Transmission Line Protection

Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited

Bangalore Substation

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Introduction

What is a Relay?
relay is a logical element which process the inputs (mostly
voltages and currents) from the system and issues a trip
decision if a fault within its jurisdiction is detected. Inputs to
a relay are
Current from a current transformer.
Voltage from a voltage transformer.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Power System Protection

Zone of Protection
A relays zone of protection is a region which defines its
jurisdiction.
It is shown by demarcating the boundary.
It is essential that primary zones of protection should
always overlap so that no portion of the system ever
remain unprotected.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Classification of Tr. Lines

Short Lines Length < = 80kM

Medium Lines Length < = 240kM

Long Lines Length > 240kM

Why protection of transmission lines are more

important?

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Faults & Frequency

Short circuit faults Frequency

Phase Ground faults 85%
Phase- Phase faults 8%
Phase Phase Ground faults 5%
3 Ph faults 2%

Open circuit faults

Broken conductor
Open jumper

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Protection Schemes
Protection Scheme for Transmission lines as per CBIP guidelines

Should have two independent high speed main protection schemes

Two stage over voltage protection
Sensitive IDMT directional E/F relays
Auto reclose relay suitable for 1 ph/3ph (with deadline charging and
synchro check) reclosure.

Types of main Protections:

Over Current Protection.

Differential or Phase Comparison or Unit Protection.

Distance Protection.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Transmission Line Protection schemes

Distance/Unit Protection (Main-I)

Distance Protection (Main-II)

Over Voltage Protection (Stage-I)

Over Voltage Protection (Stage-II)

Directional Over Current Protection

Switch On to Fault (SOTF)

Power Swing detection (PSD)

VT Supervision (Fuse Failure)

Stub Protection

Secondary Protection (LBB)

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Distance protection

Shall have min. of three independent zones with directional characteristics.

Shall be non switched type with separate measurement for both earth faults
and phase faults
Capable of 1phase and 3 phase tripping.
Capable of operation for close up faults and switch on to faults
Accuracy of better than 5% of reach setting for Zone 1, 10% for Zone-2 &3.
Shall have variable residual compensation.
Shall include power swing detection feature for selectively blocking.
Shall include fuse failure feature to monitor all types of fuse failures and block
distance protection.
Max. operating time under given conditions shall be as follows
1. SIR: 4, Setting: 10Ohms, Fault location : 60% Trip contacts: 4, Fault resistance: 0
Max.Operating time including trip relays: 45ms
2. SIR: 15, Setting: 2 Ohms, Fault location : 60% Trip contacts: 4, Fault resistance: 0;
Max.Operating time including trip relays: 45 ms (3ph fault), 60ms (others)

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Terms associated with distance protection

Reach:
Reach is the impedance of the tr. line up to which the
distance relay protects the line from the faults.

over reach

Relay measured impedance less than the actual fault

Impedance. i.e effective reach of the relay increases

Under reach
Relay measured impedance is more than actual impedance.
i.e. Effective reach of the relay decreases

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Distance protection

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Principles of Distance protection

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Principles of Distance protection

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Types of Distance Protection

Reactance
Suitable for short lines
Not effected by fault resistance
Effected by power swings
Non directional

Impedance
Suitable for medium lines
Non directional
Effected by fault resistance

Mho
Directional
Less effected by fault resistance

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Zones of Distance Protection
Z3
Z2
Z1
X X X X X X
Z4
ZONE 1 : 80 % of protected line
ZONE 2 : 100 % of protected line + 20 % of shortest adj. line
section or 100% + 50% of transformer impedance
ZONE 3 : 100% of protected line + 100 % of longest adj. line
or 100 % + 100% of transformer impedance.
ZONE -4 : To cover close up back-up non-directional faults
generally reverse reach will be provided in relays (10%).

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Impedance Relay Characteristics
X

Z3
Z2
Z1 Load
R Area

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 MHO relay characteristic
The characteristic of a mho impedance element ,
when plotted on a R/X diagram, is a circle whose
circumference pass through the origin .
X

R
Y = relay characteristic angle
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 OFF set MHO characteristic
Under close up faults, when the voltage is near to zero then
MHO will not operate. The mho characteristic can be shifted
towards origin for operation of close up faults. This is know
as OFF set MHO.
X

R
Y = relay characteristic angle
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Lenticular characteristics
The characteristic of lenticular mho will be useful to
provide maximum load transfer condition with
maximum fault resistance coverage.

Z-3

Z-2

Z-1

Y
R

Z-3
Y = relay characteristic angle
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Quadrilateral characteristic

It is a basically a reactance relay superseded with

controlled resistive reach.

Z-3

Z-2

Z-1

Y Z-1&2

Z-3 Y = relay characteristic angle

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 ZONE CHARACTERISTICS

Zone-I
Should isolate the faulted section instantaneously
Should cover protected circuit &fault resistance with some
margin to take care of errors in measurement
Selective phase tripping for 1ph to ground faults for
auto reclose of the breaker.
Fast operation with secured directional discrimination.
Should be stable in the presence of:
1. Fault resistance, arc resistance and tower footing resistance
2. Power swings
3. Heavily loaded condition
4. In feed condition
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 ZONE CHARACTERISTICS
Zone-II
Delayed tripping and non selective phase tripping.
Provide back up protection for part of adjacent line.
Trip the faulty line instantaneously using carrier aided tripping.
Time delay is normally 500ms
Zone-III
This provides back up protection for the adjacent lines or
transformer
Time delay is normally 1500ms
Zone-IV
This provides back up protection for the station faults
It is normally in the reverse direction
Time delay is normally 1500ms
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Effect of arc resistance on Distance Protection

Is Ir

Rf
S R
(Is + Ir)

Consider power flow from S > R

Case 1
Varc = Rf(Is+Ir)
Is leads V arc Es
Relay at S sees
Varc/Is = Rf- jXrf Er
Which indicates capacitive Is
Arc resistance Is+Ir
Ir
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Case 2
Ir lags Varc
Relay at R sees Varc/ Ir = Rf+jXrf which indicates inductive
arc res.
The characteristic of fault resistance is therefore plotted on the
impedance plane.
X Line 100 %
X Line 100% jXrf
Rf
-jXrf Rf
Export end Import end

R R
Thus the distance relay overreaches for arcing faults where
the current Leads the arc voltage and underreaches where
the current lags the arc voltage.
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Effect of in feeds on distance protection

E A B
ZS Za I1 Zb
X X X X X

Relay I2

ACTUAL IMPEDANCE WITH OUT TEED SOURCE

IS Za+ Zb
WITH TEED SOURCE Z = Za+ Zb + (I2/I1)/Zb
ACTUAL IMPEDANCE FURTHER DEPENDS ON
RELATIVE PHASE ANGLE OF TEED SOURCE .

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Parallel Compensation

Necessity of parallel compensation:

For the fault on the parallel line, fault current also fed from healthy line and
this current pass through ground. This current changes the mutual
inductance and in turn causes relay measuring impedance to increase and
is more than actual fault impedance.

This effect will be compensated by connecting neutral current of the line to

parallel line.

This compensation will not work, if the parallel line neutral current is more
than line neutral current.
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Distance Schemes

1 . P . U . R -- Permissive under reach scheme

2. P . O . R -- Permissive Over Reach scheme

3. BLOCKING SCHEME

4. WEAK END FEED

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 CARRIER SCHEMES - P U R

Z2A
Z1A Fault

A Z1B
Z2B
B

CARRIER
RELAY RELAY
CHANNEL
Trip = Z1 + Z2.CS+Z3.T3+Z2.T2
CS = Z1
Under reaching zone sends carrier signal
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 CARRIER SCHEMES - P O R

Z2A

Z1A Fault

A Z1B
Z2B
B
RELAY CARRIER RELAY

Trip = Z1+Z2.CR+ Z2.T2+Z3.T3

CS = Z2
Over reaching zone sends carrier signal
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 BLOCKING SCHEME

Z2A
Z3A
Z1A Fault

Z1B Z3B

A Z2B
B
RELAY CARRIER RELAY

Trip = Z1+Z2.t. No signal+Z2.T2+Z3.T3

CS = Z3
Reverse reach zone-3 sends signal for blocking protection.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 BLOCKING SCHEME

Z2A
Z3A
Z1A Fault

Z1B Z3B

A Z2B
B
RELAY CARRIER RELAY

Z3 sends blocking signal to block relay at A

Breakers at A & B will not trip

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 WEAK END FEED

It is a condition which occurs on a line when no current infeed

from the line terminal or when the current infeed is low due
to weak Generation behind protection.

Effect of week end on the operation of distance protection

Permissive over reach or blocking scheme

CB at week infeed end may fail to trip instantaneously, due to

no relay operation in the weak end.

permissive over reach scheme

if the fault is in Zone 2 from stronger end, both CBs may fail to
trip instantaneously due to no relay operation in the weak end.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 WEAK END FEED LOGIC IN P.O.R

Z2A

Z1A Fault
Weak
End

A Z1B
Z2B
B
RELAY CARRIER RELAY

Fault in Z2A+UV relay + Receipt Fault in Z1B= Trip CB B

Of echo signal Fault in Z2B=Sends Echo
= Trip breaker A + Send echo signal signal
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 AUTORECLOSE PHILOSOPHY

NEED FOR AUTO RECLOSE

1. REDUCING OUTAGE TIME

2. IMPROVED RELIABILITY
3. RESTORATION OF NETWORK STABILITY AND
SYNCHRONISM

TYPES OF FAULTS

1. TRANSIENT FAULTS
2. SEMI PERMANENT FAULTS
3. PERMANENT FAULTS

Probability of line faults due to lightning is 2-3 faults/100kM/year

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 TRANSIENT FAULTS -CHARACTERISTIC

Chracterised by disappearnance after Short dead time and are

disapper without any action being taken.
TYPES OF TRANSIENT FAULTS

1. Lightning strokes resulting in fashovers

2. Conductor swinging due to high winds
3. Bird fault
4. Temporary contact with foreign objects like tree etc.

About 85 % of faults on transmission lines are transient in nature

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 SEMI PERMANENT FAULTS

This type of faults requires more than one De energised

interval before it disappears. Such faults are prevalent on
EHV lines traversing forest.

An example is a tree falling on the line and getting burnt

up by the arc when the line is re energised.

10% of the reclosures are successful with second shot.

However this can cause unnecessary wear on EHV CBs.
Therefore second shot is not recommended for EHV Systems.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Terms associated with auto reclose schemes

DEAD TIME :
The time between the autoreclose scheme being energised
and the operation of the contacts which energise the CB closing
Circuit.
RECLAIM TIME :
The time following a successful closing operation measured
from the instant the A/R relay closing contacts make, which
must elapse before the autoreclose relay will initiate reclosing
sequence in the event of a further fault.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
DE IONISING TIME

Voltage Deionisation time

(kV) (Sec)
66 0.1
110/132 0.15
220 0.28
275 0.3
400 0.5

FACTORS AFFECTING DE IONISING TIME

ARCING TIME
WIND CONDITIONS
AIR PRESSURES
CAPACITANCE COUPLING TO ADJ. CONDUCTORS
CIRCUIT VOLTAGE
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
CHOICE OF RECLAIM TIME
The reclaim time must not be set to such a low value that
the intended operating cycle of the breaker is exceeded
when two fault incidents occurs close together.
for example the reclaim time for a air blast circuit breakers
must allow time for air pressure to recover to its normal
value.
CHOICE OF DEAD TIME
Dead time for EHV system lower limit is decided by
de-ionising time, upper limit is decided by transient stability
and synchronism

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Switch on to fault

This feature provide protection against energisation of the tr. line

with fault or dead short.

Distance protection will not provide protection in this case as voltage

is not available for distance measurement.

It is simple over current protection with voltage supervision, can be

activated by TNC switch or CB aux. binary input or internal detection
of current rise.

It provides instantaneous 3Ph trip and blocks auto reclose.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Power Swing

Power Swings are disturbances in system due to various reasons

such as sudden load throw, bad synchronization etc

Power swings are characterized by slow power flow oscillations,

resulting in swinging of voltages and currents, resulting in
operating point movement into distance relay characteristics,
in turn can cause tripping of distance relays.

Tripping during power swings is undesirable since no actual fault

is present and moreover a line outage during power swing may
cause further deterioration to system stability.

Detection of power swing will block the distance protection

Zones 2,3,4. Normally tripping in Zone-I is not blocked even after
detection of power swing.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Power Swing detection

X
Z3
Z2 Power
swing
detection
Z1 zones

Time taken by fault locus to cross the power swing

detection zones is more than 40-50ms, then it is called
power swing.
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Power Swing

X
Z3
Recoverable
Z2
Swing

Z1

Load
R Area

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Stub Protection
Bus-2
Bus-1

21

Ckt-1 Ckt-2
One and Half Breaker Scheme
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 VT Supervision

Asymmetrical measuring voltage failure:

Substantial asymmetry of measured voltage, while the measured

currents are in symmetry indicates fuse fail
Asymmetry of voltage detected by 3Uo or U2 > threshold
Symmetry in current detected by 3Io or I2 < threshold

If the asymmetry in measured current is detected during blocking by FF

function, then FF block will released.
3Ph measuring voltage failure:
This will be detected by comparing voltages with threshold value and
difference in current with threshold difference
All three phase voltages < Threshold value
Difference in current < differential current threshold

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 DEF Protection

It provides back up protection for tr. line.

It provides reliable protection for high resistance
earth faults.
It uses cross polarized voltage for directional
discrimination.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Over Voltage Protection

It will have 2 stages

Stage-I:

Setting: 110%
Time delay: 5 Sec.

Stage II

Setting: 140%
Time delay: Instantaneous.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Direct trip Scheme
It is required to trip other end breakers without any
checking the status at other end during following
conditions:

Operation of over voltage protection.

Operation of bus bar with tie breaker open.
Manual tripping of both the breakers (main&Tie)
Operation of LBB

On receipt of command through PLCC at other end

breakers will trip directly.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Local breaker back up protection

It is the secondary protection

To provide back up isolation during failure of
breaker to open.
It opens source to that breaker (i.e other end
breakers, bus bar, etc.)
It will be triggered by operation of any primary
protection (like distance, DEF, bus bar, etc..)
It sends direct trip command to other end.

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Over Current Protection

Types of over current protection

1. Definite time
2. Inverse characteristics
Normal Inverse
Very Inverse
Extremely very inverse

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Over Current Protection

A B C
E ZS1 ZL
X X X X X
X X
ZS2 If

Zs = Zs1+Zs2
If = E/(ZS+ZL)

The reach of over current relay is function of Source

Impedance which varies considerably, making it difficult
to get fast and Selective tripping .

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Phase Comparison Protection

Current Phase comparison type

Suitable for operation with PLCC
High sensitivity and selectivity for all types of faults
Capable of single and three pole tripping.
Un effected By:
Heavy load transfer
Power swings
CT saturation
CT Phase errors

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Phase Comparison Relay
(Through fault)

A B

A B

B
A
A+B No Trip A+B

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
 Phase Comparison Relay
(In zone fault)

A B

A B
B A

A+B Trip A+B Trip

POWERGRID, SRTS-II
Principles of Distance protection

POWERGRID, SRTS-II