1
Optimal Coordination of Directional
Overcurrent Relay Coordination
H. Zeineldin, E. F. El-Saadany, Member, IEEE, and M. A. Salama, Fellow, IEEE
AbstractDirectional overcurrent relays are used to protect
interconnected power systems and looped distribution systems.
Several techniques and formulations have been proposed to solve
the directional overcurrent relay problem. In this paper, the
proposed formulations for relay coordination problem are
discussed. The protective relay coordination problem is
reformulated to take into account the discrete pickup current
values. The directional overcurrent relay coordination problem is
formulated as a mixed integer-programming problem. The
problem is solved using the OSL solver of the General Algebraic
Modeling System (GAMS).
Index TermsMixed Integer Programming, Overcurrent
Relay, Power System Protection, Protection Coordination.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE main function of protection on the power system is to
detect and remove the faulted parts as fast and as
selectively as possible. One of the most common protective
relays used in power and distribution systems is the
overcurrent relay. Radial distribution systems use these types
of relays as means for protection. In cases where the power or
distribution system has more than one source connected,
directional overcurrent relays become the suitable choice.
Since directional relays operate only when the fault current
flows in the specific tripping direction, they avoid
compromising line protection and provide selectivity.
Directional overcurrent relays are commonly used as an
economic alternative for the protection of interconnected
subtransmission systems, distribution systems, or as a
secondary protection of transmission systems. The most vital
task when installing directional relays on the system is
selecting their suitable settings such that their fundamental
protective function is met under the requirements of
sensitivity, selectivity, reliability and speed.
Directional overcurrent relays have two types of settings:
time dial setting (TDS) and pickup current setting (Ip). The
settings should be designed for minimum relay time operation.
On the other hand, the settings should also provide selectivity
and reliability by providing backup protection. Each zone in
the system should be protected by a primary and backup relay.
In other words, the settings should be chosen to minimize the
H. H. Zeineldin, E. F. El-Saadany and M. M. A. Salama are with the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1 Canada (email: hhmzeine@engmail.uwaterloo.ca).
overall time of operation of relays while maintaining
selectivity and reliability. Thus, the directional overcurrent
relay coordination problem involves optimization, where the
solution is the optimal settings of each relay.
The problem of determining the settings of the relays using
optimization was first stated in [1]. In general, the protective
relay coordination problem was formulated in previous work
either as a linear, nonlinear, or a mixed integer nonlinear
programming problem depending on the type of variables in
the problem. The pickup current setting is the variable that
determines mainly the type of problem. If Ip is set fixed, the
coordination problem becomes a Linear Programming (LP)
problem. For continuous Ip values, the problem becomes a
Nonlinear Programming (NLP) problem. Lastly, if the discrete
values of Ip are taken into account, the problem becomes a
Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problem.
In this paper, an overview of the different problem
formulations proposed previously for solving directional
overcurrent relay coordination problem is presented. A new
problem formulation for directional coordination is proposed
that takes into account the discrete pickup current values
while avoiding non-linearity in the problem. The coordination
problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Programming
(MIP) problem. The paper is organized as follows: Section II
presents an overview on the directional overcurrent relay
coordination problem. Section III presents the proposed
problem formulation. Simulation results are presented in
section IV. Finally, conclusions are drawn in section V.
II. OVERVIEW
Several optimization techniques have been proposed to
solve the relay coordination problem. Due to the complexity
of nonlinear optimal programming techniques, the
coordination problem was formulated as an LP problem and
was solved using LP techniques. These techniques include
Simplex, Dual Simplex and Two Phase Simplex [1-6]. In [8],
an optimization method based on only constraints was
proposed using the Sachdev model formulation in [7].
Minimization of relay time was conducted by setting the time
dials to minimum and then increasing their values gradually.
Genetic and Evolutionary algorithm were proposed to solve
the relay coordination problem in [9-11]. In [12], the relay
coordination problem was formulated as an MINLP problem
and was solved using the DICOPT solver in GAMS. The
solver relaxes the problem by assuming that the binary

variables are continuous and a lower bound to the solution of
the problem is obtained. If the solution of the relaxed problem
gives integer solutions for the relaxed integer solutions, then
the search stops and this will be the solution to the problem.
Otherwise, the problem is divided into subproblems and a
master problem. The subproblems are NLP problems with
fixed values for the binary variables. The master problem is
an MIP problem where the variables calculated from the NLP
subproblmes are used to obtain the optimal solution.
In the next subsections, an overview on the different
directional overcurrent relay coordination problem
formulations will be presented.
A. Linear Problem Formulation
In the coordination problem, the main objective is to
calculate the TDS and Ip, which would minimize the time of
operation of the relays [1-6]. The coordination problem of
directional overcurrent relays in a power system can be stated
as follows:
objective = min W ' Ti ik
(1)
where Tik indicates the operation time of relay Ri for a fault in
zone k and Wi is a coefficient and is usually set to 1 [8]. The
objective is to minimize the time of operation of the relays
under the following constraints:
Coordination Criteria
Tnk Tik T (2)
where Tnk is the operation time of the first backup of Ri for a
given fault in protection zone k . T is the coordination time
interval and is taken to be 0.2 seconds. The coordination time
interval is the minimum interval that permits the backup relay
to clear a fault in its operating zone. It includes the breaker
operating time, relay overtravel time and a safety margin to
compensate for possible deviations in calculated fault
currents.
Bounds on relay settings and operation times
TDS imin TDS i TDS imax (3)
Ipimin Ipi Ipimax (4)
Tikmin Tik Tikmax (5)
where TDSi is the time dial setting and Ipi is the pickup
current. The minimum pickup current is determined by setting
it at twice the normal load current. This is to assure that the
relay will not misoperate under normal load conditions. The
maximum pickup current is chosen such that it is less than the
minimum fault current that passes through the relay.
Relay characteristics
All relays were assumed identical and with characteristic
functions approximated by:
2
Tik = 0.14 xTDS i /[( I ik / Ipi ) 0.04 1] (6)
where Iik is the fault current passing through the relay for a
fault in zone k. It can be seen from (6) that the non-linearity
comes from the pickup current term. For LP formulations, the
pickup current is assumed to be known and as a result (6)
takes the form
Tik = ai xTDS i (7)
where ai is a constant depending on the values of Ip and the
fault current.
Transient Configuration Equations
The transient changes in the network topology due to the
operation of the primary relay are usually considered when
setting the relays. When the main relay operates, the current
seen by the other relays changes leading to a different
operating time. Thus, the transient changes are included in the
problem formulation and are given in the following equations:
T ' nk T ' ik T (8)
Tikmin T ' ik Tikmax (9)
T ' ik = 0.14 xTDS i /[( I ' ik / Ipi ) 0.02 1] (10)
where Tnk and Tik are the time of operation of the backup
and primary relay for transient configuration. Iik is the fault
current of relay i for a fault in zone k for transient
configuration.
The main disadvantage of this formulation is that the
pickup currents are assumed predetermined. Since each relay
can allow for several Ip values, there could be a better pickup
current setting for each relay that would lead to a better
objective function.
B. Nonlinear Problem Formulation
Due to the similarities in the curves of the time-current
characteristics for different TDS values, a relationship
between the operating times and the TDS for each value of
current can be approximated [7], [8]. The relation can be
written as follows:
Ti = ao + a1 (TDS i ) + a 2 (TDS i ) 2 + a3 (TDS i ) 3
(11)
+ a 4 (TDS i ) 4
where Ti is the relay operating time, and ao to a4 are obtained
using the data from the published curves and the least square
curve fitting. This model is appropriate for use in
microprocessor-based relays since it requires much less
memory than the previous model but unfortunately; the
pickup currents are assumed known. Constraints shown in (2)
to (5) are included in the problem formulation.

C. Mixed Integer Nonlinear Formulation
Digital overcurrent relays have current setting multipliers
(CSM) ranging from 50 to 200% in steps of 1% and a time
dial setting ranging from 0.01 to 1 in steps of 0.01. Since the
settings are changed in steps and the relation between time
and pickup current is nonlinear as given in (6), the problem is
an MINLP problem [9-11]. Genetic algorithm was used to
solve the problem and the coordination problem was
formulated as follows:
objective = relay operating time
+ (relay TDS user preferred TDS ) 2 +
(12)
(relay CSM User preferred CSM ) 2 +
(Tnk Tik T ) 2
It can be seen that the constraints are added in the
objective function by squaring and multiplying by a weighting
factor. ,,, and are the weighting factors for each
constraint. The time of operation in (12) are calculated from
(6). Due to the non-linearity in the problem, the technique
used to solve such problem might get trapped in a local
optimal solution.
Similarly, the coordination problem was formulated as an
MINLP problem in [12]. The main objective was to minimize
the time of operation of relays as give in (1). In order to take
into account the discrete pickup current values, an additional
binary variable ymi was added to the problem formulation. The
pickup current of each relay was written as a sum of each of
its available pickup current settings multiplied by a binary
variable. Thus, if a relay has 6 available pickup settings, it can
be written as follows
Ip1 = y11 Ip a1 + y 21 Ip a 2 + y 31 Ip a 3 + y 41 Ip a 4
(13)
+ y 51 Ip a 5 + y 61 Ip a 6
where Ipa1, Ipa2,..,Ipa6 are the available relay pickup current
settings.
In general,
Ipi = y
m
mi Ip am i where i = 1,2,.....n (14)
ymi =1 if pickup current setting m is chosen
for relay i
ymi = 0 otherwise
where n is the number of relays , m is the number of available
pickup current settings, and Ipam are the allowable discrete
values for the pickup current for each relay i.
From (14), the pickup setting should equal only one of the
available relay settings. In order to assure that not more than
one pickup current setting is chosen for each relay, the
constraint shown in (15) is included in the problem
3
formulation.
y
m
mi =1 i where i =1,2,........n (15)
It can be seen from (15) that if one of the binary variables
for a relay is equal to 1, then all the others for the same relay
will equal 0.
Constraints (2) to (6) are included in this formulation and
thus the problem becomes an MINLP problem. The main
advantage of this formulation is that the pickup current
settings are not fixed to a predetermined value. Thus, a better
optimal solution could be obtained, other than the solution
obtained with predetermined values for pickup current.
Similarly, due to the non-linearity in the formulated problem,
there is a chance that local optimal solutions are generated.
III. PROPOSED PROBLEM FORMULATION
The protective relay coordination problem is originally an
MINLP problem since Ip is discrete, TDS is continuous and
some constraints are nonlinear. It is well known that MINLP
techniques might result in local optimal solutions due to the
non-linearity of the problem. In order to overcome this
problem, the coordination problem has been reformulated and
constraints and additional variables were added to avoid the
non-linearity. The main objective can be written as follows
objective = min W ' T i ik
(16)
For n discrete pickup current values for each relay, the
time of operation of a relay could written as a sum of the time
of operation of the relay for each Ip multiplied by a binary
variable. Only one of these binary variables is equal to 1 to
assure that only one pickup current setting is chosen. Equation
(6) has been modified to account for the discrete pickup
current settings and takes the form
n TDS i y ij
Tik = 0.14 x i (17)
j =1 [( I ij / Ipij ) 0.04 1]
To assure that one pickup current setting is chosen, the sum of
the decision binary variable for each relay is equated to 1.
Since Ipij and Iij are fixed values and known, the pickup
current is no longer the source of non-linearity in the problem.
Unfortunately, there is still non-linearity as a result of the
multiplication of the TDS by the decision variable. To
overcome this, (17) has been further modified by replacing
the results of the multiplication of the two variables in (17)
with one new variable Rij as shown in (18)
n Rij
Tik = 0.14 x
i (18)
j =1 [( I ij / Ipij ) 0.04 1]
Additional constraints need to be added to relate the new
variable Rij to TDSi and yij. If yij is equal to 1, then Rij should
equal TDSi else if yij equals zero, Rij should equal 0. This If
Then-Else statement could be formulated as follows
 4

Rij TDS i j ,i (19) variables to be continuous variables. A relaxed solution is

obtained which is usually not a feasible solution. Branch and
Rij TDS i M (1 yij ) j , i (20) Bound is then used to obtain an optimal integer solution.
Rij 0 j ,i (21)
TABLE I
Rij M y ij j ,i (22) GENERATOR DATA
Node Sn (MVA) Vp(kV) x (%)
where M represents a big numerical number. Constraint (23) 7 150 10 15
is added to assure that only one pickup current setting is 8 150 10 15
chosen.

n TABLE II
y ij = 1 i (23) TRANSFORMER DATA
j =1 Node Sn (MVA) Vp(kV) Vs(kV) x (%)
Equation (24) and (25) represent the bound on the time of s
operation of relays and the TDS. 7-1 150 10 150 4
8-6 150 10 150 4
Tikmin Tik Tikmax (24) TABLE III
LINE CHARACTERISTIC
TDS imin TDS i TDS imax (25) Node R X Y Length
The proposed problem formulation is an MIP problem. s (/km) (/km) (S/km) (km)
The non-linearity was overcome by adding new variables and 1-2 0.004 0.05 0.0 100
constraints. The proposed formulation takes into account the 1-3 0.0057 0.0714 0.0 70
discrete pickup current settings while preventing non-linearity 3-4 0.005 0.0563 0.0 80
and thus this eliminates the possibility of getting trapped in 4-5 0.005 0.045 0.0 100
local optimal solutions. 5-6 0.0045 0.0409 0.0 110
2-6 0.0044 0.05 0.0 90
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS 1-6 0.005 0.05 0.0 100
The system under study is an 8-bus system shown in Fig. 1.
At bus 4, there is also a link to another network modeled by a The coordination problem was formulated as an LP,
short circuit power of 400 MVA. The system consists of 14 MINLP, and MIP problem. For the LP programming case, the
relays and each relay is assigned 10 discrete pickup current pickup current settings were set fixed to their lowest available
values. setting. The problem was solved using the CPLEX solver in
GAMS, which uses the dual simplex method to obtain the
optimal solutions. Table IV presents the optimal solution for
7
the 3 problem formulations for the protective relay
coordination problem.
The results show that for the LP case, the objective
function is equal to 31.96 seconds. For both MINLP and MIP
1 3 4
problem formulations an objective value of 16.5 seconds was
8 4
obtained. Thus, setting the pickup current to a predetermined
2 9 3 10
value could lead to inefficient solutions. Both MINLP and
MIP problem formulations generate the same exact solution,
which proves that the proposed MIP formulation is equivalent
7
to the MINLP problem formulated in [12]. Despite the fact
12 5 that both MINLP and MIP give the same solutions, but the
13 6
1 11 new formulation eliminates the possibility of generating local
2 6 5
optimal solutions. For larger system with more relays and
more available settings, there is a possibility that the MINLP
problem formulation will generate local optimal solutions.
The main advantage of the proposed problem formulation
8 over the MINLP and NLP formulations is the avoidance of
the possibility of getting trapped in a local optimal solution.
Fig. 1. System under study Besides that, the proposed MIP formulation generates better
solutions than the LP problem formulation. To illustrate this,
Tables I, II, and III present the system parameters. The Fig. 2 shows the effect of providing several settings for each
OSL solver in GAMS was used to solve the MIP problem. relay on the optimal solution obtained.
The solver relaxes the problem first by assuming all integer
 5

It can be seen from Fig. 2 that as more settings are added to

TABLE IV each relay, the objective value decreases more and a better
OPTIMAL RELAY SETTINGS
solution could be obtained. Thus, providing several discrete
LP MINLP MIP
settings for each relay, and solving the problem as an MIP
TDS1 0.608 0.114 0.114
problem could result in much better results than the LP
TDS2 0.892 0.241 0.241
problem formulation.
TDS3 0.816 0.183 0.183
TDS4 0.681 0.143 0.143 V. CONCLUSION
TDS5 0.576 0.106 0.106
TDS6 0.857 0.213 0.213 This paper presented several problem formulations for
TDS7 0.803 0.178 0.178 directional overcurrent relay coordination. A problem
TDS8 0.883 0.206 0.206 formulation for coordinating directional overcurrent relays
TDS9 0.513 0.107 0.107 was proposed. The new formulation takes into account the
TDS10 0.803 0.195 0.195 discrete pickup current values by formulating the protective
TDS11 0.804 0.193 0.193 relay coordination problem as an MIP problem. Additional
TDS12 1.071 0.326 0.326 constraints were added to the problem to avoid non-linearity
TDS13 0.637 0.1 0.1 in the problem formulation as a result of the discrete nature of
TDS14 0.731 0.147 0.147 the pickup current settings. The proposed problem
Ip1 120 500 500 formulation does not require a previous knowledge of the
Ip2 160 800 800 pickup current setting value and chooses the best Ip from a
Ip3 100 600 600 group of available settings that will produce the best objective
Ip4 160 800 800 value. The presented formulation eliminates the possibility of
Ip5 120 550 550 generating local optimal solutions, which might occur for
Ip6 100 550 550 NLP and MINLP problem formulations.
Ip7 120 650 650
Ip8 100 550 550 VI. APPENDIX
Ip9 160 540 540 New constraints have been introduced in the proposed
Ip10 100 550 550 optimal coordination problem formulation. To illustrate
Ip11 120 650 650 mathematically the details of the constraints presented in the
Ip12 100 550 550 proposed problem formulation section, one of the relay was
Ip13 120 600 600 examined and its equations are presented. Assuming that each
Ip14 160 800 800 relay has 3 available pickup current settings, then
Objective 31.96 16.5 16.5
T81 0.14 R81 /((7500 /(300)) 0.04 1)
0.14 R81 /((7500 /(400)) 0.04 1)
0.14 R81 /((7500 /(500)) 0.04 1)) = 0
where T81 is the time of operation of relay 8 for a fault on the
line between Bus 1 and Bus 2. The values 300, 400, and 500
represent the available discrete pickup current settings. To
overcome non-linearity, the following equations were added.

Fig. 2. Objective value versus the number of relays with 10 settings
available.
At the beginning, some relays were chosen randomly to
have a fixed setting, while the rest were assumed to have 10
available settings each. The objective value obtained was
17.128 seconds. One of the relays with fixed pickup settings
was chosen randomly and then equipped with 10 pickup
settings. The new objective value improved to 16.74 seconds.
0 R81 TDS 8
TDS 8 10000(1 y81 ) R81 10000 y81
0 R82 TDS 8
TDS 8 10000(1 y82 ) R82 10000 y 82
0 R83 TDS 8
TDS 8 10000(1 y83 ) R83 10000 y 83
Similarly, relay 8 operates as backup for relay 13, and the
time of operation for relay 8 for a fault in the line between
Bus 2 and Bus 6 can be written as follows:
 6

T82 0.14 R81 /((3000 /(300)) 0.04 1) VIII. BIOGRAPHIES

0.14 R81 /((3000 /(400)) 0.04 1) H. H. Zeineldin received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering
from Cairo University, Egypt, in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He is working
0.14 R81 /((3000 /(500)) 0.04
1)) = 0 toward his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at the University of
The coordination constraints can be written as follows: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His current interests include protective relay
coordination, and distributed generators.

T71 T81 0.2

T82 T132 0.2
In order to assure that one pickup setting was chosen, then
y 81 + y82 + y83 = 1
and Ip could be calculated from the following equation:
E. F. El-Saadany received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, all in electrical engineering in 1986, 1990, and
1998, respectively. Dr. El-Saadany is an assistant professor in the Electrical
Power and Machines Department at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Presently, he is working as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His
interests include the operation and control of distribution systems and power
quality analysis.

I p 8 = 300 y81 + 400 y82 + 500 y83

M. M. A. Salama received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Cairo University,
Egypt and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario,
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