CAREER: Smart Protection for DC Power Systems: Distributed and Proactive Approach

该CAREER项目的目标是为直流电源系统的保护提供智能解决方案，直流电源系统的保护是阻碍直流电源系统广泛使用的主要障碍之一。直流电力系统由于其易于集成可再生能源、高效长距离传输以及与电力电子转换器接口更简单等优点而重新受到关注。应用包括微电网与分布式发电机，大电力传输和低压配电系统进行了研究。与直流系统控制方面取得的巨大进步相比，系统保护一直是一个挑战。本项目的研究将解决直流电源系统的保护问题，这将有助于加强直流电源系统的这一重要方面，并可以在各种应用中产生影响。这项研究的结果将通过演讲和出版物传播，并且可以很容易地与使用直流电源的分布式和/或可持续能源应用的其他方面结合使用，以产生整体系统可靠性改进的协同效应。此外，这个CAREER项目将在学术上和经济上支持研究生，并培养他们成为下一代多学科研究人员和工程师的一部分。该项目还将为本科生提供充足的研究机会。虽然直流电源系统的优势是巨大的，但这些系统的保护方面提出了许多挑战，例如有效地断开直流电弧，在微电网内自动定位故障，直流保护设备，当然缺乏标准，指南和经验。虽然交流系统的保护技术有着悠久的历史和成熟，但由于直流电源的非交流特性和快速动态特性，很难将这些技术直接应用于直流系统。因此，直流电源系统的保护需要采取一种与现有交流技术根本不同的方法。此外，复杂的现代电力系统需要更多的智能来运行。在本CAREER项目中，将采用分布式、主动的方式，提供一个快速中断故障电流、准确定位故障、基于各种系统参数的分布式决策的保护框架。保护框架的开发将包含基于多维智能的快速响应和复合决策的集成组件。这个CAREER项目的成功实施将有助于实现利用直流电源的现代电力系统。这些活动将产生多学科研究和教育影响，并将为电力和能源系统领域提供先进人工智能、控制和通信技术的有趣和有用的应用。

The goal of this CAREER project is to provide intelligent solutions for the protection of DC power systems, which is one of the major barriers that prevent the wide usage of DC power systems. DC power systems have received renewed attention due to a number of advantages they offer such as easy renewable energy resource integration, high-efficiency long distance transmission, and simpler interface with power electronics converters. Applications including microgrids with distributed generators, bulk power transmission, and low-voltage distribution systems have been investigated. Compared to the control aspects of DC systems that have made sizable progress, system protection has always been a challenge. The research in this project will address protection issues for DC power systems, which will contribute to strengthen this important aspect of DC power systems and can have impact in various applications. The outcomes of this research will be disseminated through presentations and publications and can be readily utilized in conjunction with other aspects of distributed and/or sustainable energy applications using DC power to generate synergistic effects on overall system reliability improvement. Furthermore, this CAREER project will academically and financially support graduate students and nurture them to prepare them as part of the next generation of multidisciplinary researchers and engineers. The project will also provide ample research opportunities to undergraduate students.While the advantages of DC power systems are great, the protection aspects of these systems have posed many challenges such as effectively breaking a DC arc, autonomously locating a fault within a microgrid, DC protective equipment, and certainly the lack of standards, guidelines and experience. Although protection technology for AC systems has a long history and maturity, it is difficult to directly apply these to DC systems because of the non-alternating nature and fast dynamics of DC power. Hence, the protection of DC power systems needs to take a fundamentally different approach than that of existing AC technologies. Furthermore, complex modern power systems need more intelligence for their operation. In this CAREER project, a distributed and proactive approach will be taken as the project aims to provide a protection framework with swift fault current interruption, accurate fault location, and distributed decision-making based on various system parameters. The protection framework development will contain integrated components for fast responses and compound decisions based on multi-dimensional intelligence. The successful execution of this CAREER project will contribute to the implementation of modern power systems that take advantage of DC power. The activities will result in multidisciplinary research as well as educational impacts, and will provide interesting and useful applications of advanced artificial intelligence, control and communication technologies to the power and energy system area.