channel Link: http://telegram.
me/microgrids
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009
Protection of Low-Voltage DC Microgrids
Daniel Salomonsson, Student Member, IEEE, Lennart Sder, Member, IEEE, and Ambra Sannino, Member, IEEE
AbstractIn this paper, a low-voltage (LV) dc microgrid pro-
tection system design is proposed. The LV dc microgrid is used to
interconnect distributed resources and sensitive electronic loads.
When designing an LV dc microgrid protection system, knowl-
edge from existing dc power systems can be used. However, in most
cases, these systems use grid-connected rectifiers with current-lim-
iting capability during dc faults. In contrast, an LV dc microgrid
must be connected to an ac grid through converters with bidirec-
tional power flow and, therefore, a different protection-system de-
sign is needed. In this paper, the operating principles and tech-
nical data of LV dc protection devices, both available and in the
research stage, are presented. Furthermore, different fault-detec-
tion and grounding methods are discussed. The influence of the se-
lected protection devices and grounding method on an LV dc mi-
crogrid is studied through simulations. The results show that it is
possible to use available devices to protect such a system. Problems
may arise with high-impedance ground faults which can be diffi-
cult to detect.
Index TermsCircuit transient analysis, DC power systems,
power distribution faults, power distribution protection, power
electronics.
I. INTRODUCTION
SE of distributed resources (DRs) in the electric power
U system at the distribution level opens new possibilities.
A part of the distribution system with its sources and loads can
form an isolated electric power systema microgrid [1]. During
normal operating conditions, the microgrid is connected to the
ac grid at the point of common coupling (PCC), and the loads
are supplied from the local sources and, if necessary, also from
the ac grid. If the load power is less than the power produced
by the local sources, the excess power can be exported to the
ac grid. The sources used in a microgrid are often small ( 500
kW) and are based on renewable energy, for example, PV arrays,
fuel cells, and microturbines. These sources produce power with
different voltage amplitude and frequency than those used in the
microgrid and, therefore, need to be interfaced through power-
electronic converters [2].
A microgrid is well suited to protecting sensitive loads from
power outages and, in some cases, also disturbances, for ex-
ample, voltage dips [3]. High reliability can be obtained by uti-
Manuscript received March 12, 2008; revised November 07, 2008. First pub-
lished April 28, 2009; current version published June 24, 2009. This work was
supported in part by ELFORSK, Sweden; in part by ABB Corporate Research;
and in part by the Swedish Energy Administration within the Elektra program.
Paper no. TPWRD-00183-2008.
D. Salomonsson and L. Sder are with the Electric Power Systems Lab,
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm SE-100 44, Sweden (e-mail:
daniel.salomonsson@ee.kth.se; lennart.soder@ee.kth.se).
A. Sannino is with the ABB Corporate Research, Power Technologies,
Vsters SE-721 78, Sweden (e-mail: ambra.sannino@ieee.org).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2009.2016622
0885-8977/$25.00 2009 IEEE
1045
lizing the power-electronic interfaces of the DRs, together with
fast protection systems. To operate the microgrid in island mode,
an islanding detection system is necessary, which safely discon-
nects the microgrid when an ac grid outage occurs to prevent
energizing the ac grid [4].
A low-voltage (LV) dc microgrid is most suitable to use where
most of the loads are sensitive electronic equipment. The ad-
vantage of an LV dc microgrid compared to an LV ac micro-
grid is that loads, sources, and energy storage can be connected
through simpler and more efficient power-electronic interfaces
[5]. So far, LV dc microgrids have been used in telecom power
systems, and power-system control and protection systems [6].
To ensure reliable operation of the LV dc microgrid, it is
important to have a well-functioning protection system. As a
starting point, knowledge from existing protection systems for
high-power LV dc power systems, for example, in generating
stations and traction power systems [6], [7] can be used. How-
ever, these systems utilize grid-connected rectifiers with cur-
rent-limiting capability during dc faults. In contrast, an LV dc
microgrid must be connected to an ac grid through converters
with bidirectional power flow and, therefore, a different protec-
tion system design is needed. Short-circuit current calculations
for LV dc systems have been treated in [8] and fault detection in
[9]. However, the protection devices have not been considered.
So far, the influence of protection devices on the system perfor-
mance has only been considered in studies of high-voltage (HV)
dc applications, such as electric ships and HV dc transmission
systems [10][12].
In this paper, a protection-system design for LV dc microgrids
will be proposed. Different LV dc protection devices, which
today are in the research stage or commercially available, will
be presented. Finally, the influence of the protection system on
the LV dc microgrid during faults will be studied by using the
software package PSCAD/EMTDC [13].
II. LOW-VOLTAGE MICROGRID
An LV dc microgrid is well suited for naturally demarcated
power systems, for example, office buildings with sensitive
computer loads or rural power systems, but also electric ve-
hicles and ships. Since ac distribution is widespread and not
all sources and loads benefit from having a connection to dc,
it is reasonable to consider a mixed ac/dc microgrid as in the
example in Fig. 1. The dc microgrid is denoted as Zone 1, the
ac microgrid is Zone 2, and the ac grid is denoted as Zone 3.
A mixed ac/dc microgrid can typically be used in systems up to
a few megawatts, and the issue regarding how to interconnect
different sources, loads, and energy storage with the ac grid has
earlier been treated in [14]. However, the resulting design was
partially based on the assumption that no loads were connected
directly to the dc bus. The main components used in an LV
microgrid are: sources, converters, energy storage, and loads.
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1046
Fig. 1. Example of a small low-voltage ac/dc microgrid.
A. Sources
Sources used in an LV microgrid can be of various types. Pho-
tovoltaic arrays and fuel cells produce dc voltage and, there-
fore, are suitable to connect to a dc power system via a dc/dc
converter. Microturbines are also preferably connected to a dc
power system due to their high-frequency output voltage which
requires conversion. Similarly, wind-turbine generators produce
voltage with varying frequency. To connect the wind turbine
to a dc bus, only one converter is required. Internal combus-
tion engines (ICE), for example, diesel engines, commonly used
for standby-power generation, are preferably connected to an ac
power system.
B. Converters
Both ac/dc and dc/dc converters are used in the LV micro-
grid, where ac/dc converters are used to interconnect the ac mi-
crogrid and the dc microgrid. These converters need to generate
sinusoidal ac voltages and currents, and be able to control the
bidirectional power flow. Furthermore, the converters must have
galvanic isolation, and be able to handle grid disturbances, such
as voltage dips with unsymmetrical voltages [15]. Finally, the
converters should have high efficiency.
Different dc/dc converters will be used to connect different
sources and loads to the dc microgrid. DC/DC converters can
be built simpler compared with ac/dc converters, which results
in lower cost and higher efficiency [16].
C. Energy Storage
The availability or the transient response of some DRs, such
as wind power, solar cells, and fuel cells require them to be
combined with other energy sources or energy storage. Fur-
thermore, energy storage can be used for power-quality (PQ)
improvement, load leveling, or emergency power supply [17].
Commonly used storage techniques are batteries, (super)capac-
itors, and flywheels [18]. Batteries and capacitors can be directly
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009
connected to the dc bus, but flywheels are connected through a
machine and a converter.
D. Loads
The LV microgrid can be used to supply loads which require
a power supply with high availability. Examples of such loads
are lighting systems, data and communication systems, control
systems, safety systems, and equipment for heat, ventilation,
and air conditioning (HVAC) [19]. Many of these loads can be
supplied today with dc without any modifications, especially
electronic loads, such as computers and lighting appliances [20].
Less important ac loads, which can handle short interruptions
can instead be connected to the ac microgrid.
III. LOW-VOLTAGE DC PROTECTION SYSTEM
A well-designed protection system is necessary to ensure reli-
able operation of the LV microgrid. The protection system con-
sists of protection (current interrupting) devices, protective re-
lays, measurement equipment, and grounding. The LV micro-
grid protection system can be divided into a dc protection system
for Zone 1 and an ac protection system for Zone 2. Zone 2 can
be described as a utility-consumer interconnected bus with gen-
eration [21], and its protection system can be divided into five
subsystems: 1) ac grid protection, 2) ac/dc converter protection,
3) diesel-generator protection, 4) feeder protection, and 5) bus
protection. These subsystems will not be further treated in this
paper. Instead, a dc protection system for Zone 1 will be pro-
posed and analyzed. A general model of Zone 1, based on a
data center power system, is shown in Fig. 2 [19]. The ac/dc
converter is modeled as a three-phase, two-level voltage-source
converter (VSC), as described in [22]. The battery is modeled as
a dc source with a resistive-inductive impedance [23]. Finally,
the loads are modeled as constant power (CP) loads, together
with an input filter, and are connected between the two poles
[20]. Parameters for each component are listed in Table I.
A. Grounding
Grounding is a complex issue and there are many different
approaches to designing grounding in an electric power system,
and different solutions result in different performance [24],
[25]. Grounding is used for the detection of ground faults and
for personnel and equipment safety [6]. An LV dc microgrid
can be ungrounded, high resistance grounded, or low resistance
grounded. Moreover, the ground can be connected either to
one of the poles or to the middle point of the converter and the
battery. The two alternatives are shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3(a) shows a TN-S dc system. It has the middle point
of the converter and the battery connected to ground (T), and
separate (S) wires are used throughout the system for neutral (N)
and protective earth (PE). The alternative in Fig. 3(b) is an IT
dc system. It has the positive pole connected to ground through
an impedance (I). The positive pole is preferably connected to
ground compared with the negative one to reduce the impact of
corrosion.
Using alternative (a) in Fig. 3 results in a large ground cur-
rent and a large dc-link voltage transient in case of a low-resis-
tance ground fault. The large voltage transient may affect other
loads connected to the faulted pole, but not loads connected to
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SALOMONSSON et al.: PROTECTION OF LOW-VOLTAGE DC MICROGRIDS
Fig. 2. Detailed scheme of Zone 1.
TABLE I
SYSTEM PARAMETERS OF LV DC MICROGRID
Fig. 3. LV dc microgrid grounding. (a) TN-S dc system. (b) IT dc system.
the other pole. The fault is easily detected and can be quickly
cleared. A TN-S dc system provides a well-defined pole-to-
ground voltage and paths for leakage currents from noise filters.
An IT dc system has only a small current and voltage transient
in case of a ground fault. This will ensure stable operation of
the loads during a single ground fault. However, a ground in
the system will change the pole-to-ground voltage, which may
affect sensitive electronic loads. Due to the small ground-fault
current, it can be difficult to measure and detect the fault, and
metal enclosures of loads may be energized. To further improve
the system in case of a ground fault, the line impedance of each
1047
TABLE II
EXAMPLES OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PROTECTION
DEVICES FOR LV DC [28][33]
load can be increased to limit the voltage transient. However,
this results in increased losses. Alternative (b) is commonly used
in telecom power systems [26].
B. Protection Devices
Protection devices commercially available for LV dc systems
are fuses, molded-case circuit breakers (MCCB), LV power
CBs, and isolated-case CBs [27]. Some of these models are
specially designed for dc, but most can be used in ac and dc
applications. However, the ratings for ac and dc operation are
different, and must be carefully considered when designing
the protection system. Examples of commercially available
protection devices for LV dc systems, together with their nom-
inal voltage and current, and short-circuit-current-interruption
capability are listed in Table II.
1) Fuses: A fuse consists of a fuse link and heat-absorbing
material inside a ceramic cartridge. The fuse link is made of
copper or silver, and its design depends on its current-time and
voltage ratings. The heat-absorbing material, used to quench the
arc, is usually silica sand.
Voltage and current ratings of fuses are given in root-mean-
square (rms) values, and are therefore valid for both ac and dc.
However, when using fuses in a dc system, it is important to
consider the system time constant. It determines the rise time
of the current transient, but not its final steady-state value. The
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1048
rise time affects the ability of the fuse to interrupt the current.
A small time constant ( 2.5 ms) will result in a fast current
increase and the fuse link will quickly melt and the arc can be
cooled by the heat absorbing material. However, if the time con-
stant is large ( 6 ms), the current and, in turn, the temperature
of the fuse will slowly increase and when an arc is eventually
formed, it cannot be cooled enough by the heat absorbing mate-
rial since its temperature has increased [34]. Furthermore, fuses
used in dc systems must also be able to handle light overcurrents
in order not to malfunction.
2) Circuit Breakers: An MCCB consists of a contactor, a
quenching chamber, and a tripping device. MCCBs are usu-
ally equipped with a thermal-magnetic tripping device, but can
be extended with an electronic one. Furthermore, as for fuses,
the voltage and current ratings are given in rms values. The
magnetic tripping senses the instantaneous value of the current,
which means that the rated current for dc is times higher
than for ac. However, for the thermal tripping, the values are
the same [35]. To improve the voltage rating, multiple poles
can be connected in series. However, it is important to consider
the grounding arrangement in the system to prevent having full
system voltage across one pole during a ground fault.
For larger LV dc systems, such as traction power systems,
special high-speed dc-circuit breakers are available. These CBs
are designed to fully cope with the rated voltage and current,
even in a system with a large time constant. A high-speed CB
starts to interrupt the fault current within 0.01 s. Problems may
arise with low currents which can cause the CB contacts to weld
together [7].
3) Power-Electronic Protection Devices: There are some
known problems associated with fuses and CBs in LV dc sys-
tems, such as large time constants and long breaker operation
time. By utilizing power-electronic switches, such as thyristors,
the operation speed decreases and the inductive current inter-
ruption capability can be increased [10], [36]. However, the
related losses of a power-electronic solution are much higher
compared with a mechanical switch. Therefore, a combination
of a mechanical switch and a power-electronic switch has been
proposed in [37].
C. Protective Relays and Measurement Equipment
High-speed dc CBs are equipped with mechanical instanta-
neous overcurrent tripping devices, which can be set to trip the
breaker if the current exceeds 14 p.u.. The electromagnetic
force generated by the current is used to trip the CB. However,
tripping the CB due to other events requires a protective relay.
Protective relays use information from measured voltages and
currents, and in some cases, information based on communica-
tion with other units. It is important to note that the measurement
equipment must be able to handle dc quantities in order to work
properly.
Besides overcurrent, protective relays can calculate time
derivatives and step changes of currents to determine whether
the dc system is in normal operation or if a fault has occurred
[7]. More sophisticated numerical methods (e.g., the use of
neural networks) can also be used to detect faults and separate
them from normal operation [38].
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009
IV. PROTECTION SYSTEM DESIGN
The overall function of the LV dc microgrid protection system
is to detect and isolate faults fast and accurately in order to min-
imize the effects of disturbances. The design of the protection
system depends on a number of issues which will be treated in
this section, and is illustrated on the system in Fig. 2. The design
issues are the type of faults which can occur, their consequences,
the type of protection devices required, the need for backup pro-
tection, detection methods, measures to prevent faults, and fi-
nally, measures to prevent incorrect operation of the protection
system.
A. Possible Fault Types
Possible fault types in the dc microgrid are pole-to-pole and
pole-to-ground faults. Pole-to-pole faults often have low fault
impedance, while pole-to-ground faults can be characterized as
either low-impedance or high-impedance faults. The location of
the faults can be either on the bus or on one of the feeders. These
four possible faults have been indicated as F1-F4 in Fig. 2. Fault
F1 is a short circuit between the positive and the negative poles
at the bus, and F2 is a short circuit between the positive pole
and ground. These faults are critical for the whole system, in
particular, the converter and the battery. Faults F3 and F4 are
of similar types, but located on the feeder close to one of the
two loads. These faults are important to consider when investi-
gating how the nonfaulted load is affected, and how to design the
backup protection of the feeders. Faults inside the converter, the
battery, or the loads have not been considered separately. Con-
verter or battery failure will be similar to faults F1 or F2, and a
load fault to F3 or F4.
B. Bus Faults
Faults F1 and F2 will affect all sources and loads connected
to the bus, and the loads and sources that are to be connected
depend on the current operation mode. Since the sources are
connected in parallel, they can be treated separately.
The battery can be located in a separate battery room, and
can, consequently, be connected to the dc bus through cables.
The total fault impedance, as it appears to the battery when a
fault F1 occurs, is then the sum of the internal battery impedance
( and ) and the cable impedance ( and ) (the
cable capacitance can be neglected during pole-to-pole faults).
The battery fault current can then be calculated as
(1)
where . The design of the
battery determines how long it can supply a short-circuit current
without causing internal damage [34].
The converter is directly connected to the bus and, hence, has
a low impedance, mainly consisting of the series impedance of
the capacitors and , where the latter can be neglected
[39]. Fault F1 will cause the capacitors to discharge, which re-
sults in a current with high amplitude and low rise time, but with
limited duration [40]. The capacitor fault current can be calcu-
lated as
(2)
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SALOMONSSON et al.: PROTECTION OF LOW-VOLTAGE DC MICROGRIDS
where . However, when the dc-link voltage be-
comes almost zero, the converter will lose its current-control ca-
pability and a fault current will flow through the insulated-gate
bipolar transistors (IGBTs) antiparallel diodes, limited only by
the grid filter ( and in Fig. 2). These diodes are sensitive
to overcurrents, and the current through them must not exceed
a certain amplitude and have a duration longer than a certain
time [41].
C. Feeder Faults
Fault F3 is located after the protection devices protecting
feeder L1, and will permanently affect only the loads which are
connected to this feeder. Before the fault is cleared, the other
feeder will sense a voltage drop whose magnitude depends on
the fault impedance. A larger fault impedance will result in a
lower voltage drop, but a lower fault current, which can in-
crease the fault-clearing time. Fault F3 results in a second-order
-system, and guidance to analytically calculating the fault
current can be found in [40].
D. Ground Faults
Faults F2 and F4 are positive-pole-to-ground faults, and in
these two cases, only the faulted pole is affected. How much the
voltage decreases depends on the system-grounding method and
the fault impedance. Furthermore, the cable capacitances , (3)
, and need to be consider during the ground fault in
high-impedance-grounded systems.
V. CASE STUDY
When selecting which protection device (P1-P8) to use to
protect the different components, in this case, the converter, the
battery, and the two feeders, it is necessary to consider the fol-
lowing issues: function, operation time, controllability, and de-
tection. This will be treated in this section as a case study. In this
study, a TN-S dc system, shown in Fig. 3(a), has been consid-
ered since it gives the possibility to investigate the ground-fault
currents. Furthermore, the protection system is modeled as an
ideal system: there is no delay of the fault detection due to com-
putation or communication, and the formation and influence of
arcs is neglected.
A. Converter and Battery Protection (P1-P4)
The primary function of the battery and converter protec-
tion is to clear faults which appear between the sources and
the bus. Hence, a sustained fault F1 will be studied. The bat-
tery fault-current amplitude and rise time can be calculated by
using (1) as 34 p.u. and 2.96 ms, respectively. The discharge of
the converter capacitors results in a short transient. The ampli-
tude and time constant can be calculated by using (2) as 125 p.u.
and 0.112 ms, respectively. Since the dc-link voltage becomes
almost zero during the fault, the converter will act as a diode
rectifier and the current will go through the reverse diodes only.
The fault current through the diodes is then limited by the grid
filter between the ac grid and the converter.
The battery protection (P3-P4) must disconnect the bat-
teries before they are damaged due to the high fault current
as described earlier. Furthermore, it can be desirable to be
able to connect and disconnect the battery and, therefore, CBs
1049
are chosen in this case study to protect the battery. However,
other solutions exist: fuse in series with a switch for example.
The converter protection (P1-P2) must be able to limit the
fault current through the IGBT diodes. In this particular case
study, the diodes can handle a maximum current of 7 p.u. up to
10 ms [41], which will give the maximum fault clearing time
of the converter protection. Possible choices which can be fast
enough are power-electronic switches, ultra-fast hybrid dc CBs
or fuses.
In both cases, it is important to have a fast detection method.
Possible methods that were described earlier are amplitude, step
change or derivative of the current, or dc-link voltage amplitude.
A fault F1 results in a large battery fault current . How-
ever, the large time constant makes the derivative of during
a fault only three times larger than a load step. Hence, it is more
convenient to use the current amplitude together with the dc-link
voltage. The overcurrent protection can be set to a percentage of
the steady-state fault current, and the undervoltage protection to
a percentage of the dc-link voltage .
Due to the fast discharge of the capacitors , it is difficult
to use the amplitude of the converter current to detect a fault.
Another choice is to use the current derivative which can be
calculated as
The absolute value is required since the capacitor discharge
during the fault results in a negative derivative. (3) can be used
to calculate the minimum level of the derivative setting to be
able to detect the fault within a certain time. The suggested set-
tings for the battery and converter protection are:
battery overcurrent level: 80% of the maximum battery
fault current;
converter-current derivative detection time: 1 ms;
dc-link undervoltage level: 40%.
Using the suggested values from before gives the protection
settings used in the test case. The battery protection is set to
27-p.u. overcurrent and 0.4-p.u. dc-link voltage. The total op-
eration time of the battery protection is assumed to be 20 ms.
The converter protection is set to 6.4 p.u./ms (current deriva-
tive) and 0.4-p.u. dc-link voltage. In this case, an ultrafast hybrid
dc CB is used to protect the converter. However, it would also
be possible to use fast dc fuses. Simulations show that the max-
imum fault clearing time for the converter protection in this case
must not exceed 2 ms; otherwise, the diodes will exceed 7 p.u.
(their maximum current rating). A 2-ms fault-clearing time has
been used in the test case shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4(a) shows that
the converter dc current has a very high but short transient, and
the battery current reaches 34 p.u. More important, the currents
through the converter reach 6 p.u. and become zero after 6.5 ms.
The diodes can handle these fault currents, and the converter is
protected. The converter dc-link voltage becomes 1.2 p.u. due
to the current transients through the diodes after the converter
has been disconnected. A longer total interruption time could
damage the reverse diodes and the dc-link capacitors.
A low-impedance ground fault F2 will result in large ground
currents from the connected sources using the grounding
scheme applied here. Furthermore, the dc-link voltage becomes
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1050 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JULY 2009

Fig. 4. Fault F1 cleared by the converter protection after 2 ms and the battery Fig. 5. Fault F3 cleared by the fuse after 1.0 ms. (a) DC currents. (b) Grid
protection after 20 ms. (a) DC currents. (b) Grid currents. (c) DC-link voltage. currents. (c) DC-link voltage.

approximately 0.5 p.u. since one of the poles is shorted. On the

other hand, a high-impedance ground fault on the bus results in
a small fault current and only a small reduction of the dc-link
voltage. Hence, it can be difficult to detect these faults. One
method to detect ground faults in a dc auxiliary power system is
to measure the ground currents and . If they go out-
side a predefined range, a positive or negative pole-to-ground
fault has occurred. Leakage currents must be considered when
setting the level.

B. Feeder Protection (P5-P8)

Each feeder must be protected against short circuits and
overloads, and for that purpose, it is possible to use MCCBs
and fuses. It is easier to obtain selectivity by using fuses than
MCCBs due to their magnetic sensing. However, the advantage
of MCCBs compared with fuses is that they open both poles in
case of a fault. Therefore, MCCBs are used only closest to the
load sometimes.
The fault clearing time for fuses and MCCBs depends on the
available short-circuit current which, in turn, is limited by the Fig. 6. Fault F3 cleared by the fuse after 5.0 ms. (a) DC currents. (b) Grid
source and feeder impedance. Furthermore, a larger time con- currents. (c) DC-link voltage.
stant can prolong the fault-clearing time. The simulation of a
fault F3 cleared after 1 ms is shown in Fig. 5. After the fault
is cleared, the converter current and the battery current start to fault current during a low-impedance ground fault F4 (Fig. 7)
oscillate against each other. These oscillations can be reduced is large enough to make the protecting device clear the fault.
by having a shorter fault clearing time or a reduced controller When the fault occurs, there is a voltage shift between the two
bandwidth. The current transients through the converter are ap- converter dc-link capacitors. The voltage across the unfaulted
proximately 2.1 p.u., and the dc-link voltage drops to 0.8 p.u. pole and ground increases, and the voltage across the faulted
for less than 5 ms. Increasing the fault-clearing time to 5 ms re- pole and ground decreases. In total, the dc-link voltage is re-
sults in a larger dc-link voltage transient, which can affect the duced. Due to the voltage change, the converter ground current
loads connected to the other feeder. This can be seen in Fig. 6. will become zero at steady state.
Pole-to-ground faults can, for example, occur after an isola- The last case analyzes a fault F4 with 5.0- impedance. In
tion failure in the system. The ground currents should be zero this case, there is only a very small fault current, which can
during normal operation and, therefore, they can be useful to be seen from Fig. 8. This can only be detected by the ground-
measure these at each source to detect a ground fault. The total current measurement of the sources and . However,
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SALOMONSSON et al.: PROTECTION OF LOW-VOLTAGE DC MICROGRIDS
Fig. 7. Fault F4. (a) DC currents. (b) Grid currents. (c) DC-link voltage.
Fig. 8. Fault F4 (high-impedance fault). (a) DC currents. (b) Grid currents. (c)
DC-link voltage.
the sensitivity of the protection system to high-impedance faults
depends on the level of stray currents in the system. Therefore,
in some cases, it can be better to only signal that there is or
has been a high-impedance ground fault, instead of tripping the
sources.
C. Protection Coordination
So far, the converter, the battery, and the feeder protections
have been studied separately. However, to have high reliability,
it is important that only the dedicated protection operates when
a fault occurs. Sometimes, the primary protection fails to clear
the fault, and then the backup protection must operate and clear
1051
Fig. 9. Fault F1 and F3. (a) Battery fault current. (b) Converter fault current.
(c) Derivative of converter fault current. (d) DC-link voltage.
it instead. In this case study, the converter, the battery, and the
feeder protection must be coordinated.
The converter protection (P1-P2) and the battery protection
(P3-P4) are in this case study backup protection for the feeder
protections (P5-P8). If a fault F3 occurs, it is then important that
only protection P5-P6 operates. However, if P5-P6 fail, P1-P2
and P3-P4 must operate and clear the fault. Protection P1-P4
must therefore be able to distinguish fault F1 from F3. These
two faults are compared with respect to battery fault current,
converter fault current, derivative of the converter fault current,
and the dc-link voltage, and are shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 9(a) shows the battery fault current during fault F1 and
F3. The amplitude and the rise time differ, and it it possible for
P3-P4 to separate these two faults. By lowering the tripping level
of the current and introducing a time delay, P3-P4 can act as
backup for P5-P6.
Fig. 9(b) and (c) shows the converter fault current and its
derivative. Already after 1 ms, it is difficult to distinguish a fault
F1 from F3. However, the dc-link voltage shown in Fig. 9(d) is
a good indicator whether it is a fault F1 or F3. Consequently,
it is suitable to combine the derivative of the converter current
with the dc-link voltage to obtain selectivity between P1-P2 and
P5-P6.
The converter and the battery protection cannot distinguish
a fault F5, located directly after P5-P6, from a fault F1. There-
fore, protection P5-P6 must in this case be faster than protec-
tion P1-P4 in order to achieve selectivity. Due to the fast re-
sponse of P1-P2, there might be a risk that it will operate even
 channel Link: http://telegram.me/microgrids
1052
though P5-P6 will clear the fault. More important, however, is
that P3-P4 do not operate to prevent a total shutdown.
Finally, fuses connected on the ac side of the converter can
be used as backup protection for the converter. In contrast, it
would not be possible to have backup protection for the battery.
However, in some dc auxiliary power systems, the battery is
not protected at all since it is considered to have lower system
reliability [6].
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an LV dc microgrid protection-system design
has been proposed. A small dc microgrid has been studied
during different fault events in order to investigate which type
of protection devices are required and where to install them.
The result shows that it is possible to use commercial protection
devices, such as fuses and CBs, to protect batteries and loads.
However, converters using IGBT modules are very sensitive
to overcurrents and, therefore, require fast protection. For this
case study, a prototype of an ultra-fast hybrid dc CB was used
to protect the converter. It was shown that during a bus fault, the
total breaker time is very critical for limiting the fault current
and protecting the converter.
Low-impedance ground faults in a solidly grounded system
result in large fault current and can therefore easily be detected
and cleared. However, problems can arise with high-impedance
ground faults since the fault current is very small. One way to
detect a ground fault is to measure the ground current flowing
from the sources. The sensitivity is dependent on the amount
of leakage current in the system. The consequences of a high-
impedance ground fault must be evaluated, and should prefer-
ably only be indicated, rather than disconnecting all sources.
Finally, coordination of the protection devices was discussed.
It was shown that problems may arise with the converter protec-
tion. It can be very difficult to determine the fault location based
on the fault current or its derivative only. Therefore, the con-
verter fault current can be used together with the dc-link voltage
to solve the problem and ensure a reliable protection system.
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Daniel Salomonsson (S02) received the M.Sc. and
Tech.Lic. degrees in electrical engineering from
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg,
Sweden, in 2002 and 2005, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree at the Electric Power Systems Lab,
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden,
in 2008.
His research project concerns dc distribution sys-
tems. His research interests are direct current distri-
bution systems, power electronics, and power quality.
1053
Lennart Sder (M91) was born in Solna, Sweden,
in 1956. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
in electrical engineering from the Royal Institute of
Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, in 1982 and
1988, respectively.
Currently, he is a Professor in Electric Power Sys-
tems at KTH. He works on projects concerning dereg-
ulated electricity markets, distribution systems, and
integration of wind power, HVDC, power system re-
liability, protections systems, hydropower, and micro
grids. He has been involved in several national com-
mittees concerning the risk of capacity deficit and handling of bottlenecks within
the deregulated market.
Ambra Sannino (S99M01) received the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy, in 1997 and
2001, respectively.
From 2001 to 2004, she was an Assistant Professor
with the Department of Electric Power Engineering
of Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg,
Sweden, and an Associate Professor since 2004. She
has been with ABB, Corporate Research, Vsters,
Sweden, since 2004.
Her interests include applications of power elec-
tronics in power systems, distributed generation, as well as wind power and
power quality.