D. C. Dawson, Chair
J. P. Gosalia, V. Chair
Abstract: The Relay Trip Circuit Design Working Group of utilities are influenced by their individual operating practices
the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee has and experience.
prepared a Special Publication to document and share
information about the practices of electric utilities in The practices described in this Special Publication generally
design of protective relay tripping circuits and associated pertain to component relays where the functions of fault
apparatus. The Special Publication is available on the detection, timing, communication, and tripping are performed
PSRC web site at the URL: by separate units connected in a customized configuration by
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/psrc/k/Kreports.html. the individual utility. The increasing acceptance of digital
This paper is a summary of the content of the Special integrated relay systems will alleviate many of the issues
Publication. discussed in this document. However, since these new digital
relays require auxiliary power, contain surge protection, and
Keywords: Circuit breaker, electric utilities, power industry, must be integrated into existing systems, the information
power system protection, power system relaying, protective presented in this document should be of continuing interest.
relaying, switchgear
II. SUBSTATION DC SYSTEMS
I. INTRODUCTION
Relay Trip Circuit Design begins with an extensive review of
This IEEE Special Publication has been prepared by the Relay the various approaches used in the design of dc distribution
Trip Circuit Design Working Group of the Power System systems. The purpose of the dc system for substations and
Relaying Committee. Its purpose is to document and share switchyards is to provide a reliable source of auxiliary power
information about the practices of electric utilities in the for the station’s control and protection functions. The dc
design of protective relay tripping circuits and associated system consists of the station storage battery(s), associated
control and protective functions. This information has not charger(s), and the distribution system necessary to supply
been widely disseminated before this publication. This the control power for the power circuit breakers and power
document it not a recommended practice or design guide. supplies of electronic apparatus. The design objectives are:
Trip circuit design has evolved over many years in different
utilities and practices vary widely. Designs by individual • Provide a level of reliability consistent with the reliability
of the rest of the protective system.
• Arrange the feeders in a logical pattern so that the effects
of a dc feeder outage will be readily apparent to
operating and maintenance personnel.
Abstract ID Number: 2000SM-303 • Provide a sufficient number of feeders to permit
maintenance outages without jeopardizing system
protection.
• Keep currents and voltage drops to acceptable values.
• Accomplish the above objectives at minimum cost.
1
Other PR’s
+ A UX -
+
A UX PR
+ PR 94
A UX PR
+
A UX PR
94
PR
A + : CB A UXILIA RY POWER A+ : CB AU XILIA RY POWER
CB: CIRCUIT BREAKER CB: CIRCUIT BREA KER
A UX: RELAY AUXILIARY PWR. A UX: RELAY AUX ILIARY POWER
PR: PROTECTIVE RELAY
52a 52a 52a PR: 52a 52a
TRIP CONTACT
A+ A+ A+
PROT ECTIVE RELA Y A+ A+
TC: CB TRIP COIL
TC TC TC TRIP CONT ACT TC TC
52a: CB A UXILIA RY SWITCH TC: CB TRIP COIL
LINE 1 LINE 2 LINE 3
CB1 CB 2 CB 3 52 a: CB AU XILIA RY S WITCH LINE 1 LINE 1
Fig. 1. Feeder-per-Breaker dc Arrangement Fig. 2. Tapped FeederCB1
94 /PR: PROT ECTIVE/A UXILIARY dc Arrangement CB2
TRIPPING RELAY
2
SWITCHBOA RD (+ ) SW IT CHBOA RD (+ )
BREA KER 52-2 (+ ) BREA KER 52-1 (+ ) BREA KER 52-2 (+ ) BREA KER 52-1 (+ )
SI SI
01 94 94 01
01 PR SI 01 T SI T
T T PR
R R TTS TTS R
R
RDS
RDS
52a 52a
TC 52-2 52-1 TC
TC TC a a
BREA KER 52-2 (-) BREA KER 52-1 (-) BREA KER 52-2 (-) SW ITCHBOA RD (-) BREA KER 52-1 (-)
Fig. 3. Tripping Two Breakers with Diodes Fig. 4. Tripping Two Breakers with an Auxiliary Relay
IV. BREAKER FAILURE RELAYING INITIATION The primary concern for transfer tripping circuits is security
against false trips. The following approaches are suggested in
When local breaker failure relaying is used, it should be the publication to enhance security against false trips:
initiated by all protective relays which normally trip the
circuit breaker including direct or permissive transfer trip • High level of threshold voltage to initiate keying (70% or
from remote terminals. Some utilities do not, however, more)
initiate breaker failure relaying from other breaker failure • Avoid excessive lengths in the cables on keying circuits
circuits. Breaker failure relaying may be initiated by auxiliary or use shielded cables.
tripping relays, separate breaker failure relaying initiation • Keep the input impedance to the keying circuit low.
(BFI) relays, or separate BFI outputs from the main relay. • Do not use capacitors in the keying circuit.
BFI auxiliary relays should have fast pick-up and drop-out and • On frequency shift channels, use the guard output of the
low operating current. receiver with logic appropriate to the relaying function
(This feature is not required for digital channels which
Breaker failure relaying should be designed so that a failure in have built-in monitoring and alarm circuits).
the primary or backup relay circuits does not affect the Normally, functional test facilities should be provided at both
integrity of the remaining circuit or the operation of the ends. This usually consists of a control switch with at least
breaker failure scheme. Accordingly, there should be a three positions for OFF, ON, and TEST.
maximum practical degree of separation of these circuits. The
Special Publication discusses several techniques which can be
used to maintain this separation.
3
VI. POLE DISAGREEMENT RELAYING AND closed contacts of the lock-out relay in the close circuit. If
INDEPENDENT POLE TRIPPING precautions are not taken, certain reclosing relays will operate
as soon as the lockout relay is reset, resulting in an unwanted
The three poles of most modern circuit breakers used on EHV breaker closing operation.
systems are capable of independent operation. With
independent pole operation, a pole may fail to operate, IX. TRIP CIRCUIT APPARATUS
however, the remaining poles will open during a fault. This
has an advantage of potentially degrading a multi-phase fault In addition to discussing the design of relay trip circuits, this
to a single-line-to-ground fault which is less severe from the Special Publication includes a detailed description of devices
standpoint of system stability. However, it is still necessary to normally used in these circuits as well as their characteristics
open the backup breakers via breaker failure relaying. and the difficulties sometimes encountered with these devices.
Included in these discussions are:
The Special Publication describes pole disagreement relaying, • Auxiliary relays
using a series/parallel combination of breaker 52a and 52b • Static relays
contacts. Independent pole operation also provides • Lock-out relays
opportunities for single-pole tripping and reclosing, however, • Target devices
this aspect is not discussed. • Breaker trip coils
• Surge protective devices
• Test switches
VII. TRIP CIRCUIT MONITORING AND SUPERVISION
Trip circuit monitoring is frequently accomplished by a red XI. REFERENCES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND APPENDIX
lamp in series with the breaker 52a contacts and the trip coil
along with a green light in series with a 52b contact. Other The final sections of the Special Publication provide
schemes are used by utilities to provide local and SCADA references and a bibliography of papers dealing with trip
alarm indication of the dc supply. Several schemes for remote circuit and dc system design issues. An appendix provides test
indication are discussed in the document. results on the minimum time/current values needed to
successfully operate typical electromechanical target relays.
VIII. RECLOSE INITIATION AND CANCELLATION
Since it is not possible to ensure that reclose initiation will A zip file containing the Relay Trip Circuit Design Special
always guarantee that unwanted automatic reclosing Publication is available on the Internet for downloading at:
operations will not occur, reclose blocking is also used. http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/psrc/k/Ktrpsrktdezin.html.
Normally, blocking is required for both automatic and manual The document is in Microsoft® Word for Windows® version
reclosing of bus and transformer faults or breaker failure. 7.0 format. The PSRC World Wide Web home page is at:
Since this protection will ordinarily operate lock-out auxiliary http://www.pes-psrc.org.
tripping relays, it is usual practice to simply wire normally