Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

A New High-Impedance-Fault Detection Method to Prevent Power-Line-Induced Wildfires

Conference ·

High Impedance Faults (HIFs) occur when energized power lines come into contact with high impedance ground surfaces, such as tree branches and grassland. HIFs have the potential to cause arcing, leading to vegetation ignition and the initiation of wildfires. The challenge in detecting HIFs comes from the high impedance of the partially conductive materials in contact with the power lines. They create a fault current of low magnitude and traditional protective devices struggle to detect such faults. This paper proposes a novel HIF detection algorithm based upon the analyzed arcing signatures associated with HIFs. The algorithm is evaluated using the Australian Public Bushfire Safety Program (PBSP) dataset. For comparative analysis, a state-of-the-art commercial HIF detection product is also evaluated using the same dataset. The proposed algorithm demonstrates higher detection accuracy over the commercial products with fewer false flags and undetected faults.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2372883
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5C00-90204; MainId:91982; UUID:658d003d-a29a-4c15-b436-90c119fe2a14; MainAdminId:72801
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (4)

Approaches in High Impedance Fault Detection - A Chronological Review journal January 2010
Modified FFT based high impedance fault detection technique considering distribution non-linear loads: Simulation and experimental data analysis journal January 2018
Detection of high-impedance faults in power distribution systems conference March 2007
High impedance fault detection methodology using wavelet transform and artificial neural networks journal July 2011

Similar Records

Signatures and software find high-impedance faults
Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · IEEE Computer Applications in Power · OSTI ID:131579

An adaptive high and low impedance fault detection method
Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) · OSTI ID:6868848

IEEE issues high-impedance fault detection report
Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Electric Light and Power · OSTI ID:415017