Distance Protection

Line Distance Protection (21)
Done by: Ammar Said Al Adwani (Protection Testing Trainee)

Date: 7th Sep 2022
Distance Protection 21
Distance protection is mainly a function for line (OHL) protection. It uses the line impedance as a
reference for defining the protection zones.
How does impedance of the line is calculated?
Line impedance depends on the following without counting other elements:
1. Size of the conductor (cross section)

2. Length of the conductor
But practically line impedance is effected by many other elements such as:
- Heat of the conductor

- Spacing between one conductor to another
- Wind
Zones of distance protection according to PDO standards:
Zone-1
- Zone-1 impedance is set to 80% of the protected line

- Time setting of zone-1 is set to 0 sec (instantaneous), this is because zone-1 ensures the fault is
happening in the line and nowhere else, so it must be cleared immediately
Other conditions of zone-1
- If distance protection used for double circuit transmission line and one is live and the other is
dead. The line impedance protection must be set to 70% to avoid overreaching because of the
mutual induction happening from the live circuit to the dead
Zone-2
- Zone-2 impedance is set to 120% of the protected section.

- Time setting of zone-2 is set to 250ms
Other conditions of zone-2
- Safety margin of 20% should be considered for transformer impedance to avoid joining the
transformer winding to the zone
Zone-3
- 120% of (protected overhead line plus longest overhead line from remote substation)
Fault Scenarios of Distance protection
Defining distance protection zones for both RLY1 & RLY-2:
ZONE-1 = 80% of the protected line, TIME DELAY = 0 SEC
ZONE-2 = 120% of the protected line, TIME DELAY = 0.4 SEC
ZONE-3 = 120% of the protected line + Reversal, TIME DELAY = 1.2 SEC
Assuming RLY-3 & RLY-4 will not operate in the fault scenario
Scenario 1
Figure 1 Scenario 1 fault response of 21 protection scheme

Fault analysis:
As figure 1 shows, the fault happened near the CB of RLY-1. By observing what RLY-1 & RLY-2 zones have
picked up, the fault has triggered:
RLY-1: Z1, Z2
RLY-2: Z2
This means that RLY-1 will trip its CB after 0 SEC because of Zone-1 pickup and RLY-2 will operate after
0.4 SEC because of Zone-2 pickup.
Scenario 2
Assuming the same settings in scenario 1, in this case it can be observed that the fault happened almost
near to the middle of the line (overlapping region of ZONE-1). So by observing what zones are triggered
for both relays:
RLY-1: Z1 & Z2
RLY-2: Z1 & Z2
This means both relays will operate instantaneously (0 SEC) and isolate the line because of Z1 pickup for
both relays.
Scenario 3
As figure 3 show, fault scenario 3 happened in reverse direction of the CT (out of the protected line). For
this fault the following zones will get triggered:
RLY-1: Z3
RLY-2: Z2
When analyzing which relay will operate first, it will be RLY-2 as ZONE-2 time setting is set to 0.4 sec as
ZONE-3 is set to 1.2 sec. Here RLY-2 will work as a backup protection for the zone beyond the line (e.g.
substation). And for the worst case scenario RLY-1 ZONE-3 will operate as the last line of defense if RLY-
2 didn’t operate.
Aided Distance Protection
For any protection system, reliability & selectivity are key components for a successful fault clearance.
One of the elements here is the clearance time the relay takes to clear the fault. The time between fault
appearance and relay operation must be as small as possible. For this, the protection function must be
modified and tested to different fault scenarios.
For line distance protection, protection engineers figured out a way to maximize the efficiency of the
tripping time of the relay. In scenario-1, RLY-1 will operate instantaneously but RLY-2 will have time
delay of 0.4 sec to operate even though the fault is in the line. So the line will be completely isolated
only after 0.4 sec which is a considerable time delay in power protection.
So for this aided line distance protection comes to the picture to accelerate the tripping time of both
relays by a communication logic (teleprotection). This function works as the following:
1. One of the relays pickup Z-1 & Z-2

2. The other relay pickup only Z-2
Instead of letting Z-2 relay take its time delay and wait 0.4 sec regardless the fault is in the line, it will act
as the following:
RLY-1
- Pickup Z-1 & Z-2

- Give trip signal instantaneously because of Z-1
- Send a permissive trip signal to RLY-2 through TX1
RLY-2
- Pickup Z-2
- Receives the permissive trip signal from RLY-1 through RX2
- Operate instantaneously after receiving the permissive trip
- Send back the signal to RLY-1 through TX2
Comparing normal distance protection with aided distance protection in the same scenario, the results
will be as the following:
- Distance protection with no aided function will take about 0.4 sec to completely isolated the
protected line
- Aided distance protection will have no time delay (0-4 ms) to isolate the protected line because
of the teleprotection scheme.
References:
Your source for Universal Protective Relay Testing Training. Valence Electrical Training Services. (2022,
April 1). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://relaytraining.com/

Distance Protection

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Line Distance Protection (21)

Done by: Ammar Said Al Adwani (Protection Testing Trainee)

How does impedance of the line is calculated?

Line impedance depends on the following without counting other elements:

1. Size of the conductor (cross section)

- Heat of the conductor

Zones of distance protection according to PDO standards:

- Zone-1 impedance is set to 80% of the protected line

Other conditions of zone-1

- Zone-2 impedance is set to 120% of the protected section.

Other conditions of zone-2

Fault Scenarios of Distance protection

Defining distance protection zones for both RLY1 & RLY-2:

ZONE-1 = 80% of the protected line, TIME DELAY = 0 SEC

ZONE-2 = 120% of the protected line, TIME DELAY = 0.4 SEC

Figure 1 Scenario 1 fault response of 21 protection scheme

Figure 2 Scenario 2 fault response of 21 protection scheme

Figure 3 Scenario 3 fault response of 21 protection scheme

1. One of the relays pickup Z-1 & Z-2

- Pickup Z-1 & Z-2

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