PRESENTATION ON 

PROTECTION PHILOSOPHY & 
NUMERICAL RELAY APPLICATION
Introduction
The reasons for protection
• Safety of the public and employees.
• Reliability of power supply to the customers.
• Prevent damage to equipment.
What kind of equipment is protected:
Generators, Transformers, Transmission lines,
Motors and Distribution lines
Types of faults
• Three phase short circuit, three phase to ground,
phase to phase, phase to phase to ground
and single phase to ground.
• Three phase faults have the highest fault current.
• Single phase faults have the lowest fault current.
• The fault current is determined by the impedance
of the fault path.
• Fault paths closer to the source will have less Z .
• Faults caused by trees will have higher Z.
 Equipment used

• CT - current transformer
• PT - potential transformer
• Protective relays
• Cabling and other accessories
CT - Current transformer
The secondary winding has a standard rating of 5 /1
amp. It’s indicated as 400/5 or 400 /1, where 400 is the
primary current
It is important that CTs be accurate at fault levels
which may be even 10 times normal load current.
Standard classifications of CTs are like 10 P 20 that
allow 10% error for current flow up to 20 times rated I.
Never open a live CT circuit without first shorting the
secondary side. Without the secondary side shorted
very high voltage will be seen on the secondary
circuit.
Potential Transformers PT’s

• The secondary voltage is usually 63.5V for

relaying and for metering.
• There is no problem with error readings as
during a fault the voltage will drop.
• At above 115KV coupling capacitors are used.
This is called CCVT. They are connected in series
causing a voltage drop across each capacitor.
• PT’s should never be shorted.
PROTECTION PHILOSOPHY

Electrical power system: 

The purpose of an electrical power system is

to generate & supply electrical energy to
consumers. Two most important
requirement of any power system are
reliability & economy ‐ both requirements
are contradictory.
• Normal Operation: ‐ No Equipment or  human    
failure

• Prevention of electrical failure:   ‐ Design feature aimed  at
prevention of failure.
‐ Reduce the effect when it
occurs.

Even though probability of failure has reduced, the 
tolerance of the harm to the service is also decreased.
Prevention Practices:

Some of the features of design and operation aimed at
preventing electrical failure are:

i. Adequate insulation

ii. Good Operation & maintenance Practices

iii. Overhead earth wire & low tower footing resistance
Reduction of the Effects of Failure:

Features of Design & Operation for mitigating the effects 
of power system failure are,

i.     Limiting the magnitude of short circuit or earth fault 
current by current limiting impedance
ii. Avoiding concentration of generators. 
iii. Protective relaying
iv. Circuit breaker with sufficient interrupting capacity
v. Alternative circuits & auto reclosing 
Function of protective relaying:

i. Identification and isolation of the faulty section of the

power supply system with help of circuit breakers.

ii. Discrimination

iii. Minimizing damage to equipment

iv. Abnormal operating conditions in case of Motors & 
generators.
The circuit breaker acts as an isolating device. It shall be rated
to,

i. carry the maximum short circuit current that can flow 
through them
ii. be capable of interrupting  this current
iii. be capable of withstanding closing on a short circuit. 

Fuse is employed where protective relays & breakers are not 
economically justifiable.
What exactly is a relay?

• Measuring device-receives a signal from the Power

System (PS) & determines if the condition is abnormal
• Control device-for abnormal conditions, it signals
Circuit Breakers (CB) to disconnect equipment

– It kind of “relays” (sends) a signal from the PS to the CB

– Relay & CB is a system protection team
– Fuses are simpler system
Fundamental Principles of protective relaying:

i. Primary Protection (first line of defense) 
ii. Back up protection

Functional characteristics of protective relaying

 Sensitivity
 Selectivity
 Speed
 Reliability
Desirable Relay Characteristics
• Speed (time to make decision 1/60sec)
– Minimizes damage from current
– Maximizes power transfer and stability

• Security
– Relay should not cause CB to open during normal conditions

• Dependability (reliability)
– Relay should cause CB to open during undesirable condition
Desirable Relay Characteristics
• Sensitivity
– Ability to detect all faults for the expected limiting
system and fault conditions
• Selectivity
– Ability to discriminate between faults internal and
external to its intended zone of protection
SENSITIVITY, SELECTIVITY, SPEED and
RELIABILITY

Sensitivity, selectivity and speed are terms

commonly used to describe the functional
Characteristics of any protective-relaying
equipment. All of them are implied in the
considerations of primary and back-up relaying.

SENSITIVITY: Any relaying equipment must be

sufficiently sensitive so that it will operate reliably,
when required, under the actual condition that
produces the least operating tendency.
SELECTIVITY: It must be able to select between
those conditions for which prompt operation is
required and those for which no operation, or time-
delay operation, is required.

SPEED: It must operate at the required speed.

RELIABILITY: The protective-relaying equipment be

reliable, and its application, installation, and
maintenance be such as to assure that its maximum
capabilities will be realized.
Sensitivity and selectivity are essential to assure that
the proper circuit breakers will be tripped.

Speed is the pay-off. .i.e additional benefits that is

gained.

Reliability is a matter of design based on long

experience

The ultimate goal of protective relaying is to

disconnect a faulty system element as quickly as
possible.
 List of Devices (NEMA Codes)
Time Delay relay                                            :   2
Distance Relay                                               :  21
Check Synchronization Relay                        :  25
Under Voltage Relay                                       :  27
Directional Power Relay                                  :  32
Field Failure Relay                                          :  40
Reverse phase/ Phase Unbalance                 :  46
Thermal/ Overload Relay                                :  49
Instantaneous O/C Relay                                :  50
Instantaneous O/C Relay (Earth)                    :  50N
IDMT O/C  Relay                                             :  51
Time delayed O/C Earth fault (Residual)        :  51N
Time delayed O/C Earth fault (CBCT/NCT)    :  51G
Circuit Breaker                                         :  52
C B auxiliary switch (NO)                       :  52a
C B auxiliary switch (NC)                       :  52b
Over Voltage Relay                                :  59
Voltage/current balance relay                  :  60
Gas Relay                                              :  63
Restricted Earth fault                              :  64
Directional O/C Relay                             :  67
Directional O/C Relay (Earth Fault)        :  67N
Alarm Relay                                            :  74
Reclosing Relay                                      :  79
Lockout Relay                                          :  86
Differential Relay                                     :  87
Anti Pumping Relay                                 :  94
Trip circuit supervision relay                    :  95
Fuse failure Relay                                   :  97