Protection Systems & Devices (Relays)

3rd Year

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Protective relays are the devices that provide protection against faults, such as short
circuits, and abnormal system conditions, such as low frequency, to avoid serious
damage to vital pieces of equipment such as lines, transformers, and generators. The
protective relay system detects the fault and sends trip signals to circuit breakers and
other switchgear, while the switchgear clears the fault by interrupting it and isolating the
faulty equipment. Although it is desirable to limit damage to the equipment subjected to
the fault, the overriding concern is to protect the rest of the system from the fault. For
example, a line subjected to a short circuit will often suffer damage if the short circuit is
not promptly cleared. Relays that are fast, selective, and reliable along with fast, reliable
circuit breakers will often prevent such damage, and even more importantly will prevent
the damage from spreading to the substation bus and the transformer. Obviously, the
protective relay system must be carefully designed to achieve the proper balance among
factors such as reliability, speed, selectivity, and economics.

One aspect of protection, namely transient overvoltage protection by application of surge

arresters, is not covered in this course. Rather, the present topic focuses on protective
relay systems for overcurrent protection and protection from other abnormal conditions.
An overvoltage relay might be used to protect some apparatus from sustained
overvoltage condition, but not to protect the apparatus from a transient surge due to
switching or lightning.

Importance of protection
Protection of the system from damaging short circuit currents is obviously important, but to
underscore its importance consider that an extensive overhead transmission system may be
subject to temporary faults due to lightning-induced flashover and permanent faults due to
physical damage from ice and wind loading as well as accidental destruction of poles and
towers.
The frequency of these faults is obviously a function of the lines' overall exposure to the
damage, but faults may occur several times a day during normal conditions. In the worst
cases of storm damage, hundreds of faults may occur in a few hours.

Also of great importance is protection from various abnormal system conditions. For
example, severe damage to steam turbine blades can occur at low system frequencies,
generator step-up transformers may be overexcited at very low frequency operation as the
unit starts up, certain relays may respond to transient generator swings during disturbances
resulting in transmission line tripping. All these, and other, conditions must be foreseen by
the protective relay engineer.

Electric power equipment is designed to work under specific normal conditions. However,
short circuit or failure may happen due to:
 Over-voltages due to switching.
 Over-voltages due to lightning strokes.
 Bridging of conductors by birds.
 Breakdown due to decrease of dielectric strength.
 Mechanical damage of the equipment.

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Protective Systems

It continuously monitors the power system to ensure maximum continuity of electricity

supply with minimum damage to life, equipment & properties.
It consists of : 1. Battery and DC supply.
2. Circuit Breakers.
3. Relay.
4. Current Transformers and Potential Transformers.

The Protective Relay

It’s a device, which detects abnormal conditions in a part of a power system and gives a
signal to isolate that part from the healthy system or gives an alarm to the operator.
The relays are: compact, self-contained devices, which respond to abnormal conditions.

Basic Requirements of Protective Relaying

A well designed and efficient protective relaying should have:

1. Speed:

Protective relaying should disconnect a faulty element as quickly as possible to:

 improve power system stability.

 decrease the amount of damage.

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Clearing time: It is the time interval within which a faulty system element is disconnected
from the system.

Fault clearing time = Relay time + Circuit breaker time

Relay time: operating time of the protection relay from the instant of fault up to the closure
of contacts in the trip circuit of the circuit breaker.

CB time: is the time from the closing of the trip circuit up to the time when the current is
interrupted (final arc extinction of the circuit breaker)

Relaying Classifications:

1. Instantaneous: these relays operate as soon as a secure decision made. No

intentional time delay is introduced to slow down the relay response (1 – 6 cycles).
2. Time delay: an intentional time delay is inserted between the relay decision time and
the initiation of the trip action.

a) High speed: a relay that operates in less than a specified time. The specified time in
present practice is 50 milliseconds (2 – 3 cycles).
b) Ultra high speed: a relay that operates in 4 milliseconds or less.

I) Definite time relay (Instantaneous): the time of operation is fixed and not function of
the quantity causing operation.
II) Inverse time lag relay: the time operation is inversely proportional to the magnitude
of the quantity causing operation. The relay must separate the meaningful and
significant information with the necessary degree of certainty. The relationship
between the relay response time and its degree of certainty is an inverse one.

Time-current characteristics of various families of overcurrent relays

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2. Selectivity, discrimination

Protective relay systems that are well designed will always exhibit selectivity, which means
that the fewest possible numbers of relays will operate for a given fault. To assure that the
protective system is selective, relay coordination studies must be performed.

Much of the time expended by the relay engineer consists of coordinating the operation of
adjacent relays to ensure that the proper relays operate, but that those covering adjacent
zones do not. To complicate this coordination, often-nearby relays will have a secondary role
as backup protection. Much more will be said about backup protection and its coordination
in the course.

Selectivity is the ability of the system to determine the point at which the fault occurs and
select the nearest of the circuit-breakers tripping of which will lead to clearing of fault with
minimum or no damage to the system.
The protective system should operate under normal conditions and abnormal conditions. It
should select and disconnect only faulty part without disconnecting the remaining healthy
parts.

Zones of protection:

In the event of a fault in a zone, the protection of that zone should initiate the tripping of the
necessary circuit breakers to isolate that zone, and only that zone, from all live supplies

The zone of protection of a relay consists of that part of the system covered by the relay.
One basic tenet of good protective relay practice is to maintain overlapping zones of
protection over the entire system. As an example, consider a generator, its step-up
transformer, a line, and a substation. Note that the zones of protection and the switchgear
locations are interrelated. As in many design problems, the exact arrangement of the zones
of protection will depend on the design philosophy of the engineers involved.

The power system is divided into protective zones, which can adequately be protected with
minimum part of the system disconnection. Any failure occurring within a given zone will
cause the opening of all breakers within that zone.
The system can be divided into the following protective zones:

1. Generators. 2. Transformers. 3. Bus bars.

4. Transmission lines. 5. Distribution circuits.

The boundaries of the protective zone are decided by C.T. locations.

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In order to cover all power equipment by their protection systems, the zones of protection
must meet these requirements:

a. All power system elements must be covered by at least one zone.

b. Zones of protection must overlap to prevent any system element from being
unprotected.

A zone of protection may be closed or open. When the zone is closed, all power elements
inside the zone are protected. All the circuit breakers inside the zone must trip.

Consider a fault at F1. This fault lies in a closed zone and will cause C.B.s ( B 1 ) and ( B2 ) to
trip. The fault at F2, being inside the overlap between the zones of protection of the T.L. and
the B.B. , will cause B1, B2, B3 & B4 to trip.
Now consider a fault at F3. This fault lies in two open zones. The fault should cause B 6 to
trip. B5 is the backup and will trip if B6 fails to clear the fault (fails to trip).

3. Sensitivity

A protective system is said to be sensitive when it will operate for very small internal fault
currents. If an overhead conductor breaks and falls on dry ground or hedges, the fault
current can be very small, and it is quite a problem to provide a protection sufficiently
current-sensitive to detect this fault condition.

Sensitivity is the smallest value of actuating quantity at which the protection starts
operating in relation with the minimum value of fault current in the protected zone.

Sensitivity can be defined in terms of sensitivity factor K s where:

Ks = I s or Vs
Io Vo

Where Is = minimum short circuit current in the zone

Io = minimum operating current of protection
The operating current should not be kept too small for the following reasons:
 The protection should not operate on maximum loads.
 The protection should not operate for faults somewhere else in the system.

4. Reliability

Reliability is generally understood to measure the degree of certainty that a piece of

equipment will perform as intended. The relays have two alternative ways in which they can

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be unreliable: they may fail to operate when they are expected to, or, they may operate
when they are not expected to. Therefore, a reliable relaying system must be dependable
and secure. Therefore, the reliability of the protective relay system has two aspects:
dependability of operation and security from false operation.

Dependability means that each relay sends a trip signal when a fault is present in its zone.
It is defined as the measure of the certainty that the relays will operate correctly for all the
faults for which they are designed to operate

Security means that no relay sends a trip signal if no fault is present in its zone. It is the
measure of the certainty that the relays will not operate incorrectly for any fault.

Since no human invention is perfect, and the protective relay system is no exception,
compromise between dependability and security are inevitable. Lack of dependability means
that faults are not cleared, unless backup protection is active (which usually involves a
considerable time delay to allow coordination between backup and primary relays). Lack of
security means that false trips may occur, leading to unnecessary customer outages.

As the relaying system becomes dependable, its tendency to become less secure
increases. Thus, in the present day, there is a tendency to design relays that are more
dependable at the expense of some degree of security. Much of the art of protective relaying
arises because of the tension between dependability and security. A typical problem is to
choose between two available protection schemes, the one having better dependability and
worse security, the other having better security and worse dependability.

Primary and backup protection

It should be obvious that some form of backup protection is needed, especially for
transmission and generation levels of the system. Since protective relays do fail and since
compromises in protection are sometimes required, backup relays will be necessary for any
important line, transformer, or generator.

Main protection is the system, which is normally expected to operate in the event of an
internal fault.
Back-up protection is a second (often cheaper, slower) protective system which
supplements the main protection should the latter fail to operate. The trip contacts of the
relays are in parallel. The failure to clear the fault could be due to some component common
to both systems (e.g. the circuit breaker), so most schemes provide overall back-up to clear
the fault at another circuit breaker.

The primary protection is the first line of defense at which primary relays clear faults in the
protected zone as fast as possible. As 100% reliability not only of the protective scheme but
also of the associated C.T.’s, P.T.’s nad C.B.’s cannot be guaranteed, some form of backup
protection must be provided.

The backup relay operates if the primary relay fails. Usually back up relays cover wider
sections and have time delay long enough to allow the primary relay to operate. This can be
accomplished by:

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1. Duplication principle which the important protective devices (relays, C.B., auxiliaries,
..etc.) are duplicated. This method of back up protection can be classified as:

a. Relay backup. b. Breaker backup. c. Remote backup.

2. Backup protection by time grading principle at which the tripping time at different sections
are graded such that the tripping time is shorter close to the fault and longer in the sections
that follows.

5. Simplicity

Simplicity of construction and good quality of the relay, correctness of design and
installation, simplicity of maintenance are the main factors which influence protective
reliability. As a rule, the simple the protective scheme and the lesser the number of relays,
circuits and contacts, the greater will be its reliability.

6. Economy and adequateness

Although protective relay systems are not expensive compared to the costs of major
apparatus such as transformers, switchgear, lines, generators, etc., their cost is an issue.
Protective relays require considerable engineering and technical support, including proper
settings and routine maintenance by skilled personnel. Protection system costs must be
acknowledged, but should be traded off against the cost of service interruptions, equipment
damage, and system disturbances that invariably result from inadequate protection systems.

Too much protection is as bad as too little. Good engineering design compromise between
practical situation and cost.
The designer should consider the following:
a. Rating of the system (or element to be protected).
b. Location of the protected element.
c. Probability of abnormal conditions.

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d. Cost and importance of the protected element.

e. Continuity of the supply as affected by failure of this element.

Types of Relays
Relays may be classified in several ways, but here we look at their logical performance.
In other words, the fundamental type of relay is determined by its function. One functional
classification system is given in the table below:

1. Magnitude Relays
2. Directional Relays
3. Ratio Relays
4. Differential Relays
5. Pilot Relays

Note that these types are not always mutually exclusive; for example, a relay may be a ratio
relay and also be a directional relay. Despite this, these terms are commonly used and
should be understood.

Magnitude relays respond to the magnitude of a current or voltage. They may trip on low or
high values, such as an overcurrent relay (trips when the current it senses is above its
pickup setting), or an under-frequency relay (trips when the frequency is below its setting). A
current magnitude relay may be combined with a directional relay to make a directional
overcurrent relay.

Differential relays respond to the difference between two quantities. For example, in
providing short circuit protection for a power transformer, a differential overcurrent relay will
trip if the current on the primary does not balance the current on the secondary (taking into
account the turns ratio), since this indicates an internal fault. An external fault will not
produce a trip, since the primary and secondary currents balance regardless of the
magnitude of the current.

Directional relays respond to phase angle differences. Since phase angles must be
measured with respect to some reference, these relays require a polarizing quantity.

Common Relay Terms

Rated value
It is the value of the energizing quantity, marked on the rating plate, on which the
performance of the relay is based. In the case of a current-operated relay, its rated current
will normally be the rated secondary current of the C.T. to be used with the relay (i.e. 1 A or
5 A).

Setting value
It is the nominal value(s) (usually as a percentage of rated value), marked on the setting
plug (or dials) of the relay, at which the relay is designed to operate (e.g. 40% of 5 A). Since
a protective relay and its C.T. cannot be considered separately, the setting of a protective
system is often quoted as a percentage of the, rated primary current of the C.T.

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Pick-up or operating level: the operation of a relay is called pick-up. Pick up level or
operating level is the threshold value above which the relay operates and closes its
contacts.

Dropout or reset time: dropout is the value below which the relay resets and opens its
contacts to return to its normal position.
Drop-out / pick-up ratio is called Reset Ratio or Holding Ratio
AC 90 – 95 %
DC 60 – 65 %

Flag: is a device usually operates to indicate the relay pick-up.

Static relays: are electronic circuits capable of performing the control functions in a manner
similar to the regular relays without using moving parts.

SCADA: “ Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition“ is a computer system which

performs measurements, data acquisition, data transmission, operating and control
functions.

Differential protection: is a protective system, which responds to vector difference in

phase or magnitude between two similar electrical quantities.

Distance protection: is a protective system which depends on the ratio of the voltage to
current (V/I) at relaying point which gives a measure of distance between relay location and
fault location.
Directional protection: in which operation occurs when the applied current assumes a
specific phase displacement with respect to the applied voltage. The relay operates and
responds to fault flow in particular direction.

Over voltage, over current, and over power relays: in which the relays operate when V,
P or I rise above a preset value.

Under voltage, under current and under power relays: in which the relays operate when
V, P or I fall under a preset value.

Over-reach: (of distance protection), operation of a relay for a fault beyond its set protection
distance. For other types, the relay is over-reach when it operates at a current which is
lower than its setting.

Under-reach: is the failure of a distance relay to operate for a fault within its set protected
distance.

Electromechanical Relays

The classic relay technology is electromechanical, usually in the form of magnetic forces or
torques exerted on movable parts carrying contacts. The construction may be hinged
armature, plunger, induction disk, induction cup, etc.

The operation of such relays is based upon the following effect of electrical current:

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1. Electromagnetic attraction (a.c. or d.c. actuation)

2. Electromagnetic induction (a.c. actuation only
3. Thermal effect (I2rt) heat generated.

Some other electromechanical relays depend on the gas pressure generated due to the arc
heat (ex. Buchholz Relay).

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