ELECTRICAL PROTECTION 4B (EPR420S)

UNIT PROTECTION OF FEEDERS

Penti Paulus

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 1. INTRODUCTION
• The time- and current-graded over-current systems, though
pleasantly simple in principle, do not meet all the protection
requirements of a power system.

• Application difficulties are encountered for two reasons:

i. satisfactory grading cannot always be arranged for a complex
network, and
ii. The settings may lead to maximum tripping times, at points in
the system, that are too long to prevent excessive disturbances
occurring.
These problems led to the concept of 'Unit Protection', whereby
sections of the power system are protected individually as a complete
unit without reference to other sections.

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 INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
• In most cases a unit protection system involves the (i) measurement of fault
currents (and possibly voltages) at each end of the zone, and the (ii)
transmission of information between the equipment at zone boundaries.
• One form of ‘Unit Protection’ is known as ‘Differential Protection’.

The principle is to sense the difference in currents between the incoming and
outgoing terminals of the unit being protected.

• Most systems of unit protection function through the determination of the

relative direction of the fault current.

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 2. CONVENTION OF DIRECTION
• This direction can only be expressed on a comparative basis, and such a
comparative measurement is the common factor of many systems, including
directional comparison protection and distance tele-protection schemes
with directional impedance measurement.

• The direction measured from a bus-bar outwards along a feeder is taken

as positive.

• Hence the notation of current flow shown in Figure 2.1.; the section GH carries
a through current which is counted positive at G but negative at H, while the
in- feeds to the faulted section HJ are both positive.

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 CONVENTION OF DIRECTION (CONT.)

Figure 2.1.Convention of current direction

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 3. CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM
• The principle of this system is shown Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Circulating current system

(no fault or external fault)
(Principle of current differential unit system)
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CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)

Figure 3.2: Circulating current system (in-zone/internal fault)

(Principle of current differential unit system)
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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)
• This system is based on the ‘principle of current differential unit
systems’.

• In this arrangement an auxiliary ‘pilot’ circuit interconnects similar current

transformers at each end of the protected zone.
• Current transmitted through the zone causes secondary current to circulate
round the pilot circuit without producing any current in the relay.

• For a fault within the protected zone the CT secondary currents will not
balance, compared with the through- fault condition, and the difference
between the currents will flow in the relay.

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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)
• If the current transformers are ideal, the functioning of the system
is straight forward.
3.1. The circulating-current principle applied to a
system element having several connections.

• Consider Figure 3.3, for example, in which three connections are

involved.
• It is only necessary, as before, that all the CT’s have the same
ratio, and that they be connected so that the relay receives no
current when the total current leaving the circuit element is
equal vectorially to the total current entering the circuit
element.
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The circulating-current principle applied to a system element
having several connections.

Figure 3.3: A three-terminal current-differential application10

 The circulating-current principle applied to a system
element having several connections.

• The principle can still be applied where a power transformer is involved, but, in
this case, the ratios and connections of the CT’s on opposite sides of the power
transformer must be such as to compensate for the magnitude and phase-angle
change between the power transformer currents on either side.

3.2. The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay

• This is essentially the same as the over-current type of current-balance relay, but
it is connected in a differential circuit, as shown in Figure 3.4.

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 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay(cont.)

Figure 3.4: A percentage-differential relay in a two-terminal circuit. 12

 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)

• The differential current required to operate this relay is a variable

quantity, owing to the effect of the restraining coil.
• The differential current in the operating coil is
proportional to I1 – I2.
• The equivalent current in the restraining coil is proportional to
(I1 + I2)/2, since the operating coil is connected to the mid
point of the restraining coil.
• In other words, if we let ‘N’ be the number of turns on the restraining
coil, the total ampere-turns are I1N/2 + I2N/2, which is the same as if
(I1 + I2)/2 were to flow through the whole coil.
• The operating characteristic of such a relay is shown in Figure 3.5.
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The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)

Figure 3.5: Operating characteristic of a percentage-differential relay.

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 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)
• Thus, except for the slight effect of the control spring at low currents, the ratio of
the differential operating current to the average restraining current is a fixed
percentage, which explains the name of this relay. i.e. Iop/Ires = K (fixed).
• The advantage of this relay is that it is less likely to operate incorrectly than a
differentially connected over- current relay when a short circuit occurs external
to the protected zone.
• Since the percentage-differential relay has a rising pick- up characteristic as the
magnitude of through current increases, the relay is restrained against operating
improperly.

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 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)
• Figure 3.6 shows the comparison of a simple over-current relay with a
percentage-differential relay under such conditions.
• An over-current relay having the same minimum pick-up as a
percentage-differential relay would operate undesirably when the
differential current barely exceeded the value X, whereas there would
be no tendency for the percentage differential relay to operate

• Percentage-differential relays can be applied to system elements

having more than two terminals, as three-terminal application of
Figure 3.7. 16
 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)

Figure 3.6: Illustrating the value of the percentage-differential characteristic. 17

 The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)

• Each of the three restraining coils of Figure 3.7 has the same
number of turns, and each coil produces restraining torque
independently of the others and their torques are added
arithmetically.
• The percent-slope characteristic for such a relay will vary with the
distribution of currents among the three restraining coils.

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The ‘Percentage Differential’ Type of Relay (cont.)

Figure 3.7: Three-terminal application of a percentage differential relay.

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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)
3.3.CT Errors

The current and voltage transformers will have errors arising from both

(i) Wattmetric and

(ii) Magnetising current losses

that cause deviation from the ideal, and the interconnections between them
may have (iii) Unequal impedances.
• This can give rise to a ‘spill’ current through the relay even without a fault
being present, thus limiting the sensitivity that can be obtained. See Figure
3.8.
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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)

Figure 3.8: Equivalent circuit of circulating current scheme

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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)

3.4.Transient Instability

• An asymmetrical current applied to a current transformer will induce a flux

that is greater than the peak flux corresponding to the steady state alternating
component of the current.
• It may take the CT into saturation, with the result that the dynamic exciting
impedance is reduced and the exciting current greatly increased.
• When the balancing current transformers of a unit protection system differ in
excitation characteristics, or have unequal burdens, the transient flux build-
ups will differ and an increased 'spill' current will result.
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 Transient Instability (cont.)

• There is a consequent risk of relay operation on a healthy

circuit under transient conditions, which is clearly
unacceptable.
• One solution is to include a stabilising resistor in series with
the relay.
• Details of how to calculate the value of the stabilizing resistor
are usually included in the instruction manuals of all relays
that require one.
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 CIRCULATING CURRENT SYSTEM (CONT.)
3.5. Bias

• The 'spill' current in the relay arising from the various sources of error,
mentioned in 3.3 and 3.4, is dependent on the magnitude of the through
current, being negligible at low values of through-fault current but sometimes
reaching a disproportionately large value for more severe faults.
• Setting the operating threshold of the protection above the maximum level of
spill current produces poor sensitivity.

• By making the differential setting approximately proportional to the fault

current, the low level fault sensitivity is greatly improved.

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 Bias (cont.)
• Figure 3.9 illustrates a typical bias characteristic for a modern relay that
overcomes the problem.
• At low currents, the bias is small, thus enabling the relay to be made
sensitive.
• At higher currents, such as would be obtained from inrush or through fault
conditions, the bias used is higher, and thus the spill current required to cause
operation is higher.
• The relay is therefore more tolerant of spill current at higher fault currents and
therefore less likely to mal- operate, while still being sensitive at lower current
levels.
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 Bias (cont.)

Figure 3.9. Typical bias characteristic of a modern differential

relay. 26
 4. BALANCED VOLTAGE SYSTEM

• For new installations the balanced voltage system has been almost completely
superseded by circulating current schemes.
• It is the dual of the circulating current protection,
• The system is shown in figure 4.1

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 4. BALANCED VOLTAGE SYSTEM

Figure 4.1. Balanced voltage system

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 BALANCED VOLTAGE SYSTEM (CONT.)

• In the balanced voltage system the CT secondary windings are

opposed for through-fault conditions so that no current flows in the
series connected relays.
• With primary through current, the secondary e.m.f.’s of the current
transformers are opposed, and provide no current in the
interconnecting pilot leads or the series connected relays.
• An in-zone fault leads to a circulating current condition in the CT
secondaries and hence to relay operation.
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 BALANCED VOLTAGE SYSTEM (CONT.)
• An immediate consequence of the arrangement is that the
current transformers are in effect open-circuited, as no
secondary current flows for any primary through current
conditions:
i. excessive saturation of the core and
ii. waveform distortion in the secondary winding.
• To overcome the above two effects, the core is provided with
non-magnetic gaps sufficient to absorb the whole primary
m.m.f. at the maximum current level, the flux density
remaining within the linear range.
• The secondary winding therefore develops an e.m.f. and can
be regarded as a voltage source.

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 5. PILOT-WIRE RELAYS

• For the protection of power lines, applications of simplified circuits such as that shown in Figure 3.1 are not
practical as the length of protected section of line may constitute tens of kilometers.

• In such cases instead of one relay, two relays (Figure 5.1) are used, each affecting a power circuit-breaker
which is nearest to it.

• Pilot wires between the relays have high resistance exceeding by ten-fold acceptable bounds for the load of
even the most powerful CTs. For instance, for a length of 10 km, the resistance of a pilot copper wire with a
section of 1.5 sq.mm is 130 Ω, while the permissible load for CT‘s is 1 to 2 Ω.

• This difficulty can be overcome with the help of auxiliary CT‘s, CT1-1 and CT2-1 (Figure 5.2).

• The use of the second relay connected parallel (according to Figures 5.1 and 5.2) causes considerable
changes in the conditions of the operation of the protection.

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)

Figure 5.1. A Scheme of longitudinal differential protection with two

relays, installed on both ends of the line (relays connected
in parallel with the CT‘s).

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)

Figure 5.2. Application of auxiliary CTs (CT1–1 and CT2–1) for

reduction of the load of the main CTs (CT1 and CT2).

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)
• Current applied from each of the CT‘s to each of the relays is distributed in
inverse proportion to the resistance of their circuits.
• The circuit of the remote‘‘ relay (for CT1, the remote‘‘ relay is Relay 2 and for
CT2 - Relay 1) includes pilot wires with high resistance, which is why current
received at the remote‘‘ relay is less than current received at the local relay.
• As a result, the currents applied to the relays will be unbalanced even if perfect
(ideal) CT‘s are used.
• Every protection of this kind, depending on its sensitivity, has a maximum
allowable impedance for the pilot wires.
• If this impedance is exceeded, the protection will not operate properly.
• However, even if the impedance of the pilot wires were zero, each of the parallel
connected relays will receive only half of the current, which is why the sensitivity
of such a protection scheme decreases.

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)
• Due to the difficulties encountered in the application of the circulating-current principle for the
protection of long power lines, the balanced-voltage principle was used (Figure 5.3).

• In normal conditions in the circuit with the balanced-voltage system, the total impedance of the series
circuit turns out to be very high, and the voltages induced in the secondary windings of the CT‘s are
mutually compensated (balanced), therefore, there will be no current in this series circuit (or in the
windings of the relays).

• This absence of current in the circuit and also in the pilot wires in the normal operating conditions is a
great advantage of the balanced- voltage system in comparison with the balanced-current system, as
it reduces the requirements for pilot wires and eliminates the limitations on the size of the protected
area.

• However, owing to the fact that a demagnetising flux does not exist in the CT‘s, the entire current-
transformer primary current is a magnetising current.
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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)

Figure 5.3. A basic scheme of differential protection based on a

balanced-voltage system (relays connected in series with
the CT‘s).

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)

• Standard CT‘s are not suited to such operating conditions, as they

will then be operated close to an open-circuited secondary condition.

• For these cases, incorporated in the scheme are auxiliary CT‘s that have
their primaries connected in the main current-transformer secondary
circuit (providing normal operating conditions for the main CT‘s).

• These auxiliary CT‘s are designed for continuous open circuited

secondary operation (this is done by creating air-gaps‘ or paths of high
reluctance within the CT‘s).
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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)
Applications of the Balanced-Voltage Scheme to Three-phase Circuits:

• For three-phase circuits, summation transformers‘ are used (Figure5.4).

• A summation transformer has low-resistance primary windings (I-III), a high-resistance

secondary winding (IV) (to minimize spurious currents), and a core with an air-gap providing a
linear characteristic.

• A transformer with an air-gap is also called a transactor‘ (transformer‘ and reactor‘).

• The number of turns of the primary windings is taken in the following proportion: I : II : III = 1 : 1 : 3

• If the number of turns between the outlets of phases R–S and S–T is the same, the number of turns
between the outlets of phases R-T will be doubled.

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)
• This causes unequal sensitivity of protection to different combinations of damaged phases
when a short-circuit occurs.

Figure 5.4. Summation transformer for a feeder differential protection

scheme.
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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)
Biased Electro-mechanical Balanced-Voltage system – Translay
• In some cases, this type of summation transformer is made as a part of the
magnetic electro-mechanical balanced-voltage system.
• This electro-mechanical design derives its balancing voltages from the
transactors‘ incorporated in the measuring relay at each line end.
• The latter are based on an induction-type meter electro-magnet as shown
in Figure 5.5a.
• The upper magnet carries a summation winding to receive the output of the
CT’s and also a secondary winding which delivers the reference electro-
magnetic force.
• The secondary windings of the conjugate relays are interconnected, as a
balanced-voltage system over the pilot channel, the lower electro-magnets of
both relays being included in this circuit.
• Figure 5.5b is a simplified diagram illustrating the principle of operation
of the scheme. 40
 Biased Electro-mechanical
Balanced-Voltage system - Translay (cont.)

Figure 5.5a: Circuit of the three-phase induction relay of HO4 type for the
balanced-voltage longitudinal differential protection system
(GEC Measurements, now ALSTOM).
1- Summation winding; 2 - secondary winding; 3 - bias loop; 4 - pilot wires.
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 Biased Electro-mechanical
Balanced-Voltage system - Translay

Figure 5.5b: Simplified connections illustrating principle of operation

(single-phase equivalent).
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 Biased Electro-mechanical
Balanced-Voltage system - Translay
• Whilst the feeder is healthy, the line CT‘s at each end carry equal currents. Equal and opposite
voltages are induced in the secondary windings 12 and 12a and no current flows in the pilots.
• No magnetic flux is set up in the bottom magnets 16 and 16a so the relays do not operate.
• Under heavy through-fault conditions there may be a small circulating current due to line
CT mis-match.
• A reverse restraint torque is produced by bias loop 18, which also stabilizes the relay
against pilot capacitance currents. This torque is proportional to the square of the upper
coil’s magnetic flux.
• A fault fed from one end causes current to circulate in the pilots and the relay at that end will
operate to trip.
• A fault fed from both ends will cause a current reversal in the remote CT‘s, making the circulating
current additive so that both ends operate to trip.

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 PILOT-WIRE RELAYS (CONT.)

• The pilot links between relays have been treated as an auxiliary wire circuit that interconnects
relays at the boundaries of the protected zone.

• In many circumstances, such as the protection of long transmission lines or where the route
involves installation difficulties, it is too expensive to provide an auxiliary cable circuit for this
purpose, and other means are sought.

• The solution was to use the main line conductors as the inter- connecting conductors of a
longitudinal differential protection.

• The need for special inter-connecting conductors (cables) then disappears and it hence
becomes possible to set up a longitudinal differential protection on lines of any length.

• This is the basis of what are called carrier-current protections‘ or Power Line Carrier
Channel/Communications (PLCC)‘ For Carrier Unit Protection Schemes.
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 6. CARRIER UNIT PROTECTION SCHEMES
6.1. Power Line Carrier Channel (PLCC)
• To make the transmission of commercial-frequency load-current possible and at the same time use
the main line wires as the inter- connecting conductors of the differential protection, it is necessary
to use a current of higher frequency in order to transmit current impulses from one end of the
line to the other.

• For this purpose, it is usual to employ auxiliary current having a frequency of 50 kHz to 150 kHz,
generated by a special high- frequency transmitter and received at the other line end by a high-
frequency receiver.

• The protected power line must then be accordingly equipped to handle the high frequency current
within its confines, this equipment comprises high-frequency traps (HFT), inter-posed in the line
conductors at both ends of the protected line, and coupling filters (capacitors) (Fig. 6.1).

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CARRIER UNIT PROTECTION SCHEMES

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 CARRIER UNIT PROTECTION SCHEMES

Power Line Carrier Channel (PLCC) (cont.)

• The HFT (filter) is an Inductor-Capacitor (LC) circuit tuned to resonance at high frequency.

• It hence presents high reactance to the high-frequency carrier current, but relatively low reactance to the
power-frequency current.

• The high-voltage coupling capacitor connects the high- frequency receiver–transmitter to one
of the line conductors and simultaneously serves to isolate the receiver–transmitter from the
high power-line voltage.

• It presents a relatively low reactance to the high frequency and a high reactance to the power-
frequency.

• Carrier systems are generally insensitive to induced power system currents since the systems are
designed to operate at much higher frequencies, but each medium may be subjected to noise at the
carrier frequencies that may interfere with its correct operation. 47
 CARRIER UNIT PROTECTION SCHEMES

Advantages of Power Line Carrier Channel (PLCC)

• The advantages generally associated with the use of the power line as the communication medium
apply namely, that a power line provides a robust, reliable, and low-loss interconnection between
the relaying points.
• In addition dedicated 'on/off' signaling is particularly suited for use in phase comparison blocking
mode schemes (see section 6.2) , as signal attenuation is not a problem.
• This is in contrast to permissive or direct tripping schemes, where high power output or boosting is
required to overcome the extra attenuation due to the fault.
• The noise immunity is also very good, making the scheme very reliable.
• Signal propagation delay is easily allowed for in the stability angle setting, making the scheme very
sensitive as well.

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 CARRIER UNIT PROTECTION SCHEMES

Disadvantages of Power Line Carrier Channel (PLCC)

• PLCC is subject to high impulse noise associated with lightning, faults, switching or other arcing
phenomena.
Carrier Frequency Coupling

• There are a number of ways of coupling the carrier frequency signal to one or more of the conductors
of the transmission line.

• The simplest, and most common, on high-voltage (HV) transmission lines is to use one phase of the
power line with ground as the return path.

• This system, commonly called 'line-to-ground', 'phase-to-ground' or 'single-phase' coupling,

requires less coupling capacitors and tuners and wave traps.

• The return path is usually the overhead ground wire although the ground itself can be used, with
accompanying higher attenuation. 49
 Carrier Frequency Coupling
• Coupling between any two phases of the transmission line is an alternative, referred to as 'phase-to-
phase' or 'line-to-line' coupling when the coupling is on the same three-phase transmission line, or
'inter-phase' coupling when the coupling is between adjacent lines on the same tower.

• Phase-to-phase coupling appears to have an advantage in that a ground on one of the phases
would not affect the communication signal as it would seem to do with phase-to-ground coupling.

• Actually, however, there is enough electrostatic and electro- magnetic coupling between the
conductors to transfer enough energy around the ground to maintain a useful signal.

• The preferred method for EHV lines is to couple to all three phases.

• The three modes of coupling, in decreasing order of attenuation and increasing order of reliability
and cost, are phase-to-ground coupling using the center phase, phase-to-phase coupling between
the outside phases and coupling to all three phases.

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