Asymmetrical Fault Current Calculation Method and Influencing Factors Analysis of Droop-Controlled Inverters

Since the fault dynamic of droop-controlled inverter is different from synchronous generators (SGs), protection devices may become invalid, and the fault overcurrent may damage power electronic devices and threaten the safety of the microgrid. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive fault analysis of the inverter to guide the design of protection schemes. However, due to the complexity of droop control strategy, existing literatures have simplified asymmetric fault analysis of droop-controlled inverters to varying degrees. Therefore, accurate fault analysis of a droop-controlled inverter is needed. In this paper, by analyzing the control system, an accurate fault model is established. Based on this, a calculation method for instantaneous asymmetrical fault current is proposed. In addition, the current components and current characteristics are analyzed. It was determined that fault currents are affected by control loops, fault types, fault distance and nonlinear limiters. In particular, the influences of limiters on the fault model, fault current calculation and fault current characteristics were analyzed. Through detailed analysis, it was found that dynamics of the control loop cannot be ignored, the fault type and fault distance determine fault current level, and part of the limiters will totally change the fault current trend. Finally, calculation and experimental results verify the correctness of the proposed method.

Stability Investigation and Improvement for DC Cascade Systems with Simplified Impedance-based Stability Criterion

In DC distributed power systems(DPSs),the complex impedance interactions possibly lead to DC bus voltage oscillation or collapse.In previous research,the stability analysis of DPSs is implemented based on mathematical analysis in control theory.The specific mechanisms of the instability of the cascade system have not been intuitively clarified.In this paper,the stability analysis of DPSs based on the traditional Nyquist criterion is simplified to the resonance analysis of the seriesconnected port impedance(Z=R+jX)of source and load converters.It reveals that the essential reason for impedance instability of a DC cascade system is that the negative damping characteristic(R<0)of the port the overall impedance amplifies the internal resonance source at reactance zero-crossing frequency.The simplified stability criterion for DC cascade systems can be concluded as:in the negative damping frequency ranges(R<0),there exists no zero-crossing point of the reactance component(i.e.,X=0).According to the proposed stability criterion,the oscillation modes of cascade systems are classified.A typical one is the internal impedance instability excited by the negative damping,and the other one is that the external disturbance amplified by negativity in a low stability margin.Thus,the impedance reshaping method for stability improvement of the system can be further specified.The validity of the simplified criterion is verified theoretically and experimentally by a positive damping reshaping method.

Multi-Resource Collaborative Service Restoration of a Distribution Network with Decentralized Hierarchical Droop Control

To improve the resilience of distribution networks(DNs)in the event of extreme natural disasters such as typhoons and rainstorms,it is imperative to efficiently implement distribution service restoration(DSR)to restore loads as soon as possible.In previous studies,DSR has mainly adopted the distributed resource model with droop or PQ control.This inhibits the exploitation of the potential of distributed generators(DGs)in load restoration when the DN loses support from the upstream transmission network.Thus,this paper proposes a multi-resource collaborative service restoration(MRCSR)approach for DNs incorporating local soft open points,DGs,and tie switches.The MRCSR model is developed by integrating a decentralized hierarchical droop control(DHDC)strategy and incorporating the frequency and voltage features of the load demand.A two-stage iterative feedback optimization(TSIFO)algorithm is then developed to analyze the MRCSR model in an accurate and efficient manner.Finally,the proposed model and algo-rithm are tested on the modified IEEE 33-bus system and a practical distribution system of the Taiwan Power Company to verify their effectiveness and advantages over existing approaches.

SiC JFETs Modular Cascaded Method with Active Clamp Control Strategy for DC Solid-state Circuit Breaker

Power semiconductor devices cascaded topology is one of the most common solutions for solid-state circuit breakers(SSCBs)working in medium-voltage DC systems.However,when the number of cascaded devices is large,current series technologies of power semiconductor devices will be difficult to be applied since with uneven voltage sharing problems.Thus,this paper proposes a novel cascade method of multi-SiC JFETs based on modules cascaded.This method consists of two parts:one is a single-gate driver cascaded SiC JFETs topology which is used to form the module,the other one is an active clamp control strategy which ensures that each module is protected from overvoltage when modules are cascaded.The proposed cascade method can effectively suppress voltage overshoot of cascading power devices in the switching process.Based on the proposed cascade method,a 5kV/63A SSCB prototype is designed.Finally,an experiment is conducted based on the designed SSCB.Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed cascaded method for SSCB.

Droop control method for load share and voltage regulation in high-voltage microgrids

When the line impedance is considered in the microgrid, the accuracy of load sharing will decrease. In this paper, the impact of line impedance on the accuracy of load sharing is analyzed. A robust droop control for a highvoltage microgrid is proposed based on the signal detection on the high-voltage side of the coupling transformer. For a high-voltage microgrid, the equivalent impedance of coupling transformer connecting distributed generator with the grid is usually the dominate factor. Compared with the conventional droop control strategy, the proposed control method in this paper detects the feedback signal from the high-voltage side of the coupling transformer. The impact of line impedance on the load sharing accuracy can be mitigated significantly. The proposed droop control only changes the detection point of the feedback signal, thus it is easy to be implemented. The PSCAD/EMTDC simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed robust droop control concept in load sharing and voltage regulation with highly accuracy.

Analysis and Control of Modular Multi-terminal DC Power Flow Controller with Fault Current Limiting Function

In order to overcome the problems of power flow control and fault current limiting in multi-terminal high voltage direct current(MTDC)grids,this paper proposes a modular multi-terminal DC power flow controller(MM-DCPFC)with fault current limiting function.The topology structure,operation principle,and equivalent circuit of MM-DCPFC are introduced,and such a structure has the advantages of modularity and scalability.The power balance mechanism is studied and a hierarchical power balance control strategy is proposed.The results show that MM-DCPFC can achieve internal power exchange,which avoids the use of external power supply.The fault characteristics of MM-DCPFC are analyzed,fault current limiting and self-protection methods are proposed,and the factors affecting the current limiting capability are studied.The simulation models are established in PLECS,and the simulation results verify the effectiveness of MM-DCPFC in power flow control,fault current limiting,and scalability.In addition,a prototype is developed to validate the function and control method of MM-DCPFC.

A Power Allocation Method for Grid-Connected MMC Inverter Based on Droop Control

Droop control has been widely used for controlling distributed generators.As capacity of the MMC inverter may be insufficient,a power allocation method for grid-connected MMC inverter based on droop control is presented to improve the stability of the power system.As there is potential for large disturbances in the power grid,an equal speed regulation strategy is adopted to make the speed of the voltage collapse be the same as the frequency collapse.With obtaining the active and reactive power references of MMC inverter according to equal speed regulation strategy,the deadbeat control method is calculated using these power references and adopted to track the reference currents.The Routh criterion is used to analyze the influence of the inductance measurement error on the control system.Additionally,a simulation model is established with Matlab and Simulink.The simulation results show that the stability of the power grid has been improved with the proposed control method.