REQUIREMENTS ON LINE PROTECTION

The choice of protection relays for a specific application, depends on the network
configuration, type of line (single or parallel, long or short, series compensated
or not), load current level, and expected tower foot resistances etc. A choice must
be done individually for each application and the future expansion of the network
must be kept in mind.
The most important features of the line protection relays are:
Speed Speed i. e. short operating time for severe faults. As mentioned above a very
short clearance time is required for severe faults, sometimes down to a few
milliseconds. One example is a three-phase fault in a 400 kV system having 20 kA in
short-circuit current and 13000 MVA in short circuit power. The thermal and
mechanical stresses at such a fault are very high.
Speed is thus important to:
- limit the damages on the high voltage apparatus as well as limit the thermal and
mechanical stresses.
REQUIREMENTS ON LINE PROTECTION 100 BA THS / BU Transmission Systems and
Substations LEC Support ProgrammeLine protection
- limit the ionization at the fault which will increase the chances of a suc-
cessful Auto reclosing and thus shorten the dead interval.
- increase the power transmission capability of the network without de-
creasing the safety margin for the network stability.
REQUIREMENT ON SPEED The maximum fault clearance time is
important i. e. including the back-up protection function and the
possibility of a breaker failure. The network must be stable under
maximal conditions. Times from 250 ms up to several seconds
can occur depending on line type, location in the network, sourc-
es etc.
Sensitivity
Sensitivity means the capability to detect all types of fault.
It is important to detect all faults even if the fault current is smaller
than the load current. Equipment damages due to induction in
low voltage equipment, or person injuries due to rise in earth po-
tential, can occur also for low magnitude faults. High resistive
earth faults are quite likely to occur at long transmission lines and
the relay system must be able to detect such faults before the
faults developes further or people will get seriously injured. Sen-
sitivity is therefore the second important aspect in the perfor-
mance of line protection relays.
REQUIREMENT ON SENSITIVITY The requirement on the line pro-
tection systems sensitivity at earth faults is often discussed and
varies between utilities. The mid-span fault often requires higher
sensitivity than what can be achieved by the primary protection
relay used. A maximum sensitivity of approximately “RF<50 Ω”
can be achieved by the primary protection.
An acceptable sensitivity can only be achieved utilizing zero se-
quence components in overcurrent, directional overcurrent or di-
rectional comparison schemes. These relays can only detect
earth faults.
Selectivity
Selectivity i. e. the capability to determine the fault location and
only disconnect the faulty object.
BA THS / BU Transmission Systems and Substations LEC Support Programme
REQUIREMENTS ON LINE PROTECTION
for worldwide cooperation
101The consequences of a fault must be limited and the power supply to the
consumers secured. The protection system must therefor be capable of distinguish
between an external and an internal faults also for low magnitude faults on a heavy
loaded object, or for parallel objects where close to similar parameters exist for
both healthy and faulty object.
Requirement on selectivity
In order to fulfil these requirements the protection relays has to be able to
distinguish between the normal operating condition of the protected object and an
electrical fault i.e. give a reliable fault detection unaffected by normal
operating conditions such as load, inrush currents etc. In some cases it is also
required that the protection relay must be able to detect also other abnormal
operating conditions such as overexcitation, overload, broken conductor etc. These
aren’t electrical faults but may still damage the protected object or other
apparatus in the network. Since power apparatus in many applications have to
operate near their rated limits it is important that this part of the protection
system exactly can distinguish between permissible and none permissible operating
conditions.
Electrical faults are normally required to be cleared instantaneously. Other
abnormal operating conditions, can be accepted to result in time delayed action.
Dependability and security are contradictory to each other but have to be evaluated
together due to the linking of the two qualities. In redundant protection schemes
the whole scheme has to be evaluated not only the individual relays.
To achieve maximum dependability combined with maximum security the communication
demands shall be at minimum. Wide band transmission is not only expensive it will
also be more exposed to interference. The latter is apparent when power line
carrier is used. The communication demand is therefore linked with dependability
and security