Power System Protection

UNIT-6

Distance Protection Relay

Distance protection relay is the name given to the protection, whose action depends on the
distance of the feeding point to the fault. The time of operation of such protection is a function of
the ratio of voltage and current, i.e., impedance. This impedance between the relay and the fault
depends on the electrical distance between them. The principal type of distance relays is
impedance relays, reactance relays, and the reactance relays.

Distance protection relay principle differs from other forms of protection because their
performance does not depend on the magnitude of the current or voltage in the protective circuit
but it depends on the ratio of these two quantities. It is a double actuating quantity relay with
one of their coil is energized by voltage and the other coil is energized by the current. The
current element produces a positive or pick-up torque while the voltages element has caused a
negative and reset torque.

The relay operates only when the ratio of voltage and current falls below a set value. During the
fault the magnitude of current increases and the voltage at the fault point decreases. The ratio of
the current and voltage is measured at the point of the current and potential transformer. The
voltage at potential transformer region depends on the distance between the PT and the fault.

If the fault is nearer, measured voltage is lesser, and if the fault is farther, measured voltage is
more. Hence, assuming constant fault impedance each value of the ratio of voltage and current
measured from relay location comparable to the distance between the relaying point and fault
point along the line. Hence such protection is called the distance protection or impedance
protection.

Distance zone is non-unit protection, i.e., the protection zone is not exact. The distance
protection is high-speed protection and is simply to apply. It can be employed as a primary as
well as backup protection. It is very commonly used in the protection of transmission lines.
 Distance relays are used for both phase fault and ground fault protection, and they provide higher
speed for clearing the fault. It is also independent of changes in the magnitude of the short
circuits, current and hence they are not much affected by the change in the generation capacity
and the system configuration. Thus, they eliminate long clearing times for the fault near the
power sources required by overcurrent relay if used for the purpose.

Application of Distance Protection Relay

Distance protection relay is widely spread employed for the protection of high-voltage AC
transmission line and distribution lines. They have replaced the overcurrent protection because of
the following reasons.

 It provides faster protection as compared to overcurrent relay.

 It has a permanent setting without the need for readjustments.
 Direct protection relay has less effect of an amount of generation and fault levels.
 Their fault current magnitude permits the high line loading.

Distance protection schemes are commonly employed for providing the primary or main
protection and backup protection for AC transmission line and distribution line against three
phase faults, phase-to-phase faults, and phase-to-ground faults.

Effect of power swing on the performance of distance relay

We consider the two machine system connected by Transmission line of Impedance Z L as shown
in figure below.
For making the calculation easy, assume E R as reference and its angle as zero. Therefore current
seen by Relay located at A,
I= Volateg / Z
= (Esejδ - ER) / (Zs+ZL+ZR) ……….. Z = Zs+ZL+ZR

Now, Impedance seen by Relay,

Z = Voltage seen by Relay/Current seen by Relay

= (Esejδ - IZs)/I

= -Zs + Esejδ/I

= -Zs + Esejδ/(Esejδ - ER) / (Zs+ZL+ZR)

= -Zs + EsejδxZ/(Esejδ - ER) ……………………Z = Zs+ZL+ZR

= -Zs + Z/[1- (ER/ES) e-jδ]

Assume that ER/ES = K and K = 1 for simplicity then

Z = -Zs + Z/[1- e-jδ] = -Zs + Z/[1-cosδ+jsinδ]

= -Zs + (Z/2)/[sin2δ/2+jsinδcosδ] = -Zs +(Z/2sinδ/2)/[sinδ/2 + jcosδ/2]

= -Zs + (Z/2sinδ/2)( sinδ/2 - jcosδ/2)

= -Zs + (Z/2)( 1 - jcotδ/2)

Therefore,
 Impedance seen by Relay, Z = -Zs + (Z/2)( 1 - jcotδ/2)
= (-Zs +Z/2) – j(Z/2)cotδ/2

From above equation of Impedance seen by Relay, if δ = 180°

Z = (-Zs +Z/2) as cotδ/2 = 0

Geometrical Interpretation:

The vector component in above equation is a constant in R – X plane. The component –

j(Z/2)cotδ/2 lies on a straight line, perpendicular to line segment (-Zs +Z/2). Thus, the trajectory
of the impedance measured by relay during the power swing is a straight line as shown in figure
below. The angle subtended by a point in the locus on S and R end points is angle δ. For
simplicity, angle of Zs,ZR and ZL are considered same.
The point where the Power Swing locus intersects line AB, the angle between E S and ER is 180
degree which means both the sources are out of step. This point of intersection is called
Electrical Center.

The existence of the electrical center is an indication of system instability, the two
Generators being out of step. If the power swing is stable, i.e. if the post fault system is stable,
then δmax will be less than (180°- δ) as in this case both the sources won’t be out of step.
Now, suppose ER/ES = K ≠1 then,

Z = -Zs + kZ[(k - cosδ) - jsinδ] / [(k - cosδ)2 – sin2δ]

Therefore, the power swing locus on the R – X is an arc of the circle as shown in figure below.

It is also clear from the above figure that the location of the Electrical Center is dependent upon
the ratio ES/ER. Appearance of electrical center on a transmission line is a transient phenomenon.
This is because, during unstable transient, is not stationary. As the rotor angles separate in time
Electrical Center arises during out-of-step condition.
Voltage at the Point of Occurrence of Electrical Center:

The voltage profile across the transmission system at the point of occurrence of electrical center
is shown in figure below.

At the electrical center, the voltage is exactly zero. This

means that relays at both ends of the line perceive it as a bolted three phase fault and
immediately trip the line. Thus, we can conclude that existence of Electrical Center means
system instability which can introduce nuisance tripping of distance relay.

Now consider a double end- fed transmission line with three stepped distance protection scheme
having Z1, Z2 and Z3 protection zones. The mho relays are used and characteristics are plotted
on R-X plane as shown in figure below.
Scheme of Distance Protection:
In developing an overall Scheme of Distance Protection, it is necessary to provide a number of
relays to obtain the required discrimination. Modern practice is to adopt definite distance method
of protection applied in 3 zones (steps).

A number of distance relays are used in association with timing relays so that the power system
is divided into a number of zones with varying tripping times associated with each zone.

The first zone tripping which is instantaneous is normally set to 80% of the protected section.

The zone 2 protection with a time delay sufficient for circuit breaker operating time and
discriminating time margin covers the remaining 20% portion of the protected section plus 25 to
40% of the next section. Also in the Scheme of Distance Protection the Zone 2 also provides
backup protection for the relay in the next section for faults close to the bus.

Zone 3 with still more time delay provides complete backup protection for all faults at all
locations.

In practice, the initial pickup of the zone 3 relay may be used as a starter for the equipment, since
its own measuring action will take place only after a long time delay.
The three stepped characteristics of a definite distance scheme has already been discussed for
feeders fed from one end. Now if fault can be fed from both ends as in the case of an
interconnected system, assuming zone 1 to be 80 % of the protected section then there will be
40% of the feeder on which faults will finally be cleared in the zone 2 time. This is clear from
Fig. (5.22). This is undesirable from stability point of view and in general it will be necessary to
avoid this delay. This is possible if the distance relay which has tripped instantaneously in zone 1
sends an intertrip signal to remote end of the feeder in order to trip the breaker quickly in
preference to waiting for zone 2 tripping.

In some distance schemes, carrier acceleration is applied which utilises a carrier signal
transmitted over the power line. The combination of the carrier signal and the position of the
starting elements of the remote relay cause tripping without further time lag.

Underfrequency Protective Relay

The underfrequency relay is a solidstate device that functions to protect the load in the event
generator frequency decreases below preset limits. It actuates when the frequency decreases to
55 hertz for 60-hertz operation and 46 hertz for 50-hertz operation. Upon actuation, contacts
within the relay close to signal the annunicator and open to de-energize the generator breaker
(contactor), resulting in a display of the fault condition and removal of the load from the
generator.

 Frequency sensing is accomplished by a tuned circuit consisting of capacitors C1 and C2

and components in the encapsulated base.
 Zener diodes CR1, CR2, and CR3 limit the peak voltage to the tuned circuit.
 The ac output of the tuned circuit is rectified by diode CR4 and applied to a voltage
divider consisting of resistors R1, R2, R3, and R4.
 Transistor Q1 compares the voltage at the wiper of potentiometer R3 with the reference
voltage established by zener diode CR7. When transistor Q1 conducts, transistor Q2
operates as a switch to control the coil voltage on a relay contained in the encapsulated
base.
 Both transistors Q1 and Q2 and the relay in the encapsulated base are energized when the
frequency of the input voltage to terminals 1 and 2 is normal frequency (50 to 60 hertz).
 When an underfrequency condition occurs, the voltage at the base of transistor Q1 is not
sufficient for conduction. This causes the relay to be de-energized and its contacts to
switch. The underfrequency trip point is adjusted by potentiometer R3.

Figure: Solid-state under frequency protective relay.,

Reverse-Power Protective Relay

The reverse-power relay is a solid-state device that functions to protect the generator in the
event of a reverse-power operating condition during parallel operation. It operates in conjunction
with the load measurement unit. This unit produces a dc output voltage whose polarity
and magnitude are functions of

Figure: Solid-state reverse-power protective relay.

the total load on the generator set regardless of phase or power factor. When the reverse-power
flow into the generator exceeds 20 percent of rated load, the load measurement unit output has
sufficient magnitude and correct polarity to cause the reverse-power relay to activate. Upon
actuation, contacts within the reverse-power relay close to signal the annunicator and open to de-
energize the generator breaker (contactor). This results in a display of the fault condition and
removal of the load from the generator.

1. During normal operation with power passing from the generator set to the load, the load
measurement unit impresses a dc signal across terminals 1 and 2 of the reverse-power relay, with
terminal 1 negative and terminal 2 positive. This reverse-biases transistor Q1 off, causing Q2 and
Q3 to be off and relay coil K1 to be de-energized. Thus, under all conditions of forward power
by the generator set, relay K1 is de-energized, terminals 5 and 6 remain open, and terminals 7
and 8 are shorted.
2. Reverse-power trip-level-control potentiomenter R2 is factory adjusted to cause relay coil K1
to be energized when dc voltage of 2 volts is impressed across terminals 1 and 2, with terminal 1
positive and terminal 2 negative.

3. When the system reverse power reaches 20 percent, the dc voltage across the wiper of R2 and
terminal 2 has sufficient magnitude to turn Q1 on. The superimposed ac voltage on the dc input
to terminals 1 and 2 is then impressed across the anode of CR2 and terminal 4. Diode CR3
rectifies this ac signal and capacitor C2 smooths it. The resultant dc voltage forward-biases Q2
and Q3 on, causing relay coil K1 to become energized.

Overload Protective Relay

The overload (overcurrent) relay (fig. 4-18) is a solid-state device whose function is to protect
the load in the event of an overload condition. An "overload condition" is defined as the state in
which generator output current in any phase exceeds 110 percent of rated value. The overload
relay is a current-sensing device and operates on an inverse-time principle as the current in any
phase (coil A, B, or C) exceeds the overload state. At the point just above 130 percent of rated
current, the overload relay will actuate in approximately 10 minutes. Upon actuation, contacts
within the overload relay close to signal the annunicator and open to de-energize the generator
breaker (contactor). This results in the display of the fault condition and the removal of the load
from the generator.
Under and Overvoltage Protection

For the satisfactory working of all electrical and electronic devices, it is recommended to allow
voltage at prescribed limits. Voltage fluctuations in electric power supply certainly have adverse
effects on connected loads. These fluctuations can be of over voltage and under voltages which
are caused by several reasons like voltage surges, lightning, overload, etc.

Over voltages are the voltages that exceed the normal or rated values which cause
insulation damage to electrical appliances leading to short circuits.

Similarly, under-voltage causes overloading of the equipment leading to lamp flickers

and inefficient performance of the equipment. Thus, this article is intended to give under and
overvoltage protection circuit schemes with different control structures.

To understand this concept and know it better, one needs to go through three different types of
over voltage protection circuits that use comparators and timers.
1. Under and Over Voltage Protection Circuit Using Comparators

This voltage protection circuit is designed to develop a low-voltage and high-voltage tripping
mechanism to protect a load from any damage. In many of the homes and industries fluctuations
in AC mains supply take place frequently. The electronic devices get easily damaged due to
fluctuations. To overcome this problem, we can implement a tripping mechanism of under /
overvoltage protection circuit to protect the loads from the undue damage.

Circuit Operation

 As shown in the above block diagram, the mains AC power supplies the power to the whole
circuit and for operating loads by using relays, and also for tripping the load (lamps) in the
presence of the input voltage which falls above or below a set value.
 Two comparators used as a window comparator formed out of one quad comparator IC. This
operation delivers an error in the output if the input voltage to the comparator crosses the
limit beyond the voltage window.
 In this circuit, an unregulated power supply is connected to both op-amps terminals, wherein
each non-inverting terminal is connected through the two series resistors and a potentiometer
arrangement. Similarly, the inverting terminal is also powered through Zener diode and
resistance arrangements, as shown in the given under or overvoltage protection circuit.


T
he Potentiometer’s preset VR1 is adjusted such that the voltage at non-inverting is less than
 6.8V for stable maintenance of load for the normal supply range of 180V-240V and the
voltage of inverting terminal is 6.8V constant due to Zener diode.
 Hence the op-amp output is zero under this range and thus the relay coil is de-energized and
the load is not interrupted during this stable operation.
 When the voltage is beyond the 240 V the voltage at the non-inverting terminal is more than
6.8, so the operational amplifier output goes high. This output drives the transistor and thus
the relay coil gets energized and finally loads are turned off due to overvoltage.
 Similarly, for under voltage protection, lower comparator energizes the relay when the supply
voltage falls below 180 V by maintaining 6V at the inverting terminal. These under and
overvoltage settings can be changed by varying the respective potentiometers.
2. Under and Over Voltage Protection Circuit using Timers

This is another under / overvoltage protection circuit for designing low- voltage and high voltage
protection mechanism to protect the load from damage. This simple electronics circuit uses
timers in place of comparator as in the above case as a control mechanism. These two timers
combination delivers an error output to switch the relay mechanism when the voltage violates its
prescribed limits. Thus, it protects the appliances from the adverse effects of supply voltage.
Circuit Operation:

 The entire circuit is powered with rectified DC supply, but the regulated power is connected
to timers and unregulated power is connected to potentiometers to get the variable voltage.
 Both the timers are configured to work as comparators i.e., as long as the input present at the
pin2 of timer is less positive than 1/3 Vcc then the output at pin 3 goes high and reverse will
happen once the input at pin2 is more positive than the 1/3 Vcc.
 The Potentiometer VR1 is connected to timer 1 for under voltage cutoff, and the VR2 is to
second timer for over-voltage cutoff. The two transistors are connected to two timers for
making switch logic.

Overvoltage Protection Circuit using Timers

 In the normal operating conditions, (Between 160 and 250 V) the output of the timer 1 is held
low so the transistor 1 is in cutoff state. As a result, the reset pin of the timer 2 is high which
causes to output at pin 3 is high, so the transistor 2 conducts, and then the relay coil gets
energized. Thus, in the normal or stable-voltage conditions the load doesn’t get interrupted.
 In the overvoltage condition (above 260V), the input voltage at pin 2 of timer 2 is goes high.
This causes low output at the pin 3, which in turn drives the transistor 2 into a cutoff state
mode. Then, the relay coil gets de-energized and the load gets tripped from the main supply.
 Similarly, in under voltage condition, the timer 1 output is high and it drives the transistor 1
into conduction mode. As a result, the reset pin of timer 2 is goes low and therefor the
transistor 2 is in cutoff mode. And finally, the relay is getting operated to isolate the loads
from the main supply.
 These overvoltage and under voltage conditions status are also displayed as LED indication
which are connected to respective timers as shown in the figure.
Rate Of Change Of Frequency (ROCOF) Protection df/dt working Principle:

Rate Of Change Of Protection is used for load shedding in situations where sudden loss of
generating capacity on a system will be accompanied by a decrease in system frequency. In such
a situation of load Generation mismatch, the system frequency tends to fall.

The df/dt relay can control the circuit breakers and allow feeders to be disconnected from the
network, one by one. As a defense mechanism, df/dt relays are particularly effective in arresting
the frequency collapse of a grid in the event of sudden loss of major generation. This is because
by measuring the frequency decay rate, the corrective action can be initiated much ahead of the
time when frequency of the synchronous interconnection would have actually dipped to a point
at which generator under-frequency relays or unit auxiliaries would trip / operate leading to a
complete system shutdown.

due to increase in load, frequency dips below a certain threshold the Generators
connected to the Grid will trip which will result into further dip in frequency and such a
cumulative dip in frequency result into complete failure of Grid. Thus there is a need of
Rate of Change of Frequency or df/dt relay which can detect the dip in frequency earlier and
initiate load shedding to resume the normal frequency of the Grid.

The Rate of Change of Frequency (ROCOF) Relay operation is based on the measurement of
two successive frequency and the time difference between the frequency measurements. The
setting of the df/dt relay is in Frequency/Time e.g. 0.3Hz/second or 0.4 Hz/.5 seconds. The
minimum df/dt relay setting available is 0.1 Hz/sec. However, some df/dt relays have a minimum
setting of 0.2 Hz/sec only.

Principle of rate of change of frequency relay:

Whenever the load increases in the generator the frequency falls down. Consider two parallel
generators (example 1MW, 1.5MW), both is running with the grid and the auxiliary load of the
two generator is 1.1 MW. Here, if the grid also failed and 1.5 MW generator also tripped.
Therefore, all the auxiliary loads will fall on the single generator and the generator frequency
drops as the load increases. Here, The auxiliary loads should to be properly shedded to avoid the
tripping of the remaining generator. This action will be done by df/dt relays.

The rate of change of frequency measurement is based on two successive frequency

measurements and the time difference between the frequency measurements. The measured
frequency value for df/dt calculation is averaged over three cycles. The accuracy of df/dt
measurement depends on the accuracy of frequency measurements. This frequency measurement
is carried out through time measurement of a cycle (time between two zero crossing).
SYNCHROPHASORS

As the electric power grid continues to expand and as transmission lines are pushed to their operating
limits, the dynamic operation of the power system has become more of a concern and has become more
difficult to accurately model.

In addition, the ability to effect real-time system control is developing into the need to prevent wide
scale cascading outages.

For decades, control centers have estimated the “state” of the power system (the positive sequence
voltage and angle at each network node) from measurements of the power flows through the power
grid. It is very desirable to be able to “measure” the system state directly and/or augment existing
estimators with additional information. Alternating Current (AC) quantities have been analyzed for over
100 years using a construct developed by Charles Proteus Steinmetz in 1893, known as a “phasor.” On
the power system, phasors were used for analyzing AC quantities assuming a constant frequency.

A relatively new variant of this technique that synchronizes the calculation of a phasor to absolute time
has been developed2 , known as “synchronized phasor measurement” or “synchrophasors.” In order to
uniformly create and disseminate these synchronized measurements, several aspects of phasor creation
had to be codified3. The following spells out the definitions and requirements that have been
established for the creation of synchronized phasor measurements.

Synchrophasor Definition

Synchrophasors are time-synchronized numbers that represent both the magnitude and phase
angle of the sine waves found in electricity, and are time-synchronized for accuracy. They are
measured by high-speed monitors called Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) that are 100 times
faster than SCADA. PMU measurements record grid conditions with great accuracy and offer
insight into grid stability or stress. Synchrophasor technology is used for real-time operations and
off-line engineering analyses to improve grid reliability and efficiency and lower operating costs.

An AC waveform can be mathematically represented by the equation: