Technical Application Papers

Iac1 is shifted by a value equal to one-third the fault cur- Figure 3.69b – Trend of Isw2 current during a ground fault on DC side in
systems with the neutral point of the MV/LV transformer grounded without
rent DC component.
3 Fault analysis

ESS and PV plant and with Rg = 50 mΩ

Such component may cause several problems, such as 1400
the saturation of MV/LV transformer ferromagnetic core. 1200
In steady-state conditions, Iac1 does not remain positive
1000
for all its period: this still involves the conduction of the
800
anodic star freewheeling diodes.
600
Since the converter works like a diode rectifier, even the

Isw2 [A]
voltage at AC terminals trends to a square waveform due 400

to over-modulation effect (Figure 3.68). 200

0
Figure 3.68 – Trend of the voltage at AC converter terminal Vconv during
a ground fault on DC side in systems with the neutral point of the MV/LV -200
transformer grounded without ESS and PV plant and with Rg = 50 mΩ
-400
600
-600
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
400 t [s]

200
In converters sold on the market, when the current in
Vconv [V]

0 one of IGBTs tends to exceed the overload limits, a block

command is sent to all converter IGBTs.
-200
Then, since all IGBTs are switched off, and only free-
-400 wheeling diodes still remain in conduction, the converter
-600
works as a non-controlled diode rectifier. With the IGBT
block the DC capacitor discharge contribution to the
-500 ground fault current is limited.
-1000 Nevertheless, the ground fault current remains practically
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
t [s]
unchanged and equal to that in Figure 3.63, because,
even without IGBT block, such current already flows only
If we look at the currents Isw1 (Figure 3.69a) and Isw2 (Fig- through the cathodic star freewheeling diodes (Figure
ure 3.69b), we note that the DC component of the fault 3.70a). On the contrary, Isw2 (Figure 3.70b) changes, since
current flows through the freewheeling diodes of the now the current can flow only through the freewheeling
cathodic star, while the DC component in the freewheel- diodes and there is no longer any PWM control.
ing diodes of the anodic star is only the DC load current. Even the trend of the AC absorbed current Iac1 is similar
Moreover, Figures 3.69a-b show clearly the non-PWM to that of a diode rectifier with a predominant DC com-
control for wide time intervals, due to over-modulation. ponent due to the fault (Figure 3.71).
Figure 3.69a – Trend of Isw1 current during a ground fault on DC side in Figure 3.70a – Trend of Isw1 current during a ground fault on DC side in
systems with the neutral point of the MV/LV transformer grounded without systems with the neutral point of the MV/LV transformer grounded with
ESS and PV plant and with Rg = 50 mΩ IGBT block, without ESS and PV plant and with Rg = 50 mΩ
400 400

200 200

0 0

-200 -200

-400 -400
Isw1 [A]

Isw1 [A]

-600 -600

-800 -800

-1000 -1000

-1200 -1200

-1400 -1400
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
t [s] t [s]

32 Faults in LVDC microgrids with front-end converters