Knowledge based system for transformer protection

Protection of power systems against the effects of faults, mainly short circuits, is a complex domain that involves the knowledge of several branches of power system engineering. The type of protection required for a particular plant depends not only on the characteristics of the plant itself like the type, size, ratings, etc, but also on the manner in which the plant is to be configured into the system, the role it plays in the system, the policy and the budget of the authority operating the power system. The authors report on the development of an expert system, using Personal Consultant Plus (Texas Instruments package) for transformer protection. The system plays an advisory role in suggesting the necessary protection scheme for a given transformer setup. The user is given the option to choose between the relays of two available manufacturers. The suggestions are based on ASEA Brown Boveri and GEC relay catalogues and application guides, but is designed to include other relays as the solution options in future