"HANDS - ON" DEMONSTRATION

OF
‘MiCOM P122/P123’
NUMERICAL THREE PHASE AND EARTH FAULT
OVERCURRENT RELAYS

Objective :- To gain familiarisation of the menu structure, setting procedures and operation
of P122/P123 relays.

Introduction to P122/P123 Relays

Each relay includes an extensive range of control and data gathering functions to provide a
completely integrated system of protection, control, instrumentation, data logging, fault, event and
disturbance recording. The simple and powerful interface on the relay front and the setting software
MiCOM S1 allow the user easy configuration and access to all measurements and stored
information for maintenance and post-fault analysis purposes.
P122/P123 relays provide overcurrent and earth fault protection for power distribution systems and
all other applications where overcurrent protection is required. The relays are used in applications
where time graded overcurrent and earth fault protection is required. The earth fault protection
provides suitable sensitivity for most systems where earth fault current is limited.

These notes cover the following:

1) Relay Front Plate familiarisation.
2) Menu Structure Navigation.
3) Entering Relay Password.
4) Opto Familiarisation.
5) Characteristic Tests (Over- current / blocked over- current).
6) Thermal Overload Tests.
7) Undercurrent Tests.
8) Negative Sequence Overcurrent.
9) Broken Conductor Tests.
10) Cold Load Pick Up
11) Circuit Breaker Fail
12) Useful Functions
i) Event Recording
ii) Disturbance Records

1
1.0 Relay Front Plate Familiarisation

MiCOM

Trip C
Alarm

Warning

Healthy

Keypad :-

ALARM Keys

C - Clear Key

- Read Key

The two alarm keys shown above are dedicated for reading and acknowledging the alarms.
Successive alarms can be displayed by pressing the ‘READ’ key. The alarms are presented in
reverse order for their dedication (the most recent first, the oldest last). So as to acknowledge
the alarms, the user can either acknowledge each alarm using the ‘CLEAR’ key or go to the
end of the ALARM menu and carry out a general acknowledgement.

PROGRAMMING Keypad

The five keys situated in the middle of the MiCOM front panel are dedicated to set the relay.

The ‘ARROW’ keys make it possible to move in the direction indicated to the various levels
of the menus.

The ‘ENTER’ key validates a choice or value (modification of settings).

2
LEDs :-

The top four LEDs indicate the status of the relay (Trip condition, alarm LED, equipment
failure, auxiliary supply).

The four lower LEDs can be freely programmed by the user to correspond to operation of the
various thresholds or to indicate the status of the logic inputs (P122/P123).

Eight LEDs are located in the left portion of the front face (numbered from 1 to 8 starting
from the top):

LED 1 Colour : RED Label : Trip

LED 1 indicates when a trip order has been issued by the relay to the cut-off element (circuit
breaker, contactor). This LED copies the trip order issued to the Trip logic output. Its normal
state is unlit. It is illuminated as soon as a triggering order is issued, and it goes out when the
associated alarm is acknowledged.

LED 2 Colour : ORANGE Label : Alarm

LED 2 indicates that an alarm has been registered by the P122/P123 relay. The alarms are
either threshold crossings (instantaneous), or tripping orders (time delayed). As soon as an
alarm is registered, the LED flashes. When all the stored alarms are read, the LED is
illuminated continuously.

When all the alarms are acknowledged, the LED goes out.

NOTE: the instantaneous alarms can be selected self reset Yes or No in

the CONFIGURATION/Alarms Menu.

LED 3 Colour : ORANGE Label : Warning

LED 3 is dedicated to the internal alarms of MiCOM P122/P123 relays. When a « non
critical» internal alarm (typically communication fault) is detected, the LED flashes
continuously. When the fault is classed as « critical », the LED is illuminated continuously.
The LED will only extinguish when the cause of the alarm has disappeared (repair of the
module, disappearance of the fault).

LED 4 Colour : GREEN Label : Healthy

LED 4 indicates that the MiCOM P122/P123 relay auxiliary power is in the nominal range.

LED 5 to 8 Colour : RED Label : Aux.1 to 4.

These LEDs can be programmed by the user on the basis of information on available
thresholds (instantaneous and time-delayed) and state of the logic inputs. The user selects the
information they wish to see associated with each LED from the menu element (Logic OR).
Each LED illuminates when the associated information is valid. The extinction of each LED
is linked to the acknowledgement of the associated alarms.

Areas under the top and bottom flaps.

3
 Under the upper flap, a label identifies the relay according to its model (ordering code) and
series number. This information defines the product uniquely and specifically.

Information indicated in the lower portion of this label covers the auxiliary supply voltage
and the nominal earth current value.

Under the lower flap, an RS232 port is available. For the P122 and P123 relays this can be
used either to download a new application software version into the relay flash memory or to
plug a laptop with the AREVA setting software MiCOM S1.

2.0 Menu Navigation.

The menu of the MiCOM P122/P123 relay is organised into main and sub menus.
Contained in these menus are ‘cells’ which may contain text, values, limits and
functions.

Figure 1 shows the structure of the menu and how to traverse it.

DEFAULT DISPLAY
IA = 1245 A

OP PARAMETERS CONFIGURATION PROTECTION

G1/G2
Etc.

Password Display CT Ratio [50/51] Phase OC

Etc.
****

Time E/Gnd Text E/Gnd CT sec t I>>>

16 : 45 : 01 N 1 110 ms

Figure 1 – Menu Navigation.

3.0 Entering the PASSWORD (from default display)

4
 The relay should have the default password ‘AAAA’ (We hope..!!). To enter this,
perform the following :-

a) Press the key. The relay should now display the menu heading ‘OP
PARAMETERS’.

b) Press the key once again to move down the menu to display Password and
four stars.

c) Pressing the key will produce a flashing cursor on top of the default password
of ‘AAAA’. Although this is the default password it should be noted that the left and
right arrow keys move along the password and the up and down arrow keys will
scroll forward or back through the alphabet respectively.

d) As ‘AAAA’ is already displayed, press ‘Enter’ to confirm the password. The relay
will display ‘NEW PASSWORD OK’.

Now, with the password entered, the main menu headings will display a ‘P’ in the
bottom right hand corner of the screen (press until the ‘OP PARAMETERS’
heading is displayed). This is to acknowledge that the password has been entered and
that the variable cells can be altered.

Spend about 10 or 15 minutes trying to familiarise yourself with the menu (use figure 1
as a guide). Do not be afraid to change any settings. It will only take the supervisor a
few moments to return the relay to its default settings using the ‘PC’.

You will notice many cells containing information. For a description of all the settings
available inside the relay, refer to the P12x Menu Content Tables (available on
request). We will look at only a few of these settings in detail. Further study will be
required to become fully convercent with the MiCOM relays.

3.1 Entering Date and Time

The date and time need to be set in the relay for the recording of events and
disturbances. Once the date and time are set on the relay, the events and disturbances
can be read in chronological order.

The relay may possibly have the correct date and time already, however if this is not
the case then follow the steps below to set them.

i) Having already entered the password, scroll down from ‘OP PARAMETERS’ until
the date box is displayed. Press and set the date accordingly.

Date
28/09/04

ii) Once the date is set scroll down to the next cell to locate the time. Again press
and set the time accordingly.
5
 Time
16 : 45 : 00

3.2 PREPARATION :-

Make sure the relay has been returned to its default settings before starting (see
supervisor). Ensure that the test block is connected to the back of the relay.

Check that the power supply is set at the appropriate auxiliary voltage. The auxiliary
voltage range of the relay in question can be found under the top flap.

Ensure that the test box is securely fastened to the rear terminals of the relay.

(Note that the relay will accept a larger range of voltages)

Plug in the serial connection leads between the computer and the 9 pin port on the front
of the MiCOM relay as shown in the diagram below.

MiCOM relay

Laptop

25 pin
download/monitor port

9 pin
Battery front comms port Serial communication port
(COM 1 or COM 2)
Serial data connector
(up to 15m)

P0107ena

Switch on the auxiliary power supply.

The relay will now run through a self – check and perform an SRAM check. After the
relay has finished its internal checks it will display the following:

IL1
0.00 A

6
4.0 Opto Familiarisation.

An opto input can be used to select one or many functions inside the relay. Such uses
may be “setting group changes”, “blocking an overcurrent element” or even “triggering
an auxiliary timer” etc. The following tests will concentrate on ‘triggering auxiliary
timers’.

The following headings will be used to perform this task :-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the Password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Allocating Logic Inputs, Setting Aux. Timers,
and enabling output relays)

4.1 Triggering Auxiliary timers.

a) Enter the relay password :- if you are unsure how to do this, follow the procedure in
section 2.1

b) Locate the Inputs menu (AUTOMAT. CTRL) and then set the following settings.

Input 1
Aux 1

Input 2
Aux 2

Input 3
Aux 3

Aux 1 Timer
tAux 1 2s

Aux 2 Timer
tAux 2 4s

Aux 3 Timer
tAux 3 6s

Once this has been done, the next step will be to set the output relays associated with
the auxiliary timers.

c) Locate the Output Relays menu (AUTOMAT. CTRL) and then set the following.
7
 tAux 1 : 8765432
0000001

tAux 2 : 8765432
0000010

tAux 3 : 8765432
0000100

The relay has now been configured so that when Opto Input 1 is triggered Relay 2 will
operate after a time delay of 2 seconds. When Opto Input 2 is triggered Relay 3
operates after a time delay of 4 seconds, and Relay 4 will operate 6 seconds after Opto
Input 3 is triggered.

Energise the appropriate input using the switches provided. Ensure the auxiliary timers
operate as described above

8
5.0 Characteristic Tests. (Non Directional)

This test will involve most of the features we have seen previously. The objective is to
test the relays multi-stage characteristic and also familiarise yourself with the blocking
‘features’.

The following headings will be used to perform this task :-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the Password)

PROTECTION G1 (Selecting current settings and curves)
AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable Input to block tI>>, setting trip
commands)

a) Enter the Password (if necessary) and then return to a main ‘Column Heading’.

b) Firstly, the CT ratio will need to be set with a 1:1 ratio. To check this, locate the CT
Ratio sub-heading under the CONFIGURATION main heading. Remember from
the menu structure diagram (Refer to Figure 1) that it is possible to scroll along
sub-headings. Set all the primaries and secondaries to 1.

Line CT primary
1

Line CT sec
1

E/Gnd CT primary
1

E/Gnd CT sec
1

c) Locate the [50/51] Phase OC column under the PROTECTION G1 heading and
set the following cells:

I>?
Yes

*Note – This has enabled the first overcurrent stage.

I>
1 In

Delay type
IDMT

Idmt
IEC SI

TMS
1
9
This has set the first stage overcurrent element to trip at 1 x the Nominal Current
(1A/5A), with a Standard Inverse characteristic and a TMS of 1.

Next, we will set the second and third stage elements as follows:

Second stage:

I >> ?
Yes

I >>
6 In

Delay type
DMT

tI>>
500 ms

tReset
0 ms

Third stage:

I >>> ?
Yes

I >>>
10 In

tI>>>
0s

d) With the overcurrent elements set correctly, we must now enable the Trip
Commands for the three overcurrent stages. Locate the TRIP COMMANDS
column under the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading and, scrolling down, enable the
first, second and third stage trip commands. This has assigned the 3 overcurrent
elements to the trip relay (contact 1).

Trip tI >
Yes

Trip tI >>
Yes

Trip tI >>>
Yes

10
 e) Finally we must assign an input in order to block t>>. We will use input 1 to
perform this task. Remember input 1 is currently being used for Aux timer 1, so re-
assign input 1 to “Blk Log 1”. The following headings are located under
AUTOMAT. CTRL

Locate the Inputs sub-heading and set the following.

Input 1
Blk Log 1

Under the Blocking Logic1 heading set the following :-

Block1 tI>>
Yes

Now return to the Blocking Logic 1 sub-heading and scroll along to Logic Select 1.
Select the second stage overcurrent element.

Sel 1 tI>>
Yes

You will now need the assistance of the supervisor in order to prove the settings by
current injection.

Figure 2 illustrates the characteristic we have set.

100

Std Inverse (t>)

10
W hen t>> is blocked
Time (seconds)

(L0 energised)

t>>>
t>>

0.1
1 10 100

Current (Amperes)

Figure 2 – Overcurrent characteristic.

11
6.0 Thermal Tests.

This test will use the thermal overload element of the relay, which is a true I 2 characteristic.
Equipment is designed to operate continuously at a temperature corresponding to its full load
rating. Over-temperature conditions therefore occur when currents in excess of rating are
allowed to flow for a period of time.

The following headings will be used to perform this task :-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

PROTECTION (Enable the thermal element & % level)
AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable trip command)
MEASUREMENTS (Monitor and reset the thermal state %)

a) Enter the password (if necessary) and then return to a main ‘Heading’

b) The other protection such as the Overcurrent should be disabled. Locate the
PROTECTION G1 menu and disable the Overcurrent element.

I>?
No

c) Enable the Thermal protection by scrolling along the PROTECTION menu i.e. from
PROTECTION G1 press , , , , and the screen should now read

[49] Thermal OL

d) Now, scrolling down from this sub-heading set the following settings.

Therm OL?
Yes

Iθ >
1.0 In

Te
1 mn

k
1.0

θ Trip
100%

θ Alarm ?
Yes

12
 θ Alarm
70%

Explanation of settings.

Iθ > is the Full Load current rating given by the national standard or by the supplier, of the
protected element in question. We have set this to 1, so anything above 1 x full load current
(in our case 1A) will cause the thermal element to operate.

Te is the Thermal time constant of the protected element. We have set this to 1 minute. If this
setting is increased the thermal % reading in the measurement menu will take longer to reach
70% alarm and 100% trip.

k is the factor associated to the thermal state formula. For simplicity we have kept this at 1.

In our settings we have also set the thermal element to alarm when the thermal state reaches
70% and trip when it reaches 100%.

e) We now need to enable the Thermal trip command. Locate the AUTOMAT. CTRL menu
and scroll down until ‘Trip Thermal θ’ is displayed. Enable this setting.

Trip Thermal θ
Yes

f) Before the test ensure the Thermal state = 0. Go to the ‘Measurements’ menu and scroll
down to display

Thermal θ
RST = [C] 0%

If the thermal state is not reading 0%, press ‘C’ to reset it. Staying on this screen, the thermal
state can be monitored.

You will now need the assistance of the supervisor in order to prove the settings by
current injection.

g) Injecting 2 x nominal current (2A) on to each phase, the trip time of the relay should be
around 17.28 seconds.

Explanation of test.

Upon injecting 3 phase current of 2 amps, the thermal state will rise exponentially. At 70%
the relay will alarm and at 100% the relay should trip. Once the current is removed the trip
can be reset and the alarm can be reset by clearing the thermal state in the measurements
menu.

13
The trip time of the relay can be proven by calculation. The calculation of trip time is given
by:

⎛ | K 2 −θ 2 | ⎞
TTRIP = Te ln⎜⎜ 2 ⎟
⎝ | K − θ TRIP | ⎟⎠
2

TTRIP = Time to trip (in seconds)

Te = Thermal time constant of the protected element (in seconds)

K = Thermal overload equal to IINJ / k Iθ >

IINJ = Injected current from the test set.

Iθ > = Full load current rating given by the national standard or by the supplier.

k = Factor associated to the thermal state formula.

θ = Initial thermal state. If the initial thermal state = 30% then θ = 0.3

θTRIP = Trip thermal state. If the trip thermal state is set at 100%, then θTRIP = 1

In our case, the trip time is calculated as:

⎛ | 22 − 0 | ⎞
TTRIP = 60 ln⎜⎜ 2 ⎟⎟
⎝ | 2 − 1 | ⎠

TTRIP = 17.28s

h) We will now repeat the same test but this time we will check the cooling characteristic of
the thermal element. Once again inject the three phases with 2A and allow the relay to
trip. Now, allow the relay 60 seconds to cool down (using a watch will be acceptable) and
re-apply the current. This time, the relay should trip in around 11 seconds. This is due to
the fact that the thermal element has not entirely cooled to 0%, before the fault is re-
applied.

Figure 3 illustrates the thermal cooling characteristic.

14
 120
Fault re-applied.
Trip time = 10.9s
100

Relay thermal state

80
Thermal State (%)

60

40

Initial fault
20 application
17.26s
No fault applied. 60second cooling period.

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Time (seconds)

Figure 3 – Thermal cooling characteristic.

15
7.0 Undercurrent

Undercurrent can occur for conditions such as loss of load.

For MiCOM P122 and P123 relays there are two undercurrent elements. One is dedicated for
the CB fail detection whilst the other can be used to provide some additional functions to the
protection to prevent damage/further damage to the power system. This function allows
typical applications such as loss of load.

The following headings will be used to perform this task:-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable the trip commands and configure 52a input)
PROTECTION G1 (Enable Undercurrent and setting undercurrent)

a) All other protection should be disabled. Locate the Undercurrent sub-heading in the
PROTECTION menu, and enable the function.

I <?
Yes

b) Set the following settings

I <
0.1 In

t I<
10 ms

c) We now need to enable the command for tripping Undercurrent. Go to the ‘Trip
Commands’ menu (under AUTOMAT. CTRL) and set a trip for the Undercurrent

Trip tI <
Yes

Locate the ‘Output Relays’ and assign Relay 3 to trip for Undercurrent.

tI< 8765432
0000010

d) In order to carry out the Undercurrent test a Circuit Breaker will need to be simulated.
Figure 4 shows a logic diagram for the principle of Undercurrent protection.

Ia under Alarm
indication 16
I< threshold
 Figure 4 – Undercurrent Protection Logic.

The logic diagram in Figure 4 shows that the Undercurrent protection function is available
only if the auxiliary contact of the CB status is connected to the relay.

Locate the ‘Inputs’ sub-heading and assign Input 1 to 52a. As we have already used Input 1
for an auxiliary timer it is possible to reassign it to operate for the breaker status. Now if the
switch is closed it will simulate the Circuit Breaker being closed.

Input 1
52a

You will now need the assistance of the supervisor in order to prove the settings by
current injection.

e) Inject 0.2A on each phase and “close” the switch associated with input 1. The
undercurrent protection is now enabled as the breaker is considered to be closed. We will
decrease the current of the ‘A’ phase in 0.01 steps. The relay should trip at 0.1A. Reading
the ALARMS menu it can be seen that Undercurrent has tripped and on which phase, in
this case A phase.

To clear the alarms you will need to open the switch, and de-energise the input. This
simulates the breaker opening.

17
8.0 Negative Sequence Overcurrent.

When applying traditional phase overcurrent protection, the overcurrent elements must be set
higher than maximum load current, thereby limiting the element’s sensitivity. Certain faults
may arise which can remain undetected.

Any unbalanced fault condition will produce negative sequence current of some magnitude.
Thus, a negative phase sequence overcurrent element can operate for both phase-to-phase and
phase to earth faults, allowing a more sensitive setting.

The following headings will be used to perform this task:-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable the trip commands)
PROTECTION G1 (Enable Neg Seq OC)
MEASUREMENTS (Monitor the Negative Sequence current, I2)

a) Enter the password (if necessary) and then return to the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading.
Ensure all other protection functions are disabled.

b) Under the PROTECTION G1 heading locate the Negative Sequence Overcurrent

element and enable it.

[46] Neg Seq OC

I2 > ?
Yes

c) Set the following settings. Instead of having the relay time out on a characteristic curve,
we will set it to trip Definite Time after 1 second.

I2 >
0.1 In

Delay type
DMT

tI2 >
20.00 s

d) Two trip tests will be performed in order to prove the Negative Sequence Overcurrent.
The first is for single phase injection, the second being for three phase.

18
Test 1

Single Phase injection

Inject 1A onto phase A of the relay only. We will now increase the value of Ia until the relay
alarms for Negative Sequence Overcurrent. Pressing down to come out of the alarms, locate
the ‘MEASUREMENTS’ heading and scroll down to locate the Negative Sequence current,
I2. This will allow us to monitor what value of Negative Sequence Current the relay trips at.
Increase the value of Ia until the relay trips. The relay should trip when Ia reaches 3A and
using the ‘MEASUREMENTS’ menu the value of I2 should be 1A.

This is proven by the equation for Negative Sequence current.

I2 =
1
3
(
I a + α 2 I b + αI c )
where,

α = 1 ∠120 °

α2 = 1 ∠240°

As we are only injecting current into Ia; Ib and Ic will both be 0, therefore leaving

1
I2 = Ia
3

The relay should therefore trip when injecting 3A, as I2> is set at 1A.

Test 2

Phase – Phase

In this test we will have the current flowing into Ia and out of Ib. Therefore configure the test
set to have 1A on Ia, 1A on Ib and 0A on Ic. We will also have to displace the B phase by 180˚
so set the angle to 180˚ instead of the default -120˚.

Now, repeat the procedure for Test 1 by ramping both phases up from 1A. The relay should
trip when Ia and Ib reach 1.73A (the Negative Sequence current reaching 1A). Using the
formula for Negative Sequence gives

I2 =
1
3
(
I a + α 2 I b + αI c )
1
I2 = (1∠0° + (1 ∠240° × 1∠180°) )
3

1
I2 = (1∠0° + 1∠60°)
3

This simplifies to
19
 1
I2 = (1.73∠30°)
3

or, I 2 = 0.57∠30°

1
As = 0.57, it can therefore be seen that
3
1
I2 = Ia
3

This proves that in order to trip the relay, with a Neg Seq OC setting of 1A, Ia and Ib need to
be above 1.73A.

This is illustrated in figure 5 below.

α 2 Ib Ia + a2Ib

I2

Ib 240˚ Ia

I2 =
1
3
(
Ia + α 2Ib )
Figure 5: Negative Sequence Overcurrent.

20
9.0 Broken Conductor Logic

The broken conductor detection feature is based on the principle that if a conductor is broken
there will be load current in two phases, but not in all three. An open circuit fault, or series
fault, can arise from broken conductors or the operation of one of the three fuses. On a lightly
loaded line the negative sequence current resulting from a series fault condition may be very
close to, or less than, the full load steady state unbalance arising from CT errors, load
unbalance etc. A negative sequence element therefore would not operate at low load levels.
The broken conductor logic in the P12x range uses the ratio of I2/I1 and hence will not suffer
the same problems.

The following headings will be used to perform this task:-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable the Broken Conductor, enable the trip commands)

a) Enter the password (if necessary) and then return to the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading
Ensure all other protection functions are disabled.

b) Press down once from AUTOMAT. CTRL and then scroll along to find ‘Broken
Conductor’

c) Scrolling down the menu set the following settings.

Brkn. Cond ?
Yes

Brkn. Cond Time

tBC 0s

Ratio I2/I1
20%

This has enabled the broken conductor logic. We have set the relay so that if a ratio of
negative sequence current over positive sequence current equals, or exceeds, 20% the broken
conductor element will trip.

We also need to enable the trip command for the Broken Conductor trip test.

Locate the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading and scroll down the trip commands until ‘Trip Brkn.
Cond’ is displayed. Enable this setting.

Trip Brkn. Cond

Yes

You will now need the assistance of the supervisor in order to prove the settings by
current injection.

21
We will test the Broken Conductor Logic twice. The first test will check the threshold setting.
The second will check the Op time of the relay for Broken Conductor.

Test 1

Using the three-phase test set, inject 1A on to each phase of the relay. Set Ia to 1A and
gradually decrease it. The relay should operate when Ia is approximately 0.5A. This can be
checked by monitoring the current in ‘Measurements’.

Test 2

For the Op time of the relay we will set the ‘Brkn. Cond Time’ cell to three seconds, i.e. if
the 20% ratio is equalled or exceeded for more than 3 seconds the broken conductor element
will trip.

Brkn. Cond Time

tBC 3s

Once again, inject 1A on to each phase. When all the three phases are balanced the relay
should not trip. Now ‘drop’ one of the phases. This can be achieved by inputting 0A onto one
of the phases via the test set. This will cause an unbalance in the system, resulting in a rise of
negative phase sequence current. Check that the relay operates in 3 seconds. The I2/I1
measurement can be viewed in ‘Measurements’. This should be approximately 50%.

22
10 Cold Load Pick-Up.

The cold load pickup feature enables the selected settings of the MiCOM P122/P123 relays to
be changed to cater for temporary overload conditions that may occur during cold starts, such
as switching on large heating loads after a sufficient cooling period, or loads that draw high
initial starting currents.

The Cold Load Pick-Up (CLP) logic included in the relays serves to raise the settings of
selected stages for a set duration. This allows the protection settings to be set closer to the
load profile by automatically increasing them after energisation. The CLP logic provides
stability, without compromising protection performance during starting.

The following headings will be used to perform this task:-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable the Cold Load Pick-Up function, assigning Cold L PU
to Input 1, Enable trip command for CLP and Overcurrent
protection)
PROTECTION G1 (Enable I>1)

a) Enter the password (if necessary) and then return to the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading
Ensure all other protection functions are disabled.

b) Enable the “Cold Load Pick Up” function, found under the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading.
Set the following settings.

Cold Load PU ?
Yes

Cold Load PU
tI > ? Yes

Cold Load PU
tI >> ? Yes

Cold Load PU
tI >>> ? Yes

Cold Load PU
Level 150%

Cold Load PU
tCL 10s

c) Enable the Overcurrent protection in PROTECTION G1 (refer to section 5.0). Keep the
previous settings from the Characteristic test. Also, enable the trip commands for tI>,
tI>> and tI>>> in the ‘Trip Commands’ sub-heading.

Trip tI>
Yes

23
 Trip tI>>
Yes

Trip tI>>>
Yes

d) We now need to assign an Opto Input for the Cold Load Pick-Up. For simplicity we will
use Opto Input 1 again. Under the Inputs sub-heading assign Opto Input 1 to Cold Load
Pick-up.

Input 1
Cold L PU

You will now need the assistance of the supervisor in order to prove the settings by
current injection.

e) Trip the relay on overcurrent, in other words don’t energise the Cold Load Pick-Up input.
Inject 1.5 Amps on to each phase. The relay should trip in around 17.20 seconds. This is
due to the Standard Inverse characteristic, the trip time calculated as follows:

0.14
tTRIP = TMS ×
⎛⎛ I ⎞
0.02
⎞
⎜⎜ F ⎟⎟ − 1⎟
⎜ ⎜⎝ I S ⎠ ⎟
⎝ ⎠

0.14
tTRIP = 1 ×
⎛ ⎛ 1.5 ⎞ 0.02 ⎞
⎜ ⎜ ⎟ − 1⎟
⎜⎝ 1 ⎠ ⎟
⎝ ⎠

tTRIP ≈ 17.2 s

where,

TMS = Time Multiplier Setting

IF = Fault current

IS = Relay setting current

f) Now inject 1.5A on each phase of the relay and energise the Cold Load Pick-Up input i.e.
“close” the switch. The overcurrent protection settings should now increase by 50% and
the relay will not flag an alarm for up to 10 seconds. After 10 seconds the relay will alarm
and begin to time out, tripping in around 27 seconds. This shows the relay refraining for
10 seconds, as the settings have been increased, and then tripping on overcurrent after the
calculated 17.2 seconds.

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g) Finally, we will prove the temporary overload conditions. Inject 1.5A onto each phase
again and “close” the switch to activate the Cold Load Pick-Up. Instead of allowing the
relay to trip, this time decrease the current to say 0.8A within the 10 second setting
change. The relay will not trip as the current is below the 1A trip value.

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11 CB Fail

Following inception of a fault one or more main protection devices will operate and issue a
trip output to the circuit breaker(s) associated with the faulted circuit. Operation of the circuit
breaker is essential to isolate the fault, and prevent damage/further damage to the power
system.

For transmission/sub-transmission systems, slow fault clearance can also threaten system
stability. It is therefore common practice to install circuit breaker fail protection, which
monitors that the circuit breaker has opened with a reasonable time. If the fault current has
not been interrupted following a set time delay from circuit breaker trip initiation, breaker
failure protection (CBF) will operate.

The following headings will be used to perform this task:-

OP PARAMETERS (Entering the password)

AUTOMAT. CTRL (Enable the CB Fail Protection, enable the trip commands,
assign output relays)
PROTECTION G1 (Enable Overcurrent settings)

a) Enter the password (if necessary) and then return to the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading
Ensure all other protection functions are disabled.

b) Enable the “CB Fail” function, found under the AUTOMAT. CTRL heading. Set the
following settings.

CB Fail ?
Yes

I<=
0.1 In

CB Fail Time
tBF 5.0 s

Block I > ?
No

Block Ie > ?
No

We will also assign two relays for the tests. Assign CB Fail to Output Relay 8 and assign the
first stage Overcurrent to Output Relay 7. We will use this for indication, that the current
has exceeded the threshold and to see the breaker fail.

Under the Output Relays sub-heading set the following:

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 I> :8765432
0100000

CB :8765432
Fail 1000000

Test 1

Now, inject 5A on to all three phases of the relay. LED 7 on the test box will illuminate,
indicating that the current threshold has been exceeded. Due to the Standard Inverse
characteristic curve, LEDs 1+2 will illuminate after around 4s (see figure 2 Overcurrent
Characteristic). After a further 5 seconds, LED 8 will illuminate, showing that the Circuit
Breaker has failed.

Test 2

We will now block the Overcurrent Start (I>) of the relay. To do this, locate the CB Fail sub-
heading again and scroll down to set the following

Block I > ?
Yes

Now, injecting 5A to all three phases again, LED 7 will illuminate to signal that the current
threshold has been exceeded, and LEDs 1 + 2 will illuminate after 4 seconds. This time
however, after a further 5 seconds LED 7 will drop off and LED 8 will come on. This
indicates that the Overcurrent has been blocked.

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12.0 Useful functions

i) Event recording

The relay records and time tags up to 75 events and stores them in non-volatile (battery
backed up) memory. This enables the system operator to establish the sequence of events that
occurred within the relay following a particular power system condition, switching sequence
etc. When the available space is exhausted, the oldest event is automatically overwritten by
the new one.

These events can be extracted from the relay using the MiCOM S1 software.

a) Ensure that serial link is attached to the relay. Double click on the MiCOM S1 icon.

b) There will now be a screen showing the various options of communication. Select ‘Front
port communication interface’ by clicking on the relay picture.

c) The next screen gives the user the option of relay platform, 20 series, 30 series, or 40
series. Select the ‘Px20/Px20C/M/Modulex series’.

d) Select the ‘Setting software S&R-Modbus’ icon at the next screen.

We are now able to do various functions. From this point it is possible to communicate with
the relay to manipulate it as required. First we will need to open the connection to the relay.

e) At the top toolbar, click on ‘Device’ and select ‘Open Connection’. The relay address
should be 1, (if it is not locate the relay address cell, communications menu, and read the
value) so click on ‘Ok’ and the password is the standard ‘AAAA’. Enter this and click
‘Ok’. We should now have the relay information.

f) Click on ‘Device’ and select ‘Extract’, and then ‘Events’. Diagram A below shows this
procedure.

Diagram A – Extraction of events.

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You will now be asked where to save the file. For ease we will save it on the desktop. Select
the desktop and call the file ‘P123’. The events will now be extracted from the relay and
displayed on the screen (See Diagram B below for a typical events display).

Diagram B – Events records

Note that if you double click on the cross it is possible to get a more detailed overview of the
event. Also, the events that are displayed will be the tests that you have just performed! Take
a few minutes to analyse the events, for example, in Diagram B we can see the output relays
change from relay 7 to relay 8 in the CB Fail test.

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ii) Disturbance Records

The integral disturbance recorder has an area of memory specifically set aside for record
storage. The number of records that may be stored is 5 disturbance records of 3 seconds each.
Disturbance records continue to be recorded until the available memory is exhausted, at
which time the oldest record(s) are overwritten to make space for the newest one.

It must be noted that the Pre-Time takes priority over the Post-Time in the event that the sum
of Pre-Time and Post-Time exceeds 3 seconds. For example, if the Pre-Time is set to 2.5s and
the Post-Time is set to 2 seconds (4.5 seconds total), the disturbance recorder will actually
record 2.5 seconds Pre-Time and only 0.5 seconds Post-Time. Therefore we can say that:

Maximum Post-Time = 3 seconds – Pre-Time.

The disturbances, like the event records, can be extracted from the relay using the MiCOM
S1 software.

a) We will induce another trip on the relay. Enable the ‘Overcurrent’ Protection settings
again, keeping the settings the same. Also assign the overcurrent trip commands for I >,
I >> and I >>>. Ensure that all other protection functions are disabled.

b) Via the front panel of the relay set the disturbance record settings. Scrolling along from
‘AUTOMAT. CTRL’ locate the ‘RECORDS’ heading. Under this heading locate
‘Disturb Record’ and set the following.

Pre -Time
1.5s

Post -Time
1.5s

Disturb Rec Trig

ON TRIP.

As illustrated by the settings, both the pre-fault and post-fault time for recording is 1.5s. This
adds to 3 seconds, which is the maximum time available for recording. We have also set the
recording to start when the relay trips.

c) Using the current injection test set, inject 12A on to phase A of the relay. This should trip
the relay instantaneously.

d) Load the MiCOM S1 software and select the ‘Front port communication interface’. At
the next screen select the ‘Px20/Px20C/M/Modulex series’ platform and then click on
the ‘Setting software S&R-Modbus’ icon.

e) We now need to open the connection to the relay. At the top toolbar, click on ‘Device’
and select ‘Open Connection’. The relay address should be 1 so click on ‘Ok’ and the
password is the standard ‘AAAA’. Enter this and click ‘Ok’. We should now have the
relay information.

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f) Click on ‘Device’ and select ‘Extract’, and then ‘Disturbances’. Diagram C below
shows this procedure.

Diagram C – Extracting Disturbance Records.

g) There will now be a list of disturbances displayed on the screen. Choose the most recent,
the fault we have just applied, and save it to the desktop as ‘disturbance’.

h) Now, using the MiCOM S1 software again, select ‘Presentation and Analysis of
Disturbance Recording Data with EView’. In EView select ‘File’, ‘Open’ and open the
file that you saved to the desktop.

i) The screen displays the current and frequency waveforms for the fault. Select ‘Edit’ at the
top toolbar and scroll down to select ‘Settings’. This will bring up a settings screen as
shown in Diagram D.

Diagram D – Disturbance Settings

j) Delete diagram 2 by selecting it and pressing the red cross at the bottom of the ‘Settings’
screen.

Now insert a new diagram by pressing the diagram icon.

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Select ‘Binary variable’ and for the ‘Channels to be Plotted:’ select ‘Relay 2’. The screen
now shows the current waveforms and the operation of Relay 2.

Zoom in on the current by selecting the zoom rectangle icon. Now use the data cursor and the
reference cursor to analyse the time characteristics of the fault. Diagram E below shows the
time taken for the relay to operate, after the inception of the fault.

Diagram E – Operation of Relay 2

Diagram E shows Relay 2 operating 24 ms after the fault inception. Also, use the data and
reference cursors to measure the time taken for the fault to be cleared, as shown in Diagram
F. This shows the time taken to clear the fault as 57 ms.

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 Diagram F – Fault clearance.

Finally, use the data and reference cursors to analyse the time taken for the fault recording.
Put the data cursor at the start of the recording i.e. on the axis. Now put the reference cursor
on the relay pick up. The time taken should be approximately 1.5 seconds, and now putting
the data cursor all the way to the right of the screen the time should be the same (adding up to
the 3 seconds maximum recording time). Diagram G shows an example of this.

Diagram G – Disturbance recording time

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