ASSIGNMENT 1 ON ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION EEG 806.

EMECHETA, SAMUEL OLUCHUKWU

AUGUST 31, 2023

[Company name]
[Company address]
 ASSIGNMENT 1 ON ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS PROTECTION:
Discuss with a suitable diagram the following fundamentals of protection;

PHILOSOPHY OF PROTECTION:
The function of a power system protection scheme is to constantly be on the lookout for faults.
Of course, faults can't be totally prevented but they can be isolated quickly leading to reduced
downtime.

Protection entails all measures put in place to ensure the stability and reliability of the system.
Everything from the fuses, switchgear, relays, instrument transformers, down to the actual
scheme(s) implemented, do play a role in reducing or eliminating instability by isolating faults.

WHY DO WE PROTECT:
Downtimes are expensive. During faults, industrial facilities lose supply hampering production,
commerce and the economy in general. To reduce the impact of these on the circuit, it’s expedient to
implement a suitable protection scheme.

Other than revenue loss due to economic activities depending on the system, these faults could have a
significant impact on the power system equipment which are usually very expensive. Generators and
transformers are just two of the most expensive equipment found on circuits. It's Imperative this
equipment is isolated as soon as faults occur.

Yes, equipment damaged could be replaced, economic activities due to power loss can pick up but the
loss of life is irreplaceable. The chances of one surviving electrocution might just depend on how soon a
relay isolates the fault.

There are commonly four metrics against which the efficacy of a protection scheme is measured;

1.Sensitivity:

This is a measure of the protective device's ability to detect faults. It’s a relay’s most important
characteristic as its the reason a protective relay would operate or not. Other than the current-time
coordination of the device, certain characteristics like the presence of zero sequence properties of the
current could determine if it is a fault condition or not.
2.Selectivity: Protective devices should be able to distinguish between a faulty condition and one which
isn’t. Selectivity is the device's ability to detect and clear a fault with little or no impact to the power
system. The desired selectivity can be attained with proper coordination. Coordination in this context
implies that protective devices closest to the fault try to clear the fault before backup devices. Let’s take
a fault on a line for instance. A properly coordinated scheme would try to trip the circuit breakers
directly in the fault’s path.

Fig. 1.0:

Diagram showing tripped circuit breakers due to a line fault.

If either circuit breakers B2 or C1 had failed to open, the next breaker closest to either should trip.

3. Speed:

Yes! a protective relay might be sensitive to detect faults but being quick enough to disconnect
associated switch gears is fundamental to the system’s integrity. The speed at which a fault is
cleared is a function of the circuit breaker’s operating time, the relay’s operating time and time
taken to communicate between the relay and the circuit breaker.

4. Reliability:

On a general note, portrays the confidence we have in the scheme to clear detected faults. One way a
system's reliability is improved is having a backup system in place. Yes, this would ultimately add to the
initial cost of implementation but this would be a tradeoff considering how critical the protected asset
(line, transformer, generator etc.) is. For instance, a 330kV line is more critical if its trips than an 11kV
distribution feeder. Redundancy might also be implemented using other existing protection
infrastructure in service. In distance protection schemes, the concept of zones of protection is a simple
example. Numerically, reliability is the ratio of accurate trips to the total number of trips. Reliability is a
function of system security and dependability. A protective device is secure (true negative) if it does not
trip when it ought not to and its dependable (true positive) if it trips only when it ought to.

NATURE OF FAULT AND CAUSES OOF FAULT:

Nature and causes of fault in an electrical power system can be due to the following reasons;

1. Certain foreign particles, such as fine cement dust or any dirt.

2. Insulation failure or conducting path failures.
3. Overvoltage due to lightning or switching surges.
4. Punctured or breaking of insulator.
5. Conducting objects falling on the overhead lines like tree branches.
6. Poor quality of the system components or because of a faulty system design.

CONSEQUENCES OF FAULTS:
Over current flow: When fault occurs, it creates a very low impedance path for the current flow.
This results in a very high current being drawn from the supply, causing tripping of relays,
damaging insulation and components of the equipment.

Danger to operating personnel: Fault occurrence can also cause shocks to individuals. Severity
of the shock depends on the current and voltage at fault location and even may lead to death.

Loss of equipment: Heavy current due to short circuit faults result in the components being
burnt completely which leads to improper working of equipment or device. Sometimes heavy
fire causes complete burnout of the equipment.

Disturbs interconnected active circuits: Faults not only affect the location at which they occur
but also disturbs the active interconnected circuits to the faulted line.
• Electrical fires: short circuit causes flashovers and sparks due to the ionization of air between
two conducting paths which further leads to fire as we often observe in news such as building
and shopping complex fires.

ZONE OF PROTECTION:

The “protection zone” in an electrical power system is defined as the specific region within the
system that is monitored and protected from faults by protective relays. This zone is established
around each major piece of equipment within the power system.

When a fault occurs within any of the protection zones, the protective relays will call on the
circuit breakers within that zone to be opened. This allows only the affected equipment to be
isolated while keeping the rest of the system energized.

Protection schemes encompass the entire power system, meaning no piece of distribution
equipment is left unprotected. How a zone of protection is defined within a power system
mainly depends upon the rating of the apparatus, its location, the probability of faults and
abnormal condition of the equipment.
 BASIC REQUIREMENT OF A PROTECTIVE SCHEME:
The following are the basic requirements of any power system protection system:

Reliability – Relays must have the ability to perform correctly when needed (dependability) and
to avoid unnecessary operation (security).
Speed – Relays must operate with minimum fault duration and minimize equipment damage.
Selectivity – Protective relays must provide maximum service continuity with minimum system
disconnection.
Economics - The best relays will offer maximum protection at minimum cost.
Simplicity - Protective relays should contain minimum equipment, circuitry and sequence of
operations.
 TERMINOLOGIES OF A PROTECTIVE SYSTEM:

1. Protective Relay : It is an electrical relay, which closes its contacts when an actuating quantity
reaches a certain preset value. Due to closing of contacts, relay initiates a trip circuit of circuit
breaker or an alarm circuit.

2. Relay Time : It is the time between the instant of fault occurrence and the instant of closure
of relay contacts.

3. Breaker Time : It is the time between the instant at circuit breaker operates and opens the
contacts, to the instant of extinguishing the arc completely.

4. Fault Clearing Time : The total time required between the instant of fault and the instant of
final arc interruption in the circuit breaker is fault clearing time. It is sum of the relay time and
circuit breaker time.

5. Pickup : A relay is said to be picked up when it moves from the 'OFF' position to 'ON' position.
Thus when relay operates it is said that relay has picked up.

6. Pickup Value : It is the minimum value of an actuating quantity at which relay starts
operating. In most of the relays actuating quantity is current in the relay coil and pickup value of
current is indicated along with the realy.

7. Dropout or Reset : A relay is said to be dropout or reset when it comes back to original
position i.e. when relay contacts open from its closed position. The value of an actuating
quantity current or voltage below which the relay resets is called reset value of that relay.

8. Time Delay : The time taken by relay to operate after it has sensed the fault is called time
delay of relay. Some relays are instantaneous while in some relays intentionally a time delay is
provided.

9. Sealing Relays or Holding Relays : The relay contacts are designed for light weight and hence
they are therefore very delicate. When the protective relay closes its contacts, it is relieved from
other duties such as time lag, tripping etc. These duties are performed by auxiliary relays which
are also called sealing relays or holding relays.

10. Current Setting : The pick up value of current can be adjusted to the required level in the
relays which is called current setting of that relay. It is achieved by use of tappings on the relay
coil, which are brought out to a plug bridge.

12. Time/P.S.M. Curve: For a relay, a curve showing relation between time and plug-setting
multiplier is provided which is called time/P.S.M. Time / P.S.M. curve It can be observed that for
low values of overcurrent the operating time varies inversely with the current. But as the
current increases and approaches up to 20 times its rated value then then the tome becomes
almost constant. This type of characteristics is necessary to ensure discrimination on very high
fault currents flowing through healthy part of the system.

13. Time-setting Multiplier: Similar to current setting, a relay is provided with a feature with
which its time of operation can be controlled. This feature is known as time-setting multiplier.
Its dial is calibrated from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.05 as shown in the Fig. 3. Fig. 3 Time-setting
multiplier. The value of time-setting multiplier along with the time obtained from time/P.S.M.
curve decides the actual time of operation of the relay. For example, if time-setting multiplier is
selected as 0.2 while time corresponding to P.S.M. of 10 is 4 seconds then, Actual time of
operation = time in seconds x time-setting multiplier = 4 x 0.2 = 0.8 seconds

14. Trip Circuit: The opening operation of circuit breaker is controlled by a circuit which consists
of trip coil, relay contacts, auxiliary switch, battery supply etc. which is called trip circuit.

15. Earth Fault: The fault involving earth is called earth fault. The examples of earth fault are
single line to ground fault, double line to ground fault etc.

16. Phase Fault: The fault which does not involve earth is called phase fault. The example is line
to line fault.
17. Protective Scheme: The combination of various protective systems covering a particular
protective zone for a particular equipment is called protective scheme. For example, a generator
may be provided with protective system like overcurrent, differential, earth fault etc. The
combination of all these systems is called generator protective scheme.

18. Protective System: The combination of circuit breakers, trip circuits, C.T. and other
protective relaying equipment is called protective system.

19. Unit Protection: A protective system in which the protection zone is clearly defined by the
C.T. boundaries is called unit protection. Such systems work for internal faults only.

20. Reach: The limiting distance in which protective system responds to the faults is called reach
of the protective system.

COMPONENTS OF A PPROTECTION SCHEME:

Relays:
The main function of a protective relay is to isolate a faulty section with the least interruption to
service by controlling the circuit breaker, when abnormal conditions develop. Thus, the relays
may be designed to detect and to measure abnormal conditions and close the contacts in the
tripping circuit.
The following two categories of relays are most commonly used in protective relaying:

Secondary indirect-acting relays: a group including practically all kinds of relays, e.g.,
current, voltage, power, impedance, reactance and frequency, whether minimum or maximum.

Secondary direct-acting relays: a group of overcurrent and under-voltage relays designed

to operate instantaneously or with time lag. These are primarily relays of the electromagnetic
type which are built into circuit breaker operating mechanisms.

Circuit Breakers:
Circuit breakers of various types are installed in all power circuits to Open and close them under
normal load conditions. Circuit breakers must correspond to nominal current and voltage rating
and MVA breaking capacity to the load and fault power conditions at the given point of the
circuit where they are incorporated. To isolate a fault from the power system one or more
circuit breakers are required in conjunction with the protection.

Circuit breakers may be operated either manually or automatically. For our consideration here
we will assume that it is controlled by a protective relay, so that when opening (tripping) is
required a trip coil is energized, which releases energy stored in the mechanism thus causing
the main contacts to part. The relay usually closes its contacts directly or via an auxiliary relay to
close the trip coil circuit through a battery thus energizing the trip coil. When more than one
breaker is to be tripped or where the trip coil current exceeds the relay-contact rating, an
auxiliary relay of proper contact rating must be used.

While closing the trip coil circuit which is highly inductive the duty on the relay contacts is not
so severe; but while breaking the trip coil current considerable damage would be done to these
contacts. In order to overcome this difficulty an auxiliary switch operated by a mechanical link
mechanism of the circuit breaker is connected in series with the trip coil and relay contacts. This
auxiliary switch opens when the breaker contacts open. This action, however, takes place before
the contacts of the relay open. This ensures that any inductance voltage would appear across
the auxiliary contacts only and not across the relay contacts. The latter are thus saved from any
possibility of burning.

The time of operation of circuit breaker actually depends on its design and usually lies between
0.05 and 0.25s. This must be accounted for while calculating final fault clearance time.

Tripping and Other Auxiliary Supplies:

It is quite evident that a source of power supply other than the supply circuit being protected is
required for the operation of the relays and the circuit breakers. It also goes without saying that
such an auxiliary supply should be the most reliable one. Protective relay and automatic control
schemes, in power system practice use two kinds of auxiliary supply: d.c. or a.c.

D.C. auxiliary power supply is provided from storage batteries maintained continuously charged
by some type of supply set or a charger. The advantages of storage batteries are their high
reliability and independence of a.c. power circuit conditions and of the existence of faults.
Usually, the voltage of the auxiliary supply is maintained at 110 V. All possible means are
exploited in designing the auxiliary supply circuits to make them most reliable, such as by
dividing all the receivers of the auxiliary d.c. according to their responsibility into different
categories. Of these the most important are the protective relays, automatic control and the
circuit breaker tripping circuits. Use of sensationalized buses is frequently made for such
supplies. Separate buses may also be provided for supplying power to relays, circuit breakers
and other indicating circuits such as alarm or warning signals.

All d.c. auxiliary supply circuits must have their insulation resistance maintained at an adequate
level, as any breakdown in the insulation with respect to earth may lead to false tripping due to
formation of a path for bypass of the current round the control devices. Because of this danger
every d.c. auxiliary supply installation must include a unit for constantly monitoring the
condition of the insulation (insulation resistance to earth). A simple circuit providing such a test
is shown in Fig. (2.13). When the insulation is healthy the voltage of each pole relative to earth
V1 and V will be equal and half the voltage between both the poles. In case the insulation of one
pole drops in value with respect to earth, the voltage to earth of this pole will also drop, but the
voltage to earth of the other pole of the circuit will increase by the same amount.

Wherever conditions permit, it is of decided economic advantage to use a.c. instead of d.c.
auxiliary supply for circuit breaker control and for energizing the protective relay. A.C. auxiliary
supply for the protective relay scheme is mainly derived from the CTs. Under fault conditions,
the current passing through the secondary of properly selected CTs, will always be sufficient to
reliably trip the associated circuit breaker.

Current Transformer (CT):

The primary circuit currents which are of high-magnitudes are to be reduced to values suitable
for relay operation with the help of current transformers (CTs). Thus, the CTs essentially insulate
the secondary (relay) circuits from the primary (power) circuits and, provide currents in the
secondary which are proportional to those in the primary. The primary winding of the CT is
connected in series with the load and carries the actual power system currents (normal or
fault). The secondary is connected to the measuring circuit or the relay, which together with the
winding impedance of the transformer and the lead resistance constitutes the burden of the
transformer.

The CT is similar in operation to any other transformer so that the primary current consists of
two Components of Protection System, viz. the secondary current which is transformed in the
inverse ratio of the turns ratio and the exciting current which magnetizes the core. The latter
current is not transformed and is the cause of the transformer errors. It is because of this
reason that certain values of secondary currents could never be produced whatever the value of
primary current, this happens when the core saturates and disproportionate amount of primary
current is required to magnetize the core.

Voltage Transformers (VT):

It is not possible to connect the voltage coils of the protective devices directly to the system in
case of high voltage systems. It is therefore necessary to step down the voltage and also to
insulate the protective equipment from the primary (power) circuit. This is achieved by using a
voltage transformer (VT) also known as a potential transformer (PT) which is similar to a power
transformer. The voltage transformer is rated in terms of the maximum burden (VA output) it
delivers without exceeding specified limits of error, whereas the power transformer is rated by
the secondary output it delivers without exceeding a specified temperature rise. The output of
VTs is usually limited to a few hundred-volt amperes and the secondary voltage is usually 110 V
between phases.

Ideally a VT should produce a secondary voltage exactly proportional to the primary voltage and
exactly in phase opposition. This cannot obviously be achieved in practice owing to the voltage
drops in the primary and secondary coils due to the magnitude and power factor of the
secondary burden. Thus, ratio errors and phase angle errors are introduced.

Linear Coupler:
An iron-cored CT has the limitation of saturation and owing to d.c, offset transient component
present in the fault current, the stability on heavy through faults may be difficult to obtain.

With air-cored CTs, also known as linear couplers, the problem of saturation and d.c. offset
transient are overcome. Two major difficulties with relay transient problems are differential
saturation and the transference of d.c. through the iron-cored CT. These are obviously solved;
firstly, because iron has been removed, and secondly because this device transforms the
exponential waveform with a high degree of attenuation of the d.c. offset in the output wave
form.

CLASSIFICATION OF RELAYS:

1. Electromagnetic Relays

2. Latching Relays

3. Electronic Relays

4. Non-Latching Relays

5. Reed Relays

6. High-Voltage Relays

7. Small Signal Relays

8. Time Delay Relays

9. Multi-Dimensional Relays

10. Thermal Relays

11. Differential Relays

12. Distance Relays

13. Automotive Relays

14. Frequency Relays

15. Polarized Relays

16. Rotary Relays

17. Sequence Relays

18. Moving Coil Relays

19. Buchholz Relays

20. Safety Relays

21. Supervision relays

22. Ground Fault Relays

Principle of different types of Electromagnetic Relay:

Attracted Armature Type:

Electromagnetic relays These relays are constructed with electrical, magnetic & mechanical components
& have an operating coil & various contacts, & are very robust & reliable. Based on the construction,
characteristics, these are classified in three groups. Attraction relays Attraction relays can be AC & DC
and operate by the movement of a piece of iron when it is attracted by the magnetic field produced by a
coil. There are two main types of relays:

1. The attracted armature type

2. Solenoid type relay Attracted armature relays.

The attracted armature type: Consists of a bar or plate (made of iron) that pivots when it is attracted
towards the coil. The armature carries the moving part of the contact, which is closed or opened,
according to the design, when the armature is attracted to the coil.

Induction Relays:
Torque is produced in these relays when one alternating flux reacts with the current induced in the rotor
by another alternating flux displaced in time and space but having the same frequency. Induction relays
are widely used for protective relaying involving a.c. quantities. High, low and adjustable speeds are
possible, and various shapes of time/ operating quantity curves can be obtained. Depending on the type
of rotor whether a disc or a cup the relay is known as an induction disc or an induction cup relay.
INDUCTION RELAY

General Equation of phase and magnitude components:

Duality of Components:
OVER CURRENT RELAYS:
Protection against excess current was naturally the earliest protection systems to evolve
• From this basic principle has been evolved the graded over current system, a discriminate fault
protection.

• Overload protection makes use of relays that operate in a time related in some degree to the thermal
capability of the plant to be protected.

• Over current protection, on the other hand, is directed entirely to the clearance of the faults, although
with the settings usually adopted some measure of overload protection is obtained.

DIRECTIONAL RELAYS:

When fault current can flow in both the directions through the relay, at its location. Therefore, it is
necessary to make the relay respond for a particular defined direction, so that proper discrimination is
possible. This can be achieved by introduction of directional control elements.

These are basically power measuring devices in which the system voltage is used as a reference for
establishing the relative phase of the fault current. Basically, an AC directional relay can recognize certain
difference in phase angle between two quantities, just as a D.C. directional relay recognize difference in
polarity.

DISTANCE RELAY:

Distance relay is used for the protection of transmission line & feeders in a distance relay, instead of
comparing the local line current with the current at far end of line, the relay compares the local current
with the local voltage in the corresponding phase or suitable components of them.

The basic principle of measurement involves the comparison of fault current seen by the relay with the
voltage at relaying point; by comparing these two quantities. It is possible to determine whether the
impedance of the line up to the point of fault is greater than or less than the predetermined reach point
impedance. Distance relays are classified depending on their operating characteristic.

1. Impedance Relay:

The torque equation T, for such a relay the current actuates the operating torque and the voltage
actuates the restraining torque, with the usual spring constant K4.

T  K1 I2  K2 V2 K4
 Considering K2 to be negative (as it produces the restraining torque) and neglecting the torque
component due to spring, the equation represents a circle in the R-X plane.

2. Reactance Relay:

The reactance relay is basically a directional restrained overcurrent relay. Therefore, the actuating
quantity is current and the equation becomes as follows, where the constant K2 is zero.

T  K1 I2  K3 VICos (  ) K4

In the above equation, constant K1 is positive as the current produces operating torque and K 3 is negative
as the power direction produces restraining torque. In the above equation the angle τ is considered as
900. So, the equation derives to T  K1 I2  K3 VICos   K4  0. The characteristics resembles a horizontal
line parallel to the R-axis with constant X value.

1. The reactance relay is designed to measure only reactive component of the line reactance.

2. The fault resistance has no effect on the reactance relay

MHO RELAY:

The Mho relay combines the properties of impedance and directional relays. Its characteristic is
inherently directional and the relay only operates for faults in front of the relay location. In terms of the
torque equation the relay characteristics can be obtained by making the constant K1 equal to zero. It is
basically a voltage restrained directional relay and the torque equation becomes.

T (  K3VICos    K2V2 K4  0

DIFFERENTIAL RELAY/ (MERZ-PRIZE):

One of the most prevalent and successful method of protecting a circuit is to arrange relays to compare
the currents entering and leaving it, which should be the same under normal conditions and during an
external fault. Any difference current must be flowing in to a fault within the protected circuit.

When this system is applied to electrical equipment (Generator stator windings, Transformer, Bus bars
etc.) it is called differential current protection. When it is applied to lines and cables it is called pilot
differential protection because pilot wires or an equivalent link or channel is required to bring the
current to the relay from the remote end of the line. The CTs at both ends of the protected circuit
connected so that for through load or through fault conditions current circulates between the
interconnected CTs. The over-current relay is normally connected across equipotential points and
therefore doesn’t operate. Circulating current balance methods are widely used for apparatus protection
where CTs are within the same substation area and interconnecting leads between CTs are short (e.g.
generator stator windings, Transformer, Bus bars etc.) The circulating current balance method is also
called longitudinal differential protection or Merz-Price differential protection system. The current in the
differential relay would be proportional to the phasor difference between the currents that enter and
leave the protected circuit. If the current through the relay exceeds the pick-up value, then the relay will
operate.

NUMERICAL RELAYS:

Numeric relays are the evolved form of a static and electromagnetic relay. They are basically a
device used for measuring electric parameters in an electrical network and convert them into
numerical data which undergoes mathematical and logical analysis to decide on tripping an
electrical network.

The main purpose of a numerical relay is to protect the electrical network from unexpected
fault currents. Numerical relays are mostly preferred because of their versatile characteristics.
A single Numerical relay can monitor multiple parameters like current, voltage,
Frequency, onset time, offset time, etc. And the same relay can be used for analyzing and
monitoring multiple faults such as over current, over fluxing, different current and more.

Numerical relays are technically superior to the conventional type relays.

Their general characteristics are:

• Reliability

• Self-diagnosis

• Event and disturbance records

• Adaptive Protection

• Integration of Digital Systems.

QUESTION 2:

Construction of Protection relay:

What is a Protective Relay?

A protective relay definition is; a switchgear device used to detect faults & begin the circuit
breaker operation to separate the faulty element of the system. These relays are self-contained
& compact devices that detect abnormal conditions occurring within the electrical circuits by
measuring the electrical quantities constantly which are dissimilar in fault & normal conditions.
In fault conditions, the electrical quantities may change like current, voltage, phase angle &
frequency.

Protective Relay Working Principle

A protective relay is used to protect the device once the fault is detected within a system. Once
the fault is detected, the fault location is found and then provides the tripping signal to the
circuit breaker or CB. These relays work on the two principles like electromagnetic attraction &

electromagnetic induction.

Electromagnetic attraction relay simply works on both supplies like AC & DC and it attracts the coil
toward electromagnet poles. These types of relays instantaneously work & it doesn’t delay while the
Electromagnetic induction relay simply works on only AC supply & it utilizes the induction motor to
generate the torque. So, these are regularly used like directional relays to protect the power system &
also in high-speed-based switching operation applications.

A typical protective relay circuit is shown which can be separated into three parts
which are discussed below.

The first part of the circuit is the primary winding of a CT which is also called a current
transformer. This CT is connected with the transmission line in series to be protected.

The second part includes the secondary winding of the current transformer, CB & the operating
coil of the relay.
The final part of the circuit is the tripping circuit which may be either AC/DC. So, it mainly
includes a source of power supply, the circuit breakers trip coil & the stationary contacts of the
relay.

Working principle of a protection relay:

Once a short circuit at the ‘F’ point on the transmission line occurs, then the flow of current
within the transmission line will increase to an enormous value. So, this causes to flow heavy
current throughout the relay coil and makes the protective relay function by simply closing its
contacts.

Consequently, it closes the trip circuit of the CB and makes the CB open & separating the faulty
segment from the system. So, in this manner, this protective relay ensures the security of the
equipment of the circuit from breaking & typical working of the system.

AREAS OF APPLICATIONS OF PROTECTION RELAYS:

The applications of a protection relay include the following.

1. A protection relay is used in serve electrical protection.

2. The protection relay detects a problem during its early stage & significantly
reduces or eliminates damage to equipment.
3. This relay device is mainly designed to trip a CB (circuit breaker) once a fault is
noticed.
4. This relay works like a detecting device, so it detects the faults, knows its position
& lastly it provides the tripping signal to the circuit breaker
5. This is a switchgear device used to detect the faults & begins the circuit breaker
operation to separate the faulty element from the system.
6. These are very helpful in high-voltage & medium-voltage protection and
overcurrent to complex distance protection.
Protection Relay Testing

In current power systems, protection relays play a key role so their reliable operation has to check at all
times. So, these relays should be tested during their life cycle. Additionally, relay testing on a normal
basis is required to make sure the right operation is maintained. If the testing of the protection relay is
not performed well on a regular basis, electrical faults may occur and cause equipment damage & harm
to workers.

There are three types of protection relay tests that are performed bench testing, commissioning testing,
and maintenance testing which are discussed below.

Bench Testing

This test is performed to test the relay on its own & that it equals the design. This avoids more costly as
well as time-consuming troubles from occurring at later stages within a project.

Commissioning Testing

When the electrical system has been designed, commissioning the protective relay involves checking the
larger system works as expected. So, for instance, once the protective relay is connected to the
switchgear, then it should work as expected, and respond to interlocks & other replicated conditions. In
the future, the function of the relay will have been verified.

Maintenance Testing

Once maintenance testing is performed then the whole design purpose is assumed, however, the
behavior of the protective relay should be verified for below operation. Apart from particular failures,
this relay cannot notice changes within the characteristics of a system like network loads being modified
over time. So these long-term changes may need the protection relay to be reprogrammed to make sure
the estimated operation is maintained.

While doing protection relay testing there are many parameters that need to be tested frequently based
on the type of test like the relay’s visual inspection, connection parts, opening & closing of circuit
breaker (CB), protection functions, logic functions, protective relay binary & analog input and outputs,
Primary injection, Insulation resistance testing & secondary injection testing.
Magnetizing current inrush:

When the transformer is energized, the condition initially is of zero induced E.m.f. A transient inflow of
magnetizing current occurs in to the transformer. This current is called magnetizing inrush current. This
current may be as great as 10 times the full load current of the transformer. This decays very slowly and
is bound to operate differential protection of the transformer falsely, because of the temporary
difference in magnitude of the primary and secondary currents. The factors which affect the magnitude
and direction of the magnetizing inrush current can be one of the following reasons.

a. Size of the transformer.

b. Size of the power system

c. Type of magnetic material used for the core.

d. The amount of residual flux existing before energizing the transformer.

e. The method by which transformer is energized.

If the transformer is energized when the voltage wave is passing through zero, the magnetizing current
inrush is maximum. At this instant, the current and flux should be maximum in highly inductive circuit.
And in a half wave flux reversal must take place to attain maximum value in the other half cycles. Due to
this magnetizing current inrush is less or more. If it is more, it is responsible to saturate the core which
further increases its component. This current decays rapidly for first few cycles and then decays slowly.
The time constant L/R of the circuit is variable as inductance of circuit varies due to the change in
permeability of the core. The losses in the circuit damp the inrush currents.
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References

[1]. Van c warrington, “protective relays” vol.-i & ii

[2]. Ravindranath, m.chander, “power system protection and switchgear”, wiley eastern ltd.
New delhi [3]. T s madhav rao, “power system protection”, tmh pulication

[4]. Sunil s.rao, “switch gear and protection”, khanna publication

[5] a course in electrical power by j.b. gupta