Distributed Power and FACTS Power System Protection Protection schemes have to discriminate between normal and abnormal

system conditions. Protection is achieved with the use of fuses or relays that control circuit breakers. Fuses are designed to simply blow to interrupt the current when a certain current is exceeded. When a fault is detected by a protective relay system, the relays trip the appropriate circuit breaker to isolate the fault. The fuses and relays need to be coordinated so that unduly large sections of the power networks are not disconnected. There are a large range of protection schemes. The protection schemes fall into to broad categories; unit and non-unit schemes. Unit schemes monitor the currents and/or the voltages at the terminations of a protection zone. There may be just two terminations as with a transmission line of multiple terminations as with a substation busbar. The protection decision is made from a comparison of the amplitude or phase of the monitored components. The ends of the protection zone are normally linked by a pilot wire which communicates either digital or analogue signals. Relaying signals can also be superimposed on the power line conductors such that a pilot wire is not needed. The non-unit scheme is located at just one end of a protection zone and the measurement of the voltages and/or currents at just one end is used to operate the protection. Non-unit schemes often use current and/or time coordination between other non-unit schemes as no direct communication is needed. The choice of protection scheme depends on the size of the protection system, the importance of the circuit and the required speed of interruption. For instance unit schemes are used exclusively for busbar and transformer protection because they are relatively small and fast protection is required. Distance schemes tend to be used on transmission lines as the long lengths makes communications difficult and the impedance of the longer lines is more measurable. Overcurrent relays tend to be used on distribution lines because the short lengths and low power levels makes distance schemes impractical and the speed of operation is traditionally less important. However, the introduction of distributed generation will require more advanced protection schemes on distribution systems in the future.

Fuses Fuses were introduced over 150 years ago and were the first form of protection for power networks. They are still extensively used in the lower voltage and for electrical equipment such as transformers and capacitors. The operating principle is that they comprise a section of conducting material which will melt and interrupt the current when they experience a sufficiently high current. They are very cheap so that they can be readily sacrificed to protect equipment. They can interrupt very high current. Their rating is normally given in terms of their I2t characteristic which approximates to the interruption energy of the fuse. Its definition is: t 2 2

I t

0 where t is the interruption time of the fuse. Coordination of the fuses is achieved by comparing their I2t values.

i dt

Relay Transformers Protection relays monitor the system current and/or the system voltage with the aid of current and voltage transformers (see Figure 1) so they are isolated from the distribution voltages and currents. The current transformer secondary surrounds the power cable which forms the primary winding. The Current Transformer turns ration is 1/N2 and is of the order of 1/100 and with a current rating in excess of 10 pu. Current transformers have a steel core which have a nonlinear characteristics that can lead to significant errors if it is overloaded. The Voltage Transformer normally has a turns ration (N1/N2) of 1/1000 and a voltage rating of about 1 pu.

Power Conductor

I1 I2

CT

N2

I2=I1/N2

Low relay input impedance a) Current Transformer arrangement Power Conductor V1 N1 N2 V2 High relay input impedance

V2

N2 V1 N1

b) Voltage Transformer arrangement Figure 1 Diagrams showing the typical connection arrangement for current and voltage transformers on distribution systems Overcurrent relays The simplest form of relay is an instantaneous overcurrent relay which simply opens a circuit breaker when the line current exceeds a certain threshold. In order to coordinate circuit breaker tripping, Time Delay Overcurrent Relays are often used with typical characteristics as given in Figure 2. Time Delay Overcurrent Relays have two settings: Current Tap Setting (CTS) and Time Dial Setting (TDS). In order that the relays do not pick

Figure 2 Typical characteristics of an over current relay. The operation time in seconds for different time dial settings is given against current as a multiple of tap settings. up on load currents but only respond to fault currents the CTS is set such that:

1 2 maximum load current CTS minimum fault current 3

The TDS is normally set so that there is at least 0.3 seconds between operation of adjacent relays. For example consider the radial distribution system shown in Figure 3.

S1
11 kv 3

8 MVA/ph 3

S2 1 MVA/ph

S3

5 MVA/ph 3

j 1.2

B1

j 0.6 1

B2

j 0.6 2

B3

CT ration 200:1

CT ration 100:1

CT ration 100:1

Figure 3 Radial distribution system with 3 circuit breakers operated by time graded relays. A fault at bus 3 will draw a large current from the supply which will be detected by the circuit breaker overcurrent relays at B1, B2 and B3. Ideally the circuit breaker B3 should be the only one which operates so that only the faulted section is isolated. The relays at B1 and B2 should operate slower than B3 which can be set to respond as rapidly as possible. Similarly the relay at B1 should operate slower than B2 to allow the circuit breaker at B2 to isolate any faults between B2 and B3. This time graded approach not only ensures the minimum disruption of the system but also provides coordinated back up protection. For the system shown in Figure 3 and using the relay characteristics given in Figure 2. The relay settings are calculated as follows. At bus 3 The load current at bus 3 is

I L3

S3 5 106 3 262 A V 11103 3

The fault current at bus 3 is

If3

V 11103 X total 2.4

2646 A

The B3 relay has at CT ration of 1:100 so that the relay load and fault currents are: IrL3=2.62 A and Irf2=26.46 A respectively. Thus the current tap setting is set according to

1 2 2.62 CTS 26.46 3

Which gives

5.24 CTS 8.82

The closest practical CTS setting of 6.0 A is then applied. The fastest time dial setting of is used for this relay. Notice that the fastest relay response should still be slower than the load fuses. At bus 2 The load current at bus 2 is
6 S3 S2 5 3 1 10 419 A V 11103 3

I L2

The fault current at bus 2 is

If2

V 11103 X total 1.8

3528 A

The B2 relay has at CT ration of 1:100 so that the relay load and fault currents are: IrL2=4.19 A and Irf2=35.28 A respectively. Thus the current tap setting is set according to

8.38 CTS 11.76

The closest practical CTS setting of 10.0 A is then applied to B2. The time dial setting for B2 has to be coordinated with the relay at B3. The relay at B2 should not operate before the circuit breaker at B 3 has had time to isolate faults beyond B3. We must therefore calculate the time circuit breaker at B3 takes to isolate the faults. The B3 relay current for a fault at bus 3 as a multiple of CTS setting is

I (CTS )3

I rf 3 CTS3

26.46 4.41 6

From the relay characteristics given in Figure 2 the relay at B 3 operates in 0.16 s. Typically medium voltage circuit breakers take about 0.1 s to open completely and normally a further 0.3 s safety margin is added. So the minimum operating time for the relay at B2 is 0.16+0.1+0.3 = 0.56 s. For a fault at bus 3 the relay current at B2 as a multiple of CTS setting is

I (CTS )2

I f 3 CT2 ratio CTS2

26.46 2.646 10

From the characteristics given in Figure 2 it can be seen that a time dial setting of 1 provides the appropriate relay operating time. At bus 1 The load current at bus 1 is
6 S3 S2 S1 5 3 1 8 3 10 I L1 840 A V 11103 3

The fault current at bus 1 is

I f1

V 11103 X total 1.2

5292 A

The B1 relay has at CT ration of 1:200 so that the relay load and fault currents are: IrL1=4.2 A and Irf1=26.46 A respectively. Thus the current tap setting is set according to

8.4 CTS 8.82

The closest practical CTS setting of 8.0 A is then applied to B1. The time dial setting for B1 has to be coordinated with the relay at B2. The relay at B1 should not operate before the circuit breaker at B 2 has had time to isolate faults beyond B2. We must therefore calculate the time circuit breaker at B2 takes to isolate the faults. The B2 relay current for a fault at bus 2 as a multiple of CTS setting is

I (CTS )2

I rf 2 CTS2

35.28 3.53 10

From the relay characteristics given in Figure 2 the relay at B 2 operates in 0.45 s. Typically medium voltage circuit breakers take about 0.1 s to open completely and normally a further 0.3 s safety margin is added. So the minimum operating time for the relay at B2 is 0.45+0.1+0.3 = 0.85 s. For a fault at bus 2 the relay current at B1 as a multiple of CTS setting is

I (CTS )1

I f 2 CT1 ratio CTS1

3528 200 2.2 8

From the characteristics given in Figure 2 it can be seen that a time dial setting of between 1 and 2 provides the appropriate relay operating time. If the relay allows fractional time dial settings then a setting of 1.3 can be used otherwise a time dial setting of 2 has to be used. Differential Unit protection (Transformer) As an example of differential unit protection consider its application to transformer protection as shown in Figure 4. I1 IR I2

I1 CT1 CT2

I2

N1 N2 Figure 4 Unit differential protection applied to a transformer The usual arrangement for unit differential protection is for the two relay current transformers to be connected by a pilot wire as shown in Figure 4. For normal operation the relay current IR should be negligible or zero. From Kirchhoffs current law we have I1 I2 I R I '1 I '2 CT1 ratio CT2 ratio For the power transformer however I 2 transformer ratios are then chosen as CT1 ratio N 2 CT2 ratio N1 Only when a fault occurs within the transformer (the protection zone) does the relay current become significant. The relay trip can be instantaneous. Directional Relays Directional relays measure both phase voltage and phase current. By comparing the sign of the measured voltage and current the
N1 I1 N2

thus the relay current

relay can decide from which direction the fault is with respect to the measuring point. The relay will then only trip if a fault in the forward direction is detected. This is very useful in situations where the fault current can be fed from more than one direction. For example consider the network ring given in Figure 5 with directional relay located as shown. R12 R21

1 R13 FZ R31 R32 3 Load

R23 FY

Figure 5 Ring distribution system protected by directional relays For faults at FZ and FY the over current relays located at R31 and R32 would see identical current amplitudes and will not be able to distinguish between them. However if relays R31 and R32 have directional elements as shown then R31 would only respond to a fault at FZ and R32 would only respond to a fault at FY. To maintain a supply to the loads relay R13 has to coordinated with the relay at R32 and the relay at R23 has to be coordinated with the relay at R31. In this way the ideal relay action would take place where; for a fault at FZ only the circuit breakers at R13 and R31 would operate and for a fault at FY only the circuit breakers at R32 and R23 would operate. On distribution systems the directional relays are coordinated by current or time grading. This is a challenging task in general and is usually avoided through the use of radial systems, however, distributed generation may demand more coordinated schemes in future. On the longer transmission systems the the relay coordination can be achieved with distance schemes. Distance Relays Distance relays measure both the phase voltage and current and from their ratio it estimates the distance of the fault from the relay. This scheme assumes that the majority of the fault impedance is due to the line impedance therefore it is more applicable to he transmission system where line lengths are significant.

Rate of Change of Frequency An important relay for generator protection is the Rate of Change of Frequency relay R.O.C.O.F. These relay open the generator circuit breakers if there is a rapid change of system frequency. The rapid change of frequency would be due to a fault or load imbalance. These relays are the primary method for identifying an islanding situation. Normally the frequency is measured from the time of separation of the current zeros however excessive harmonics and noise can cause false trips.