Different Transformer Internal Faults

Faults in Transformers:

Some of the faults in the transformers are likely to be over-voltages which

resulting from the atmospheric phenomenon (lightning) transmitted by overhead
lines.
Switching in the power system (especially high voltage switching more than
400kV) can produce over-voltages of less steep but longer duration surges
stressing both liquid and solid dielectrics (insulation). These over-voltages should
be restricted in amplitude to a value below the transformer insulation breakdown
withstanding level.
Short circuits in the power system subject the transformer to currents of 10 to 20
times the rated currents (short circuit current level will be severe when fault occur
close to transformer). Power transformer is generally designed to withstand tens
of short circuits, lasting not more than 2 sec duration in its life time. If there are
more short circuits than the designed limit special construction is required. Short
circuits should eliminated (by isolating faulty power system by opening circuit
breakers) as quickly as possible to limit the short circuit intensity on transformer.

Overloads can arise in transformers from planned or fortuitous (unexpected)

circumstances. In the first case, temperature increase in transformer insulating
material should not exceed the standard value. In the second case, certain time
limit can be tolerated but this will have certain cost in reduction in the life of the
transformer.
Internal Faults in Transformer:

Electrodynamic faults: which occurs between insulation and current carrying

conductors, HV and LV winding due to external and internal short circuits
Electromagnetic faults: Which occur due to eddy currents induced in the
magnetic circuits or the clamping structure.
Electrical faults which occurs due to bad contacts in the leads or bad contacts in
the tap changer Dielectric faults: Which occur due to shorting between windings
or between live parts and earth, partial discharges
Thermal faults: Which occurs due to abnormal temperature rise, hot spot, thermal
ageing or pollution in transformer oil
Mechanical faults: Which occur due to vibrations, leakages or defective operation
of the tap changers

Different types of defects originated in transformers will have degree of gravity

depending on the amount of damage it can do on transformers and their consequences.
Some of the defects (vibrations, partial discharges) will not immediately endanger the
equipment but care must be taken before causing major damage. On the other hand,

defects such as (over-voltages and short circuits, and initial breakdown) requires
immediate attention

High Voltage (HV) Interview Questions

Answers
Why Earth Wire is provided in the overhead transmisssion lines?
Answer: Earth wire is provided above the overhead transmission lines for protection against
lightning strokes. The ground wire or earth wire protects the phase conductors or line
conductors by attracting itself the lightning strokes which in its absence would strike the phase
conductors. Also the ground wire reduces the voltage electrostatically or electromagnetically
induced in the conductors by the discharge of a neighboring cloud. It also provides the
additional protective effect by causing the attenuation of traveling waves set in the lines by
acting a short circuit secondary of the line current

What is meant by protective angle? Give its value for reliable operation?
Answer: Protective angle is the vertical angle through the ground wire axis and the line passing
from the ground wire axis to the outermost phase conductor. Its value for reliable protection is
taken equal to 20-30 degrees

What is the difference between the lightning arrester and surge absorber?
Answer: Lightning arrester limits the duration and amplitude of the follow current while a surge
absorber reduces the steepness of the wave front for a particular surge

What is meant by Lightning arrester or surge diverter?

Answer: A Surge Diverter is a device that is connected between line and earth, i.e, in parallel
with the equipment under protection at the substation. It limits the duration and amplitude of the
follow current

What is meant by impulse ratio of any lightning arrester?

Answer: Impulse ratio of any lightning arrester is the ratio of breakdown voltage of the
wave of special duration to breakdown voltage of a 50Hz wave
What is meant by voltage surge?
Answer: Voltage surge is sudden excessive rise in voltage that may be dangerous to
the electrical equipment of an installation. Voltage surge cause damage to insulation of
the system. Voltage surges are caused because of lightning, switching on and off the
load at high voltages
How standard lightning impulse wave is represented?
Answer: Standard Lighting impulse wave is represented by 1.2/50 micro sec wave

Transmission Lines Protection Questions

Answers
What is meant by Tine Graded Protection?
Answer: Time Graded protection is a scheme of over current protection, in which the
discrimination is incorporated i.e, the time setting of the relays is so graded that in the event of
the fault, the smallest part of the system is disconnected

What are the main elements of current carrier protection?

Answer: The main elements of the carrier current protection are: Transmitter, Receiver,
Coupling equipment and Line trap

Why Merz-Price Protection is not suitable beyond 33kV?

Answer: Difficulties are experienced in balancing the secondaries of the CTs and this is why
Merz-Price protection is not employed beyond 33kV

What types of relays are suitable for the protection of radial feeders?
Answer: Induction type IDMT relays are more suitable for protection of the radial feeders
because the time current characteristics are similar in shape and in no case they cross each
other at any time

What is the purpose of Line trap and Coupling capacitors in carrier channels?

Answer: Line trap is an LC network inserted between the busbar and connection of
coupling capacitors to the line and tuned to resonance at the high frequency and are
used to confine the carrier currents to the protected section so as to avoid interference
with or from adjacent carrier current channel.
Coupling capacitors is used to connect the high frequency (carrier) equipment to one of
the line conductors and simultaneously serves to isolate the carrier equipment from high
power line voltage
What is Unit Protection?
Answer: Unit system of protection is one in which the protection responds to the faults in
the protected zone alone and it does not respond to through faults (faults beyond the
protected zone). None unit systems does not have zone boundry
What is the minimum time interval set for two adjacent circuit breakers to operate
in radial feeders?
Answer: It will be usually around 0.4 sec

Induction Motor Protection Interview

Questions Answers
What are the type of faults that are likely to occur in operation of 3 phase induction
motor?
Answer: The faults which are likely to occur in operation of 3-phase induction motors are:
Stator faults (phase to phase, phase to earth, and inter turn faults), Rotor fault (earth fault and
inter turn fault), prolonged overloading, stalling, unbalanced system voltages, single phasing,
under voltage and reverse phase

Why prolonged overloading protection is required for Induction motor?

Answer: Prolonged overloading on induction motor can cause excessive temperature rise in the
stator and rotor windings of induction motor and also it damages the insulation resulting in the
winding fault. Hence overloading protection is provided irrespective size and rating of the motor.
Overload protection for the motor should not operate during starting of the motor
Thermal overload relays or inverse over current relays are provided for protecting motors
against prolonged overloading conditions

Why Negative sequence current protection is provided for Induction Motor?

Answer: Negative sequence currents flow in to the motor when the motor is supplied with
unbalanced supply voltage. This flow of negative sequence currents will cause the overheating
of the motor

What is Stalling in Induction motor and how to protect motor during Stalling?

Answer: Due to the mechanical problem in the motor or due to high overloading during
starting of motor induction motor fails to start. This condition where the motor fails to
start is called Stalling and it is undesirable as motor draws heavy currents. Therefore
motor should be immediately isolated from the supply.
Instantaneous over-current relay is employed to protect the motor against Stalling
What is Single Phasing and problems associated with it in Induction Motor?
Answer: Single Phasing in an Induction motor arises when one of the supply lines out of
three phase open circuits. In this condition, motor continue to operate delivering load
not exceeding 57.7% of the normal rating with the same temperature rise compared to
three phase supply delivering full load.
Some of the problems associated with single phasing are it may cause extreme
magnetic unbalance, reduction in the torque of the motor, and overheating due to
negative phase sequence currents. Operation of the motor under this condition is not
advisable at it damages the motor. Therefore Thermal overload relays are provided for
the protection of motor against single phasing

Synchronous Generator Protection Interview

Questions Answers
What are the common types of generator faults?
Answer: The common types of faults occurring in synchronous generators are:
Stator winding faults (phase to phase faults, phase to earth faults, inter turn faults), Rotor
winding faults (conductor to earth faults, open circuit faults, inter turn faults), failure of prime
mover, failure of the field, unbalanced loading, over loading, over-voltage at generator terminals,
over-speed, ventilation failure, loss of excitation.

For what type of faults does differential protection is provided?

Answer: Differential protection responds to the phasor difference between two or more
electrical quantities. It operates for the internal faults occur in generators or transformers. For
external faults differential protection does not operate

What is the disadvantage of ordinary differential protection?

Answer: When differential relaying is used for protection, the CTs at both sides of the
generator winding must be of equal accuracy. Otherwise if the CT errors are excessive
it will cause the mal operation of the relay. To safeguard against such disadvantages
percentage differential protection is employed.
What is advantage of using percentage differential relay protection?
Answer:
Advantages:

It does not require CTs with air gaps or special balancing features
It permits a low fault setting to be used and this ensures maximum protection of
the windings
It ensures complete stability under the most severe through fault conditions

Explain Differential Protection?

Answer: Differential protection is generally provided for the equipment or group of
equipments which are to be protected against internal faults. They are the primary
protection systems (operates faster) for any internal faults occurring within the
protection zone.
Under healthy conditions the currents at both ends of the windings will be equal. EMFs
induced in the secondaries of the CTs will be equal and so no current flows through the
operating coil of the relay. When an earth fault or phase to phase fault occurs the
condition no longer holds good and the differential current flows through the relay
operating coils makes the relay to operate. Relay operates for the faults occurring within
the zone of protection

Generator Protection Interview Questions

Answers
Why Over Current Protection is not necessary for modern generators?

Answer: Over Current protection is not considered necessary for modern alternators because
these are capable of withstanding a complete short circuit at their terminals for sufficient time
without much over heating and damage

What type of protection is provided for the generators against over heating of the
generator stator?
Answer: Resistance temperature detector

Which type of relays are used for the Merz-Price protection system for alternator?
Answer: Merz-Price protection is differential protection provided for the alternator. The relays
used in the Merz-Price protection system of alternator are instantaneous electro-magnetic type
protection

Why
large
alternator
is
grounded
with
large
resistance?
Answer: Large capacity of alternators are typically provided with resistance grounding. High
value of resistor is connected to the neural path to the ground. If the generator is delta
connected, then it is grounded with the help of zig-zag transformer or (Delta-Star) transformer
such that a high resistor is connected between the neutral point and the ground. Resistance
grounding is provided so as to limit the short circuit current flowing during earth fault to stator
winding in order to provide protection against mechanical stresses and melting of winding during
Line to Ground short circuit. In large generators fault current is limited as low as 10 to 15
amperes during short circuit.

Why it is not necessary to provide protection for turn to turn fault in alternator?

Answer: The coils of the modern alternators are single turn and therefore it is not
necessary to provide protection for turn to turn faults
Why it is necessary to suppress field immediately after disconnection of faulty
alternator from the system?
Answer: In the event of fault on the generator windings even though the generator
circuit breaker is tripped, the fault is continuous to fed as long as the excitation will exist
because the emf is induced in the generator. Hence it is necessary to suppress the field
immediately after disconnecting the faulty generator from the system
Why it not necessary to provide over-voltage protection in turbo-alternator?

Answer: The over voltage occurs when the prime mover speed increases due to sudden
loss of the load on the generator and the speed control governors in case of turbogenerators are very sensitive to the speed variations and therefore generator over
voltage of significant duration or magnitude does not generally occur. This is the reason
why generators are not provided with over voltage protection

Protection Relays Interview Questions

Answers
Where does Negative phase sequence relay is employed?
Answer: Negative sequence relay is employed for the protection of generators and motors
against unbalanced loading that may arise due to phase to phase faults

What is the operation principle of differential relay?

Answer: A differential relay operates when the phasor difference of two or more similar electrical
quantities exceeds a pre-determined amount

Why distance protection is preferred as primary protection compared to over current

protection for transmission lines?
Answer: Distance relay is superior to over current protection for the protection of transmission
lines. Some the reasons are faster protection, simpler coordination, simpler application,
permanent settings without need for readjustment, less effect of the amount of generation and
fault levels, fault current magnitude, permits the high line loading

Why biased differential protection is preferred over simple differential protection?

Answer: Biased differential relay is preferred because its operation is not affected by the
trouble arising out of the difference in the CTs ratios for high values of external short
circuit currents
Where Impedance relay, Reactance relay and Mho relays are employed?

Answer: The Impedance relay is suitable for the phase faults relaying for the lines of
moderate lengths Reactance type relays are employed for the ground faults while Mho
type of relays are best suited for the long transmission lines and particularly where
synchronizing power surge may occur
What is percentage differential relay?
Answer: It is a differential relay where the operating current required to trip can be
expressed as a percentage of load current

Protection Realys Interview Questions

Answers
What are the main functions of Differential Relays?
Answer: Differential Relays must have the following features:

High speed operation

High sensitivity
Adequate short circuit thermal rating
Ability to operate operate with low values of voltage
Burden must not be excessive
There should be no voltage and current creep

What is meant by "Relay Settings"?

Answer: Relay settings means actual value of the energizing or characteristic quantity at
which the relay is designed to operate under given conditions
Define Plug Setting Multiplier?
Answer: Plug Setting Multiplier and is defined as the ratio of fault current in the relay coil
to the pick up value
Where is directional relay used?
Answer: Directional relay are used when graded time overload protection is applied to
ring mains and interconnected networks
For what type of fault does Buchholz relay is employed?
Answer: Buchholz relay provides protection only against transformer internal fault
How definite time lag is achieved in attraction armature relays?

Answer: The instantaneous type attraction armature can be made a definite time lag or
inverse time lag by using a oil dash pot, an air escapement chamber a clock work
mechanism or by placing a fuse in parallel wit it.

Neutral Grounding Practice in Power System

Generally on neutral grounding is provided at each voltage. There will be several

voltage levels between the generation of the power and distribution of the power
in the power system. Only one ground is provided for each voltage level of the
power system
Grounding of the power system is provided at the source and not at the load end
Each of the major bus section in the system are grounded
For generator grounding, neutral of the generator is grounding through a
resistance which limits the stator fault current. The value of the resistor employed
for the grounding the generator decides the percentage of the generator windings
left unprotected
Synchronous motors and synchronous capacitors are provided with reactance
type of grounding. This reactance grounding provides additional reactance which
provides additional lagging currents which nullifies the capacitive grounding
currents

When several generators are connected to a common neutral bus, the bus is
connected to the ground through a single grounding device. Disconnect switches are
used to ground the desired generators to the neutral bus
When several generators are operating in parallel, only one generator neutral is
earthed. This is to avoid the interference between the zero sequence currents
In generating stations there is a provision to ground neutral of at least two generators,
though one at a time. The other generator neutral is grounded when the first generator
is out of service
When there are one of the two supply sources, no switching equipment is used in the
grounding circuit.
For the protection purpose, the neutral point of the star side of the power transformer
is usually grounded
The star connected secondary sides of the protective CTs and PTs are grounded at
one point. This ensures stable neutral, proper measurement of the voltages and
currents, kWh and kVA on the secondary side measuring instruments and controls
For the circuits between 3 kV and 33 kV resistance or reactance grounding is used.
But for low voltages less than 600V and high voltages above 33 kV solid or effective
grounding is used. Effective grounding limits the voltages of healthy phases to line-toneutral values in the events of ground faults and also eliminates the arcing grounds.

The effective grounding causes the ground fault currents of very high magnitudes flow
through the machine. But modern day protection systems are very sensitive and fast
operating so that faults are cleared in very short time

Electromagnetic Relays Advantages

Disadvantages Applications
In Electromagnetic relays operating current flows through the coil. When this operating current
increases, coil energizes the electromagnet. When the operating current becomes large, the
magnetic field produced by electromagnet is high such that this magnetic field pulls the
armature or plunger making the trip circuit contacts to close. Some of the advantages,
disadvantages and applications of electromagnetic relays are explained below

Advantages or merits:

Electromagnetic relays have fast operation and fast reset

They can be used for both ac and dc systems for protection of ac and dc equipments
Electromagnetic relays operating speeds which has the ability to operate in milliseconds
are also can be possible
They have the properties such as simple, robust, compact and most reliable
These relays are almost instantaneous. Though instantaneous the operating time of the
relay varies with the current. With extra arrangements like dashpot, copper rings etc.
slow operating times and reset can be possible

Disadvantages or demerits:

High burden level instrument transformers are required (CTs and PTs of high burden is
required for operating the electromagnetic relays compared to static relays)
The directional feature is absent in electromagnetic relays
Requires periodic maintenance and testing unlike static relays
Relay operation can be affected due to ageing of the components and dust, pollution
resulting in spurious trips
Operation speed for an electromagnetic relays is limited by the mechanical inertia of the
component

Applications:

Electromagnetic relays are employed for the protection of various ac and dc equipments
The over/under current and voltage protection of various ac and dc equipments
For differential protection
Used as auxiliary relays in the contact systems of protective relay schemes

Functions of Instrument Transformers (CTs

and PTs)
AC type protective relays are actuated by the current and voltage supplied by the current and
potential (voltage) transformers which are generally classified as instrument transformers.
Generally instrument transformers are used for mainly two purposes. For metering purpose
which steps down and displays voltage and current levels from kV to (0-110 volts in case of PT)
and few kilo amps to (0-5 amps in case of CT) . Second purose is to supply current and voltage
magnitudes to the relays to carryout protection functions
The main functions of instrument transformers are:

Instrument transformers (current and potential transformers) provide insulation

against the high voltages of the power circuit and to protect the apparatus and
the operating personnel from contact with the high voltages of the power circuits
Instrument transformers (CTs and PTs) supply protective relays with current and
voltages of magnitude proportional to those of the the power circuits. These
current and voltage magnitudes supply by the instrument transformers are
sufficiently reduced such that the relays can be made relatively small and
inexpensive
Instrument transformers helps in attaining different types of secondary
connections to obtain the required current and voltages

For proper applications of CTs and PTs required considerations are:

Mechanical construction , type of insulation (dry or liquid), ratio in terms of primary and
secondary currents or voltages, continuous thermal rating, short time thermal and
mechanical ratings, insulation class, impulse level, service conditions, accuracy and
connections
For the safety purpose, the secondaries of the current and potential transformers (CTs
and PTs) are grounded

Ungrounded or Isolated Neutral System

Disadvantages

There will be no flow in the zero sequence currents

In ungrounded or isolated neutral system there will be little interference with the
communication lines because of the absence of zero sequence currents
In case of single line to ground fault or one phase becoming earthed, the
voltages of the remaining two phases to the earth raise from normal phase to
neutral voltage to full line value ((3)1/2 times their normal value). This causes the
stress on the insulation on all the machines and equipment connected to the
system. The voltage rise of a phase above earth is sustained and thereby
insulation failure is likely to occur on connected machines.
The capacitance currents in the two healthy phases increases to ((3) 1/2) times
their normal values

The capacitance currents in the faulty phase becomes 3 times the normal value
For operation of the protective device it is necessary that magnitude of current
supplied should be adequate to operate them. In the case of earth fault of an isolated
neutral or ungrounded systems, the fault current may be too small to actuate the
protective devices. Thus in ungrounded system the earth fault relaying is more
complicated
The over voltages due to induced static charges are not discharged to the ground in
an isolated neutral system. The voltage due to lightning surges do not find path to earth
The danger to the equipment on the occurrence of line to line ground fault is
appreciable and danger to the life in the proximity of the fault is often prolonged
A capacitive fault current flows into the earth. Such a current if exceeds 4-5 amperes
is sufficient to maintain an arc in the ionized path of the fault, even though the medium
causing the fault has cleared itself. The persistence of the arc due to the flow of
capacitance currents gives rise to condition known as "Arcing Grounds" in which cyclic
charging and discharging of the system capacity through the fault results in high
frequency oscillations superimposed on the whole system and build up of very high
voltage can occur. This results in phase voltage to rise to 5 to 6 times of normal voltage.
The buildup of high voltage may result in insulation breakdown

Circuit Breaker Interview Questions Answers

What is a Circuit Breaker?
Answer: Circuit Breaker is a mechanical device designed to close or open contact members,
thus closing or opening an electrical circuit under the normal or abnormal conditions

How does a Circuit Breaker different from Switch?

Answer: Switch is just a device when can be able to open and close the circuit during normal
operation. Whereas on the other hand circuit breaker has the ability to open and close the
contacts during abnormal or fault conditions. Thus circuit breaker has the potential to break and
make heavy short circuit currents. Auto-reclosures in the circuit beaker has the ability to re-close
after certain designed duration to verify whether the short circuit was cleared

What is meant by making capacity of the circuit breaker?

Answer: The making capacity of the circuit breaker when closed on a short circuit is the peak
value of the maximum current wave (including dc component) in the first cycle of the current
after the circuit is closed by the circuit breaker

Why current chopping is not common in oil circuit breakers?

Answer: Current chopping is not common in oil circuit breakers because in most of the oil circuit
breakers the arc extinguishing power is proportional to the magnitude of current to be
interrupted

Name the materials used for the contacts of vacuum circuit breakers?
Answer: Copper-Bismuth, Copper-lead, Copper-tellurium, Silver-bismuth, Silver-lead and Silvertellurium are some of the alloys employed as contact materials in the vacuum circuit breakers

Why current chopping considered as serious drawback in a circuit breaker?

Answer: The current chopping is considered as serious drawback because it sets up

high voltage transient across the breaker contacts.
For EHV applications which type of circuit breaker is mostly preferred?
Answer: For Exta High Voltage (EHV) applications SF6 gas insulated switchgear is
preferred
What are the duties of Circuit Breakers?
Answer: Some of the duties of the circuit breakers are listed below:

Interruption of small inductive currents

Switching of unloaded transmission lines and unloaded cables
Switching of capacitor banks and reactors

Interruption of terminal faults

Interruption of short line faults
Asynchronous switching

Fuse Advantages Disadvantages in a

Electrical Circuit
Fuse is the cheapest protection device in electrical circuit against short circuits and overloading
of circuits. Fuse is a metal wire or thin metal strip which has the property of low melting point
which is inserted into the electrical circuit as protective device. Fuse provides protection against
excessive currents which can flow in circuit during short circuits. Under normal working
condition the current flowing through the circuit is within safe limits but when fault occurs such
as short circuit occurs or when load more than circuit capacity is connected to it, current
exceeds the limiting value results in fuse wire gets heated up, melts and break the current. Thus
fuse protects the machine or electrical equipment against the excessive currents.
Time for blowing out of fuse depends on the magnitude of the excessive current. Larger the
current more rapidly the fuse blown off. Thus fuse have inverse time characteristics. Such
characteristics is desirable for protective gear.

Fuses are used on low and high voltage circuits of moderate to high capacity where frequent
operation is not not expected. Fuse is employed for protection of distribution transformers, small
and medium size motors, lighting circuits, branch circuits of distribution lines, in industrial plants
and commercial buildings.

Advantages:

Fuse is cheapest type of protection in an electrical circuit

Fuse needs zero maintenance
Operation of fuse is simple and no complexity is involved
Fuse has the ability to interrupt enormous short circuit current without producing noise,
flame, gas or smoke
The operation time of fuse can be made much smaller than operation of circuit breaker.
It is the primary protection device against short circuits
It affords current limiting effect under short-circuit conditions
Fuse inverse time current characteristic has the ability to use for over-load protection

Disadvantage:

During short circuit or overload once fuse blows off replacing of fuse takes time. During
this period the circuit lost power
When fuses are connected in series it is difficult to discriminate the fuse unless the fuse
has significant size difference

HV (6.6kV) Induction motor Protection

For HV motors rated 6.6kV and above motor over current, stalled rotor, and short circuit
protections shall be provided by three 3-element relays mounted on the medium voltage
switchgear

Over-current protection:
The inverse time over-current element shall be set to operate at 110 to 115% of the rated full
load current, to initiate a common motor overload alarm and individual display light in the control
system

Stalled rotor protection:

The low set instantaneous over-current element shall be set to trip the motor at 170 to 180% of
the full load current and is wired in series with a contact on the inverse time element. The time
setting of the inverse time over-current element shall be below the safe operating time at rated
locked rotor current for a particular motor, but shall allow a minimum two-second margin over
calculated starting time under minimum voltage condition

Short Circuit Protection:

The high set instantaneous element shall be set up to trip motor at slightly above the
asymmetrical value of the motor inrush current. This can be usually be achieved by setting of
160% to 175% of the locked rotor current

Ground fault protection:

Automatic tripping on detection of ground fault current shall be provided by a sensitive
instantaneous over-current relay.

Differential protection:
Motors rated 2500hp and above sensitive protection against internal phase and ground faults
shall be provided by three phase, self balancing differential relay. This relay shall be mounted
on the switchgear and connected to three CT's mounted in the motor terminal box

Bearing protection:
HV motors shall be provided with dual element, standard accuracy bearing thermocouples,
continuously monitored to alert the operators of high bearing temperature

Faults on Induction Motors and associated

Protection

Faults that can occur in 3 phase induction motors and associated protections are discussed
below:

Stator faults:
These faults include phase to phase faults, earth faults, and inter turn faults. Faults in motor
windings are generally occur due to failure of insulation which causes due to the excess heating
in the windings of the machine. Phase to phase faults are rare because enough insulation is
provided between the phases. Earth faults are more likely occur in induction motors. Inter turn
fault (phase to phase fault) if occurs lead to earth fault. Hence it is sufficient to provide
protection for the earth faults

Rotor faults:
These faults are more likely occur in wound rotor machine. Faults on wound rotors may be
either earth faults or inter turn faults which occurs due to severe mechanical and thermal
stresses
Other faults which occurs on the rotor of the motor includes failure of bearings and faults in the
starters and associated circuits

Abnormal conditions:
Some of the abnormal conditions that are likely occur are:
Prolonged over loading protection:
It is caused by excessive mechanical loading, short time cyclic over loading. This causes
excessive rise of temperature of winding and deterioration of insulation resulting in winding fault.
Hence over load protection should be provided in electrical machines irrespective of the size,
rating of the motor and type of load driving
Stalling protection:
Due to mechanical problem or overload during the period of starting motor may stall and refuse
to start. During stalling motor draws huge current. Hence it is not desirable and immediate
isolation of the motor from supply mains is essential
Unbalanced supply voltage protection:
The unbalanced three phase supply causes negative sequence currents to flow in the motor
that is likely to cause over heating of the motor
Single Phasing protection:
Single phasing in motors cause when one of the supply lines gets disconnected. They may be
occurred due to blowing of fuse or open circuit in one of the three phase connection. In such
condition motor continuous to operate as single phase induction motor provided that load does
not exceed 57.7% of the normal rating.
Single phasing may cause extreme magnetic unbalance, reduction in torque and over heating
due to negative phase sequence currents. Operating under this mode lead to damage to the
motor and therefore protection is provided for single phasing of the motor

Under Voltage protection:

The under voltage supply condition will lead to drawing more current from the mains for a given
load. Hence under voltage protection is also provided for induction motor
Reverse Phase protection:
The direction of poly phase induction motor is reversed if the phase sequence is changed. In
some motor applications such protection may be required feature

Power System Protection and Relays 2

What is Relay Time?
Answer: Relay time is the interval between the occurrence of the fault and the closure of the
relay contacts is called relay time.
What is fault clearance time?
Answer: When the fault occurs relay operates and close the trip coils and circuit breaker
operates and open the contacts subsequently and fault is cleared. Therefore fault clearance
time is the sum of relay operating time and circuit breaker operating time and clearing the fault
What is Reach?
Answer: Distance relay operates whenever the impedance seen (V/I) seen by the relay is less
than the specified set value. This impedance or corresponding distance is known as reach of
the relay. Reach is the limiting distance covered by the relay for protection of line. Faults beyond
the distance (reach of the relay) relay will not operate and should be covered by the other relay.
What are the fundamental elements of relay?

Answer: Basic fundamental elements of the relay are:

Sensing element: It is the measuring element measures the actuating quantity.

Actuating quantity is change in current in case of over current relay
Comparing element: It compares the actuating quantity with the relay pre-setting
of the relay
Control element: On pick up of the relay control element carryout the final
switching operations such as closing the circuit to operate the circuit breaker

What are the good features of protective relaying?

Answer: Some of the good features for protective relaying are: Reliability, Selectivity,
Sensitivity, Simplicity, Speed and economy
Some of the causes for relay failures?

Answer: Primary reason for relay failure to operate during faults are wrong settings, bad
contacts and open circuit in the relay coil.

Power System Protection and

Relaying:Question and Answers
What is protective relay?
Answer: It is an electrical device designed to initiate the isolation of a part of the
electrical installation, or to operate an alarm signal, in the event of abnormal condition or
a fault. In simple words relay is an electrical device that gives signal to isolation device
(eg: Circuit Breaker) after sensing the fault and helps to isolate the fault system from the
healthy electrical system
What are the different relays that employed for protection of apparatus and
transmission lines?
Answer: The relays that are usually employed for protection of transmission lines
include

Over current relay

Directional relay
Distance relay
Under Voltage relay
Under-frequency relay
Thermal relay
Differential relay
Phase sequence relays
pilot relays

How the electrical power system protection is divided?

Answer: The overall system protection is divided into

Generator protection
Transformer protection
Busbar protection
Transmission line protection and
Feeder protection

How relays are connected in the power system?

Answer: The relays are connected to the power system through the current transformer
(CT) or potential transformer (PT).
What are different types of principles of operation of electro-mechaical relays?
Answer: Eletro-mechanical relays operate by two principles. Electro-magnetic attraction
and electro-magnetic induction. In electromagnetic attraction relay plunger is drawn to
the solenoid or an armature is attracted to the poles of the electromagnet. In case of
electro-magnetic induction, principle of operation is similar to induction motor. Torque is
developed by electromagnetic induction principle
Action carried out by the relay and circuit breaker during fault condition?
Answer: After the relay sensing the fault condition, relay operates and close the trip
coils. The effect of this will be circuit breaker operate to open the contacts.