BASIC

PROTECTION AND
RELAYING
SCHEMES

THE BASIC QUESTIONS

Why protection is needed

Principles and elements of the protection
system
Basic protection schemes
Digital relay advantages and enhancements

WHY STUDY THIS PROTECTION SCHEME??

Protection scheme plays a vital & important role for
the normal operation or the steady state operation of
different components of power system network, which
must be reliable, fast and efficient.
In order to achieve all these features, it is essential
that these should be proper care in designing and
choosing an appropriate and efficient protection
scheme.
The protective relays functions as the brain behind the
whole schemes

DISTURBANCES: WHETHER LIGHT OR SEVERE

The power system must maintain acceptable operation 24
hours a day
Voltage and frequency must stay within certain limits
Small disturbances
The control system can handle these
Example: variation in transformer or generator load
Severe disturbances require a protection system
They can jeopardize the entire power system
They cannot be overcome by a control system

TYPICAL SHORT-CIRCUIT TYPE DISTRIBUTION

Single-Phase-Ground:

7080%

Phase-Phase-Ground:

1710%

Phase-Phase:

108%

Three-Phase:

32%

BALANCED VS.
UNBALANCED CONDITIONS
Ia

Ic
Ic

Ia

Ib
Ib

Balanced System

Unbalanced System

DECOMPOSITION OF AN UNBALANCED SYSTEM

Ia
Ic
Ib
I a1
I c1
Ia0
Ib0
Ic0

Ib 2
I b1

Ia2

Ic2

Zero-Sequence

Positive-Sequence

Negative-Sequence

Single-Phase

Balanced

Balanced

POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION

Operation during severe disturbances:
System element protection
System protection
Automatic reclosing
Automatic transfer to alternate power supplies
Automatic synchronization

DAMAGE TO MAIN EQUIPMENT

BLACKOUTS

Characteristics
Loss of service in a large
area or population region
Hazard to human life
May result in enormous
economic losses

Main Causes
Overreaction of the
protection system
Bad design of the
protection system

SHORT CIRCUITS PRODUCE HIGH CURRENTS

Three-Phase Line

a
b
c
I
Fault

Substation
Thousands of Amps

Wire

MECHANICAL DAMAGE DURING

SHORT CIRCUITS
Very destructive in busbars, isolators, supports, transformers, and machines
Damage is instantaneous

Mechanical
Forces

f1

f2

i1
i2
Rigid Conductors

f1(t) = k i1(t) i2(t)

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF PROTECTION:

Reliability
SelectivityAbsolute or relative
Fastness
Discrimination

PROTECTION SYSTEM ELEMENTS

Protective relays
Circuit breakers
Current and voltage transducers
Communications channels
DC supply system
Control cables

HOW RELAYS ARE DIFFERENTIATED?

Can be differentiated based on:
* Functional categories
* Input quantities
*Operating Principles
* Performance Characteristics.

WHAT ARE VARIOUS TECHNIQUE USED?

* Electromechanical
*Solid state/Static
* Microprocessor/Numerical

NON-UNIT, OR UNRESTRICTED PROTECTION :

No specific point downstream up to which protection will
protect
Will operate for faults on the protected equipment;
May also operate for faults on downstream equipment, which
has its own protection;
Need for discrimination with downstream protection, usually
by means of time grading.

UNIT, OR RESTRICTED PROTECTION :

Has an accurately defined
protection

zone of

An item of power system plant is protected

as a unit;
Will not operate for out of zone faults, thus
no back-up protection for downstream
faults.

TYPES OF RELAYS
As per function:
Main
Auxiliary
Signal
As per actuating quantity
Over relays
Under relays

METHODS OF DISCIMINATIONS:
To locate fault
by time
by current grading
by time and direction
by distance
by time, current and distance
by current balance

by power direction comparison

Type of fault

THREE-PHASE DIAGRAM OF THE PROTECTION

TEAM
CB
CTs
Protected
Equipment

Control

Relay

VTs

DC TRIPPING CIRCUIT
+
SI
DC Station
Battery

Relay
Contact

SI

52a
52
TC

Relay

Circuit
Breaker

Red
Lamp

HOW DO RELAYS DETECT FAULTS?

When a fault takes place, the current, voltage, frequency, and
other electrical variables behave in a peculiar way. For example:
Current suddenly increases
Voltage suddenly decreases
Relays can measure the currents and the voltages and detect
that there is an overcurrent, or an under voltage, or a
combination of both
Many other detection principles determine the design of
protective relays

PRIMARY PROTECTION

PRIMARY PROTECTION ZONE OVERLAPPING

Protection
Zone A
52
To Zone A
Relays

Protection
Zone B

To Zone B
Relays

Protection
Zone A
52
To Zone A
Relays

Protection
Zone B

To Zone B
Relays

BACKUP PROTECTION
Breaker 5
Fails
C

11

12

T
B

10

POWER LINE PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

Overcurrent (50, 51, 50N, 51N)

Directional Overcurrent (67, 67N)
Distance (21, 21N)
Differential (87)

CHARACTERISTICS OF OVERCURRENT RELAYS:

Definite time
IDMT- inverse definite minimum
time
Very inverse
Extremely inverse

APPLICATION OF INVERSE-TYPE RELAYS

Relay
Operation
Time

I
Radial Line

Fault

Load

INVERSE-TIME RELAY COORDINATION

Distance

T
Distance

50/51 RELAY COORDINATION

Distance

T
Distance

DIRECTIONAL OVERCURRENT PROTECTION

BASIC APPLICATIONS

DISTANCE RELAY PRINCIPLE

L
d
I a , Ib , Ic

Va ,Vb ,Vc

21

Three-Phase
Solid Fault

Suppose Relay Is Designed to Operate

When:

| Va | (0.8) | Z L1 || I a |

Radial
Line

THE IMPEDANCE RELAY CHARACTERISTIC

R 2 X 2 Z r21
X

Plain Impedance Relay

Operation Zone

Z Z r1

Zr1

Radius Zr1
R

NEED FOR DIRECTIONALITY

F1

F2
1

RELAY 3
Operation Zone

X
F1
F2

Nonselective
Relay Operation

THREE-ZONE DISTANCE PROTECTION

Time
Zone 3
Zone 2
Zone 1
1

Time
Zone 1 Is Instantaneous

CIRCULAR DISTANCE RELAY CHARACTERISTICS

X

PLAIN
IMPEDANCE

OFFSET
MHO (2)

R
R
X

LENS
(RESTRICTED MHO 1)

MHO

R
X

OFFSET
MHO (1)

TOMATO
(RESTRICTED MHO 2)

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION PRINCIPLE

Balanced CT Ratio
CT

CT
Protected
Equipment

50

External
Fault

IDIF = 0

No Relay Operation if CTs Are Considered Ideal

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION PRINCIPLE

CTR

CTR

Protected
Equipment
Internal
Fault

50

IDIF > ISETTING

Relay Operates

PROBLEM OF UNEQUAL CT PERFORMANCE

CT

Protected
Equipment

50

CT
External
Fault

IDIF 0

False differential current can occur if a CT saturates during a through-fault

Use some measure of through-current to desensitize the relay when high currents are present

POSSIBLE SCHEME PERCENTAGE DIFFERENTIAL

PROTECTION PRINCIPLE
CTR

SP

RP
Protected
Equipment

CTR

R
Relay
(87)

Compares:

IOP I S I R
k I RT

| IS | | IR |
k
2

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION APPLICATIONS

Bus protection
Transformer protection

Generator protection
Line protection
Large motor protection
Reactor protection
Capacitor bank protection
Compound equipment protection

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION

SUMMARY
The overcurrent differential scheme is simple and
economical, but it does not respond well to unequal current
transformer performance
The percentage differential scheme responds better to CT
saturation
Percentage differential protection can be analyzed in the
relay and the alpha plane

Differential
protection
is
the
best
selectivity/speed with present technology

alternative

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL RELAYS

Multifunctional

Compatibility with
digital integrated
systems

Low maintenance
(self-supervision)

Highly sensitive,
secure, and
selective

Adaptive

Highly reliable
(self-supervision)

Reduced burden
on
CTs and VTs

Programmable
Versatile

Low Cost

THANK YOU