A reconstruction based adaptive fault detection scheme for distribution system containing AC microgrid

Abstract

The occurrence of a single line to ground fault, including high impedance faults (HIFs), in various grounding systems,results in a low magnitude fault current. Due to this, the present protection device has trouble finding the fault and faulty feeder. This manuscript attempts to propose a new fault detection strategy based on a sliding window-based recursive matrix pencil method to address this problem. The suggested technique starts by utilizingrecursive matrix pencil method to reconstruct the fault current signal, and after that, it calculates the transient error by deducting the reconstructed fault current signal from the original signal. This error serves as a fault detection index, which is also utilized to categorize the defective feeder. The suggested approach does not call for the computation of any zero sequence components and does not entail any extra voltage-based criteria, in contrast to existing techniques. For three different distribution networks with AC microgrids that were modeled using EMTDC/PSCAD 5.0, the superiority of the given technique was tested. Results, which were acquired by simulating several worst-case scenarios, demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategy being discussed (fault and non-fault). Additionally, the applicability of the proposed protective mechanism is supported by the results of two field test cases, which validate its use in actual situations.