Electrical Protection and Relay Coordination

Overview

When a fault occurs on an electrical network, the protection system has a fraction of a second to isolate it, and it must trip only the breaker closest to the fault so that the rest of the plant keeps running. Poorly set or poorly coordinated relays lead either to equipment damage or to nuisance trips that shut down whole process units. This course gives electrical engineers and technicians a practical understanding of power system protection in oil, gas and industrial facilities. Participants learn fault types and short-circuit calculations, instrument transformers, and the principles of overcurrent, earth fault, differential, distance and motor and generator protection. The core of the course is relay coordination: building time-current curves, choosing settings, and checking discrimination between fuses, breakers and relays. The course also covers numerical relays, testing and commissioning, analysing fault records and the link between protection settings and arc flash hazard.

Objectives

• Explain fault types and calculate basic short-circuit currents
• Select and apply current and voltage transformers for protection
• Describe overcurrent, earth fault, differential and distance protection
• Apply motor, transformer and generator protection schemes
• Build time-current curves and coordinate protective devices
• Test, commission and analyse records from numerical relays

Who should attend

Training methodology

Participants calculate fault levels for a sample plant network, select CT ratios and derive relay settings by hand before checking them with coordination software. Time-current curves are plotted and adjusted until discrimination is achieved across the network. Fault records from real trips are analysed to determine whether the protection operated correctly. Relay test demonstrations show secondary injection and commissioning checks, and the course closes with a coordination study presented by each team.

Programme outline

Dates and fees

Certificate

Frequently asked questions