A Local Measurement Based Comprehensive Protection Scheme for AC Microgrid

TL;DR

This paper proposes a local measurement-based protection scheme for low-voltage ac microgrids, capable of fault detection, identification, and isolation in both grid-connected and islanded modes, validated through extensive MATLAB simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel protection scheme utilizing local measurements and current decomposition for accurate fault type identification in low-voltage ac microgrids.

Findings

The scheme reliably detects and isolates faults across various locations and resistances.

Simulation results demonstrate the scheme's speed and reliability.

The approach is effective in both grid-connected and islanded microgrid modes.

Abstract

The popularity of low-voltage ac distribution networks is increasing day by day. However, an efficient protection scheme for low-voltage ac distribution systems is still challenging. This paper introduces a protection scheme suitable for low-voltage grid connected and islanded ac microgrid based on local measurements in order to locate, identify and isolate faults. Here current decomposition method is specifically incorporated to accomplish fault type identification. MATLAB/SIMULINK platform is chosen to examine the performance of the proposed scheme both in grid connected and islanded low-voltage ac microgrid. The feasibility of the protection scheme is extensively investigated by simulating all types of faults with substantial variations like different fault location, different fault resistances etc. The test results ensure that the proposed protection scheme is sufficiently reliable and faster for providing complete protection in low-voltage ac microgrid.