Series Resonance Type Fault Current Limiter for Fault Current Limitation and Voltage Sag Mitigation in Electrical Distribution Network

Nowadays, the fault currents have increased significantly due to the growing number of resources in the interconnected grid. Some of the existing circuit breakers using in the grid are not capable of interrupting increased short-circuit currents. The replacement of all existing inadequate circuit breakers to interrupt these currents requires high implementation costs. Further, the fault currents cause voltage sags. These voltage sags cause power quality problems and additional economic losses for the consumers. Therefore, new solutions are required against increased short-circuit currents and voltage sags. In this study, a series resonance type fault current limiter (SRFCL) is used to mitigate problems. Short-circuit analyses are performed by using MATLAB/Simulink in order to show the impact of the fault current limiter. These analysis results show that the designed fault current limiter reduces the fault currents additionally, voltage sags caused by faults are significantly improved. Finally, a decision algorithm based on monetary value is proposed to reduce short-circuit currents and improve voltage sags with SRFCL. This algorithm includes technical examination, obtaining the SRCFL parameters and cost analysis. Also, this algorithm ensures that the SRFCL is reliable and effective system to overcome the problems related with the faults.