Systematic Effectiveness Assessment Methodology for Fault Current Indicators Deployed in Distribution Systems

Jen-Hao Teng, Chia-Hung Hsieh, Shang-Wen Luan, Bo-Ren Lan and Yun-Fang Li
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Jen-Hao Teng: Departmental of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan
Chia-Hung Hsieh: Departmental of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan
Shang-Wen Luan: Departmental of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan
Bo-Ren Lan: Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu Country 31057, Taiwan
Yun-Fang Li: Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu Country 31057, Taiwan

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Fault Current Indicators (FCIs) with communication interfaces have been widely used in distribution systems to reduce fault-finding time. The effectiveness of a Fault Management System (FMS) composed of FCIs greatly depends on the performance of the communication network deployed by the FCIs and the failure rates of distribution systems. The conventional techniques only focus on the issues of optimal number and location of FCIs or communication network deployment individually; therefore, the effectiveness of an FMS cannot be assessed realistically. A systematic effectiveness assessment methodology for FMS considering the performance of the communication network deployed by the FCIs and the failure rates of distribution systems is vital and is investigated in this paper. A communication evaluation platform is designed in this paper and used to acquire the field measurements of communication parameters. The communication parameters, especially the Packet Success Rate (PSR), between two adjacent FCIs are measured, and the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the PSR can be built accordingly. The effectiveness of the FMS is then assessed by stochastic analysis considering the failure rates of the distribution system and PSR PDFs between two adjacent FCIs. Due to the characteristics of easy installation, maintenance, longer battery life, lower cost, and so on of ZigBee, the ZigBee-based FCI is mainly discussed in this paper. In order to efficiently find the communication route when a fault occurs, a fast communication route tracking method is also proposed in this paper and its feasibility is demonstrated in an actual distribution system. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed systematic effectiveness assessment methodology for an FMS composed of FCIs. The proposed assessment methodology can more realistically react to the actual conditions of the FMS and therefore save on installation time and costs.

Keywords: fault current indicator; fault management system; failure rate; probability density function; communication route tracking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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