Performance Analysis of Protection Methods in Residential DC Microgrids

Abstract

Smart and nearly zero energy buildings have gained remarkable interest across the globe. Advancements in the semiconductor technology have opened up several avenues and opportunities to improve the building or houses electrical infrastructure. dc energy distribution is future technology for houses or commercial buildings, which aims to eliminate redundant ac/dc conversion stages and further results in reduced carbon footprint. The dc microgrids present minimal transmission line length and are dominated by voltage source converters. Therefore, dc microgrids feature very low line inductance and high capacitance, leading to higher fault currents. Hence, such systems demand fast and reliable dc circuit breakers for fault interruption. This article presents the performance analysis of protection methods used in residential dc microgrids. The dynamic and static parameters of different circuit breaker topologies like electromechanical, solid state, hybrid and relay based circuit breakers are analyzed and experimentally evaluated.