Basics of protection

Functions of protective system:-

The functions of protective system is to disconnect the faulty part or to disconnect the circuit under
abnormal conditions which might cause a great damage to the rest of the power system.
The other function of protective system is to provide indication, location of fault and type of fault.
Thus fault clearing process becomes more easier.

Essential features of protective System

i) Selectivity: - It is the ability of protective system to select correctly that part of system in trouble and
disconnect the faulty part without disturbing the rest of the system.
ii) Speed: The relay system should disconnect the faulty section as fast as possible to
prevent the electrical apparatus from damage and for system stability.
iii) Sensitivity: - It is the ability of the relay system to operate with low value of actuating quantity.
iv) Reliability: - It is the ability of the relay system to operate under predetermined conditions.
v) Simplicity: - The protective system should be simple so that it can be easily maintained.
vi) Economy: - The most important factor in the choice of particular protection scheme is the
economic aspect. The protective gear should not cost more than 5% of the total cost of equipment to be
protected.

Normal and abnormal conditions (Normal and abnormal operation of system):-

Normal condition:- It is the state of the system network in which below normal or normal current
flows and voltage and frequency remains normal. The current is not diverted to the other non intended
paths or earth and it is confined to pass in the devised path without disturbance and the system works
normally. In normal condition
1) The power producing device like 3 phase alternator should run at the proper speed.
2) All the 3 phase voltages must be of equal in magnitude having phase displacement of 120.
3) All the three lines voltages Vry, Vyb, Vbr and also balanced and symmetrical.
Causes of Fault Occurrence in Power System:
1) Failure of insulation of components and equipment parts
2) Mechanical failure
3) Breaking of conductors.
4) Over temperature.
5) Lightning & switching surges.
6) Lines affected by birds ,objects , falling of trees
7) Harmonics produced in rotating machines.
8) Drawbacks in system design.
9) Lack of selection of good quality material.
10) Accidents
11) Excessive internal and external stresses.
12) Unbalanced currents.
Causes of faults in power systems:
1) Over voltages due to direct lightning strokes,
2) Over voltages due to switching surges,
3) Falling of external conducting objects, tree branches etc on conducting lines,
4) Accumulation of dust, dirt etc. on exposed components as lines, insulators etc.
5) Perching of birds on lines, insulators or other components,
6) Ill maintained sections of the power systems,
7) Heavy unbalanced loading on three phase lines even for short times,
8) Prolonged unbalanced loading conditions leading to overheating (due to harmonics),
9) Failure of joints,
10) Open circuited or broken conductors,
11) Mechanical damage to components of the power systems,
12) Unusually severe atmospheric conditions as storm, rains, too high humidity,
13) Defective/improper selection of components used and
14) Faulty design of the power system sections.

Abnormal conditions:
1) LG fault
2)LL fault
3)LLG fault
4)Open circuited phases
5)Short circuited phases
6) 3 phase fault
7) simultaneous fault
Effects on power systems
Damage to the equipment,
Overheating,
Arcing,
Fire hazards,
Reduction in supply voltage of healthy phases,
Unbalance of supply voltage and currents,
Loss of system stability,
Interruption of supply to the consumers,
Effects of faults:
1) Heavy short circuits lead to damage to equipment mechanically and electrically.
2) Arcing during faults leads to fire hazards.
3) Heavy drop in the supply voltage to loads leading to their mal-operation.
4) Overheated machines due to unbalanced supply voltages.
5) Loss of revenue to supply agency owing to stoppage of supply.
6) Loss of system stability due to generators losing synchronism.
7) Distress load shedding.

Causes of over voltages:

a) Internal causes:
i) Switching surges
ii) Arcing ground
iii) Insulation failures
iv) Resonance
b) External causes:
i) Direct Lightning strokes,
ii) Lightning discharge near the line
iii) Voltage induced due to change in atmospheric condition
iv) Voltage induced due to frictional effects of small particles such as dirt, dust snow.

Short-Circuit
Whenever a fault occurs on a network such that a large current flows in one or more phases, a
shortcircuit is said to have occurred.
It is worthwhile to make a distinction between a short-circuit and an overload. When a short-circuit
occurs, the voltage at fault point is reduced to zero and current of abnormally high magnitude flows
through the network to the point of fault. On the other hand, an overload means that loads greater than
the designed values have been imposed on the system. Under such conditions, the voltage at the
overload point may be low, but not zero. The under voltage conditions may extend for some distance
beyond the overload point into the remainder of the system. The currents in the overloaded equipment
are high but are substantially lower than that in the case of a short-circuit.
Causes of short-circuit. A short circuit in the power system is the result of some kind of abnormal
conditions in the system. It may be caused due to internal and/or external effects.
(i) Internal effects are caused by breakdown of equipment or transmission lines, from deterioration of
insulation in a generator, transformer etc. Such troubles may be due to ageing of insulation, inadequate
design or improper installation.
(ii) External effects causing short circuit include insulation failure due to lightning surges, overloading
of equipment causing excessive heating; mechanical damage by public etc.
Effects of short-circuit. When a short-circuit occurs, the current in the system increases to an
abnormally high value while the system voltage decreases to a low value.
(i) The heavy current due to short-circuit causes excessive heating which may result in fire or
explosion. Sometimes short-circuit takes the form of an arc and causes considerable damage to the
system. For example, an arc on a transmission line not cleared quickly will burn the conductor severely
causing it to break, resulting in a long time interruption of the line.
(ii) The low voltage created by the fault has a very harmful effect on the service rendered by the power
system. If the voltage remains low for even a few seconds, the consumers’ motors may be shut down
and generators on the power system may become unstable. Due to above detrimental effects of short-
circuit, it is desirable and necessary to disconnect the faulty section and restore normal voltage and
current conditions as quickly as possible.
Short-Circuit Currents
Most of the failures on the power system lead to short-circuit fault and cause heavy current to flow in
the system. The calculations of these short-circuit currents are important for the following reasons :
(i) A short-circuit on the power system is cleared by a circuit breaker or a fuse. It is necessary,
therefore, to know the maximum possible values of short-circuit current so that switchgear of suitable
rating may be installed to interrupt them.
(ii) The magnitude of short-circuit current determines the setting and sometimes the types and location
of protective system.
(iii) The magnitude of short-circuit current determines the size of the protective reactors which must be
inserted in the system so that the circuit breaker is able to withstand the fault current.
(iv) The calculation of short-circuit currents enables us to make proper selection of the associated
apparatus (e.g. bus-bars, current transformers etc.) so that they can withstand the forces that arise due
to the occurrence of short circuits.

Faults in a Power System

A fault occurs when two or more conductors that normally operate with a potential difference come in
contact with each other. These faults may be caused by sudden failure of a piece of equipment,
accidental damage or short-circuit to overhead lines or by insulation failure resulting from lightning
surges. Irrespective of the causes, the faults in a 3-phase system can be classified into two main
categories viz.
(i) Symmetrical faults (ii) Unsymmetrical faults
(i) Symmetrical faults. That fault which gives rise to symmetrical fault currents (i.e. equal faults
currents with 120o displacement) is called a symmetrical fault. The most common example of
symmetrical fault is when all the three conductors of a 3-phase line are brought together
simultaneously into a short-circuit condition.
(ii) Unsymmetrical faults. Those faults which give rise to unsymmetrical currents (i.e. unequal line
currents with unequal displacement) are called unsymmetrical faults. The unsymmetrical faults may
take one of the following forms : (a) Single line-to-ground fault (b) Line-to-line fault (c) Double line-
to-ground fault The great majority of faults on the power system are of unsymmetrical nature; the most
common type being a short-circuit from one line to ground. The calculations of such fault currents are
made by “symmetrical components” method.
Difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical fault:

Sr. Symmetrical fault Asymmetrical fault

No.

1 The fault on the power system The fault on the power system
which gives rise to symmetrical which gives rise to unsymmetrical
fault currents in the system is fault currents in the system is
called symmetrical fault. called unsymmetrical fault.

2 These faults occur very rarely in These faults occur for majority of
practice. times in practice.

3 It is more severe type of fault in It is comparatively somewhat less

nature. severe type of fault.

4 The nature of this type of fault The nature of this type of fault is
is balanced. unbalanced.

5 Because of balance nature of Because of unbalance nature of

fault, only one phase need to be fault, all three phases need to be
considered in calculations. considered in calculations.

6 Symmetrical fault imposes Unsymmetrical fault imposes

more heavy duty on circuit somewhat less duty on circuit
breakers. breakers.

7 Symmetrical fault calculations Unsymmetrical fault calculations

and analysis is comparatively and analysis is complicated &
simple & easy. tedious.

8 Symmetrical faults involve all Unsymmetrical faults involve one

the three phases. or two phases.

9 Examples: (a) L-L-L Fault Examples: (a) L-G Fault

(b) L-L-L-G Fault. (b) L-L-G Fault
(c) L-L Fault etc.

Limitation of Fault Current

When a short circuit occurs at any point in a system, the short-circuit current is limited by the
impedance of the system up to the point of fault. Thus referring to Fig if a fault occurs on the feeder at
point F, then the short circuit current from the generating station will have a value limited by the
impedance of generator and transformer and the impedance of the line between the generator and the
point of fault. This shows that the knowledge of the impedances of various equipment and circuits in
the line of the system is very important for the determination of short-circuit currents.

Percentage Reactance
The reactance of generators, transformers, reactors etc. is usually expressed in percentage reactance to
permit rapid short circuit calculations. The percentage reactance of a circuit is defined as under :
It is the percentage of the total phase-voltage dropped in the circuit when full-load current is
flowing i.e.,
%X =

where I = full-load current

V = phase voltage
X = reactance in ohms per phase
Alternatively, percentage reactance (%X) can also be expressed in terms of kVA and kV as under :
%X = ……(ii)

where X is the reactance in ohms.

If X is the only reactance element in the circuit, then short-circuit current is given by ;

Isc = = I× [By putting the value of X from exp. (i)]

Percentage Reactance and Base kVA

It is clear from exp. (ii) above that percentage reactance of an equipment depends upon its kVA rating.
Generally, the various equipments used in the power system have different kVA ratings. Therefore, it
is necessary to find the percentage reactances of all the elements on a common kVA rating. This
common kVA rating is known as base kVA.
The value of this base kVA is quite unimportant and may be :
(i) equal to that of the largest plant
(ii) equal to the total plant capacity
(iii) any arbitrary value
The conversion can be effected by using the following relation :

% age reactance at base kVA = × % age reactance at rated kVA

Short-Circuit kVA
Although the potential at the point of fault is zero, it is a normal practice to express the short-circuit
current in terms of short-circuit kVA based on the normal system voltage at the point of fault.
The product of normal system voltage and short-circuit current at the point of fault expressed in
kVA is known as short-circuit kVA.
Let
V = normal phase voltage in volts
I = full-load current in amperes at base kVA
%X = percentage reactance of the system on base kVA up to the fault point

Short-circuit current, Isc = I ×

∴ Short-circuit kVA for 3-phase circuit = = × = Base kVA ×

i.e. short-circuit kVA is obtained by multiplying the base kVA by 100/% X.

Reactor Control of Short-Circuit Currents

With the fast expanding power system, the fault level (i.e. the power available to flow into a fault) is
also rising. The circuit breakers connected in the power system must be capable of dealing with
maximum possible short-circuit currents that can occur at their points of connection. Generally, the
reactance of the system under fault conditions is low and fault currents may rise to a dangerously high
value. If no steps are taken to limit the value of these short-circuit currents, not only will the duty
required of circuit breakers be excessively heavy, but also damage to lines and other equipment will
almost certainly occur.
In order to limit the short-circuit currents to a value which the circuit breakers can handle, additional
reactances known as reactors are connected in series with the system at suitable points.
A reactor is a coil of number of turns designed to have a large inductance as compared to its ohmic
resistance. The forces on the turns of these reactors under short-circuit conditions are considerable and,
therefore, the windings must be solidly braced. It may be added that due to very small resistance of
reactors, there is very little change in the efficiency of the system.

Advantages
(i) Reactors limit the flow of short-circuit current and thus protect the equipment from overheating as
well as from failure due to destructive mechanical forces.
(ii) Troubles are localised or isolated at the point where they originate without communicating their
disturbing effects to other parts of the power system. This increases the chances of continuity of
supply.
(iii) They permit the installation of circuit breakers of lower rating.

Location of Reactors
Short circuit current limiting reactors may be connected
(i) in series with each generator (ii) in series with each feeder and (iii) in bus-bars.
Classification of reactors :
1) Generator reactors
2) Feeder reactors
3) Busbar reactors
i) Ring Systems
ii) Tie bar system

(1) Generator reactors. When the reactors

are connected in series with each generator, they are
known as generator reactors. In this
case, the reactor may be considered as a part of leakage
reactance of the generator ; hence its effect is to protect the
generator in the case of any short-circuit beyond the reactors.
Disadvantages
(i) There is a constant voltage drop and power loss in the reactors even during normal operation.
(ii) If a bus-bar or feeder fault occurs close to the bus-bar, the voltage at the bus-bar will be
reduced to a low value, thereby causing the generators to fall out of step.
(iii) If a fault occurs on any feeder, the continuity of supply to other is likely to be affected.
Due to these disadvantages and also since modern power station generators have sufficiently
large leakage reactance to protect them against short-circuit, it is not a common practice to use
separate reactors for the generators.
(2) Feeder reactors. When the reactors are
connected in series with each feeder, they are known
as feeder reactors. Since most of
the short-circuits occur on feeders, a large number
of reactors are used for such circuits. Two principal
advantages are claimed for feeder reactors.
Firstly, if a fault occurs on any feeder, the voltage
drop in its reactor will not affect the bus-bars voltage
so that there is a little tendency for the generator
to lose synchronism. Secondly, the fault on a
feeder will not affect other feeders and consequently
the effects of fault are localised.
Disadvantages
(i) There is a constant power loss and voltage drop in the reactors even during normal operation.
(ii) If a short-circuit occurs at the bus-bars, no protection is provided to the generators. However, this
is of little importance because such faults are rare and modern generators have
considerable leakage reactance to enable them to withstand short-circuit across their terminals.
(iii) If the number of generators is increased, the size of feeder reactors will have to be increased to
keep the short-circuit currents within the ratings of the feeder circuit breakers.
(3) Bus-bar reactors. The above two methods of locating reactors suffer from the disadvantage that
there is considerable voltage drop and power loss in the reactors even during normal operation.
This disadvantage can be overcome by locating the reactors in the bus-bars. There are two
methods for this purpose, namely ; Ring system and Tie-Bar system.
(i) Ring system. In this system, bus-bar is divided
into sections and these sections are connected
through reactors as shown in Fig. Generally,
one feeder is fed from one generator only. Under
normal operating conditions, each generator will
supply its own section of the load and very little
power will be fed by other generators. This results
in low power loss and voltage drop in the reactors.
However, the principal advantage of the system is
that if a fault occurs on any feeder, only one generator (to which the particular feeder is connected)
mainly feeds the fault current while the current fed from other generators is small due to the presence
of reactors. Therefore, only that section of bus-bar is affected to which the feeder is connected, the
other sections being able to continue in normal operation.
(ii) Tie-Bar system. Fig. shows the tie-bar system. Comparing
the ring system with tie-bar system, it is clear that in the
tie-bar system, there are effectively two reactors in series
between sections so that reactors must have approximately
half the reactance of those used in a comparable ring system.
Another advantage of tie bar system is that additional
generators may be connected to the system without requiring
changes in the existing reactors. However, this system has the
disadvantage that it requires an additional bus-bar i.e. the tie-bar.

Steps for Symmetrical Fault Calculations

It has already been discussed that 3-phase short-circuit faults result in symmetrical fault currents i.e.
fault currents in the three phases are equal in magnitude but displaced 120o electrical from one
another. Therefore, problems involving such faults can be solved by considering one phase only as the
same conditions prevail in the other two phases. The procedure for the solution of such faults involves
the following steps :
(i) Draw a single line diagram of the complete network indicating the rating, voltage and percentage
reactance of each element of the network.
(ii) Choose a numerically convenient value of base kVA and convert all percentage reactance to this
base value.
(iii) Corresponding to the single line diagram of the network, draw the reactance diagram showing one
phase of the system and the neutral. Indicate the % reactances on the base kVA in the reactance
diagram. The transformer in the system should be represented by a reactance
in series.
(iv) Find the total % reactance of the network upto the point of fault. Let it be X%.
(v) Find the full-load current corresponding to the selected base kVA and the normal system
voltage at the fault point. Let it be I.
(vi) Then various short-circuit calculations are :
Short-circuit current, Isc = I ×

Short-circuit kVA = Base kVA ×

Zones of Protection system

• An electric power system is divided into several zones of protection. Each zone of protection,
contains one or more components of a power system in addition to two circuit breakers.
• When a fault occurs within the boundary of a particular zone, then the protection system responsible
for the protection of the zone acts to isolate (by tripping the Circuit Breakers) every equipment within
that zone from the rest of the system.
• The circuit Breakers are inserted between the component of the zone and the rest of the power
system. Thus, the location of the circuit breaker helps to define the boundaries of the zones of
protection.
• Different neighbouring zones of protection are made to overlap each other, which ensure that no part
of the power system remains without protection. However, occurrence of the fault with in the
overlapped region will initiate a tripping sequence of different circuit breakers so that the minimum
necessary to disconnect the faulty element

Types of Protection
When a fault occurs on any part of electric power system, it must be cleared quickly in order to avoid
damage and/or interference with the rest of the system. It is a usual practice to divide the protection
scheme into two classes viz. primary protection and back-up protection.
(i) Primary Protection. It is the protection scheme which is designed to protect the component parts
of the power system. Thus referring to Fig each line has an overcurrent relay that protects the line. If a
fault occurs on any line, it will be cleared by its relay and circuit breaker. This forms the primary or
main protection and serves as the first line of defence. The service record of primary relaying is very
high with well over ninety percent of all operations being correct. However, sometimes faults are not
cleared by primary relay system because of trouble within the relay, wiring system or breaker. Under
such conditions, back-up protection does the required job.
((ii) Back-up protection. It is the second line of defence in case of failure of the primary protection. It
is designed to operate with sufficient time delay so that primary relaying will be
given enough time to function if it is able to. Thus referring to Fig, relay A provides back-up protection
for each of the four lines. If a line fault is not cleared by its relay and breaker, the relay A on the group
breaker will operate after a definite time delay and clear the entire group of lines. It is evident that
when back-up relaying functions, a larger part is disconnected than when primary relaying functions
correctly. Therefore, greater emphasis should be placed on the better maintenance of primary relaying.