Fault location method for high-voltage direct current transmission line using incident current travelling waves

The reflection coefficient of the travelling wave is different with different frequencies because of the inductance and capacitive elements on the boundary of the DC transmission line, which leads to the oscillation of the travelling wave. It is difficult to obtain the wave head's arrival time accurately using travelling wave method to locate fault because of the oscillation. The current travelling wave is the superposition of the incident current travelling wave and the reflected current travelling wave. There is no oscillation in the incident wave. Therefore, a method using incident current wave for fault location is proposed here. The initial current travelling wave and the transmission line boundary function are used to calculate the incident current travelling wave, and the incident wave is used to locate fault. The Prony decomposition algorithm is used to identify boundary function using the initial current travelling wave generated in specific fault condition. PSCAD simulation shows that the influence of oscillations of travelling wave can be eliminated by using incident current wave to locate faults, and the accuracy of fault location is improved.