Differential relays use the principle that when there is no fault within the zone defined by the CT

locations, the currents from each of the CTs are all balanced and hence circulate around the parallel
connected CTs. Although the relay is in parallel to the CTs, its relatively higher impedance than the
CT paths and the balanced current flow on the secondary currents from all the CTs means there is
minimal operating current through the relay and hence it should not operate.

High impedance differential protection effectively responds to a voltage across the relay connection,
which in turn leads to sufficient operating current in the relay to operate. Hence the relay setting
may be in terms of voltage or the current sensitivity.

The figure below shows the simplified arrangement for no fault inside the zone of the bus bar
protection scheme. In this example the CT on the right hand side has saturated due to high current
in one circuit but the scheme must remain stable and not operate as there is no internal fault. In this
circumstance the saturated CT effectively is seen as a short circuit and has zero output voltage and
hence does not produce any output current itself. Because we don't want any current flowing into
the relay path connection, the left hand CTs therefore have to produce sufficient voltage to drive the
circulating current through the saturated CT on the right. Consequently there is a voltage profile on
the secondary circuit from left to right resulting in a voltage appearing across the relay connection.
Provided this produced relay voltage is less than the operating threshold of the relay, the scheme will
be stable.

The relays may be inherently voltage setting based relays with the advantage of a natural high
impedance with the resultant low operating current sensitivity typically less than 30milliamps on the
secondary side. Alternatively, current setting based relays with higher operating current can be used
with external resistors to create the high impedance arrangement with the resistor calculated to give
the required voltage threshold at the setting current. Current setting based schemes have the
possibility that the operating current can be set above the maximum load current of a single circuit
in order to avoid mal-operation in the case of a CT open circuit which would otherwise cause
operation due to the apparent differential current.

(click to enlarge)

Principle of minimum knee point voltage to cater for saturated CT during external
fault/through current i.e. no internal fault:

Simple analysis of the circuit for current flow during through fault or load conditions yields the
minimum CT knee point voltage as given by applying Ohm's Law.

Vkp If x 2 x (Rct + Rl)

Vkp is the minimum knee point voltage

If is maximum fault current (including for high Source Impedance Ratios)
Rct is the CT winding resistance: there are two Rct in the circuit)
Rl is the loop impedance from the CT to the relay (i.e. twice the individual lead burden): there are
two Rl in the circuit)
 the "2 " factor is mandatory by Ohm's Law because there are two Rct and two Rl in the circuit

All CTs in a differential scheme must meet all four of the following criteria. They must have:

1. well-matched excitation characteristics,

2. the same turns ratio,
3. low secondary winding impedance,
4. low excitation current.

This is why differential relays require PX class CTs in order define the physical construction of the CTs,
rather than the connected burden defined by class P CTs as discussed here:. PX or P class CT choice

Choice of "k" Factor

We have established above that for through fault stability and by Ohm's Law:

Vkp If x 2 x (Rct + Rl)

When an internal fault occurs on the bus bar, the sum of the currents flowing in do not equal the
sum of the currents flowing out. This is reflected on the secondary circuit at the connection point of
the relay. Using Kirchhoffs Law, it is clear that the differential current, representing the primary fault
current, must flow through the relay path.

Due to teh variation of relay construction, we need to include an additional "k" factor.

Vkp k x If x 2 x (Rct + Rl)

"k" is therefore a factor dependant on the choice of relay as electromechanical or electronic, and
whether the relay is specifically designed to operate when a HEAVILY SATURATED current waveform
is applied to it.

In order to understand the purpose and value of this extra "k" factor, we must therefore consider
what is happening during internal faults.

Internal fault waveform and tripping

Before determining the relay setting voltage we must understand the problem of CT saturation
during internal faults.

Consider a system which happens to have the following

Vkp >= 400 V

Vs >= 200 V
Vs is the relay setting voltage

a) If we have a relay set in terms of voltage, it will still have a certain impedance and hence an
associated current sensitivity e.g. Is = 0.02 A, then the equivalent total impedance of that relay is
Rtot = 200 V / 0.02 A = 10k ohms
And hence for an internal fault when all the fault current flows into the relay path, the theoretical
unsaturated voltage would be
Vunsat = Ifmax (Rct + Rloop + 10000 ohms) >= 200 kV !!!!!!!

b) If we have a current operated relay with current setting Is = 0.1 A, then we must make sure that for
a through fault when the voltage at the relay point need the total impedance of the relay path to be
such that the current through the relay is less than the pick up setting (sensitivity) of the relay:
Rtot >= 200 V / 0.1 A = 2000 ohms

Now consider for an internal fault with Ifmax = 20 A, the theoretical voltage to be developed by the CT
to avoid CT saturation would be
Vunsat = Ifmax (Rct + Rloop + 2000 ohms)
so it is clear Vunsat > 40 kV !!!

Clearly neither of those voltages in a) or b) are able to be developed by the CT and HEAVY saturation
occurs very early in the CT waveform of an internal fault i.e. when we want the relay to operate ..

The result is this classic "shark fin" waveform "/|____" which then repeats in the negative half cycle.

Blue line is expected unsaturated output,

Black line is saturated output due to excessive burden
(based on IEEE tool: http://www.pes-psrc.org/Reports/CT_SAT%2010-01-03.zip )

Clearly as an internal fault, we need the HiZ differential relays to be able to work with these heavily
saturated waveforms which clearly are full of lots of harmonics as well as some fundamental
frequency component..

Some specifically designed electromechanical relays have proven over many decades that they will
work satisfactorily and achieve ~ 20 ms operating time under these conditions because
electromechanical relays basically work on the amount of energy that can be pumped into the
armature.

However electronic relays work on exceeding thresholds of current measurements typically with
some sort of signal processing filters such as Fourier Transforms to identify the fundamental
component. The relay algorithm then works on that "filtered fundamental" waveform.
Clearly the fundamental frequency component of the shark fin /|____ is much less that the anticipated
peak of the pure sinusoid of the primary fault current - the primary current will still be a "pure"
sinusoid..
Hence CT heavy saturation may lead to the relay not operating at all, or perhaps very slowly as the
relay has to wait for the waveform to come out of saturation.
This means that the electronic relays will most likely need CTs that are MUCH larger Vkp than the
requirement for electromechanical relays so the formula includes this "k" factor for which the value is
defined by the respective vendor:

Vkp k x If x 2 x (Rct + Rl)

For some electromechanical relays specifically designed for saturated waveform operation, e.g.
MCAG14/34 or MFAC14/34 we can combine this to be (k x 2 ) = 2

However as indicated by one manufacturer of an electronic relay, if the combined value of (k x 2) =

2 (as required for electromechanical relays) the operating time may be degraded as much as ~100
ms
... but if you wish to retain the same ~20 ms as per the electromechanical relays you need the
combined value of (k x 2) i.e. k' = 16, i.e. CTs which are 8 x larger than equivalent electromechanical
relays.
This example of a typical electronic relay offered for HiZ applications combines "k" with the "2" factor
as a "combined" k value, in which case k must be a minimum of 2 to satisfy Ohm's Law stability so be
areful of whether the formula i squoited as

Vkp k x If x 2 x (Rct + Rl) ... k is a minimum of 1

or

Vkp k x If x (Rct + Rl) ... k is a minimum of 2

(click to expand)

Hence be very careful of selecting electronic relays that you have correctly assessed the operating
time vs kneepoint voltage requirements.

Certainly modern numerical relays offer benefits of waveform capture for internal faults - it would be
very useful to prove the saturated waveform characteristic but note that is not the actual primary
fault current waveform! IEDs may also offer other benefits of direct LAN communications, perhaps
even integration in IEC 61850 systems.

However it may be more prudent to retain the electromechanical relay performance with lower
kneepoint voltage requirements and simply use a generic I/O device as indicated in the third
diagram here CB Interface, Relay Contact Interface . The I/O device would ideally be able to have its
generic GGIO input/output Logical Node renamed as PDIF to provide its relevant semantic in the IEC
61850 SCL files.

Relay Setting
 Now that we have the correct sized CTs to ensure stability for through fault and suited to allow the
relay to have a fast operating time with heavily saturated internal fault currents, we can now consider
the calculation of the relay setting.

Here we must calculate the minimum setting that will not result in operation for a through fault. We
do not consider the internal fault condition.

By applying Ohm's Law we can determine the voltage at the relaying point during a through fault ..
i..e the relay MUST NOT OPERATE when that voltage is applied to it. Clearly then, the relay pick up
setting must be HIGHER than that minimum .
The minimum voltage setting is the application of Ohm's Law on the assumption that one CT has
saturated but we still want stability that the unsaturated CT output current will still flow through the
saturated CT. Hence we can apply Ohm's Law to the saturated CT side of the relay

Vs >= k x If x (Rct + Rl)

Note the absence of the "2" as it is only one side of the circuit.
K is >= 1 with the value depending on the relay choice

Supposing we have calculated Vkp >= 400,

and so clearly by its own formula Vs must be >= 200

However as MINIMUMs we could choose a CT with Vkp = 800 and a Vs = 300

Some manufacturers data sheets make statements such as Vs = Vkp / 2

Clearly this is not correct,
The formula for the MINIMUM Vkp happens to result in a value which is twice the MINIMUM Vs
The correct simplification is
Vsmin = Vkpmin / 2

If the relay is directly set in terms of voltage (and is selected as a relay that will operate correctly for
heavily saturated waveforms such as MFAC14/34), our job is done.

If the relay is set in terms of current we have a further step.

We have already determined the Vsmin for stability for through faults.

When that voltage appears at the relay point of the differential circuit, we must ensure that the
current through the relay is LESS than the setting current of the relay.
This is achieved by ensuring the total impedance of the relay path is high enough to limit the
current to less than setting.
This is achieved by adding a Stabilising Resistor in series with the relay. In theory we should cater for
the impedance of the relay as part of the overall relay path impedance, however in practice this is
usually inconsequential, and in any case we are again calculating a minimum total impedance.

Rstab >= Vsmin / Iop

Iop is the actual pick up setting of the relay

Ensuring CT can supply enough voltage for an internal fault.

Both Vkp and Vs are calculated as MINIMUMs.

Suppose we have Vkp >= 400 V
We therefore require Vs >= 200 V

If we choose Vkpactual = 400 V, we could choose Vsactual = 390 V and both minimum requirements are
met.

However suppose for Vkpactual = 400 V, we choose Vsactual = 500V

This presents a problem as clearly the CTs ability to generate voltage is lower than the relay pick up
setting, so basically the CT will saturate, i.e. the voltage cannot get any larger, before the relay can
operate.

Although there is no specific rule that I am aware of, it would seem generally good practice to ensure
that Vkpactual >= Vkpmin andVkpactual >= 2 x Vsactual

Therefore during an internal fault, the relay pick-up voltage would be less than half of the knee-point
voltage of the current transformers to ensure reliable operation for internal faults as well as catering
for the simplified analysis of the relay being located at the electrical midpoint of the CT wiring where
the voltage across the relay is half the voltage developed by the CT when another CT is saturated. In
some cases this results in CTs with several kV knee point voltages and hence non-linear resistors are
required to limit the over-voltages that are experienced during internal faults to less than 2 kV peak,
which is the standard insulation level used for secondary equipment and wiring.

What is Ifmax?

Clearly differential circuits and the knee point voltage calculation is about considerations of the
saturation level of the CTs.

The above formulas simply show that we must consider the maximum through fault current for
determining the minimum Knee Point Voltage. In general we would refer to this maximum fault
current as the "steady state" fault current.

However clearly we are interested in the scheme performance within the first 1-2 cycles of the fault
current.

Depending on the power system X/R factor, and or the sub-transient and transient equipment
impedances, we know that the initial few cycles of a fault current waveform may be offset, in some
cases quite severely and take several cycles to decay.
CT saturation happens instantaneously resulting in the output waveform potentially not reaching its
full expected peak value.

Therefore this value of Ifmax must take this into account.

Therefore some methods include a further factor to the minimum knee point voltage formula, whilst
others argue that Ifmax means the instantaneous Ifmax within the cycle, i.e. already incorporating the
offset.

Fault Current Sensitivity

The protection sensitivity corresponds to the sum of the magnetising currents of all parallel
connected current transformers plus the relay current at the relay pick-up voltage given by the
formula:
 Io = Is + n.Ie

Io is the effective operating current sensitivity

Is is the pick up current of the relay
n is the number of CT cores in parallel
Ie is the CT excitation current

Typically, as internal faults will result in CT saturation due to the high relay burden, the operating
time for a high impedance differential relay must be less than 1 cycle prior to saturation making it a
very effective protection system easily graded with remote line protections seeing into the
substation.

The need for Metrosils

As a result of the HiZ path, certainly there will be potential for high voltage spikes which may exceed
the insulation rating of the wiring and relay - much more likely with voltage operated relays with
extremely low current sensitivity e.g. an MFAC relay @100 V setting has current sensitivity of ~20 mA
and therefore we can conclude it has an effective impedance of 5k Ohms. So 20 A secondary fault
current for an INTERNAL fault is forced through 5k Ohms and would theoretically produce 100 kV!!
which would basically blow up the relay and flash all the wiring.

Hence there may be a need for voltage limiting Metrosils ( http://www.metrosil.com/ )to be added in
parallel to the relay path. Calculations should be done to check the requirement in each case.

Parallel De-sensitising Resistors

Some applications have employed the use of a resistor in parallel to the high impedance relay circuit
in order to desensitise the minimum fault current to operate the high impedance relays. Relays that
are directly set as a current setting e.g. an MCAG34 with 50-200% of rated current can of course be
set accordingly, but voltage operated relays e.g. MFAC34 set as 25-125 V have a fixed current
sensitivity of ~20 mA. Therefore the parallel de-sensitising resistors may be useful to ensure that
the minimum fault sensitivity is above the normal current of a single circuit to prevent mal-operation
due to an open circuit CT. However the effect of this is to make the scheme a medium or low
impedance scheme with the associated stability issues. In these cases, the secondary current flows
during external faults with one CT saturated must be considered, i.e. the high impedance relay path
is to aid in making all the circulating current flow through the saturated CT, rather than the relay.

CT Switching

One of the typical application difficulties of high impedance schemes is on complex bus bar
arrangements, such as double bus arrangements, where the CTs connected to the protection zone
must be changed to reflect different bus bar configurations. In these circumstances, the CT circuits
must be reconnected dynamically as the isolators positions are changed. This is achieved by auxiliary
contacts on the isolators which change the CT connections to different bus bar protection zones.
This introduces a risk of mal-operation of the auxiliary contacts leading to open circuit CTs with the
risk of CT explosion and/or incorrect operation of the bus bar protection under healthy conditions.
This can be alleviated by using parallel desensitising resistors to increase the operating current
sensitivity of voltage-set relays above the largest rated feeder current, or increasing the current
setting on current-set relays. Given the high speed operation of bus bar protection relays,
consideration must also be given to the intermediary arrangement where the CTs are connected to
two zones simultaneously as the isolator changes position and the CT circuits move through a
make-before-break sequence - this effectively makes the two zones temporarily appear as one
large zone with two differential relays connected in parallel. Hence in these arrangements it is usual
to also use some form of CT supervision to detect and guard against inadvertent CT open circuits.

Check Zones

Given the need to avoid mal-operation of bus bar protection and the heavy reliance on CT
performance and connections, complex substations with multiple bus bar protection zones often also
employ a fixed check zone across the complete substation where the CTs do not need to be
switched.

Note the Check Zone relay must operate on its own set of CTs and are located on the "outside" of
the Zone CTs to ensure total coverage.

Also note there the Check Zone relay does not have CTs on the bus-tie leg, it only requires CTs on
the incoming and outgoing feeders to the substation.

This Check Zone operates in conjunction with the individual zones in a two out of two tripping
requirement to ensure there is a true internal fault prior to tripping the circuit breakers. However this
adds the requirement for additional dedicated CT cores for each of the X and Y check schemes.