Differential Protection

Introduction
Differential protection is based on the fact that any fault within
an electrical equipment would cause the current entering it, to be
different, from that leaving it.
Comparing the two currents either in magnitude or in phase or both and issue
a trip output if the difference exceeds a predetermined set value. This method
of detecting faults is very attractive when both ends of the apparatus are
physically located near each other. i.e.,
transformer,
generator
busbar.
Used where:
• Protection co-ordination is difficult / not
possible using time delayed elements
• Fast fault clearance is critical
Can be used on all items of plant in one form or
another (i.e. Generators, transformers, lines,
cables, busbars, motors) to form a defined zone
of protection dictated by current transformer
location.
 Dot Markings (polarity marks)

The polarity of a transformer therefore is simply an identification of

the primary terminal and the secondary terminal, which satisfies the
conditions, the flow of current in secondary is opposite to that in
primary.
All instrument transformers, whether current or potential will have
polarity marks associated with at least one primary terminal and one
secondary terminal. These markings usually appear as white dots or
letter and number combinations. When number and letter
combinations are used IEEE refers to H1 as the primary terminal
marking and to X1 for the secondary polarity mark.
• Differential protection utilizes CTs at each terminal of the
equipment under protection.
• Consider a set of three mutually coupled coils A, B, and C
with terminals A1-A2, B1-B2 and C1-C2 as shown in Figure
3.1.
How shall we put dot marks on the terminals?
Energize coil A as shown in Figure 3.2 so that the terminal Al
becomes positive with respect to terminal A2. Now, this will
cause an alternating current to flow through coil A, and thus
set up an alternating flux ØA in the direction shown, at the
instant of time under consideration. This flux also links both
coils
B and C. Voltages will be induced in these coils. Now if a load
were to be connected between terminals B1 and B2, a current
will be established. According to Lenz's law, this current
would flow in such a direction so as to oppose the very cause
(flux ØA) that was responsible for its (current in coil B)
production. Therefore, the direction of current through coil B
will be such that the flux (ØB) due to it opposes the flux ØA.
Thus, current will flow out of terminal B2, making B2
instantaneously positive with respect to B1.
Therefore, B2 will have the same polarity as that of A,. Thus,
dot marks can be put on B2 as shown in Figure. 3.3 to signify
that these two terminals will be similarly phased.
Similar arguments show that current must leave terminal C1 at the
instant under consideration. Thus, C1 will be similarly phased as
Al. We, therefore, put dot marks on terminals Al, B2, and C1.
A little thought will convince the reader that we can instead put
dot marks on terminals A2, B1 and C2 as shown in Figure 3.3.
 Conclusion from DOT MARKINGS:

 When current enters the dot mark on the

primary side of a CT the current must leave the
similarly marked dot mark on the secondary
side.

 If currents are made to enter dot marked

terminals on two or more coupled coils then
the fluxes produced by these currents are such
that they add up.
 Simple Differential Protection:
Behavior During Load
Figure shows a simple differential relaying scheme:
The currents entering and leaving the equipment to be
protected are stepped down with the help of CTs on either
side. Careful attention must be paid to the dot marks placed
on the CTs.
When current enters the dot mark on the primary side of
the CTs the current must leave the similarly marked dot
mark on the secondary side.
Simple Differential Protection
 Simple Differential Protection:
Behavior During External Fault
Faults which are outside the protection zone are called external faults or
through faults. Figure below shows that during external faults too, the
current leaving the protected zone is the same as that entering it. Assuming
that the CTs transform the two currents with the same fidelity, there will be no
current in the spill path and the scheme remains stable.
Practically there is always a small current in the spill path but never
zero, because of the losses within the protected area and small differences
between the same CTs. With different CTs and ratios, larger differences will
exist that must be minimized or the pickup of the relay must be set so that it
does not operate on any through condition.
Simple Differential Scheme remains stable on external fault
 Simple Differential Protection:
Behavior During Internal Fault
Figure 3.6 shows an internal fau1lt of magnitude If, int. The
current leaving the protected zone is now I2 whereas that
entering it is I, such that,
I1 = I2 + If, int
As can be seen from the figure,
Current in the spill path is now (If, int/n), where n is the CT
ratio.
Assuming that the spill current is more than the pick-up value
of the over-current relay, both the circuit breakers will be
tripped out. Thus, the scheme meets the basic requirement of
clearing internal faults.
The minimum internal fault current that will cause the
tripping, is given by
If, min= (CT ratio) (Plug setting of the OC relay) = n Ips
Simple Differential Protection, Double-end-fed:

Behavior During Internal Fault

A double-end-fed system is shown in Figure 3.7, the
internal fault is now fed from both sides. The internal
fault current,
If, int = I1 + I2
Again, we see that the spill current is equal to (If, int/n).
Assuming that the spill current is greater than Ips the
plug setting of the OC relay, the relay will operate and
trip out the circuit breakers on either side of the protected
equipment.
Differential Protection double end fed
Zone of Protection of the Differential
Relay

•The differential scheme generates a well-defined and

closed zone of protection.
•This zone encompasses everything between the two CTs.
•Any fault between the two CTs as an 'internal fault’
•All other faults are 'external faults' or 'through faults‘
•Differential scheme is supposed to respond only to internal
faults and restrain from the ‘external faults’ and ‘through
faults’.
Zones of Differential Protection
• Thus, an ideal differential scheme should
be able to respond to the smallest internal
fault but restrain from tripping on the
largest external fault
• The ideal condition is difficult to achieve,
especially for very heavy ‘through faults'
because of the non-ideal nature of the
various components of the protective
system.
 3.5 Actual Behavior of a Simple
Differential Scheme
• In practice, CTs are subject to ratio and phase
angle errors.
• These errors depend upon the burden on the
CTs, which in turn depends on the lead lengths
and the impedance of the relay coil.
• The errors, in general, increase as the primary
current increases, as in the case of external
faults.
• Ideally, for 'through faults', secondary currents of both
the CTs would be equal in magnitude and in phase
with each other, and thus the spill current would be
zero.
• However, as shown in Figure CT1 has an actual ratio
of n1 and phase-angle error of Ø1 while CT2 has an
actual ratio of n2 and phase angle error of Ø2.
• The difference between these two currents, therefore,
ends up as spill current, as shown in Figure.
• The ratio and phase angle errors aggravate as primary
current increases, the spill current builds up as the
'through fault' current goes on increasing.
3.5.1 ‘Through Fault’ OR External Fault
Stability and Stability Ratio
• As the 'through fault' current goes on
increasing, various imperfections of the CTs
get magnified. This causes the spill current to
build up.
• “Through fault” current goes on increasing, as
shown in Figure. This causes the relay to
operate, disconnecting the equipment under
protection from rest of the system.
The higher the stability ratio, the better is the ability of
the system to discriminate between external and internal
faults. The stability ratio can be improved by improving
the match between the two CTs.
 Percentage Differential Relay

The simple differential relay can be made more stable,

if somehow, a restraining torque proportional to the
'through fault' current could be developed-the
operating torque still being proportional to the spill
current.
This idea has been implemented in the percentage differential relay shown in
Figure below. This relay has a restraining coil which is tapped at the centre,
thus forming two sections with equal number of turns, Nr/2. The restraining
coil is connected in the circulating current path, thus receiving the 'through
fault' current. The operating coil, having N0 number of turns, is connected in
the spill path. The torque equation for this relay:
Ampere-turns acting on the
left-hand section of the restraining coil = Nr /2(I1),
Ampere-turns acting on the
right-hand section of the restraining coil = Nr /2(I2),
Total ampere-turns acting on the restraining coil = Nr / 2 (I1+ I2)
Noting that torque in an electromagnetic relay is proportional to the
square of the Flux.
Torque produced by the restraining coil = M {Nr/2 (I1+ I2)2}
where M is a constant of proportionality.
Restraining torque produced by control spring = Tspring
The relay trips if the operating torque is greater than the
restraining torque. The relay will be on the verge of operation
when the operating torque just balances out the restraining torque,
i.e. when:
where K0 accounts for the effect of spring.
Thus, the operating characteristics of this relay will be a straight line
with a slope of (Nr/N0) and an intercept K0 on the y-axis. All points
above the straight line will represent the condition where the
operating torque is greater than the restraining torque and hence will
fall in the trip region of the relay. All points below the straight line
belong to the restraining region. The operating characteristics of the
percentage differential relay are shown in Figure below:
Operating Characteristics of percentage differential relay
Thus, the spill current must be greater than a definite percentage of the 'through
fault' current for the relay to operate. Hence, the name percentage differential
relay. The slope of the relay is customarily expressed as a percentage. Thus, a
slope of 0.4 is expressed as 40% slope.
The percentage differential relay does not have a fixed pick-up value. The relay
automatically adapts its pick-up value to the 'through fault' current. As the
'through fault‘ current goes on increasing, we are in effect asking the relay to take
it easy, by introducing a restraining torque proportional to the circulating current.
It can be seen from Figure 3.14, that the 'through fault' stability and the stability
ratio of the percentage differential relay is substantially better than that of the
simple differential relay. The restraining winding is also known as the biasing
winding because we bias the relay towards restraint. The slope of the
characteristic is also known as percentage bias.
The characteristic of the percentage differential relay, superimposed on the
'through fault' characteristic, and the internal fault characteristic are shown in
Figure 3.14.
The slope of the internal fault characteristic can be found as follows: Consider an internal
fault in the case of a single-end-fed system. Since CT2 will not contribute any current, i.e..
I2 = 0, the spill current, ( I 1 - I2), will be equal to I1. The circulating current which is [(I1 +
12)/2} will be equal to (I1/2). Thus the following currents will exist during an internal fault:

Thus, during internal faults the spill current will be two times the circulating current, a, giving a slope of
2, which is expressed as 200%.

The minimum internal fault current below which the scheme will not respond is seen . , to be If,min,int and
the maximum 'through fault' current above which the scheme will maloperate is seen to be If,max,ext as
shown in Figure 3.14. Thus, the stability ratio is given by

The percentage differential relay can be made more immune to maloperation on

'through fault' by increasing the slope of the characteristic.
 Block Diagram of Percentage Differential
Relay
Figure 3.15 shows the block diagram of the percentage differential relay. The relay has
two settings. the slope setting and the minimum pick-up setting. The slope is adjusted
by changing the tapping on the restraining coil. It may be noted that both halves of the
restraining coil need to be symmetrically tapped. The minimum pick-up is adjusted by
changing the tension of the restraining spring.
Example 1
Assume that a CT with a ratio of 2000/5 is available, having a steel
core of high permeability, a cross-sectional area of 3.25 in 2, and a
secondary winding with a resistance of 0.31. The impedance of the
relays, including connections, is 2. Determine whether the CT
would be saturated by a fault of 35 000A at 50 Hz.