An Identification Method for Asymmetric Faults With Line Breaks Based on Low-Voltage Side Data in Distribution Networks

Faults with line breaks occur more and more frequently and are difficult to detect by relay protection device in small-current grounding distribution networks. However, faults with line breaks are more likely to cause security accidents such as fires, overvoltages and electric shocks. Considering the low cost and high reliability of collecting data on the low-voltage (LV) side in distribution networks, this paper proposes a method for distinguishing between faults with line breaks and short-circuit faults on the medium-voltage (MV) side. Voltage amplitude and phase on the LV side of distribution transformer (DT) are analyzed through symmetrical component method. The amplitudes are used to identify two-phase faults with line breaks (TPFs-LBs) and two-phase short-circuit faults (TPFs-SCs); while the phases are selected to distinguish single-line-to-ground faults with line breaks (SLGFs-LBs) from single-line-to-ground faults (SLGFs). The effects of network parameters, operation conditions and external factors on the proposed method have been discussed. Simulation results verified the effectiveness of the proposed method.