Mehdi El-hami - City University, London, U.K.

Overhead distribution systems can be damaged and disrupted in many ways by faults due to lightning, vegetation, etc. It is not uncommon for low current, high impedance faults to occur on overhead distribution feeders and other low voltage lines. Detection of these faults is still difficult due to the low current levels that flow in them. This problem remains of great concern to electric utilities even though it has received significant continual attention for many years. This paper presents the results of further investigations into a new fault location technique developed for overhead-distribution systems. The scheme used utilises fault generated noise and it is particularly, not exclusively, useful for overhead power distribution systems operating typically at 11kV. Simulation results to illustrate the operation and to evaluate the performance of this new technique are demonstrated.