ABSTRACT

In this study, a new approach is proposed forfault estimation in high voltage direct current
transmission lines using discrete wavelet transform and extreme learning machine.
Recently, signal processing and intelligent systems have gained importance to ease very
different tasks such as fault location and estimation, load estimations, reactive power
compensation, the risk of blackouts. Therefore, a fast, accurate and reliable protection
algorithms have a major interest in the extended usage of high voltage direct current
systems for many areas. In this study, single phase-ground faults on DC lines examined and
a new machine learning approach also discussed. The virtual faults obtained from Matlab
simulation is utilized in the course of feature extraction of the wavelet transform.
Furthermore, for identifying steady state and faulted condition, Shannon entropy and
signal's energy values have been calculated by using coefficients of the wavelet transform.
After that, the coefficients normalized between [-1,1]. Finally, the extreme learning
machine used to fault estimation and location process. Index Terms-Discrete wavelet
transform, extreme learning machines, machine learning methods, high voltage direct
current.

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 CONTENT

1.Introduction 5
2. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)
2.1 HVDC 6
22 Link with the grid: the converter station 6
2.3 Advantages of HVDC 7
3. HVDC Submarine cable
3.1 Submarine cable 8
3.2 Geographical distribution 9

4. Submarine cable faults

4.1 Types of subsea fault 10
5. Fault location techniques
5.1 Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) 11
5.1.1 Mathematical models 12
5.1.2 Simulation models 13
5.2 Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) 15
5.4Time Frequency Domain Reflectometry (TFDR) 16
5.4.1 Euclidean distance 17

5.4.3 Reliability Information 18

6. Experimental setup 19

7. Conclusion 20

8. References 21

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 2.1 HVDC block diagram 6
Fig. 2.2 Simplified sketch of a converter station 7
Fig3.1 HVDC submarine cable 8
Fig3.2 cross section view of HVDC submarine cable 8

Fig3.4 submarine cable network 9

Fig4.1 cable break fault 10

Fig4.2 open fault 10

Fig. 5.1 schematic setup for TDR 12

Equivalent Petersen model for solving the wave propagation

Fig 5.2 at the end of the transmission lines
13
Simulation model to find the incoming wave and the reflected
Fig 5.3 wave of a fault-free 3-phase transmission line
13
Simulation model to find the incoming wave and the reflected
Fig 5.4 wave of a faulty 3-phase transmission
13
The form of the voltage at the beginning of the line when the
Fig 5.5 load is purely resistance
14
The form of the voltage at the beginning of the line when the
Fig 5.6 load is series R-L
14
Fig 5.7 Zoomed in signal from Fig.5.6 at the 1st reflection 14
The form of the voltage at the beginning of the line when the
Fig 5.8 load is parallel R-C
15

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Fig 5.9 Procedure of TFDR 16

Illustration of Euclidean distance (dE) and tangent

Fig. 5.10 distance (dT ) for time-frequency distributions.
17
Fig 6.1 Experimental system for TFDR 19

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 1.INTRODUCTION

HIGH-VOLTAGE DIRECT CURRENT (HVDC) system is one of the fastest growing

technologies in electric power systems, owing to its advantages in long-distance power
transmission and capability of interconnections.
Fault localization is one of the significant aspects in the protection and diagnosis of HVDC
cable. Especially, it is much more important to HVDC submarine cable due to its special
installation environment. Unlike an underground cable installed in tunnel, operator cannot
check the status of the submarine cable by visual inspection. Moreover, in order to repair a
fault on submarine cable, a fault point should be picked up exactly to the repair ship.
In case of Basslink interconnector between mainland of Australia, Victoria and northern
Tasmania, operations are interrupted by a unexpected fault on December 2015. Because the
Basslink has the world’s second longest submarine cable length-290 km, it takes half year to
locate the fault and return to normal operation. The operators of Basslink employ time domain
reflectometry (TDR), optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR), and more than 20 remotely
operated vehicle (ROV) to locate the fault. Also, more than 500 hours of visual imagery and
data are collected to estimate fault location. As the Basslink case, huge economical losses can
occur from a few errors, and fault localization technique has enormous significance in HVDC
submarine cable.
Time domain reflectometry and frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) are well known off-
line fault localization methods and have been applied to various types of cable. However, the
accuracy of TDR and FDR are limited clearly. The rise time and frequency sweep bandwidth
affect the performance of each method, and both methods are vulnerable to noise. Also, the
limitations are more severe in application to submarine cable because of a long length of the
cable.

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 2.HIGH VOLTAGE DIRECT CURRENT(HVDC)

2.1 High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) - “A high voltage, direct current electric power
transmission system uses direct current for the bulk transmission of electrical power, in
contrast with the more common alternating current(AC) system.”

2.2 Link with the grid: the converter station –

Power grids are mostly operating using AC. When there is a need to use DC to transmit power
between two AC grids the conversion of AC to DC and back occurs in the so-called converter
stations. There is one at each end of the DC line: one that transforms AC into DC to be used in
cable (rectifier) and one that transforms DC from cable back to AC to be used in the
transmission and distribution grid (inverter). A simplified sketch of such an interconnection is
represented in Fig.
2.3 Advantages HVDC-

The advantage of HVDC is the ability to transmit large amounts of power over long distances
with lower capital costs and with lower losses than AC. Depending on voltage level and
construction details, losses are quoted as about 3% per 1000km. High-voltage direct current
transmission allows use of energy sources remote from load centers.

Endpoint-to-endpoint long-haul bulk power transmission without intermediate 'taps', for

example, in remote areas. Increasing the capacity of an existing power grid in situations where
additional wires are difficult or expensive to install. Allowing power transmission between
unsynchronized AC distribution system. Reducing the profile of wiring and pylons or a given
power transmission capacity. Reducing line cost since HVDC transmission requires fewer
conductors (i.e. 2 conductors; one is positive another is negative). Long undersea cables have
a high capacitance. This voltage determines the insulation thickness and conductor spacing.
This allows existing transmission line corridors to be used to carry more power into an area of
high power consumption, which can lower costs.
 3.HVDC SUBMARINE CABLE
3.1 Submarine cable -

A submarine power cable is a major transmission cable for carrying electric power below the
surface of the water. These are called "submarine" because they usually carry electric power
beneath salt water (arms of the ocean, seas, straits, etc.) but it is also possible to use submarine
power cables beneath fresh water (large lakes and rivers)
3.2 Geographical distribution -

Expanding communication and ending isolation made sea divided regions to come into
contact by laying down cables to connect their communication and power networks. At the
moment there are almost 8000 km of HVDC submarine power cables in the world (Fig. 9) but
the total length of cables laid down on the seabed reaches a staggering number of 106 km, i.e.
mainly communication cables. However, with the continuous development at the present
construction rate, submarine cables will become an ubiquitous element in the power
transmission landscape.
The first commercial HVDC submarine cable was built and laid down in 1954 in
Sweden by ABB linking the island of Gotland with the mainland. Its voltage was 100
kV and the capacity 20 MW. The length was 90 km.
 4.SUBMARINE CABLE FAULT
4.1 Types of subsea fault-

Type 1 fault - Cable break for the cable being cut, with a break in the electrical
insulation between seawater and the power-feeding conductor.

Type 2 fault - Open fault for the cable being cut, without breaking the electrical
insulation between seawater and the power-feeding conductor.

Type 3 fault - Shunt fault for a break in the electrical insulation between seawater
and the power-feeding conductor, without this conductor itself been.

Type 4 fault – low resistance fault; with a resistance below 100 Ω (TDR
technology defines a threshold of 100 Ω).
Type 5 fault - high resistance faults, with a resistance in the kilo ohm range.
 5.FAULT LOCATION TECHNICS
The faults can happen to transmission lines at any time, any places and caused by different
reasons. An accurate and fast solution to detect, locate and isolate the faults will improve the
quality of the power systems’ performance.

The electric system is a complex system in both structure and operation so the faults of any
element in the system will affect the power supply reliability, power quality. Some fault can
be serious and may cause massive economic damage. Therefore, the identification and fast fix
of faults on transmission lines to reduce the economic losses and to improve the reliability and
quality of electricity supply to the consumers is very necessary. When the faults have
happened, the protection element acted to isolate the faults. Later we need to locate the
position of the fault.

There are some proposed method for locate the fault in submarine cable like time domain
reflectometry (TDR), frequency domain reflectometry (FDR), time - frequency domain
reflectometry (TFDR).

5.1 Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) –

When the faults have happened, the protection element acted to isolate the faults. Later we
need to locate the position of the fault.

One of the proposed methods is the time domain reflectometry (TDR). This method will use a
pulse generator circuit (voltage /current) at the beginning of the transmission line. After
sending the pulse into the line, we will track and record the reflected signal. The analysis of
reflected waveforms on the transmission lines to detect the fault location and to estimate the
fault resistance and the load characteristics.
5.1.1MATHEMATICAL MODELS OF WAVE PROPAGATION ON TRANSMISSION
LINES –

When t = 0, we switch on a voltage source Vinc (t) to the beginning of the line, which causes
the energy to be transmitted along the line in the form of a variable magnetic field. The
electromagnetic waves will spread from the start to the end of lines. When it encounters the
branching points, the fault point or when it reach the end of the line, part of the wave energy
will return in the form of a reflected signal, the rest will be refracted into the load or on the
back line branching points or faults. where, t1 is point time of closing voltage and t2 is the
time point of reflected signal from the end of the line.
 figures 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8 shows signal the measured signal which has two sudden times very
clearly at t =~ 2 ms and 2,678 ms. It was the time that the voltage source is turned on to the
line and when the reflected signal from the end of the line arrives. If we can calculate exactly
the arrival/appearance time, from Eq. (2) we will estimate the speed of wave propagation on
the line and analysis the reflected waveforms on the transmission lines to detect the load
characteristics. Specifically, if the reflected signal is a squared wave, we have resistive loads.
If the reflected signal is a damping with positive signs, the load is a R in series with a L and
when it is negative, the load is a R in parallel with a C.

5.2 frequency domain Reflectometry (FDR) –

“The Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) Mode provides a tool for determining the
distance to fault (DTF) of cable systems. The mode works by sending a sweep into the cable
and analyzing the complex reflected wave to determine the distance to various sources of
reflection (opens, shorts, splitters, etc.). The reflecting events are indicated on an amplitude
versus distance display, and markers are used to identify the distance to the source of the
reflection, and the return loss at that point.”
5.4 Time frequency domain Reflectometry (TFDR) -

Reflectometry is well-known cable diagnostic methodology due to its non-destructive

characteristic. Due to limitation of TDR & FDR Time Frequency Domain
Reflectometry(TFDR) method is proposed. The main idea of TFDR is to use a reference signal
that has both time and frequency domain localization. TFDR uses a Gaussian enveloped linear
chirp signal whose instantaneous frequency increases linearly as a reference and it could be
expressed as follows:
5.4.1 Euclidean distance –

Among all the image metrics, Euclidean distance (dE) is the most commonly used due to its
simplicity. It is a direct or ordinary distance between two points in the Euclidean space.

In conventional TFDR, time-frequency cross-correlation is used to calculate the similarity

between TFDS(t; ω) and TFDR(t; ω). Both time-frequency distributions should be normalized
by their energy for fair comparison in advance. In the normalized condition, the time-
frequency cross correlation can be exactly derived from Euclidean distance (dE) between two
distributions vice versa.

where dEmax is defined as a maximum value of dE, and σE is bounded between 0 to 1. Note
that the Euclidean distance (dE) and the similarity (σE) in the above equations are time
varying quantities and dE and σE should be calculated every point of cable.
5.4.3 Reliability Information –

In TFDR, users can acquire fault location information from the Euclidean distance between
reference and reflected signal. However, TFDR results are combined with actual reflected
signal from fault, artifact, and multiple reflected signal called “ghost.” Thus, it is hard to
classify the results into actual fault and the others by using only the fault location information.
Users cannot trust the TFDR results entirely and determine a threshold to classify the results.
The uncertainty in the case of submarine cables is more crucial than that in the case of
conventional underground cable systems, owing to their lengths.
In this proposed method, users can attain a reliability information from a tangent distance. A
difference between σT and σE is defined as reliability (R). Reliability (R) is higher when a
shape of distribution is more
similar with that of a linear chirp signal. Also, reliability (R) is proportional with the amount
of signal attenuation and dispersion during the propagation.
By utilizing both the fault localization results and reliability, users can judge undoubtedly that
the concerned point is actual fault point or not. Reliability function R can be defined as
follows:
R=σt −σe
To acquire only a meaningful reliability and make the algorithm robust against noise, a
threshold ɳ should be chosen.
 6.EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

To demonstrate fault localization technique on HVDC cable which includes procedures of

TFDR and tangent distance pattern recognition, an experimental TFDR system is organized.
The system is composed of an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), digital phosphor
oscilloscope (DPO), and signal processing system. The three instruments are connected to
each other by general purpose interface bus (GPIB) to control all instruments automatically.

A HVDC submarine cable is targeted to verify the fault localization technique. A rating
voltage of the cable is 180 kV and a size of the conductor is 800 mm2. In this experiment, 36
m of concrete test bed is constructed. After construction, the test bed is filled with the sea
water. Two identical cables are installed in the test bed. One is a normal HVDC cable and the

other is a cable with a fault at 49 m.

 CONCLUSION

In this report, an improved fault localization technique via TFDR and tangent distance pattern
recognition is proposed. In TFDR, a similarity based on Euclidean distance is applied to
locate a fault. In addition, a reliability that can support the results of TFDR is acquired
through tangent distance pattern recognition. Cable failure on HVDC cable is localized more
accurately and confirmatively by using both fault location and reliability information. The
proposed method is demonstrated in the Gochang power testing center targeting a commercial
HVDC submarine cable. Moreover, local insulation faults are formed by sea water to emulate
both low- and high-impedance faults. Experiments of faults cannot be performed in the real-
world power systems under operation, the method is verified in the small scale test bed.
However, since the proposed method is adjustable with respect to the length of the cable, the
method can be applied to the real-world long distance HVDC systems with the same principle.
We expect the proposed method to be a key technology to improve the reliability of HVDC
system operation, and to become applicable to real-world HVDC electric power systems in
the future.
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