Objective: To introduce the concept and necessity of protection in generation and transmission, and

applications of switchgears including internal operation of different types of circuit breakers.

NAME OF DEPTT./CENTRE: Department of Electrical Engineering

1. Subject Code: EEN-304

2. Course Title: Protection and Switchgear

3. Contact Hours: L: 3 T: 0 P: 2

4. Examination Duration (Hrs.): Theory: 3 Practical: 2

5. Relative Weight: CWS: 10-25 (10) PRS: 25 (10+15) MTE: 15-25 (25) ETE: 30-40 (40) PRE: 0

6. Credits: 4 7. Semester: Spring 8. Subject Area: DCC

9. Pre-requisite: EEN-206

1
 Syllabus of Protection and Switchgear (EEN-304)
S. No. Contents Contact Hours

Various types of electromechanical relays, construction and principle of operation and characteristic,
1. applications and limitations; Over and under current, directional, differential, distance and other types of relay; 8
Concept of static relays; Protection system and properties; Introduction to numerical relays.

Protection of transmission lines using overcurrent, differential, directional-overcurrent and distance relays,
2. 6
back-up protection, carrier relaying; Busbar protection.

Protection of transformers against internal faults such as short circuit and turn-to-turn fault using differential
3. 6
and overcurrent relays, protection for other abnormal conditions.

Protection of generators against short circuit and turn-to-turn fault, stator ground fault, field ground fault, loss
4. 6
of excitation, loss of synchronism using different types of relays.

Switchgear, arc and interruption theory, application in different conditions, ratings and selection, principle of
5. 12
operation of air break, oil filled, air blast, vacuum and SF6 circuit breakers, elementary idea of testing methods.

6. Necessity of grounding of system neutral and substation equipments, methods of grounding. 4

Total 42

2
Suggested Books
Year of Publication/
S. No. Name of Authors /Books / Publishers
Reprint

Van A. R. and Warrington C., “Protective Relays - Theory and Practice”, Vol. I and II, 3rd Ed.,
1. 1982
Chapman and Hall.
Mason C. R., “The Art and Science of Protective Relaying”, Wiley Eastern Limited.
2. https://www.gevernova.com/grid-solutions/multilin/notes/artsci/artsci.pdf 1987

Ray S., “Electrical Power Systems: Concepts, Theory and Practice”, Prentice Hall of India Private
3. 2008
Limited.

Ravindranath B. and Chander M., “Power System Protection and Switchgear”, New Age
4. 2008
International Private Limited.

Paithankar Y. G. and Bhide S. R., “Fundamentals of Power System Protection”, Prentice Hall of India
5. 2007
Private Limited.
NPTEL Course on Power System Protection and Switchgear
6 https://www.digimat.in/nptel/courses/video/108107167/L01.html 2020
 Introduction of Relaying Scheme

 Subject name: Protection and Switchgear

• Protective Devices: Fuse/MCB/Relay: To sense the

fault.
• Switchgear: Circuit Breaker (CB): To isolate the
faulty section.

4
 Impact of a Fault?
 Interruption of power supply to the consumers.

 Substantial loss of revenue.

 Loss of synchronism.

 Extensive damage to equipment

 Serious hazard to Personnel

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 5
 Functions of Protective System

 Detect/Sense the fault?

 Deenergize the faulty section of the power

system.

 Indicate the type and location of failure.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 6

 Fault?
 Definition
• Flow of current to the undesired path or abnormal stoppage of
current.

Symmetrical Faults Asymmetrical Faults

7
 Symmetrical Fault
• It involves all the three phases.

• Example: LLL/LLLG

8
 Asymmetrical Fault
• It involves one or two phases with or without ground.

• Example: LG/LL/LLG
• LG: R-G, Y-G, B-G
• LL: R-Y, Y-B, B-R
• LLG: R-Y-G, Y-B-G, B-R-G

9
 Causes of Symmetrical Fault
Symmetrical Fault:
• It occurs when line is energized and earthing switch is
inadvertently kept ON.
Remote end
Local end

CB-L
CB-R

Earthing switch

10
 Impact of Symmetrical Fault

• When LLL fault occurs, the three line fault

currents may be very high (10 times rated
value).
• However, the vector sum is zero.
• Hence, no current passes through the ground.
• LLL and LLLG are same.
• Difference is in case of overvoltages.

11
 Asymmetrical Fault
• LL fault occurs due to bridging of two phases/conductors
either in machines or in transformers because of failure
of insulation between phases (conductors of different
phases are in the same slot of a stator).
• In O/H TL, two phase wires may get shorted together by
(i) Birds
(ii) Kite strings
(iii) Tree limbs

12
 Asymmetrical Fault
 In monsoon, the two conductors may swing due to
winds and storms. The dielectric strength of air
reduces in monsoon.

 When the distance between these conductors is

reduced due to swinging, a power arc may occur
between them causing a LL fault.

13
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)
Horizontal spacing
SYSTEM Vertical spacing b/n
TYPE OF TOWER b/n
VOLTAGE conductors(mm)
conductors(mm)
A(0-2˚) 1080 4040
SINGLE
B(2-30˚) 1080 4270
CIRCUIT
C(30-60˚) 1220 4880
66 KV
A(0-2˚) 2170 4270
DOUBLE
B(2-30˚) 2060 4880
CIRCUIT
C(30-60˚) 2440 6000
A(0-2˚) 4200 7140
SINGLE B(2-30˚) 4200 6290
CIRCUIT
C(30-60˚) 4200 7150
D(30-60˚) 4200 8820
132KV
A(0-2˚) 3965 7020
DOUBLE B(2-30˚) 3965 7320
CIRCUIT
C(15-30˚) 3965 7320
D(30-60˚) 4270 8540
14
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)
Horizontal
SYSTEM Vertical spacing b/n
TYPE OF TOWER spacing b/n
VOLTAGE conductors(mm)
conductors(mm)
A(0-2˚) 5200 8500
SINGLE B(2-30˚) 5250 10500
CIRCUIT
C(15-30˚) 6700 12600
D(30-60˚) 7800 14000
220 KV
A(0-2˚) 5200 9900

DOUBLE B(2-30˚) 5200 10100

CIRCUIT C(15-30˚) 5200 10500
D(30-60˚) 6750 12600
A(0-2˚) 7800 12760

SINGLE B(2-30˚) 7800 12760

400 KV
CIRCUIT C(15-30˚) 7800 14000
D(30-60˚) 8100 16200

15
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)
• Mecomb’s formula
𝐷𝐷
Spacing(cm) = 0.03048 ∗ 𝑉𝑉 + 4.010 𝑆𝑆
𝑊𝑊
V= Voltage of system in KV
D= Diameter of conductor in cm
S= Sag in cm
W= Weight of conductor in Kg/m
 VDE formula
𝑉𝑉 2
Spacing(cm) =7.5 𝑆𝑆 +
2000
V= Voltage of system in KV
S= Sag in cm
16
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)
 Still’s formula
𝑙𝑙 2
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 5.08 + 1.814 ∗ 𝑉𝑉 +
27.8
Where-
l= average span length(m)
 NESC formula
𝑙𝑙
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 (𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐) = 0.762 ∗ 𝑉𝑉 + 3.681 𝑆𝑆+
2
Where-
V= Voltage of system in KV
S= Sag in cm
L= Length of insulator string in cm
17
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)
 Swedish formula
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 6.5 𝑆𝑆 + 0.7 ∗ 𝐸𝐸
where-
E= line voltage in KV
S= sag in cm
 French formula
𝐸𝐸
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 8.0 𝑆𝑆 + 𝐿𝐿 +
𝐿𝐿
Where-
E= line voltage in KV
S= Sag in cm
L= Length of insulator string (cm)
18
 Spacing between Conductors (phases)

 Offset of conductors (under ice-loading conditions)

 Sleet Jump:-
The jump of the conductor, resulting from ice dropping off one
span of an ice-covered line, has been the cause of many serious
outages on long-span lines where conductors are arranged in the
same vertical plane.

• 𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 60 + 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 / 400

19
 Ground Clearances of Conductors
Ground Clearances
𝑉𝑉−33
𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 = 5.182 + 0.305 ∗ 𝐾𝐾, Where- 𝐾𝐾 =
33

Minimum permissible ground clearance as per IE

Rules, 1956, Rule 77(4)

20
 Ground Clearances of Conductors
Voltage Level Ground
Sr.No
(kV) Clearance (m)
1 ≤33 5.20
2 66 5.49
3 132 6.10
4 220 7.01
5 400 8.84
6 765 14.0

21
 Ground Clearances for conductors
crossing over railway tracks
 Under maximum sag condition, minimum clearance over rail level
(25 kV system). Broad Gauge
System Outside
Inside station
Voltage Level station
limits(m)
limits(m)
≤66 KV 10.3 7.9
132 KV 10.9 8.5
220 KV 11.2 8.8
400 KV 13.6 11.2
22
Ground Clearances when power line
crossing another power line

System Voltage Clearance (m)

level (kV)
≤66 2.40
132 2.75
220 4.55
400 6.00
765 10.0

23
 Asymmetrical Fault (LG)
 Most common fault on O/H conductors.
 80%-90% faults are SLG.
 It occurs due to
(i) flashover across the line insulators
(ii) Failure of insulators due to lightning or switching
overvoltages
(iii) Defective insulators

24
 Practical situation for occurrence of a SLG fault
Cross-arm

Flashover across insulators

String of
Tower
insulators
How many?

132 kV conductor
25
 Number of Insulators required
Sr. No. Voltage level (kV) Number of suspension Actual Number of
insulators insulators

1 66 66
�√3 4 to 6
𝑁𝑁 = =3.46
11

2 132 132
�√3 9 to 11
𝑁𝑁 = =6.92
11

3 220 220
�√3 12 or 16
𝑁𝑁 = =11.54
11

4 400 400
�√3 23 or 24
𝑁𝑁 = =20.99
11

5 765 765
�√3 42 or 43
𝑁𝑁 = =40.15
11

26
 Asymmetrical Fault (Open Conductor)
 Abnormal stoppage of current can occur due to
(i) open conductors

 (ii) voltage breakdown at equipment due to

occurrence of faults of the first kind in some
parts of the system.

27
 Consequences of Faults
1. Thermal damage:
Fault current is very high (2 to 10 times CMR). This
current will heat the conductor (insulation). If the
equilibrium temperature exceeds the temperature
withstand value of the insulation, the thermal
breakdown of insulation will occur.
It occurs slowly as it is related to temperature. Time
delays isolation is required.

28
 Consequences of Faults

2. Electrodynamic damage:
The repelling forces generated due to this large current
(10-20 times CMR) would deshape and destruct the
whole equipment structurally.

(Instantaneous tripping is required)

29
Probability of occurrence of faults on different element
% of occurrence of
Equipment
fault
Overhead Transmission Line 50%
Underground Cable 10%
Switchgears including CTs and
15%
PTs
Power Transformers 15%
Miscellaneous 10%
30
Probability of occurrence of faults on overhead lines

Type of % of occurrence of
fault fault
LG 80% - 90%
LL 6% - 10%
LLG 3% - 6%
LLL/LLLG 1% or less

31
 Another classification of Faults
1. Transient:
• It occurs due to
a. power arc between two phases
b. flashover across line insulator due to
overvoltage.
• Automatically die out after few cycles.
2. Permanent:
• Remain for a longer duration and damage the
equipment.
32
 Major components of a power system network

• Single line diagram

• Why power is generated at voltages between 11
kV and 22 kV? (This voltage gives the most
economical balance between cost of copper, cost
of insulation and cost of mechanical strength to
resist centrifugal force).
• Hence, for each component, a specific protective
device is used (covers a specific region).
33
Relay + CB Relay + CB Relay + CB Relay + CB

34
 Zones of Protection

• A power system is normally segmented into a number of protective

zones.
• A zone is protected by a system of relays, circuit breakers, and
associated equipment.
• The circuit breakers are arranged in a manner that makes it possible
to isolate the protected zone while the remaining system continues
to supply energy to the customers.
• Each zone covers one or more components of the system.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 35

 Zones of Protection

• To provide complete protection for the entire system, that is, to avoid
having an unprotected region, neighbouring zones are arranged to
overlap each other.
• When a system is experiencing an abnormal condition, the relays first
identify this condition and then send trip signals to appropriate
circuit breakers that open to isolate the affected zone.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 36

 Zones of Protection
Line zone

G G

Transformer zone

Bus zone

Generator zone

Distribution zone

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 37

 Tripping Mechanism of Relay
 The relay is always connected in the secondary circuit of CT
and/or PT.

 The main function of any type of relay is to detect/sense the

inception of fault, whereas the tripping task is carried out by
auxiliary relay and circuit breaker.

 Since the relay only does the function of sensing, the speed of
the relay is increased, and hence, it operates instantaneously.

38
 Tripping Mechanism of Relay
 Auxiliary relay
• It carries high value of trip coil current during a
fault.

• It also gives signals to perform certain other

functions associated with relays such as alarms
and interlocking.

39
 Contacts of Relay
• Normally Open (NO)

• Normally Close (NC)

Power Circuit: CT, PT, Feeder/Line, Apparatus etc;

Control circuit: Relay coil, contacts of the relay, auxiliary relay (coil +contacts),
CB (TC)
(i) All relay coils are shown in deenergized condition.
(ii) All circuit breakers (CBs) are shown in open condition.
40
 Tripping Mechanism of Relay
Coil of
auxiliary relay
R-1
86

CT Relay
contact
86-1
fault
PT R

Contact of
auxiliary relay Tripping coil of
circuit breaker
Power circuit Control circuit
41
 Tripping Mechanism of Relay
 Working
• If single input relay is used (current-based relay or voltage-based
relay), then the relay receives a signal from the secondary of CT or PT
only.
• Conversely, for two input relays, it receives signals from the secondary
of both CT and PT.
• The relay R senses the fault within a fraction of second (in
millisecond) and gives signal to the auxiliary relay through its contact.
• The contact of auxiliary relay closes owing to energization of the coil
of auxiliary relay.
• This will further energize the trip coil of the circuit breaker.

42
 Abnormalities in Power System Network

• Overload
• Magnetizing inrush
• Power swing Fault?
• Prime mover failure
• Stalling

43
 Requirements of Protective System
i. Selectivity
ii. Sensitivity
iii. Speed
iv. Discrimination
v. Stability
vi. Reliability
vii. Economics

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 44

 Requirements of Protective System
1. Selectivity
• This is the ability of protection devices to isolate only the faulty
network of the power system from the healthy part to minimize the
outage area and also to maintain normal power supply for the rest of
the power system.

R1 R2 R3 R4

F1
F2

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 45

 Requirements of Protective System

Selectivity

Absolute Relative

if relay operates for if coordinated settings of

internal faults in any relays of different zones
element of PS. are decided based on
Exp: Differential certain rules.
Protection of Transformer Exp: Distance relay, O/C.
relay
2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 46
 Requirements of Protective System

1. Selectivity
• Which factors are considered in determining the
selectivity of protective relays?
• Failure of protective relays
• Failure of CBs.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 47

 Requirements of Protective System
2. Sensitivity
• It is the ability of the protective device to operate correctly to the
faults or abnormal conditions inside the zone of protection.
• It refers to the minimum level of fault current at which the protective
device operates.
20% Overload

IFL=200 A

IFAULT = 240 A

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 48

 Requirements of Protective System

2. Sensitivity
• Sensitivity of the relay depends on sensitivity factor.
• The sensitivity factor depends on
• (i) parameters of protected elements
• Exp; Transmission line parameters, generator/transformer
parameters, IM parameters
• (ii) operating condition of the power system.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 49

 Requirements of Protective System
3. Speed
• Quick disconnection of the faulted area/
elements can significantly
(i) improve stability of the power system
(ii) reduce outage duration
(iii) minimize the damage of faulted elements.

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 50

 Requirements of Protective System
3. Speed
• Therefore, when a fault occurs, the protective relay should
identify the fault and operate as fast as possible.

• The total time to remove the fault is determined as the sum of

operation time of relays and circuit breakers.

• Fault Clearing Time (FCT) = Top(Relay) + Top(CB)

• Ideal value and Practical value of FCT?
2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 51
 Requirements of Protective System
4. Discrimination
• A protection system should be able to discriminate between fault and
loading conditions even when the minimum fault current is less than
the maximum full load current. Is it possible?

Ifull-load = 200 A

Fault and Overload/inrush/stalling

Fault and starting current of IM Ifault = 170 A

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 52

 Requirements of Protective System
5. Stability
• A protection system should remain stable during external fault.
• Example of Transmission Line and Transformers
Zone of RA

RA
External fault
External fault

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 53

 Requirements of Protective System
6. Reliability
• The ability of protective devices to operate properly
during their operational life. It can be categorized as
follows:
• Dependability: It is the certainty of correct operation in
response to system trouble (internal fault).
• Security: It is the ability of the protection schemes to
avoid mal-operation (external fault).

2/4/2025 BRB & RPM 54

 Requirements of Protective System
7) Economics
• Besides the six factors mentioned above, economics of
protective relays is an important factor.
• A good protective relay system should combine both features
i.e. maximum protection and minimum cost.
• Moreover, some of these properties are contradictory to one
another, and it is the duty of the protection engineer to
maintain a balance amongst them.

55
 Industry Perspective? (5% to 10%)
7) Economics: Consider total cost of the system = 100%
Component Name % of total cost
Relays 0.54%
Relay panels 0.27%
Wiring 0.11%
Relay room 0.12%
Current transformers 3.10%
Potential transformers 1.08%
Total Cost of Protective Gears 5.22%
56
 Unit Protection System

• It is a scheme that operates for a fault within its zone.

• Here, zone of protection is decided on the basis of CTs, and it
includes each and every fault point inside the CTs where
measurement of currents is carried out.
• This type of protection scheme is widely used in generators,
transformers, and large IMs.
• Exp; Differential protection.

57
 Non-unit Protection System
• Achieves protection using grading of successive relays.

• Exp; Overcurrent and distance relays.

58
Primary and Back-up Protection
Primary protection Back-up protection

Zone of R1 Zone of R2
1 2

R1 R2

In-zone fault Out-of-zone fault

59
 Primary and Back-up Protection
• Two sets of relays, primary and backup, are used for each zone of protection.
• Main/primary protection schemes are always there as the first line of
defense.
• Equally important and essential is a second line of defense provided by
backup schemes, which will clear the fault if the primary protection schemes
fail to operate for some reason.
• In order to give ample time to the primary relays to make a decision, backup
relays are always time delayed.

60
 Primary and Back-up Protection
• Normally, primary relays have a small operation zone (operate
instantaneously).
• Backup relays have a large operation zone, namely,
overreached area, and operate with a particular time delay.

61
 Classification of Back-up Scheme
1. Relay back-up
• In this scheme, a separate duplicate set of primary relays, their CTs
and PTs are used.

Zone of RA

RA
External fault
External fault

62
 Classification of Back-up Scheme
2. Breaker back-up
• This scheme is employed to handle the situation when feeder
breaker fails to operate for a fault condition. In this scheme, a
time delay relay is operated by the main relay and it is connected
to trip all the other breakers on the bus.
Zone of RA

RA
External fault
External fault

63
 Classification of Back-up Scheme
3. Remote back-up
• Remote backup 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 because of some reason. This is the
most widely used form of backup protection.
Zone of RB

RA RB
External fault
Fault
64
 Classification of Relay
Relay can be classified based on the function, actuating
quantities, or component used.
1) According to the quantities by which the relay operates:
These are thermal relays, overcurrent relays, over-
voltage/under voltage relays, under/over frequency relays,
over fluxing relay, and power relays.
2) According to their construction:
These are attracted armature type relay, induction disc or
induction cup type relays, and balanced beam type relays.

65
 Classification of Relay
3) According to the number of sensing quantities:
(i) Single input relay measures (senses) only one quantity, and it
responds when input quantities exceed the predetermine
threshold.
(ii) Multiple input relay measures two or more than two
quantities and responds when the output of mixing device
exceeds the predetermined threshold.
4) According to its function in protective scheme:
Relay may be divided into main relays, auxiliary relays, and signal
relays.
66
 Classification of Relay
5) According to components and devices used:
These are electromagnetic relays (mechanical devices), static
relays (electronic devices), microprocessor relays (sophisticated
algorithm), digital/numerical relays (fast processor) and IEDs
(FPGA + communication facilities).
6) According to the characteristic they adopt:
Instantaneous relay, time delayed relay, and inverse time relays
are the best examples of this type.

67
Timeline of Protective Relays

1800

68
 Historical Development
1. Electromechanical Relays
• Operating Principle:
• Whenever a current flows through the windings
wound on a magnetic core, mechanical force is
produced which in turn energizes the coil of the
relay.

69
 Historical Development
1. Electromechanical Relays
Advantages:
I. Reliability:
They are reliable in nature and still used by the
utilities.
I. This relay provides isolation between the input’s and
output’s quantities.
II. Rugged in nature (they can withstand voltage spike
due to surges and can carry substantial currents).
70
 Historical Development
1. Electromechanical Relays
Disadvantages:
1. They consist of moving parts and suffer from the
problem of friction, arcing, contact erosion, contact
bouncing, spring restraint etc;
2. Change in relay characteristics due to aging.
3. Impost high burden on CTs/CVTs (due to higher VA
requirements of the circuits).

71
 Historical Development
1. Electromechanical Relays
Disadvantages:

4. High Overshoot/Resetting time/Transient overreach.

5. Low speed of operating (higher operating time).
6. Requires periodic maintenance and testing.
7. No recording and storage facility

72
 Historical Development
2. Static Relays (came in 1956)
 Advantages:

 No moving parts (Friction, contact bounce, arcing, contact

erosion, spring restraint etc). This reduces maintenance.

 Reduced burden on CT/PT (due to low VA requirements of

the circuits). Due to this (i) accuracy of CTs/PTs is better (ii)
CT operates in lower part of linear region (iii) VA rating of
CTs/PTs is lower, which reduces its size and cost

73
 Historical Development
2. Static Relays (came in 1956)
Advantages:
• Better response time (more than a cycle)
• Low Overshoot/Resetting time/Transient Overreach
• Precise and complex characteristic.
• High drop-off to pick-up ratio.

74
 Historical Development
2. Static Relays (came in 1956)
Dis-advantages:
• Mal-operate during temperature variations and
mechanical vibrations (need good filtering circuit,
surge suppression and shielding).
• Prone to voltage spikes (voltage transients due to
LS/SS).

75
 Historical Development
2. Static Relays (came in 1956)
Dis-advantages:
• Lower short-time overload capacity.
• Reduced reliability due to more number of
components (careful choice and better quality
control).

76
 Microprocessor based Relays
 Features

 Operate in digital form

 Uses µP to process quantities

 Programming knowledge is required

77
 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays: (Came in 1970s)
Advantages:
1. Multiple setting groups, programmable logic,
adaptive logic, self-monitoring, self-testing, and
ability to communicate with other relays and
control computers.

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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays: (Came in 1970s)
Advantages:
2. Low cost per function (NI/VI/EI/RI/User defined
etc).
3. Allow users to develop their own logic schemes,
including dynamic changes in that logic.

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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Advantages:
4. Offer low burden on CTs/CVTs (fulfill ideal
requirement of sensors).
5. Less panel space requirement (96 × 96 mm2).

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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Advantages:

6. Data storage, Reporting features and Event recording

(postmortem analysis).
7. Self-checking, self monitoring and self testing
capability (watch dog contact).

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 Historical Development

3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Shortcomings:
1. More susceptible to EMI, RFI etc.

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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Shortcomings:
2. Short life cycle:
While each generation of µP-based systems increases
the functionality compared with the previous
generation, the pace of advancements makes the
equipment obsolete in shorter times. This makes it
difficult for the users to maintain expertise with the
latest designs/versions of the equipment.
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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Shortcomings:
3. Problem in managing settings and in conducting
functional tests.
Special testing techniques (to enable and disable
selected functions) are used during its testing. This
increases the possibility that the desired settings may
not be invoked after testing is completed.
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 Historical Development
3. Microprocessor-based Relays
Shortcomings:
4. Heating problem (proper heat sink is required).

5. No internal peripherals like RAM, ROM and I/O ports.

6. Need proper isolation with external device

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 Digital/Numerical Relays
 Features
 Widely used in practice due to utilization of advance
microprocessors/microcontrollers/DSPs.
 Advantages:
 Inherits all features of Microprocessor based relays.
 Can perform floating point calculation (inbuilt FPU)
 Adaptive relaying compatibility.
 Compatible with standard communication protocols (IEEE
C37.118).
 SCADA compatible (IEC 61850 for wide area monitoring).

Ref:- Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc, "SEL-751 Feeder Protection Relay," Schweitzer
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Engineering Laboratories, Inc, 2018.
 Intelligent Electronic Device (IED)
 Features
 Many substations are equipped with this devices.
 Use DSPs and FPGA (for parallel execution).

 Advantages:
 Inherits all features of digital/numerical relays.
 Capable to perform control, monitoring, protection and
metering.

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 Intelligent Electronic Device (IED)
 Advantages:
 Human Machine Interface (HMI) through
touchscreen display (shows pre/post fault
current/voltage etc)
 Time synchronization with GPS system
(synchronized data are available).

 Precision in performance.

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Thank You

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