Power System Protection Applications and Performance Analysis

During this intensive course, you will learn the principles of power system protection leading to an understanding of overall system protection. The course instructors will supplement the lectures on protection practices with presentations of field oscillograms illustrating disturbances that trigger protective action and an analysis of the resulting responses.

• Electric utility engineers involved in applying, simulating, and testing protective relaying devices
• Technicians, project managers, managers, and others involved in electric power systems and interfacing with relaying and substation communications and automation

Earn 2.0 CEUs, 20 PDHs with this course.

Introduction to the Course

• Course organization
• Role of relaying theory
• Field experiences

Relaying Fundamentals

• The nature of relaying
• Relay terminology
• Protection system design – redundancy, backup
• Relay upgrades
• Application of IEC 61850 station bus and process bus

Protection System Accessories

• Current transformers
• Wire wound and capacitive potential devices
• Batteries
• Circuit breakers
• Teleprotection systems
• Human machine interface

Fault level calculations and symmetrical components

• Short circuit fault calculations
• Symmetrical components and calculations 

Distribution Protection - Overcurrent Protection

• Principles (why overcurrent protection works)
• Neutral grounding
• Fuses
• Overcurrent relays
• Circuit reclosers
• Impact of power electronic converter sources

Distribution System Protection 

• Feeders
• Fuse saving
• Small tapped substations
• High side breakers, circuit switcher, fuses, or nothing
• Substation and feeder protection coordination

Non-Pilot Line Protection of Transmission Lines

• Relay setting philosophy
• 3-terminal lines
• Setting examples

Pilot Line Protection of Transmission Lines

• Communication channels
• Directional comparison
• Transfer trip
• Phase comparison
• Wire pilot
• Settings 

Operating Problems Affecting Human Safety

• Miscoordination of relays
• Misapplied operating procedures
• Equipment failures and arcflash
• Backup protection failures 

Interpreting Oscillograms

• Reading oscillograms
• Filtered or unfiltered oscillograms
• Examples of various short circuits
• Bus differential protection

Bus and Transformer Protection

• Bus arrangements
• Zone interlocking protection
• Bus partial and full differential protection
• Magnetizing inrush
• Transformer protection
• Application examples

Voltage Stability

• Description of phenomena
• Voltage collapse incidents
• Reactive power control
• Load shedding

Remedial Action Schemes

"Charlie Henville is a pleasure to listen to. His presentations are very detailed yet clearly delivered and easy to follow."

"An excellent overview of the various protection schemes."

"I've been to UW–Madison's EPD courses twice. I think you offer the best professional development experience I can find. This includes topics, instructors, facilities, technology, meals, etc. Thanks for a great effort. You have thought about a lot of extras and details. Well done."

John Bettler

John Bettler’s responsibilities at Commonwealth Edison include setting all distribution relays (line, bus & transformer), running fault or coordination studies and the field in troubleshooting. He was previously the Cogeneration relay engineer, and has also worked in marketing and on field engineering assignments. John is a registered PE in the state of Illinois and holds a MSEE from IIT and a BSEE from Iowa State.

Russell Patterson

Russell W. Patterson (IEEE SM 2002) received his BSEE degree in 1991 from Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS, his MSEE in 2013 from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, TN, and his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2024 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.

Russell began his career as a field test engineer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1991 and has over 30 years’ experience in utility protection for generation, transmission, and distribution.  He was a protection specialist and then managed the System Protection and Analysis department for TVA until his retirement in 2008 to enter full time consulting. 

In 2010 Russell founded Patterson Power Engineers (PPE), a consulting firm headquartered in Chattanooga, TN with sixteen protection engineers.  In 2021 he sold PPE to Qualus Power Services, Inc. where he now serves part time as an instructor and SME on power system protection.   

Russell is a member of the IEEE Power System Relaying and Control Committee (PSRC) where he is past chairman of the committee, past chairman of the Line Protection subcommittee and a member of the Rotating Machinery subcommittee. He is a senior member of IEEE, a member of IET (MIET), a member of CIGRÉ, and a registered professional engineer in multiple states. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the electrical engineering department where he teaches graduate classes and short courses on power system protection. 

Russell has authored/co-authored many conference papers on protective relaying and on occasion serves as an expert witness in legal proceedings pertaining to power system protection and analysis.