Online One-End Fault Location Algorithm for Parallel Transmission Lines

Fault location and distance protection are essential smart grid technologies ensuring reliability of the power system. This paper describes an accurate algorithm for locating faults on double-circuit transmission lines. The proposed approach is capable of identifying the faulted circuit of a parallel transmission line by checking the estimated fault location and fault resistance. Voltage and current measurements from only one of the terminals of the faulty line are used. No pre-fault data are required for the estimation. The lumped parameter line model considering shunt capacitance is utilized for the derivation of the algorithm. It’s assumed that line parameters are known and transmission lines are fully transposed. The method is applicable to all types of faults. It’s evinced by evaluation studies that the proposed algorithm can correctly determine the faulted circuit in most cases. For exceptional cases, the current waveforms during the fault can be used to help identify the faulted circuit. The proposed algorithm generates quite accurate fault location estimates, and may be suitable for distance relaying.