Lecture 1

Course Road Map

 Learning Outcomes:
 By the end of this course, the learner should be able to;

◼ Explain the salient features of a protection system.

◼ Design the protection schemes for power systems and analyze the
performance of relay systems in a power system.
Recommended texts

1. J. B. Gubta,(2007). Switchgear and Protection. New Delhi: S.K. Kataria and

Sons
2. Badri Ram and Vishwakarma (2003). Power System Protection &
Switchgear. New Delhi:TMH Publications
INTRODUCTION
 Customers always demand power on a continuous basis without
interruptions

 Hence it is necessary to foresee the likely interruptions that may

occur in the power system, detect failures and isolate only the faulty
sections

 Protective equipment or protective relay is used in a power network

to detect, discriminate and isolate the faulty equipment in the network
to ensure that the rest of the system is fed with continuous power and
at the same time damage to faulty section is minimized
INTRODUCTION
 System protection is the art and science of detecting problems with power
system components and isolating these components.

 Problems encountered in a Power system are:

◼ Short circuits

◼ Abnormal conditions

◼ Equipment failures

 During certain situations, a power system behaves abnormally. Some of

these abnormalities in a generator are unbalanced loading, field failure,
overloading, overvoltage, prime-mover failure, pole-slipping, etc

 A transformer may behave abnormally due to over-heating or over-fluxing.

 An induction motor can run abnormally due to undervoltage, overloading,

unbalanced loading, stalling. etc
Introduction
 In a power system, it is inevitable that sooner or later some
failure will occur somewhere in the system.

 When this occurs, it must be quickly detected and disconnected

from the system. There are two main reasons for this;
◼ If the fault is not cleared quickly, it may cause unnecessary
interruption of service to the customers.

◼ Rapid disconnection of faulted apparatus limits the amount of

damage to it and prevents the effects of fault from spreading into
the system

 Note: There is no “fault free” system.

Introduction
 The main purpose/function of protection system are:

◼ To safeguard the entire system to maintain continuity of

supply (Power system Stability and Security) .

◼ To minimize damage and repair costs.

◼ To ensure safety of personnel and property

◼ Protect against overloads

◼ Separate faulty sections from power system

Fundamental Requirements of Protection System

 Selectivity - It is the ability of the protective system to select

correctly that part of the system in trouble and disconnect the
faulty part without disturbing the rest of the system.

 Speed - The relay system should disconnect the faulty section as

fast as possible to avoid damaging of electrical apparatus and also
to avoid a fault developing to severe faults.

 Sensitivity - To detect even the smallest fault, current or system

abnormalities and operate correctly at its setting before the fault
causes irreparable damage.

 Reliability - Divided into dependability (MUST trip when called

upon.) and security (must NOT trip when it is not supposed to).
Single-line diagram of a power system
Types of Protection systems

 Apparatus protection deals with detection of a fault in the

apparatus e.g. Transmission Line Protection, Transformer
Protection, Generator Protection, Motor Protection, Busbar
Protection

 System protection deals with detection of proximity of system to

unstable operating region and consequent control actions to
restore stable operating point and/or prevent damage to
equipment. Under-frequency relays, out-of-step protection,
islanding systems, rate of change of frequency relays, reverse
power flow relays, voltage surge relays etc. are used for system
protection.
Protection systems

 A protective system includes circuit breakers, transducers

(CTs and VTs), and protective relays to isolate the faulty
section of the power system from the healthy sections.

 A circuit breaker can disconnect the faulty element of the

system when it is called upon to do so by the protective
relay.

 Transducers (CTs and VTs) are used to reduce currents and

voltages to lower values and to isolate protective relays from
the high voltages of the power system.
Protection systems
 The function of a protective relay is to detect and locate a fault and issue a
command to the circuit breaker to disconnect the faulty element. It is a
device which senses abnormal conditions on a power system by constantly
monitoring electrical quantities of the systems, which differ under normal
and abnormal conditions.

 The basic electrical quantities which are likely to change during abnormal
conditions are current, voltage, phase-angle (direction) and frequency.
Protective relays utilise one or more of these quantities to detect abnormal
conditions on a power system.

 A protective relay does not anticipate or prevent the occurrence of a fault,

rather it takes action only after a fault has occurred. However, one exception
to this is the Buchholz relay, a gas actuated relay, which is used for the
protection of power transformers.
Protection systems
 Sometimes, a slow breakdown of insulation due to a minor arc may
take place in a transformer, resulting in the generation of heat and
decomposition of the transformer‘s oil and solid insulation.

 Such a condition produces a gas which is collected in a gas chamber

of the Buchholz relay. When a specified amount of gas is
accumulated, the Buchholz relay operates an alarm. This gives an
early warning of incipient faults.

 The transformer is taken out of service for repair before the incipient
fault grows into a serious one. Thus, the occurrence of a major fault
is prevented. If the gas evolves rapidly, the Buchholz relay trips the
circuit breaker instantly.
 The Components (Equipment) that need to be protected are Generators, Transformers,
Reactors , Lines, Buses, Capacitors

Power System Protection Basic Components

 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.

 Fuses: Self-destructing to save the downstream equipment being protected. A fuse

performs both detection and interruption functions automatically but its use is limited
for the protection of low-voltage circuits only

 Circuit breakers: These are used to make circuits carrying enormous currents, and also
to break the circuit carrying the fault currents for a few cycles based on feedback from
the relays.

 Voltage transformers and current transformers: To monitor and give accurate feedback
about the healthiness of a system.

 DC batteries: These give uninterrupted power source to the relays and breakers
independent of the main power source being protected.
Substation Components

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Substation Components

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Components

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Protective Relays
 The detection of a fault and disconnection of a faulty section or
apparatus can be achieved by using fuses or relays in conjunction
with circuit breakers.

 A fuse performs both detection and interruption functions

automatically but its use is limited for the protection of low-
voltage circuits only.

 For high voltage circuits (say above 3·3 kV), relays and circuit
breakers are employed to serve the desired function of automatic
protective gear.

 The relays detect the fault and supply information to the circuit
breaker which performs the function of circuit interruption.
Relays
 A protective relay is a device that detects the fault and initiates the operation of
the circuit breaker to isolate the defective element from the rest of the system.

 Currents and voltages to relays are supplied via CT’s and PT’s.

 Current Transformer (CT)

 Used to step down the current flowing through a conductor (TL) to magnitudes
that a relay can measure by applying a conversion ratio.

 The primary winding is connected in series with the network whose current is to
be measured while the secondary ie connected to relay.
Current Transformer
 The function of the CT is to reproduce in its secondary winding a current I’ that is
proportional to the primary current I

 The CT converts primary currents in kA range to secondary currents in the 0-5A

range for convenience of measurement, the following advantages, safety, economy,
accuracy.

 The main parameters that defines a CT are:

 Rated Primary Current: The maximum primary current that the transformer has been
designed, eg the max current at which it can still comply with the relevant standard
specifications.

 Rated Secondary current: the max secondary current that the transformer has been
designed for. The values are usually 1A or 5A.

 Burden (in VA): the max load which can be connected to secondary of the
transformer

 Accuracy class: error limits specified in the standards specification

Current Transformers
 CTs are available in standard ratios given in Table below, wherein the
secondary current rating is 5 A. CTs are also available with the
secondary current rating of 1 A.

 As the CTs have to carry currents as high as 10 to 20 times normal

during short circuits, the error considerations are important because
of core saturation. Figure below shows the equivalent circuit of a CT,
with resistances and core loss neglected (a fair assumption for the
sake of simplicity).
Potential (Voltage) Transformer (PT)
 Steps down conductor voltages to the relay.

 There are basically, two types of VTs used for protection equipment:

 Electromagnetic type (VT)

◼ Normal step down transformer used medium voltages up to 66 kV.

 Capacitive VTs (CVT).

◼ Used for very high voltage applications.

◼ Capacitors are used for coupling (i.e. blocking any DC component)

Protective Relays Conti…
 The relays detect the abnormal conditions in the electrical circuits by
constantly measuring the electrical quantities which are different under
normal and fault conditions.

 The electrical quantities which may change under fault conditions are
voltage, current, frequency and phase angle.

 Through the changes in one or more of these quantities, the faults signal
their presence, type and location to the protective relays.

 Having detected the fault, the relay operates to close the trip circuit of the
breaker.

 This results in the opening of the breaker and disconnection of the faulty
circuit.
The relay circuit connection can be divided into three parts viz

i. Primary winding of a CT which

is connected in series with the
line to be protected.

ii. Secondary winding of C.T and

the relay operating coil

iii. Tripping circuit which may be

either ac or dc. It consists of a
source of supply, the trip coil of
the circuit breaker and the relay
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stationery contacts
Relay Operation
 When a short circuit occurs at point F on the transmission line,
the current flowing in the line increases to an enormous value.

 This results in a heavy current flow through the relay coil,

causing the relay to operate by closing its contacts.

 This in turn closes the trip circuit of the circuit breaker, making
the circuit breaker open and isolating the faulty section from the
rest of the system.

 In this way, the relay ensures the safety of the circuit equipment
from damage and normal working of the healthy portion of the
system.
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Practical Relays

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 Requirements of Protective Relaying
 The principal function of protective relaying is to cause the prompt
removal from service of any element of the power system when it starts to
operate in an abnormal manner or interfere with the effective operation of
the rest of the system.

 In order that protective relay system may perform this function

satisfactorily, it should have the following qualities :
i. Selectivity

ii. Speed

iii. Sensitivity

iv. reliability

v. simplicity

vi. economy
 In order to provide selectivity to the system, it is a usual practice to divide the

entire system into several protection zones.

 When a fault occurs in a given zone, then only the circuit breakers within that

zone will be opened. This will isolate only the faulty circuit apparatus, leaving
the healthy circuits intact.

System Protection Zones

 Adjacent Zone Overlap

 It may be seen from the figure above that there is certain amount of
overlap between the adjacent protection zones.

 For a failure within the region where two adjacent zones overlap,
more breakers will be opened than the minimum necessary to
disconnect the faulty section. But if there no overlap, a failure in
the region between zones would not lie in either region.

 The overlap is usually small and the probability of failure in this

region is low. Therefore, opening of too many breakers will be quite
infrequent.
ii. Speed: The relay system should disconnect the faulty section
as fast as possible
iii. Sensitivity: It is the ability of the relay system to operate

with low value of actuating quantity.

iv. Reliability: It is the ability of the relay system to operate

under the pre-determined conditions.

v. Simplicity: The relaying system should be simple so that it
can be easily maintained.
 Important Terms

 Reset level: The value of current or voltage below which a relay opens its

contacts and comes in original position.

 Operating Time of Relay: The time which elapses between the instant when

actuating quantity exceeds the pickup value to the instant when the relay contacts
close.

 Reset time of Relay: The time which elapses between the instant the actuating

quantity becomes less than the reset value to the instant when the relay contacts
returns to its normal position.

 Reach of Relay: The actuating impedance in the relay is the function of distance

in a distance protection relay. This impedance or corresponding distance is called

reach of the relay.