Eliminating the Dependence of GPS or Communication Latency Estimation in Traveling Wave Based Double-Terminal Fault Location

Double-terminal traveling wave-based fault location is one of the most reliable and accurate technologies for power transmission line fault location. However, existing methods require a global positioning system (GPS) or accurate communication latency estimation to synchronize data from the two terminals. In this study, we propose an innovative double-terminal traveling wave-based fault location method that is independent of either GPS or communication latency estimation. The basic principle of the proposed method is that the arrival time difference between initial surges could be roughly calculated through the angle of pre-fault phasors by artificially assigning surge arrival points as the time references. Therefore, an approximate fault distance is obtained. The error could be reduced by detecting the fault-point-reflected surge. Extensive simulation experiments were performed using PSCAD/EMTDC software to assess the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results showed that the proposed method is applicable to different fault circumstances and independent of GPS synchronization and communication latency estimation while maintaining accuracy close to those of state-of-the-art algorithms. Finally, hardware experiments were performed to assess the validity and practicability of the proposed method.