02.

Relay operating principles

EE-423
Power System Protection
Nauman Ahmad
Assistant professor,
UMT Lahore.
 Differentiation between normal and abnormal
conditions.
 Consider the relay shown in Figure 2.1. If one were to use the magnitude of a fault
current to determine whether some action should be taken, it is clear that a fault on
the inside (fault F1), or on the outside (fault F2), of the zone of protection is
electrically the same fault, and it would be impossible to tell the two faults apart
based upon the current magnitude alone.
 Detection of faults
 In general, as faults (short circuits) occur, currents increase
in magnitude, and voltages go down.
 Besides these magnitude changes of the AC quantities, other
changes may occur in one or more of the following
parameters: phase angles of current and voltage phasors,
harmonic components, active and reactive power, frequency
of the power system, etc.
 Relay operating principles may be based upon detecting
these changes, and identifying the changes with the
possibility that a fault may exist inside its assigned zone of
protection. We will divide relays into categories based upon
which of these input quantities a particular relay responds.
 Level detection
 As shown in Figure 2.2, the full load current for the
motor is 245 A. Allowing for an emergency overload
capability of 25%, a current of 1.25 × 245 = 306 A or
lower should correspond to normal operation.
 The relay should be designed to operate and trip the
circuit breaker for all currents above 306 A; mean that
a fault, or some other abnormal condition, exists
inside the zone of protection of the motor.
 The level above which the relay operates is known as
the pickup setting of the relay. For all currents above
the pickup, the relay operates, and for currents
smaller than the pickup value, the relay takes no
action.
 It is of course possible to arrange the relay to
operate for values smaller than the pickup value,
and take no action for values above the pickup.
An under-voltage relay is an example of such a
relay.
 Level detection
 The operating characteristics of an overcurrent
relay can be presented as a plot of the operating
time of the relay versus the current in the relay.
 It is best to normalize the current as a ratio of the
actual current to the pickup setting. The operating
time for (normalized) currents less than 1.0 is
infinite, while for values greater than 1.0 the relay
operates. The actual time for operation will depend
upon the design of the relay, and will be discussed
later.
 The ideal level detector relay would have a
characteristic as shown by the solid line in Figure
2.3. In practice, the relay characteristic has a less
abrupt transition, as shown by the dotted line.
 Magnitude comparison
 If |IA| is greater than |IB|+ ∈ (where ∈ is a suitable tolerance),
and line B is not open, the relay would declare a fault on line
A and trip it.
 Similar logic would be used to trip line B if its current exceeds
that in line A, when the latter is not open.
 Another instance in which this relay can be used is when the
windings of a machine have two identical parallel sub-
windings per phase.
 Differential comparison
 The generator winding shown in Figure 2.5. As the
winding is electrically continuous, current entering
one end, I1, must equal the current leaving the other
end, I2. One could use a magnitude comparison
relay to test for a fault on the protected winding.
When a fault occurs between the two ends, the two
currents are no longer equal.
 Alternatively, one could form an algebraic sum of
the two currents entering the protected winding,
i.e. (I1 − I2), and use a level detector relay to detect
the presence of a fault.
 In either case, the protection is termed a differential
protection.
 In general, the differential protection principle is
capable of detecting very small magnitudes of fault
currents. Its only drawback is that it requires
currents from the extremities of a zone of
protection, which restricts its application to power
apparatus, such as transformers, generators,
motors, buses, capacitors and reactors.
 Phase angle comparison
 Phase angle comparison commonly senses the
direction of current with respect to a
reference quantity (voltage); which can be
used to detect the
 Direction of power flow
 Direction of fault
 Direction of power flow: in a given(reference)
direction causes the power factor to be
approximately ±30◦. When power flows in the
opposite direction, this angle will become (180
± 30).
 For a fault in the forward or reverse direction,
the phase angle of the current with respect to
the voltage will be −ϕ and (180◦ − ϕ)
respectively, where ϕ, the impedance angle of
the fault circuit, is close to 90◦ for power
transmission networks.
 Distance measurement
 The most positive and reliable type of protection compares
the current entering the circuit with the current leaving it.1 On
transmission lines and feeders, the length, voltage and
configuration of the line may make this principle
uneconomical. Instead of comparing the local line current
with the far end line current, the relay compares the local
current with the local voltage.
 This, in effect, is a measurement of the impedance of the
line as seen from the relay terminal.
 It then compares it with the reference value, i.e., the length
of the line, its diameter (for area) and spacing (for mutual
values). [ρl/A].
 Relay designs
 Fuses: The fuse is a level detector, and is both the sensor and the interrupting device. It
is installed in series with the equipment being protected and operates by melting a
fusible element in response to the current flow. The melting time is inversely
proportional to the magnitude of the current flowing in the fuse. It is inherently a one-
shot device since the fusible link is destroyed in the process of interrupting the current
flow.
 The two major disadvantages of fuses are the following:
 The single-shot feature referred to above requires that a blown fuse be replaced
before service can be restored. This means a delay and the need to have the correct
spare fuses and qualified maintenance personnel who must go and replace the fuses
in the field. It is possible to provide a multiple-shot feature by installing a number of
fuses in parallel and provide a mechanical triggering mechanism so that the blowing
of one fuse automatically transfers another in its place.
 In a three-phase circuit, a single-phase-to-ground fault will cause one fuse to blow,
de-energizing only one phase, permitting the connected equipment – such as motors
– to stay connected to the remaining phases, with subsequent excessive heating and
vibration because of the unbalanced voltage supply.
 Electromechanical relays: Plunger-type relays
 The plunger-type relays are usually
driven by a single actuating quantity.
 The value of the current (Ip) at which
the plunger just begins to move –
known as the pickup setting of the
relay.
 Dropout current: at which the
plunger returns to its original
position. It is always smaller than the
pickup current.
 The operating time of the relay
depends upon the mass of the
plunger, and can be made to suit a
particular need.
 Induction-type relays
 These relays are based upon the principle of
operation of a single-phase AC motor. As such,
they cannot be used for DC currents. Two
variants of these relays are fairly standard: one
with an induction disc and the other with an
induction cup.
 In both cases, the moving element (disc or cup)
is equivalent to the rotor of the induction
motor. However, in contrast to the induction
motor, the iron associated with the rotor in the
relay is stationary. The moving element acts as
a carrier of rotor currents, while the magnetic
circuit is completed through stationary
magnetic elements.
 Induction-type relays require two sources of
alternating magnetic flux in which the moving
element may turn. The two fluxes must have a
phase difference between them; otherwise, no
operating torque is produced.
 Induction-type relays
 The direction of the torque is from the coil with the
leading current to the one with the lagging current.
 By an appropriate choice of the source of the two
coil currents, this relay could be made to take on the
characteristic of a level detector, a directional relay
or a ratio relay.
 For example, by using the same current to flow
through the two coils, one could make a level
detector, provided one arranged to produce a phase
shift between the current carried by one of the coils
and the original current.
 This is quite easily done by placing in parallel
with one of the coils a shunt with an impedance
angle that is different from that of the coil. This
is illustrated in Figure 2.11.
 The current in the first coil ‘I’ and the current in
the second coil ‘I1’ have a phase difference
between them, and the relay will produce a
torque.
Induction-type relays
 A spring keeps the disc from turning. When the torque produced by
the current (the pickup current of the relay) just exceeds the spring
torque, the disc begins to turn.
 After turning an angle ϕ, the relay closes its contacts.
 As the torque does not depend upon the angular position of the rotor,
the current at which the spring overcomes the magnetic torque and
returns the relay to open position (the dropout current of the relay)
is practically the same as the pickup current.
 Induction-type relays
 Induction disc- or cup-type relays may be
energized from voltage sources to produce
under- or overvoltage relays.
 Also, by providing one of the coils with a
current source and the other coil with a voltage
source, the relay may be made to respond to a
product of current and voltage inputs.
 It should be remembered that the phase angle
between the currents, in the current coil and
the voltage coil, appears in the torque
equation. The current in the voltage coil
generally lags the voltage by an angle equal to
the impedance angle of the voltage coil, while
the current coil carries the actual input current.
 T = V(v.c) I(c.c) sin (θ + φ)