Primary & Backup Protection

Primary Protection

The main protection or primary protection is the first line protection which provides quick-acting and selective clearing of a fault within the boundary of the circuit section or element it protects. The main protection is provided in each section of an electrical installation.

Backup Protection

The backup protection provides the back up to the main protection whenever it fails in operation or its cut out for repairs. The backup protection is essential for the proper working of the electrical system. The backup protection is the second line of defence which isolates the faulty section of the system in case the main protection fail to function properly. The failure of the primary protection occurs because of the failure of the DC supply circuit, current or voltage supply to relay circuit, relay protective circuit or because of the circuit breaker.

The backup protection may be provided either on the same circuit breaker which would be normally opened by the main protection or in the different circuit breaker. The backup protection is mainly used where the main protection of the adjacent circuit is unable to backup the main protection of the given circuit. Sometimes for simplification, the backup protection has a low sensitivity and operated over a limited backup zone.

Example: Consider the remote backup protection is provided by a small time graded relay, as shown in the figure below. Let F be the fault occur on relay R₄. The relay R₄ operates the circuit breaker at D and isolate the faulty section. Now if the circuit breaker D fails to operate, the faulty section would be isolated by the operation of the relay R₃ at C.

The use of the backup protection depends on the economics and technical consideration. The backup protection usually for the economic reason not so fast as the main protection.