Improving of Functioning Stability of Current Measuring Elements in Microprocessor Protections

In the measuring elements of the current of microprocessor protection, the controlled values are usually the effective values of the fundamental harmonic of the currents. They are determined by the orthogonal components of the input signals, which are formed by digital Fourier filters. Due to the inertia of these filters, the time for obtaining reliable effective values is one or more periods of the input current, which mainly determines the speed of the measuring element. When the frequency of the input signal deviates from the nominal value, its effective values become oscillatory. As a result of this, unstable functioning of the specified organ may occur at current values that are close to the operation and return areas. To increase the speed of the measuring body, it is proposed to determine the effective value of the current by multiplying its value obtained using the orthogonal Fourier components by a correction factor. To ensure the stable functioning of the current organ, it is recommended to filter the effective current value using a digital moving average filter. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the proposed solutions has been carried out by the method of computational experiment using thedynamic simulation environment MATLAB-Simulink. The proposed solutions provide an increase in the speed of the current measuring organs and their stable operation when the frequency deviates from the nominal. As a result of the research, it has been found that the proposed digital current measuring organ in comparison with an organ based on the Fourier algorithm has a speed of 1.4-2 times greater. In addition, it functions stably both under the condition when the tripping current is less than the fault current, and in the case when the indicated currents are comparable when the frequency deviates from the nominal by ±2 Hz. The proposed digital measuring body can be used in many microprocessor-based current protection of electric installations.