The Universal Overcurrent Relay

A comprehensive list of nondirectional overcurrent relays would include thermal overload, inverse-time, definite time, and instantaneous relays. The list could be further classified by operating quantities including individual phase, residual, and negative-sequence current. Taken collectively and depending on the characteristic shape, pickup and time range, and dynamics, these relays span the applications for motor, feeder, and breaker failure protection. Because of the past necessity for using either discrete or specialized system relays, overcurrent characteristics for these applications may appear diverse and unrelated. However, microprocessor relay technology has advanced to where it is not only feasible, but it is of distinct economic advantage, to consider all these characteristics collectively as attributes of a universal overcurrent relay. This universal relay concept is used here to discuss the commonality, the differences, and the coordination of the elements required for feeder, motor, and breaker failure protection. The article goes on to discuss the rules for the coordination of negative-sequence overcurrent characteristics for sensitive phase-to-phase fault protection in feeders, as well as for unbalanced current protection of induction motors.