Issues and Solutions in Setting A Quadrilateral Distance Characteristic

Issues and Solutions in Setting a Quadrilateral Distance
Characteristic
By
Dr. Juergen Holbach (Juergen.holbach@siemens.com)
Vythahavya Vadlamani (vythahavya.vadlamani@siemens.com)
Dr. Yuchen Lu (yuchen.lu@siemens.com)
Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution, Inc
Raleigh, North Carolina
Presented to the
61st Conference for Protective Relay Engineers
College Station, Texas
April 1-3, 2008
1st edition
978-1-4244-1949-4/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE
89
Authorized licensed use limited to: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY - EDWARDSVILLE. Downloaded on November 16, 2008 at 03:21 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Issues and Solutions in Setting a Quadrilateral Distance Characteristic

Abstract
The MHO characteristic is used very extensively in North America over the last decades
in distance relaying. They are simple to design with electro mechanical components and
simple to set. With the introduction of static and numerical relays other characteristics
have been developed to overcome certain limitations of the MHO circle. More and more
quadrilateral characteristics are used here in North America for ground faults on short
lines in particular.
The advantage is that the resistive reach can be selected via a setting and is not
anymore limited by the characteristic of the MHO circle which particularly is a problem
on short lines. This advantage of MHO circle becomes a challenge in quadrilateral
characteristic for the setting engineer because he has to select an appropriate setting.
This paper will discuss some of the guidelines to set the resistive reach on a
quadrilateral characteristic. This paper also discusses the requirements for zone 3
settings from NERC.
On the other side the advantage of the MHO circle, to be insensitive for arc faults in
combination with heavy load, is a challenge for the quadrilateral characteristic and
requires special attention for a secure functionality. The paper will discuss the source of
the problem caused by load current in combination with arc faults and introduce some
solutions. Guidelines will be outlined to set the quadrilateral characteristic accordingly to
prevent an insecure operation. With the introduction of the quadrilateral characteristic it
becomes possible to do the zero sequence compensation more effectively as the
compensation with a complex ko factor used in the MHO circle. First the paper will show
the limitations of the zero sequence compensation done with a complex ko factor and
introduce some modern solutions and talk about their advantages. Calculated examples
will demonstrate the benefit of this method. The paper will also give some guidelines and
limitations in applying this new compensation method.
Basics
The distance protection function calculates out of the voltage and current measurements
from one line terminal the loop impedance to the fault. The distance protection needs to
calculate out of the loop impedance in the next step the line impedance because the
setting is done in relation to the line impedance. For phase faults this can be simply
archived by dividing the loop impedance by a factor of 2. On ground faults, information
about the zero sequence impedance is needed and entered into the relay, so that the
relay is able to calculate the line impedance out of the loop. By assuming that the
impedance distribution along the line is constant, the location of the fault can be
calculated and a trip decision can be issued by comparing the calculated line impedance
to a setting inside the relay. For the trip decision on an overhead line normally only the
reactance of the impedance needs to be considered because the measured resistance
includes not only the line resistor but also an arc fault resistor and the footing tower
resistor and can therefore not be used to determine the fault location.
Several characteristics are developed which have all in common that the reactance is
used for the tripping decision. However, the measured resistor is used to reduce the
applicable reactance or block the tripping at all if the resistor is too high so that the
90
measured impedance may be inside the load area or the expected error on the
reactance calculation may be too high. The most common characteristics are the MHO
circle and the quadrilateral characteristic.
Quadrilateral characteristic is most preferred when protecting short transmission lines as
this provides substantial resistive coverage and arc compensation than the traditional
circular characteristics
Figure 1:Impedance characteristic

Setting resistive reach for short lines in quadrilateral characteristic involves various
factors which will be discussed in the following chapter.
Fault Resistor
Most of the faults on high voltage overhead lines result from isolator flash-overs. The
short circuit current flows from the faulted conductor via the arc to the isolator and
through the tower to the ground. This implies that at the fault location the arc resistance
and tower footing resistance should be considered when calculating the fault resistance.
In cable networks the fault resistor can normally be neglected. In the following
discussion we are mainly concentrating on a fault resistor RF on an overhead line and
the influencing factors. The fault resistor RF consists of an arc resistance and a tower
footing resistance.
RF = RARC + RTF
Eq (1)
Where
RF
= Fault resistance
RARC = Arc resistance
RTF = Footing tower resistance
The fault resistance for phase to phase and three phase short circuits mainly includes
only an arc resistance.
It need to be mentioned here that the calculation of a possible arc resistor is no an exact
science and there is not a single but several formula to calculate arc fault resistance,
according to the literature. Two of the most commonly used models are listed here for
91
our discussion. In order to arrive at the highest possible estimate for the fault resistance
we consider Eq (2). By using this model, the arc resistance can be higher than the
Warrington formula and there by avoiding any under reach.
The most commonly used formulas to arrive at the arc fault resistance are:
1.
Worst case formula
R ARC =
762.l ARC
[:]
I ARC
Eq (2)
lARC = Arc length in Feet

IARC = arc current in Amps
2.
Warringtons formula
R ARC =
8750.l ARC
[:]
.4
I 1ARC
Eq (3)
lARC = Arc length in Feets

The fault resistance calculated above is valid only for the first cycles because of the
dynamics of an arc. Over time the arc tents to increase its diameter. The arc resistance
varies with the fault current ,with time and with the wind velocity.
5.v.t B
R*ARC = 1
l ARC
R ARC [:]
Eq (4)
lARC = Arc length in Feet

v = wind velocity (feet/sec)
tB = arc duration in sec
Tower Footing resistance:
The tower footing resistor depends very much on environmental conditions and may
vary very much along the line. The actual value can normally only be obtained by
measuring the resistor. It is important to know whether a ground wire is used on the
92
tower. If it is used, the tower footing resistance and ground wire on the overhead line can
be represented as a T section connected in series [1]
The effective tower footing impedance as derived by [1] is given as
Z ETF
1
RTF Z LNW
2
1
RTF Z LNW
2
Where Z LNW
Eq (5)
( Z 'GW I AS ) 2
1
Z 'GW l AS
RTF Z 'GW l AS
2
4
Eq (6)
ZETF = Tower footing impedance

RTF = Tower Footing resistance
ZLNW = Equivalent impedance of tower footing resistances
ZGW = Ground wire impedance
Neglecting ground wire impedance the equivalent tower footing impedance can be
written as
Z ETF
1
RTF Z ' GW l AS
2
M
1
RTF Z ' GW l AS e j GW
2
2
Eq (7)
Example:
Distance between the towers
Ground wire resistanc
Ground wire reactance
Tower footing resistor
lAS = 0.15 miles,

RGW = 0.374 :/mile,
XGS = 1.2 :/mile,
RTF = 10:
results in Z ETF = 0.54 + j 0.4 :

On lines with ground wires the fault current flows through several parallel tower footing
resistances and the resultant resistance is substantially reduced and hence often
neglected. Furthermore, the effective ground impedance (ZETF) contains inductive
component and this 0.4: would easily correspond to approx 1-1.5 mile line length on a
HV transmission line and can result in under-reach situation.
Where as if the ground wires are not present the resistance can go substantially higher
and can be in order of hundreds of ohms.
Setting the fault resistor
If the total fault resistor is calculated it builds the basis for the relay setting. Normally a
security factor of 1.2 is applied to assure that the relay will detect the maximum fault
resistor. However it is important to understand, that the fault resistor becomes a part of
the loop resistor what is calculated by the relay out of the voltage and current
93
measurement. The settings for the reactive reach and resistive reach are done as line
settings. The following consideration helps to understand how the calculated fault
resistor need to be considered inside the settings.
a) Ph-Ph fault with fault resistance at the fault location
IA
XL
RL
IF
V AB
RL
RF
XL
IB
Two phase short circuit with fault resistance
Figure 2: Two phase short circuit with fault resistance
Substituting
= -IB = IF
VAB = VA-VB = 2 IF (RL + j XL) + RF . IF
Eq (8)
V A V B
2 I F
Eq (9)
ZL
RF
2
On phase to phase faults, the measured fault resistance becomes divided by a factor of
2 by the relay to convert from a loop impedance to a line impedance.
b) Ph-ground fault with fault resistance (single ended in feed)
On phase to ground faults it is important to know how the zero sequence compensation
in the relay is done. In the next example a zero sequence compensation method is used
which is implemented in Siemens distance relays with quadrilateral characteristics.
IL
XL
RL
V ph G
RF
XG
RG
IG
Figure 3: A Fault Loop for a Single-Line-to-Ground Fault
94
The voltage at the relay location is given by
Vph-G = IL . (RL+j XL) IG. (RG + j XG) + IL. RF
Eq (10)
With introducing the zero sequence compensation factors RG/RL and XG/XL which are
settings inside the relay and the simplification
L
= -IG = IF
we can write:
Z Loop
V ph G
R L calculated
IF
RLoop jX Loop
RLoop
R
1 G
RL
RL
RL (1
RF
R
1 G
RL
RG
X
) RF jX L (1 G ) Eq (11)
RL
XL
Eq (12)
In this case, the fault resistance will not add to the calculated line resistor with half of its
value like on phase to phase faults, but rather depending on the setting RG/RL. We can
see that for the resistive reach setting on phase to phase faults we need to set only half
of the calculated total fault resistor and for ground faults we need to take also the zero
sequence compensation factor RG/RL in consideration. The setting for the resistive
reach for ground faults is determined by the total fault resistor divide by a factor
(1+RG/RL). Before selecting a setting, the way how the particular relay will perform the
zero sequence compensation needs to be understood! The example shown here is only
valid for Siemens relays with quadrilateral characteristic.
Zero Sequence compensation
The majority of the short circuits that occur in the transmission system are ground faults.
In this case the accuracy of the distance protection depends also on the zero sequence
compensation setting for the ground impedance. The exact value of this compensation
factor is often not known. Even if the ground impedance of the line is determined by
measuring the zero sequence impedance prior to commissioning which is usually not
done due to time and cost constraints the actual effect of ground impedance during the
short circuit may be severely dependent on the actual fault location. The effective ground
impedance is often not proportionally distributed along the line length, as it may vary
significantly depending on the consistency of the ground (sand, rocks, water, snow) and
the type of grounding applied (tower grounding, parallel cable screens, metal pipes).
Normally it is sufficient for the zone 1 distance protection function to know the zero
sequence factors which is measured on the remote line terminal. For all other zones the
relay should have a separate zero sequence compensation factor settable because in
may cases the factor can change drastically on the adjacent line/cable.
95
We want to point out that modern numerical relays have as a standard function a fault
recorder ability implemented inside the relay. The fault recorder data can be used to
determine the real zero sequence factors on a transmission line.
In the following to methods of zero sequence compensations are introduced and
compared. The compensation with a complex Ko factor is common in many relays and is
simple to implement. On a Mho circle this is actually the only way the zero sequence
compensation can be performed. However, a quadrilateral characteristic offers better
ways to do the compensation what becomes shown in the following.
Setting of residual compensation factors k 0 and { K R
Usually the positive sequence impedance of the line Z 1
impedance Z 0
RG
XG
, KX
}
RL
XL
R1 jX 1 and zero sequence
R0 jX 0 are available for setting the residual compensation factors.
The conventional residual compensation factor k 0 can be calculated as k 0
Z 0 Z1
.
3Z 1
Note that in general k 0 is a complex number.

To calculate { K R , K X }, we need to first calculate the ground impedance Z G and line
impedance Z L by the following equations:
ZG
RG jX G
Z 0 Z1
3
ZL
RL jX L
R1 jX 1
R0 R1
X X1
j 0
3
3
Eq (13)
Eq (14)
Then, { K R , K X } can be calculated as
KR
KX
RG
RL
XG
XL
R0 R1
3R1
X 0 X1
3X 1
Eq (15a)
Eq (15b)
Note that { K R , K X } are real numbers and generally k 0 z K R jK X .

Impedance Calculation based on different compensation factors
In the following we will show how the zero sequence compensation will effect the
impedance calculation if a fault resistor is involved. For simplification we assume that the
phase and ground currents are equal.
96
IF
XL
RL
V phG
RF
XG
RG
IF
Figure 4: A Fault Loop for a Single-Line-to-Ground Fault

The traditional impedance calculation method uses the following equations for
calculating resistance and reactance of the phase-to-ground loops:
Z ph G
Where V
ph G
V ph G
I F (1 k 0 )
R ph G
real{ Z ph G },
X ph G
imag{ Z ph G }
Eq (16)
is the measurement of phase-to-ground voltage for the faulted phase,
I F is the measurement of fault current for the faulted loop.

With above measurements and the { K R , K X } residual compensation factors, the phaseto-ground impedance are calculated as:
R ph G
real{
V ph G
I F (1 K R )
},
X ph G
imag{
V ph G
I F (1 K X )
Eq (17)
The fault resistance is one of the factors which will cause an error in the impedance
calculation. For bolted faults (fault resistance RF 0 ), both compensation methods can
correctly calculate the fault impedance. However, if the fault resistance exists ( RF z 0 ),
the traditional k 0 compensation method and the { K R , K X } compensation method will
produce different impedance calculation errors. This is illustrated in the following Figure.
97
X
RF
1 k0
Z ph G
ZL
ZL
RF
1 KR
Z ph G
(a) impedance calculation using traditional k0

compensation method
(b) impedance calculation using {Kr, Kx}

compensation method
Figure 5: Comparison of different compensation methods

The traditional k 0 compensation method will produce an impedance calculation error on
both R-axis and X-axis, which is due to the factor that k 0 is generally a complex
number.
The { K R , K X } compensation method will produce impedance calculation error only on
R-axis.
Example: A ground fault with fault resistance
XG
IF
RL
XL
V ph G
RF
RG
XG
IF
Figure 6: Simple model for a ground fault

Given line impedance data:
Z1=R1+jX1=2+j10 (ohm)
Z0=R0+jX0=32+j40 (ohm)
Source reactance
98
XG= 10 Ohm
Calculate RL, XL, RG, XG as
RL = R1 = 2 (ohm)
XL = X1 = 10 (ohm)
RG = (R0-R1)/3 = 10 (ohm)
XG = (X0-X1)/3 = 10 (ohm)
Assume the generator phase to ground voltage as (secondary): V G
fault resistance RF=5 (ohm)
69e j 0 (V) and
The resulting fault current is:
IF
VG
= 0.986-j1.741(A)
R L jX L RG jX G R F jX G
k0
ZG
ZL
10 j10
2 j10
1.154 j 0.769
Measured voltage by the relay:
VR
V G I F jX G
69 (17.41 j 9.86)
(51.59 9.86)V
By the k 0 compensation method, we can obtain the calculated impedance:
Z ph _ G
VR
I F (1 k 0 )
51.59 9.86
=4.067 + j10.75(ohm)
(0.986 j1.741)(2.154 j 0.769)
R ph _ G
real{Z ph _ G } =4.067 (ohm)
X ph _ G
imag{Z ph _ G } = 10.75 (ohm)
By the { K R , K X } compensation method, we can obtain the calculated impedance:
R ph _ G
X ph _ G
VR
} =2.83 (ohm)
I F (1 K R )
VR
imag{
} = 10 (ohm)
I F (1 K X )
real{
The results show that although the fault resistance causes significant calculation errors
on the R ph _ G for both methods, only the { K R , K X } compensation method produces the
correct X ph _ G value.
99
Setting of RG/RL
As discussed earlier, by selecting a setting for the fault resistor reach on ground faults,
the RG/RL factor set inside the relay need also to be taken in consideration. The setting
should be the total fault loop resistor (RL+RG+Rarc+RTF) divided by a factor of 1+RG/RL. If
the RG/RL factor, which results out of the line data is used as a setting in the relay, the
line resistor calculation of the distance protection will only be correct for faults without a
fault resistor as we saw above! On overhead lines many times an arc fault is involved
and the calculated line resistor will therefore always be wrong. This is normally not a
problem, because we set in the quadrilateral characteristic an additional resistor to
compensate for this. Therefore the setting RG/RL which will only help to determine the
line resistor for faults without an additional fault resistor is not of any importance. It is
normally not recommended to set the calculated value which results out of the line data,
which can in some cases result in factor >5 . The disadvantage of such a high factors is
that any loop resistor gets divided by a (high factor +1) and therefore also load and
unfaulty loops on long transmission lines can be seen inside of the trip zone! It is
normally recommended to set RG/RL to a factor of 1, than the line resistor for ground
faults gets calculated whit the same factor as for phase faults!
Load influence on resistive faults
Transmission of load across long transmission lines results in a phase displacement
between the voltages V1 and V2 at the two line ends (Figure 7 and 8).
In the event of a short circuit, the generator voltages (Figure 7) feeding onto the fault will
therefore have different phase angles. In a first approximation, the short circuit currents
from the two ends are also displaced by this angle. The short circuit current flowing from
the two line ends through the ohmic fault resistance RF causes that the relays will see
the fault resistor as resistive and inductive impedance due to this phase displacement.
Figure 7: Infeed from both ends
100
Figure 8: Phase shift between the sources voltages and fault currents
Figure 9: Influence on the measured impedance

At the line end that is exporting the load, the measured reactance is reduced, the phasor
(I2/I1)y RF is rotated downwards (Figure 9). At the line end that is importing load, the
measured reactance is increased; the phasor (I2/I1)y RF is rotated upwards. The smaller
the phase displacement between the currents I2 and I1 is, the smaller the influence on
the measured reactance will be. In the case of an unloaded line, the generator voltages
and the currents at both ends are in phase. This assumed that the angles of the fault
impedance loop are equal on both sides of the fault, which is on transmission lines
normally fulfilled. On faults without ground, the fault impedance will be measured only
with an additional resistive part what can be considered in the distance protection
settings.
To measure higher reactance in a case of load import is normally acceptable; even so it
can lead to an underfunction and higher fault clearing times. The reduced reactance
measurement in the case of a load import can lead to an overreach and needs to be
avoided. The characteristic of a MHO circle has for this situation an advantage because
it automatically reduced the reactance reach for resistive faults. The user doesnt need
to set this behaviour but also has no influence on limit the amount of the reduction. This
is particular on short line a problem because the MHO circle almost has no resistive
reach. But also on long transmission lines with a large load angle the characteristic of
the Mho circle get shifted and limits so the resistive reach.
101
Figure 10: Load effect on MHO circle

The quadrilateral characteristic in many relays can be adjusted so that the distance
protection function is stable for faults with load import. This put an additional burden to
the setting engineer because he has now to find the appropriate setting for this
additional tilt.
Figure 11: Example of quadrilateral characteristic

In some relays this tilt of the characteristic is automatically done based on negative or
zero sequence measurements. However, all this automatic adjusting algorithms normally
are using some assumptions about the power system and the accuracy of this automatic
adjustment depends on the degree in which the assumptions are confirmed by the real
conditions.
By manually adjusting the slope in the characteristic the protection engineer can find the
worst case condition and adjust to it. However, this requires knowledge about the power
system and in some cases simulations to find the worst case scenarios. In the following
102
a graph is presented which helps how much the quadrilateral characteristics needs to
get tilt with the angle D to avoid an overreach based on the influence of load on an fault
resistor.
Figure 12: Compensation setting for load influence [4]

The Figure 12 uses the ratio of the of the reactive reach setting to the resistive reach
setting and the max. load angle in the power system to determine the tilt. To determine
accurately the effect of load on the fault resistor, several more parameters needs to be
evaluated too, like the zero sequence system seen from both sides of the fault, the fault
location etc. The shown graphic represents a solution for most of the usual grid
conditions and is based on worst case scenarios.
Summary
The paper discussed the main factors which need to be considered when setting a
quadrilateral characteristic. We presented formulas to calculate an arc resistor on an
overhead line. We showed the effect of a ground wire and its influence when present.
The ground wire will reduce the fault resistance in orders of few ohms versus up to few
hundreds when not present. However we want to point out that the ground wire will add
some inductive/reactance to the fault impedance. The zero sequence compensation is
an important issue when setting a distance relay for ground faults. In the paper, we
compared two kinds of compensation methods, the traditional k0 and the {RG/RL,
XG/XL} method. We showed that both methods will correctly calculate the fault
impedance in the case of bolted faults. However, in the case of unbolted faults, {RG/RL,
XG/XL} compensation method will introduce a calculation error only on R-axis, while k0
will introduce calculation errors on both R-axis and X-axis. A simple calculation example
for a single-line-to-ground fault is presented to show this difference. Also discussed was
the influence of load on the impedance calculation if a fault resistor is present. A graphic
was presented which helps to determine how much a quadrilateral characteristic needs
to get tilt to avoid an overreach of the distance protection function.
103
References
[1] Gerhard Ziegler, "Distance Measurement, Influencing quantities," chap. 3 in Numerical
Distance Protection, 2nd ed., Publicis Corporate Publishing, Erlangen, Germany: 2006.
[2] S.Ward, "Comparison of Quadrilateral and Mho distance characteristic," presented at 26th
Annual Western Protective Relay Conference 1999, Spokane, Washington. October 26-29, 1999
[3] G. Swift, D.Fedirchuck, T. Ernst, Arcing Fault Resistance (it isnt) presented at 29th Annual
Western Protective Relay Conference 2002, Spokane, Washington. October 22-24, 2002
[4] 7SA522 Manual V4.6, C53000-G1176-C155-4, page 89, Siemens 2004
[5] S. Kaiser, "Different Representations of the Earth Impedance Matching in Distance Protection
Relays or What Impedance Does a Digital Distance Protection Relay Measure, OMICRON
Anwendertagung 2004
104

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Issues and Solutions in Setting a Quadrilateral Distance

978-1-4244-1949-4/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

Issues and Solutions in Setting a Quadrilateral Distance Characteristic

Figure 1:Impedance characteristic

Worst case formula

lARC = Arc length in Feet

lARC = Arc length in Feets

lARC = Arc length in Feet

ZETF = Tower footing impedance

lAS = 0.15 miles,

results in Z ETF = 0.54 + j 0.4 :

Figure 2: Two phase short circuit with fault resistance

VAB = VA-VB = 2 IF (RL + j XL) + RF . IF

Figure 3: A Fault Loop for a Single-Line-to-Ground Fault

The voltage at the relay location is given by

Vph-G = IL . (RL+j XL) IG. (RG + j XG) + IL. RF

R0  jX 0 are available for setting the residual compensation factors.

The conventional residual compensation factor k 0 can be calculated as k 0

Note that in general k 0 is a complex number.

Then, { K R , K X } can be calculated as

Note that { K R , K X } are real numbers and generally k 0 z K R  jK X .

Figure 4: A Fault Loop for a Single-Line-to-Ground Fault

is the measurement of phase-to-ground voltage for the faulted phase,

I F is the measurement of fault current for the faulted loop.

(a) impedance calculation using traditional k0

(b) impedance calculation using {Kr, Kx}

Figure 5: Comparison of different compensation methods

Figure 6: Simple model for a ground fault

69e j 0 (V) and

The resulting fault current is:

Measured voltage by the relay:

By the k 0 compensation method, we can obtain the calculated impedance:

real{Z ph _ G } =4.067 (ohm)

imag{Z ph _ G } = 10.75 (ohm)

By the { K R , K X } compensation method, we can obtain the calculated impedance:

Figure 7: Infeed from both ends

Figure 9: Influence on the measured impedance

Figure 10: Load effect on MHO circle

Figure 11: Example of quadrilateral characteristic

Figure 12: Compensation setting for load influence [4]

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R0 jX 0 are available for setting the residual compensation factors.

Note that { K R , K X } are real numbers and generally k 0 z K R jK X .