Evolution of relays,

Protective relaying
challenges & Qualities of
Advanced Protection
System

Dr. D. Rene Dev

Team Lead-PEAK
JVS Electronics
Present Scenario:
Demands on the power system grid increased as generators
grew in size and capacity.

Resulted in higher voltages to transport the power farther

away from the source to serve everexpanding and more
complex loads.

Evolution of the grid (longer lines, parallel lines, ring

topologies, multiple generators) created new operating
conditions and unknown fault scenarios.
Current Scenario Contd..

Protective relay had to evolve to Iimit the damage to the grid and
the equipment being protected.

Business perspective by J. Lewis Blackburn,

“protective relaying is a nonprofit, nonrevenue-producing item

that is not necessary in the normal operation of an electric power
system...”.

This attitude prevailed in the past, and some contend it was the
main reason protective relay evolution was slow to develop.
Fault Statitics in Power System:
Probability of the failure or
occurrence of abnormal
condition is more on power
lines — about one-half of
the faults occur on the
power lines.

Power lines are widely

branched, have greater
length, operate under
variable weather conditions
and are subject to the action
of atmospheric disturbances
of electrical nature.
Evolution of Relays
Upto 1970 overcurrent protective relay was the workhorse of
the industry.

70 percent of the installed relay base worldwide was

overcurrent protection relays.

After 1970’s caused a significant change and markets had

become dependent on electricity

The development of the transistor…well, resulted in new

engineering possibilities in everything.
Electromechanical relays

● 1981 -1989
● ElectroMechanical
relays
●
Static Relays using SSDs
● 1989 -1994
● Relays that does not
have any moving parts
in it and it purely
contains only electronic
elements (such as
diodes, BJT, etc.)
● VR 002 – REF relay
● VR 042 – UBCR
Microprocessor Based Relays

● 1995 -2002
● Protective relaying using
microprocessors has
become popular mainly due
to it's speed and reliability
●
Numerical Protection Relays
Numerical ERF-Without
Communication - 2003 -2006

Numerical ERF-With
Communication – 2007- 2008

2 GenerationNumerical Relays
nd

With Communication and

CALPS- 2019- 2012
Relays with IEDs

● 2013 - 2022
● Relaying is performed by an
Intelligent Electronic Device
(IED) based on the
IEC61850 communication
network.
● Same number of protection
and control functions can be
achieved using a fewer
number of devices (IEDs)
relative to a conventional
solution
●
 Challenges in Power Grid

1) Growing amount of renewable energy

sources

- By 2050,  62% of generated energy will be covered by

renewables.

- The amount of green energy generated in 2019

represented 27% of the worldwide production.

- RES - unstable energy source

- Advanced management system, must be employed to

avoid grid imbalance.
2) Electricity transmission losses
- Electricity distribution over long distances increases the
temperature within power lines

- Losses are paid for by everyday electricity consumers.

- In 2019, fees related to electricity transmission losses is

19% in India
3) Frequent power outages

- Blackouts in extreme weather conditions and time-worn

power lines.

- Results in electronic device damage and important data

loss.
4.Electromobility
- Popularity of Electric vehicles (EV) technology are
increasing day by day.

- EV charging use a supercharger which consumes an

immense amount of energy.

- One full charge using a supercharger equals the launch of

70 air-conditioning units at once.
5. Grid modernization
Operating lifetime of power lines is not eternal

Necessity of a constant increase its capacity.

6. Threat of cyber attacks
Digitalization of the energy sector

Hackers infiltrated systems of energy companies and

exposed thousands of households to a controlled blackout.
7. Threat of terrorist attacks
Devastation of power lines can take much longer to repair.

Requires large manpower and cost for repairing the powerline

andpower system components
Qualities of advanced Relaying System
- Dependability Measure of certainty that the relay
will operate correctly.

- Security is a measure of certainty that the relay

will not operate incorrectly.

- Reliability is the combination of dependability and

security
- Redundancy- Existence of more than one means
for performing a given function.

- Availability - Amount of operational time of the

relay within a given period.

- Sensitivity - capability of relay to operate correctly

even when the operational value is marginally within
the defined conditions.
- Selectivity - capability of the relay to operate only
for those conditions for which it was meant to
operate.

- Speed or operating time- capability of the relay

to operate in acceptable margins of the time it was
meant to operate.

- Value of a relay - reasonable cost, relative to the

value and importance of the primary object that is
protected.
Thank you