
Directional or Non-Directional Earth-Fault 
Relay REJ 527
1MRS751132-MBG
4
Directional or non-directional 
earth-fault current unit
The high-set and the low-set stage the direc-
tional earth-fault current unit can be config-
ured to be either directional or non-direc-
tional. The directional earth-fault stages can 
be given either a basic angle or a sin(ϕ) or a 
cos(ϕ) characteristic.
The start and the tripping of the directional 
earth-fault stages with the basic angle charac-
teristic are based on measuring the earth-fault 
current, I0, the zero-sequence voltage, U0, 
and the phase angle, ϕ, between the voltage 
and the current. An earth-fault stage will start 
when the following three criteria are fulfilled 
at the same time:
• The earth-fault current, I0, exceeds the set 
start value of the low- or high-set earth-
fault stage.
• The zero-sequence voltage, U0, exceeds 
the set start value of U0b>, which is the 
same for both stages in the deblocking 
mode.
• The phase angle, ϕ, between the voltage 
and current falls within the operation sec-
tor ϕb±∆ϕ. 
The basic angle of the network is -90°for iso-
lated neutral networks and 0°for resonant 
earthed networks, earthed with an arc sup-
pression coil (Petersen coil) with or without a 
parallel resistor. The operation sector is 
selectable and can be either 
∆ϕ = ±80°or ±88°. Both operation sectors 
can be extended.
When an earth-fault stage starts, a start signal 
will begenerated and a start indication shown 
on the HMI. If the above mentioned criteria 
remain fulfilled until the set operate time 
elapses, the stage will deliver a trip signal and 
a trip indication will be shown on the HMI. 
The trip indication will remain active 
although the protection stage is reset. The 
direction of the fault spot is determined by 
means of the angle between the voltage and 
the current. Basic angleϕbcan be set between 
-90°and 0°. When basic angle ϕbis 0-°, the 
negative quadrant of the operation sector can 
be extended with ϕa. Extended operation sec-
tor ϕacan be set between 0 and 90°.
The start and the tripping of the directional 
earth-fault stages with the sin(ϕ) or the cos(ϕ) 
characteristic are based on measuring the 
earth-fault current, I0, the zero-sequence volt-
age, U0, and the phase angle, ϕ, between the 
voltage and the current. The sinus or cosinus 
value of the phase angle is calculated and 
multiplied by the earth-fault current to get the 
directional earth-fault current, Iϕ.An earth-
fault stage will start when the following three 
criteria are fulfilled at the same time:
• The directional earth-fault current, Iϕ, 
exceeds the set start value of the low- or 
high-set earth-fault stage.
• The zero-sequence voltage, U0, exceeds 
the set start value of U0b>, which is the 
same for both stages in the deblocking 
mode.
• The phase angle, ϕ, between the voltage 
and the current falls within the operation 
sector, corrected with ϕc.
When an earth-fault stage starts, a start signal 
will be generated and a start indication shown 
on the HMI. If the above mentioned criteria 
remain fulfilled until the set operate time 
elapses, the stage will deliver a trip signal and 
a trip indication will be shown on the HMI. 
The trip indication will remain active 
although the protection stage is reset. The 
direction of the fault spot is determined by 
means of the angle between the voltage and 
the current. Directional earth-fault character-
istic sin(ϕ) corresponds to the earth-fault pro-
tection with the basic angle -90° and cos(ϕ) 
to the earth-fault protection with the basic 
angle 0°.
The operation directions, forward or reverse, 
of the directional earth-fault stages can be 
selected independently of each other. The 
directional stages may also be separately con-
figured to be non-directional.
The low-set stage I0> can also be used for 
protection against intermittent earth-faults, 
which may occur in insulated cables used in 
compensated networks.
When the earth-fault current exceeds the set 
start value of low-set stage I0>, the earth-fault 
unit will start to deliver a start signal after a 
~70 ms’ start time. When the set operate time 
at definite-time characteristic or the calcu-
lated operate time at inverse definite mini-
mum time (IDTM) characteristic elapses, the 
earth-fault unit will deliver a trip signal. 
When the earth-fault current exceeds the set 
start value of high-set stage I0>>, the earth-
fault unit will start to deliver a start signal 
after a ~60 ms’ start time. When the set oper-
ate time elapses, the earth-fault unit will 
deliver a trip signal.