Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)
Review: Methods for Relay Coordination
Shubhangi B. Walke
Department of Electrical Engineering,
K. K. Wagh I. E.E.& R., Nashik.
Savitribai Phule University, Pune
Email- walkeshubha@gmail.com
 component but also to the neighboring components and to the
Abstract-Reliability of the power system degrades with
abnormal operating condition of the protective system caused
due to overvoltage, under-frequency, overload etc. which may
leads to interruption of the supply, and may damage equipment’s
connected to the system. To maintain system stability and
reliability it is necessary to have a protective system which
operates as quickly as possible, isolates smallest part of the
system under fault. For this purpose it is necessary to have
coordination between the protective devices to assure safe
operation. This paper represents the relay coordination of
distribution system with and without penetration of distributed
generators due to increase in the interest in distributed
generation by renewable energy sources. Directional overcurrent
relaying, which is simple and economic, is commonly used as
primary protection in distribution and sub transmission system
and secondary protection in transmission system. This inclusion
of DG may cause false tripping in feeders, increasing or
decreasing short circuit levels, bidirectional power flow in case of
radial distribution system, so to find the optimal solution of relay
coordination problem there are different optimization methods.
In this paper review of the methods like Genetic algorithm,
Linear programming, Particle swarm optimization and Hybrid
PSO is presented. Out of these methods hybrid PSO gives better
solution with less iterations as compared to Genetic algorithm,
Linear programming. In Hybrid PSO, TMS is considered as
continuous parameter and current setting as discrete parameter.
TMS is calculated by linear programming at the end of each
iteration of PSO optimization algorithm.
Keywords-Over current Relay, Relay coordination, Time multi-
plier setting, Pick up Current, PSO, Distributed Generation
I. INTRODUCTION
The advent of large generating stations and highly
interconnected power systems has made early fault
identification and rapid equipment isolation imperative to
maintain system integrity and stability. It is evident that, in
spite of all the precautions taken in the design and installation
of such systems, there are possibilities that abnormal
conditions or faults may arise. Some faults such as short
circuits may prove extremely damaging, not only to the faulty
Shubhangi B. Walke with Department of Electrical Engineering,
K. K. W. I. E.E & R.,Nashik. Savitribai Phule University, Pune
Email- walkeshubha@gmail.com
978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
Prof. Nayana N. Jangle
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
K. K. Wagh I. E.E.& R., Nashik.
Email- nnjangle@kkwagh.edu.in
power system as a whole. So it is of vital importance to limit
the damage to a minimum by speedy isolation of the faulty
section, without disturbing the working of the rest of the
system. A fault is a condition that causes abnormal stoppage
of current in the desired path or makes the current to flow
towards an undesired path. Faults include, but are not limited
to, short or low impedance circuits, open circuits, power
swings, over voltages, Elevated temperature, and off-nominal
frequency operation. They are generally caused by the failure
of insulation, breaking of conductors, or shorting of phase
wires by birds, kite string, tree limbs, etc. Occurrence of a
fault can cause the following problems like Interruption in the
power supply to the consumers, Substantial loss of revenue
due to interruption of service, Loss of synchronism, Extensive
damage to equipment, Serious hazard to personnel. All power
system equipment must, therefore, be protected to avoid
system collapse and the associated consequences. The
protective relays stand watch and in the event of a failure such
as short circuit or abnormal operating conditions, de-energize
the unhealthy section of the power system and restrain
interference with the remainder of it. They are also used to
indicate the type and location of failure so as to access the
effectiveness of the protective scheme Distributed generation
is the generation of electricity from many small energy
sources e.g. solar or wind and is located closer to the user, or
customer. A form of distributed generation is on site
generation where a customer owns its own generation and it is
installed on its premises Recently, the issues of growing
energy demand, rising public awareness for environmental
protection and existing nature of fossil fuels, have resulted in
much of the research work to be focused on renewable
resources. The private sectors and utilities are now
concentrating on distributed generation (DG) based on
renewable energy sources on account of higher efficiency,
improved power quality, reliability, and environmental
friendly nature for standalone as well as grid connected
applications The presence of distributed generation (DG)
resources has significantly affected the short-term and long-
term planning task in electric power distribution systems One
of the important challenges about the distribution network
with DG is the protection issue that has to be isolated safely
from the central grid when a fault is occurred. In addition to it
requires a large control flexibility and better quality of supply
to meet local demands during islanding operation and utility
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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

and grid connected operation. The operation of distribution
system in islanded mode is still an issue due to the difference
between the short circuit current in islanded mode and grid-
connected mode. In a smart radial distribution grid (RDS),
distributed generators (DGs) will be more prominent. The
addition of the DGs changes the topology of RDS, causes
bidirectional power flows and contributes to fault current
levels. This may result in unwanted tripping of existing
overcurrent (OC) protection devices and in permanent outage
of a large number of customers.
Similarly, relays R2 and R1 are coordinated for a maximum
fault at respective line.
IV. PROBLEM FORMULATION
The relay coordination problem of OC relays can be
formulated as constrained optimization problem. The objective
function of the problem is total operating time of all the relays
present in the system. The function is to be minimized so that
each relay operates in minimum time and reliability of the
system is maintained.

II. COORDINATION OF OC RELAY IN RADIAL SYSTEM A. Objective Function

n
There are two kinds of protection incorporated in the min j ¦W t i i
radial system, a primary protection and backup protection [8]. i 1
Sensitivity and Selectivity are of utmost importance for
reliability and stability of any power system. Whenever a fault
occurs at any point in the system, the fault current is seen by Where;
both primary and backup relay. The primary relay is the first n = number of relays and
to issue the trip signal as it is more sensitive than that of ti = operating time of the i relay for near-end fault.
backup relay. The coordination time interval between the Wi =weight depends upon the probability of a given fault
backup and the primary relay depends on various parameters occurring in protection zone and usually set to one.
like operating time of primary relay, operating time of circuit
breaker associated with the primary relay, overshoot time of B. Relay characteristics
backup relay and signal travelling time these parameters are The characteristic equation can be defined as follows:
necessary for maintaining the selectivity of primary and
backup relay. In a radial system, power flow is unidirectional. O (TMS )
Top
But when the DG is penetrated in the system the power flow ( PSM )J  1
becomes bidirectional. So, when a fault occurs, the directional
feature of over current relay is predominant. The directional Where,
relays trips, only when the fault current is flowing away from
the bus under consideration. TMS = Time Multiplier Setting
PSM = Plug Setting Multiplier
III IMPACT OF DG ON PROTECTION DEVICE ON
COORDINATION IN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
C. Coordination Constraints
Figure 1 shows a simple radial distribution network
1. Selectivity constraints for all relay pairs
where S is the source, B1, B2, B3, B4 are the bus bars and L1,
Selectivity means that the faulted line is the only part to be
L2, L3, L4 are the corresponding loads.
disconnected which means that the primary time must be
greater than the secondary time with certain delay

Tbackup  Tprimary t CTI

Where,
T backup = operating time of back up relay,
T primary = operating time of primary relay.
CTI is the coordination Time Interval
Figure 1: Radial Distribution System 2. Bounds on TDS:
There setting boundaries must be fulfilled as described by
Inverse overcurrent protection relays are usually used in which equation
the setting and coordination curves of relays R1, R2, and R3.
Fault current in line 3, the operating time of relay R2 is made TDSi min d TDSi d TDSi max
greater than the operating time of relay R3 at least by a time
interval ends on factors such as the circuit breaker opening Where,
time and delays and return time of the measuring element. In TDSimin is the lower limit and
case of electromechanical relays, overshoot is also considered. TDSimax is upper limit of TDSi.
These limits are 0.05 and l.l respectively.

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
3. Limits on primary operation times:
This constraint imposes constraint on each term TDS of the
objective function to lie between 0.05 and l.2.
V. METHODS FOR RELAY COORDINATION
There are different methods for the relay coordination like
Genetic Algorithm, Linear Programming, Particle Swarm
Optimization, Hybrid particle Swarm Optimization etc .these
methods are useful for calculating the minimum operating
time of the relay. In this paper the overview of these methods
is presented.
A. GENETIC ALGORITHM
Genetic algorithm (GA) is a random search algorithm used in
computing exact or approximate solutions to optimization and
search problems. [1][4][11] Genetic algorithms are
categorized as global search heuristics.
Proposed Algorithm
Step 1: Generate primary/backup relay pairs. The knowledge
of primary/backup relay pairs is necessary in the computation
of the coordination constraints.
Step 2: Load flow analysis is performed using Newton-
Raphson method to determine line currents. This analysis can
be performed using a simulation softwares
Step 3: Short circuit analysis is done using the same
simulation software to find fault currents.
Step 4: Pickup current is calculated based on the load current.
Here it will be set at 1.5 times the maximum load current, for
phase protection.
Step 5: The objective function is minimized and optimum
values of TDS are determined using linear programming
technique in MATLAB.
Step 6: The values of TDS and minimization of objective
function is again optimized using genetic algorithm (GA)
using MATLAB toolbox.
The methodology of optimization is presented to solve the
coordinating problem of directional overcurrent relays in an
interconnected power system.[21-22] The operating time of
the relays was determined using genetic algorithm (GA) for 8
bus system for both linear objective functions and for
nonlinear objective functions. The value of time dial setting
(TDS) and pick up current value (Ip) are calculated for linear
and nonlinear function respectively in such a way that all
constraints will satisfied. This algorithm helps to increase
coordination and the operation speed of relays. Advantages of
this method are finding the absolute optimal point, the ability
to be applied on large networks, the ability to consider both
linear and non-linear characteristics of relays.
B. LINEAR PROGRAMMING
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(ICCMC)
A mathematical method to analyze problems, the
relationship between variables is linear which performance
under the constraints to select the appropriate alternative
between minimum or maximum value.[3][8][14]
The structures of linear programming technique are
consisting:
a) Decision variable: The desired results, is the time dial
setting (TDS).
b) Objective function: Aims to find the minimum or maximum
value.
c) Constraints: Equation or inequality that represents the
extent of demand.
d) Restriction: Every decision variable is not negative.
The general linear programming problem can be
expressed as a constrained optimization problem as follows.
A pairs of relays to monitor and detect errors in the operation
of the relay. Power system protection allowing a clear division
and coordination of directional overcurrent relay in power
system problem to protect fault to occur. This has solved the
problem using linear programming based on 6 bus and 9 bus
test systems to determine the minimum time relay
coordination and time dial setting of all relay. The reason of
the linear programming to solve the problem because this
method is simple and uncomplicated way to solve the
problem. It also reduces the complexity of many variables on
solution of large power systems.
C. PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION
Particle swarm optimization is a population based
stochastic optimization technique. PSO has many common
features associated with evolutionary computation techniques.
In the PSO algorithm, the problem is initialized with a
population of random feasible solutions and searches for an
optimal solution by updating generations based on a certain
criteria.[5] The potential solutions in the PSO algorithm,
called particles, move through the problem space by following
the current most fit particles. The particles share knowledge
and each particle adjusts its position based on its own
experience and the experience of the neighboring particles[6]
Let x and v denote the Particles position and its velocity in the
search space. The term velocity represents the change in the
position of each particle. Thus, the position of the nth particle
in a D-dimensional space is represented as xn =
[xnl;Xn2:::::Xnd]. The best previous position explored by the
nth particle is recorded and denoted as pbestn. Another value
that is tracked and stored by the particle swarm algorithm is
the best value obtained so far by any particle in the population.
This best value is a global best and is denoted by gbest. Each
particle changes its position based on its current velocity and
its distance from pbest and gbest.[7-8] The steps of the PSO
algorithm for the relay coordination problem are given below:
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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
Step 1: Initialize the particles with partially feasible solutions
that satisfy some of the constraints by randomly selecting the
binary y variables that satisfy
¦y m
mi
1
i
where
i 1, 2....n
The TDS are then optimally determined subject to the
constraints in
Tnk  Tik t 'T
Tnk = operational time of back up relay in k protection zone.
' T =Coordination Time Interval(CTI)
TDSi min d TDSi d TDSi max
And
Tik 0.14xTDSi [(Iik / I pi )0.04 1]
Step 2: For each particle the fitness value is calculated using
the fitness function given below
m
fitness function =1/ ¦ Tijk (1 - ¦ nm )
1 ­°Vnd i 1 0
where ,
‘m’ is the number of constraints and
‘n’ represents the penalty value if a solution does not satisfy
the constraints. It can take a value of either 0, if all constraints
are satisfied or 1 if the solution is not feasible.
Step 3: Compare each particle’s fitness value with its p best. If
the fitness value is greater than pbest then update pbest. with this
new value. Determine the current gbest among all particles’
pbest. positions. Compare the current gbest position with the
previous gbest position and update gbest
Step 4: Calculate the new velocity and modify the particle’s
position in each dimension one at a time and accept the move
based on the aforementioned strategy. Repeat until the
maximum number of iterations is reached.
The PSO algorithm is capable of obtaining a close to
optimal solution. It is not possible to select one setting for the
relays that satisfies both grid connected and micro-grid
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(ICCMC)
operation of DGs. Directional overcurrent relays provide a
viable solution for micro grid protection. A central protection
unit is required to change the settings of the relays based on
the system configuration.
D. HYBRID PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION
The standard PSO algorithm is used for unconstrained
optimization tasks. A very simple method based on hybrid of
PSO and linear programming is presented.[7-8] At the
beginning for creating the first population, a random set of Iset
which one available in the relays are selected and then for
improving the convergence of PSO the TMS are computed
with linear programming. Then the position of each particle
(Iset) is updated with
Vnd i 1 . nd i  c1 .rand ().( pbestnd  x i nd )  c2 .rand ().( gbest nd  x i nd )
wV
And
xnd t 1 xnd t  vnd t
Where,
Vnd is velocity of nth particle
The constraints should be checkedIf the constraints are not
satisfied, then updating process are done with again the
constraints are checked. .[17-18] If again the constraints are
not satisfied, updating is done by Thus we have:
If the constraints are not satisfied for the first time:
­°Vnd i 1 c2 .rand ().( g best nd  x i nd )
® i 1
°̄ xset xset i  vnd i 1
If the constraints are not satisfied for the second time:
® i
°̄ xset  1 pbest nd
After updating the Iset is finished and quantizing to available
setting. TMS can be calculated with linear method at the end
of each iteration of PSO method[8-9]. Both near end and far
end faults are taken into account in the constraint of proposed
method. This method shows that proposed method finds the
better solution with less iterations compared to LP and GA
method.[12]
VI CONCLUSION
This paper reviews various methods of relay
coordination. Genetic Algorithm is advantageous in large
networks and has ability to consider both linear and nonlinear
characteristics of relay. Linear programming method is simple
and uncomplicated way to solve the problem reduces
complexity of many variables on solution of power system.
The standard PSO algorithm is used for unconstrained
optimization tasks. PSO in its standard form is not capable of
dealing with the coordination of DOCR, which is a
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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
constrained optimization problem. Therefore another method
hybrid PSO which uses both linear programming and
Conventional PSO gives a better solution with less iteration
compared the LP and GA methods.
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