Search

High impedance fault location still represents a challenge for protection engineers. In this work, an analytical formulation for high impedance fault location in power distribution systems is presented, based on system parameters estimation. The proposed method is based on a frequency domain system model, developed considering a high impedance fault model composed by two antiparallel diodes and an arc resistance. The proposed model is an overdetermined nonlinear algebraic system of equations in which the solution is obtained through a Weighted Least Square approach. A residual analysis is applied for estimate selection. The proposed method considers the capacitive effect through an exact line segment model for overhead distribution lines, using only local voltages and currents as input data. Validation is done through numerical simulations using the IEEE system 13 buses test feeder, a real distribution system from the RGE Sul Power Utility (Southern Brazil), and a real high impedance fault recorded from a digital relay. Comparative test results with the state-of-the-art highlights the method's high accuracy, indicating potential aspects for real life application. Overall average errors of 0.3% considering a complete HIF model were obtained, and a 1.39% error considering a real HIF in a rural feeder. The formulation is currently used by protection engineers at RGE Sul as a reliability oriented tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Comprehensive physics-based analytical model for HIF location. • Statistical behavior of estimates is analyzed to identify the faulted section. • One-ended data based frequency domain measurement model. This paper presents a physics-based analytical model for high impedance fault location in power distribution systems. The presented analytical solution is composed by two interdependent processes. First, fault distance is estimated through a Weighted Least Square approach applied to solve an overdetermined and nonlinear algebraic system of equations. Second, an analytical method based on the statistical behavior of the estimates obtained from the frequency domain system model solution is presented to address the multiple estimates problem, identifying the faulted section. The presented fault location physics-based analytical model considers the capacitive effect of distribution lines. Furthermore, voltages and currents measured from only one terminal are used. The formulation is evaluated using the IEEE 13-bus and a modified version of the IEEE 34-bus test feeders. Comparative analysis with state-of-the-art methods is presented. Average errors of 1.95% are obtained. Easy to implement analytical model, without hard to derive parameters, built on the weighted least squares state estimator, highlight potential aspects for real-life applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]