Fault detection using new low-power sensors leads to costs reduction

Outages in Distribution Grids are causing high maintenance costs. Integration of renewables requires a live monitoring of the instantaneous load situation for net operations and predictive maintenance. Microprocessor based Fault Indicators can be used for both applications, however, sensors are expensive or lacking in accuracy. The new method introduced, uses a combination of Medium-Voltage currents and Low-Voltage voltages to calculate Live Monitoring values and to detect fault with directional information. This technology will reduce the costs for sensors and achieve the necessary accuracy for the Live Monitoring.