Time-domain fault location method for medium voltage cables using sheath currents

This paper presents a novel approach for real-time fault location in medium voltage (MV) cables, for single-phase to ground faults. The method is based on the sheath currents. By utilizing instantaneous measurements of voltage and current at the cable's sending end, the voltages and currents of the sheaths at the receiving end are computed. A criterion is then introduced, relying on the calculated receiving end of the cable sheaths voltages and current. This approach offers two advantages: it operates in the time-domain which minimizes phasor calculation error, and it doesn't require real-time communication. The method's effectiveness is demonstrated through 1080 transient simulations in MATLAB/Simulink, yielding fault location estimates within 40ms and a maximum error of 0.26%. Furthermore, the proposed method is relatively unaffected by distorted voltage and current waveforms due to its reliance on time-domain analysis.