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Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration
(FLISR) Functionalities Tests in a Smart Grids
Laboratory for Evaluation of the Quality of Service
Renato A. Spalding, Luiz H. L. Rosa, Carlos F. M. Almeida, Renan F. Morais,
Marcos R. Gouvea, Nelson Kagan NAPREI/Enerq/USP
Denis Mollica, Alexandre Dominice, Lucca Zamboni, Gabriel H. Batista, Joo P. Silva, Luiz A.
Costa, Marco A. P. Fredes - EDP Brasil
Abstract Fault Location, Isolation, and Self Restoration
(FLISR) is a Smart Grid functionality that is becoming more
necessary in power distribution networks nowadays, in order to
assure the quality of power supply. In situations of contingency,
due to occurrences that result in interruptions of the power
supply, it is indispensable to quickly minimize the number of
affected customers until full service reestablishment. By
reconfiguring the distribution network, it is possible to isolate
faults and transfer loads to other healthy feeders. There are
different approaches of Advanced Distribution Automation
(ADA) that allows a better monitoring and control of the
electrical grids, making it able to take automatic decisions. One of
these approaches regards on subroutines using conditional logics
at the SCADA system level, in order to accomplish fast and
automatic load transfer considering remotely controlled reclosers
placed along the defective feeder (Normally Closed reclosers) and
between neighboring feeders (Normally Opened reclosers). Such
ADA approach was evaluated in a Smart Grid laboratory, where
the systemic environment of a power distribution company was
reproduced. In the laboratory, simulations and logic tests may be
carried out in a controlled manner, without putting the operation
of the power distribution system in danger.
Index Terms-- Smart grids, Power distribution, Power system
restoration, Power system reliability, SCADA systems.
I. INTRODUCTION
S everal approaches can be used to solve the problem of
reconfiguring power distribution networks under
contingency [1]. Among them, there are most conventional
approaches, such as automatic load transfers [2]. There are
also advanced approaches, such as the ones that use heuristic
methods [3], meta-heuristic [4] and multi-agent systems [5] in
order to solve the reconfiguration problem.
This paper presents studies that were carried out in a Smart
Grid laboratory in order to provide the comprehension of
FLISR functionalities normally used by the Brazilian power
distribution companies EDP Bandeirante and EDP Escelsa,
and allow its reproduction in laboratorys controlled
environment. Through these studies, one may analyze the
effectiveness of logic used, evaluate its extension to other
978-1-5090-3792-6/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE
879
portions of power distribution network and propose
improvements.
II. METHODOLOGY
The study of automation functionalities currently present in
power distribution systems requires the reproduction of the
entire power distribution system structure. The different
software systems and the different hardware systems used by
power distribution systems must be considered, in order to
provide an effective simulation of its behavior during the
operation of power distribution networks. One of the most
important difficulties is related to the representation of the
actual power system. Due to its magnitude, complexity and
large costs, reduced scaled models are prohibitive. In order to
overcome this difficulty, a virtual representation of the power
network becomes an interesting approach, where
georeferenced models are considered to represent the entire
medium and low voltage portions in detail, where the load
behavior may be represented by typical load curves. Thus,
simulate the systemic behavior of power distribution systems
becomes a task of integrating typical Intelligent Electronic
Devices (IEDs) allocated in field with the typical software
systems present in the distribution control centers. Using
actual IEDs and software systems in order to represent the
behavior of the power distribution system is feasible, due to its
reduced number and costs.
In this paper, one describes an automatic reconfiguration
strategy for MV distribution networks under contingency
conditions, which is actual used by two Brazilian power
distribution companies (EDP Bandeirante and EDP Escelsa),
known as Automatic Transfer Reaction due to Voltage
Synchronism (TARST). This routine is implemented in the
SCADA system environment localized in Distribution
Operation Center (COD), and executed within the scan
frequency. Each TARST involves two different power
distribution feeders and may operate in a bidirectional way.
Each TARST routine may involve up to five IEDs: two bay
controllers and three recloser controllers.
An actual TARST routine is considered in this paper, in
order to illustrate the systematic behavior of from EDP
Bandeirantes power distribution system regarding the FLISR
functionality. The implemented TARST is known as BIR1301-

CSO1307, as it involves feeder BIR1301, from Biritiba
substation, and feeder CSO1307, from Cesar de Sousa
substation.
A. Laboratory
The Smart Grid laboratory is an environment where the
behavior between the different systems present in a power
distribution company may be reproduced. It is composed by
different software systems, such as Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, Distribution Management
System (DMS), Meter Data Management (MDM) system,
Outage Management System (OMS), among others, integrated
with different hardware systems or Intelligent Electronic
Devices (IEDs), such as controllers for HV/MV transformers
On-Load Tap Changers (OLTCs), controllers for MV
capacitor banks, controllers for MV voltage regulators,
controllers for reclosers and regular switches, among others.
Thus, in the Smart Grid laboratory the systemic behavior of
the power distribution systems may be simulated in a
controlled environment, considering conditions similar to
those found on the real distribution systems. This structure
provides conditions to analyze the impact of new technologies
or to evaluate the performance of changes in the regular
activities of the power distribution system without
compromising the real power distribution system operation.
For the FLISR studies described in this paper only part of
the Smart Grid laboratorys structure was considered. The
portion of the laboratory used was composed, in a simplified
way, by only four autonomous modules that communicate and
interact in a bidirectional manner, as presented in Figure 1.
Network Emulator
Electric network
simulator
Signal Transducer
IEDs
SCADA
Fig. 1. Smart Grid laboratory's structure
The Electric Network Simulator module and the Signal
Transducer module are parts of the Network Emulator, whose
role is to reproduce the operation of real power distribution
networks. These two first modules provide the values for
digital and analogic variables from the power distribution
network that will be transmitted to real IEDs, which are
normally used to monitor and control power equipment
installed in the HV and MV portions of the power distribution
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network. The last module used in the studies described in this
paper is the SCADA, which is composed by a software system
typically used by power distribution systems to communicate
with the IEDs installed in the field and measure/control the
values for the digital and analogic variables of the power
distribution network.
1) Electric network simulator
In the laboratorys environment, SINAP software, provided
by Sinapsis company [6], is used for simulating the power
distribution network. The software uses the topology data of
the actual power network and typical load curves. Through the
software, it is possible to carry out power flow and short-
circuit analysis, verifying the values for electric variables
involved and the status of the equipment under different load
conditions over the day and over different contingencies along
the network. The values for the monitored variables of the
power network are transmitted to the signal transducer module
by a TCP/IP server sub-module developed in SINAPs
environment.
2) Signal Transducer
This module is composed by PXI equipment, manufactured
by National Instruments [7] and by voltage and current
amplifiers. The TCP/IP packages from the Electric Network
Simulator are received by PXI, which generates actual
analogic and digital signals according to the routines
implemented using LabVIEW. Then, these signals are
amplified to voltage/current ranges expected by the real IEDs.
3) IEDs
The devices used in the studies described in this paper are
circuit breaker controllers and recloser controllers. IEDs
typically used by the power distribution companies and that
can be remotely controlled were used in the laboratory. The
IEDs chosen for the studies were three units of the Form6
recloser controller from Cooper, one unit of SEL-751A bay
controller from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories [10], and
one unit of the TPU-S220 bay controller from EFACEC [11].
Thus, the signals generated by the signal transducer module
are adequately provided to the TPs and TCs of these IEDs,
following their typical operation range.
4) SCADA
The SCADA system used in the studies described in this
paper was the Action.NET system from SPIN company [8].
Action.NET is responsible for monitoring the IEDs, receiving
analogic and digital data, and sending command actions
through the same communication protocols used in the field.
The communication link between the IEDs installed in the
laboratory and the Acion.NET system used DNP3 protocol.
The data received from the IEDs are used in the TARST
routine programmed in its environment in a way to generate
control decisions and send it as commands to the IEDs.
B. TARST
As stated before, the TARST routine used by EDP
Bandeirante and EDP Escelsa is intended to transfer loads
between feeders from the same substation (SE) or from
different substations in an automatic way. The routine is used
to transfer loads in bidirectional way, which means that there is
the possibility of load restoration for any of the two feeders
involved. Such transfer occurs when there is an occurrence at

the first portion of one of the feeders, causing the interruption
of supply for all the customers. Therefore, the customers at the
second part of the feeders may be transferred to the other
feeder involved in the routine, by opening a Normally Closed
(NC) recloser and closing a Normally Opened (NO) recloser.
Such transference is maintained throughout the complete
period in which the network will be under maintenance and
mitigates the impact of the fault reducing the number of
interrupted customers. After the repair, the load transferred is
undone and both feeders are configured according to their
regular operational conditions. A step-by-step operation
sequence is illustrated in Figure 2.
Fig. 2. TARST routine execution
TARST routines are implemented in the SCADA system,
localized at the COD of the company power distribution
systems. As the SCADA system is important in many aspects
of the operation of distribution systems, one of the major
concerns is that the implemented routines should not affect the
SCADA operation or cause system breakdowns. Thus, the
TARST routines use only conditional commands (if-else-
then commands) in a sequential way and loop commands are
not considered.
After a TARST routine is automatically performed, the
feeders involved may only have their original configuration
reestablished through specific commands performed by the
operators at COD. This condition guarantees safety for that the
maintenance staff, ensuring that the distribution network will
assume its original configuration only after the repairs are
completed and there is no risk to endanger human lives. Thus,
a member of the maintenance team has to inform the COD
operator that the repair has already been concluded and that
the distribution network may be powered up again.
In the TARST routine, there are variables related to the
real time measurements obtained from the circuit breakers and
from the reclosers involved in the logic. Besides the variables
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related to the measurements, there are also local variables,
related to counters, flags and the TARST state.
TARST routine can assume six state types. An integer
number represents each state, from zero to five, and is stored
at local variable in the TARST routine, as stated before. This
variable is associated with the NO recloser present between the
involved feeders. The values and respective states that the
TARST routine can assume are :
0 State: SUCCESS;
1 State: OPERATIONAL BLOCKING;
2 State: LOAD RESTRICTION BLOCKING;
3 State: COMUNICATION FAILURE;
4 State: ACTIVE;
5 State: BLOCKED.
Figure 3 presents a flowchart of TARST routine. The
structure based on successive conditional commands
mentioned before can be observed in the diagram. Each cycle
of the routine occurs within a 10 seconds time window, which
is determined in the SCADA system.
The routine begins with creation of the variables that will
store the values for the digital and analogic measurements
obtained from the IEDs involved. It also is necessary that the
operator has defined the TARST routine execution variable as
ACTIVE in SCADA system, in order to ensure its automatic
execution.
For each TARST routine, there are local variables that
work as counters. These counters help to build up the
automatic load transference logic and are incremented at each
cycle of the SCADA system. In the TARST routine used for
this study, there are two counters: one for each available
direction of load flow. These variables are associated with the
NC reclosers that can be opened in order to allow the load
transference. For example, variable ABRIR071657 of the
BIR1301-CSO1307 TARST routine studied in this paper is the
counter variable used to verify the procedure of transferring
load from the feeder BIR1301, where the NC Recloser
BIR071657 is installed, to the feeder CSO1307. In a similar
way, there is the ACSO071578 counter referring to feeder
CSO1307, since the BIR1301-CSO1307 TARST routine is
bidirectional.
When a TARST routine is active and the counters have
null values, the cycle of logic tests starts monitoring the need
for load transference in both directions. One may summarize
the TARST routine from the NC Recloser #1 point of view,
located at the defective feeder, as follows:
1) NC Recloser #1 Normal Operation
One verifies if there is voltage at the downstream side of NC
Recloser #1. The minimum voltage level is set to at least 75%
of the nominal phase voltage. In the routine one also checks if
the protection function from NC Recloser #1 has not been
executed and it is with a closed status. If these conditionals are
satisfied, the NC Recloser #1 should operate normally, a load
transference is not necessary and the counter is set to zero. On
the other hand, if one of these conditions are not satisfied, the
routine starts to verify if it is possible to proceed with the load
transference.
2) Both Feeders with No Voltage
One verifies if there are no voltage at both sides of the NO
Recloser. No voltage level is set to less than 25% of the
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nominal phase voltage. If this condition is satisfied, it means command to NO Recloser. Then, one verifies if the NC
that the feeder to which the load should be transferred is also Recloser #1 followed the command and is opened, as well as,
under a fault. In this case, the TARST routine should not if the protection adjustments of the NO Recloser has been
proceed with the load transference and the counter should be altered. Upon its confirmation, a closing command will be sent
set to zero. to the NO Recloser and the TARST routine status will be
3) NC Recloser #2 with Operated Protection altered to SUCCESS.
One verifies if there is voltage at the NC Recloser #2, at
the feeder to which the load should be transferred. One also ACTIVE
checks if its protection function has been executed, and it is
with an opened status. If any of these conditions is satisfied, it
Counter = 0
means that there was fault downstream the other feeder, to
which one intended to transfer the load from the defective
feeder. As a result, one cannot perform the load transference NC Recloser #1
and TARST routine assumes the OPERATIONAL Normal Operation
True
BLOCKING status. Due to safety issues, its reactivation can
False
only be performed by the operator.
4) Counter
If one does not satisfy any of previous three tests, the Both Feeders with
No Voltage
TARST routine verifies if there is voltage on at least one side
of the NO Recloser. Confirming the absence of voltage leads False
to conclude that there is a fault upstream of NC Recloser #1
and the TARST routine may proceed with the load NC Recloser #2 with TARST in
transference. If that is the case, the TARST routine counter Operated Protection
True
Operational Blocking
will be increased by one. It is necessary that the test results
False
remain the same for four cycles of the SCADA system, which
is equivalent to 40 seconds, so that the next stages will be Counter +1
executed.
5) Communication Failure False
One verifies if there was a communication failure with any Counter > 3
of the reclosers involved in the TARST routine. If there is a
communication failure, the TARST routine assumes True
COMMUNICATION FAILURE status and may only be
reactivated by the operator, due to safety issues. Communication TARST blocked by
6) Load Restriction Failure
True
Communication Failure

One verifies if the sum of current level measured by NC

False
Recloser #1 with the current level measured by the Circuit
Breaker #2 at the beginning of the feeder to which the TARST
Load TARST blocked by
routine is trying to transfer the load is equal to or greater than Restriction Load Restriction
455 A. As the maximum capacity level of this pattern of feeder True
is 450 A, a 5 A tolerance is assumed, due to imprecision in the False
measurement synchronization. If the summation results in a
current level greater than 455 A, the TARST routine assumes Remote Control TARST in
LOAD RESTRICTION BLOCKING status and may only be Blocked Operational Blocking
True
reactivated by the operator, due to safety issues.
False
7) Remote Control Blocked
One verifies if the remote control blocking function of any False
of the reclosers is active and verifies if the TARST routine Counter > 4
status has been changed to BLOCKED. In a positive case,
TARST routine assumes OPERATIONAL BLOCKING status True
and may only be reactivated by the operator, due to safety Send Command to
issues. Open the NC Recloser #1
8) Command Sending
In order to assure safety and allow the routine to work Send Command to
automatically, without any operator intervention, all stages Close the NO Recloser
previously described must be satisfied for one more cycle of
the SCADA system, so the counter variable may be SUCCESS
incremented four times. After this time interval, the TARST Fig. 3. TARST logical scheme
routine makes the SCADA system send an open command to
NC Recloser #1 and a change protection adjustments

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The reconfiguring of the feeders to their original topologies
will only happen through commands sent by the operator at the
distribution operation center.
III. APPLICATION EXAMPLES
A bidirectional TARST routine of load transference
between feeders BIR-1301 and CSO-1307 has been used in
this study. The control of following reclosers were involved:
BIR071657 (NC);
BIR071658 (NO);
CSO071578 (NC).
Figure 4 presents the georeferenced topology of the feeders
BIR1301 and CSO1307 in the SINAP software. The BIR1301
feeder from Biritiba substation is represented in red. The
CSO1307 feeder from Cesar de Sousa substation is
represented in blue. Both feeders supply a total of 13,110
customers. 7,182 customers are supplied by the feeder
BIR1301 and 5,928 customers are supplied by the feeder
CSO1307.
Fig. 4. Georreferenced representation of the feeders BIR1301 and CSO1307
Figure 5 presents details on the position of each one of the
three reclosers involved in the studied TARST routine during
regular operational conditions. The NC reclosers are
represented by the fulfilled circles, while the NO recloser is
represented by a hollow circle.
Fig. 5. Position of the reclosers involved in the TARST routine
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Using SINAP, one notices that, under regular operation
conditions, the peak of the demand in both feeders happen at
6:00 PM. At the peak, a current of 201A was measured at the
circuit breaker of feeder BIR1301 and a current of 221A was
measured at the circuit breaker of feeder CSO1307.
In the tests performed in the Smart Grid laboratory, the
current values and reclosers statuses are generated by the
SINAP and transmited to the IEDs. Their values can be
verified directly throught SCADA system. Thus, the tests
simulates the exactly situation faced by the operators located at
the distritubution operation center.
Figure 6 shows the laboratorys SCADA system display of
the studied TARST routine with the network operating in the
conditions of 6:00 PM. It is the same display shown to the
operators at the distribution operation center. The elements
that compose the TARST routine are represented at the
display, making it possible to observe the circuit breakers,
represented by squares, reclosers, represented by rectangles,
and voltage regulators, represented by circles. The state of the
reclosers and circuit breakers are represented by colors: red
means a closed status and green means opened status. The
current in each recloser and circuit breaker is shown below its
representative blocks. A time period simulation may be carried
out by automatically varying the time frame in SINAP. Then,
one may notice the current values changing as it was in a
regular situation observed by the regular operator at the
distribution operation center.
TARST routine status is informed to the operator through
the rectangle below the representation of the NO Recloser.
There is also a button for manual blocking command of the
TARST routine. It is possible to observe that the TARST
routine status is ACTIVE in the display.
Fig. 6. TARST's display on the SCADA system
Using SINAP one may simulate a fault on the feeder
CSO1307, resulting in protection operation and consequent
opening of the circuit breaker of the substation. In these
conditions, the grid can be seen as in Figure 7. Gray portion
represents interrupted part of CSO1307 feeder.
These new network conditions are transmitted to the IEDs
involved in the TARST routine, as the SCADA system is
continuously monitoring the equipments, verifiying the voltage
and current values and the statues for the circuit breaks and
reclosers.
After 50 seconds, which represent 5 cycles of the logic,
TARST sends to de IEDs commands for the opening of the
NC Recloser CSO071578 and to close of the NO Recloser
BIR071658. This operation transfers part of the loads from the
feeder CSO1307 to feeder BIR1301. The new values for IEDs
variables are transmited to SINAP. SINAP reconfigures the
virtual network accorcding to the values of variables from the
real IEDs and executes a new power flow calculation, in order
to generate new measurements values for the new topology of
the system.

After the sucessful tranference using real IEDs in the
laboratory, the TARST routine display presents a SUCCESS
status, as seen in Figure 8. New values for the current
measurements and reclosers statuses are also shown in the
SCADA display for this TARST routine.
Fig. 7. Network under a contigency condition on the feeder CSO1307
Fig. 8. TARST display after the operation
The network topology after the load transference is
presented in Figure 9. The network will remain in this setting
until the restablishment of the supply and the operator at the
distribution operation center manually undo the transference.
The simulation of the TARST routine for automatic load
transference under a contingency situation avoided the
interruption of supply of over 56% of customers at the
CSO1307 feeder. At the time of the peak demand, this amount
of customers is equivalent to 2.5MVA of power which was
reestablished within 50 seconds. Thus, this major occurrence is
not considered for calculating quality of service performance
indexes such as SAIFI and SAIDI.
Fig. 9. Grid's settings after the TARST operation
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IV. CONCLUSION
This paper presented the simulation of a real load
transference used in power distribution utilities in a controlled
environment. It was possible to represent the integration
between real software systems typically used in distribution
operation centers, such as SCADA systems, with real hardware
systems typically installed in the field, such as IEDs used to
controle circuit breaker and reclosers. The power network was
virtully represented through a software system and a
infrastruture was developed to synthesyse digital and analogic
signals to the expected levels of power instrumentation present
in the field.
Through this approach one may simulate the operation of
power distribution networks. Such approach was illustrated
through the simulation of the TARST routine, allowing
operator training under several different occurrences in the
network in a controlled and risk free environment. Therefore,
laboratorys structure also provides a favorable environment
for equipment testing, aiming the improvement of the
parametrizations of IEDs used by the company.
TARST routine presented promising results in terms of
quality of service. However, it is possible to observe the
possibility of improvements. The Smart Grid laboratory is the
ideal environment to test and modify the TARST routine
without offering risks to the companys operation. Examples of
the possible improvements are: inclusion of load transference
to relief, considering more than three reclosers, minimizing
prioritary loads interruption.
V. REFERENCES
[1]. J. R. Aguero, Applying Self-Healing Schemes to Modern Power
Distribution Systems, em IEEE Power and Energy Society
General Meeting, San Diego, 2012.
[2]. X. Bai, D. Strickland e C. Harrap, Application of Automatic
Load Transfer on Feeder Utilisation Balance, em IET
International Conference on Resilience of Transmission and
Distribution Networks, Birmingham, 2015.
[3]. L. Liu e X. Zhao, Study on Self-healing Control Strategy of
Smart Distribution Network, em IEEE PES Innovative Smart
Grid Technologies, Tianjin, 2012.
[4]. S. Toune, H. Fudo, T. Genji, Y. Fukuyama e Y. Nakanishi,
Comparative Study of Modern Heuristic Algorithms to Service
Restoration in Distribution Systems, IEEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, vol. 17, n 1, pp. 173 - 181, 2002.
[5]. J. M. Solanki, S. Khushalani e N. N. Schulz, A Multi-Agent
Solution to Distribution Systems Restoration, IEEE Transactions
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http://www.sinapsisenergia.com/portal/
[7]. National Instruments [Online]. Available at:
http://www.ni.com/pt-br.html.
[8]. SPIN Engenharia [Online]. Available at:
http://www.spinengenharia.com.br.
[9]. EATON, Cooper Power Systems. Available at:
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/power_syste
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[10]. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Available at:
https://selinc.com/products/751A/
[11]. EFACEC. Available at:
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