IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO.
2, APRIL 2010
Unsynchronized Fault-Location Scheme for
Nonlinear HIF in Transmission Lines
Doaa Khalil Ibrahim, Member, IEEE, El Sayed Tag Eldin, Senior Member, IEEE, Essam El-Din Abou El-Zahab, and
Saber Mohamed Saleh
AbstractThe general aim of this paper is to develop an accu-
rate fault-location scheme that can solve the problems affecting
the accuracy of the existing conventional fault locators achieving
easier maintenance and restoration time reduction as well as eco-
nomical aims. This consequently helps to fit the new deregulation
policies and competitive marketing. This investigation successfully
applies zero-sequence current (3 0 ) from the two terminals for
earth high impedance fault (HIF) location, or negative-sequence
currents from the two terminals of one faulted phase for line-to-line
fault location. The HIF location is determined within only a max-
imum time of one cycle. The proposed scheme is insensitive to vari-
ations of different parameters, such as fault type, HIF behavior,
wide-range transmission-line parameters variation, and fault in-
ception angle. Staged fault testing results demonstrate that the pro-
posed algorithm has feasible performance.
Index TermsDouble-fed circuit, fault location, high impedance
fault (HIF).
I. INTRODUCTION
IGH impedance faults (HIFs) are difficult to be detected
H or located through conventional protection relays, such
as distance relays. When a conductor makes contact with a poor
conductive surface, the resulting level of fault current is usually
lower than the nominal current of the system at that fault lo-
cation. Therefore, a conventional relay system will not be able
to detect and trip HIFs effectively. The failure of HIF detection
may lead to potential hazards to humans and fires [1].
Transmission-line fault location techniques can be classified
into two categories: 1) methods using data from one terminal
and 2) methods using data from two terminals of transmission
line. It is well known that these techniques based on two-ter-
minals data require communication links and synchronized
sampling equipment [2]. With more complex synchronized
sampling, such as the global positioning system (GPS) method,
these communication techniques will increase the investment
and affect the accuracy of location results.
Conventional fault-location methods can be broadly clas-
sified into two types: 1) the impedance methods and 2) the
Manuscript received November 23, 2008; revised August 29, 2009. First pub-
lished February 05, 2010; current version published March 24, 2010. Paper no.
TPWRD-00876-2008.
D. K. Ibrahim, E. S. T. Eldin, and E. Aboul-Zahab are with Faculty of
Engineering, Electrical Power and Machines Department, Cairo University,
Cairo 12613, Egypt (e-mail: doaakhalil73@gawab.com; stageldin@ieee.org;
zahab0@hotmail.com).
S. M. Saleh is with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Helwan 12816,
Egypt (e-mail: sabermssh@yahoo.com).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2009.2036182
0885-8977/$26.00 2010 IEEE
631
traveling-wave methods. The impedance method determines
the fault position by measuring the impedance from the relay
end to the fault point, making the assumption that the line
impedance is linear with distance variation. Obviously, it is
based on power frequency measurement and affected by many
factors of power frequency phenomena, such as fault path
resistance, line loading, and source parameters, etc. Therefore,
the accuracy of the impedance-based fault location methods
is limited [3][5]. Traveling-wave methods are independent
of fault resistance, prefault loading, and source parameters;
however, present traveling wave-based fault location methods
cannot accurately separate the traveling wave which reveals
the fault position from other waves of different frequencies, for
example, the oscillation and multiple reflection waves gener-
ated by fault transients, although the wavelet transform is used
for signal processing. Moreover, the traveling-wave method
could not reliably locate the fault occurring at the point close
to buses [6][8]. High-frequency transients-based methods are
similar to the traveling-wave based method, and suffer the same
limitations [9].
In the following sections, detailed descriptions of the pro-
posed fault-location algorithm are introduced, and then the pro-
posed scheme is fully tested with different fault conditions.
II. PROPOSED FAULT-LOCATION ALGORITHM
The information that can be obtained from the nonlinear HIF
becomes very difficult when determining the fault location, be-
cause the amplitudes of the voltage and the current signals are
not affected by this type of fault for the sending and receiving
end, respectively (Vs, Vr), as shown in Fig. 1. This paper de-
scribes a fault-location technique that depends on calculating
the system offline zero and negative-sequence impedance as a
function of fault location. This method depends on determining
the location via the unsynchronized root mean square (rms)
value of the sending and receiving end zero-sequence currents
for ground faults, or the rms value of the sending and receiving
negative-sequence currents for line faults.
The proposed method overcomes the synchronization prob-
lems and is independent of the fault location. The percentage
error of applying this method according to constant line parame-
ters did not exceed 2% of the total line length. This method is in-
dependent of the HIF model. The percentage error in fault-loca-
tion calculation according to the 20% variation of the studied
line parameters did not exceed 4.2% of the total line length.
A. Modeling of the Power System
Simulation studies using the Alternative Transients Program
(ATP)/Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) for the
632
Fig. 1. Voltage and current signals at the sending and receiving ends for the
HIF occurred at 40 ms.
Fig. 2. Single-line diagram of the 345-kV double-end transmission-line
system.
studied power system are used in the configuration system
shown in Fig. 2. For testing the proposed scheme, the two
ended current signals of a one cycle after fault occurrence
are presented to the proposed algorithm. The line length of
the transmission-line system under consideration is 100 km.
Simulation details are given in Table VII.
B. Modeling of HIF
There is an increasing demand for more detailed and accu-
rate modeling techniques for predicting the transient response of
power systems caused by high-impedance arcing faults. This is
particularly so in relation to the design and development of im-
proved equipment and new protection techniques. An accurate
prediction of the fault transients requires a detailed and com-
prehensive presentation of all the components in a system. Fur-
thermore, the transient studies have to be conducted into the fre-
quency range well above the normal power frequency.
The HIF is a very complex phenomenon and exhibits a very
highly nonlinear behavior. The most distinctive characteris-
tics are buildup, shoulder, nonlinearity, and asymmetry. In
the buildup, the fault current grows to its maximum value in
about tens of cycles and in the shoulder; the buildup ceases
for a few cycles. The nonlinearity rises from the fact that the
voltagecurrent characteristic curve of HIF is nonlinear. It
is observed that fault current has a different waveform for
positive and negative half cycle, which is called asymmetry.
The buildup and shoulder disappear in the steady state after
HIF, while nonlinearity and asymmetry exist at every cycle
after HIF.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 2, APRIL 2010
Fig. 3. Simplified two-diodes fault model of HIFs.
Fig. 4. Typical voltage and current of HIF at the single-line-to-ground fault
(occurring at 20 ms and 25 km from the relay location).
Two models of HIF that have been proposed in the past based
on the arc theory are scaled up to the transmission voltage level
that is used for testing the proposed fault-location scheme.
1) First HIF Model: A simplified two-diodes model of HIF
is used in the simulation [10]. The circuit of the HIFs model
is shown in Fig. 3. This HIF model is based on arcing in sandy
soil. The model includes two dc sources: 1) Vp and 2) Vn which
present the arcing voltages of air in soil and/or between the trees
and line. Two resistancesRp and Rnbetween the diodes and
dc voltages present the resistance of trees and/or earth resis-
tance. In order to simulate asymmetric current, different values
of Rp and Rn are used. When the line voltage is greater than
the positive dc voltage Vp, the fault current starts flowing to-
ward the ground. The fault current reverses backward from the
ground when the line voltage is less than the negative dc voltage
Vn. In case of the line voltage being in the value between Vp
and Vn, the line voltage is counterbalanced by Vp or Vn so that
no fault current flows. The typical fault current and voltage are
shown in Fig. 4.
2) Second HIF Model: Another model of HIF is presented
by two resistances connected in series and takes the form [11]:
(1)
IBRAHIM et al.: UNSYNCHRONIZED FAULT-LOCATION SCHEME
Fig. 5. V-I characteristic of R (t) in the HIF model.
Fig. 6. Faulted double-fed transmission line.
In this equation, has a periodic characteristic and is used
to present nonlinearity and asymmetry. The value of is ob-
tained from the voltage and current characteristic during steady
state as shown in Fig. 5. When the voltage of the faulted branch
is in the range of and the corresponding
current is , is given by
(2)
where is the point number on the voltagecurrent character-
istic curve. On the other hand, buildup and shoulder do not have
a periodic characteristic and exist only for a few cycles after the
HIF. is used to simulate these characteristics by assigning
a very large value at the beginning of the HIF then gradually de-
creases that value in the transient state and finally becomes zero
in the steady state.
The value of for the no-shoulder case is found by in-
spection as
(3)
C. Fault-Location Methodology
To calculate the fault location in the faulted double set trans-
mission line shown in Fig. 6, the proposed scheme utilizes the
faulted double-fed transmission-line zero-sequence current and
impedance, or the negative-sequence current and impedance as
follows:
633
1) For Ground Fault Occurring at Distance From the First
Source 1 Utilizing the Zero-Sequence Circuit of the Faulted
Line as Follows:
(4)
where
zero-sequence source impedances for
source 1, 2, respectively;
zero-sequence currents supplied from
source 1, 2, respectively.
Then, the fault distance can be calculated as
(5)
2) For a Line Fault Occurring at Distance From the First
Source 1 Utilizing the Negative-Sequence Circuit of the Faulted
Line as Follows:
(6)
where
negative-sequence source impedances for
source 1, 2, respectively;
negative-sequence currents supplied from
source 1, 2, respectively.
Then, the fault distance can be calculated as
(7)
III. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED FAULT LOCATOR
The fault-location scheme is initiated by any detection
schemes or by the proposed detection scheme in [12]. Fig. 7
describes the fault-location flowchart that has been started from
634
Fig. 7. Fault-locator flowchart.
calculating the sending-end-side rms zero-sequence currents
for fault classification as a line or ground fault as follows.
If the fault is classified as an earth fault (LLG or LG)
then, by calculating the rms zero-sequence current for each
side by using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) for one
cycle, the fault location is determined by using unsynchro-
nized data substitution in (5).
On the other hand, if the fault is classified as a line fault
(LL or LLLG), then one of the faulted phases is selected by
simple comparison of the sending-end data. The rms neg-
ative-sequence current for each side is calculated by using
the DFT for half A cycle, and then the fault distance will
be determined by using unsynchronized data substitution
in (7).
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND ALGORITHM VALIDATION
To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach,
ATPEMTP modeling for the transposed distributed parameter
transmission line and two HIF models is introduced.
Simulated fault cases were selected at different locations cov-
ering the entire range of the line including very short distances,
such as 1% of the line.
All possible fault types (phase to ground, double phase to
ground, line-to-line fault, and three-phases-to-ground fault
cases) were tested to determine the maximum percentage error
of the estimated distance as a percentage of the total line length
[3][9]
(8)
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 2, APRIL 2010
TABLE I
FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR FOR THE FIRST HIF MODEL
where
actual fault location;
calculated fault location using the proposed scheme;
percentage error;
total line length.
Complete simulation studies for different fault effects, such as
fault inception angles, are carried out. The samples of tests will
be shown in the following subsections.
A. Effect of Fault Type
Tables I and II estimated the percentage error for different
fault types of the two HIF models. As shown, the proposed al-
gorithm determines the HIF locations with an accuracy to not
exceed 2% of the total line length and not affected by fault type.
B. Effect of Fault Inception Angle
Tables III and IV estimated the percentage error for a different
fault inception angle for the two HIF models. As shown, the pro-
posed algorithm determines the HIF locations with an accuracy
not to exceed 2% from the total line length and not affected by
the fault inception angles with respect to different fault types.
C. Effect of Transmission-Line Parameters Variation
For most fault-location algorithms, the locator setting is ad-
justed offline with precalculated parameters of the system. How-
ever, these parameters may significantly change during the on-
line operation and consequently a measurable amount of errors
IBRAHIM et al.: UNSYNCHRONIZED FAULT-LOCATION SCHEME 635

TABLE II TABLE IV
FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR FOR THE SECOND HIF MODEL FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR AT DIFFERENT
INCEPTION ANGLES FOR THE SECOND HIF MODEL

TABLE V
FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR AT 20%+
TRANSMISSION-LINE PARAMETERS VARIATION

TABLE III
FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR AT DIFFERENT
INCEPTION ANGLES FOR THE FIRST HIF MODEL

can be added to measured values. Different reasons may con-

tribute to this problem, such as miscalibration, tab changing,
conductor height variation, ground resistance, and inaccurate
manufacturing data. Therefore, it can be considered as one of
the most challenging problems that all fault-location algorithms
can face. Thus, it is important to evaluate the behavior of the pro-
posed approach under this condition; thus, different cases were
carried out.
Tables V and VI estimated the percentage error in fault-loca-
tion estimation for different single line to ground with the wide
line parameters variation 20% and 20%, respectively, for the
two implemented HIF models. As shown, the proposed algo-
rithm determines the HIF locations with an accuracy not to ex-
ceed 4.2% of the total line length for these wide range variations.
636
TABLE VI
FAULT-LOCATION PERCENTAGE ERROR AT 20%0
TRANSMISSION-LINE PARAMETERS VARIATION
TABLE VII
PARAMETERS OF THE SIMULATION SYSTEM
V. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a technique for HIF location in
double-fed circuit transmission lines within only a max-
imum time of one cycle for the earth faults and a maximum
time of a half cycle for the line faults. The proposed algorithm
was tested on two different high-impedance earth fault models
with changed transmission-line parameters.
This algorithm presented herein has a number of distinct ad-
vantages as follows.
It completely locates the HIF in a very quick manner (just
one cycle of a total maximum time).
It is independent of the HIFs model configuration.
Its location accuracy is not affected by different fault types,
such as LG, LL, LLG, and LLLG.
It depends on current signals only.
Its accuracy errors do not exceed 2% for different fault
conditions with accurate line parameters.
Its accuracy errors do not exceed 4.2% with a wide range
of line parameters variation of 20%.
In addition, the proposed technique is simple. It could be used
for updating, improving, and refurbishing the existing protec-
tion systems since this algorithm can be added to the existing
digital relay microprocessor.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 2, APRIL 2010
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Doaa Khalil Ibrahim (M06) was born in Egypt in
December 1973. She received the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in digital protection from Cairo University,
Cairo, Egypt, in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
From 1996 to 2005, she was a Demonstrator and
Research Assistant with Cairo University. In 2005,
she became an Assistant Professor with Cairo Univer-
sity. From 2005 to 2008, she contributed to a World
Bank Project in Higher Education Development in
Egypt. Since 2009, she has contributed to the Pro-
gram of Continuous Improvement and Qualification
for Accreditation in Higher Education in Egypt. Her research interests include
digital protection of power system as well as utilization and generation of elec-
tric power and renewable energy sources.
El Sayed Tag Eldin (SM04) was born in Egypt. He
received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in high-voltage
engineering from Cairo University, Cairo Egypt, in
1996 and 2000, respectively.
In 2000 and 2005, he became an Assistant Pro-
fessor and Associate Professor with Cairo University,
Cairo, Egypt, while continuing his research. He was
active in a UNDP/GEF Project for Energy Efficiency
Improvement and Greenhouse Gas Reduction and in
a World Bank Project in Higher Education Develop-
ment in Egypt. His research interests include electric
fields near power lines, risk analysis, harmonics, power quality, digital protec-
tion, and digital signal processing. Currently, he is Cultural and Scientific At-
tach and Deputy Director of the Egyptian study mission in the embassy of the
Arab Republic of Egypt, Berlin, on leave from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo
University.
IBRAHIM et al.: UNSYNCHRONIZED FAULT-LOCATION SCHEME
Essam El-Din Abou El-Zahab received the B.Sc.
and M.Sc. degrees in electrical power and machines
from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt, in 1970 and
1974, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical
power from Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, in 1979.
Currently, he is a Professor in the Department of
Electrical Power and Machines at Cairo University.
He was an Instructor in the Department of Electrical
Power and Machines at Cairo University from 1970
to 1974. His research areas include protection system,
renewable energy, and power distribution. He is also
the author or coauthor of many referenced journal and conference papers.
637
Saber Mohamed Saleh was born in Egypt in July
1975. He received the M.Sc. degree in digital protec-
tion from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, in 2005.
Since 2001, he has been a Senior Protection En-
gineer with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy,
Kureimat Power Station, Egypt. He joined the Ph.D.
program in electrical engineering at Cairo University
in 2005.