Decentralized Plug-and-Play Protection Scheme for Low Voltage DC Grids

Nils H. van der Blij, Pavel Purgat, Thiago B. Soeiro, Laura M. Ramirez-Elizondo, Matthijs T. J. Spaan and Pavol Bauer
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Nils H. van der Blij: Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Pavel Purgat: Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Thiago B. Soeiro: Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Laura M. Ramirez-Elizondo: Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Matthijs T. J. Spaan: Department of Software Technology, Delft University of Technology, Van Mourik Broekmanweg 6, 2628 XE Delft, The Netherlands
Pavol Bauer: Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: Since the voltages and currents in dc grids do not have a natural zero-crossing, the protection of these grids is more challenging than the protection of conventional ac grids. Literature presents several unit and non-unit protection schemes that rely on communication, or knowledge about the system’s topology and parameters in order to achieve selective protection in these grids. However, communication complicates fast fault detection and interruption, and a system’s parameters are subject to uncertainty and change. This paper demonstrates that, in low voltage dc grids, faults propagate fast through the grid and interrupted inductive currents commutate to non-faulted sections of the grid, which both can cause circuit breakers in non-faulted sections to trip. A decentralized plug-and-play protection scheme is proposed that ensures selectivity via an augmented solid-state circuit breaker topology and by utilizing the proposed time-current characteristic. It is experimentally shown that the proposed scheme provides secure and selective fault interruption for radial and meshed low voltage dc grids under various conditions.

Keywords: decentralized protection scheme; fault analysis; low voltage direct current grids; plug-and-play systems; solid-state circuit breakers (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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