Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

A new approach for optimal coordination of distance and directional

over-current relays using multiple embedded crossover PSO
Mehdi Farzinfar a, Mostafa Jazaeri a,, Farzad Razavi b
a
b

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty, Semnan University, PO Box 35131-19111, Semnan, Iran
Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty, Tafresh University, Tafresh, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 April 2013
Received in revised form 30 March 2014
Accepted 2 April 2014
Available online 3 May 2014
Keywords:
Power system protection
Optimal relay coordination
Distance relay
Directional over-current relay
Embedded crossover particle swarm
optimization

a b s t r a c t
Proper coordination between distance relays and Directional Over-Current Relays (DOCRs) in power systems is one of the important conditions for the system security. The coordination problem in interconnected systems, because of complexity of the system, is complicated and a powerful optimization
program must be used in order to do the best and optimal relay coordination.
In this paper at rst, a new problem formulation for optimal coordination of distance relays in presence
of DOCRs, as the backup relays, is proposed. Then to deal with this complex problem, as another contribution, a new Multiple Embedded Crossover PSO (MECPSO) is proposed. In the presented MECPSO by
updating velocity vector, diversity of the swarm is enhanced and exploration and global search capabilities of the PSO is improved as well. In the proposed approach, with considering the effect of in-feed or
out-feed currents, the optimal second zone timing of distance relays and optimal settings of DOCRs are
computed. The proposed method is tested on two case studies and encouraging optimal results are
obtained.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction
One of the main objectives of protective system is to detect and
isolate the faulty parts as fast as possible. Various relays with different operating principles in the protective system can be used for
fault clearing. Directional Over-Current Relays (DOCR) and distance relays are commonly used for protecting of transmission
and specially sub-transmission systems [1]. The key point in such
system is exact settings and coordination between these relays
so that the relay closest to the fault would operates faster than
other relays. Only if the fault is not cleared by the main protection,
the back-up protection should initiate tripping after Coordination
Time Interval (CTI) .In networks that are protected by distance
and DOCRs, the coordination between a distance relay with a distance one, directional over-current relay with an directional
over-current one and distance relays with directional over-current
relays must be fullled. In such systems the calculation of the
apparent impedance of the zones and related time delays for distance relays and Time Setting Multiplier (TSM) and the pickup current (Ip) setting for directional over-current relays, as backup for
distance protection, are the core of coordination study [2,3].
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 9126144786; fax: +98 2313354123.
E-mail addresses: farzinfar.mehdi@gmail.com (M. Farzinfar), mjazaeri@semnan.
ac.ir (M. Jazaeri), farzad.razavi@tafreshu.ac.ir (F. Razavi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2014.04.001
0142-0615/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nowadays with respect to the complexity of the interconnected

systems, the optimization techniques have been developed to solve
the relay coordination problem and nd the optimal relay settings
and at rst time, for the coordination of directional Over-Current
Relays (DOCRs), this idea was used in [4]. Also in [57] the traditional optimal coordination has been performed in over-current
relay coordination using linear programming approach including
simplex, two phase simplex methods. In these methods, the pickup
current settings are assumed to be predetermined and the operation time of each relay is considered as a linear function of its
TSM. These optimization techniques are not capable of handling
the complicated problems and the obtained results may be trapped
in the local minimum values.
Recently, applying the intelligence based optimization methods
in order to solve the DOCRs coordination problem, as a complex
and non-linear optimization problem, has grown rapidly. In [8
11] Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) are
proposed to calculate the optimal solution for relay setting. DOCRs
coordination problem has been solved in [12] using hybrid GA,
considering the effects of the different network topologies. In
[13] the problem of determining the optimum settings of DOCRs
is formulated as a Nonlinear Programming Problem (NLPP), and
hybrid GANLP approach is proposed to nd the optimum solution.
The optimal coordination and optimum solution for relay settings
in Ref. [2,3,14] has been done by methods based on PSO algorithm.

M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

Aforementioned references in above have proposed optimization methods only for over-current relays coordination and less
effort has been devoted to the optimal coordination of distance
relays in a combined protection scheme with directional over-current relays. In Ref. [1,15] coordination problem of over-current
relay and second zone of distance relays have been solved using
linear programming technique. These papers have a main drawback that the operating time of second zone has been assumed to
be the same for all distance relays, and then linear programming
methods have been used for solving of the optimization problem.
This problem has been solved in [16] and also the optimal coordination of distance and directional over-current relays has been
performed using GA. In [16] by dening an objective function
including different relays characteristic the optimal coordination
problem is solved.
In this paper, a new problem formulation for optimal setting
and coordination of distance relays and directional over-current
relays, in a combined protection scheme, is proposed. In the proposed formulation, as a novelty, the objective function (OF) is modied so that the coordination between these relays in a system
with combined protection scheme is fullled precisely. In the proposed formulation, a term related to combined distance and DOCR
relays coordination is added to the objective function. This term
tries to decrease the operating time of backup DOCR and also the
second zone timing in distance relays. Also in determining optimum settings of the distance relays and DOCRs the effect of the
in-feed or out-feed currents is considered. The in-feed or out-feed
currents could cause the protective system to operate without
selectivity and its effect must be taken into account when the relay
coordination problem is being solved.
In such optimization problems, the quality of solution is a concern for the intelligence based optimization methods so that these
methods may be trapped in local minimum or even infeasible solutions for the complex problem of coordination. Due to this and in
order to mitigate the imperfections of the classic intelligence based
optimization methods for solving the coordination problem, as the
second novelty, a new Multiple Embedded Crossover PSO (MECPSO) is proposed in this paper. Novel operators and techniques
are incorporated in the MECPSO to enhance its exploration and
exploitation capabilities for the solution of complex non-linear
coordination problem.
At last, the effectiveness of the proposed MECPSO to solve the
new problem formulation related to optimal coordination of distance relays and DOCRs is evaluated based on two test cases. The
contributions of this paper are described in section Proposed
method.

621

This section is devoted to review the optimal problem of DOCRs

coordination and the new formulation for coordination between
distance and over-current relays is stated in next section.
In the optimal coordination problem of DOCRs, the aim is to
determine the TSM and Ip of each relays, so that the overall operating time of the over-current relays, as an objective function, is minimized [8].
n
n
 X

X
Min a1 T ik 2 a2 DT mb  b1 DT mb  jDT mb j2
i

where T ik indicates the operation time of DOCRi for a fault in zone K.

In this paper is assumed that the directional over-current relays
have standard IDMT characteristics (Inverse Denite Minimum
Time), and the operation time is calculated as (2).

0:14  TSMi

T ik  0:02
Isci
1
Ip

where TSMi and Ipi are the time setting multiplier and pickup current setting of the ith relay, respectively and Isci is the short circuit
current passing through ith relay.
The second term in the objective function is related to the coordination constraint, that are introduced in the following, and a1 , a2 ,
b1 are the weighting factors. Also DTmb, according to inequality (3),
state the discrimination time between the main and backup DOC
relays. The other related constraints, that make the optimization
problem infeasible, are stated as (4)(6).
In order to satisfy the requirement of selectivity, according to
above objective function, the following constraint must be added:
1
1
T Fj-back-up
 T Fi-primary
6 CTI

1
1
where T Fi-primary
, T Fj-back-up
are the operating time of ith main relay and
jth back-up relay respectively for the near-end fault F 1 as shown in
Fig 1.
The Coordination Time Interval (CTI) is the minimum time gap
in operation between the main and its backup relay. CTI depends
upon type of relays, speed of the circuit breaker and a safety margin which can be selected between 0.2 s and 0.5 s.
The satisfying of selectivity constraint dictates that when a fault
occurs, rst the main relay must operate to minimize the isolated
area and in case of failure of this relay to operate, another relay
must operate as backup protection
Other constraints that should be considered are the limits on
the relay parameters setting that can be presented as follows:

DOCRs coordination problem statement

TSMimin 6 TSMi 6 TSMimax

In transmission and sub-transmission networks, it is a usual

practice to use DOCRs as a backup for distance protection. In such
systems, in addition to Distance relays coordination and also DOCRs coordination, the coordination between distance relays as main
protection with DOCRs as backup protection must be done
carefully.





min
max
max Imax
6 Ipi 6 min Imin
loadi ; Ipi
faulti ; Ipi

The minimum pickup current setting of the relay is the maximum value between the minimum available current setting




and maximum local current Imax
passes through it. In
Imin
p
load

Fig. 1. Main and backup relays.

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M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

similar, the maximum pickup current setting is chosen minimum



on the relay and minimum fault current
value between Imax
p


Imin
which passes through it [12], [3].
fault
At last, the operating time of each main relay must lie between
0.05 s and 1 s.

Ti

min

6 Ti 6 Ti

max

Proposed method
The aim of the present work is to devise a way in which by optimal setting of second zone timing of distance relays and DOCRs
parameters, the coordination between these relays in a system
with combined protection scheme is fullled. Due to this, as the
rst novelty at the rst step, the problem of optimal coordination
of DOCRs in a combined protection scheme with distance relays
is formulated, and a new objective function which consists of the
terms related to combined distance and DOCR relays coordination,
is developed.
In the next step, to solve this optimization problem a new Multiple Embeded Crossover PSO (MECPSO) is proposed. Novel operators and techniques are incorporated in the MECPSO to enhance its
exploration and exploitation capabilities for the solution of complex non-linear optimal coordination problem. The MECPSO technique is the second novelty of this paper which is presented in
section The proposed MECPSO.
Problem formulation for coordination of distance relays and DOCRs
In the combined protection scheme, DOCRs are usually used as
the local back-up of distance relays and therefore the coordination
of these relays must be carried out exactly. The coordination
between distance relays should be done before the optimization
process to calculate the impedance settings for three different
zones of distance relays.
In order to do this coordination, the rst zone (Z1) of the relay is
set to detect faults on 90% of the protected line with none intentional time delay. The second zone (Z2) is set to reach a xed percentage of the shortest line emanating from the remote bus. The

remaining part of the lines emanating from the remote bus is usually protected by zone-3 relay (Z3). The coordination between
zone-2 relays, zone-3 relays and with the main relays (Z1) is
achieved by delaying the trip outputs by 1540 cycles for zone-2
and more than 40 cycle for zone-3 (see Fig. 2).
In the combined protection scheme, as stated in earlier section,
the distance relay is considered as main relay and the DOCR is the
backup relay. In such scheme as shown in Fig. 2, TSMs of all DOCRs
and the time setting of zone-2 (Z2) of all distance relays must be
calculated for critical points and this procedure can be highly problematic. So, to deal with this problem and to nd the optimum
solution for settings of all distance relays and DOCRs, a new formulation including an improved objective function (Eq. (7)) and three
additional constraints (inequalities 911) is presented.

 X
n
n 

X
Min a1 T ik 2 a2
DT mb  b1 DT mb  jDT mb j2
i

b2

n
X

i
3
DT DisDOC jDT DisDOC j2  T Fi-back-up


7

where b2 is the weighting factor.

In the above objective function, the rst two terms are similar
to objective function that has already mentioned in section DOCRs
coordination problem statement, and the last term has been developed in this paper. In this term, DT DisDOC is the discrimination time
between the operating time of backup DOCR and second zone timing of main distance relay for the fault at F3. This discrimination
time is dened as follows:
3
DT DisDOC T Fi-back-up
 T Z2 M  CTI0

where CTI0 is the time interval for coordination of main and back-up
3
relay, T Fback-up
is the operating time of DOC relay for fault F 3 and

T Z2 M is the operating time of the second zone of main distance

relay.
The new modication to proposed OF tries to decrease the operating time of backup DOCR and also the second zone timing in distance relays simultaneously. In this way, the coordination between
the backup DOCRs and distance relays for all points of the network
is fullled precisely.

Fig. 2. Critical fault locations in coordination between DOCRs and distance relays.

M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

To consider the effectiveness of this term, assume the discrimination time to be negative; in this case, which is the rare state, the
relative term will be zero. But if this time be positive in iteration,
the new terms will have large values and because of multiplying
3
with T Fi-back-up
, the optimization program tries to reduce the weight
of this term in next iteration. In this way operating time of backup
DOCR and also the second zone timing in distance relays are
decreased in each iteration.
The following constraints must be considered in solving the
mentioned coordination problem:
3
T Fback-up
 T Z2 M P CTI0

2
T Z2 B  T Fmain
P CTI0

9
10

2
In the above constraints, T Fmain
is the operating time of the main
DOCR for fault at F 2 , and T Z2 B is the operating time of the second
zone of back-up distance relay. Note that, it is not necessary that
the time coordination interval in above constraint be equal. Even
in practice, the time interval for coordination between back-up
DOCR and second zone of distance relay, at fault point F3, is chosen
less than other time interval, as used in constraint (10).
According to Fig. 2, the rst constraint states that the operating
3
time of directional over-current back-up relay, known as T Fback-up
,
must be slower than the operating time of the second zone of distance relay associated to the main circuit breaker. In other words,
when a fault occurs in critical point F 3 , the distance relay as a main
protection must get sufcient chance in second zone to clear the
fault. Only if the main protection does not clear the fault, the DOCR
in adjacent line as the back-up protection should initiate tripping
after a time interval.
The second constraint states that, for the critical fault point F 2 ,
the operating time of the second zone of the back-up distance relay
in bus B must be slower than the operating time of the DOCR of the
main circuit breaker in bus M. It should be noted that the coordination time intervals between DOCRs and rst zone (Z1) of the distance relays where located at same bus, is assumed to be 0.15 s.
The rst check point (F3) is the beginning of the zone-2 of main
distance relay in bus M. The second check point (F2) is the end of
the zone-2 of distance relay in bus B with the main DOCR of the following section. According to setting of Z1 the critical point of F 3
will be in 90% of line. It should be noted that the coordination of
DOCRs with third zone of distance relays (Z3) is a minor point, so
that if fault is not cleared until this time, operation of each of relays
does not cause any problem.
In interconnected power systems, because of a large in-feed
(out-feed) from the connected feeder, distance relays are greatly
subjected to mal-operation in the form of under-reaching
(over-reaching). In other words, in distance relaying, the position
of critical point F 2 is dependent on in-feed (out-feed) current from
connected feeders to the terminal which this matter should be considered in calculating of zone-2 setting and nding the critical
point F 2 . One of the advantages of this study is that employs the
method presented in [17] for calculating zone-2 setting of distance
relays and therefore the effect of in-feed (out-feed) from the terminals on second zone of distance relay is taken into account.
This method is based on conducting fault studies by taking into
account single level contingencies and the in-feeds from all sources
including those connected to the remote bus. As the in-feed is
varying during different operating conditions, the worst case scenario is used for determining the settings. This method increases
the percentage of the line covered by zone 2 relays (i.e. critical
point F2 location) in comparison to the conventional method [3].
In the present study, the related simulations and single contingency analysis for calculating the critical point of F2 are fullled
by DIgSILENT Power Factory software. According to Fig. 2, in a

623

combined protection scheme, computation of second zone timing

(TZ2) in critical points is an important task. In the proposed
approach, the second zone timing of each relay is calculated independent of other relays, while mostly in literatures, for all distance
relays T Z2 is assumed to be the same or is substituted by a predetermined value. In the latter case, T Z2 is considered as a constraint
problem formulation. In the other hand, according to the proposed
method, T Z2 in each distance relay, considering network topology
can be calculated different from each other. Therefore, in the present study n variables related to n distance relays are added to the
new problem formulation that has a bound constraint as follow:

T Z2min 6 T Z2 6 T Z2max

11

These limits depend on the regular selectivity and speed constraint for distance relays.
The proposed MECPSO
Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population based stochastic optimization technique developed by Kennedy and Eberhart in 1995, inspired by social behavior of bird ocking or sh
schooling [18]. PSO shares many similarities with evolutionary
computation techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (GA). In past
several years, PSO has been successfully applied in many research
and application areas. It is demonstrated that PSO gets better
results in a faster, cheaper way compared with other methods.
Also, in different references, in order to perform difcult optimization tasks and to nd a reasonably good solution, some modications have been introduced [19,20].
In PSO, the particles, i.e. trial solutions of the optimization problem, share their information with each other and run toward best
trajectory to nd optimum solution in an iterative process [21]. In
each iteration, the velocity and position of particles are updated
and each particle searches for better positions in the search space
by changing its velocity vector. To enhance the efciency of the
PSO and to control the local search and convergence to the global
optimum solution, some modications are proposed in this paper.
Based on Clercs coefcient, velocity and position updating
equation of PSO algorithm is as follows [22]:



V i;iter1 0:73  V i;iter 2:05r1 Pbest
i;iter  X i;iter
2:05r 2 Gbestiter  X i;iter
X i;iter1 X i;iter V i;iter1

12
13

where V i;iter and X i;iter represent the velocity vector and the position
best
vector of ith particle at each iteration, respectively; Pbest
i;iter and Gi;iter
are personal best position of ith particle and global best position
of swarm until iteration iter, respectively; r1 and r2 are two random
numbers between 0 and 1.
At rst, in order to enhance stability and convergence rate of
PSO algorithm, its randomness is decreased as follows:




V i;iter1 0:73  V i;iter 2:05r1 Pbest
i;iter  X i;iter 2:051  r 1 Gbest iter  X i;iter

14
By simplifying Eq. (14) we have:

V i;iter1 0:73  V i;iter 2:05P  X i;iter

15

where the P, as position vector, is equal to:

P r 1 Pbest
i;iter 1  r 1 Gbest iter

16

When a particle position is updated in one form of P vector, this

particle becomes lazy in the swarm after a while and the exploration capability of the PSO is degraded. To remedy this problem and
increase the activity of swarm particles in optimal coordination

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M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

problem, we propose the idea of updating velocity vector using different form of P vector based on crossover operator in GA. As can
be seen from (16), the vector P is formed based on intermediate
crossover in GA. Inspired from this observation, other variants of
crossover operator in GA can be applied as follows:
Intermediate crossover:

P1 r1 Pbest
i;iter 1  r 1 Gbest iter
Directional crossover with concentration on



best
P2 Pbest
i;iter r 1 P i;iter  Gbest iter

17
P best
i;iter :

Directional crossover
with concentration
on Gbestiter:


P3 Gbestiter r 1 Gbestiter  Pbest
i;iter

18

19

Average crossover:



P4 0:5 Gbestiter Pbest
i;iter

20

In the proposed velocity updating method, one of the four types

of crossover operators is selected randomly in each iteration to
form P vector for each particle. Then the P vector is used in Eq.
(15) for updating velocity vector. In this way, diversity of the
swarm is enhanced. Moreover exploration and global search capabilities of the PSO is improved as well.
By the proposed modied PSO, called Multiple Embedded
Crossover PSO (MECPSO), the great advantages such as good exploration capability and convergence behavior are obtained and so the
MECPSO is highly suitable for solving complex non-linear coordination problem. The performance of the proposed MECPSO is evaluated in the next section.
Simulation and results
The effectiveness of the proposed MECPSO to solve the new
problem formulation related to optimal coordination of distance
relays and DOCRs is evaluated based on two test cases. First test
system is the 8-bus study network and the second is the IEEE
14-bus system.
In order to apply the proposed MECPSO to solve the coordination problem and compute the optimum results, at the rst step,
the whole Main/Backup (M/B) relay pairs, i.e. DOCRDOCR, distancedistance and distanceDOCR, of each test case are identied.
Then, in order to consider the related constraints, short circuit
analyses are performed for calculating short circuit current for
three phase fault occurred at exactly close to the circuit breaker
of the main over-current relays and at the critical points of F2
and F3.
In the next step, the apparent impedances of the rst and second zones of distance relays, with respect to mentioned method
in section Problem formulation for coordination of distance relays
and DOCRs, are calculated. After getting the required data the
MECPSO is started to solve the proposed formulation problem
and calculate the optimum setting of relays.
In applying the MECPSO to the problem formulation, the value
of weighting factors a1 , a2 , b1 ,and b2 , in objective function presented in (7), are selected as the best ones among several runs
and equal to 1, 1, 100, and 50 respectively.
Also in order to further verify and evaluate the effectiveness of
the MECPSO, the optimum results are compared with those of the
Modied Adaptive PSO used in [3] and also with the classic PSO.
Test case 1: 8- bus system
The rst test system, as shown in Fig. 3, consists of 8 buses, 7
lines, 2 transformers, and 2 generators and also a link to another

Fig. 3. Single line diagram of 8-bus system.

network, modeled by a short circuit power of 400 MVA. According

to the relying scheme, the network consists of 14 DOCRs with IEC
standard inverse type characteristic and 14 distance relays with
mho characteristic, which their locations are indicated in Fig. 3.
The system detailed data can be found in [3].
In DOCRs, TSM values can range continuously from 0.1 to 1.1,
and CTI is assumed to be 0.2 s, also CTI0 is taken as 0.2 s.
The main/backup (M/B) pairs in this test case and the results of
short circuit analysis, for fault in different positions, are given in
Table 1. By applying the MECPSO to the system of Fig. 3, the optimum output results are obtained, that are shown in Tables 2 and 3.
In order to investigate the effect of the constraint on second zone
timing of distance relays (inequality 11), the coordination problem

Table 1
M/B Relay pairs and the near-end and critical fault currents in 8-buses system.
M/B pairs

Near-end fault
currents (KA)

Faults currents at the critical

points (KA)

M/
B
no.

Main
relay
no.

Backup
relay
no.

Main
relay

Backup
relay

Main relay
(critical point
of F2)

Backup relay
(critical point
of F3)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

1
2
2
3
4
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
10
11
12
12
13
14
14

6
1
7
2
3
4
5
14
5
13
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
8
1
9

3.260
6.113
6.113
3.06
3.833
2.410
6.215
6.215
5.228
5.228
6.134
6.134
2.06
3.949
3.893
6.140
6.140
3.017
5.172
5.172

3.260
1.90
1.001
3.06
2.324
2.410
1.060
1.780
1.112
0.834
1.890
1.126
2.06
2.439
3.893
0.988
1.780
3.017
0.857
1.087

2.665
5.587
5.587
3.588
3.676
2.228
5.557
5.557
4.439
4.439
5.424
5.424
2.302
3.797
3.733
5.645
5.645
2.668
4.391
4.391

1.608
1.101
0.580
3.111
1.568
1.656
0.292
0.813
1.028
0.297
0.733
0.139
1.641
1.693
3.258
0.614
1.165
1.552
0.267
1.0

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M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

Table 2
Optimal relay settings in 8-buses system (for 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6).
Relay no.

Time setting multiplier (TSM)

Pickup current setting (A) (Ip)

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

0.100
0.107
0.100
0.100
0.117
0.100
0.232
0.100
0.123
0.100
0.100
0.108
0.100
0.160

0.101
0.118
0.102
0.100
0.193
0.100
0.260
0.100
0.165
0.100
0.100
0.127
0.100
0.197

0.100
0.100
0.100
0.100
0.145
0.100
0.265
0.100
0.146
0.100
0.100
0.100
0.100
0.188

420.39
1000.00
684.00
738.00
297.60
896.04
139.20
864.90
250.51
689.52
738.00
1000.00
432.02
292.80

368.76
995.86
805.74
865.94
153.15
856.06
122.99
811.08
180.96
726.34
780.72
964.58
367.83
238.03

541.03
999.99
847.89
895.22
322.40
869.34
150.80
839.46
289.79
935.20
915.41
999.68
555.88
317.12

0.590
0.591
0.588
0.590
0.594
0.589
0.590
0.574
0.590
0.590
0.533
0.581
0.586
0.592

0.589
0.594
0.598
0.592
0.595
0.595
0.574
0.595
0.599
0.591
0.534
0.544
0.600
0.598

0.600
0.562
0.569
0.600
0.600
0.600
0.600
0.600
0.600
0.600
0.200
0.566
0.600
0.600

Best solution found (OF)

MECPSO
MAPSO
PSO

Feasibility

Feasible

is solved for two boundary of TZ2, i.e. (I): 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6, (II):
0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:9,and the obtained results corresponding to two
above boundaries are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
In these tables, also in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the
proposed modication and for the purpose of comparison, in addition to the optimal values of the decision variables (i.e. Ipi , TSMi and
T Z2i ) obtained by the MECPSO, the same optimum results obtained
by the MAPSO and also the classic PSO are shown. It should be
noted that the problem formulation presented in [3] is used to calculate the optimal relay settings by the MAPSO solver.
The best solution found by these optimization methods is given
and it reveals that the MECPSO has better performance and convergence behavior with respect to the MAPSO and the classic PSO.
Also, the results show that the TSM values and the second zone
timing obtained from the MECPSO are relatively smaller than those
obtained from the MAPSO and the classic PSO. It can be seen from
the results that a good solution cannot be obtained for complex
problem of coordination by applying the classical PSO.
Another nding that can be drawn from Tables 2 and 3 is that
the optimal value of the objective function, e.g. in the MECPSO

Second zone timing-TZ2 (sec)

5.4903
5.9118
6.677

method is increased from 5.4903 s to 6.1087 s corresponding to

two above boundaries.
In order to consider the role and effectiveness of the novelties of
the OF, the operating time of main and back-up directional overcurrent relays, for the near-end faults and in case of
0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6, are calculated and given in Table 4.
The comparison between the presented results in this table
shows that the computed operating times of back-up relays by
MECPSO are lower than those computed by other methods. Hence
the new formulation for coordination problem is more effective
and more reliable and can produce the results that were intended.
Again with respect to the results of Table 4, it can be found that
the proposed MECPSO have a better performance than other mentioned methods so that the backup DOCRs operating times have
relatively small values and miscoordination does not exist. By
applying the MECPSO the coordination between relays (with
respect to related constraints and minimum CTI and CTI0 of 0.2 s)
is maintained for all main/back-up relays while the classic PSO
cannot give a good coordination and the operating time of relays,
specially back-up relays, are unreasonably high.

Table 3
Optimal relay settings in 8-buses system (for 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:9).
Relay no.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Time setting multiplier (TSM)

Pickup current setting (A) (Ip)

Second zone timing-TZ2 (sec)

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

PSO

0.100
0.169
0.102
0.100
0.213
0.100
0.305
0.114
0.189
0.100
0.100
0.147
0.100
0.259

0.101
0.150
0.100
0.100
0.191
0.116
0.309
0.122
0.173
0.100
0.100
0.168
0.100
0.211

0.113
0.167
0.101
0.101
0.193
0.126
0.417
0.121
0.215
0.100
0.104
0.178
0.115
0.249

446.69
701.74
831.38
931.56
154.51
923.50
116.22
764.50
166.58
780.07
809.78
847.77
483.04
147.89

396.87
758.33
835.62
904.58
177.09
717.86
91.74
652.48
181.40
790.23
810.55
640.05
425.67
230.68

541.63
1000
868.33
959.09
226.82
906.06
64.01
948.23
171.61
897.12
932.59
900.48
549.84
243.62

0.783
0.680
0.566
0.801
0.871
0.666
0.658
0.629
0.663
0.602
0.539
0.620
0.819
0.614

0.830
0.702
0.629
0.815
0.822
0.637
0.680
0.568
0.746
0.717
0.595
0.641
0.751
0.654

0.900
0.740
0.750
0.845
0.900
0.737
0.900
0.761
0.866
0.812
0.701
0.803
0.900
0.900

Best solution found (OF)

MECPSO
MAPSO
PSO

Feasibility

Feasible

6.1087
6.5282
7.4288

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M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

Test case 2: IEEE 14-buses system

Table 4
Operating time of main and backup relays (for 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6).
M/B pairs

Operating time of DOCRs (second)

M/B
no.

Main
relay no.

Backup
relay no.

Main relay
MECPSO MAPSO PSO

MECPSO MAPSO PSO

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

1
2
2
3
4
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
10
11
12
12
13
14
14

6
1
7
2
3
4
5
14
5
13
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
8
1
9

0.335
0.395
0.395
0.360
0.418
0.385
0.274
0.274
0.432
0.432
0.350
0.350
0.401
0.394
0.368
0.410
0.410
0.283
0.309
0.309

1.160
0.769
1.059
0.650
0.837
0.859
1.872
0.809
0.800
1.865
0.795
2.407
0.800
0.836
0.633
1.681
0.798
0.809
1.189
0.831

0.316
0.446
0.446
0.526
0.464
0.476
0.346
0.346
0.467
0.467
0.339
0.339
0.465
0.407
0.429
0.472
0.472
0.326
0.434
0.434

Backup relay

0.483
0.444
0.444
0.542
0.555
0.565
0.408
0.408
0.558
0.558
0.405
0.405
0.525
0.560
0.558
0.442
0.442
0.492
0.522
0.522

1.103
0.811
1.543
0.715
1.06
1.072
2.262
0.734
0.673
2.015
0.814
3.807
0.851
0.897
0.721
1.356
0.854
0.931
2.248
0.698

1.100
0.878
4.629
0.569
1.000
1.000
6.025
1.000
1.320
5.201
1.022
5.482
1.082
1.000
0.550
3.881
0.940
1.218
6.909
1.001

For instance, the time taken by relay 5 (backup for relay 6) to

operate, in case of the MECPSO technique, for fault corresponding
to M/B No. 7 is 1.872 s while this time by the MAPSO and the
classic PSO is calculated to be 2.262 and 6.025 s respectively
that is higher than the typical time for operation of a back-up
relay. It is necessary to point out, however, that major amount
of fault current ows through relay 14 (the other backup for
relay 6, corresponding to M/B No. 8) and so, because of low fault
current passing through relay 5 the operating time is relatively
high. Similar description can be given for operating time of other
relays.

The second network tested by the proposed method is the IEEE

14-bus system. A single line diagram of this standard system is
shown in Fig. 4. It consists of ve synchronous machines, three
of which are synchronous compensators, 3 transformers and 16
lines. Static and dynamic modeling is carried out accurately in DIgSILENT software. The network consist of 68 numerical relays (34
DOCRs with IEC standard inverse type characteristic and 34 distance relays with mho characteristic), which their location are
indicated in Fig. 4.
For DOCRs, TSM values can range continuously from 0.1 to 1.1
and CTI is assumed to be 0.2 s. also CTI0 is also taken as 0.2 s. Similar to test case 1, for this network also, the main/backup (M/B)
pairs and corresponding fault currents for the faults exactly close
to the circuit breaker of the main over-current relays and for the
faults at the critical points of F 2 , F 3 are obtained. Then, the MECPSO
is applied to the optimization problem to solve it and to obtain
optimal coordination of distance and DOC relays.
The optimal results (i.e. Ipi , TDSi , T Z2i and OF) corresponding to
boundary of 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6 are shown in Table 5. Due to the complexity of the this test case, the related coordination problem
become a complicated nonlinear program and the classic PSO cannot give a good coordination. Consequently a large number of constraints are violated during execution which leads to erroneous
and unreliable solution. For this reason, the proposed problem formulation is solved by the MECPSO and the MAPSO. The obtained
results are compared in Table 5.
Also, for this test case due to typical requirement of second zone
time setting, the coordination problem is solved regarding only the
boundary of 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6. Similar to example 1, for this network
also, it has been shown that the optimal solution is feasible and
satisfactory; also the best solution found by the MECPSO is smaller
than the MAPSO. This matter shows robustness of the MECPSO and
also proves that the new formulation is applicable to large and
complex systems. In other words, by using the MECPSO, as a

Fig. 4. Single line diagram of IEEE 14-buses system.

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M. Farzinfar et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 61 (2014) 620628

Table 5
Optimal relay settings in IEEE 14-buses system (for 0:2 6 T Z2 6 0:6).
Relay no.

Time setting
multiplier (TSM)

Pickup current setting

(A) (Ip)

MECPSO

MAPSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

MECPSO

MAPSO

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

0.100
0.112
0.132
0.100
0.176
0.100
0.117
0.100
0.110
0.160
0.207
0.139
0.117
0.162
0.100
0.206
0.144

0.118
0.120
0.136
0.112
0.140
0.132
0.109
0.100
0.113
0.196
0.404
0.100
0.156
0.122
0.269
0.419
0.302

545.72
648.79
422.38
873.69
597.75
916.93
711.77
888.90
560.15
764.51
798.11
875.48
1160.85
778.79
378.79
415.18
1000.0

582.22
505.10
465.09
972.68
553.60
1083.37
743.01
932.25
505.81
636.16
965.09
1101.12
821.84
727.90
366.95
457.06
881.50

0.403
0.474
0.352
0.323
0.550
0.401
0.514
0.487
0.450
0.564
0.518
0.600
0.470
0.394
0.350
0.427
0.498

0.422
0. 454
0.409
0.354
0.479
0.592
0.600
0.560
0.533
0.512
0.433
0.600
0.594
0.464
0.378
0.600
0.477

Second zone timingTZ2 (sec)

Best solution found (OF)

MECPSO
MAPSO

Feasibility

Feasible

powerful optimizer, the proposed approach can be applied for any

other complicated and greater power system.
As can be seen from Table 5, the second zone timing of distance
relays when the MAPSO is applied is greater than those obtained
by the MECPSO. Also it can be seen that the optimal second zone
timing of each distance relays is over typical value 0.3 s and with
respect to its position in the network and also the network topology, can has different optimal setting.
Conclusions
In this paper, a novel approach has been proposed for optimal
setting and coordination of distance relays and directional overcurrent relays in a combined protection scheme. In the proposed
approach, by improving the objective function and also considering
the effect of in-feed or out-feed currents on protective relays, a
new problem formulation has been developed. Then in order to
solve this complex nonlinear problem and obtain the optimal coordination, a new Multiple Embedded Crossover PSO (MECPSO) has
been presented.
By solving the coordination problem, the optimum second zone
timing of each distance relay and optimal TSM and pickup current
value of DOCRs have been computed simultaneously. From the
obtained results, it has been shown that the new method is successful and efcient. It is anticipated that the proposed method
would help protection engineers to determine the optimum and
suitable settings of the relays that cause exact relays coordination.
This paper provides a theoretical foundation for the optimal setting and coordination of protective relays with considering the
effect of the in-feed or out-feed currents. In future studies these
currents can be considered to come from different types of distributed energy resources.
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