Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Department
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in
by
FALL
2012
THE ANALYSIS OF FAULTS IN OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINES
A Project
by
William P. Davis
Approved by:
____________________________
Date
ii
Student: William P. Davis
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the
University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library
iii
Abstract
of
by
William P. Davis
expected to follow a set of standard specifications that are briefly described in this
research. The idea to be kept in mind is that during the planning and construction
phases of transmission lines, natural elements, such as trees for example, there will
be less of a chance of fault occurrences and therefore more power system reliability.
Faults in transmission lines are one of the elements that will affect the reliability of
the system. The more fault occurrences, the lesser the system reliability, since this
causes outages in the power system that may result in the interruption of service.
continuous and also a high quality of service at a competitive and reasonable cost.
This means that they have to insure the reliability of the system to provide the
consumer with a service that is consistent with the safety of personnel and equipment
and meet their demands within not only the specifications of voltage and frequency
but with a high degree of reliability and within reasonable cost to the consumer.
_______________________
Date
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to Professors Gonen and Kumar as this would not have been possible
without both their help and guidance. To my family and friends for all the support
throughout the years and believing that this would one day be possible.
Also, I would like to thank, via Professor Gonen, the original undergraduate Power
Senior Project Group whose work was the initial basis for the production of this
report.
without her contributing effort, the completion of this report would not have been
possible.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgments v
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1
2.1.1 Introduction 2
2.2.1 Lightning 5
2.2.2 Pollution 8
2.2.3 Fires 8
vi
3. MATHEMATICAL DESIGN 18
3.1 Introduction 18
4.1 Introduction 37
vii
4.7 Series Fault 52
6. CONCLUSION 62
References 63
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Tables Page
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
x
Figure 3.9-(b) Two lines open: interconnection of sequence networks [8] 36
Figure 4.9 Thevenin equivalent of positive, negative, and zero sequence networks_53
xi
1
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
The Electric Power System is divided into many different sections. One of
stations and substations via transmission lines into consumers. Both methods could
can temporarily disturb the stable condition of the power system that occurs when
the insulation of the system fails at any point. Moreover, if a conducting object
comes in contact with a bare power conductor, a short circuit, or fault, is said to have
occurred. The causes of faults are many, they include lighting, wind damage, trees
falling across transmission lines, vehicles or aircraft colliding with the transmission
In this study, the causes and effects of faults in the overhead transmission
lines were the focus of the research. Some of the many causes of faults, and some
detection methods will be discussed in chapter two (2). Chapter three (3) will
illustrate the mathematical model, and chapter four (4) will demonstrate the
Chapter Two
2.1.1 Introduction
voltage transmission lines to utilization points. In the early days (until 1917), electric
given power factor, over a given distance and be within the limit of given the
regulation, efficiency and losses. The lines should stand the weather conditions of
the locality in which they are laid. This would involve wind pressures and
temperature variation at the places and the lines should be designed for the
corresponding mechanical loading. The regulation would give the voltage drop
current of the line depends on the capacity of the line and should not exceed the
limit. As far as the general requirements of transmission lines are concerned, the
lines should have enough capacity to transmit the required power, should maintain
3
continuous supply without failure, and should be mechanically strong so that there
With increase in the power to be transmitted over long distances, use of high
voltages for power transmission has been developed. However, a choice could be
made out of the standard voltages that are used in the country. The voltage selected
has to be economical and depends on the cost of the lines, cost of apparatus such as
transformers, circuit breakers, insulators, etc. This cost increases rapidly for voltages
in the range of 230 kV and above. For higher power, it is worthwhile to check
whether the required power can be transmitted using lower power voltages, e.g.
voltages. The voltages used as standards in many countries 11 kV, 22 kV, and 33 kV
for short lines, 66 kV and 110 kV for medium lines and 132 kV, 166 kV, 230 kV and
voltage of
the other lines in the vicinity should be considered. This is required for the possible
voltages higher than the most economical voltage. Possible developments in the
location should also be considered in justifying the choice of voltage. The choice of
voltage is also liked with the conductor size, when transmitting the required power.
4
for short distances, while the other lines may be used for the appropriate distances.
This is just a very rough guide for preliminary work, to start detailed design of the
line required. The choice of conductors, etc. also affects the choice. In designing a
possible voltages and two or three conductor sizes to obtain the required
ACSR conductors. For short lines with comparatively low voltages up to 33 kV,
copper conductors are used if available. For high-voltage lines, the increase in the
consideration. ACSR conductors are commonly used for high-voltage work. In most
countries where copper is not available in plenty and needs to be imported, it would
The size of the conductor selected depends on the length of the transmission
line, load on the line and the voltage of the line. For a given loss of energy,
conductor as well as its weight varies inversely as the square of the voltage of the
line. The loss in the transmission line is 3I2r per unit length of the line, where r is the
5
resistance per unit length of the line. The current in the line depends on the voltage
and the power factor of the load to be supplied. As the voltage increases, the cross
section of the conductors reduces, and up to a certain extent, use of higher voltages
reduces the loss. However, for high voltages (above 166 kV) other losses should be
considered, i.e. due to leakage over insulators and Corona loss. The value of the
charging current also increases for the high voltages and this affects the line current.
The cost of the conductors depends on their weight. The safe current carrying
between phase conductors and earth or any earthed screens surrounding the
between conductors, or between conductors and earth, to a value below that of the
lowest load impedance normal to the circuit. Thus a higher degree of pollution on an
insulator string, although it reduces the insulation strength of the affected phase, does
not become a fault until it causes a flashover across the string, which in turn
2.2.1 Lightning
6
transmission lines are caused by lightning (see Figure 2.1). The main conventional
approaches for reduction of the lightning flashover faults on power lines are
lowering of the footing resistance and employing of multiple shielding wires, and
differential insulation.
7
8
However, these methods have not been sufficient to prevent flashover faults.
In the mean time application of arresters to lines has been a better solution in recent
insulator assemblies. It is important that the arrester should be strong enough in order
arrester has been developed by incorporating ZnO elements into the shed of a
conventional suspension insulator (Figures 2.3 and 2.4). It has an arrester function
along with the normal electrical and mechanical functions of a line insulator. It is a
gapless type that has the advantage of reliable surge absorption with no delay in
discharge. The new arrester holds promise not only for the prevention of lightning
2.2.2 Pollution
areas, and by salt deposited by wind-borne sea-spray in coastal areas. A high degree
affected phase, does not become a fault until it causes a flashover across the string,
which in turn reduces excess current or other detectable abnormality, for example
2.2.3 Fires
number of line outages in many countries. Faults are mainly due to conductor to
9
the line right of way in such areas is also a consideration. Another problem arising
particles (soot, dust) on its surfaces. In this case, the line insulation requirements
should be determined in such a way that the outages under fire could be reduced to a
minimum. [5]
Other causes of faults on overhead lines are trees, birds, aircraft, fog, ice,
loading.
Power system faults may be categorized as shunt faults and series faults. The
most occurring type of shunt faults is Single Line-to-ground faults (SLG), which one
of the four types of shunt faults, which occur along the power lines. This type of
fault occurs when one conductor falls to ground or contacts the neutral wire. It could
also be the result of falling trees in a winter storm. This type could be represented as
in Figure 2.5.
The second most occurring type of shunt faults is the Line-to-Line fault (LL).
It is the result of two conductors being short-circuited. As in the case of a large bird
standing on one transmission line and touching the other, or if a tree branch fall on
top of the two of the power lines. This type could be represented as in Figure 2.6.
10
Third type of fault is the Double Line-to-Ground fault (DLG), Figure 2.7.
This can be a result of a tree falling on two of the power lines, or other causes. The
fourth and least occurring type of fault is the balanced three phase (Figure 2.8),
which can occur by a contact between the three power lines in many different forms.
11
12
13
Series faults can occur along the power lines as the “result of an unbalanced
series impedance condition of the lines in the case of one or two broken lines for
example. In practice, a series fault is encountered, for example, when lines (or
circuits) are controlled by circuit breakers (or fuses) or any device that does not open
all three phases; one or two phases of the line (or the circuit) may be open while the
important and very indispensable. For that, power transmission lines are equipped
with various protection systems that are checked varies times periodically because of
the unexpected troubles that may destroy the lines. For the purpose of protecting
these lines, a new system was invented to discover the Fault Location using
Composite Fiber Optic Overhead Ground Wire (OPGW). This system deals mainly
with most causes of fault situations such as lightning, dew, snow, fog, or gales. This
new fault location system was developed to find out where electrical fault happened
on overhead power transmission lines by detecting the current induced in the ground
wire. Any fault situation needs the fastest processing in fixing the fault. For that, the
fault location system helps engineers to detect the point or the section where an
Since the fault information is uncertain, the new fault location deals with the
fault information as a current distribution pattern throughout the power line, and
14
applies Fuzzy Theory to realize the human-like manner of fault used by power
engineers. Mainly, the fault location method measures the current induced in the
OPGW at many points along the line, these points are various sensors mounted on
the tower and transmits the information to the central monitoring station through the
optical fiber within the OPGW. So the fault information system is mainly given by
lines can be classified into two types: grounding and short circuit fault.
The transmission that gets to the central monitor station deals with current
characteristic features. In order to locate the fault, engineers must use the features of
currents that deal with the phase angle and the amplitude and relate these features to
Fuzzy Theory. The idea arose of using Fuzzy Theory as a fault theory algorithm
similar to this kind of human thinking. There were some sets for Fuzzy theory: SdI
(large amplitude change) Sd(large phase angle change) SdIp (large angle change),
SIS2 (amplitude approximately half of saturation current Is) and finally SIn (amplitude
larger than normal). For that the possibility of grounding faults occurring can be
expressed by:
(2.1)
(2.2)
(2.3)
15
(2.4)
Also, we have to know that the FI sensors divide all faults occurring in a section. In
general his system already has been applied to several commercial power
transmission lines and successfully located the sections of the faults [9].
safeguard electric power systems. For that, faults on transmission lines need to be
detected, classified, and located accurately. All these actions must be taken in very
short time to clear the fault. The new approach of neural network to fault
classifications for high speed protective relaying is a good manner in solving any
fault classification for high speed protective relaying is a good manner in solving any
fault happened to the transmission lines. Mainly this scheme is based on the use of
2.9 shows functional parts of protective relay. The protective relay need sampled
values of currents and voltages of three lines build inputs of the system. In general, a
knowledge control module controls all other parts of the relay and is responsible for
sending trip signals. The fault detection module is signals that a fault location
classification module uses samples of normalized currents (i) and voltages (v).
A1KHz sample rate is use to ensure that the fault type classification can be done in a
reclosing. Generally speaking, neural network classifies the fault into types. The first
type (1-phase, 2-phase, 3-phase faults) is fast 5-7 ms and reliable. The second type,
Chapter Three
MATHEMATICAL DESIGN
3.1 Introduction
Fault or short-circuit studies are obviously an essential tool for the electric
energy systems engineer. The task here is to be able to calculate the fault conditions
and to provide protective equipment designed to isolate the faulted zone from the
remainder of the system in the appropriate time. The least complex category
computationally is the balanced fault. This tempts the engineer to base his decision
on its results. The balanced fault could (in some locations) result in currents smaller
than that due to any other type of fault. However, the interrupting capacity of
A fault occurs when two or more conductors that normally operate with a
potential difference come in contact with each other. The contact may be a physical
4metallic one, or it may occur through an arc. In the metal-to-metal contact case, the
voltage between the two parts is reduced to zero. On the other hand, the voltage
2. Line-to-line faults
Overhead lines are constructed of bare conductors. Wind, sleet, trees, cranes, kites,
airplanes, birds, or damage to supporting structure are causes for accidental faults on
short circuits. This is mainly attributed to aging combined with over loading. About
75 percent of the energy system’s faults are due to the shunt fault type and result
from insulator flashover during electrical storms. Only one in twenty faults are due
condition of the lines. This could occur when fuses or any device, which does not
open all three phases, one or two phases, controls circuits. It is also the result of one
or two broken lines, or impedance inserted in one or two lines. Such faults could
occur as a result of one or two phases of the line open while the other phase or
When the system impedances and admittances are constants the method of
and voltages in the system with one or two open conductors. The existing impedance
As a result of a fault, currents of high value will flow through the network to
the faulted point. The amount of current will be much greater than the desired
thermal ability of the conductors in the power lines or machines feeding the fault.
Which causes temperature to rise which in turn may cause damage by annealing of
conductors and insulation charring. In addition to this, the low voltage in the
Assume that the phase a is shorted to ground at the fault point F as shown in
figure 3.1. Phase b and c currents are assumed to be negligible, and we can thus write
(3.1)
This gives
(3.2)
(3.3)
This gives
21
(3.4)
(3.5)
We can then conclude then that in the case of a single line-to-ground fault, the
(3.6)
With the generators normally producing balanced three phase voltages, which are
Let us assume that the sequence impedances to the fault are given by Z1, Z2, Z0. We
can write the following expressions for sequence voltages at the fault:
(3.7)
(3.8)
(3.9)
(3.10)
We conclude
(3.11)
Or
23
(3.13)
(3.14)
(3.15)
The last two expressions can be derived easily from the basic relations.
(3.16)
Which reduces to
(3.19)
And since
(3.20)
25
We obtain
(3.21)
In this case, we will consider a general fault condition. We assume that phase
b has fault impedance of Zf ; phase c has a fault impedance of Zf ; and the common
(3.22)
(3.23)
(3.24)
(3.25)
As a result, we get
(3.26)
(3.27)
26
(3.28)
(3.29)
(3.30)
(3.31)
(3.32)
Now we have
(3.33)
(3.34)
(3.35)
Consequently,
(3.36)
It is clear from equation (3.36) that the sequence networks are connected in
parallel, which could be seen in Figure 3.4. From the equivalent circuit we obtain the
(3.37)
27
(3.38)
Finally,
(3.39)
28
29
In the case of line-to-line fault a short circuit occurs between two phases.
Assuming that phase a is the un-faulted phase, Figure 3.5 shows a three-phase
system with a line-to-line short circuit between phases b and c. The boundary
(3.40)
(3.42)
The first two conditions yield
(3.43)
Or
(3.44)
(3.45)
which gives
(3.46)
30
Or
(3.47)
(3.48)
The equivalent circuit will take on the form shown in figure 3.6. Note that the zero
Let us now consider the situation with a balanced three-phase fault on phases
a, b, and c, all through the same fault impedance Zf. This fault condition is shown in
Figure 3.7. It is clear from inspection of this figure that the phase voltages at the fault
are represented by
(3.49)
(3.50)
(3.51)
(3.52)
(3.53)
(3.54)
(3.55)
(3.56)
32
(3.57)
(3.58)
(3.59)
(3.60)
As a result,
(3.61)
From Figure 3.8, it can be observed that the line for one the open line
conductor in phase a is infinity, whereas the line impedances for the other two phases
have some finite values [8]. Therefore, the positive, negative, and zero sequence
(3.62)
(3.64)
34
Or simply
(3.65)
Where
(3.66)
35
If two lines are open as shown in Figure 3.9, then the lime impedances for the
OLO in phases b and c are infinity, whereas the line impedance of phase a has some
And
(3.67)
By inspection of Figure 3.9, the positive, negative, and zero currents can be
expressed as
(3.68)
36
37
Chapter Four
4.1 Introduction
fault conditions, with particular reference to the effects of these conditions on the
power system current and voltage values. Together with other aspects of system
analysis, fault calculation forms and indispensable part of the whole function and
knowledge and understanding of system behavior and on the ability to predict this
behavior for the complete range of possible system conditions. Accurate and
comprehensive analysis, and the means and methods of achieving it, are therefore of
The applications of power system analysis cover the full range of possible
system conditions, they being divisible into two main classes, namely conditions in
which the power system is operating in a normal healthy state, and others in which it
analysis of these conditions and their effects on the power system is of particular
(b) The determination point of the required load and short-circuit ratings
(c) The design and application of equipment for the control and
Given the following system, in Figure 4.1 in the case of a fault at F. Assume
Network component MVA rating Voltage rating (kV) X1 (pu) X2 (pu) X0 (pu)
G1 200 20 0.2 0.12 0.06
G2 200 13.2 0.37 0.25 0.08
T1 200 20 / 230 0.2 0.2 0.2
T2 200 13.2 / 230 0.225 0.225 0.225
T3 200 20 / 230 0.27 0.27 0.27
T4 200 13.2 / 230 0.16 0.16 0.16
L1 200 230 0.11 0.11 0.25
L2 200 230 0.33 0.33 0.6
The positive, negative, and zero network sequences, were obtained using sequence
impedance reduction. The positive, negative, and zero network sequences are shown
Using the data given earlier, assume there is a SLG and find the voltages and
currents at the fault point. The interconnection between the sequence networks for a
SLG is illustrated in Figure 4.5. The sequence network is connected in series for
SLG fault.
Therefore,
Using the sequence derived from the first example, assume having a DLG
fault with Zf = j0.06p.u and Zg = j0.025p.u. Find the voltages and currents at the fault
Ia1 =
46
For the given network sequences in the first example, assuming a line to line
fault. From the sequence network connection in Figure 4.7, we can find sequence
Using the calculated sequences in the first example, we can obtain the short
Given the power system, in Figure 4.8, and in the case of a fault at F and Fꞌ,
The positive, negative and zero network sequence, at fault points F and Fꞌ are
Case 1. Assuming that there is a One Line Fault at phase (C). Positive, negative, and
Case 2
Assuming that there is a Two Line fault at phases (C-A). positive, negative, and zero
Chapter Five
network, using the Simulink© modeling tool. The Simulink model is show below in
Figure 5.1
power plant consisting of six 350 MVA generators to an equivalent network through
a 600 km transmission line. The transmission line is split in two 300 km lines
connected between buses B1, B2, and B3. In order to increase the transmission
capacity, each line is series compensated by capacitors representing 40% of the line
reactance. Both lines are also shunt compensated by a 330 Mvar shunt reactance. The
shunt and series compensation equipments are located at the B2 substation where a
300 MVA 735/230 kV transformer with a 25 kV tertiary winding feeds a 230 kV,
250 MW load. The series compensation subsystems are identical for the two lines.
For each line, each phase of the series compensation module contains the series
capacitor, a metal oxide varistor (MOV) is protecting the capacitor, and a parallel
gap protecting the MOV. When the energy dissipated in the MOV exceeds a
threshold level of 30 MJ, the gap simulated by a circuit breaker is fired. CB1 and
B2. Voltages and currents are measured in B1, B2, and B3 blocks. These blocks are
Three-phase V-I Measurement blocks where voltage and current signals are sent to
GE N B1 B2 B3
1 3 .8 e3 V 7 3 5 e3 V 7 3 5 e3 V 7 3 5 e3 V
1 pu 1 .0 1 2 pu 1 .0 3 pu 1 pu
-7 .5 5 2 deg. 1 6 .3 9 deg. 7 .3 5 4 deg. 0 deg.
Pm
m
-C- Pm
A A a aA A a A a A a aA A a aA A
SSM B B b bB B b B b B b bB B b bB B
-C- E
C C c cC C c C c C c cC C c cC C
A
B
C
A
B
A
B
C
C
A
100 MW Fault B A a2
330 Mvar (1) b2
Breaker
c2
B
a3
b3
C c3
300 MVA
735/230 kV
C
C
A
B
A
B
Scopes 330 Mvar (2) 250 MW
Data Acquisition
Discrete,
Ts = 5e-005 s.
?
The 'Model initialization function' defined in the Three-Phase Series Compensated Network
Model Properties automatically sets the sample time Ts
to 50e-6 s
Vabc_B1
Vabc B1 (pu)
Iabc_B1
Iabc B1 (pu/100MVA)
BUS B1
Vabc_B2
Vabc B2 (pu)
Iabc_B2
Iabc B2 (pu/100MVA)
Multimeter BUS B2
Va_Cs
Va Cs (pu)
Ia_MOV
Ia MOV (A)
Wa_MOV
Energy MOVa (J)
Sig_Cs1
Chapter Six
CONCLUSION
continuous and high quality service at a competitive and reasonable cost. This means
that they have to insure the reliability of the system to provide consumers with a
service what is consistent with the safety personnel and equipment, and meet their
Faults in the transmission lines are one of the elements that the reliability of
the system is affected by. The more faults that take place, the less reliable the system
is, since they could cause outages in the power system, which may result in an
companies are expected to follow the set of standard specifications that are briefly
described in chapter two of this research, keeping in mind that the further away
transmission lines are from natural elements, such as trees, the less faults
occurrences will be and the more reliable the power system will be.
63
REFERENCES
Systems,
5. Fonseca, J.R., Tan, A.L., Monassi, V., Janquira, W.S., Silva, R.P.,
6. Furukawa, Shuji, Usada, Osamu, Isozaki, Tashaki, and Irie, Tashaki (October
8. Gonen, Turan (1987). Modern Power System Analysis. John Wiley and Sons.
64
9. Urasawa, K., Kanemaru, K., Toyota, S,. and Sugiyama, K. (October 1989).
New Fault Location System For Power Transmission Lines Using Composite