Fault detection method for VSC-HVDC System with new energy sources considering fault current limiter

Abstract

Voltage source converter based high voltage direct current transmission (VSC-HVDC) is widely adopted in the power system with new energy sources, but with the problem of fast rise of fault current. Magnetic saturation fault current limiter (MSFCL) suppresses the rise of short-circuit current by increasing the inductance value, which has the advantages of high speed and no additional control. However, the change of inductance will affect the detection of VSC-HVDC system fault, may leading to missed or incorrect removal of the fault and causing harm. Based on this problem, this paper proposes a fault detection method used in VSC-HVDC system considering MSFCL, which has fast detection speed, high sensitivity and reliability. The proposed method is robust to short-circuit resistance variation and can locate faults external and internal. Firstly, we establish the short-circuit equivalent circuit of VSC-HVDC system. Then we establish the differential equation and solve it, to obtain the analytical expression of voltage across MSFCL. Furthermore, we proposed a short circuit fault detection method based on the rise rate of the voltage across MSFCL. Finally we establish a four port VSC-HVDC system simulation model to prove that the method is effective. The results show that compared with traditional methods, the proposed method has faster detection speed. The proposed method is independent of the power flow direction, can identify the short circuit fault with large short-circuit resistance of 500 Ω and can discriminate the faulty branch from the healthy ones accurately.