Engr.

Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

OVER CURRENT & EARTH FAULT RELAY CO-ORDINATION CASE STUDY IN

POWER SYSTEM OF GECPCO USING MODERN SIMULATION TOOLS.
Muzamil Faiz
Protection & Instrumentation Engineer

ABSTRACT- Protection system equipment is non-profit producing part of any power system. It is
considered idle during normal operational period but has its implications on reliability of whole power
network during system exigencies. Protection system mal-operation & failure to operate, both involve
increase in equipment damaging, operating personnel/general public safety issues and also possibly long
disturbances in maintaining continuity of supply. Properly timed and selective operations of protective
relays ensure isolation of only faulty portion of system from healthy one. In this paper load flow analysis &
short circuit studies are carried out using modern simulation tool for a typical 132 kV to 11 kV distribution
network of GEPCO. Over current & earth fault (O/C-E/F) relay settings are calculated manually and its co-
ordination with upstream and downstream relays is visualized by TCC curve view feature of using
manufacturer’s rely models.
KEY WORDS: Over current protection, star view, relay co-ordination, Earth fault settings, TCC
1- INTRODUCTION: Section (4) gives a brief review of star view
feature 0f Modern power System Simulation
Power system protection is a systematic
softwares.
knowledge, skillfulness and art of applying
relays, fuses or both to provide maximum Section (5) contains the case study of a GEPCO
sensitivity to faults and abnormal operating system from 132 kV substations to a typical end
conditions but to avoid their operations under user.
all permissible and tolerable conditions [1]. Over Section (6) contains the power system
current protection of power system equipments protection data and equipment settings and at
is one of the oldest and mostly used protection the last load flow report of the whole system is
techniques known protection Engineers upto
date. As the impedance of power system during
short circuit fault is always less than the
impedance during normal operation therefore
current through the equipment during fault
condition is always greater than during normal
operation. This many fold increase in current
from normal level can help in detection of fault
and isolation of faulty portion of system. To
cope with the possible saturation of CTs on
heavy fault currents, relay and circuit breaker
failure, a parallel backup protection system
enhances the system reliability. As the time slot
for decision to operate or not to operate for
2- POWER SYSTEM FAULTS:
protection system is very narrow therefore
proper coordination between primary and back Faults which an electrical power system will face
protection is considered as pre-requisite for are given below in Figure-2.
protection system designing.
Short Circuit Faults:
Paper layout plan is as given below:
When current through a network takes a shorter
Section (2) contains the description of possible
faults and faults discrimination techniques.
Section (3) describes the important relay terms
& settings/calculations formulae.

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

route than intended one then system is said to over current (O/C) relays as shown in figure-4.
undergo a short circuit fault. This relay operates when mismatch between the
different phase currents exceeds a preset limit.
Open Circuit Faults:
Operating current of earth fault (E/F) relay is the
When usual route of current is broken by vector sum of three phase currents.
opening of jumpers or conductors then system is
said to undergo an open circuit fault. However
all the open circuit faults sooner or later became
short circuit faults.

Due to economic reasons two O/C and one E/F

relay scheme is mostly preferred. Absence of
one O/C relay does not affect the protection
system as all types of faults are detected by this
Fault detection mechanism: scheme as shown in figure-5. Details of different
faults and relays which operate are given in
Current transformers (CTs) directly connected
table-1.
across the phase and neutral conductors help in
fault detection and operation of protective Sr. No Fault Type Relay
relays. In modern power system protection, CTs i R-Y R-1
are usually connected in wye (Y) and let the
ii Y-B R-2
relay calculate the delta compensation if
required. This wye connection of CTs has several Iii B-R R-1
advantages in terms of easiness in wiring and iv R-N R-1 & R-3
troubleshooting, fewer burdens in case of three
v Y-N R-3
Vi B-N R-2 & R-3
Vii R-Y-N R-1 & R-3
viii Y-B-N R-2 & R-3
ix R-B-N R-1,R-2 & R-3
x R-Y-B R-1,R-2 & R-3
Xi R-Y-B-N R-1,R-2 & R-3
Table 1

phase faults than delta connected CTs and Fault Discrimination Methods:
provision of residual over current protection due
Three basic approaches are in practice for fault
to availability of zero sequence currents [2].
Ideally three over current relays should be discrimination namely:
connected across three CTs and due to non
i. Discrimination by time
availability of neutral CT, an earth fault relay is
connected across the earth and start point of ii. Discrimination by current

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

iii. Discrimination by both time and current operating time is achieved for the portion of
network near the source and relatively larger
time for the portion near to the load. IEC, IEEE
Discrimination by Time: ANSI and other have devised their own typical
characteristic curves as shown in figure-8 below
In this method the relay closest to the load will
trip faster and to source will trip later according 3- RELAY SETTINGS AND CO-ORDINATION:
to time grading. Every relay behind the other When current through any phase exceeds a
will take a little bit greater time depending upon predetermined value then relay detects it as a
the coordination time interval (CTI).As we know fault and one or more of its output contacts
that fault current increases when moving
towards source due to decreasing impedance
therefore the that portion of network which has
faces the highest fault current will trip at the last
as shown in fig-6. It is evident that tripping time
increases with increasing fault current value
which is the major drawback of this coordination
method.

change position from NO to NC or vice versa.

This changing of contact position initiates a
Discrimination by Current: tripping signal to zone circuit breaker for
As the impedance between fault position and isolation of faulty portion. Some terms related
source increases with increasing distance so the to relay settings and operation are described
fault current will be decreased therefore the below:
tapered value of current is used for Pickup:
detection/clearing of fault. This method has the
A value of current at which relay starts changing
disadvantage of being dependent upon the
the position of its contacts from NO to NC and
source impedance and is prone to operate
vice versa.
outside the zone due to very little change in
impedance between the border of two zones as Drop off:
shown by point F1 and F2 in figure-7.
A value of current less than pickup at which
relay contacts start coming back to their original
position from the position attained by relay
operation.
Resetting ratio:
Discrimination by both time and current:
Ratio of drop off to pickup value of a relay is
This method overcomes the called resetting/holding ratio. As the pickup
drawbacks/limitations of other two methods. value is always greater than drop off value
Unique feature of these characteristics is that its hence it is always less than 1. In our case this
time of operation is inversely proportional to value is 0.95.
fault current value. By this method the faster

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

Plug setting: Coordination time interval (CTI):

This is the threshold value of current in Time interval between the different protective
secondary terms at which the relay starts its devices to ensure the selective operation and
pickup operation. Plug setting must consider avoiding nuisance tripping is called
continuous current and overloading limits. coordination/selectivity time interval (CTI/STI).
Usually it is given in Amperes or percentage of CTI of 200 ms to 400 ms is recommended in
relay rated current. most of the literature available. In Pakistan CTI
of 200 ms is chosen for selectivity purpose
Plug setting multiplier (PSM):
which includes circuit breaker tripping time,
PSM is the ratio of fault current through relay to relay over travel time and relay tolerance and
relay rated current. Its value is always greater time setting errors.[4]
than one. It actually shows how many times
fault current will be greater than relay rated CTI with CTI without
field field testing
current. Components
testing
Time multiplier settings (TMS):
Actual operating time of a relay is directly *E/M Static *E/M Static
proportional to the TMS value and inversely CB opening 0.08 s 0.08 s 0.08 s 0.08 s
proportional to the PSM value.. Its value in time (5 Cycles)
modern digital relays varies from 0.05 to 1 in Relay Over 0.10 s 0.00 s 0.10 s 0.00 s
steps of 0.05. travel

TMS = Relay
tolerance and
0.12 s 0.12 s 0.17 s 0.17 s
*Actual operating time is calculated using TMS at the settings error
maximum value i.e. 1.
Total CTI 0.30 s 0.20 s 0.35 s 0.25 s
Instantaneous settings:
Table 3
Current value at which relay will operate
without any intentional time delay. Its value *E/M = Electromechanical
must be greater than transient surge values of CTI = tCB + tRelay-Overtravel + tTolerance.+setting error
the system to avoid unnecessary tripping.
4- ETAP & DIgSILENT.
Operating time of relay:
ETAP & DIgSILENT are widely used tools, having
In GEPCO, IEC characteristic curves are usually in advanced features. Both may helps in carrying
use for grading purpose. Formula of IEC load flow studies to determine the continuous
curve(s)* is given by current ratings of fuses and CT ratios whereas
the short circuit study is carried to determine
the fault level at each bus for proper relay
settings/operation in case of fault and star view
Where α and β values are dependent upon the is a way of presenting one line diagram and its
type of curve used. Details are given in Table-2. associated curves/diagrams on graphical
*IEC curves are applicable to PSM<=20 only. interface. Star TCC view display the device
Slope of Curve α Β
characteristics view on an adjustable time versus
current frame. It has dynamic display allowing
Normal Inverse 0.02 0.14 the manufacturer’s device models, curves along
Very Inverse 1.00 13.5 with setting range which enables user to set the
device behavior according to need as shown in
Extremely inverse 2.00 80.0
figure-8.
Long Time inverse 1.00 120.0

Table 2 [5]

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

5- Case Study: c. Generator data including power ratings,

transient, sub transient and
A large housing society comprises of hospital(s),
synchronous reactance, voltage ratings,
residential complexes, shopping malls, heavy
connection and grounding technique
duty workshops and offices was facing the O/C-
employed.(N/A in our case)
E/F relay co-ordination issues which was
d. Cable/line data including ampacity, size,
effecting the whole community besides the
positive/negative and zero sequence
GEPCO GSO system. Two 11 kV feeders having
impedance, thermal limits and
load of 4500 kW each are originating from 132
conductor configurations.
kV distribution substation. Single line diagram of
e. Utility data which includes short circuit
single bus bar substation and two feeders is
MVA, X/R ratio for 3-phase and single
shown in Figure-9. Whole system including
phase, voltage and per unit impedance.
concerned GEPCO 132 kV substation and
f. Protective devices information including
housing society is modeled in one of mostly
relay locations, fuse data, CT ratings and
used tools The steps required for co-ordination
connection types.
study are:
g. Load data which includes total load
1- Single line diagram of the system or portion of connected and stand by, motor ratings,
a system with labeled data which helps in short acceleration times, transient, sub
circuit study of that typical system as shown in transient reactances and in case of
figure-9. The data required is: lumped load the percentage of
motorized load.
a. Bus and circuit breaker data including
h. Switchgear data which includes short
voltage, interrupting current ratings, trip
circuit withstand rating. (in our case of
time.

b. Transformer data including power GEPCO is 25 kA)

ratings, cooling mechanism, primary and
secondary voltage ratings, connection Relay Settings Calculations:
type, grounding technique, tap positions
and transformer thermal damaging In over current protection we normally find the
curve provided by manufacturer. phase to phase, phase to earth and
instantaneous fault settings.

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

Phase to Phase Settings: it is usually 10 to 20 % of maximum loading

(100%) and permissible overloading limits (10-
Practically it requires the maximum loading 20%) for each relay, Fault current at each
(100%) and permissible overloading limits (10- location and the relay resetting ratio (0.6-0.98)
20%) for each relay, Fault current at each provided by manufacturer. Reason behind the
location and the relay resetting ratio (0.6-0.98) lower settings is the high resistance offered by
provided by manufacturer. earth.
Relay Pick up = Relay Pick up=
TMS =
TMS =
In our case actual operating time of relay is
calculated by IEC formulae given above in Relay phase and earth fault settings, fault
section 3 of this paper. currents and CT ratios are given below in table-4
whereas the TCCs for these faults are given in
Phase to earth Settings: Figure10 & figure-11 respectively.

Phase - Phase Phase - Earth

Pickup 3-ϕ Req.Op. Pickup 1-ϕ Req.

Relay Fault Fault Op. Curve
(A) Current CT ratio PSM time TMS (A) Curren CT PSM TMS
(kA) t (kA) ratio time
(ms)
(ms)

1-LINE- 492 35.02 600/5 N/A 800 N/A 90 31.79 600/5 N/A 800 N/A DT
R

2-T/F- 126 14.63 200/5 100 600 0.26 100 13.89 200/5 *524 600 0.26 IEC-SI
HV-R

4-T/F- 0.13 1600/

LV-R 5 IEC-SI
1296 14.48 1600/5 9.65 400 160 13.67 50 400 0.17

6-GD- 392 5.78 400/5 12.7 200 0.07 40 3.62 400/5 43.9 200 0.8 IEC-SI
O/G-R

11-MES-
IN1&2- IEC-SI
R1&2 264 5.05 400/5 16.5 160 0.07 40 2.86 400/5 51.5 160 0.06

13-MES- 160 3.46 200/5 18.7 100 0.04 20 1.91 200/5 56.7 100 0.04 IEC-SI
O/G-
R11

14-MES- 80 3.89 100/5 42 100 0.04 50 2.25 100/5 134 100 0.04 IEC-SI
O/G-
R14

15-MES- 280 3.26 400/5 10.1 140 0.05 200 2.29 400/5 58.8 140 0.05 IEC-SI
IN22-R

16-MES- 160 3.3 200/5 17.8 100 0.04 100 1.88 200/5 55.8 100 0.04 IEC-SI
O/G2-
R1

18- 80 3.53 100/5 38.1 100 0.04 50 2.02 100/5 120 100 0.04 IEC-SI
MES-
O/G2-
R2

19- 40 3.5 50/5 75.6 100 0.04 25 2.01 50/5 28.7 100 0.04 IEC-SI
MES-
O/G2-
R3

Table 4

Power System & Protection Engineer

Engr. Muzamil Faiz GEPCO, Pakistan

*Relays studied here are limited by manufacturer to minimum TMS of 0.05 only.
*When PSM is greater than 20 then 20 is used for time calculation.

Power System & Protection Engineer