Experiment No.

: 05
Aim: Study of Construction and working of Induction Disc Relays.

Theory:

1. This was used in the classic implementation of an over-current relay and was based originally
on the design of electro-mechanical energy meters.

2. An aluminium disc rotates between the poles of an electromagnet which produces two
alternating magnetic fields displaced in phase and space.

3. The eddy currents due to one flux and the remaining flux interact to produce a torque on the
disc. In early relays the flux displacement was produced by a copper band around part of the
magnet pole (shading ring) which displaced the flux contained by it.

4. Later designs of these electromechanical relays employed a wattmetric principle with two
electromagnets, as shown in Figure A.

5. The current in the lower electromagnet is induced by transformer action from the upper
winding and sufficient displacement between the two fluxes results. This, however, may be
adjusted by means of a reactor in parallel with the secondary winding.

6. The basic mode of operation of the induction disc is indicated in the phasor diagram of Figure
B. The torques produced is proportional to F2ij sin a and Fj i2 sin a, so that the total torque is
proportional to Fj F2sin a or q i2sin a as F: is proportional to q and F2 to i2.

7. This type of relay is fed from a current transformer (CT) and the sensitivity may be varied by
the plug arrangement shown in Figure 11.14. The time to the closing of the contacts is altered
by adjusting the angle through which the disk has to rotate.

8. The operating characteristics are shown in Figure B. To enable a single characteristic curve to
be used for all the relay sensitivities (plug settings) a quantity known as the current (or plug)
setting multiplier is used as the abscissa instead of current magnitude, as shown in Figure C.

9. The time multiplier adjusts the angle through which the disk rotates and so translates the
curve vertically.
Figure A Induction-disc relay

Figure B Operation of disc-type electromagnetic relay, (a) Fluxes, (b) Phasor diagram. i1 and i2 are
induced currents in disc
Figure C Time-current characteristics of a typical induction disc in terms of the plug-setting
multiplier. TMS = time multiplier setting

This relay characteristic is known as Inverse Definite Minimum Time (IDMT). The operating
characteristic of a standard IDMT relay is defined as equation 1:

TMS: Time Multiplier Setting PSM: Plug Setting Multiplier

To illustrate the use of this curve (usually shown on the relay casing) the following example is given.
Example:
Determine the time of operation of a 1 A, 3 s overcurrent relay having a Plug Setting of 125% and a
Time Multiplier of 0.6. The supplying CT is rated 400: 1 A and the fault current is 4000 A.
Solution:
The relay coil current for the fault = (4000/400) x 1 = 10 A.
The nominal relay coil current is 1 x (125/100) = 1.25 A.
Therefore the relay fault current as a multiple of the Plug Setting = (10/1.25) = 8 (Plug Setting
Multiplier).

From the relay curve (Figure B), the time of operation is 3.3 s for a time setting of 1.
The time multiplier (TM) controls the time of operation by changing the angle through which the
disc moves to close the contacts. The actual operating time = 3.3 x 0.6 = 2.0 s.

This can be obtained directly from equation (1) as:

Induction-disc relays may be made responsive to real power flow by feeding the upper magnet
winding in Figure B from a voltage via a potential transformer and the lower winding from the
corresponding current.

As the upper coil will consist of a large number of turns, the current in it lags the applied voltage by
90°, whereas in the lower (small number of turns) coil they are almost in phase.

Hence, Fj is proportional to V, and F2 is proportional to I, and torque is proportional to FjF2 sin a,

that is to VI sin (90 — a), or VI cos a (where a is the angle between V and I).

The direction of the torque depends on the power direction and hence the relay is directional. A
power relay may be used in conjunction with a current operated relay to provide a directional
overcurrent property.

Conclusion: Hence we studied the Construction and working of Induction Disc Relays.