A Multi-Agent-Based Self-Healing Framework Considering Fault Tolerance and Automatic Restoration for Distribution Networks

Increasing penetration of distributed generators (DGs) brings new challenges to the control and protection of distribution networks. This article proposes a control and protection framework based on Multi-agent System (MAS), in which situation awareness of zone agents plays an important role. The main protection is designed to locate and isolate faults based on the peer-to-peer communication among the zone agents. Fault-tolerant mechanisms, including self-inspection and backup protection, are developed to cope with the malfunction of individual MAS and local communication failure. An automatic parallel restoration scheme that doesn't require complete grid information is proposed to restore the power supply. Comprehensive simulation studies are carried out on a 71-bus distribution network with DGs using DIgSILENT, and the results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed self-healing framework.