A Simulation-Based Method for Distribution Line Localized Protection Device Development

For protective relay vendors, traditionally, before evaluating the performance of new protection algorithms, it was necessary to develop the corresponding hardware and generate various electrical signals in different operating scenarios, such as voltage and current signals at protection terminals under fault conditions, through techniques including electromagnetic transient programs. This was done to test and improve protection algorithms and devices. This method was time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and constrained by testing equipment, such as protective relay test sets and real-time digital simulator, making it a cumbersome and inconvenient process. This paper proposes a simulation-based method for the development of protection devices, and is applied to the development of localized distribution line protection device development. This method simulates the localized protective relays deployed in distribution lines using software tools such as PSCAD, and then verifies and improves the accuracy of the software simulation model by comparing it with the performance of actual devices. Once the accuracy of the simulation model is validated, for the development of new protection principles, simulation based on the protection principles can be performed first, and then the electrical fault signals generated by electromagnetic transient simulation software can be used to verify and improve the new protection principles. With this method, there is no need to produce hardware in the early stages of developing new protection principles and devices when the principles are not yet mature. Instead, thorough accurate modeling, improvement and the formation of mature solutions can be accomplished, reducing device development costs and improving development efficiency.