CHAPTER – 1

1. INTRODUCTION
Till last decades cables were made to lay overhead& currently it is lay to underground
cable which is superior to earlier method. Because the underground cable are not affected by
any adverse weather condition such as storm, snow, heavy rainfall as well as pollution. But
when any fault occur in cable, then it is difficult to locate fault. So we will move to find the
exact location of fault.
Now the world is become digitalized so the project is intended to detect the location of
fault in digital way. The underground cable system is more common practice followed in many
urban areas. While fault occurs for some reason, at that time the repairing process related to
that particular cable is difficult due to not knowing the exact location of cable fault. Fault in
cable is represented as:
• Any defect,
• Inconsistency,
• Weakness or non-homogeneity that affect performance of cable .
• Current is diverted from the intended path .
• Caused by breaking of conductor& failure of insulation

1.1 BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DEFINITION STATEMENT

Power supply companies are sometimes forced to employ underground power
transmission and distribution lines rather than their overhead counterparts. This is mostly for
safety and neatness reasons. Currently, the Tanzania electric supply company (TANESCO) has
a limited length of underground and marine power lines but have plans to employ underground
power lines in distribution level especially in urban areas. One major project is already on-
going in Ilala area, Dar-Es-Salaam city. One of the major challenges associated with
underground power cables is the difficulty in locating the actual point of fault and
consequently prolonged ‘out of service’ time. Currently there is no perfect fault location
system for underground power cable and this introduces an issue to fault location in the marine
and the expected underground distribution lines.
The process of fault detection, location and fixing appears much more difficult and time
consuming in underground systems as compared to overhead systems solely because the utility
company currently lacks a proper fault location technique. This project has aimed at designing
and building an accurate and affordable system of underground cable fault detection and
location.

1
1.2 PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS
The proposed system performs according to the following technical specifications:
i) The system detects and locates short circuit faults of line to ground categories.
ii) The system is able to detect and locate the fault by indicating both fault current
and distance in kilometers from the control room of the substation.
The following were the chief constraints to this project.
i) Inadequacy of funds for research and physical implementation. The amount of
money issued by sponsors was 100,000 TZS only.

1.3 TIME LIMITATION

The available time for accomplishment of the project was limited to eight months. This
was not sufficient for undertaking researches on all aspects required for the accomplishment of
this project and in turn led to omission of some of the aspects as well as narrowing the scope of
the project which otherwise would have covered all types of faults.

1.4 PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1.4.1 Main objective
To come up with a relatively affordable fault detection and location system that will
mitigate the hardships associated with fault detection and location in underground power
distribution system.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

i) To establish the extent of underground power distribution lines use in Tanzania and the
challenges associated with fault detection and location in them so as to justify the need
for this project.
ii) To evaluate various cable parameters monitoring technologies in practice.
iii) To select components and design the functional parts of the proposed system which
include the display unit, ADC, the DC power supply, the cable parameter sensing
circuit and the switchgear.
iv) To prepare a relevant program by using the Atmel studio 7 software that will drive the
microcontroller.
v) To construct a prototype for underground cable fault detecting and locating system by
integrating all the functional components.

2
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
Though faults occurring in power systems include both short and open circuit faults,
this project concentrated on detection and location of line to ground short circuit faults. The
major reasons to omission of other types of faults were the ones stated under the section of
constraints.
1.6 DELIVERABLES
The following are the deliverables of this project.
i) B. O. Q of the project.
ii) Software model of the system.
iii) Physical prototype of the system.
Fault in cable can be classified in two groups
1)Open circuit fault
These faults occur due to the failure of one or more conductors. The most common
causes of these faults include joint failures of cables and overhead lines, and failure of one or
more phase of circuit breaker and also due to melting of a fuse or conductor in one or more
phases. Open circuit faults are also called as series faults. These are unsymmetrical or
unbalanced type of faults except three phase open fault.
2)Short circuit fault
A short circuit can be defined as an abnormal connection of very low impedance
between two points of different potential, whether made intentionally or accidentally. These
are the most common and severe kind of faults, resulting in the flow of abnormal high currents
through the equipment or transmission lines. If these faults are allowed to persist even for a
short period, it leads to the extensive damage to the equipment. Short circuit faults are also
called as shunt faults. These faults are caused due to the insulation failure between phase
conductors or between earth and phase conductors or both. The various possible short circuit
fault conditions include three phase to earth, phase to phase, single phase to earth, two phase to
earth and phase to phase. In single line to ground fault, fault occurs between any one of the
three lines and the ground. In double line to ground fault, fault occurs between any two of the
three lnes and the ground. In line to line fault, fault occurs between any two lines. When fault
occurs there is an abrupt change change in voltage.
a)symmetrical fault
Three-phase fault is called symmetrical fault. In this all three phases are short circuited.
b)unsymmetrical fault:
In this fault magnitude of current is not equal¬ displaced by 120 degree.

3
 CHAPTER – 2
2. LITERSTURE SURVEY
In Abhishek Pandey, Nicolas H. Younan, Presented underground cable fault detection
and identification via fourier analysis. The methods of impedance calculation via sending end
voltage and differential voltage can be used for differentiating between the different types of
cable defects from phase information. It needs study to be conducted to find the best way of
visualizing the results, especially the magnitude response.
A.Ngaopitakkul, C. Pothisarn, M. Leelajindakrairerk ,presented behaviour of
simultaneous fault signals in distribution underground cable using DWT. The simulations were
performed using ATP/EMTP, and the analysis behaviour of characteristics signals was
Performed using DWT. Various case studies have been carried out including the single fault
and simultaneous fault.
Yuan Liao, Ning Kang has presented fault location algorithms without utilizing line
parameters. By utilizing unsynchronized voltage and current measurements from both ends of
line without requiring line parameters based on the distributed parameter line model. The fault
location estimatie is not sensitive to measurement errors while line parameter estimates are
sensitive to measurement errors. Thus relatively precise measurements are required to obtain
accurate line parameter estimates.
S. Navaneethan, J. J. Soraghan, W. H. Siew, F. McPherson, P. F. Gale, presented an
automatic fault location method using TDR. This method uses acquired data from an existing
TDR instrument. It enables user of TDR equipment to locate ULVDN cable faults without user
interpretation.
H. Shateri, S. Jamali Et Al., Proposed An impedance based fault location method for
phase to phase and three phase faults. This method utilized the measured impedance by
distance relay and the super imposed current factor to discriminate the fault location. This
method is sensitive to the measured impedance accuracy and super imposed current factor.
Pooja P.S and Lekshmi. M developed a resilient incipient fault location algorithm in the
time-domain, which utilizes data collected by PQ monitors to estimate the fault location in
terms of the line impedance by taking into account the arc voltage associated with the incipient
cable faults.So the algorithm predicts cable fault location between two adjacent manholes.The
ANNs are a family of statistical learning algorithm inspired by biological neural networks and
are used to appropriate functions that depend on the large number of inputs. The proposed
algorithm exactly pin-points the exact fault in the underground cable.

4
 CHAPTER – 3
3. BLOCK DIAGRAM

Fig. 1 BLOCK DIAGRAM

5
3.1 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Fig. 2 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

6
3.2 FAULT LOCATION METHODS
Fault location methods can be classified as
1)Onlinemethod:This method utilize&process the sampled voltages& current to determine the
fault points.Online method for underground cable are less than overhead lines.
2)Offlinemethod:In this method special instrument is used to test out service of cable in the
field.There are two offline methods as following
1)Tracermethod:In this method fault point is detected by walking on the cable lines.Fault
point is indicated from audible signal or electromagnetic signal.It is used to pinpoint fault
location very accurately. Example:1) Tracing current method
2)Terminal method
It is a technique used to detect fault location of cable from one or both ends without
tracing.This method use to locate general area of fault,to expedite tracing on buried cable.
Example:
1) Murray loop method
2)Impulse current method
Finding the location of an underground cable fault doesn’t have to be like finding a
needle in a haystack. The common methods of locating faults are
1.Sectionalizing
This procedure risks reducing cable reliability, because it depends on physically cutting
and splicing the cable. Dividing the cable into successively smaller sections and measuring
both ways with an ohmmeter or high-voltage insulation resistance (IR) tester enable to narrow
down search for a fault. This laborious procedure normally involves repeated cable excavation.
2. Time domain reflectometry (TDR)
The TDR sends a low-energy signal through the cable, causing no insulation
degradation. A theoretically perfect cable returns that signal in a known time and in a known
profile. Impedance variations in a “real-world” cable alter both the time and profile, which the
TDR screen or printout graphically represents. One weakness of TDR is that it does not
pinpoint faults
3. Murray loop test
It is a bridge circuit used for locating faults in underground or underwater cables. It
uses the principle used in potentiometer experiment. One end of the faulted cable is connected
through a pair of resistors to the voltage source. Also a null detector is connected. The other
end of the cable is shorted. The bridge is brought to balance by changing the value of RB.

7
 Fig.3 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF MURRAY LOOP TEST
In above figure, RC is proportional to (l+ (l-x)) and RD is proportional to l.
Therefore
RA/RB=r=RC/RD = (2l-x)/x (1)
And hence
x= 2l/(r-1) (2)
Where l is the length on each segment of wire, r is the ratio RA/RB and x is the length of faulty
segment.
The main disadvantage of this method assumes that only a single fault exists, a low resistance
when compared with UG cable resistance and cable conductors have uniform resistance per
unit length

4.Varley loop test

If the fault resistance is high , the sensitivity in Murray bridge is reduced and
Varelyoop may be more suitable but only a single fault exists. Except that here the ratio arms
are fixed and a variable resistance is connected to the test end of the faulty cable. The
drawbacks of the above methods can be overcome to certain extent by this method in which the
concept of OHM’s law is applied.

8
 CHAPTER – 4
4. UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DISTANCE LOCATOR CIRCUIT
The main concept of this project is to find the distance of underground cable fault from
the base station in kilometers. In many urban areas, cable fault is a common problem. When a
fault occurs due to some reason, the process of fault tracking without knowing the location
related to that particular cable is very difficult. The proposed system is designed to track the
exact location of the fault occurred in the cable.

Fig. 4 CABLE FAULT DISTANCE LOCATOR CIRCUIT

This project uses Ohms Law concept, when a low voltage DC is applied to the feeder
end through a series resistor, then the current would differ based on the location of fault
occurred in the cable. In case is there any short circuit occurred from line to ground, then the
voltage across series resistor alters accordingly, then it is fed to an analog to digital converter
to develop exact data, which the pre programmed 8051 microcontroller will display in
kilometers. The proposed system is designed with a set of resistors to signifying the length of a
cable in kilometers, and the fault creation is designed with a set of switches at every known
kilometer (KM) to cross check the exactness of the same. The fault happening at a specific
distance and the particular phase is displayed on an LCD interfaced to the 8051
microcontroller.

9
4.1 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SYSTEM
The performance of the designed system was inspected and demonstrated through the
use of simulation software called proteus professional from LabcenterTMelectronics and
programming of the microcontroller was done by using a software; Atmel studio 7. After
simulation, the results offered a chance to proceed with system implementation by constructing
a physical prototype.
4.2 DATA COLLECTION
In order to accomplish the processes of establishing a background to fault location and
designing the functional components of fault location system, some data were required mainly
from the utility company.
4.3 DATA TYPES
Both numerical and descriptive data were required for the design and addressing the
extent of underground use and challenges associated with fault location in them. Examples of
information enquired from the utility company (TANESCO) include the following:
i) Cable failure statistics from TANESCO.
-The rate of occurrence of short circuit faults.
-The minimum and maximum levels of fault current during short circuit faults.
ii) Cable network data.
-The total distribution network length.
-The proportion of distribution network which is underground.
-The operating levels of distribution voltage in Tanzania.
- The peculiar functional specifications of underground cables used.
iii) Cable fault detection and location techniques used by TANESCO.
4.4 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Under this section all necessary information were gathered to justify the need for the
system to exist. The data collection method was of two types which are primary and secondary
data collection. Data will be obtained through the following means:
i) Interview
ii) Observation
iii) Literature
The main purpose of extracting primary and secondary data was to seek evidence and ensure
that there was a need of having this system. The information obtained in this section is chiefly
from the concerned bodies and internet. Secondary data collected were obtained from
published books, journals, papers and data sheets.

10
 CHAPTER – 5
5. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The section of data collection intended to obtain necessary information that would help
in achieving the project specific objectives. These data would be helpful in achieving project
specific objectives which are: To establish the extent of underground power distribution lines
use in Tanzania and the challenges associated with fault detection and location in them so as to
justify the need for this project, to evaluate various cable parameters monitoring technologies
in practice, to select components and design the functional parts of the proposed system which
include the display unit, ADC, the DC power supply, the cable parameter sensing circuit and
the switchgear and finally to prepare a relevant program by using the MicroC software that will
drive the microcontroller.

5.2 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

All the information obtained from TANESCO was gathered through guided interview
with the Mwanza region distribution systems engineer and the rest was obtained from relevant
literature.
Data required
Underground power distribution network data were required for addressing the current
status of underground power distribution network. These data were to be obtained from
TANESCO and they included the total distribution network length, the proportion of
distribution network which is underground, the operating levels of distribution voltage in
Tanzania and the comparison between overhead and underground data in terms of:
i) Rates of occurrence of short circuit faults.
ii) The seasons during which most faults are observed.
iii) Minimum and maximum fault levels ever recorded.
iv) Average fault duration per event.
v) Amount of power requirement not met per fault event.
The next type of data required from TANESCO related the techniques used in cable fault
location.
Cable network data
Distribution of power system is defined as the one operating at 33kV or less. The study
focused on distribution network of Mwanza region in North Western part of Tanzania Where
information on 33kV and 11kV was required. The Figure below compares the two voltage
levels in terms of the total length.

11
 Comparison between 33kV & 11kV
Distribution levels
0%
4%

33 Kv
11 kV

96%

Fig. 5 COMPARISON BETWEEN 33KV AND 11KV LEVELS OF POWER

DISTRIBUTION

33 KV dominates the distribution level because it is used for longer distances, thus
minimizes faults. The study also enquired the portion of distribution network which is
underground including marine lines. It was found that the region had no underground lines but
a small portion of the distribution system used marine lines. However there were plans to
introduce underground power distribution lines in urban areas Tanzania, Mwanza city
included. The evidence was cited to be the on-going project by the name “ILALA AREA
DISTRIBUTION LINES” in Dar-Es-Salaam city. It was further found that there were only
about 15 KM of marine lines in Mwanza region as detailed in the figure below:

Table .1: Marine lines, Mwanza region.

Location Kigongo ferry Geita-Kome Bunda-Ukerewe
Length of line (KM) 3.06 8.4 3.2
Percentage 20.87 57.30 21.83

The feeder configuration in the region is currently radial with plans to introduce ring
configuration in future.

Cable failure statistics

The table below summarizes the information relating cable failure statistics for both
overhead and underground (marine in this case) distribution lines.

12
Table .2: Cable failure statistics for overhead and underground lines, Mwanza region.
Overhead lines Underground lines
Rate of occurrence of short Not recorded None
circuit faults
The season of the year Rainy season N/A
during which most faults
are observed
Minimum level of fault ever Not recorded N/A
recorded
Maximum level of fault ever Not recorded N/A
recorded
Average number of Variable N/A
customers affected per
event
Average fault duration per 46 Minutes N/A
event
Amount of power 3 MW N/A
requirement not served

Cable fault detection and location techniques used by TANESCO

According to TANESCO, Mwanza region, detection and isolation of fault is automatic
through the use of relays and circuit breakers while location is still a tricky task both in
overhead and marine distribution lines. Fault location is manually done through
sectionalization by using load break switches (LBS) and auto-reclosure switches. It was
reported that no fault has been observed in the marine lines. Furthermore, it was reported that
detection and location of a fault takes an average of about 45 minutes.

5.3 EVALUATION OF VARIOUS CABLE PARAMETERS MONITORING

TECHNOLOGIES IN PRACTICE
There are several power cable parameters that can be monitored and used to analyze a
cable fault. Some of these parameters are line current, voltage drop, and cable temperature.
Some of these parameters are easier to monitor than others. After thorough study of the
available literature, it was concluded that line current was the easiest to monitor and use for
short circuit fault location. This can be achieved if the supply voltage is accurately known.
This makes it necessary to monitor the supply voltage as well. Line current is determined by
Line impedance which depends directly on some others factors other than faults. These factors
include:
i) System frequency.

13
 ii) Earth’s resistivity.
iii) Distance from the earth’s surface.
iv) Ambient temperature.
v) Conductor size.
System frequency is always very close to the nominal value (50 Hz or 60 Hz) and
hardly introduces variations to line impedance value. The figures below show how impedance
(Resistance and inductance) of distribution power cables varies with these some of the
mentioned factors (Power Cables Catalogue, NexansOlexs-New Zealand, 2012).
0.07

0.06

0.05

0.04

0.03 Resistance

0.02

0.01

0
0 500 4000 6000 8000

Fig. 6: Change in resistance of conductor (Ohm/meter) against earth’s resistivity

(Ohm*meter)
2.115

2.11

2.105

2.1

Inductance
2.095

2.09

2.085

2.08
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

Fig.7: Change in inductance of conductor (Ωm) against the distance of conductor from
the earth’s surface (m)

14
Table .3: Variation of resistance (Ohms/KM) with conductor size (mm2) at 20 0c
Conductor size (mm2) Conductor maximum DC resistance at 20 0c (Ohms/ KM)
Plain annealed copper Tinned annealed Aluminum
copper
16 1.15 1.16 1.91
25 0.727 0.734 1.20
35 0.524 0.529 0.868
50 0.387 0.391 0.641
70 0.268 0.270 0.443
95 0.193 0.195 0.320
120 0.153 0.154 0.253
150 0.124 0.129 0.206
240 0.099 0.100 0.164

Table 4: Variation of resistance (mΩ/meter) with temperature (0C)

Conductor Conductor temperature
size Copper conductors Aluminum conductors
(mm2) 450C 600C 750C 900C 450C 600C 75OC 900C
16 1.26 1.33 1.40 1.47 2.10 2.22 2.33 2.45
25 0.799 0.842 0.884 0.927 1.32 1.39 1.47 1.54
35 0.576 0.607 0.638 0.668 0.956 1.01 1.06 1.11
50 0.426 0.448 0.471 0.494 0.706 0.745 0.783 0.822
70 0.295 0.311 0.327 0.342 0.488 0.515 0.542 0.568
95 0.213 0.225 0.236 0.247 0.353 0.372 0.92 0.411
120 0.170 0.179 0.188 0.197 0.279 0.295 0.310 0.325
150 0.138 0.145 0.153 0.160 0.228 0.240 0.253 0.265
240 0.0862 0.0905 0.0948 0.0991 0.140 0.147 0.155 0.162

With regard to all the factors affecting line impedance in one way or another, it
becomes necessary to measure and establish the values of these factors so as to make
modifications to the system whenever there are changes. This is primarily to ensure that
accuracy and precision of the proposed system is conserved.

15
 CHAPTER - 6
6. ATMEGA328 BIT AVR MICROCONTROLLER
The AVR microcontrollers are based on the advanced RISC architecture. ATmega32 is
a low power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR enhanced RISC architecture.
AVR can execute 1 million instructions per second if cycle frequency is 1MHz.

Fig. 8 40 PIN DIP PHOTOGRAPH OF ATMEGA32

6.1 KEY FEATURES
 32 x 8 general working purpose registers.
 32K bytes of in system self programmable flash program memory
 2K bytes of internal SRAM
 1024 bytes EEPROM
 Available in 40 pin DIP, 44 lead QTFP, 44-pad QFN/MLF
 32 programmable I/O lines
 8 Channel, 10 bit ADC
 Two 8-bit timers/counters with separate prescalers and compare modes
 One 16-bit timer/counter with separate prescaler, compare mode and capture mode.
 4 PWM channels
 In system programming by on-chip boot program
 Programmable watch dog timer with separate on-chip oscillator.
 Programmable serial USART
 Master/slave SPI serial interface

16
6.2 SPECIAL MICROCONTROLLER FEATURES
 Six sleep modes: Idle, ADC noise reduction, power-save, power-down, standby and
extended standby.
 Internal calibrated RC oscillator
 External and internal interrupt sources
 Power on reset and programmable brown-out detection.

Fig. 9 40-PIN DIP OF ATMEGA32

All the 32 registers are directly connected to the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU),
allowing two independent registers to be accessed in one single instruction executed in one
clock cycle.
The power-down saves the register contents but freezes the oscillator. All other chip
functions will be disabled until the next external interrupt arises. Asynchronous timer allows
the user to maintain a timer based in power-save mode while the rest of the device is sleeping.
ADC noise reduction mode stops the CPU and all I/O modules except ADC and asynchronous
timer. In standby mode, except crystal oscillator the rest of the device is sleeping. Both the
main oscillator and asynchronous timer continue to run in extended standby mode.

17
 Fig. 10 DIAGRAM OF CHIP
ATmega32 is a powerful microcontroller because of its in system self programmable
flash on a monolithic chip, provides a high flexible and cost effective solution to many
embedded control applications.

6.3 PIN DESCRIPTIONS

VCC: Digital voltage supply
GND: Ground
Port A (PA7-PA0): This port serves as analog inputs to the A/D converter. It also serves as an
8-bit bidirectional I/O port if the A/D converter is not used.
Port B (PB7-PB0) & Port D (PD7-PD0): It is an 8-bit bidirectional I/O port. Its output
buffers have symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability. As
inputs, these are extremely pulled low if the pull-up resistors are activated. It also serves
various special function features of the ATmega32.
Port C (PC7-PC0): It is an 8-bit bidirectional I/O port. If the JTAG interface is enabled, the
pull-up resistors on pins PC5 (TDI), PC3 (TMS), and PC2 (TCK) will be activated.

18
 Fig.11 DIAGRAM OF PORT C FUNCTIONS

Reset: It is an input.
XTAL1: It is an input to the inverting oscillator amplifier and input to the internal clock
operating circuit.
XTAL2: It is an output from the inverting oscillator amplifier.
AVCC: It is the supply voltage pin for Port A and A/D converter. It should be connected to
VCC.
AREF: AREF is the analog reference pin for the A/D converter.
ATmega32 Memories
It is having two main memory spaces data memory and the program memory space. In
addition it features an EEPROM memory for data storage.
I/O Memory
All I/Os and peripherals are placed in the I/O space. The I/O locations are accessed by
the IN and OUT instructions, transferring the data between the 32 general purpose registers
and the I/O space. I/O registers with in the address 00-1F are directly bit accessible using the
SBI and CBI instructions.

19
6.4 ARCHITECTURE

Fig.12 ARCHITECTURE
6.5 MEMORY
It consists of 8KB of flash memory, 1KB of SRAM and 512 Bytes of EEPROM. The
8K flash is divided into 2 parts- lower part used as boot flash section, and upper part used as
application flash section. The SRAM contains 1K bytes along with 1120 bytes of general
purpose registers and I/O registers. The lower 32 address locations are used for 32 general
purpose 8 bit registers. The next 64 address are used for I/O registers. All the registers are
connected directly to the ALU. The EEPROM is used to store user defined data.

20
6.6 INPUT/OUTPUT PORTS
It consists of 23 I/O lines with 3 I/O ports, named B, C and D. Port B consists of 8 I/O
lines, Port C consists of 7 I/O lines and Port D consists of 8 I/O lines.
Registers corresponding to any portX(B,C or D) are:
DDRX: Port X data direction register
PORTX: Port X data register
PINX: Port X input register

6.7 TIMERS AND COUNTERS

It consists of 3 timers with comparable modes. Two of them are 8 bit whereas the third
one is 16 bit.

6.8 OSCILLATORS
It incorporates internal reset and oscillator which makes it possible to eliminate the
need for any external input. The internal RC oscillator is capable of generating internal clock
which can run at any frequency of 1MHz, 2MHz , 4MHz or 8MHz as programmed. It also
supports external oscillator with maximum frequency of 16MHz.

6.9 COMMUNICATION
It provides both synchronous and asynchronous data transfer schemes through
USART(Universal Synchronous and Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter), i.e. communication
with modems and other serial devices. It also supports SPI(Serial Peripheral Interface) used for
communication between devices based on the master-slave method. Another type of
communication supported is the TWI(Two wire Interface). It allows commutation between any
two devices by using 2 wires along with a common ground connection.
It also has a comparator module integrated in the chip to provide comparison between
two voltages connected to the two inputs of the Analog comparator through the external chips.
It also contains a 6 channel ADC out of which 4 have 10 bit accuracy and 2 have 8 bit
accuracy.

Status Register
It contains information about the currently executed arithmetic instruction set.

21
 CHAPTER – 7
7. ATMEGA PIN DIAGRAM

Fig. 13 ATMEGA PIN DIAGRAM

One of the important features of ATmega8 is that except 5 pins, all other pins support two
signals.
 Pins 23,24,25,26,27,28 and 1 are used for port C, whereas pins 9,10,14,15,16,17,18,19 are
used for port B and pins 2,3,4,5,6,11,12 are used for port D.
 Pin 1 is also the Reset pin and a applying low level signal for a time longer than the
minimum pulse length will generate a reset.
 Pins 2 and 3 are also used for serial communication for USART.
 Pins 4 and 5 are used as external interrupts. One of them will trigger when interrupt flag bit
of status register is set and the other will trigger as long as the interrupt condition prevails.
 Pins 9 and 10 are used as external oscillator as well as timer counters oscillators where the
crystal is connected directly between the pins.

22
 Pin 10 is used for crystal oscillator or low frequency crystal oscillator. If the internal
calibrated RC oscillator is used as the clock source and the asynchronous timer is enabled,
these pins can be used as a timer oscillator pins.
 Pin 19 is used as Master Clock output, slave clock input for SPI channel.
 Pin 18 is used as Master clock input, slave clock output.
 Pin 17 is used as Master data output, slave data input for SPI channel. It is used as a input
when enabled by a slave and is bidirectional when enabled by the master. This pin can also
be used as a output compare match output, which serves as an external output for the
timer/counter compare match.
 Pin16 is used as a slave select input. It can also be used as a timer/counter1 compare match
by configuring the PB2 pin as an output.
 Pin15 can be used as an external output for the timer/counter compare match A.
 Pins 23 to 28 are used for ADC channels. Pin 27 can also be used as Serial interface clock
and pin 28 can be used as serial interface data
 Pins 13 and 12 are used as Analog Comparator inputs.
 Pins 11 and 6 are used as timer/counter sources.

23
 CHAPTER – 8

8. AC-TO-DC SUPPLY

Fig. 14 AC-TO-DC SUPPLY

DC power supplies use AC mains electricity as an energy source. Such power supplies
will employ a transformer to convert the input voltage to a higher or lower AC voltage.
A rectifier is used to convert the transformer output voltage to a varying DC voltage, which in
turn is passed through an electronic filter to convert it to an unregulated DC voltage. The filter
removes most, but not all of the AC voltage variations; the remaining AC voltage is known
as ripple. The electric load's tolerance of ripple dictates the minimum amount of filtering that
must be provided by a power supply. In some applications, high ripple is tolerated and
therefore no filtering is required. For example, in some battery charging applications it is
possible to implement a mains-powered DC power supply with nothing more than a
transformer and a single rectifier diode, with a resistor in series with the output to limit
charging current.

8.1 BRIDGE RECTIFIER

A diode bridge is an arrangement of four (or more) diodes in a bridge circuit configuration
that provides the same polarity of output for either polarity of input. When used in its most
common application, for conversion of an alternating-current (AC) input into a direct-
current (DC) output, it is known as a bridge rectifier. A bridge rectifier provides full-wave
rectification from a two-wire AC input, resulting in lower cost and weight as compared to a
rectifier with a 3-wire input from a transformer with a center-tapped secondary winding.

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 The essential feature of a diode bridge is that the polarity of the output is the same
regardless of the polarity at the input. Two type of rectifier there are half wave rectifier & full
wave rectifier, here we have used full wave rectifier. A full-wave rectifier converts the whole
of the input waveform to one of constant polarity (positive or negative) at its output.
Mathematically, this corresponds to the absolute value function. Full-wave rectification
converts both polarities of the input waveform to pulsating DC (direct current), and yields a
higher average output voltage. Two diodes and a center tapped transformer, or four diodes in
a bridge configuration and any AC source (including a transformer without center tap), are
needed.3] Single semiconductor diodes, double diodes with common cathode or common
anode, and four-diode bridges, are manufactured as single components.

8.2 VOLTAGE REGULATOR

A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant
voltage level. A voltage regulator may use a simple feed-forward design or may
include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic
components. Depending on the design, it may be used to regulate one or
more AC or DC voltages. For ICs within the 78xx family, the xx is replaced with two digits,
indicating the output voltage (for example, the 7805 has a 5-volt output, while the 7812
produces 12 volts). The 78xx line are positive voltage regulators: they produce a voltage that is
positive relative to a common ground. There is a related line of 79xx devices which are
complementary negative voltage regulators. 78xx and 79xx ICs can be used in combination to
provide positive and negative supply voltages in the same circuit. 78xx ICs have three
terminals. These devices support an input voltage anywhere from around 2.5 volts over the
intended output voltage up to a maximum of 35 to 40 volts depending on the model, and
typically provide 1 or 1.5 amperes of current (though smaller or larger packages may have a
lower or higher current rating).

8.3 CAPACITOR - FILTER

The filter is a device that allows passing the dc component of the load and blocks the ac
component of the rectifier output. Thus the output of the filter circuit will be a steady
dc voltage. The filter circuit can be constructed by the combination of components
like capacitors, resistors, and inductors.

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8.4 LCD
LCD (liquid crystal display) is the technology used for displays in notebook and other
smaller computers. Like light-emitting diode (LED) and gas-plasma technologies, LCDs allow
displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. LCDs consume much
less power than LED and gas-display displays because they work on the principle of blocking
light rather than emitting it. An LCD is made with either a passive matrix or an active matrix
display grid. The active matrix LCD is also known as a thin film transistor (TFT) display. The
passive matrix LCD has a grid of conductors with pixels located at each intersection in the
grid. A current is sent across two conductors on the grid to control the light for any pixel. An
active matrix has a transistor located at each pixel intersection, requiring less current to control
the luminance of a pixel. For this reason, the current in an active matrix display can be
switched on and off more frequently, improving the screen refresh time (your mouse will
appear to move more smoothly across the screen, for example).Some passive matrix LCD's
have dual scanning, meaning that they scan the grid twice with current in the same time that it
took for one scan in the original technology. However, active matrix is still a superior
technology.
We come across LCD displays everywhere around us. Computers, calculators,
television sets, mobile phones, digital watches use some kind of display to display the time. An
LCD is an electronic display module which uses liquid crystal to produce a visible image. The
16×2 LCD display is a very basic module commonly used in DIYs and circuits. The
16×2 translates o a display 16 characters per line in 2 such lines. In this LCD each character is
displayed in a 5×7 pixel matrix.

Fig. 15 LCD DISPLAY

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Pin No. Advertisement Function Name
1 Ground (0V) Ground

2 Supply voltage; 5V (4.7V – 5.3V) Vcc

Contrast adjustment; the best way is to use a variable resistor such as a

potentiometer. The output of the potentiometer is connected to this pin.
3 Vo / VEE
Rotate the potentiometer knob forward and backwards to adjust the
LCD contrast.

RS (Register
4 Selects command register when low, and data register when high
Select )

5 Low to write to the register; High to read from the register Read/write

Sends data to data pins when a high to low pulse is given; Extra
voltage push is required to execute the instruction and EN(enable)
6 signal is used for this purpose. Usually, we make it en=0 and when we Enable
want to execute the instruction we make it high en=1 for some
milliseconds. After this we again make it ground that is, en=0.

7 DB0

8 DB1

9 DB2

10 DB3
8-bit data pins
11 DB4

12 DB5

13 DB6

14 DB7

15 Backlight VCC (5V) Led+

16 Backlight Ground (0V) Led-

Table No. 5 LCD Display PIN Description

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8.5 RS (REGISTER SELECT)
A 16X2 LCD has two registers, namely, command and data. The register select is used
to switch from one register to other. RS=0 for command register, whereas RS=1 for data
register.
8.6 COMMAND REGISTER: THE command register stores the command instructions given
to the LCD. A command is an instruction given to LCD to do a predefined task like initializing
it, clearing its screen, setting the cursor position, controlling display etc. Processing for
commands happens in the command register.
8.7 DATA REGISTER: The data register stores the data to be displayed on the LCD. The
data is the ASCII value of the character to be displayed on the LCD. When we send data to
LCD it goes to the data register and is processed there. When RS=1, data register is selected.

8.8 RS 232 CONVERTER

In telecommunications, RS-232, RecommendedStandard 232 is a standard introduced

in 1960[2] for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines the signals
connecting between a DTE (data terminal equipment) such as a computer terminal, and
a DCE (data circuit-terminating equipment or data communication equipment), such as
a modem. The RS-232 standard had been commonly used in computer serial ports. The
standard defines the electrical characteristics and timing of signals, the meaning of signals, and
the physical size and pinout of connectors. The current version of the standard is TIA-232-F
Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment
Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange, issued in 1997.

An RS-232 serial port was once a standard feature of a personal computer, used for
connections to modems, printers, mice, data storage, uninterruptible power supplies, and other
peripheral devices. RS-232, when compared to later interfaces such as RS-422, RS-
485 and Ethernet, has lower transmission speed, short maximum cable length, large voltage
swing, large standard connectors, no multipoint capability and limited multidrop capability. In
modern personal computers, USB has displaced RS-232 from most of its peripheral interface
roles. Many computers no longer come equipped with RS-232 ports and must use either an
external USB-to-RS-232 converter or an internal expansion card with one or more serial ports
to connect to RS-232 peripherals. Nevertheless, thanks to their simplicity and past ubiquity,
RS-232 interfaces are still used—particularly in industrial machines, networking equipment,
and scientific instruments where a short-range, point-to-point, low-speed wired data connection
is fully adequate.

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8.9 LED INDICATOR
This circuit, being economical, can be used in place of blinking indicators in bikes or
on the instrument panel in cars. The circuit uses the 555 timer IC for pulse generation and IC
7490 as the BCD counter. The LEDs, if positioned closely in the same manner as shown,
appear to move in one particular direction when the frequency of pulses is increased. If the
frequency is too high, all the LEDs appear to glow at the same instant.
The binary outputs of 7490 as it counts from 0 to 9 are given below:

Fig. 16 LED INDICATOR

If the LEDs are connected across the output, '1' indicates that the LED lights up. Here
'1' appears to be moving lefts as counting progresses. Hence the light appears to move left if
the counter is fast enough so that individual flickers are not visible.IC 7490 has been used
instead of IC 4011 since the circuit can also be used to check if the ICs 7490 (or 7493) are
good.It is interesting that a digital IC specifically designed for binary counting can also be used
in a project entirely different from the one for which it is intended.

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 CHAPTER – 9

9. WORKING PRINCIPLE
To detect the fault we are implementing the method of voltage drop through resistance
network. When a particular media is grounded at different location it provides us different
level of analog signal(voltage). The analog signal has to be convert into digital form so that it
can be represent with numerical value. To interface the 0804 total 11 I/O pins are required. The
8 I/O pin to transfer digital data from ADC to microcontroller, one I/O pin for RD, one I/O pin
for WR and one I/O pin for interrupt. When we ask the ADC to convert a analog signal to
digital it assume a specific amount of time i.e we can get actual result only after 100%
conversion. The INTR pin solve the problem for us. The program executing the
microcontroller continuously monitors the interrupt pin and read the data from port 2 only after
100% conversion. The program executing in the microcontroller is responsible for converting
the ADC value to resistance value and the resistance value is converted into distance of fault.
We are using a single channel ADC. Hence a change over circuit is necessary to
monitor a specific line at a specific time. To do so we have create 3 way exchanger switch with
the help of switching transistor SPDT electromagnetic relay and fly diode to protect from
reverse current. The 3 relays are driven by relay driver circuit based on 2N2222 from Philips.
The base of the transistors are connected to pin number 15, 16 & 17 i.e P3.5, P3.6 &P3.7 . As
8051 cannot gives us effective high, it is not possible to activate the driver without external
pull up. Hence 4.7K pull resistance is connected across base and Vcc. When there is no
presence of effective high voltage, the internal resistance between emitter and collector are
high and it will not allow to flow current. But when the base havea effective high positive
voltage the internal resistance between emitter and collector drops and current flows from
collector to emitter. One terminal of the relay coil is connected with the collector of the
transistor and other terminals of coils are connected with +12V. As we are using
electromagnetic relay. The transistor will be effected by reverse current which will effect the
driver circuit. As to protect the reverse current a rectified diode IN4007 is connected parallel to
the relay coil as fly diode. The program executed in the microcontroller is controlling the relay
driver circuit in specific sequence to connect with the specific ground cable and to read the
ADC value, to get the information about prospective fault.

30
 CHAPTER – 10
10. ADVANTAGES
1) Less maintenance
2) It has higher efficiency
3) Less fault occur in underground cable
4)Underground cable fault location model are applicable to all types of cable ranging
from 1kv to 500kv&other types of cable fault such as-Short circuit fault, cable cuts,
Resistive fault, Sheath faults, Water trees, Partial discharges.
5) Improved public safety.

FUTURE SCOPE
In this project we detect only the location of short circuit fault in underground cable
line, but we also detect the location of open circuit fault, to detect the open circuit fault
capacitor is used in ac circuit which measure the change in impedance & calculate the distance
of fault.

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 CHAPTER – 11
11. APPLICATIONS
1. Industrial applications
2. Ground cable fault detection applications
3. Electrical cable fault detection applications

32
 CHAPTER – 12
12. COST OF ESTIMATION

Quantity Amount in
S. No Name of the Equipment
Nos Rs
1 Regulator 1 1500

2 LCD Display 1 450

3 Transformer 1 250

4 Arduino UNO 1 900

5 Relay 1 500

6 Rectifier 1 650

7 LED Indicator 3 50

8 Wire _ 150

9 Others _ 600

Total Rs. 5,050

Total Amount Rs. 5050/-

(Rupees Five Thousand and Fifty Only)

33
 CHAPTER – 13
13. PHOTOGRAPHY

34
 CHAPTER – 14
14. CONCLUSION
The hardware model of Underground Cable Fault Locator is implemented and
favorable results were brought forward. This hardware model can locate the exact fault
location in an underground cable. Further this project can be enhanced by using capacitor in an
AC circuit to measure the impedance which can even locate the open circuited cable, unlike the
short circuited fault only using resistors in DC circuit as followed in the above proposed
project.

35
 CHAPTER – 15
15. REFERENCES
[1] Qinghai Shi, Troeltzsch U, Kanoun O. Detection and localization of cable faults by time
and frequency domain measurements. Conf. Systems and Signals and Devices, 7th
International conference, Amman.2010; 1-6.
[2] B. Clegg, Underground Cable Fault Location. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1993.
[3] M.-S. Choi, D.-S. Lee, and X. Yang, “A line to ground fault location algorithm for
underground cable system,” KIEE Trans. Power Eng., pp. 267–273, Jun. 2005.
[4] E. C. Bascom, “Computerized underground cable faultlocation expertise, ”in Proc. IEEE
Power Eng. Soc.General Meeting, Apr. 10–15,1994, pp. 376–382.J. Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise
on Electricity and Magnetism, 3rded., vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon, 1892, pp.68–73.
[5] K.K. Kuan, Prof. K. Warwick, “ Real-time expert system for fault location on high voltage
underground distribution cables”, IEEE PROCEEDINGS-C, Vol. 139, No. 3, MAY 1992.
[6] J. Densley, “Ageing mechanisms and diagnostics for power cables—an overview,” IEEE
Electr.Insul. Mag., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 14–22, Jan./Feb. 2001.
[7] T. S. Sidhu and Z. Xu, “Detection of incipient faults in distribution underground cables”,
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 1363–1371, Jul. 2010.
[8] Tarlochan S. Sidhu, ZhihanXu, “Detection of Incipient Faults in Distribution Underground
Cables”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 25, NO. 3, JULY 2010.
[9] Md. Fakhrul Islam, Amanullah M T Oo, Salahuddin. A. Azad1 , “Locating Underground
Cable Faults: A Review and Guideline for New Development” , 2013 IEEE

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