Date of Award
8-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Engineering (MSE)
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering (Holcomb Dept. of)
Committee Chair/Advisor
Sukumar Brahma
Committee Member
Ramtin Hadidi
Committee Member
Christopher Edrington
Abstract
The penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the Electric Power System (EPS) is increasing. These (DERs) are mostly inverter-based resources (IBRs) that are integrated into (EPS) at the distribution level. Therefore, it has become necessary to leverage the integration of (IBRs) for both commercial and residential distribution systems through the deployment of Microgrid (MG). However, existing distribution systems that use fuses for sensing and isolating faults are not equipped to handle protection of microgrids where fault currents are fed from multiple sources and can flow downstream or upstream. Bulk of the protection schemes proposed in literature are heavily dependent on topology of distribution systems and connection status and location of IBRs. They also assume measurements at medium voltage (MV) buses which can be expensive.
To overcome these issues this thesis develops a source agnostic and topology agnostic protection scheme for microgrids using sensors at the low voltage (LV) side of all transformers feeding customers or connecting IBRs. The purpose is to have relatively inexpensive sensing across the microgrid. Synchronized voltages and current phasors are assumed to be transmitted by these sensors to a relay built in the central microgrid controller. A survey of existing commercial sensors is presented to justify this assumption.
Using this sensing mechanism, a novel scheme to detect a fault, identify the type of fault, and determine the faulted feeder-section is developed from fundamentals and extensively tested on the IEEE 13-bus feeder in grid connected and islanded modes with up to 100 % IBR penetration, clearly demonstrating the source and topology agnostic nature of the method. This scheme is intended to be a part of the Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR) module for microgrid.
Recommended Citation
Farhat, Bushra, "Fault Detection and Location in Renewable-Fed Distribution Systems Using Low Voltage Sensors" (2024). All Theses. 4343.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4343
Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0003-7820-3676