EVOLVING PROTECTION AND CONTROL SOLUTIONS

FOR A CHANGING WORLD

E Southern A Myatt T Spearing

ALSTOM T&D Protection & Control Ltd. UK

SYNOPSIS

Electrical utilities need to anticipate demand and deliver power to their customers in an
efficient and effective manner whilst maintaining investment and providing a profit to their
shareholders. This paper describes the benefits of multi-function numerical relays and how
their integration into the overall power network control system can exploit the opportunities
created by this environment. The paper will discuss how the features and characteristics of
modern protection relays address the needs of electrical suppliers and industry by
providing both short and long term benefits.

Keyword Index – Numerical multi-function protection relay, network monitoring and

control, data communications, system solutions, standardised relay platform.

1. INTRODUCTION
Comparing the advances made in the
technology of electrical power system
protection relays to that made in other
fields within electrical and electronic
engineering, for example, digital
communications, video image processing
or microprocessor design, it is easy to view
the progress in protection relays as being
quite slow, and advances in the techniques
used as being minimal. Two main reasons
for this misapprehension can be
suggested; firstly, generation, transmission
and distribution of power was one of the
earliest applications for electricity after its
discovery at the end of the last century. A
consequence of this is that the technology
of the power industry, including power
system protection equipment, is by now
well established. This means that
overcurrent IDMT characteristics or
distance relaying, for example, are well
known. The second reason is that
protection of the power system is a safety-
critical operation, which means that it must
be very reliable. This inevitably leads to
the general philosophy of re-using and
evolving methods which are tried and
trusted, and for completely new methods,
e.g. travelling wave techniques, to appear
infrequently and to take some time to
become established when they do. This
situation can result in the general
perception that the technology of
protection relays is not changing or
moving forward, but this is far from the
truth. The introduction of relays based on
microprocessors in the early 1980's is the
key to this. Although the first generation of
microprocessor relays did little more than
implement the old techniques in a new
way, the great leaps forward in processing
power coupled with reducing costs that
have taken place in microprocessor
technology since then are now changing
this.
2. MULTI-FUNCTION
NUMERICAL PROTECTION RELAYS
In recent years two trends in protection
relay technology have emerged; firstly the
provision of numerous different protection
functions by one relay, e.g. directional
earth fault overcurrent protection in a
distance relay, and secondly moves
towards integrating protection relays into
the overall power network control system.
The latter of these has driven many of the
technological developments in protection
relays in the last few years. Features such
as measuring and monitoring of the power
system behaviour
 (currents, voltages, power flows etc.), data
recording, data communication and
remote interrogation and control of the
relay and plant have become important
features of protection relays.
The integration of several protection
functions into one relay provides benefits
by being able to provide comprehensive
and adaptable protection. Also, by using
one multi-function microprocessor relay to
replace several single function relays,
considerable cost savings can be made as
well as space and wiring savings within the
relay room. Measuring and data
recording facilities within the relay, which
provide access to measured and derived
parameters, can also produce similar
savings, by removing the need for a
separate disturbance recorder for
example.
A further advantage of multi-function
numerical relays is that they are adaptable
to the needs of evolving systems, either
through their inherent flexibility, or through
the possibility of carrying out field
upgrades. For example, if a multi-function
relay providing overcurrent protection was
being used on a single feeder, and the line
was upgraded to a parallel feeder to cope
with greater demand, the relay could
easily be re-configured with protection
settings relevant to the new arrangement,
e.g. directional overcurrent protection.
Field upgrades might mean a new
hardware module, or increasingly, a
download of upgraded software. This
could be done to install a new
communication protocol into the relay if
the utility was upgrading their monitoring
and control communication network. As
described by Daniels2, with the latest
relays this may be carried out using non-
invasive techniques.
3. INTEGRATED PROTECTION,
CONTROL AND MONITORING
SOLUTIONS
The electricity supply industry in various
parts of the world is going through many
changes, such as privatisation and de-
regulation of electricicty supply markets.
Electricity companies, more than ever,
must meet high standards of power quality
against a background of pressure to
reduce costs, satisfy shareholders and
compete in the marketplace. In this
situation, investment in new technology
must show real benefits.
Electricity supply companies are moving
towards a turnkey approach. Equipment
suppliers are becoming solution providers
with the components they provide almost
becoming the by-products of these overall
solutions. Successful suppliers of
components, systems and services allow
customers to benefit from comprehensive
solutions capable of meeting all electricity
supply requirements. Central to the success
of this approach is the flexibility and
compatibility of the individual components
of the solution.
Hence, increasingly the electricity supply
industry requires protection relay
manufacturers to provide the ability to
define a protection application solution,
and integrate it within their power network
monitoring and control system.
4. PROGRAMMABLE SCHEME
LOGIC
4.1 User configurable logic
Central to any integrated protection
solution is flexibility. An area where
modern numerical relays can provide
great flexibility is in the scheme logic.
Traditionally the scheme logic of
protection relays, i.e. the internal logic
connecting digital input signals, protection
algorithm outputs, indication LEDs and
output relay contacts, has been fixed by
the manufacturer.
Numerical relays can offer the relay user
the ability to program their own scheme
logic into the relay, to satisfy their
particular application requirements. The
programmable scheme logic (PSL) will
consist of gate logic (AND, OR, majority
logic gate functions) with the ability to
invert
signals and include general
purpose delay timers.
Relay
Optos contacts
Gate Logic

The best systems will combine this Protection &

flexibility with the traditional elements 1
approach by providing some fixed &
logic, together with a default Control Timers
programmable logic scheme,
based on the manufacturer’s Fixed LEDs
scheme
experience of typical protection logic
requirements. This is then combined User programmable scheme logic
with a PSL engine which allows the Figure 1 Programmable scheme logic
user to customise and extend the
logic as required. Figure 1 shows a
CB is in a healthy state and able to trip
PSL system with its inputs and outputs in
again, signals which allow the AR to be
schematic form.
enabled or disabled from the opto input
signals, and so on. These will be linked by
the appropriate logic gates and delay
An example of this approach might be an
timers in the fixed scheme logic. However,
integrated auto-reclose (AR) function. This
internal digital signals can also be
would be supplied with a logic scheme
provided for indication, e.g. AR in
which provides all of the necessary
progress, successful circuit breaker close,
connections for an AR scheme, e.g. a
whether the AR is blocking the
signal to block the instantaneous
instantaneous protection elements, dead
protection elements after the first reclose, a
signal to check if the

Figure 2 PSL graphical interface

time in progress, etc. The user then has the
option of using these signals within the PSL
to provide an LED or test port indication,
or to drive an output contact or trigger an
event or fault record.
The flexibility of the PSL is especially
relevant to multi-function relays where
combining the outputs of two or more
protection functions may be required. In
this situation, the PSL can replace external
wiring and auxiliary relays that would have
been used between two or more discrete,
single-function relays.
4.2 Graphical user interface
In order to make the custom design of
logic schemes as easy as possible, a
graphical method provides the best
interface. An example of such an interface
is shown in figure 2. The interface program
runs under Windows, thus allowing it to be
used on a portable PC local to the relay,
or at a remote location such as a control
centre.
As illustrated in figure 2, the scheme logic
can be represented as a series of symbols,
one for each of the opto input signals,
LEDs, relay contacts and the relay’s
internal logic signals. The user can
construct a logic
scheme by selecting the appropriate
symbols and connecting them as required
using logic gates, delay timers and
straight connections. When the logic
diagram is complete, it can be
downloaded to the relay via either of its
communication ports. Also the logic that is
present in the relay can be uploaded to
the PC via the same route, thus allowing it
to be modified and re-downloaded to the
relay, as an alternative to starting a new
scheme from scratch.
5. SUBSTATION
COMMUNICATIONS:
MONITORING AND CONTROL
5.1 Network monitoring and control
Essential to any range of new protection
relays is the provision of communication
facilities. These enable plant information
and control to be made available without
having to visit the substation. The potential
benefits of this are enormous; it opens up
the possibility of using the measurements
from the relays, and the control functions
that they inherently offer, as part of a
distributed monitoring and control system
for the power network.
To exploit this potential, substation
monitoring and control software programs
are designed to communicate with a
number of relays, as illustrated in figure 3.
As described by Lomas and Thomas1,
these versatile programs can be connected
via a direct communication link, such as
might be used within a substation, as
shown in the grey shaded area of figure 3.
Also, it is possible to gather data from
several substations to form a wide area
control network. This can be implemented
by introducing a modem and suitable
communication interface equipment, or,
as shown in figure 3, by making use of the
ethernet-based networking capabilities of
PCs.
The integration of protection relays into
the control system has a number of other
positive consequences. The first amongst
these is the reduction in costs that can be
achieved. These are not only the savings
that may be made by avoiding the need to
invest in new power system infrastructure
because of better utilisation and more
effective management of the existing
system, but also cost savings on the
equipment installed inside each
substation. This will result from the
combination of the protection, control,
monitoring and SCADA
equipment into one integrated system. For
many applications a wide range of
discrete devices including protection
relays, disturbance recorders, event
recorders, measuring devices, alarm
systems and remote terminal units (RTUs)
can be replaced by a single unit.
5.2 Fault analysis and adaptive protection
Numerical relays include the ability to
store various records to describe the
behaviour of the power system. An event
record is stored whenever a significant
change in the status of the relay occurs.
This can include a protection start or trip, a
change in any of the input or output
contacts, a self-monitoring report or a
change in the relay settings. Fault records
can be triggered by the protection
elements and include information on the
fault current magnitude, fault duration,
faulted phase identification and other
information specific to the type of
protection. Disturbance records are also
triggered by the protection elements and
record the waveforms of selectable
analogue and digital signals. All of these
records can be extracted from the relay via
the communication facilities. This wealth of
information can be used for fault analysis
at the control centre where the fact that
information from more than one relay is
available makes it possible to identify the
location and nature of the fault more
easily and accurately.
Based on this information, strategic system
operation decisions canFigure
be 3made
Control
in network
a using rela
timely manner, thereby minimising supply
interruptions. In addition, the remote
communication interface of the relay can
be used to change the relay settings. This
may be required to adapt the relay’s
protection to the changed power system
configuration.
Hence, the reductions in equipment and
manpower that can be brought about by
the use of communicating numerical relays
does not imply a reduction in the level of
information or control that is available. In
fact the opposite is true, with detailed and
up to date measurements of the state of
the power system being available to the
control engineers without them having to
leave their control room. If any relay
registers an alarm this can be signaled
immediately to the control centre. This
feature can be used not only to alert the
control engineers to protection and control
related alarms, but also to indicate when
maintenance is required.
5.3 Condition based maintenance
Numerical relays can include a number of
maintenance related monitoring functions
which can be used to implement condition
based maintenance. For example, circuit
breaker wear in terms of number of
operations and magnitude of current
interrupted, and VT and CT supervision
provide mechanisms for continuously
checking these items of plant. This can
enable maintenance to be carried out
when required rather than on a, say, 6
monthly cycle. This can produce savings
by eliminating unnecessary maintenance
work, but also increases availability by
allowing failures to be rectified, hopefully
before they have had a chance to cause a
serious problem. In the past these types of
fault may have gone unnoticed until they
caused a problem.
Modern relays themselves require minimal
regular maintenance and include self-
checking facilities to monitor critical
aspects of their own operation. This
includes items such as checking the
integrity of data and code held in
memory, checking the status of the battery
used for backing up the storage of fault,
disturbance and event records, and
checking the validity of all input data, both
the digital logic signals and the analogue
signals sampled by the data acquisition
circuitry. The self-checking features of the
relay allow it to detect a failure in its
operation which, coupled to the relay’s
ability to communicate this information to
the control centre, means that in most
cases corrective maintenance can be
carried out before the relay’s failure has
had the chance to cause either a false trip
or a failure to trip.
6. A UNIFIED APPROACH TO
RELAY DESIGN
6.1 Relay development in the modern
marketplace
The integration of protection relays into a
control system via a communication
network creates the need at the control
centre to be able to communicate with
many different relays. In one substation
there could be several different types of
relay, for example overcurrent relays,
distance relays, current differential relays
etc. which must all be compatible with the
control centre computer. In such a set-up,
there is considerable advantage to be
gained from having a standardised
communication interface on each of the
relays so that the control centre only has to
cope with one method of signal
transmission and one communication
protocol.
This requirement for a common user
interface to achieve compatibility as part
of an integrated protection and control
solution logically leads to developing
relays which are based on a common
hardware and software platform.
Individual relays are then produced by
adding product-specific components as
required.
The application of new technology, driven
by the requirements of electrical utilities for
integrated protection and control solutions
is having the effect of making product life
cycles shorter. The technological advances
in protection relays in the areas of
monitoring and communications, as
described in this paper, create a circle of
greater expectations from utilities
regarding new products from
manufacturers which provide increased
functionality, often for reducing cost. There
is a need for manufacturers to respond to
this changing market by providing new
products on a more regular basis than in
the past. It also puts the onus on the
manufacturers to manage the
obsolescence of older products, whilst at
the same time providing continued
support for existing products. The regular
introduction of new products needs to be
managed to ensure the users experience
as little disruption as possible.
The use of a standardised, common relay
platform will become more important in
this environment. By basing a range of
relays as much as possible on a common
platform, it is much easier to maintain and
evolve the products to meet changing
requirements. The relay development
process will become less one of
developing a new relay and launching it,
then developing another new relay to a
new design and so on. Instead, once a
relay platform has been developed, a
range of relays can be quickly and cost
effectively produced based on the
platform. By maintaining the common
platform, the whole range is maintained.
The process will become one of continuous
development and evolution, as the relay
platform is modified to satisfy new market
demands and incorporate new
technology.
To the relay user, this philosophy should
lessen the impact of changes to relay
products. It involves a move away from the
previous approach of buying a relay and
using it unchanged for 20 or 30 years, to
one of continuous gradual change. This
does not have to imply greater cost to the
users, partly because the cost-per-function
of multi-function relays is low and getting
lower, and partly because field upgrades
of relays will become more common.
These may take the form of either
replacement hardware modules or
downloads of updated software.
20
10
60 70 80 90 00 01
Figure 4 Shortening product lifecycles
6.2 Hardware platform
The hardware platform is designed so that
various different hardware modules are
produced which each perform a different
task. This may include input modules to
accept analogue current and voltage
signals and digital logic signals, relay
boards to provide output contacts,
processor boards to perform calculations
and execute software, and so on. Different
protection relays are composed by
selecting the necessary type and number
of hardware modules, e.g. sufficient
transformer modules to accommodate a
generator differential function, or sufficient
logic inputs to provide a single pole auto-
reclose function with check synchronism on
a distance protection relay.
The use of a common hardware platform
reduces the number of spare boards that
need to be stocked, since they are
interchangeable between relays, as well as
making repairs or board replacements
simpler. From the manufacturer’s
viewpoint, production lead times can be
shortened giving a better delivery service
to customers.
6.3 Software platform
Figure 5 shows the software components of
a modern multi-function relay with the
software platform shown in black. As
shown, functions such as control of the user
interface, both on the front panel of the
relay and via the remote communication
ports, the format of the stored
measurement data such as event, fault and
disturbance records, the implementation
of remote control commands and the
programmable scheme logic (PSL) are all
part of the common software platform.
Thus the relays are able to present a
consistent user interface both to a control
centre accessing them via a
communication system and to a
commissioning or maintenance engineer
using the front panel LCD and keypad in
the substation relay room. The
commonality of the front panel, menu
structure and relay features will reduce the
requirement for personnel training by
allowing familiarity with a number of
different types of relay to be gained
quickly.

Database User
interface
Data
Configuration
acquisition
Protection Protection
Figure 5 Platform and product software
The appropriate product-specific
protection software, shown in grey in figure
5, is then added to work with the common
platform software. This approach results in
the protection functionality of the relay
being determined largely in software
which provides great flexibility in what can
be achieved by the protection functions.
7. CONCLUSIONS
Utilities cannot afford to over-design in the
current climate of cost saving. Electrical
product suppliers need to choose the
optimum technology and justify the
cost/benefit ratios of their new products.
For a utility, technology improvement
alone may not justify the cost of change,
but the improved availability of
information and plant might. This issue will
gain in importance when considered as
part of an integrated system solution.
Equally, the provision of integrated
maintenance will play a large role in
managing assets.
Protection relays have an important role
as stand-alone real-time control devices
which implement local control of the
system via the local circuit breakers, i.e.
the protection of the system. In this role
numerical multi-function relays provide
greater flexibility and adaptability than
single function relays.
Modern relays must also contribute to the
control and monitoring of the system over
Comms a large area via the data communication
networks that are in place. Future trends in
protection and control of power system
PSL
networks are bound to rely more and more
on the abilities and possibilities of these
data communication networks. By
connecting together the protection relays,
SCADA RTUs and control centres, it is
possible to share information between the
traditionally separate fields of protection
and control. The ultimate goal of this
movement is to afford the operators of the
power system better knowledge of its state
and better control over its operation. This
will lead to more efficient and cost
effective usage of existing plant.
The role of modern relays as part of a
system solution is leading to shorter
product lifecycles than in the past. The
responsibility for managing the effects of
this lies with the manufacturer. This may be
addressed by a range of relays which are
based on a common hardware and
software platform. This provides a
mechanism for managing the evolution of
the relays during their lifecycle as well as
increasing compatibility and providing a
common user interface and range of
features.
Relay manufacturers today must be
customer-centric solution providers with
sufficient flexibility in their products,
systems and services to offer evolving
solutions for a changing world.
8. REFERENCES
1. Lomas, T; Thomas, R : Protection
Based Substation Control System Using
Communicating Relays And PCs. South
African Conference on Power System
Protection, November 1998.
2. Daniels, A.F. : Non-Invasive Re-
Programmability For Protective Relays.
Universities Power Engineering
Conference , UMIST, Manchester UK,
September 1997.