A New Index for Constraint Reduction in Relay Coordination Problem Considering Uncertainty

In a realistic and large power system, the overcurrent relay coordination problem considering different network topologies and different location of faults is stated as an optimization problem with a large number of constraints. In this paper, a new index is proposed to detect and remove the inactive inequality constraints in relay coordination problem. This index is defined for each relay pairs, as the ratio of the variation of fault current passing through the primary relay to the variation of fault current passing through the backup relay. The proposed index is independent of the overcurrent relay characteristics and current and time multiplier settings of the relay, which is the most significant feature of this index. For IEC relay characteristic, it is shown that without the solving the coordination problem, the proposed index can distinguish the active and inactive inequality constraints. The 14-bus and 30-bus IEEE test systems are used to verify the performance of the proposed index. The presented results show that greater than 90 percent of the inactive constraints can be detected and removed from the set of constrains by using the proposed index.