Comparison the Performances of Three Earthing Systems for Micro-Grid Protection during the Grid Connected Mode

Rashad Mohammedeen Kamel, Aymen Chaouachi, Ken Nagasaka

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DOI: 10.4236/sgre.2011.23024                

Abstract

This paper presents, tests and compares three earthing systems (TT, TN and IT) for Micro-Grid (MG) protection against various fault types during the connected mode. The main contribution of this work is including the models of all the micro sources which interfaced to the MG by power electronic inverters. Inverters in turns are provided with current limiters and this also included in the inverter models to exactly simulate the real situation in the MG during fault times. Results proved that the most suitable earthing system for MG protection during the connecting mode is the TN earthing system. That system leads to a suitable amount of fault current sufficient to activate over current protection relays. With using TN system, Touch voltages at the faulted bus and all other consumer’s buses are less than the safety limited value if current limiter is included with the transformer of the main grid which connects MG. For the two others earthing systems (TT and IT), fault current is small and nearly equal to the over load current which make over current protection relay can not differentiate between fault current and overload current. All models of micro sources, earthing systems, inverters, main grid and control schemes are built using Matlab^®/Simulink^® environment.

Keywords

Micro Grid Protection, Earthing Systems, Fault Current, Touch Voltage, Micro Sources and Inverters, Grid Connecting Mode

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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