Introduction of Protective Relaying

System
EEE 4241
Power System Protection

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Types, Causses and Consequences of Faults
Causes of faults
• A symmetrical triple-line-to-ground fault can occur Consequences of faults
in case of switching ON of a circuit breaker when the • The damage caused by faults is of two kinds: (i)
earthing switch is inadvertently kept ON. thermal damage, and (ii) electrodynamic damage.
• Two phases can be bridged together either in the • Fault current ranging from approximately 2 times
machines or in the transformers because of failure of to about 8 –10 times the rated full load current of
insulation between phases, particularly when the equipment to be protected will heat the
conductors of different phases are in the same slot conductor and hence the insulation around it. The
of a stator of a machine. insulation will thermally breakdown resulting into
• In the transmission lines, two phase wires may get another fault. This is known as ‘thermal
shorted together by birds, kite strings or tree limbs breakdown’
• A line-to-ground fault is the commonest fault and • When the fault current exceeds 8 –10 times the
can occur because of flashover across the line full-load rating of the equipment, the repelling
insulators or because of failure of line insulators, due forces generated due to this large current would
to lightning or switching overvoltage or due to deshape and destruct the whole equipment
defective insulators. structurally. The instantaneous tripping feature is
• A line-to-ground fault can occur in machines and required to be used to avoid such an
transformers too. Abnormal stoppage of current can ‘electrodynamic’ damage; as such destruction
occur due to open conductors or as a result of would occur just within 6 to 8 cycles
voltage breakdown at equipment
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Types, Causses and Consequences of Faults Cont.

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Functions of Protective Relay Schemes

Functions of Protective Relay Schemes

• To operate the correct circuit breakers
so as to disconnect only the faulty
equipment from the system as quickly
as possible, thus minimizing the
trouble and damage caused by faults
when they do occur.
• To operate the correct circuit breakers
to isolate the faulty section from the
healthy system in case of abnormalities
like overloads, unbalance,
undervoltage, etc.
• To clear the fault before the system
becomes unstable
• To identify distinctly as to where the
fault has occurred

The protective gear should not cost more than 5% of the

total cost of the plant or the system to be protected 4
Basic Tripping Circuit with System Transducers
• Whenever a fault occurs on a feeder, the CT
transmits the fault current to CC of a protective
relay. (If the relay is a two-quantity relay, PT
transmits the voltage under fault conditions to the
PC of the relay). The relay operates as per its
characteristic and its contacts close. The closure of
the contact energizes the coil of an auxiliary relay
• The auxiliary relay is provided for two main
reasons.
• Firstly, if the protective relay contact is required to
carry a high trip coil current, it will be required to be
• On operation of the auxiliary relay, the trip coil of a circuit breaker is energized sturdy enough and hence the weight of the moving
and the breaker trips. Thus, the faulty section is isolated from the rest of the system of the protective relay will increase. This will
healthy system. reduce its sensitivity. Hence, a protective relay is
• The protective relay resets because there is no flow of current through the reserved for only sensing the fault and the auxiliary
current coil of the relay. A ‘52-a’ switch is an auxiliary switch provided in the relay contact does the function of carrying the high
circuit breaker. It is a mechanical switch, which is ON when the circuit breaker trip coil current.
is ON and OFF when the circuit breaker is OFF. • Secondly, many other functions such as
• A trip coil is not designed for energizing it continuously once the breaker trips. annunciations, alarms, interlocks, etc., are required
It is possible that auxiliary relay contact may get locked (closed) due to some to be performed when the relay operates. This
internal mechanism failure. This would mean a continuous current through the requires many contacts to be simultaneously
trip coil switch of the circuit breaker operated. A multi-contact auxiliary relay does these
• The trip circuit is isolated by a 52-a switch once the breaker trips. This is the functions.
reason why “NO (Normally Open)” contact of a 52-a switch is provided in the
trip circuit 5
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Zones of Protection & Main and Backup Protection
• The zones of protection are overlapped so that there
is no ‘blind’ spot, which is unprotected.
• The portion, which remains unprotected so that a
fault occurring in this portion would not be cleared
at all, is known as a ‘blind’ spot
• Main or primary protective schemes are used in the
first line of defense.
• There must be a second line of defense provided by
back-up schemes.
There are three kinds of back-up relaying:
(a) Relay Back-up: The main relays, their current transformer
cores, potential transformer cores, etc. are duplicated. Very
costly and used only if the equipment to be protected is very
costly and important.
(b) Breaker Back-up: A time-delay relay is operated by the main
relay and it is connected to trip all the other breakers if the
proper breaker has not tripped within pre-set time.
(c) Remote Back-up: Remote back-up is provided by a relay on
the next station towards the source. This remote relay will trip
in a delayed time if the breaker in the faulty section has not
tripped due to some reason. This is the most widely used form
of back-up protection 7
Requirements of A Protective System
• Reliability: Reliability depicts the quality of the protective system. Less the probability of
failure, better the reliability.
• Selectivity: Selectivity means isolation of a faulty section exclusively from the rest of the
healthy system.
• Speed: Faster the speed of operation of elements of a protective system (relays and
breakers), less is the damage to the equipment
• Discrimination: A protective system should be able to discriminate between fault and load
conditions even when the minimum fault current is less than the maximum load current
• Stability: The term stability is often used to describe the quality of a protective system by
virtue of which it remains inoperative under specified conditions usually associated with
high values of fault currents
• Sensitivity: Sensitivity refers to the minimum level of fault current at which operation
occurs