Power System Protection:

Objective of Power System Protection

The main purpose of power system protection is to isolate a

faulty area from the remaining power system which is working
properly so that the non-faulted area can work satisfactorily without
any drastic damage due to fault current.
Truly circuit breaker isolates the faulty part from remaining of the
live system and it automatically opens when fault occurs due to the
trip signal that comes from the relay.

It is not possible to prevent the flow of fault current from the power
system, the protection system only stop the continuation of fault
current by disconnecting the faulty part of the system so that
remaining system can work properly.

Zones of protection:
The protection system is divided into zones that can be referred to as a ring of
security around each equipment.
Selectivity is important from protection point of view. For every equipment, zones
are defined. Back and forth area, if fault occur in that area, than that particular zone
will work.
Zones are defined for bus bars, transformers and generators.

Faults that occur within a zone are called internal faults while those occurring
outside are through faults.
The zones must overlap, otherwise, if fault occur between two zones then it cannot
be detected.

Protection System in Power System

Lets discuss the basic concept of protection system and

coordination of relays.

Above diagram shows the basic connections of a protection relay.

The secondary of CT is connected to the current coil and secondary
of PT is connected to the voltage coil. When the fault occurs so
corresponding secondary current of the CT flows through the
current coil as a result mmf is increased. This increased mmf is

adequate to automatically close the normally open contact of the

relay, thus the trip coil is energized and opens the contacts of the
circuit breaker. In this way system is isolated.
Requirements/Attributes of protective relaying:

Reliability:
Dependability: the relay should operate correctly under fault condition.
Security: the degree of certainty that a relay system will not operate incorrectly or
there should be no unnecessary operation of relays.
Example: starting current of generators and inrush current of transformer are high
currents and relay should detect these and should not trip, over loading is also an
example of security.

Selectivity:
Relay should be able to detect the fault area and isolate that part (primary
zone), should operate instantaneously.
To increase selectivity relay coordination is done.
Speed:
Speed of tripping should be fast. System should trip as soon as possible
but there is comprise on this; Inrush current is also tripped if time of
tripping is very less.
Sensitivity:
Protection system should be sensitive enough so that it should operate
with lower values of actuating quantities (Impedance).
Simplicity:
System should be simple.
Economy:
Protection system should be economical i.e. obtain maximum protection at
lowest cost.
Example: Relays are not used on PMTs as cost increases instead fuses are
used on PMTs.

Important Elements for Power System Protection

Switchgear:
It consists of oil circuit breaker, SF6 circuit breaker, air blast circuit
breaker and vacuum circuit breaker etc. Circuit breaker is the
foremost part of protection system as it automatically detach the
faulty part of the system.

Protective Gear
It consists of relays such as current relays, voltage relays,
impedance relays, power relays, etc. With respect to operating
characteristics, instantaneous relay, definite time relays, inverse
time relays, etc. With respect to logic such as differential relays,
etc. when fault occurs protection relay issues trip signal to circuit
breaker.

Station Battery
All circuit breakers are DC (Direct Current) operated. In case power
failure, the circuit breaker can still operate as DC power can be
stored in battery. Therefore, battery is another important part of the
power system. It may referred as the heart of the electrical
substation.