Unit-2

SYLLABUS
Conventional Circuit Breaker and modern circuit breakers: Types of circuit
breakers – air blast, air break, oil, SF6, MCBs, MCCBs and vacuum circuit breakers
– comparison of different circuit breakers – Rating and selection of Circuit breakers.

Introduction to Protective Relaying: Faults, Causes and Effects, Protective Zones,

Primary and Backup Protection, Desirable Qualities and Terms of Protective
Relaying, Basic Connection of Trip Circuit, Types of Relay Units, Relay Pick up,
Reset or Drop out, Pick up/ Drop off Ratio

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CLASSIFICATION OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS
There are several ways of classifying different circuit breakers. Some of the common criteria used for

classification of circuit breakers are:

•Intended Voltage Applications

•Location of the installation

•Design Characteristics

•Method and medium used for current interruption (Arc Extinction)

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BASED ON VOLTAGE CLASS
The first logical classification of circuit breakers is based on the operating voltage
intended for the circuit breakers to be used. There are two types of circuit breakers
based on the voltage level. They are:

•Low Voltage Circuit Breakers, which are intended to be used at voltages up to

1000V.
•High Voltage Circuit Breakers, which are intended to be used at voltages greater
than 1000V.

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BASED ON TYPE OF INSTALLATION
• Circuit breakers are also classified based on the location of installation i.e. outdoor or
indoor installation. These circuit breakers are usually high voltage circuit breakers.
Indoor circuit breakers are designed to be used inside buildings or with special weather
resistant enclosures, usually a metal clad switchgear enclosure.
• In fact, the main difference between indoor and outdoor circuit breakers is the
packaging structures and enclosures while the internal structure like current carrying
parts, interrupting mechanism and operation are pretty much the same.

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BASED ON TYPE OF EXTERNAL DESIGN

• The classification of circuit breakers is also done based on the physical structural
design and it is usually done in two ways. They are:
•Dead Tank Type Circuit Breakers
•Live Tank Type Circuit Breakers

• In Dead Tank Type Circuit Breakers, the switching device is placed in a vessel at
ground potential and it is surrounded by interrupters and insulating medium. One the
other hand, in a Live Tank Type Circuit Breaker, the vessel containing the interrupters
and insulating medium is at higher potential than ground.

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BASED ON TYPE OF INTERRUPTING MEDIUM

• The most significant and important classification of circuit breakers is based on the
interrupting medium and arc extinction method. In fact, the current interrupting
medium and the arc extinction method have become the main factors in designing the
circuit breakers and also, they dictated the overall design parameters.

• Originally, oil and air served as the interrupting medium and continue to be still used
even after almost a century since their first implementation.
• There are two newer techniques, one involving vacuum and the other one based on
Sulfurhexafluoride (SF6) gas as the interrupting medium. These two dominate
today’s circuit breaker industry but oil and air circuit breakers are also still in service.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

•Air Blast Circuit Breakers

•Oil Circuit Breakers
•Sulfurhexafluoride (SF6) Circuit Breakers
•Vacuum Circuit Breakers

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AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS
• In this type, a high-pressure air-blast is used as arc extinguishing medium. In case of a
fault, the air-blast, controlled by a blast valve, will open the contacts and also cools the
arc.
• The arc and the arching products are swept into the atmosphere, which rapidly
increases the dielectric strength of the medium. As a result, the restriking of arc is
prevented. The arc is extinguished consequently and the flow of current is completely
interrupted.

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AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS
There are three types of air blast circuit breakers based on the direction of the air-
blast in relation to the arc. They are:
•Axial Blast Type
•Cross Blast Type
•Radial Blast Type

In axial-blast circuit breakers, the air-blast flows in the same direction as the arc. The
high-pressure air-blast will push the moving contact away, opening the circuit and also
pushes the arc along with it.

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AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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ADVANTAGES

•Risk of fire is eliminated.

•Arcing products are completely removed by the air-blast.
•Significantly faster increase in dielectric strength. Hence, the contact gap can be less,
resulting in smaller device.
•Arcing time is very small and the arc energy is also small. Suitable for frequent
operations.
•Air-blast is independent to the interrupting current.

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DIS-ADVANTAGES

•Arc extinguishing properties of air are inferior.

•Sensitive to variations in restricting voltage.
•Air-blast compressor needs to be maintained.

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AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER

• In air break circuit breaker the arc is initiated and extinguish in

substantially static air in which the arc moves.
• Such breakers are used for low voltages, generally up to 15KV and
rupturing capacities of 500MVA.
• Air circuit breaker has several advantages over the oil, as an arc
quenching medium.

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ADVANTAGES OF AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER OVER OCB
• Elimination of risk and maintenance associated with the use of oil.
• The absence of mechanical stress that is set up by gas pressure and oil
movement.
• Elimination of the cost of regular oil replacement that arises due to deterioration of
oil with the successive breaking operation.
• In the air break, circuit breaker the contact separation and arc extinction take
place in air at atmospheric pressure. In air break circuit breaker high resistance
principle is employed. In this circuit breaker arc is expanded by the mean of arc
runners, arc chutes, and arc resistance is increased by splitting, cooling and
lengthening.

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ADVANTAGES OF AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER OVER OCB

• Air break circuit breakers are employed in DC circuits and Ac circuits up to 12,000
voltages.
• Such breakers are usually of indoor type and installed on vertical panels or indoor
draw out switch gear.
• AC circuit breakers are widely employed in indoor medium voltage and low voltage
switchgear.

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WORKING OF ACB
• Air circuit breakers operate with their contacts in free air. Their method of arc quenching
control is entirely different from that of oil circuit-breakers. They are always used for the
low-voltage interruption and now tends to replace high-voltage oil breakers.
• Air Circuit breakers generally have two pairs of contacts. The main pair of contacts (1)
carries the current at normal load and these contacts are made of copper metal. The
second pair is the arcing contact (2) and is made of carbon. When the circuit breaker is
being opened, the main contacts open first. When the main contacts opened the arcing
contacts are still in touch with each other.

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WORKING OF ACB

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 CONT..

• As the current gets a parallel low resistive path through the arcing contact. During
the opening of the main contacts, there will not be any arcing in the main contact.
The arcing is only initiated when finally the arcing contacts are separated. Each of
the arc contacts is fitted with an arc runner which helps.
• The arc discharge moves upward due to both thermal and electromagnetic effects.
As the arc is driven upward it enters the arc chute, consisting of splatters. The arc in
the chute will become colder, lengthen, and split hence arc voltage becomes much
larger than the system voltage at the time of operation of an air circuit breaker, and
therefore the arc is extinguished finally during the current zero.

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CONT..

The air brake circuit box is made of insulating and fireproof material and it is
divided into different sections by the barriers of the same material. At the bottom
of each barrier is a small metal conducting element between one side of the
barrier and the other. When the arc, driven upwards by the electromagnetic
forces, enters the bottom of the chute, it is split into many sections by the barriers,
but each metal piece ensures electrical continuity between the arcs in each
section, the several arcs are consequently in the series.

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CONT..

The electromagnetic forces within each and every section of the chute cause the
arc in that section to start the form of a helix. All these helices are in series so
that the total length of the arc has been greatly extended, and its resistance is
abundantly increased. This will affect the current reduction in the circuit.

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 PLAIN BREAK TYPE AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER
• It is the simplest one in which contacts are
made in the shape of two horns.
• The air initially strikes across the shortest
distance between the horns and is driven
steadily upwards by the convection currents
caused by heating of air during arcing and the
interaction of the magnetic and the electric
fields.
• The arc extends from one tip to the other when
the horns are fully separated resulting in
lengthening and cooling arc.
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PLAIN BREAK TYPE AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER

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MAGNETIC BLOW-OUT TYPE AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER
• Magnetic blowout air circuit breakers are used in voltage capacity up to 11KV. The
extension of the arc can get by the magnetic field provided by the current in blowout
coils.
• This kind of circuit breaker provides magnetic control over the arc moment to create
arc extinction in the devices. So, this extinction can be controlled through a magnetic
field that is supplied by the flow of current within blowout coils. The connection of
blow-out coils can be done in series through the circuit being disrupted.
• As the name suggests, these coils are called ‘blow out the coil’. The magnetic field
does not manage the arc which is made in the circuit breaker, however, it shifts the
arc into arc chutes wherever the arc is cooled and extended accordingly. These
types of CBs are utilized up to 11kV. 26
MAGNETIC BLOW-OUT TYPE AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER

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AIR CHUTE AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER
• In the air chute air break circuit breaker, the main contacts are usually made up of
copper and conduct current in closed positions. Air chute air break circuit breakers
have low contact resistance and are silver plated. The arcing contacts are solid,
resistant to heat, and are made up of copper alloy.
• This circuit breaker includes two kinds of contacts like main & arcing or auxiliary.
The designing of main contacts can be done with copper as well as silver plates
which have less resistance & conduct the current within the closed location. Other
types like arcing or auxiliary are designed with copper alloy because they are heat
resistant.
• These are used to avoid harming the main contacts because of arcing & they can
be simply changed once required. While operating this circuit breaker, both the
contacts are opened after & before closed the main contacts in the circuit breaker.

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 AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER MAINTENANCE
• ACBs work like circuit protection devices for an extensive range of low voltage applications up to
600V AC like UPS, generators, mini power stations, MCCB distribution boards, etc and their
sizes range from 400A to 6300A otherwise larger.

• In this circuit breaker, nearly 20% of failures in the power distribution system occur due to less
maintenance, tough grease, dust, corrosion & frozen parts. So maintenance of circuit breaker is
the ideal choice to ensure consistent operation as well as expand the lifetime.

• The air circuit breaker maintenance is very important. For that, it should be turned off first, and
then separated from both faces by opening the required electrical isolator. The circuit breaker
should be worked at this no isolated condition for restricted and distant areas in every year. The
circuit breaker must be worked electrically from restricted and isolated after that mechanically
from restricted. This kind of process will make the breaker more consistent by detaching any
outside layer developed among sliding faces.

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OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER
• In the power system, an oil circuit breaker is an essential device because it will
make the system strong. These are classified into different types based on the
medium used to reduce the arc.
• An oil circuit breaker is one kind of circuit breaker where the insulating oil can be
used as an arc quenching medium.
• Once the fault occurs within the system, then circuit breaker contacts will be
separated and the arc will be struck among the contacts.

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 OCB- DEFINITION
• The oldest type of circuit breaker is an oil
circuit breaker. It includes separate contacts
and the main function of these contacts is to
separate an insulating oil.
• It has good insulating properties compare with
air. When the fault occurs then the contacts of
the breaker will open beneath the oil.
• Once the arc is struck among the two contacts
of the breaker then the heat of the arc will
dissolve the surrounding oil & separates into a
significant volume of gaseous hydrogen at high
pressure.
• The main features of this circuit breaker are
low cost, reliability, and simplicity.

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OCB- DEFINITION

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TYPES OF OCB

• Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers

• Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker

Bulk Oil Circuit Breaker Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker

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BULK OIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS

• This kind of circuit breaker uses a large amount of oil for the destruction of arc. It is also
called a dead tank circuit breaker. As the name suggests, the tank of this breaker is held
at ground potential.
• The amount of oil used in this circuit breaker mainly depends on the system voltage. For
instance, if the system voltage is 110 kV, it uses 10,000 kg of oil.
• Similarly, for 220 kV, it uses 50,000 Kg of oil.
• In this type of circuit, oil works like an arc extinguishing medium & insulates the existing
parts from the earth.

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BULK OIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS
• This type of circuit breaker uses less oil. The oil
tank is placed on a porcelain insulator for
insulating it from the ground. It includes an arc
chamber that is enclosed within a bakelite paper.
• This circuit breaker includes two portions; the
upper portion is porcelain that is enclosed with
contacts whereas the lower portion is supported
through the porcelain.
• It uses less space as compared with bulk oil
type. It is not used where the repeated operation
is necessary. The main benefits of this circuit
breaker are, it uses less oil, less space, less
weight, tank size is small, less maintenance, etc.

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MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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CONSTRUCTION OF OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER
• The construction of this kind of circuit breaker is simple.
• It includes current-carrying contacts that are surrounded in a strong and
metal tank.
• The transformer oil works as an insulator & arc extinguishing medium
among the existing element & earth.
• At the peak of the transformer oil, the air can be filled within the tank that
acts as a pad to manage the transferred oil on the creation of gas in the
region of the arc. It absorbs the mechanical shock of the rising
movement of oil. The oil tank in this breaker will be bolted to carry out
the vibration that is caused while interrupting the high flow of current.
This includes a gas outlet which is fixed in the oil tank cover for the
elimination of the gases.

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 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER
• In normal operation of this circuit breaker, the contact in the breaker will be
closed as well as carries the current. Once the fault happens within the
system, then the contacts will move apart & an arc will be struck among the
contacts.
• Because of this arc, a huge amount of heat will be released & high
temperature can be achieved to vaporize the nearby oil to gas. So this gas
will be surrounded by the arc & its unstable increase around it will move the
oil violently.
• The arc will be turned off once the space between the contacts like fixed &
moving arrives at a certain critical value. It mainly depends on the recovery
voltage & arc current. The operation of this circuit breaker is extremely
reliable & cheap. The main feature of this circuit breaker is, there is no
particular devices are used while controlling the arc which is caused by
moving contact.
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MAINTENANCE OF OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

• Observe the internal parts & arcing contacts. Once it gets a short circuit then the contacts
must be changed.
• Observe the coil’s dielectric strength
• The surface of the breaker must be cleaned & eliminate carbon deposits through a dry
fabric & strong.
• Verify the level of oil.
• Tripping as well as closing mechanism must be checked

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ADVANTAGES OF OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

• It uses less amount of oil

• Dielectric strength of oil is high
• Oil in the breaker will absorb the energy of arc
when decomposing.
• Less space
• Risk of fire can be reduced
• Maintenance also reduced

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DIS-ADVANTAGES OF OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

• It uses less quantity of oil so that carbonization amount will be increased

• Removing of the gases within the contact space is difficult
• The dielectric strength will declines the oil quickly because of the high quantity of carbonization.
• Arcing time is high
• Do not allow interruption with high-speed
• Controlling of arc interruption can be done based on the length of arc.
• It can form any volatile mixture through the air

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SF6-CIRCUIT BREAKER

• A circuit breaker in which SF6 under pressure gas is used to extinguish the arc is called SF6
circuit breaker.
• SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride) gas has excellent dielectric, arc quenching, chemical and other
physical properties which have proved its superiority over other arc quenching mediums
such as oil or air.
• The SF6 circuit breaker is mainly divided into three types

• Non-puffer piston circuit breaker

• Single- puffer piston circuit breaker.
• Double-puffer piston circuit breaker.

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PROPERTIES OF SULPHUR HEXAFLUORIDE CIRCUIT BREAKER

• It is colourless, odourless, non-toxic, and non-inflammable gas.

• SF6 gas is extremely stable and inert, and its density is five times that of air.
• It has high thermal conductivity better than that of air and assists in better cooling current carrying parts.
• SF6 gas is strongly electronegative, which means the free electrons are easily removed from discharge
by the formation of negative ions.
• It has a unique property of fast recombination after the source energising spark is removed. It is 100
times more effective as compared to arc quenching medium.
• Moisture is very harmful to SF6 circuit breaker. Due to a combination of humidity and SF6 gas,
hydrogen fluoride is formed (when the arc is interrupted) which can attack the parts of the circuit
breakers.

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CONSTRUCTION OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

SF6 circuit breakers mainly consist of two parts, namely

(a) the interrupter unit and
(b) the gas system.

Interrupter Unit – This unit consists of moving and fixed contacts comprising a set of current-carrying
parts and an arcing probe. It is connected to the SF6 gas reservoir. This unit consists slide vents in
the moving contacts which permit the high-pressure gas into the main tank.

Gas System – The closed circuit gas system is employed in SF6 circuit breakers. This unit consists of
low and high-pressure chambers with a low-pressure alarm along with warning switches. When the
pressure of the gas is very low due to which the dielectric strength of gases decrease and an arc
quenching ability of the breakers is endangered, then this system gives the warning alarm.

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CONSTRUCTION OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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CONSTRUCTION OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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WORKING PRINCIPLE OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER
• In the normal operating conditions, the contacts of the breaker are closed. When the fault occurs in the
system, the contacts are pulled apart, and an arc is struck between them. The displacement of the
moving contacts is synchronised with the valve which enters the high-pressure SF6 gas in the arc
interrupting chamber at a pressure of about 16kg/cm^2.

• The SF6 gas absorbs the free electrons in the arc path and forms ions which do not act as a charge
carrier. These ions increase the dielectric strength of the gas and hence the arc is extinguished. This
process reduces the pressure of the SF6 gas up to 3kg/cm^2 thus; it is stored in the low-pressure
reservoir. This low-pressure gas is pulled back to the high-pressure reservoir for re-use.

• Now a day puffer piston pressure is used for generating arc quenching pressure during an opening
operation by mean of a piston attached to the moving contacts.

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ADVANTAGE OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER
• SF6 gas has excellent insulating, arc extinguishing and many other properties which are the greatest
advantages of SF6 circuit breakers.
• The gas is non-inflammable and chemically stable. Their decomposition products are non-explosive and
hence there is no risk of fire or explosion.
• Electric clearance is very much reduced because of the high dielectric strength of SF6.
• Its performance is not affected due to variations in atmospheric condition.
• It gives noiseless operation, and there is no over voltage problem because the arc is extinguished at
natural current zero.
• There is no reduction in dielectric strength because no carbon particles are formed during arcing.
• It requires less maintenance and no costly compressed air system is required.
• SF6 performs various duties like clearing short-line faults, switching, opening unloaded transmission
lines, and transformer reactor, etc. without any problem.

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DISADVANTAGES OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

• SF6 gas is suffocating to some extent. In the case of leakage in the breaker tank, the SF6 gas being
heavier than air and hence SF6 are settled in the surroundings and lead to the suffocation of the
operating personnel.
• The entrance of moisture in the SF6 breaker tank is very harmful to the breaker, and it causes several
failures.
• The internal parts need cleaning during periodic maintenance under clean and dry environment.
• The special facility requires for transportation and maintenance of quality of gas.

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SELECTION OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

There are two types of Selection of Circuit Breaker ratings which require the computation of SC
current are:
• (i) rated momentary current and
• (ii) rated symmetrical interrupting current.

• Symmetrical SC current is obtained by using sub transient reactance's for synchronous machines.
Momentary current (rms) is then calculated by multiplying the symmetrical momentary current by a
factor of 1.6 to account for the presence of DC off-set current.

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SELECTION OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Symmetrical current to be interrupted is computed by using subtransient reactances for synchronous
generators and transient reactances for synchronous motors induction motors are neglected. The DC off-
set value to be added to obtain the current to be interrupted is accounted for by multiplying the
symmetrical SC current by a factor as tabulated below:

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SELECTION OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTIVE RELAYING-FAULTS, CAUSES AND EFFECTS

• The high voltage transmission lines carrying bulk power could extend over several hundred
kilometres. Since all these lines are generally overhead line:, and are exposed, there are many
chances of their breakdown due to storms, falling of external objects, damage to the insulators, etc.
• These can result not only in mechanical damage but also in an electrical fault. One of the sources of
trouble to continuous supply is the shunt fault or short-circuit, which produces a sudden and
sometimes violent change in system operation.
• Protection Relay and relaying systems detect abnormal conditions like faults in electrical circuits and
operate automatic switchgear to isolate faulty equipment from the system as quickly as possible. This
limits the damage at the fault location and prevents the effects of the fault spreading into the system.

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INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTIVE RELAYING-FAULTS, CAUSES AND EFFECTS

Breakdown may occur at normal voltage on account of

(i) the deterioration of insulation and
(ii) (ii) the damage due to unpredictable causes such as the perching of birds, accidental short
circuiting by snakes, kite strings, tree branches, etc.

Breakdown may occur because of abnormal voltages, though the insulation is otherwise healthy to
withstand normal voltage, This may happen because of either
(i) switching surges or
(ii) surges caused by Fault

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INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTIVE RELAYING-CAUSES OF FAULT

• The present day practice is to provide a high insulation level of the order of 3 to 5 times the nominal
value of the voltage. But still the pollution on an insulator string which is commonly caused by
deposited soot or cement dust in industrial areas and by salt, deposited by wind-borne sea-spray in
coastal areas cause the insulation strength to decrease.
• This will initially lower the insulation resistance, and cause a small leakage current to be diverted,
thus hastening the deterioration.
• Even if the installation is enclosed, such as sheathed and armored cables as well as metal-clad
switchgear, deterioration of the insulation occurs because of ageing.
• Lightning produces a very high voltage surge in the power system of the order of millions of volts and
thus it is not feasible to provide an insulation which can withstand this abnormality. These surges
travel with the velocity of light in the power circuits, the limiting factors are the surge impedance and
the line resistance

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INTRODUCTION TO PROTECTIVE RELAYING-EFFECT OF FAULT

1. A great reduction of the line voltage over a major part of the power, This will lead to the breakdown of the
electrical supply to the consumer and may produce wastage in production.
2. Damage caused to the elements of the system by the electrical arc which almost always accompanies a
short circuit.
3. Damage to other apparatus in the system due to overheating and due to abnormal mechanical forces
setup.
4. Disturbances to the stability of the electrical system and this may even lead to a complete shutdown of
the power system.
5. A marked reduction in the voltage which may sometimes be so great that Protection Relay having
pressure coils tend to fail.

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PROTECTIVE ZONES
The Zone Protection is that part of a power system guarded by a certain protection and usually
contains one or at the most two elements of the power system. The zones are arranged to overlap so
that no part of the system remains unprotected.

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PROTECTIVE ZONES

61
PROTECTIVE ZONES

Consider the two protective zone A and B which will

overlap each other. The X is the fault occurs in the zone
B, and due to this fault, the circuit breakers of zone B
tripped along with the C (circuit breaker). The relay of the
zone B will also trip the circuit breaker of zone A for other
faults in the zone B which occurs to the right of the C
(circuit breaker). Hence the unnecessary tripping of the
breaker can be tolerated only in the particular region.

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PRIMARY PROTECTION

• The main protection or primary protection is the first line protection which provides quick-acting
and selective clearing of a fault within the boundary of the circuit section or element it protects.
• The main protection is provided in each section of an electrical installation.

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BACKUP PROTECTION

• The backup protection provides the back up to the main protection whenever it fails in operation or
its cut out for repairs.
• The backup protection is essential for the proper working of the electrical system. The backup
protection is the second line of defence which isolates the faulty section of the system in case the
main protection fail to function properly.
• The failure of the primary protection occurs because of the failure of the DC supply circuit, current
or voltage supply to relay circuit, relay protective circuit or because of the circuit breaker.

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EXAMPLE- PRIMARY & BACKUP PROTECTION

Example: Consider the remote backup protection is provided by a small time graded relay, as
shown in the figure below. Let F be the fault occur on relay R4. The relay R4 operates the circuit
breaker at D and isolate the faulty section. Now if the circuit breaker D fails to operate, the faulty
section would be isolated by the operation of the relay R3 at C.

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DESIRABLE QUALITIES AND TERMS OF PROTECTIVE RELAYING

Reliability
• It is the ability of a protective relays to operate under predetermined conditions. The reliability of the
protection system depends on the reliability of various components like a circuit breaker, relays, current
transformer (CT), potential transformer (PT), trip coils, connecting cables and many more.

• There are many components to operate before the operation of the relay. And the operation of the
relaying scheme is also depending on the component which plays a role in the operation of the relay.

• The reliability of the system can be judged from the statistical data but cannot be expressed in terms of
mathematical operation.

• Proper maintenance also plays an important role in improving the reliable operation of the system. It is
also depending on the design of the system.

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 DESIRABLE QUALITIES AND TERMS OF PROTECTIVE RELAYING
Speed and Time
• The protective scheme must disconnect the faulty part of the system as soon as possible. If the faulty part takes
more time to disconnect, It may damage the component which is carrying faulty current.

• The system voltage will decrease. And low-voltage may affect the motors and generators running on the
consumer side.

• The relay time is the time taken from the instant of the fault and the instant of the closure of contact of the relay.
The circuit breaker time is the time taken by a circuit breaker to operate and open the contacts and extinguish
the arc.

• The total time required between the instant of the fault and the instant of final arc interruption in the circuit
breaker is called fault clearing time. It includes the relay time and circuit breaker time.

• In high-speed operation of the relaying scheme, the fault clearing time is very small.

2
 DESIRABLE QUALITIES AND TERMS OF PROTECTIVE RELAYING
Sensitivity

• The protective scheme operates if the value of the actuating quantity is not in the predefined
range. The sensitivity is the ability to operate with a low value of actuating quantity.

• In a protected zone, the sensitivity indicates the smallest value of the actuating quantity at
which the protection starts operating in relation to the minimum value of fault current.

• The input of the relay coil is measure in volt-ampere. Smaller the value of volt-ampere input,
the relay is more sensitive. Generally, there are two configurations 1 VA and 5 VA relay. Out of
these two types, 1 VA relay is more sensitive than 5 VA.

3
 DESIRABLE QUALITIES AND TERMS OF PROTECTIVE RELAYING
Selectivity and Discrimination
• Selectivity is the ability of the protective scheme to identify the fault part of the system. It must
operate only for the faulty part without affecting the rest of a healthy system.

• Discrimination is the ability of the protective scheme to identify between the normal condition and
abnormal condition. The relaying scheme must operate under abnormal conditions only.

• Therefore, the protective scheme selects the faulty part from the healthy system and disconnect in
abnormal condition for faulty part only without disturbing the healthy system.

4
 DESIRABLE QUALITIES AND TERMS OF PROTECTIVE RELAYING
Stability

• The power system network must remain stable under the condition of transient, disturbance, and faults.

• The stability of power system is the quality of a protective scheme due to which the system remains inoperative
and stable under abnormal conditions.

• To achieve stable operation of the system, time delay, a filter circuit, mechanical and electrical bias are provided.

Simplicity

• To maintain and install easy, the protective scheme must be simple in operation. The complex
systems are difficult while maintenance and installation.

• The simpler the system it will more reliable. Therefore, the protective scheme must simple.

5
BASIC CONNECTION OF TRIP CIRCUIT
• The circuit breaker is an electrically operated switch, which is capable of safely making, as well as
breaking, short-circuit currents. The circuit breaker is operated by the output of the associated relay.
When the circuit breaker is in the closed condition, its contacts are held closed by the tension of the
closing spring. When the trip coil is energized, it releases a latch, causing the stored energy in the
closing spring to bring about a quick opening operation.
• The circuit breaker contacts are in a closed position by the force of a spring. Energy is stored in the
spring during the closing operation. In order to trip the circuit breaker, it is necessary to release a
latch either manually or by energizing the trip-coil of the circuit breaker. The trip-battery supplies
energy to the trip-coil for this operation. The relay output contact is wired in series with the trip-
battery and the trip-coil. Thus when the relay operates, the trip-coil gets energized and the circuit
breaker quickly parts its contacts.

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BASIC CONNECTION OF TRIP CIRCUIT

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TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
•Electromagnetic Relays •Thermal Relays •Polarized Relays
•Latching Relays •Differential Relays •Rotary Relays
•Electronic Relays •Distance Relays •Sequence Relays
•Non-Latching Relays •Automotive Relays •Moving Coil Relays
•Reed Relays •Frequency Relays •Buchholz Relays
•High-Voltage Relays •Safety Relays
•Small Signal Relays •Supervision relays
•Time Delay Relays •Ground Fault Relays
•Multi-Dimensional Relays

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 TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
Latching Relays

• A Latching Relay is a relay which maintains its state after being actuated. That is why these types of
relays are also called as Impulse Relays or Keep Relays or Stay Relays. In applications, where there
is a need to limit the power consumption and dissipation, a latching relay is best suitable.

• There is an internal magnet in a latching relay. When the current is supplied to the coil, it (internal
magnet) holds the contact position and hence it requires no power to maintain its position. So, even
after being actuated, removal of drive current to the coil cannot move the contact position but
remains in its last position. Thus, considerable energy is saved by these relays.

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 TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
Reed Relay
• Similar to the electromechanical relays, reed relays also produce the mechanical actuation of physical
contacts to open or close a circuit path. However, compared with electromagnetic relays these relay
contacts are much smaller and have low mass.

• These relays are designed by coils wounded around a reed switch. The reed switch of the relay acts as
armature and it is a glass tube or capsule filled with an inert gas within which, two overlapping reeds (or
ferromagnetic blades) are hermetically sealed.

• The overlapping ends of a reed consist of contacts so that input and output terminals can be connected
to them. When the power is supplied to the coils, a magnetic field is produced. These fields cause reeds
to drawn together, thereby their contacts make a closed path through the relay. Also, during de-
energizing process of the coil, reeds are separated apart by the pulling force of spring attached to it.

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 TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
Polarized Relay
• As the name indicates, these relays are very sensitive to the direction of current by which it is energized. It
is a type of DC electromagnetic relay provided with an additional source of permanent magnetic field to
move the armature of the relay. In these relays, magnetic circuit is built with permanent magnets,
electromagnets and an armature.

• Instead of spring force, these relays use magnetic forces to attract or repel the armature. In this, the
armature is a permanent magnet, pivoted between the pole faces formed by an electromagnet. When the
current flows through the electromagnet, it produces a magnetic flux.

• Whenever the force exerted by the electromagnet exceeds the force exerted by permanent magnet, the
armature changes its position. Similarly, when the current is interrupted, the electromagnetic force is
reduced to less than that of permanent magnet and hence armature returns to its original position.

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 TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
Overload Protection Relays
• Overload protection relays are specially designed to provide the overcurrent protection of electrical
motors and circuits. These overload relays can be of different types such as fixed bimetallic strip type,
electronic or interchangeable heater bimetallic, etc.

• If the electric motors are overloaded, then the motors are needed to be protected from overcurrent.
For this purpose, overload sensing equipment, such as heat operated relay is used. Heat operated
relay consists of a coil that heats up bimetallic strip or solder pot melts and thus, releases the spring
for operating auxiliary contacts which are in series with the coil. The coil gets de-energized by sensing
excess current in the load due to overload.

• The temperature of the motor winding can be estimated using the motor armature thermal model,
electronic overload protection relay by measuring motor current. Thus, motor can be accurately
protected using overload protection relay.

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 TYPES OF RELAY UNITS
Inverse Definite Minimum Time Relays (IDMT Relays)
• This type of relay gives a definite-time current characteristic at higher values of the fault current
and an inverse time current characteristic at lower values of the fault current. These are widely
used for protection of distribution lines and they offer to set the limits for current and time settings.

• In this type of relay, the operating time of the relay is approximately inversely proportional to the
fault current near the pickup value and becomes constant slightly above the pickup value of the
relay. This can be achieved by using the core of the magnet which gets saturated for the current
slightly greater than the pickup current.

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RELAY PICK UP
An over-current (OC) relay has a single input in the form of ac current. The output of the relay is
a normally-open contact, which changes over to closed state when the relay trips. The relay has
two settings. These are the time setting and the plug setting. The time setting decides the
operating time of the relay while the plug setting decides the current required for the relay to
pick up.

The plug-setting multiplier, PSM

where Irelay the current through the relay operating coil and PS is the plug-
setting of the relay. The value of PSM tells us about the severity of the
current as seen by the relay A PSM less than 1 means that normal load
current is flowing. At PSM > 1, the relay is supposed to pick up. Higher
values of PSM indicate how serious the fault is.

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RESET OR DROP OUT
A relay is said to dropout or reset when it comes back to original position ie. when relay contacts
open from its closed position. The value of an actuating quantity current or voltage below which the
relay resets is called reset value of that relay.

PICK UP/ DROP OFF RATIO

The relay should have required setting range & transient over reach. It should have high drop off to
pick up ratio (say 80% to 90%) where it can see faults of adjoining section.

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