QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Part - A

1.What is resistance switching?

It is the method of connecting a resistance in parallel with the contact space(arc). The resistance
reduces the restriking voltage frequency and it diverts part of the arc current. It assists the circuit
breaker in interrupting the magnetizing current and capacity current.

2. What do you mean by current chopping?

When interrupting low inductive currents such as magnetizing currents of the transformer, shunt
reactor, the rapid deionization of the contact space and blast effect may cause the current to be
interrupted before the natural current zero. This phenomenon of interruption of the current before
its natural zero is called current chopping.

3. What are the methods of capacitive switching?

• Opening of single capacitor bank • Closing of one capacitor bank against another

4. What is an arc?

Arc is a phenomenon occurring when the two contacts of a circuit breaker separate under heavy
load or fault or short circuit condition.

5. Give the two methods of arc interruption?

High resistance interruption:-the arc resistance is increased by elongating, and splitting the arc so
that the arc is fully extinguished _ Current zero method:-The arc is interrupted at current zero
position that occurs100 times a second in case of 50Hz power system frequency in ac.

6. What is restriking voltage?

It is the transient voltage appearing across the breaker contacts at the instant of arc being
extinguished.

7. What is meant by recovery voltage?

The power frequency rms voltage appearing across the breaker contacts after the arc is
extinguished and transient oscillations die out is called recovery voltage.
8. What is RRRV?

It is the rate of rise of restriking voltage, expressed in volts per microsecond. It is closely
associated with natural frequency of oscillation.

PART B

1.How will you synthesize mho relay using static phase comparator?(N/D-16)

A mho Relay is a high-speed relay and is also known as the admittance relay. In this relay
operating torque is obtained by the volt-amperes element and the controlling element is
developed due to the voltage element. It means a mho relay is a voltage controlled directional
relay.

A mho relay using the induction cup structure is shown in the figure below. The operating torque
is developed by the interaction of fluxes due to pole 2, 3, and 4 and the controlling torque is
developed due to poles 1, 2 and 4.

nd the controlling torque is developed due to poles 1, 2 and 4.

If the spring controlling effect is indicated by –K3, the torque equation becomes,
 Where Θ and τ are defined as positive when I lag behind V.
At balance point, the net torque is zero, and hence the equation becomes

If the spring controlled effect is neglected i.e., k3 = 0.

Operating Characteristic of Mho Relay

The operating characteristic of the mho relay is shown in the figure below. The diameter of the
circle is practically independent of V and I, except at a very low magnitude of the voltage and
current when the spring effect is considered, which causes the diameter to decrease. The
diameter of the circle is expressed by the equation as ZR= K1 / K2 = ohmic setting of the relay

The relay operates when the impedance seen by

the relay within the circle. The operating characteristic showed that circle passes through the
origin, which makes the relay naturally directional. The relay because of its naturally directional
characteristic requires only one pair of contacts which makes it fast tripping for fault clearance
and reduces the VA burdens on the current transformer.

The impedance angle of the protected line is normally 60º and 70º which is shown by line OC in
the figure. The arc resistance R is represented by the length AB, which is horizontal to OC from
the extremity of the chord Z. By making the τ equal to, or little less lagging than Θ, the circle is
made to fit around the faulty area so that the relay is insensitive to power swings and therefore
particularly applicable to the protection of long or heavily loaded lines.

For a given relay the τ is constant, and the admittance phasor Y will lie on the straight line. The
characteristic of mho relays on the admittance diagram is, therefore, a straight line and is shown
in the figure below.

Mho relay is suitable for EHV/UHV

heavily loaded transmission lines as its threshold characteristic in Z-plane is a circle passing
through the origin, and its diameter is ZR. Because of this, the threshold characteristic is quite
compact enclosing faulty area compactly and hence, there is lesser chance to operate during
power swing and also it is directional.

2. Explain about numerical overcurrent relay and numerical protection of transformers

(N/D-16)
A numerical Relay is a computerized electronic relay, which determines its qualities by method
for a pre-programmed algorithm and counts (calculations), in light of the chose settings and the
deliberate current and/or voltage signals.

BASIC EQUATION: The formula used to determine the Inverse time characteristic in an
overcurrent relay that consent to be scientifically characterized as takes after:

t[s]=kβ / [(I/I>) α -1]

Where T = operating time in seconds K = time multiplier I = current value I> = set current value.
The unit incorporates four determined qualities with distinctive degrees of Inverse. The level of
backwards is controlled by the estimations of the Constants α and β
BASIC PRINCIPLE: In computerized transfers Digital Signals are utilized for information
preparing rather than Analog signs. Simple signs are Continuous Signals and can't be prepared
effectively as a result of their few constraints when contrasted with advanced signs.
Computerized signs are in type of coded square heartbeats which speaks to discrete components
of data. In computerized framework, the signs are in double shape just two discrete qualities
alluded to as paired coefficients 0 and 1 or consistent values genuine and false. The quantity of
paired digits expected to encode the different discrete components of data affects the outline of
an advanced framework. The advanced framework by and large works on gatherings of 8 to 32
bits of data without a moment's delay. The scope of the computerized arrangement of encoding
the data by a n bit gathering is 2 n. Thus advanced frameworks with bigger piece working
gathering can prepare a more extensive scope of encoded data. The data to be handled may be
literary, numerical and legitimate.

It is now easier and faster when this process is done through micro processor, like now at the
point when the mean estimation of two back to back half-waves is figured, the DC-segment is
eliminated just about 100% with no requirement for non-linear air hole Transformers or
comparable segments. Then again, the count of the mean quality devours high value, which is
not needed for high short out Current levels where an instantaneous trip is called for. For this
case another trip criteria is basically included. On the off chance that the Current in the first
halfwave surpasses double the Setting, it is clear that the mean estimation of the two half-waves
will surpass the set level and along these lines a trek can be completed quickly without the need
to sit tight for the following half-wave All deliberate numerical qualities can obviously
effortlessly be exchanged over the serial communication, be put away in memory banks, for later
recovery when flaw reasons are being examined. The Sampling is likewise utilized as a part of
another great approach to minimize the transient over-reach. At the point when the working time
for a stage has passed and the trip order is to be completed, the stage will sit tight for still one
single example surpassing the set level before the excursion is connected to the yield relay. In
this activated state, the transfer will sit tight for a brief timeframe and if no further Samples are
distinguished, the Relay will reset. This implies the Retardation time or the Transient over-shoot
is very short.
Block diagram of numerical overcurrent relay is shown above.

3.Explain about zero current interruption theories (A/M-15)

The insulating material (may be fluid or air) used in circuit breaker should serve two important
functions. They are written as follows:

1. It should provide sufficient insulation between the contacts when circuit breaker opens.

2. It should extinguish the arc occurring between the contacts when circuit breaker opens.

The second point needs more explanation. To understand this point let us consider a situation if
there is some fault or short circuit in the system, the relay provides desired signals to the circuit
breaker so as to prevent system from ongoing fault. Now when circuit breaker opens its contacts,
due to this an arc is drawn. The arc is interrupted by suitable insulator and technique.

Limitations of high resistance method:

Arc discharge has a resistive nature due to this most of the energy is received by circuit breaker
itself hence proper care should be taken during the manufacturing of circuit breaker like
mechanical strength etc. Therefore this method is applied in DC power circuit breaker, low and
medium AC power circuit breaker.
Low resistance method is applicable only for ac circuit and it is possible there because of
presence of natural zero of current. The arc gets extinguished at the natural zero of the ac wave
and is prevented from restricting again by rapid building of dielectric strength of the contact
space.

The two current zero arc interruption theories are

1. Recovery rate theory

2. Energy balance theory

Recovery rate theory:

Recovery theory:

The rate at which the dielectric strength get recovered and then it is compared with the rate at
which the restriking the voltage across the contacts rises. If the rate of rising of re-striking
voltage is rapid than the dielectric strength then the space breaks down and arc persists. Since arc
consist of column of ionized gases. So to extinguish the arc the ions and the electrons are
required to be removed from the gap immediately after the current reaches to zero. It can be
removed by recombining the ions and electrons with neutral molecules or by using the insulating
medium in gap it can be swept away when the ions are removed from the gap with a rate faster
than the rate of ionization then the arc get interrupted.

The ionization at zero current depends on the voltage known as restriking voltage.

Let us define an expression for restriking voltage. For loss-less or ideal system we have,

Here, v = restriking voltage.

V = value of voltage at the instant of interruption.
L and C are series inductor and shunt capacitance up to fault point.

Thus from above equation we can see that lower the value of product of L and C, higher the
value of restriking voltage.
The variation of v versus time is plotted below:
Now let us consider a practical system, or assume there finite loss in the system. As figure shown
below, in this case the restriking voltage is damped out due to the presence of some finite
resistance. Here it is assumed that the current lags behind the voltage by an angle (measured in
degrees) of 90. However in practical situation angle may varies depending upon time in cycle at
which the fault is occurred.

Let us consider the effect of arc voltage, if arc voltage is included in the system, there is an
increment in the restriking voltage. However this is offset by another effect of an arc voltage
which opposes the current flow and making change in the phase of current, thus bringing it more
into phase with the applied voltage. Hence the current is not at its peak value when voltage

passes through zero value.

Energy Balance theory:

When the contact of circuit breaker are about to open, restriking voltage is zero, hence generated
heat would be zero and when the contacts are fully open there is infinite resistance this again
make no production of heat. We can conclude from this that the maximum generated heat is
lying between these two cases and can be approximated, now this theory is based on the fact that
the rate of generation of heat between the the contacts of circuit breaker is lower than the rate at
which heat between the contact is dissipated. Thus if it is possible to remove the generated heat
by cooling, lengthening and splitting the arc at a high rate the generation, arc can be
extinguished.
4. Explain a. interruption of capacitive currents b. current chopping (A/M-15)

Current chopping:

Current Chopping in circuit breaker is defined as a phenomena in which current is forcibly

interrupted before the natural current zero. Current Chopping is mainly observed in Vacuum
Circuit Breaker and Air Blast Circuit Breaker. There is no such phenomena in Oil Circuit
Breaker. Current chopping is predominant while switching Shunt Reactor or
unloadedTransformer.

Theory of Current Chopping

Generally the arc extinction in a circuit breaker take place at natural current zero. But this is
true if the capacity of the breaker to extinguish the arc is varies with the level of fault
current. This means that, the arc extinction capability of breaker will always ensure that arc
extinction is taking place at natural current zero.

Now, let us assume Air Blast Circuit Breaker. In Air Blast Circuit Breaker or Vacuum Circuit
Breaker, the fault clearing capacity is fixed and independent of the fault current level. In this
case, when breaker is used to break the circuit of unloaded transformer or shunt reactor, the
current will be brought to zero well before the natural current zero. This is because, the breaker
is interrupting only the magnetizing current which is very less compared to full load current or
fault current. As the capability of breaker arc extinction is high enough, therefore the low
magnetizing current will be brought to zero before the natural current zero position. This
phenomena is known as Current Chopping. Let us understand current chopping in detail.

Consider a shunt reactor as shown in figure below.

In the figure above, L is the inductance of shunt reactor, C is the capacitance of winding and R is
for eddy current loss in the reactor. Breaker in the figure above is Air Blast Circuit Breaker.

Shunt reactor always takes magnetizing current. This magnetizing current is, of course, low.
Under normal condition, the current flowing through the reactor is I (say) and hence the stored
magnetic energy in it is (LI2 / 2). But as soon as the breaker is open, current chopping will take
place and the current through the reactor becomes zero. Due to this sudden drop of current
through the inductor, a high voltage will be developed across it according to Faraday’s Law.
Therefore, the voltage across the capacitor will also rise. Now, the question arises, where did the
store energy of reactor go?

The stored energy in the inductance of reactor is basically transferred to the capacitor. Therefore
mathematically we can write as

LI2 / 2 = CV2 / 2

Here V = Voltage across the capacitor

Thus, V = 1 I √(L/C)

This is the prospective voltage across the capacitor during current chopping. Notice that this
prospective voltage is above the natural voltage of the system. This means that there will be a
high voltage stress on the shunt reactor during current chopping. Note that the prospective
voltage V is directly proportional to the value of current chopped and the surge impedance of the
reactor.

Let us consider a simple example to have an idea of magnitude of prospective voltage. Let the
value of L = 64 mH and C = 0.001 uF then the induced voltage for a chopping current of 10 A
will be

V = 10x√(64×10-3 / 0.001×10-6 )= 80 kV
Thus we see that, the magnitude of V is quite high. Again, if this voltage V is high enough, then
it may lead to the restrike of arc in the breaker and thus current again start to flow through the
circuit. Again, there will be chopping of current and but this time the level of current chopped
will reduce and therefore the voltage stress on the reactor is less. Thus a number of current
chopping will take place till the prospective voltage become low enough to restrike the arc.
Carefully observe the figure above. In the figure you can see, 4 current chopping. In each current
chopping the magnitude of current reduces. This is because of dampening effect of losses in the
equipment like eddy current loss and hysteresis loss.

5. Explain in detail about rating of circuit breakers (N/D-15)

The rating of a circuit breaker includes,

1. Rated short circuit breaking current.

2. Rated short circuit making current.

3. Rated operating sequence of circuit breaker.

4. Rated short time current.

Short Circuit Breaking Current of Circuit Breaker

This is the maximum short circuit current which a circuit breaker can withstand before it, finally
cleared by opening its contacts. When a short circuit flows through a circuit breaker, there would
be thermal and mechanical stresses in the current carrying parts of the breaker.

If the contact area and cross-section of the conducting parts of the circuit breaker are not
sufficiently large, there may be a chance of permanent damage in insulation as well as
conducting parts of the CB. As per Joule’s law of heating, the rising temperature is directly
proportional to square of short circuit current, contact resistance and duration of short circuit
current. The short circuit current continuous to flow through circuit breaker until the short circuit
is cleared by opening operation of the circuit breaker. As the thermal stress in the circuit breaker
is proportional to the period of short circuit, the breaking capacity of electrical circuit breaker,
depends upon the operating time.

At 160°C aluminum becomes soft and losses its mechanical strength, this temperature may be
taken as limit of temperature rise of breaker contacts during short circuit.
Hence short circuit breaking capacity or short circuit breaking current of circuit breaker is
defined as maximum current can flow through the breaker from time of occurring short circuit to
the time of clearing the short circuit without any permanent damage in the CB.
The value of short circuit breaking current is expressed in RMS. During short circuit, the CB is
not only subjected to thermal stress, it also suffers seriously from mechanical stresses. So during
determining short circuit capacity, the mechanical strength of the CB is also considered. So for
choosing suitable circuit breaker it is obvious to determine the fault level at that point of the
system where CB to be installed.

Once the fault level of any part of electrical transmission is determined it is easy to choose the
correct rated circuit breaker for this part of network.

Rated Short Circuit Making Capacity

The short circuit making capacity of circuit breaker is expressed in peak value not in rms
value like breaking capacity.
Theoretically at the instant of fault occurrence in a system, the fault current can rise to twice of
its symmetrical fault level. At the instant of switching on a circuit breaker in faulty condition, of
system, the short circuit portion of the system connected to the source. The first cycle of the
current during a circuit is closed by circuit breaker, has maximum amplitude. This is about twice
of the amplitude of symmetrical fault current waveform.
The breaker’s contacts have to withstand this highest value of current during the first cycle of
waveform when breaker is closed under fault.
On the basis of this above mentioned phenomenon, a selected breaker should be rated with short
circuit making capacity.
As the rated short circuit making current of circuit breaker is expressed in maximum peak
value, it is always more than rated short circuit breaking current of circuit breaker. Normally
value of short circuit making current is 2.5 times more than short circuit breaking current.
Rated Operating Sequence or Duty Cycle of Circuit Breaker
This is mechanical duty requirement of circuit breaker operating mechanism. The sequence of
rated operating duty of a circuit breaker has been specified as Where, O
indicates opening operation of CB.
CO represents closing operation time which is immediately followed by an opening operation
without any intentional time delay.
t' is time between two operations which is necessary to restore the initial conditions and / or to
prevent undue heating of conducting parts of circuit breaker. t = 0.3 sec for circuit breaker
intended for first auto re closing duty, if not otherwise specified.
Suppose rated duty circle of a circuit breaker is This means, an opening
operation of circuit breaker is followed by a closing operation after a time interval of 0.3 sec, and
then the circuit breaker again opens without any intentional time delay. After this opening
operation the CB is again closed after 3 minutes and then instantly trips without any intentional
time delay.

Rated Short Time Current

This is the current limit which a circuit breaker can carry safely for certain specific time without
any damage in it. The circuit breakers do not clear the short circuit current as soon as any fault
occurs in the system. There always some intentional and an intentional time delays present
between the instant of occurrence of fault and instant of clearing the fault by CB. This delay is
because of time of operation of protection relays, time of operation of circuit breaker and also
there may be some intentional time delay imposed in relay for proper coordination of power
system protection. Even a circuit breaker fails to trip, the fault will be cleared by next higher
positioned circuit breaker. In this case the fault clearing time is longer. Hence, after fault, a
circuit breaker has to carry the short circuit for certain time. The summation of all time delays
should not be more than 3 seconds; hence a circuit breaker should be capable of carrying a
maximum faulty current for at least this short period of time.
The short circuit current may have two major affects inside a circuit breaker.

1. Because of the high electric current, there may be high thermal stress in the insulation and
conducting parts of CB.
2. The high short circuit current, produces significant mechanical stresses in different current
carrying parts of the circuit breaker.
A circuit breaker is designed to withstand these stresses. But no circuit breaker has to carry a
short circuit current not more than current for a specified short period. The rated short time
current of a circuit breaker is at least equal to rated short circuit breaking current of the circuit
breaker.

Rated Voltage of Circuit Breaker

Rated voltage of circuit breaker depends upon its insulation system. For below 400 KV systems,
the circuit breaker is designed to withstand 10% above the normal system voltage. For above or
equal 400 KV system the insulation of circuit breaker should be capable of withstanding 5%
above the normal system voltage. That means, rated voltage of circuit breaker corresponds to the
highest system voltage. This is because during no load or small load condition the voltage level
of power system is allowed rise up to highest voltage rating of the system. A circuit breaker is
also subject to two other high voltage conditions.

1. Sudden disconnection of huge load for any other cause, the voltage imposed on the CB
and also between the contacts when the CB is open, may be very high compared to higher system
voltage. This voltage may be of power frequency but does not stay for very long period as this
high voltage situation must be cleared by protective switchgear. But a circuit breaker may have
to withstand this power frequency over voltage, during its normal life span.
The Circuit Breaker must be rated for power frequency withstands voltage for a specific time
only. Generally the time is 60 seconds. Making power frequency withstand capacity, more than
60 second is not economical and not practically desired as all the abnormal situations of
electrical power system are definitely cleared within much smaller period than 60 seconds.
2. Like other apparatuses connected to power system, a circuit breaker may have also to face
lighting impulse and switching impulses during its life span.
The insulation system of CB and contact gap of an open CB have to withstand these impulse
voltage waveform amplitude of this disturbance is very very high but extremely transient in
nature. So a circuit breaker is designed to withstand this impulse peaky voltage for
microsecond range only.

6. Explain in detail the working of numerical relay with block diagram.

The block diagram of numerical relay is as follows

Basic components of numerical relay:
SOFTWARE OF NUMERICLA RELAY
Operating algorithm for numerical time-overcurrent realay

7. Explain the arc phenomena and interruption.(M/J-14)

Arc Phenomena

When a short-circuit occurs, a heavy current flows through the contacts of the circuit breaker
before they are opened by the protective system. At the instant when the contacts begin to
separate, the contact area decreases rapidly and large fault current causes increased current
density and hence rise in temperature. The heat produced in the medium between contacts
(usually the medium is oil or air) is sufficient to ionise the air or vapourise and ionise the oil. The
ionised air or vapour acts as conductor and an arc is struck between the contacts. The Potential
Difference between the contacts is quite small and is just sufficient to maintain the arc. The arc
provides a low resistance path and consequently the current in the circuit remains uninterrupted
so long as the arc persists.

During the arcing period, the current flowing between the contacts depends upon the arc
resistance.The greater the arc resistance, the smaller the current that flows between the contacts.

The arc resistance depends upon the following factors :

(i) Degree of ionisation—

the arc resistance increases with the decrease in the number of ionised

particles between the contacts.

(ii) Length of the arc— the arc resistance increases with the length of the arc i.e., separation of

contacts.
Factors responsible for maintaining ARC.

Potential Difference between the contacts

When the contacts have a small separation, the p.d. between them is sufficient to maintain the
arc. One way to extinguish the arc is to separate the contacts to such a distance that p.d. becomes
inadequate to maintain the arc. However, this method is impracticable in high voltage system
where a separation of many meters may be required.

Ionized particles between contacts

The ionized particles between the contacts tend to maintain the arc. If the arc path is deionized,
the arc extinction will be facilitated. This may be achieved by cooling the arc or by bodily
removing the ionized particles from the space between the contacts.

Principles of Arc Quenching (Interruption)

Before discussing the methods of arc extinction, it is necessary to examine the factors responsibl
e forthe maintenance of arc between the contacts. These are :

(i) Potential Difference between the contacts

(ii) ionized particles between contacts

Taking these in turn,

i) When the contacts have a small separation, the p.d. between them is sufficient to maintain
the arc. One way to extinguish the arc is to separate the contacts to such a distance that p.d.beco
mes inadequate to maintain the arc. However, this method is impracticable in high
voltage system where a separation of many metres may be required.

(ii) The ionizedparticles between the contacts tend to maintain the arc. If the arc path is deionise
d,the arc extinction will be facilitated.This may be achieved by cooling the arc or by bodily
removing the ionised particles from the space between the contacts.

Methods of Arc Extinction

There are two methods of extinguishing the arc in circuit breakers viz.

1. High resistance method. 2. Low resistance or current zero method

High resistance method:

n this method, arc resistance is made to increase with time so that current is reduced to a value
insufficient to maintain the arc. Consequently, the current is interrupted or the arc is
extinguished. It is employed only in d.c. circuit breakers and low-capacity a.c. circuit breakers. It
occurs as the heat dissipation is very large

Methods of increasing arc resistance.

1. Lengthening of arc.

2. Cooling of arc.

3. Reducing cross section area of arc.

4. Splitting the arc.

Lengthening the arc.

The resistance of the arc is directly proportional to its length. The length of the arc can be
increased by increasing the gap between contacts.

Cooling the arc.

Cooling helps in the deionisation of the medium between the contacts. This increases the arc
resistance. Efficient cooling may be obtained by a gas blast directed along the arc.

Reducing X-section of the arc.

If the area of X-section of the arc is reduced, the voltage necessary to maintain the arc is
increased. In other words, the resistance of the arc path is increased. The cross-section of the arc
can be reduced by letting the arc pass through a narrow opening or by having smaller area of
contacts.

Splitting the arc.

The resistance of the arc can be increased by splitting the arc into a number of smaller arcs in
series. Each one of these arcs experiences the effect of lengthening and cooling. The arc may be
split by introducing some conducting plates between the contacts.

Low resistance or Current zero method:

This method is employed for arc extinction in

a.c.circuits only.In this method, arc resistance is kept low until current is zero where the arc extin
guishes naturally and is prevented from restriking inspite of the rising voltage across the contacts
.All
modern high power a.c. circuit breakers employ this method for arc extinction.In an a.c. system,c
urrent drops to zero after every half-cycle.
At every current zero,the arcextinguishes for a brief moment.Now the medium between the conta
cts contains ions and electrons
so that it has small dielectric strength and can be easily broken down by the rising contact voltag
e knownas restringvoltage If such a breakdown does occur, the arc will persist for another half
cycle.If immediately after current zero, the dielectric strength of the medium between contacts is
built up more rapidly than the voltage across the contacts, the arc fails to re
strike and the current willbe interrupted.

The rapid increase of dielectric strength of the medium near current zero can be achieved by :

(a) causing the ionised particles in the space between contacts to recombine into neutral
molecules.

(b) sweeping the ionised particles away and replacing them by unionised particles.Therefore, th
e real problem in a.c. arc interruption is to rapidly deionise the medium between
contacts as soon as the current becomes zero so that the rising contact voltage or restriking volta
ge cannot breakdown the space between contacts.

The deionisation of the medium can be achieved by:

(i) lengthening of the gap.

The dielectric strength of the medium is proportional to the lengthof the gap between contacts.Th
erefore, by opening the contacts rapidly, higher dielectricstrength of the medium can be achieve
d.

(ii) high pressure.

If the pressure in the vicinity of the arc is increased, the density of the
particles constituting the discharge also increases. The increased density of particles causes
higher rate of desalinization and consequently the dielectric strength of the medium between
contacts isincreased.

(iii) cooling.

Natural combination of ionized particles takes place more rapidlyif they are allowed to cool.Ther
efore, dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts can beincreased by cooling the arc.

(iv) blast effect.

If the ionized particles between the contacts are swept away and replaced by unionizedparticles,
the dielectric strength of the medium can be increased considerably.Thismay be achieved by a g
as blast directed along the discharge or by forcing oil into the contact space.
8. Explain the distant protection of transmission lines.

Necessity of Transmission line protection:

As the length of electrical power transmission line is generally long enough and it runs through
open atmosphere, the probability of occurring fault in electrical power transmission line is much
higher than that of electrical power transformers and alternators. That is why a transmission
line requires much more protective schemes than a transformer and an alternator.
Protection of line should have some special features, such as-

1. During fault, the only circuit breaker closest to the fault point should be tripped.

2. If the circuit breaker closest the faulty point, fails to trip the circuit breaker just next to
this breaker will trip as back up.

3. The operating time of relay associated with protection of line should be as minimum as
possible in order to prevent unnecessary tripping of circuit breakers associated with other
healthy parts of power system.

There are three major categories of protection schemes for transmission lines. Two are known as
distance protection schemes. These are “Pilot Protection” and “Non-Pilot Protection”. The term
“pilot” referring to the use of a communications link between the ends of the line to be protected
(allowing for instantaneous fault clearing).2 In pilot schemes, there is the advantage of
“knowing” the conditions of the line at both ends. The third type of approach are differential in
nature. Phase comparison relaying is one of these. This allows for one fairly common solution to
the problem of series compensated transmission line protection which is successful in most
cases. This solution does not use distance relaying principles, instead it compares the phase of
the currents at both ends of the line to see if there is a fault in the middle.

One of the most critical issues in power system protection of any kind is the speed with which a
fault can be cleared. Due to uncertainty in impedance measurements, when protecting a
transmission line with non-pilot distance protection schemes (and some types of pilot protection
schemes), it is necessary to rely on “stepped” zones of protection. This technique protects any
given section of transmission line with multiple zones. Close in faults are cleared instantaneously
by zone 1 protection. This protects roughly 85-90% of the line. When a fault is at 95% of the line
its location becomes uncertain, based again on accuracy of impedance measurements, whether
the fault is actually on that particular section of line or on an adjacent section.

Therefore, it makes sense to delay tripping of faults which are perceived by the relay to be
between the zone 1 upper limit and the zone 2 upper limit (120-150%) of the length of the line in
question. Zone three provides backup for neighboring lines. Delaying a trip on zone 2 5 and 3
faults allows time for a zone 1 reaction of the relay on the adjacent line if the fault is in fact on
that section of line. If it is actually at 95% of the line in question, then it will be cleared in zone
2. This delay insures proper coordination, and helps in the effort to avoid shutting down longer
sections of line than are necessary to clear the fault.

Non-Pilot Distance Protection of Transmission Lines

The primary advantage to the use of non-pilot protection is that there is no need to construct the
communications link (be it PLC, fiber optic, copper, microwave etc.). This is a tremendous cost
savings to begin with as none of these methods are cheap. Copper wiring is only good for lines
no longer than a couple of miles due to the expense of the high insulation copper cable and the
induced current from neighboring power circuits.

In an attempt to better comprehend, visualize, and diagnose the operation of impedance based
relays, the R-X diagram is used. This diagram permits the use of only two quantities R and X (or
Z and θ in polar form) instead of the confusing combination of E, I, and θ. Further, we are able to
represent the relay characteristics as well as the system characteristics on the same diagram and
quickly determine at a glance what conditions will lead to relay operation.

Impedance diagram showing line and relay characteristic

Once the positive sequence impedance of a fault is known, it should be quite easy to determine
the location of the fault and thus make a relaying decision. The only problem which creeps into
the computation is fault resistance. In the case of phase to ground faults this is a more serious
problem as there is the fault arc resistance in series with tower, footing, and grounding
resistances. However, all fault types are subject to the varying arc resistance phenomenon.
Therefore, it is of importance to discuss the effect of this resistance on relaying 7 computations
and more specifically, the characteristic of the relay itself. As far as the tower footing resistance
is concerned (in phase to ground faults), it is roughly a constant between 5 and 50 ohms. This
can be compensated for by adding width to the relay trip characteristic on either side of the
apparent impedance representing the line. This effectively covers all possible scenarios. As far as
fault arc resistance, a generally accepted formula for estimation is:2 Rarc = 76V2 / SSC In the
above equation, V represents the system line to line voltage in kV, and SSC represents the short
circuit kVA at the fault location. A worst case can be computed for this value and added to the
resistance reach in the relay trip characteristic.
Pilot Distance Protection of Transmission Lines

. There are quite a few protection schemes which are based on communication links between the
relays at the far ends of a given transmission line. This is in order to realize the benefits of
having information from both ends of the line in order to make accurate relaying decisions. Most
of these pilot schemes depend on a power line carrier (PLC).

Pilot protection schemes can be divided into two categories, tripping and blocking. Blocking
refers to the fact that the communications signal is used to “block” a trip. When a fault is
detected and no blocking signal is present, a trip is issued. When the blocking signal is present,
the other end of the transmission line is sending the signal “the fault is outside of our line” and
the line does not trip. Conversely, a tripping scheme is one in which the presence of a
communications signal indicates that a trip should be issued. Tripping is only used when an
alternative communications link to the line itself is available. Blocking on the other hand is
usually used only for PLC. The reason for this is simple. When a fault occurs on a transmission
line which is making use of PLC, the 9 signal between the two ends of the line can become
severely attenuated. Under these conditions it is desirable to initiate a trip. Additionally, if a
tripping scheme is used, the signal meant to initiate the trip could be lost and the line could fail to
trip. Tripping is a viable option chosen when non PLC methods of communications are used such
as microwave, fiber optic, or pilot wire.2 Further, it is better to use tripping methods when
possible as they are faster since there is no need for coordination delays.