Utilization of advanced metering infrastructure in back-fed ground fault detection

Early and reliable detection of a back-fed ground fault is of critical importance in the operation of a power distribution system. The operating distribution companies have been searching for a fully acceptable solution for decades. A current carrying conductor on the Earth ground that is not tripped by conventional protection systems presents a safety hazard for the general public. In this paper a method of using advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is evaluated. Utilizing the distribution transformer secondary voltages, the simulation software OpenDSS is used to find a signature the distribution system behavior during a fault. A variation of three-phase distribution transformer connections and grounding methods are modeled to determine a set of rules for an algorithm. Integrating AMI with a distribution management system (DMS), a proposed detection system is presented.