BASIC LINE

PROTECTIO
N
 INTRODUCTION
0 Line is a general term applied in a power network for any

passage through which power is transmitted from a generating

station to a receiving station or substation and to the consumers.
0 A line can be cables or conductors and they are categorize as:

either “Overhead” (O.H.) or “Under Ground” (U.G.) cable.

0 A line for system voltage of 33KV and above is called a

transmission line While a line for system voltages of 11KV and

below is called a transmission feeder or a distribution feeder.
 Classification of Transmission Lines

0Short Lines Length < = 80kM

0Medium Lines Length < = 240kM

0Long Lines Length > 240kM

 Types of faults in the transmission system

0Short circuit faults

0Phase – Ground faults
0Phase- Phase faults
0Phase – Phase –Ground faults
03 Ph faults

0Open circuit faults

0Broken conductor
0Open jumper
 Protection Scheme
0Protection Scheme for Transmission lines 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.

0Types of main Protections:

• Over Current Protection.

• Differential or Phase Comparison or Unit Protection.

• Distance Protection.
0Requirements of 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.

 Over Current Protection

E ZS ZL
X X X X X

If

If = E/(ZS+ZL)

The reach of over current relay is a function of Source

Impedance which varies considerably, making it difficult
to get fast and Selective tripping .
 Phase Comparison Protection
0 Current Phase comparison type
0 Suitable for operation with PLCC
0 High sensitivity and selectivity for all types of faults
0 Capable of single and three pole tripping.
Un effected By:
0 Heavy load transfer
0 Power swings
0 CT saturation
0 CT Phase errors
0
 Distance Protection
0 Distance relays or distance protection schemes is
achieved by continuously monitoring the basic
parameters of the line namely: Impedance, Reactance,
Admittance etc.
0 These relays have definite geometrical characteristics
which may be a circle or a straight line.
0 A combination of such relays used in a scheme is called a
Distance Protection scheme.
0 Distance protection scheme comprises of:

1.A fault detector (to detect the faulted phase and

the nature of the fault i.e. as to whether it is a
ground fault or a line to line fault).
2.A fault measuring unit (to measure the relay
parameter such as Admittance, Reactance or
Impedance) and the auxiliary tripping unit.
0 These distance relays are used as the main form of
protection for all transmission lines of 66KV and
above, both radial and interconnected.
0Type of distance relays
0Reactance
0 Suitable for short lines
0 Not effected by fault resistance
0 Effected by power swings
0 Non directional
0Impedance
0 Suitable for medium lines
0 Non directional
0 Effected by fault resistance
0Mho
0 Directional
0 Least effected by power swings
0 Less effected by fault resistance
Impedance Relay Characteristics
X

Z3
Z2
Z1 Load
R Area
 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
= relay characteristic angle
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
= relay characteristic angle
Mho positive-sequence R-X operating
characteristic of a distance Relay.

Region of
Line Q non-operation
120%
B outside the circle

80%
Zone 2
Line P
Z RS
Load
Region of region
operation
Zone 1

A R
Zones of Distance Protection:
Zone-3
Zone-2
Zone-1

A
B C
80%

150%

ZAB + 120%
 BASIC SETTING PHILOSOPHY

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%).

Time setting:
Zone-1 : Instantaneous
Zone-2 : 0.3 to 0.5 sec
(For long line followed by short line)
Zone-3 : 1.0 sec.
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
 ZONE - I CHARACTERISTICS
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
5. Errors in CT, CVT and CT saturation
6. Transients in CT & CVT
 ZONE-II CHARACTERISTICS
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 CHARACTERISTICS
This provides back up protection for the adjacent lines or
transformer
Time delay is normally 1500ms
ZONE –IV CHARACTERISTICS
This provides back up protection for the station faults
It is normally in the reverse direction
Time delay is normally 1500ms
 PILOT PROTECTION
0 Pilot protection as the name implies means that pilots or
separate channels are used at either ends of a line to compare
the system parameters sent out over a line.
0 These include either comparing the voltages, currents or the
phase angle between the voltages and currents at the two ends
of a line.
0 The pilots used could be separate control cables or wire pilots
run between the two ends of a line. It could also be a channel of
the power-line carrier coupling between the two ends of a line.
0 Power Line Carrier Coupling (PLCC) pilots are mostly used
on lines where PLCC equipment has been installed for
other purpose such as telecommunication, tele-metering,
etc.
0 These pilots are called carrier protection pilots and are
used at no extra cost and they are used where
instantaneous tripping of both ends of a faulted line is
desired.
 OVER CURRENT AND EARTH FAULT
PROTECTION FOR SINGLE LINES
0 Over-current and Earth Fault Protection is provided on
feeders either by a combination of three over-current
relays and a single earth fault relay or by two over-
current relays and a single earth fault relay as shown.
0 The E.F.R is also similar to the O.C.R but with low current settings.
For example if a 5A, O.C.R has current taps from 2.5 to 10A, (50 to
200%), then the current taps on the E.F.R will be from 0.5 to 2A
(10 to 40%).
0 Also if a 1A O.C.R has current taps from 0.5 to 2.0A (50 to 200%),
then the current taps on E.F.R will be from 0.1 to 0.4 A.
0 Operation of the O.C and E.F relays on successive line sections is
coordinated by the proper selection of current and time settings
during “Co-ordination of relays and relay settings”.
0 The relay pick up should be so chosen so that:
1. It will provide primary protection for all short circuits on
the section it is protecting.
2. It will provide back up protection for short-circuits on an
adjoining section immediately beyond the protected
section.
3. It will not pick up on instantaneous maximum or
emergency overloads.
4. It will be positive for minimum fault current condition so as
to enable the use of the most inverse portion of the relay
time current characteristic.
 SELECTION OF THE INVERSENESS OF A
RELAY CHARACTERISTIC
0 The lesser the effect of the magnitude of short circuit
currents for a fault at a given location, the more
inverse time current characteristic should be used to
take advantage of the reduced time of fault clearing
for faults near the relay location. Accordingly
I.D.M.T., Very Inverse or Extremely inverse in order
of increased inverseness can be applied.
0 In systems where the magnitude of the ground fault
current is severely limited by the neutral grounding
impedance and arc plus ground resistance, little or no
advantage can be taken of the inverseness of an E.F.R
characteristic as the fault current does not change much
with the fault location. In such cases a relay with I.D.M.T
characteristic may as well be used.
0 In cases where O.C relays have to be coordinated with
fuses very closely, then very inverse or extremely inverse
characteristic relays are well suited.
 PROTECTION FOR PARALLEL LINES

0 Adequate protection cannot be provided with non-

directional O.C and E.F relays as a fault on one line would
cause isolation of the other healthy circuit.
0 Parallel feeders are therefore protected with directional
O.C and E.F relays. If there is only one source for power
flow along parallel feeders, it is then sufficient to install
D.O.C. and D.E.F. relays at the receiving end as shown.

0 If a fault occurs on line (1), then the relay at A on line (1)

will operate and the non-directional relay at B on line (1)
will also operate to isolate the fault.
0 However, if there are sources at both ends, non-directional relays
have to be installed at both ends.

0 In the normal course, when the fault is isolated from one source only,
then the fault current will also be fed from the other source. Hence
non-directional relays have to be installed at both ends. The co-
ordination of the relays should be such that they operate
simultaneously.
ADJUSTMENTS FOR LOOP AND INTERCONNECTED
CIRCUITS

0 The principles involved here in achieving proper co-

ordinations are as for radial lines except that for selectivity,
directional relays are used.
0 For a simple loop system as shown above, the direction of the

arrows indicate, the fault currents for which the relays should
act. Thus at all relay locations except at (5) and (e), fault
currents can flow in one direction. Hence at all relay locations
except at (5) and (e), the relays installed are directional
relays.
0 Relays at locations (1), (2), (3) and (4) are to operate for one

direction of fault current flow and their time settings are

adjusted to make them mutually selective.
0 Similarly, relays located at (a), (b), (c) and (d) are treated as a

second group independent of the first one and are

coordinated accordingly.
 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
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

 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.
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.
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
 Power Swing
0Power Swings are disturbances in system due to various reasons
0such as sudden load throw, bad synchronization etc

0Power swings are characterized by slow power flow oscillations,

0resulting in swinging of voltages and currents, resulting in
0operating point movement into distance relay characteristics,
0in turn can cause tripping of distance relays.

0Tripping during power swings is undesirable since no actual fault

0is present and moreover a line outage during power swing may
0cause further deterioration to system stability.

0Detection of power swing will block the distance protection

0Zones 2,3,4. Normally tripping in Zone-I is not blocked even after
detection of power swing.
 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.
 Fuse Failure Function
0Asymmetrical measuring voltage failure:

Substantial asymmetry of measured voltage, while the measured

0 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
During blocking of distance protection by fuse fail, the distance
0 protection switched to emergency over current function automatically.
0 If the asymmetry in measured current is detected during blocking by FF
0 function, then FF block will released.
 Switch on to fault

0This feature provide protection against energisation of the tr.

line with fault or dead short.
0Distance protection will not provide protection in
0this case as voltage is not available for distance measurement.
0It can be activated by TNC switch or CB aux. binary input or
internal detection of current rise.
0It provides instantaneous 3Ph trip and blocks auto reclose.
 DEF Protection

0It provides back up protection for tr. line.

0It provides reliable protection for high resistance earth
faults.
0It uses cross polarized voltage for directional
discrimination.
 Local breaker back up protection

0It is the secondary protection

0To provide back up isolation during failure of breaker

to open.
0It opens source to that breaker (i.e other end breakers,
bus bar, etc.)
0It will be triggered by operation of any primary
protection (like distance, DEF, bus bar, etc..)
0It sends direct trip command to other end.
 Direct trip Scheme
0 It is required to trip other end breakers without any
0 checking the status at other end during following
0 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.
 Over Voltage Protection

0It will have 2 stages

0Stage-I:

0Setting: 110%
0Time delay: 5 Sec.

0Stage –II

0Setting: 140%
0Time delay: Instantaneous.