Introduction

The measured impedance at the relaying point is the basis of the

distance protection operation. There are several factors affecting the
measured impedance at the relaying point. Some of these factors are
related to the power system parameters prior to the fault instance,
which can be categorized into two groups. First group is the
structural conditions, represented by the short circuit levels at the
transmission line ends, whereas the second group are the operational
conditions, represented by the line load angle and the voltage
magnitude ratio at the line ends.
Distance relays are one of the most important protection
elements in a transmission line. These relays may sometimes be set
based in percentages of the line impedances, for example a typical
setting for zone 1 is 80% of the impedance of the line in order to not
reach the remote end, the zone 2 can be set at 120% of the
impedance of the line in order to dependably overreach the line,
Zone 3 sometimes are disabled or set to cover an adjacent line.
Relay performance
Distance relay performance is defined in terms of reach accuracy and
operating time.
Reach accuracy is a comparison of the actual ohmic reach of the
relay under practical conditions with the relay setting value in ohms.
It particularly depends on the level of voltage presented to the relay
under fault conditions.
Operating times can vary with fault current, with fault position
relative to the relay setting, and with the point on the voltage wave
at which the fault occurs.

a. Impedance distance Relay

There is one voltage element from potential transformer and an
current element fed from current transformer of the system. The
operating torque is produced by secondary current of

CT and

restraining torque is produced by voltage of potential transformer. In

normal operating condition, restraining torque is more than operating
torque, hence relay will not operate. But in faulty condition, the
current

becomes

quite

large

whereas

voltage

becomes

less.

Consequently, operating torque becomes more than restraining

torque and dynamic parts of the relay starts

moving which

ultimately close the normally opened (NO) contact of relay.

Hence clearly working principle of impedance relay, depends
upon the ratio of system voltage and current

V I

which represents

the impedance of the protected line which is a pre-determined value

and the relay will operate only when the impedance falls behind this
pre- determined value.

As we see in figure , the portion AB of the line is the protected zone

and the impedance of this protected zone = ZL (the pre-determined
value).
Now suppose a fault occurs at point F 1. The impedence between the
point where the relay is installed and the point of fault will be less

than the pre-determined value ZL

but at point F2

Z seen

ZL

Z seen Z L

, so the rely will operate,

, so the relay will not operate.

Operating characteristics

For all practical purposes, the dotted line in fig.

, which represents a

constant value of Z may can be considered as an operating

characteristics.
The relay will trip for any combination of V & I represented by any
point above the line in the positive torque region. In other words for
any value of Z less than the constant value represented by the line
(the pre-determined value), the relay will operate.

Operating characteristics on R-X diagram

Z 2 R2 X

Is mathematically a circle equation where |Z| (the pre-

determined value) is the radius of the circle,

1
tan

is the phase angle

but the operation of the relay is independent of it.

The entire portion inside the circle is positive torque region, so any
value of Z less than the radius the relay will operate.

b. Reactance distance Relay

For very short line sections, the reactance type is preferred for the
reason that more of the line can be protected at high speed. This is
because the reactance relay is practically unaffected by arc
resistance which may be large compared with the line impedance.
Operating characteristics

The operating characteristics of such relay is a straight line parallel

to R-axis on the R-X diagram as shown in the Figure

. All the

impedance vectors have their tips lying on the straight line

representing a constant reacting and the relay will not trip for any
value of them, it'll trip only for reactance values less than predetermined one. So it's clear that the resistance component of the
impedance has no effect on the operation of the relay.
Disadvantages
This relay as can be seen from characteristics is a nondirectional
relay. This will not be able to discriminate whether the fault has taken
place in the section where relay is located or it has taken place in the
adjoining section. Unlike impedance relay it's not possible to use a
directional element with it because in that case the relay will operate
even under normal load conditions if the system is operating at or
near unity p.f. conditions.

c. Mho distance relay

Principle of operation

The mho relay takes current and voltage as measurement inputs via
CTs & VTs, then calculates the apparent admittance (inverse of
impedance) of the line. If admittance is too high, it sends a trip signal
to the line circuit breaker
In practice, we cannot readily calculate the admittance of the line,
since Y = I/V, but V falls to nearly zero during a close-in fault, and I
becomes very large, yielding a numerically unstable condition.
So, instead, we calculate impedance Z = V/I, and then compare the
calculated impedance with the impedance characteristic (a circle on
the R-X diagram) settings. If impedance is less than the minimum
allowed as defined by the circle, it trips.

Operating characteristic
One needs to highlight that R-X diagram are useful in plotting the
characteristics of MHO relay. There are three variables V, I and are
converted into two variables R and X. impedance Z is defined as ratio
of rms values of V and I and however the impedance can be plotted
on R-X diagram

Setting of the mho relay is

Zone-1 = 53.95 (80 % of protected line AB).

Zone-2 = 101.16 (100 % of protected line AB + 50 % of the

protected line BC).
Zone-3 = 151.75 (100 % of protected line AB + 100 % of the
protected line BC+25%

d. Quadrilateral Distance Relay

The distance relay operates, when the impedance seen by the relay
is less than the set value, i.e. ZR<Zset Where,
ZR = impedance seen by the relay = R + jX
Zset = impedance of line of line to be protected.
R and X are respectively the resistance and reactance measured by
the relay.
The quadrilateral distance relay characteristic is consisting of four
straight lines as shown in (figure.)

(Figure. Quadrilateral distance relay characteristic)

The positive torque region is the region covered by all the four line
i.e. quadrilateral ABCD. If the impedance seen by the relay is inside
the operating region, then relay trips.