fault occurs in a
particular zone, protection relay for that zone detect and isolate the
faulty element. This is called primary protection.
• The primary relay is the first line of defense of power system. The
failure of primary protection occurs due to following reasons:

✓ Failure of the DC supply to the tripping circuit.

✓ Failure in relay operating current or voltage.

✓ Failure in circuit breaker tripping mechanisms.

✓ Failure of CTs or PTs operation.

❖Table shows the percentage failure various protective elements.

❖If due to any reason, the primary relay fails to operate, there is a
back-up protective scheme to clear the fault as a second line of
defense as shown in Figure.
❖The backup protection provides the backup to the main protection
whenever it fails in operation, and it is essential for the proper
working of the electrical system.
 References:
 Notes by Dr. J.A Laghari
 Principles of Power System Book by V.K Mehta
 H.W
 What happens if secondary of CT is open circuited?
 Why secondary of CT should not be opened?
 Why secondary of PT should not be short circuited?
 What is difference between Fuse and Circuit Breaker?
 What is difference between Short circuit and Overload and Earth fault?
 Discuss types of back-up protection? (Remote back-up, Relay back-up and
Breaker back-up)
Thank You