A Wideband Fault Location Scheme for Active Distribution Systems

This paper proposes a fault location technique for future distribution systems with distributed generation. The technique considers the circuit analysis at the non-fundamental frequencies that are generated when a fault occurs. To consider both inductive and capacitive parameters of the line, the distributed parameter line model is used for the analysis. A general 5th order polynomial is derived to estimate the fault distance and can be used for different fault types. The IEEE 34-bus feeder which is an actual distribution system is simulated and used to assess the accuracy of the method. The results obtained from different test conditions emphasize the high accuracy of the method with almost all cases having an error in estimated distance of less than 100 m.