Abstract
The characteristic impedance of a power line is an important parameter in power line communication (PLC) technologies. This parameter is helpful for understanding power line impedance characteristics and achieving impedance matching. In this study, we focused on the characteristic impedance matrices (CIMs) of the medium-voltage (MV) cables. The calculation and characteristics of the CIMs were investigated with special consideration of the grounded shields and armors, which are often neglected in current research. The calculation results were validated through the experimental measurements. The results show that the MV underground cables with multiple grounding points have forward and backward CIMs, which are generally not equal unless the whole cable structure is longitudinally symmetrical. Then, the resonance phenomenon in the CIMs was analyzed. We found that the grounding of the shields and armors not only affected their own characteristic impedances but also those of the cores, and the resonance present in the CIMs should be of concern in the impedance matching of the PLC systems. Finally, the effects of the grounding resistances, cable lengths, grounding point numbers, and cable branch numbers on the CIMs of the MV underground cables were discussed through control experiments.
Highlights
Smart grid (SG) technologies are attracting growing attention given their capacity to sustainably manage power using intelligent grids
We simultaneously checked that if the receiving end or sending of the whole cable structure was connected to the forward characteristic impedance matrix (FCIM) or backward characteristic impedance matrix (BCIM), the access impedance matrix at the end of the whole cable structure was connected to the FCIM or BCIM, the access impedance matrix other end was equal to the FCIM or BCIM
The calculations and analyses of MV underground cables as a power line communication channel are limited to studies under ideal conditions, where the MV underground cables are treated as uniform transmission lines
Summary
Smart grid (SG) technologies are attracting growing attention given their capacity to sustainably manage power using intelligent grids. Power line communication (PLC) is considered a feasible alternative that has attracted significant interest, and it has been gradually applied in advanced measurement systems and in remote fault detection systems [8,9] This is due to its low cost, convenient deployment, and wide coverage compared with the high data capability communication technologies (e.g., fiber-optic ethernet) [6,10]. The related investigations are confined to the CIM of the uniform MV underground cable [39,40], and the results only represent the CIM of one cable section rather than that of the whole cable structure between the PLC transceivers, which is often nonuniform owing to the grounded shields and armors The latter is more important in reducing or eliminating the reflected signal at the receivers or transmitters [36].
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