Allocation of Fault Indicators for Adaptive Protection Schemes

The development of innovative protective devices for electrical systems has produced new planning problems, such as the study of the adaptive protection benefits and the efficiency in locating faults. In distribution networks, the careful choice of sites for the allocation of fault indicators and protective devices can increase their benefits in improving the network reliability. The best allocation of these devices can be obtained from the solution of a combinatorial optimization problem, which is the focus of this paper. It proposes a mixed-integer programming mathematical model for the optimal allocation of fault indicators. The solutions allow to improve the identification of temporary faults in a distribution network and to improve of recloser-fuse coordination. Also, a Monte Carlo simulation approach is designed to evaluate the quality of the solutions obtained by the optimization model.