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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4

School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication, University of New South Wales
ELEC4617 Power System Protection
Laboratory 4: Overcurrent and Over/Under frequency protection using
SEL-751A
Overcurrent protection is a typical method for protecting power systems. It senses the currents
flowing in the power systems using current transformers. When the currents are above the
normal operating current by pre-set margin, relay trips the breakers to isolate the fault.
With the wide spread applications of microgrids, their islanding detection has become an integral
part of system protection. Grid-tied inverters are basic forming components in microgrids.
Frequency-drift active islanding detection method can be incorporated into the inverter control
algorithm. When islanding happens, inverter frequency will drift quickly from its normal value.
By using over/under frequency protection, the happening of islanding can be detected
effectively.
In this laboratory session, both overcurrent protection and over/under frequency protection will
be conducted.

Objectives
1. Examine the basic functions of SEL-751A digital relay from Schweitzer.
2. Use Omicron software platform Test Universe to test SEL-751A relay operation
characteristics.
3. Use Schweitzer software AcSELerator QuickSet to configure the settings of SEL-751A;
to monitor currents at secondary side of current transformers and status of relay logic and
trip signal.
4. Conduct overcurrent protection using the setup with pre-selected time-against-multiple-
of-pick-up-current curve for SEL-751A.
5. Conduct over/under frequency protection using the setup with pre-set frequency
boundaries.
Caution
The rated current of SEL-751A current sensing windings is 5A. Whenever possible, one should
avoid from injecting large currents into the windings for too long. One also should not change
the upper-limit of output current from Omicron CMC356.

Introduction to the system
The overall test system is shown in Fig. 1. The major forming components are Omicron
CMC356, SEL-751A, PC and network switch. Two control softwares are installed in PC, one
being Omicron Test Universe and the other being Schweitzer relay-configuring software
AcSELerator QuickSet.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Network
Cable
Network
Cable
Network
Cable
Network
Switch
Connection wire
CMC356
SEL-751A

Figure 1 Overall test system
Software
1. Test Universe Omicron software platform for digital relay testing. It controls CMC356 to
replicate currents and voltages at the secondary sides of current transformers and voltage
transformers. It can detect the trip signal and other logical signal from SEL-751A or other
relays.
2. AcSELerator QuickSet Schweitzer software platform to control and configure SEL relays
including SEL-751A.

Hardware
1. Omicron CMC356 for testing digital relays; it can replicate currents and voltages at
secondary sides of current transformers and voltage transformers.
2. SEL-751A digital relay for feeder protection.
3. Network switch for communication between computer and SEL-751A and CMC356.
4. Computer with the software installed.

Connections used in the experiment
Typical connection of SEL-751A for overcurrent protection in industry is shown below.

Figure 2 Typical connections for overcurrent protection

In Fig. 2, Z01 Z08 are the input connections at the back-panel of SEL-751A relay. IA1, IB1,
IC1 and Ia1, Ib1, Ic1 are the currents at the primary side and secondary side of the current
transformers installed in the power system under protection.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Between Z01 and Z02, Z03 and Z04, Z05 and Z06, Z07 and Z08, each has a current sensor to
measure the corresponding current.
In this test, the feeder under protection is assumed to have the following ratings and CT ratio
selection:
Current rating: 300A
Voltage rating (LL): 22kV
Frequency: 50Hz
Ratio of three-phase CTs: 300:5 in Y-connection.
In the test, secondary side currents Ia1, Ib1, and Ic1 are replicated by Omicron CMC356 Current
Output A as shown in Fig. 3. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 from CMC356 Current Output A are
connected with Z01, Z03 and Z05 of SEL-751A respectively. Terminals Z02, Z04 and Z06 at the
back of SEL-751A are shorted and connected to Z07. Z08 of SEL-751A is connected with
neutral output of Current Output A of CMC356.

Figure 3 Connections from Omicron CMC356 to SEL-751A
Question 1: Calculate the currents Ia1, Ib1, and Ic1 in Fig. 2 at the secondary sides of CTs under
normal operating conditions.



Question 2: Compare phase angles between IA1 and Ia1, IB1 and Ib1, IC1 and Ic1 in Fig. 2.
__________________________________________________________________________
SEL-751A overcurrent protection
SEL-751A can fulfill instantaneous overcurrent protection and time-delay overcurrent protection.
In this case, instantaneous trip current is set equal to 12.5A, which is around 2.5 times the rated
current (5A). Pick-up current for time-delay overcurrent protection is set at 7.5A, which is 150%
of normal operating current.
For the time-delay overcurrent protection, SEL-751A relay provides two groups of inverse
curves, one being U.S. curves and the other being IEC curves.
In this experiment, IEC inverse curves are adopted. Two example curves are shown in Figs. 4-5,
where time-dial setting can be set continuously, though only several choices are given in the
figures. In contrast, in electro-mechanic relays these values are limited and discrete.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4

Figure 4 IEC inverse curve C1

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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4

Figure 5 IEC very inverse curve C2


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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Curves C1 and C2 can also be obtained analytically from the following formulas:
trip 0.02
0.14
t TDS
PSM 1

(C1)
trip
13.5
t TDS
PSM 1

(C2)
where TDS is time-dial setting, PSM is the multiple of plug-setting or pick-up current setting,
which is equal to ratio of current at secondary side of CT to pick-up current, and C1 is standard
inverse and C2 is very inverse.
Question 3: Assuming that TDS=0.1, PSM=1.5, use equation (C1) to calculate trip time by
751A. Check this trip time against value found from curve C1 in Fig. 4 and see whether they
tally with each other.


Question 4: Assume that there is a three-phase fault on the feeder. The setting of SEL-751A are
a pick-up current of 7.5A, an IEC standard inverse curve of C1 selected, and a time-dial selection
of 0.2 chosen. Assume that fault currents at primary side are
0
A1
I 900 45 (A) ,
0
B1
I 900 165 (A) , and
0
C1
I 900 75 (A) . Use the curve given in Fig. 4 to work out
expected trip time by SEL-751A for such fault. Also use formula (C1) to calculate the trip time
by SEL-751A and see whether two results are the same.


______________________________________________________________________________

Relay trip signal is the output from A07 and A08 or OUT103 which can be seen at the back of
SEL-751A. A07 and A08 are connected to CMC356 Input 1of Binary/Analog Input as shown in
Fig. 3. Input contact between A07 and A08 normally stays open. When the relay trips, the
contact will become closed. This will be detected by CMC356 and sent to Test Universe.

Software Omicron Test Universe
Test Universe has many functions. The main user interface is shown in Fig. 6, from which you
can find some basic functions, such as Quick CMC Ramping, State Sequencer, and AuxDC. In
this experiment, State Sequencer is used to examine the relay performance. AuxDC is set to
command CMC356 to generate 110V DC to power SEL-751A.
When you click on State Sequencer as shown in Fig. 6, you will be able to see some similar user
interface as shown in Fig. 7. This is the main interface that will be used in the following
experiments.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4

Figure 6 User interface of Test Universe


Figure 7 Examples of producing currents from Current Output A of CMC356 by using State
Sequencer of Test Universe
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4

Software AcSELerator QuickSet
Settings for SEL-751A can be modified and updated using the following interface. In this test,
settings in Global and Group1 need be studied and modified to suit the overcurrent
protection.

Figure 8 AcSELerator QuickSet interface
Test procedures
Part 1 Overcurrent protection
Step 1
Open the user interface Test Universe from Desktop. Turn on the relay power with the
demonstrator aside by accessing AuxDC from the user interface of Test Universe. You need to
choose 110V DC to command CMC356 to produce such voltage to power SEL-751A.
Open the user interface AcSELerator QuickSet from Desktop. Go to menu Communications.
Then choose Connect to establish connections between AcSELerator QuickSet and SEL-751A.
Go to Menu File and choose open SEL-751A Laboratory4 Setting. Then you will be led to a
user interface as shown in Fig. 8, where you can change the settings. Check the settings against
information found in the section of Introduction to the system. Your demonstrator will check
with you why the settings are so. Information on SEL-751A settings can be found in the
APPENDIX.
Pick-up current of time-delay overcurrent protection is set at 7.5A. Pick-up current of
instantaneous overcurrent protection is set at 12.5A. Chosen relay curve is C1. During
experiment, you only need to change the time-dial settings.
After checking the values, you may go to menu File and choose send to send the settings of
Global, Set 1 and Logical 1 to SEL-751A. Then you may manually check from the front
panel of SEL-751A whether your settings have passed to it correctly. To this step, the relay is
ready to respond according to the setting for overcurrent protection.

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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Step 2
Go back to Test Universe. Open State Sequencer as shown in Fig. 6. Go to menu File and
choose Open a file named as OverCurrent_FreqProtectionL4.seq, which is stored in
subdirectory Laboratory4 on Desktop.
After the opening of the settings, you should be able to see similar interface as shown in Fig. 7.
From here, you may proceed to your experiment.

Step 3
Input each of the values as given in Table 1, run the program, and check the report whether trip
happens or not. You need to use both State Sequencer in Test Universe and AcSELerator
QuickSet to fulfill the following settings.
Save each of the test report generated by Test Universe for checking by your demonstrator. You
may use long-format to save the report. Please use file names such as OC_YourName_Case1 etc
to indicate which experiment the report is for.
You need to press Target Reset button on the front panel of SEL-751A for next test if the relay
trips for last test.

Table 1 Overcurrent protection
Case Ia1(A) Ib1(A) Ic1(A) Frequency
(Hz)
TDS Recorded
Trip
Time
Expected
Trip
Time
1
0
8 0
0
8 120
0
8 120
50 0.05
2
0
9 0
0
9 120
0
9 120
50 0.05
3
0
9.5 0
0
9.5 120
0
9.5 120
50 0.06
4
0
10 0
0
10 120
0
10 120
50 0.06
5
0
11.25 0
0
11.25 120
0
11.25 120
50 0.08
6
0
13.0 0
0
13.0 120
0
13.0 120
50 0.08


Question 5: For cases in Table 1, you may use either formula (C1) or curve C1 in Fig. 4 to
obtain expected trip time. Check them against recorded trip time by Test Universe. Fill in the
values in Table 1.

______________________________________________________________________________

Question 6: Is the recorded relay trip time in agreement with the time found from formula (C1)
or from curve C1? If not, explain why. (Hint: Check the instantaneous protection setting for Case
6.)

______________________________________________________________________________

Part 2 Frequency protection
The settings in Part 1 include frequency protection. Check and see whether upper-limit frequency
is 51Hz and lower-limit frequency is 49Hz. If not, change them to these values.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Input each set of values as shown in Table 2 and conduct experiment. Save each of the test report
generated by Test Universe for checking by your demonstrator. You may use long-format to save
the report. Use file names such as Freq_YourName_Case1 etc to indicate which experiment the
report is for.

Table 2 Over/Under frequency protection
Case Ia1(A) Ib1(A) Ic1(A) Frequency
(Hz)
Recorded
Trip Time
1
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
51.5
2
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
48.5
3
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
52
4
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
48
5
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
50
6
0
5 0
0
5 120
0
5 120
50.5


Question 7: Is the recorded trip time for Cases 1-4 different? What happened in Cases 5 and 6?
Why is it so?


_____________________________________________________________________________



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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Appendix

Instantaneous overcurrent protection: settings and logic


Instantaneous overcurrent element logic



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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4
Time-delay overcurrent protection: settings and logic


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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 4


Frequency protection: settings and logic

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