1402-453 – SWITCHGEAR AND PROTECTION

OF POWER SYSTEMS I (3,3,1) 3 Credits

Bulletin Description: Switch gear, busbar systems, couplers, cubicles,
auxiliaries, single line diagram. Relays, electromagnetic, digital relay,
overcurrent, voltage, directional, Distance relays. Differential relays,
Feeder protection system, Transformer protection system, Generator
protection system.

Prerequisites: 1402-451 Electrical Power Systems II

Textbooks:
1- Protection and Switchgear, by Bhavesh Bhalja, Maheshwari, Nilesh
Chothani, 1st Edition, 2011
References:
1-Switchgear Protection and Power Systems (Theory, Practice and Solved
problems), S. S. Rao, Khanna Publishers, 13th Edition, 2008
2- Network Protection and Automation Guide, Alstom Website
www.alstom.com and www.grid.alstom.com
3- Practical Power Systems Protection, Mark Brown & Ben Ramesh
http://www.electrical4u.com/
Course Learning Objectives:
After finishing the course successfully, the student shall
1. Comprehend the general philosophy of protective relays and power system
protection.

2. Comprehend the principles and roles of instrument transformers in power

system protection.

3. Utilize the suitable type and number of circuit-breakers to protect power

system.

4. Design short circuit protection schemes using fuses.

5. Recognize the new technology of protective relays.

6. Design the basic protection scheme for generator and power transformer

7. Design the basic protection scheme of transmission lines, feeders and bus bars.

8. Practically implement the basic protection schemes using lab facilities.

 Course Topics:
1. General background; Fundamentals of Protection Practice.
2. Circuit Breakers; Theory and Types.
3. Fuses; Construction and applications.
4. Protective relays; their types and Functions.
5. Current, Voltage Transformers.
6. Over-current relays and over-current protection of radial and
ring systems.
7. Distance relays and distance protection of transmission lines.
8. Differential relays.
9. Transformer protection.
10. Bus-zone protection.
11. Bus-zone protection.
12. Induction motor protection.
Lecture 1: Introduction

4
1- Need for Protective Apparatus.

A protective relay is the device giving instruction to disconnect a

faulty part of the system. This action ensures that the remaining
system is still fed with power and protects the system from further
damage due to the fault.

Power System Protection – Main Objectives

1. To safeguard the entire system to maintain continuity of supply.
2. To minimize damage and repair costs.
3. To ensure safety of personnel.

5
 Zones of Protection
• The general philosophy for the use of relays
is to divide the system into separate zones,
which can be individually protected and
disconnected on the occurrence of a fault, in
order to permit the rest of the system to
continue in service wherever possible as
shown in Figure 1.15.
• It can be seen that the adjacent zones
overlap, otherwise there could be some
portion which is left out and remains
unprotected.
• Each of the zones may be implemented using
a different relaying principle so if the fault
happens in the overlapped portion, the
minimum number of circuit breakers will
trip, avoiding disconnection of the rest of the
system.
• If the fault is within the zone, it is called an
internal fault, otherwise it is called an
external fault.
1- Cont. Need for Protective Apparatus.

Power System Protection – Basic Requirements

1. Selectivity: To detect and isolate the faulty item only.
2. Stability: To leave all healthy circuits unbroken to ensure continuity
of supply.
3. Reliability: It must trip when called upon and it must not trip when
not supposed to.
4. Speed: To operate as fast as possible when called upon, to minimize
damage, production downtime and ensure safety to personnel.
5. Sensitivity: To detect even the smallest fault current or system
abnormalities and operate correctly at its setting.

7
 1- Cont. Need for Protective Apparatus.

Power System Protection – Speed is Vital.

The protective system should act fast to isolate faulty sections to prevent:
• Increased damage at fault location. Fault energy = I2×Rf×t, where t is time in
seconds.
• Danger to the operating personnel (flashes due to high fault energy sustaining for a
long time).
• Danger of igniting combustible gas in hazardous areas, such as methane in coal
mines which could cause huge disaster.
• Increased probability of earth faults spreading to healthy phases.
• Higher mechanical and thermal stressing of all items of plant carrying the fault
current, particularly transformers whose windings suffer progressive and cumulative
deterioration because of the enormous electromechanical forces caused by multi-phase
faults proportional to the square of the fault current. Sustained voltage dips resulting
in motor (and generator) instability leading to extensive shutdown at the plant
concerned and possibly other nearby plants connected to the system.
8
1- Cont. Need for Protective Apparatus.
Power System Protection – Basic Components.
1. Voltage transformers (VT) and current transformers (CT): To operate
protective relays from high voltage or current circuits by connecting them
in the primary winding of the transformer while the relay is connected to
the secondary circuit as shown in Figs (1-10) and (1-12). Hence, VT and
CT monitor and give accurate feedback about the healthiness of a system.
2. Relays: To convert the signals from the monitoring devices and give
instructions to open a circuit under faulty conditions or to give alarms
when the equipment being protected, is approaching towards possible
destruction as shown in Figs (1-8) and (1-9).
3. Circuit breakers: These are used to make circuits carrying large currents,
and also to break the circuit carrying the fault currents for a few cycles
based on feedback from the relays.
4. DC batteries: These give uninterrupted power source to the relays and
breakers that is independent of the main power source being protected.
5. Fuses: Self-destructing to save the downstream equipment being
protected. 9
1- Cont. Need for Protective Apparatus.
Should Protective Relays Trip During Abnormal Operating Conditions?

• Some examples of abnormal operating conditions are starting currents

of motors, inrush currents of transformers and stable power swings.
• In terms of magnitude, these currents may qualify as faults, but there is
no need to provide protection from them.
• Thus, the protective system must be able to distinguish between the
normal operating conditions, abnormal operating conditions, and faults.
 Primary and Back-up Protection
• It is necessary to provide additional (back-up) protection to ensure
isolation of the fault when the primary protection fails to function
correctly.
• Consider the radial system shown in Fig. 1.16. Relay B, in conjunction
with circuit breaker CBB, provides primary protection to the line section
B-C. Relay A with circuit breaker CBA provides back-up protection to
the section B-C.
• When a fault occurs in section
B-C, both the primary relay
RB and the back-up relay RA,
start operating simultaneously.
In case the primary protection
(RB+CBB) operates
successfully, the line B-C gets
de-energized but the loads on
buses A and B remain
unaffected. Therefore, the
back-up protection (RA+CBA)
resets without producing a trip
command as depicted in Fig.
1.17.
• However, in case the primary
protection fails to operate, the
back-up which is already
monitoring the fault, waits for
the time in which the primary
would have cleared the fault
and then produces the trip
command to its circuit
breakers.
 Maloperations (Loss of Selectivity Between the Primary and Back-up Protection)

• The back-up
protection in this
case produces trip
command to its
circuit breaker
without waiting for
the primary
protection to do its
job.
• This results in
operation of both
the primary and the
back-up, resulting
in a longer and
unnecessary
disruption to the
system.
 Various Principles of Power System Protection

1. Non-directional over-current relay: It depends on only the magnitude of the

current. Fault current magnitude is a function of type of fault and the source
impedance which keep changing. Therefore, the reach as well as the operating time
of over-current relaying keep changing from fault to fault, and time to time.

2. Distance relay: It compares voltage with current at the same end. This, in effect,
measures the impedance between the relay location and the fault point which is
directly proportional to the distance, so it is called distance relay.

3. Directional over-current relay: It uses the phase shift between the current and the
voltage at the relay location to detect the direction of the fault. 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, so it is called directional relays.

4. Differential protection: It is based on the principle that the current entering a

protected section must be equal to that leaving it. Any difference 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 separately, and it is not easy to compare
information at the two ends.
The Series of Power System Protection
Example:
➢ The directional protection
is indicated by the arrows
below the corresponding
CBs in the power system
shown in figure.
➢ Faults (F1,F2): Incorrect
operation of protection
and the associated CBs,
leading to the operation of
back-up protection to
isolate the fault from the
system.
➢ Fault (F3): Correct relay
operation.
➢ Fault (F4): Unnecessary
relay operation.
➢ Table 1.1 shows the CBs
that failed to open and
those that were tripped by
the primary protection and
by the back-up protection.