5/7/2022

Feeders & Transmission Line Protection

By
Prof. Dr. Mousa A. Abd-Allah

Distance Relays
 Its operation is dependent on the ratio V/I, which expressed in terms
of an impedance.

 Z is used as a measure of distance along TL.

Distance relays

Impedance relay Reactance relay Admittance or Mho relay

based on measurement of based on measurement of based on measurement of line
impedance Z reactance X admittance Y

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Impedance Relay
T=K1I2 – K2V2 – K3
 At balance; T = 0 = K1I2 – K2V2 – K3

 K2V2 = K1I2 – K3  K2 I2

𝒁 = 𝑽𝑰 = 𝑲𝟏
𝑲𝟐
−
𝑲𝟑
𝑲𝟐 𝑰 𝟐
∴𝒁=
𝑲𝟏
𝑲𝟐
= 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕

𝟏
 𝒁 = 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔

Disadvantages of plain impedance relays

1. It is non-directional i.e. it fails to discriminate between internal and external faults.
2. The arc resistance of line fault affects the performance of this relay.
3. As a large area is covered by the circle on each side on R-X plan, the power swings also
can affect the performance of this relay.

Note:
It needs a directional element and called Directional Impedance Relay
 By adding a directional element in the basic impedance relay.
 This element sense the power or current flow direction and relay
can operate only if the direction of power flow is in one particular
direction w.r.t. the point where relay is installed.

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Reactance Relay
 The driving torque: T = K1I2 – K2VI cos (θ - )
θ = impedance angle &  = Torque angle

 At balance; T = 0 K1I2 = K2 V I cos (θ-)

𝑽
𝑲𝟏 = 𝑲𝟐 𝑰 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝜽 − 𝝉) K1 = K2.Z.cos( - 90o)

 Adding capacitor, the torque angle is adjusted as 90o

K1 = K2.Z.cos( - 90o) K1 = K2.Z.sin( )

𝑲
𝒁. 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽 = 𝑿 = 𝑲𝟏 = 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕
𝟐

Mho Relay or admittance relay

 It is made inherently directional by adding a voltage winding called polarizing winding.
 This relay works on the measurement of admittance Yθ.
 T = K1V I cos (θ-) – K2 V2 – K3 at balance T=0
𝑲𝟏
𝒁= 𝑲𝟐
𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝜽 − 𝝉)

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Mho Circle Component

Mho circle is composed of;
1. Impedance Maximum Reach(Zr):
Mho circle max. reach is set by impedance reach Zr of protective
zone. Zr vary depending on protection zone such as zone 1, 2, 3
and 4. Each impedance value determines Mho diameter circle.

2. Maximum Torque Angle (MTA):

It is the angle at which it has max. reach. For Microprocessor relays, MTA is the same as
positive sequence line impedance angle.
3. Relay Characteristic Angle (RCA)
RCA of Mho circle is 90°. For calculating max. relay loadability, RCA is angle whose
vertices are made between load impedance vector and difference between line impedance
and load impedance vectors

Quadrilateral Characteristic
 Modern distance relays offer quadrilateral characteristic,
whose resistive and reactive reach can be set independently.
 It therefore provides better resistive coverage than any mho-
type characteristic for short lines.
 This is especially true for earth fault impedance
measurement, where the arc resistances and fault resistance
to earth contribute to the highest values of fault resistance.

 Polygonal impedance characteristics are highly flexible in terms of fault impedance

coverage for both phase and earth faults.
 For this reason, most digital relays offer this form of characteristic.

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Ex.1: An impedance, reactance and mho relays are used to protect a line having an impedance of
3+j4 Ω. Assume that these relays are adjusted to just operate for zero impedance short circuit at
the end of the line section. If an arcing short circuit fault having an arc impedance of 1+j0 Ω
occurs anywhere on the line, find for each type of distance relays, the maximum portion of the
line that can be protected.
Solution
 The line OA is the impedance vector with impedance 3+j4 Ω
 OB = 3 BA = 4
 Zarc=1+j0, represented by OD
 Draw DF//OA and FN//EM//R-axis
 % of line protected by the reactance relay is 100%
 %𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒚 = 𝑶𝑵
𝑶𝑨
𝟒
𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟖𝟎%
𝟓

 %𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒚 = 𝑶𝑴

𝑶𝑨
𝟒.𝟐𝟓
𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟓 𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟖𝟓%

Techniques for Feeders and Transmission Lines Protection

Relay protection techniques available for all line

protection includes

Overcurrent Pilot wire Distance Carrier aided

protection protection protection protection

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Overcurrent Protection of Networks

To achieve selectivity and coordination by time

grading two philosophies are available,

Inverse Definite Minimum Time

Definite Time Lag (DTL) (IDMT)

Definite time grading

 The problem is, the closer the fault to the source the
higher the fault current, the slower the clearing time –
exactly the opposite of what we should be trying to
achieve.

Inverse Definite Minimum Time Grading

 IDMT operate faster at higher fault currents and slower at the
lower fault currents, thereby offering us the feature that we desire.
 This explains why IDMT philosophy has become standard
practice throughout many countries over the years.

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Ring Mains

Wire pilot protection

Circulating current system Balanced voltage system

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Translay
 It is a typical biased, electromechanical balanced voltage
system, still giving useful service on distribution systems.

Solkor Protection
 Solkor unit protection is used where solid metallic pilot
wires are available.
 It is a differential protection system and is available as
solkor R for pilot/earth insulation level of 5 kV and Rf
for pilot/earth insulation level of either 5 or 15 kV.
 Solkor Rf gives faster clearance times for internal faults whilst its stability for through faults
is the same high value as solkor R.

Distance relays
 Correct coordination is achieved by having an instantaneous directional
zone 1 protection and one or two more time delayed zones.
Zone 1: The relay has been set at about 80% of the line length and is
instantaneous in operation.
The reasons for this are:
1. to avoid overreaching into the next line section and ensure sound
selectivity.
2. To overcome the errors in the measured impedance specially for long
line (say 100km or above) which could be up to 10%.
3. Errors in the CT and PT.

Zone 2: To cover remaining 20% of the line length, but it must be time delayed to provide the necessary
coordination with the downstream relay.
Zone 3: It takes the form of an offset mho characteristic. This offset provides a closing-onto-fault
feature, The short backward reach also provides local backup for a busbar fault.

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Effect of Load Current

 IL can be expressed as impedance, by application of ohm’s law and

shown by the shaded area.

 The angular limits being governed by the power factor of the load.

 It is important that when setting a distance relays, especially zone 3, which has the longest
reach, that its characteristic does not encroach on the load area, as unnecessary tripping
will undoubtedly occur.

Effect of Arc Resistance

 In the figure it is noted that the resistance of the fault arc

takes the fault impedance outside the relay’s tripping
characteristic, so that it does not detect this condition.

 Alternatively, it is only picked up by either zone 2 or zone 3 in which case tripping will
be unacceptably delayed.
 The effect of arc resistance is most significant on short lines where the reach of the
relay setting is small. It can be a problem if the fault occurs near the end of the reach.

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Carrier Aided Protection

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Carrier
Aided
Protection

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