Smart Management Technique of Open Conductor Faults in Distribution Systems

This paper presents a smart management strategy for detecting, classifying, and locating open conductor faults in distribution systems. Different fault cases are considered even with a falling conductor from the source or the load side. The proposed method depends on installing smart agents at the beginning of each line. It is based on monitoring the fundamental currents and the zero-sequence component. For validation, the IEEE 33 distribution system is utilized via a detailed modeling with MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation tests corroborate the efficacy of the proposed technique for detecting, classifying, and locating all different patterns of open conductor faults.