Patent ID: 6591203
Filing Date: 2003-07-08
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
An improved method for locating faults associated with one or more conductors of an electric power transmission and distribution system, wherein the method is employed in a system including a first memory location for use in storing present pre-fault data relating to a most recent fault condition, a second memory location for use in storing previous pre-fault data relating to a previous fault condition, and a third memory location for use in storing a default load impedance value, the method comprising:(a) detecting a fault; (b) determining whether present pre-fault data are available in the first memory location and, if so, using the present pre-fault data to compute a load impedance and estimate the fault location using the computed load impedance; (c) if present pre-fault data are not available, determining whether previous pre-fault data are available in the second memory location and, if so, using the previous pre-fault data to compute a load impedance and estimate the fault location using the computed load impedance; and (d) if previous pre-fault data are not available in the second memory location, using the default load impedance from the third memory location in estimating the fault location.