Phaselet Transform-Based Digital Ground Fault Protection of Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems
S. A. Saleh, Saikrishna Kanukollu, Ahmed Al‐Durra
Abstract
The growing interests in utilizing Photovoltaic (PV) systems are usually faced with challenges of accurate and reliable protection of these distributed generation units. A desired protection of PV systems has to effectively and accurately detect and respond to internal faults (within the PV system) and external faults (in the host grid and/or fed loads). This article presents and tests the performance of a digital ground fault protection (DGFP) for grid-connected PV systems. The presented DGFP detects faults based on the energy contents of high frequency sub-bands of the ground current. These energy contents are extracted using the phaselet transform that can process signals with non-stationary variations in their phases. Energy contents of the high frequency sub-bands can provide accurate, fast, and reliable detection and identification of faults experienced by a PV system operated. The phaselet transform (PHT)-based DGFP is implemented for performance testing using PV systems that are operated in the grid-connected mode, and subjected to various fault and non-fault events. Performance results demonstrate accurate, fast, and reliable detection and response to different types of fault and non-fault events. Response features of the PHT-based DGFP are complimented with minor sensitivity to the level of power production and/or type and location of faults.