Optimal Placement of Fault Passage Indicators in Distribution Networks using Genetic Algorithms

Fault Passage Indicators (FPIs); also named Faulted Circuit Indicators (FCIs), have been under development for the last 70 years including new capabilities to satisfy the needs of the distribution network operators. In order to improve system stability, these devices can be deployed along the feeder to reduce, or even eliminate, the uncertainty about the fault location. The number and location of FPIs affects the network reliability that can lead to extra charge on the distribution companies as well as the consumers. In this work, the optimal number and location of fault passage indicators in Power Distribution Networks (PDN) are determined. The problem is cast as an optimization task with a special economical combined objective function and solved using the genetic algorithms. The work has been tested on the two case studies, IEEE 9 bus and IEEE 33 bus systems.