Shahzad Azam Hashmi Protection Central Power House

A Comprehensive Overview
of
Directional Over Current Relay

Compiled By:
Shahzad Azam Hashmi
Assistant Manager Electrical
Central Power House,
Bahria Town Karachi, Pakistan
Contact: +92-311-7418463
Email: engineer.hashmi99@gmail.com 1
Shahzad Azam Hashmi Protection Central Power House

Table of Contents

1. Need for Directional Relaying .................................................................................................... 4

1.1. Fault on Line ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.2. Relay Coordination in Case of Fault .................................................................................... 5
1.3. More Reliable Protection Scheme ........................................................................................ 6
1.4. Protection Scheme ‘67’ – Directional Overcurrent Protection ............................................. 6
1.5. Justification For Need of ‘67’ - Directional Over Current Relay ......................................... 8
2. Fundamentals of Directional Overcurrent Relay ........................................................................ 8
2.1. Directionality Check ............................................................................................................ 9
2.2. Lagging Faults .................................................................................................................... 10
2.3. Leading Faults .................................................................................................................... 10
3. Directional Relay Characteristics ..............................................................................................11
3.1. Quadrature Polarization...................................................................................................... 12
3.1.1. What is Quadrature? .................................................................................................... 12
3.2. Phase Directional Relaying ................................................................................................ 13
3.3. Voltage Polarization Connections – Phase ......................................................................... 14
3.4. Ground Directional Relaying ............................................................................................. 15
4. Electromechanical Directional Relays ...................................................................................... 16
4.1. Phase Directional – ABB CR Relay ................................................................................... 16
4.2. Ground Directional – GE JBCG Relay .............................................................................. 17
5. Microprocessor Based Directional Relays ................................................................................ 17
5.1. Negative Sequence Directional Element ............................................................................ 18
5.2. Working of Microprocessor – Based Relays ...................................................................... 19
6. Microprocessor Based Directional Relays Tests ....................................................................... 20
6.1. Maximum Torque Angle Test ............................................................................................. 20
6.2. Directional Overcurrent Pick-up Test................................................................................. 21
7. Summary ................................................................................................................................... 21

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Parallel Feeders ............................................................................................................... 4
Figure 2: Fault Occur at Transmission Line "AB".......................................................................... 4
Figure 3: Generator Feeding the Fault ............................................................................................ 5
Figure 4: Generator feeding the fault from parallel route ............................................................... 5
Figure 5: First Tripping of Breakers in Case of This Fault ............................................................. 6
Figure 6: Scheme 67 - Directional Over Current Protection .......................................................... 6
Figure 7: Direction of Current Flow in Case of Fault ..................................................................... 7
Figure 8: Working of '67' - Directional Overcurrent in Protection Scheme.................................... 7
Figure 9: Tripping of Backup Breaker 'A' ....................................................................................... 8
Figure 10: Algorithm of '67' Relay Working ................................................................................... 9
Figure 11: Graphical representation of Directionality Check ......................................................... 9
Figure 12: Voltage and Current Out of Phase ............................................................................... 10
Figure 13: Lagging Fault Current in Different Scenarios ............................................................. 10
Figure 14: Scenario for Leading Fault .......................................................................................... 10
Figure 15: Phasors of Leading Fault ..............................................................................................11
Figure 16: Directionality Assessment in Directional Relay ...........................................................11
Figure 17: Quadrature Polarization ............................................................................................... 12
Figure 18: Angle between Faulty Phase and Reference Voltage .................................................. 13
Figure 19: Faulty Phases and their Reference Voltages in Quadrature Polarization .................... 13
Figure 20: Phase Directional Relaying ......................................................................................... 14
Figure 21: Voltage Polarization Connections - Phase ................................................................... 14
Figure 22: Ground Directional Relaying ...................................................................................... 15
Figure 23: Voltage Polarization Connections - Ground ................................................................ 16
Figure 24: Phase Directional – ABB CR Relay ............................................................................ 17
Figure 25: Block Diagram of Distance Relay ............................................................................... 18
Figure 26: Negative Sequence Directional Current ...................................................................... 19
Figure 27: Microprocessor - Based Directional Relay Settings.................................................... 20
Figure 28: Directional Overcurrent Setting .................................................................................. 20
Figure 29: Maximum Torque Angle Test ...................................................................................... 21
Figure 30: Directional Overcurrent Pick-up Test .......................................................................... 21

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1. Need for Directional Relaying

• Fig.1 shown two parallel feeders with similar characteristics i.e, current, voltage and
impedance. The lines are protected by ‘51’, “Over Current” protection.
• 51 – over current protection is time delayed over current protection
• In normal operation the current flows to load from breaker ‘A’ and ‘B’ at one side
• For other side it flows from breaker ‘C’ and ‘D’
• Considering the impedances of both the transmission lines are similar, same current flows
through both lines

Figure 1: Parallel Feeders

1.1. Fault on Line

• Suppose a fault occur on transmission line between breaker ‘A’ and ‘B’

Figure 2: Fault Occur at Transmission Line "AB"

• In case of fault, the generator starts feeding the fault from breaker ‘A’ as shown in fig. 3

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Figure 3: Generator Feeding the Fault

• Fault will also be fed from parallel route breaker ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘B’

Figure 4: Generator feeding the fault from parallel route

• In case of the fault the relay ‘51’ picks up the fault current according to its settings and
will trip the breaker after some delay

1.2. Relay Coordination in Case of Fault

• Careful relay coordination studies require for handling this type of faults
• The fault is nearer to the breaker ‘B’, and the current will be higher than pick up so, by
relay coordination scheme, at first breaker ‘B’ and ‘D’ will trip after some delay
• Breaker ‘A’ and ‘C’ are backup breakers
• It can be seen from fig.5 that even tripping the breaker ‘B’ and ‘D’, generator is still
feeding the fault from breaker ‘A’
• So, after certain time delay the backup protection will initiate and will trip the breaker ‘A’
to complete isolate the fault

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Figure 5: First Tripping of Breakers in Case of This Fault

1.3. More Reliable Protection Scheme

• The scheme presented previously is not reliable enough for load so, to make this
protection more reliable some other protection scheme needed to be introduced
• ‘67’ is one of the schemes that can be implemented in this scenario
• The advantage of ‘67’ is that some load is always there even if there is a fault on any of
the line

1.4. Protection Scheme ‘67’ – Directional Overcurrent Protection

• Here relay ‘67’ – directional over current has been introduced in the protection scheme
• Arrow direction on each relay shows the forward-looking zone for the relay

Figure 6: Scheme 67 - Directional Over Current Protection

• Let’s a fault occur on transmission line between breaker ‘A’ and ‘B’ as shown in fig. 7
• First look at the current flow from generator (G) to fault from breaker ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘B’ as
presented in yellow
• The direction of current flow to fault from breaker ‘D’ and the forward-looking zone of
‘67’ – overcurrent protection is opposite

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• The direction of current flow to fault from breaker ‘B’ and the forward-looking zone of
‘67’ – overcurrent protection is same

Figure 7: Direction of Current Flow in Case of Fault

• As, the direction of fault current and directional overcurrent relay forward looking zone
same so breaker ‘B’ will trip first due to no phase difference between operate quantity
and fault current
• The tripping of breaker ‘B’ will provide the continuity to the load current to feed the load
from ‘C’ and ‘D’

Figure 8: Working of '67' - Directional Overcurrent in Protection Scheme

• Even tripping of breaker ‘B’ will not completely stop the current feeding to the fault
• Fault will be fed from breaker ‘A’
• So, after some time delay of breaker ‘B’ tripping, breaker ‘A’ will also make to trip to
isolate the fault completely from the source as shown in fig. 9
• It can be seen that even in faulty transmission line scenario some load is still being fed
from parallel route to avoid the complete blackout

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Figure 9: Tripping of Backup Breaker 'A'

1.5. Justification For Need of ‘67’ - Directional Over Current Relay

At this point after discussing the two scenarios or schemes of protections we are able to justify
the need of directional overcurrent relay scheme as follows;
• Trip for bus fault but maintain loads especially for parallel feeders, looped/Ring and
multi-fed systems
• Increase reliability to critical loads
• More selective compared to non-directional overcurrent relay
• Supervisor role for distance element
▪ Distance relay works on calculating the impedance of forward and reverse
looking zones. The ‘67’ relay will supervise the tripping operation as in case of
fault in reverse looking zone the “directional overcurrent” relay will stop the
remote relay ‘21’ to trip

2. Fundamentals of Directional Overcurrent Relay

• ‘67’ relay element looks for both voltage and current phasors that are 𝑉 ⃗ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼
• It is worth mentioning here is that it not only looks for current phasor but also the voltage
phasor
• It assesses 𝑉⃗ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 and run some algorithm because it is a microprocessor-based relay
• In case if it is electromechanical based relay, it will have some filters
• First thing ‘67’ do is It checks for directionality
• Directionality identifies the direction of fault as if in forward direction to relay zone it
will pass command to ‘50/51’ element to initiate the tripping
• If the directionality is in opposite direction to relay it will send the ‘Blocking”
signal/command to ‘50/51’ trip element

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Figure 10: Algorithm of '67' Relay Working

2.1. Directionality Check

• In directionality checks the location of CT and PT is of importance
• The ‘67’ relay is between breaker ‘B’ and ‘C’
• If fault occur between ‘B’ and ‘C’, the fault current flow in ‘L’ arrow direction from G-2
mentioned in diagram
• If fault occur between ‘B’ and ‘C’, the fault current flow in ‘R’ arrow direction from G-1
mentioned in diagram
• In case of fault the ‘67’ relay will pick up the forward fault and after some delay will
make ‘50/51’ to trip

Figure 11: Graphical representation of Directionality Check

• It must be kept in mind that transmission lines have ‘X/R’ (Reactance/Resistance) ratio
which means that they are not only resistive
• Due to above mentioned effect the voltage ‘V’ would never be in line with current ‘I’
• So, Voltage and current are out of phase as shown in fig. 12

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2.2. Lagging Faults

Figure 12: Voltage and Current Out of Phase

• It has been observed that mostly the faults are lagging in nature, which means that fault
current ‘I’ lags the voltage ‘V’

Figure 13: Lagging Fault Current in Different Scenarios

• It is worth mentioning here that as the distance of the fault from the generating station
increases the ‘lag’ increases
• The angle between the fault current and voltage all depends upon the type of fault and the
types and number of parameters considered for transmission line

2.3. Leading Faults

▪ It can be seen in fig. 14 that the fault is being fed from G-2 in opposite direction of the
‘67’ pickup zone
▪ In this case the fault current will be 180° flip and act as leading as shown in fig. 15

Figure 14: Scenario for Leading Fault

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Figure 15: Phasors of Leading Fault

3. Directional Relay Characteristics

• Directional relay works on the principle of voltage phasor and current phasor
• But traditionally and practically it operates on torque
• With the interaction of voltage and current phasors there is the development of torque
• 𝑉𝑃𝑜𝑙 is the polarizing quantity and it is nothing but the reference
• 𝑉𝑃𝑜𝑙 is not affected by the fault and constant so voltage polarization can be used as the
good reference to decide that whether the fault is forward or reverse (directionality)

Figure 16: Directionality Assessment in Directional Relay

• When I_Fault is equal to I_MTA the relay will experience the maximum torque
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛
∅𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 = ∅𝑀𝑇𝐴
𝑀𝑇𝐴 = 𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒

• The idea of torque in electromechanical word is to operate the relay

• Maximum Torque is important in deciding the characteristics of relay
𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 = 𝑘 ∗ 𝑉𝑃𝑜𝑙 ∗ 𝐼𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 ∗ 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
∅ = ∅𝑀𝑇𝐴 − ∅𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡

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• To separate the two regions’ blinders of ± 90° has been implemented

• The line that divides the two regions called the “Zero Torque Line”
• If the fault is in ‘grey’ region its forward fault and if in ‘white’ region its reverse fault
• “MTA” also called the “Relay Characteristic Angle” or Z1MAG in various relays

3.1. Quadrature Polarization

• The idea of “Quadrature Polarization” can be derived from ‘Phase – Triangle’
relationship
• ‘𝑉𝐴 ’, ‘𝑉𝐵 ’ and ‘𝑉𝐶 ’ are the voltage phase ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’
• ‘𝑉𝐴𝐵 ’, ‘𝑉𝐵𝐶 ’ and ‘𝑉𝐶𝐴 are phase to phase voltages
• ‘Quadrature Polarization’ tells that if the fault occurs on ‘Phase A’, then voltage 𝑉𝐵𝐶 can
be used as reference voltage because it will not be affected by the fault on ‘Phase A’
• This method is used by many directional relays that one voltage is used as a reference

Figure 17: Quadrature Polarization

3.1.1. What is Quadrature?

• Quadrature means ‘1/4’. In reference plane we have 360° x 1/4 = 90°
• So, it is nothing but a 90° connection
• 90° connection between ‘Phase A’ i.e faulty phase voltage and ‘Polarization Voltage (𝑉𝐵𝐶 )
i.e reference phase voltage as shown in fig. 18

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Figure 18: Angle between Faulty Phase and Reference Voltage

• For fault in ‘Phase A’, phase voltage 𝑉𝐵𝐶 will be used as reference
• For fault in ‘Phase B’, phase voltage 𝑉𝐴𝐶 will be used as reference
• For fault in ‘Phase C’, phase voltage 𝑉𝐴𝐵 will be used as reference

Figure 19: Faulty Phases and their Reference Voltages in Quadrature Polarization

3.2. Phase Directional Relaying

• Traditionally the phase relays use quadrature polarization voltage
• Phase relaying is to detect 3∅ and ∅ - ∅ faults
• For ‘Phase A’, phase voltage V_BC will be used as reference
• 90° connection between faulty phase and reference voltage
• In fig. 20, MTA is set at 60°

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Figure 20: Phase Directional Relaying

3.3. Voltage Polarization Connections – Phase

• In fig. 21, the field connections have been shown

LV

Figure 21: Voltage Polarization Connections - Phase

• There is a station bus that going to breaker through CTs

• On right side there is open delta connections to sense the voltages that is VT
• VT is open delta that withy ‘B’ phase grounded
• LV is the low voltage line to measure the voltage
• Phase connections in any directional relays measures the phase currents
• Currents would be from phase CTs
• If there is phase ‘A’ fault, then need to sense the ‘B’ and ‘C’ voltages line – to – line that
is 𝑉𝐵𝐶

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3.4. Ground Directional Relaying

• Ground directional relaying is to sense any current flowing through the ground circuit
• From symmetrical component theory we know that the zero sequence flows in the neutral
of ‘Y’ connected circuit
• In ground directional relaying either zero sequence voltage or zero sequence current can
be used as reference phasor
• There are certain factors to decide that whether the zero-sequence current or zero
sequence voltage be used as a reference phasor

Figure 22: Ground Directional Relaying

• In electromechanical relays there are no programs for calculation of zero sequence

voltage
• Zero sequence current in electromechanical relays can be computed by the way we
connect PTs
• In electromechanical relays the polarization voltage comes from broken delta PTs
• In microprocessor based or numerical relays the zero-sequence voltage can be calculated
in its program
• If zero sequence current to be used for polarization it comes from transformer neutral CT
or core balance CT
• Operate quantity in grounding directional relay is ‘Residual Current’ from phase CT
connections
• The relay is to sense the angle between the zero-sequence voltage and zero sequence
current

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Figure 23: Voltage Polarization Connections - Ground

• 67N Neutral with CTs will sense the residual current flowing through the neutral
• For polarization quantity it requires broken delta connections
• Broken Delta
o Non-Polarity end of A connected to Polarity end of B
o Non-Polarity end of B connected to Polarity end of B
o Non-Polarity end of C is open and directly goes to the 67N Neutral relay
o It is called broken delta because the non-polarity of phase ‘C’ is not connected to
phase ‘D’
o 67N at broken delta region calculates the zero-sequence by Kirchhoff’s law
• From Kirchhoff’s law it computes the voltages of phase A, B and C
• From Symmetrical system theory
𝑉𝐴 + 𝑉𝐵 + 𝑉𝐶 = 3𝑉0

𝑉𝑜 = 𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 − 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒

4. Electromechanical Directional Relays

4.1. Phase Directional – ABB CR Relay
• In fig. 24, the element in red square is the directional unit
• Directional unit ‘67’ is comprised of an induction cup
• Below the direction unit there is “Time Over Current Unit” which is ‘51’ and induction
disc type unit

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Figure 24: Phase Directional – ABB CR Relay

• It is a single-phase relay
• There require three similar relays for 3-Phase and Phase – to – Phase faults
• The MTA this relay decides based on the connections that has been made inside the relay
• It has fixed MTA 30° current leading the voltage
• It must be kept into mind that not many MTA options available in electromechanical
relays
• The directional unit which is induction cup type has the dramatically opposite winding
coils
• Two coils for operate quantity and two coils for restrained quantity
• Operate quantity is current so two coils work on them
• Restraining quantity or polarization quantity works on quadrature polarization
connections that are 90° connections
• Torque is controlled by the in-built high speed induction cylinder type directional unit
• The high torque and low rotor inertia, induction cylinders provide higher speed and
sensitivity
• Directional unit polarized by un-faulted phase – to – phase Voltage

4.2. Ground Directional – GE JBCG Relay

• Protection against Phase – Ground faults
• Torque is controlled by the in-built high speed induction cylinder type directional unit
• Instantaneous units available as well
• Dual polarization options – Zero sequence current and voltage

5. Microprocessor Based Directional Relays

• There are three phase and three current inputs

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• The relay disintegrates these phaser quantities into sequence quantities

• It decides then the directionality and then give permission to 50/51 trip

Figure 25: Block Diagram of Distance Relay

5.1. Negative Sequence Directional Element

• During phase – to – phase fault and phase – to – ground faults the negative sequence
quantities are high in the system
• Negative sequence quantities are more sensitive than the phase or phasor quantities
• So, negative sequence quantities are used in some relays
• Negative sequence elements can be set low ensuring sensitive operation
• These negative sequence elements are load independent
• Sometimes better than Ground directional for mutually coupled lines
• Negative sequence current generates when there is a fault
• Forward fault is declared when 3𝐼2 leads 3𝑉2 by (180 – MTA)
• Negative sequence rotation is opposite to phasor rotation

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Figure 26: Negative Sequence Directional Current

5.2. Working of Microprocessor – Based Relays

• Zero sequence voltage 𝑉𝑜 calculated from 3 Phase PT inputs
• 𝑉𝑜 as 4th Aux PT input on relays (This is to measure quantity based on connections)
o Broken delta (For using voltage polarization technique)
o Neutral of an impedance grounded generator (For using current polarization
technique)

• Zero sequence current 𝐼𝑜 calculated from 3 Phase CT inputs

• 𝐼𝑜 as 4th Aux CT input on relays (This is to measure quantity based on connections)
o Flux summing CTs / Core balance CTs (For measuring zero sequence current)
o From CT on transformer neutral (For measuring zero sequence voltage)
• So, microprocessor-based relays have the option either to calculate the quantity of
measure it through connections
• In comparison electromechanical relay cannot calculated rather the quantity can be
measured from connection arrangements

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Figure 27: Microprocessor - Based Directional Relay Settings

Figure 28: Directional Overcurrent Setting

6. Microprocessor Based Directional Relays Tests

6.1. Maximum Torque Angle Test
• Current higher than pick-up settings
• Balanced voltage higher than minimum polarizing voltage magnitude
• Increase up the phase angle to wait for the trip
• Record value is the actual pick-up

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Figure 29: Maximum Torque Angle Test

6.2. Directional Overcurrent Pick-up Test

• Phase difference between injected current and voltage kept at MTA
• Balanced voltage higher than minimum polarizing voltage magnitude
• Ramp up the currents to wait for the trip. Recorded value is the actual pick-up

Figure 30: Directional Overcurrent Pick-up Test

7. Summary
• Phase Directional Vs Ground Directional
• Directional relay works on the principle of polarization
• Directional relays provide better selectivity, speed and security in a two-source and
looped systems

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• Both currents and voltage phasors are required to simulate a trip condition during testing
• Every manufacturer is different in defining phase angles, make sure to check instruction
manual of the relay to see the defined characteristic

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