A Multi-Inductor H Bridge Fault Current Limiter

Abstract

Current power systems will suffer from increasing pressure as a result of an upsurge in demand and will experience an ever-growing penetration of distributed power generation, which are factors that will contribute to a higher of incidence fault current levels. Fault current limiters (FCLs) are key power electronic devices. They are able to limit the prospective fault current without completely disconnecting in cases in which a fault occurs, for instance, in a power transmission grid. This paper proposes a new type of FCL capable of fault current limiting in two steps. In this way, the FCLs’ power electronic switches experience significantly less stress and their overall performance will significantly increase. The proposed device is essentially a controllable H bridge type fault current limiter (HBFCL) that is comprised of two variable inductances, which operate to reduce current of main switch in the first stage of current limiting. In the next step, the main switch can limit the fault current while it becomes open. Simulation studies are carried out using MATLAB and its prototype setup is built and tested. The comparison of experimental and simulation results indicates that the proposed HBFCL is a promising solution to address protection issues.