Early Fault Detection of Distribution Network Based on High-Frequency Component of Residual Current

A methodology is presented to detect incipient faults in distribution networks by means of DWT and energy detection algorithm. The proposed technique is to extract the characteristic of incipient fault by DWT method, that is, to extract the d5 coefficient of wavelet decomposition of residual current and residual voltage. Compare energy value with normal situation using an energy detection algorithm; incipient faults are detected. The proposed technique has been investigated by ATP/EMTP. Simulation results show that this technique is effective and robust, and the proposed method has the potential to be applied in practice to resolve incipient fault real-time monitoring problem.