Fault location on overhead power transmission lines by measuring currents from shield wires

In this paper, we propose a new method to locate faults on overhead power transmission lines. Line-to-ground or line-to-line faults induce transient currents in the shield wire, which flow partially to ground through the towers. In the towers closest to the fault position, the transient currents are greater and this behavior can be used to locate the fault. The method uses sensors distributed along the line, placed on the top of every tower to measure the peak currents of the transients. The sensors send these values to a computer for location processing. The method can locate faults with precision in a wide range of impedances.