New Method for Locating Traveling Wave Faults in Rural Distribution Networks of Power Grids

Rural distribution networks have complex structures and numerous branches, making it difficult to locate the fault point when a fault occurs. This article studies the precise positioning problem of single-phase grounding faults in complex rural distribution networks. A new method for locating multi-terminal traveling wave faults based on the principle of time information matching is proposed. Firstly, according to the distribution network structure, a time database of the traveling wave arrival time of each detection device is established in advance. Then, after the fault occurs, the time of detection device is compared with the database, and the section of the fault point is screened. Finally, the double-terminal traveling wave positioning method is used to determine the precise location of the fault. The simulation results show that this method could be applied to all kinds of complex fault situations. It is easy to achieve, with high accuracy and fewer errors, and it is not affected by the type of short circuit, transition resistance, initial phase angle of the fault, or fault location. It effectively solves the problem of fault location in rural distribution networks of a power grid.