Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology

ISSN: 2046-4177 (Print) 2056-8487 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tmar20

Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips

in ship electric energy systems

J Prousalidis & E Styvaktakis

To cite this article: J Prousalidis & E Styvaktakis (2008) Introducing a classification method of
Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems, Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology, 7:1,
1-10

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20464177.2008.11020205

Published online: 01 Dec 2014.

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 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

Introducing a classification
method of Voltage dips in ship
electric energy systems
J Prousalidis and E Styvaktakis, National Technical University of Athens, School of Naval
Architecture and Marine Engineering, Division of Marine Engineering

This paper presents an introduction to the analysis and classification of voltage dips, in a
Downloaded by [195.29.81.98] at 22:40 25 July 2016

ship electric power system. The method followed covers the variety of dips occurring
on shipboard installations in its entity. Thus although it has been primarily developed
only for dips due to short circuit faults, it is shown that it can include the cases of sags
due to motor starting, transformer energizing inrush or even pulsed loads. This method
focuses on emerging and characterising the severeness of the event depending on the
consequences on the operating equipment. Therefore, besides an implement of asses-
sing the significance of each situation it can be easily assimilated in system power quality
monitoring units, in protection scheme design and evaluation processes or even in event
identification tools. Where simulations are required, the software package PSCAD is
used to simulate a number of case studies in the power system of actual vessels with
electric propulsion.

AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES Vmin: minimum value of voltage waveform at modulation

Dr J Prousalidis (Electrical Engineer from NTUA/1991, PhD
from NTUA/1997) is Assistant Professor at the School of
Naval and Marine Engineering of National Technical Univer-
sity of Athens, dealing with electric energy systems and
electric propulsion schemes on shipboard installations.
Vn: nominal system voltage
Z F : impedance between the power grid and the fault
(including any fault impedance)
ZS : source impedance
˜f: fluctuation of frequency at modulation
˜V: fluctuation of voltage at modulation

Dr E Styvaktakis (Electrical Engineer from NTUA/1995, MSc

in Electrical Engineering from UMIST/1996, PhD from Chal-
mers/2002) is currently with the Hellenic Transmission Sys- INTRODUCTION
lectric power plant onboard has always been a

E
tem Operator dealing with power system studies.
rather complicated power system, comprising sub-
systems of several operation frequency and voltage
levels with increased number of motors nearby
NOMENCLATURE
limited number of generators, especially in sophisticated
E : pre-fault voltage structures with electric propulsion. The aforementioned
fmax : maximum value of frequency waveform at complicacy is expected to worsen further still in the All
modulation Electric Ship (AES) buildings1-5 with full electric propul-
fmax : minimum value of frequency waveform at modulation sion and extended electrification of all shipboard installa-
fn : nominal system frequency tions.
Vdip: voltage dip magnitude On the other hand, similar to continental grids several
Vmax: maximum value of voltage waveform at modulation steady- and transient-state phenomena emerge, particularly

No. A11 2008 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology 1

Article number = K010

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems
those concerning power quality problems, and their conse-
quences have to be thoroughly studied, analyzed and inves-
tigated.
The scope of the paper is to study and classify voltage
dips (or sags), due to several causes in a ship electric power
system. In continental grids, classification methods for the
abovementioned problems have already been created and
further developed6 . The most commonly used is the ‘ABC’
classification method while the most theoretical approach is
done by the Symmetrical Component Classification method.
However, they can not be easily nor directly applied to ship
electric systems due to their special network configuration,
as described in6 , where a classification method for fault
induced voltage dips, particularly developed for ship sys-
tems, has been presented.
Thus, in order to identify the nature of voltage dips
onboard, a large number of short circuit simulations have
been performed for all fault types at all the three main
operation profiles of a vessel7-8 . This method takes into
account the particularities of ship electric energy systems
with emphasis on making the information easy to assimi-
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late. The paper also includes case studies of voltage dips
due to:
• motor starting
• transformer energizing
• pulse load operation.
It is shown, that all cases can be categorized in terms of
voltage quality and more specifically according to:
• symmetry among the three AC phases
• rms magnitude
• waveshape.
While some extra features characterizing certain voltage dip
types are also highlighted and discussed.
The electric grid of a car-passenger ferry with electric
pod propulsion as well as bow thrusters driven by electric
motors, has been used for the case studies considered.
Furthermore, for the simulation of the complete power
system, the power system simulation software PSCAD has
been exploited8-10 .
PARTICULARITIES OF SHIPBOARD
INSTALLATION
The electric power grid of a ship can be regarded as a small
scale, autonomous, industrial type compact power system,
although several differences between a conventional conti-
nental grid and a shipboard installation can be enumerated
as follows:
• The nature of a ship electric energy system is highly
hybrid comprising DC and AC subsystems operating at
various voltage and frequency levels
• Referring to prime movers, their relative rotational in-
ertia with respect to electric load demand is fairly
small. However, the operating frequency of 50 or 60Hz
is controlled via fast regulators, as the time constants
2 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology
of the prime movers (often 4-stroke diesel engines) are
small
• The total power installed per volume unit is large
especially in the electric propulsion applications. The
installed power system can be of 40-80MVA in an area
of few dozen m2 .
• The largest amount of energy is demanded by electric
motors (acting either as main propulsion or as drivers
of auxiliary engines). Furthermore, besides rotating
electric motors comprising dynamic loads, there is a
significant amount of non-linear loads with non-con-
ventional behavior e.g. pulsed loads of weapon or navi-
gation systems
• There is no significant power transmission-distribution
cabling system as the electric power grid is composed
of cables of small length (50-1000m)
• There is limited number of transformers installed
• Adopting insulated neutral, i.e. ‘unearthed’ systems is a
common practice. Generators, motors and distribution
transformer windings are either ungrounded wye- or
delta- connected, whereas the great majority of conti-
nental grids are grounded, either directly, or via resis-
tive elements
• The power system is completely autonomous, thus its
reliability is of high priority. The only available back
up power is the emergency generator supplying only
few loads critical for the vessel survivability
• A considerable number or electronic devices installed
onboard (automation systems, controllers, navigation
systems) are sensitive to power quality and EMI problems
provoked, in particular, by the extensive use of power
electronics. Hence, the power quality problems are of
extreme importance and have to be analyzed thoroughly
• Referring to short-circuit calculations, as IEC-
6136311-12 pinpoints, generators can not but be always
considered nearby the faults, resulting in fairly high
fault currents. Consequently, the voltage sags due to
short-circuit faults are expected to be more severe.
Power quality problems onboard are of different significance
compared to the same problems that occur on a continental
power grid. For inland, power quality problems, apart from
the fact that they result in a problematic production process,
it is possible to have a significant impact on the pricing
relations (tariffs applied and penalties) between the utility
and its clients. This is meaningless onboard, where the most
important issue is the continuous operation of the system
and its redundancy. A possible malfunction in a critical load
may lead to a total loss of the whole vessel, resulting in
possible human casualties and environmental pollution.
INTRODUCING POWER QUALITY
CLASSIFICATION ON SHIPBOARD
GRIDS
Fault-induced voltage dips
Faults (due to the short circuit current) lead to voltage dips
of a magnitude that depends on the impedance of the source
No. A11 2008
 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

(system’s strength), system configuration, fault impedance,

fault type and distance to the fault. Fault-induced events
present the most severe characteristics. Their duration de-
pends mainly on the protection system operation. That var-
ies from half-cycle (fuse operation) to several cycles
(operation of circuit breakers).
Advanced classification methods have been proposed
that consider all three phases, motivated by the fact that the
relation between the phases is important for the equipment
performance3 or by the fact that valuable information can
be extracted considering all three phases5 .
The calculation of the dip magnitude for a fault some-
where within a radial distribution system requires the point
of common coupling (PCC) between the fault and the load
to be found. The dip magnitude (%) at the load position
Fig 2: Voltage dip due to a 3-phase fault
equals the voltage at the PCC (neglecting all load currents):
ZF
V dip ¼ E (1)
Z F þ ZS seen that voltage drops to approximately 0.4pu (identical
for all three phases) although voltage in the 4kV system
where ZS is the source impedance at the PCC, Z F is the becomes zero at the fault point. The influence of the motor
impedance between the PCC and the fault (including any
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fault impedance), while E the corresponding pre-fault vol-
tage.
Motors that experience a voltage drop will temporary
operate as generators supporting voltage. This shows up in
the voltage recording as a slow decay in voltage magnitude,
during the fault. After fault clearing, motors re-accelerate
delaying the full recovery of voltage and creating a post-
fault dip as described in 3 that could cause motor stalling.
The electrical power system of a car-passenger ferry
with electric pod propulsion and bow thrusters, (see Fig 1)
has been simulated in order to investigate the characteristics
of fault-induced voltage dips in naval systems. This system
consists of four generators and three different voltage levels
(6kV, 4kV and 0.38kV). Induction motor load is a signifi-
cant part of the available generation.
Faults in the lower voltage level effect mainly loads fed
by the same busbar as the resulting voltage dips do not
propagate upwards in the system (the impedance of the
transformer is large compared to the source impedance in
medium voltage).
Fig 2 shows the voltage dip in the generators terminals
caused by a 3-phase fault in the 4kV voltage level. It can be
load can be seen both during the fault and after fault clear-
ing. Fault clearing causes a fast voltage increase to 0.80pu
and then the voltage increases gradually towards the normal
voltage due to the motor load influence.
Voltage dips propagate in the system and their charac-
teristics change as they propagate through transformers. Fig
3 shows the voltage dip in the generators terminals caused
by a 2-phase fault in the 4kV voltage level. The delta-star
transformer that connects the two voltage levels transforms
the relationship of the voltage drop in the three phases. A
characterization method has been proposed in3 for voltage
dips due to faults that takes into account the different
transformer connections. An extensive analysis of voltage
dips in naval systems, based on this classification, has been
presented by the first author in6 .
Considering Equation 1, it should be mentioned that the
magnitude of the drop depends on the available source
impedance.
Therefore, the number of generators in operation affects
significantly the magnitude of the voltage dip experienced
by the loads.

Fig 1: Simulated Ship Power System Fig 3: Voltage dip due to a 2-phase fault

No. A11 2008 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology 3

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

Finally, single-phase faults consist a specific case of
voltage dips in most ship power systems due to their un-
grounded nature. In case of a faulted phase, the load is still
supplied via the healthy ones –which is the main reason of
installing the ungrounded system onboard- but at a signifi-
cantly higher voltage level for both phases, namely ˇ3 or
1.73p.u (see Fig 4). Therefore, the system suffers from a
voltage swell rather than a dip, which stresses equipment
insulation.
Summarizing, voltage dips due to faults are:
• rectangular: voltage recovers fast after fault clearing
operation
• symmetrical or asymmetrical: depending on the type of
fault that caused them.
It is worth noting that I0, I3 and IV could refer to more
symmetrical operating conditions, although in I3 and IV the
three phases can be within the limits but of different values.
On the other hand, the other cases refer to highly unba-
lanced ones with at least one zero value - due to short
circuit fault. Moreover, while I0 corresponds to balanced
three-phase faults, category III mainly refers to single-phase
fault conditions in the unearthed ship grounding system,
which as mentioned leads to an overvoltage to the remain-
ing healthy phases.
Furthermore, as it can be observed, there is also an
inherent hierarchy introduced in terms of how significant -
in descending order - each situation is. Therefore the classi-
fied categories, can be written in the following order:
I0 . I1 . I2 . I3 . II1 . II2 . III . IV (2)

CLASSIFICATION METHOD OF FAULT This method can be extended and include other types of
INDUCED VOLTAGE DIPS voltage dips as explained in the following.
The ‘Classification Method’ developed in6 , for the system of
Fig 1, is summarized in Table 1. There are eight different
Induction Motor Dips
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categories introduced based on symmetry among phases and

voltage rms magnitude in all three phases. This classification
approach aims to provide the system operator with a practi-
cal tool to quickly form a clear picture of the system state.
The limit value of 80% has been rather arbitrarily set as the
minimum voltage level required for the affordable operation
of most electric equipment (including both static and rotary,
three- phase and single-phase loads), but is subjected to
modification. Thus, common practice suggests that this
threshold value could vary from 75% up to even 90%.
The start-up of an induction motor takes current five to six
times larger than normal. This current remains high until
the motor reaches its nominal speed; this lasts from several
seconds to one minute. The characteristics of the corre-
sponding voltage dip depend on the induction motor data
(size, starting method, load, etc) and the strength of the
system at the point the motor is connected. The magnitude
of the dip depends strongly on the system parameters. The
duration of the voltage dip due to motor starting depends on
a number of motor parameters with the most important
being the motor inertia3 . The duration of the dip is pro-
longed if other motor loads are connected to the same
busbar, as they keep the voltage further down.
Fig 5 shows a voltage dip caused by the starting of a
medium voltage auxiliary propulsion motor of 1.4 MW by
an 8MVA generator. It can be seen that voltage drops to
0.85pu and gradually recovers approximately 1 sec after.
The voltage dip is the same for all three phases.
Large power motors starting consecutively during ship
maneuvering (e.g. driving thruster systems) can cause such
severe voltage dips.

Fig 4: Voltage dip (swell) due to a 1-phase fault

Category Phase A Phase B Phase C

(% Vn) (% Vn) (% Vn)
I0 0.00 0.00 0.00
I1 0.00 0.00 , 80%
I2 0.00 , 80% , 80%
I3 , 80% , 80% , 80%
II1 , 80% , 80% 100%
II2 , 80% 100% 100%
III 0.00 . 100% . 100%
IV .80% and .80% and .80% and
,100% ,100% ,100%
Table 1: Voltage dips of ‘Classification Method ‘ Fig 5: Voltage dip due to motor starting

4 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology No. A11 2008

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

Summarizing, voltage dips due to induction motor start-

ing are:
• non-rectangular: voltage recovers gradually
• symmetrical: all phases present the same behaviour.
Consequently, considering the classification method pre-
sented above, the voltage dip due to motor starting can be a
symmetrical category, i.e. either I3 or IV (symmetrical case
I0, as already mentioned, with zero voltage in all three-
phases corresponds to faults rather than other cases).

Transformer Saturation Dips

When a transformer is energised under a no-load condition, Fig 6: Voltage waveforms during transformer energizing (top)
the magnetizing current necessary to maintain the magnetic and corresponding voltage rms magnitude
flux in the core is in general only a few percent of the
nominal rated load current.
During transformer energising, a transient occurs to
change the flux in the core to the new steady state condi-
tion. In general this will cause the flux to go above the
saturation value once each cycle until the average value of
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the flux over a cycle has decayed to nearly zero. This

temporary over-fluxing of the transformer core causes high
values of the magnetizing current, which is highly asymme-
trical and decays exponentially. This phenomenon is known
as magnetising inrush current and its magnitude depends on
the point on the wave where the energization switching
takes place and the core residual flux.
As the core is forced into saturation the transformer
draws a large current from the supplying network. When
the voltage reverses its polarity in the next half cycle, the Fig 7: Voltage harmonics in time due to transformer
maximum flux in the core is less than the maximum flux saturation
density in the no-load situation. The transformer inrush
current is therefore asymmetrical and contains a DC com-
ponent, which might take seconds to disappear depending Consequently considering the classification method pre-
on the damping of the system 5 . The voltage dip caused by sented above, the voltage dip due to transformer energizing
the magnetising inrush current can be long in duration and inrush can be any non-zero but also non-symmetrical cate-
drive other near-by transformers into saturation (sympa- gory i.e. I3, II1, II2 or IV (in case I3 and IV).
thetic saturation7,8 ). In general, any voltage change in the The harmonic distortion caused by transformer satura-
transformer terminals (like a voltage dip) could lead it into tion can lead to more severe dips if any system resonance is
saturation due to the resulting transient in the core. excited. Fig 8 shows the voltage dip occurring when the
Fig 6 presents a transformer saturation voltage dip same transformer as above is energized through a busbar
caused by the energizing of a transformer in the network of where a 3rd harmonic filter (single-tuned filter) is con-
Fig 1. A sharp voltage drop (approximately 0.2pu for the
worst phase) is followed by a gradual recovery. As can be
seen in Fig 7, the voltage presents temporary harmonic
distortion. The Short Time Fourier Transform has been used
for the estimation of the harmonics (from 2nd to 5th ) of the
voltage of one of the phases of Fig 6. The 2nd harmonic is
contributing the most. This increased harmonic distortion
can cause undesired protection operation.
Summarising, voltage dips due to transformer saturation
are:
• non-rectangular: voltage recovers gradually as the in-
rush current decays
• non-symmetrical: each phase presents a different de-
gree of saturation
• rich in harmonics: due to the asymmetry of the inrush Fig 8: Voltage waveforms during transformer energizing (top)
current. and corresponding voltage rms magnitude

No. A11 2008 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology 5

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems
nected. The 3rd harmonic filter causes a parallel resonance
in a frequency slightly lower than the 3rd harmonic and the
harmonics of the transformer inrush current are amplified
leading to a more severe dip (0.1pu lower than before).
Considering that the use of harmonic filters is extended
in ship systems due to the multiple use of power converters
this example shows that these filters must be disconnected
during transformer energizing, a practice followed in many
industrial power systems.
Voltage dips due to Pulsed Loads
The recently introduced concept of pulsed loads can be
regarded as a particular voltage dip case. More
specifically10-11,20, a limited but increasing number of loads
installed aboard tend to have an extremely high power (or
current) demand for a very short time interval, followed by
almost zero demands for longer intervals. This behaviour is
repeated on a periodic or quasi-periodic basis. As represen-
tative examples the railguns, radars and the electromagnetic
launchers (EMALS) can be referred. In Fig 9 a typical
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phenomenon caused by a pulsed load is shown.
The aforementioned high valued current flowing
through the system impedances provokes a significant vol-
tage drop, in a manner similar to the one discussed in the
previous sections. Furthermore, in this particular case, due
to the finite ship electric energy generation capacity, the
high power demand affects also system frequency, resulting
thus in a frequency drop, too, (see Fig 9). The periodic
fluctuation of voltage and/or frequency is often met in many
shipboard standards (STANAG 1008, IEEE 45 and USA
MIL-STD-1399) as ‘modulation’.
Concerning quantifying voltage or frequency modula-
tion the difference between maximum and minimum value
is used as a percentage of the double of the nominal value
as shown in Equation (3):
Vmax
Vmin fmax
fmin
˜V ¼ , ˜f ¼ (3)
2Vn 2fn
Frequency and voltage modulation may affect the operation
of several subsystems of a ship such as radarscopes, com-
munication equipment, missile guidance systems, weapon
systems, gear systems etc 3 . Anyhow, by investigating sev-
Fig 9: Voltage and frequency modulation
6 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology
eral case studies, it can be elicited 20
that, voltage dips due
to pulsed loads starting are:
• non-rectangular: voltage and frequency recover gradu-
ally
• symmetrical: all phases present the same behaviour
• periodical or quasi-periodical : the phenomenon is re-
peated on a rather constant time basis, hence, modula-
tion in frequency and voltage waveforms is noticeable.
Consequently considering the classification method pre-
sented above, the voltage dip due to pulsed loads can be
any symmetrical category, i.e. either I3 or IV (symmetrical
case I0, as already mentioned, with zero voltage in all
three-phases corresponds to faults rather than any other
case).
Finally, it is highlighted that this kind of voltage dip is
provoked by specific equipment type well located in the
electric grid, while in all cases the pulsed load is installed
along with a dedicated intermediate power supply unit (e.g.
a flywheel) aiming at alleviating the adverse consequences
of the entire phenomenon.
EXPLOITATION OF DIP
CLASSIFICATION METHOD
The classification method discussed so far can be exploited
among others as a handy implement for assessing the opera-
tion status of the ship system based on representative meas-
urements of limited number.
More specifically, it can be integrated into a Power
Quality Monitoring (PQM) module which can be part of the
Electric Power Control and Management System (EP-
CAMS). In this way, all major electric quantities can be
monitored and recorded leading to protection scheme eva-
luation, damage or even maintenance assessment. Thus, any
event occurred as soon as identified, analysed and located
can trigger possible scenarios of courses of actions. For
instance, the fault induced voltage dips are the most severe
ones as they lead to the most adverse consequences com-
prising, insulation failures, fuse blowing, equipment or net-
work damages, etc, necessitating urgent maintenance
actions with several economical implications.
No. A11 2008
 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

The other types of voltage dips which are more equip-
ment dependent, do not involve the maintenance and cost
components to that extent referring more to abnormal oper-
ating conditions rather than possible destructions. Anyhow,
the electric system operator can be assisted to assess the
importance of the situation locating and identifying the
problems due to the events monitored in conjunction with
other monitoring systems, e.g. insulation monitoring sys-
tems which mostly help identifying single-phase faults.
On identifying voltage dips
In order to show how the voltage dip classification method
presented can be further exploited e.g. by being integrated
in a PSQ Monitoring sytems, Table 2 summarises the dip
categories versus possible causes as presented in the pre-
vious sections. It can be seen that in most cases there more
than causes resulting in the same dip type. However, as
shown in Table 3, there are more than one ways of identify-
ing the actual events via some extra features of theirs, e.g.
the waveshape and the symmetry among phases. Further-
more, the features in italics are the ones that can be
exploited in the easiest way as a means to identify the
phenomenon causing the voltage dip. Hence, for instance,
while transformer energization is mainly characterized by
the transient 2nd harmonic developed, still only the voltage
waveshape in conjunction with the lack of balance among
phases suffice for its identification. On the other hand, dips
due to pulsed loads can be uniquely traced via the periodic
nature of their associated modulation. Anyway, following
this approach an expert system could identify the event type
based only on measurements of phase voltages, as figura-
tively shown in Table 4.
As already mentioned, 2nd harmonic criterion is not
really necessary as the combination of non-symmetrical
non-rectangular voltage dip suffices for identifying transfor-
mer voltage dip. Furthermore, frequency modulation identi-
fication can be done fairly easy by a frequency monitoring

Dip Phase A Phase B Phase C possible cause

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Category
(% Vn) (% Vn) (% Vn) fault motor starting transformer pulsed load
I0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Yes No No No
I1 0.00 0.00 ,80% Yes No No No
I2 0.00 ,80% ,80% Yes No No No
I3 ,80% ,80% ,80% Yes Yes Yes Yes
II1 ,80% ,80% 80%-100% Yes No Yes No
II2 ,80% 80%-100% 80%-100% Yes No Yes No
III 0.00 .100% .100% Yes No No No
IV 80%-100% 80%-100% 80%-100% Yes Yes Yes Yes
Table 2: Dip categories versus possible causes

event waveshape symmetry among 2nd harmonic Voltage-Frequency Modulation

phases
fault rectangular yes/no no
motor starting non-rectangular yes no
transformer energization non-rectangular no yes
pulsed load non-rectangular yes yes
Table 3: Characteristic features of dip provoking events

Dip Category waveshape symmetry among Voltage-Frequency Event type

recognised phases Modulation
I0 Fault
I1 Fault
I2 Fault
I3 Rectangular Fault
I3 Non-Rectangular Yes Motor Start
I3 Non-Rectangular No Transformer Energization
I3 Yes Yes Pulsed Load
II1 Rectangular Fault
II1 Non-Rectangular Transformer Energization
II2 Rectangular Fault
II2 Non-Rectangular Transformer Energization
III Fault
IV Rectangular Fault
IV Non-Rectangular Yes Motor Start
IV Non-Rectangular No Transformer Energization
IV Yes Yes Pulsed Load
Table 4: Event type identification based on voltage dip classification

No. A11 2008 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology 7

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems

system –always installed onboard- in the case of pulsed
loads. On the other hand, the fault type can not be traced
unless the system topology is well known and several short-
circuit conditions have been thoroughly studied. As shown
in the following this thorough approach also assists in locat-
ing the fault incident. Thus, in the case-study of the car-
passenger ferry of Fig 1, the results of the fault induced
voltage dips analysis are presented in Table 5. More specifi-
cally, the results of voltage dip classification for all buses
and all fault combinations are summarized. It is noted, that
letters ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ stand for the corresponding phases and
‘G’ stands for the ground, i.e. any ship hull metal part.
Moreover, in operation ‘at sea’ no thruster buses are taken
into consideration, while in ‘Harbor’ operation, no propul-
sion buses are considered at all.
As can be deduced from Table 5, the voltage dip types
occurred are more dependent on the network topology
rather than the loading conditions according to the opera-
tion profile. This is mainly due to the wide range of values
set at the categorization. Moreover, it can be deduced that
the closer to the faulted bus a monitored point is, the
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are also active. Anyhow, each fault situation is characterized
and, hence can be identified in a sole unique way by the
combination of category type per monitored bus. For exam-
ple, the case of:
• Main Bus at IV
• Pod1 at IV
• Pod2 at IV
• Bow thruster 1 at I0
• Bow Thruster 2 at IV
• Service Load at IV
corresponds only to three-phase fault at the bus of Bow
Thruster 1. Furthermore, in this way, besides the fault type,
the faulted point is located also.
On integrating the voltage dip classification method
in monitoring systems
For a shipboard system which is relatively small compared
to terrestrial power systems, a small number of monitors are
capable to provide the necessary information for identifying

severest voltage dip is subjected to. The most representative the type and the origin of an event by combining the meas-
case is covered during manoeuvering where bow thrusters urements from different locations. Although there is a num-

Main Bus Pod1 Pod2 Bow Thruster1 Bow Thruster2 Service Load
At Sea Fault at AG III IV IV IV
main bus AB I3 I2 I2 I2
ABG I1 I2 I2 I2
ABCG I0 I0 I0 I0
Fault at AG IV III IV IV
Pod1 bus AB I3 I3 I3 I3
ABG I3 I1 I3 I3
ABCG I3 I0 I3 I3
Fault at AG IV IV IV III
Service AB I3 I3 I3 I3
Load bus ABG I3 I3 I3 I1
ABCG I3 I0 I0 I0
Maneuvering Fault at AG III IV IV IV IV
main bus AB I3 I2 I2 I0 I2
ABG I1 I2 I2 I0 I2
ABCG I0 I0 I0 I0 I0
Fault at AG IV III IV IV IV
Pod1 bus AB I3 I3 I3 I3 I3
ABG I3 I1 I3 I3 I3
ABCG I3 I0 I3 I0 I3
Fault at AG IV IV IV III IV IV
Bow AB IV IV IV I3 IV IV
Thruster ABG IV IV IV I1 IV IV
1 bus ABCG IV IV IV I0 IV IV
Fault at AG IV IV IV IV III
Service AB I3 I3 I3 I1 I3
Load bus ABG I3 I3 I3 I1 II1
ABCG I3 I0 I0 I0 I0
Harbor Fault at AG III IV
main bus AB I3 I2
ABG I1 I2
ABCG I0 I0
Fault at AG IV III
service AB I2 I3
load bus ABG I2 I1
ABCG I0 I0
Table 5: Analysis of fault induced voltage dips in the case study of Fig 1

8 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology No. A11 2008

 Introducing a classification method of Voltage dips in ship electric energy systems
ber of reasons for measuring current, in terms of the events
presented in this paper, voltage measurements are adequate
for analysis and identification purposes. This simplifies
significantly the requirements for the equipment.
In recent years, the developments in microprocessing
and communications led to monitoring systems of low cost.
Fig 10 presents a monitoring system for voltage dip events
for a shipboard power system. It consists of monitoring
equipment, voltage transformers (if not already available for
protection purposes), communication links for transferring
the monitoring data and a central process unit that will
accommodate and process the data. Data mining software
(for example an expert system) can be used to combine the
data in order to provide decision support information (type
of event, origin, impact of the event etc) for the system
operator.
As the cost of storing the recordings is low (the cost of
data storage technology presents a decreasing trend), the
utilization of such a system will create a database of record-
ings-measurements that can be exploited in many ways.
Firstly, the recordings can be used to evaluate and tune the
Downloaded by [195.29.81.98] at 22:40 25 July 2016
available models of the power system components used for
simulation purposes. By making the necessary additions-
changes in these models more accurate results can be
obtained when for example, predicting the impact of new
equipment on board.
Furthermore, useful knowledge can be extracted by this
database for the evaluation of the protection system opera-
tion of the power system. Voltage dips are linked with
protection in two ways: (a) the duration of fault induced
dips depends on the time it takes for protection system to
isolate the faulty part of the system (b) transformer and
motor dips can cause protection maloperation. The record-
ings can reveal situations of slow protection operation or
situations where protection operated under non-fault condi-
tions. This knowledge can be used to improve the protection
system performance.
Voltage dip classification in terms of origin (fault, trans-
former, motor) can be automated using signal processing
techniques to extract voltage rms magnitude, segment the
Fig 10: Monitoring system for onboard power systems
No. A11 2008 Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology
voltage signature by detecting points of change and by
processing the different segments in an expert system fra-
mework. This work is presented in21 . Such methods simpli-
fy considerably the analysis of the measurements obtained
by monitoring systems.
As power quality becomes critical in shipboard systems,
a monitoring system apart from voltage events can record
(by adding a few more elements) and store periodically:
• Voltage rms
• Harmonics (individual harmonics and total harmonic
distortion by performing Fourier Transform on the vol-
tage waveforms)
• Unbalance (by calculating the indices described in the
relevant standards).
CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents an introduction to the analysis and
classification of voltage dips in ship electric power systems.
The method followed takes into account all major voltage
dip types occurring in ship electric power systems and can
be a handy tool for assisting the system operator to assist
the operating conditions. Furthermore, it is shown that this
method can be used as an implement to identify the voltage
dip type and location by an expert Power Quality monitor-
ing system or as an evaluation tool of the protection scheme
performance. The only prerequisite information is a non-
expensive multi-phase on-line voltage monitoring system of
major ship network buses - recording voltage rms magni-
tude and waveshape as well as symmetry among phases.
This monitoring system has to be accompanied by a series
of off-line voltage dip incident simulations which help to
locate the incidents in a precise manner.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work of this paper is part of the research project
‘Pythagoras-I’’’ within the ‘Operational Programme for
Education and Initial Vocational Training - EPEAEK-II’-
frame. The Project is co-funded by the European Social
Fund (75%) and Greek National Resources (25%).
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Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology No. A11 2008