Fault location using digital relay data

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · IEEE Computer Applications in Power

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/67.392027· OSTI ID:131583

Novosel, D; Hart, D G ^[1]; Udren, E ^[2]; Saha, M M

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1. ABB Transmission Technology Inst., Raleigh, NC (United States)
2. ABB Relay Div., Coral Springs, FL (United States)

Power transmission lines form the backbone of electric utility operations. Individual lines may suffer short-circuit faults and must be switched out of the network by protective relays and power circuit breakers located in the terminating substations. Modern microprocessor-based relays are the brains of the line protection system, sampling and analyzing voltage and current signals from the line and making decisions to trip the breakers within tens of milliseconds when a fault occurs. The crew must find and fix the problem along a right-of-way that may be long or difficult to access. For some extra-high-voltage (EHV) lines, especially near generating plants, automatic reclosing of breakers cannot be used. Every fault trip requires inspection around the fault location by a maintenance crew before the line can be manually re-energized. This adversely impacts service reliability and operating costs, which are major concerns in today`s competitive and cost-conscious utility business environment. There is a tremendous cost benefit in having data-processing tools that analyze the saved fault voltage and current signals to deduce accurately the physical location of the fault on the line; the crew can travel directly to the site of the problem and take quick action. Accurate fault location also helps distinguish between random lightning-induced faults occurring close together versus a recurrent fault location resulting from a marginally contaminated insulator, a swaying or growing tree, or a fire under the line. This article presents new calculations that do not require synchronization of the records to achieve excellent accuracy. Following an overview of the technical problems in computing fault location from fault voltage and current signals, a sampling of the newest and most accurate techniques that are easily implemented in existing digital devices for calculating location from one-ended or two-ended line fault data records is given.

• OSTI ID: 131583
• Journal Information: IEEE Computer Applications in Power, Vol. 8, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRICAL FAULTS
DETECTION
POWER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
OPERATION
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS