LECTURE Dr Kashif Imran

Associate Professor
OVER CURRENT PROTECTION OF USPCASE, NUST
LINES kashifimran@uspcase.nust.edu.pk
092-51-9085 5337
 OUTLINE
•INTRODUCTION
• OVERCURRENT RELAYS
• APPLICATION OF TIME OVERCURRENT RELAYS FOR
PROTECTION OF DISTRIBUTION FEEDER
•APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION OF
DISTRIBUTION FEEDER
•PROTECTION OF THREE PHASE FEEDERS
•DIRECTIONAL RELAYS
•DRAWABACKS OF OC RELAYS

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 COMPONENTS

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 COMPONENTS

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VARIOUS PRINCIPLES OF POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION
• OVERCURRENT PROTECTION
The most visible effect of fault is a sudden build-up of current. Thus, over-current relaying
is the most natural principle of relaying.

• DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
It is based on the premise that the current entering a protected section must be equal to that leaving it. Any
discrepancy between the two indicates the presence of a fault. However, it is impractical to apply this principle
to a transmission line because the ends are far apart and it is not easy to compare information at the two ends

• DISTANCE PROTECTION
To get over the above problem, a distance relay compares voltage with current at the same end. This, in effect,
measures the impedance between the relay location and the fault point. Since impedance of a transmission line
can be considered to be directly proportional to the distance along the line, this type of relaying is known as
.
distance relaying.

• DIRECTIONAL PROTECTION
In case of a double-end feed system, or parallel lines, or a ring main system, a fault gets fed from both sides. In
order to be selective, the relay must be sensitive to the direction of fault power flow. The relays which exhibit
such property are termed directional relays.
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 OVER CURRENT PROTECTION
Non-Directional Over Current Protection
The type of protection which depends on only the magnitude of the current, without taking into
account its phase angle, is known as the non-directional over-current protection.

Directional Over Current Protection

However, many times it is required to discriminate between faults in front of the breaker and faults
behind the breaker. This is possible only if we take into account, not only the magnitude of the
current but also its phase with respect to the voltage at the relay location. In such cases, the
protection is known as the directional over-current protection.

This relay prevents power to flow in section

BC but allow to flow in section AB Reverse power flow protection to prevent generator acting as motor
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 OVER CURRENT RELAY
An over-current (OC) relay has a single input in the form of
ac current. The output of the relay is a normally-open
contact, which changes over to closed state when the relay
trips. The relay has two settings

Time setting
Operating time of the relay

Plug setting
Value of the pickup current

Let us consider a 1.0 A relay (i.e. a relay with current coil

designed to carry 1.0 A on a continuous basis) whose plug
has been set at 0.5 A, i.e. at 50%. Assume that, for a certain
fault, the relay current is 5.0 A. The relay, therefore, is said
to be operating at a PSM of (5.0/0.5) = 10.
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 OVER CURRENT RELAY

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 TYPES OF OVER CURRENT RELAYS
Instantaneous Over Current Relay

Instantaneous actually means no intentional time delay. Such a relay has only the pick-up setting and
does not have any time setting

Definite Time Over Current Relay

A definite time over-current relay can be adjusted to issue a trip output at a definite (and adjustable)
amount of time, after it picks up. Thus, it has a time-setting adjustment and a pick-up adjustment.

Inverse time over-current relay

The more severe a fault is, the faster it should be cleared to avoid damage to the apparatus.

Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) over-current relay

The characteristic is inverse in the initial part, which tends to a definite minimum operating time as the
current becomes very high.
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 OVER CURRENT RELAY

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 TYPES OF OVER CURRENT RELAYS

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APPLICATION OF DEFINITE TIME OC RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

The protection problem can be stated as follows:

Given the magnitudes of all the loads and the fault currents at all the buses, how to set the DTOC
relays at buses A and B so that the entire feeder gets over-current protection arranged as primary
and back-up protection.

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 APPLICATION OF DEFINITE TIME OC RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

The first step in designing the over-current protection is to select the ratios for all the
CTs. The secondary current of the CT is decided by the rating of the relay current coil.
The CT primary current is decided by the maximum load current to be carried by the
CT primary. Next we have to do the relay setting. It may be noted that setting of the
relay, where the DTOC relays are involved, means:

1. How to select the pick-up value of the relay?

2. How to set the operating time of the relay?

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APPLICATION OF DEFINITE TIME OC RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

HOW TO SELECT THE PICK UP CURRENT VALUE OF RELAY?

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APPLICATION OF DEFINITE TIME OC RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

HOW TO SET THE OPERATING TIME OF RELAY?

.
Relay overshoot (over-travel, coasting time) refers to the tendency of a relay to continue to
operate for some time after the operating current is reduced to zero (i.e., when the fault is
cleared).It happens with the induction disk type EM Relays

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APPLICATION OF DEFINITE TIME OC RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 APPLICATION OF IDMT RELAYS FOR PROTECTION
OF A DISTRIBUTION FEEDER

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 CHOICE BETWEEN DTOC AND IDMT RELAYS

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 PROTECTION OF THREE PHASE FEEDERS

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 PROTECTION OF THREE PHASE FEEDERS

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

Why is the directional protection needed?

To discriminate a fault in radial/ring main system with multiple

sources and parallel paths

Improve selectivity in an overcurrent protection scheme

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PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION FOR DIRECTION SENSING UNIT

 Directional Relays/direction sensing element are not used alone but with the combination of OC
Relays/fault sensing element.

 Direction Sensing Element : Similar to induction type wattmeter known as directional power relay. It
operates with the interaction of fluxes produced by current and voltages of circuit being protected by it.

 Fault Sensing Element : It depends on the output of the directional-sensing element to control the
operation of the fault sensing elements. Often an instantaneous or an inverse-time–overcurrent unit, or
both units together are used as the fault sensing elements.

 If the current flow is in the desired operating direction (trip direction) and its magnitude is greater than
the fault sensor’s minimum-operating current (pickup), the relay can operate.

 If the current is in the opposite direction (nontrip or nonoperate direction or zone), no operation can
occur even though the magnitude of the current is higher than the pickup threshold current.

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

1. A directional-sensing unit requires a reference

quantity that is reasonably constant, against
which the current in the protected circuit can be
compared. For relays intended to provide
operation for phase-type faults, one of the
system voltages can be used as a reference.

2. For all practical purposes, most system

voltages do not change their phase positions
significantly during a fault. In contrast, line
currents can shift around 180° (essentially
reverse their direction or flow) for faults on one
side of the circuit CTs relative to a fault on the
other side of the CTs.

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

1. Directional relay develops its operating

torque due to electromotive forces arising
because of fluxes (produced by the current
and voltage signals) interacting with
consequent eddy currents (induced in
induction disc).

2. Quite similar to wattmeter with direction of

torque set up in the relay is dependent on
the relative direction of current w.r.t voltage

3. Directional relay consists of electromagnets

and an aluminum disc that is free to rotate in
between. The electromagnets are connected
to CT and PT.

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

DISCRIMINATING FAULT CURRENT DIRECTION

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

A multisource radial system

Whenever fault power flows away from the bus, OC relay should trip

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

Single end fed system of parallel feeders

For 1 & 4 non directional

protection would suffice
for the purpose of economy

2 & 3 must provide

directional protection

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

Time discrimination of relays for ring main feeder system

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 DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT RELAY

PRINCIPLE OF DIRECTIONAL RELAYING

1. The relay must operate for forward faults

2. The relay must restrain during reverse faults
3. The relay must not operate during faults other than for which it has been
provided

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 REVERSE POWER RELAY

DIRECTIONAL PROTECTION UNDER NON FAULT CONDITIONS

1. There is no collapse of system voltage because there is no short circuit

fault
2. Used for reverse power protection of turbo alternator
3. The relay develops maximum operating torque when direction of power
flow reverses

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 DRAWBACKS OF OC RELAYS

The reach and operating time of the over-

current relay depend upon the magnitude
of fault current. The fault current that
would result in case of a fault at a
particular location
depends upon:
1. The type of fault, i.e. whether it is a
ground fault or a phase fault
2. The source impedance

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 DRAWBACKS OF OC RELAYS

Since neither the type of fault nor the source impedance is predictable, the
reach of the over-current relay keeps on changing depending upon the source
conditions and the type of fault. Thus, even though the relays are set with great
care, since their reach is subject to variations, they are likely to suffer from
loss of selectivity. Such a loss of selectivity can be tolerated to some extent in
the low-voltage distribution systems, where the only objective to be met is the
continuity of supply to the consumer. However in EHV interconnected system
(grid), loss of selectivity can lead to danger to the stability of the power
system, in addition to large disruptions to loads. Therefore, over-current relays
cannot be relied upon as a primary means of protection in EHV systems.
Another principle of relaying, known as distance measurement, offers a much
more accurate reach, which is independent of source conditions and type of
fault.

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