Single-End Based Fault Location Method for VSC-HVDC Transmission Systems

A single-end based fault location method is proposed for VSC (Voltage Sourced Converter) HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) transmission systems. With the proposed method, there is no need for communication system to collect data from different locations and the need for checking data synchronization is avoided. The proposed method is derived from the relationship between the aerial and ground voltage components along the DC transmission system. Bergeron model equations are used for calculating the 1-mode and 0-mode voltages along the transmission system using the measured signals at a single end. The proposed method is generalized for locating both the pole-to-ground and pole-to-pole faults. The profile of the differences between the voltage components is studied with considering the effect of the fault resistance. Artificial neural network (ANN) is trained based on collected samples from different test cases. The proposed single-end based fault location method can successfully locate the fault and determine the fault resistance even with uncertain line parameters. The proposed method is theoretically validated by the help of PSCAD simulation platform. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified based on real time measurements obtained from RTDS system.