PNNL

Abstract

This paper presents simulation results of evaluating an under-voltage protection scheme designed to take stalled air-conditioner (a/c) units offline such that the slow voltage recovery phenomena can be solved on areas heavily loaded with a/c motors during summer peak periods. A three feeder test-bed has been first used to quantify the effectiveness of the protection scheme and the sensitivity of the under-voltage relay settings. Then two real system events of the Western US power grid have been studied to evaluate the area impact of the protection scheme proposed by Southern California Edison. The study demonstrates that by taking all or most of the stalled a/c unit offline, the feeder voltage will recover in a few seconds, much quicker than the tens of seconds that the standard thermal relays imbedded in the motors need to trip the units. The drawback of the control scheme is that after the voltage recover, it settled at a higher voltage than before the faults because a large chuck of load has been shed.