Abstract
•Electrical faults in PV array are detected using a single voltage sensor.•Line-Ground and open circuit faults are detected and localized at the Nano grid loads and DC-bus of the DC micro grid.•The proposed system has the ability to detect, localize, and categorize L-L/L-G faults with any level of mismatch in the PV array.•The FDLC is able to differentiate between uniform irradiation conditions, temporary faults (partial shading condition) and permanent faults (L-L/L-G).
This paper presents a fault detection, localization, and categorization (FDLC) method in PV fed DC-Microgrid (DCMG) with a single voltage sensor. The proposed technique is based on five statements drawn from the analysis of Line to Line (L-L) and Line to Ground (L-G) faults in different parts of the microgrid (MG). These faults may occur at any Nano-Grid (NG) of the cluster. The proposed method not only detect, localize and categorize the fault but it also distinguishes the L-L/L-G fault from partial shading conditions (PSCs) and uniform irradiation conditions. Furthermore, the proposed system also ensures power-sharing among the NGs. The proposed FDLC method and its five Statements are validated through PSIM/MATLAB simulations. The proposed method offers simplicity in the design of the system and applies to any size of PV array with less modification.