Protection of Low Voltage CIGRE Distribution Network

High quality electricity services are the prime objectives in the modern power systems around the world. One of the main players to achieve this is the protection of the system which needs to be fast, reliable and cost effective. The study about the protection of the Low Voltage (LV) CIGRE distribution grid and networks like this has been proposed in this paper. The main objective of this paper is to develop protection against short circuit faults which might appear anywhere in the network. The protection of the power networks that comprises of renewable energy generation units is complicated because of the bidirectional flow of the current and is a challenge for the protection engineers. The selection of the protection devices in this paper is made to protect the network against faults in grid connected and island mode of operation. Ultra-fast fuses are proposed in order to protect the inverters used for Photovoltaic (PV) and battery applications. The disconnection of the PV solar panels when in island mode is made by proposing switch disconnecting devices. ABB is currently using these kinds of disconnection devices for the purpose of protecting solar panels against over voltages in the case of islanding. The over speed protection of the existing Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) in the CIGRE network in case of grid loss is also proposed in this paper.

Islanding Protection and Islanding Detection in Low Voltage CIGRE Distribution Network with Distributed Generations

The Power Quality (PQ), security, reliability etc., are the prime objectives of the power system. The protection is developed in such a way that it should be selective, fast, reliable and the cost effective. The study about the islanding protection in Low Voltage (LV) CIGRE distribution and networks like this has been proposed in this paper. This is achieved by developing the protection against the short circuit faults which might appear at the Medium Voltage (MV) bus. The protection of the network with significant penetration of the Distributed Generations (DGs) is a complicated process. The DG units which are directly connected to the grid such as synchronous or induction generators contribute large short power, whereas the DG units which are connected to the grid via inverters carry small amount of the short circuit power. This creates the problems in the protection of the network. If the proper protection coordination measures have not been taken, it might cause the mal-function of the protection devices which put the portion of the power network into the security threats. The selection of the islanding protection devices in this paper is made to protect the network against bi-directional currents at the time of short circuit fault. The LV CIGRE distribution network will enter into islanding if a fault is cleared at the MV bus by the proposed islanding protection devices. It is therefore, essential to detect the islanding in the CIGRE power network. The detection of the island in this network is another major objective of this paper. The detection of the island is proposed by using the technique which is based on the voltage phase angle difference. The simulations are carried out by using DIgSILENT power factory software version 15.0.

Study on the instantaneous protection reliability of low voltage circuit breakers

This paper outlines the significance of enhancing the instantaneous protection reliability of low voltage circuit breakers and describes their main failure modes. The instantaneous failure mechanism of low voltage circuit breakers was analyzed so that measures to improve instantaneous protection reliability can be determined. Furthermore, the theory of the instantaneous characteristics calibration device for low voltage circuit breakers and the method of eliminating the non-periodic component of test current are given in detail. Finally, the test results are presented.

A NOVEL OVER-VOLTAGE PROTECTION METHOD FOR 600V SPIC

A novel over-voltage protection method for 600V SPIC (Smart Power IC) is proposed in this paper. The combining FFLRs (Floating Field Limiting Rings) system is designed to be a voltage detector. The detector's voltage can turn off the switch of the APFC (Active Power Factor Correction) circuit and the bus voltage would fall from 600VDC to 300VDC, so the SPIC and power devices can be protected. The advantages of this design are that the total protection circuits are integrated in SPIC and technologically compatible with CMOS or BCD(BipolarCMOS-DMOS) technology.

Over Voltage Fault due to Disconnection of Consumer’s Transformer Neutral Wire

Practically,the load currents in three phases are asymmetric in the power system.It means that the impedances are different in all three phases.If the consumer’s transformer neutral cut off and/or was disconnected from the neutral of power supply source,then there will be some trouble and failure occurred.The current in the neutral wire drops down to zero when the neutral wire is cut off and the phase currents of all three-phase equal to each other since there was no return wire.The currents are equal but the voltages at the phase consumers are different.Especially for residential single-phase consumers,the voltage at the consumers of the phase varies differently for three phase systems when the neutral wire was disconnected at consumer side and even the voltage at the consumers one or two of those three phases becomes over nominal voltage or reaches nearly line voltage.In this case,the electronic appliances in that phase will be fed by high voltage than the rated value and they can be broken down.In the power system of UB(Ulaanbaatar)city,there are some occasional such kind of failures every year.Obviously,many electronic appliances were broken down due to high voltage and the electricity utility companies respond for service charge of damaged parts.

The Realization of Low Loop Voltage Start-up of HT-7 Tokamak Discharge with the Assistance of Lower Hybrid Wave

Low voltage start-up was realized in HT-7 discharges under the assistance of lower hybrid (LH) waves. The use of a strong LH wavet which can Change its N// spectrum in a large range of several milliseconds, made the loop voltage for start-up reduce from around 20 V to less than 5 V. It means that the electric field for HT-7 start-up decreases from 2.5-3 V/m to 0.6 V/m. Some physical phenomena such as the consumption of magnetic flux in start-up phase and the radiation from the initial plasma were observed in this kind of low voltage start-up discharges.

Key technologies for medium and low voltage DC distribution system

Development of the medium and low voltage DC distribution system is of great significance to a regional transmission of electric energy,increasing a penetration rate of new energy,and enhancing a safety of the operation of the AC/DC interconnected grid.This paper first summarizes the medium and low voltage DC distribution system schemes and plans put forward by many countries,and then elaborate status of under-construction medium and low voltage DC distribution system project cases in China.Based on these project cases,this paper analyzes key issues involved in the medium and low voltage DC distribution system topologies,equipment,operation control technologies and DC fault protections,in order to provide theoretical and technical reference for future medium and low voltage DC distribution system-related projects.Finally,this paper combines a current China research status to summarize and give a prediction about the future research direction of medium and low voltage DC distribution system,which can provide reference for the research of medium and low voltage DC distribution system.

Discharge characteristics of different lightning air terminals under composite voltages

Different types of lightning air terminals have been designed over the years.Concern regarding the effect of different types of air terminals,especially the early streamer emission(ESE)-type,remains controversial.This paper describes the discharge characteristics of different types of air terminals,two of which are quite similar to the ESE-type dynasphere,and concludes that the tested non-standard air terminals have discharge characteristics similar to those of Franklin rods and that their lightning protection performance should be similar.

The Research on Grounding Protection for 110kV Resistance Grounding Distribution System

Using the neutral grounding method by the resistance in 110?kV system, it can limit the voltage sag and short circuit current when one-phase grounding fault occurred, but it will change the sequence of the network structure and parameters. This paper analyzes the size and distribution of zero sequence voltage and current when one-phase grounding fault occurred in the 110 kV resistance grounding system, and puts forward the grounding protection configuration setting principle of this system combining the power supplying characteristics of 110?kV distribution network. In a reforming substation as an example, the grounding protection of 110 kV lines and transformer have been set and calculated.

Design and Testing of Three Earthing Systems for Micro-Grid Protection during the Islanding Mode

This paper presents and tests three earthing systems (TT, TN and IT) for Micro-Grid (MG) protection against various fault types when the MG transferred to the islanding mode. The main contribution of this work is including the models of all micro sources which interfaced to the MG by power electronic inverters. Inverters in turns are provided with current limiters and this also included with the inverter models to exactly simulate the real situation in the MG during fault times. Results proved that the most suitable earthing system for MG protection during the islanding mode is the TN earthing system. That system leads to a suitable amount of fault current sufficient to activate over current pro-tection relays. With using TN earthing system, touch voltages at the faulted bus and all other consumer’s buses are less than the safety limited values during islanding mode. For the two others earthing systems (TT and IT), fault currents are small and nearly equal to the over load currents which make over current protection relay can not differentiate between fault currents and overload currents. All models of micro sources, earthing systems, inverters and control schemes are built using Matlab?/Simulink? environment.

Comparison the Performances of Three Earthing Systems for Micro-Grid Protection during the Grid Connected Mode

This paper presents, tests and compares three earthing systems (TT, TN and IT) for Micro-Grid (MG) protection against various fault types during the connected mode. The main contribution of this work is including the models of all the micro sources which interfaced to the MG by power electronic inverters. Inverters in turns are provided with current limiters and this also included in the inverter models to exactly simulate the real situation in the MG during fault times. Results proved that the most suitable earthing system for MG protection during the connecting mode is the TN earthing system. That system leads to a suitable amount of fault current sufficient to activate over current protection relays. With using TN system, Touch voltages at the faulted bus and all other consumer’s buses are less than the safety limited value if current limiter is included with the transformer of the main grid which connects MG. For the two others earthing systems (TT and IT), fault current is small and nearly equal to the over load current which make over current protection relay can not differentiate between fault current and overload current. All models of micro sources, earthing systems, inverters, main grid and control schemes are built using Matlab?/Simulink? environment.

Effects of Location,Size and Number of Wind Turbine Receptors on Blade Lightning Protection

Electric and magnetic fields generated by lightning cause a serious hazard to various systems.Now wind turbine installations with higher power capacity are increasing.Higher power capacity requires higher height and so there is more probability of lightning strike.Blades are the most probable components to be struck by lightning.The most common lightning protection system for the blades consists of several metallic receptors on the blade surface.Those are connected to the ground by metallic down-conductors placed inside the blade shell.This paper studies effects of the receptor configurations on protecting the blade against lightning strike.For this purpose,an analysis procedure based on finite element method(FEM)in COMSOL Multiphysics software environment is used.The voltage distribution around the blade is simulated for various configurations of receptors.The best configuration is presented.Simulations are performed on the blade model of a special wind turbine,which isVESTAS V47".

Electrostatic Discharge Effects on the High-voltage Solar Array

A certain number of charges are deposited on the surface of high-voltage solar array because of effects of space plasma,high-energy charged particles,and solar illumination,hence the surface is charged.Phenomena of electrostatic discharge(ESD) occur on the surface when the deposited charges exceed a threshold amount.In this paper,the mechanism of this ESD is discussed.The ground simulation experiment of the ESD using spacecraft material under surface charging is described,and a novel ESD protecting method for high-voltage solar array,i.e.an active protecting method based on the local strong electric field array is proposed.The results show that the reversal potential gradient field between the cover surface and the substrate materials of high-voltage solar array is a triggering factor for the ESD on the array.The threshold voltage for the ESD occurring on the surface is about 500 V.The charged particles could be deflected using the electric field active protecting method,and hence the ESD on the surface is avoided even when the voltage on the conductor array increases to a certain value.These results pave the way for further developing the protecting measures for high-voltage solar arrays.

Single-ended protection method for hybrid HVDC transmission line based on transient voltage characteristic frequency band

Hybrid high-voltage direct current(HVDC)transmission has the characteristic of long transmission distance,complex corridor environment,and rapid fault evolution of direct current(DC)lines.As high fault current can easily cause irreversible damage to power devices,rapid and reliable line protection and isolation are necessary to improve the security and reliability of hybrid HVDC transmission system.To address such requirement,this paper proposes a single-ended protection method based on transient voltage frequency band characteristics.First,the frequency characteristics of the smoothing reactor,DC filter,and DC line are analyzed,and the characteristic frequency band is defined.A fault criterion is then constructed based on the voltage characteristic frequency band energy,and faulty pole selection is performed according to the fault voltage characteristic frequency band energy ratio.The proposed protection method is verified by simulation,and the results show that it can rapidly and reliably identify internal and external faults,accurately select faulty poles without data communication synchronization,and has good fault-resist-ance and anti-interference performance.

Effectiveness of Lightning Protection Devices

In addition to the conventional Franklin Rod,many non-conventional air terminals are being used as lightning protection devices.As cited in previous works,these non-conventional devices emit space charge in the vicinity of the terminals during the process of lightning stroke.A number of factors affect the performance of these lightning protection devices,among them are geometry and dimension of the devices,location of the device above the ground,height of the cloud above the ground,and polarity of the lightning stroke.The performance of these lightning protection devices has been a topic of discussion by researchers for many years.Some studies focused on the magnitude of emission current from these devices as a criterion to evaluate their performances.The critical flashover voltage(CFO)between the devices and a metal screen simulating cloud can also be used as another criterion to evaluate the performance of the devices.Laboratory measurements were conducted in controlled conditions on different types of lightning protection devices to compare their performance.Four different types of devices were used in the present study:Franklin Rod,TerraStat models TS 100,TS 400,and Spline Ball Ionizer.The study focused on the CFO voltage of the air gap between devices and the metal screen.The CFO voltage was evaluated using standard switching and lightning impulses.The measurements were recorded for positive as well as negative polarity.The air gap between the devices and metal screen was selected at 2 m and 3 m.The results obtained provide a better understanding of the electrical performance of lightning protection devices.

A Smart Strategy for Blocking the Distance Protection Function during VT Fuse Failure

Saving the electrical power system in stable condition is considered as one of important challenges to avoid any failure of high voltage equipment. Additionally, with the increasing off the critical loads, it’s very important to use the accurate protection system that can deal with any abnormal condition. This paper studies one of critical cases that can effect on the coordination of the protection system with the faults during fuse fail condition. Over Head transmission line (OHTL) is the most part in the power system that faces the disturbances, which can be protected by multi-protection functions as line differential function, distance protection function, over current, earth fault, over/under voltage etc. The distance protection function is depending on the line voltage and the load current to calculate the load zone. This paper aims to prevent the falls operation of distance protection function during voltage transformer fuse failure condition.

Accident of Large-scale Wind Turbines Disconnecting from Power Grid and Its Protection

There were many accidents of large-scale wind turbines disconnecting from power grid in 2011.As singlephase-to-ground fault cannot be correctly detected,single-phase-to-ground fault evolved to phase-to-phase fault.Phase-to-phase fault was isolated slowly,thus leading to low voltage.And wind turbines without enough low voltage ride-through capacity had to be disconnected from the grid.After some wind turbines being disconnected from the grid,overvoltage caused by reactive power surplus made more wind turbines disconnect from the grid.Based on the accident analysis,this paper presents solutions to above problems,including travelling waves based single-phase-to-ground protection,adaptive low voltage protection,integrated protection and control,and high impedance fault detection.The solutions lay foundations in theory and technology to prevent large-scale wind turbines disconnecting from the operating power grid.