An autonomous protection coordination scheme in an electric power distribution network using a multi-agent concept

In this paper, a protection system using a Multi-Agent concept for power distribution networks is proposed. Every digital over current relay (OCR) is developed as an agent by adding its own intelligence, self-tuning and communication ability. In order to cope with frequent changes in the network operation condition and faults, an OCR agent, suggested in this paper, is able to detect a fault or a change in the network and find its optimal parameters of the protection relays in an autonomous manner considering information of the whole network obtained by communication between other agents. Simulations in a simple distribution network show the effectiveness of the suggested scheme.