Exploring the IEEE C37.234 Guide for Protective Relay Application to Power System Buses

This paper summarizes the IEEE C37.234-2009 Guide for Protective Relay Applications to Power System Buses. In the Guide, concepts of power bus protection are discussed. Consideration is given to availability and location of breakers, current transformers, and disconnectors as well as bus switching scenarios, and their impact on the selection and application of bus protection. A number of bus protection schemes are presented; their adequacy, complexity, strengths and limitations with respect to a variety of bus arrangements are discussed; specific application guidelines are provided for a variety of situations. Breaker failure protection is discussed as pertaining to bus protection. Means of securing bus protection schemes against corrupted relay input signals are also included.