Fault Location Method for DC Distribution Systems Based on Parameter Identification

• Main Authors: Yan Xu, Jingyan Liu, Weijia Jin, Yuan Fu, Hui Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-07-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: fault location; DC distribution system; fault type identification; parameter identification
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/8/1983

When a short circuit fault occurs on the DC side line, the fault current reaches the peak within a few milliseconds, and the voltage drops significantly. This phenomenon can cause overcurrent flowing through the DC line, semiconductor devices, and AC side, which is a major threat to the operation of the entire system. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a fault location scheme based on parameter identification. Firstly, the entire DC distribution system is regarded as a graph. The intersections of the distribution system lines are regarded as vertices. The current flow of each line is regarded as a directed edge. The network topology matrix is constructed and a fault type recognition algorithm is proposed based on graph theory. Secondly, the mathematical model of the pole-to-pole short-circuit fault and pole-to-ground short-circuit fault are analyzed with double-ended electrical quantities. Transform the fault location problem into a parameter identification problem, four parameters to be identified are extracted, and the fitness function is constructed separately for two kinds of fault cases. Thirdly, a genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to identify the value of parameters. Considering the fault types, transition resistance and fault location, the Matlab/Simulink simulation platform is used to simulate 18 fault conditions. The simulation results show that the positioning error of the fault location method is less than 1%, which is not affected by the transition resistance and has strong robustness.