Influence of fault arc characteristics on the accuracy of digital fault locators

This paper has proposed a time domain model of a fault locator with special reference to fault arc nonlinearities by applying the MODELS language of the EMTP. It has been found that an impedance relay type locator is significantly influenced by the fault arc nonlinearities, while the current diversion ratio method is not influenced. This validates the advantage of the current diversion approach over the impedance approach.