Zonal protection of DC swarm microgrids using a novel multi-terminal grid interface with decentralized control

This paper proposes a novel multi-terminal grid interface for the decentralized and integrated, unit-level protection of meshed direct current microgrids. In contrast to conventionally used external, non-unit protection or intelligent electronic devices, the integration of the proposed multi-terminal grid interface converts a meshed network into a peer-to-peer structure that offers additional degrees of freedom, increased controllability, and better fault handling with only a few additional components. This paper concentrates on an emerging class of electrical networks termed swarm microgrids. These dynamically growing bottom-up grids have many potential fields of application, in particular as an energy access approach for the global south. When used in swarm microgrids, the presented grid interface eases maintenance and is economically attractive due to its integration of protection and generation.