Electromechanical relays, often used for their robustness, typically last for about 100,000 to 500,000 cycles depending on operational conditions. When requirements change, the relay functionality can be easily modified or the software upgraded to extend the lifetime of the protection solution. Typically, the electrical life expectancy of general-purpose and power relays is rated at a minimum of 100,000 operations. Although failure of a protective relay system may have severe local or regional impacts, most protective relay systems are not required to operate to prove they are in working order. They are often easy to maintain and repair because replacement parts are still widely available.
[pdf] The need to act quickly to protect circuits and equipment often requires protective relays to respond and trip a breaker within a few thousandths of a second. In some instances these clearance times are prescribed in legislation or operating rules. Core idea: Protective relays monitor electrical quantities and command protective devices to isolate faults or abnormal operating conditions. Action time, as an important indicator to measure the response speed of relay protection devices, reflects the duration from the. The selected protection principle affects the operating speed of the protection, which has a significant im-pact on the harm caused by short circuits. Inverse time delay, on the other hand, depends on the current magnitude so, the higher the current, the shorter the delay.
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