A Grounding Fault Section Locating Method for the Distribution Network Based on Tanimoto Similarity

When a single-phase grounding fault occurs in the distribution network, the amplitude of the transient zero-sequence current flowing through the upstream detection point is much greater than that of the downstream detection point. Based on this distribution characteristics, this paper proposes a grounding fault section location method based on Tanimoto similarity. Firstly, the transient zero-sequence current at each detection point of the fault line is collected and the amplitude sequence is formed. Then, the Tanimoto similarity between adjacent detection point sequences is calculated. By comparing each calculated value with the threshold value, the fault section with the least similarity and the value less than the threshold is the fault section. The realization flow of locating method is presented for multi-branch line structure and different fault locations. Finally, PSCAD/EMTDC software is used to simulate the fault scenarios under different fault locations and transition resistances, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed locating method.