Basics of Distance
Protection
Drawbacks of Over-current Protection
Overcurrent protection is widely used due to its
simplicity.
Overcurrent relay reach depends on the type of fault
as well as on the source impedance.
Drawbacks of Over-current Protection
What if the source impedance changes?
Therefore we must
look for a relay
whose reach does
not depend upon
the actual
magnitude of the
fault current.
Drawbacks of Over-current Protection
Consider Line AB as shown.
Now, let us compare the relay voltage VR with the
product of relay current IR and Zset.
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Drawbacks of Over-current Protection
Consider the results.
We can see that the trip law that emerges is:
This can be written as:
OR
The Modern Distance Relay Element
In the past two decades, the use of polarised mho
distance relays for the protection of high-voltage
transmission lines has become widespread, because of
their inherent property of being simultaneously an
impedance and a directional measuring element.
The Modern Distance Relay Element
General formula for cross-polarized mho distance
element:
The Modern Distance Relay Element
Mho Element response during faults:
Self-polarized
Element
Polarized
Element on
Reverse fault
Polarized
Element on
Forwad fault
The Modern Distance Relay Element
Another Distance is used for ground faults and phase
fault protection, these are preferred over mho distance
elements for ground protection of impedance-grounded
systems:
Shaping a quadrilateral distance characteristic requires
three types of elements:
Reactance element
Resistance element (right and left side lines)
Directional element (supervises the reactance and
resistance elements)
The element operates when all elements operate.
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The Modern Distance Relay Element
Simplified Quadrilateral Distance Characteristic:
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The Modern Distance Relay Element
Reactance Element calculation:
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The Modern Distance Relay Element
Resistance Element calculation:
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The Modern Distance Relay Element
Directional Element calculation:
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Setting the reach and operating time
Relays are set on the basis of the positive-sequence
impedance from the relay location on line to be
protected.
Since voltage and current measurement come from
instrument transformers, primary impedance must be
converted into a secondary value using the following
expression:
= =
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Setting the reach and operating time
Zone 1 = 80-85% of AB @ time = instantaneous
Zone 2 = 100% of AB + 50% of the shortest next line
@ 0.25 to 0.4 s
Zone 3 = 100% of AB + 100% CD + 25% of the next
shortest next line @ 0.6 to 1.0 s
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The infeed effect on distance relays
Consider the figure below:
The voltage at A:
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Arc resistance effect on distance relays
For solid faults, the impedance measure is equal to
the impedance up to the fault point.
When arc faults, it has been found that the voltage
drop in the fault and the resultant current are in
phase, indicating that the impedance is purely
resistive.
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Impedances seen by distance relays
Distance relays are designed to protect against four
basic types of fault.
In order to detect any of the above faults, each one of
the zones of distance relays requires six units three
units for between phases (A-B, B-C, C-A) and three
units for phase-to-earth (A-E, B-E, C-E).
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Example
The relay is installed at the Pance substation in the
circuit to Juanchito substation.
CT = 600:5 and VT=1000:1
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Example
The relay is installed at the Pance substation in the
circuit to Juanchito substation.
CT = 600:5 and VT=1000:1
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