Earth fault detection in distributed power systems on the basis of artificial neural networks approach

Abstract

Nowadays, the advancement of microgrids promises numerous economic and environmental advantages of renewable energies to nations and societies. The presence of decentralized energy units, however, makes serious technical challenges; for instance, criteria and procedure of fault recognition and diagnosis in this condition is entirely changing. This article, therefore, proposed a novel accurate and fast technique based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for earth fault detection. A sample distributed power system considered for the proposed technique and different earth faults applied to this system consist of one phase, two phases and three phases faults. Also, any alteration of current and voltage signals of all phases is investigated at the fault occurrence moment. Analysis of simulation results demonstrates how the proposed technique could make faster responses and improve the reliability of the distributed power system by more accurate fault recognition in comparison with the other traditional methods such as the Wavelet Transformation technique. The proposed technique is likely to enhance the growth of renewable energy sources usage by decreasing operational risk factors and fault recognition delays.