TRANSMISSION LINE PROTECTION CONCEPTS

AUNG KO HTAY
TEST LAB(YANGON)
 Why not over-current protection for transmission?
 Long lines-Location fault affects the fault current and no accurate setting of over current can be made.
 Changes behind the protected lines affect the fault current and no accurate setting of over current can be made.
 distance relay apparently not depend on system.
Basic principle of operation
 A distance relay, as its name implies, has the ability to detect a fault within a pre-set
distance along a transmission line or power cable from its location. Every power line has
a resistance and reactive per kilometer related to its design and construction so its total
impedance will be a function of its length or distance. A distance relay therefore looks
at current and voltage and compares these two quantities on the basis of Ohm’s law.
Basic principle of operation

By changing the ampere-turns relationship of the current coil to the voltage coil, the
ohmic reach of the relay can be adjusted. A more modern technique for achieving the
same result is to use a bridge comparator.
Tripping characteristics

The voltage is fed onto one coil to provide restraining torque, whilst the
current is fed to the other coil to provide the operating torque.

Under healthy conditions , the voltage will be high (i.e. at full-rated level), whilst the current
will be low (at normal load value), thereby balancing the beam, and restraining it so that
the contacts remain open.

Under fault conditions, the voltage collapses and the current increase dramatically,
causing the beam to unbalance and close the contacts.

Balance beam principle

 Tripping characteristics

Reaching point is the point we select on line. At this point the line has an impedance ZR. If a fault occurs before this
point (ZR>Zf) then the relay must trip immediately. If the fault occurs after this point (ZR<Zf) then the relay do not trip (or
trips with a delay-another zone).

U
Un

ZL
Zf

If
Un

Un/If=Zf
Note: Un, If complex numbers in general
Tripping characteristics

If the relay’s operating boundary is plotted, on an R/X diagram, its impedance
characteristic is a circle with its center at the origin of the coordinates and its radius will
be the setting (reach) in ohms.
Directional
Non-directional
R/X diagram

very useful in determining response of distance relays for different types of system conditions including faults, load changes, and power
swings .
Assume that inputs to the distance relay are voltage and current having phasor representations E and I.
The key concept is that of ‘apparent impedance’ seen by the relay.
Apparent impedance is defined as the ratio of the voltage phasor to the current phasor:
Zapp ≡ R + jX = E/I

Consider the case of the current phasor being (1 + j0). In that case, the voltage phasor becomes equal to the apparent impedance.
This concept can be formalized by a process of rotating the entire E-I phasor diagram until the current phasor
becomes aligned with the real axis, and then changing the length of the phasors until the current phasor falls becomes 1.0 in length.
 The complex plane is now labeled R-X plane, and the apparent impedance seen by a relay supplied with phasor E and I is as shown.
 R/X diagram
For lagging currents, which correspond to active and reactive power flowing from the bus into the line (with current and voltage phasor
reference directions as shown) the apparent impedance falls in the first quadrant.
The right half of the R-X plane corresponds to real power flowing into the line, while the left half corresponds to real power flowing into the
bus.
Similarly the upper half of the R-X plane corresponds to reactive power flowing into the line, while the lower half corresponds to reactive
power flowing into the bus.

Fig: the effect of variations in current

magnitude and phase angle on the R-X
diagram

Increasing current magnitude or decreasing voltage magnitude brings the apparent Impedance closer to the origin of the R-X diagram.
Excursions by apparent impedance into the relay characteristics during load changes or power swings have caused unnecessary trips of
relays, often contributing to cascading failures of the power systems.
Tripping characteristics

If the relay’s operating boundary is plotted, on an R/X diagram, its impedance
characteristic is a circle with its center at the origin of the coordinates and its radius will
be the setting (reach) in ohms.
Non-directional

The relay will operate for all values less than its setting i.e. is for all points within the
circle.
This is known as a plain impedance relay and it will be noted that it is non-directional,
in that it can operate for faults behind the relaying point. It takes no account of the phase
angle between voltage and current.
Distance protection relays

The limitation can be overcome by a technique known as self-polarization. Additional

voltages are fed into the comparator in order to compare the relative phase angles of
voltage and current, so providing a directional feature. This has the effect of moving the
circle such that the circumference of the circle now passes through the origin. Angle θ is
known as the relay’s characteristic angle.

Directional

MHO characteristic

This is known as the MHO relay, so called as it appears as a straight line on an

admittance diagram.
Distance protection relays

MHO characteristic Offset MHO characteristic Trapezoidal

characteristic
 Distance Protection Characteristic and Fault Impedance
 The measured impedance after the fault and the relay characteristics are drawn in the same graph to determine if the
relay trips or not.
 If the measured impedance is inside the area of the characteristic of the relay, then the relay trips:

Trips Trips not

 Directional characteristic
 The type of relays we are interested in and the type we illustrated in the previous slide is named polygonal and it is set
to be directional. That means that fault currents flowing to the opposite direction are outside the zone so the relay does
not trip:
 Zones
 The characteristic of a relay can define 2, 3 or maximum 4 zones. Depending on the fault location-distance from the
relay, the Zf can “belong” to zone 1 or zone 2 and etc:

 Falling in different zone, means for the relay that it will trip with a time delay. Zone one has usually no or very small
time delay.
 Typical realistic values of the delays are: Zone 1 => 0.1 s
Zone 2 => 0.4 s
Zone 3 => 0.8 s
 Setting distances-Reaching points
Zone 1 is set to protect the 80% of the line length.
 For Zone 2 and Zone 3 there are different ways to calculate them, depending on the condition of the network, if parallel
lines exist, if infeed exist etc. These ways are absolute, relative and minimum reach .
The correct setting of distances and time delays ensure the selectivity of the protection.
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Transmission Line Parameters Using ATP DRAW from EMTP PROGRAM

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Setup options of ATP Draw

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Run ATP Draw

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Insert LCC
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Insert data
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Transmission Line data model

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Line model
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

PI recommended
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Typical Rho= 100

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Frequency and line length

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
Summary of Model
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
Line data section
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
Line data section

Line Characteristics
Rin : Radius of the inside conductor( only skin effect checked)
Rout : Radius of the outside conductor
Resis : Conductor DC resistance(If Skin effect is checked, Rac)

Line Positions
Horiz : Horizontal position from the reference position
Vtower : Vertical position from a ground
Vmid : the lowest height of cables with considering a dip
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Phase number
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Cable characteristics
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Tower position
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Tower position & Cable height guest with Vtower and Vmid
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
Bundle

NB : Number of conductors in a bundle

Spear : Distance between conductors in a bundle
Alpha : Angular position of one of the conductors in a bundle
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Run ATP
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Open the out put file

LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

Impedance result
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

CASE STUDY

(1)Kyeeownkyeewa-Mann 132 kV Transmission Line(42.9 miles)

KYEEOWN KYEEWA – MANN 132 kV Transmission Line (42.9 miles)
Common Used Tower Type –A2
6.1 meters
ACSR Conductor 397.5 MCM(IBIS)
GSW 50 mm2 (7 Nosx3 mm)
2.3 meters

15.6 meters
 DATA INPUT
ACSRConductor Specification
Ultimated
Nominal Stranding Nominal Dia. Nominal DC resistance
CM Strength
Code Area (No/mm) (mm) Weight at 20 'C
or AWG
(mm2)
Aluminium Steel ACSR Steel kg/km Ohm/km kg
Owl 266.800 152.7 6/5.36 7/1.79 16.08 5.36 508 0.2123 4330
Ibis 397.500 234.2 26/3.14 7/2.44 19.89 7.32 811 0.1134 7340
Duck 605.000 346.4 54/2.69 7/2.69 24.18 8.06 1158 0.0942 10210
Gull 666.600 381.5 54/2.82 7/2.82 25.4 8.47 1275 0.0856 11140
Drake 795.000 468.5 26/4.44 7/3.45 28.14 10.36 1624 0.0715 14180

Phase No Rin(cm) Rout(cm) Resis (Ohm/ km) H(m) Vtower(m) Vmid(m)

0 0.315 0.945 3.38 3.7 18.15 0
1 0.732 1.988 0.1434 6.1 15.85 0
2 0.732 1.988 0.1434 0 15.85 0
3 0.732 1.988 0.1434 -6.1 15.85 0
0 0.315 0.945 3.38 -3.7 18.15 0
 DATA INPUT
MANSAN-SHWESARYAN 230 kV Double Transmission Line (119.31 miles)
Common Used Tower Type –F-18
ACSR Conductor 605 MCM(Duck)
GSW 50 mm2 (19 Nosx1.8 mm)

Phase No Rin(cm) Rout(cm) Resis (Ohm/ km) H(m) Vtower(m) Vmid(m) Separ Alpha NB
0 0.27 0.45 3.38 2.6 33.5 0 0 0 0
1 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 4 30 0 40 0 2
2 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 4.5 24 0 40 0 2
3 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 5 18 0 40 0 2
4 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 -5 18 0 40 0 2
5 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 -4.5 24 0 40 0 2
6 0.4035 1.2105 0.0942 -4 30 0 40 0 2
0 0.27 0.45 3.38 -2.6 33.5 0 0 0 0
LINE IMPEDANCE CALCULATION

result for Kyeeownkyeewa-Mann

Sequence Surge impedance Attenuation velocity Wavelength Resistance Reactance Susceptance

magnitude(ohm) angle(degr.) db/km km/sec km ohm/km ohm/km mho/km

Zero : 6.90905E+02 -1.03357E+01 2.86649E-03 1.73612E+05 3.47224E+03 4.48620E-01 1.18903E+00 2.66230E-06

Positive: 3.64187E+02 -1.02715E+01 1.75521E-03 2.81729E+05 5.63459E+03 1.44828E-01 3.86477E-01 3.11179E-06

 Residual compensation factor,k0

 For a fault at a line there is Zf which is a complex number (R+jX). If a fault occurs at a random fraction of the distance
AB, the ratio X/R remain the same (angle is the same) but the magnitude changes:
Residual compensation factor,k0

X
X B
100% of length

75%

50%

25% A

25%
R
A 50%
R
75%

100% of length
C
Residual compensation factor,k0
Calculating correct distances
 The fault current is unsymmetrical and to calculate the correct fault impedance we need to consider also zero sequence
impedances (all impedances act together).

 The process of including the zero sequence impedances into the calculation is called compensation:

Z 0  Z1
k0 
3  Z1

 If the fault has a resistance (e.g. Through vegetation) then the ratio X/R might change and so the angle of the
impedance can change. This change in angle has to be taken into consideration if it is important.
 incorrect DC resistance of ground wire make incorrect ,k0

45
Line impedance measurement
OMICRON CPC -100 & CPCU-1

Can get actual line parameter differ from 30% of simulation value
Distance relay setting calculation
230kV Thapyaywa – Yeywa Transmission line I & II
(25.11.2009)
Line Length
Conductor size
Number of circuits
Positive sequence impedance
Zero sequence impedance
CT ratio
VT ratio
CT ratio / VT ratio
Positive sequence Line impedance
Positive sequence Line impedance
Zero sequence Line impedance
Zero sequence Line impedance
= 112 km
= 2x 795 MCM
= double circuit
= 4.099 + j 26.006  = 26.327  81  
= 36.758 + j 138.409  = 143.207  75  
= 1600 / 1
= 230000 / 110
= 1600 x 110 / 230000
= 0.76521
= 4.099 + j 26.006  in primary value
= 3.136 + j 19.9  in secondary value
= 36.758 + j 138.409  in primary value
= 28.127 + j 105.912  in secondary value
Distance relay setting calculation

* Zone 1 setting for ph-ph fault & ground fault.

- Pick – up setting:
(80% ~ 85%) of transmission line
impedance (positive impedance)

- Operating time setting:

Instant.
Distance relay setting calculation

* Zone 2 setting

- Pick – up setting:
(1) Line impedance + shortest line Z1 50%
of next transmission line.
(2) (120% ~ 125% ) of line impedance
(Choose larger value of (1) and ( 2 )).

-Operating time:
(0.3) sec for 132 kV Transmission line
(0.4) sec for 230 kV Transmission line
Distance relay setting calculation

* Zone 3 setting

- Pick – up setting:
(1) Line impedance + longest line Z1 120% of
next transmission line.
(2) (225% ~ 250% ) of line impedance
(3) load ability impedance for mho type

(Choose larger value of (1) and ( 2 )and less than (3).

-Operating time: (1.67) sec

Distance setting question
 Why zone 1 is set to protect 80% of the line and not 100%?

Zone 1 of DS2-2
Zone 1 of DS3-2

 The impedances are calculated from current and voltage measurements. These measurements can be inaccurate. If a
fault occurs close to node K3-2 at line L3-2, due to these inaccurate measurements the DS2-2 might be activated with or
without DS3-2. But this will disconnect the healthy line L2-2 and consequently L3-3 instead, only the faulted line L3-2
should be disconnected.

Lost of selectivity.
 Parallel lines – Correct co-ordination
 Things are getting more interesting when parallel lines exist.

Zc

Za

The relay DS2-2 protects L2-3 with zone 1 and L3-2 with zone 2.
Assuming a fault occurs at L3-2. The relay DS2-2 measures the current Ia and calculates the distance as Z=U/Ia=Za+Zc.
But it ignores the current Ib.
 Including the current Ib the correct distance is Z=Za+Zc*Ia/(Ia+Ib), Ia/(Ia+Ib)=k
 The same concept is if instead of parallel line L2-2 we had a generator connected at K3-2 (infeed).
 The fact that the relay “sees” a longer distance due to these errors is named under-reach. In this case the relay might
“think” that the fault is in zone 2 (delay) despite the fault is in zone 1 and therefore must act immediately.
 The opposite, is named over-reach and can occur when the parallel line is present (or the generator) and the relay has
the correct setting and suddenly the line (or the generator) disconnects (e.g. maintenance). In this case the relay will “see”
a shorter distance as it really is.
 Parallel lines – Correct co-ordination
 The relay is directional to avoid tripping due to faults to lines other than the protected.

cC

 Assuming a fault at line L2-3 and a current direction as illustrated If1. The relay DS2-2 will ignore it. If no additional
distance protection relay exists, the circuit breaker C will disconnect due to the fault. But this will turn the direction of the
current and this becomes If2.
 When the current becomes If2 the relay will trip again, disconnecting a healthy line. That's why we need multiple relays
correctly co-ordinaded and directional. If distance relays exist at the beginning and the end of L2-3 then the relay at C can
trip first and then, by sensing the If2 current the relay at the end of L2-3 can trip before DS2-2, leaving the healthy line
connected.
 To achieve a good coordination we need to simulate the faults and the tripping of the relays with NEPLAN.
 References
 Protective Relays principle and application by J Lewis Blackburn
 Power System Protection. P.M. Anderson. IEEE Press.
NEPLAN distance relay application training
Practical power system protection by Les Hewitson, Mark Brown ,Ben Ramesh Ramesh and Associates
Network protection guide Areva