Schneider motor protection system

Faults occur in electrical systems and electrical wiring. A fault can result in minimal or catastrophic consequences. Motor protection relays have been developed to detect the different types of faults that can occur to a motor depending on the application of the motor. Today, there are smart relays that can monitor the performance of the motor, perform calculations and, detect different types of faults. These smart relays come with their software that becomes a UMI (user-machine interface) to the user, allowing them to constantly monitor the condition of the motor on a computer. Different manufacturers have developed their smart relay which functions in different ways. There are three motor protection units available at Murdoch University; two are from Schneider, and the other one is from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL’s). The first part of this report covers the previous work that was done on the motor protection system which is set up in the Pilot Plant of the Engineering and Energy building at Murdoch University. The report also talks about the background of motor protection, faults that can occur to a motor and, the different mechanisms employed in industries for motor protection. The Schneider Sepam series m40 was used in this project to detect different faults going through to the motor. The various functions, operating procedure of the Sepam series m40 system and the step by step approach followed to communicate with the Schneider protection unit, detect various faults and, protect the motor from the detected faults are documented in this report. After completion of this project, two out of three faults were successfully simulated, and the protection system was able to protect the motor from the simulated faults. The successfully detected faults were the Undervoltage fault (fault 2) and the direction change fault (fault 3). The Undercurrent fault (fault1) was not successfully simulated