MODULE 2

TIME-CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Definite-time Overcurrent Relay: A definite-time overcurrent relay operates after a predetermined
time when the current exceeds its pick-up value. Curve (a) of Fig. 5.1 shows the time-current
characteristic for this type of relay. The operating time is constant, irrespective of the magnitude
of the current above the pick-up value. The desired definite operating time can be set with the
help of an intentional time-delay mechanism provided in the relaying unit.

2. Instantaneous Overcurrent Relay:

An instantaneous relay operates in a definite time when the current exceeds its pick-up value. The
operating time is constant, irrespective of the magnitude of the current, as shown by the curve (a)
of Fig. 5.1. There is no intentional time-delay. It operates 222 Power System Protection and
Switchgear in 0.1s or less. Sometimes the term like “high set” or “high speed” is used for very
fast relays having operating times less than 0.1s
3. Inverse-time Over- current Relay :
An inverse-time overcurrent relay operates when the current exceeds its pick-up value. The
operating time depends on the magnitude of the operating current. The operating time decreases
as the current increases. Curve (b) of Fig. 5.1 shows the inverse time-current characteristic of this
types of relays
4. Inverse De inite Minimum Time Overcurrent (I.D.M.T) Relay:
This type of a relay gives an inverse-time current characteristic at lower values of the fault current
and definite-time characteristic at higher values of the fault current. Generally, an inverse-time
characteristic is obtained if the value of the plug setting multiplier is below 10. For values of plug
setting multiplier between 10 and 20, the characteristic tends to become a straight line, i.e.
towards the definite time characteristic. Figure 5.2 shows the characteristic of an I.D.M.T. relay
along with other characteristics. I.D.M.T. relays are widely used for the protection of distribution
lines. Such relays have a provision for current and time settings which will be discussed later on.
5. Very Inverse-time Overcurrent Relay:
A very inverse-time overcurrent realy gives more inverse characteristic than that of a plain
inverse relay or the I.D.M.T. relay. Its time-current characteristic lies between an I.D.M.T.
characteristic and extremely inverse characteristic, as shown in Fig. 5.2. The very inverse
characteristic gives better selectivity than the I.D.M.T. characteristic.
 CURRENT SETTING:
The current above which an overcurrent relay should operate can be set. Suppose that a relay is
set at 5 A. It will then operate if the current exceeds 5 A. Below 5 A, the relay will not operate.
There are a number of tappings on the current coil, available for current setting, as shown in Fig.
2.9 and Fig. 2.10. The operation of the relay requires a certain flux and ampere turns. The current
settings of the relay are chosen by altering the number of turns of the current coil by means of a
plug PS in Fig. 2.9 and 2.10. The plug-setting (current-setting) can either be given directly in
amperes or indirectly as percentages of the rated current. An overcurrent relay which is used for
phase-to-phase fault protection, can be set at 50% to 200% of the rated current in steps of 25%.
The usual current rating of this relay is 5 A. So it can be set at 2.5 A, 3.75 A, 5 A, ..., 10 A. When
a relay is set at 2.5 A, it will operate when current exceeds 2.5 A. When the relay is set at 10 A, it
will operate when current exceeds 10 A.

The relay which is used for protection against ground faults (earth-fault relay) has settings 20% to
80% of the rated current in steps of 10%. The current rating of an earth-fault relay is usually 1 A. If time-
current curves are drawn, taking current in amperes on the X-axis, there will be one graph for each setting
of the relay.

To avoid this complex situation, the plug setting multipliers are taken on the X-axis. The actual
r.m.s. current flowing in the relay expressed as a multiple of the setting current (pickup current) is
known as the plug setting multiplier (PSM). Suppose, the rating of a relay is 5 A and it is set at
200%, i.e. at 10 A. If the current flowing through the relay is 100 A, then the plug setting
multiplier will be 10. The PSM = 4 means 40 A of current is flowing, PSM = 6 means 60 A of
current is flowing and so on. If the same relay is set at 50%, i.e. at 2.5 A, the PSM = 4 means 10
A; PSM = 6 means 15 A; PSM = 10 means 25 A and so on. Hence, PSM can be expressed as

PSM = Secondary current _______________Relay current setting

Primary current during fault, i.e. fault current _____________________________________

Relay current setting × CT ratio
TIME SETTING:

The operating time of the relay can be set at a desired value. In induction disc type relay, the
angular distance by which the moving part of the relay travels for closing the contacts can be
adjusted to get different operating time. There are 10 steps in which time can be set. The term
time multiplier setting (TMS) is used for these steps of time settings. The values of TMS are 0.1,
0.2, ..., 0.9, 1. Suppose that at a particular value of the current or plug setting multiplier (PSM),
the operating time is 4 s with TMS = 1. The operating time for the same current with TMS = 0.5
will be 4 × 0.5 = 2 s. The operating time with TMS = 0.2 will be 4 × 0.2 = 0.8 s.

Figure 5.4 (a) shows time-current characteristics for different values of TMS. The characteristic at
TMS = 1 can also be presented in the form shown in Fig. 5.4 (b).

PROTECTION OF PARALLEL FEEDERS:

shows an overcurrent protective scheme for parallel feeders. At the sending end of the feeders (at
A and B), non-directional relays are required. The symbol ´ indicates a non-directional relay. At
the other end of feeders (at C and D), directional overcurrent relays are required. The arrow mark
for directional relays placed at C and D indicate that the relay will operate if current flows in the
direction shown by the arrow. If a fault occurs at F, the directional relay at D trips, as the direction
of the current is reversed. The relay at C does not trip, as the current flows in the normal
direction. The relay at B trips for a fault at F. Thus, the faulty feeder is isolated and the supply of
the healthy feeder is maintained. If non-directional relays are used at C and D, both relays placed
at C and D will trip for a fault at F. This is not desired as the healthy feeder is also tripped. Due to
this very reason relays at C and D are directional overcurrent relays. For faults at feeders, the
direction of current at A and B does not change and hence relays used at A and B are non-
directional.

PROTECTION OF RING MAINS:

Figure 5.16(a) shows an overcurrent scheme for the protection of a ring feeder. Figure 5.16(b) is
another way of drawing the same scheme. Compared with radial feeders, the protection of ring
feeders is costly and complex. Each feeder requires two relays. A non-directional relay is required
at one end and a directional relay at the other end. The operating times for relays are determined
by considering the grading, first in one direction and then in the other direction, as shown in Fig.
5.16. If a fault occurs at F1 as shown in Fig. 5.16(a), the relays at C¢ and D¢ will trip to isolate
the faulty feeder. The relay at C will not trip as the fault current is not flowing in its tripping
direction though its operating time is the same as that of C¢.
Similarly, the relays at B and D will not trip as the fault currents are not in their tripping
direction, though their operating time is less than the operating time of B¢ and D¢ respectively.
Figure 5.16(b) is an alternative way of drawing the same scheme. In this figure, loads, though
present are not shown on buses A, B and D so as to make the figure simple to understand. If a
fault occurs at F2, the relays at A¢ and D will trip. Fig. 5.16(c) shows a scheme involving even
greater number of fee
EARTH FAULT AND PHASE FAULT PROTECTION:

1. Earth Fault Protective Schemes:

An earth fault relay may be energised by a residual current. As shown in Fig. 5.17(a), ia, ib and
ic are currents in the secondary of CTs of different phases. The sum (ia + ib + ic) is called
residual current. Under normal conditions the residual current is zero. When an earth fault
occurs, the residual current is non-zero. When it exceeds pick-up value, the earth fault relay
operates. In this scheme, the relay operates only for earth faults. During balanced load
conditions, the earth fault relay carries no current; hence theoretically its current setting may be
any value greater than zero. But in practice, it is not true as ideal conditions do not exist in the
system. Usually, the minimum plug setting is made at 20% or 30%. The manufacturer provides a
range of plug settings for earth fault relay from 20% to 80% of the CT secondary rating in steps
of 10%.
The magnitude of the earth fault current depends on the fault impedance. In case of an earth
fault, the fault impedance depends on the system parameter and also on the type of neutral
earthing. The neutral may be solidly grounded, grounded through resistance or reactance. The
fault impedance for earth faults is much higher than that for phase faults. Hence, the earth fault
current is low compared to the phase fault currents. An earth fault relay is set independent of load
current. Its setting is below normal load current. When an earth fault relay is set at lower values,
its ohmic impedance is high, resulting in a high CT burden
2. COMBINED EARTH FAULT AND PHASE FAULT PROTECTIVE SCHEME:
Figure 5.18 shows two overcurrent relays (phase to phase fault relays) and one earth fault
relay. When an earth fault occurs, the burden on the active CT is that of an overcurrent
relay (phase fault relay) and the earth fault relay in series. Thus, the CT burden becomes
high and may cause saturation

3. PHASE FAULT PROTECTIVE SCHEME:

Figure 5.19 shows three overcurrent relays for the protection of a three-phase system.
This scheme is mainly for the protection of the system against phase faults. If there is no
separate scheme for earth fault protection, the overcurrent relays used in this scheme will
also sense earth faults but they will be less sensitive.

4. DIRECTIONAL EARTH FAULT RELAY:

For the protection against ground faults, only one directional overcurrent relay is
required. Its operating principle and construction is similar to the directional overcurrent
relays discussed earlier. It contains two elements, a directional element and an I.D.M.T.
element. The directional element has two coils. One coil is energised by current and the
other by voltage. The current coil of the directional element is energised by residual
current and the potential coil by residual voltage, as shown in Fig. 5.20(a). This
connection is suitable for a place where the neutral point is not available. If the neutral
of an alternator or transformer is grounded, connections aremade as shown in Fig.
5.20(b). If the neutral point is grounded through a VT, the voltage coil of the directional
earth fault relay may be connected to the secondary of the VT. The I.D.M.T. element has
a plug setting of 20% to 80%. A special five limbs VT which can energise both the earth
fault relay as well as the phase fault relays, as shown in Fig. 5.21, may be used
 5. NUMERICAL OVERCURRENT RELAYS:
Numerical overcurrent relays are the latest development in the area of protection. These
relays have been developed because of tremendous advancement in VLSI and computer
hardware technology. A numerical overcurrent relay acquires sequential samples of the
current signal (i.e., proportional voltage signal) in numeric (digital) data form through
the data acquisition system (DAS) and processes the data numerically using a numerical
filtering algorithm to extract the fundamental frequency component of the current and
make trip decisions. Depending on the processor and processing tool used for processing
of the current signal, numerical overcurrent relays are of the following types:
(i) Microprocessor-based overcurrent relays
(ii) Microcontroller-based overcurrent relays
(iii) Digital Signal Processor (DSP)-based overcurrent relays
(iv) Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)-based overcurrent relays.
(v) Artifi cial Neural Network (ANN) based numerical relays.

Microprocessor-based Overcurrent Relays :

Modern power networks require faster, more accurate and reliable protective schemes.
Microprocessor-based protective schemes are capable of fulfilling these requirements. They are
superior to electromechanical and static relays. These schemes have more flexibility due to their
programmable approach when compared with static relays which have hardwired circuitry. With
the same interfacing circuitry, a number of characteristics can be realised using different
programs. Microprocessor-based schemes are more compact, accurate, reliable and fast.

Microcontroller-based Overcurrent Relays:

Microcontrollers are single chip microcomputers in which the microprocessor (CPU), memory
and I/O ports are all fabricated on a single chip. In a microcontroller based overcurrent relay, a
microcontroller is used to perform all the functions of the relay. It measures the current by
acquiring them in numeric (digital) data form through a data acquisition system, processes the
data numerically and makes trip decisions.

DSP-based Overcurrent Relay :

In this relay, a dedicated digital signal processor (DSP) is used to perform all the functions of the
relay, e.g. data acquisition, data processing, calculation of fault discriminants and making trip
decisions.

FPGA-based Overcurrent Relay :

In this relay a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used to perform the functions of the
overcurrent relay.

ANN-based Overcurrent Relay:

In this relay, a properly trained and tested artificial neural network (ANN) is used for processing
of the acquired digital signal and making the trip decisions.

OVERCURRENT RELAYS:

An overcurrent relay is the simplest form of protective relay which operates when the current in
any circuit exceeds a certain predetermined value, i.e. the pick-up value. It is extensively used
for the protection of distribution lines, industrial motors and equipment. Using a multiplexer,
the mircoprocessor can sense the fault currents of a number of circuits. If the fault current in
any circuit exceeds the pick-up value, the microprocessor sends a tripping signal to the circuit
breaker of the faulty circuit breaker of the faulty circuit. As the microprocessor accepts signals in
voltage form, the current signal derived from the current transformer is converted into a
proportional voltage signal using a current to voltage converter. The ac voltage proportional to
the load current is converted into dc using a precision rectifier. Thus, the microprocessor
accepts dc voltage proportional to load current. The block schematic diagram of the relay is
shown in Fig. 12.21(a). The output of the rectifier is fed to the multiplexer. The microcomputer
sends a command to switch on the desired channel of the multiplexer to obtain the rectified
voltage proportional to the current in a particular circuit. The output of the multiplexer is fed to
the A/D converter to obtain the signal in digital form. The A/D converter ADC0800 has been
used for this purpose. The microcomputer sends a signal to the ADC for starting the conversion.
The microcomputer reads the end of conversion signal to examine whether the conversion is
over or not. As soon as the conversion is over, the microcomputer reads the current signal in
digital form and then compares it with the pick-up value.
IMPEDANCE RELAY:

The block schematic diagram of the interface for the impedance relay is shown in Fig. 12.23. The
levels of voltage and current signals are stepped down to the electronic level by using potential
and current transformers. The current signal derived from the current transformer is converted
into proportional voltage signal using a current to voltage converter. The voltage and current
signals are then rectified using precision rectifiers to convert them into dc. The rectified voltage
and current signals (Vdc and Idc respectively) are fed to two different channels of the
multiplexer which are switched on sequentially by proper commands from the microcomputer.
The output of the multiplexer is fed to the A/D converter through a sample and hold circuit. The
multiplexer (AM3705), sample and hold (LF398) and 8-bit A/D converter ADC0800 form the data
acquisition system (DAS). The data acquisition system (DAS) is interfaced to the microprocessor
using 8255A programmable peripheral interface. A clock of 300 kHz for ADC0800 is obtained by
dividing the 3 MHz clock of the microprocessor by ten using the IC package 7490. Suitable clock
for ADC can also be obtained by using the programmable timer/counter, Intel 8253, the controls
for analog multiplexer, sample and hold, and ADC are all generated by the microcomputer under
program control.

The microcomputer reads Vdc and Idc, calculates the impedance Z seen by the relay and then
compares Z with Z1, i.e. the predetermined value of impedance for the first zone of protection.
If Z is less than Z1, the microcomputer sends a tripping signal to the trip coil of the circuit
breaker instantaneously. If Z is greater than Z1, the comparison is made with Z2, i.e. the value of
impedance for the second zone of protection. If Z is less than Z2, the microcomputer takes up a
delay subroutine and sends the trapping signal to the trip coil after a predetermined delay. If Z is
greater than Z2 but less than Z3, a greater delay is provided before the tripping signal is sent.