A transient based approach to diagnose high impedance faults on smart distribution networks

This paper presents a transient based approach to diagnose high impedance faults (HIFs) on smart distribution grids. The algorithm does not require the knowledge of the feeder parameters and uses the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to monitor fault-induced transients at strategic points of the power system, taking advantages of available Smart Grid communication channels. It allows the HIF detection and then the identification of the area in which the fault occurred. The proposed methodology is evaluated through Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) simulations of HIFs in a 13.8 kV system, which was modeled using actual data of a Brazilian distribution network. Obtained results show that the method is able to detect HIFs practically at the disturbance inception as well as to provide a great reduction of the fault search field using a small computational burden.