Relay & Circuit Breaker in Power System

Placement of Relay and Circuit Breaker in Power System

Faiz Rahman
B. Tech Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Lovely Professional University
Phagwara, Punjab
Section: ELE519, Roll No. 52
Registration Number: 11109209

Abstract The relay and circuit breaker in the power system

is used to isolate the faulty section of electrical power system
from rest of the live system so that the rest portion can function
satisfactorily without any severe damage due to fault current.
The circuit breaker isolates the faulty system from rest of the
healthy system and this circuit breakers automatically open
during fault condition due to its trip signal comes from protection
relay. The relay and circuit breaker are connected in the system
in such a way that the protection of the system in maximized. The
different types of relay and circuit breaker are discussed, these
relay and circuit should be so connected to provide protection to
system.

I. INTRODUCTION
Relays and circuit breakers are the protective devices
installed in the power system for its protection. The relay is
installed to detect the fault condition. When working the relay
compares the input values of current and voltages to the
reference values. When the input value is greater than the
reference value it means the fault has occurred, on detecting the
fault condition the relays send a trip command to the circuit
breaker. When the circuit breaker receives this command, it
trips the circuit thereby protecting the power system from
getting damaged. The working of the both the system has been
explained in details in the subsequent sections.

II. RELAYS
A relay is automatic device which senses an abnormal
condition of electrical circuit and closes its contacts. These
contacts in turns close and complete the circuit breaker trip coil
circuit hence make the circuit breaker tripped for disconnecting
the faulty portion of the electrical circuit from rest of the
healthy circuit. The electrical quantities which may change
under fault conditions are voltage, current, frequency and phase
angle. Through the change in one or more quantities the fault
signals its location type and presence to the relay. After
detecting the fault the relay operates and trips the circuit
breaker to protect the system.

The relay has basically three parts

First part is the primary winding of a current

transformer (C.T.) which is connected in series with the
line to be protected.

Second part consists of secondary winding of C.T. and

the relay operating coil.
Third part is the tripping circuit which may be either
A.C. or D.C. It consists of a source of supply, the trip
coil of the circuit breaker and the relay stationary
contacts.
When a short circuit occurs at point F on the transmission line,
the current flowing in the line increases to an enormous value.
This results in a heavy current flow through the relay coil,
causing the relay to operate by closing its contacts. This in turn
closes the trip circuit of the breaker, making the circuit breaker
open and isolating the faulty section from the rest of the
system. In this way, the relay ensures the safety of the circuit
equipment from damage and normal working of the healthy
portion of the system.
There are two types of relays: Electromechanical Relay: These relays have moving
parts. These relays rely on mechanical parts to operate.
Electromagnetic
inductions
type
relay
and
electromagnetic attraction type relay are common
examples of electromechanical relays.

 Solid State Relay: These relays have no moving parts.

They instead use semiconductors to operate.
A. Electroechanical Relays
Electromechanical relays are electrically operated switches
used to isolate circuits or batteries, detect faults on
transmission and distribution lines, and control a high powered
circuit using a low power signal. Simple relays consist of a
magnetic core wrapped in a wire coil, a movable armature
attached to an iron yoke, and one or more set of contacts. When
an electric current passes through the coil it generates a
magnetic field that activates the armature, therefore moving the
contacts to make or break a connection.

B. Solid State Relay

A solid-state relay is an electronic switching device that
switches conduction states when a small external voltage is
applied along its n-type and p-type junctions. SSRs consists of
a sensor which responds to an appropriate input (control
signal), a solid-state electronic switching device which
switches power to the load circuitry, and a coupling mechanism
to enable the control signal to activate this switch without
mechanical parts. The relay may be designed to switch either
AC or DC to the load. It serves the same function as an
electromechanical relay, but has no moving parts.
SSRs, consist of semiconductor switching elements, such as
thyristors, triacs, diodes, and transistors. They also employ
optical semiconductors called photo couplers to isolate input
and output signals. Photo couplers change electric signals into
optical signals and relay the signals through space, thus fully
isolating the input and output sections while relaying the
signals at high speed.
Solid-state relays have several shortcomings: a high
susceptibility to damage (a relatively high vulnerability to
overloads in comparison to electromechanical relays); limited
switching arrangements (SPST switching); a need for finer
tuning due to high "on" resistances.

III. CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Circuit breaker means device which breaks (Open) the
circuit under abnormal condition and protects the system from
hazards. The function of a circuit breaker is to isolate the faulty
point of the power system in case of abnormal conditions such
as faults. Relay detects abnormal conditions and sends a
tripping signal to the circuit breaker, after receiving the
tripping command from the relay, the circuit breaker isolates
the faulty part from the power system. For opening and closing
the circuit the contacts are presents. These contacts are placed
in the closed chamber containing a fluid containing medium
(either liquid or gas) which quenches the arc formed between
the contacts. Under normal conditions these are at closed
position but when the circuit breaker requires to isolate the
faulty part, the moving contacts moves to interrupt the circuit
on separation arc is formed and until this arc is quenched the
current continues to flow the circuit is isolated when the arc is
quenched.

A circuit breaker is required in the power system to give

rapid fault clearance, in order to avoid over current damages to
the equipment and loss of system stability .the fault tripping
signal is derived from the from the relay via the trip circuit.
After the fault inception, relay senses the fault and closes its
contact to complete the trip circuit and relay takes some time to
complete its operation then the trip coil of the circuit breaker is
energized and the operating mechanism comes into operation.
The contacts of the circuit breaker start separating to clear the
fault. On the separation arcing takes place but current continues
to flow till the arc is completely quenched. The whole process
takes some time and the time taken to follow these steps is
known as fault clearing time of a circuit breaker.

The fault clearing time is sum of relaying time and breaker

interrupting time, where relaying time is time from fault
inception to closure of trip circuit of CB and breaker
interrupting time is sum of breaker operating time and arcing
time.
The voltage drop across the arc is called arc voltage. As,
arc path is purely resistive, the arc voltage is in phase with the
arc current. The magnitude of the arc voltage is very low,
amounting to only few percent of the rated voltage. Arc may be
interrupted by two methods, one is high resistance interruption
and another is current zero interruption.
The transient voltage which appears across the breaker
contacts at the instant of arc being quenched is called as
restriking voltage. The power frequency rms voltage, which
appears across the breaker contacts after the arc is finally
extinguished and transient oscillations die out is called
recovery voltage
Classification of Circuit Breaker
Air-break circuit breakers
Oil circuit breakers
Air blast circuit breakers
Sulphur hexa fluoride (sf6) circuit breakers
Vacuum circuit breakers
A. Air-break circuit breakers
These circuit breakers are suitable for high current
interruption at low voltage, this type of circuit breaker uses air
at atmospheric pressure as a quenching medium.

B. Oil Circuit Breaker

Mineral oil is the best insulator than air and it has good
cooling properties. So, this is employed in many electrical
equipments as, well as circuit breakers. But these type of
circuit breakers are not suitable for heavy current interruption
at low voltages due to carbonization of oil.
In these circuit breakers the moving as well as fixed
contacts are immersed in oil, the metal tank is strong, weather
tight and earthed When the contacts are separated there is a
severe arc which decomposes the gas into oil. Mainly hydrogen
is obtained from the oil. Hence, the oil is pushed away from the
arc and gaseous medium surrounds the arc, creating a large
gaseous pressure, to withstand this pressure tank is made
strong.

It employs two pairs of contact main contact and the

arcing contacts. They have low contact resistance. The main
contact carries the current when breaker is at the closed
position. When contacts are opened, the main contacts
separate first, the arcing contacts remain in closed position.
Therefore the current is shifted from main contacts to the
arcing contacts. The arcing contacts separate later on the arc is
drawn between them.
The principle of high resistance is employed for arc
interruption, the arc resistance is increased by lengthening,
splitting and cooling the arc. The arc interruption is assisted by
current zero in case of air break circuit breakers, high
resistance is obtained near current zero.
These circuit breakers are available in the voltage 400 to
12kv. They are widely used in the low and medium voltage
system.

C. Air Blast Circuit Breaker

In the air blast circuit breakers, compressed air at pressure
of 20-30kg/ sq cm is employed as, an arc quenching medium.
Air blast circuit breakers are suitable for operating voltage of
132kv and above. The main advantage of using them is their
cheapness and free availability of the interrupting medium,
chemical stability and inertness of air, high speed operation.

D. SF6 Circuit Breaker

These type of circuit breakers have good dielectric strength
and excellent arc quenching property. It is an inert, non-toxic,
non-flammable and heavy gas. As circuit breakers are totally
enclosed and sealed from atmosphere so one has to be very
careful where explosion hazards exist. At atmospheric
pressure, its dielectric strength is about 2.35 times that of air.
At normal conditions it is chemically inert, these properties of
sf6 has made it possible to design circuit breakers with smaller
overall dimensions, shorter contact gaps, which help in the
constructions of outdoor breakers with fewer interrupts and
evolution of metal clad. It is particularly suitable for metal clad
switch-gear. It is suitable for the range 3.3kv to 765kv. They
are preferred for voltages 132kv and above.
E. Vacuum Circuit Breaker
The dielectric strength and interrupting ability of high
vacuum is superior to those of porcelain, oil, air and SF6 at
atmospheric pressure. Its construction is very simple as,
compared to other circuit breakers. When contacts are
separated in high vacuum, an arc is drawn between them. The
arc does not take place on the entire surface of the contacts but
only a few spots. The contact surface is not perfectly smooth. It
has certain micro projections. At the time of contact separation,
these projections form the last point of separation. The current
flows through these points of separation resulting in the
formation of a few hot spots, these spots emit electrons and act
as cathode spots. Its enclosure is made up of insulating material
such as, glass, porcelain or glass fiber reinforced plastic. The
vapor condensing shield is made up of synthetic resin. Vacuum
CB is now very popular for voltage rating up to 36kv. The
main advantage of vacuum CB is its suitability for repeated
operations, least maintenance silent operation, long life etc.

In these circuit breakers the moving as well as fixed

contacts are immersed in oil, the In these circuit breakers the
moving as well as fixed contacts are immersed in oil, the metal
a.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank Mr. Mukul Chankaya (Asst. Prof,
Lovely Professional University) for providing me an
opportunity to write a paper also for her constant support and
guidance.
I express my gratitude towards the faculty staff of the
university who helped me in bringing this paper to its present
form. The valuable guidance and interest taken by them has
been a motivator and source of inspiration for me to carry out
the necessary proceedings for the paper to be completed
successfully.
I also wish to my friends and family for their constant
support and encouragement during the preparation of the paper.

REFERENCES
.
[1]

[2]
[3]

[4]
[5]
[6]

Saurabh Saxena ,Various Types of Circuit Breakers used in Power

System for Smooth Working of the Transmission Line ISSN22307656(c) MIT Publications
Osame Shahib,Protection Relay, Universithy of Diyala.
Gunjan J. Shelke, Prof. Y. D. Shahakar A Methodology for Power
System Protection Using Digital Relay Volume 3, Issue 12, December
2013 ISSN: 2277 128X International Journal of Advanced Research in
Computer Science and Software Engineering.
Vladimir Gurevich Electric Relays Principles and Applications, Isreal
Electric Corporation, Unpublished report

Siemens Review on SF6 circuit Breakers, January, 1969

Badri Ram, D.N. Vishwakarma, Power system protection and switch
gear second edition, pp. 533-564, 2011.