This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490
Application of a SFCL for Fault Ride-Through
Capability Enhancement of DG in a Micro-Grid
System and Relay Protection Coordination
Huiwen He, Lei Chen, Member, IEEE, Ting Yin, Zhaojun Cao, Jun Yang, Xiude Tu, and Li Ren
AbstractConcerning that a short-circuit fault happens inside
a micro-grid system, parts of distributed generation (DG) units
may not meet the fault ride-through (FRT) requirements, and will
be enforced to disconnect. This paper suggests a modified
flux-coupling-type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL)
to improve the DGs FRT capability, and investigates the relay
protection coordination in the micro-grid. The SFCLs structural
principle is introduced, and according to the fault characteristic
of the micro-grid under its grid-connected and islanded statuses,
the modified SFCLs application fields are conducted. Further,
the directional overcurrent protection and differential protection
are proposed for the micro-grids two statuses, respectively. Based
on the transient simulations in the MATLAB, the SFCLs positive
effects on enhancing the DGs FRT capability can be confirmed,
and also it will not affect the relay protection coordination. A
comparison of the conventional distance relay protection and the
proposed protection scheme is performed, and the latter has a
better applicability than the former to match the SFCL. Finally,
regarding the impacts of fault type and fault resistance on the
FRT operation and the proposed protection, technical discussions
are performed preliminarily, and the application value of the
SFCL integrated with the proposed protection is clarified further.
Index TermsDistributed generation (DG), Fault ride-through
(FRT) capability, Flux-Coupling-Type SFCL, Micro-Grid system,
Relay protection coordination.
I. INTRODUCTION
A MICRO-GRID can be regarded as a small electric power
system including a plurality of distributed generation (DG)
units and local loads [1], [2]. Technically, a micro-grid system
can operate in either grid-connected mode or islanded mode.
For the former, the micro-grid is connected to the main network,
and is able to carry out a flexible power exchange to maximize
expected operational benefits. For the latter, the micro-grid is
Manuscript received 2 March 2016. This work was supported in part by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51507117), and Natural
Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (2014CFB706).
(Corresponding author: Lei Chen; e-mail: stclchen1982@163.com)
H. He, T. Yin, and Z. Cao are with the State Key Laboratory of Power Grid
Environmental Protection, China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan
430074, China.
L. Chen, J. Yang, and X. Tu are with the School of Electrical Engineering,
Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
L. Ren is with the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic
Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
(HUST), Wuhan 430074, China.
1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1
Rmoa Ir
Ics
S1 L1
I1
M
Us Zs
Is
L2
SC
I2
S load
Fig. 1. Structure of the suggested flux-coupling-type SFCL.
isolated from the main network, and aims to achieve a stable
power balance between the local loads and the DG units [3].
Note that, when a short-circuit fault happens inside the
micro-grid system, parts of the DG units may not meet the fault
ride-through (FRT) requirements, and they will be enforced to
disconnect [4]. Moreover, the fault current characteristics of the
micro-grid under grid-connected and islanded modes are
significantly different, and the configuration scheme of the
protective relays will be accordingly adjusted. To improve the
service stabilities and operation reliabilities of the DG and
micro-grid, the study of a feasible countermeasure to deal with
the fault is necessary, and meanwhile this countermeasure
should well coordinate with the protective relays.
Superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) can be
conducted as one of the best approaches to solve the problems
related to a short-circuit fault [5]-[7]. In fact, the FRT capability
improvement may be regarded as the expanded application of a
SFCL [8]-[10]. Note that, when the generation unit is served as
a DG of the micro-grid, using a SFCL should closely coordinate
with the micro-grid protection. Based on the existing studies
[11]-[14], the protection of a micro-grid cannot be achieved
with the same philosophies that have been used to protect
traditional distribution systems. For example, if the overcurrent
protective relays are set for higher fault currents under the
grid-connected mode, their response will become too slow
under the islanded mode, or even they cannot operate reliably
as lower fault currents. Therefore, the other protective relays,
which are not sensitive to reduction of fault currents, should be
introduced. From the aforementioned technical considerations,
directional overcurrent protection and differential protection
could be configured, and also the impacts of a SFCL on the
protection coordination should be take into account [15], [16].
According to a modified flux-coupling-type SFCL proposed
by us in [17], [18], this paper studies the SFCLs effects on the
DGs FRT, and discusses the coordination of directional
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
ASEMD15-5490
Main
network
R1
PCC
R2 R4 R6
R3
SFCL
R7
~
R5
DG3
=
Load 1 Load 2
DG1 DG2
Fig. 2. Configuration of a typical micro-grid integrated with the SFCL.
overcurrent relays and differential relays in a micro-grid system.
The article is organized as follows. Section II presents the
SFCLs structural principle, analyzes the micro-grids fault
characteristic, proposes the protection coordination scheme and
preliminarily explores the problems of the other conventional
protection schemes. In Section III, time-domain simulations are
done in the MATLAB/SIMULINK, so as to assess the SFCLs
effects and the proposed protection schemes performance
behaviors. Section IV does a technical discussion on the fault
type/resistance, and further clarifies the application value of the
SFCL integrated with the proposed protection. In section V,
conclusions are summarized and future works are prospected.
II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
A. Structural Principle of the Flux-Coupling-Type SFCL
The configuration of the modified flux-coupling-type SFCL
is shown in Fig. 1 [19]. This SFCL composes of a coupling
transformer (CT), a controlled switch S1, a superconducting
coil (SC), and a metal oxide arrester (MOA). L1, L2 are the
self-inductances of the coils, and M is the mutual inductance; Zs
is the circuit impedance, and Sload is the power load.
In normal condition, the switch S1 is closed, and the SC is in
the zero-resistance state. Herein, the CTs operating impedance
Zct will play a decisive role on the SFCLs performance, and it
can be deduced that Zct=jL2(1-k2)n2/(n2+2kn+1), where
k M / L1 L2 and n L1 / L2 . In the case of k 1, Zct 0,
and the non-inductive coupling can be obtained. Since the
MOA is connected in parallel with the CT, the MOA is
supposed to be short-circuited. On this occasion, introducing
the SFCL will have no influence on the main circuit.
Once the short-circuit fault happens, the switch S1 will be
opened rapidly, and meanwhile the MOA can suppress the
switching overvoltage. As the electromagnetic relationship is
changed by the controlled switch, the non-inductive coupling
will pass away, and also the fault current in the SC will make
the superconductor be quenching. It can be derived that
ZSFCL=[RSC+jL2+(knL2)2/(Rmoa+n2jL2)]. In view of Rmoa
n2L2, ZSFCLRSC+jL2 can be approximately obtained, and
1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
2
this impedance will include resistive and inductive components
to affect the system or equipment. Compared with the original
flux-coupling-type SFCL which is purely inductive [20], the
modified SFCL is a resistive-inductive type (hybrid type)
SFCL, which can potentially bring more contributions, such as
inhibiting the fluctuations of active power and reactive power,
and providing critical protection to relevant power equipment
[21], [22]. The modified SFCL equipped with the coupling
R8 transformer and the controlled switch has higher flexibility.
Compared with that the classical resistive type SFCL being
directly installed at the power system may possibly have longer
recovery time, the current flowing through the modified
SFCLs superconducting coil can be adjusted by changing the
transformation ratio, and meanwhile the modified SFCL can
R9
put into and out of operation with greater controllability of the
switch. Compared to a classical inductive type SFCL, the
modified SFCLs resistive impedance can affect the generation
units active power characteristics more efficiently. Thus, the
modified SFCL is suggested as the solution to the FRT and
relay protection coordination issues in the micro-grid system.
B. Fault Characteristic of a Micro-Grid with the SFCL
Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of a typical micro-grid
system integrated with the SFCL. In the micro-grid, three DG
units are included, and two of them are the inverter interfaced
DGs (IIDGs) which have highly variable characteristics and
should meet FRT requirements. For the rest one, it is a
synchronous type DG, which does not need FRT operation.
When the micro-grid is under its grid-connected mode, an
internal short-circuit fault occurs at the transmission line. Thus,
the voltage over each of the DG units will be affected, and the
total fault currents flowing in the transmission line will be
provided by the main network and all of the DG units.
The fault current contributed by the main network is
expressed as (1), and herein the thevenin equivalent of the main
network can be used for the theoretical derivation [23].
I fault grid Vth / Zth (1)
where Vth denotes the thevenin voltage of the main network; Zth
is the thevenin impedance being a function of fault distance.
For the fault currents being contributed by the local DG units,
the fault contributions will be generally constrained by the DG
types and DG capacities, and the equations are obtained as:
I fault DGi I ratedDGi 2 i 1, 2 (2)
I fault DGi I ratedDGi 5 kd i 3 (3)
When the micro-grid is under the islanded mode, the internal
fault occurs, and only (2) and (3) should be considered. The
coefficients 2 and 5 are according to the concrete types of the
DG units, and as the fault currents of the IIDGs do not vary with
fault location but with their control loops, the impact factor kd is
only applied to the synchronous type DG for calculating its
fault contribution at distant points in the micro-grid [24], [25].
In this paper, using the SFCL is expected to assist the IIDGs
to achieve FRT operation under the internal fault, and thus the
SFCL is installed at the integration point of the DG1 and DG2.
To ensure the rapidity and sensitivity of the protective relays
configured at the transmission line, the SFCL is not applied into
the point of common coupling (PCC) to limit the fault current
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490 3

from the main network, and also the SFCL is not applied into RS
the DG3 to reduce its fault current contribution (this philosophy
is conducive to fault identification for the islanded micro-grid). Rn
It should be specially pointed out, if the fault happens outside

R/
First recovery-starting Secondary recovery-starting
the micro-grid, the SFCL can be installed at the PCC to guard time time
the entire micro-grid and DG units, but it is not the scope of this Quench-starting
time
article. Further works will be reported in later articles.
0 t0 t1 t2 t3
C. Relay Protection Coordination in the Micro-Grid Time (s)
The protection of a micro-grid can be categorized into three Fig. 3. Quench/recovery of the superconducting coil in the modified SFCL.
parts, which are for the transmission lines, the loads and the DG
sources [26]. Herein, the protection which detects and isolates a
fault occurring at main transmission lines, is specially studied.
If the micro-grid is detected to be under the grid-connected
mode, the directional overcurrent protection is used for each of
the transmission lines. Taking the faulted transmission line for
an objective to study the protection settings, the operation
characteristics of the primary overcurrent relay (R4) and the
back-up overcurrent relay (R1) can be expressed as:
A
t primary [ p B] TDS primary (4)
M primary 1
A
tback up [ B] TDSback up (5)
up 1
p Fig. 4. Different fault ride through (FRT) curves of a defined stay-connected
M back
time for IIDG.
where A, B, p denote the inverse, very inverse, and extremely
inverse types of the overcurrent relay, respectively, and their Note that, the proposed protection scheme is still a
values are set as 3.922, 0.0982, and 2, respectively. It is also preliminary idea from the perspective of identifying the fault
p
obtained that M primary ( I fault grid I fault DGi ) / I pick up , primary and current. According to the change of operation mode of the
micro-grid, the overcurrent protection and the differential
up ( I fault grid ) / I pick up , back up , and the coordination time
p
M back protection will correspondingly play its role. In respect to the
(CTI) between the primary and back-up relays is expressed as: reason selection for this proposed protection scheme, it should
CTI tback up t primary (6) be compared with some conventional protection schemes.
Therefore, the authors do a brief discussion on the problems of
The acceptable range for CTI is 0.2 s~0.5 s. Note that, the
the other conventional protection schemes used in the
fault currents which are respectively sensed by the primary and
micro-grid, and herein distance protection and voltage-based
back-up relays will change, in case of installation of a new DG
protection schemes are selectively adopted. For the former, the
unit or the presence of a DG unit with intermittent nature, and
distance rely is only able to operate when faults happens
the CTI may possibly not meet the demand [27]. Nevertheless,
between the relay and the selected reach point, and once the
the coordination can be ensured by considering the modified
fault resistance in the measurement admittance is considered,
SFCLs current-limiting effects on the IIDGs.
the presence of DG units may make the relays measured
If the micro-grid is detected to be under the islanded mode,
impedance be more complicated. In addition, concerning the
the current differential protection will spontaneously replace
short transmission lines in the micro-grid, it may be difficult to
the overcurrent protection to play the role. In normal condition,
measure the relay admittance. For the latter, the voltage-based
the transmission line can be equivalent to a node, and the
protection will introduce voltage sensors to guard the
currents flowing in and out of the transmission line are equal to
micro-grid system against short-circuit faults, and the two basic
each other. When a short-circuit fault happens at the
problems of this kind of protection can be concluded as: 1) its
transmission line, the summation of the two currents will be
sensitivity should be enhanced further when the micro-grid is
corresponding to the fault current. Since the current differential
under the grid-connected mode; 2) in case of protection
protection is not sensitive to bidirectional power flow and
disoperation, voltage drop will seriously affect the DG units in
reduction of fault current [28], it is suitable for the islanded
the micro-grid. Admittedly, each of protection schemes has its
micro-grid. The mathematical equation related to the
suitable scope of application. During the following transient
differential protections operational characteristic is defined as:
. . . .
simulation analysis, the distance relay protection is selected as
I m I n K res I m I n (7) a representative of conventional protection schemes, and this
protections performance is compared to that of the proposed
where Kres is the restraint coefficient being set as 0.5; Im and In protection scheme.
are the currents in the differential relays (R4 and R5 shown in
Fig. 2), and the positive direction of each of the currents is from III. SIMULATION STUDY
the associated bus towards the transmission line. In this section, a simulation model corresponding to Fig. 2 is

1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490 4

4000 4000
(a) (a)

Line current (A)

Line current (A)

2000 2000

0 0

-2000 -2000

-4000 -4000
Fault occurrence Phase-A Fault occurrence Phase-A
Phase-B Phase-B
(b) 4000 Phase-C
10 Phase-C (b)
DG voltage (kV)

Line current (A)

5 2000

0 0
-5
-2000
-10
-4000
0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2
Time (s) Time (s)
Fig. 5. Fault characteristics of the micro-grid under the grid-connected mode in Fig. 7. Impacts of the distance protection on the fault current of the micro-grid
the case of without SFCL. (a) Line current and (b) DG voltage. under the grid-connected mode. (a) Without SFCL and (b) With the SFCL.
4000
(a)
defined stay-connected time for IIDG [35], [36]. From this
Line current (A)

2000
figure, the FRT requirement differs from one standard to the
0 other based on the countries grid code. During the simulations,
-2000 the Denmark code is selectively used, and in the case of that the
grid voltage drops to 20% of the nominal level, the IIDG should
-4000
remain the grid-connected state for a duration of 150 ms.
Fault occurrence Phase-A The types of the overcurrent relays may be according to the
Phase-B
10 Phase-C (b) related IEEE standard [37], and for the settings of the current
DG voltage (kV)

protection, the reasoning behind their selection can refer to [30],

5
[38], [39]. Herein, Ipick-up and TDS for R4 are respectively 5 A
0
and 1 s (the current transformers ratio is 5: 100), and for R1,
-5
they are respectively 8 A and 0.7 s. In addition, the parameter
-10 optimization can be further performed by use of an intelligent
0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 algorithm such as particle swarm optimization (PSO) [40], [41].
Time (s)
Fig. 6. Fault characteristics of the micro-grid under the grid-connected mode in From the literature, it is inferred that, one optimal relay setting
the case of with the modified SFCL. (a) Line current and (b) DG voltage. that meets the micro-grids requirements can be obtained when
the SFCL is adopted. It may be needed to introduce some other
built in MATLAB, and the main parameters are indicated in
technical means to optimize the relays for satisfying the
Table I. Note that, the wind power/PV generation (namely DG1
micro-grids mode operations if the SFCL is not taken into
and DG2 in Fig. 2) will adopt the active powerreactive power
account. Concerning the parameter optimization, a brief
(P-Q) control [29], [30], and DG3 is a synchronous generator
discussion can be found in the following section IV.
which can be used to stabilize the micro-grid. For the modeling
of the SFCL, S1 is simulated by an anti-parallel IGBT pair, and TABLE I
MAIN SIMULATION PARAMETERS OF THE SYSTEM MODEL
the coupling transformer is based on a standard transformer
model from the MATLAB model library. The quench/recovery Demonstrated micro-grid system
model of the SC is shown in Fig. 3 [31]. The SCs recovery DG1 / DG2 / DG3 180 kW / 100 kW / 90 kW
time may be more than the fault clearance time, owing to that Transmission Line 0.27+j0.347 /km, 2 km
the heat accumulation can make the SC be quenching for some Load 1/ Load 2 260 kW/ 40 kW
time, and herein it is set as 0.5 s. For the setting of the modified
PCC Voltage/ Frequency 10 kV/ 50 Hz
SFCLs inductance or resistance, a brief explanation is given.
Technically, the value of the inductance or resistance may have Modified flux-coupling-type SFCL
an acceptable range regardless of that the SFCL is used in any Primary inductance 100 mH
voltage network. From [32], the value range of the limiting Coupling coefficient/ Coil ratio 0.99 / 0.5
impedance of the SFCL for the distribution network can be Superconducting coil RSC 10
30~60 to achieve the FRT operation. As the improvement of
the resistance may directly affect the refrigeration technique
A. Study of the Micro-Grid under the Grid-Connected Mode
and the SFCLs application costs, the selection in Table I is
used [33]. Meanwhile, it is not recommended to excessively For that the micro-grid is under the grid-connected mode,
increase the SFCL parameters, and there will be a compromise Figs. 5-6 show its behaviors when the three-phase ground fault
design to fully obtain the performance advantages [34]. happens at t =1 s, and the cases with and without the SFCL are
As shown in Fig. 4, it indicates different FRT curves of a considered. The peak of the fault current in the transmission

1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490 5

50 200
Line current (A) (a) (a)

Line current (A)

100

0 0

-100

-50 -200
Phase-A
Phase-A
Fault occurrence Phase-B
Mode transition Phase-B
Phase-C
Phase-C 200
(b)
(b)
DG Voltage (kV)

10

Line current (A)

100
5
0
0
-5 -100

-10 -200
1.9 1.95 2 2.05 2.1 2.15 2.2
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.3 Time (s)
Time (s)
Fig. 8. Operational characteristics of the micro-grid under the transition from Fig. 9. Three-phase fault currents flowing in the transmission line of the
grid-connected mode to islanded mode. (a) Line current and (b) DG voltage. micro-grid under the islanded mode. (a) Without SFCL and (b) with the SFCL.

line can rise to 2.8 kA, and the vast majority of the fault current 10 (a)

DG voltage (kV)
is from the main network. In the case of without SFCL, the DG 5
voltage will inevitably drop to 11.9% of the normal value, and 0
the wind power as well as PV generation will be enforced to trip -5
off from the micro-grid. If the SFCL is used, although it cannot -10
suppress the fault current from the main network, the DG Phase-A
voltage will be improved to 43.8% of the normal value. Note Fault occurrence Phase-B
that, the improvement of the voltage profile is not the only Phase-C
(b)
factor that ensures that FRT is satisfied, and the duration of the 10
DG voltage (kV)

voltage sag should be considered. According to the suggested 5

grid code, the DG units can be continuously and soundly
connected to the grid for the duration of 0.39 s. In regard to the
overcurrent protection, the primary relay (R4) can operate
within 0.12 s, and in case of its failure to trip, the back-up relay
(R1) is able to operate within 0.35 s. Thus, the response speed
of the overcurrent protection can satisfy the FRT operation, and
when the fault is isolated, the voltage will recover to normal.
For that the SFCL is installed at the integration point of DG1
and DG2, its main contributions are to improve the DG voltage
and limit the fault currents contributed by DG1 and DG2. Since
the two DG units types and capacities determine that their fault
contributions will be far less than the main networks fault
contributions, using the SFCL has little influence on limiting
the total fault currents flowing through the transmission line,
and this conclusion can be confirmed by the simulation results.
As a result, the presence of the SFCL may not affect the
operation time of the directional overcurrent relays.
For that the distance relay protection is to replace the
proposed protection scheme, Fig. 7 shows the fault current
characteristics of the micro-grid without and with the SFCL. In
this case, the setting impedance of the distance relay R4 is
Z Set-I =0.85 2 (0.27) 2 (0.347) 2 =0.75 (Zone I), and the
protection zone is expected to cover 85% of the line length.
When the SFCL is not applied, the distance relay protection has
no effect on the deep voltage sag until the fault is removed after
45 ms, where the computation time of the protection algorithm
and the action time of the breaker are considered. Thus, it is not
avoided that the DG units will be enforcedly separated from the
micro-grid. When the SFCL is used, the distance relay
0
-5
-10
1.9 1.95 2 2.05 2.1 2.15 2.2
Time (s)
Fig. 10. Three-phase voltages over the IIDGs of the micro-grid under the
islanded mode. (a) Without SFCL and (b) with the SFCL.
protection may fail to operate, and that is because the
introduction of the current-limiting impedance ZSFCL makes the
measured impedance be outside the active zone of the distance
relay (Zone I). Due to that the fault may be not removed by the
distance relay in a short time, the DG units will be still tripped
off once the fault duration is equal or greater than 0.39 s. Even
if the distance relay protection Zone II may operate effectively,
its response time will be more than 0.5 s, and obviously this
time scale cannot meet the FRT requirements.
One possible solution is to take away the current-limiting
impedance from the measured impedance of the distance relay
[42], so as to improve the protection reliability. On the one
hand, the complex of the protection may be enhanced. On the
other hand, if the fault resistances value exceeds 0.75 , some
additional protective measures should be yet taken into account
to eliminate this influence.
B. Study of the Micro-Grid under the Mode Switching
Fig. 8 shows the characteristics of the micro-grid under the
transition from grid-connected mode to islanded mode, and the
mode switching happens at t =1 s. Under the grid-connected
mode, the DGs overall active power is controlled as 200 kW,
and the power shortage of 100 kW will be supported by the

1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490
main network. After the micro-grid switches to the islanded
mode, the power balance will be undertaken by the DG3. As the
mode switching is operated by artificially tripping off the static
switch, the planed isolation of the micro-grid is obtained, and
the SFCL will not affect this dynamic process. From Fig. 8, the
micro-grid can smoothly achieve the mode switching.
C. Study of the Micro-Grid under the Islanded Mode
After the islanded micro-grid is formed, the fault occurs at t
=2 s, and the fault resistance is 0.5 . The simulations with and
without the SFCL are shown in Figs. 9-10. The three-phase
fault currents in the short-circuited line does not rise to a kA
level again, and its peak value is about 135 A without the SFCL
(A-phase). For this amplitude, the overcurrent protections
response time may be too long to meet the demands. However,
the current differential protection is able to deal with this fault
case. At almost 60 ms after the short-circuit, the faulted line can
be removed. When the modified flux-coupling-type SFCL is
used, the DG voltage can be improved to 45.7% of the normal
value. As the current differential protection can operate within
60 ms, its response speed can quite well meet the FRT
operation of the DG units.
In addition, from the simulation results, the A-phase fault
current will be limited from 135 A to 118 A with the presence
of the SFCL, and the expected reduction of the fault current is
just 17 A. It is because of that the scale of the fault contributions
from DG1 and DG2 will be relatively smaller than that from
DG3, and using the SFCL can only slightly suppress the total
fault currents flowing through the transmission line. The
current differential protection is not sensitive to bidirectional
power flow and reduction of fault current, and considering that
the current reduction caused by the SFCL is relatively little, it
can be approximately concluded that the presence of the SFCL
will not affect the operation of the differential relay.
For that the micro-grid should switch to the islanded mode,
the use of the distance relay protection for handling the fault
and FRT issues may meet the similar challenges existed in the
grid-connected mode, and it is critical to eliminate the influence
of the SFCL on the measured impedance of the distance relay.
As the SFCL is able to improve the FRT operation of the IIDGs
and does not affect the proposed protection scheme, the
combined use of them for the micro-grid can be regarded as a
more preferable choice than the conventional distance
protection with the SFCL.
IV. TECHNICAL DISCUSSION
In light of fault type and fault resistance, this section
preliminarily conducts their possible effects on the FRT
operation and the proposed protection scheme. Besides,
regarding the application value of the SFCL integrated with the
proposed protection, a brief technical discussion is carried out
further, and some helpful conclusions can be obtained.
A. Influence of Fault Type on the FRT Operation
From the results, the SFCLs positive effects are observed,
and the fault is cleared within the allowable time. In general,
regarding the improvement of the FRT operation, symmetrical
fault and unsymmetrical fault should be taken into account.
1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
6
Herein the three-phase fault is pointedly investigated since this
symmetrical fault is the most serious case, and also the papers
length limitation is another reason. According to the previous
and current studies from our research group [43], [44], it can be
concluded that if the SFCL can play an effective role in
enhancing the FRT capability under the three-phase fault, the
SFCL can still play a role under the unsymmetrical fault
conditions such as single-line-to-ground (SLG),
double-line-to-ground (DLG) and line-to-line (LL) faults.
To deal with the unsymmetrical fault more efficiently (the
current/voltage unbalance among the three phases may be
relatively obvious), the amplitude and phase angle of the
current-limiting impedance being connected in series with each
of the faulted phases could be optimized. For that the DG unit is
a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) for wind power
generation, the unsymmetrical fault will make some additional
AC and DC components be induced in the DFIGs rotor current,
and the SFCLs current-limiting effects should be considered.
For that the DG is a grid-connected photovoltaic generation
unit, the operation of FRT can be acquired with the SFCL, but
the reduction in the imbalance among the three-phase
voltages/currents can be still enhanced further. To strengthen
the DGs robustness against the unsymmetrical fault, the
control of the positive, negative and zero sequence components
of the reactive current may be appreciatively introduced.
B. Impacts of Fault Resistance on the Protection Scheme
As the micro-grid is commonly connected to the power
distribution network rather than transmission network, the
value range of fault resistance is not wide in principle, and the
range in lots of studies is set as 0~2 . If an excessively higher
fault resistance has to be considered, its value can be even set as
200 [45]. In regard to this range, it will affect the fault current
since the equivalent impedance of the distribution network is
about 3 . When a lower fault resistance is adopted, the higher
fault contribution can be ensured and the overcurrent protection
can still operate in time.
Once a moderately or excessively higher fault resistance is
used, the overcurrent protections response will become slow or
even fail to activate. Meanwhile, as the improvement of the DG
voltage, its allowable FRT duration will also become long. If
the time coordination meets the grid code, the FRT operation
will be successfully obtained, but not vice versa. Thus, to clear
the fault fast and maintain the adequate time margin for the
FRT operation, an additional protection based on fault
components or real-time discrete wavelet transform may be
appreciatively added [46], [47].
Concerning that the differential protection is applied for the
islanded status, the improvement of fault resistance will firstly
reduce the fault current provided by the synchronous generator,
and for its impacts on IIDGs fault currents, the DFIG is
adopted for brief analysis. Assuming that the DFIGs terminal
voltage will drop from Vs1 to Vs2 under the fault. Vs2 is closely
related to fault resistance, and the terminal voltage can be
expressed as [48]:
Vs1e js t t<t0
Vs j t
(8)
Vs 2 e s t t0
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490
where s is the synchronous rotating angular frequency. Based
on constant-linkage theorem and neglecting the stator
resistance, the AC fault current across the DFIGs stator
winding can be calculated as [49]:
(V V )e js t0 Lss t Vs 2 js t Lm ir
R 1) The modified SFCL can make the IIDGs meet the FRT
is s1 s 2 e + e (9)
js Ls js Ls Ls
where i, R, L indicate the current, resistance and inductance,
respectively. Subscripts s, r, m denote the stator, rotor and
mutual quantities, respectively. From (9), the improvement of
fault resistance can help to decrease the DFIGs output current.
Owing to that the total fault currents in the transmission line
can be reduced, the differential protections sensitivity may be
potentially affected. But only if this line fault current is greater
than the differential current threshold, which is determined by
the unbalanced current with a relatively lower value, the
differential current protections reliability and rapidity can be
still guaranteed.
C. Application of the SFCL with the Proposed Protection
One expected objective of this paper is to explore the
superconducting power applications and distributed renewable
energy sources, and the authors investigate a SFCL to deal with
the DGs FRT and protection coordination issues of a typical
micro-grid. From the existing literature, using a SFCL has been
regarded as one of the efficient means to conduct short-circuit
fault and voltage sag, and its application in the micro-grid with
fault-sensitive DG units may bring some contributions. Except
for the improvement of the DGs voltage profiles, the SFCL will
not affect the proposed relay protection scheme even if the
optimal protection parameters are ignored. Compared to that
the conventional protection scheme such as distance protective
relay may not well match the SFCL, and the malfunction of the
protection as well as the isolation of the DG units may be
caused, the combined use of the SFCL and the proposed
protection can be verified as a feasible solution. The theoretical
and simulation comparisons are able to clarify the meanings of
the presented study.
From the literature [50], if the conventional directional
overcurrent relays (DOCRs) are optimally set, FRT
requirements are added as constraints to the problem, and the
utilization of high-speed communications among protective
relays are appreciatively used, it may be concluded that the
conventional DOCRs alone can satisfy the FRT requirement.
Although the solution thinkings between the optimal protection
and this study are different, the former is still thought of as one
other candidate solution, and provides a concept that
optimizing the protection parameters may contribute to
alleviate the burden of the SFCL and reduce this
superconducting power devices capital cost. In the subsequent
optimization, the relay protection parameters, current-limiting
impedance, SFCL cost, and FRT requirements should be
comprehensively taken into account.
V. CONCLUSION
Concerning a typical micro-grid including the IIDGs and
synchronous type DG, this paper suggests the modified
flux-coupling-type SFCL to improve the IIDGs FRT
1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
7
capabilities, and also investigates the directional overcurrent
protection and differential protection for responding to the
micro-grids grid-connected and islanded statuses. The
following conclusions can be obtained:
requirements, and will not affect the relay protection
coordination.
2) As the demonstrated short-circuit fault is cleared within
the allowable time, the proposed protection schemes rapidity
and reliability can be proved. From the comparison of the
conventional distance relay protection and the proposed
protection scheme, the latter has a better applicability than the
former to match the SFCL.
3) The impacts of fault type and fault resistance on the FRT
operation and the proposed protection scheme are preliminarily
explored, and the application value of the SFCL integrated with
the proposed protection is clarified further. The illustrated
results can offer guidance for the future researches.
In the near future, the optimal parameter design of the
modified flux-coupling-type SFCL with the proposed
protection scheme will be studied, and its practical application
in a small-scale micro-grid will be tested. The research results
will be reported in later articles.
REFERENCES
[1] Poh Chiang Loh, Ding Li, Yi Kang Chai, and Frede Blaabjerg,
Autonomous Control of Interlinking Converter With Energy Storage in
Hybrid ACDC Microgrid, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 49, no. 3, pp.
13741382, May/June 2013.
[2] Baoquan Liu, Fang Zhuo, Yixin Zhu, and Hao Yi, System Operation and
Energy Management of a Renewable Energy-Based DC Micro-Grid for
High Penetration Depth Application IEEE Trans. Smart Grid, vol. 6, no.
3, pp. 11471155, May 2015.
[3] Quanyuan Jiang, Meidong Xue, and Guangchao Geng, Energy
Management of Microgrid in Grid-Connected and Stand-Alone Modes,
IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 33803389, August 2013.
[4] T. Ghanbari, and E. Farjah, A Multiagent-Based Fault-Current Limiting
Scheme for the Microgrids, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 29, no. 2, pp.
525533, April 2014.
[5] Jae-Sang Hwang, Umer. A. Khan, Woo-Ju Shin, Jae-Kyu Seong,
Jong-Geon Lee, Yong-Han Kim, and Bang-Wook Lee, Validity
Analysis on the Positioning of Superconducting Fault Current Limiter in
Neighboring AC and DC Microgrid, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., vol.
23, no. 3, June 2013, Art. No. 5600204.
[6] G. Wojtasiewicz, T. Janowski, S. Kozak, J. Kozak, M. Majka, and B.
Kondratowicz-Kucewicz, Experimental Investigation of a Model of a
Transformer-Type Superconducting Fault Current Limiter With a
Superconducting Coil Made of a 2G HTS Tape, IEEE Trans. Appl.
Supercond., vol. 24, no. 3, June 2014, Art. No. 5601005.
[7] Lei Chen, Changhong Deng, Fang Guo, et al, Reducing the Fault Current
and Overvoltage in a Distribution System With Distributed Generation
Units Through an Active Type SFCL, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.,
vol. 24, no. 3, June 2014, Art. No. 5600305.
[8] Guo W.Y., Xiao L.Y., and Dai S.T., Enhancing Low-Voltage
Ride-Through Capability and Smoothing Output Power of DFIG With a
Superconducting Fault-Current LimiterMagnetic Energy Storage
System, IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 277295, June
2012.
[9] I. Ngamroo, and T. Karaipoom, Cooperative Control of SFCL and
SMES for Enhancing Fault Ride Through Capability and Smoothing
Power Fluctuation of DFIG Wind Farm, IEEE Trans. Appl.
Superconduct., vol. 24, no. 5, June 2014, Art. No. 5400304.
[10] Zhi-Ce Zou, Xian-Yong Xiao, Yuan-Fan Liu, et al, Integrated Protection
of DFIG-Based Wind Turbine With a Resistive-Type SFCL Under
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Faults, IEEE Trans. Appl.
Superconduct., vol. 26, no. 7, Oct. 2016, Art. No. 5603005.
[11] Eric Sortomme, S.S. Venkata, and Joydeep Mitra, Microgrid Protection
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TASC.2016.2599898, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
ASEMD15-5490
Using Communication-Assisted Digital Relays, IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 658669, Oct. 2010.
[12] Susmita Kar, and Subhransu Rajan Samantaray, Time-frequency
transform-based differential scheme for microgrid protection, IET Gener.
Transm. Distrib., vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 310320, Feb. 2014.
[13] Sohrab Mirsaeidi, Dalila MatSaid, Mohd. Wazir Mustafa, et al, Progress
and problems in micro-grid protection schemes, Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev., vol. 37, pp. 834839, June 2014.
[14] X. Lin, R. Zhang, N. Tong, X. Li, M. Li, and D. Yang, Regional
protection scheme designed for low-voltage micro-grids, Int. J. Electr.
Power Energy Syst., vol. 64, pp. 526535, Jan. 2015.
[15] S.-H. Lim, J.-S. Kim, M.-H. Kim, et al, Improvement of Protection
Coordination of Protective Devices Through Application of a SFCL in a
Power Distribution System With a Dispersed Generation, IEEE Trans.
Appl. Superconduct., vol. 22, no. 3, June 2012, Art. No. 5601004.
[16] Bin Li, Chao Li, Fengrui Guo, and Ying Xin, Overcurrent Protection
Coordination in a Power Distribution Network With the Active
Superconductive Fault Current Limiter, IEEE Trans. Appl.
Superconduct., vol. 24, no. 5, June 2014, Art. No. 5602004.
[17] Lei Chen, Feng Zheng, Changhong Deng, Shichun Li, Miao Li, Hui Liu,
Lin Zhu, and Fang Guo, Application of a modified flux-coupling-type
superconducting fault current limiter to transient performance
enhancement of micro-grid, Phys. C, vol. 518, pp. 144-148, Nov. 2015.
[18] Changhong Deng, Feng Zheng, Lei Chen, Miao Li, Pei Xia, Shichun Li,
Zhijun Long, Lin Zhu, and Fang Guo, Study of a Modified
Flux-Coupling-Type Superconducting Fault Current Limiter for
Mitigating the Effect of DC Short Circuit in a VSC-HVDC System, J.
Supercond. Nov. Magn., vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 15251534, May 2015.
[19] Lei Chen, Changhong Deng, Feng Zheng, et al, Fault Ride-Through
Capability Enhancement of DFIG-Based Wind Turbine With a
Flux-Coupling-Type SFCL Employed at Different Locations, IEEE
Trans. Appl. Superconduct., vol. 25, no. 3, June 2015, Art. No. 5201505.
[20] Lei Chen, Yuejin Tang, Zhi Li, Li Ren, Jing Shi, and Shijie Cheng,
Current Limiting Characteristics of a Novel Flux-Coupling Type
Superconducting Fault Current Limiter, IEEE Trans. Appl.
Superconduct., vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 11431146, June 2010.
[21] L. Chen, Y. J. Tang, J. Shi, N. Chen, M. Song, S. J. Cheng, Y. Hu, and X.
S. Chen, Influence of a voltage compensation type active
superconducting fault current limiter on the transient stability of power
system, Phys. C, vol. 469, issues 1520, pp. 17601764, Oct. 2009.
[22] G. Didier, C.H. Bonnard, T. Lubin, and J. Lvque, Comparison
between inductive and resistive SFCL in terms of current limitation and
power system transient stability, Elect. Power Syst. Res., vol. 125, pp.
150158, Aug. 2015.
[23] Jawad Talaq, Fault calculations using three terminal Thevenins
equivalent circuit, Int. J. Electr. Power Energy Syst., vol. 33, no. 8, pp.
14621469, Oct. 2011.
[24] B. Hussain et al., Integration of distributed generation into the grid:
Protection challenges and solutions, in Proc. 10th IET Int. Conf.
Developments in Power System Protection (DPSP 2010), pp. 15.
[25] Taha Selim Ustun, Cagil Ozansoy, and Aladin Zayegh, Fault Current
Coefficient and Time Delay Assignment for Microgrid Protection System
With Central Protection Unit, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 28, no. 2, pp.
598606, May 2013.
[26] Chen Yuan, Mohammed A. Haj-ahmed, and Mahesh S. Illindala,
Protection Strategies for Medium-Voltage Direct-Current Microgrid at a
Remote Area Mine Site, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 51, no. 4, pp.
28462853, July/August 2015.
[27] T. Ghanbari, and E. Farjah, Unidirectional Fault Current Limiter: An
Efficient Interface Between the Microgrid and Main Network, IEEE
Trans. Power Syst., vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 15911598, May 2013.
[28] Sohrab Mirsaeidi, Dalila Mat Said, Mohd. Wazir Mustafa, Mohd. Hafiz
Habibuddin, and Kimia Ghaffari, An analytical literature review of the
available techniques for the protection of micro-grids, Int. J. Electr.
Power Energy Syst., vol. 58, pp. 300306, Jan. 2014.
[29] M.G. Villalva, J.R. Gazoli, and E.R. Filho, Comprehensive Approach to
Modeling and Simulation of Photovoltaic Arrays, IEEE Trans. Power
Elect., vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 11981208, May 2009.
[30] Maurizio Cirrincione, Marcello Pucci, and Gianpaolo Vitale, Neural
MPPT of Variable-Pitch Wind Generators With Induction Machines in a
Wide Wind Speed Range, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 49, no. 2, pp.
942953, March 2013.
1051-8223 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
8
[31] Jong-Fil Moon, Sung-Hun Lim, Jae-Chul Kim, and Sang-Yun Yun,
Assessment of the Impact of SFCL on Voltage Sags in Power
Distribution System, IEEE Trans. Appl. Superconduct., vol. 21, no. 3, pp.
21612164, June 2011.
[32] Mariam E. Elshiekh, Diaa-Eldin A. Mansour, and Ahmed M. Azmy,
Improving Fault Ride-Through Capability of DFIG-Based Wind
Turbine Using Superconducting Fault Current Limiter, IEEE Trans.
Appl. Superconduct., vol. 23, no. 3, Art. No. 5601204, June 2013.
[33] Xin Ying, Review on Superconducting Fault Current Limiters, South.
Power Syst. Techo., vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 19, March 2015.
[34] Lei Chen, Xiude Tu, Hongkun Chen, et al, Technical evaluation of
SFCLs used in a micro-grid by considering the fault characteristics of
distributed generation, energy storage and power loads, Energies.
submitted for publication.
[35] S.M. Muyeen, R. Takahashi, T. Murata, et al, Low voltage ride through
capability enhancement of wind turbine generator system during network
disturbance, IET Renew. Power Gen., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 6574, Jan. 2009.
[36] Yang Y., Blaabjerg F., and Zou Z., Benchmarking of Grid Fault Modes
in Single-Phase Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems, IEEE Trans. Ind.
Appl., vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 21672176, Sept.-Oct. 2013.
[37] IEEE Standard Inverse-Time Characteristic Equations for Overcurrent
Relays, IEEE Std C37.112-1996, 1996.
[38] A.H.A. Bakar, BanJuan Ooi, P. Govindasamy, ChiaKwang Tan, H.A.
Illias, and H. Mokhlis, Directional overcurrent and earth-fault
protections for a biomass microgrid system in Malaysia, Int. J. Electr.
Power Energy Syst., vol. 55, pp. 581591, Oct. 2014.
[39] Pukar Mahat, Zhe Chen, Birgitte Bak-Jensen, and Claus Leth Bak, A
Simple Adaptive Overcurrent Protection of Distribution Systems With
Distributed Generation, IEEE Trans. Smart Grid, vol. 2, no. 3, pp.
428-437, Sep. 2011.
[40] Uthitsunthorn, D., and T. Kulworawanichpong, Distance protection of a
renewable energy plant in electric power distribution systems, in Proc.
Power System Technology (POWERCON), pp. 152-157, 2010.
[41] Waleed K. A. Najy, H. H. Zeineldin, and Wei Lee Woon, Optimal
Protection Coordination for Microgrids With Grid-Connected and
Islanded Capability, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 60, no. 4, pp.
16681677, April 2013.
[42] L. Chen, Y. J. Tang, J. Shi, L. Ren, M. Song, S. J. Cheng, Y. Hu, and X. S.
Chen, Effects of a voltage compensation type active superconducting
fault current limiter on distance relay protection, Phys. C, vol. 470, no.
20, pp. 16621665, Nov. 2010.
[43] Lei Chen, Feng Zheng, Changhong Deng, Zhe Li, and Fang Guo, Fault
Ride-Through Capability Improvement of DFIG-Based Wind Turbine by
Employing a Voltage Compensation Type Active SFCL, Can. J. Elect.
Comput. Eng., vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 132142, June 2015.
[44] Lei Chen, Jun Yang, Fei Tang, Yang Liu, Li Ren, and Xin Shu,
Coordinated Control of SFCL and SMES for Transient Performance
Enhancement of Grid-connected Photovoltaic Generation System, J.
Mod. Power Syst. Clean Energy. submitted for publication.
[45] R. Mohanty, U. Sri Mukha Balaji, and A.K. Pradhan, An Accurate
Noniterative Fault-Location Technique for Low-Voltage DC Microgrid,
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 475481, April 2016.
[46] Sachit A. Gopalan, Victor Sreeram, and Herbert H.C. Iu, A review of
coordination strategies and protection schemes for microgrids, Renew.
Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 32, pp. 222228, Jan. 2014.
[47] Khaled A. Saleh, Ali Hooshyar, and Ehab F. El-Saadany, Hybrid
Passive-Overcurrent Relay for Detection of Faults in Low-Voltage DC
Grids, IEEE Trans. Smart Grid, Accepted, Digital Object Identifier
10.1109/TSG.2015.2477482.
[48] JX Ou-Yang, and X. Xiong, Characteristics of short-circuit current of
wind turbine driven DFIG and its impacts on Grid-connected distribution
newwork, Automat. Elect. Power Syst., vol. 34, no. 23, pp.106110, Dec.
2010.
[49] Lei Chen, Hongkun Chen, Zhengyu Shu, Guorui Zhang, Tinglin Xia, and
Li Ren, Comparison of Inductive and Resistive SFCL to Robustness
Improvement of a VSC-HVDC System With Wind Plants Against DC
Fault, IEEE Trans. Appl. Superconduct., Accepted, Digital Object
Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2016.2595622.
[50] K. A. Saleh, M. S. El Moursi and H. H. Zeineldin, A New Protection
Scheme Considering Fault Ride Through Requirements for Transmission
Level Interconnected Wind Parks, IEEE Trans. Ind. Inform., vol. 11, no.
6, pp. 13241333, Dec. 2015.