Introduction – Protection

Jagadish Subbaramaiah
 Agenda
• Electrical Power System
• Protection – Introduction
• Fault statistics
• Bus configurations
• Desirable attributes
• Zones of Protection
• Fault clearance chain
• Evolution and types
• Examples
Electrical power System

The purpose
To generate and supply electrical energy to consumers
The system
Design should be reliable and economical
Frequent or prolonged power outages
Result in severe disruption to the normal routine of modern society.
Electrical power System
Three Layered structure of electrical Power system
This equipment helps maintain the power system at its
normal voltage and frequency, generates sufficient power to
meet the load and maintains optimum economy and security
Control equipment
in the interconnected network. The control equipment is
organized in a hierarchy of its own, consisting of local and
central control functions

Relaying is the branch of electric power engineering concerned with the

principles of design and operation of equipment (called ‘relays’ or ‘protective
relays’) that detects abnormal power system conditions, and initiates
Protection Equipment
corrective action as quickly as possible in order to return the
power system to its normal state. The response time of protection functions
is generally faster than that of the control functions

At the basic level is the power apparatus which generates,

Power Apparatus transforms and distributes the electric power to the loads.
Power system
The complete power system
Represents a very large capital investment

More fundamental the power system

should operate in a safe manner at all
times.

.. No matter how well designed,

faults will always occur on a power system,
And these faults may represent
a risk to life / property.
 Protection – Nature of Relaying
The function of protective relaying is to promptly remove from
service any element of the power system that starts to operate in
an abnormal manner.

In general, relays do not prevent damage to equipment: they

operate after some detectable damage has already occurred.

Their purpose is to limit, to the extent possible, further damage to

equipment, to minimize danger to people, to reduce stress on other
equipment and, above all,

To remove the faulted equipment from the power system as quickly

as possible so that the integrity and stability of the remaining
system is maintained.

The control aspect of relaying systems also helps return the power system to an acceptable
configuration as soon as possible so that service to customers can be restored.
Some Definitions
• Protection equipment – a collection of Protection devices (Relays,
fuses etc.). Excluded are devices such as CT’s, CB’s contactors etc.
• Protection System – a complete arrangement of protection
equipment and other devices required to achieve a specific function
based on a Protection principal (IEC60255-20)
• Protection Scheme – a collection of Protection equipment providing
a defined function and including all equipment required to make the
scheme work (i.e., Relays, CT’s CB’s batteries etc.)
Fault Statistics

Fault %
Single Phase to Ground 80%

Two phase to ground 10%

Two phase 5%

Three phase 5%

Lightning faults are dominating

80-85% of HV line faults are Transient in nature

 Neutral Gourding of Power Systems
Neutrals of power transformers and generators can be grounded in a
variety of ways, depending upon the needs of the affected portion of the
power system.
As grounding practices affect fault current levels, they have a direct
bearing upon relay system designs.
It is obvious that there is no ground fault current in a truly ungrounded
system.
This is the main reason for operating the power system ungrounded. As
the vast majority of faults on a power system are ground faults, service
interruptions due to faults on an ungrounded system are greatly reduced.
However, as the number of transmission lines connected to the power
system grows, the capacitive
coupling of the feeder conductors with ground provides a path to ground,
and a ground fault on such a system produces a capacitive fault current.
However, for systems higher than about 100 kV, the fault-induced over
voltages begin to assume a critical role in insulation design, especially of
power transformers.
At high voltages, it is therefore common to use solidly grounded neutrals
(more precisely ‘effectively grounded’). Such systems have high ground
fault currents, and each ground fault must be cleared by circuit breakers.
Power Systems bus configurations

Radial systems Network systems

Example Power Systems

What is the fault current at Bus 2 when all lines are in service?
If the Line 2-3 goes out what is the change in fault current for a fault at bus 2?
What is the fault current at bus 9 when all generators are in service ?
What is the change in fault current at bus 9 when one of the two generators is tripped?
Bus configurations

Substations are designed for

reliability of service and flexibility in
operation, and to allow for
equipment maintenance with a
minimum interruption of service.

The most common bus

arrangements in a substation are

(a) single bus, single breaker,

(b) two bus, single breaker,
(c) two bus, two breakers,
(d) ring bus and
(e) breaker-and-a-half.
Nature of relaying
Nature of relaying
Reliability: Speed:
System operate properly Usually the faster the better in terms of
Security: Don’t trip when you shouldn’t minimizing equipment damage and
Dependability: Trip when you should
maintaining system integrity
Selectivity:
Sensitivity:
Trip the minimal amount to clear the
Capable of detecting high and
fault or abnormal operating condition
low fault levels
Other attributes
Economics:
Communication flexibility / operability
Don’t break the bank
Monitoring and measurements
Comprehensive Self supervision
Cascading/backup
Built in configuration and logics
Zones of Protection
Zones of Protection
Consider the fault at F1 in Figure below. This fault lies in a closed zone, and will cause circuit
breakers B1 and B2 to trip. The fault at F2, being inside the overlap between the zones of protection
of the transmission line and the bus, will cause circuit breakers B1, B2, B3 and B4 to trip, although
opening B3 and B4 is unnecessary. Both of these zones of protection are closed zones.

Now consider the fault at F3. This fault lies in two open zones. The fault should cause circuit
breaker B6 to trip. B5 is the backup breaker for this fault, and will trip if for some reason B6 fails
to clear the fault.
Protection performance
Statistical assessment

Duplication of Protection

Where multiple protection systems are used, the tripping

signal can be provided in a number of different ways. The two
most common methods are:
• all protection systems must operate for a tripping operation to occur (e.g. ‘two-out-
of-two’ arrangement)
• only one protection system need operate to cause a trip
(e.g. ‘one-out of two’ arrangement)
Fault Clearance Chain

Single failure criteria

Requirement in safe clearance

imply, that there must be a
back-up clearance function.
Primary and Backup Protections
In the event of failure or non-availability of the primary protection some other
means of ensuring that the fault is isolated must be provided. These secondary
systems are referred to as ‘back-up protection schemes.

Local
Backup Protection
Remote

the main and back-up protection systems

detect a fault simultaneously,
operation of the back-up protection
delayed to ensure that the primary protection clears the fault
Primary and Backup Protections
The extent and type of Backup Protection depend on
•Failure risks
•Relative economic importance of the system.

Distribution systems – Remote Backup may be adequate

EHV systems
System stability is at risk
Multiple primary protections operating in Parallel

Backup protection shall be completely different from

Primary Protection
Primary and Backup Protections
Single and Three phase tripping and relcosing
The prevailing practice in the USA is to trip all three phases of the faulted power system element
for all types of fault.
In several European and Asian countries, it is a common practice to trip only the faulted phase for a
phase-to-ground fault, and to trip all three phases for all multiphase faults on transmission lines.
These differences in the tripping practice are the result of several fundamental differences in the
design and operation of power systems.
As a large proportion of faults on a power system are of a temporary nature, hence reclosing is
considered for faster restoration. .
Reclosing can be manual or Automatic.
For Automatic reclosing some of the common interlocks used are:
• Voltage Check
• Synchronising check
• Equipment check
Automatic reclosing can be high speed, or it may be delayed. The term high speed generally implies
reclosing in times shorter than a second. Many utilities may initiate high-speed reclosing for
some types of fault (such as ground faults), and not for others. Delayed reclosing usually operates in
several seconds or even in minutes.
Elements of Protection system
Although, in common usage, a protection system may mean only the relays, the actual protection
system consists of many other subsystems which contribute to the detection and removal of faults.
The major subsystems of the protection system are shown below

In EHV stations Duplicate battery systems are used to improve overall

reliability and availability. Electromechanical relays are known to
produce severe transients on the battery leads during operation,
which may cause mis-operation of other sensitive relays in the
substation, or may even damage them. It is therefore common
practice, insofar as practical, to separate electromechanical and solid-
state equipment by connecting them to different batteries.
Circuit breakers can be live tank or dead tank and the CT
connections will depend on the type of Circuit breakers used.
 Elements of Protection system
Consider the dead-tank circuit breaker shown in Figure 1 The bushing CTs are on either side of the
breaker and the secondaries are connected to the bus and line protection so that they overlap at the
breaker. For a fault at F1 both protective systems will operate. The bus differential relays will trip B1 and
all other breakers on the bus. This will clear the fault. The line protection will similarly trip breaker B1; and
the corresponding relays at the remote station will also trip their associated breakers. This is
unnecessary, but unavoidable. If there are tapped loads on the line, they will be de-energized until the
breakers reclose. For a fault at F2, again both protective systems will operate. For this fault, tripping the
other bus breakers is not necessary to clear the fault, but tripping the two ends of the line is necessary.
Now consider the live-tank design shown in Figure 2 For a fault at F1, only the bus protection sees the
fault and correctly trips B1 and all the other bus breakers to clear the fault. For a fault at F2, however,
tripping the bus breakers does not clear the fault, since it is still energized from the remote end, and the
line relays do not operate. This is a blind spot in this configuration. Column protection will cover this area.
For a fault at F3 and F4, the line relays will operate and the fault will be cleared from both ends. The fault
at F3 again results in unnecessary tripping of the bus breakers.

Figure 2

Figure 1
International practices
Although the fundamental protective and relay operating concepts are similar throughout the world,
there are very significant differences in their implementation. These differences arise through
different
traditions, operating philosophies, experiences and national standards.
For example, their preference may be for relays manufactured inside their respective countries. In
some developing countries, the choice of relays may be influenced by the availability of low-cost
hard-currency loans, or a transfer-of technology agreement with the prospective vendor of the
protective equipment. The evolutionary stage of the power system itself may have an influence on
the protection philosophy.. Long transmission lines are quite common in countries with large areas,
e.g. the USA or Russia. Many European and Asian countries have relatively short transmission lines,
and, since the protection practice for long lines is significantly different from that for short lines, this
may be reflected in the established relaying philosophy.
As mentioned in section earlier reclosing practices also vary considerably among different countries.
An important factor in the application of specific relay schemes is associated with the configuration
of the lines and substations. Multiple circuit towers as found throughout Europe have different
fault histories than single circuit lines, and therefore have different protection system needs.
Relay evolution

Last 100 Years Introduced in 1960’s

Evolution of Relays
Electromechanical / electromagnetic Relays

First generation and date back around 100 Years

Simple
Cheap
Largely used for On/Off switching
Quality vs. Reliability
Proper Selection
Load Effect on Reliability
Solid State Relays

Introduced in 1960’s

Size – reduced

Burden – reduced

Passive Components

DC/DC converter - Issue

Digital relays
Microprocessors and Microcontrollers

Introduced in late 1980’s

Analogue to digital
conversion

Limited processing capacity

Speed of operation

Display Unit
Numerical relays

Digital signal Processors (DSP)

Platform concept

Comprehensive self supervision

Multiprocessor techniques

Communication
New Technology Benefits
Numerical technique - Advantages
Comparison

Analogue technique Numerical technique

•More complex hardware •Simple hardware

•Slowly decreasing •Abruptly decreasing performance
accuracy •Simple to modify
•Difficult to modify •Difficult to verify
•Simple to verify •Data manipulation simple
•Data manipulation •Data storage simple
difficult •Error correction possible
•Data storage difficult •Self supervision simple
•Inherent filtering
Numerical technique - Advantages
Self supervision
Testing Fault Testing

MTTR: year Repair

Conventional
protection

Repair

Numerical protection
with
self supervision

MTTR: hours
Numerical technique - Advantages
Communication

Ready Start Trip

1993-Nov-02
14:49:25.425
TRZ1 TREFC ZM1

C
E
FREJA/XS92b
RTS PC Local HMI SCS SMS
Parameter setting Parameter setting Information Supervision Calculation
Resetting of Control
Automatic Energizing Status Parameter setting
testing of contacts indications
Change of monitoring
Reporting Status check parameters Sequential Evaluation
Back-up control Control
Simulation Directional Statistics Expert
check analysis
Bay Protection and Control Units

• Integrated approach

• Platform concept

• Flexible functionality
selection

• Application well proven

“algorithms” using new
technology
 Intelligent Electronic Devices

Any device incorporating one or more processors with the capability to receive or send data/control
from or to an external source. (Example- Multifunction meters, Numerical relays and controllers)
 Examples / problems
For the radial power system shown in Figure 1, below calculate the line-to-ground fault current flowing in each of the
circuit breakers for faults at each of the buses. The system data are given in the accompanying table. Also determine
the corresponding faulted phase voltage, assuming that the generator is ideal, with a terminal voltage of 1.0 pu.
From To Positive sequence Zero sequence impedance
1 2 0.01 + j0.05 0.02 + j0.13
2 3 0.003 + j0.04 0.01 + j0.16
3 4 0.008 + j0.04 0.04 + j0.15
4 5 0.01 + j0.05 0.03 + j0.15
5 6 0.003 + j0.02 0.01 + j0.06

Figure 1

In a single loop distribution system shown in Figure 2, determine the fault currents flowing in circuit breakers B1, B2
and B3 for a b–c fault at F. What are the corresponding phaseto-phase voltages at those locations? Consider the
generator to be of infinite short-circuit capacity, and with a voltage of 1.0 pu. Consider two alternatives: (a) both
transformers T1 and T2 in service and (b) one of the two transformers out of service. The system data are given in
the accompanying table.
 Examples / problems
From To Positive sequence impedance
1 2 0.0 + j0.01(T1)
0.0 + j0.01(T2)
2 3 0.0 + j0.08
3 4 0.02 + j0.05
4 5 0.01 + j0.03
5 6 0.0 + j0.06
6 7 0.01 + j0.09
2 7 0.01 + j0.09
Figure 2
Broadly list out benefits of Numerical protection systems

Describe the main requirements of good protection system

 Examples / problems
From To Positive sequence impedance
1 2 0.0 + j0.01(T1)
0.0 + j0.01(T2)
2 3 0.0 + j0.08
3 4 0.02 + j0.05
4 5 0.01 + j0.03
5 6 0.0 + j0.06
6 7 0.01 + j0.09
2 7 0.01 + j0.09
Figure 2
Broadly list out benefits of Numerical protection systems

Describe the main requirements of good protection system

Examples / problems
In the double-bus arrangement shown in Figure here circuit breaker B1
must be taken out of service for repair. Starting with all equipment in
service, make a list of operations required to take the circuit breaker out
of service, and to return it to service.. Remember that disconnect
switches are generally not designed to break or make load current.1
In the systems shown in Figure 1 and 2, it is desired to achieve overlap
between the zones of protection for the bus and the transmission line.
Show how this may be achieved through the connection of CTs to the
appropriate protection systems.

Figure 1 Figure 2
Examples / problems
For the system shown in Figure below, the following circuit
breakers are known to operate: (a) B1 and B2; (b) B3, B4, B1, B5
and B7; (c) B7 and B8; (d) B1, B3, B5 and B7. Assuming that all
primary protection has worked correctly, where is the fault located
in each of these cases?