Combination of power flow controller and short-circuit limiter in distribution electrical network using a cascaded H-bridge distribution-static synchronous series compensator

Abstract

A novel method to limit the short-circuit current in the distribution network is introduced in this study. The short-circuit limiter is a part of cascade H-bridge distribution-static synchronous series compensator (D-SSSC), which is placed in series with the line to manage the power flow in the loop distribution network. Hence, the short-circuit limitation and power flow management is achieved using only one power converter. During the fault, the D-SSSC inverter is changed to a rectifier by turning off the converter switches and using the anti parallel diodes. The transient thermal analysis of the converter verifies that the components operate within the safe operation area during the fault. The appropriate selection of the DC bus capacitors are discussed both, to limit the fault current below the diode surge current, and to prepare adequate reactive power for normal power flow control. Simulation studies are based on a model inspired by a part of the Tehran electrical distribution network. Moreover, a seven level cascade H-bridge is implemented to control the power flow and to limit the short-circuit in the simple line model.

Semiconductor Devices in Solid-State/Hybrid Circuit Breakers: Current Status and Future Trends

“…Further investigation could be on implementation and higher-temperature superconductors; (d) As current-limiting is becoming more intelligent, semiconductor devices will be widely applied, but their reliability must be taken into account; (e) Resistive CL-CB has really high power dissipation, it might be only used for short-term limiting; (f) Inductive CL-CB and L-C based CL-CB are sensitive to frequency changes, so the robustness is not perfect. The dynamic response must be analyzed before any conduction; Static synchronous series compensators (SSSC), as a series-connected semiconductor converter module, were investigated by a few experts for CL purposes [43][44][45][46]. As shown in Figure 19, SSSC has the same H-bridge structure as a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), but uses series-connection rather than paralleled connection [47].…”

“…SSSC may be a good multi-functional flexible fault current limitation component solution. Static synchronous series compensators (SSSC), as a series-connected semiconductor converter module, were investigated by a few experts for CL purposes [43][44][45][46]. As shown in Figure 19, SSSC has the same H-bridge structure as a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), but uses seriesconnection rather than paralleled connection [47].…”

A survey on configurations of current-limiting circuit breakers (CL-CB)

“…With the controlling of gate signal of IGCT instead of just switching, the fault current of this fault current limiter can also be controllable. From 2000 until now, static synchronous series compensators (SSSC) is mentioned in several papers a fault current limiter [39][40][41][42] for power transmission and distribution. SSSC is a similar configuration of static synchronous compensator (STATCOM).…”

New laboratories in High Voltage Institute of University of Tehran for teaching power engineering courses

“…Thanks to different feeding points, it is possible to connect the output of a small‐scale wind turbine or a photovoltaic converter to the grid to investigate the interactive effects of the renewable energy sources on a power system. As another instance, a SSSC was made recently and added to the grid model to study its performance for building a large‐scale industrial SSSC [22]. It is also intended to construct and add a model of an HVDC link, which can be used for both education and research purposes.…”