Faultlocationinpowercables

Prelocation
Transient Methods

Contents:
1.
2.
3.

Introduction
DECAY (voltage decoupling)
ICE (current decoupling)

1.

Introduction

In the case of transient methods a breakdown is generated at the fault location. It

burns for a few milliseconds and is a very low-impedance short circuit during this
period. Due to this abrupt breakdown a travelling wave spreading within the cable is
generated during ignition. It spreads from the fault location towards both ends and is
also reflected to the fault there, while the still-incoming burning arc prevents the
travelling wave from passing the fault location. Just like when using a standard
reflectometer pulse, it is again reflected at this spot by the still burning short circuit
with polarity reversion. From on particular end only the travelling wave of that
particular section of the cable up to the fault is visible. There are different ways to
trigger these transients and there are also different methods to decouple and
evaluate them later on.
The transient wave
A transient wave always contains a voltage component and a current component.
The voltage and the current components behave differently in closed cable ends
(short circuit, open).
The current pulse method only evaluates the current component of the transient
wave (current wave).
The open ended cable
When a transient wave arrives at the open end of the cable, due to the infinitely high
impedance mismatch a total reflection of the current and voltage waves is generated
here. Figure 1 shows how the incoming voltage wave is reflected with the same
amplitude and polarity at the open cable end. The resulting voltage amplitude of the
incoming and returning wave can reach up to twice the value of the applied voltage.

+Ureturn
+2U
+U

+Uinc.

cable end

cable start

Figure 1: The transient voltage wave

The current wave which initially arrives at the cable end in phase with the voltage
wave is also reflected with the same amplitude, but with opposite polarity, so that
both current wave parts cancel each other at the cable end.

+i

+i

i-inc.
i-return

cable start

-i

cable end

Figure 2: The transient current wave

The cable with a short circuit at the end

In this case the current wave is reflected with the initially same amplitude and polarity
so that the current amplitude increases up to twice the value of the incoming wave.
However, here there is a polarity reversal in the voltage wave which causes the
voltage at the short-circuited cable end to be zero.
2.

DECAY (voltage decoupling)

The simplest and probably the oldest method is the travelling wave pre-localisation,
in short the DECAY method. For this purpose the cable is charged with direct voltage
until the voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of the fault. The energy stored in the
cable capacitance discharges itself via the fault and creates a travelling wave that
can be measured as damped (decaying) oscillation. The length of this oscillation
contains the distance to the fault; but it also includes test leads. During this process
the signal is decoupled from the hot part of the high voltage via a capacitive coupler.

Description of the process

Total length of an oscillation
At the moment the breakdown takes place, the cable is negative charged with the
test voltage. Therefore, the discharge created by the fault creates a travelling wave
with positive rising slope. The front runs with a velocity of approx. 160 m/s from the
fault to the cable start where it meets the very high output impedance of the HV test
device. Consequently, a reflection with unchanged polarity takes place. Now the
travelling wave returns from the cable start to the fault where the breakdown ark is
still burning. This short circuit reflects the travelling wave. This time the polarity is
reversed, i.e. the travelling wave now has a negative front.
This process is repeated until the energy of the travelling wave is attenuated or the
burning breakdown arc is extinguished.
Due to the spreading behaviour of the travelling wave the fault distance is included
twice in every oscillation. Therefore, the length of an oscillation must be divided by 2
and subsequently, the length of the test leads must be subtracted from the
calculation.
Fault distance =

Total lenght of an oscillation

test leads
2

For preparing the measurement it is very helpful to adjust the distance range to 5 to
10-times the known cable length and to reduce the amplification at least by factor 2 in
respect to a normal reflection measurement before starting the measurement. This
ensures that the first shot is a hit providing a result which only requires a minimum
amount of correction.
The advantage of this technology is, that the voltage is nearly unlimited. Prelocalisations of up to 400 kV and even higher have already been achieved with this
method.
A disadvantage to be mentioned is, that due to the high-frequency of the travelling
wave, in combination with the very high voltage, additional damage to cables that are
already aged by operation, can happen. In such cases it is recommended to proceed
very carefully to avoid possible consequential damage.

50m
=
G

TDR

Figure 3: Basic block diagram of the DECAY method

The transient voltage wave is reflected with unchanged polarity in the HV test device and moves
back to the arcing fault. This wave is then reflected at the arc with reversed polarity.

Figure 4: Decay travelling wave decoupling on an 8 km cable with marker and cursor

Figure 5: Reflectogram of a fault location measurement with the DECAY method

The software of some reflectometers already performs the division by 2 automatically and
subtracts the test leads.
Reflections are caused each impedance change, e.g. joints, connection points of the test leads to
the test object.

Figure 6: Decay travelling wave decoupling on 8 km cable with shift technology

3.

ICE single-phase current decoupling

This method is comparable to the Decay, but does not work capacitive but inductive
by decoupling the current. Instead of using a capacitor for decoupling, a coil or
transformer is used. Typically Rogowski coils are used. The standard ICE method is
done with a surge generator. A capacitive discharge of the surge generator via the
surge switch triggers and ignites the fault and causes it to a flash over. This flashover
results in a travelling wave shown on the Reflectometer.
For evaluation, the second largest reflection is taken as reference. Any reflections
visible before this reflection are delayed by the ionisation time and represent the
process during which the fault begins to ignite. Furthermore, an attenuated transient
wave subsequently travels back and forth between fault and surge generator. Here
the capacitor of the surge generator as well as the arc at the fault represent a short
circuit for the high-frequency wave. The result is an oscillation where the period
length corresponds directly to the fault distance. The test leads must be subtracted to
determine the fault distance.
Fault distance = length of an oscillation test leads
The most accurate measurement results are achieved when the oscillation
measurement is done at the zero crossings. Another alternative is the shift
technology, where an identical copy of the trace is side shifted until the next
oscillation is completely overimposed with the original trace. For preparing the
measurement it is very helpful to set the distance range to 5 to 10-times the cable
length before starting the measurement. However, in this case the amplification
should be increased in respect to the normal reflection measurement since the
signals received from the decoupling coils are significantly weaker. An advantage of
the ICE technology is that the decoupling coil is in the earth path of the cable. It is not
exposed to any high voltage. Therefore, no complex insulation design is necessary.
The coil itself is very small and can be integrated in almost any device.
As for all transient methods, the disadvantage is that there is only information about
the fault distance without any other details on the cable or the fault itself. The
precision of transient methods is partly limited and cannot be compared with genuine
reflection methods.
Current measuring method
Another possibility is charging the cable up to the breakdown voltage with the surge
generator with closed surge switch and then using the cable capacitance itself as a
capacitor. With this method the available surge capacitance can be significantly
increased and this is particularly helpful with very long cables. The surge energy
does not have to run from the surge generator to the fault as it is already provided by
the cable and its charged capacitance. There is no ionisation time.. The remaining
measuring process is completely identical to the normal ICE current decoupling
process.

TDR
tx

Figure 7: Basic diagram for the ICE process single phase

The fault does not ignite transient current wave is reflected at the open cable end
with the same amplitude, however with opposite polarity.

parasitic
reflections

tx

tx

Figure 8: Reflectogram of a fault location measurement with the ICE method single phase
The fault does not ignite reflection at open cable end

TDR
tx

Figure 9: Basic schematic for the ICE process short circuit

tx

tx

tx

parasitic
reflections

Figure 10: Reflectogram of a fault location measurement with the ICE method single phase
short circuit reflection of the transient current wave at the fault location without ignition delay,
amplitude and polarity remain the same

TDR
tx

Figure 11: Basic schematic for the ICE process single phase flashing fault

tx+ t

tx

tx
parasitic
reflections

Figure 12: Reflectogram of a fault location measurement with the ICE method single phase
flashover reflection at the fault location with ignition delay

tx

tx

tx
parasitic
reflections

parasitic
reflections

Figure 13: Reflectogram of a fault location measurement with the ICE method single phase
flashover ignition delay is so extensive that the reflection first takes place
at the cable end

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The ICE current decoupling processes have proven their suitability in particular with
faults in the lower kOhm range and very large fault distances where it is not possible
to get results with the ARM process. However, it is always a requirement that the arc
lasts for a few milliseconds. The capacity of the surge capacitor and the impedance
of the cable determine the pulse widths of the travelling wave in the s range. These
flat slopes caused by the wide pulses as well as by the attenuation of the cable
reduce the accuracy of the results. Usually, the fault distances determined that way
are up to 5 to 10 % longer. For exact and fast fault location process, the
measurement technician should walk from the pre-localised distance into the
direction of the fault location system. The test leads must be subtracted from the
result as for all transient measurement methods.

large measurement
range

Figure 14: ICE automatic measurement

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fault distance

Figure 15: ICE automatic measurement and manual correction

Reflections are additionally created at each impedance change, e.g. joints, connection points of
the test leads to the test object.

Figure 16: ICE current decoupling on an 8 km cable

The ignition delay time can be seen very clearly. The measurement should always take place
between the 2nd and 3rd peak/wave or their multiples.

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4.

Three-phase current decoupling

These fault location methods for measurements in branched (T-eed) networks, in

particular in branched medium-voltage networks, will be part of one of the next
reports on fault location in power cables.
Additional focus in the next applications will be on testing and diagnosis as well as
the application of the tools.

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