Short-Circuit Protection Schemes for LVDC Microgrids Based on the Combination of Hybrid Circuit Breakers and Mechanical Breakers

Abstract

In recent years, low-voltage direct current (LVDC) microgrids are becoming more attractive because they represent a solution to integrate renewable sources, storage, and electronic loads bringing some advantages in comparison with traditional AC grids. However, the protection of such a network involves many challenges, especially in the case of LVDC microgrids with more than one feeder and multiple energy sources. Indeed, the traditional protection breakers used for an AC grid cannot isolate the faults and protect the components of a DC grid, while the use of solid-state circuit breakers increases energy losses. This paper deals with the analysis and design of the protection schemes for LVDC microgrids through the combination of mechanical circuit breakers and hybrid circuit breakers. This solution has the advantage of energy loss reduction but introduces further issues due to the slow transition times of the mechanical circuit breakers. Thus, a completely decentralized control system capable of overcoming the fast fault-clearing time, cost-effectiveness, and selectivity issues is designed to protect from pole-to-pole faults. The proposed control strategy is compared with a centralized protection scheme available in the literature through numerical simulation. The two algorithms show similar performances, with a mean voltage dip duration of less than 30 ms and a maximum voltage dip duration of about 100 ms in the most severe fault condition, but the proposed solution is more reliable and flexible since it does not depend on the communication system.