Estimation of Fault Resistance from Fault

Recording Data
Daniel Wong & Michael Tong
2014-November-5
Agenda

• Project Background & Introduction

• Fault Resistance & Effect
• Estimation Algorithm
• Estimation Results
• Conclusion
Project Background

About AltaLink
• Canada’s only fully independent
transmission company
• Own and operate more than half of
Alberta’s Transmission Grid
• Serve 85% of Alberta population
• Interconnections to BC, Saskatchewan
and Montana (US)
• 12,000 km transmission lines
 69kV to 500kV
• 300 substations
• More than 20,000 protection relays
• Own and operate a telecommunication
(in-house) system
Project Background

Line Protection Coverage

• Impedance Protection - one of the widely used line protections

• Impedance relay responds to Voltage and Current

• Line impedance contains reactance and resistance

• Ground fault impedance contains line impedance and ground

fault resistance

• For correct relay operation, relay setting needs to coverage

ground fault resistance

• The question is “how much resistance to cover”

Project Background

AltaLink relay setting guidelines

(Pre December 2004)

• AltaLink in-house guideline (up to December 2004)

• For transmission lines, impedance protection were applied

most of the time

• For zone 1 impedance setting, it needs to cover 5 Ohms

• Based on actual operating experience, line protection

performance was good

• No problem was identified with the 5 Ohms coverage

Project Background

AESO Protection Standard

Alberta Interconnected Electric

System Protection Standards:

• Effective: December 1, 2004

• Valid for 5 years
• Expired: December 1, 2009
• Document Size: 65 pages
Project Background

AESO Protection Standard

Section 3.6 on Fault Types

Protection applied to the Alberta Interconnected Electric System

must be capable of detecting:

• Single line to ground fault with 20 Ohms (tower footing

plus arc) impedance

• Phase to phase to ground fault with 20 Ohms (tower footing

plus arc) impedance
Project Background

ISO (AESO) Rules

ISO Rules – Section 502.3 Interconnected Electric System
Protection Requirements:

• Draft rules posted on 2012 August 15 for consultation

• Final rules posted on 2012 December 31

• Effective: 2012 December 31

• Expiry: No date declared yet

• Document size: 12 pages

Project Background

ISO (AESO) Rules - Section 502.3

Interconnected Electric System Protection Requirements

Ground Fault Resistance Coverage:

• Single line-to-ground fault with

impedance up to 5 Ohms

• Phase-to-phase-to-ground fault with

impedance up to 5 Ohms
Project Background

• Based on protection guidelines, standards and rules,

requirements on ground fault resistance coverage
changes from 5 to 20 and back to 5 Ohms again
• No improvement or deterioration in protection
performance was observed with these changes
• No study has been carried out to determine the
magnitude of ground fault resistance in the AltaLink
system
• In mid 2012, a study project was initiated with
University of Alberta
Project Introduction

• Alberta Power Industry Consortium (APIC) Project –

(Report No. 2013A-1)
 Develop an algorithm to estimate the fault resistances from fault
data recorded and verify the algorithm through simulation and
experimental studies
 Apply the algorithm to a large number of fault cases with
COMTRADE fault files in single phase to ground faults on 2-
terminal lines
 Identify the typical value of the ground fault resistance in AltaLink
system in order to assess the Protection Setting Guidelines

• Department of E&C Engineering, University of Alberta

• P&C Engineering and System Operations, AltaLink
Fault Resistance
Single Phase to Ground Fault:

• Electric arc:
 Traditionally considered as a resistance
 Dependent on the arc current/length
 Value is variable during the fault
• Tower grounding:
 Mainly resistive
 Not dependent on the fault current
 Value is stable during the fault
• Objects in the fault path:
 Usually considered mainly resistive
 Might be zero or very high
 Value is unpredictable
Fault Resistance Effect
Homogeneous System

ZL1
X

Rf

Z (apparent impedance)

R
Fault Resistance Effect
Non-Homogeneous System

ZL1 ZL1
X X

Z(apparent Z(apparent
impedance) impedance)

R R

Overreach Underreach
Estimation Algorithm

• Two stages:
 Stage 1: Fault location estimation
 Stage 2: Fault resistance estimation

VS mZ L 1  m  Z L VR
F

IS IR

RF
Relay Relay
 Estimation Algorithm
S-End R-End

V1S V1R
S

S
I1S I1R
Z1S mZ1L (1-m)Z1L Z1R

-
I2S V2F I2R
Z2S mZ2L
+ (1-m)Z2L Z2R

I0S I0R
Z0S mZ0L (1-m)Z0L Z0R

IF
3RF
Estimation Algorithm
Stage 1 – Fault Location Estimation

Two-Ended Negative-Sequence Impedance Method

• Negate the effect of pre-fault load and fault resistance, zero-
sequence mutual impedance.
• No source are involved, calculation is based on Magnitude. Data
alignment is not required.

-
I2S V2F I2R
Z2S mZ2L
+ (1-m)Z2L Z2R

V2 F   I 2 S  Z 2 S  mZ 2 L  V2 F   I 2 R  Z 2 R  1  m  Z 2 L 
Estimation Algorithm
Stage 2 – Fault Resistance Estimation

VS mZ L 1  m  Z L VR
F

IS IR

RF
Relay Relay

For an A-G fault, Voltage and current at end S:

VAS  mZ1L  I AS  k0 I r   3I F RF
Estimation Results

• 54 fault cases in AltaLink 240KV and

138KV transmission system. 92% of
the faults on the studied lines have a
fault resistance of less than 5Ω

• Average/Median value of the fault

resistance in 240KV system <
Average/Median value of the fault
resistance in 138KV system
 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

0
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
9

3
May-07
Jul-09
Jul-09
Sep-09
Mar-10
Apr-10
May-10
Jun-10
Aug-10
Aug-10
Jan-11
Apr-11

Estimated Value (Ω)

Average Value (1.31)
May-11
May-11
May-11
Jul-11
Jul-11
Jul-11
(All Fault Cases)

Aug-11
Aug-11
Aug-11
Sep-11

Median Value ( 0.76)

Sep-11
Apr-12
240KV Line Fault Resistance Level

Apr-12
Sep-12
May-13
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

0
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
9

3
Feb-08
Mar-08
Jul-08
Aug-08
Mar-09
Sep-09
Jul-10
Sep-10
Feb-11
Apr-11
May-11
May-11
Estimated Value (Ω)
Average Value (2.84)
May-11
Jul-11
Estimation Results (All Fault Cases)

Jul-11
Apr-12
May-12
Aug-12
(All Fault Cases)

Aug-12
Aug-12
Aug-12
Oct-12
Median Value (2.33)

Nov-12
Feb-13
138KV Line Fault Resistance Level

Mar-13
Jun-13
Aug-13
 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
May-07
Jul-09
Sep-09
Mar-10
Apr-10
May-10
Jun-10
Aug-10
Aug-10
Jan-11
Apr-11
May-11

Estimated Value (Ω)

Average Value (0.87)
May-11
May-11
Jul-11
Jul-11
Jul-11
Aug-11
Aug-11
Aug-11
Level (Excluding Outlier)

Sep-11
240KV Line Fault Resistance

Sep-11

Median Value ( 0.72)

Apr-12
Apr-12
Sep-12
May-13

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Feb-08
Mar-08
Jul-08
Aug-08
Mar-09
Sep-09
Jul-10
Sep-10
Feb-11
Apr-11
May-11
May-11
Estimated Value (Ω)
Average Value (2.31)
Estimation Results (Excluding Outlier)

May-11
Jul-11
Jul-11
Apr-12
May-12
Aug-12
(Excluding Outlier)

Aug-12
Aug-12
Aug-12
Median Value (2.17)

Oct-12
Nov-12
138KV Line Fault Resistance Level

Feb-13
Jun-13
Aug-13
Estimation Results (Pie Chart)

Fault Resistance Level Fault Resistance Level

(All Fault Cases) (Excluding Outliers)

> 5 Ohm > 5 Ohm

8% 4%

2 ~ 5 Ohm
2 ~ 5 Ohm 25%
24%

< 2 Ohm < 2 Ohm

68% 71%
 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

0
1
2
3
4
7
8
9

5
6
unknown
Tractor
Unknown
unknown
lightning
Contamination
Bird Nest
Bird Nest
Bird Nest
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown

Estimated Value (Ω)

Average Value (1.31)
unknown
Unknown
Lightning
Unknown
unknown
Unknown
(All Fault Cases)

Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Lightning

Median Value ( 0.76)

Unknown
240KV Line Fault Resistance Level

CVT failure
Lightning
Unknown
Conductor
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

0
1
2
3
4
7
8
9

5
6

Cross-arm
Cross-arm
Lightning
Contamination
Conductor
Lightning
Conductor
Contamination
Gravel Truck
Lightning
Estimation Results (Ω vs. Cause)

Unknown
Unknown
Estimated Value (Ω)
Average Value (2.84)

Lightning
Dump Truck
Cross-arm
Weather
unknown
Lightning
(All Fault Cases)

Contamination
unknown
unknown
unknown
Median Value (2.33)

Icing
unknown
138KV Line Fault Resistance Level

Unknown
Unknown
Shield Wire
Protection Setting Guidelines
Existing Protection Setting Guidelines for Line Protection
……..

Impedance Zone 1:

Generally zone 1 is the zone set to underreach the end of the

protected line. Zone 1 reach shall be set to 85% of the actual impedance
of the protected line with no intentional tripping delay. Mutual coupling
with parallel lines causes overreaching for some faults; the zone 1 reach
may be reduced to no less than 60% of the line impedance to allow the
two opposite zone 1 reaches to overlap with 15% margin, provided a
ground fault with 5 ohms resistance still produces high-speed
operation.

……..
ISO Rules – Part 500 Facilities
Section 502.3 Interconnected Electric System Protection Requirements
……..

Bulk Transmission Line

Ground Fault Resistance Coverage

15 If a bulk transmission line experiences a fault of the following

type, then each of the two (2) protection systems for the bulk
transmission line must initiate isolation of the fault:
(a) single line-to-ground, with a minimum impedance of five
(5) ohms; or
(b) phase-to-phase-to-ground with a minimum impedance of
five (5) ohms..

……..
Conclusion (Project Specifics)

• An off-line method is proposed for estimating the fault

resistance in single phase-to-ground faults. The method
eliminates the need to synchronize the fault data.

• The developed program makes it possible to estimate

the fault resistances in a large number of fault cases,
and to obtain a statistical picture of typical fault
resistance values.

• More than 50 fault events are studied and the

estimation result aligns with AltaLink Protection Setting
Practice.
Conclusion (Application Specific)

• With the outliers excluded, 96% of the recorded ground

fault resistances were less than 5 Ohms

• The “5 Ohms” requirement for ground fault resistance

coverage, as stated in the ISO (AESO) Rules 502.3 is
appropriate

• AltaLink provides “5 Ohms” ground fault resistance

coverage in full compliance with Rules 502.3
Questions