Fault location approach for distribution systems based on modern monitoring infrastructure

This study presents an approach based on short-circuit theory and on modern monitoring infrastructure for locating permanent and temporary faults in power distribution systems. The main innovative aspects of the proposed approach are: (i) no fault classification is required if phasor measurements are adopted, (ii) both current and voltage measurements may be included in the problem, (iii) in the fault location criterion the measurements are weighted according to their proximity to the fault location, (iv) a refinement scheme allows finding the fault on branches and not only at buses. The proposed approach can cope with magnitude measurements, synchronised phasors obtained via micro phasor measurement unit and unsynchronised phasors, which are being used for the first time for fault location purposes. Case studies are carried out considering a real 134-bus feeder. Initially, the performance of the proposed approach is assessed with respect to fault location, fault type and fault resistance. Next, studies regarding the influence of the number, position and type of measurements are presented. Statistical simulations are performed for assessing the influence of the random errors inherent to measurements, load forecasting and distribution system parameters. The results indicate that the proposed approach is accurate and very promising.