1
Superimposed Components Based Sub-cycle
Protection of Transmission Lines
A. P. Apostolov, Senior Member, IEEE, D. Tholomier, S. H. Richards, Member, IEE
Abstract— Requirements for improvements of system stability
and reduction in the effects of shunt type faults in transmission
and bulk systems on sensitive industrial loads result in the
development of protection relays with sub-cycle operating times.
At the same time the relays have to be stable under wide area
disturbance conditions. The paper discusses in detail the concept
of superimposed components and their application for directional
detection, faulted phase selection and power swing detection.
Complex distance characteristics can be used to provide sufficient
resistive reach to cover the expected range of fault arc resistances,
while at the same time are not affected by encroachment of the
load impedance in the distance characteristic. Direct relay-to-
relay communications allow the implementation of high-speed
directional comparison protection.
Index Terms—Protective relaying, Superimposed components,
Impedance characteristic, Directional comparison.
I. INTRODUCTION
Distance relays have been successfully used for many
years as the most common type of protection of transmission
lines. The development of electromechanical and solid state
relays with mho characteristics can be considered as an
important factor in the wide spread acceptance of this type of
protection at different voltage levels all over the world.
Zone 1 of distance relays is used to provide primary high-
speed protection of a significant portion of the transmission
line. Zone 2 is used to cover the rest of the protected line and
provide some backup for the remote end bus. Zone 3 is the
backup protection for all the lines connected to the remote
end bus.
The implementation of distance relays requires
understanding of its operating principles, as well as the factors
that affect the performance of the device under different
abnormal conditions.
The setting of distance relays should ensure that the relay
is not going to operate when not required and will operate
when necessary.
The behavior of distance relays during several recent major
A. P. Apostolov is with AREVA T&D Energy Automation & Information, Los
Angeles, CA 90064 USA (e-mail: alexander.apostolov@areva-td.com).
D. Tholomier is with AREVA T&D Energy Automation & Information,
Levallois, France (e-mail: damien.tholomier@areva-td.com)
S. Richards is with AREVA T&D Energy Automation & Information, Stafford,
UK (e-mail: simon.richards@areva-td.com)
blackouts combined with the significant pressure on utilities
to increase the loading of their transmission systems are the
reasons to look at dynamic loading of transmission lines and
the effects that it has on the commonly used distance relays.
At the same time the characteristics of modern distance
relays are analyzed in order to demonstrate that they can
provide better protection and at the same time are not affected
by dynamic loading conditions.
II. SUPERIMPOSED COMPONENTS AND THEIR CALCULATION IN
NUMERICAL RELAYS
Since the dynamic stability is a function of the loading of
the line and the duration of the fault, the operating time of the
distance relay will affect the level of loading of the protected
line.
When a fault, such as a short circuit, occurs in the electric
power system, it leads to a dynamic transition from the
normal system condition to a fault system condition. The
currents and voltages measured by the relay will change as a
function of the pre-fault system configuration, as well as the
parameters of the fault - fault type, fault location, fault
Prefault Fault
i rly i mem
=
+
Current
ir
= Superimposed
resistance, etc.
Fig. 1. Superimposed components calculation
The superposition theorem is one of the fundamental tools
in circuit analysis. It is typically used to find the solution to
networks with multiple sources. It’s main advantage is that it
does not require the use of complicated mathematical
operations to calculate the currents and voltages in any
location of the power system.
 2

Under the superposition theorem each source and it’s effect
is considered independently. Then the results are summed to
determine a particular unknown quantity.
The current measured by a protective relay at a certain
location of the power system will be the sum of the currents
produced independently by each of the sources in the system.
When a fault occurs in the power system, the superposition
theorem allows us to consider the currents and voltages
measured by the relay as the sum of all sources in the power
system and a fictitious source at the fault location.
A fictitious source voltage is equal in magnitude and
opposite in polarity to the pre-fault voltage at the fault
location. This fictitious source is applied to the system at the
fault inception time zero. It results in changes in the
magnitude and phase angle of the currents and voltages
measured at the relay location ∆ir(t) and ∆vr(t).
The changes in the currents and voltages measured are
directly related to the fault. In general, ∆ir(t) and ∆vr(t) can be
considered as containing two components - a steady-state
component and a transient component. However, directly
after the fault inception the transient is the prevailing
component.
Superimposed components can be used for system analysis
if the fault system condition is caused by a single event (the
fault inception) and no other simultaneous event has occurred.
In this case the faulted network state can be considered as the
result of the superposition of the pre-fault and the fault
generated quantities (see Fig. 1):
buffer is a function of the sampling rate of the relay, for
example if the sampling rate is 24 samples/cycle, the buffer
will contain 48 samples.
Gp(t) = G(t-T)+( G(t-T)- G(t-2T)) (3)
Gp(t) = 2.G(t-T) - G(t-2T) (4)
∆G(t) = G(t)- Gp(t) (5)
where
G(t) current or voltage sample at time (t)
G(t-T) current or voltage sample one cycle prior to (t)
G(t-2T) current or voltage sample two cycles prior to (t)
Gp(t) predicted value at time(t)
∆G(t) superimposed component of current or voltage at
time (t)
An advantage of the above method for calculation is that it
provides a good estimate of the predicted sample value based
on two pre-fault samples. However, the predicted values can
be accurately calculated for only one cycle after the fault
inception. After that G(t-T) will be affected by the fault, i.e.
the predicted value will not be accurate, and so the
sumperimposed component will not be accurate as well.
Considering the fact that the relay will make a decision and
issue a Trip signal based on one cycle of data, this is not a
problem.

∆UA = UAf - UApf (1)

∆IA = IAf - IApf (2)

where:
IApf pre-fault current at relay location (substation A)
UApf - pre-fault voltage at relay location (substation A)
IAf - fault current at relay location (substation A)
UAf - fault voltage at relay location (substation A)
∆IA - fault generated current at relay location
∆UA - fault generated voltage at relay location
The use of superimposed components in protective relays
for faulted phase selection, power swing and directional
detection provides numerous benefits based on the fact that it
is directly related to the fault. It eliminates the effect of heavy
load pre-fault conditions on faulted phase selection and
Fig. 2 Method using two pre-fault samples to calculate predicted sample value
directional determination.
The calculation of the superimposed components of the
If the superimposed components have to be calculated
phase currents and voltages is based on the latest samples
accurately for more than one cycle, the calculation can be
measured and samples stored in the memory of the relay (see
based on a single sample taken two cycles before the
Fig. 2). There are different approaches to the derivation of the
predicted sample, i.e.
superimposed components.
The general aim is to estimate what the expected no-fault
Gp(t) = G(t-2T) (6)
current or voltage sample should be at this moment and then
subtract that from the latest sample captured.
One method [2,3] is to use two samples, captured one and It the relay has a two cycles buffer, the superimposed
two cycles earlier than the last sample captured by the relay at components will be accurately calculated for two cycles after
the same angle on the wave form to predict the expected non- the fault inception.
fault sample value at time (t). This requires the relay to have a
buffer that holds two cycles of samples. The size of this

The validity of superimposed components is confirmed
based on several criteria monitored by a Sound Network
Monitoring Algorithm:
• the line is not opened
• pre-fault quantities have a linear characteristic
• pre-fault quantities are within a specified range
• the unbalance in the circuit is not significant
• no power swing condition is detected
• the pre-fault impedance measured by the relay is outside
of the operating characteristic
Once the superimposed components of the currents and
voltages have been calculated, the relay can run in parallel the
different applications based on these quantities:
• Faulted phase selection
• Directional detection
• Power swing detection
III. FAULTED PHASE SELECTION
Faulted phase selection is an important function in
transmission line protection relays. It is necessary to ensure
that the right mho or quadrilateral elements are allowed to
decide whether to trip according to the fault type.
Phase selection avoids the operation of protection elements
on unfaulted phases from tripping. Some examples are:
• “A” phase fault presents a “ghost” impedance on phases
B and C due to all elements relying on residual current in the
fault loop calculation. Operating on the wrong phase risks a
single pole trip being converted wrongly to a 3 phase trip, or
worse a forward trip for a reverse fault.
• As voltage collapses for a single-phase-to-ground fault,
this also collapses certain phase-phase voltages (eg A-phase
fault reduces also Vab and Vca). With heavy remaining load,
this can also result in a three-phase trip.
• In 3-pole tripping applications a bad phase selection
might mean wrong fault targets or fault report.
No
Change!
AB
Change!
BC
Change!
CA
Ground Fault,
1 Cycle 1 Cycle Phase C
Comparison Comparison
Fig. 3 Superimposed components based faulted phase selection
Since the superimposed components are directly related to
the changes in system parameters caused by the fault, faulted
3
phase selection can be based on superimposed quantities. One
method is to use the superimposed components of the three
phase-to-phase currents.
Figure 3 shows the changes in two of the phase-to-phase
currents (IBC and ICA) for a phase C-G fault. This fault
produces the same superimposed component in the BC and
CA currents and zero in the AB current.
In the case of a phase-to-phase or two-phase-to-ground
fault one of the phase-to-phase superimposed currents will be
greater than the other two, while for a three-phase fault all
three superimposed components will be similar.
If the faulted phase selection is required to be maintained
for time longer than the two-cycle buffer, the pre-fault
samples from the buffer can be "recycled" and reused.
Fault
PH1
PH2
Fig. 4 Operation of superimposed components based faulted phase selectors
Two phase selectors can be implemented for each phase-to-
phase loop. The first (PH1) is the just described method
comparing the last sample with one taken two cycles earlier. It
will reset (see Figure 4) after two cycles, because then it will
be comparing two samples taken under fault conditions. The
second (PH2) remains picked-up because it uses for the
calculation of the superimposed components pre-fault data
stored in the relay memory.
One of the big advantages of the superimposed components
based faulted phase selection method is that it does not
require any settings and is not significantly affected by the
magnitude of the pre-fault load current. It also works very
well under evolving fault conditions.
IV. DIRECTIONAL DETECTION
Conventional directional detection methods are based on
the changes in the phase relationship between a measured
phasor and a reference (polarizing) phasor. This approach has
been applied successfully for many years. However, because
of extensive filtering requirements in order to obtain correct
measurement, it is not applicable when very high speed fault
clearing is required, as is the case with the distributed bus
protection application. Alternative solutions for ultra high
speed directional detection based on the transient response of
the power system when a fault occurs have been considered

for more than twenty years and successfully implemented in
several generations of protective relays.
The directional wave detector relay was first introduced
and implemented in a directional comparison communication
based scheme. The directional wave detectors operate when a
sudden change in both the current and voltage signals
measured by the relay occurs. The so called “Traveling Wave
Approach” was based on the comparison of polarity between
∆i and ∆v directly after the fault that yields the direction of
the motion of the first traveling wave.
Fig. 5 ∆i and ∆v measured by the superimposed components based directional
element for a forward and reverse fault
A further development of this principle is used in a digital
directional comparison protection relay [1].
Both relays use the superimposed components principle
which is discussed in more detail in the next section of the
paper. Figure 1 shows the ∆i and ∆v measured by the relay for
a forward and reverse fault.
The forward direction for the relay is considered to be from
the bus into the line. It can be seen from the figures that for a
forward fault the ∆i and ∆v have different polarity. This is due
to the fact that the transient current and voltage waves
traveling from the fault location towards the system cause
changes with different polarity in the currents and voltages at
the relay location.
For a reverse fault the changes of the currents and voltages
measured by the relay have the same polarity.
The next step in the development of directional detection
methods based on the transient phenomena in the power
4
system when a fault occurs is the transient energy method,
that is the subject of this paper.
The high-speed detection of the direction of the fault is a
very important factor to be considered during the evaluation
of the distributed bus protection system.
Typically the directional element in a multifunctional
protective relay is based on the phase relationship between
phase or sequence currents and selected polarizing quantities,
such as zero sequence currents or zero and negative sequence
voltages.
However, changing system configuration may affect the
polarizing quantities used for directional determination and
result in relay misoperation. For example, if the directional
element is negative sequence voltage polarized and the source
behind the relay has low negative sequence impedance, the
measured negative sequence voltage at the relay location can
be very low.
As discussed earlier in the paper, superimposed currents
and voltages that are directly related to the fault may also be
used with great success to determine the direction of the fault.
A further development of the method based on the sign of
the ratio of ∆i and ∆v is to use the product of ∆i and ∆v , i.e.
the transient power or even further integrate this transient
power over certain period of time directly after the fault
inception to derive the transient energy.
The direction of the transient energy is based on the three
phase products of the superimposed phase currents and
voltages. The direction of the fault is determined by the sign
of the transient energy caused by the inception of the fault,
given by
S = ∫ U.I dt (7)
The three phase energy transition is given by
S = ∫ (∆Ua. ∆Ia +∆Ub. ∆Ib +∆Uc. ∆Ic )dt (8)
which is calculated in the relay as
S = Σ (∆Uai. ∆Iai +∆Ubi. ∆Ibi +∆Uci. ∆Ici ) (9)
Based on the earlier discussions on the effect of the
fictitious source at the fault location on the changes of the
phase currents and voltages measured at the relay location we
can conclude that it is always negative for forward faults and
positive for reverse faults.
This method allows accurate directional detection under
varying system conditions and is not affected by series
compensated transmission lines or mutual coupling.
Therefore, it reduces the probability of relay misoperation and
provides a very fast (between ¼ to ½ of a cycle) and reliable
directional decision that can be used by a distributed bus
protection system.
The transient energy directional detection method has been
successfully implemented in numerical transmission line
protection relays.
Another directional detection superimposed components
based method looks at the fact that for a forward fault ∆v at

the relay location gives the voltage drop across the source
impedance due to the ∆i fault current flow. Analysis of Fig. 5
shows that ∆i will be approximately in anti-phase with the
source impedance angle.
For a reverse fault ∆v at the relay location gives the voltage
drop across the transmission line and the remote end source
impedance due to the ∆i fault current flow. In this case ∆i will
be approximately in phase with the angle of the total line +
remote end source impedance angle.
∠-
(Zs’+ZL)
∆V ∆V ∆I
∆I - ∆V Reverse fault
∠-Zs
Forward fault
Fig. 6 ∆i and ∆v phase relationship for a forward and reverse fault
V. POWER SWING DETECTION
Power swing detection is another important transmission
line protection function. It can be used successfully either to
block distance protection elements in order to prevent them
from tripping the protected line during power swings, or to
issue a trip command to separate two systems and limit the
spread of a wide area disturbance.
Power swing detection in conventional relays is based on
the detection of the impedance crossing of a band surrounding
the distance trip characteristic. It is clear that the time when
the relay will detect the power swing will depend on the size
and shape of the distance trip characteristic, as well as on the
specifics of the system disturbance.
Locus of power
swing
∆I
Load area
Fig. 7 Impedance based power swing detection
The superimposed components offer an advanced
alternative to the distance methods for power swing detection.
This approach is based on the fact that a power swing will
5
result in continuous change of current that will be seen as
continuous output from the relay superimposed current
elements PH1 and PH2 described earlier in the faulted phase
selection part of the paper and Figure 4.
This method offers some significant advantages, such as:
• Will detect all power swings whether fast or slow, and
ensure correct blocking of zones.
• Detects, and remains stable for 3 and 2 phase swings -
the latter is especially important for the resulting 2 phase
swing during single pole autoreclose.
• Using this method the relay is able to operate for faults
occurring during a power swing
Power Fault
swing
2.5 cycles
PH1
PSB active PSB removed
PH2
Fig. 8 Superimposed components elements operation during power swing
For a power swing condition there will be a continual
output from PH1. While during a fault PH1 will remain
picked-up for 2 cycles, during a power swing it will remain
picked-up for the duration of the swing. If this state exceeds
2.5 cycles and no distance comparator has operated then the
power swing detection can be activated. Several actions
follow the operation of the power swing detector::
• All distance elements and zones selected by the user
during the relay setting process are blocked
• A power swing blocking alarm will be issued if a
distance element detects that the swing impedance entered
the tripping zone
• The minimum threshold used by PH2 is increased to
twice the maximum superimposed current prevailing during
the swing. As a result, PH2 will reset at this moment (as
seen in Figure 8.)
It is important to mention that depending on the location of
the protective relay in the power system the detection of a
power swing may also be used to issue a trip signal to separate
two parts of the system.
The change of the threshold and the following reset of this
phase selector element allows it to be used to detect a fault
that occurs during the power swing.
An unbalanced fault will cause a step change in the
superimposed components of the currents in the faulted
phases. The phase selector will change and unblock some of
the distance elements to allow a trip (see Figure 9). In order to
improve stability for external faults that occur during a power
swing, the blocking is removed only from zones that start

within two cycles of the detection of a fault. The zones that
have the power swing impedance inside their characteristic
before a significant change in the superimposed current was
detected will remain blocked.
When the power swing is over, the phase selectors will
reset and the relay will return to its normal operating
condition.
Continuous ∆I Fault
During Swing Inception
Exaggerated
RMS Delta
Unblock
Fig. 9 Fault detection during a power swing
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Superimposed components have proven to be a very
powerful tool that allows the development of advanced faulted
phase selection, directional detection and power swing
detection methods.
The use of two cycles of pre-fault samples and their further
"recycling" allows the accurate calculation of the
superimposed components for different periods of time after a
fault inception.
The superimposed components based methods described in
the paper are very efficient in the sense that they are very fast,
while at the same time they do not require any configuration
by the user.
High-speed directional detection methods described in the
paper can be combined with direct digital relay-to-relay
communications to implement fast directional comparison
transmission line protection schemes.
The superimposed components based power swing
detection also allows a faster detection of such condition. It
can be used to block protection elements from tripping, and at
the same time can be used to separate two parts of a system
affected by a wide area disturbance. This method also allows
the detection and successful clearing of a fault that occurs
during a power swing.
VII. REFERENCES
[1] Experience with Directional Comparison Protection for Series
Compensated Transmission Lines, D. Tziouvaras, A. Apostolov, Western
Protective Relaying Conference, Spokane, Washington, October 1998
[2] Advanced Methods for Faulted Phase Selection and Directional Detection
in Numerical Distance Relays, A. Apostolov, C. Duffy, D. Tholomier,
6
Fifty – Second Annual Conference for Protective Relay Engineers, College
Station, Texas, March 1999
[3] Implementation of a Transient Energy Method for Directional Detection in
Numerical Distance Relays, A. Apostolov, IEEE PES Transmission and
Distribution Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1999
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Alexander Apostolov received MS degree in Electrical
Engineering, MS in Applied Mathematics and Ph.D.
from the Technical University in Sofia, Bulgaria. He has
worked for fourteen years in the Protection &Control
Section of Energoproject Research and Design Institute,
Sofia, Bulgaria.
From 1990-94 he was Lead Engineer in the Protection
Engineering Group, New York State Electric & Gas
where he worked on the protection of the six-phase line,
application of microprocessor relays, programmable
logic and artificial intelligence in protection. 1994-95 he was Manager of Relay
Applications Engineering at Rochester - Integrated Systems Division. 1995-96 he
was Principal Engineer at Tasnet.
He is presently Principal Engineer for AREVA (formerly ALSTOM) T&D EAI in
Los Angeles, CA. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and Member of the Power
Systems Relaying Committee and Substations C0 Subcommittee. He is Vice-
Chairman of the Relay Communications Subcommittee, serves on several IEEE PES
Working Groups and is Chairman of Working Group C3: New Technology Related
to Power Systems Protection and Working Group C9: Guide for Abnormal
Frequency Load Shedding and Restoration.
He is member of IEC TC57 and CIGRE WG 34.01.He is Chairman of the Technical
Publications Subcommittee of the UCA International Users Group. He holds three
patents and has authored and presented more than 140 technical papers.
Damien Tholomier received a BEng in Electrical and
Automation Engineering in 1992 from the University of
Marseilles, France (Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire
de Marseille). Damien joined ALSTOM T&D GmbH in
Stuttgart, Germany where he worked for 5 years in the
Protection & Control department as Power System
Application Engineer.
In 1997 Damien moved as Marketing Manager High
Voltage Protection Business Unit with Alstom T&D
Protection & Control in Lattes, France where he worked
on full scheme distance protection algorithms.
From 1999-2001 he was Sales & Service Director for Mediterranean Countries
and Africa.
Since 2002 he is Marketing Protection Relays Director for ALSTOM T&D EAI
where he worked on new busbar relay (application of universal topology and CT
saturation detection algorithms).
Simon Richards is the UK-based Marketing Director
for Protection Products from AREVA. AREVA has
recently acquired the Transmission and Distribution
businesses of ALSTOM. Protection Products are a
part of AREVA’s Energy Automation and Information
activity, and the author is based in Stafford, UK. He
has a B.Eng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering from the University of Bath, and is a
Chartered Engineer, and MIEE. Previously a 25kV
electrification Distribution Engineer for the 500km
West Coast Main Line railway between London and Scotland, Simon also held a
number of protection applications engineering positions within ALSTOM prior
to his current role. The Marketing function provides technical support to Sales
and Service teams worldwide, and investigates opportunities for new product
developments.