Impact of static load models on the power distribution fault location problem

The fault location in power distribution can be affected by the lack of knowledge about the state of the load on the system. However, there is still no certainty about the impact that really has the loads models. This paper aims to show the effect of load model on the fault location in distribution systems, taking a circuital analysis based fault locator and change the model from constant impedance load to constant current load and constant power load. From the work done is concluded that depending on the characteristics of the distribution system, the performance of fault locators may improve or worsen. In particular, for the test circuits that were used, the constant current type locator improves the estimation of the location of the fault when there are laterals on the system.