Automatic coordination of protection devices in distribution system

Abstract Among the several components of distribution systems, protection devices present a fundamental importance, since they aim at keeping the physical integrity not only of the system equipment, but also of the electricians’ team and the population in general. The existing tools today in the market that carry out the making of protection studies basically draw curves, and need direct user's interference for the protection devices adjustment and coordination analyses of selectivity, being susceptible to the user's mistakes and not always considering the best technical and economical application. In Brazil, the correct application of the protection devices demand a high amount of time, being extremely laborious due to the great number of devices (around 200 devices), besides the very dynamic behaviour of distribution networks and the need for constant system expansion. This article presents a computational tool developed with the objective of automatically determining the adjustments of all protection devices in the distribution networks to obtain the best technical application, optimizing its performance and making easier protection studies.