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OVERCURRENT COORDINATION GUIDELINES

FOR INDUSTRIAL POWER SYSTEMS

For industrial applications in the United States, overcurrent coordination is generally performed in
accordance with the “IEEE Recommended Practice for Protection and Coordination of Industrial
and Commercial Power Systems,” Standard 242 (Buff Book), with protective device settings
conforming to the applicable sections of the National Electrical Code (NEC). Guidelines for
achieving good coordination are outlined in this document.

1.0 PHILOSOPHY
Overcurrent protection schemes are generally designed with a primary means of clearing a fault,
as well as one or more backup methods. Where possible, it is preferred that instantaneous
methods of detecting overcurrent be used as the primary protection method on all of the major
equipment associated with the power system. Instantaneous clearing of a fault is desirable:
• to minimize the damage due to the fault,
• to minimize the potential exposure of personnel to the hazards of an
arc flash, and
• to avoid long clearing times that could result in the entire system becoming unstable,
resulting in a complete loss of power to the system.
Instantaneous methods of relaying generally include differential, pilot wire, and impedance relays.
Backup protection is generally accomplished with time overcurrent relays and impedance relays
with a time delay.

Good objectives for clearing times are:

• that the primary protection clear a fault in less than 0.25 seconds for the maximum
available fault current and
• that the backup protection clear a fault in less than 1.00 seconds for the maximum
available fault current.
Faster clearing times are desirable whenever it is possible for the three reasons given above.

2.0 CONTINUOUS CURRENT SETTINGS

Protective device continuous current settings conform to the following requirements:

1. Overcurrent protective devices at 480V are set to open at or below the downline cable
or busway ampacity per NEC Section 240.3; except when the ampacity does not
correspond to a standard rating, the next higher standard rating may be used as long
as this rating does not exceed 800 amps. (See Section 5.3 for more details.)

2. Transformer overcurrent protective device settings comply with the requirements of

NEC Section 450.3.

3. Long-time settings of overcurrent devices are above the maximum expected full load
current for that device.
Overcurrent Coordination Page 1 Qual-Tech Engineers
3.0 MARGINS FOR SELECTIVITY
Overcurrent device settings are chosen to provide an acceptable compromise between sensitivity
and selectivity in overcurrent protection. Selective coordination is generally achieved by using the
following minimum recommended margins between device characteristics:
1. Relay - Relay coordination requires (1) that there be a minimum of 0.25 to 0.40 seconds
time margin between the relay curves at the maximum fault current to account for the
interrupting time of the circuit breaker, relay over-travel time, relay tolerances, and a
safety factor or (2) that the downline relay curve be less than 90% of the upline relay
curve.
For induction disk relays, the minimum desired time margin for a 5-cycle breaker is
generally 0.30 seconds:
5-cycle breaker 0.08 seconds
relay over-travel 0.10 seconds
CT ratio & safety factor 0.12 seconds
0.30 seconds
For digital relays, the minimum desired time margin for a 5-cycle breaker is generally
0.25 seconds:
5-cycle breaker 0.08 seconds
relay accuracy +.02 sec. 0.04 seconds
CT ratio & safety factor 0.13 seconds
0.25 seconds
The margin between pickup levels of > 10% for two devices in a series.
2. Electromechanical Relay - Fuse coordination requires a minimum 0.22-second time
margin between the curves.
3. Electromechanical Relay - Low Voltage Breaker coordination requires a minimum
0.22-second time margin between the curves.
4. Static Relay - Fuse coordination requires a minimum 0.12-second time margin
between the curves.
5. Static Relay - Low Voltage Breaker coordination requires a minimum 0.12-second
time margin between the curves.
6. Fuse - Fuse coordination requires that the total clearing time of the downline fuse
curve be less than 75% of the minimum melt time of the upline fuse curve to account
for pre-loading.
7. Fuse - Low Voltage Breaker coordination requires that the down-line breaker
maximum time curve be less than 75% of the minimum melt time of the up-line fuse
curve to account for pre-loading.
8. Fuse - Relay coordination requires a minimum 0.3-second time margin between the
curves.
9. Low Voltage Breaker - Fuse coordination requires a minimum 0.1-second time
margin between the curves to allow for temperature variations in the fuse.
10. Low Voltage Breaker - Low Voltage Breaker coordination requires only that the
plotted curves do not intersect since all tolerances and operating times are included in
the published characteristics.

11. Low Voltage Breaker - Relay coordination requires a minimum 0.2-second time
margin between the curves.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 2 Qual-Tech Engineers

4.0 GUIDELINES FOR RELAY SETTINGS
Guidelines for setting relays are summarized as follows:

1. Relays for breakers on the primaries of transformers:

A. Pickup is typically chosen at approximately 140% of nominal transformer current

or higher if coordination considerations dictate that. Values up to 600% are
allowed by the NEC, depending upon the system parameters and what other
protective devices are used.

B. The instantaneous pickup is > 1.6 x Isc for maximum fault downstream of
transformer to avoid the tripping of the primary breaker for an asymmetrical
secondary fault. A multiplier of 1.8 is used for larger transformers.

C. The instantaneous pickup is > 1.3 x Isc for maximum fault downstream of
transformer to avoid the tripping of the primary breaker for an asymmetrical
secondary fault if the relay is equipped with a DC filter that will filter out the offset
portion of an asymmetrical fault current.

D. The instantaneous pickup is > 2 x the transformer inrush point at 0.1 seconds in
order to avoid tripping of the primary breaker during normal energization of the
transformer. The inrush point is defined as follows:
i. For transformers > 2500 kVA, the inrush current is 12 x nominal full load
current at 0.1 seconds.
ii. For transformers < 2500 kVA, the inrush current is 8 x nominal full load
current at 0.1 seconds.

E. The instantaneous pickup is > 1.3 x the transformer inrush point at 0.1 seconds
in order to avoid tripping of the primary breaker during normal energization of the
transformer, if the relay is equipped with a filter that filters out all harmonics and
DC offset, such as an SEL relay. The transformer inrush point is defined above
in D.

2. Relays for breakers on induction motors:

A. Pickup is at approximately 115% of nominal motor duty factor. (The pickup is

generally set at 5% to 25% above the motor duty factor.)

B. The instantaneous pickup is > 1.6 x 1.1 x locked rotor current to avoid tripping
the breaker for the maximum asymmetrical current for starting the motor or for a
nearby fault. The total factor of 1.8 is due to asymmetry and motor saturation
during starting.

C. The instantaneous pickup is > 1.3 x locked rotor current to avoid tripping the
breaker for the maximum asymmetrical current for starting the motor or for a
nearby fault if the relay is equipped with a DC filter that will completely filter out
the offset portion of an asymmetrical current.

D. For relays that do not completely filter out the offset portion of an asymmetrical
current, such as Multilin 469 relays, use the following guidelines:
i. Enable the Overreach (DC) Filter and set the Short Circuit Trip
(instantaneous) pickup setting > 1.5 x locked rotor current.
ii. Enable the Overreach (DC) Filter, set the Short Circuit Trip delay
setting > 10 ms, and set the Short Circuit Trip (instantaneous) pickup
setting > 1.3 x locked rotor current.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 3 Qual-Tech Engineers

 3. Ground fault relaying:

A. Ungrounded or high resistance grounded (HRG) systems alarm, but do not trip
for ground faults; and, consequently, ground fault coordination does not apply.
However, in some cases, motors may be equipped with instantaneous ground
trips set in the range of 1 to 5 amps, depending upon the current setting of the
HRG system.

B. Low resistance grounded (LRG) systems generally limit ground fault currents to
200 to 800 amps, with 400 amps being quite common. Typically, motor circuits
use core-balance CTs to detect ground faults. The use of these CTs allows very
sensitive ground fault settings to be used with a high degree of accuracy.
However, during a ground fault, ground current (or zero sequence current) flows
in the circuit breakers on the unfaulted circuits fed from the same system due to
the charging current of the cables or due to the motor surge capacitors (if they
have any) on that circuit. The core-balance CTs on those circuits would see 3Io
current or three times the normal charging current while the fault is on the
system. For example, on a 2400V system, with a typical .5 uf surge capacitor on
a motor, 3Io would be less than 1 amp. A pickup of 10 amps would be well
above the currents that would be expected on the unfaulted circuits. A delay of
at least 0.05 seconds is generally preferred at these low current levels to avoid
spurious trips.

C. Residual relays (50/51N) are often used to detect ground currents on solidly
grounded or LRG medium voltage systems. When using the residual relays, an
allowance is to be made for the possible inaccuracy among the CT circuits due to
unequal high-magnitude transformer inrush currents. This can generally be
accomplished by setting the 50N at four times the self-cooled full load rating of
the transformer and setting the 51N at the minimum tap with a time delay of > 0.1
seconds at the instantaneous setting.

For LRG medium voltage systems, a minimum delay of 0.35 seconds is chosen
for electromechanical relays and 0.30 seconds for static relays to allow
coordination with the motor relays that are typically set with a 0.05-second delay.
For LRG systems, the pickup for the relay on the main breaker is generally at
10% of the maximum single line-to-ground fault current.

D. When ground relays (50/51G) are used to detect ground currents on the main
breakers, faster clearing times are possible since the criteria of item 3C above for
residual relays do not apply. A delay of 0.4 seconds is chosen to allow
coordination with the downline motor relays that are typically set with a 0.05-
second delay.

4. Low voltage breakers:

Whenever possible, maintain fast fault clearing down to 30% of maximum available
fault current.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 4 Qual-Tech Engineers

5.0 GUIDELINES FOR LOW VOLTAGE BREAKER SETTINGS
This discussion focuses specifically on the guidelines for and the setting of low voltage breakers on
480V systems. Many of these comments can be extrapolated to other low voltage systems as well.

5.1 Overview of Faults at the 480V Main Bus

The incident energy associated with three-phase arcing faults on the 480V main bus generally
determines the PPE label that is needed for each of the feeder fused switches or breakers that are
fed from the main 480V bus. For transformers in the range of 1500 to 3000 kVA, the following
observations are generally true:

1. If a 480V main class L fuse is used with a rating on the order of 125% of the transformer
rating, the incident energy for faults on the main bus will be > 100 cal/cm2.

2. If a main 480V breaker is used with a long time pick up (LTPU) on the order of 125% of
the transformer rating, a short time pickup (STPU) in the range of 2 to 3 times the LTPU,
and a short time delay of 0.3 to 0.4 seconds, the incident energy will generally be < 40
cal/cm2 (i.e., PPE Level = 4).

3. If a main 480V breaker is used with an instantaneous setting in the range of 2 to 3 times
the LTPU, the incident energy could be < 8 cal/cm2 (i.e., PPE Level = 2).
A. However, the instantaneous setting would not coordinate with the down-line
breakers or fuses, and this could result in the main breaker tripping for down-line
faults. This is usually not acceptable.
B. Many new trip units have the option to include a two-position switch which would
allow one to change to an instantaneous setting when doing a down-line task and
then to change back to the short time setting for the normal condition when the
down-line task is complete. This is sometimes referred to as ‘Maintenance
Mode.’ This allows coordination for normal conditions and lower incident energy
for the rare case when a downline task is being performed.

4. Based on item #1, replacing a main fuse with a main breaker could significantly lower the
incident energy from > 100 cal/cm2 to < 40 cal/cm2. With the Maintenance Mode option
on the trip unit, the incident energy could even be reduced to < 8 cal/cm2 for certain down-
line tasks, as discussed in item #3 above.

5. When there is a main breaker (or possibly a main fused switch), other considerations that
can reduce the incident energy include:
A. Bus differential relaying
B. Zone selective interlocking
C. Remote tripping
D. Not paralleling of transformers
E. The use of non-louvered doors and panels which can reduce the exposure to the
qualified worker.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 5 Qual-Tech Engineers

5.2 Detailed Low Voltage Circuit Breaker Settings

The basic system for these guidelines is illustrated in Figure 1 and is described as follows:
• 480V double-ended substation
• Generator on one transformer
• Tie breaker normally open
• Two transformers are not operated in parallel
• The generator can operate in parallel with one transformer or independently

Figure 1

Objectives in coordination:
• Main and tie breakers coordinate with all feeders
• Main and generator breakers coordinate in fault current region
• Generator breaker coordinates with feeders as much as possible
• Achieve PPE = 4 at main bus with margin
• Achieve PPE = 2 at remote MCCs and PDPs with margin
• Coordination of the tie breaker with the main and generator breakers is not critical

The setting band must be considered when selecting the pickup and instantaneous settings. In
many cases, the tolerance on the LVCB settings is in the range of +/- 10 to 20%. The defined
margins need to include these tolerances.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 6 Qual-Tech Engineers

The guidelines for setting low voltage breakers are summarized as follows. Where coordination
and protection are not compromised, lower pickup settings for short time and instantaneous
functions can and should be used. (See Qual-Tech Document QT-629 for other options in
accounting for the variation in the arcing current.)

1. Main Breakers:

LTPU: ≤ Bus Rating. Typically set no higher than 125% of transformer

rating.

LT Delay: Minimum to allow coordination with tie and generator breakers.

STPU: Set low enough to trip for 85% of the 85% arcing current. This
setting is generally in the range of 2 to 3 times the LTPU.

ST Delay: ≤ 0.33 seconds to achieve PPE = 4. It must coordinate with all

feeders. Delay should be set with the I2t characteristic OFF or
OUT.

Instantaneous: None

Ground PU: 1200 A (This is the maximum allowed by the NEC.)

Ground Delay: 0.5 seconds

2. Tie Breakers:

LTPU: ≤ Bus Rating. Set ~10% less than main breaker for coordination.

LT Delay: Minimum to allow coordination with feeder breakers. Coordinate

with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap with main.

STPU: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main.

ST Delay: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main. Delay should be set with the I2t characteristic OFF or OUT.

Instantaneous: None

Ground PU: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main.

Ground Delay: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 7 Qual-Tech Engineers

 3. Generator Breakers:

LTPU: ≤ Cable Rating. (See ‘Notes on Overcurrent Device Ratings and

Standard Ampere Ratings.’)

LT Delay: Minimum to allow coordination with feeder breakers

STPU: Low enough to trip for 85% of the 85% arcing current without main
transformer. Due to the decaying generator current for a fault, this
can be difficult if not impossible. Usually, the lowest setting of 1.5
times the LTPU is used.

ST Delay: Coordinate with main. Coordinate with instantaneous on all (or nearly all)
feeders. Delay should be set with the I2t characteristic OFF or
OUT.

Instantaneous: None (or set at Max)

Ground PU: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main.

Ground Delay: Coordinate with main and feeders if possible – if not, let overlap
main.

4. Feeder Breakers:

LTPU: ≤ Cable Rating. (See ‘Notes on Overcurrent Device Ratings and

Standard Ampere Ratings.’)

LT Delay: 7 to 24 seconds to allow starting of largest motor.

STPU: ≥ feeder load amps plus 6 x FLA of the largest down-line motor to
allow for its starting. Set low enough to trip for 85% of the 85%
arcing fault current. Must coordinate with main and tie breakers.
Coordinate with generator breaker if possible.

If required to reduce the arc flash, lower settings may be used if

there is no large motor downline of the breaker.

ST Delay: Allow coordination with downline devices. A maximum delay of 0.2 seconds is
typical to achieve PPE = 2 at remote MCCs and PDPs. Delay should be
set with the I2t characteristic OFF or OUT.

Instantaneous: Set at Max or less than 10 kA, whichever is lower. This typically gives a
PPE = 2 for down-line faults which are greater than 10 kA.

Ground PU: To allow coordination with downline devices, set at maximum which
coordinates with main and tie breakers. If there are no downline
devices set at minimum.

Ground Delay: To allow coordination with downline devices, set at maximum which
coordinates with main and tie breakers. If there are no downline devices
set at a minimum delay of at least 0.05 seconds.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 8 Qual-Tech Engineers

5.3 Notes on Overcurrent Device Ratings and Standard Ampere Ratings

From NEC 240.4 (B) and (C), for protective devices rated 800 A or less, the next higher
standard overcurrent device rating, above the ampacity of the conductors being protected,
is allowed if the following conditions are met:
1. The conductors are not part of a branch circuit supplying more than one receptacle
for cord-and-plug-connected portable loads.
2. The ampacity of the conductors is not the same as a standard ampere rating of a
protective device.
3. The next higher standard rating is not higher than 800 A.

For protective devices rated over 800 A, the conductor ampacity shall be greater than or
equal to the overcurrent device.

Section 240.91 (B) allows for higher overcurrent device ratings if the facility is a supervised
industrial installation. For overcurrent devices rated over 800 A, the ampacity of the
conductors it protects shall be equal to or greater than 95% of the rating of the device, with
the following conditions met:
1. The conductors are protected within recognized time vs. current limits for
short-circuit currents.
2. All equipment in which the conductors terminate is listed and marked for the
application.

From NEC 240.6, the standard protective device ampere ratings are: 15, 20, 25, 30, 35,
40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450,
500, 600, 700, 800, 1000, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000.

6.0 COORDINATION PRIORITIES

With the above criteria considered, there are cases where complete selectivity is not
achievable. For these cases, the following priorities (level 1 being the highest) are used to
determine the overcurrent device settings:
Priority Level 1:

a. Transformer primary overcurrent device coordinates with the inrush current point.

b. Transformer secondary overcurrent device coordinates with the transformer

damage curve.

c. Overcurrent device characteristic coordinates with downline cable damage

curve. In virtually all cases, if the long-time setting of the device is not above
the cable ampacity, then the damage curve will not be exceeded.

d. In a switchgear lineup, the main overcurrent device coordinates with all feeder
overcurrent devices.

e. For a normally closed tie breaker with two normally closed main breakers, the
tie breaker coordinates with the main breaker. With a normally open tie
breaker, the tie breaker is set the same as the mains.

f. Ground fault protection conforms to the National Electrical Code, Section

230-95 for solidly grounded 480V systems.

g. The first of three devices in series in a fault current path coordinates with the
third device in the path.

Overcurrent Coordination Page 9 Qual-Tech Engineers

Priority Level 2:

a. Transformer primary overcurrent device coordinates with the transformer

damage curve.

b. Transformer primary overcurrent device coordinates with secondary main

overcurrent device.

c. MCC main overcurrent device coordinates with individual downline overcurrent

devices.

d. The first of two devices in series in a fault current path coordinates with the
second device in the path.

e. For a fused breaker, the breaker settings should be such that the breaker
clears low and intermediate magnitude fault currents while the fuse operates
to clear the high magnitude fault currents.

QT-608-0915R Qual-Tech Engineers

Overcurrent Coordination Page 10 Qual-Tech Engineers