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Chapter 0

Introduction

• Electrical energy systems consists of various

equipment's connected together. Typically, power is
generated at lower voltages (a few kV) (3-phase ac
voltage source) which is stepped up by a transformer
and fed into a transmission grid. Thermal power should
be generated at pit heads and hydro power at
reservoirs. A transmission grid is a meshed network of
high voltage lines and transformers. It can have
multiple voltage levels like 400 kV, 220 kV, etc. The
power is delivered to load centers which may be far off
(even thousands of km's apart).
• A unique feature of electrical energy systems is its
natural mode of synchronous operation. It implies that
during steady state the electrical frequency is same all
through the system irrespective of the geographical
location. This closely knits the system together.
• We can perceive all generators acting in tandem like
the ballet dancers in a dance.

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Why do we need Protection?

• Electrical power system operates at various voltage levels from 415 V to
400 kV or even more. Electrical apparatus used may be enclosed (e.g.,
motors) or placed in open (e.g., transmission lines). All such equipment
undergo abnormalities in their life time due to various reasons. For
example, a worn out bearing may cause overloading of a motor. A tree
falling or touching an overhead line may cause a fault. A lightning strike
(classified as an act of God!) can cause insulation failure. Pollution may
result in degradation in performance of insulators which may lead to
breakdown. Under frequency or over frequency of a generator may result
in mechanical damage to it's turbine requiring tripping of an alternator.
Even otherwise, low frequency operation will reduce the life of a turbine
and hence it should be avoided.
• It is necessary to avoid these abnormal operating regions for safety of the
equipment. Even more important is safety of the human personnel which
may be endangered due to exposure to live parts under fault or abnormal
operating conditions. Small current of the order of 50 mA is sufficient to
be fatal! Whenever human security is sacrificed or there exists possibility
of equipment damage, it is necessary to isolate and de-energize the
equipment. Designing electrical equipment from safety perspective is also
a crucial design issue which will not be addressed here. To conclude, every
electrical equipment has to be monitored to protect it and provide human
safety under abnormal operating conditions. This job is assigned to
electrical protection systems. It encompasses apparatus protection and
system protection.

Overview of Power System Dynamics

• Usually, system protection requires study of the
system dynamics and control. To understand issues in
system protection, we overview dynamical nature of
the power system. Power system behavior can be
described in terms of differential and algebraic system
of equations. Differential equations can be written to
describe behavior of generators, transmission lines,
motors, transformers etc. The detailing depends upon
the time scale of investigation.
• Figure 3.1 shows the various time scales involved in
modelling system dynamics. The dynamics involved in
switching, lightening, load rejection etc. have a high
frequency component which die down quickly. In
analysis of such dynamics, differential equations
associated with inductances and capacitances of
transmission lines have to be modelled. Such analysis is
restricted to a few cycles. It is done by Electromagnetic
Transient Program (EMTP).

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• At a larger time scale (order of seconds), response of the

electromechanical elements is perceived. These transients are
typically excited by faults which disturb the system equilibrium by
upsetting the generator-load balance in the system. As a
consequence of fault, electrical power output reduces
instantaneously while the mechanical input does not change
instantaneously. The resulting imbalance in power (and torque)
excites the electromechanical transients which are essentially slow
because of the inertia of the mechanical elements (rotor etc.).
• Detection and removal of fault is the task of the protection system
(apparatus protection). Post-fault, the system may or may not
return to an equilibrium position. Transient stability studies are
required to determine the post fault system stability. In practice,
out-of-step relaying, under frequency load shedding, islanding etc.
are the measures used to enhance system stability and prevent
blackouts. The distinction between system protection and control
(e.g. damping of power swings) is a finer one. In the today's world
of Integrated Control and Protection Systems (ICPS), this distinction
does not make much sense. In this lecture, we discuss these issues
from distribution system perspective. In the next lecture, a
transmission system perspective will be discussed.

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What are the objectives of protection?

Protection system is sometimes called the brain of
power system. Its objectives are:
1- Detecting and isolating the faulted parts from the
system as quick as possible. This minimize the damage
in power system and reduce the disturbances caused
caused by the fault.
2- Isolate the faulted component's only to ensure
that the continuity of supply in the healthy parts of the
system unaffected.

Components Of Protection
• Although, in common usage, a
protection system may mean only
the relays, the actual protection
system consists of many other
subsystems which contribute to the
detection and removal of faults. As
shown in Figure the major
subsystems of the protection
system are the transducers, relays,
battery and circuit breakers. The
transducers, i.e. the current and
voltage transformers, constitute a
major component of the protection
system. Relays are the logic
elements which initiate the tripping
and closing operations.

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Battery and DC supply:

Since the primary function of a protection system is to remove
a fault, the ability to trip a circuit breaker through a relay must not be
compromised during a fault, when the AC voltage available in the
substation may not be of sufficient magnitude. For example, a close-in
three-phase fault can result in zero AC voltage at the substation AC
outlets. Tripping power, as well as the power required by the relays,
cannot therefore be obtained from the AC system, and is usually
provided by the station battery.
The battery is permanently connected through a charger to the
station AC service, and normally, during steady-state conditions, it
floats on the charger. The charger is of a sufficient volt–ampere
capacity to provide all steady-state loads powered by the battery.
Usually, the battery is also rated to maintain adequate DC power for 8–
12 hours following a station blackout. Although the battery is probably
the most reliable piece of equipment in a station, in EHV stations it is
not uncommon to have duplicate batteries, each connected to its own
charger and complement of relays. Electromechanical relays are
known to produce severe transients on the battery leads during
operation, which may cause mis-operation of other sensitive relays in
the substation, or may even damage them. It is therefore common
practice, insofar as practical, to separate electromechanical and solid-
state equipment by connecting them to different batteries.

Circuit breakers (C.B.):

is a device capable of making and breaking an electric
circuit under normal and abnormal conditions.
Isolator (Disconnecting switch):
a switching device which can be opened or closed under
no current condition. It provides isolation of a circuit for the
purpose of maintenance.
Fuse:
is a device that, by the fusion of one or more of its specially
designed proportioned components, opens the circuit in which it
is inserted and breaks current when this exceeds a given value
for a sufficient time.
Current transformer (C.T.):
the secondary current of this transformer is proportional
to its primary current which is the actual power system current
but with low level which can be measured easily by protective
devices, measuring equipment.

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Voltage or Potential transformer (V.T.,or,P.T.):

the secondary voltage of this transformer is
proportional to its primary voltage (sted down) which is
the actual power system voltage but with low level which
can be measured easily by protective devices or,
measuring equipment.
Relays:
Relaying is the branch of electric power
engineering concerned with the principles of design and
operation of equipment (called ‘relays’ or ‘protective
relays’) that detects abnormal power system conditions,
and initiates corrective action as quickly as possible in
order to return the power system to its normal state. The
quickness of response is an essential element of
protective relaying systems – response times of the order
of a few milliseconds are often required. Consequently,
human intervention in the protection system operation is
not possible.

Communication media:
are used to transmit and receive information
for protection, telemintary , control signals , and
communication between substations and stations.
They are divided into:
1- Power line carrier
2- Private pilots
3- Radio links.
Auto-reclosure :
are provided to C.B.’s to restore the
survice continuity after interrupting a transient
fault.

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Protection Zone
The responsibility for protection of a
portion of the power system.
• All power system elements must
be encompassed by at least one zone.
Good relaying practice is to be sure
that the more important elements are
included in at least two zones.
• Zones of protection must overlap
to prevent any system element from
being unprotected. Without such an
overlap, the boundary between two
nonoverlapping zones may go
unprotected. The region of overlap
must be finite but small, so that the
likelihood of a fault occurring inside
the region of overlap is minimized.
Such faults will cause the protection
belonging to both zones to operate,
thus removing a larger segment of the
power system from service.

The overlap is achieved

through the proper choice
of C.T. dedicated to each
protection system. It is
desired to keep the region
of overlap as small as
possible.

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Primary and Back-up Protection

As already mentioned there are times when the primary
protection may fail. This could be due to failure of the CTIVT or relay,
or failure of the circuit breaker. One of the possible causes of the
circuit breaker failure is the failure of the trip-battery due to
inadequate maintenance. We must have a second line of defence in
such a situation. Therefore, it is a normal practice to provide another
zone of protection which should operate and isolate the faulty
element in case the primary protection fails. A back-up protection
should not have anything in common with the primary protection. It
should also preferably be located at a place different from where the
primary protection is located. Further, the back-up protection must
wait for the primary protection to operate, before issuing the trip
command to its associated circuit breakers. In other words, the
operating time of the back-up protection must be delayed by an
appropriate amount over that of the primary protection. Thus, the
operating time of the hack-up protection should be equal to the
operating time of primary protection plus the operating time of the
primary circuit breaker.

For ideal back-up protection is completely separated

from the primary protection but sometimes this is not
possible economically . It is better, if the back-up
protection with same type of protection as the primary.
There are two types of back-up protection:
1- Local back-up: placed in the same substation and is
divided into :
a) Relay back-up: trips the same C.B. if any component
of the relay circuit fails.
b) C.B. back-up: trips the next nearest C.B.s on the same
bus when the original C.B. fails.
2- Remote back-up: operates from the next substation in
the direction toward the source.
Local back-up is faster than remote back-up.

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Some definitions
1-Protective Gear: the apparatus including protective
relays, C.T.s, P.T.s, C.B.s, auxiliary equipment's for use in
protective systems.
2- Protective System: a combination of protective gears
designed to secure under predetermined conditions,
usually abnormal, to disconnect an element of a power
system , or, to give an alarm ,or , both. For example o.c.
system, distance system, etc.
3-Protective Scheme: the coordinated arrangement of a
power system. It may include several protective systems.
For example protection of a generator.

Types Of Protection Systems

1- Unit protection: operates as a unit and makes
use of information desired from both sides of
the apparatus ( differential protection system)
2- Non-unit protection: makes use of
information from just one point in the system
(overcurrent, directional, and, distance
protection systems).

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Overcurrent Protection
This scheme is based on
the intuition that, faults typically
short circuits, lead to currents
much above the load current.
We can call them as
overcurrent's. Over current
relaying and fuse protection
uses the principle that when the
current exceeds a
predetermined value, it
indicates presence of a fault
(short circuit). This protection
scheme finds usage in radial
distribution systems with a
single source. It is quite simple
to implement.

Directional Overcurrent Protection

In contrast, there can be situations
where for the purpose of selectivity,
phase angle information (always relative
to a reference phasor) may be required.
Fig shows such a case for a radial system
with source at both ends. Consequently,
fault is fed from both the ends of the
feeder. To interrupt the fault current,
relays at both ends of the feeder are
required. , it is not possible to distinguish
whether the fault is in the section AB or
BC. Since faults in section AB are not in
its jurisdiction, it should .
In this case, from the magnitude of the
current seen by the relay R2 not trip. To
obtain selectivity, a directional
overcurrent relay is required. It uses both
magnitude of current and phase angle
information for decision making. It is
commonly used in subtransmission
networks where ring mains are used.

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Distance Protection
Consider a simple radial system, which is
fed from a single source. Let us measure the
apparent impedance (V/I) at the sending
end. For the unloaded system, I = 0, and the
apparent impedance seen by the relay is
infinite. As the system is loaded, the
apparent impedance reduces to some finite
value (ZL + Zline) where ZL is the load
impedance and Zline is the line impedance.
In presence of a fault at a per-unit line
distance ‘m', the impedance seen by the
relay drops to a mZ line as shown in fig .
• The basic principle of distance relay is
that the apparent impedance seen by the
relay, which is defined as the ratio of
phase voltage to line current of a
transmission line (Zapp), reduces
drastically in the presence of a line fault.
A distance relay compares this ratio with
the positive sequence impedance (Zapp )
of the transmission line. If the fraction
Zapp/Z is less than unity, it indicates a
fault. This ratio also indicates the distance
of the fault from the relay.

Principle of Differential Protection

Differential protection is
based on the fact that any
fault within an electrical
equipment would cause the
current entering it, to be
different, from the current
leaving it. Thus by comparing
the two currents either in
magnitude or in phase or both
we can determine a fault and
issue a trip decision if the
difference exceeds a
predetermined set value.

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Desirable Attributes of Protection

1- Dependability
A relay is said to be dependable if it trips only when it is
expected to trip. This happens either when the fault is in it's primary
jurisdiction or when it is called upon to provide the back-up
protection. However, false tripping of relays or tripping for faults that is
either not within it's jurisdiction, or within it's purview, compromises
system operation. Power system may get unnecessarily stressed or
else there can be loss of service. Dependability is the degree of
certainty that the relay will operate correctly:

Dependability can be improved by increasing the sensitivity of the

relaying system.

2- Sensitivity

For simplicity, consider the case of

overcurrent protection. The protective system must
have ability to detect the smallest possible fault
current. The smaller the current that it can detect,
the more sensitive it is. One way to improve
sensitivity is to determine characteristic signature
of a fault. It is unique to the fault type and it does
not occur in the normal operation. For example,
earth faults involve zero sequence current. This
provide a very sensitive method to detect earth
faults. Once, this signature is seen, abnormality is
rightly classified and hence appropriate action is
initialized.

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3- Security
On the other hand, security is a property used to characterize false
tripping on the relays. A relay is said to be secure if it does not trip when it is
not expected to trip. It is the degree of certainty that the relay will not
operate incorrectly:

False trips do not just create nuisance. They can even compromise system
security. For example, tripping of a tie-line in a two area system can result in
load-generation imbalance in each area which can be dangerous. Even when
multiple paths for power flow are available, under peak load conditions,
overloads or congestion in the system may result. Dependability and security are
contrasting requirements. Typically, a relay engineer biases his setting towards
dependability. This may cause some nuisance
tripping, which can in the worst case, trigger partial or complete blackout!
Security of the relaying system can be improved by improving selectivity of the
relaying system.

4-Selectivity
Like sensitivity, selectivity also implies an ability to
discriminate. A relay should not confuse some peculiarities of
an apparatus with a fault. For example, transformer when
energized can draw up to 20 times rated current (inrush
current) which can confuse, both overcurrent and transformer
differential protection. Typically, inrush currents are
characterized by large second harmonic content.
This discriminant is used to inhibit relay operation during
inrush, there by, improving selectivity in transformer
protection. Also, a relay should be smart enough, not just to
identify a fault but also be able to decide whether fault is in
it's jurisdiction or not. For example, a relay for a feeder should
be able to discriminate a fault on it's own feeder from faults
on adjacent feeders. This implies that it should detect first
existence of fault in it's vicinity in the system and then take a
decision whether it is in it's jurisdiction. Recall that directional
overcurrent relay was introduced to improve selectivity of
overcurrent relay.

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This jurisdiction of a relay is also

called as zone of protection .
Typically, protection zones are
classified into primary and backup
zones. In detecting a fault and
isolating the faulty element, the
protective system must be very
selective. Ideally, the protective
system should zero-in on the faulty
element and only isolate it, thus
causing a minimum disruption to
the system. Selectivity is usually
provided by (1) using time
discrimination and (2) applying
differential protection principle.
With overcurrent and distance
relays, such boundaries are not
properly demarcated (see fig 4.1).
This is a very important
consideration in operation of power
systems.

However with a differential

protection the CT location
provides 'crisp' demarcation of
zone of protection of CT (see
fig 4.2). The fault F1 is in the
relay's zone of protection, but
fault F2 is not in its
jurisdiction. Because
differential protection scheme
do not require time
discrimination to improve
selectivity, they are essentially
fast. These aspects will be
discussed in more detail in the
later lectures.

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5- Reliability
A relaying system has to be reliable. Reliability can be
achieved by redundancy i.e. duplicating the relaying system.
Obviously redundancy can be a costly proposition. Another way
to improve reliability is to ask an existing relay say, protecting an
apparatus A to backup protection of apparatus B. Both the
approaches are used (simultaneously) in practice. However, it is
important to realize that back-up protection must be provided
for safe operation of relaying system. Redundancy in protection
also depends upon the criticality of the power apparatus. For
example, a 400 kV transmission line will have independent
(duplicated) protection using same or a different philosophy; on
the other hand, a distribution system will not have such local
back-up. A quantitative measure for reliability is defined as
follows:

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6- Speed
To maximize safety, and minimize equipment damage
and system instability, a fault should be cleared as quickly
as possible. This implies that relay should quickly arrive at a
decision and circuit breaker operation should be fast
enough. Typically, a fast circuit breaker would operate in
about two cycles. A reasonable time estimate for
ascertaining presence of fault is one cycle. This implies
approximately three cycle fault clearing time for primary
protection. On the other hand, if five cycle circuit breaker is
used, fault clearing time increases to six cycles. So long as
short circuit fault exist in a transmission system, the
electrical output of generator remains below the
mechanical input. If a bolted three phase fault occurs close
to generator terminal (fig 4.4), Pe = 0. Thus, as per
equation (1) with input Pm ; the generator accelerates.

7- Accuracy
means that the protective system
measures the measurand accurately and
respond correctly during the abnormal
conditions. The should not operate due to faults
out of its zone.

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Faults and Abnormal Operating Conditions

Shunt Faults (Short Circuits)
When the path of the load current is cut short
because of breakdown of insulation, we say that a 'short
circuit' has occurred. The insulation can break down for a
variety of reasons, some of which are listed in later .
Figure shows a single line-to-ground fault on a
transmission line due to flashover of spark gap across the
string insulator.
Such faults due to insulation flashover are many
times temporary, i.e. if the arc path is allowed to
deionize, by interrupting the electrical supply for a
sufficient period, then the arc does not re-strike after the
supply is restored. This process of interruption followed
by intentional re-energization is . known as reclosure.

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Causes of shunt faults

Shunt faults are basically due to failure of
insulation. The insulation may fail because of its own
weakening, or it may fail due to overvoltage. The
weakening of insulation may be due to one or more of
the following factors:
• Ageing
• Temperature
• Rain, hail, snow
• Chemical pollution
• Foreign objects
• Other causes
The overvoltage may be either internal (due to
switching) or external (due to lightening).

Classification of Shunt Fults

Phase Faults and Ground Faults
Those faults, which involve only one of
the phase conductors and ground, are called ground
faults. Faults involving two or more phase conductors,
with or without ground, are called phase faults. Power
systems have been in operation for over a hundred years
now. Accumulated experience shows that all faults are
not equally likely. Single line to ground faults (L-G) are the
most likely whereas the fault due to simultaneous short
circuit between all the three lines, known as the three-
phase fault (L-L-L), is the least likely. This is depicted in
Table 1-1 Classification of Shunt Faults . Phase Faults and
Ground Faults Those faults, which involve only one of the
phase conductors and ground, are called ground faults.
Faults involving two or more phase conductors, with or
without ground, are called phase faults.

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Further, the probability of faults on different

elements of the power system are different. The
transmission lines which are exposed to the
vagaries of the atmosphere are the most likely to be
subjected to faults. Indoor equipment is least likely
to be subjected to faults. The fault statistics is
shown in Table 1-2.
The severity of the fault can be expressed in
terms of the magnitude of the fault current and
hence its potential for causing damage. In the
power system, the three-phase fault is the most
severe whereas the single line-to-ground fault is the
least severe.

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Series Faults
Series faults are nothing but a break in the
path of current. Normally such faults do not result
into catastrophes except when the broken
conductor touches other conductor or some
grounded part. It is observed in practice that most
of the open conductor faults sooner or later
develop into some or the other short-circuit fault.
However, there are some instances where an open
circuit can have dangerous consequences For
example, the secondary circuit of a current
transformer and the field circuit of a dc machine if
open circuited, can have dangerous consequences.

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