Protection of

power system
 objectives
• Physical appearance
• Definition
• Working and construction
• How it protect power system?
• Applications
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Questioning about my topic
Physical appearance
What is fuse
• A fuse is a short piece of metal
inserted in a circuit, which melts
when excessive current flows
through it and thus break the
circuit.
• The fuse element is generally
made of materials having low
melting point, high conductivity
and least deterioration due to low
oxidation e.g, silver, copper etc
• Under normal conditions the fuse
element is at a temperature below
its melting point.
• When a short-circuit or overload
occurs, the current through fuse
increase beyond its rating this melt
the fuse
 Protection of power system
Power system Protection-Basic Components:

 Fuses: Self-destructing to save the equipment being protected.

 Relays
 earth screen
 Bus-bars
 Circuit Breakers: These are used to make circuits carrying
enormous current, and also to break the circuit carrying the fault
currents for a few cycle based on feedback from the relays.

 DC batteries: These give uninterrupted power source to the relays and
breakers that is independent of the main power source being protected.
 Lightning Arresters
 Surge Absorber
 Over head ground wires
 Working And Construction
Function:
A fuse is generally inserted into an
electrical circuit for 1 of 2 reasons,
either to protect the power source
which includes the wire that connects
the power supply to the electrical
device, or to protect the electronic
equipment. The electronic equipment
manufacturers specify a fuse rated to
open the electrical circuit before
damage can be done to the device or
open the circuit if the electronic
device fails in some way (electronic
devices may pull excessive current
when they fail). If a fuse larger than
the specified fuse is used, a small
mistake when installing the
equipment may cause catastrophic
failure of the equipment.
• In the diagram below, you see
that there is a fuse between
the battery and the amplifier. In
this configuration, the fuse can
be used to protect the wire and
the amplifier. If the fuse is the
proper one for the amplifier, all
you have to do is make sure
that the wire segments 'A' and
'B' are rated to pass more
current than the fuse and you'll
be OK. Wire segment 'A' must
be as short as possible
because it is NOT protected by
the fuse.
•
• In the this diagram, things
get a little more
complicated. As you can
see, wire 'A' is used to
deliver power to the
distribution block. Wire 'A' is
of a large enough gauge to
power both amplifiers. 4
gauge wire is commonly
used as a main power wire.
Fuse 'A' must be rated to
protect wire 'A'. Again, fuse
'B' protects wire 'B' and fuse
'C' protects wire 'C'. Wire
segments 'X' and 'Y' MUST
be as short as possible
because, unless they are of
the same gauge as wire 'A'
(or larger), they could be a
fire hazard.
• In most cases, the wire size
is reduced at the point of
distribution. ANY time that
the wire size is reduced,
you must add a fuse in the
line (at the point of
distribution) to protect the
smaller wire. Look at the
following for more detailed
info about changing wire
sizes.

• Wire "A" is unprotected

which is why you want the
main (125 amp) fuse as
close to the battery as
possible. If this length of
wire gets shorted, it WILL
Fuse Opening Time
 ProtectionAdvantages
of power system
• It is the cheapest form of protection available.
• It requires no maintenance.
• Operation is completely automatic.
• It can break heavy short-circuit currents
without noise or smoke.
• The inverse time-current characteristic of a
fuse make it suitable for overcurrent protection.
• Time of operation shorter than circuit breakers
 Disadvantages
• Time is lost in rewiring or replacing a fuse
after operation.
• On heavy short-circuits discrimination
between fuses in series can not be
obtained.
• The current-time characteristic of fuse can
not always be co-related with that of
protected apparatus.
 Important terms
• Fusing current
It depends upon the following factors
• material of the fusing element
• Length, smaller the length greater the current
• diameter
• Previously history
• Size and location of terminal used

• Fusing factor
fusing factor = min. fusing current
current rating of fuse
 Important terms

• Prospective current.
• Cut-off current.
• Pre-arcing time.
• Arcing time
• Total operating time
• Breaking capacity
 Types of fuses
1. Low voltages fuses
2. High voltages fuses
low voltages fuses
• Semi-enclosed rewireable fuse
• High rupturing capacity cartridge fuse
• H.r.c. fuse with trippping device

High voltages fuses

• Cartridge type
• Liquid type
• Metal clad fuses
 H.R.C. cartridge fuse
Advantages
2. They are capable of clearing high
as well as low fault currents
3. They do not deteriorate with age
4. They have high speed of operation
5. They provide reliable discrimination
6. They require no maintenance
Disadvantages
• They have to be replaced after
each operation
• Heat produced by the arc may
affect the associated switches
 H.R.C. fuse with tripping device
Advantages
2. In case of a single phase fault
on a three-phase system, the
plunger operates the tripping
mechanism of circuit breaker to
open all three phases and
prevents single phasing
3. It also deals with very small
fault currents
4. This permits the use of a
relatively inexpensive circuit
breaker
Liquid type fuse
• These are filled with
carbon tetrachloride
• Having widest range
of application to h.v.
systems
• Used for circuit
upto100A rated
current on 132 kv
• Breaking capacities of
6100a
Relays
Physical Appearance of
Relays
 What is Relay
• A relay is a device that
detects the fault and initiates
the operation of circuit breaker
to isolate the defective element
from the rest of the system

• A relay is a simple
electromechanical switch
made up of an electromagnet
and a set of contacts. Relays
are found hidden in all sorts of
devices. In fact, some of the
first computers ever built used
relays to implement
Boolean gates.
 Construction and
working
• A relay is used to isolate one
electrical circuit from
another. It allows a low
current control circuit to
make or break an electrically
isolated high current circuit
path. The basic relay
consists of a coil and a set of
contacts. The most common
relay coil is a length of
magnet wire wrapped around
a metal core. When voltage is
applied to the coil, current
passes through the wire and
creates a magnetic field. This
magnetic field pulls the
contacts together and holds
them there until the current
flow in the coil has stopped.
The diagram below shows the
parts of a simple relay.
The animated picture shows a working relay with its coil and
switch contacts. You can see a lever on the left being
attracted by magnetism when the coil is switched on. This

lever moves the switch contacts .

Single pole single throw single pole
double throw

Double pole single throw

Double pole 2 throw
 Relay
specificati
ons

• There are
two
specification
s that you
must
consider
when
selecting a
relay for use
in an
automobile,
the coil
 Protective relay And
Construction
• A protective relay is a complex
electromechanical apparatus,
often with more than one coil,
designed to calculate operating
conditions on an electrical circuit
and trip circuit breakers when a
fault was found. Design and theory
of these protective devices is an
important part of the education of
an electrical engineer who
specializes in power systems.
Today these devices are nearly
entirely replaced (in new designs)
with microprocessor-based
instruments (numerical relays) that
emulate their electromechanical
ancestors with great precision and
convenience in application
 Operating Principle
• Most of the relays in service on
electric power system today are
of electro-mechanical type
• They work on the following two
main operating principles
3. Electromagnetic attraction
4. Electromagnetic induction

Attracted armature type relay Solenoid type relay Balanced beam type relay
 Induction type Relays
. current relay (non-directional)
Over Over current relay (directional)

Directional power relay

Others types of functional relays
1. Distance relays Current differential relay

2. Differential relays
Voltage balance differential relay
3. Translay system
 Types of protection
1. Primary protection
2. Back-up protection
 Advantages of relays .
• Relays can switch AC and DC, transistors can only switch DC.
• Relays can switch high voltages, transistors cannot.
• Relays are a better choice for switching large currents (> 5A).
• Relays can switch many contacts at once.

disadvantages of relays
• Relays are bulkier than transistors for switching small currents.
• Relays cannot switch rapidly (except reed relays), transistors can
switch many times per second.
• Relays use more power due to the current flowing through their
coil.
• Relays require more current than many ICs can provide, so a
low power transistor may be needed to switch the current for the
relay's coil.
Busbar protection
 Techniques
Differential protection Fault bus protection
 References
• www.bcae1.com (for protection project)
• www.bcot1.com