A New Algorithm for Wide Area Fault Location in Power System

This paper, proposes a new traveling wave-based fault location method for power transmission grids. This proposed method involves two stages: offline and online. At the offline stage, first, the transmission network is represented as a weighted graph and the shortest paths between each pair of sensors are determined. Then, the graph lines which are not located on the shortest paths are divided into virtual lines in terms of the location of sensors. At the online stage, using the first surge arrival time at each of the sensors installed in the network, the points belonging to the shortest paths obtained during the offline stage with the possibility of having a fault are identified. Then the exact location of the fault and fault inception time are determined using assessment criteria. The proposed method is independent from type and impedance of the fault and can be used for transmission networks with any size. Results of the simulation by EMTP and MATLAB software verified the validity and accuracy of the proposed method.