A Novel Fault Location Technique for AC Microgrids

In distribution systems, to reduce the power outage duration and for the fast restoration process, the knowledge of fault location with minimum error is required. In this paper, a noniterative fault location identification method using probe power unit is explained. When a fault occurs, abnormal currents will flow through the line and the circuit breakers will detect this current and isolate the fault segment from the system. Then for locating the fault, a probe power unit is connected to an end of the isolated segment. By analyzing the probe current, the fault location can be determined. In this paper, the identification of fault location using probe power unit in AC systems is discussed. Different cases are analyzed and effect of different design parameters on the accuracy of fault location is studied. Through this work, introduced a simple and low-cost method for the identification of fault location in AC microgrid. The proposed concepts have been verified with computer simulations.