rather than type out this is what i have found useful. i believe it is rarer to find just a Earth Fault protection relay more likely to have it included in a Residual Current Operated Circuit Breaker With Integral Overcurrent Protection. (RCBO) That way you get earth fault currents, overloads and short-circuits protection.
Hope that helps.
Johnny H-S BSc(Hons) MInstMC
Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems.
From the world of instruments that might be case, but dedicated earth fault relays are pretty common in the electrical world.
Most E/F relays are a sub-set of overcurrent relays, and are basically a standard overcurrent relay connected to either a CT in the neutral earthing connection or in the residual of a three-phase CT group. Earth fault relays may be instantaneous, definite minimum time, or inverse-time. Inverse-time relays often have a high-set value above which an instantaneous trip occurs.
One of the better known types is the GEC Relays MCGG, now marketed by Areva
You could do worse than register and download the Network Protection & Automation Guide from Areva's website, or trawl the net for the Art & Science of Protective Relaying. I have to admire the logic by which Areva decided to stop publishing the NPAG: "It's proving very popular, therefore we'll discontinue publication".
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