Locator in EHV Transmission Networks using Few

Recordings
A. Elhaffar, student member, IEEE and M. Lehtonen.
Abstract- This paper presents an improved method for estimating the fault location in electric power systems based on transient signals obtained from traveling wave recorders (TWS). These recorders are installed at few substations where traveling waves are utilized to locate faults in the transmission system using current signals only. The recorded signals are compared to a reference signal and the time delay of the first wave fronts is recoded at each TWS. The minimum path for the traveling wave has been calculated using Dijkstra Algorithm to select the closest TWS recorder. The fault location is determined by accurately time-tagging the arrival of the traveling wave at monitored ends of the transmission lines and comparing the time difference to the total propagation time of the lines. The time signal is obtained via satellite from the Global Positioning System (GPS). Fault distance calculation is done using double end method and the appropriate two current traveling wave signals. Validation of fault location is carried out by the Alternative Transient Program (ATP/EMTP) simulations for a typical 400 kV power system. Keywords: transmission lines, travelling waves, fault location, multi-ended method, single phase to ground fault, modal analysis, wavelet transform, maximum likelihood estimation.
I. INTRODUCTION

An Improved GPS Current Traveling-Wave Fault

Accurate location of faults on high voltage transmission systems is very important for utilities to enable quick maintenance action by the repair crew. Power system fault location systems have traditionally relied on the measurement of power frequency components for the detection of faults. Various fault location methods have been developed and fault location techniques have been a subject for many researchers. Most of these methods use voltage signals or both voltage and current signals [1]-[6]. Fault location techniques based on traveling waves have frequency ranges up to several hundreds of kHz. The fault location can be provided by comparing the arrival time of the initial transient signals at one of the line terminals. Singleended fault location techniques have more economical advantages since they require only one unit per line without a communication link [7]. Most of the fault location techniques assume that the measurements from the faulted transmission
1) A. Elhaffar is with Faculty of Engineering, Garyounis University, Libya. (e-mail: elhaffar oieee.org). Now at Power Systems & H.V. Engineering, HUT as a D.Sc. Researcher. 2) M. Lehtonen is the head of Power System & High Voltage Engineering Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (e-mail: Matti.lehtonen ohut.fi).

line terminals. However, most power systems are equipped with sparsely located traveling wave recorders. Therefore, the number of measured quantities is rather small. The most important factors in traveling wave fault location are detecting the transient signal (current and/or voltage), the transducer characteristic (current transformers and/or voltage transformers), and signal processing techniques (Fourier, cross-correlation, Wavelets, etc.). Most of traveling-wave fault location techniques use either voltage signals or current transient signals or both. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks. Voltage transients' methods usually use the existing capacitive voltage transformers (CVTs). The bandwidth limitation of the CVT may restrict its application in fault location [1]. New research shows improved performance from the high frequency taps of the CVT using tapped off inductive drain coil which is connected in series to the ground lead of a capacitive voltage transformer to obtain an accurate measurement [22]. The design goal of the fault location system is an accuracy of +200 meters. GPS receivers easily fulfill this requirement by providing a time synchronisation to a 1 pis accuracy over a wide area. If measurement devices at both ends of the line are accurately synchronised, the time difference in arrival of the surge at the different ends can be used to locate the fault. The use of HV current transformers in fault location methods shows a better performance than those using CVTs at high frequencies. Current traveling wave signals will be used in this paper to find the fault location in high voltage transmission lines since current transformers show a good reproduction of the traveling wave signals [9].
II. MODAL ANALYSIS

The changes in the stored energy following a fault occurrence produce travelling waves. These waves travel from the fault point to the line terminals and are reflected many times until they die out due to attenuation. The solution of the wave equation for a lossless line in terms of a forward and backward travelling wave can be expressed as: (1) U(x, t) =1(x - vt) + f2 (x + vt)

I(x, t) zo 1(x vt) f2 (x + vt)

=

(2)

traveling wave transients have been well-recognized because of its inherent time and frequency localization characteristics [13]. A fault location algorithm is developed for different fault resistances, location and fault inception angles. Time tagged u - L high sample frequency transients obtained from TWS are first decomposed into their modal components. The wavelet Where Z0 is the characteristic impedance of a transmission analysis is performed at three levels to detect the arrival times line, L and C are the inductance and capacitance per unit of the signal. A problem now arises regarding which levels of length and v is the wave propagation velocity. All these the sub-band components should be used in the wavelet transients are applied for a single-phase lossless transmission analysis procedure. The main reason is that for each different fault resistance and location, there is one level at which the line. In a three-phase system the above equations are function of calculation of the fault distance is more accurate than other the voltages (currents) in all phases. A modal transformation levels and the signal has high energy. The proper level for matrix is therefore required to de-couple the phase signals into detecting the time arrivals is chosen by taking the finding the maximum of the square value of all details. Fig. 1 shows the their independent equations for each mode [10]. By modal transform, a three-phase system can be time domain at scale-2 wavelet coefficient after decomposing represented by an earth mode and two aerial modes. Each three current signals at TWS recorders OL, ES and AJ of Fig. mode has a particular velocity and characteristic impedance. 3. Details of Traveling Wave Current Signals In this paper, the aerial mode 1 signal is used in the fault 200 distance estimation. The modal components can be obtained o 0 by:
v= >/g (3)

U(x, t) = TVUm (x, t) I(x, t) = Ti m (x, t)

(5)

-200 10
U)
LU

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

(6)

Where T, and T, are the voltage and current transformation matrices, U and I are the phase voltage and current components and Ur and 1m are the modal voltage and current components respectively. For transposed lines, the transient current signals la, lb and I are transformed into their modal components using Clark's transformation as follows [ 1]:
[ A3 FI2 =-2

0
-10 50 -50 0 0

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

0.5

1.5

2 Time [ms]

2.5

3.5

I]

-1

--N3

-1 [Ib

(7)

Fig. 1 Scale-2 wavelet coefficients of three current traveling waves

Where h1 is the ground mode current and '2 and 13 are known as the aerial mode current components for transposed lines. The signals to be analyzed are captured by a traveling wave recorder (TWS) connected to the secondary of the relaying current transformers.
III. SIGNALS PROCESSING

B. Maximum Likelihood Estimation Traveling wave fault location method is concerned with estimating the times of arrival of the reflected traveling waves from a data signal. Initially, a model for the signal is proposed. The reflected traveling waves are expressed in terms of a set of incident waves which are termed the basis signals. The maximum likelihood (ML) method leads to [17]:

min |x(t) - I2 (t)

t=l

(8)

A. Wavelet Analysis The main problems encountered when using current traveling waves (CTW) are that the CTW signals have no direction and are noisy. Recently, it was shown that the wavelet transform of the modal components of the fault initiated traveling waves can be used to estimate the location of faults [ 12]. The wavelet transforms of the modal current components are obtained yielding the corresponding wavelet coefficients at selected levels. The potential benefits of applying digital wavelet transform (DWT) for analyzing

Where x(t) is the basis signal and I2(t) is the aerial mode current signal. Assume the fault transmitted signal is given by,

x(t) = A(e -at -e bt)

(9)

Where: x(t) ia a surge function with two exponentials. A is a constant in amperes, a is a negative number specifying falling slope and b is a negative number specifying rising

slope.

IV. PROBLEM FORMULATION

noise, all can be modeled as stochastic processes.

When a fault occurs in a power system, traveling electromagnetic waves are initiated and travel along transmission lines in all directions. Due to different paths taken, these waves arrive to different TWS recorder locations with different time delays. Traveling wave velocities can be determined based on the type and configuration of lines using line/cable constant (LCC) program of ATP/EMTP [14]. The fault location can be estimated using the arrival delays of a given fault transient at different locations in the power system knowing the minimum traveling path of these signals. Traveling waves have been used for fault location and protective relaying earlier [15]-[19]. Most of these methods assume available measurements from local end of the line. In [20] a method was developed to estimate the fault area using several recorders scattered throughout the system by comparing a fault signature record with calculated fault signatures. The method used in this paper assumes few recording units installed at few substations in the power system. The fault location is determined by accurately timetagging the arrival of the traveling wave at these monitored ends of the transmission lines and comparing the time difference to the total propagation time of the lines. The time signal is obtained via satellite from the Global Positioning System (GPS). Fault distance calculation is done using double end method and the appropriate two current traveling wave signals. Validation of fault location is carried out by the Alternative Transient Program (ATP/EMTP) simulations for a typical 400 kV power system. The recorded signals are processed together, at the control center. Figure 2 shows a model of the received signal in which the received signal at the traveling wave recorder unit (TWS) is shown as a sum of received vector signals. Each received signal component goes through a distinct transmission path (i.e. transmission lines) and has a different signal strength, and time delay. If x(t) is the transmitted signal from the fault position F,
at Traiisiiision Lilne attenuation Time Delay
TL I
Fault Transient

Fig. 3. Test transmission system single line diagram.

The power lines studied are part of the 400 kV Finnish EHV transmission system. The relevant lines and location of the current transducers are shown in Fig. 3. Split-core current transformers are connected directly to the secondary of the relaying CTs for isolating high frequency signals. The sampling period was 800 ns giving a sampling rate of 1.25 MHz. This system has been modeled using ATP/EMTP with measurements at three substations: OL, AJ and ES. The measured traveling wave signals are shown in Fig. 4. The calculated fault distance was 111.76 km from OL substation.
1000

Current TW Signals For a fault at 112.2 km from OL

500
0

0
-500 40
U) Lu

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

20

0
-20 500 0

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

GeneratedSignal

LT
TL 1

Recorder

TW~S

0
-500 L o

0.5

1.5

2 Time [ms]

2.5

3.5

Fig.2 a typical traveling wave's model of the received signal in a transmission system at a traveling wave-recorder unit.
the received

Fig. 4 The simulated traveling wave signals at substations OL, ES and AJ.

signal y(t)
L

at

any TWS unit

can

be written

as

follows: y(t)
=

Ea a1x(t - r1) + n(t)

/1=

(10)

Three recorded fault signals from TWS recorders of the 400 kV Finnish transmission system. Results are shown for a phase-a to ground fault which occurred 112.2 km from OL substation as shown in Fig. 4. Since we simulated only part of the real network, there are some differences in propagation

Where al is the signal attenuation (or gain) factor r/ is real-valued time delay for the l-th transmission line, and n(t) is

speed.

200

Aerial Mode Current Signal at OL For a fault at 112 2 km from OL

0L
-200

100 r

05 1 1.5 2 25 3 35 Aerial Mode Current Signal at ES For a fault at 112 2 km from OL

-100 100

05 1 1.5 2 25 3 35 Aerial Mode Current Signal at AJ For a fault at 112 2 km from OL

E.
0)

-100 L 0

0.5

1.5

2 Time[ms]

Vt
25

35

Fig. 5 The recorded traveling wave signals at substations OL, ES and AJ.

Using the recorded TWS signals of Fig. 5, the fault estimate was 115.65 km from OL substation. This is due to the signal model and the line attenuation.
V. FAULT DISTANCE CALCULATION If the times of arrival of the traveling waves in the chosen two TWS units can be measured precisely, the fault location then can be determined by comparing the difference between these two arrival times. However, two main aspects which affect the accuracy directly and significantly need to be considered. One is the data synchronized sampling and the other is arrival time detection. The former can be obtained

calculated using Dijkstra Algorithm. The fault is then calculated using double end method using the appropriate two fault traveling wave signals. This method is sensitive to the travelling wave propagation velocity which can be calculated using the LCC program. Using a ground receptivity of 2300 ohm.meter and the data of table I for a horizontal transmission line configuration, the propagation speed was found to be 2.917 *IO' km/s. At least, two recordings are needed for an accurate fault location in a meshed network. As the number of recordings increased the accuracy will increase. Simulation studies show that for earth faults, errors are symmetric along the transmission line except that when fault inception angle is too small or fault location is too close to the line terminals as follows: Faulted Line
OLKA OLKA OLKA UL-ES UL-ES UL-ES

VI. RESULTS The proposed approach has been tested under different system circuit configurations, under different system and fault conditions. The minimum path for the traveling wave has been

Actual Location Estimated Error 0o from OL Location from 00 km OL 20 o 32.6 32.6540 -0.1656
50Oo
80 o 20 00 50 0 80 0 81.5 130.4 97.2 172.5 50.2 81.6586 130.4298 96.9032 172.6376 49.5104 -0.1946 -0.0229 0.3053 -0.1096 -0.2783

easily by using the Global Positioning System (GPS) which can provide time synchronization up to a 1 pts accuracy over a wide area, the latter can be fulfilled by using maximum likelihood estimation analysis which has already been successfully applied in various fields in electrical engineering [17]. A MatLab program has been developed to estimate the fault location from the first peak arrivals at three TWS units using the maximum likelihood estimation method and a basis signal as in Eq. (9). The minimum path for the traveling wave between the closest two TWS units to the fault has been calculated using Dijkstra Algorithm to select the closest TWS recorder [21]. Dijkstra's algorithm is used for searching the shortest travel time in the transmission grid. Then, the fault distance is calculated by the double-end method using the chosen fault recording signals. For example: If a single earth fault occurs at OL-KA line, the fault location can be calculated as follows: line lengths[OL AJ] + (TI OL -TA.).v (11) 'FL. 1LOL

VII. CONCLUSIONS

FLAJ

line

lengths[OLAT] + (T 1A
2

-T 1OL ).V

An improved method for estimating the fault location in electric power systems has been developed. This method is based on transient signals obtained from traveling wave recorders (TWS) using maximum likelihood estimation. These recorders are installed at few substations where traveling waves are utilized to locate faults in the transmission system using current signals only. The recorded signals are compared to a reference signal and the time delay of the first wave fronts is recoded at each TWS which is an indicator of the distance of the fault location from the recording unit. The minimum path for the traveling wave has been calculated using Dijkstra algorithm to select the closest TWS recorder thus accelerating the arrival time calculation. The fault location is determined by accurately time-tagging the arrival of the traveling wave at monitored ends of the transmission lines and comparing the time difference to the total propagation time of the lines. The time signal is obtained via satellite from the Global Positioning System (GPS). Fault distance calculation is done using double end method and the appropriate two current traveling wave signals. Validation of fault location is carried out by the Alternative Transient Program (ATP/EMTP) simulations for a typical 400 kV power system.

VIII. APPENDIX A

Transmission Line Configuration:

TABLE I
ATP CONDUCTOR AND TOWER CONFIGURATION DATA FOR A 400
TRANSMISSION LINE

[8] [9]
[10] [1 1] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Ph
1 2 3

skin
0.374 0.374
0.374

0.5
0.5

Resistance [Q/km DC] 0.05165 0.05165 0.05165

0.36 0.36

Rout [cm] 3.284 3.284 3.284 1.46 1.46

Ph

Horiz

1 2 3 0

[m]
11 0 -11
-6
6

Vtower

[m]
24 24 24 33 33

Vmid

[m]
10 10 10 20 20

Seper [cm]
45 45 45 0 0

NB
2 2 2 0

[16]

LINE LENGTHS OF THE 400 KV POWER SYSTEM OL- KA OL-RA OL-UL KA-HY KA-AJ ES- HY ES- RA ES- UL AJ-UL

[17] [18]

163 km 14 km 47 km 131 km 173 km 81 km 238 km 251 km 233 km

IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

[19]

[20] [21]

The financial support partially provided by the Libyan Authority of Graduate Studies and the Power System and High Voltage Engineering Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology are thankfully acknowledged.
X. REFERENCES [1] [2]
T. W. Stringfeild, D.J. Mahart and R.F.Stevens, "Fault Location Methods for Overhead Lines", AIEE Transactions, pp. 157-160, August, 1957. N. El-Hami, L. Lai, D. Daruvala, and A. Johns, "A new traveling-wave based scheme for fault detection on overhead power distribution feeders," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 7, pp. 1825-1833, Oct. 1992. Y. G. Paithankar and M. T. Sant, " A new algorithm for relaying and fault location based on auto-correlation of travelling waves ", Electric Power Systems Research, Volume 8, Issue 2, March 1985, Pages 179-185. Rajendra S, McLaren PG. Traveling-wave techniques applied to protection of teed circuits: Principle of traveling wave techniques IEEE Trans PAS, 1985, 104, Page(s): 3544-3550. Rajendra S, McLaren PG. Traveling wave techniques applied to the protection of teed circuits: Multi phase/multi circuit system. IEEE Trans PAS 1985;104, Page(s): 3551-3557. Christopoulos C, Thomas D, Wright A. Scheme, based on travellingwaves, for the protection of major transmission lines. IEEE Proc C 1988, pp. 63-73. Aurangzeb, M.; Crossley, P.A.; Gale, P.; "Fault location using the high frequency traveling waves measured at a single location on a transmission line ", Developments in Power System Protection, 2001,

Seventh International Conference on (IEE), 9-12 April 2001 Page(s): 403 -406. Alternative Transient Program, RuleBook, 1987. D. A. Douglass, "Current transformer accuracy with asymmetric and high frequency fault current", IEEE Trans-PAS, Vol. 100, No. 3, March 1981. L. M. Wedepohl, " Application of matrix methods to the solution of traveling wave phenomena in polyphase systems, " Proc. IEE, vol. 110, no. 12, pp. 2200-2212, Dec. 1963. E. Clarke, " Circuit Analysis of AC Power Systems, Symmetrical and Related Components", Wiley, NewYork, 1943. Robertson, D. C.; Camps, 0. I.; Mayer, J. S. & Gish, W. B.: Wavelets and electromagnetic power system transients, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, April 1996, Page(s): 1050 -1058 Daubechies I. " Ten lectures on wavelets ", SIAM; 1992. L. Prikler, H. K. H0idalen, "ATPDRAW version 3.5 Users' Manual", October 2002. A. Abur and F. H. Magnago, " Use of time delays between modal components in wavelet based fault location ", International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, Volume 22, Issue 6, August 2000, Pages: 397-403. T. Mustafa, D. Thomas, C. Christopoulos, and A Raizer, " Comparison of Simulated and Recorded Transients for Traveling Wave Fault Location ", 2003 IEEE Bologna Power Tech Conference, June 23th26th, Bologna, Italy. G. B. Ancell and N. C. Pahalawaththa, "Maximum likelihood estimation of fault location on transmission lines using traveling waves," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 9, pp. 680-689, Apr. 1994. T. Takagi, Y. Yamakoshi, M. Yamura, R. Kondow, and T. Matsushima, "Development of a new type fault locator using the one terminal voltage and current data," IEEE Trans. Power Apparat. Syst., vol. PAS-10 1, pp. 2892-2898, Aug. 1982. G. B. Ancell and N. C. Pahalawaththa, "Effects of frequency dependence and line parameters on single ended traveling wave based fault location schemes," Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., pt. C, vol. 139, no. 4, pp. 332-342, July 1992. Z. Galijasevic and A. Abur, "Fault area estimation via intelligent processing of fault-induced transients" Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on, Volume: 18, Issue: 4, pp 1241- 1247, Nov. 2003. E. W.Dijkstra, "A note on two problems in connexion with graphs," Numer. Math., vol. 1, pp. 269-271, 1959.

XI. BIOGRAPHIES
Abdelsalam Elhaffar (1966) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Garyounis University, Libya, in 1989, 1999 respectively. His employment experience included: protection engineer, General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), Assistant lecturer at Engineering Faculty, Garyounis university. He is currently pursuing the D.Sc. degree in transmission line fault location (Helsinki University of Technology, Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering, P.O.Box 3000, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland, Tel. +358 9 4512422, Fax +358 9 4515012, E-mail:

Ehffan,jeor)

[3]

Matti Lehtonen (1959) was with VTT Energy, Espoo, Finland from 1987 to 2003, and since 1999 has been a professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, where he is now head of Power Systems and High Voltage

[4] [5] [6] [7]

Engineering. Matti Lehtonen received both his Master's and Licentiate degrees in Electrical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology, in 1984 and 1989 respectively, and the Doctor of Technology degree from Tampere University of Technology in 1992. The main activities of Dr. Lehtonen include earth fault problems, harmonic related issues and applications of information technology in distribution systems and distribution energy management. (Helsinki University of Technology, Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering, P.O.Box 3000, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland, Tel. +358 9 4515484, Fax +358 9 460224, E-mail:Matti.Lehtonenahuffi)