A niche-based evolutionary Tabu search algorithm for optimal coordination of protection relays in power networks

Abstract

In this paper, refusal of operation and the degree of constraint violation are considered as one part of the objective function for optimizing the protection relay setting coordination of over current relays in power systems; a new expression of objective function in this optimization problem is proposed. To combine the advantages of both Tabu search (TS) and evolutionary algorithms (EAs), a new niche-based evolutionary Tabu search algorithm (named NETS) is presented to solve this optimization problem. Moreover, in two cases of power networks, comparisons between NETS and two published algorithms are given. Experimental results show the expression of the objective function for protection relay setting is feasible and reasonable, and the proposed algorithm NETS exhibits a good performance.