Medium voltage switchgears are used for switching medium voltage loads

through associated control, measuring, protective and regulating equipment.

This operation also involves considerable manual intervention which
therefore necessitates the fulfilment of safety requirements laid down in
International Standards.

Standard tripping schemes and trip circuit supervision schemes for MV switchgear (on photo::

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 A variety of control and interlocking schemes are used to achieve the above
stated objectives. This technical covers following schemes in detail:

1. General
2. Tripping schemes
1. Shunt Tripping Scheme
2. Series Tripping Schemes
1. Using Relays
2. Using Summation CT
3. Using Motor Protection Circuit Breaker (MPCB)
4. Using Time Limit Fuses
3. Capacitor Tripping Scheme
3. Trip circuit supervision schemes
1. How it works? (VIDEO)

These schemes are the frequently used and are provided in most medium
voltage switchgear applications.

A protection relay is usually required to trip a circuit breaker (CB). The

power required by the trip coil of the CB may range from 50 W for a small
distribution CB to 3000 W for a large EHV CB. Where such appreciable
current-carrying capacity is required, interposing contactor type elements
will normally be used.

This interposing contactor type element is connected in any of the

three arrangements discussed below.

Even though the functional requirements of schemes remain the same,

there is always a variation from project to project depending upon the
following factors:

1. Distribution philosophy of AC, DC supply

2. System/bus configuration
3. Number of breaker trip coils
4. Grouping of alarm signals and trip/non-trip segregation and
5. Tripping logic

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 and based on experience gained over a period of time.

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This is the most commonly used tripping scheme. The protective relay
(PR) contact is arranged directly to trip the circuit breaker and it
simultaneously energises an auxiliary unit X which then reinforces the
contact that is energising the trip coil. The scheme is shown in Figure 1.

All the above-mentioned tripping schemes envisage the use of separate DC

supply for tripping. An alternative scheme using the fault current to trip the
circuit breaker is called a series tripping scheme.

tripping scheme

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These schemes operate by using different components as discussed below.

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 the series tripping relays. The trip coil comes into the circuit and trips the
circuit breaker when the relay contact opens at fault.

The circuit is shown in Figure 2.

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This scheme is similar to the one using relays but here a summation CT is
used to summate the current of all the three phases, thereby minimising the
requirement of three series trip coils to one.

The summation CTs are LT CTs which sum up the secondary

current output of HT CTs of three phases and provide a
proportional single-phase output.

The series trip coil is connected to the output of the summation CT and
normally shorted through relay NC contacts. The scheme is shown in
Figure 3.

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MPCBs are manual motor starters with thermal and electromagnetic

trip features. Normally the trip coil is kept shorted through the MPCB. The
MPCB blows off during a fault, and thereby pushing the fault current
through the trip coil which, in turn, trips the circuit breaker.

This process is shown in Figure 4 below.

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This is similar to the MPCB scheme. Here, in the place of MPCBs, fuses
with definite time characteristic are connected across the trip coil.

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For installations where DC supply is not available or where it is

uneconomical to provide battery / battery charger for DC supply or where
the stations are unattended and battery maintenance cannot be guaranteed,
a circuit using capacitor banks is employed to provide tripping energy to the
breaker trip coil.

It employs a three-phase full wave rectifier bridge with diodes

for DC output and capacitive circuit for storing energy. The diode
rectifier bridge is powered by the secondary of the HT PT.

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 rectifier’s dc supply. In abnormal conditions of failure of HT PT supply, the
tripping energy is derived from energy stored in the charged capacitor
banks. Normally the capacitors are rated to store energy for two trip and
one close operation.

The scheme is shown in Figure 5.

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The trip circuit extends beyond the relay enclosure and passes through
more components such as fuses, links, relay contacts, auxiliary switch
contacts and so on, and in some cases, through a considerable amount of
circuit breaker wiring with intermediate terminal boards. These
complications, coupled with the importance of the circuit, have directed
attention to the need for its supervision.

The simplest arrangement contains a healthy trip lamp, as shown in Figure

6.

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 tripped by an internal short-circuit caused by failure of the lamp. This
provides supervision while the circuit breaker is closed.

Figure 7 shows how, by the addition of a normally closed

auxiliary switch and a resistance unit, supervision can be
undertaken while the breaker is both open and closed.

In either case, the addition of a normally open push button contact in series
with the lamp will make the supervision indication available only when
required.

The supervision relay type TCS is intended for a continuous supervision of

circuit breaker trip circuit and gives an alarm for loss of auxiliary supply,
faults on the trip coil or its wires independent of the breaker position.

Schemes using a lamp to indicate continuity are suitable for locally

controlled installations, but when control is exercised from a
distance, it is necessary to use a relay system.

Figure 8 illustrates such a scheme, which is applicable wherever a remote

signal is required.

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 alarm

Under healthy conditions with the circuit breaker closed relays A and C are
energized. If the trip circuit opens or the trip supply fails, relay A drops off
and opens contact A1 to de-energize relay C. When the circuit breaker is
open, relay B is also energized via the normally closed auxiliary switch of
the circuit breaker and relay C is held in by contact B1.

Relay B will detect trip circuit abnormalities with the circuit breaker open in
a similar manner as relay A with the circuit breaker closed.

Relay C is time delayed on drop-off by means of an RC circuit for a total

time of 350 to 800 milli-seconds, to prevent a false alarm due to voltage
dips caused by faults in other circuits or during a normal tripping operation,
when relay A is momentarily short-circuited by the self re-set tripping relay
contact.

If the trip relay fails to re-set, possibly due to the failure of the circuit
breaker tripping mechanism, the alarm is initiated.

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 The alarm supply should be independent of the
tripping supply so that an indication will be
obtained in the event of the failure of the
tripping battery.

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In a protection system the tripping of circuit breaker is crucial. Should

an interruption occur in trip circuit, possible network fault would not be
disconnected and the fault would have to be cleared by another upstream
protections in the power system.

The supervision function is particularly important when there is

only one tripping coil and CB tripping is vital or important
circuit breaker in distribution networks.

The supervision relay type TCS is intended for a continuous supervision of

circuit breaker trip circuit and gives an alarm for loss of auxiliary supply,
faults on the trip coil or its wires independent of the breaker position.

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References //

1. Switchgears book by BHEL – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

2. Trip circuit supervision relay TCS Product Guide by ABB

Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized for

design of LV/MV switchgears and LV high power busbar trunking (<6300A)
in power substations, commercial buildings and industry fascilities.
Professional in AutoCAD programming. Present on Google+

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