Integrated fault location method for distribution networks based on IACO-PS

This paper develops a new hybrid method based on an improved ant colony optimization algorithm that incorporates pattern search (IACO-PS) for determining the location of faults in a distribution network. The performance of the conventional ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is improved using the opposite-based learning strategy to generate the initial population and adding a weight coefficient into the pheromone update mechanism to dynamically adjust the pheromone volatilization factor. The hybrid IACO-PS algorithm combines the individual strengths of ACO and PS. In addition, the fitness function is constructed by counting the false and missing fault information into the fault variable. In optimizing benchmark function experiments, the proposed hybrid IACO-PS presents a superior performance when compared to other improved versions of ACO. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is corroborated by tests performed on an IEEE 134-bus network. Simulation results show that the proposed hybrid IACO-PS method can determine the location of a fault even in the presence of fault distortion. In addition, it is immune to noise and data loss errors. Finally, the method proposed in this paper significantly outperforms other published fault location methods, and it can accurately locate faults and identify the type of distortion.