Selective tripping or Discrimination

•When a fault occurs, the protection scheme is required to trip only those circuit breakers whose operation is required to isolate the fault. This property of selective tripping is also called 'discrimination' and is achieved by two general methods .

1. Time Grading

•Protection systems in successive zones are arranged to operate in times that are graded through the sequence of equipment's so that upon the occurrence of a fault, although a number of protection equipment's respond, only those relevant to the faulty zone complete the tripping function. The others make incomplete operations and then reset. The speed of response will often depend on the severity of the fault, and will generally be slower than for a unit system.

2. Unit Systems

•It is possible to design protection systems that respond only to fault conditions occurring within a clearly defined zone. This type of protection system is known as 'unit protection'. Certain types of unit protection are known by specific names, e.g. restricted earth fault and differential protection. Unit protection can be applied throughout a power system and, since it does not involve time grading, is relatively fast in operation. The speed of response is substantially independent of fault severity. Unit protection usually involves comparison of quantities at the boundaries of the protected zone as defined by the locations of the current transformers.

•This comparison may be achieved by direct hard-wired connections or may be achieved via a communications link. However certain protection systems derive their 'restricted' property from the configuration of the power system and may be classed as unit protection, e.g. earth fault protection applied to the high voltage delta winding of a power transformer.

•Whichever method is used, it must be kept in mind that selectivity is not merely a matter of relay design. It also depends on the correct coordination of current transformers and relays with a suitable choice of relay settings, taking into account the possible range of such variables as fault currents, maximum load current, system impedance and other related factors, where appropriate.