Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash

This paper presents a novel meta-heuristic optimization method called flow direction algorithm (FDA) to achieve optimal coordination of Directional Overcurrent Relays (DOCRs) while considering the impact of Arc Flash (AF). The coordination between relays plays a significant role in the protection sc...

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Main Authors: Dina K. Mahmoud, Shady H.E.Abdel Aleem, Ahmed M. Ibrahim, Mahmoud M. Sayed, Wael Abdelfattah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Results in Engineering
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025000520
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author Dina K. Mahmoud
Shady H.E.Abdel Aleem
Ahmed M. Ibrahim
Mahmoud M. Sayed
Wael Abdelfattah
author_facet Dina K. Mahmoud
Shady H.E.Abdel Aleem
Ahmed M. Ibrahim
Mahmoud M. Sayed
Wael Abdelfattah
author_sort Dina K. Mahmoud
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents a novel meta-heuristic optimization method called flow direction algorithm (FDA) to achieve optimal coordination of Directional Overcurrent Relays (DOCRs) while considering the impact of Arc Flash (AF). The coordination between relays plays a significant role in the protection scheme of modern power systems, and achieving it is one of the most important challenges facing power system engineers. There are impacts such as incident energy (IE) caused by arc flash (AF) which must not exceed the threshold according to IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E standards to increase workers' safety and reduce the danger of equipment damage. The objective of this study is to reduce the overall operation time of primary relays under certain constraints and thus reduce the amount of IE. The FDA is designed to address the highly nonlinear optimization problem of DOCRs coordination. The decision variables of this optimization problem are considered as the time dial setting and the pickup current or the plug setting. The effectiveness of the FDA method is verified by comparing it with well-known methods such as Gravitational Search Algorithm, Imperialistic Competition Algorithm, Sine Cosine Algorithm, and Harmony Search Algorithm. The method was tested on 8-bus and 15-bus systems, showing substantial improvements in optimal coordination, with FDA successfully limiting the IE to 40 cal/cm². The FDA outperforms the other algorithms, achieving improvements of up to 73.18 %.
format Article
id doaj-art-9377b343bceb4015923ad8171d021412
institution Kabale University
issn 2590-1230
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Results in Engineering
spelling doaj-art-9377b343bceb4015923ad8171d0214122025-01-09T06:14:33ZengElsevierResults in Engineering2590-12302025-03-0125103964Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flashDina K. Mahmoud0Shady H.E.Abdel Aleem1Ahmed M. Ibrahim2Mahmoud M. Sayed3Wael Abdelfattah4Department of Electrical Power and Machines Engineering, The Higher Institute of Engineering at El-Shorouk City, El-Shorouk Academy, Cairo 11837, Egypt; Corresponding author.Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Aviation Engineering and Technology, Giza 12658, EgyptElectrical Power Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, EgyptElectrical Power Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, EgyptDepartment of Electrical Power and Machines Engineering, The Higher Institute of Engineering at El-Shorouk City, El-Shorouk Academy, Cairo 11837, EgyptThis paper presents a novel meta-heuristic optimization method called flow direction algorithm (FDA) to achieve optimal coordination of Directional Overcurrent Relays (DOCRs) while considering the impact of Arc Flash (AF). The coordination between relays plays a significant role in the protection scheme of modern power systems, and achieving it is one of the most important challenges facing power system engineers. There are impacts such as incident energy (IE) caused by arc flash (AF) which must not exceed the threshold according to IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E standards to increase workers' safety and reduce the danger of equipment damage. The objective of this study is to reduce the overall operation time of primary relays under certain constraints and thus reduce the amount of IE. The FDA is designed to address the highly nonlinear optimization problem of DOCRs coordination. The decision variables of this optimization problem are considered as the time dial setting and the pickup current or the plug setting. The effectiveness of the FDA method is verified by comparing it with well-known methods such as Gravitational Search Algorithm, Imperialistic Competition Algorithm, Sine Cosine Algorithm, and Harmony Search Algorithm. The method was tested on 8-bus and 15-bus systems, showing substantial improvements in optimal coordination, with FDA successfully limiting the IE to 40 cal/cm². The FDA outperforms the other algorithms, achieving improvements of up to 73.18 %.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025000520Arc flashDirectional overcurrent relaysFlow direction algorithmIncident energyOptimal relay coordinationOptimization problem
spellingShingle Dina K. Mahmoud
Shady H.E.Abdel Aleem
Ahmed M. Ibrahim
Mahmoud M. Sayed
Wael Abdelfattah
Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
Results in Engineering
Arc flash
Directional overcurrent relays
Flow direction algorithm
Incident energy
Optimal relay coordination
Optimization problem
title Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
title_full Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
title_fullStr Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
title_full_unstemmed Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
title_short Flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
title_sort flow direction algorithm for optimal coordination of directional overcurrent relays considering arc flash
topic Arc flash
Directional overcurrent relays
Flow direction algorithm
Incident energy
Optimal relay coordination
Optimization problem
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025000520
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AT shadyheabdelaleem flowdirectionalgorithmforoptimalcoordinationofdirectionalovercurrentrelaysconsideringarcflash
AT ahmedmibrahim flowdirectionalgorithmforoptimalcoordinationofdirectionalovercurrentrelaysconsideringarcflash
AT mahmoudmsayed flowdirectionalgorithmforoptimalcoordinationofdirectionalovercurrentrelaysconsideringarcflash
AT waelabdelfattah flowdirectionalgorithmforoptimalcoordinationofdirectionalovercurrentrelaysconsideringarcflash