Fundamental Principle of Overcurrent

Relays
Dr. Fouad Zaro
Assistant Professor
Electrical Power Engineering
Palestine Polytechnic University

Time Multipier Setting

1. Primary protection should be fast.
2. Back up protection should act if and only if primary
protection has failed. It is intentionally slow.

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Types of Overcurrent Relay

1. Instantaneous Relay
No intentional time delay.
The operating time a few milliseconds.
Has only the pick-up setting and it does not have any
TMS.
it's action is fast.
not suitable for backup protection.
common to set an instantaneous relay about
125135% above the maximum value for which the relay should
not operate.
90% of the minimum value for which the relay should operate.

Solid-state or digital relays can be set closer, e.g. 110%

above the maximum no-go value.
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2. Time delayed Definite Time Relay :

can be adjusted to issue a trip output after a specified
delay when the relay picks up (PSM>1).
This delay is fixed and it is independent of PSM value.
it has a adjustable time setting as well as a pick up
adjustment.
It is used for short length feeders where the fault current
does not change significantly with the location of the
fault across the feeder.
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Time delayed Definite Time Relay. contd

as we move along
towards source, the
relaying action slows
down.
There is an upper
limit on any fault
clearing time in the
system and it equals
approximately 1sec.

This limit would be

hit near the relay
close to source.

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Time delayed Definite Time Relay. contd

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Example:
Consider a CTI of 0.3sec. Then what is the maximum
length of a radial system of a feeder that can be
protected by overcurrent relay. Assume, that primary
protection uses DT relays and primary protection time
should not be more than 1sec.
Let 'n' be the maximum number of feeder sections
that can be protected by overcurrent relays and let
TOCmaxbe the upper limit on the speed of primary
protection. Then . Thus overcurrent relays should be
used over a limited length in the 3 feeder sections.

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3. Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) Relay

the most widely used characteristic.
It is inverse in the initial part and tends to approach a
definite minimum operating time characteristic as the
current becomes very high.

traditionally PSM of an overcurrent relay is set above 1.5.

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Back up protection by time discrimination

Relay setting and coordination steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Identify all possible Primary-Back-up relay pairs.

Decide the correct sequence for coordination of relays.
Decide the pickup value and hence PSM for relays.
Compute the TMS to meet the coordination.
Validation of the results.

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PSM setting for primary and back-up

protection

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Step 1 : set relay R1 Choose for relay R1

TMS = 0.025. No intentional time delay
is provided because R1 does not have
backup responsibility.
Relay 1 (R1)
pickup current of R1 = 160A.
For fault on section AB (Ifmax = 500 A):
PSM = Fault Current / Actual Pick up
= 500/160 = 3.125
TMS = 0.025

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Relay 2 (R2)
Actual Pick up = 167 A.
We co-ordinate R2 with R1 for
close in fault for relay R1.
PSM = Fault Current / Actual
Pick up = 500/167 = 2.99
Expected operating time for
relay 2 = Operating time of relay
1+ CTI
= 0.15 + 0.3 = 0.45sec.

TMS = 0.07

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Now for maximum fault

current on section BC
(1200A)
PSM = Fault Current / Actual
Pick up
= 1200/167 = 7.185
with TMS = 0.07 operating
time of relay 2

Operating time of
relay 2 = 0.24sec
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It is clear that slowest relay in the

system is R4.
To compute its worst case
performance, we should evaluate its
fault clearing time with minimum fault
current at remote bus D for primary
protection and bus C for backup
protection.
Time of operation for fault current of
1600A (bus D) = 0.82sec.
Time of operation for fault current of
1100A (bus C) = 1.5sec.
Since primary protection is always
cleared within 1sec, we can consider
the protection system to be
satisfactory.

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