11/23/2014

OverCurrentRelayWorkingPrincipleTypes|Electrical4u

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OverCurrentRelay
WorkingPrincipleTypes
PostedonFebruary6,2014bysibasishNoComments

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PowerSystemProtection
ElectricalProtectionRelay
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WorkingPrincipleofOverCurrentRelay
TypesofOverCurrentRelay
InstantaneousOverCurrentRelay
DefiniteTimeOverCurrentRelay
InverseTimeOCRelay
InverseDefiniteMinimumTimeOverCurrentRelayorIDMTO/C
Relay
Inanovercurrentrelayoro/crelaytheactuatingquantityisonly
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current.Thereisonlyonecurrentoperatedelementintherelay,no
voltagecoiletc.arerequiredtoconstructthisprotectiverelay.

WorkingPrincipleofOver
CurrentRelay
Inanovercurrentrelay,therewouldbeessentiallyacurrentcoil.
Whennormalcurrentflowsthroughthiscoil,themagneticeffect
generatedbythecoilisnotsufficienttomovethemovingelementof
therelay,asinthisconditiontherestrainingforceisgreaterthan
deflectingforce.Butwhenthecurrentthroughthecoilincreased,the
magneticeffectincreases,andaftercertainlevelofcurrent,the
deflectingforcegeneratedbythemagneticeffectofthecoil,crosses
therestrainingforce,asaresult,themovingelementstartsmovingto
changethecontactpositionintherelay.
Althoughtherearedifferenttypesofovercurrentrelaysbutbasic
workingprincipleofovercurrentrelayismoreorlesssameforall.

TypesofOverCurrentRelay
Dependingupontimeofoperation,therearevarioustypesofOC
relays,suchas,
1. Instantaneousovercurrentrelay.
2. Definitetimeovercurrentrelay.
3. Inversetimeovercurrentrelay.
InversetimeovercurrentrelayorsimplyinverseOCrelayisagain
subdividedasinversedefiniteminimumtime(IDMT),veryinverse
time,extremelyinversetimeovercurrentrelayorOCrelay.

InstantaneousOverCurrentRelay
Constructionandworkingprincipleofinstantaneousovercurrent
relayquitesimple.

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currentrelaywidth=640height=485class=aligncentersizefull
wpimage11661/>
Heregenerallyamagneticcoreiswoundbycurrentcoil.Apieceof
ironissofittedbyhingesupportandrestrainingspringintherelay,
thatwhenthereisnotsufficientcurrentinthecoil,theNOcontacts
remainopen.Whencurrentinthecoilcrossesapresentvalue,the
attractiveforcebecomessufficienttopulltheironpiecetowardsthe
magneticcoreandconsequentlytheNocontactsareclosed.
Thepresetvalueofcurrentintherelaycoilisreferredaspickup
settingcurrent.Thisrelayisreferredasinstantaneousovercurrent
relay,asideally,therelayoperatesassoonasthecurrentinthecoil
getshigherthanpickupsettingcurrent.Thereisnointentionaltime
delayapplied.Butthereisalwaysaninherenttimedelaywhichcan
notbeavoidedpractically.Inpracticetheoperatingtimeofan
instantaneousrelayisoftheorderofafewmilliseconds.
Fig.

DefiniteTimeOverCurrentRelay
Thisrelayiscreatedbyapplyingintentionaltimedelayaftercrossing
pickupvalueofthecurrent.Adefinitetimeovercurrentrelaycan
beadjustedtoissueatripoutputatdefiniteamountoftimeafterit
picksup.Thus,ithasatimesettingadjustmentandpickup
adjustment.

InverseTimeOCRelay
Inversetimeisanaturalcharacterofanyinductiontyperotating
device.Thismeansthespeedofrotationofrotatingartofthedevice
isfasterifinputcurrentisincreased.Inotherwords,timeofoperation
inverselyvarieswithinputcurrent.Thisnaturalcharacteristicof
electromechanicalinductiondiscrelayinverysuitableforovercurrent
protection.Thisisbecause,inthisrelay,iffaultismoresevere,it
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protection.Thisisbecause,inthisrelay,iffaultismoresevere,it
wouldbeclearedmorefaster.Althoughtimeinversecharacteristicis
inherenttoelectromechanicalinductiondiscrelay,butthesame
characteristiccanbeachievedinmicroprocessorbasedrelayalsoby
properprogramming.

InverseDefiniteMinimumTime
OverCurrentRelayorIDMTO/C
Relay
Idealinversetimecharacteristicscannotbeachieved,inanover
currentrelay.Asthecurrentinthesystemincreases,thesecondary
currentofthecurrenttransformerisincreasedproportionally.The
secondarycurrentisfedtotherelaycurrentcoil.ButwhentheCT
becomessaturated,therewouldnotbefurtherproportionalincrease
ofCTsecondarycurrentwithincreasedsystemcurrent.
Fromthisphenomenonitisclearthatfromtrickvaluetocertainrange
offaultylevel,aninversetimerelayshowsexactinverse
characteristic.Butafterthisleveloffault,theCTbecomessaturated
andrelaycurrentdoesnotincreasefurtherwithincreasingfaultylevel
ofthesystem.Astherelaycurrentisnotincreasedfurther,there
wouldnotbeanyfurtherreductionintimeofoperationintherelay.
Thistimeisreferredasminimumtimeofoperation.
Hence,thecharacteristicisinverseintheinitialpart,whichtendstoa
definiteminimumoperatingtimeasthecurrentbecomesveryhigh.
Thatiswhytherelayisreferredasinversedefiniteminimumtime
overcurrentrelayorsimplyIDMTrelay.

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