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TECHNICAL BROCHURE
Relay Software Models for Use with
Electromagnetic Transient Analysis
Programs
T.S. SIDHU, Convenor
Introduction
Relay models have been used for performing a variety
of protection studies. The practice started when the man-
ufacturers had to design relays but the understanding of
the underlying electromechanical and electromagnetic pro-
cesses was limited. The manufacturers built prototypes
of the designed relays but the prototypes sometimes con-
sisted of only the essentials of the operating mechanisms.
The models were then tested and designs were modified
using the knowledge gained from testing the prototypes.
The practice of building prototypes remained in use
when solid-state technology was introduced in manufac-
turing relays. The practice continued even after the intro-
duction of digital electronics technology in the form of
numerical relays. Gradually, the practice of building proto-
types was replaced by using computer programs that mod-
elled the performance of relays. The purpose of these pro-
grams was to study the impact of the operation of relays on
system performance. Models of relays are now being used
in designing relays, analyzing system performance and
studying the impact of relay operation on system security.
Applications of relay models
A relay model can be a powerful tool to test the per-
formance of the relay under various unstable power sys-
tem conditions. Protection system models can be used
to investigate and improve the protection designs and
algorithms, select the relay types suited for a particular
application, verify, test, and properly adjust the relay set-
tings, investigate the relay behavior during network dis-
turbances, make it easier and less costly to test relay
designs and principles with relay models instead of using
the actual devices, enable offline closed loop testing
thereby reducing costs and select critical test points to
decrease the necessary amount of tests with actual relays.
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B5.17
Relay software models are useful for relay manufac-
turers, utilities, customers and also for educational pur-
poses. Manufacturers use more sophisticated models to
support development and marketing. Representatives of
manufacturers can explain the behavior of the relays to
their clients with the help of relay models. It is possible
to create more or less sophisticated relay models for dif-
ferent purposes. Simple models need only mathematical
equations to describe the pick up and tripping charac-
teristics of relays. These models can be used to make gen-
eral decisions for the selection of relay types, and together
with network calculation programs they can be used to
derive relay settings. More sophisticated relay models are
much more comprehensive, they process voltage and cur-
rent transient waveforms from EMTP simulations, actual
fault waveforms captured by numerical relays, or digital
fault recorders, and a user can observe their response to
these transients. Therefore, it is possible to reaffirm the
protection behavior during network disturbances.
Types of relay models
Relay models can be classified based on the:
1. Source of input phasors used in the relay model
- Two different types of relay models can be defined based
on this classification, namely:
• Steady state models - simple relay models, which
include mathematical equations that represent the relay
characteristic, which is valid for stationary voltages and
currents without any consideration of time transients.
• Transient state models - very sophisticated relay mod-
els, which take into consideration not only the stationary
but also the time transients of voltages and currents.
2. Relaying system structure representation and
description – The models can be divided into two cate-
gories based on this criterion:
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• Structural models - mimics the actual relay by ade-
quately representing its internal structure and the pro-
cedure used.
• Black-box models or input-output models - reflects
the relay performance by adequately mapping the series
of input signals to the output, without taking into con-
sideration the internal logical or physical structure of the
relay.
3. Based on relay design technology – reflect the tech-
nology used in relay construction. Can be divided into
electromechanical relays, static relays and numerical relays.
4. Based on structure and detail – Can be divided
into the following two categories; manufacturer specific
models and generic models.
Sources of information for
building a relay model
Conventional sources of information on the tech-
nology of protection relays include the following types
of documents:
• Papers in general, textbooks on protective relaying,
digital relays and IEEE special publications.
• Papers written by the designers of relays or man-
ufacturers representatives
• Patents taken out by the manufacturer, if any.
• The relay manuals published by the manufacturer.
• Documentation and additional information
obtained through direct contacts with the manufac-
turer.
• Relay models themselves can provide some infor-
mation about the relay behavior, which then can be uti-
lized to create a different type of relay model.
• Relay test data.
Figure 1: Process of developing a relay model
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Modeling methodology B5.17
Development of relay models for use in electromag-
netic transient program includes steps illustrated in Fig-
ure 1. The process is iterative. The first step is to identify
the components of the relay to be modeled depending
on the studies to be done. Issues and procedures involved
in modeling of various components are discussed in the
following sections. Once a model has been developed,
it should be validated to confirm that it could repre-
sent the behavior of the modeled relay under conditions
to be studied. If the developed model meets the require-
ments, the modeling process is complete. However, if it
does not, the components that need to be remodeled
or any additional components that need to be added
should be identified and a revised model should be devel-
oped. This revised model should again be validated. This
process is continued till a suitable model is achieved.
Validation of relay models
In order to ensure adequate accuracy of the produced
results, a very important stage of the model development
process is a detailed validation and verification proce-
dure. The general principle of validation is based on com-
parison of the results produced by the model and those
of the actual device under various genuine and simulated
power system fault conditions. The actual relay data can
be obtained either by testing a relay device in the labo-
ratory, from the manufacturer’s type testing documen-
tation or from other public domain publications.
Validation procedures may concern individual com-
ponents of the relay as well as the whole relay. The scope
of the testing procedures may vary depending on the type
of model and on the type of relay design. A general guid-
ing principle is that, as much as possible, the test
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program should include the range of realistic conditions
under which the device is expected to operate. This
includes the faults under which the relay trips as well
as those when the relay remains stable. Due to the lim-
ited number and range of recorded genuine network
faults, only a restricted test set could be formed by get-
ting fault records. The most effective way of creating a
suitably extensive test set is by means of network simu-
lation. Programs such as EMTP, PSCAD/EMTDC and
others can simulate various system configurations and
fault events. Proper assessment of the accuracy of the
results produced by the model is essential for further
interpretation of relay simulation results and diagnoses.
The maximum possible deviation between relay and its
model is of special interest with investigations of the pro-
tection behavior during system disturbances.
Interfacing relay models
In the relay model development there are three
important aspects to consider: power system model-
ing, relay modeling and the interactions between the
power system models and the relay models. The ability
to test a software model of a relay, using as inputs the sig-
nals that closely resemble actual events, allows one to
check whether a given relay is suitable for the specific
power system application at hand. There are two issues;
one is the generation of the fault waveform using a suit-
able power system itself and the other is the interfacing
of the fault waveforms to the relay models for further
performance evaluation.
Limits of relay models
Relay models cannot replace relays in evaluating the
performance of protection systems because of several
limitations. Models of electromechanical and electro-
magnetic relays are usually valid for a limited range
because, in most cases, the models of the magnetic cir-
cuits do not include the impact of saturation when the
exciting currents and voltages exceed the limits used in
the designs of the magnetic circuits. The properties of
most electronic components change with time. This fac-
tor is not included in the models. The models, therefore,
should be used with care.
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Many factors affect the performance of numerical
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relays. Some of these factors cannot be or are not mod- B5.17
eled in sufficient details. The specific issues in these cases
include modeling of auxiliary transformers, modeling of
A/D converters, algorithm design, deviation of frequency,
accumulation of errors in recursive computations and
integrity of components.
Several types of studies cannot be performed using
models. For example, models cannot be used to study
the impact of power supply deviations and the impacts
of high frequency surges on the power supply. Impacts
of RF radiation on relays, seismic disturbances, contact
bouncing and environmental factors are not usually
included in relay models.
Future developments
The validity of any simulation is dependent on the
accuracy of the models used. As simulation studies
become a more important part of the planning process
it is to be expected that manufacturers will come under
increasing pressure to supply accurate models in some
form or other. Provided a manufacturer has a detailed
software model of the relay it may soon be possible to
link an off-line power system simulation running in a
computer in a customer’s premises to a relay model run-
ning on a computer in the manufacturer’s premises. This
is illustrated in Figure 2. This arrangement will ensure
that a manufacturer does not have to divulge proprietary
details of their relays.
Figure 2: Client-server paradigm for relay studies ■
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