Analysis of High Impedance Fault Behavioral Dynamics in Medium Voltage Distribution System

Usman Ahmad, Sani Salisu, Yusuf Jibril, Adamu Saidu Abubakar, Abubakar Umar

Abstract


High impedance faults (HIFs) present a significant challenge to power system protection engineers. A reliable protection scheme must meet specific objectives, including accurate fault diagnosis, consideration of all possible fault types, and the ability to account for the failure of protection equipment. HIFs, which do not make direct contact with the ground, are difficult for conventional protection equipment to detect, making them largely undetectable. This poses substantial risks to both life and equipment, particularly in systems operating below 35kV. These faults introduce nonlinear characteristics and stochastic currents that disrupt both transient and steady-state system operations, making detection difficult using conventional protection systems, which have a reported success rate of only around 20%. Given these challenges, engineers are exploring advanced identification methods such as artificial neural networks, wavelet transforms, and deep reinforcement learning. These tools offer promising potential for identifying HIFs despite the complexity and unpredictable nature of these faults. This study presents an analysis of high impedance faults in three-phase electrical systems using time series plots to characterize system behavior under various fault conditions. Simulation results reveal distinct waveform patterns during normal operation, single-phase to ground faults, and HIF scenarios. Under normal conditions, the current waveforms are balanced and sinusoidal, with negligible neutral current and minimal harmonic distortion. However, during single-phase to ground faults, a significant increase in the amplitude of the faulted phase current is observed, alongside distortions in the neutral current, indicating system instability.


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References


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