Development of an Integrated Power Distribution System Laboratory Platform Using Modular Miniature Physical Elements: A Case Study of Fault Location

Jinrui Tang, Binyu Xiong, Chen Yang, Cuilan Tang, Yang Li, Guoxing Su and Xinhao Bian
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Jinrui Tang: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Binyu Xiong: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Chen Yang: Department of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan Electric Power Technical College, Wuhan 430079, China
Cuilan Tang: Department of Educational Technology, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan 512005, China
Yang Li: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Guoxing Su: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Xinhao Bian: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: The main shortcomings of the software-based power engineering education are a lack of physical understanding of phenomena and hands-on experience. Existing scaled-down analogous educational power system platforms cannot be widely used for experiments in universities due to the high cost, complicated operation, and huge size. An integrated power distribution system laboratory platform (PDSLP) using modular miniature physical elements is proposed in this paper. The printed circuit board (PCB) and microelectronic technology are proposed to construct each physical element. Furthermore, the constructed physical elements are used to set up an integrated PDSLP based on modular assembly technology. The size of the proposed cost-efficient PDSLP is significantly reduced, and the reliability of the proposed PDSLP can be improved greatly because the signal transmission path is shortened and a number of welding points are reduced. A PDSLP for fault location in neutral non-effectively grounded distribution systems (NGDSs) is selected as a typical experimental scenario and one scaled-down distribution network with three feeders is subsequently implemented and discussed. The measured zero-sequence currents by our proposed PDSLP when a single-phase earth fault occurred can reveal the true features of the fault-generated signals, including steady-state and transient characteristics of zero-sequence currents. They can be readily observed and used for students to design corresponding fault location algorithms. Modular renewable energy sources and other elements can be designed, implemented and integrated into the proposed platform for the laboratory education of the active distribution networks in the future.

Keywords: laboratory education; integrated power distribution system laboratory; modular miniature physical elements; fault location; distribution line module (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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