Application of Composite Method for Determining Fault Location on Electrical Power Distribution Lines

Distribution line is one of the most important components of the distribution system. Troubleshooting faults on these lines are often a tedious task requiring service vehicles and personnel moving from one place to another in order to locate the fault and fix the problem. The study, therefore, is on how a composite fault location technique can be applied to predict the location of faults on the distribution lines. The calculations for the estimation of the fault location are performed using one terminal voltage and current data of the distribution line. A composite method that combines the impedance-based method and the fuzzy inference system method is used in the fault location algorithm. The presented algorithm has been extensively tested using the MATLAB-Simulink model of a 33 KV 40-kilometer distribution line. The simulation result demonstrates good accuracy and robustness of the algorithm.