A novel active phase router for dynamic load balancing in a three phase microgrid

Abstract

This paper presents a novel active phase router for dynamic load balancing in a three-phase system. Uneven distribution of single phase loads may result in current unbalances among the three-phase lines. The current unbalances in a three-phase system results in increased power losses due to presence of the negative sequence currents. The loading capacity of the distribution transformers and the three phase lines in the microgrid also gets limited below their nominal ratings. The proposed phase router can be used to mitigate the effect of unbalance caused by single phase loads in the three phase microgrids. The phase router uses a set of bidirectional semiconductor switches for routing the single-phase loads to the appropriate three phase lines with the objective of minimizing unbalance in the three phase lines. Expressions have been derived to obtain optimal switching instances with minimum transients for different types of loads. The proposed phase router has been simulated and experimentally verified through a prototype.