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PAC history
“New ideas sometimes appear like an avalanche: new, up to Another solution discussed a “lever switch whose lever had The Birth of the Protection Relay one generator and no voltage from the other. The excitation
now unknown approaches appear.” This observation is valid a reduced diameter which fused at a certain level of current”. The first relay for protection purposes was proposed by of the second generator is adjusted and the voltage
even today as people rush to exploit the possibilities offered In the early days of electric power systems the protection Stillwell at 1900 although its application was limited since changes. Consequently the brightness of the lamp changes
by new technological developments. requirement was simply to interrupt the flow of fault current. there were no reliable switching devices for the interruption as the phase angle or the rotation speed of the generator
However selectivity emerged as a growing requirement of short-circuit currents at that time. changes. The lamp is completely dark when both
100 Years Selective Protection as electric power systems became more complex with In future articles we will consider the development generators/systems are in a fully synchronized state
Developments in PAC equipment were not linear or interconnection of transmission lines and the parallel from simple overcurrent relays through to directional and and it is safe to switch in. The bright-method works in
consistent throughout the years. Some ideas and proposals operation of generators. distance/differential protection devices. We will discuss the the opposite way, i.e. the lamp is bright under synchronous
were rejected initially (perhaps the market conditions were In 1910 the municipal utility in Hannover was one of different generations of relays as the technology progressed conditions.
not right or there was not a full appreciation for the proposal’s the first recorded cases to introduce a color code for fuse from the initial basic designs towards the current generation This synchronizing method was published by Brown
capability or there was no apparent need for the solution). identification. The utility had specified the use of fuses of adaptive digital relays. Boveri Company (i.e. BBC but now known as ABB) in
Some ideas were discarded only to be rediscovered by others on every feeder to achieve selectivity on their system. The The aim will be to inform the reader about key October 1928. The paper describing this method was
who recycled them, improved them and exploited them utility specified the size of fuses required for all lines and, aspects of the different technology employed for protection published by Stoecklin but it is not clear whether he was
to their full potential driven perhaps by different market in an effort to make the specifications more memorable, the purposes. It is interesting to note at this stage that one the inventor. The author was unable to obtain any further
conditions or technical challenges. authorities in Hannover used a fuse identification color code of the earliest cases of the application of a line differential information concerning the patent for this method.
The beginning of relay development goes back into based on the color of stamps issued by the German postal relay was in England in 1912 and of a distance protection Nowadays almost half the continents are interconnected
the first half of the 19th century. In a paper for the French authority. relay in Germany in 1921. Records show that both types and operating in parallel using WAMS and GPS systems.
Academy of Sciences, the Frenchman Breguet noted the In 1904 Kortler proposed the idea of time delayed self were being used in the United States shortly thereafter. Such interconnection would barely have been imagined a
physical appearance of thin conductors near a telegraph reclosing fuses. This technology is widely used today in The physical aspects of relays such as the shape, size, hundred years ago. The 220kV grids of France, Germany and
station after a lightning strike. He had observed that the thin medium and high voltage grids and is referred to as automatic dimensions, casing and color have evolved and it can be Switzerland (“the star of Laufenburg”) were interconnected
conductors had disintegrated after the lightning strike leaving reclosing or autoreclosing. noted that the physical appearance of relays have changed in 1958. The Western-European UCPTE-grid and the East-
only traces of what had existed beforehand. dramatically. European CENTREL/VEAG/BEWAG-grid with parts of the
His paper, dated the 3rd of May 1847, stated that “…to The Relay In the early years they looked like measuring instruments Romanian and Ukrainian grid were inadvertently connected
protect the devices and especially to protect the employees The word “relay” was established in the time when stage and changed as shown in figure 4. one year before the “electrical reunion” of Germany.
in the station I recommend the use of electricity conductors, coaches were a means of transportation. A “relay” was One of the earliest connection of two separate grids Obviously consumers remained unaware of this fact. Such
3-4mm in diameter, made of iron and to be located 5-6m a station for the change from tired horses to fresh ones. (19th of November 1887), namely two power stations interconnection was made possible by the effective operation
from the device.” The report continued, “We connect larger In the military the term “relay chains” refers to a chain (Mark­grafenstrasse and Mauerstrasse in Berlin, Germany), of synchronizing devices.
diameter wires of equal metallic behavior to the thinner of annunciators for passing on messages and commands. was synchronized using the synchronizing-bright Trip times of early PAC equipment were often
wire conductors. This approach allows only the amount of The introduction of protection relays was of course only method /synchronizing-dark method or sometimes dubious and dependent on inaccurate timing mechanisms
electricity that can be carried through the thin wire to be possible after the creation of suitable switching devices referred to as dark-lamp synchronizing. An incandescent that could only be set to operate in 2 seconds or in the
conducted to the stations. In the case of a fault discharge the that were capable of extinguishing the fault current arc lamp is used by engineers to estimate the synchronism case of generator protection 10 seconds or even up to 30
wire fuses and interrupts the current outside the building, and could also withstand the onerous short circuit currents of the two grids by using to the brightness or otherwise seconds. The tripping schedule published in 1922 (see
not inside.” The Breguet paper is considered the birth of the generated under fault conditions. Brown proposed an of the light to estimate the voltage difference (magnitude and figure 5) shows the settings of an overcurrent protection
fusible link. oil circuit-breaker in 1892. With the introduction of direct angle). relay (i.e. 12 seconds). The relay operated on lines 5 and
The Fusible Link release (directly initiated by the primary current) and The lamp is switched between the same phases of 6 of the Zschornewitz – Lichterfelde substation in Berlin
The distribution grids proposed by Edison and his company secondary relays (supplied by current transformers or each generator/system. When the engineer uses the dark and its operating time upon detection of a fault was set
to supply electric lighting systems used fusible links. In 1880 voltage transformers) “oil self switching circuit breakers” method to synchronize the systems the lamp is initially at 10 seconds. Such relay time delay settings are unimaginable
the fusible links used strips of lead (“Edison Lead Switch”). were developed. brightly lit and this reflects the fact that there is a voltage from by today’s standards.

1 Color of the German stamps and the fuse 2 Oil Circuit-Breaker with Direct Release 3 Lewis B. Stillwell 4 First Protection 5 110-kV-Tripping-Schedule 1922
identification color code (Elektra Birsek, CH) (IEEE) Relays (Elektrowerke AG, Berlin)

Fuse Stamp
Rated Current [A] Color Value in pfennigs Color
6 green 5 green
10 red 10 red
20 blue 20 blue
25 yellow 25 yellow+black

PAC.SUMMER.2007 PAC.SUMMER.2007