Basic Power System

Protection
Class-2
Protective Relaying

 The role of protective relaying in electric-power-system design and

operation is explained by a brief examination of the over-all background.
 There are three aspects of a power system that will serve the purposes
of this examination. These aspects are as follows:
A. Normal operation
B. Prevention of electrical failure.
C. Mitigation of the effects of electrical failure.
 The term “normal operation” assumes no failures of equipment, no
mistakes of personnel, nor “acts of God”.
 It involves the minimum requirements for supplying the existing load
and a certain amount of anticipated future load.
 Protective Relaying
 Some of the considerations are:
A. Choice between hydro, steam, or other sources of power.
B. Location of generating stations.
C. Transmission of power to the load.
D. Study of the load characteristics and planning for its future growth.
E. Metering
F. Voltage and frequency regulation.
G. System operation.
E. Normal maintenance.
 The provisions for normal operation involve the major expense for equipment and operation,
but a system designed according to this aspect alone could not possibly meet present-day
requirements.
 Electrical equipment failures would cause intolerable outages.
 There must be additional provisions to minimize damage to equipment and interruptions to
the service when failures occur.
Protective Relaying

 Two recourses are open: (1) to incorporate features of design aimed at preventing
failures, and (2) to include provisions for mitigating the effects of failure when it occurs.
 Modern power-system design employs varying degrees of both recourses, as dictated
by the economics of any particular situation.
 Notable advances continue to be made toward greater reliability. But also, increasingly
greater reliance is being placed on electric power.
 Consequently, even though the probability of failure is decreased, the tolerance of the
possible harm to the service is also decreased.
 But it is futile-or at least not economically justifiable-to try to prevent failures
completely.
 Sooner or later the law of diminishing returns makes itself felt.
 Where this occurs will vary between systems and between parts of a system, but,
when this point is reached, further expenditure for failure prevention is discouraged.
 It is much more profitable, then, to let some failures occur and to provide for mitigating
their effects.
Protective Relaying

 The type of electrical failure that causes greatest concern is the short circuit,
or fault as it is usually called, but there are other abnormal operating
conditions peculiar to certain elements of the system that also require
attention.
 Some of the features of design and operation aimed at preventing electrical
failure are:
A. Provision of adequate insulation.
B. Coordination of insulation strength with the capabilities of lightning arresters.
C. Use of overhead ground wires and low tower-footing resistance.
D. Design for mechanical strength to reduce exposure, and to minimize the
likelihood of failure causable by animals, birds, insects, dirt, sleet, etc.
E. Proper operation and maintenance practices.
Protective Relaying
 Some of the features of design and operation for mitigating the effects of failure are:
A. Features that mitigate the immediate effects of an electrical failure.
1. Design to limit the magnitude of short-circuit current.1
a. By avoiding too large concentrations of generating capacity.
b. By using current-limiting impedance.
2. Design to withstand mechanical stresses and heating owing to short-circuit currents.
3. Time-delay under voltage devices on circuit breakers to prevent dropping loads
during momentary voltage dips.
4. Ground-fault neutralizers (Petersen coils).
B. Features for promptly disconnecting the faulty element.
1. Protective relaying.
2. Circuit breakers with sufficient interrupting capacity.
3. Fuses.
C. Features that mitigate the loss of the faulty element.
1. Alternate circuits.
2. Reserve generator and transformer capacity.
3. Automatic reclosing.
Protective Relaying

D. Features that operate throughout the period from the inception of the
fault until after its removal, to maintain voltage and stability.
1. Automatic voltage regulation.
2. Stability characteristics of generators.
E. Means for observing the electiveness of the foregoing features.
1. Automatic oscillographs.
2. Efficient human observation and record keeping.
F. Frequent surveys as system changes or additions are made, to be sure
that the foregoing features are still adequate.
Protective Relaying

 Thus, protective relaying is one of several features of system design concerned with
minimizing damage to equipment and interruptions to service when electrical failures
occur.
 When we say that relays protect we mean that, together with other equipment, the
relays help to minimize damage and improve service.
 It will be evident that all the mitigation features are dependent on one another for
successfully minimizing the effects of failure.
 Therefore, the capabilities and the application requirements of protective-relaying
equipments should be considered concurrently with the other features.
 This statement is emphasized because there is sometimes a tendency to think of the
protective-relaying equipment after all other design considerations are irrevocably
settled.
 Within economic limits, an electric power system should be designed so that it can
be adequately protected.
THE FUNCTION OF PROTECTIVE
RELAYING
 The function of protective relaying is to cause the prompt removal from service
of any element of a power system when it suffers a short circuit, or when it
starts to operate in any abnormal manner that might cause damage or
otherwise interfere with the effective operation of the rest of the system.
 The relaying equipment is aided in this task by circuit breakers that are capable
of disconnecting the faulty element when they are called upon to do so by the
relaying equipment.
 Circuit breakers are generally located so that each generator, transformer, bus,
transmission line, etc., can be completely disconnected from the rest of the
system.
 These circuit breakers must have sufficient capacity so that they can carry
momentarily the maximum short-circuit current that can flow through them, and
then interrupt this current; they must also withstand closing in on such a short
circuit and then interrupting it according to certain prescribed standards.
 Fusing is employed where protective relays and circuit breakers are not
economically justifiable.
 THE FUNCTION OF PROTECTIVE
RELAYING
 Although the principal function of protective relaying is to mitigate the effects of
short circuits, other abnormal operating conditions arise that also require the
services of protective relaying.
 This is particularly true of generators and motors.
 A secondary function of protective relaying is to provide indication of the location
and type of failure.
 Such data not only assist in expediting repair but also, by comparison with
human observation and automatic oscillograph records, they provide means for
analyzing the effectiveness of the fault-prevention and mitigation features
including the protective relaying itself.
 Let us consider for the moment only the relaying equipment for the protection
against short circuits. There are two groups of such equipment.
 One which we shall call primary relaying, and the other back-up relaying.
 Primary relaying is the first line of defense, whereas back-up relaying functions
only when primary relaying fails.
PRIMARY RELAYING

One-line diagram of a
portion of an electric
power system
illustrating primary
relaying
PRIMARY RELAYING
 Figure illustrates primary relaying.
 The first observation is that circuit breakers are located in the
connections to each power element.
 This provision makes it possible to disconnect only a faulty element.
 Occasionally, a breaker between two adjacent elements may be
omitted, in which event both elements must be disconnected for a
failure in either one.
 The second observation is that, without at this time knowing how it is
accomplished, a separate zone of protection is established around each
system element.
 The significance of this is that any failure occurring within a given zone
will cause the tripping (i.e., opening) of all circuit breakers within that
zone, and only those breakers.
 PRIMARY RELAYING
 It will become evident that, for failures within the region where two adjacent
protective zones overlap, more breakers will be tripped than the minimum necessary
to disconnect the faulty element.
 But, if there were no overlap, a failure in a region between zones would not lie in
either zone, and therefore no breakers would be tripped.
 The overlap is the lesser of the two evils.
 The extent of the overlap is relatively small, and the probability of failure in this region
is low; consequently, the tripping of too many breakers will be quite infrequent.
 Finally, it will be observed that adjacent protective zones of Figure overlap around a
circuit breaker.
 This is the preferred practice because, for failures anywhere except in the overlap
region, the minimum number of circuit breakers need to be tripped.
 When it becomes desirable for economic or space-saving reasons to overlap on one
side of a breaker, as is frequently true in metal-clad switchgear the relaying
equipment of the zone that overlaps the breaker must be arranged to trip not only the
breakers within its zone but also one or more breakers of the adjacent zone, in order
to completely disconnect certain faults.
PRIMARY RELAYING
 This is illustrated in Fig below, where it can be seen that, for a short circuit
at X, the circuit breakers of zone B, including breaker C, will be tripped;
but, since the short circuit is outside zone A, the relaying equipment of
zone B must also trip certain breakers in zone A if that is necessary to
interrupt the flow of short circuit current from zone A to the fault.
 This is not a disadvantage for a fault at X, but the same breakers in zone
A will be tripped unnecessarily for other faults in zone B to the right of
breaker C.
 Whether this unnecessary tripping is objectionable will depend on the
particular application.

Overlapping adjacent protective zones

on one side of a circuit breaker
 BACK-UP RELAYING
 Back-up relaying is employed only for protection against short circuits.
 Because short circuits are the preponderant type of power failure, there are more
opportunities for failure in short primary relaying.
 Experience has shown that back-up relaying for other than short circuits is not
economically justifiable.
 A clear understanding of the possible causes of primary-relaying failure is necessary for
a better appreciation of the practices involved in back-up relaying.
 When we say that primary relaying may fail, we mean that any of several things may
happen to prevent primary relaying from causing the disconnection of a power-system
fault.
 Primary relaying may fail because of failure in any of the following:
A. Current or voltage supply to the relays.
B. D-c tripping-voltage supply.
C. Protective relays.
D. Tripping circuit or breaker mechanism.
E. Circuit breaker.
BACK-UP RELAYING
 It is highly desirable that back-up relaying be arranged so that anything
that might cause primary relaying to fail will not also cause failure of
back-up relaying.
 It will be evident that this requirement is completely satisfied only if the
back-up relays are located so that they do not employ or control
anything in common with the primary relays that are to be backed up.
 So far as possible, the practice is to locate the back-up relays at a
different station. Consider, for example, the back-up relaying for the
transmission line section EF of Figure next slide.
 The back-up relays for this line section are normally arranged to trip
breakers A, B, I, and J.
 Should breaker E fail to trip for a fault on the line section EF, breakers A
and B are tripped; breakers A and B and their associated back-up
equipment, being physically apart from the equipment that has failed,
are not likely to be simultaneously affected as might be the case if
breakers C and D were chosen instead.
Illustration for back-up protection of transmission line section
EF.
BACK-UP RELAYING

 The back-up relays at locations A, B, and F provide back-up protection if

bus faults occur at station K.
 Also, the back-up relays at A and F provide back-up protection for faults
in the line DB.
 In other words, the zone of protection of back-up relaying extends in one
direction from the location of any back-up relay and at least overlaps
each adjacent system element.
 Where adjacent line sections are of different length, the back-up relays
must overreach some line sections more than others in order to provide
back-up protection for the longest line.
 A given set of back-up relays will provide incidental back-up protection
of sorts for faults in the circuit whose breaker the back-up relays control.
 For example, the back-up relays that trip breaker A of Figure in previous
slide may also act as back-up for faults in the line section AC.
BACK-UP RELAYING
 However, this duplication of protection is only an incidental benefit and is not to be
relied on to the exclusion of a conventional back-up arrangement when such
arrangement is possible; to differentiate between the two, this type might be called
duplicate primary relaying.
 A second function of back-up relaying is often to provide primary protection when the
primary-relaying equipment is out of service for maintenance or repair.
 It is perhaps evident that, when back-up relaying functions, a larger part of the system is
disconnected than when primary relaying operates correctly.
 This is inevitable if back-up relaying is to be made independent of those factors that
might cause primary relaying to fail.
 However, it emphasizes the importance of the second requirement of back-up relaying,
that it must operate with sufficient time delay so that primary relaying will be given
enough time to function if it is able to.
 In other words, when a short circuit occurs, both primary relaying and back-up relaying
will normally start to operate, but primary relaying is expected to trip the necessary
breakers to remove the short-circuited element from the system, and back-up relaying
will then reset without having had time to complete its function.
 When a given set of relays provides back-up protection for several adjacent system
elements, the slowest primary relaying of any of those adjacent elements will determine
the necessary time delay of the given back-up relays.
 BACK-UP RELAYING
 For many applications, it is impossible to abide by the principle of complete
segregation of the back-up relays.
 Then one tries to supply the back-up relays from sources other than those that
supply the primary relays of the system element in question, and to trip other
breakers.
 This can usually be accomplished; however, the same tripping battery may be
employed in common, to save money and because it is considered only a minor
risk.
 In extreme cases, it may even be impossible to provide any back-up protection;
in such cases, greater emphasis is placed on the need for better maintenance.
In fact, even with complete back-up relaying, there is still much to be gained by
proper maintenance.
 When primary relaying fails, even though back-up relaying functions properly,
the service will generally suffer more or less.
 Consequently, back-up relaying is not a proper substitute for good
maintenance.
PROTECTION AGAINST OTHER
ABNORMAL CONDITIONS
 Protective relaying for other than short circuits is included in the
category of primary relaying.
 However, since the abnormal conditions requiring protection are
different for each system element, no universal overlapping arrangement
of relaying is used as in short protection.
 Instead, each system element is independently provided with whatever
relaying is required, and this relaying is arranged to trip the necessary
circuit breakers which may in some cases be different from those tripped
by the short-circuit relaying.
 As previously mentioned, back-up relaying is not employed because
experience has not shown it to be economically justifiable.
 Frequently, however, back-up relaying for short circuits will function
when other abnormal conditions occur that produce abnormal currents or
voltages, and back-up protection of sorts is thereby incidentally provided.
FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
PROTECTIVE RELAYING
 SENSITIVITY, SELECTIVITY, AND SPEED
 Sensitivity, selectivity and speed are terms commonly used to describe the functional
characteristics of any protective-relaying equipment.
 All of them are implied in the foregoing considerations of primary and back-up relaying.
 Any relaying equipment must be sufficiently sensitive so that it will operate reliably,
when required, under the actual condition that produces the least operating tendency.
 It must be able to select between those conditions for which prompt operation is
required and those for which no operation, or time-delay operation, is required.
 And it must operate at the required speed.
 How well any protective-relaying equipment fulfills each of these requirements must be
known for each application.
 The ultimate goal of protective relaying is to disconnect a faulty system element as
quickly as possible.
 Sensitivity and selectivity are essential to assure that the proper circuit breakers will be
tripped, but speed is the pay-off.
 RELIABILITY
 That protective-relaying equipment must be reliable is a basic requirement. When
protective relaying fails to function properly, the allied mitigation features are largely
ineffective.
 Therefore, it is essential that protective-relaying equipment be inherently reliable, and that
its application, installation, and maintenance be such as to assure that its maximum
capabilities will be realized.
 Inherent reliability is a matter of design based on long experience, and is much too
extensive and detailed a subject to do justice to here.
 Other things being equal, simplicity and robustness contribute to reliability, but they are
not of themselves the complete solution.
 Workmanship must be taken into account also.
 Contact pressure is an important measure of reliability, but the contact materials and the
provisions for preventing contact contamination are fully as important.
 These are but a few of the many design considerations that could be mentioned.
 The proper application of protective-relaying equipment involves the proper choice not
only of relay equipment but also of the associated apparatus.
 For example, lack of suitable sources of current and voltage for energizing the relays may
compromise, if not jeopardize, the protection.
 RELIABILITY
 Contrasted with most of the other elements of an electric power system, protective relaying stands
idle most of the time.
 Some types of relaying equipment may have to function only once in several years. Transmission-line
relays have to operate most frequently, but even they may operate only several times per year.
 This lack of frequent exercising of the relays and their associated equipment must be compensated for
in other ways to be sure that the relaying equipment will be operable when its turn comes.
 Many electric utilities provide their test and maintenance personnel with a manual that experienced
people in the organization have prepared and that is kept up to date as new types of relays are
purchased.
 Such a manual specifies minimum test and maintenance procedure that experience has shown to be
desirable. The manual is prepared in part from manufacturers publications and in part from the utilitys
experience.
 As a consequence of standardized techniques, the results of periodic tests can be compared to detect
changes or deterioration in the relays and their associated devices.
 Testers are encouraged to make other tests as they see fit so long as they make the tests required by
the manual. If a better testing technique is devised, it is incorporated into the manual.
 Some organizations include information on the purpose of the relays, to give their people better
appreciation of the importance of their work.
 Courses may be given, also. Such activity is highly recommended. Unless a person is thoroughly
acquainted with relay testing and maintenance, he can do more harm than good, and he might better
leave the equipment alone.
 RELIABILITY
 In some cases, actual field tests are made after installation and after careful
preliminary testing of the individual relays.
 These field tests provide an excellent means for checking the over-all operation
of all equipment involved.
 Careful maintenance and record keeping, not only of tests during maintenance
but also of relay operation during actual service, are the best assurance that the
relaying equipment is in proper condition.
 Field testing is the best-known way of checking the equipment prior to putting it
in service, but conditions may arise in actual service that were not anticipated
in the tests.
 The best assurance that the relays are properly applied and adjusted is a record
of correct operation through a sufficiently long period to include the various
operating conditions that can exist.
 It is assuring not only when a particular relaying equipment trips the proper
breakers when it should for a given fault but also when other relaying
equipments properly refrain from tripping.
 ARE PROTECTIVE PRACTICES BASED ON THE
PROBABILITY OF FAILURE?

 Protective practices are based on the probability of failure to the extent that
present-day practices are the result of years of experience in which the
frequency of failure undoubtedly has played a part.
 However, the probability of failure seldom if ever enters directly into the choice
of a particular type of relaying equipment except when, for one reason or
another, one finds it most difficult to apply the type that otherwise would be
used.
 In any event, the probability of failure should be considered only together with
the consequences of failure should it occur.
 It has been said that the justification for a given practice equals the likelihood of
trouble times the cost of the trouble.
 Regardless of the probability of failure, no portion of a system should be entirely
without protection, even if it is only back-up relaying.
 PROTECTIVE RELAYING VERSUS A
STATION OPERATOR
 Protective relaying sometimes finds itself in competition with station operators or
attendants.
 This is the case for protection against abnormal conditions that develop slowly
enough for an operator to have time to correct the situation before any harmful
consequences develop.
 Sometimes, an alert and skillful operator can thereby avoid having to remove from
service an important piece of equipment when its removal might be embarrassing; if
protective relaying is used in such a situation, it is merely to sound an alarm.
 To some extent, the preference of relying on an operator has a background of some
unfortunate experience with protective relaying whereby improper relay operation
caused embarrassment; such an attitude is understandable, but it cannot be
supported logically.
 Where quick and accurate action is required for the protection of important
equipment, it is unwise to rely on an operator.
 Moreover, when trouble occurs, the operator usually has other things to do for which
he is better fitted.
 UNDESIRED TRIPPING VERSUS
FAILURE TO TRIP WHEN DESIRED
 Regardless of the rules of good relaying practice, one will occasionally
have to choose which rule may be broken with the least embarrassment.
 When one must choose between the chance of undesired or
unnecessary tripping and failure to trip when tripping is desired, the
best practice is generally to choose the former.
 Experience has shown that, where major system shutdowns have
resulted from one or the other, the failure to trip or excessive delay in
tripping-has been by far the worse offender.
 THE EVALUATION OF PROTECTIVE
RELAYING
 Although a modern power system could not operate without protective relaying, this does not make it
priceless.
 As in all good engineering, economics plays a large part.
 Although the protection engineer can usually justify expenditures for protective relaying on the basis of
standard practice, circumstances may alter such concepts, and it often becomes necessary to evaluate the
benefits to be gained.
 It is generally not a question of whether protective relaying can be justified, but of how far one should go
toward investing in the best relaying available.
 Like all other parts of a power system, protective relaying should be evaluated on the basis of its
contribution to the best economically possible service to the customers.
 The contribution of protective relaying is to help the rest of the power system to function as efficiently and
as effectively as possible in the face of trouble.
 How protective relaying does this is as foIlows. By minimizing damage when failures occur, protective
relaying minimizes:
A. The cost of repairing the damage.
B. The likelihood that the trouble may spread and involve other equipment.
C. The time that the equipment is out of service.
D. The loss in revenue and the strained public relations while the equipment is out of service.
THE EVALUATION OF PROTECTIVE
RELAYING
 By expediting the equipments return to service, protective relaying helps to minimize
the amount of equipment reserve required, since there is less likelihood of another
failure before the first failure can be repaired.
 The ability of protective relaying to permit fuller use of the system capacity is
forcefully illustrated by system stability.
 Figure next slide shows how the speed of protective relaying influences the amount of
power that can be transmitted without loss of synchronism when short circuits occur.
 More load can be carried over an existing system by speeding up the protective
relaying.
 This has been shown to be a relatively inexpensive way to increase the transient
stability limit.
 Where stability is a problem, protective relaying can often be evaluated against the
cost of constructing additional transmission lines or switching stations.
 Other circumstances will be shown later in which certain types of protective-relaying
equipment can permit savings in circuit breakers and transmission lines.
Curves illustrating the relation between relay-plus-breaker time and the maximum
amount of power that can be transmitted over one particular system without loss
of synchronism when various faults occur.
 THE EVALUATION OF PROTECTIVE
RELAYING
 The quality of the protective-relaying equipment can affect engineering expense in
applying the relaying equipment itself.
 Equipment that can still operate properly when future changes are made in a system
or its operation will save much future engineering and other related expense.
 One should not conclude that the justifiable expense for a given protective-relaying
equipment is necessarily proportional to the value or importance of the system
element to be directly protected.
 A failure in that system element may affect the ability of the entire system to render
service, and therefore that relaying equipment is actually protecting the service of the
entire system.
 Some of the most serious shutdowns have been caused by consequential effects
growing out of an original failure in relatively unimportant equipment that was not
properly protected.
 HOW DO PROTECTIVE RELAYS
OPERATE?
 All relays used for short-circuit protection, and many other types also, operate by virtue of the current and/or
voltage supplied to them by current and voltage transformers connected in various combinations to the
system element that is to be protected.
 Through individual or relative changes in these two quantities, failures signal their presence, type, and
location to the protective relays.
 For every type and location of failure, there is some distinctive difference in these quantities, and there are
various types of protective-relaying equipments available, each of which is designed to recognize a particular
difference and to operate in response to it.6
 More possible differences exist in these quantities than one might suspect.
 Differences in each quantity are possible in one or more of the following:
A. Magnitude.
B. Frequency.
C. Phase angle.
D. Duration.
E. Rate of change.
F. Direction or order of change.
G. Harmonics or wave shape.
HOW DO PROTECTIVE RELAYS
OPERATE?
 Then, when both voltage and current are considered in combination, or
relative to similar quantities at different locations, one can begin to
realize the resources available for discriminatory purposes.
 It is a fortunate circumstance that, although Nature in her contrary way
has imposed the burden of electric-power-system failure, she has at the
same time provided us with a means for combat.
 Problem
 The portion of a power system shown by the one-line diagram of Figure
next slide with generating sources back of all three ends, has conventional
primary and back-up relaying.
 In each of the listed cases, a short circuit has occurred and certain circuit
breakers have tripped as stated.
 Assume that the tripping of these breakers was correct under the
circumstances.
 Where was the short circuit? Was there any failure of the protective
relaying, including breakers, and if so, what failed? Assume only one failure
at a time.
 Draw a sketch showing the overlapping of primary protective zones and the
exact locations of the various faults.
 FUNDAMENTAL RELAY-OPERATING
PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTERISTICS
 OPERATING PRINCIPLES: There are really only two fundamentally different
operating principles: (1) electromagnetic attraction, and (2)
electromagnetic induction.
 Electromagnetic attraction relays operate by virtue of a plunger being
drawn into a solenoid, or an armature being attracted to the poles of an
electromagnet.
 Such relays may be actuated by d-c or by a-c quantities.
 Electromagnetic-induction relays use the principle of the induction motor
whereby torque is developed by induction in a rotor; this operating
principle applies only to relays actuated by alternating current, and in
dealing with those relays we shall call them simply "induction-type" relays.
 DEFINITIONS OF OPERATION
 Mechanical movement of the operating mechanism is imparted to a contact
structure to close or to open contacts.
 When we say that a relay "operates," we mean that it either closes or opens its
contacts-whichever is the required action under the circumstances.
 Most relays have a "control spring," or are restrained by gravity, so that they
assume a given position when completely de-energized; a contact that is closed
under this condition is called a "closed" contact, and one that is open is called and
"open" contact.
 This is standardized nomenclature, but it can be quite confusing and awkward to use.
 A much better nomenclature in rather extensive use is the designation “a” for an
"open" contact, and “b” for a "closed" contact.
 The present standard method for showing "a" and “b” contacts on connection
diagrams is illustrated in Figure next slide
 Even though an “a” contact may be closed under normal operating conditions, it
should be shown open as in Figure next slide and similarly, even though a “b”
contact may normally be open, it should be shown closed.
DEFINITIONS OF OPERATION

 When a relay operates to open a “b” contact or to close

an “a” contact, we say that it "picks up," and the
smallest value of the actuating quantity that will cause
such operation, as the quantity is slowly increased from
zero, is called the "pickup" value.
 When a relay operates to close a “b” contact, or to move
to a stop in place of a “b” contact, we say that it
"resets"; and the largest value of the actuating quantity
at which this occurs, as the quantity is slowly decreased
from above the pickup value, is called the "reset" value.
 When a relay operates to open its “a” contact, but does
not reset, we say that it "drops out," and the largest
value of the actuating quantity at which this occurs is
called the "drop-out" value.
 OPERATION INDICATORS
 Generally, a protective relay is provided with an indicator that shows when the
relay has operated to trip a circuit breaker.
 Such "operation indicators" or "targets" are distinctively colored elements that are
actuated either mechanically by movement of the relay's operating mechanism, or
electrically by the flow of contact current, and come into view when the relay
operates.
 They are arranged to be reset manually after their indication has been noted, so as
to be ready for the next operation.
 One type of indicator is shown in Figure next slide.
 Electrically operated targets are generally preferred because they give definite
assurance that there was a current flow in the contact circuit.
 Mechanically operated targets may be used when the closing of a relay contact
always completes the trip circuit where tripping is not dependent on the closing of
some other series contact.
 A mechanical target may be used with a series circuit comprising contacts of other
relays when it is desired to have indication that a particular relay has operated,
even though the circuit may not have been completed through the other contacts.
One type of contact mechanism showing target and seal-in
elements
 SEAL-IN AND HOLDING COILS, AND
SEAL-IN RELAYS
 In order to protect the contacts against damage resulting from a possible inadvertent
attempt to interrupt the flow of the circuit trip coil current, some relays are provided with
a holding mechanism comprising a small coil in series with the contacts; this coil is on a
small electromagnet that acts on a small armature on the moving contact assembly to
hold the contacts tightly closed once they have established the flow of trip-coil current.
 This coil is called a "seal-in" or "holding" coil.
 Figure previous slide shows such a structure.
 Other relays use a small auxiliary relay whose contacts by-pass the protective-relay
contacts and seal the circuit closed while tripping current flows. This seal-in relay may
also display the target.
 In either case, the circuit is arranged so that, once the trip-coil current starts to flow, it
can be interrupted only by a circuit-breaker auxiliary switch that is connected in series
with the trip-coil circuit and that opens when the breaker opens.
 This auxiliary switch is defined as an " a " contact.
 The circuits of both alternatives are shown in Figure next slide
Figure below also shows the preferred polarity to which the circuit-breaker
trip coil (or any other coil) should be connected to avoid corrosion because of
electrolytic action.
No coil should be connected only to positive polarity for long periods of time;
and, since here the circuit breaker and its auxiliary switch will be closed
normally while the protective-relay contacts will be open, the trip-coil end of
the circuit should be at negative polarity.

Alternative contact seal-in methods.

 ADJUSTMENT OF PICKUP OR RESET
 Adjustment of pickup or reset is provided electrically by tapped current coils
or by tapped auxiliary potential transformers or resistors; or adjustment is
provided mechanically by adjustable spring tension or by varying the initial air
gap of the operating element with respect to its solenoid or electromagnet.
 Some relays have adjustable time delay, and others are "instantaneous" or
"high speed."
 The term "instantaneous" means "having no intentional time delay" and is
applied to relays that operate in a minimum time of approximately 0.1 second.
 The term "high speed" connotes operation in less than approximately 0.1
second and usually in 0.05 second or less.
 The operating time of high-speed relays is usually expressed in cycles based
on the power-system frequency; for example, "one cycle" would be 1/60
second in a 60-cycle system.
 Originally, only the term "instantaneous" was used, but, as relay speed was
increased, the term "high speed" was felt to be necessary in order to
differentiate such relays from the earlier, slower types.
Close-up of an induction-type overcurrent unit, showing the disc rotor and drag magnet