Development of a microgrid protection laboratory experiment for the study of overcurrent and undervoltage functions

Abstract

Today, power systems face new challenges in different fields, such as economic, social, environmental and technical. In the technical field, a number of issues related to protection systems are recognized, due to the inclusion of distributed generation and microgrids, among other aspects. This paper presents a novel laboratory experience aimed at university students, with the objective of understanding the operation and limitations that traditional protection systems face today. This is part of the learning process of the Micro-grid and Distributed Generation course, of the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Chile, where the requirement of complementing the class of electrical protections with a laboratory experience was detected. In this paper, the methodology for the design of the experience, including all its stages, is presented. A practical application to a group of students was included as part of the pre-assessment, with a view to including improvements to the laboratory guide. During the evaluation it was possible to verify the degree of difficulty that the students had, assess their performance, and receive comments after their completion. With all the information gathered, improvements for future instances of the experience in the coming semesters are proposed.