Enhancing distance relay performance using wide-area protection for detecting symmetrical/unsymmetrical faults during power swings

Abstract

The distance protection in transmission networks is vulnerable to malfunction during a power swing. Distance relays have a power swing blocking (PSB) function that prevents the relay from operating during a power swing. However, during a power swing, the relay will be able to identify and clear any fault. This paper offers a scheme for detecting symmetrical/unsymmetrical faults through power swing by estimating the maximum rate of change of a (ΔI-ΔV) ellipse circumference. The ellipse circumference of each phase is constructed at each power frequency cycle to consistently tracking the distinction in the measured current and voltage differences between the line's two ends. The main feature of the suggested work compared to previous works is the ability to detect numerous high impedance faults (HIFs) during single mode (slow/fast) power swing or multi-mode power swing in addition to the opportunity to detect faults during asymmetrical power swing. The suggested scheme is tested in a two-area, four-machine power system and tested also in the standard three-machine, nine-bus system using ATP software. The results reveal that the improved protective scheme performs well in fault conditions with and without power swing, and they confirm the scheme's suitability for interconnected networks.

Keywords

• Distance protection
• High Impedance Faults (HIFs)
• Phasor Measuring Units (PMUs)
• Power swings
• Symmetrical/unsymmetrical fault detection