Improvement of Power System Stability by Using New Switching Technique in Bridge-type Fault Current Limiter

The bridge-type fault current limiter has the capability of controlling the fault current by controlling the DC reactor current. This fault current limiter is mainly composed of a diode bridge rectifier and a DC reactor. To achieve this capability, a resistor parallel with a semiconductor switch has been used in series with a DC reactor. For this fault current limiter, a control scheme is proposed that uses the DC reactor current as a control variable to improve transient stability of the model power system without measuring any parameters of system. In this article, an analytical and simulation study was conducted on a one-machine infinite-bus system including a bridge-type fault current limiter and the proposed control scheme. Simulation results show that by controlling the turn-on and turn-off times of the switch, i.e., the switching technique, the proposed fault current limiter can not only limit the fault current but also absorb the accelerating energy of the generator, thereby improving power system transient stability. The rotor velocity, maximum output power of the generator, and critical fault clearing time are studied in this article to evaluate the effects of the proposed fault current limiter on power system transient stability.