Over Current and Earth Fault Protection

V.H.MANOHAR
Retired Associate Director (Electrical Design)
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.
 Over Current and Earth Fault Protection

• Protection against excess or abnormal current

• Over current protection, though provides certain

amount of protection against over loads, should not be
confused with over load protection.

• Simplest protective device for over current protection is

FUSE
FUSE
 HRC Fuse
• Only current limiting fuses are used in
NPPs.
• HRC fuse consists of ceramic body
containing specially designed fusible
element of silver or associated alloy
• Element is connected to metal end caps which seal the
body filled with granulated quartz.
• The time required for melting the fusible element
depends on magnitude of current.
• Vapourisation occurs on melting
• Fusion between vapour and the quartz powder leading
to arc extinction.
 HRC Fuse Characteristics

CUT OFF CHARACTERISTICS

SCC is interrupted before

It reaches peak in the
first quarter or half cycle.

The rising current stopped by

The melting of fusible element
With current dying away to
Zero during the arcing period.
 HRC FUSE CHARACTERISTICS

CUT OFF CHARACTERISTICS

•The electromagnetic forces on bus bars and
connections carrying SCC are related to square of the
current
• Cut-off significantly reduces mechanical forces
produced by fault current which may distort the bus bar
and connections if not rated correctly.
 HRC FUSE CHARACTERISTICS
TYPICAL CUT OFF CHARACTERISTICS

RMS Current
 HRC Fuse Coordination
Major Fuse – Larger fuse in the incomers
Minor Fuse – Feeder fuses

The total energy dissipated during its operation consists

of pre-arcing energy and arcing energy- values usually
expressed in I2t.

To obtain positive discrimination between fuses, total I2t

value of minor fuse should not exceed pre-arcing I2t
value of major fuse.

Thumb rule- rating of major fuse should be twice that of

minor fuse.
 Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs)
• Small circuit breakers-both in size and rating
• The basic single pole unit is a small manually closed,
electrically or manually opened switch housed in a
moulded plastic casing.
• Suitable for use in LV (240 V Single phase/415 V 3
phase) circuits and DC auxiliary power supply system
• A thermal element (bi-metalic strip) will trip switch when
excessive current (>3 times rated current) flows through
it.
• Maximum rated current 125 A
• Maximum AC breaking current 25 kA
• Single pole units coupled mechanically to form 2,3 or 4
pole units by assembly on to a rail in distribution board
 Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs)
• MCBs suitable for industrial, commercial or domestic
applications for protecting equipment such as cables,
lighting and heating circuits
• Also used in control and protection circuits instead of
fuses
• A residual current device (RCD) combined with MCB for
very sensitive protection
• RCD contains a miniature core balance current
transformer that embraces all of the phase and neutral
conductors to provide sensitivity to very low earth faults
• As a result of the increased safety provided by MCBs
fitted with RCD, they are tending to replace fuses.
 Over Current Relays

• Monitor the current flowing in the phase conductor

• Operating level set above the normal healthy
level of current in the circuit

Over current relay settings

• Current setting or plug setting – refers to minimum
operating current
• Time Multiplier Setting (TMS)
 Over Current Relays
Relay Current Setting
• Minimum operating current is known as the current setting of
the relay
• Current setting chosen such that relay does not operate for
the maximum load current, but does operate for a minimum
expected fault current
• Current setting above max. load current may provide a
degree of over load protection
• Since all relays have hysteresis in their current setting, the
settings must be sufficiently high to allow the relay to reset
when the rated current of the circuit is being carried
• The amount of hysteresis  the pick-up/drop-off ratio
• 0.95 for modern relays
• Hence the minimum current setting required 1.05 x max. load
current
 Principles of Time/Current Grading

Discrimination by Time
-appropriate time setting to each of relays
controlling the CBs to ensure the CB nearest to the fault
opens first.

Disadvantage
-Longest fault clearance time for faults near power
source (fault level is high)
 Principles of Time/Current Grading

Discrimination by Current
- Relies on the fact that the fault current varies
with the position of the fault.

Disadvantage
- can be applied only where there is appreciable
impedance between the two CBs concerned.
 Principles of Time/Current Grading

Discrimination by both Time & Current

- Inverse time O/C relay characteristics
- the time of operation is inversely proportional
to the fault current and the actual characteristic
is a function of both time and current.
Principles of Time/Current Grading
 Operating Characteristics

Instantaneous
Time Delay
- Definite Time (DT)
- Inverse Definite Minimum Time (IDMT)
-- Standard Inverse (SI)
-- Very Inverse (VI)
-- Extremely Inverse (EI)
Standard Inverse Characteristics
 Relay Time Grading Margin
The interval that must be allowed between the operation of
two adjacent relays in order to achieve correct
discrimination between them is called Grading Margin.
The grading margin depends on:
-the fault interrupting time of CB
-relay timing errors
-overshoot of the relay
-CT errors (ratio & phase angle errors)
-final safety margin
 Recommended Grading Margins
Fuse to Fuse
To obtain positive discrimination between fuses, total I2t
value of minor fuse should not exceed pre-arcing I2t
value of major fuse.

Fuse to Relay
Normally relays backs up the fuse
To ensure satisfactory coordination between relay and
fuse, current setting of relay should be about three times
the rating of the fuse
Grading margin
t = 0.4 tf + 0.15 s tf = operating time of fuse
 Recommended Time Grading Margin

Relay to Relay
 Recommended Time Grading Margin

Relay to Relay
Typically grading margin adopted are
0.4 s for Electromechanical relays
0.35 s for Static relays
0.3 s for Numerical relays
Combined IDMT and High Set Instantaneous
Over Current Relays
Relay Co-ordination
Relay Co-ordination
 Earth Fault Protection

• Relay responds to only to the residual current of the

system
• Residual current exists only when the fault current
flows to the earth
• E/F relay is unaffected by load current
-can be set lower than load current
-setting limited to the presence of unbalanced
leakage or capacitance currents to earth
• Low settings permissible for earth fault relays which
is very useful as earth faults are most frequent and
E/F current is limited by the neutral earthing
impedance
• Typical settings 30%-40%
• Time grading of E/F relays is similar to phase O/C
relays
Earth Fault Protection-Residual Connection
 Sensitive Earth Fault Protection

When a relay is residually connected, it may be

difficult to obtain sensitive protection because of CT
magnetization current and spill current arising out of
unequal CT saturation.

Core balance current transformer (CBCT) is

normally used
CBCT is a CT mounted around all three phases and
neutral , if present
E/F settings as low as 10% of current rating
Sensitive Earth Fault Protection
Relay Co-ordination
 Relay Co-ordination
Fault Currents: on 11 kV base
At Bus C for two feeders = 10.6 kA , for one feeder = 9.33 kA
At Bus B = 12.2 kA
At Bus A = 22.7 kA
At source = 26.3 kA

Relay OC settings-Relays 1/2:

Settings identical for relays 1 & 2
Current setting = 400/0.95 = 421
It has to be 3 times fuse rating i.e. 480 A
Select EI characteristic to coordinate with down stream fuse
Required operating time = 0.3 + operating time of relays F1/F2
whichever is higher = 0.3 + 0.05 = 0.35
PSM = 9330/480 = 19.44
Relay operating time at TMS = 1 is 0.21 s
Required TMS = 0.35/0.21= 1.66 out side settable range
Hence adjust current setting by trial & error or using EI characteristic
formula
Final settings : PS = 620/500 = 1.24 TMS = 1
 Relay Co-ordination
Relay OC settings-Relays 3:
Select EI characteristic to coordinate with relays 1/2
Current setting = 1000/0.95 = 1052 A say 1060 A nearest
value
Required operating time = 0.3 + operating time of relays 1/2
for a fault of 12.2 kA or 10.6/2 i.e 5.3 kA= 0.3 + 0.21 = 0.51
PSM = 12200/1060 = 11.51
Relay operating time at TMS = 1 is 0.61 s
Required TMS = 0.51/0.61= 0.84
Final settings : PS = 1060/1000 = 1.06 TMS = 0.84
Has high set ( instantaneous element )
Set at 1.3 x max. through fault current = 1.3 x 12.2
=15.86 kA
 Relay Co-ordination
Relay OC settings-Relays 4:
Select SI characteristic to coordinate with relays 3 and 5
Current setting = 2800/(3000 x 0.95) = 98% say 100%
Required operating time = 0.3 + operating time of relays 3 for
a fault of 15.86 kA = 0.3 + 0.305 = 0.605
PSM = 15860/3000 = 5.29
Relay operating time at TMS = 1 is 3.4 s
Required TMS = 0.51/3.4= 0.15
Final settings : PS = 100% TMS = 0.15
Relay OC settings-Relays 5:
Current setting selected 110% to ensure 4 picks earlier
to 5
Final settings : PS = 110% TMS = 0.35