Locating Faults in Medium Voltage Overhead Power Lines by Monitoring the Magnetic Field Vector

The studies discussed in this research paper mainly focus on a novel method of using magnetic field densities to locate any kind of fault that occurs in medium voltage overhead lines. The first part of this project is the optimization of hall effect sensors for this approach. For that, several sensor positions were reviewed, so that the maximum resultant magnetic field flux is subjected to determine the magnetic field variations of the lines more accurately where a contactless measure monitoring system is proposed. In the second stage of the project, modelling of the hall effect sensor and communication platform was carried out. The impact of the existing noise parameter is also addressed to validate the algorithm for practical implementation. Finally, the expected results were obtained using a modelled distribution line network. This paper covers developing an algorithm to locate distribution line faults at any kind of faulty condition. The algorithm was developed by analyzing the simulation results and the graphs obtained through several line faulty conditions, using MATLAB Simulink. The fault detection method mainly depends on the significant variation of the magnetic field density locating the fault is done by comparing the peak values at each sensor node. To validate the modelled power system simulation, a successful comparison was carried out with the data received from a real-world existing distribution line network, modelled in LECO. The final results of the modelled system verified the validity of the proposed algorithm for fault locating of medium voltage overhead lines.