NEE 602

Switchgear and Protection

Unit I: Introduction to Protection System

Mandhir Verma
Asstt. Professor
Electrical Engineering department

Topic-1
Introduction to protection system and its
elements

An electrical power system mainly consists of:

Generators
Transformers
Switchgear panel
Protection control
Transmission lines
Distribution lines

Electrical energy management system ensures

supply of energy to every consumer at:

All time (i.e. continuous supply)

Rated voltage
Rated frequency
Specific waveform
Lowest cost
Minimum environmental degradation
And off course with safety

Modern power system engineers have

following essential function at their hands:

Generation planning
Transmission planning
System expansion
Installation of Electrical Energy System
Operation control of Electrical Energy System
Maintenance of Electrical Energy System
Fault calculation
Network calculation
Load flow studies

Need for protective system:

Short circuit (or faults) and other abnormal conditions often
occur on power system.
The heavy current associated with short circuits is likely to
cause damage to equipments.
Various sections of power system as well equipments and
appliances operating on electrical power are to be protected.
To protect them suitable protective devices (relay and circuit
breakers) are provided.
If a fault occurs in an element of a power system, an automatic
protective device is needed to isolate the faulty element as quickly
as possible to keep the healthy section of the system in normal
operation.
The fault must be cleared within a fraction of a second.

If the fault or short circuit persists on a

system for a longer it may:

Cause damage to some important sections of the system.

may cause a fire
spread in the system
system voltage may reduce to a low level
individual generators or groups of generators may lose
synchronism
may cause the total failure of the system
if power supply is interrupted then there will be loss of
revenue

Switchgear and Protection

Everyone is familiar with low voltage switches and
re-wire able fuses.
A switch is used for opening and closing in electric
circuit and a fuse is used for over current protection.
Every electric circuit needs a switching device and a
protective device.
Switchgear is a general term covering a wide range
of equipment concern with switching and protection.
Switchgear are necessary at every switching point in
AC power system

Equipments associated with switchgear are:

Relays
circuit breakers
transducers (CTs and VTs)
isolators (disconnecting switches)
control panels
lightening arresters
Controlling, regulation and measuring
equipments

Transducers (CTs and VTs) are used to:

reduce the current and voltages at lower
values
and to isolate protective relay from high
voltages of power system.

Functions of protective relaying

The basic electrical quantities which

are likely to change during
abnormal conditions are:

Current
Voltage
Phase-angle (direction) and
Frequency

 Protective relays utilize one or more of these

quantities to detect abnormal conditions on a
power system.
A protective relay does not anticipate or
prevent the occurrence of a fault, rather it takes
action only after a fault has occurred.
The cost of the protective equipment generally
works out to be about 5% of the total cost of
the system.

Nature and Causes of Faults:

Faults are caused
either by insulation failures
or by conducting path failures.

Both of the above conditions occurs due to one

or more of the following reasons:

Over voltages due to lightning or switching surges,

Falling of external conducting objects on overhead lines
Sometimes, insulators get punctured or break.
Accumulation of foreign particles, such as fine cement dust
or salt or any dirt on the surface of string and pin
insulators.
by tree branches
broken conductors (open circuit)
Contact of broken conductor to the ground, it results in a
short circuit
joints failure
mechanical damage etc

Natural reasons:
Birds (if their bodies touch one of the
phases and the earth wire)
Direct lightening strokes
Ice and snow loading
Storms, earth quakes
Aging

Types of Faults:
Faults are broadly classified in to two types:
Symmetrical faults
Unsymmetrical faults

Symmetrical Faults
A
three-phase (3-) fault is called a symmetrical type

of fault.
In a 3-fault, all the three phases are short circuited.
There may be two situations all the three phases may be short circuited to the
ground
or they may be short-circuited without involving the
ground.
A 3- short circuit is generally treated as a standard
fault to determine the system fault level.

Unsymmetrical Faults
The faults not involving all the three phases are known as Unsymmetrical
Faults.
Single-phase to Ground (L-G) Fault
Causes due to the failure of the insulation between a phase conductor and
the earth
or due to phase conductor breaking and falling to the ground.
Two-phase to Ground (2L-G) Fault
A short circuit between any two phases and the earth is called a
double line to ground
or a two-phase to ground fault.
Phase to phase (L-L) Fault
A short circuit between any two phases is called a line to line or phaseto-phase fault.

Open-circuited phases
This type of fault is caused by a break in the
conducting path.
Winding Faults
All types of faults discussed above also
occur on the alternator, motor and
transformer windings.

Fault Statistics

Percentage Distribution of Faults in

Various Elements of Power System
Elements

%age of total Fault

Overhead lines

50

Switchgears

12

CTs, VTs, Relays

Control Equipment, etc.

12

Transformers

10

Underground Cables

Generators

Frequency of Occurrence of Different

Types of Faults on overhead line:
Types of Faults

Fault symbol % of total Faults

Line to Ground

L-G

85

Line to Line

L-L

2L-G

3-

Double
Line
Ground
Three phase

to

Percentage failure rate of various

equipments:
Name of Equipment
Relays
Circuit breaker interrupters
AC wiring
Breaker trip mechanisms
Current transformers
DC wiring
Voltage transformers
Breaker auxiliary switches
Breaker trip coils
DC supply

% of total Failures
44
14
12
8
7
5
3
3
3
1