International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS-2017)
Phase Comparison Techniques for
Transmission Line Protection
Suwarna Baraskar
Electrical Engineering Department
G.H.R.I.E.T
Nagpur, India
suwarnabaraskar@gmail.com
Abstract—A transmission line is the most important &
integral part of a power system. Due to occurrence of
more than 80% of disturbances or short circuit faults in
an overhead line, this section has become the most
vulnerable part of the electrical system. The differential
protection one of the main protection of the
transmission line which trip immediately under fault
condition. This paper recommends a detail theory
about working principle of differential protection &
differential relay design for a 400kv transmission line.
The simulation results of MATLAB show that the
design relay can be used as a main protection scheme
for the 400 kv transmission line. This paper presents
improved phase comparison technique & cosine
function which is notable form of differential protection
which compares the phase angle of end currents of
transmission line & are able to discriminate the faulty
phase accurately using equivalent ʌ model of
transmission line. The new technique can successfully
differentiate between internal & external faults.
Keywords— Transmission line, differential protection,
Faults, relay model.
I.INTRODUCTION
Power systems are nothing but the combination
of schemes, equipment’s & policies to ensure the
fault in protected area. After ensuring the fault,
clearing that fault from rest of healthy system is the
main work of protection system. The faults will lead
to partial system or total blackout. To protect the
system against disturbances that occurred, a
protection system is essentially required. One of the
most important & reliable equipment’s introduced in
the protection of power system are protective relays.
These are one of the most economic & flexible
devices that provide fast & reliable protection to the
entire system. Now a days we are using the most of
principles of operation of electromechanical relays
for the construction of protective devices.
Differential protection is one of the most popular and
reliable techniques in power system protection.
Differential protection schemes compares the
currents that enter into protected zone with the
currents that leave the protected zone. If the total
sum of currents that enter or leaves the protected
zone is become zero, then it is assumed that no fault
in the protected zone. If the total sum is not zero, the
protection decides that fault occurs and takes the
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Asst. Prof. SachinWadhankar
Electrical Engineering Department
G.H.R.I.E.T
Nagpur, India
sachin.wadhankar@raisoni.net
proper action to segregate zone from rest of healthy
system[13].
The conventional segregated phase comparison
technique is widely used for transmission line
protection. It works on the comparison of phase
angle of each phase current from both ends of
transmission line to distinguish internal & external
faults. The half cycle of sinusoidal current at one end
of line is converted to the square wave signal and
sent over to other end using power line
communication carrier (PLCC)[4].In reference [14]
presents a new integrated differential protection
method for line differential protection of
transmission lines. The main decision block (MBD)
is one method to to fix errors in current & voltage
trip.
The phase selector has acted as one of the
crucial elements of the EHV transmission line
protection. The phase selector using superimposed
differential currents between phases is a kind of
phase selector methods based on the fault
components. A novel phase selector is presented
based on multipara meter comparison of the fault
components. The criteria based on the cosine of
phase difference between the positive sequence
components & sum of negative and zero sequence
components accomplishes the phase selection[10].
The recent enlargement and increased
complexity of power system configurations has led to
adjacent arrangements of short and long
distancepower transmission lines, both connected to
same bus bar in a substation. This causes difficult
situation when relay engineers coordinate reach or
operate time among distance relays. To cope with
this current differential protection which utilizes
wide area current data for wide area backup
protection needs system wide timing synchronism for
the simultaneous current sampling at all remote
terminals and data exchanges among them[8].
Secure phase comparison technique and cosine
angle comparison schemes which works on phase
angle difference of sending and receiving end
current. These schemes are able to discriminate
faulty phase accurately due to its simplicity,
selectivity and sensitivity. According to these
proposed methods MATLAB Simulink model is
 International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS-2017)

designed by using block diagram as shown in fig (1) A similar equation can be written for other phases.
given below. Hence no fault condition can be discriminated by
function
Ψcos(a)=…‘• ିଵ ሺ…‘•ሺ‘‫ݎ݁ݏ݆݅ܫ‬ሻ ൅
…‘•ሺ‘‫ݎ݁ݏ݆݅ܫ‬ሻ=…‘• ିଵ ሺͲሻ=90° (8)

A similar equation can be written for other

phases. Ideally Ψcos(phase)=90° will indicate the no
fault condition. However for an internal fault
Ψcos(phase) 90°.In absence of an internal fault
operating point may deviate from 90° due to
modeling assumptions.
III .SYSTEM MODELLING
The simulation is based on working principle
of differential protection is presented in Simulink
Fig 1:- Block diagram of transmission line protection considering /Matlab environment. It simulates a three phase, two
secure phase comparison schemes.
sources,50Hz,400Kv transmission line with 100 km
II.NOVEL PRINCIPLE OF INTERNAL AND length used in the system. To get right settings of
EXTERNAL FAULT IDENTIFICATION relay, equation of both methods must be considered.
Fig 1.shows the equivalent ʌ model of transmission
A.Phase angle comparison method line.Line currents & series branch currents are
The phase domain approach has an advantage represented with notations. Phase comparison
of having superior ability of faulty phase selection techniques compensates phase angle error due to line
Let us consider equivalent ʌ model of 3 phase charging currents.
transmission line as shown in fig(1).
Case(a)Considering the no fault situation, the
series current equations at bus i and j for phase “a”
can be written as:-
௏௜ି௏௝
Iijser= (1)
௓௦
௏௝ି௏௜
Iijser= (2)
௓௦
ூ௜௝ୱୣ୰
argቂ ቃ=arg(-1)=180°. (3)
ூ௝௜௦௘௥

Case(b)Considering the fault occurring at

length “A” from bus i,the fault current from
phsase”a” in terms of series current can be written
as:- Fig 2 :- Equivalent ʌ model of three phase transmission line.

If=Iijser+Ijiser (4) IV.DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION OF

TRANSMISSION LINE.
ሺଵି஺ሻ
Iijser= ‫ݎ݁ݏ݆݅ܫ‬ (5) Differential protection principle is based on
஺
ூ௜௝௦௘௥ Kirchhoff current law which has been widely used in
Arg=ቂ ቃ  180° (6) main equipment protection of power system.
ூ௝௜௦௘௥
Differential protection is based on the fact that any
Ideally every difference other than 180° fault within would cause the current entering is
indicates a fault. In the absence of internal fault, different it to be different from that leaving it.Thus
operating point may deviate from 180° due to we can compare the two currents either in magnitude
measurement errors. or phase or both and issue a trip output.
B. Cosine angle comparison method. In this paper, we can compare the phase angle
These method works on the summation of cosine difference of both ends of transmission line. We
angle of series branch current Iijser and Ijiser.For phase propose the secure phase angle comparison scheme
“a” can be written as:- and cosine angle comparison scheme for the
protection of transmission line which works on the
cos(∠Iijser)+cos(∠Ijiser)=cos(∠Iijser) phase angle difference of current. The phase
+cos(-180°+∠Iijser) comparison technique which compensate phase angle
=cos(∠Iijser)-cos(∠Ijiser)=0 (7)

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 International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS-2017)

error due to line charging currents.These schemes are
able to discriminate faulty phase reliably.
In order to enhance conventional differential
protection scheme, a new protection algorithm was
implemented combining concept discussed above in
section 2.
A. Operation during internal faults.
Relay logic of phase angle comparison scheme
and cosine angle comparison will operate during an
internal fault to a bus. When an internal faults occur
in a system if the phase difference is other than
C. Result under normal operating condition
Results for phase angle comparison of different
conditions as given below .But these results as same
as for cosine angle comparison.Under normal
operating condition, when no fault on system
relaydoes not send any tripping signal to the circuit
breaker. Fig (4) shows results of sending end current
and receiving end of line current(ampere)& fig. (5)
shows phase difference between sending & receiving
end series current(ampere).
200

Phase A
C u rren t
threshold value indicates an fault. When this 0
happens, relay will trip.This will ensure fast & secure -200
operation during internal fault conditions. Time(seconds)
200

Phaser B
C u rre n t
B. Operation during external faults.
0
During the faults external to the bus, relay logic -200
of phase angle comparison and cosine angle Time(seconds)
200
Phase C
C u rren t
comparison will not operate. Even, if the phase
0
difference is other than threshold value. This will
-200
result no trip condition. The threshold values ensure 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
that the relay is always stable for external faults Time(seconds)
without affecting its performance on internal faults.
Fig 4:- Performance of LLLG fault during normal condition.
V .SIMULATION RESULTS
A. Designing of a differential relay
Circuit breaker which is used for the protection
purpose in power system. It cannot operate by its
own decision. There must be a relay that sends
tripping signal to circuit breaker after comparing
phase angle difference at both ends of transmission
line.
B. Logic behind the operation of differential relay.
As per differential protection principle ,current
get compare at both ends of transmission line but as
per phase angle comparison schemes we can
compare phase angle with each other in very
systematic manner in sending end and receiving end
of phase A & then result of comparison sends to
relay logic for final operation. The same procedure
with rest of two phases. Fig (3) shows relay logic of
secure phase comparison scheme.

Fig 5 :- Phase angle difference between sending & receiving end

series current for phase a,b,c(during normal
operatingcondition).180°(degree)

Fig 3. Relay logic of secure phase comparison scheme.

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 International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS-2017)

D. Results for internal faults on system. 5000

C u rre n t C u rre n t C u rre n t

Fig (6) shows the results for internal LLLG 0
fault on system as it is internal fault means inside -5000
protected zone relay sends a tripping signal to the Time (seconds)
5000
circuit breaker which shows sending end and
0
receiving end line current. Fig (7) shows phase angle
difference between sending & receiving end series -5000
Time(seconds)
current for phase a,b,c.(ampere). 5000

5000 0
C urren t

0 -5000
0
0.15 0.2 0.05
0.25 0.3 0.1
0.35 0.4
Time(seconds)
-5000
Time (seconds) Fig 8.:- Performance during (LLLG) external fault for phase
5000 a,b,c.(line current)
C u rre n t C u rre n t

0
-5000
Time(seconds)
5000
0
-5000
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
Time(seconds)
Fig 6:- Performance during (LLLG) internal fault for phase a, b,
and c.(line current)

Fig 9 :-Phase variation : Phase angle difference between

sending& receiving end series current for phase a,b,c. during
(LLLG) external fault.
Table (1) shows comparison of phase angle & cosine function
method.
TABLE I: Comparison of phase angle and Cosine function
method.

Schemes Fault Relay Types of fault

Position
LLLG LLL LLG LL LG
Phase External No trip No No No No No
angle
comparison Internal Trip Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Fig 7 :- Phase angle difference between sending & receiving end
Cosine External No trip No No No No No
series current considering (LLLG) fault. function
Internal Trip Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
E. Results for external faults on system.
Fig (8 ) shows result for LLLG fault on system VI .RELAYING ALGORITHM.
hence no tripping signal from the differential relay to The following algorithm is proposed for secure
the circuit breaker which shows sending & receiving phase angle comparison & cosine angle comparison
end line current (ampere) for phase a,b,c.& fig(9) schemes.
shows phase angle difference between sending &
receiving end series current for phase a,b,c.

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 International Conference on Energy, Communication, Data Analytics and Soft Computing (ICECDS-2017)

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6) For cosine angle comparison technique, method”.
calculate cosine of angle of series branch
current for phase a, b, c.
7) Check if phase angle difference is other than
threshold value. If yes then trip else no trip.
8) For both the methods mentioned in step 5 and
step 7 , if Ψcos(phase) &Ψser (phase) other than
threshold value then issue a trip decision and
send trip decision other end also.Else go back to
step 4.
VII.CONCLUSION
This paper proposes two secure phase comparison
schemes for protection of transmission line which
based on the working principle of differential relay
protection. Both schemes compensates the phase
angle error due to line charging currents and are able
to discriminate the faulty phase reliably. Also it
contains simulation model specially design for 400kv
transmission line. Also these schemes are able to
distinguish between internal and external faults.
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