Vivent Barahona, Francisco Javier2023-08-312023-08-312023-08-30vt_gsexam:38417http://hdl.handle.net/10919/116170The growth of Distributed Energy Resources is accelerating, causing significant changes in utility distribution systems due to the bidirectionality of power flow. As a result, protection systems will require upgrades to operate with these new requirements. The current-only directional relay (CODR) is a novel proposal that detects the direction of fault currents without the need for new devices, but instead upgrades the software logic of existing devices, making it a cost-effective solution. This work provides a complete description of how to implement a hardware testbed to review the CODR method. Findings show that CODR performs successfully in a real environment, but its algorithm needs to be upgraded if used in distribution systems where lines have a non-negligible resistive component.ETDenIn CopyrightHardware testbedovercurrent directional relayDER integrationphasor estimationThesis