Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453

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Electric Power Systems Research

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Communication-less protection scheme for AC microgrids using hybrid T

tripping characteristic
Soham Chakrabortya, Sarasij Das
⁎,b

a
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Conventional protection schemes are not effective in microgrids due to the possibility of bi-directional current
Digital relay flow and fault level reduction in the islanded mode caused by converter interfaced Distributed Generations
Distribution system (DGs). This paper proposes a hybrid tripping characteristic based protection scheme for microgrids. The pro-
Distributed generator posed characteristic uses both voltage and current measurements to decide the tripping time, thus it is called
Microgrid
hybrid tripping characteristic. Same relay setting is used in both grid connected and islanded mode of operation
Protection
of the microgrid. Therefore, communication facilities are not required in the proposed scheme unlike many
existing communication-based solutions. Voltage measurement helps in differentiating low-fault-current situa-
tion from overloading condition. It also helps in the reduction of the operating time in islanded mode.
Acceptable relay operating time is achieved in both grid connected and islanded mode. A coordination problem
is formulated and solved with the proposed hybrid characteristic. The obtained protection coordination is in-
dependent of the operating mode of the microgrid. The performance of the scheme is evaluated using both
PSCAD simulations and hardware experiments. It is found that the proposed protection scheme performs sa-
tisfactorily for various fault impedance values, fault locations, DG combinations, overload situations and mea-
surement errors. The performance of the scheme has been compared with the existing schemes.

1. Introduction
A microgrid [1] can operate both in grid connected and islanded
mode while providing a continuous reliable service to end-users.
However, the operation of microgrid will be completely jeopardized
unless a proper protection system is used for both the modes. Bi-di-
rectional nature of fault current poses significant challenge to the mi-
crogrid protection. Moreover, integration of DGs alters the fault current
distribution all over the network that causes mal-operation of the
conventional systems. In the islanded mode, the main issue is the low
fault current contributions by the converter-interfaced DGs. The drastic
reduction in fault current level could result in either a complete failure
to pickup or delayed tripping by conventional protection system.
Therefore, development of a protection system which will suffice for
both the operating modes of a microgrid is a challenging task [2].
Protection of AC microgrid has been a pivotal issue for researchers
both in industry and academia. Several proposals have been made to
provide an appropriate strategy capable of protecting the microgrid in
both the modes [3]. A communication-assisted differential protection
scheme is proposed in [4]. Adaptive settings for directional overcurrent
relays (DOCRs) based on mode of operation have been proposed. Mi-
croprocessor-based adaptive DOCR coordinated protection strategy is
proposed in [5]. Definite-time grading for DOCRs results in relatively
longer relay operating time especially in islanded mode. Literature [6]
addresses this issue by employing communication facility to some
specific relays. Positive and negative sequence superimposed current
based overcurrent (OC) relaying technique is employed in [7]. With the
advent of smart grid, several researchers have proposed the multi-agent
based adaptive microgrid protection in [8]. Reliability of the afore-
mentioned protection schemes in low fault current situations is a major
issue. An admittance relay based protection strategy for microgrid is
proposed in [9,10]. Positive sequence impedance based protection
scheme is proposed in [11]. However, estimation of line admittance or
positive sequence impedance for different fault scenarios is difficult for
short distribution lines. Usage of super-capacitors to enhance fault
current during islanded mode is proposed in [12] that incurs huge in-
vestment and extra control operation. Protection based on d and q axis
components of voltage is proposed in [13]. However, this protection
method does not have the selectivity property.
Standard OC relay based protection schemes are not suitable for

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: chakr138@umn.edu (S. Chakraborty), sarasij@iisc.ac.in (S. Das).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2020.106453
Received 27 September 2018; Received in revised form 9 May 2020; Accepted 31 May 2020
Available online 10 June 2020
0378-7796/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Chakraborty and S. Das
microgrids [14]. Voltage restrained OC relay is mentioned in [15] for
protection of flexible energy storage resources. Literature [16] men-
tions about using voltage restrained OC relay for network protection.
However, [16] does not present any voltage restrained OC relay algo-
rithm or result. User-defined and non-standard relay characteristic has
been proposed for the protection of distribution system with DGs in
[17,18]. However, these methods do not address the low fault current
situations in the islanded mode of operation. Communication based
adaptive OC protection as well as differential protection has been
proposed to address low fault current scenarios. However, along with
incurring additional cost for the communication channel, its failure is a
major threat to the reliability of these protection schemes. Commu-
nication-less protection schemes have been proposed in
[5,9–11,14,17,18] for both of the modes. As discussed in [6], the pro-
tection scheme of [5] relies on high fault currents for fault detection
and may take a relatively long time to isolate a fault in low fault current
situations especially during islanded mode. As per [6], admittance
measurement accuracy is a serious threat to the reliability of the pro-
tection schemes of [9–11]. Therefore, development of communication-
less microgrid protection scheme which is also reliable in low fault
current situations is still a challenge.
This work is primarily focused on addressing the following issues
usually present in most of the existing protection schemes for micro-
grid:
• Dependency of relay grading (i.e. relay settings) on mode of op-
eration of microgrid,
• Requirement of communication facility to alter relay settings with
the change of the mode of operation of microgrid.
This paper provides a solution to the aforementioned problems by
employing a new hybrid tripping characteristic for each relay. The
operating time of each relay is decided based on a tripping character-
istic which uses both voltage and current measurements and therefore it
is called hybrid tripping characteristic. Same relay setting is used in
both grid connected and islanded mode of operation of the microgrid.
Therefore, communication facilities are not required in the proposed
scheme. The voltage measurement in the tripping characteristic helps in
reducing the relay pickup current to achieve high dependability. It also
helps to differentiate low fault current situation from overloading and
hence security is also maintained. It is important to mention that the
protection scheme doesn’t need any extra measuring devices to be
employed. Because it utilizes the already existing voltage transformers
which are usually present for the directional protection of the micro-
grid. The key contributions of this work are highlighted here:
• A hybrid tripping characteristic has been proposed in this paper. The
proposed method uses fixed grading of relays independent of oper-
ating modes of microgrid.
• The proposed scheme performs satisfactorily both in low and high
fault current scenarios of microgrid. The proposed characteristic
helps in differentiating low fault current situation from overloading
condition.
• The protection scheme doesn’t need any communication facility as
fixed grading is used for both the operating modes of microgrid.
The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using both
PSCAD simulations and hardware experiments. It performs satisfacto-
rily for various fault impedances, fault locations, DG combinations,
overload situations and measurement errors. The performance of the
proposed protection scheme has been compared with existing com-
munication-less schemes [14,17,18]. It performs satisfactorily in both
islanded and grid connected modes while the investigated protection
schemes do not perform satisfactorily in the islanded mode (low fault
current situation). The proposed characteristic is also implemented on a
DSP board as a part of hardware validation.
2
Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 ela-
borates the protection scheme for AC microgrid. This includes the de-
scription of proposed relay characteristic, protection strategies em-
ployed for network, DGs, and loads. Based on the proposed scheme, the
optimal relay coordination problem to find relay setting is formulated.
Practical consideration for implementation of this protection scheme is
also highlighted. In Section 3, the performance of the protection scheme
is validated along with comparison study. Finally, Section 4 concludes
the work.
2. Proposed protection scheme for AC microgrid
2.1. Proposed relay characteristic
The proposed hybrid tripping characteristic combines the standard
IEEE OC relay characteristic [14] and standard IEC under-voltage (UV)
relay characteristic [19] as shown in (1).
toper = TMS
A
+C +
(MI ) B 1 1 (MV ) (1)
where toper, TMS, MI, MV are relay operating time, time multiplier set-
ting, multiple of pickup current i.e (If/Ip), multiple of setting voltage i.e
(Vf/Vs) respectively. Ip, Vs, If, Vf are relay pickup current, setting voltage
[19], fault current and fault voltage measured at relay point respec-
tively. A, B, C, α, β and γ are the coefficients of the relay characteristic.
Inverse tripping characteristics based relays are usually governed by
either measured current at relay point (i.e. for OC relays) or voltage
measured at relay point (i.e. for UV relay). However in this work, the
operating time of each relay is decided based on a composite form of
inverse tripping characteristic which uses both voltage and current
measurements. The relay tripping characteristic is determined by
multiplication of standard OC relay tripping characteristic and inverse
time-voltage tripping characteristic. Therefore, it is called hybrid trip-
ping characteristic. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid tripping
characteristic in microgrid protection is explained with an example. In
Fig. 1, tripping characteristics for various fault voltages are shown
(with blue colour) for a chosen set of relay coefficients (Table 1). Each
tripping characteristic corresponds to a particular fault voltage. Stan-
dard OC relay characteristic is also shown in Fig. 1. The standard OC
relay characteristic is selected as moderately inverse from [14]. The
value of TMS is selected as 0.2 for both hybrid and standard OC relay
characteristics.
In grid connected mode, the practiced settings for OC relays may
operate properly due to the availability of high fault current. However,
during islanded mode fault currents are comparatively low. In this si-
tuation, OC relay may not pickup or may respond slowly [1]. In Fig. 1,
point Q corresponds to a situation where fault current is 1.2 pu during
islanded mode. To ensure relay tripping, the pick-up current should be
lesser than 1.2 pu. In this case, the tripping time is 2.84 s as per the
standard OC characteristic when rated line current is chosen as pick-up
current. Moreover, selection of Ip as rated current may lead to nuisance
3
0
5
10
0 0.3 0.6 0.9
Fig. 1. Proposed hybrid tripping characteristic with coefficients in Table 1 and
standard OC relay characteristic[14] with TMS = 0.2.
S. Chakraborty and S. Das Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453

Table 1
Relay Coefficients.

tripping during overloading conditions of the network.

During faults, voltage drops significantly at the relay points in both
the operating modes of microgrids. However, voltage remains closer to
the rated value in overload situations. So, voltage at relay point can be
used to differentiate low fault current situation from overloading. In the
islanded mode, currents do not increase much during fault while vol-
tage drops significantly. This significant drop in voltages can be used to
reduce the relay operating time in the islanded mode. So, in the pro-
posed hybrid characteristic Eq. (1), voltage information is included to
achieve acceptable operating time in both the modes. Suppose, the
voltage at relay point is 0.05 pu in the previously mentioned low cur-
rent fault situation where If=1.2 pu. The setting voltage Vs is chosen as
0.6 pu. The rated current is chosen as pick-up current. As per (1), the
relay operating time is 0.12 s (P in Fig. 1). Therefore, the proposed
hybrid characteristic is able to reduce the relay operating time sig-
nificantly in case of low fault current situations. The judicious selection Fig. 3. Flowchart of the protection scheme.
of Vs ensures no relaying operation in the overloading situation. The
reduction in operating time during grid connected mode can be limited
by selecting a minimum operating time for relays [17] as mentioned in
Section 3.1.

2.2. Network protection

In this section, both line and bus protection strategies are discussed.
A network segment of a generic microgrid is illustrated in Fig. 2 which
consists of five buses and four lines. All relays i.e. Rxy, are assumed to
have the proposed hybrid characteristics as referred to (1). Directional
elements are commonly used in microgrid protection [20–22]. In this
work, directional element proposed in [20] is used and relay operation
is restricted in a pre-specified fault current direction only as shown in
Fig. 2. The flowchart of the protection scheme is shown in Fig. 3.
2.2.1. Line protection
A line fault (F1ABCG ) is assumed to be taken place in Line1 as shown
in Fig. 2. Considering double-end disconnection of a faulty line, R12 and
R21 operate as primary relays. R32, R42 are assigned to operate as
backup for R21. Similarly, R51 works as backup for R12. Fig. 4 presents
the logic diagram of the protection module. At first, voltage and current
measurements are checked against appropriate thresholds. Once a si-
tuation satisfies both the threshold checks, a delay block (TD of Fig. 4)
provides the appropriate time delay calculated using (1).
2.2.2. Bus protection
Bus fault (F 2ABCG ) is assumed to be taken place in Bus2 as shown in
Fig. 2. The potential issue arise here is that no relay operates in this
situation as fault current direction is opposite. To circumvent this
condition, a dedicated module is preferred to be included [5,6]. This
Fig. 2. Network protection strategy on a segment of a microgrid.
Fig. 4. Logic diagram of protection module.
module notifies trip signals once all directional elements of the relays
nearby the faulted bus (here R21, R23 and R24) simultaneously detect a
reverse fault direction. R32, R42 and R12 provide back-up in case R23,
R24 and R21 fail to operate. However, considering the severity of bus
faults, an additional differential relay based protection may be em-
ployed as mentioned in [23].
2.3. DG and load protection
Domestic or industrial loads are equipped with own protective de-
vices i.e. fuses, MCBs. DGs are equipped with under/over voltage relays
as per ANSI/IEEE Std 1001-1988 [24]. The under/over voltage relays
are designed as per the standard IEEE 1547 [25]. However, today’s DGs
have low voltage fault-ride-through capability.
2.4. Coordination formulation with proposed characteristic
The fundamental objectives of any protection system is translated
into conditions such as i) the relays located near to the fault point
should operate primarily; ii) if primary relay fails, then backup relays
should operate. Based on that, relay coordination problem is formulated
to select suitable settings for individual relay in order to achieve
minimum shock to the system due to faults. The usual approach to the
problem formulation is to minimize an objective function translated as
total sum of the operating times of all primary and backup relays for
various fault impedances and types at different fault points. Therefore,
the optimum settings of the relays are determined by solving an opti-
mization problem for minimizing the objective function subjected to
some constraints. The nature of the optimization problem depends on
the optimization variable. In this work, the operating time of each relay
has three setting parameters (i.e. TMS, Ip and Vs) as per (1). Therefore,

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S. Chakraborty and S. Das Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453

TMS, Ip and Vs of each relay are the potential optimization variables for times. tp,ijl is the operating time of ith relay for jth fault type at lth fault
the problem. The relay coordination problem becomes a non-linear location. tbk, ijl is the operating time of kth backup relay for jth fault type at
optimization problem if TMS, IP, and VS are considered as variables to lth fault location. M, L and K are total number of fault types, fault lo-
be optimized. However, the non-linear programming techniques are cations and backup relays for each primary relay respectively. TMS imin
usually complex and time-consuming. Whereas, linear programming and TMS imax are the minimum and maximum values assigned for TMS.
th th
techniques are comparatively simple and easy to solve. Therefore, relay , ijl is the minimum operating time assigned for i relay for j fault type
tpmin
th
coordination problems are commonly formulated as linear program- at l fault location. As the objective and constraint functions are all
ming problem. By following the usual practice, the coordination pro- affine, the problem is eventually a standard linear program.
blem in this work also is formulated as linear programming problem by
pre-selecting IP and VS judiciously as mentioned in Section 2.5. There- 2.5. Practical implementation issues
fore, the optimization problem is employed only to find the suitable
values of TMS. For example, considering the fault F 7AG (Phase-A to 2.5.1. Choice of Vs and Ip
ground fault with fault impedance 50 Ω) of the network shown in Fig. 5, There are various factors to be considered while selecting the value
the primary relays are R16 10 and R10 16 and corresponding backup of pickup current, Ip, and setting voltage, Vs, for the relays in this ap-
relays are R17 16, R18 16 and R 2 10, R11 10 respectively. The sum of the plication. Fault impedance, DG’s states [26] and DG’s operating con-
operating times of primary and backup relays for this fault is as follows: ditions [27] have impact on the choice of Vs and Ip. Fault analysis of the
AG
microgrid covering various fault impedances, DG’s state and DG’s op-
F7
Toper = t R16 10 + t R10 16 + t R17 16 + t R18 16 + t R2 10 + t R11 10 . erating conditions should be done to choose Vs and Ip judiciously. The
Primary Relays Backup Relays selection of current pickup and voltage setting values should dis-
criminate a fault from healthy situation. In microgrids, fault currents
From relay characteristic in (1), it is quite clear that operating time for
are usually large in grid connected mode depending on the short circuit
each relay is linear function of TMS. Therefore, the objective function
ratio of the grid. On the other hand, fault current is usually low in
formulated as total sum of the operating times of all primary and
islanded mode due to the presence of power-electronic converter-in-
backup relays for various fault impedances and types at different fault
terfaced DGs which are usually capable of supplying fault current of the
points is a linear function of TMS: =[TMS1 TMS2… TMSN ]T , where N is
order of 110 130 % of the rated current ratings [2]. As same relay
total number of relays. However, the problem is subjected to constraints
setting is used for both the operating modes, the pickup value should be
related to relay settings and relay operating times. One constraint
judiciously selected so that relay picks up both in high and low fault
comes from the requirement of minimum gap between the time of
current situations. The fault current is expected to be higher than the
operation of a primary relay and time of operation of it’s backup pro-
rated line current irrespective of the mode of operation. So one of the
tection relays in case primary relay fails to operate. This time gap is
possible choices of pickup value of current can be the rated line current.
called as coordination time interval (CTI). In the same example:
However, during overloading condition, current is also higher than
t R17 16 t R16 10 CTI, t R18 16 t R16 10 CTI. rated current. Therefore, a voltage pick up setting should be used to
t R2 10 t R10 16 CTI, t R11 10 t R10 16 CTI. discriminate overloading situation from low fault current scenario. It is
important to note here that voltage is low during low fault current
Therefore, it contributes a set of linear inequality constraints to the scenario whereas it is near rated voltage during overloading condition.
problem considering various fault impedances and types at different During faulty situation, system voltage throughout the network dips
fault points. Moreover, some constraints are originated due to physical largely irrespective of modes of operation. During overloading situa-
limitations of each relays such as minimum operating time of each relay tion, voltage of the network may fall below the rated voltage. Various
and practical upper and lower bounds on the values of setting para- utility standards specify the lower limit of voltage sag during over-
meter TMS. For the same example: loading condition. As a result, voltage doesn’t drop below the limit in
practical distribution system during overloading condition. If there is a
TMSmin TMS R16 TMSmax
R16 10 , TMSmin TMS R10
R16 10 10 R10 16 16 dip in voltage below that limit during overloading situation, then
TMSmax
R10 16
, under-voltage relay gets activated and disconnects some of the loads to
recover the voltage above the limit. Voltage setting value (Vs) should be
TMSmin TMS R17 TMSmax
R17 16 , TMSmin TMS R18
R17 16 16 R18 16 16
selected such that it can discriminate the severe most voltage sag from
TMSmax
R18 16 , fault situation. Therefore, one of the possible choices of Vs may be the
TMSmin TMS R2 TMSmax , TMSmin TMS R11 lower limit of voltage sag value provided by corresponding regulation.
R2 10 R2 R11 10
However, for high impedance fault (HIF), a dedicated algorithm such as
10 10 10

TMSmax
R11 10 . [28] might be used along with the proposed characteristic.

and
2.5.2. Accuracy of CTs and PTs
t R16 10 t Rmin
16 10
, t R17 16 t Rmin
17 16
, t R18 16 t Rmin
18 16
, Measurement accuracy of CTs and PTs needs to be considered for
the proposed hybrid characteristic based protection scheme. Usually
t R10 t Rmin , t R2 t Rmin , t R11 t Rmin .
16 10 16 10 2 10 10 11 10
CTs of class 5P, 10P and PTs of class 3P, 6P are used for protection
Clearly, it also contributes a set of linear inequalities to the problem systems [29].
considering various fault impedances and types at different fault points.
As a result, the overall optimization problem is formulated as: 3. Results

Total
N M L K
To evaluate the performance of the proposed protection scheme, a
minimize Toper (TMS) = tp, ijl + tbk, ijl
TMS medium voltage AC Microgrid [4,6] as shown in Fig. 5 is considered in
i=1 j=1 l=1 k=1
this study. This is a practical 18-bus distribution system which consists
subject to tbk, ijl tp, ijl CTI, i, j , l, k of three phase and single phase overhead lines as well as underground
TMSimin TMSi TMSimax , i cables. It carries 3.03 MVA of unbalanced load distributed among the
tp, ijl t pmin buses [4]. Models of overhead lines and underground cables are se-
, ijl , i, j , l
lected as per the IEEE PES Distribution System Analysis Subcommittee’s
where, Toper
Total
is the total sum of all primary and backup relay operating standard [30,31]. This network has been converted into a microgrid by

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S. Chakraborty and S. Das Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453

integrating both rotating machine-based and power electronic con-

verter-interfaced DGs. Diesel generator (i.e. DG-5) is designed to be
operated with isochronous-droop based governor control system [32].
The wind energy conversion system (i.e. DG-6) is selected here as a
variable speed squirrel-cage induction generator along with a MPPT
control [33]. Most of the converter-interfaced DGs are operated in P-Q
control mode with grid-feeding operation, especially during grid-con-
nected mode. In this control mode, DG’s active and reactive power
delivery are set at the pre-determined reference points generated lo-
cally. However, for PV-inverter system, the active power reference is
generated from the MPPT algorithm in DC side. Usually, the control is
implemented with a d q reference frame-based current-controlled Fig. 6. Ratings of loads and DGs of network of Fig. 5
strategy for a three-phase voltage source inverter circuit (VSI). An
elaborated design and tuning procedure of proportional-integral-based DGs are shown in the Fig. 6. All DGs are equipped with UV relays for its
controller (both in d and q frame) with classical phase and gain margin own protection. All DGs are having low voltage fault-ride-through
requirement is followed in this work as guided in [34]. Therefore, DG-1, capability and UV relays are designed as per the IEEE Std 1547 [25].
DG-2, DG-3, DG-4, and DG-7 operate in this mode while microgrid is in
grid-connected mode. However, to maintain critical demand-supply 3.1. Optimal relay settings
equilibrium during islanded mode, some DGs are needed to be operated
as a grid-forming VSI where the reference voltage and frequency are The optimal protection coordination problem presented in
determined via f-P/V-Q droop characteristics [35]. In this network, DG- Section 2.4 is formulated for the test system and solved by using in-built
1 and DG-3 are operated as droop-based grid-forming VSI. Similarly, MATLAB linear programming tool. 150 fault cases covering various
the control is implemented with a d q reference frame-based outer- fault impedances and fault types at different fault locations on the test
voltage-inner-current-controlled strategy for a three-phase voltage system (Fig. 5) are studied where all DGs are assumed to be at rated
source inverter circuit (VSI). An elaborated design and tuning proce- condition. Same relay may sense high fault current during grid-con-
dure of proportional-integral-based controllers (both in d and q frame) nected mode of operation of microgrid and low fault current during
with classical phase and gain margin requirement is followed in this islanded mode of operation of microgrid. Dependency of fault current
work as guided in [34,35]. Considering the time period of interest for on the modes of operation of microgrid makes the protection challen-
analyzing the fault situation DC sides are modeled as constant dc vol- ging. However, it is expected that the fault current would always be
tage sources with low-voltage-ride-through capability. The transition of higher that the rated current irrespective of the mode of operation.
mode of operation from grid-feeding to grid-forming and vice verse are Therefore, a suggested pickup value of current, Ip, can be the full load
achieved as per the algorithms of island detection and grid re-syn- line current. However, line current will also be higher than the rated
chronization provided in [34]. The notations and the ratings of loads, current during overloading situation. This may lead to nuisance

Fig. 5. Schematic of a medium voltage AC microgrid

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S. Chakraborty and S. Das Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453

Table 2 Table 3
TMS of relays for both grid-connected and islanded mode. Operating time of the relays for protection of test system (Fig. 5) for both grid-
connected and islanded mode.

tripping situation. That is where, voltage pick-up setting and its judi-
cious choice come into picture. The voltage pick-up value should be low
enough to ensure that the voltage during severe most sag phenomena
does not cause any nuisance trip of the relay. Moreover, voltage dip in
actual faulty situation should lie below the setting value to enact the
relay. Based on the selected 70% severity level mentioned in IEEE Std
1564-2014, system voltage may dip to 65% in a distribution system
[36]. While making sure that the proposed protection system should
distinguish this situation from fault, the setting value, Vs, is selected as
60% of the rated voltage. However, it is up to the protection engineers
to select the select setting value judiciously. The value of CTI is selected
as 0.2 s. TMS imin and TMS imax are selected as 0.05 and 1 [17]. The
minimum operating time for relay (tpmin , ijl ) is selected as 3 fundamental
cycles. The coefficients of the proposed relay characteristic are selected
from Table 1. The optimal value of the decision variable (TMS ) is
shown in Table 2. Table 2 shows that the results satisfy the constraints
related to upper and lower limits of TMS. The constraints related to CTI
and operating time are also satisfied as discussed in the next section. It
is important to note here that the presence of DGs in a distribution
network alters the fault current distribution over the network and is
significantly different in case of network without DGs. This impacts
relay coordination problem and its solution hugely. In conventional
distribution system without DG, fault current measured by both pri-
mary and backup relays are same which results in higher TMS value of
backup relay than primary relay for proper coordination. For example,
if the DG-4 is not present in the network, then it is straightforward to
design smaller TMS for R12 13 and larger TMS for R11 12 . In other word,
to have toper
R11 12 R12 13
> toper , TMS R12 needs to be larger than TMS R23 . This
coordination design is quite common for any radial distribution net-
work.
However, an important observation is that TMS value of R11 12 is
lower than the TMS value of R12 13 . Still, operating time of R11 12 is
higher than operating time of R12 13 . The reason is that the fault current
measured by R11 12 is lower than fault current measured by R12 13 . The
DG in between these two relay is making fault current measured by
R12 13 higher than fault current measured by R11 12 . Therefore, the
value of Ifault/Ipickup for R12 13 is higher than R11 12 . However, the value
of Vfault/Vsetting for R11 12 is very close to the value at R12 13 due to low
value of line impedance. Hence, to maintain the proper coordination have the proposed characteristic of (1) with values of TMS mentioned in
i.e. to have toper
R11 12 R12 13
> toper , TMS value of R12 13 needs to be higher than Table 2. Each relay is incorporated with 3-pole circuit breaker (52 of
R11 12 . Fig. 5). Several fault situations covering types and impedances of faults
at various locations are simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC software for eva-
luation purpose. In all investigated situations, fault inception is as-
3.2. Study cases sumed to be at t = 0.2 s. Moreover, all investigated line fault situations
are considered to occur at the middle of the respective faulty lines. Due
The performance of the proposed protection scheme is evaluated on to limited space, result of 10 fault situations for both the modes are
the test system (Fig. 5) in this section. All the relays are assumed to shown and discussed.

6
S. Chakraborty and S. Das
3.2.1. Performance in grid connected mode
The performance of the proposed protection scheme in grid con-
nected mode for all fault situations is shown in Table 3. It is observed
that during grid connected mode relay operating times are significantly
less due to the presence of high fault current supplied by grid. However,
optimal solution of relay grading ensures the minimum operating time
of relays to be higher than 3 fundamental cycles. The operating time of
relays for primary protection lie approximately between 0.06 s to 0.13 s
for bolted faults. Operating times of corresponding back-up relays are
also shown in the same table. The range of operating time for both
primary and back-up protection is acceptable. It also substantiate that
the coordination solution is satisfying the constraints related to CTI and
minimum relay operating time.
3.2.2. Performance in islanded mode
The performance of the proposed protection scheme in islanded
mode for all fault situations is shown in Table 3. It is observed that
during islanded mode relay operating times are higher than grid con-
nected mode due to unavailability of high fault current. However, the
voltage measurement in the proposed hybrid characteristic causes sig-
nificant reduction in operating time. The operating time of relays for
primary protection lie approximately between 0.1 s to 0.14 s for bolted
faults. Operating times of corresponding back-up relays are also shown
in the same table. The range of operating time for both primary and
back-up protection is acceptable. It also substantiate that the co-
ordination solution satisfy the constraints related to CTI and minimum
relay operating time.
3.2.3. Performance during overloading condition
The performance of the proposed protection scheme during over-
loading condition is shown in Fig. 7. Loads in phase-A at Bus16, Bus17
and Bus18 are increased by 20% to overload the network after t =
0.75 s. Fig. 7 shows the RMS value of the measured voltage and current
by R16-10 i.e. V RMS
Bus-16 and I R16-10 during both grid-connected and islanded
RMS
mode. The relay R16-10 doesn’t trip as the measured voltage and current
do not satisfy the initial threshold check of Fig. 4. The proposed pro-
tection scheme performs satisfactorily during overloading condition.
3.3. Impacts of fault impedance
The impact of fault impedance on proposed protection scheme is
shown in Table 3. Due to limited space, results of three cases i.e. F 7AG,
F 8ACG and F10
CG
of Fig. 5, each having fault resistance of 50 Ω, are shown
here. The operating time of relays for primary protection lie approxi-
mately between 0.25 s to 0.38 s for grid connected mode and 0.33 s to
0.38 s for islanded mode. Operating time of corresponding back-up
relays are also shown in the same table. The range of operating time for
both primary and back-up protection are fairly acceptable.
Fig. 7. Performance of the proposed protection scheme during overloading
condition of the network (Fig. 5) for both grid-connected and islanded mode.
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Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453
3.4. Impacts of DG states
Several combinations for DG states in the network (Fig. 5) are
considered in this section. The states of DG are represented by StateDG
of Table 4. DG-1 and DG-3 are assumed to be connected to the network
in all the situations to avoid the requirement of load shedding. Per-
formance during fault F 2AG is shown in Table 4. Few results have been
shown in this paper due to limited space. Table 4 shows that DG state
has minimal impact on the proposed protection scheme as tripping time
is not changing significantly.
3.5. Impacts of measurement errors of CT and PT
The impacts of measurement errors of CT and PT are investigated in
this section. Considering the class of 10P and 6P, a random error (RE) is
selected within ± 10% and ± 6% with zero mean for CT and PT
respectively. Then, the current and voltage measurements are multi-
plied by (1.0 + RE) to represent the erroneous measurement of the CTs
and PTs. Results of case F 3ABCG is shown in Fig. 8. The fault inception is
at t = 0.2 s. Fig. 8 shows that measurement error of CTs and PTs have
minimal impact on the proposed protection scheme as tripping time is
not changing significantly.
3.6. Performance comparison
In this section, performance of the proposed protection scheme has
been compared with three existing communication-less fixed grading
based protection systems on the test system shown in Fig. 5. The
comparison study is conducted on the fault situation of F1CG of Fig. 5
which takes place at t = 0.5 s. R 2 3 and R 3 2 are the concerned primary
relays of this comparison study. The details of the case studies and
corresponding results are explained below.
3.6.1. Case-1
All relays are assumed to have the proposed hybrid tripping char-
acteristics. The values of TMSs, Ip and Vs are considered same as
mentioned in Section III.A. Both the relays are successfully detecting
and clearing the fault in grid-connected and islanded mode by gen-
erating trip signals as shown in Fig. 9.
3.6.2. Case-2
All relays are assumed to have the characteristics mentioned in
[17]. The value of K is selected as 1.15 and Ip as 1.4 times of the
maximum line current as mentioned in [17]. The coordination problem
has been formulated and solved to get the values of TDSs. TDSs of the
concerned relays are found as 0.72 for R 2 3 and 0.26 for R 3 2 . In this
case, R 3 2 fails to detect and clear the fault in both grid-connected and
islanded mode as measured fault current by R 3 2 is significantly low
which is fed by only DG-1, DG-2 and DG-3 as shown in Fig. 99(b) and
Fig. 99(d). By the time R 3 2 operates, UV protections of DG-1, DG-2 and
DG-3 operate and disconnect those DGs from the network. During grid-
connected mode, R 2 3 clears the fault due to the presence of high fault
current fed by grid and upstream DGs as shown in Fig. 99(a). However,
clearing time is much higher than the time taken in Case-1. Moreover,
the same relay fails to clear the fault during islanded mode due to the
absence of grid as shown in Fig. 99(c).
3.6.3. Case-3
All relays are assumed to have the tripping characteristics men-
tioned in [18]. The value of k is selected as 3.5 and Ip as 1.5 times of the
maximum line current as mentioned in [18]. TDSs of the concerned
relays are selected as 1 for both R 2 3 and R 3 2 as mentioned in [18]. In
this case also, R 3 2 fails to detect and clear the fault in both grid-con-
nected and islanded mode as shown in Fig. 99(b) and Fig. 99(d). In this
case also, UV protections of DG-1, DG-2 and DG-3 operate much faster
and disconnect those DGs from the network before R 3 2 operates.
S. Chakraborty and S. Das
Table 4
Operating time of the relays for protection of test system (Fig. 5) for various DG states.
Fig. 8. Measured 3-phase voltage, current and corresponding trip signal for
fault F 3ABCG at (a) R 5 6 (b) R 6 5 during grid connected mode and (c) R 5 6 (d)
R 6 5 during islanded mode.
During grid-connected mode, R 2 3 clears the fault much faster than
Case-1 and Case-2 due to the presence of high fault current fed by grid
and upstream DGs as shown in Fig. 99(a). However, the same relay
takes higher clearing time than Case-1 to clear the fault during islanded
8
Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453
Fig. 9. Measured c-phase voltage, current and corresponding trip signal for
fault F1CG at (a) R 2 3 (b) R 3 2 during grid-connected mode and (c) R 2 3 (d) R 3 2
during islanded mode for four different cases.
mode due to the absence of grid as shown in Fig. 99(c).
3.6.4. Case-4
All relays are standard OC relays [14] to incorporate DOCR based
protection system for microgrid. The value of Ip is selected as 1.5 times
of the maximum line current to avoid nuisance tripping during overload
conditions. The coordination problem has been formulated and solved
to get the values of TDSs. TDSs of the concerned relays are found as 0.4
for R 2 3 and 0.22 for R 3 2 . In this case also, R 3 2 fails to detect and
S. Chakraborty and S. Das
Fig. 10. Implemented numerical relay on TMS320F28335 Delfino DSP board.
Fig. 11. Performance of the implemented numerical relay during fault F 2AG in
microgrid of Fig. 5 for both grid connected and islanded mode of operation.
clear the fault in both grid-connected and islanded mode as shown in
Fig. 99(b) and Fig. 99(d). During grid-connected mode, R 2 3 clears the
fault due to the presence of high fault current fed by grid and upstream
DGs as shown in Fig. 99(a). However, the fault clearing time is much
higher than the time taken in Case-1, Case-2 and Case-3. The same relay
fails to clear the fault during islanded mode due to the absence of grid
as shown in Fig. 99(c).
Therefore, the comparison study and the corresponding results are
corroborating the fact that the proposed hybrid tripping characteristic
based protection scheme for microgrid is effective in grid-connected
and islanded mode of operation.
3.7. Implementation of the proposed numerical relay
A numerical relay is developed for experimental verification of the
proposed protection scheme as shown in Fig. 10. The relay has been
developed on TMS320F28335 Delfino DSP evaluation board. The
PSCAD simulated voltage and current waveforms at corresponding
relay locations are obtained in LabVIEW Measurement (LVM) file
format and fed into a NI based myRIO 1900 for playback to the nu-
merical relay. The sampling frequency of the numerical relay is 32
samples/cycle. Result of case F 2AG for both the modes are shown in
Fig. 11. The results corroborates the feasibility of the proposed relay
based protection scheme.
9
Electric Power Systems Research 187 (2020) 106453
4. Conclusion
This paper is proposing a hybrid tripping characteristic based pro-
tection scheme for microgrid that allows fixed grading for relays in-
dependent of mode of operation. Due to fixed grading, the proposed
protection scheme does not need communication. The inclusion of
voltage measurement helps in differentiating low-fault-current situa-
tion from overloading condition. It also reduces the relay operating
time significantly, especially for low-fault-current situations during is-
landed mode. It doesn’t require any additional measurements as voltage
measurements are available at relay points for directional element
purpose. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using
both PSCAD simulations and hardware experiments. The proposed
protection scheme performs satisfactorily for various fault impedances,
fault locations, DG combinations, overload situations and measurement
errors. The proposed characteristic is implemented on a DSP board as a
part of hardware validation.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Soham Chakraborty: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
Validation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Investigation.
Sarasij Das: Resources, Writing - review & editing, Visualization,
Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research
Board of Government of India under Grant ECR/2015/000504.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at 10.1016/j.epsr.2020.106453 .
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