2015 IEEE International Conference on Technological Advancements in Power & Energy
Quadrilateral Relay Based Distance Protection
Scheme for Transmission Lines under Varying
System Conditions
Aneesh S
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,
Kollam, India
email:aneeshs007@gmail.com
Abstract—Quadrilateral relay provides flexible protection
during high fault resistance of ground and phase faults. This is
advantageous for protection of phase-to-earth faults on short
lines, non-effectively earthed systems and feeders with extremely
high tower footing resistance. It also provides fault impedance
coverage for both phase to phase and phase to ground faults. The
proposed work intends the development of a numerical
quadrilateral distance relay that can retain its function even
under a major change in system configuration. The proposed
relaying scheme is analyzed by coding the relay logic and
simulating the system with transmission network in
MATLAB/Simulink. Different factors influencing the
performance of quadrilateral relay are studied and verified. It is
observed that the scheme is adaptive to the system variations and
mal trips are reduced.
Index Terms—Distance relaying, quadrilateral relays, relay
mal operation, fault resistance, adaptive protection.
VA , VB – Voltage at source end and grid end
LA , LB –Length of line before and after fault point
ThetaA, ThetaB – Power transfer angle at source and
grid end
N-Total line length
RF – Fault resistance.
δ – Power transfer angle
ρ – Voltage amplitude ratio
I. INTRODUCTION
Relays perform a vital role in the operation of the power
system by minimizing damage to equipments with minimal
disturbance to system. Distance relays are widely used for
transmission line protection as it has an additional advantage of
back up protection also. Their digital version provides better
monitoring, communication, and adaptation to the system
conditions[3]. In a fixed setting approach, the boundary of the
relay characteristic is predefined based on overall system
study. Whereas, by incorporating an adaptive feature in a
distance relay, the boundary is set online in accordance with
the prevailing system conditions [4]. Proposed adaptive forms
978-1-4799-8280-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
Angel T S
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,
Kollam, India
email:angeltscet@gmail.com
of distance relays helps overcome associated problems in real
time, which ultimately increase the overall reliability index of
the protection scheme [5].
Today, trend is towards the use of quadrilateral
characteristics based distance protection for all types of line
faults to coordinate high fault resistance with ground faults.
They provide higher resistive reach when compared to a
standard mho circle having same maximum sensitivity angle
and forward reach [2]. The proposed work intends the
development of a quadrilateral distance relay that can retain its
function even under major changes in system configuration.
The scheme is adaptive to changing conditions like change in
loading level, voltage amplitude ratio, frequency, source
impedance and grid impedance[1]. The proposed relaying
scheme is simulated and tested to verify its effectiveness.
II. QUADRILATERAL CHARACTERISTICS
In this form of polygonal characteristic is shown in Fig 1
forward reach and resistive reach settings can be adjusted
independently [2]. Therefore it provides better resistive
coverage than any mho-type characteristic for short lines. This
is significant in the case of earth fault impedance measurement,
where the arc resistances and fault resistance to earth
contribute to the highest values of fault resistance. It is
common to impose a maximum resistive reach in terms of the
zone impedance reach to reduce errors in the zone reach
accuracy.
If system conditions are fixed and RF and fault location
varied accordingly, four boundary lines defined below are
obtained by computer simulation.
Case A: Faults at a relay-reach end (80% of line) with
different fault resistance up to 200 Ω
Case B: Faults at different points with a 200 Ω fault
resistance;
Case C: Faults at the relaying point with different fault
resistance up to 200 Ω;
Case D: Solid faults at different locations in line with 0.1 Ω
The four lines and the included area shown in Fig. 1
constitute an ideal trip region under the prevailing system
conditions. But the system configuration and its operating
35
2015 IEEE International Conference on Technological Advancements in Power & Energy

conditions affect the measured reactance and resistance; i.e. Behaviour of the system under various conditions are plotted
these four lines and the included area will vary as the system by changing the system parameters in Simulink file.
conditions and configuration varies.

Distance Relay Operating region

70
80%
60
Reactance in ohms

50 Fig.3 . Process Flow Diagram

80%
40
Case A Flow chart for plotting quadrilateral characteristics is as
30 shown in Fig. 4. All the variables are initialized and total line
Case B length is set as 200 km. LA is set as either 160 km (Relay reach
Case D
20 end, 80% of line length) or 0 km (Relaying end) for plotting
0% case A/C respectively and the fault resistance is incremented in
10
Case C steps of 5Ω. Similarly for plotting Case B/D fault resistance RF
0
0% is held constant as 200Ω/0.1Ω and fault location is varied from
0 50 100 150 200 250 0-160km (increment LA in steps of 5km).
Resistance in ohms

Fig.1 . Quadrilateral characteristics

III. SYSTEM MODEL FOR SIMULATION

For simulation, a power system model is designed in
MATLAB\Simulink with 400Kv, 50Hz source and grid
connected through a 200km transmission line. A fault block is
used to inject fault at different locations of the line. Model used
for simulation is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. System Model.

Fault current and voltage values are measured using current

and voltage measurement blocks and send to script file for
processing and plotting of graph.

IV. PROCESS DESCRIPTION AND RESULTS

The whole simulation process goes as shown in Fig. 3. First
step is to simulate system designed in MATLAB/Simulink.
After simulation current and voltage values from the simulation
are stored in an array. These values are called to the script file
Fig. 4. Flow chart for plotting quadrilateral characteristics
and processed for plotting the quadrilateral characteristics.

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2015 IEEE International Conference on Technological Advancements in Power & Energy

After simulation of the model, current and voltage values substantially larger. Significant error in protection decisions
from Simulink file is loaded to a script file. A window of 200 will happen if a fixed setting approach is followed in such an
values is taken at a time and average voltage and current values environment.
are found out. From these values magnitude and phase angle of
voltage and current are found for each instant. Impedance of Load Angle Variation
250
the line is calculated with above values and quadrilateral
characteristics is plotted accordingly. Quadrilateral Plot for 10 Degree
LLL-G Fault and L-G Fault are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 200
30 Degree
respectively.

Reactance in ohms
150
Distance Relay Operating region
70
A 80% 100
60 B
C
D
Reactance in ohms

50 50
80%
40
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
30 Resistance in ohms

20 Fig. 7. Trip boundaries for different loading levels

0%
10
A. Varying Voltage Level
0%
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Resistance in ohms
Several factors like number of units connected at a time,
reactive power support, etc. determines the voltage at the
Fig. 5. Quadrilateral Plot for LLL-G Fault coupling points. Grid-side or local voltage variation will cause
voltage amplitude ratio ρ change. Three situations at ρ = 0.9,
Distance Relay Operating region 1.0, and 1.1 are simulated at δ = 30◦ and the results are shown
70
80% A
in Fig. 8. It is observed that there is a significant change in
60
80%
B characteristics corresponding to voltage variation.
C
Reactance in ohms

50 D Voltage Amplitude Ratio Variation

100
40
80
30
60
Reactance in ohms

20 40
0%
10 20
0%
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Resistance in ohms -20
1.1

Fig. 6. Quadrilateral Plot for L-G Fault -40 1

0.9
-60
V. VARIATION OF QUADRILATERAL CHARACTERISTICS
UNDER VARYING SYSTEM CONDITIONS -80
0 50 100 150 200 250
Resistance in ohms
A. Varying Loading Level
Fig. 8. Trip boundaries for different voltage amplitude ratio
◦
Expected power transfer angle δ will be around 30 when B. Varying Source Impedance
full capacity of the source is harnessed at an instant[1].
However, there will be a drastic decrease in the value of δ also
In case of generating stations with multiple units a group
if the power transferred through the network is decreased due
small/medium rated units collectively harness bulk power. The
to some reason like when most of the units are out of service in
number of such units functioning at a time will vary due to
the case of a generating station with multiple generating units.
withdrawal of number of units. The equivalent source
Trip boundaries are plotted for δ = 30◦ and 1◦ with the voltage
impedance of the generators will change depending on the
amplitude ratio maintained at ρ = 1. From Fig. 7, it is clear that
number of unit connected to the bus. Results shown in Fig. 9
with reduced generation, the trip boundary should be set

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2015 IEEE International Conference on Technological Advancements in Power & Energy

are plotted with Z=1Ω and Z=10Ω for case1 and case2 the system are simulated at frequencies 48, 50, and 52 Hz. The
respectively. It is clear that the trip characteristic needs to be variations of boundaries are plotted in Fig. 11.
updated in accordance with the number of units participating in
power generation. Frequency Variation
80

Source Impedance Variation 52Hz

70
70 50Hz
Case 1 60 48Hz

Reactance in ohms
60
Case 2 50
50
Reactance in ohms

40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
0
Resistance in ohms
-10
0 50 100 150 200 250 Fig. 11. Trip boundaries for different frequencies
Resistance in ohms

Fig. 9. Trip boundaries for different source impedance

From Fig. 7 to Fig. 11, it is clear that the operating
condition of the power system significantly influences the trip
D. Varying Grid Impedance boundary. A conventional fixed-setting distance relay will
malfunction at many situations in such an environment. An
The grid being sufficiently stronger than the source, it is adaptive relay setting scheme should be provided where trip
assumed that its equivalent impedance will not vary widely. boundaries are updated with system conditions.
Grid-side source impedance has little influence on trip
boundaries as the measurements are taken from source side. VI. VALIDATION OF SCHEME
Variation of trip characteristics to variation in grid impedance
from Z=0.001Ω and Z=1Ω for case1 and case2 is shown in The proposed scheme is validated by injecting fault at
Fig. 10. different locations in transmission line. Two methods are
followed for validating the scheme.
Grid impedance Variation i. Keeping the resistance constant and changing the fault
90 location
80 Case 1
ii. Keeping the fault location constant and changing the
resistance value
70 Case 2 Simulation results show that fault is getting plotted inside
Reactance in ohms

60 the quadrilateral characteristics for faults inside the reach end

50 and vice versa for both methods, thus validating the proposed
scheme. A fault with RF =50Ω is injected at 30km and 170km
40
of and results are shown in Fig. 12(a) & (b) respectively.
30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Resistance in ohms

Fig. 10. Trip boundaries for different grid impedances

E. Varying System Frequency

The system frequency may deviate from nominal value

during contingencies and the deviation may be substantial for Fig. 12. 50 Ω fault at (a) 30 km & (b) 170 km
abnormal situations of smaller duration. The frequency change
proportionately affects the line impedance. Trip boundaries for

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2015 IEEE International Conference on Technological Advancements in Power & Energy
Fig. 13. Fault at 160 km with (a) 200Ω & (b) 220Ω fault resistance
Results obtained for fault injected at 160km of line with
fault resistance 200Ω & 220Ω are shown in Fig. 13(a) & (b).
VII. VALIDATION OF ADAPTABILITY OF SCHEME
In a fixed setting approach, the trip boundary is fixed and
will not change according to the system conditions. Under this
circumstance there are possibilities for mal-trip. From the
simulation results it is clear that trip boundaries change
significantly for different types of fault. If we set the boundary
for one type of fault (eg. LLL-G fault) and if the actual fault is
a different one (eg. L-G fault) then it need not fall inside the
trip boundary even if the fault is within the relay reach. But
with the proposed adaptive scheme, the trip boundary will
change adaptively with the type of faults and changing system
conditions. This is evident from Fig. 14. A 10Ω L-G fault at
160 km plotted on a LLL-G Quadrilateral plot in Fig. 15(a) and
in Fig. 15(b), same fault is plotted on a L-G Quadrilateral plot.
Fig. 15. 10 Ω L-G fault at 160 km plotted on (a) LLL-G Quad plot (b) L-G
Quad plot
VIII. CONCLUSION
The simulation of numerical Quadrilateral distance relay
using MATLAB/Simulink is reported and the behaviour of the
developed relay model was tested under different system
conditions. A 400 kV, 50 Hz system with a source connected to
the grid is simulated. With the data obtained from
MATLAB/Simulink file, quadrilateral characteristic is plotted
for ground and phase faults. Behaviour of the quadrilateral
characteristics under various conditions are also studied. It is
found that several factors, including the number of generating
units, affect the trip boundary of the distance relay
significantly. Major conclusions of the simulation are:
978-1-4799-8280-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
i. Quadrilateral characteristics is less affected by change
in grid impedance but significantly affected by the
change in source impedance.
ii. Small change in frequency also will affect the
characteristics.
iii. Loading level of the system affects the characteristics
significantly. The size of the characteristics is small if
the loading level is less.
iv. Variation in voltage amplitude ratio shifts the
characteristics upwards from original characteristics
for higher ratio and shifts downwards for lower ratio.
To take into account the changing condition in the system,
an adaptive setting method for the distance relay is proposed.
With the proposed method it is seen that mal-trips due to
changing system conditions can be avoided to a greater extend
in comparison to the fixed setting approach. Simulations results
for a system demonstrate the potential of the approach to be
applied in power system.
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