Multi-Frequency bands based Pole-to-Ground fault detection method for MMC-Based radial DC distribution systems

Abstract

In a small-current grounding system, the pole-to-ground fault may cause the voltage drop in the fault pole and the voltage rise in the other poles. In flexible DC distribution systems, Severe voltage variation may shorten the insulation lifetime of the equipment, which leads to great concerns on the safety issue. In addition, the existence of high transition resistance degrades the accuracy of fault detection methods, thus further affecting the reliability of the system. Therefore, it is essential to explore an advanced technology for faulty feeder detection. This study proposes a faulty feeder detection method based on the characteristics of transient zero-mode current (TZMC) in multi-frequency bands. The change rate of zero-mode voltage is applied as the protection activation criterion. Then, the characteristic matrix is constructed via computing the fuzzy entropy of TZMC in each frequency band. Finally, the faulty feeder can be identified by conducting fuzzy C-means on the characteristic matrix. This proposed method is tested through simulations on the PSCAD/EMTDC platform, which successfully demonstrates its outstanding adaptability, reliability, and accuracy.