Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

A new reclose function for distribution network based on

phase-controlled technology
Haimiao Ni a, Yao Meng b, *, Shuhua Fang a, Ling Qin a
a
School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, Sipailou #2, Nanjing 210096, China
b
College of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: When a short-circuit fault occurs in a power system, the peak value of the fault current is typically high, causing
Reclose function negative effects, such as insulation aging. The auto-reclose function is effective in reducing the impact of tran­
Short-circuit fault sient faults and has been widely used to improve power supply reliability. In the traditional reclose function, the
Phase-controlled technology
fault current exists several cycles after reclosing. This is because of the fault diagnosis process, response time of
Permanent magnet circuit breaker
the protective device, and arc duration. To resolve this problem, a new reclose function for distribution networks
is proposed in this paper. In the proposed reclose function, a fast making–breaking operation is performed to
obtain the test current before closing. The hold-on time of the circuit breaker (CB) is controlled in one cycle using
phase-controlled technology. Because of the short duration of test current, a fault diagnosis method considering
both the value and distortion degree of test current is proposed to improve the effectiveness of fault diagnosis.
The characteristics of test current are obtained theoretically based on an equivalent resistance-inductor-capacitor
series circuit. The “making” command is only sent to CBs when a transient fault occurs. The simulation and
experimental results show that the proposed function can significantly reduce the influence of the fault current
when a permanent short-circuit fault occurs in the power system.

1. Introduction
An important target for power systems is to achieve highly reliable
power supply [1], which is typically affected by problems, such as faults
and maloperation of protective devices. Because most faults occurring in
power systems are typically transient [2 3], an auto-reclose function was
proposed to improve power supply reliability [4]. In recent decades of
development in power systems, many reclose functions have been pro­
posed for different applications [5]. The functions can generally be
divided into two categories: single-phase reclose [6] and three-phase
reclose [7]. In [8], two anti-interference adaptive single-phase auto-
reclosing schemes for transmission lines with shunt reactors are pro­
posed to increase the robustness of the schemes to various fault locations
and transition resistances. In [9], an adaptive single-phase auto-reclose
system using a long short-term memory network was presented to
improve the accuracy and speed of fault identification. In [10], an
adaptive three-phase auto-reclose scheme coupled with a corresponding
fault diagnosis method was proposed for shunt-compensated trans­
mission lines. In addition, based on the Kunming power grid model, the
performance of a proposed three-phase reclose scheme for typical hybrid
lines was analyzed [11]. Existing auto-reclose functions can effectively
reduce the influence of transient faults on power systems. However,
when a permanent fault occurs, the fault current exists for several cycles
after reclosing because of the fault diagnosis process, response time of
the protective device, and arc duration. Consequently, the power system
suffers from the effect of overcurrent [12].
This paper proposes a new reclose function to reduce the impact of
fault current when a permanent short-circuit fault occurs in distribution
lines [13]. In the proposed reclose function, a fast making-breaking
operation is carried out before reclose to obtain a test current for fault
diagnosis. The hold-on time of circuit breaker is controlled in one cycle
based on phase-controlled technology [14], which has been widely
applied to inrush current reduction [15], reclose [16], capacitor banks
switching [17], and so on [18]. Two CBs located in the fault distribution
lines are selected for reclosure to reduce the risk of transient stability
[19]. Because of the short duration of test current, the traditional fault
diagnosis method on the basis of current value in auto-reclose may not
be accurate [20]. Accordingly, an improved fault diagnosis method that
considers the value and distortion degree of test current is proposed. The
characteristics of test current are obtained theoretically based on an

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mengyqd@163.com (Y. Meng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2023.109042
Received 26 May 2022; Received in revised form 20 January 2023; Accepted 16 February 2023
Available online 21 February 2023
0142-0615/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

normal current fault current

overcurrent protection reclose

(a) t

(b) t

Fig. 1. Traditional reclose function: occurrence of (a) transient fault and (b) permanent fault.

normal current fault current test current

overcurrent protection test reclose reclose

(a) t

(b) t

Fig. 2. Proposed reclose function: occurrence of (a) transient fault and (b) permanent fault.

To cope with this problem, the proposed reclose function has an

CB additional step compared with the traditional one that can be considered
as a test reclose to obtain a short current signal, as shown in Fig. 2. To
reduce the impact of the fault current, the duration of the test current
must be as short as possible regardless of whether the fault is transient or
permanent. A fault diagnosis method is employed based on the limited
C information of the short test current to determine whether a fault exists.
The reclose command will only be sent to circuit breakers in the case of a
uab transient fault. The merit of the proposed reclose function is that it re­
duces the negative impact of the fault current when a permanent short-
circuit fault occurs.

2.2. Current analysis based on an equivalent RLC series circuit

R L The duration of the current in the test reclose must be short to

eliminate the influence of fault current. Accordingly, reliable criteria for
Fig. 3. Calculation model of distribution network. fault diagnosis are considered. The study of the characteristics of the
test, normal, and fault currents is necessary. To simplify the theoretical
equivalent resistance-inductor-capacitor (RLC) series circuit. The rest of analysis, the model of the power distribution system is equivalent to an
paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, the proposed reclose function RLC series circuit. Consider the reclosing of the CBs of Phases A and B as
is described in detail. In Section 3, a simulation model of a 10-kV dis­ an example; the calculation model is shown in Fig. 3. In the figure, uab is
tribution network is established, and the simulation is carried out to the voltage when a short-circuit fault exists between phases A and B; and
verify the effectiveness of the proposed reclose function. In Section 4, an R, L, and C are the equivalent resistance, inductance, and capacitance,
experimental platform based on a 10 kV distribution network is built, respectively.
and the experimental validation is carried out. The conclusions are The circuit equations can be expressed as
summarized in Section 5. ⎧
⎪ di
⎪
⎨ uab = iR + L + ucap
dt
2. Reclose function (1)
⎪
⎪ ducap
⎩ i=C
2.1. Comparison between traditional and proposed reclose functions dt

where ucap is the voltage of C. The foregoing can be further rewritten as

The traditional reclose function when transient and permanent faults
occur is shown in Fig. 1, (a) and (b), respectively. When a short-circuit d2 ucap ducap
LC + RC + ucap = uab (2)
fault occurs, high-value fault current triggers the protective device. If dt2 dt
the fault in the distribution lines is transient, the current returns to the By assuming that the reclosing angle of uab is γ, the voltage can be
normal level after the reclose operation, as shown in Fig. 1(a). If the fault expressed as
is permanent, high-value current persists after reclosing and triggers the
overcurrent protection again, as presented in Fig. 1(b). Because of the uab = Um sin(ωt + γ) (3)
fault diagnosis process, the response time of the protective device and The solution of the second-order differential equation is
arc duration last for several cycles. Consequently, the power system
suffers from overcurrent during those cycles. ucap = Acos(ωt) + Bsin(ωt) + u∗cap (4)

2
H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

Decay component
Current (A)

Current (A)
Steady component
Decay component

Steady component
Current after making
Current after making

(a) (b)

Fig. 4. Current after reclose at different making moments: at (a) 0◦ and (b) 290◦ of steady fault current.

Improved overcurrent Peak value, duration,

protection time ratios

Steady component Fault diagnosis

RLC
Current expression
series circuit

Decay component Suppressed

Phase-controlled
Making angle
switching technology

Fig. 5. Theoretical analysis process.

giving making command arrival of zero-crossing

activating zero-crossing point
point detection procedure driving CBs completion of making process
opening delay time
calculation starting delay time

Ut
t

pre-determined making angle

calculation detection delay operation of
time time time CBs

It
t

Fig. 6. Making process of phase-controlled technology.

3
H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

signal data sampling Information

data sampling characteristic extraction comparison
transmission (test current )

making peak value

voltage waveform peak of fault current fault?
command
duration No Yes
current waveform voltage angle when pre-breaking
command No
fault current is zero zero-crossing point reclose
reclose

overcurrent protection test reclose reclose

giving breaking
command breaking of CBs breaking of CBs
fault making of CBs giving making
occurrence arc giving making arc command
extinction command extinction
making of CBs
giving pre-breaking
command
t

CBs response
CBs response
CBs response

fault diagnosis CBs response

process
protection
device response

normal current fault current test current

Fig. 7. Proposed reclose function.

Table 1
power
distribution line 1 Parameters of transformer.
source transformer
Item Parameter
distribution line 2
Connection Mode YN,11
distribution line 3 Rated Capacity 40 MVA
Rated Current (primary) 209 A
Rated Current (secondary) 2199 A
No-load Current 0.49 A
Fig. 8. Simulation model of distribution network.

(1− ω2 LC)Um sinγ− ωRCUm cosγ (1− ω2 LC)Um cosγ+ωRCUm sinγ

where A = , B = . λ2 t
(1− ω2 LC)+ω2 R2 C2 (1− ω2 LC)+ω2 R2 C2 wherei∗ = { C1 λ1 eλ 1 t + C2 λ2 e λ1 ∕ = λ2 (λ1 C1 + C2 ) eλ 1 t +
When the parameters of RLC series circuit differ, ucap* can be √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
described in three forms, as follows: λ1 C2 teλ1 t
λ1 = λ2 (αC2 − βC1 ) + (αC1 + βC2 )2 eαt sin(βt
2

⎧ √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
⎪ ( )2
⎪ αC1 + βC2
⎪
⎪
⎪ −
R
±
R
−
4 + ξ) λ1,2 = α ± βi ,sinξ = √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2 2
, andcosξ =
⎪
⎪ L L LC (αC2 − βC1 ) + (αC1 + βC2 )
⎪
⎪ C1 eλ1 t + C2 eλ2 t λ1 ∕
= λ2 =
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2 αC2 − βC1
⎨ √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2 2
.
∗
ucap = λ1 t R (αC2 − βC1 ) + (αC1 + βC2 )
⎪ (C1 + C2 t)e λ1 = λ2 = −
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2L As indicated by Eq. (6), the current includes steady sinusoidal and
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
( )2 decay components. The steady sinusoidal component is affected by the
⎪ R 1 4 R
⎪
⎪ α t
⎩ e (C1 cos(βt) + C2 sin(βt)) λ1,2 = α ± βi = − ± − i parameters of the RLC series circuit. Because the equivalent parameters
2L 2 LC L of the RLC series circuit differ when the fault in the lines is transient or
(5) permanent, the current under these two conditions also varies. The se­
lection of this condition as a criterion for diagnosis is reasonable. In
where C1 and C2 are determined by the initial conditions of i and uc, addition, the decay component is affected by the making angle, pa­
respectively. rameters of the RLC series circuit, and initial conditions of i and ucap. The
Therefore, the current can be obtained using Eqs. (1), (4), and (5), as impact of the decay component on the transient process cannot be
follows: ignored. When t = 0, the current, i, can be expressed by Eq. (7), and it is
i = − ωCAsin(ωt) + ωCBcos(ωt) + Ci∗ (6) equal to zero. If the steady component of the current starts at zero when
the reclose operation occurs, B is equal to 0. Current i is given by

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H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

Table 2 Table 4
Parameters of power source. Characteristics of test current after reclose.
Operational mode Resistance (Ω) Reactance (H) Making Peak value Duration of Time of peak Time of second
moment of current current value/ zero-crossing
maximum 0.7266 0.0231
(ms) (A) (ms) duration, point/duration,
minimum 1.5636 0.1292
tp/tlp tsc/tlp

− 5 5142 15.0 0.65 0.23

− 4 5227 14.1 0.61 0.13
− 3 5272 13.1 0.56 1.00
Table 3 − 2 5213 12.1 0.56 1.00
Parameters of distribution line. − 1 4995 11.1 0.51 1.00
0 4600 10.0 0.5 1.00
Item Resistance Reactance Inductance
1 4663 19.0 0.74 0.46
(Ω/km) (Ω/km) (Ω/km)
2 4751 18.1 0.70 0.42
Positive 0.075 0.254e − 3 0.318e − 6 3 4835 17.0 0.66 0.36
Sequence 4 4943 16.0 0.64 0.31
Zero Sequence 0.102 0.892e − 3 0.211e − 6

⎧
⎪
⎨ C1 λ1 + C2 λ2 λ1 ∕ = λ2
i = ωCB + C⋅ λ1 C1 + C2 λ1 = λ2
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ Because the steady component of i is a sinusoidal waveform (B =
⎪
⎩ (αC − βC )2 + (αC + βC )2 sin(ξ) λ1,2 = α ± βi 0),λ1 C1 + C2 = 0. The decay current,Cλ1 C2 teλ1 t , is sufficiently small to
2 1 1 2
be ignored because the duration time after reclosing is short and the
(7)
capacitance is small.

(1) λ1 ∕
= λ2 (3) λ1,2 = α ± βi

When i = 0 and B = 0,C1 λ1 + C2 λ2 = 0. This means that the decay
component of i results from different decay speeds of λ1 and λ2. Owing to
the slight difference between λ1 and λ2, the current after reclosing is
virtually equal to the fundamental fault current.
(2) λ1 = λ2
From the initial values of i and because B = 0, sin(ξ) = 0 (i.e., αC1 +
βC2 = 0). The coefficient of the decay component is C|αC2 − βC1|sin(βt),
which has a negligible influence on the current waveform after reclosing
because the capacitance is typically small and the duration is extremely
short.
Based on the foregoing analysis, the decay components are small
when the angle is chosen to ensure that the current starts at a natural

Fig. 9. Current waveforms: (a) fault current of three phases; (b) current waveform after reclose when making time is 0 ms; and (c) current waveform after reclose
when making time is 3 ms.

5
H. Ni et al.
Fig. 10. Current waveforms considering different RLC series circuit parameters
when making time is 0 ms.
zero-crossing point of the steady sinusoidal component. The current
waveforms under different moments, including the steady fundamental
and decay components, are shown in Fig. 4. When the corresponding
angle of the fundamental current at the making moment is 0◦ , as shown
in Fig. 4(a), the decay component is considerably small. After the
making moment, the current attains a satisfactory sinusoidal property,
which considerably approaches the steady fundamental wave. When the
corresponding angle of the fundamental current at the moment is 290◦ ,
as shown in Fig. 4(b), the decay component cannot be ignored. This
results in a distinct difference between the steady component and cur­
rent after the making moment.
The results of the theoretical analysis are summarized in Fig. 5. The
current expression is derived based on the RLC series circuit including
the steady and decay components. The decay component is directly
affected by the making angle, indicating that it can be suppressed by the
appropriate making moment. Therefore, the moment in the test reclose
is chosen at the natural zero-crossing point of the steady fault current to
reduce the decay component of the fault current such that the charac­
teristic of the steady component can be considered as the criterion for
fault diagnosis. When the fault is transient, the moment is not the nat­
ural zero-crossing point of the normal current because the parameters of
RLC series circuit differ from those of the equivalent circuit with a
permanent short-circuit fault. The current is not similar to a sinusoidal
wave, and the peak value is considerably less than that of the fault
current although the decay component is not small.
To reduce the impact of fault current when the fault is permanent,
the test current duration is expected to be sufficiently short. Moreover,
the test current provides effective information for fault diagnosis. The
making moment is chosen at the zero-crossing point of the steady fault
Fig. 11. Reclosing processes in the case of transient and permanent faults.(a) transient and (b) permanent.
6
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042
current, and the breaking moment is controlled to be slightly ahead of
the next zero-crossing point. Therefore, when the short-circuit fault is
permanent, the test current is approximately half a cycle and has a high
sinusoidal property. If the fault is transient, the test current is not similar
to a sinusoidal wave because of the decay component, and the peak
value is significantly less than that of the fault current. The arrival
moments of the peak value and zero-crossing point can be adopted to
evaluate the distortion degree. In other words, the value and distortion
degree of the test current can be used as the criteria for fault diagnosis.
Under fault conditions, the peak value of the test current is similar to
that of the fault current; the duration is approximately 10 ms. The time
between the first two adjacent zero-crossing points of the current is the
same as the duration of the test current. Under the no-fault condition,
the peak value of the test current is considerably less than that of the
fault current. The duration exceeds 10 ms, and the time between the first
two adjacent zero-crossing points is less than the test current duration.
2.3. Phase-controlled technology
The CBs can be controlled to open or close precisely at a pre-
determined angle of the reference signal using phase-controlled tech­
nology. The detailed closing process is illustrated in Fig. 6. The voltage
waveform is used as the reference signal. When the phase-controlled
making command is sent to the control system of the CBs, the delay
tine is calculated as quickly as possible, and the zero-crossing point
detection procedure is activated. With the arrival of the zero-crossing
point, the delay time is activated. The drive signal is then sent to the
control circuit of the CBs immediately when the delay time is over.
Finally, the CBs are switched on at the pre-determined making angle of
the voltage waveform.
According to the process of phase-controlled technology, the pre-
determined making angle and performance of the CBs are the main
factors in the delay time calculation. When the making angle is deter­
mined, the accuracy of phase-controlled technology is influenced by the
performance difference among the CBs and the operating time disper­
sion of every CB. Compared with the latter, the performance difference
among the CBs must be given more attention to ensure the accuracy of
the phase-controlled technology because permanent magnet CBs have
excellent stability during operation time.
2.4. Proposed reclose function
Based on the foregoing analysis, the detailed process of the proposed
reclose function is summarized in Fig. 7. This function can be divided
into three steps, as follows.
• Step 1
After a short-circuit fault occurs, the overcurrent protection is
H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

Current (A) Fault current

Time ratio
Normal current
Normal current
Fault current

(a) (b)

Fault current
Duration (ms)

Normal current

(c)

Fig. 12. Characteristics of test current: (a) peak value of current after reclose; (b) time ratio (tp/tlp); and (c) duration of reclosing process.

Drive Unit
actuators

Capacitors CB

Sampling Unit
control system
Control Unit

T
Raj Laj1
CB1 Laj2 Raj Laj3
1 CB2 CT
G 2
Test object
Raj Laj1 PT
CB1 Di Di
1
Re
Raj Laj1
CB1
1 PT
Laj2 Raj Laj3
Power CB2 CT
2
source Distribution
lines PT
Transformer TRV
Distribution
lines Load

Fig. 13. Experimental setup. G: generator, PT: voltage transformer, CB1, CB2: circuit breaker, CT: current transformer, Raj1, Raj2: adjustable resistor, Di: divider, Laj1,
Laj2, Laj3: adjustable reactor, TRV: transient recovery voltage, T: transformer, Re: earthing resistor.

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H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

Voltage (V)
Current (A)
Time (s)
(a)

Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)
Current (A)

Current (A)

Time (s) Time (s)

(b) (c)

Fig. 14. Experimental results of reclose function: current waveform of (a) traditional reclose function, (b) proposed function when fault is permanent, and (c)
proposed function when fault is transient.

The current information obtained in Steps 1 and 2 is compared to

Table 5 determine whether the fault is permanent. If a short-circuit fault still
Current information comparison. exists, the reclose operation is forbidden; otherwise, reclosing is
Item Peak value of current Duration of current Time of peak value/ implemented.
(A) (ms) duration

1 364 15.0 0.64 3. Simulation

2 13,562 10.0
triggered upon fault detection. The time between fault occurrence and
isolation mainly includes the times of fault diagnosis, operation of CBs,
and arc extinction. The current and voltage waveforms are sampled and
recorded to obtain the test reclosing angle and the peak value of the fault
current.
• Step 2
Based on the fault current information obtained in Step 1, the making
and pre-breaking moments are determined. In particular, the breaking
operation is slightly ahead of a zero-crossing point in the test reclose to
ensure that the CBs are reliably switched off, because the arc is extin­
guished naturally with the arrival of the zero-crossing point. The oper­
ation commands are sent to the CBs in time according to the calculations
of phase-controlled technology. Subsequently, the test current is recor­
ded, and the peak values and distortion parameters are extracted.
• Step 3
0.51
A simulation model of a 10-kV distribution network is built, as shown
in Fig. 8, to verify the feasibility of the proposed reclose function and
fault diagnosis method. The model includes a power source, a distri­
bution transformer, and three distribution lines. The parameters of the
distribution network are listed in Tables 1–3. The lengths of the three
distribution lines are 9, 12, and 15 km. Line 3 is set as the fault line. To
determine the characteristics of the current after reclosing and evaluate
the accuracy of the fault diagnosis, a permanent short-circuit current
fault is set between phases A and B. Hence, the CBs of phases A and B are
selected to reclose. Similarly, if a short-circuit fault exists among the
three phases, the CBs of phases A and B can still be selected because the
fault is symmetrical.
3.1. Transient process of current at different making angles
The fault current waveforms when a short-circuit fault occurs be­
tween phases A and B are shown in Fig. 9(a); the peak value is
approximately 4615 A. The voltage angle, when the corresponding
steady fault current is at the zero-crossing point, is considered as the
reference point (t = 0). The current waveforms when the test reclose
angles are 0 and 3 ms are shown in Fig. 9, (b) and (c), respectively.

8
H. Ni et al.
Different points before and after the reference point are selected as test
reclose angles to show the impact of the decay component according to
the analysis presented in Section 2.2; the characteristics are listed in
Table 4.
When the switch-on moment is the point where the corresponding
fault current is zero, the test current is closest to the actual fault current
with a high sinusoidal property. The maximum current is 4600 A, which
is approximately 4615 A. The duration is 10 ms, and the time ratios of
the maximum and second zero-crossing points (tp/tlp and tsc/tlp,
respectively) are 0.50 and 1.00, respectively, indicating the least
distortion. When the test reclosing angle is modified, the duration ex­
ceeds 10 ms; the time ratio (tp/tlp) is not equal to 0.50; and the time ratio
(tsc/tlp) is significantly less than 1, except for three angles, which are
slightly earlier than 0 ms. This phenomenon agrees well with the anal­
ysis result presented in Section 2.
When the parameters of the RLC series circuit change (i.e., no fault
occurs in the lines) and the test reclosing angle is maintained at 0 ms, the
current waveform is as shown in Fig. 10. The peak current (1489 A) is
considerably less than that shown in Fig. 9(b). The duration of the
reclosing process is 18 ms, and the time ratios (tp/tlp and tsc/tlp) are 0.70
and 0.45, respectively.
The simulation results indicate that the fault can be evaluated using
peak value, duration, and time ratios (tp/tlp and tsc/tlp). In other words,
the test reclosing angle is selected according to the fault current infor­
mation before reclosing to ensure that the initial value of the steady fault
current is zero. Fault evaluation can be described as follows. 1) If the
peak current approximates the fault current and the time ratios of
several special points are similar to the normal sinusoidal wave, a per­
manent fault occurs in the distribution lines. 2) If the peak value is
significantly less than the fault current and the time ratios of several
special points distinctly differ from the sinusoidal wave, the fault is
transient.
3.2. Reclose function
Based on the reclose function proposed in Section 2, Fig. 11 shows
the reclosing processes in the case of transient and permanent faults. As
shown in Fig. 11(a), the fault occurs at 0.1 s, and the protective device
operates after approximately 3.5 cycles. The test reclosing time of phases
A and B is at 0.212 s. Compared with a sinusoidal wave, the peak current
is apparently less than the fault current, and the time ratios are
abnormal. This indicates that the fault is transient, and the making
command is sent to three phases. In Fig. 11(b), the fault occurs at 0.08 s,
and the protective device operates after 4.5 cycles. The test reclosing
time of phases A and B is 0.212 s. The peak current after reclosing is
similar to the fault current, and the time ratios considerably approxi­
mate those of a sinusoidal wave. This indicates that the fault is perma­
nent, and the making command is forbidden.
In practice, the fault current is mainly affected by the fault location
and transition resistance [21]. To verify the effectiveness of the fault
diagnosis method used in the proposed reclose function, the current
information under different fault positions and transition resistances is
analyzed. The time ratio (tp/tlp) and the duration of the test reclosing
process are shown in Fig. 12. The blue and red stars represent the fault
and normal current values, respectively. The peak values are all similar
to the fault current, the corresponding time ratios are all equal to 0.5,
and the durations are 10 ms. The peak value of the normal current is
approximately 169 A, and the peak time ratios are not equal to 0.5. A
distinct difference between the duration and 10 ms is observed. The
simulation results show that the peak value, duration, and time ratio (tp/
tlp) can effectively represent fault information.
4. Experiment
The experimental setup, which mainly includes a 10-kV power
source, two three-phase CBs, a transformer, adjustable resistors, and
9
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042
adjustable reactors, is shown in Fig. 13. The test object includes a three-
phase CB, three independent control circuits, and six capacitors as
power sources for the coils in the CB. The accuracy of the phase-
controlled switching technology used in the experiment is approxi­
mately 0.5 ms. During the experiment, the peak value of the normal
current is approximately 364 A, and those of the fault currents are set to
1136 and 13 562 A to simulate the fault condition under different
transition resistances.
The case in which the fault current of 1136 A is used to compare the
traditional reclose function with the proposed function is shown in
Fig. 14, (a) and (b). If the fault is permanent, the duration of the
reclosing process is approximately-five cycles, and the proposed reclose
function is 10 ms. When the short-circuit fault is transient, the duration
of the reclosing process is approximately 18 ms, and the time ratio (tp/
tlp) is approximately 0.71, as shown in Fig. 14(c). Therefore, whether a
fault is transient or permanent is easy to evaluate.
A comparison of information when the peak current values are 364
and 13 562 A is summarized in Table 5. The fault information agrees
well with the theoretical analysis and simulation results presented in
Sections 2 and 3, respectively.
5. Conclusion
This paper proposes a new reclose function based on phase-
controlled technology. Because each phase has an independent control
system, two CBs of the fault phases are selected for reclosing to reduce
the risk of transient stability. Compared with the traditional reclose
function, the proposed reclose function adopts a test reclose to generate
test current for fault diagnosis. If the short-circuit fault is permanent, the
impact of high-level fault current can be effectively reduced. Because of
the short duration of the test current, four criteria (current value, test
current duration, and two time ratios (tp/tlp and tsc/tlp)) are employed to
evaluate the effectiveness of fault diagnosis. The characteristics of the
test current are extracted based on an equivalent RLC series circuit. A
simulation model and an experimental setup are established based on a
10-kV system. The simulation and experimental results show that the
proposed reclose function can significantly reduce the impact of the fault
current if the short-circuit fault is permanent. Moreover, the fault
diagnosis method used in the proposed reclose function is consistently
effective regardless of fault locations and transition resistances.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Haimiao Ni: Writing-original draft. Yao Meng: Writing-review &
editing. Shuhua Fang: Supervision. Ling Qin: Methodology.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was jointly supported by the Scientific Research Founda­
tion of the Graduate School of Southeast University (YBJJ1785), China
and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of
Jiangsu Province, China (KYCX17_0085), China.
H. Ni et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 149 (2023) 109042

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