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CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 36, NO. 4, FALL 2013

A New Adaptive Voltage Protection Scheme for

Distribution Network With Distributed Generations
Nouvelle mthode adaptative de protection de
tension pour rseaux de Distribution avec
Gnrations Distribues
Jing Ma, Member, IEEE, Wei Ma, Xi Wang, and Zengping Wang, Member, IEEE
Abstract A new adaptive voltage protection scheme suitable for distribution networks with potential
distributed generation (DG) inserts is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) are
utilized to store relevant line parameters, obtain real-time voltage and current data, and facilitate communication
among the IEDs. On this basis, the adaptive voltage primary and backup protection scheme are put forward
according to the relationship between the before-and-after-fault phase voltage difference and the phase current.
Simulation results show the automatically adaptive relaying by the proposed protection scheme under different
system operation conditions and fault types, and verify the immunity of the proposed method to the introduction
and output variation of DG. Furthermore, compared with traditional voltage protection, the proposed protection
scheme extends the protection range to a considerable degree.
Rsum Dans cet article, nous prsentons une nouvelle approche adaptative de protection de tension dans les
rseaux de distribution avec gnration distribue (GD). En premier lieu, des dispositifs lectroniques intelligents,
tout en communiquant entre eux, enregistrent les paramtres cls de la ligne et mesurent la tension et le courant
en temps rel. Sur cette base, le circuit de protection principal et le circuit de protection de secours sont activs
selon la relation entre la phase du courant et le dphasage entre les tensions mesures avant et aprs le lieu
o survient la panne lectrique. Les rsultats des simulations montrent que le systme de protection propos
est automatiquement adaptatif quelles que soient les conditions de fonctionnement et quel que soit le type de
panne. Limmunit lintroduction du GD et aux variations en sortie du GD est aussi garantie par le systme
propos. De plus, compar aux systmes de protection de tension usuels, notre systme de protection tend
considrablement la porte de la protection.
Index Terms Adaptive voltage protection, distributed generation (DG), intelligent electronic devices (IEDs).

I. I NTRODUCTION

N TRADITIONAL protective relaying, the setting value

is calculated offline considering the maximum operation
mode of the system, with the sensitivity check carried out in
the systems minimum operation mode. In addition, the setting
Manuscript received December 2, 2012; revised April 8, 2013 and August 3,
2013; accepted August 19, 2013. Date of current version March 14, 2014. This
work was supported in part by the National High Technology Research and
Development Program of China (863 Program) under Grant 2012AA050208,
in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
51277193, Grant 50907021, and Grant 50837002, in part by the Chinese University Scientific Fund Project under Grant 11MG01, in part by the Scientific
Research Foundation through the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State
Education Ministry (2011) under Grant 1139, in part by the Hebei Natural
Science Foundation under Grant E2012502034, and in part by the Electric
Power Youth Science and Technology Creativity Foundation of CSEE (2012)
under Grant 46.
J. Ma is with the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System
with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University,
Beijing 102206, China, and also with the Bradley Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA (e-mail: hdmajing@aliyun.com).
W. Ma, X. Wang, and Z. Wang are with the State Key Laboratory of
Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North
China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
Associate Editor managing this papers review: S. Ali Khajehoddin.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/CJECE.2014.2302858

value remains the same during the real operation process. In

this case, an optimal protection effect can be hardly gained,
since the setting value is not the optimal one when the system
does not operate in the maximum mode. Given this fact, the
concept of adaptive relaying was first brought out by some
scholars in the 1980s [1][3], which refers to the protective
relaying that is able to change the operating characteristic or
setting value adaptive to the variation of system operation
modes and fault types.
So far, considerable achievements have been made in the
study and research on adaptive protection. Among them are
adaptive current protection [4], [5], adaptive voltage protection [6], [7], adaptive distance protection [8], [9], and
so on. Consider the study on adaptive current protection.
Brahm et al. [4] present an adaptive current protection scheme,
which depend on remote communication capabilities. A new
adaptive current protection is put forward in [5], which
is suitable for distribution networks with DG connections,
and which can effectively solve the problem of cooperative setting between the primary and backup protection.
As for the study on adaptive voltage protection, an adaptive
voltage instantaneous protection is proposed in [6]. By realtime calculation of the combined impedance on the source

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MA et al.: NEW ADAPTIVE VOLTAGE PROTECTION SCHEME

Fig. 1.

143

Traditional industrial distribution network fed through source E S .

side, the voltage set value is automatically adjusted to

achieve a best performance of the voltage instantaneous
protection. Juan et al. [7] combine both adaptive current
instantaneous protection and adaptive voltage instantaneous
protection, which thus efficiently resolves the low sensitivity
problem of line protection in distribution network. As for
the research on adaptive distance protection, a novel adaptive
distance II-section relaying is put forth in [8] with an extension
of the protection range compared with traditional distance IIsection relaying. In [9], an adaptive distance protection scheme
is proposed, which can automatically calculate the settings
according to the operation mode and the output power of
DG with no need for communication.
Recently, the introduction of DG changes the single power
radial structure of the distribution network, as well as the
operation state and fault level of the power system, thus posing
great challenges to the protective relaying. Small-capacity DG
does not affect the protection much [10]. However, the joint
impact of large-scale DGs can be strong, even leading to maloperation of the traditional current protection. Besides, the
flexible and diverse introduction patterns of DG also make
the coordination between relays more complicated [11][13].
In this context, a novel adaptive voltage protection scheme
is proposed in this paper, where the intelligent electronic
devices (IEDs) are utilized to store relevant line parameters, obtain real-time voltage and current data, and facilitate
communication among the IEDs. On this basis, the adaptive
voltage primary and backup protection scheme are put forward
according to the relationship between the before-and-afterfault phase voltage difference and the phase current. Simulation results show the automatically adaptive relaying by the
proposed protection scheme under different system operation
conditions and fault types, and verify the immunity of the proposed method to the introduction and output variation of DG.
Furthermore, compared with traditional voltage protection, the
proposed protection scheme extends the protection range to a
considerable degree.
II. A DAPTIVE VOLTAGE P ROTECTION S CHEME
A. Deficiency of Traditional Protection Scheme
The configuration of the over-current relay in the traditional
distribution network is shown in Fig. 1. The relay is situated at
the upstream of the protected feeders, close to the bus on the
source side. The protection range of the relay extends to the
downstream of the feeders. For example, when a fault occurs
at k1 on line CD, the relays R5 and R3 will act as the primary
protection and backup protection, respectively, to trip the fault.

Fig. 2.

Industrial power network fed through source E S and DG.

Suppose DG is introduced to the distribution network

through Bus C, shown in Fig. 2. When a fault occurs at k1 ,
the fault current measured at R5 will increase due to the
contribution of DG, thus mal-operation of R5 may result.
At the same time, the contribution of DG will shorten the
protection range of R1 and R3 and lower their sensitivity,
thus R1 and R3 may refuse to operate.
When a fault occurs at k2 , the fault current measured at
R1 and R3 is only supplied by the system equivalent source
E S , thus R1 and R3 can operate normally. However, after the
operation of R1 and R3, DG continues to supply fault current
to the fault location, which will make the electric arc at the
fault location unable to extinguish, and reclosing of the fault
line will thus be delayed.
When a fault occurs at k3 , the fault current measured at
R1 is only supplied by the system equivalent source E S , thus
R1 can operate correctly to cut the faults within its protection
range. However, the fault current supplied by DG through R3
to the fault location may cause R3 to mal-operate.
When a fault occurs at k4 , only R7 needs to operate to cut
the fault line, so that the other feeder line can maintain normal
operation. However, due to the contribution of DG through R3
and R1, the fault current measured at R7 will increase, thus
the selectivity of protection may not be guaranteed. At the
same time, if there is no direction sensor at R1 and R3, the
contribution of DG may cause R1 and R3 to mal-operate, so
that the fault range will be enlarged.
B. Adaptive Voltage Protection Scheme
To deal with the influence of DG on the over-current
protection, an adaptive voltage protection scheme based on
IEDS is proposed in this paper. The IEDs are widely used
nowadays in distributed level and are able to obtain voltage and current simultaneously [14][17]. Furthermore, many
functions (such as many more protective functions, event monitoring/oscillography, enhanced metering, high-speed communication capabilities, and so on) can be integrated into an
IED, allowing new power system problem-solving capabilities
while permitting significant cost savings as compared with
discrete protective relays, instruments, meters, recorders, and
transducers.
The configuration of adaptive voltage protection scheme is
as follows.
1) IEDs are installed on both ends of the lines between
DG and the system source.

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following relationship:
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
|U MA U MB | = |U MB U MC | = |U MC U MA |.

Fig. 3.

Adaptive voltage protection configure scheme.

(1)

Taking phase B, C as an example, (1) can be further illustrated

as
 (3)
 
 

U U (3)  =  I(3) Z mn I(3) Z mn  = 3  I(3) Z mn 
MB
MC
MB
MC
MB
(2)
(3)
(3)
where IMB and IMC represent the phase currents of phase B
and phase C measured at IED3.
When a BC phase-to-phase fault occurs at F, the phase
(2)
(2)
voltages U MB and U MC measured at IED3 always meet the
expression

 


 (2)
U U (2)  =  I(2) Z mn I(2) Z mn  = 2  I(2) Z mn  (3)
MB
MC
MB
MC
MB
(2)
(2)
where IMB and IMC are the phase currents measured at IED3.
Define the measured value for the adaptive voltage primary
protection of line MN to be Upm

Fig. 4.

Simple power network.

2) For other lines, IEDs are installed only at the bus on

the system source side, as in the traditional over-current
protection scheme.
3) Direction sensors are installed on both ends of the lines
between DG and the system source, to prevent maloperation caused by the reverse fault current from DG.
According to the above configuration principle, the distribution network in Fig. 2 can be configured as follows. Line AB
and line CD are between DG and E S , so that both ends of the
two lines are installed with IED, i.e., IED1-IED4. The other
lines are installed with IED on only one end, i.e., IED5-IED8.
The adaptive voltage protection configuration scheme is shown
in Fig. 3. With this protection scheme, the mal-operation
problem caused by the introduction of DG can be effectively
avoided, and reliability of the distribution system is improved.
The communication principle of IED is: the primary protection IED of a certain line is responsible for transmitting data
to its backup protection IED, at the same time receiving data
from the IED of the downstream line as its backup protection.
Take IED3 for example, it needs to transmit data to its backup
protection IED1 so that the adaptive backup protection of
IED1 can be realized; meanwhile, as the backup protection
of line CD, it needs to receive data from IED5.
III. P RINCIPLE AND S ETTING S CHEME OF A DAPTIVE
VOLTAGE P ROTECTION
In the simple power network in Fig. 4, the source at Bus J
is the equivalent power supply and Z S is the equivalent
impedance. DG is the distributed generation and its equivalent
impedance is Z DG . F is the fault point, and the percentage of
distance from F to Bus M is . The impedances of line MN
and line JM are Z mn and Z jm , respectively, and that of line MF
is Z mn .
A. Principle and Setting Scheme of Adaptive Voltage
Primary Protection
When a three-phase fault occurs at F, the phase volt(3)
(3)
(3)
ages U MA , U MB , and U MC measured at IED3 have the

Upm = |U M1 U M2 |

(4)

where U M1 and U M2 are the phase voltages of any two fault

phases measured at IED3.
Define the setting value for the adaptive voltage primary
protection of line MN to be Ups
Ups = kd kr1 | IM Z mn |

(5)

where kr1 is the reliability coefficient of the adaptive voltage

primary protection. IM is the phase current of any fault
phase measured at IED3. kd indicates the fault-type information, which canbe obtained by the fault phase selector, and
kd is set to be 3 for three-phase faults, 2 for phase-to-phase
faults, and 1 for no faults at all (i.e., normal operation).
The adaptive voltage primary protection should react only
to faults on the line where the primary protection relay is
situated, and should not operate when the fault occurs on the
downstream line, even at the relaying point of the downstream
line. When a short-circuit fault occurs at the end of line MN,
Upm = kd | IM Z mn |. According to the operation criterion of
the adaptive voltage primary protection, kr1 should be smaller
than 1. In view of the transformer error and the parameter
measurement error, kr1 is set to be 0.9 in this paper.
For the primary protection, if Ups Upm , IED judges that a
fault occurs in the primary protection zone and trips the fault,
where Ups is the setting value of primary protection and Upm
is measured value of primary protection.
Now the cases of three-phase and phase-to-phase (taking
BC as an example) faults are studied. In normal operation state
|U MB | |U NB |, and the phase angledifference between them
is <90; therefore, |U MB U NB | 2|U MB |. For the primary
protection, the measured value is Upm = |U MB U MC | =

3|U MB | and the setting value is





Ups = 0.9  IMB Z mn  = 0.9 U MB U NB .
(6)
Thus, in normal operation state Upm > Ups , the primary
protection does not mal-operate. After the fault occurs, IM
in (5) changes from the load current to fault current, inciting
a significant increase in its own value and in the setting value
of the primary protection.

MA et al.: NEW ADAPTIVE VOLTAGE PROTECTION SCHEME

145

Comparing (2), (3), and (5), the conclusion can be drawn

that in both cases of three-phase and phase-to-phase faults,
when kr1 , we have Ups Upm , and the primary protection
acts; when > kr1 , we have Ups < Upm , and the primary
protection does not act. Thus, the protection range of the
primary protection can be settled as = kr1 = 90%. The
adaptive voltage primary protection is based on voltage and
current data acquired from IED, without any communication
delay, thus the speed demand of primary protection is met.
B. Principle and Setting Scheme of Adaptive Voltage
Backup Protection
In order to avoid miss-trip of the breaker at IED3, a method
such as the following one is used to accomplish adaptive
backup protection for line MN.
When a three-phase fault occurs at F, the phase voltages
(3)
(3)
(3)
U JA , U JB , and U JC measured at IED1 meet the following:
 (3)
 
 

U U (3)  = U (3) U (3)  = U (3) U (3) .
(7)
JA
JB
JB
JC
JC
JA
Taking phase B, C as an example, (7) can be further
illustrated as
 (3)
 
  (3)

U
(3)   (3)
(3)
(3) 

MB UMC + UJB UMB UJC UMC

  (3)

 (3)
(3)
(3)
Z mn IMC
Z mn  +  IJB
Z jm IJC
Z jm 
=  IMB
  (3)
  (3)

(8)
= 3  I Z mn  +  I Z jm 
MB

(3)
IJB

JB

(3)
IJC

where
and
represent the phase currents of phase B
and phase C measured at IED1.
When a BC phase-to-phase fault occurs at F, we have the
following expression:
 
 (2)
  (2)

U

(2)   (2)
(2)
(2) 
MB UMC + UJB UMB UJC UMC
  (2) 

  (2) 
(9)
= 2  IMB  Z mn + IJB  Z jm 
(2)
(2)
where IJB
and IJC
are the phase currents measured at IED1.
Define the measured value for the adaptive voltage backup
protection of line MN to be Ubm
 

 

Ubm = U M U M + U J U M U J U M  (10)
1

where U M 1 and U M 2 are the phase voltages of any two fault

phases measured at IED3 and transmitted to IED1, while U J 1
and U J 2 are corresponding voltages measured at IED1.
Define the setting value for the adaptive voltage backup
protection of line MN to be Ubs
 

 
(11)
Ubs = kd kr2  IM Z mn + IJ Z jm 
where kr2 is the reliability coefficient of the adaptive backup
protection, set to be 0.8. IJ is the phase current of any fault
phase measured at IED1.
For the backup protection, if Ubs Ubm after t (a certain
time delay), IED judges that a fault occurs in the backup
protection zone and trips the fault, where Ubs is the setting
value of backup protection and Ubm is measured value of
backup protection.
Similar to the primary protection issue, the cases of threephase and phase-to-phase (taking BC as an example) faults
are studied for the backup protection.

When the system operates in the normal state, the measured

value for the backup protection is

 

(12)
Ubm = 3 U MB  + 3 U JB U MB  .
The setting value is


 

Ubs = 0.8  IMB Z mn  +  IJB Z jm 

 

= 0.8 U MB U NB  + U JB U MB 

 

< 0.8 3U MB  + U JB U MB .

(13)

Therefore, in normal operation state Ubm > Ubs , the backup

protection does not mal-operate. After the fault occurs, IM
and IJ in (11), both change from the load current to fault
current, inciting a significant increase in their own values and
in the setting value of the backup protection.
Comparing (8), (9), and (11), the conclusion can be drawn
that in both cases of three-phase and phase-to-phase faults,
when kr2 , we have Ubs Ubm , and backup protection
acts; when > kr2 , we have Ubs < Ubm , and the backup
protection does not act. Thus, the percentage of the downstream line, which the backup protection is able to cover can
be settled as = kr2 = 80%. Besides, the protection range
covered by the backup protection is shorter than that by the
primary protection, thus selectivity for protective protection is
satisfied.
C. Fault Phase Selection Method
The fault phase selection is the basis of the adaptive voltage
protection and is done by the modal fault component selector
in this paper. This phase selector is based on the fundamental
principle that the current and voltage in a fault network
can be decomposed to a nonfault component and a fault
component. According to the superposition principle, the fault
component can be solved by adding a fault equivalent source
at the fault location, and the equivalent source is decided by
the fault type and the voltage of the fault location before
the fault. According to the linear transformation theory, the
fault component network can be transformed and analyzed
using the modal component. Since the modal components are
independent from one another, the modal networks can be
solved independently when the modal equivalent sources are
derived from the fault boundary conditions, thus the modal
fault components can be gained. The detailed derivation can
be found in [18], and the characteristics of the modal fault
components under different fault types are shown in Table I.
The formulas to calculate the modal components are shown
in (14)(16), where IA , IB , and IC are the phase currents of
phases A, B, and C, respectively
I0 = IA + IB + IC
1
I = 2 IA IB IC

A
IB1 = IA + 2 IB IC

I1 = I I + 2 I
A
B
C
C

I2 = 3( I IC )

A B
IB2 = 3( IC IA )

I2 = 3( IA IB ).
C

(14)
(15)

(16)

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TABLE I
C HARACTERISTICS OF M ODAL T RANSFORMATION BASED ON FAULT

TABLE II
N ETWORK PARAMETERS OF A P RACTICAL 10.5-kV D ISTRIBUTION

C OMPONENT FOR D IFFERENT FAULT T YPE

S YSTEM IN T IANJIN P OWER N ETWORK

Step 3: The fault phase is selected using the modal fault

component selector and value setting of the primary protection
and backup protection are carried out.
Step 4: If the set value of the primary protection Ups is not
less than the measured value Upm , i.e., Ups Upm , then the
primary protection will trip. Otherwise, the primary protection
does not trip.
Step 5: If after the time delay t, the set value of the
backup protection Ubs is still not less than the measured value
Ubm , i.e., Ubs Ubm , then the backup protection will trip.
Otherwise, the backup protection does not trip.
IV. S IMULATION V ERIFICATION

Fig. 5.

Adaptive voltage protection scheme.

This phase selection method has the following characteristics:

1) simple principle and reliable operation; 2) high operation
sensitivity without value setting; 3) fast operation; and 4) easy
to implement, no extra filtering is needed.

The simulation system used in this paper is a Tianjin

10.5-kV distribution network with isolated neutral shown in
Fig. 3, which is setup in the software PSCAD/EMTDC. The
reference capacity of the distribution system is 500 MVA,
and reference voltage 10.5 kV. Line AB, BC, and AF are
overhead lines, and line CD, DE, and FG are cables. The
parameters of the lines are shown in Table II. The rated power
of the load is 6 MVA, the power factor being 0.85. The DG
with a rated power of 11 MW, which applies the PQ control
strategy, is introduced through Bus C.
The performance of IED5 and IED3 is studied in this paper
to illustrate the cooperative setting of the proposed adaptive
voltage protection scheme. The setting and measured values
for IED5 as the primary protection (for line CD) are Ups5 and
Upm5 , respectively. The setting and measured values for IED3
as the backup protection (for line CD) are Ubs3 and Ubm3 ,
respectively.

D. Steps of Adaptive Voltage Protection Scheme

A. Operation Characteristic of the Adaptive Voltage

Primary Protection

In real application, the fault type and fault phase are first
identified. On this basis, according to the relationship between
the before-and-after-fault phase voltage difference and the
phase current, the adaptive voltage protection of the distribution network can be realized. When the operation condition
is met, the IED will trip to separate the fault. The flowchart
of the proposed method is shown in Fig. 5, where t is the
time delay of the backup protection.
The detailed steps are as follows.
Step 1: Data are acquired via IED and transmitted to other
coordinating IEDs.
Step 2: The adaptive voltage protection starts when any fault
is detected in the system.

When DG is in rated operation, a three-phase fault occurs

at the midpoint of line CD at T = 0.30 s and disappears
at T = 0.80 s. The operation characteristic of IED5 as the
adaptive primary protection is shown in Fig. 6. Then, when
DG is out of service (i.e., set DG output to be 0 MW),
a phase-to-phase fault occurs in the same way. The operation
characteristic of IED5 as the adaptive primary protection is
shown in Fig. 7.
As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, when the fault occurs within
the protection zone of the primary protection IED5, the
measured value Upm5 decreases rapidly, while in the meantime,
the setting value Ups5 increases greatly. When Ups5 Upm5 ,
the primary protection operates immediately.

MA et al.: NEW ADAPTIVE VOLTAGE PROTECTION SCHEME

Fig. 6. Operation characteristic of IED5 as the primary protection when a

three-phase fault occurs at the midpoint of line CD with DG in rated operation.

Fig. 7. Operation characteristic of IED5 as the primary protection when a

phase-to-phase fault occurs at the midpoint of line CD with DG out of service.
TABLE III
M EASURED VALUES AND S ETTINGS OF A DAPTIVE
P RIMARY P ROTECTION OF IED5

147

Fig. 8. Operation characteristic of IED3 as the backup protection when a

three-phase fault occurs at 30% line length from Bus C on line CD with DG
in rated operation.

Fig. 9. Operation characteristic of IED3 as the backup protection when a

phase-to-phase fault occurs at 30% line length from Bus C on line CD with
DG out of service.
TABLE IV
M EASURED VALUES AND S ETTINGS OF A DAPTIVE BACKUP
P ROTECTION OF IED3

Table III shows the setting value and measured value of

IED5 when the fault occurs at different locations on line CD
in the cases of three-phase fault with DG in rated operation
and phase-to-phase fault with DG out of service.
It can be seen from Table III that the primary protection
IED5 is able to operate reliably in the cases of different system
operation states and different fault types. Even in the unfavorable case of phase-to-phase faults, the proposed adaptive
voltage primary protection is able to cover a protection range
of 88.37% of the protected line length.
B. Operation Characteristic of the Adaptive Voltage
Backup Protection
When the fault occurs at 30% line length from Bus C on
line CD, if IED5 as the primary protection does not trip, then
IED3 as the backup protection for line CD will provide backup
protection. The adaptive operation characteristics of IED3 in

the cases of three-phase fault with DG in rated operation and

phase-to-phase fault with DG out of service are shown in
Figs. 8 and 9, respectively.
As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, whatever type the faults
(symmetrical or asymmetric), the measured value of IED3
as the backup protection Ubm3 is always smaller than the
corresponding setting value Ubs3 . Therefore, IED3 works well
as an adaptive backup protection for line CD.
Table IV shows the setting value and measured value of
IED3 when the fault occurs at different locations on line CD
in the cases of three-phase fault with DG in rated operation
and phase-to-phase fault with DG out of service.
It can be seen from Table IV that the backup protection
IED3 is able to operate reliably in the cases of different
system operation states and different fault types. Even in

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TABLE V
A DAPTIVE P RIMARY P ROTECTION OF IED5 IN THE S ITUATION OF

TABLE VI
A DAPTIVE BACKUP P ROTECTION OF IED3 IN THE S ITUATION OF

D IFFERENT S YSTEM O PERATION C ONDITIONS AND DG O UTPUTS

D IFFERENT S YSTEM O PERATION C ONDITIONS AND DG O UTPUTS

TABLE VII
S ETTING VALUE AND M EASURED VALUE OF P RIMARY P ROTECTION OF

the unfavorable case of phase-to-phase faults, the proposed

adaptive voltage backup protection is able to cover 78.77% of
the protected downstream line length. Furthermore, the backup
protection fits in well with the primary protection to guarantee
selectivity of protection.

IED5 IN THE C ASES OF D IFFERENT DG O UTPUTS

C. Variation of System Operation Mode and DG Output

Its Impact on the Adaptive Voltage Protection
Numerous simulation tests are carried out to study how the
short circuit capacity of the upstream network may affect the
proposed adaptive protection. The simulation results of IED5
as the primary protection for faults at 90% and 80% line length
from Bus C on line CD are shown in Table V. In addition,
the simulation results of IED3 as the backup protection for
faults at 80% and 70% line length from Bus C on line CD are
shown in Table VI.
The simulation results in Tables V and VI verify that the
setting value is adaptive to the variation of the short circuit
capacity of the upstream network. Therefore, the proposed
primary and backup protection schemes are proved immune to
the change of short circuit capacity of the upstream network
in either symmetrical or asymmetric faults. At the same time,
the protection ranges of the primary and backup protection
remain nearly unchanged. The primary protection can cover
88.40% of the protected line length and the backup protection can cover as much as 78.75% of the downstream
line length, even in the unfavorable case of phase-to-phase
fault.
Besides, simulation tests are carried out to study the impact
of DG output variation on the proposed adaptive protection. The setting value and measured value of IED5 and
IED3 in the cases of different DG outputs are shown in
Tables VII and VIII, respectively. Simulation results of IED5
as the primary protection for faults at 80% and 90% line length
from Bus C on line CD are shown in Table VII. In addition,
the simulation results of IED3 as the backup protection for
faults at 70% and 80% line length from Bus C on line CD are
shown in Table VIII.

TABLE VIII
S ETTING VALUE AND M EASURED VALUE OF BACKUP P ROTECTION OF
IED3 IN THE C ASES OF D IFFERENT DG O UTPUTS

It can be seen from Tables VII and VIII that the setting
value is adaptive to the variation of DG output in both primary
protection and backup protection. However, the protection
ranges are not affected much. Both the primary protection
and backup protection are able to operate reliably within
the protection range in either symmetrical or asymmetric
faults.
D. Variation of Fault Location on the Upstream Line of DG
Its Impact on the Adaptive Voltage Protection
Suppose a three-phase fault occurs at different locations on
the upstream line of DG, which is shown in Fig. 3. In the

MA et al.: NEW ADAPTIVE VOLTAGE PROTECTION SCHEME

149

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

(c)

(c)

Fig. 10. Operation characteristic when a three-phase fault occurs at the

midpoint of line BC with DG in rated operation. (a) Operation characteristic
of IED3 as the primary protection. (b) Operation characteristic of IED4 as
the primary protection. (c) Operation characteristic of IED1 as the backup
protection.

Fig. 11. Operation characteristic when a phase-phase fault occurs at the

midpoint of line AB with DG in rated operation. (a) Operation characteristic
of IED1 as the primary protection. (b) Operation characteristic of IED2 as
the primary protection. (c) Operation characteristic of IED4 as the backup
protection.

simulation test, DG has rated output and the fault occurs at

T = 0.30 s and disappears at T = 0.80 s.
1) Fault on Line BC: When a three-phase fault occurs
at the midpoint of line BC, IED3 and IED4 act as the
primary protection and IED1 acts as the backup protection.
The set value and measured value of IED3 and IED4 are
Ups3 , Upm3 and Ups4 , Upm4 , respectively. The set value
and measured value of IED1 are Ubs1 , Ubm1 . The operation characteristics of IED3, IED4, and IED1 are shown
in Fig. 10.
It can be seen from Fig. 10 that when the fault occurs
on line BC, the adaptive voltage primary protection and
backup protection both operate reliably and quickly to cut
the fault. Due to the correct operation of IED4, the electrical
arc caused by DG-supplied fault current can be quickly
extinguished, thus reclosing of the fault line is easy to succeed
and the outage time caused by transient fault is effectively
reduced.
2) Fault on Line AB: When a three-phase fault occurs at
the midpoint of line AB, IED1 and IED2 act as the primary

protection and IED4 acts as the backup protection. The set

value and measured value of IED1 and IED2 are Ups1 , Upm1
and Ups2 , Upm2 , respectively. The set value and measured value
of IED4 are Ubs4 , Ubm4 . The operation characteristics of IED1,
IED2, and IED4 are shown in Fig. 11.
It can be seen from Fig. 11 that when the fault occurs on
line AB, the adaptive voltage primary protection and backup
protection can both operate reliably. The direction sensor at
IED3 is effective in preventing IED3 from mal-operation due
to the reverse fault current from DG. Besides, the correct
operation of IED2 prevents the enlarging of the fault range.
3) Fault on Line AF: When a three-phase fault occurs at
the midpoint of line AF, IED7 alone needs to operate to cut
the fault. The set value and measured value of IED7 as the
primary protection are Ups7 , Upm7 . The operation characteristic
of IED7 is shown in Fig. 12.
It can be seen from Fig. 12 that when the fault occurs
on line AF, the adaptive voltage primary protection IED7
can operate quickly and correctly to separate the fault. The
direction sensors at IED1 and IED3 are effective in preventing

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CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 36, NO. 4, FALL 2013

V. C ONCLUSION

Fig. 12. Operation characteristic of IED7 as the primary protection when a

three-phase fault occurs at the midpoint of line AF with DG in rated operation.
TABLE IX
T IME TAKEN BY THE P RIMARY AND BACKUP P ROTECTION TO I SSUE
THE

T RIPPING C OMMAND IN THE C ASES OF D IFFERENT DG

O UTPUTS AND D IFFERENT FAULT T YPES

A novel adaptive voltage protection scheme is proposed in

this paper, which has the following features.
1) The setting value of the protection is able to adjust to the
change of system operation mode and fault type, so that
reliable performance of the IEDs is guaranteed in either
symmetrical or asymmetric faults. Thus, the adaptability
of the proposed voltage protection is realized.
2) Compared with traditional voltage protection, the adaptive voltage primary protection achieves a considerable
extension of the protection range. The latter can cover
nearly 90% of the protected line length even in the
unfavorable case of the phase-to-phase faults.
3) The adaptive voltage backup protection can cover as
much as 80% of the downstream line length in cooperation with the adaptive primary protection, by which
selectivity for protective relaying is satisfied.
4) The impact of DG on the protection of the grid is
eliminated. The cooperative setting issue of the smart
grid with DG inserts is thus resolved.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Many faculty members and students contributed greatly to
this paper. The authors would like to thank Dr. A. G. Phadke
and Dr. Y. Liu.

IED1 and IED3 from mal-operation due to the reverse fault

current from DG, thus Feeder 2, where DG is situated, is able
to maintain normal operation.

E. Variation of DG Output and Fault TypeIts Impact

on the Time of Tripping Command
The time taken by the primary and backup protection to
issue the tripping command may vary with DG output and
fault type. Suppose the fault occurs at the midpoint of line
CD, and this issue is studied.
According to the fault phase selection method in [18], the
fault type and phase can be identified within 5 ms after the
fault occurs. For the proposed adaptive voltage protection
scheme, the primary protection needs only the electrical variables from IED for setting, while the backup protection needs
the communication between relevant IEDs as well to complete
setting. According to [19], the communication time between
IEDs is not more than 20 ms. Considering the time delay of
the backup protection t (t usually values between 0.3 and
0.6 s [20] and is set to be 0.45 s in this paper), the time taken
by the primary and backup protection to issue the tripping
command is shown in Table IX.
It can be seen from Table IX that the time taken by the
primary and backup protection to issue the tripping command
is not affected by the variation of DG output and fault type.
When a fault occurs, it takes the primary protection an average
of 23.3 ms to issue the tripping command, and the backup
protection an average of 493.4 ms. Therefore, the demand for
speed is satisfied.

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Jing Ma (S06M08) was born in Hebei, China,

in 1981. He received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees
from North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China, in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
He has been a Visiting Research Scholar with
the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg, VA, USA, from 2008 to
2009. He is currently an Associate Professor with
the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
North China Electric Power University. His current
research interests include power system equipment modeling, diagnoses, and
protection.

151

Wei Ma was born in Gansu, China, in 1989. He

received the B.S. degree from North China Electric
Power University, Beijing, China, in 2012, where he
is currently pursuing the masters degree with the
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
His current research interests include power system adaptive protection and control.

Xi Wang was born in Hebei, China, in 1985. He

received the B.S. degree from the Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai, China, in 2008.
He is currently pursuing the masters degree with
the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing,
China.
His current research interests include adaptive protection and wide-area protection.

Zengping Wang (M05) was born in Hebei, China,

in 1964. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees
in electrical engineering from North China Electric
Power University, Beijing, China, in 1985 and 1988,
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Harbin
Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, in 1997.
He is a Professor and the Dean of the School of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China
Electric Power University. His current research interests include power system equipment protection,
fault analysis, and wide-area protection.