Grounding and fault location in power electronic based MVDC shipboard power and energy systems

Abstract

At present there is no standardized grounding method for medium voltage direct current (MVDC) shipboard power distribution systems. This paper introduces a method for selection of a maritime MVDC grounding scheme that considers technical acceptability, maintainability, reliability, safety, and feasibility. Several candidate grounding approaches and the results of the selection process are presented. In addition to the MVDC grounding method, a potentially suitable ground fault location approach based on noise pattern analysis is evaluated. The sensitivity of this fault location approach to source-ground capacitive coupling is analyzed using a notional two-zone MVDC ship distribution system model.