Power system protection and switchgear

Fundamentals of Protective
Relaying-I
protection part and switchgear part

 Protection devices such as Fuse, Miniature circuit breaker(MCB),

relay all these comes under protection part
 Main function of all these devices are to sense the fault

In switchgear part circuit breaker, current transformers , potential

transformers come under
Main function of this switchgear is to isolate the faulty section of
the power system network without affecting the healthy section
Faults in power system
• In power system fault is inevitable
• Two type of faults are there , symmetrical faults and asymmetrical
faults
Symmetrical faults involves all 3 phases. Example triple line to ground
fault or triple line to line fault (LLL, LLLG)
In asymmetrical phase , 1 phase or 2 phase with or without ground ie,
line to ground fault, double line fault, double line to ground fault.
(LG,LL,LLG)
Hence there are 10 type of faults which can occur in a power system
Symmetrical fault
• Symmetrical fault occurs due to the wrong operation or wrong
coordination of circuit breakers and earthing switch
• Example, a consider a simple transmission line connecting to 3 bus.If
a circuit breaker is located at the sending side and in bus side 3 earth
switches are connected. When ever energies the transmission line by
closing the circuit breaker, at that time earthing switch should be kept
off. If by mistake earthing switch is kept on and energize the
transmission line by closing this circuit breaker, triple line fault will
ocuur
Asymmetrical fault
• Line to ground fault, occur due to flashover or failure of insulator
• Line to Ground or Line Line to ground fault occurs due to swinging of
2 conductors or shorting of wires