A Comprehensive Method for Fault Location of Active Distribution Network Based on Improved Matrix Algorithm and Optimization Algorithm

The traditional fault location methods are not effective for the multisource active distribution network and are difficult to meet both requirements of timeliness and fault tolerance simultaneously. In this paper, a fault location method for active distribution networks which combines both improved matrix algorithm and optimization algorithm is proposed. The improved matrix algorithm is constructed to determine the fault section hypothesis by using the causal relationship between the alarm information and the fault section. Subsequently, network splitting is used for causal verification to check whether the alarm information is distorted. If the alarm information is normal, the fault sections can be quickly located by the above matrix algorithm. If the alarm information is distorted, the optimization model is constructed by using the fault section hypothesis selected by the matrix algorithm. The discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm is used to solve this optimization model, which can accurately locate the real fault sections. Hence, the advantages of both matrix algorithm and optimization algorithm are complementary. Simulation results show that the proposed method has the advantages of both high timeliness and fault tolerance in a complex active distribution network.