Smart Meter Data-Driven Fault Location Algorithm in Distribution Systems

Abstract

Whenever there is a fault in the power system, the reliability of the network is compromised. This is why fault should be located as fast as possible and the system must be restored to the pre-fault values. Fault location and restoration is one of the functions of Distribution Automation (DA). In this thesis, we focus on faults in the distribution system. As distribution system is unbalanced, heterogeneous, and less voltage and current measurements are available, locating fault in the distribution system is more difficult than in the transmission system. Here, we propose a new algorithm that utilizes modern devices such as, smart meters, phasors measurement units (PMUs) and Fault Current Indicator (FIs).The IEEE-123 bus system is used to demonstrate the proposed algorithm. Data from the smart meters and the PMUs were utilized for all the voltage and current measurements. The system is divided into eleven sections based on the status of FIs and circuit breakers (CBs). When a fault occurs, first the faulty section is identified. Then the fault resistance is estimated for all the buses in the faulty zone. Here, we find the fault resistance for each bus that will provide the same amount of current at the substation as the current measured during the fault. A flag is calculated from the measured and the simulated voltages at all the load buses. The proposed method can pinpoint the fault location precisely for any complex distribution system with load taps, laterals, single-phase loads, 3-phase loads, and heterogeneous lines. Four different cases are presented to test the proposed algorithm. Open Distribution System Simulator, along with Matlab, was used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.