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Improvement of Feeder Protection and Automation in the Presence of Soft Open Points

Hosseini, Amin | 2025

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 58084 (05)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Electrical Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Ehsan, Hajipour
  7. Abstract:
  8. Distribution networks are typically designed in a loop configuration but operate radially. In conventional structure, open tie switches are used to create alternative paths for power supply during faults. A Soft Open Point (SOP) is a multifunctional power electronic device installed at these points in distribution networks, which can enhance network performance under normal operating conditions. Although SOPs can have various structural designs, they are generally implemented as back-to-back voltage source converters. In literature, SOPs are utilized under normal operating conditions to inject active and reactive power between adjacent feeders, improving voltage profiles and reducing losses. In the presence of a fault in the distribution network, SOPs conventionally remain blocked to allow traditional protections to clear the fault. However, after fault clearance by conventional protections, the SOP can inject voltage and measure fault currents to determine whether the fault is permanent or transient. Additionally, by measuring impedance, it can estimate the fault location. This concept has been introduced in recent studies and aims to replace the recloser protection process, which involves feeder interruptions and multiple reconnections, potentially damaging the network loads. Although the effectiveness of this idea has been demonstrated in existing references, the proposed fault-location methods in these studies show poor performance in the presence of fault resistance. Moreover, the existing methods are ineffective for grounded distribution network structures. In this thesis, firstly, the existing methods for SOP performance during and after a fault to distinguish permanent/transient faults were implemented. Following this, a novel fault-location method was proposed, which outperforms existing methods in the presence of fault resistance. The proposed method uses voltage data measured during the fault alongside data collected after SOP voltage injection to locate the fault, whereas other studies only use the latter one. The simulations presented in this thesis demonstrate that the proposed fault-location algorithm significantly improves accuracy compared to existing algorithms and performs better even in the presence of fault resistance
  9. Keywords:
  10. Automation ; Protection ; Distribution Networks Planning ; Feeder Automation ; Feeders ; Soft Open Point ; Fault Studies

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