Introduction

Protectionengineers define
dependability as the tendency of
the protection system to operate
correctly for in-zone faults.

Faults In Power System

In anelectric power system, afaultorfault
currentis any abnormalelectric current. For example,
ashort circuitis a fault in which current bypasses the
normal load. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is
interrupted by some failure. Inthree-phasesystems, a
fault may involve one or more phases and ground, or
may occur only between phases. In a "ground fault" or
"earth fault", current flows into the earth. The
prospective short circuit currentof a predictable fault
can be calculated for most situations. In power systems,
protective devices can detect fault conditions and
operatecircuit breakersand other devices to limit the
loss of service due to a failure.

Types Of Faults
Conductor clashing
Conductor clashingis the phenomenon
whereconductorscome in contact with one
another during high wind speeds or gusts
Short Circuit
Short circuitis a connection between
two nodes that forces them to be at the same
voltage

Arc Flash
An arc flash is the light and heat produced from
anelectric arcsupplied with sufficient electrical energy
to cause substantial damage, harm, fire, or injury.
Types of Arc Flashes
There are four different arc flash type events to
be assessed when designing safety programs:
Open Air Arc Flashes
Ejected Arc Flashes
Equipment Focused Arc Flashes (Arc-in-a-box)
Tracking Arc Flashes

POWER SYSTEM
PROTECTION

Power-system protectionis a branch of

electricalpower engineeringthat deals with
the protection of electrical power systems
fromfaultsthrough the isolation of faulted
parts from the rest of theelectrical network.
The objective of a protection scheme is to
keep the power system stable by isolating
only the components that are under fault,
whilst leaving as much of the network as
possible still in operation

Types of Protection
Generator

sets
In a power plant, the protective relays are
intended to prevent damage toalternatorsor to the
transformersin case of abnormal conditions of
operation
High-voltage transmission network
At a basic level, protection looks to disconnect
equipment which experiences an overload or a short to
earth.
Overload and back-up for distance
Overload protection requires a current transformer
which simply measures the current in a circuit.

 Earth

fault
Earth fault protection again requires
current transformers and senses an
imbalance in a three-phase circuit.
Back-up
The objective of protection is to
remove only the affected portion of plant
and nothing else.

Components of Protection
System
MINIATURE

CIRCUIT BREAKER

 DIGITAL

PROTECTIVE
RELAY

CURRENT

TRANSFORMER

SWITCHGEAR
Switchgearis the
combination of electrical
disconnects switches,fuses
orcircuit breakersused to
control, protect and isolate
electrical equipment.
Switchgear is used both
to de-energize equipment
to allow work to be done
and to clearfaultsdownstream.

TYPES OF SWITCHGEAR

Oil

Oil circuit breakers rely

upon vaporization of
some of the oil to blast
a jet of oil along the
path of the arc.
The vapor released by
the arcing consists of
hydrogen gas.
Mineral oil has better
insulating
property than air.

Vacuum
Circuit breakers with interrupting
vacuum have minimal arcing
characteristics, so the arc
quenches when it is stretched
by a small amount.
Near zero current the arc
is not hot enough to maintain
a plasma, and current ceases;
the gap can then withstand the
rise of voltage. Vacuum circuit
breakers are frequently used
in modern medium-voltage
switchgear to 40,500 volts.

CURRENT TRANSFORMER
ACurrent Transformer(CT)is used for measurement
of alternating electric current.
When current in a circuit is
too high to apply directly
to measuring instruments,
a current transformer
produces a reduced
current accurately proportional
to the current in the circuit,
which can be conveniently
connected to measuring and
recording instruments.

VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER
Voltage transformers (VT) are a parallel
connected type of instrument transformer,
used for metering and protection in highvoltage circuits or phasor
phase shift isolation.
The primary may be
connected phase to
ground or phase to phase.
The secondary is usually
grounded on one terminal.

PROTECTIVE RELAY
AProtective Relayis a device
designed to trip acircuit breakerwhen a fault
is detected. The first protective relays were
electromagnetic devices, relying on coils
operating on moving parts to provide
detection of abnormal operating conditions
such as over-current, over-voltage,
reversepowerflow, over- and underfrequency.

TYPES OF RELAYS
There

are 6 types of relays:

Over voltage relays
Over current relays
I D M Tfault relay
Earth fault relay
Buchelozs relay
Differential relay

CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Acircuit breakeris an automatically
operatedelectricalswitch
designed to protect an
electrical circuitfrom
damage caused by
overloadorshort circuit.
Its basic function is to
detect a fault condition
and interrupt current flow.

TYPES OF CIRCUIT
BREAKERS
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6)
The sulfur hexaflouride gas (SF6) is anelectronegativegas and
has a strong tendency to absorb free electrons. The contacts of
the breaker are opened in a high pressure flow of
sulphurhexaflouride gas
and an arc is struck between
them. The gas captures the
conducting free electrons in the
arc to form relatively immobile
negative ions. This loss of
conducting electrons in the arc
quickly builds up enough
insulation strength to extinguish
the arc.

High

Voltage Circuit Breaker

Electricalpower transmissionnetworks are

protected and controlled by high-voltage
breakers.
The definition ofhigh
voltagevaries but in
power transmission
work is usually thought
to be 72.5kV or higher

BUSBAR

Inelectrical power distribution, aBusbaris a

metallic strip or bar that
conductselectricitywithin
aswitchboard,distribution
board,substation,battery bank, or other electrical
apparatus. Its main purpose is to conduct a
substantialcurrentof electricity, and not to
function as astructural member.
Analuminium smelterwill have very large busbars
used to carry tens of thousands ofamperesto
theelectrochemical cellsthat produce
aluminiumfrom moltensalts.