A PARAMETER-BASED PROCESS FOR SELECTING HIGH IMPEDANCE FAULT-DETECTION TECHNIQUES USING DECISION-MAKING UNDER INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE

The behavior of high impedance faults is variable and not consistent. Under similar conditions, faults show different characteristics in behavior and may draw less harmonic current than other faults on the same soil surfaces. Most detection techniques have considered and focused on only one detection parameter without respect to system conditions. However, the behavior of high impedance faults is affected by many outside factors. Therefore, a single detection technique cannot provide effective fault detection in all cases. With varying environmental parameters and non-adapting detection techniques, we propose a generic method to choose the technique or techniques which are most appropriate for a given set of conditions. This result is achieved using a decision making method under incomplete knowledge. With this method, the performance of each detection technique is derived under various conditions and environments. This method is not yet complete because the performance outcome of all techniques is not fully defined. However, this generic selection method provides a head start when attempting to optimize detection given consideration of a wide variety of techniques, parameters, and environmental parameters. © 1990 IEEE