Application of firefly algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent protection relays in presence of series compensation

Abstract EN

This paper presents an optimal coordination of Inverse Definite Minimum Time (IDMT) direction overcurrent relays in power electrical networks to consider the impact of the transmission line series compensation (SC) on the relays settings and coordination.

The coordination problem is formulated as a non-linear constrained mono-objective optimization problem.

The objective function of this optimization problem is the minimization of the operation time (T) of the associated relays in the systems, and the decision variables are : the time dial setting (TDS) and the pickup current setting (Ip) of each relay.

To solve this complex non linear optimization problem, a variant of evolutionary optimization techniques named Firefly Algorithm (FA) is used.

The proposed method is validated on 8-bus transmission network test system considering various scenarios.

The obtained results show a high efficiency of the proposed method to solve such complex optimization problem, in such a way the relays coordination is guaranteed for all simulation scenarios with minimum operating time.