Advances in Transmission Network Fault Location in Modern Power Systems: Review, Outlook and Future Works

Faults in the power system need appropriate maintenance actions at the fault point to fix the problem immediately. A high percentage of the short circuit faults in power systems occur on the transmission system where the lines pass through different harsh climates and experience outdoor environmental conditions. The repairing procedure of the faulty line requires determining the accurate fault location. Fast and accurate fault location of transmission networks play an important role in modern power systems to improve the system reliability and stability. A fault locator is an apparatus that determines the location of the fault in the transmission system by acquiring the proper measured quantities, i.e. the voltages and currents at the lines terminals. As such, the utilities can repair and fix the problem rapidly after determining the location of the fault using the analytical and numerical methods provided in fault locators. This research explores various fault location techniques of transmission networks in detail as a vital requirement for operating the modern power system more secure and reliable. In this survey, different new methods of fault location such as i) distance relay algorithm, ii) traveling wave, iii) artificial intelligence, iv) wide-area, v) time reversal theory, vi) differential equations, and vii) impedance calculation methods are reviewed and investigated to illustrate their pros and cons inaccurate fault location for complex modern power networks. In addition, these methods are assessed to compare their requirements, abilities and shortcomings. Moreover, using the provided extensive analysis in the paper, and based on the useful experiences of the authors, some beneficial topics and suggestions are proposed for future works and improved algorithms in the field of fault location.