Design and evaluation of a protection algorithm for a wind turbine generator based on the fault-generated symmetrical components

Abstract

A protection relay for a wind turbine generator (WTG) based on the fault-generated symmetrical components is proposed in the paper. At stage 1, the relay uses the magnitude of the positive-sequence component in the fault current to distinguish faults on a parallel WTG, connected to the same feeder, or on an adjacent feeder from those on the connected feeder, on the collection bus, at an inter-tie or at a grid. For the former faults, the relay should remain stable and inoperative whilst the instantaneous or delayed tripping is required for the latter faults. At stage 2, the fault type is first evaluated using the relationships of the fault-generated symmetrical components. Then, the magnitude of the positive-sequence component in the fault current is used again to decide on either instantaneous or delayed operation. The operating performance of the relay is then verified using various fault scenarios modelled using EMTP-RV. The scenarios involve changes in the position and type of fault, and the faulted phases. Results confirm that the relay can successfully distinguish between faults that require an instantaneous, delayed or non-operation response.