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EE 3043 – Power Systems III

Power System Protection

by
Dr. Lidula N. Widangama Arachchige
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Learning Outcomes

• After completing this module the student should be able

to:
– demonstrate knowledge of the general requirements of
protective relaying.
– select suitable instrument transformers for metering and
protection, optimization of their protection functions.
– demonstrate knowledge of relaying principles of electro-
mechanical, static and numeric relays.
– design protection schemes using over current, earth fault and
directional relays and to calculate the relay settings.
– describe appropriate protection schemes for generators and
transformers.
– apply different distance relay techniques for transmission line
protection.

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Reference

• Juan M. Gers and Edward J Holms, “Protection of Electricity

Distribution Networks, 2nd Edition,” IET Power and Energy
Series – 47, IEEE, London, UK, 2011, ISBN 0 86341 537 7.

Outline

• Introduction to power system protection

– Necessity for protection
– Protection Requirements
– Zones of Protection
– Primary and backup protection
– Breaker Failure Protection

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Goal of a Power System

• Power system is expected to provide electricity at an

acceptable level of,
– Reliability
– Quality
– Safety
– Price

Objective of Power System Protection

• To design, install and maintain the power system to

limit the cumulative faults and to overcome the
possible risk of damage.

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Necessity for Protection

• Faults will occur in power systems despite how well

the system is designed
– Lightening
– Contact of tree branches
– Deterioration of insulators causing flashover
– Vandalism
– Contact of animals

• Majority of faults are transient in nature and can be

cleared with no or short interruptions
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Faults in Power Systems

• Faults are associated with

– Rapid growth of currents to very large values

– Considerable voltage deviations

– Liberation of large amount of heat at the fault

→Overheating of healthy lines and equipment

→A risk to life/property

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Functions of the Protection System

• Primary function
– Fast removal of any element of a power system when it suffers a
short circuit, or when it starts to operate in any abnormal
manner
→Permits the rest of the system to remain in service
→Limits the possibility of damage to other equipment

• Secondary function
– Provides an indication of the location and type of fault

• Essential elements in a protection system

– Relays – to detect faults and issue trip signals
– Circuit breakers – to disconnect the faulty section from rest of
the network
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Protection Requirements

• Availability
• Simplicity
Economical
• Flexibility
• Cost
• Reliability
• Speed Functional
• Selectivity
• Sensitivity

– It is practically impossible to satisfy all the above‐mentioned needs

at the same time
– Compromise is required to obtain the optimum protection

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Economical Requirements

• Availability
– Minimum time for repair and maintenance

• Simplicity
– Minimum equipment and circuitry

• Flexibility
– For an easy adaptation to the power system

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Functional Requirements

• Reliability
– Neither over nor under reaction (i.e. Should be dependable and secure)
• Dependability
– Certainty of correct operation
• Security
– Ability to avoid incorrect operation
• Causes for incorrect operation
– Incorrect design/setting
– Incorrect installation/testing
– Deterioration during the service
→Rough or burnt contacts, damaged electronic components, open circuited coils,
stuck mechanical parts, etc.
→Need regular testing – long periods between relay operation 12

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Functional Requirements Cont...

• Speed
– Clear the fault as fast as possible

– To ensure power system stability

→Loss of synchronism
→Clearing before the “critical clearing time”

– To avoid equipment damage due to heat

→Energy dissipation ∝ (IF2)t

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Functional Requirements Cont...

• Selectivity
– Disconnect only the minimum section of the network to isolate
the fault
→Maintain supply to un‐faulted sections

• Methods of introducing selectivity :

– Time grading
→Operating times of the relays in successive zones are arranged so that
only the relay in faulty section complete the operation
→Operating time is related to the fault severity
– Unit protection
→Protections systems that respond to faults in a clearly defined zone
→Relatively fast operation
→Speed is independent of the fault severity
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Functional Requirements Cont...

• Methods of introducing selectivity cont...

– Directional Protection
→The relay can determine the direction of power flow
→Trips circuit breakers only if the direction of fault current is according
to the relay setting
→Very important in proving protection to
 Meshed networks
 Networks with various generating sources
 Parallel elements

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Functional Requirements Cont...

• Sensitivity
– Minimum level of operating parameter required to
complete the relay operation
→Voltage, current, power, etc.
– Electromechanical relays
→Sensitivity of the measuring movement
– Digital relays
→Sensitivity is usually limited by the current/voltage transformer
parameters

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Zones of Protection

• To limit the extent of power system that is disconnected during

a fault, the protection is arranged in zones.

Zone 1
– Generators
– Transformers
– Groups of generator transformers Zone 2
– Motors
– Busbars
– Lines Zone 3

Zone 4

Zone 5 Zone 6 17

Zones of Protection Cont...

• Ideally, a protection zone must overlap with the

adjacent zones

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Primary and Backup Protection

• It is essential that any fault is isolated

– But failure/unavailability of main protection scheme is
possible
• Backup Protection – provides the second line of
defense
– Unit type protection relays operate only for faults within
the zone (Can only be used as primary protection)
– Other relays can detect faults in adjacent zones, and can
be used as backup protection
– Whenever possible, every element must be protected by
primary and backup systems

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Primary Protection

• Primary protection must operate every time an

element detects a fault
– One primary protection element may cover group of
equipments
– One equipment may be protected by a number of primary
protection relays – for different types of faults

• Usually a unit type protection, and therefore operate

faster

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Backup Protection

• Operate when the primary protection failed to operate

• Backup protection usually involve a time‐delay before the
operation
– Allow time for primary protection to operate
• One relay can provide backup protection to several
different pieces of equipment
• A primary relay for one equipment may provide backup
protection to several other equipment
• A single piece of equipment can have several backup
protection systems

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Redundancy

• Ensure the fault detection and isolation in the event

of component failure
• At least two redundant schemes for each zone
– Schemes A and B
• Two schemes are independent from each other
– Measurements from different CTs/VTs
– Relays from different manufacturers
– Two trip coils in circuit breakers; one operated by Scheme
A and the other operated by Scheme B
– Separate DC power supplies/Battery banks

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Breaker Failure Protection

• Detects and isolates the circuit breakers that fails to

open to isolate a fault
– Faulted breakers
• Very critical protection scheme
• Additional actions must be initiated to isolate the
fault
– Operation of remote protection
– Local protection

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Breaker Failure Protection Cont...

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Breaker Failure Protection by Remote Backup

Remote Backup

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Breaker Failure Protection by Relaying

Breaker Failure Relaying

• BFR on breaker [3] detects breaker failure condition

– BFR trips a Lockout relay on Bus B
– Lockout relay trips breakers [2], [5], and [7]
– Lockout relay blocks close of [2], [5], and [7]
– Transfer Trip (remote signalling) to breaker [4]
– Cancel reclose of [4]
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Example

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Answer

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