PMU data-based fault location techniques

Accurate fault location promotes the reliability of the power system. This paper reviews various fault location techniques for transmission lines and presents PMU-based fault location methods. In 1950, the traveling waves-based fault location was first proposed. It calculates the fault location by measuring the relative time of the traveling wave arrives at the ends of transmission line. However, the high sampling rate limits its application. Then, fault location based on impedance was also developed. This method measures the voltage and current of one or two ends of the transmission line to calculate the fault impedance. Thus, the fault location could be known if the impedance of the transmission line is uniform. What's more, distributed parameter transmission line model based method is also presented. In this paper, two-ended data are assumed to be measured by PMUs. Three-phase and one-phase transmission lines with two sources are tested in PSCAD. Simulation results of fault location methods based on negative-sequence impedance and distributed parameter transmission line models are also given.