Module 4 : Overcurrent Protection

Lecture 15 : Fundamentals of Overcurrent Protection

Objectives
In this lecture we will

Discuss the fundamental principle of operation of an overcurrent relay.

Define PSM and TMS of a relay.

Classify overcurrent relays based on its TCC.

Discuss backup protection and relay coordination.

15.1 Fundamental Principle of Overcurrent Relay

15.1.1 Limitations of a Fuse

Advantage of fuse based protection is its simplicity and cheapness. However, with fuses it is difficult to
control the time to trip. This creates difficulty in primary-backup coordination activity. Also, once a fuse
melts, unless it is replaced, the equipment cannot be energized again. Thus, it is not possible to have
remote operation. This motivates development of an overcurrent relay.

15.1.2Model Algorithm for Overcurrent Relay

Whenever, we discuss overcurrent, it should be realized, that there is an implicit upper limit on current
which is considered healthy. Typically, this reference is the maximum load current that an equipment
can endure during continuous operation. Also, faults (short circuits), lead to overcurrents. Thus, a simple
protection philosophy that could be easily implemented by a microcontroller or microprocessor would be
as follows:
Algorithm A : Model Algorithm for Overcurrent Relay
Set reference or threshold for discriminating overcurrent I ref.
Measure the device current I. This may correspond to the rms value of the fundamental
component of the current.
Compute ratio abs(I / I ref).
Since currents are measured through current transformer, both I ref and I should be referred to
either primary or secondary of the CT. This ratio abs(I / I ref) is called the Plug Setting
Multiplier (PSM). The value of PSM indicates the severity of the fault as seen by the relay.
Trip the device, if PSM is above the threshold. The threshold should be strictly greater than 1,
e.g. 1.5.
Usually the rated secondary current is standardized to 5A. Typical, CT rating are 100:5, 500:5, 1000:5
etc. The primary rated current is chosen in such a way that under load conditions CT current is a bit
lower than 5A. If the full load current is much below 5A, it indicates under-utilization of CT (Vice-Versa).
Because of the above CT ratio selection philosophy, many times we may find I ref to be 5A.

15.1 Fundamental Principle of Overcurrent Relay

15.1.3Plug Multipier Setting

The principle of overcurrent relaying is as shown in fig 15.1. The first step is to read the device current.
Device current is scaled down by a CT and then digitized by an A/D converter. The magnitude of the
fundamental component can be estimated from current samples by using various parameter estimation
methods. These methods will be discussed in more details in subsequent lectures. In the next step, the
is positive, then it indicates possibility
input current is compared with the reference current. If sign of
of a fault. The ratio I / I ref is also known as Plug Setting Multiplier (PSM).

15.1 Fundamental Principle of Overcurrent Relay

15.1.4Time Multipier Setting
Overcurrent relays have to play dual
roles of both primary and backup
protection. For example, in a radial
distribution system, there may be
more feeders downstream. If the
downstream fuse or relay R 1 or
circuit breaker fails to detect the
fault and/or isolate the equipment,
upstream relays/CBs R 2 have to be
opened. (see fig 15.2).
In the previous lecture, we have
seen that in a distribution system,
the primary protection at lateral
point is provided by a fuse. The fuse
has
inverse
time-current
characteristics.
The
back
up
protection to fuse is provided by
overcurrent relays at feeder point.
So to replicate fuse behaviour, an
overcurrent relay also has an inbuilt inverse nature.

The upstream relay action (e.g. R 2 )

should be initiated if and only if
downstream relay (e.g. R 1 ) has
failed. Thus, back up action requires
a wait state. Note that a fuse did
not have this flexibility of providing
the wait state. For this purpose, in
an overcurrent relay, an additional
feature of Time Multiplier Setting
(TMS) is provided. The basic idea is
that by increasing or decreasing the
TMS, the relay operating time can
be
increased
or
decreased
proportionately.
Fig 15.3 illustrates the characteristics of a overcurrent relay. The characteristic is inverse as in case of a
fuse. By increasing or decreasing the TMS, we can move the characteristic up or down. Formally, TMS is
defined as the ratio

where, for a given PSM T is the desired relay operating time and Tm is the

corresponding operating time at TMS of 1.0. TMS is also referred to as TDS (Time Dial Setting).

15.1 Fundamental Principle of Overcurrent Relays

15.1.4Time Multipier Setting
Two fundamental requirements of protection are as follows:
1.
2.

Primary protection should be fast.

Back up protection should act if and only if primary protection has failed. Hence, it is intentionally slow.
This provides
selectivity.
For relays which do not have co-ordination responsibility (e.g. relays at the leaf nodes), usually TMS can
be set to the minimum. With the knowledge of PSM and TMS, the desired relay operating time is
calculated. Consequently, in fig 15.1, which depicts a numerical overcurrent relay, a down counter is
initialized. If the overcurrent persists even after the counter reaches zero, a trip decision is issued. If the
fault is cleared by some other relay or there is a transient or if fault itself is temporary; then current I
may reduce below I ref before the counter resets. Then, the timer is decremented until it reaches zero but
no trip decision is issued.

15.2 Types of Overcurrent Relay

Various Time Current Characteristics (TCCs) for overcurrent relay are used in practice. Salient features
are described below:
Instantaneous Relay (no intentional time delay) : The operating time of an instantaneous relay is of
the order of a few milliseconds. Traditionally, such a relay has only the pick-up setting and it does not
have any TMS. As the name indicates, it's action is fast. It is used when it is obvious that large fault
currents are the consequence of fault on the equipment being protected by the relay e.g., close-in fault
on a long feeder. This relay is not suitable for backup protection.

15.2 Types of Overcurrent Relay

Time delayed Definite Time Relay : A definite time over-current 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. Thus, 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.

Fig 15.4 illustrates an overcurrent protection scheme for radial distribution system of fig 15.2, with definite
time relays. Relay R 1 does not have any coordination responsibility and hence it can trip without any
intentional time delay. Relay R 2 has to coordinate with relay R 1 and hence its time of operation is delayed
by time equal to Coordination Time Interval (CTI). Relay R 3 has to back up R 2 . Hence its time of
operation is delayed by another CTI. Thus, we see that as we move along towards source, the relaying
action slows down. Typically, 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.
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.
Answer: Let 'n' be the maximum number of feeder sections that can be protected by overcurrent relays
and let TOC max be 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.

15.2 Types of Overcurrent Relay

Inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) Relay : Consider a simple radial system as shown in fig 15.5.
In this case the relay R 1 would have
to backup the fuse. Now, if we use a
definite time relay to coordinate R 1
with fuse, the coordination.
characteristics would appear as
shown in fig 15.6.
In this case, it is seen that after
point X, the relay acts faster than the
fuse for fault in the section XB.
Thus, it is not the fuse but the relay
that operates to clear fault in this
section. This, unnecessarily leads to
lack of service to a load at node A.
This lack of coordination is a
consequence of the fact that fuse
and definite time relay having
different characteristics. The problem
can be solved if the relay
characteristics are also shaped
similar to the fuse. It will have the
dual advantage of clearing larger
fault current quickly and easily
coordinating with the fuse. This leads

to development of an inverse
characteristic for overcurrent relay.
This is probably 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.
Various inverse current operating
time characteristics of a relay are
shown in fig 15.7. They are normal
or standard inverse, very inverse and
extremely inverse characteristics.

15.2 Types of Overcurrent Relays

Very inverse time

The inverseness of this characteristic is higher than that of the normal inverse characteristic (fig 15.7).
Extremely inverse time
The inverseness of this characteristic is even higher than that of the very inverse characteristic (fig 15.7).
These relays are preferred where less time of operation of relay is required. Table - A summarizes the IEC
standard equations governing inverse characteristic. Similar equations are also described by other
standards like ANSI/IEEE. Also with many electromechanical relays, the inverse characteristic does not
follow any of the standard equations. Then , the manufacturer supplies experimentally determined curves
for the specified relay.

Table - A : IEC Inverse Characteristic Equations

IEC SI (Standard Inverse)
IEC VI (Very Inverse)
IEC EI (Extremely Inverse)

As PSM approaches unity, it is clear from above equations that relay operating time increases to infinity.
With electromechanical relays, usually manufacturers do not guarantee accuracy of the relay operating
time in the PSM range 1 to 1.5. Hence, traditionally PSM of an overcurrent relay is set above 1.5.
However, in principle, such restrictions do not apply to numerical relays. Our next task would be to
understand the methodology of setting Is and TMS of overcurrent relays. Hence, we now discuss
guidelines for setting overcurrent relays. We begin with the classification of the faults.

15.2 Types of Overcurrent Relays

Table - A : IEEE Inverse Characteristic Equations (Source : MiCOM P540/ALSTOM)

IEEE Moderately Inverse

IEEE Very Inverse

US CO8 Inverse

US CO2 Short Time Inverse

IEEE Extremely Inverse

Normal range of TD is 0.5 to

15
15.3 Guidelines for Setting pick up current for phase fault protection

Faults are classified into two types:

a. Phase Faults: They do not involve ground.
e.g. three phase and Line to Line fault.
b. Earth Faults: As the name indicates earth
faults involve ground e.g. Single Line to
Ground, Double Line to Ground.
For electromechanical relays we require a
separate CT for ground fault detection as
shown in fig 15.8. For numerical relays
only three CTs and one relay are
necessary.
Guidelines to be followed for phase fault
protection are discussed below:
(1) Pickup current should be above maximum
load current seen by the feeder. This
ensures that relay does not trip on load.
Typical norm is to set I ref > 1.25 I Lmax .

(3)

(2) Pick up current should be below the

minimum fault current i.e; I ref < If min.
This ensure that protection system
operates for low as well as high fault
current. During this
condition, in the
utility least number of generators are in
service. Hence, this coordination occurs at
light load condition and at the remote end
of the feeder.
Pick up current should also be below the minimum fault current of the feeder that it has to backup.
Otherwise, a relay's
backup protection responsibility will not be fulfilled.
Remark: If (1), (2) and (3) can not be satisfied simultaneously, then overcurrent relays cannot be used
for protection. Alternatives are distance or pilot protection.

(4)

For a fault on the feeder being backed up, the relay should provide sufficient time for the corresponding
primary relay to
act before it issues tripping command. This interval is called CTI (co-ordination time interval). Typically,
CTI is about 0.3 sec. It consists of
CB operating time+ Relay operating time+ Overtravel (time for electromechanical relay) + Factor of
safety.
Guidelines for earth fault protection would be discussed in a subsequent lecture.

15.4 Back up protection by time discrimination

We now discuss the problem of relay setting and coordination. Relay setting and coordination involves
primarily following steps:
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.

Overcurrent relays are used in distribution
systems which are radial in nature (no
loops). Thus, they can be modeled by a
directed tree having typically one source.
Fig 15.9 shows a coordination tree. Actual

system is shown in fig 15.10. Except at the

leaf nodes, the topology of the graph is
identical to that of disribution system; the
mapping from distribution system to tree
is self explanatory. Each node in the tree
indicates a relay. An edge exists between
two nodes of the tree if, the corresponding
relays have a primary backup coordination
relationship. The source node is also called
as the "root node". The terminal nodes
except the source node are referred as leaf
nodes.
In a directed tree, nodes have parent child
relationship. Parent node of a node A
refers to the adjacent node which supplies
power to node A. In a tree, each node
except source node has a unique parent.
Conversely, a node fed by the parent is
called a child. Root node has children but
no parent. Similarly, leaf nodes have
parent but they do not have any child.
Note that except at leaf nodes, a relay
plays the dual role of primary and back up
protection.

15.5 Identification of primary backup relay pairs

Model algorithm for identifying primary - backup relay pairs is as follows:
Intialization: Identifying, leaf nodes and root node. Set step counter k to 1. List leaf node relays as
primary relays. Record the relays in row 1 of table called relative sequence matrix. Set active child nodes
to leaf nodes. Set these relays in the first row of a table called relative sequence matrix.
Main Step: While there exist a parent node that is not equal to source node; do the following
(a)

Find parents of the active child nodes.

(b)

The corresponding relays back up the leaf node relays. Store, the relays in row k + 1 of RSM.

(c)

Update active child nodes to corresponding parent nodes in step - a.

(d)

Update k = k + 1.
For this particular example, there are 5 steps required in relay coordination. Identification of primary back
relay pairs begins at leaf nodes. There is no constraint involved in setting the relay at leaf node, as they
have no backup protection responsibility. Their sole role is to do primary protection, as quickly as possible.
Therefore, these relays can be set first (step 1 in fig 15.10). The reader should step through the
interactive example to obtain the feel of these steps. The relays to be coordinated at each step are
summarized in Table B.
Table B : Relative Sequence Matrix
Step

Set Relays

Step 1 R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5
Step 2 R 6 , R 7 , R 8 , R 9 , R 10

Coordinate with relays

NIL
R 6 with R 1 , R 7 with R 2 , R 8 with R 4 , R 9 with R 5 , R 10
with R 3

Step 3 R 11, R 12, R 13

R 11 with R 8 , R 12 with R 9 , R 13 with R 6 , R 7

Step 4 R 14, R 15

R 14 with R 10, R 13 and R 15 with R 11, R 12

Step 5 R

with R

and R

16

16

14

15

This table is also referred as Relative Sequence Matrix (RSM). The sequence for relay coordination is
recorded in the above table.

15.6 Identification of primary backup relay pairs

15.7 Setting and Coordination of Overcurrent Relays in a Radial system

Once, the primary and backup relay pairs have been unidentified along the sequence of setting as in Table
B, we can start determining to relay setting (PSM setting) and coordination (TMS) activity. The relay
setting or co-ordination begins at the leaf node. This is because, there are no relays to be backed up. For
the relays in the first row of RSM, TMS is set to the minimum value.
If the PSM or relays has not been set so far, we set the PSM. At the same time we set the PSM of the
backup relays. Then, the TMS of the back-up relays is computed so that they maintain at least a time
delay equal to CTI with all primary relays. Note that a relay may have to back up multiple relays. Then,
we delete the leaf nodes, update the coordination tree and this process is repeated until we hit the source
node. Algorithm B, describes the steps in relay coordination.

Algorithm B : Setting and Coordination of Overcurrent Relays in a Radial system

Step 1 Initialize the coordination tree.
Step 2 Are there any leaf nodes except the root? If yes, go to step - 3, else to step - 7.
Step 3 Identify the leaf nodes in coordination tree.
Step 4 If the PSM and/or TMS of these relays have not been set so far, set them.
Step 5

Identify the parents of leaf-nodes in step - 3. Compute their PSM and TMS for backup protection and
co-ordination.

Step 6 Delete the leaf nodes. Update the co-ordination tree and go back to step - 2.

Step 7 The co-ordination activity is now complete.

Review Questions

1.

What are the main advantages of overcurrent relay over fuse?

2.

Explain the principle of operation of an overcurrent relay.

3.

Distinguish between PSM and TMS of a relay.

4.

How is backup protection provided in a radial system?

5.

What are the various Time Current Characteristics available for an overcurrent relay?

Recap

In this lecture we have learnt the following:

Advantages of overcurrent relay over fuse.

Principle of operation of an overcurrent relay.

Primary protection and backup protection.

Time current characteristics of a relay.

Setting and coordination of overcurrent relay in a radial system.