Power System Protection:

Introduction to Switchgear.
For subsequent materials assistance taken mainly from :

1. Principles of Power System- V.K. Mehta & Rohit Mehta

2. Sunil S Rao, "Switchgear Protection & Power Systems", Khanna

Publishers, 2008.

3. Les Hewitson, Mark Brown, and Ramesh Balakrishnan, "Practical Power System
Protection", Newnes (Elsevier), 2004.

4. J. Lewis Blackburn and Thomas J. Domin, “ Protective Relaying

Principles and Applications”, CRC Press, 3rd Edition, 2007
 Switchgear
The apparatus used for switching, controlling and protecting the electrical circuits and equipment is known
as switchgear.

The switchgear equipment is essentially concerned with switching and interrupting currents either under normal or
abnormal operating conditions.

Essential Features of Switchgear:

The essential features of switchgear are:

(i) Complete reliability. With the continued trend of interconnection and the increasing capacity of generating
stations, the need for a reliable switchgear has become of paramount importance. This is not surprising because
switchgear is added to the power system to improve the reliability. When fault occurs on any part of the power
system, the switchgear must operate to isolate the
faulty section from the remainder circuit.
(ii) Absolutely certain discrimination. When fault occurs on any section of the power system, the switchgear
must be able to discriminate between the faulty section and the healthy section. It should isolate the faulty section
from the system without affecting the healthy section. This will ensure continuity of supply.
(iii) Quick operation. When fault occurs on any part of the power system, the switchgear must operate quickly so
that no damage is done to generators, transformers and other equipment by the short-circuit currents. If fault is not
cleared by switchgear quickly, it is likely to spread into healthy parts, thus endangering complete shutdown of the
system.
(iv) Provision for manual control. A switchgear must have provision for manual control. In case the electrical (or
electronics) control fails, the necessary operation can be carried out through manual control.
(v) Provision for instruments. There must be provision for instruments which may be required. These may be in
the form of ammeter or voltmeter on the unit itself or the necessary current and voltage transformers for
connecting to the main switchboard or a separate instrument panel
Why protection needed in a power system?
• The fundamental objective of
•It is important to be prepared for any possible effects or system protection is to provide
failures that may cause long-term shutdown of a system, isolation of a problem area in
which in turn may take longer time to bring back the the power system quickly, so
system to its normal course. that the shock to the rest of the
system is minimized and as much
•The main idea is to restrict the disturbances during such as possible is left intact.
failures to a limited area and continue power distribution
in the balance areas. • Thus protection does not mean
prevention, but rather,
•Special equipment is normally installed to detect such kind minimizing the duration of the
of failures (also called ‘faults’) that can possibly happen trouble and limiting the damage,
in various sections of a system, and to isolate faulty outage time, and related
sections so that the interruption is limited to a localized problems that may result
area in the total system covering various areas. otherwise.

The element that detects such possible faults is referred

to as ‘protective relay’ and the assembly of equipment
that responds to the signal from the detector is termed as
‘circuit breaker or interrupter’.
 Power System Protection – Basic Components

1. Voltage (potential) transformers and current transformers:

To monitor and give accurate feedback about the healthiness of a system .

2. Relays: To convert the signals from the monitoring devices, and give
instructions to open a circuit under faulty conditions or to give alarms when the
equipment being protected, is approaching towards possible destruction .

3. Fuses: Self-destructing to save the downstream equipment being protected .

4. Circuit breakers: These are used to make circuits carrying enormous

currents, and also to break the circuit carrying the fault currents for a few cycles
based on feedback from the relays.

5. DC batteries: These give uninterrupted power source to the relays and

breakers that is independent of the main power source being protected.
 Alternate protection components

•A simple alternative to relay-breaker combination is

the familiar ‘fuse’ wire that senses as well as trips.
These are used in low or medium voltage (up to 11 kV) •A Load Break Switch is designed to
networks where slow interruption is not a problem. ONLY connect or interrupt a circuit
However, going to be phased out gradually. under "normal" operating conditions.
They are NOT or intended designed to
•A low cost heavy duty alternative to circuit breaker interrupt fault current! Even if
could be magnetic contactor that responds to relay signal designed to automatically open
to make or break a circuit (up to 11 kV) under normal (motorized), they must have fuses in
overload but not short circuit/fault current. the circuit to interrupt the fault first
and the let-through current of the
•For low voltage and low current ratings, MCB fuses must be coordinated to stay
(Miniature CB: for below 100 amps) and MCCB below the load interrupt rating of the
(Molded case CB: for several hundred amps )are used LBS.
that have built-in and integrated sensing and tripping
elements without requiring external relays.
 Basic equipment in a substation

feeders

It is implied that the feeders are

also connected to the
transformer LT side bus through ES is used to drain
CBs trapped charges to The assembly of
ground before relay, CB, CT,PT,
doing any maintenance
work on a line isolator, fuse,
busbar etc.is also
termed switchgear.

Following sequence is used for the operation of switches and CB

During Opening a line: During closing a line:

1.Trip CB 1. Open earthing switch
2. Open isolator 2. Close isolator
3. Close earthing switch 3. Close CB
A circuit breaker may be of following types
depending upon the arc quenching medium:
• air circuit breaker (low voltage up to 1 kV)
• Vacuum CB (medium voltage up to 33 kV)
• Air Blast CB, Oil CB, SF6 CB (High voltage above 33
kV)

Senses and compares against a

setting any one of the following:
i)I
ii)
V
iii)
f
iv) I and direction (from the
angle between I and V)
v) Z=V/I
(•›

(e)
 Basic requirements of protection
A protection apparatus has three main functions/duties:
1. Safeguard the entire system to maintain continuity of supply
2. Minimize damage and repair costs where it senses fault
3. Ensure safety of personnel.
These requirements are necessary, firstly for early detection and localization of faults, and
secondly for prompt removal of faulty equipment from service .

In order to carry out the above duties, protection must have the following qualities:
• Selectivity: To detect and isolate the faulty item only.
• Stability: To leave all healthy circuits intact to ensure continuity or supply.
• Sensitivity: To detect even the smallest fault, current or system abnormalities
and operate correctly at its setting before the fault causes irreparable damage.
• Speed: To operate speedily when it is called upon to do so, thereby
minimizing damage to the surroundings and ensuring safety to personnel.

To meet all of the above requirements, protection must be reliable which means it must be:
• Dependable: It must trip when called upon to do so.
• Secure: It must not trip when it is not supposed to.
 Further note on selectivity:

•Each relays have an assigned area of its own known as the primary zone, but they may properly
operate in response to conditions outside this zone. In these instances, they provide backup
protection for the area outside their primary zone. This is designated as the backup or
overreached zone.

•Selectivity (also known as relay coordination) is the process of applying and setting the
protective relays that overreach other relays such that they operate as fast as possible within
their primary zone, but have delayed operation in their backup zone. This is necessary to
permit the primary relays assigned to this backup or overreached area time to operate.

Otherwise, both sets of relays (the assigned primary relays for the area and the backup relays )may
operate for faults in this overreached area.

•Operation of the backup protection is incorrect and undesirable unless the primary
protection of that area fails to clear the fault.

Consequently, selectivity or relay coordination is important to assure maximum service

continuity with minimum system disconnection.
 Power System Protection – Speed is Vital!!
The protective system should act fast to isolate faulty sections to prevent:

• Increased damage at fault location. Fault energy = I2 × Rf × t, where t is time in

seconds.

• Danger to the operating personnel (flashes due to high fault energy sustaining for a long
time).

• Danger of igniting combustible gas in hazardous areas, such as methane in coal mines
which could cause horrendous disaster.

• Increased probability of earth faults spreading to healthy phases .

• Higher mechanical and thermal stressing of all items of plant carrying the fault current,
particularly transformers whose windings suffer progressive and cumulative deterioration
because of the enormous electromechanical forces caused by multi- phase faults
proportional to the square of the fault current.

•Sustained voltage dips resulting in motor (and generator) instability leading to

extensive shutdown at the plant concerned and possibly other nearby plants
connected to the system.
 A high-speed relay is one that operates in less than 50 msec (three cycles on a 60 Hz basis)
(IEEE 100).

The term instantaneous is defined to indicate that no (time) delay is purposely

introduced in the action of the device (IEEE 100). In practice, the terms instantaneous
and high-speed are used interchangeably to describe protective relays that operate in 50
msec or less.

Modern high-speed circuit breakers for high voltage systems operate in the range of
17–50 msec (one to three cycles at 60 Hz); others operate at less than 83 msec (five cycles
at 60 Hz).

Thus, the total clearing time (relays plus breaker) typically ranges from
approximately 35–130 msec (two to eight cycles at 60 Hz).

In the lower-voltage systems, in which time-coordination is required between

protective relays, relay-operating times generally will be slower; typically on the order
of 0.2–1.5 sec for the primary zone.
 Various distribution systems

A radial distribution system

A simple distribution system

Simplicity less

Simplicity further less

than parallel path radial feeder

ability to discriminate correctly

 Fault types
Faults can be broadly classified into two main areas, which have been designated ‘active’
and ‘passive’.

Active faults:

The ‘active’ fault is when actual current flows from one phase conductor to another (phase-
to-phase), or alternatively from one phase conductor to earth (phase-to-earth).

This type of fault can also be further classified into two areas, namely the ‘solid’ fault and the
‘incipient’ fault.

The solid fault occurs as a result of an The ‘incipient’ fault, on the other hand, is a
immediate complete breakdown of fault that starts as a small thing and gets
insulation as would happen if, say, developed into catastrophic failure.

a pick struck an underground cable, As for example some partial discharge

bridging conductors, etc. (excessive discharge activity often referred to as
Corona) in a void in the insulation over an
or the cable was dug up by a bulldozer. extended period can burn away adjacent
insulation, eventually spreading further and
or in mining, a rockfall could crush a cable, as developing into a ‘solid’ fault.
would a shuttle car.
Passive faults:
Passive faults are not real faults in the true sense of the word, but are rather conditions
that are stressing the system beyond its design capacity , so that ultimately active faults will
occur.

Typical examples are:

• Overloading leading to over heating of insulation (deteriorating quality,

reduced life and ultimate failure).

• Overvoltage: Stressing the insulation beyond its withstand capacities.

• Under frequency: Causing plant to behave incorrectly.

• Power swings: Generators going out-of-step or out-of-synchronism with each

other.

It is therefore very necessary to monitor these conditions to protect the system against these
conditions.
Types of faults on a three-phase system

Single phase-to-ground: 70%–80%

Phase-to-phase-to ground: 17%–10%
Phase-to-phase: 10%–8%
Three-phase: 3%–2%

Series unbalances, such as a broken conductor or a blown

fuse, are not too common, except perhaps in the lower-
voltage system in which fuses are used for protection.
Transient and permanent faults

Transient faults are faults, which do not damage the insulation permanently and
allow the circuit to be safely re -energized after a short period.

A typical example would be an insulator flashover following a lightning strike, which

would be successfully cleared on opening of the circuit breaker, which could then be
automatically closed. However, if lightning protection devices operate i.e. divert the
lightning surge to ground, then relays need not be sensitive to lightning.

Transient faults occur mainly on outdoor equipment where air is the main
insulating medium.

Permanent faults, as the name implies, are the result of permanent damage to the
insulation. In this case, the equipment has to be repaired and
re-energizing must not be entertained before repair/restoration.
Short Circuit
Short Circuit Currents