A Single-Terminal Fault Location Method for Transmission Lines Integrated by Inverter-Type Source

Accurate fault location plays an important role in the fault clearance of the transmission line. However, because of the influence caused by fault resistance and the remote end system, there are four unknowns in the two equations built by the fault phase. Thus, the equations cannot be solved. In this paper, a single-terminal fault location method for transmission lines integrated by the inverter-type source is proposed. For a single-phase to ground fault or phase-to-phase fault, due to the specific control strategy, the equivalent positive and negative-sequence impedances of the converter are unequal in most cases. However, the positive and negative-sequence impedances of other elements are approximately equal, and the boundary condition at the fault branch is definite. Combining the boundary condition and the sequence impedance difference, two uncorrelated equations can be built. Substituting them to the equations built by the fault phase, the fault location can be calculated accurately. And the influence caused by fault resistance and the remote end system is eliminated. The simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve fault location accurately. Moreover, it has higher reliability and is independent of control strategy, fault distance and fault resistance.