Protective relays

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1. The 3 most imp. characteristic for any relay:

i. Pickup Current value ii. Time Delay iii. Relay Coordination is ultimately determined by
the type of Grounding used in Distribution Systems: a. Isolated/ Unearthed Neutral b.
Impedance-earthed Neutral c. Solidly (or low impedance) earthed Neutral- In this, the
network is generally earthed on the Neutral of an i/coming delta/star tx.former. When this
neutral is not accessible, the network is earthed either through and zig-zag tx.former or
through a star/delta tx.former connected to the main busbar.

2. When a Fault occurs, Electrodynamic and Thermal stresses built up.

3. For an Induction. motor, a starting current of 6 times the Rated Current(Full Load
Current) and a Locked Rotor Resistance , R1 of 3 times the R0 (Running Resist.) causes
I2 * r to be 6 X 6 X 3 or 108 times normal.

4. All the elements of universal relay are organized under the application of Feeder Motor
Breaker

5. Feeder application group: It provides 3 separate sets of Instantaneous, Definite-Time &

Inverse-Time elements.

Instantaneous: Their operating time does not depend upon the current level. This
responds to Phase current and provided conventional Phase fault protection.

Definite-Time OR Independent Time relays: Their operating time depends on the current
level. This responds to Negative-Sequence Current and provides Phase to Phase fault
protection.

Application: Independent Time relays are used when the short-circuit level is very high
OR when short circuit current is likely to vary widely at and given point (eg- when and
network is supplied from small generators whose short circuit decrement curve falls off
rapidly.)

Inverse-Time OR Dependent Time relays: This responds to Residual Current and

provides conventional ground fault protection.

Application: Dependent Time relays are used when:

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i. The operation of network includes high-level short-time overloads. ii. Magnetizing
inrush currents at switch-on may be considerable for several tenths of and second. iii.
Relay operation must be coordinated with a large no. of fuses.

6. Motor application group: It shares the Phase, Negative-Sequence and Ground

Instantaneous and Definite-Time elements to protect the motor of winding faults or faults
in the connecting leads. Another element, responding to both Positive-Sequence &
Negative-Sequence current, provides for Overload, Locked rotor, or unbalanced current
conditions

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International Journal of Electrical and Power Engineering

Year: 2009 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 69-75

DOI: 10.3923/ijepe.2009.69.75

Instantaneous and Time-Overangle Protection Against Three-Phase Faults on Radial Electrical

Power Systems

Saleh A. Al-Jufout and Emad S. Addasi

Abstract: This study presents, a theoretical approach to develop a digital protection method against 3-
phase short circuits on radial electrical power systems that decreases the fault clearance time and thus,
increases the stability of the system. The criterion used in this proposed, protection method is the inclination
angle of the envelope of the short-circuit current. The concept of the current envelope has been introduced
and its change during 3-phase faults has been analyzed. The inclination angle has been calculated and its
use as a criterion for protection against 3-phase faults on radial electrical power systems has been
discussed. The suggested protection method has been developed with the use of mathematical modelling
of the radial electrical power system. The mathematical model has been represented as a system of
differential equations for currents and a system of algebraic equations for bus voltages. This model has
been formulated in a rectangular coordinate system and has been developed for both steady-state and
transient analyses. The curves of the envelope of the short-circuit currents during the first 2 milliseconds
after the fault instant and the time grading diagrams of the proposed protection method have been
illustrated.

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INTRODUCTION

Protection of the transmission line, one of the main components of the radial electrical power system, has a
central role in power system protection because transmission lines are vital elements of the network, which
connects the generating plants to the load centers, also because of the long distances traversed by
transmission lines over countryside. Transmission lines are subject to a majority of the faults occurring on
the power system. The simplest protection system used at the lowest system voltages consists of fuses,
which act as relays and circuit breakers combined. The protection system used for medium-voltage
transmission lines is somewhat simpler than that used for high-voltage and extra-high-voltage transmission
lines, which provide the major bulk transmission facilities (Ranjbar and Cory, 1974; Horowitz et al., 1988).

Knowledge of the currents resulting from various types of faults is essential for the effective operation of the
protection system. Faults on a power system resulting high currents must be removed in the minimum of
time. If short circuits are allowed to persist on a power system for an extended period, many or all of the
following undesirable effects are likely to occur (Weedy and Cory, 1999):

• Reduced stability margins.

• Damage of the equipment that is in the vicinity of the fault due to heavy currents or low voltages
produced by short circuit.

• Explosions, which may occur in equipment containing insulating oil during a short circuit and which
may cause fire resulting in a serious hazard to personnel and damage to other equipment.

• Disruptions in the entire power system service area by a succession of protective actions taken by
different protection systems, an occurrence known as cascading.

Which one of these effects will predominate in a given case depends upon the nature and operating
conditions of the power system. With the advent of microprocessors and the integrated circuits, numerical
protection devices are now the norm. The analogue quantities can be sampled and converted to digital form
for numerical manipulation, by which the fault clearance can fast be obtained (Peck et al., 1989).

Digital computers, initially used in electrical power systems for off-line calculations soon found their way into
load dispatching centers and on-line applications (Koch, 1989). The appearance of microprocessors
enabled ever simpler tasks to be performed at distributed locations and their use for protection and control,
in electrical power systems, was logically the next step. Thus, memory and computing capacity is now
available, which enabled the processing of additional parameters and also new parameters that could not
be processed previously. Nowadays, digital techniques are widely used in protection engineering. Digital
fault location techniques for transmission systems when digital fault recorded data are available at one
terminal or two terminals is presented by Girgis and Fallon (1992). Digital protection method for power
transformers based on an equivalent circuit composed of inverse inductance is developed by Inagaki et al.
(1988). Digital differential protection of power transformers is discussed by Hamedani et al. (2004). And a
formal software requirements specification method for digital nuclear plant protection systems is developed
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