ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF PROTECTION

The basic requirements of a protective system are as follows:

(i) Selectivity or discrimination
(ii) Reliability
(iii) Sensitivity
(iv) Stability
(v) Fast operation

1. Selectivity or Discrimination
Selectivity, is the quality of protective relay by which it is able to discriminate between a fault in
the protected section and the normal condition. Also, it should be able to distinguish whether a
fault lies within its zone of protection or outside the zone. Sometimes, this quality of the relay is
also called discrimination. When a fault occurs on a power system, only the faulty part of the
system should be isolated. No healthy part of the system should be deprived of electric supply and
hence should be left intact.
The relay should also be able to discriminate between a fault and transient conditions like power
surges or inrush of a transformer’s magnetising current
2. Reliability
A protective system must operate reliably when a fault occurs in its zone of protection. The failure
of a protective system may be due to the failure of any one or more elements of the protective
system. Its important elements are the protective relay, circuit breaker, VT, CT, wiring, battery,
etc. To achieve a high degree of reliability, greater attention should be given to the design,
installation, maintenance and testing of the various elements of the protective system. Robustness
and simplicity of the relaying equipment also contribute to reliability.
3. Sensitivity
A protective relay should operate when the magnitude of the current exceeds the preset value. This
value is called the pick-up current. The relay should not operate when the current is below its pick-
up value. A relay should be sufficiently sensitive to operate when the operating current just exceeds
its pick-up value.
4. Stability
A protective system should remain stable even when a large current is flowing through its
protective zone due to an external fault, which does not lie in its zone. The concerned circuit
breaker is supposed to clear the fault. But the protective system will not wait indefinitely if the
protective scheme of the zone in which fault has occurred fails to operate. After a preset delay the
relay will operate to trip the circuit breaker.
5. Fast Operation
A protective system should be fast enough to isolate the faulty element of the system as quickly as
possible to minimise damage to the equipment and to maintain the system stability.

CLASSIFICATION OF PROTECTIVE SCHEMES

protective scheme is used to protect an equipment or a section of the line. It includes one or more
relays of the same or different types. The following are the most common protective schemes
which are usually used for the protection of a modern power system.
(i) Overcurrent protection
(ii) Distance protection
(iii) Carrier-current protection
(iv) Differential protection

1. Overcurrent Protection
This scheme of protection is used for the protection of distribution lines, large motors, equipment,
etc. It includes one or more overcurrent relays. An overcurrent relay operates when the current
exceeds its pick-up value.

2. Distance Protection
Distance protection is used for the protection of transmission or sub-transmission lines; usually 33
kV, 66 kV and l32 kV lines. It includes a number of distance relays of the same or different types.
A distance relay measures the distance between the relay location and the point of fault in terms
of impedance, reactance, etc. The relay operates if the point of fault lies within the protected
section of the line.

3. Carrier-Current Protection
This scheme of protection is used for the protection of EHV and UHV lines, generally 132 kV and
above. A transmitter and receiver are installed at each end of a transmission line to be protected.
Information regarding the direction of the fault current is transmitted from one end of the line
section to the other.

4. Differential Protection
This scheme of protection is used for the protection of generators, transformers, motors of very
large size, bus zones, etc. CTs are placed on both sides of each winding of a machine. The outputs
of their secondaries are applied to the relay coils. The relay compares the current entering a
machine winding and leaving the same. Under normal conditions or during any external fault, the
current entering the winding is equal to the current leaving the winding. But in the case of an
internal fault on the winding, these are not equal. This difference in the current actuates the relay.
Thus, the relay operates for internal faults and remains inoperative under normal conditions or
during external faults. In case of bus zone protection, CTs are placed on the both sides of the bus
bar.

AUTOMATIC RECLOSING

About 80-90% of faults on overhead transmission and distribution lines are transient in nature.
These faults disappear if the line circuit breakers are tripped momentarily to isolate the line. The
disconnection of the line from the system permits the arc to extinguish. The line is re-energised
again by reclosing circuit breakers to restore normal supply after the arc path becomes sufficiently
de-ionised. Automatic reclosing of circuit breakers is known as auto-reclosing.

Types of auto-Reclosing
1. Single-shot Auto-reclosing
Most of the faults on EHV transmission lines are due to flashover across insulators caused by
lightning. Because of the height of EHV lines, tree branches are unlikely to cause faults. If some
physical conducting objects are dropped on EHV lines by birds, they are vaporised instantly due
to large amount of power in the arc. Consequently, there is no need for more than one reclosure in
case of EHV transmission lines. In a single-shot auto-reclosing scheme, only one reclosure is
made. The reclosure should be made as quickly as possible so that there should not be an
appreciable drift in phase angle between the voltages at the two ends of the open line.

2. Multi-shot Auto-reclosing
A multi-shot auto-reclosing scheme provides more than one automatic reclosures. On radial lines,
one instantaneous reclosure is provided, followed by 2 or 3 more delayed reclosures if necessary.
The statistical fig. show that 80% of the faults are cleared after the first reclosure. The second
reclosure is made after a delay of 15 to 45 seconds. About 10% of the remaining faults are cleared
after the second reclosure.

3. Single-phase (Single-pole) Auto-reclosing

In a single-phase auto-reclosing, each phase of the circuit breaker is segregated and provided with
its own closing and tripping mechanism. The main disadvantage is a longer de-ionsiation time.
When a faulty phase is disconnected, a capacitive coupling between the healthy phases and the
faulty phase tends to maintain the arc, resulting in a longer de-ionisation time. This may cause
interference with communication circuits.

4. Three-phase Auto-reclosing
In a three-phase auto-reclosing scheme, all the three phases are tripped and reclosed when a fault
occurs on the system, irrespective of types of the fault. Its relaying scheme is simpler and less
expensive than the single phase auto-reclosing scheme. It is faster because of less de-ionising time.

5. Delayed Auto-reclosing Scheme

When two sections of a power system are connected through a number of transmission systems,
there is little chance of drifting them apart in phase and losing synchronism. On such a system,
delayed auto-reclosing can be employed. The C.E.G.B. employs delayed auto-reclosing with dead
times of the order of 5-6 s. The fault arc de-ionisation times and circuit breaker operating
characteristics do not present problems in such a scheme. Before reclosing, power swings are
allowed to settle down.

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS (CTS) FOR PROTECTION

Current transformers (CTs) are used to obtain reduced current signals from the power systems for
the purpose of measurement, control and protection. They reduce the heavy currents of the power
system to lower values that are suitable for the operation of relays and other instruments connected
to their secondary windings. Besides reducing the current levels, CTs also isolate the relays and
instruments circuits from the primary circuit which is a high voltage power circuit and allow the
use of standardized current ratings for relays and meters. The current ratings of the secondary
windings of the CTs have been standardized so that a degree of interchangeability among relays
and meters of different manufacturers can be achieved.

Since the standard current ratings of the secondary windings of the CTs are 5 or 1 ampere
the protective relays also have the same current rating. The current transformers are designed to
withstand fault currents (which may be as high as 50 times the full load current) for a few seconds.

The accuracy of a current transformer is expressed in terms of the departure of its ratio
form its true ratio. This is called the ratio error, and is expressed as:

𝑁𝐼𝑠 − 𝐼𝑝
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = [ ] × 100
𝐼𝑝

Where , 𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑇 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡

=
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠

=
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠

𝐼𝑠 = 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑

 𝐼𝑝 = 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡

The ratio error of a CT depends on its exciting current.