Distance Protection Relays

 Types of Distance Protection Relays

There are several types of distance protection relays, including:
1. Impedance (Z) Relays: These relays operate by measuring the impedance between the relay
location and the fault point. They are sensitive to changes in the system's impedance due to fault
conditions and can be classified into the following subtypes:

 Mho (Circle) Relays: These are the most common type of impedance relays. They use a circle
diagram to determine the operating characteristics, which are typically set to protect a specific
line length and configuration.
 Modified Mho Relays: These are variations of the mho relay that include features like offset
mho and quadrilateral characteristics to accommodate specific system conditions.
 Offset Mho Relays: These relays are designed to provide more accurate protection for lines
with significant charging currents by incorporating an offset characteristic.
2. Reactance (X) Relays: Reactance relays measure the reactance of the system impedance rather
than the absolute impedance. They are typically used in systems where the impedance variation
due to fault is predominantly inductive or capacitive.
3. Admittance (Y) Relays: Admittance relays measure the admittance between the relay location and
the fault point. They are mainly used for protection against faults involving parallel branches or
systems with variable loads.

 Working Principal And Uses of Distance Protection Relays:

A distance relay is a type of protection relay most often used for transmission line
protection. Distance relays measure the impedance from the installation side to the fault
location and operates in response to changes in the ratio of measured current and voltage
Distance protection is a type of protection relay that operates on the principle of impedance
measurement to detect and isolate faults in a power system. Here's a point by point
explanation of its working principle:
1. Impedance measurement: Distance protection relays measure the impedance of the
power system using the voltage and current signals at the relaying point. Impedance is the
ratio of voltage to current in a circuit, and it varies depending on the distance between the
relay and the fault.
2. Impedance characteristic: The relay's impedance characteristic is a plot of the measured
impedance versus the distance from the relay. This characteristic is programmed into the
relay and is based on the characteristics of the power system components.
3. Fault detection: When a fault occurs in the power system, the impedance measured by the
relay changes, and the impedance characteristic is used to determine the location of the
fault. The relay compares the measured impedance to the impedance characteristic and
operates if the measured impedance falls outside the characteristic.
4. Zone settings: The impedance characteristic is divided into zones, and the relay is
programmed with zone settings. Each zone represents a distance from the relay, and the
zone settings determine the relay's operating time for faults in that zone. The time delay is
set to allow upstream protection to operate before the distance protection operates.
5. Fault clearing: When the relay operates, it sends a trip signal to the circuit breaker to
isolate the fault. The trip signal is sent after the time delay set by the zone settings has
elapsed. The circuit breaker opens, and the fault is cleared.
In summary, distance protection relays detect faults by measuring the impedance of the
power system and comparing it to a programmed impedance characteristic. The relay
operates if the measured impedance falls outside the characteristic and sends a trip signal
to the circuit breaker to isolate the fault.

 Three step Protection of transmission line

In order to cover a section of the line and to provide back-up protection to remote sections,
three main protection zones are set up with the following criteria .

 Zone 1: this is set to protect between 80% of the line length AB.
 Zone 2: this is set to protect 100% of the line length AB, plus at least 50% of the
shortest adjacent line BC and operates with time delay t2.
 Zone 3: this is set to protect 100% of the two lines AB, BC, plus about 25% of the
third line CD and operates with time delay t3. In the project the starting element will
be the quadrilateral distance measuring element. It is not affected by the arc resistance
and least affected by the power swing. The remaining two elements will be reactance
measuring elements .