IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No.

4, October 1997 1439

A NON-PILOT PHASE SELECTOR BASED ON SUPERIMPOSED

COMPONENTS FOR PROTECTION OF DOUBLE CIRCUIT LINES

M.S.Jones, D.W. P ,Thomas, Member, IEEE C . Christopoulos, Member IEEE

GEC Alsthom T&D The Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department,
Protection and Control Ltd., The University of Nottingham,
Stafford, UK. Nottingham, UK.

Abstract- This paper gives details of a new phase-selection which is valid throughout the period when superimposed
scheme for simultaneous phase-ground faults on both circuits of components can be obtained.
double circuit EHV transmission lines. Fast phase selection
(within half a cycle) can be achieved by using the information IT. FAULT TRANSIENTS
contained within the fault transients. The theory is presented
along with results obtained through simulations using EMTP. The
The initial magnitudes of the travelling-waves propagating
scheme enables single pole tripping to be employed for
simultaneous faults. The proposed scheme does not require
communication between the two ends of the line. Limitations due
to the low bandwidth of CVT’s have not caused problems and the
method has shown immunity to system noise. Circuit 1

I. INTRODUCTION
4
W l6VA
Fast and accurate phase selection can greatly improve distance
protection and system stability [ 11. Where a double circuit line Circuit 2
is used to connect two areas, then it is feasible to maintain a 3
phase link between the two ends when simultaneous phase-
ground faults occur on both circuits (figure 1) by employing
selective pole tripping. With non-unit (non-pilot) distance Figure 1 Single line diagram of system under study
protection of the types presently in use, such a fault
combination will cause the relays to initiate three pole tripping
of both circuits at one or both ends of the protected zone [2]. away from the fault are dependant upon the system voltage at
the instant the fault occurs. For any particular single circuit
When a fault occurs on a transmission-line it causes a sudden fault, a fault conductance matrix [Y,] can be derived [5].
change in the voltage at the fault location. This change causes Then, knowing the surge impedance of the line under study
travelling-waves, in voltage and current, to propagate away [Z,],it is possible to derive the fault reflection coefficient [k,,]
from the fault location [3], and these are superimposed on the as [51
power frequency signal. Each particular type of fault produces
its own characteristic set of superimposed signals which
provide the information necessary for phase selection [4]. It
will be shown that a phase selection criterion can be derived

where [U] is the unit matrix

PE-268-PWRD-0-11-1996 A paper recommended and approved
by the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for publication in the IEEE Transactions on If the voltage just prior to fault inception is [V,], it is possible
Power Delivery. Manuscript submitted July 2 2, 1996; made to show that the initial travelling voltage waves [V,] are
available for printing November 25, 1996.
V,I = rqrvfl (2)

On a single-circuit three-phase transmission line, the transient

travelling waves can be considered to propagate as three
independent modes [3]. To a good approximation, the three
independent modes are those of a fully transposed line and are

0885-8977/97/$10.00 0 1997 IEEE

1440
comprised of a ground mode or common mode and two aerial
modes [ 5 ] . The aerial modes (modes 1 and 2) propagate at
approximately the velocity of light but the ground mode (mode
0) propagation can not be easily predicted and is dependant on
factors such as earth resistivity. Therefore, in most schemes, the
ground mode is subtracted to leave the aerial modes only.
cover faults occurring on one circuit only of a double circuit
line. In this paper we will extend further the scheme to cover
simultaneous faults on both circuits of a double circuit line.
111. SIMULTANEOUS DOUBLE CIRCUIT PHASE-
GROUND FAULTS

These transients are superimposed on the system voltages and
currents. They can be found by filtering out the power system
components from the relaying transducer signals to leave the
incremental or superimposed voltages [AV] and currents [AI].
From [AV] and [AI] the voltage amplitude of the incident
travelling waves at the relaying point can be found from [4 ,6]
The incident voltage amplitudes [VI] are then compared with
the predicted voltage amplitudes given by (2) to implement
phase selection [4] and [7].
It should be noted that the relay transducers will distort the
waveforms that are observed by the relay. Typical transducer
bandwidths of voltage transformers are less than 600Hz. This
means that individual travelling-waves can not be resolved.
However a general solution of the superimposed transients
incident at the relay has the form [7]
If a double circuit line is considered as a 6-phase system, then
the travelling wave equation of (2) can be used with all
quantities in terms of 6 phases rather than the usual 3. Note that
it has been assumed that both circuits are fully transposed and
each phase is connected to its corresponding phase on the other
circuit at the busbars. There will now be six modes of
propagation and the modal reflections at the busbars will be
independent of each other if the double circuit line is
connecting balanced systems. The resultant 6-phase
equivalent fault reflection coefficient matrix for a fblly
transposed line is.
a O O O b O
1 , 0 0 0 . , 1
x o o o x o
[kV3 =
x o o o x o
c O O O d O
x o o o x o

where the values of the constants x,a,b,c, and d are given in the
appendix.

where [SI is the modal transformation matrix and [A,] and [BA
are diagonal matrices with diagonal elements given by

A l l = ( e (Ylx> P,,e ( - Ylx>> -

+ (5)

I
v WI 25-May-94 14.00.43
400

phase-b
,-./ I ,;Z
cb_I
3z+- '/,-
200
,-A' phase-c

-200 j IIn
pzl and plj are the mode i reflection coefficients at busbars 2
and 1 respectively, yi are the mode i propagation constants, L
is the total line length and i are the modes 0, 1 and 2.
400

400 uyLJ
0.64ms phase-a

In [7] a phase selection scheme was developed that is consistent

with both (2) and (4) to provide correct phase selection for
faults on single circuit lines [7]. The method was shown to have
a general solution valid for the total period when superimposed
! Incident travelling voltage waves due to the aerial modes as seen
quantities were available. This can be directly extended to location x on circuit 1.
 1441
The deduced incident waves due to the aerial modes arriving at phase-a on circuit 1 just prior to fault inception can be given as
relay location x on circuit 1 are shown in figure 2. From (7) it
is expected that the incident aerial voltage waves on the
unfaulted phases should be equal in magnitude. This is only
true for the very first incident wave as other incident waves are
present after a short period (0.64 ms.) thus preventing this
equality from being a suitable selection criterion. Therefore
some means is necessary of decomposing the total waves where %, is the phase-a fault resistance and
arriving at each relay into the components due to the two faults. Via(wx)= Incident aerial voltage wave on phase-w, circuit
x of the single circuit systems
VJyz) = Initial amplitude of the phase voltages at the fault
location on phase-y, circuit z.

A similar expression for the voltage waves due to the b'-g fault
is given from (2) and hence the voltage on phase-b on circuit 2
just before fault inception is given by

where Kbis the phase-b resistance to ground

igure 3 Wave propagation due to a simultaneous phase-ground, phase If the fault resistances are assumed to be zero (L= Kb=0) then
ground fault on a double circuit line
the unknown initial phase voltage amplitudes Vdal) and V b 2 )
can be substituted from (9) and (IO) into (8). The total incident
First, consider separately the incident travelling-waves due to travelling voltage wave on circuit 1 is then defined in terms of
the aerial modes for the two simultaneous faults. If the double the initial voltage waves on phase-a propagating away from the
circuit line is initially treated as two separate single circuit a-g fault and the initial waves on phase-b propagating away
lines, with the fault reflection coefficient matrix for the aerial from the b'-g fault giving
mode phase voltages due to the a-g fault is [k,fa(a)] and the
fault reflection coefficient for the b'-g fault is [k,"(b')] ,equation
r 1
(2) gives two expressions for each set of travelling-waves
present on the lines. Consider now the relay shown at point x
in figure 3 on circuit 1 and assume none of the travelling waves
are reflected from the load busbar. The incident waves on
circuit 2 at w will be transmitted onto circuit I at v and travel - V:(a I) ( 5 zdd+zee)Vi"(b 2 )
towards location x as shown in figure 3. Ignoring any 2 'dd
secondary reflections, the incident waves at the relay location
x are due to the transients instigated by the fault on circuit 1
and those instigated by the fault on circuit 2 that have 3zdd ]
propagated through the load bus onto circuit 1 and through the
circuit 1 fault and are given by

For the relaying location x on circuit 1 (1 1) can be solved for

the initial voltage waves on phase-a due to the a-g fault and the
initial voltage waves on phase-b due to the b'-g fault which
gives

where [Vdcct l)] and [Vdcct 2)] are the prefault voltages at the
fault locations for circuit 1 and circuit 2 respectively.

For the a-g fault and from (2) an expression for the voltage on
1442

1
V,'(bZ) = ---[Vp(la) + 2V,"(lb)] (13)
3

where V,a(la) andV,"(lb) are the total incident aerial voltages where VIa(2a)and V,a(2b) are the total incident aerial voltages
on circuit 1 phase-a and phase-b repectively. on circuit 2 phase-a and phase-b repectively

In the initial derivation the losses at the far busbar and the
attenuation along the transmission line are neglected. In the
physical system, these losses are significant. Therefore, if an a-
26-May-94 10.37.57 g fault occurs on circuit 1, the travelling wave component on
circuit 1 due to this fault (12) will be greater than the
corresponding component on circuit 2 (15) due to attenuation
0
and reflection. Similarly, the b'-g components given by (13)
and (16) will be of differing magnitudes.
-200

If the simultaneous faults occur at approximately the same

-400
location along the transmission line, then (1 1) to (16) are also
valid for the general solution for the superimposed modal
-600
transients given by (4). Thus (1 1) to (1 6 ) provide a powerful
1
measure of simultaneous single phase faults which are valid for
-800
I8 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 all the superimposed transients.
t [msl
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

Figure 4 shows the two a-g fault travelling wave components

Figure 4 Travelling wave components on circuits 1 and 2 due to the a-g fault.
Similarly, for the relay location y on circuit 2 the total incident
aerial voltage on circuit 2 is
of the transients given in figure 2. A1 represents the component
on the a-phase given by (12) as seen by the relay at x on circuit
1. A2 being the same component given by (15) as seen by relay
y on circuit 2. The a-g fault occurs at simulation time t=20ms

Fvl 26-May-94 10.46.53

200

-200
I I B2
-400 1-
0.64ms

-600

-BOO
18 19 20 27 22 23 24 25

Equation (14) can be rearranged to give t tmsl

V,"(al) = -[2v;(2a)
2 + VJ24 (15)
3

igure 5 Travelling wave components on circuits 1 and 2 due to the b'-g fault.

on circuit 1 simultaneously with the b'-g fault on circuit 2. Note
that A2 has a 0.64 ms delay compared with AI as it propagates
an extra 200 km. These detailed features will not normally be
resolved. The important feature is the relative amplitudes of A1
and A2 which will be observed in all conditions.
Figure 5 shows the b'-g fault travelling wave components. B 1
is the component due to the b'-g fault calculated using (1 3) and
the waves incident at relay x on circuit 1 . B2 being the same
wave derived from (16) and the incident waves arriving at
relay y on circuit 2. Here again there is a clear distinction in
the relative amplitudes of B 1 and B2.
The delay between the two wavefionts of each pair of waves in
figures 4 and 5 demonstrate the correct decomposition of the
incident travelling voltage waves. Owing to reflections and
igure 6 Travelling wave components on circuits 1 and 2 due to the a-g faul
(filtered to 600Hz and sampled at 72 samples per cycle).
losses, the wave component for the particular fault is greatest
on the circuit on which it occurs. In this case A1>A2 and
B2>B 1 indicates the fault is a simultaneous a-g, b'-g fault. In
reality, due to the limitations of present hardware, all the
information in figures 4 and 5 cannot be utilized. The low
sampling rate eliminates the ability to accurately time the two
wavefronts arriving at each relay. The low bandwidth of CVT's
also results in a distortion of the wavefronts. However, by using
the magnitude comparison of the two travelling wave
components successful phase selection can still be achieved.
Figures 6 and 7 show the transients sampled at 72 samples per
1443
50Hz cycle and filtered by a 600Hz low pass filter. By using
the following criteria (17) correct phase selection can be made.
There is a simultaneous a'-g and b'-g fault if
A1 > A2 and 8 2 > B1 (17)
Averaging the decision of the complete half cycle ensures
correct phase selection even when the travelling wave
components are small.
Similar phase selection criteria for the other possible
Figure 7 Travelling wave components on circuits 1 and 2 due to the b'-g fault
(filtered to 600Hz and sampled at 72 samples per cycle).
simultaneous phase to ground faults ensure correct phase
selection for all fault combinations. Phase selection then takes
the following form. First, the two faulted phases are identified
from the fault current levels. The possibility of simultaneous
phase-ground faults on each circuit is then checked using a
decision process as given for an a-g and b'-g fault in (1 7). If a
simultaneous fault is identified, then single pole trip on the
faulted phases, otherwise three pole trip. Though this promises
to be a very powerful technique, simultaneous faults close to
the remote busbar are difficult to resolve as ultimately the faults
look like a busbar fault affecting both circuits.
Only a representative case is shown here, but the scheme has
been extensively tested on a wide range of faults and power
system conditions. The precise limitations of the scheme
1444
depend on the transmission line length and the source short
circuit capacity. The scheme has been found to be capable of
operating on 400 kV line faults at least within the first 80% of
the transmission line length for lines as short as a 10.0 km and
source capacities as low as 2.0 GVA.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a new method of phase selection for simultaneous
phase-ground faults occurring on both circuits of a double
circuit line was presented. The scheme uses superimposed
components to provide a fast and accurate decision within half
a power frequency cycle. Though the relays at one end of the
transmission line have to communicate, the scheme is
essentially a non-unit scheme as information from the remote
end is not required. The algorithm has been developed to be
useable with protection equipment in current use, has been
tested on a variety of system configurations, and shown to be
valid over the usual distance protection scheme's zone 1 range.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Science and Engineering
Research Council and GEC Measurements T&D Protection and
Control Ltd. for their financial support.
VII. REFERENCES
[l] R 0 BERGLAND, W A MITTELSTADT, M L
SHELTON, P BARKEN, C G DEWEY, and K M
SKREINER, "One cycle fault interruption at 500kV. System
benefits and breaker design." IEEE trans P.A.S., vol. PAS-93,
1974, ~ ~ 1 2 4 0 - 1 2 5 1 .
[2] J ESZTERGALYOS, J ANDRICHAK, D H COLWELL,
D.C DAWSON, JA JODICE, T J MURRAY, K K
MUSTAPHI, G R NAIL, A POLITIS, J W POPE, G D
ROCKEFELLER, G P STRANNE, D TZIOUVARAS and E 0
SCHWEITZER, "Single phase tripping and auto reclosing of
transmission lines. IEEE committee report" IEEE Trans
PWRD, vol. 7 No. 1, January 1992, pp182-192.
[3] L M WEDEPOHL, "Application of matrix methods to the
solution of travelling-wave phenomena in polyphase systems"
Proc. IEE, Prt C, Vol. 110, 1963, pp 2200-2212.
[4] A T JOHNS and M M EL-DIN MAHMOUD, "New
approach to ultra-high-speedphase-selectionin single-pole auto
reclosure schemes." Proc. IEE, Vol 133, Pt. C, No. 4, May
1986 pp 188-200.
[ 5 ] G B ANCELL and N C PAHALAWATHTHA "Effects of
frequency dependance and line parameters on single ended
travelling wave based fault location schemes." Proc. IEE, Vol.
139, NO.4, July 1992, ~ ~ 3 3 2 - 3 4 2 .
[6] D W P THOMAS, "Protection of major transmission lines
using travelling-waves." Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Nottingham, May 1990, pp 101-104.
[7] D W P THOMAS, M S JOHNS and C CHNSTOPOULOS,
"Phase selection based on superimposed components." Proc.
IEE, Gen. Transm. Distrib., Vo1143 (3) May 1996 pp 295-299
VIII. APPENDIX
The fault reflection coefficient matrix [k",,] for a simultaneous
a-g, b'-g fault for a double circuit line is given by (8) where [4]
Martin S Jones was born in Preston, UK, on May 16, 1970. He received a
B.Eng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with French in 1991. From
1991 to 1994 he was in postgraduate research in the Electrical and Electronic
Engineering Department, University of Nottingham. Since 1994 he has been
in Relay Development at GEC ALSTHOM T&D Protection and Control Ltd.
David W P Thomas was born in Padstow, Cornwall, UK on May 5,1959. He
received a B. Sc. degree in Physics from Imperial College of Science and
Technology, London, M. Phil degree in Space Physics from Sheffield
University and the Ph.D. degree from Nottingham University, in 1981, 1987,
and 1990 respectively. In 1984 he joined the department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham where he is now a
Lecturer. His research interests are in Power System Protection,
Electromagnetic Compatibility, and Electrosatic Precipitation.
Christos Christopoulos was born in Patras, Greece, on September 17, 1946.
He received the Diploma in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical
Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1969 and
the MSc and DPhil from the University of Sussex in 1970 and 1974
respectively. In 1974 he joined the Arc Research Project of the University of
Liverpool and worked on vacuum arcs and breakdown while on attachment
to the UKAEA Culham Laboratories. In 1976 he joined the University of
Durham as a senior demonstrator in Electrical Engineering Science. In
October 1978 he joined the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering where he is now a Professor of Electrical Engineering. His
research interests are in Electrical Discharge and Plasmas, Electromagnetic
Compatibility, Electromagnetics, and Protection and Simulation of Power
Networks.