Fault Management in DC Microgrids: A Review of Challenges, Countermeasures, and Future Research Trends

Zulfiqar Ali,Yacine Terriche,Josep M Guerrero,Mustafa Alrayah Hassan,Chun-Lien Su,Le Quang Nhat Hoang,Muhammad Sadiq,Syed Zagam Abbas

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3112383

Abstract

The significant benefits of DC microgrids have instigated extensive efforts to be an alternative network as compared to conventional AC power networks. Although their deployment is ever-growing, multiple challenges still occurred for the protection of DC microgrids to efficiently design, control, and operate the system for the islanded mode and grid-tied mode. Therefore, there are extensive research activities underway to tackle these issues. The challenge arises from the sudden exponential increase in DC fault current, which must be extinguished in the absence of the naturally occurring zero crossings, potentially leading to sustained arcs. This paper presents cut-age and state-of-the-art issues concerning the fault management of DC microgrids. It provides an account of research in areas related to fault management of DC microgrids, including fault detection, location, identification, isolation, and reconfiguration. In each area, a comprehensive review has been carried out to identify the fault management of DC microgrids. Finally, future trends and challenges regarding fault management in DC-microgrids are also discussed.

Highlights

The abysmal condition of climate change and the extraordinary carbon emission deadline set by the European Union (EU) is planned to minimized carbon emission to about 80% to 90% by 2050 using renewable energy and smart power utilization [1]
The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of fault management in DC MGs, including cutting-edge prospects and future challenges
According to the aforementioned literature, this review presents some specific future challenges associated with fault management operation in DC MGs that are not highlighted properly, which are moderately essential from the protection strand

Summary

Introduction

The abysmal condition of climate change and the extraordinary carbon emission deadline set by the European Union (EU) is planned to minimized carbon emission to about 80% to 90% by 2050 using renewable energy and smart power utilization [1]. Microgrids (MGs) are localized/decentralized grouping of distributed energy resources (DERs) constituted of one or a combination of units connected to nearby consumers These units consist of generators; and renewable resources (e.g., wind turbine, PV, tidal power, fuel cells, combined heat and power (CHP), biogas plants, hydropower units, geothermal heat, and biomass energy) that can operate in two operating modes autonomously (standalone mode) or in grid-connected mode [2]. During the occurrence of a fault in DC MGs, high-frequency noise in the repetitive transient switching prevents a good reading of the system impedance at high frequencies For this purpose, as mentioned earlier, signal processing methods have been suggested for DC power system failures localization and detection such as the traveling waves-based fault detection methods, WT, etc. The background noise contains information related to the location of the fault

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Conclusion