Traveling Wave-Based Fault Location Method in Power Distribution Networks

In this paper, a new traveling wave-based fault location method is proposed for branched networks. A mathematical morphology (MM) based filter is used to analyze fault-induced transient signals and detect the arrival time of traveling waves. In the proposed algorithm, using the first surge arrival time of travelling waves at each of the travelling wave detectors (TWDs) installed in the network, a set of linear equations is constructed. By solving the equations, the probable fault occurrence points on the main line of the network are determined. Finally, proper evaluation criterions (ECs) are introduced to determine accurate faulted lateral branch or fault location on the main lines. Extensive simulation studies using EMTP and MATLAB are carried out to examine the effectiveness of the proposed method. The obtained results verify the high accuracy, noise immunity and fault impedance robustness of the proposed method.

Keywords:

fault location , travelling wave , distribution network