Maintaining Distribution Protective Relay Coordination By Sliding Mode Control Based Bridge Type Fault Current Limiter

The circuit breakers, reclosers, and fuses are the main protective devices in the power distribution systems. However, due to the high penetration of wind generators in the existing distribution systems, the protective devices are exposed to high current levels, which may deteriorate the protection coordination performance and even can cause major blackouts in the distribution systems. This paper proposes the Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) based bridge type fault current limiter (BFCL) for the protection coordination of the protective devices in the distribution network. The protection coordination operation is investigated through some case studies of the Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) division's distribution test feeder with the presence of a wind farm. The performance of the proposed SMC has been compared with that of the fuzzy logic controlled (FLC) BFCL. Extensive simulations have been performed by using the Matlab/Simulink software. Simulation results for different fault situations in the test feeder indicate that the proposed SMC can maintain the protective relay coordination well and the performance of the proposed SMC based BFCL is better than that of the FLC based BFCL.