ZONE-3 TIMER SETTING

Zone-3 timer should be set so as to provide discrimination with the operating time
of relays provided in subsequent sections with which Zone-3 reach of relay being
set, overlaps. Typical recommended Zone-3 time is 0.8 to 1.0 second.
For Special cases, where co-ordination between long and short lines is required,
following formula would be the basis for determining the minimum acceptable
Zone-3 time setting:
ttttt +++>
sr
33
Where:
t
Z3
t
MA
t
CB

= Required Zone-3 time delay

= Operating time of slowest adjacent circuit local back-up protection
= Associated adjacent circuit breaker clearance time
t
Z3reset
t
S
= Resetting time of Zone-3 impedance element with load current present
= Safety margin for tolerance (e.g. 50 to 100milliseconds)
7. LOAD IMPEDANCE ENCROACHMENT
With the extended Zone-3 reach settings, that may be required to address the many
under reaching factors already considered, load impedance encroachment is a
significant risk to long lines of an interconnected power system. Not only the
minimum load impedance under expected modes of system operation be considered
in risk assessment, but also the minimum impedance that might be sustained for
seconds or minutes during abnormal or emergency system conditions. Failure to do
so could jeopardize power system security.
Ideal solution to tackle load encroachment may be based on the use of blinders or by
suitably setting the resistive reach of specially shaped impedance elements or by use
of polygon type impedance elements.
Page 7 of 19
PROTECTIVE RELAY SETTING GUIDELINES FOR 220kV, 400kV AND 765kV
TRANSMISSION LINES

It is recommended that all the distance relays should have quadrilateral / polygon
characteristic. For relays having Mho characteristics, it is desirable to have load
encroachment prevention characteristics or a blinder.
In the absence of credible data regarding minimum voltage and maximum load
expected for a feeder during emergency system condition, following criteria may be
considered for deciding resistive reach / blinder setting to prevent load point
encroachment:
• Maximum load current (Imax) may be considered as 1.5 times the thermal
rating of the line or 1.5 times the associated bay equipment current rating ( the
minimum of the bay equipment individual rating) whichever is lower.
(Caution: The rating considered is approximately 15 minutes rating of the
transmission facility).
• Minimum voltage (Vmin) to be considered as 0.85pu (85%).
• For setting angle for load blinder, a value of 30 degree may be adequate in most
cases.
For high resistive earth fault where impedance locus lies in the Blinder zone, fault
clearance shall be provided by the back-up directional earth fault relay.
8. ZONE-4 SUBSTATION LOCAL BACKUP PROTECTION SETTINGS

Zone-3 distance protection is usually targeted to provide only remote back-up

protection. In such a case, the distance relay may be provided with an additional
zone of reverse-looking protection (e.g. Zone-4) to offer substation-local back-up
protection. The criterion for setting Zone-4 reverse reach would be as under.
• The Zone-4 reverse reach must adequately cover expected levels of apparent bus
bar fault resistance, when allowing for multiple in feeds from other circuits. For
this reason, its resistive reach setting is to be kept identical to Zone-3 resistive
reach setting.
Page 8 of 19
PROTECTIVE RELAY SETTING GUIDELINES FOR 220kV, 400kV AND 765kV
TRANSMISSION LINES

With a reverse reach setting of less than the Zone-1 reach of distance protection for
the shortest line connected to the local bus bar, the Zone-4 time delay would only
need to co-ordinate with bus bar main protection fault clearance and with Zone-1
fault clearance for lines out of the same substation. For this reason this can be set
according to the Zone-2 time setting guidelines.