Coordination and Relay Files Evaluation

Project involved the review of all the coordination settings and relay files for a health-care research facility, which lost power to a substantial portion of the campus due to an error in the relay settings. The settings to be reviewed included protective relays for 138kV, 15kV, 5kV and 480Vac level equipment, along with the associated relay files where applicable. Recommendations were to be made based on the findings during the review process. The objective of the evaluation was to prevent downstream events from tripping upstream equipment, resulting in the loss of power to a larger electrical zone than necessary. The scope of the project was as follows:

• Working with the client to download latest relay files and confirming existing set-points of molded case circuit breakers.
• Generation of TCCs from the system model and reviewing all the settings of the protective devices to ensure proper coordination between upstream and downstream devices.
• Reviewing all relay files to ensure the settings from the model were entered correctly, and reviewing the relay logic to ensure they conform to industry best practices.
• Development of a report with recommendations on set point changes to be made in the SKM model and relay files.