CIGR Canada

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CIGRE127 Conference on Power Systems
http : //www.cigre.org
Vancouver, October 17- 19, 2010
A New Method to Prevent Maloperation of
Zone 3 Relay Due to Overload


Xiaotong Zhu, Qinchun Zhao, Jun Shen, Yuanyuan Li, Guorong Shen
NR Electric Co., Ltd (Nanjing Jiangsu China)
SUMMARY

In the interconnected grid with several inter-area AC tie lines, tripping of one or more tie lines will
cause the power flow to transfer to the remained healthy lines, leading to the severe overload. If the
setting of zone 3 distance relay cannot stand this severe overload, it may cause the cascading
disconnection of the remained lines, even leading to the blackout.
Currently, to avoid the maloperation due to overload, load encroachment is adopted to block the zone
3. While it is very difficult to accurately predict the overload of a certain line due to the complex
power grid structure, flexible network topology and complex fault types. Even if the overload can be
predicted, it is very complex to calculate the corresponding parameters and settings for the distance
relays with various characteristics, and prone to wrong settings.
A new method is proposed in this paper to prevent this maloperation by adding a blocking element to
zone 3 distance relay. For zone 3 of phase-to-phase distance relay, the blocking element is based on
fault arc resistance voltage drop detection. For phase-to-ground distance relay, the blocking element
can be introduced using the zero sequence current.
The RTDS simulation test is established and implemented. The test result proves that this method can
effectively distinguish the overload from fault, making zone 3 keep stable during severe overload and
trip during fault.





KEYWORDSOverload, Maloperation, Blackout, Distance Relay,Zone 3 Relay
zhuxt@nari-relays.com



1 Introduction
In two large power sources interconnected via several AC tie lines, when one or more tie lines are
tripped after fault, the power flow will be transferred to the remained lines, and this will leading to the
severe overload. In this case, the zone 3 distance relay possibly trip the overloaded lines, which may
cause cascading tripping of the remained lines, even blackout. Several blackout events in the past
decade indicate that the maloperation of zone 3 distance relay due to overload is one of the key
reasons causing blackout. In the Northeast Blackout occurred in the North America power grid on
August 14, 2003, one of the direct causes was that the settings of the zone 3 distance relay could not
stand this overload, which led to the successive tripping of the remained lines and caused cascading
outage and large-area blackout
[1,2,3,4]
. Another case is the Brazil and Paraguay blackout occurred on
November 10, 2009. Two 750kV transmission lines which connected Itaipu Dam and So Paulo were
tripped due to faults, and the remained 750kV transmission line was tripped due to overload without
any short-circuit faults. Consequently, all the transmission line connected to the hydropower plant of
Itaipu dam which provided 20% power supply for Brazil were tripped. The loss of power supply
finally led to voltage collapse and large-area blackout. In the Western European blackout on
November 6, 2006, the main cause was that a transmission line was tripped due to heavy load, and
then led to cascading cross-regional tripping and the large-area blackout
[5]
.
The power grids collapse or the large-area blackouts will cause enormous economic losses, as well as
negative influence on society, politics and mentality of people
[6]
. Therefore seeking an effective
method to prevent the maloperation of zone 3 distance relay due to the overload is meaningful to the
power system stability.
2 Influence to Zone 3 Distance Relay Due to Overload
2.1 Introduction of Various Overloads
Generally, there are two causes of line overload. The first cause of overload is that more power is
expected to be transmitted on the line in normal state, and the power exceeds the maximum
transmission capacity of the line. The maximum transmission capacity is usually determined by the
stability margin of the power system. Generally, the current of maximum transmission capacity is
much less than the thermal withstand current of the line. This type of overload develops slowly and
can be predicted, thus it has little influence on zone 3 distance relay.
The second cause of overload is due to the transferred power from the tripped lines. In an
interconnected grid with several inter-area lines, when one or more lines are disconnected due to faults,
the transferred power will cause a sudden increase in the load current on the remained lines, leading to
the excess of the maximum capacity. However, this type of overload is a short period event and the
automotive control device will take actions to control it according to planned strategies. The zone 3
distance relay should keep stable because the tripping of the overloaded line will cause more
transferred power and accelerate the cascading tripping. The overloads described below all refer to this
type of overload.
The overload will exert negative influences on the zone 3 distance relay, and the level of severity
depends on the impedance setting, impedance characteristic and power angle between two sources on
both sides of the line.
The load impedance in the R-X plane is shown in Figure 1:
1

max 1
max 3

max 2

max 4

Figure 1 Load impedance in the R-X plane
Where:

max
is the maximum angle of power factor and is typically less than 30 during normal state. When
the transmitted power at the sending end is P1~P2, the load impedance is shown in the shaded area of
positive R axis of Figure 1. And the power of the receiving end is similar but in the negative R axis.
In normal condition, the load current is small and the load impedance is large. When overload occurs
due to the adjacent lines tripping, the apparent impedance will decrease suddenly. Considering the
increase in the power angle of two sources due to mechanical transient stage, the impedance measured
at relay location will decrease further. If the impedance locus enters the operation range of zone 3
distance relay, maloperation may happen as shown in Figure 2:
max

max

set
Z
max

max

set
X
set
R

Figure 2 Impedance locus enters the operation range of zone 3
Where:
Zset is the impedance setting of Mho characteristic distance element, which determines its operation
range.
Rset is the resistance setting of polygon characteristic distance element.
Xset is the reactance setting of polygon characteristic distance element.
2.2 Traditional Solutions to Prevent Maloperation of Zone 3 Distance Relay
The existing method to solve this problem is based on the modification of operation characteristic of
zone 3 distance relay. Considering the minimum value of impedance locus during the overload, the
possibility of maloperation will be evaluated and the operation characteristic will be modified
according to the evaluation result by excluding the maloperation area.
For zone 3 distance relay with Mho characteristics, a load encroachment can be introduced to exclude
the maloperation area. Its operating characteristics on the impedance plane diagram are shown in
Figure 3
[7,8]
:

2

max

max

ZD
R
ZD
R
set
Z
max

ZD
R
set
Z
Load

Figure 3 Load encroachment added to Mho characteristic
Where:
RZD is the setting of restricted impedance, and
load
is the positive-sequence sensitive angle.
For the distance relay with polygon characteristic shown in Figure 2 (b), it is necessary to consider the
influences of overload when setting the operating border. Borders 1 and 3 should be designed to stand
the most severe possible overload due to transferred power
[9]
.
The methods mentioned above can be easily implemented in the numerical relays. However, these
methods have some limitations: (1) It is very difficult to accurately predict the overload of a certain
line due to the complex power grid structure, flexible network topology and complex fault types; (2)
Even if the overload can be predicted, it is very complex to calculate the corresponding parameters
and settings for the distance relays with various characteristics, and prone to wrong settings.
According to the literatures [10,11], a self-adaptive method is proposed to prevent zone 3 distance
relay from maloperation. Based on the extensive information collected from the power grid, the
protection device can identifies the overload from other faults and block the zone 3 distance relay.
However, this method has disadvantages of high cost, complex implementation and low practical
possibility.
3 A New Method to Prevent Maloperation of Zone 3 Distance Relay
3.1 Prevent Maloperation of Phase-to-phase Distance Relay
For zone 3 of phase-to-phase distance relay, the blocking element based on fault arc resistance voltage
drop detection is used to inhibit the maloperation during overload and enable tripping during phase-to-
phase fault or 3-phase fault.
The criterion of the blocking element is:
NN
mU U <

cos (1)
where, is the magnitude of phase-to-phase voltage at the relay location;

U

is the angle of
phase-to-phase voltage and phase-to-phase current at relay location; m is a coefficient; is the
rated phase-to-phase voltage. If the criterion is met, zone 3 of phase-to-phase distance element will be
enabled.
NN
U
When a phase-to-phase fault or 3-phase fault occurs,

cos U indicates the voltage drop on the fault
resistance. Normally, this voltage drop is less than 3.2%U
NN
[12]
, and should be zero for the Metallic
phase-to-phase short-circuit fault. While during power swing,

cos U indicates the voltage at the
swing center, which is the minimum voltage value in the whole system. In the event of overload
without power swing,

cos U is typically larger than 80%U
NN
. Considering the margin, m can be
set to 0.5~0.7. This blocking element will not reduce the operation range of zone 3 of phase-to-phase
distance element.
3

3.2 Prevent Maloperation of Phase-to-Ground Distance Relay
For phase-to-ground distance relay, the blocking element can be introduced using the zero sequence
current:
3I0>I0set (2)
Where:
I0set is the setting value of zero-sequence current. It can be set as either the same setting of the last
backup stage of zero-sequence overcurrent relay or 0.1In (In is secondary rated current).
When an earth fault occurs, the zero-sequence current will be measured by the relay. However, when
the line is overloaded, the three-phase current is symmetrical and no zero-sequence current exists. This
element can discriminate the earth fault and overload.
4 Simulation Test
4.1 Simulation Model
In order to verify the operation characteristic of zone 3 of phase-to-phase distance element under the
condition of severe overload, a simulation model is established in RTDS as shown in Fig. 4.
Parameters of simulation model are shown in Tab. 1.
Tab.1 Parameters of simulation system
Generator at P1 side
Sn=15000MV
Xd=Xq=1.8929 pu
Xd=Xq=0.2751 puXd=Xq=0.1985 pu
Transformer at P1 side
Sn=18000MVAXt=0.135 putransformation ratio
=22kV/540kV
System equivalent parameters at P2 side Z1=580ohmZ0=575ohmU=5250kV
Instrument transfomrer VT ratio =500kV/100VCT ratio =2000A/1A
Transmission line
(Line1,Line2,Line3,Line4 are same)
Length = 150km
Z1 (primary value) = 43.36 84.9ohm
Z0 (primary value) = 132.9 78.3ohm
Z1 (secondary value) = 17.41 84.9ohm
Z0 (secondary value) = 53.16 78.3ohm
Line1: transmitted power S = 1751 MVA
P = 1581 MW
Q = 754 Mvar
Relay protection P1
The setting of zone 3 of phase-to-phase distance
element (secondary value)=90.53ohm (5.2 times as line
impedance)
Positive sensitive angle 85
When the system is in normal state, the power generated by generator is transmitted to the grid via
three lines, i.e. Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3, as shown in Fig. 4.
The zone 3 of relay protection P1 acts as the remote backup protection to line 4 which means the zone
3 of P1 should operate for the faults at the end of line 4 (F4). Considering the infeed from the other
two circuits, the setting of zone 3 should be larger than 4 times of the line impedance. Taking account
of the reliable coefficient 1.3, the zone 3 is set to 5.2 times of the line impedance.
4.2 Fault
RTDS is used to simulate phase-to-phase faults and three-phase faults at the end of line 4. Zone 3 of
distance protection can operate reliably as the criterion (1) is fulfilled. The relevant operating
quantities during fault period are shown in Tab.2 and Fig. 5(only phase-BC fault is listed).

Fig.4 Layout of simulation system under normal condition

4

Tab.2 Measurements of relay P1 during fault
U
bc
(V) I
bc
(A) Z
bc
(ohm) bc bc
cos U

(p.u.)
105.02-177.09 1.4097.26 75.0185.65 -0.01

Fig.5 Trajectory of apparent impedance during fault
4.3 Overload and Fault during Overload
Four states are given to describe the sequence of overload and fault during overload.
State 1: Fig. 6 (a) shows the system in normal operation condition. Parameters such as power flow are
listed in the diagram. The transmitted power of Line 1 under normal operation condition is:
S=1751MVA; P=1581MW; Q = 754Mvar.
State 2: The circuit breaker CB5 at one side of Line 3 is tripped at t0 which causes the power flow
transfers towards Line 1 and Line 2 as shown in Fig. 6 (b). The transmitted power of Line 1 after CB5
tripped is: S=2434MVA; P=2177MW; Q = 1090Mvar.
State 3: The circuit breaker CB3 at one side of Line 2 is disconnected at t0+t1. The power flow
transfer towards Line 1 as shown in Fig. 6 (c). Transmitted power of Line 1 after CB3 tripped is:
S=3932MVA; P=3438MW; Q=1909Mvar.
State 4: The BC phase-to-phase fault occurs at the point F1at t0+t2 which is shown in Fig. 6 (d).

(a) State 1

(b) State 2

(c) State 3

5


(d) State 4
Fig.6 Simulation model
Simulation results are stated in Tab. 3, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 are given for reference.
Tab.3 Measurements of relay P1 under different states
State U
bc
(V) I
bc
(A) Z
bc
(ohm) bc bc
cos U

(p.u.)
1 104.76-121.73 1.65-148.49 63.4926.76 0.85
2 105.50-119.52 2.27-147.37 46.4827.58 0.84
3 105.05-111.82 3.67-142.29 28.6230.47 0.82
4 104.71-61.52 2.85-147.31 36.7485.79 -0.01


Fig.7 Trajectory of apparent impedance

Fig.8 Trajectory of
bc bc
cos U
After Line 3 and Line 2 are disconnected successively, the power carried by these two lines are
transferred to Line 1. The apparent impedance of protection device for Line 1 gradually moves into the
operation range of zone 3. If there is no additional blocking element, maloperation of zone 3 will
occur. If the blocking element specified in formula (1) is introduced, since
bc bc
cos U is far larger
than 0.5~0.7U
NN
, the maloperation of zone 3 can be avoided.
If any fault occurs within the protected range of zone 3 under the condition of severe overload and the
restrictive condition specified in formula (1) is met, the zone 3 can be reliably released to operate.
5 Conclusion
The new method proposed in this paper is to distinguish overload due to transferred power from real
short-circuit fault. It effectively resolves the problem of maloperation of zone 3 distance relay when
severe overload occurs and will not affect the performance of zone 3 distance relay. This method can
guarantee the safe and stable operation of power system and prevent cascading blackout. The new
6

method has the following advantages: (1) this method is suitable for diverse characteristics of distance
relay, and there is no need to consider overload calculation for every characteristic; (2) this method
does not need any additional setting to prevent the maloperation caused by overload, and m in
formula (1) can be set to a fixed value in the pre-design work which greatly simplifies the on-site
setting and avoids the serious consequences brought by wrongly setting; (3) this method can enable
zone 3 distance relay as the backup protection for the downstream line, while the impedance settings is
not required to be modified to avoid maloperation under the condition of overload.



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[3] Deqiang Gan, Jiangyi Hu, After the 2003 Blackouts across Several Continentals, Automation of Electric
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2004
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[9] Beijing Sifang Automation Co., Ltd., Instruction Manual for CSC-101 Digital Super-voltage Line Protection.
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