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Sensitive Earth Fault protection is required to either to alarm or trip the faulted circuit. It is usually used for resistance grounded or ungrounded systems; where first earth fault doesn't interrupt supply. It is also used on long overhead lines (even solidly grounded systems) where earth fault currents can be significantly low.

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Q: Why is sensitive earth fault protection required?
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What is the difference between balanced earth fault and restricted earth fault?

There is such a thing as a three phase to earth fault, so maybe this is what you mean by a "balanced earth fault". I don't believe any earth or ground currents would flow in this case. A restricted earth fault is a typical phase to earth fault, where the zone of protection is restricted to a specific area, such as around a transformer. "Restricted" is referring to the protection method, not what is actually going on with the currents and voltages.


Restricted earth fault protection circuit?

Restricted earth fault protection is used to protect a specific zone, and should not trip for a fault outside of that zone (usually limited to a transformer, and possibly extending to lowside, highside, and tertiary breakers).


Why is there a ground wire?

The ground earth wire serves two purposes: To trip the protection as quickly as possible if theres an out of balanced current or a fault to earth. and to bring the user to the same potential to the earth if there is a fault and the protection doesnt trip. that way because you are at the same potential as earth you will not get electrocuted.


Why percentage differential relay is not suitable for detecting the earth fault near neutral of an wye connected winding?

when earth fault occurs very near to the neutral point of wye winding, the voltage available for driving earth fault current is small. Hence fault current is low. Relay has to be too sensitive and then it can operate for spurious signals like external faults, switching surges etc.


What is difference between isolation transformer and earth protection relay?

An isolation transformer is a mutual transformer having a voltage ratio of 1:1, so that the secondary circuit is electrically isolated from the primary circuit, yet subject to the same voltage.An earth protection relay is a category of protective relay that responds to an earth fault monitored by a current transformer (CT). In the event of an earth fault being detected by the CT, the relay with activate the trip circuit to a circuit breaker which will then disconnect the fault.

Related questions

What is the difference between balanced earth fault and restricted earth fault?

There is such a thing as a three phase to earth fault, so maybe this is what you mean by a "balanced earth fault". I don't believe any earth or ground currents would flow in this case. A restricted earth fault is a typical phase to earth fault, where the zone of protection is restricted to a specific area, such as around a transformer. "Restricted" is referring to the protection method, not what is actually going on with the currents and voltages.


Restricted earth fault protection circuit?

Restricted earth fault protection is used to protect a specific zone, and should not trip for a fault outside of that zone (usually limited to a transformer, and possibly extending to lowside, highside, and tertiary breakers).


Can earth fault current go up passing through the downstream panel and directly cause a trip at the upstream panel which have higher set point of earth fault protection?

If the fault is a direct short to ground, the fault current can be high enough to trip the upstream protection.


What is an Unrestricted Earth Fault?

I'm guessing this is in reference to a restricted earth fault, and you want to know what the opposite is? Restricted earth fault protection is designed to operate for earth faults within a specific zone. Unrestricted protection will operate for faults "anywhere", as long as the pickup can be satisfied. For example, REF (restricted earth fault) transformer protection looks for a small amount of neutral current, and if this exists, and the relay identifies this current as being within the zone of protection, the relay will trip. If it were unrestricted, the small amount of neutral current alone would be enough to cause a trip.


What is the minimum Earth fault current that an Earth leakage protection unit must be able to sense?

10mA


Is a ground fault protection for equipment required even if the neutral will not be used?

Yes, ground fault protection for equipment is requiredeven if the neutral will not be used.However, the question implies that it might not be required if there is a neutral. That is not true. With two exceptions, ground fault protection is always required in the US, and it is probably required in other countries as well.The exceptions are the use of an electric cooking range, and an electric clothes dryer. In those cases, the US NEC allows the neutral conductor to also be the ground fault conductor, except for the case where the range or dryer is in a mobile home. In the case of the mobile home, the ground fault conductor and the neutral conductor must be maintained separate and distinct all the way back to the distribution panel.In every other case, including where local code overrides the US NEC's exceptions, it must be understood that ground fault protection (protective earth ground) is not the same as neutral, even though the neutral conductor is grounded.


What is restricted earth fault protection and how is it provided?

A Restricted Earth Fault (REF) means an earth fault from a restricted/localized zone of a circuit. The term "REF protection method " means not to sense any earth faults outside this restricted zone. REF is a type of "unit protection" applied to transformers or generators and is more sensitive than the method known as differential protection. An REF relay works by measuring the actual current flowing to earth from the frame of the unit. If that current exceeds a certain preset maximum value of milliAmps (mA) then the relay will trip to cut off the power supply to the unit. Differential protection can also be used to protect the windings of a transformer by comparing the current in the power supply's neutral wire with the current in the phase wire: if the currents are equal then the differential protection relay will not operate; if there is a current imbalance then the differential protection relay operates. However, REF protection is also applied to transformers in order to detect ground faults on a given winding much more sensitively than differential protection can do.


How is restricted earth fault called so how is it restricted?

A Restricted Earth Fault (REF) refers to a method of fault protection that is applied to electrical system units, such as transformers or generators, that is more sensitive than the method known as Differential Protection (DP).An REF relay works by measuring the actual current flowing to earth from the frame of the unit. If that current exceeds a certain preset maximum value of milliamps (mA) then the relay will trip to cut off the power supply to the unit.REF protection is applied on transformers in order to detect ground faults on a given winding more sensitively than when only using differential protection.Differential Protection is commonly used to protect the windings of a transformer by comparing the current in the power supply's neutral wire with the current in the phase wire. If the currents are equal then the DP Relay will not operate. If there is a current imbalance then the DP Relay operates.REF and DP protection devices operate in similar ways to a GFCI or RCD device, which combines both REF and DP functions inside the one single device.For more information about GFCIs and RCDs, please see the answer to the Related Question shown below.


How is a IDMT relay used to give protection against a phase to earth fault a phase to phase fault on a feeder?

As with any IDMT relay the higher the fault current the quicker the trip time.


Why is there a ground wire?

The ground earth wire serves two purposes: To trip the protection as quickly as possible if theres an out of balanced current or a fault to earth. and to bring the user to the same potential to the earth if there is a fault and the protection doesnt trip. that way because you are at the same potential as earth you will not get electrocuted.


How does the standby earth fault scheme work?

Restricted earth fault protection is used to protect a specific zone, and should not trip for a fault outside of that zone (usually limited to a transformer, and possibly extending to lowside, highside, and tertiary breakers). Stand by earth fault protection is a term I am not very familiar with, but I believe this would be protection that is meant for a specific zone as backup, and can operate for faults outside of this zone. An example might be a highside time overcurrent relay set looking into a transformer, where the transformer is protected by a differential (primary protection), and there is a lowside feeder with relays (primary protection). The highside overcurrent acts as a backup (secondary protection) for the transformer and the feeder, and is delayed due to the nature of a time overcurrent relay.


What is a restricted earth neutral system?

appropriate resistance is to be inserted between the neutral point of the transformer and the earthing mat to restricted earth fault current. for this purpose a sensitive earth leakage relay is used. in the event of a fault, fault current returning to the system neutral trips an earth leakage relay and disconnects the supply. anand r. ambekar