Abstract
: Fault location in electrical energy distribution networks is an important task, as faults in distribution grids are among the main causes of electricity supply disruption. Fault location in the distribution systems, however, is a challenging task because of the topology of the distribution networks, as well as the main and side branches. Therefore, it is necessary to address these challenges through an intelligent approach to fault location. In this paper, fault location in electric energy distribution networks is addressed considering the changes in fault distance and fault resistance in the presence of different fault types. A new method for fault location is developed for conditions where the minimum information is available and only information at the beginning of the feeder is used. This facilitates wide adoption of the technique as it does not require significant investments in instrumentation and measurement. The proposed intelligent method is based on the impedance and transient state estimation. This technique employs a specific impedance analysis for determining possible fault locations considering the unbalanced performance of distribution systems, distances, and different fault resistances. To determine the real faulty section, real fault frequency component analysis and the simulated faults at possible fault locations are used. At this stage of the process, it is possible to eliminate multiple estimations with the help of comparison and identification of the similarities. Therefore, a real faulty section is determined. It is observed that some conditions of electric energy distribution networks affect the accuracy and performance of the proposed method significantly; thus, a detailed investigation is conducted to neutralize these conditions. Simulation results and calculations based on MATLAB along with a practical test of the proposed method in power network simulator confirm a satisfactory performance.
Highlights
After being produced in power plants, the electrical energy is delivered to the consumers through the existing lines
VSa is the voltage at the beginning of the faulty section; VFa is the voltage of the fault location, which is the product of fault resistance (RF) and fault current (IF); and, Zr is the equivalent load at the end of the rest of the line
VSa is the voltage at the beginning of the faulty section; VFa is the voltage of the fault location, which is the product of fault resistance (RF ) and fault current (IF ); and, Zr is the equivalent load at the end of the rest of the line
Summary
After being produced in power plants, the electrical energy is delivered to the consumers through the existing lines. As each peak is represented by a final symbol, an efficient analyzer should be implemented that can detect 6000 symbols per minute Another point that should be considered in the works of [29,30,31] is that these systems lack a primary waveform processing unit; it should be said that despite the advantages of these methods, their performance in distribution networks has some problems, among which fundamental differences in distribution network lines including dispersion and side branches can be mentioned, which should be tested and evaluated. The proposed method in this paper is simple and cost-effective, and can be used under different conditions in different distribution networks, does not require specific tools and devices or installing specific facilities, and can locate faults with high accuracy These features facilitate wide adoption of the proposed method.
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