Digital Protection of LVDC and Integration of

Distributed Generation
Aniruddha Makhe1, Vilas Bugade2, Saniket Matkar3, Puja Mothe4
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Dr. D.Y.Patil Institute of Engineering and Technology, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India
1
animakhe@gmail.com, 2vs_bugade12@yahoo.co.in, 3sanimatkar.79@gmail.com, 4mothepuja1994@gmail.com

AbstractDepletion of commercial energy sources and features of DG are they are decentralized, modular and
many advantages of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), more localized.
research is emphasis on RES and its components. Generation A microgrid is defined as a component of electric power
by RES is generally distributed by using low voltage DC
distribution network that connects regional loads and
(LVDC) distribution. It is very essential to protect components
of LVDC from fault and abnormal conditions. Switchgears/
distributed generators [3]. The microgrid can be a small
Protection devices are used to isolate healthy part of electrical scale isolated system which may locate near to the
system from faulty network, by using various fault detection consumer. A microgrid can be AC bus type or DC bus type
and control mechanism. Generally protection is given to the [4-5].
grid which integrates RES and existing grid provides power to Protection of AC microgrid is very easy and less
load. At the occurrence of fault, faulty bus goes out of complicated due to presence of zero crossing current, on
operation and source which is working in normal condition
which Circuit breaker works. But in DC system due to
also disconnects from the load. So in order to maintain supply
continuity, it is necessary to provide separate protection for
absence of zero crossing current, protection or isolation by
each RES which acts as Distributed generation. The proposed circuit breaker is complex and difficult [5]. Major
scheme for protection of a LVDC Distribution system in a advantages of DC is no skin losses, low corona, etc and
microgrid, automatically detects fault and isolates the faulty thus 1.41 times more power can be transferred compared to
section. It integrates source of the faulty bus with another AC system for same cross-sectional area of conductor [6-7].
source and also cascade load at same time of integration. This Hence DC system is more efficient compared to AC system.
helps in maintaining supply continuity to respective load and
under utilization of RES/DG. To fulfill characteristics such as
fast interrupting time and high short-circuit current DC Load AC Load
withstanding capability, solid state/digital switches such as
MOSFET, IGBT, etc can be used. The proposed said scheme is
verified by MATLAB Simulation.
DC-DC DC-AC
Converter Converter
KeywordsDistributed Generation (DG), Fault Protection,
Low Voltage DC (LVDC) distribution system, Microgrid,
Renewable Energy Sources (RES)

I. INTRODUCTION
The power generated at generating side must be Wind
Grid
transmitted for its utilization. Major power generated is Generation

from conventional sources like coal, oil, natural gas etc.

Now days, Electricity demand is increasing day by day due
to rapid development in industries as well as domestic and AC -DC DC DC-DC
commercial sector. But the rate of generation is lower as Converter Bus Converter
compared to demand. This causes various problems for the Micro
Grid
power sector which includes grid instability, outages due to
DC-DC DC-DC
discontinuity and loss of power quality. Thus to fulfill Converter
Converter
increasing gap between supply and demand lots of research
and development is going on for generation of electricity
from RES [1-2].
P V Array Batteries
Distributed Generation (DG) involves the generation of
electrical energy by using RES like Solar PV cells, Wind
Energy system, etc. The output from DG is mainly
transmitted and distributed by LVDC Microgrid. The main Fig. 1. DC Bus Microgrid.

978-1-4673-9925-8/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE 942

 II. DC MICROGRID
A DC microgrid is a network having better operational
performance including capabilities to operate with
improved energy utilization and work independently by
controlling DC network resources. Block diagram of DC
microgrid is as shown in Fig 1. DC has various advantages
as compared to AC. Many new distributed energy resources
are direct DC e.g. fuel cells, photovoltaic (PV) generation,
stationary batteries. AC microgrids sources have two
steady state factors associated with it viz. voltage
magnitude and frequency while DC microgrids sources
have only voltage magnitude. Hence DC microgrid is more
flexible than AC microgrid. The optimization of DC
microgrid depends on ability to maintain service to critical
loads including disturbances in load. Some loads like
electronic devices, variable speed motor drives, etc.
interfaces with AC power system and convert AC into DC
internally by use of power electronic converters. While
Direct DC load such as fluorescent lamp, TV sets,
computers, LEDs etc. interfaces with DC power system and
uses supplied DC current/voltage directly [5-9].
III. FAULTS IN DC SYSTEMS
Electrical fault can be determined by abnormal deviation
of voltage and current from rated or nominal values. Short
circuit fault may arise in DC transmission. There are two
possible short circuit cases in DC transmission viz. (1) Line
to ground (2) Line to line short circuit. During short circuit
condition, resistance of fault current path becomes very
low. Fault current is dependent on impedance of path and
location of fault. Hence fault results in very high magnitude
current [11].
A. Line to ground fault
There are two types of DC system namely monopolar
and bipolar. In monopolar system ground is used as return
path while bipolar system uses two conductors, positive and
negative. The causes of single line to ground fault includes
breaking of overhead lines due to lightning strikes on lines
which may results line to fall on earth. The other causes of
line to ground fault involves falling of tree on line, failure
of mechanical support to conductor, etc. providing ground
as return path. The line is kept out of service until fault gets
cleared. Such conditions have adverse effect on reliability
of system and continuity to load. The single line to ground
fault is represented in Fig.2.
F condition each distributed generation/DC Source and their
DC
Fig. 2. Single line to ground fault.
B. Line to line fault
When object falls across the positive and negative line, a
line to line fault occurs in overhead line. It will develop a
low resistance, conducting path between positive and
negative link. This also may be cause due to failure of
insulation in underground cables. Though occurrence of line
to line fault is very rare, line to line fault is very severe.
And magnitude of fault current in L-L fault is more
compared to L-G fault [10]. Line to line fault between two
lines is represented in Fig.3.
F1
DC
F2
Fig. 3. Line to line Fault.
C. Conventional fault isolation techniques
As magnitude of fault current is very high it may
damage transmission lines and its components. If fault is
not cleared early, it may cause breakdown in system.
Conventional fault isolation technique detects fault and de-
energies transmission. This leads to complete shutdown of
system, even if system has active generation and load. As
DC is unidirectional, AC circuit breakers are not used in
DC system [13].
IV. FAULT ISOLATION SCHEME
The digital protection for low voltage DC microgrid is
presented in this paper. The presented scheme consist of
various distributed generation that is DC sources, supplying
power to their respective load. Under normal working
respective load work as independent system consisting
single bus system. Also DC sources are remaining isolated
from each other. In proposed new scheme, Current sensors
are installed at both ends of bus to measure sending end
current and receiving end current respectively. Whenever
fault occurs in transmission section, a current difference
occurs between sending end and receiving end. The data
from the sensors is transmitted to microcontroller. By the
operation of micro-controller it gives appropriate command
to respective switches. In proposed scheme, Fig. 4, a
sustained fault is created by operating fault switch.
Whenever fault occurs, depending on command
received from micro-controller, faulty section is isolated by
opening of switches (SW1, SW2, SW3, SW4) in Fig. 4.
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 Bus
2-1

Source 2 Load 2

Bus
2-2

SW 5 SW 6 SW 7 SW 8

SW 1 SW 3
Bus Bus
1-1 1-2

Fault R
R
Source 1 Switch Load 1

D D
SW 2 SW 4
Bus Bus
1-3 1-4
(b)

Fig. 5. (a) Line to line fault. (b)Fault current extinction in line to line
Fig. 4. Proposed protection scheme.
fault.

After isolation, due to pi section parameters of V. RESULTS

conductors fault current remains in circuit. The fault current
MATLAB-Simulink model has been performed for a
in circuit is extinguished through the freewheeling resistor
2000 meter bipolar DC bus/microgrid. Simulink model
R and Diode D. The fault current path and freewheeling
current path from single line to ground and line to line fault consist two DC sources and two loads. A line to line fault is
is as shown in Fig. 5.The freewheeling path resistance is created at distance of 1000 meter at bus 1. Magnitude of
responsible for magnitude of fault current extinction. When fault current is inversely proportional to impedance of fault
freewheeling path resistance is large, fault current can be path. All the operation viz. Fault detection, Microcontroller
extinguish quickly. action, ON/OFF switching of MOSFET is completed within
0.005 sec. Simulation is created for line parameters of
Micro-controller also gives command to switches
(SW5, SW6, SW7, SW8) to become close at same time of system are mentioned in Table I. Load voltage and load
operation of isolating switches in Fig 4. This leads to current with and without protection is shown in Fig. 6 and
integration of Source 1 and Source 2 in parallel. Similarly, Fig 7.
it integrates loads in parallel for maintaining continuity of
TABLE. I. Line parameters
supply. Supply current after operation flows from bus of
second system (bus 2) as shown in Fig 4. Parameter Specification
Bus voltage 240V
Bus length 2000
Line resistance 121m/km
Line capacitance 12.1nF/km
Line inductance 0.97mH/km
Freewheeling resistance 50
Load 20 KW

From Fig. 6 it is seen that without protection load voltage

collapse is occurs and no restoration, resulting discontinuity
of supply to load. But when the protection is used the
voltage is restore quickly after the clearance of fault, it is
shown in Fig. 7. It is also seen that fault is cleared within
0.005 sec. Load voltage after 0.005 sec of fault is
maintained at 240 volts. This provides the system reliability
and continuity. Similar changes in load current are observed
in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9.
(a)

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Fig. 6. Load voltage without protection
Fig. 7. Load voltage with protection
Fig. 8. Load current without protection
Fig. 9. Load current with protection
Fig. 10. Current in fault bus without protection.
Fig. 11. Current in fault bus with protection.
Fig. 12. Freewheeling current.
As the solid state/digital switches such as MOSFETs are
opened fault current will be extinguished through
freewheeling diodes and resisters as shown in Fig. 5. The
Fig. 11 indicates current in fault bus which is high during
faulty condition and after isolating this bus it goes to zero.
Protection devices can be installed for all buses. The
protection devices in other buses are not shown here.
VI. CONCLUSION
In presented new scheme for protection of LVDC,
under normal condition, two DC systems work
independently and as separate module. When fault occurs in
either of bus, faulty section get isolated by action of
isolating switches, preventing damage to healthy section.
Integration of DC sources after isolation of fault leads to
prevention of under utilization of RES. Also, cascading of
loads in parallel after fault maintains supply continuity to
loads. Fault current is extinguished by freewheeling diodes
and resistors. Presented scheme could be use in isolated
area, where LVDC can use for distribution. This scheme is
also beneficial for the area which is supplied through the
distributed generation and where the AC and DC microgrid
are connected.
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