A comparative investigation of flexible arc suppression devices in distribution network

Abstract

With the rapid development of social economy, power supply reliability of the distribution network has become particularly important. The distribution network has long been faced with problems such as overvoltage, single‐phase grounding failure and grounding protection. Passive, active, and hybrid arc suppression devices (ASDs) are proposed to solve these problems. Passive ASDs have the advantages of high reliability, low control complexity and good economic benefits, and have been widely used in distribution networks. With the wide application of power electronic components in distribution network, the active part and harmonic part of ground current, which cannot be effectively eliminated by passive ASDs, increase sharply. Therefore, an active arc suppression method is proposed. However, due to the high cost and low reliability of the active equipment, the hybrid ASD has better arc suppression effect. In this paper, the existing ASDs are reviewed, and specific simulation models are established to verify the principle and performance of three different ASDs. The advantages and disadvantages of the three ASDs are compared in detail, and the possible problems and research directions in the future research of arc suppression technology are prospected.