AbstractThe partial line digraph technique was introduced in [7] in order to construct digraphs with a minimum diameter, maximum connectivity, and good expandability. To find a new method to construct directed hypergraphs with a minimum diameter, we present in this paper an adaptation of that technique to directed hypergraphs. Directed hypergraphs are used as models for interconnection networks whose vertices are linked by directed buses. The connectivity and expandability of partial line directed hypergraphs are studied. Besides, we prove a conjecture by J‐C. Bermond and F. Ergincan about the characterization of line directed hypergraphs. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.