Method to detect and protect industrial power converter systems from line-to-ground faults

An Industrial-Power-Converter-System (IPCS) is a system made up of several power converters, such as Adjustable Speed Drives (ASD), filters, and any kind of reactive power-compensation components. Today, an IPCS requires the ability to accurately detect and isolate electric faults to avoid further compromise of the integrity of the whole system.;One particular type of electric fault is the cable line-to-ground fault. Due to the complexity and asymmetry of IPCS, reliably detecting cable line-to-ground faults is a formidable task. Therefore, it is necessary to identify current/voltage signature uniquely linked to the occurrence of the fault; set a threshold; and construct a method that allows for identifying the faulted ASD in the IPCS. The method presented in this dissertation tracks low-frequency current sourced by the Common Mode Voltage (CMV) of the ASD. It is reliable, modular; and it can be extended to complex IPCS.