Calculation of Relay time

Lecture – 6

Tawsif Hossain Chowdhury

Protection of Lines
• The probability of faults occurring on the lines is much more due to
their greater length and exposure to atmospheric conditions. This has
called for many protective schemes. The requirements of line
protection are :
• (i) In the event of a short-circuit, the circuit breaker closest to the fault
should open, all other circuit breakers remaining in a closed position.
• (ii) In case the nearest breaker to the fault fails to open, back-up
protection should be provided by the adjacent circuit breakers.
• (iii) The relay operating time should be just as short as possible in
order to preserve system stability, without unnecessary tripping of
circuits.
• The protection of lines presents a problem quite different from the
protection of station apparatus such as generators, transformers and
busbars.
• While differential protection is ideal method for lines, it is much more
expensive to use. The two ends of a line may be several kilometres
apart and to compare the two currents, a costly pilot-wire circuit is
required.
Time-graded overcurrent protection
• Over current protection of a radial feeder by definite time relays. The time of operation of each
relay is fixed and is independent of the operating current.
• Thus relay D has an operating time of 0·5 second while for other relays, time delay is
successively increased by 0·5 second.
• If a fault occurs in the section DE, it will be cleared in 0·5 second by the relay and circuit breaker
at D because all other relays have higher operating time. In this way only section DE of the
system will be isolated.
• If the relay at D fails to trip, the relay
at C will operate after a time delay of
0·5 second i.e. after 1 second from the
occurrence of fault.
Disadvantages:
• Back up time takes too much time.
• Breaking time is higher near generation.
 Discrimination by Current
• Discrimination by current relies on the fact that the fault current varies with
the position of the fault because of the difference in impedance values
between the source and the fault.
• Hence, typically, the relays controlling the various circuit breakers are set to
operate at suitably tapered values of current such that only the relay
nearest to the fault trips its breaker.
• PILC (Paper Insulated,
ZL = 0.24 Ω
• Lead Covered ) Cable.

• For a fault at F1, the system short-circuit current is given by:

• I = 6350 / (ZS + ZL1) A (6350=11000/√3 per phase vol.)
• where:
• ZS = source impedance = 112 / 250 = 0.485 Ω.
• ZL1 = cable impedance between C and B = 0.24 Ω
• Hence,
• I = 6350 / 0.725 = 8800 A
• So, a relay controlling the circuit breaker at C and set to operate at a fault current of 8800A would in
theory protect the whole of the cable section between C and B.
• Point #1 – It is not practical to distinguish between a fault at F1 and a fault at F2, since the distance
between these points may be only a few metres, corresponding to a change in fault current
of approximately 0.1%.
 ZL1 = 0.24 Ω ZL2= 0.04 Ω

• Now, assuming a fault at F3, at the end of the 11kV cable feeding the

4MVA transformer, the short-circuit current is given by:
• I = 6350 / (ZS + ZL1 + ZL2)
• Thus, assuming a 250MVA source fault level:
I = 6350 / (0.485 + 0.24 + 0.04) = 8300A
• Thus Relay is Set at 8300A.
• This is how Relay value is set by current graded process.
 Discrimination by both Time and Current
• Evaluate the actual Relay timing in each bus bar of following system using
time-current grading.
 Relay current Setting for Relay B

Plug Setting Multiplier for Relay B

Corresponding Operating Time for

Relay B of above PSM

Actual Operating Time for Relay B

 Relay - A
Thus according to time grading system, the required time of operation
At Relay A is 0.80 sec by considering 0.5 s coordination time interval

Relay current Setting for Relay A

Plug Setting Multiplier for Relay A for

Fault at Bus B

Hence, the time of operation of Relay A

for fault at Bus – B is
 But the required TSM for Relay A can be obtain from the ratio of
Required time of operation at Relay A by time grading and
Operating time of Relay A for fault at Bus -B

Therefore the PSM of Relay A

For fault at Bus –A is

Corresponding Operating Time

For Relay A of above PSM

Finally the actual operating time for Relay A is