ICSET 2008

The Study of the Protection Revision Method Based on the DG

Effect to Protection Sensitivity
Lin Xia, Lu Yu-ping, Senior Member, IEEE, Wang Lian-he

Abstract—This paper carries on the deep research to the to give a deep analysis to the DG affection upon protection,
influence of Distributed Generation ˄ DG ˅ introduction in and understand its affective mechanism to build the more
distribution system to over-current protection sensitivity, and concrete set amending principle.
proposes the protection revision method. In this paper, it
presented the unit-current method to analyze influence
II. THE EFFECT OF ONE DG INJECTION TO THE
characteristic on current protection with DG. It is proved both in
theory and by simulation: (1) the single DG influence PROTECTION SENSITIVITY
characteristic is a quadratic curve, which is determined by the
DG short-circuit impedance and the DG injection position; (2) A. Effect of single DG injection to the protection sensitivity
the multi- DG influence characteristic curve is superimposition of When the three-phase fault occur to a multi-source system,
each DG influence characteristic curve approximately; (3) The it always can be reduced to the following form as fig.1(a),
DG arrangement which has the minimum influence to the where the spot 3 is the system infinite source, spot 2 is the
protection is: DGs are connected in the order of the capacity
from small to large at both sides of the central point of the system distributed generator, and their corresponding path reactance
short-circuit impedance. According to analyzing results, it is are X 3 * , X 2 * respectively, and E K * is the appended source
proposed the inverse time current protection curve revision for the fault spot.
method for the downstream fault and the reverse verification for
X 3*
the upstream fault to keep the protection coordination 3 X 1*
relationship and coordination margin, in this way it eliminates a
I 3* X 2* K
the influence of DG to the protection. 2 I 1*
I 2* EK*
Index Terms— protection sensitivity; DG injection location;
protection sensitivity influencing characteristic curve; unit-

current method ; branch coefficient. (a)
U s
I. INTRODUCTION *
X 3k * K

A FTER the introduction of DG into the distribution

system, the original radiation network turns into a multi-
sources supplying system and each source switch on-off state
E '
2 *
X 2k *

(b)
can’t be prospected. At the occurrence of a fault, the power Fig. 1 Unit-current method for the calculation of transfer impedance
flow is no longer just from the main source to the fault site,
but all the sources including running DGs supply the fault Using the unit-current method to calculate the transfer
flow instead. This brings profound influence to the present impedance for each source, from source to fault point i.e.,
protection sets and mechanisms [1, 2, 3]. For this, the present DG obtain the form in fig.1 (b).When a fault happens, the system
participated power system running rules mostly are based on source and DG branch following short-circuit current
the principle that the DG shouldn’t bring influence upon the respectively is:
normal operational performance of the prime power protection U S* 1 
I = =
and control system. For example: when a fault happen, it’s
demanded that the DG be rapidly quitted from the distribution
3k*
X 3K * X 3* + ( X 3*
X 2* )
+ 1 X 1*

system to guarantee the correct operations of the primary 

protection devices [4,5]. In this way, although it has guaranteed For the fixed both fault location and DG capacity, DG
the power system security in the greatest degree, actually it connection spot change: suppose X 2* is the constant
destroyed the DG normal operation and greatly weakened the value X 2*0 , assumes x1* + x3* = l , and then formula (1) can be
DG superiority when working as distributed sources to
simplified as:
enhance the local the power supply reliability. It is necessary
1 1
I 3K * = X1* X 3*
= (2)
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of l+ X 2*
l + f ( X 1* , X 2* , X 3* )
China (NSFC) (50577006).
Lin Xia is with School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, X 1* X 3* X ( l − X 3* ) − X 3*2 + lX 3*
f ( X 1* , X 2* , X 3* ) = = 3* =
Nanjing, Jiangsu (210096), China. (Tel: +86-25-83791817; Fax: +86-25- X 2* X 2* X 2*
83793371; E-mail: boulevard2@seu.edu.cn.)
Lu Yu-ping is with School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast put X 2*0 into it and get the partial derivative of f with
University, Nanjing, Jiangsu (210096), China. (Tel: +86-25-83791817; Fax:
+86-25-83793371; e-mail: luyuping@seu.edu.cn ).
respect to X 3* ,responding the change rate of the protection

186
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c 2008 IEEE

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 current : f X′3* = −2 X 3* + l
; let f ′ ( X 3* , X 1* ) = 0 ,and yields the III. THE EFFECT OF MULTI- DG INJECTION TO THE
X 2*0 PROTECTION SENSITIVITY
stationary point X = l ,where the quadratic form f come to
3*
2 A. Analysis of two DG injection effect to the protection
l2 sensitivity
the maximum value, and the extreme point is ( l
2
, 4 X 2*0
) ,with
I 3K * being at the minimum value. That is when DG is at the
middle of the sum impedance 2l , from the main source to the
fault point, the protection sensitivity reach the minimum value I f
with the most serious influence of DG. And while at around
Fig3 the two DG injection to the single feeder
the position of 2l ,the quadratic form f is of the minimum
change rate, that is when DG is moving nearby the center It can be seen in fig 3, the DG1 is close to power source
point ,the protection current change rate is the smallest, and side, and DG2 is close to the load side. Where X G , XG2L are
1L
with DG moving towards both ends of the line(away from the the power side resultant impedance before the DG1,DG2
middle point), the current change rate increases. This is
because when the DG connection position change, the connection point respectively, and X G1R , X G2R are the load
protection current branch coefficient change as well as the side resultant impedance after the DG1,DG2 connection point,
system sum short-circuit impedance do, these two kind of and X 12 is short-circuit impedance between the two DGs.
opposite tendencies affect the protection current all together. Assume DG1 is firstly connected to the system, and the
X 2* denotes the DG short-circuit impedance value, and it protection current branch coefficient is:
does not affect the position where the extreme point appears, X G1
C1 =
but do affect the extreme value and the current change rate X G1 L + X G1
When adopt X 2*1 2
< X 2* , there is f 1 m ax > f 2 m ax . Shown in fig After DG1 is connected to the system, the new system
2, extreme point of the curve a is bigger than that of curve b. resultant short-circuits impedance is l = X G //X G1 + X G ˈand
1
1L 1R

It is noted that for the same system when the DG is in the as exist X G = X 12 + X G1 L // X G 1 then after two DG connected
bigger short-circuit capacity (the short-circuit impedance is
2L

the system branch fault current is:

smaller), then the protection current minimum value is
1 ˄3˅
relatively smaller; as for the same X 3* , there is f1'X > f 2' X , I 3*( 2 ) =
3* 3*
X G1 L X G1 R 1 XG XG
denoting the DG in bigger short-circuit capacity connection l+ + < 2L 2R
X G1 C1 X G2
position variation results to the protection current bigger
change rate. That is when the DG capacity increases, the Compared to formula (8), the one DG connection case, it is
corresponding effect to the protection current value and known here the influence coefficient function become:
change rate are both bigger. So in practice, it can through X G1 L X G1 R 1 X G2 L X G2 R ˄4 ˅
f = + <
adjusting the DG connection position to be far away the X G1 C1 X G2
protection sensitivity lowest point to reduce its influence to
It can be seen from the formula (4), for the two DG
protection. The fig 2 gives the corresponded protection current
connection, the influence coefficient function for the
influenced characteristic curve when the DG position changes.
protection branch current conforms to the superimpose
f ( X 3* ) 1
X 2* 2
< X 2*
2 principle approximately, that is the two quadratic curves
( 2l , 4 Xl 1 )
2*

−2 X 3* + l
imposition. Here the 1st term is the DG1 influence on the
f X'13* = X 12* protection branch current when it moving at the original
'2 −2 X 3* + l
f =
X 3* 2
X 2* system l ; the 2nd term is the DG2 influence on the protection
(0, 0) ( 2l , 0) (l , 0) X 3*
branch current when it moving at the new system l 1 ,
I 3* simultaneously the parameters C1 , l are affected by the change
1
(0, 1l )
b'
a' of DG1 location and short-circuit capacity. When the DG1
X
(l , 0) capacity and position are fixed and DG2 moving far away
3*

Fig.2 Protection current influenced characteristic curve of one DG injection power source, the 2nd term extreme point appears at the new
to the single feeder system resultant impedance center point, namely at l , and the 1

2
2
extreme value is 1 l 1 , where the system branch fault
C1 4 X G 2
current I 3*(2) arrives its minimum value, and the DG2 influence
to the protection current is the biggest. The two DG
connection corresponded protection sensitivity influencing

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 characteristic curves are shown in fig4. 1
f ( X G1( 2) L )
li −1 = l i − 2 + f Gl i − 1
c i −1 i−1

…
1 l1
1′
l1 = l + f
c1 G 1

Multiply both sides of formula (5) by the branch

coefficient Ci − 2 ....C1 <
C0 , and the left side is equal to the i-2
l
(0 , 0 ) ( 21 , 2l ) (l1 , l ) X G1( 2 ) L
DG combined branches to be expanded layer upon layer till
Fig4 the two DG injection with influence curves get the final protection branch current :
1 1
I 3*bh = <
B. Analysis of multi- DG injection effect to the protection X G( i−1) L X G( i−1) R 1 X GiL X GiR Ci − 2 ....C1 <
C0
sensitivity li − 2 + +
X Gi−1 Ci −1 X Gi
1
= i−2
1 li −1 i −1 1 li
l + fG +" + ∏
l1
f +∏ fG
1
j =1 c j G i −1 j =1 c j
i

X G1L X 1,2 X i −1,i X GiR

1
= n i −1
˄ c0 = 1 ˅ ˄6˅
Fig.5 the multi- DG injection to the single feeder 1
l + ¦∏ f Gli
i =1 j =1 c j
i

Definition: li is the new system resultant impedance after

Where n is the number of DG connected.
the ith DG is connected; X G is the resultant short-circuit From the formula (5) (6) it can be seen that for DGi, the
iL

impedance before the ith DG connection position(the system one close to the end of system, when it move in the system,
source side), X G is the short-circuit impedance after the ith protection current extreme point appeared when DGi moves to
iR
the li −1 position. So the more DGs are connected to its system
DG position (the load side), there is : X G = li − X G , and 2
iR iL
i −1
Ci is after the ith DG connected, its system source side source side( before side), the bigger of ∏ 1 , the smaller
resultant branch current coefficient. j =1 cj
Assume after the DGi is connected to the system, and at its of li −1 , the protection current extreme point corresponded DGi
system source side have existed i-1 DGs with the determined
connection position of li −1 is more migrating to the system
connection position and short-circuit capacity. And the existed 2
i-2 DG at the system source side is regarded as a combined source side.
branch, then according to the two DGs case denoted by
formula (3), can get the combined branch current as: C. Effect of multi- DG connection order to the protection
sensitivity
1 (5)
I 3*( i ) = Noticing˖
X G( i−1) L X G( i−1) R 1 X GiL X GiR
li − 2 + + X G iL X G iR X Gi −1
X Gi−1 Ci −1 X Gi = f Gli ˈ Ci −1 =
X Gi i
X G( i−1) L + X Gi−1
Study the relationship between li − 1 and li , can be seen from
The substitution of above two formula to the formula (5), and
fig 5: li = li −1 − X GiL + X GiL //X Gi transform to:
1
X Gi I 3*bh =
Substitute Ci = and reduced i −2
1 li−1 i − 2 1 1 li
X GiL + X Gi l + f Gl1 + " + ∏ f +∏ < f
1
j =1 c j Gi−1 j =1 c j ci −1 Gi
1 X GiL X GiR 1
to li = li −1 + =
ci X Gi
l + f Gl1 + " + ∏
i−2 §
1 ¨ li−1
<f G +
( )
X G( i−1) L + X i −1,i X GiR X G( i−1) L X i −1,i X GiR
+
·
¸
1
c j ¨ i−1 X Gi X Gi−1 X Gi ¸
X GiL X GiR li
j =1
© ¹
Make = f G , yield: ˄7 ˅
X Gi i
The third item of the parentheses in the formula (7) has
1 nothing to do with the DG connection order and position, and
l i = l i − 1 + f Gl i the first, second item of the part is the combination current
ci i

influence of D G i − 1 DQG D G i to the system side current. It

can be seen when the two DG are arranged in the short-circuit

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 capacity from the smaller to the bigger at the both sides with the I DG 2 > I dif to guarantee the relay R2 is to operate before R3,
l in this way it maintains the coordination in the reverse
the center point of the system i − 2 , the DG influence to the
2 direction. And in the case of I R1 f − I R 2 f < I dif or I R 2 f − I R 3 f < I dif ,
1 li−1 the reverse coordination will no longer maintain, then such
protection sensitivity is smaller. If the item of f is protection as the direction protection need to be adopted.
c j Gi−1
A. Protection revision method for the downstream fault in DG
layer-by-layer expanded forward, with i reduces, WKH
system
D G i − 2 D G i − 1 … D G 2 D G 1 Dlso conforms to the above
rule. So for the system with the short-circuit impedance
l there is: When the DG are arranged in the short-circuit
capacity from the smallest to the biggest at the either side of
l
the center point of the system, the DG influence to the
2
protection sensitivity is the smallest.

IV. THE PROTECTION REVISION METHOD FOR THE

ε ε ε
PROTECION IN DG SYSTEM ε
EXV 1 EXV 2 EXV 3 EXV 4
1 R2
R1 R3
S
B A

ORDG DG1 ORD

G DG2 ORD
G DG3
Fig. 6(a) Primary distribution feeder connected with multi-DGs
 the I R 2 is to be smaller, and the fault current of R 3 the I R 3 is
Fig. 6(b) Relay-relay co-ordination curves for the distribution feeder with DG
As shown in Figure 6(a) is the primary distribution
network with multi-DG, and the feeders are equipped with the
inverse time over-current protection, each protection
coordination curve is shown in Figure 6(b), and the
coordination time between adjacent protections is ε .
For the system downstream fault, fault current at the DG
upstream reduces, which low the protection sensitivity and
increase the protection operation delay. This is not favorable
to the fault fast clearance, and the original protection's
coordination is also changed. The key is to either choose the
high sensitivity protection curve, or to revise the protection
inverse time curve characteristic. Meanwhile as a result of DG
connection, it is necessary to check if the protection
coordination is still kept in reverse direction for the upstream
fault.
For the upstream fault at bus 1, the current difference
value of the two adjacent protections at the identical operation
time is I dif . It can be seen from figure 6(b), only
for I R1 f − I R 2 f > I dif , that is I DG1 > I dif , the relay R1 is to
operate before R2; Likewise for the bus 2 fault it also needs
Fig. 7 Coordination curves revisions of relays for downstream fault with DG
As shown in Figure 6(a), when the fault is happened on
the point A at the bus 3 , as a result of DG connection, the
fault current I R1 , I R 2 , I R 3 of the protections R1,R2, R3
changes, the upstream protection R1 is with the smallest fault
current, and the downstream R3 protection fault current is
biggest, namely, there exist the I R1 < I R 2 < I R 3 . The original
protection coordination relation does not adapt to the current
change, so carry on the revision to the protection action curve.
As a result of DG 2 connection, the fault current of R 2
to be bigger. When the fault happen the protection
coordination between R 2 ǃ R 3 is no longer exist. So based on
the original protection characteristic curve, carry on the
revision with the coordination margin ε :
t R 2( rev ) ( I R 2 ) = t R 3 ( I R 3 ) + ε
˄8 ˅
As shown in Figure 7, the R 2 protection characteristic
curve shifts lower to get the revision curve R 2rev , and in this
way to keep the original protection coordination in case of the
DG 2 connection. And the smaller of the fault current turns to
be, the much more of the curve shifts lower. Similarly for the
fault at bus 2, as a result of DG1 connection, reduce the fault
current of R1 the current of I R1 is smaller, based on the
protection characteristic curve R 2rev to carry on the revision
with the coordination margin ε :
t R1( rev ) ( I R1 ) = t R 2( rev ) ( I R 2 ) + ε
˄9˅
Here obtain the R1 revision curve R1rev . From this it can
be seen as the result of two DG connection to the downstream
of R1 , to keep the original protection coordination margin it
need to swift down the protection curve two times.

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 B. Protection coordination check in reverse direction for penetration and the position, observe the influence curve of
upstream fault in DG system protection sensitivity, exist the following three-dimensional
t plot as in fig 8: The simulation result is consistent with the
above analysis in theory.Increase the DG penetration to 40%,
10 60% and the above, the protection sensitivity extreme point
IR3f IR2(rev) IR2f
will appear when DG at the bus 2 and bus 1 separately.

1
tR3f R1rev

R2rev
0.1 Idif
R3

0.01
I
1 KA 10
Fig. 8 Revision of coordination curves of relays for upstream fault with DG

For the downstream fault, it takes the protection curve

revision to maintain the original protection performance. At
the same time, as result of DG connection, for the upstream
fault, the downstream DG provides the fault current for the
fault point, so it also need the protection coordination check in
the reverse direction. As shown in Figure 6(a), suppose a fault
happen at point B, and the fault current of protection R 3 , R 2
are I R 3 f , I R 2 f respectively. The protection R 3 corresponded
operation time is t R 3 f , which is used to obtain the revision
Fig.10 relay sensitivity vs DG penetration and location
(2)Influence of multi-DG connection to the protection
current:
Use the two DG connection system to simulate, and DGa is
1.5MVA , DGb is 3MVA , and there is the short-circuit
capacity S DG < S DG , study the following two cases: (1)fix
a b

curve of R 2rev operation current I R 2 ( rev ) . Only in case the DGa position at bus 1,change the DGb position from bus
of I R 2 f > I R 2 ( rev ) , the protection R2 operate before R3, that is the 2 towards bus 5, to observe the protection current changing
rule. (2) Change the two DG connection order and their
protection closest to the fault point to operate first. If take the
position, to observe the protection current changing rule. The
difference value I dif between the protections R 2 and R 3 the
simulation result is shown as in table 1:
identical operation time corresponded currents is constant TABLE I
approximately, then there is I R 2 f − I R 3 f > I dif the condition for THE DGS-BETWEEN INTERVAL AND MUTUAL LOCATION CHANGES VS RELAY
FELT FAULT CURRENT
the protection coordination being kept in the reverse
direction. It also can be seen for the upstream fault, the bigger Sequence DGa location DGb IF˄A˅
is the DG short-circuit capacity, the more does the DG code location
approach upstream, the bigger short-circuit current is provided 1 1 2 161.2
to the upstream fault, and the more beneficial is to keep the
2 1 3 167.1
protection coordination in reverse direction.
3 1 4 197.4
V. SIMULATION AND EXAMINATION 4 1 5 255.6
5 2 1 172.3
Use MATLAB simulate to validate the influence of DGs in
7 2 4 205.4
different number, different short-circuit capacity, and different
8 2 5 257.2
connection position upon protection sensitivity. The OC
setting is set according to the maximum load current, and the 9 3 4 221.4
relay is installed at bus 1 shown in fig 9. 10 4 3 204.7
It can be seen from the data group of 1, 2, 5 of table 1 that
the protection sensitivity minimum point is appeared with DG
at around bus 2, drifting towards the system source side, away
from the midpoint of short–circuit impedance of the system.
Other data of the table indicate that, the more the DG group
position is to far away the mid-point; the less influence is to
Fig9 DG injection system simulation model the protection current. Simulation result can be found
consistent with the above theory deduction
(1) DG is the 4.5MW synchronous generator, simulate .
three phase fault happened at the end of feeder, change the DG

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 VI. CONCLUSION
This paper uses unit-current method to study the effect of
DG introduction in distribution system to over-current
protection sensitivity. According to analyzing results, it is
proposed the inverse time current protection curve revision
method for the downstream fault and the reverse coordination
check for the upstream fault to keep the protection
coordination and coordination margin in distribution system
with DG, in this way it eliminates the influence of DG to the
protection.

VII. REFERENCES
[1] De.Britto.T.M, Morais.D.R, Marin.M.A., "Distributed generation
impacts on the coordination of protection systems in distribution
networks",Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition:
Latin America, 2004 IEEE/PES, vol.8, pp:623 – 628,Nov. 2004 .
[2] Doyle, M.T.,Reviewing "the impacts of distributed generation on
distribution system protection" Power Engineering Society Summer
Meeting, 2002 IEEE, vol.1pp:103 - 105. ,2002
[3] Davidson, I.E., “Modeling and analysis of a multi-bus reticulation
network with multiple DG. Part II. Electrical fault analysis",AFRICON,
2004. 7th AFRICON Conference in Africa2004 Vol.2,pp:811 - 814
[4] IEEE Std. 1547-2003, IEEE Standard for Interconnecting Distributed
Resources with Electric Power Systems.
[5] Thomas Ackermann,Vatery Knyazkin. "Interaction between distributed
generation and the distribution network: operation aspects".IEEE ˈ
2002,2:1357-1362

VIII. BIOGRAPHIES

Xia Lin was born in Fuzhou, China, on Oct 22,

1975. She graduated from Shandong University of
technology in June 1997 and Shandong University in
June 2002, received B.E and M.E respectively. Now
she is pursuing her PhD in Southeast University. Her
current interesting area is protection and control of
distribution system with DGs

Yuping Lu was born in Danyang, China, in Oct,

1962. He was received the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from the City University, UK in 2003.
He is working as a professor in Southeast University
of china. His research interests are power system
protection, especially digital relaying of generator-
transformer unit, and protection and control
technique in distribution system with DGs.

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