2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)
Symmetrical Fault Detection of Distance Relay to prevent
Cascade Tripping during Power Swing
A. Jeevitha, PG Student,
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
K. S. Rangasamy College of Technology
Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: jeevithaarjunan@gmail.com
Abstract — Power System disturbances
such as line switching, generator
disconnection and sudden removal of
faults may cause instability which lead
to the power swing. Distance relay finds
difficulty between symmetrical fault and
power swing which causes undesired
tripping of the transmission line. This
paper proposes a new method Park’s
Transformation and Fast Fourier
Transform algorithm which is used to
differentiate between the three phase
fault and power swing and also to
support backup zone of distance relay.
This technique is tested for normal and
abnormal conditions with different load
angles and fault locations in IEEE 14-
bus system is simulated in MATLAB/
Simulink. The Simulation results shows
the ability to avoid unwanted tripping
decision of relay quickly and precisely.
Keywords—Distance Relay;Power
Swing; Symmetrical fault; Park’s
transformation; Fast Fourier Transform.
I. INTRODUCTION
In power systems, power swings are
created during faults, line switching,
generator disconnection and large load
changes leading to large variations in
voltage and current. Distance relay
elements prone to operate during stable or
transient power swings. A Power Swing
Block (PSB) function is available in
modern relays to prevent unwanted relay
element operation. Its main purpose is to
978-1-4673-9781-0/15/$31.00 © 2015 IEEE
Mrs. S. Devi, Associate Professor,
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
K. S. Rangasamy College of Technology
Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: devis@ksrct.ac.in
distinguish between faults and power
swings and block distance or other relay
elements from operating during a power
swing. Operation of these relays during a
power swing may cause undesired tripping
of transmission lines or other power
system elements, thereby weakening the
system and possibly leading to cascading
outages and major blackouts. However,
faults that occur during a power swing
must be detected and cleared with a high
degree of selectivity and dependability [1].
Ahmad Farid Abidin et al., [2] proposed a
technique based on S-transform and
Probabilistic neural network to detect
unstable swings during distance relay
operation. Comparison is made between
Multilayer Probabilistic neural network
and Probabilistic neural network to
classify the stable and unstable swing.
Behnam Mahamedi et al., [3] presented a
method to detect symmetrical faults
occurring during a power swing based on
the damping frequency component of 50
(or 60) Hz created on instantaneous three-
phase active power on the frequency
component of instantaneous three phase
active power within one cycle. Brahma [4]
proposed a wavelet approach to detect any
fault during power swing quickly. Saeed
Lotfifard et al., [5] described a Prony
method to extract the decaying dc
components of current wave during fault.
Song et al.,[7] introduced a novel
algorithm using frequency deviation of
voltage for detecting unstable swing. This
technique is also applicable for detecting
stable power swings on transmission lines.
 2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)

II. PROPOSED METHOD Ciq k  I q k   I q k  1

(5)
The proposed Symmetrical fault
detection during power swing algorithm Now the power coefficients are
monitors the three phase voltage and obtained by multiplying these ‘C’
current signals using Park’s transformation coefficients of voltage and current
and Fast Fourier Transform components of direct and quadrature is
given by equations (6) and (7).
A. PARK’S TRANSFORMATION
The three phase voltage sampled signals For direct axis components is
are converted into (dq) direct and C pd k  C vd k  C id k 
quadrature components signals [6] using (6)
Park’s transformation is given by equation For quadrature axis components is
(1).

ª § 2S · § 2S · º
C pq k  C vq k  C iq k 
(7)
« cos T cos¨T  3 ¸ cos¨T  3 ¸ »
ªVd º « © ¹ © ¹ » ªVa º
2« § 2S · § 2S ·» « »
During power swing C pd (k) and
«V »  sin T  sin ¨T  ¸  sin ¨T  ¸ «Vb »
« q» C pq (k) values are almost zero and are
3« © 3 ¹ © 3 ¹»
«¬V0 »¼ « 1 1 1 » «¬Vc »¼ significant under symmetrical fault
« » condition. The detection criterion is, if C pd
¬« 2 2 2 ¼»
(k) or C pq (k) is greater than certain
(1)
threshold ‘T’ then the symmetrical fault is
where, detected during swing.
V a (k), V b (k) and V c (k) represents
the three phase voltage signals B. FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM
I a (k), I b (k) and I c (k) represents Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is
the three phase voltage signals an efficient algorithm to speed up the
V d (k) and V q (k) are direct and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)
quadrature axis components of voltage calculation by reducing the number of
signals multiplications and additions required. It
I d (k) and Iq (k) are direct and requires only complex multiplications. The
quadrature axis components of current FFT equation can be defined by the
signals following equations (8) and (9).
After calculating the direct and
2 N 1 2S
quadrature components of voltage and
current signals, compute the ‘C’
Xs ¦
Nk 0
x k sin( k )
N
(9)

coefficients of direct and quadrature by 2 N 1

2S
using moving data window with the new Xc ¦
Nk 0
x k cos( k )
N
(10)
samples using equations (2), (3), (4) and
(5). where,

C vd k  Vd k   Vd k  1
X s = V s = I s are real component of
fundamental voltage and current phasor
(2) X c = V c = I c are imaginary

Cvq k  Vq k   Vq k  1
component of fundamental voltage
and current phasor
(3)
N is number of samples per period
Cid k  I d k   I d k  1 (4)
of fundamental cycle
 2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)

C. COMPUTATION OF APPARENT
IMPEDANCE
Knowing V s , V c , Ic , I s , the magnitudes
(rms values) and phase angles of the
fundamental frequency voltage and current
phasors are given by equations (11), (12),
(13) and (14).

ܸ = ඥ(ܸ௦ଶ + ܸ௖ଶ ) (11)

‫ = ܫ‬ξ(‫ܫ‬௦ଶ + ‫ܫ‬௖ଶ ) (12)

ܸ (13)
‫׎‬௩ = tanିଵ ௖ൗܸ‫ݏ‬

‫׎‬௜ = tanିଵ ‫ܫ‬௖ /‫ܫ‬௦ (14)

When the signal is selected for a

given fault, the ratio of the voltage to
current gives the apparent impedance of
the line. The apparent impedance is then
given by the equation (15).
௏ |௏| ‫׎‬
ܼ= ூ
= |ூ|
‫׎ כ‬ೡ (15)
೔
The complete symmetrical fault
detection during power swing algorithm is
given in the flow chart in the Figure (1).

Figure 1.Flowchart for Fault

Discrimination from Power Swing
Condition

III. SIMULATION OF THE

PROPOSED METHOD
The proposed Symmetrical fault
detection during power swing technique a
use Park’s transformation and Fast Fourier
Transform to discriminate three phase fault
and power swing is simulated in IEEE 14-
bus system using MATLAB/Simulink is
shown in the Figure (2). The test system is
tested under normal and abnormal
condition with different load angles,
different fault locations and different
swing frequencies.
 2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)

Figure 2. Simulation Diagram of IEEE 14-Bus System of the proposed method

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS intentional delay in fault clearance time
UNDER ABNORMAL introduces the power swing condition in
both voltage and current signals.
CONDITIONS
The test system is simulated under
abnormal conditions with the different
fault resistances, different load angles and
different fault locations.
A. Three Phase Fault with Load Angle
600
The test system is simulated
under abnormal condition with a load
angle of 600 and fault rHVLVWDQFHRIŸ
Figure (3) shows the three phase voltage
and current signals of the IEEE- 14 bus
system under power swing condition of
load angle 600. The symmetrical fault is
created in the transmission line (1-5) at 0.7
seconds and the fault is cleared at 0.8 Figure 3. Three Phase Voltage and Current
seconds by opening the circuit breakers at Signals under Symmetrical Fault with
both ends of the transmission line. This Load Angle of 600
 2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)

Figure (4) shows the output

waveforms of dq based active power in per
unit under symmetrical fault with load
angle of 600 of the test system.

Figure 4. Output of dq Based Active

Power under Symmetrical Fault with Load
Angle of 600
During power swing condition, the Figure 6. Three Phase Voltage and Current
fault period of 0.7 to 0.8 seconds has dq Signals under Symmetrical Fault with
based active power is greater than its Load Angle of 1600
threshold value and then the symmetrical
The symmetrical fault is created in
fault is detected and vice versa.
the transmission line (1-5) at 0.2 seconds
and the fault is cleared at 0.3 seconds by
opening the circuit breakers at both ends of
the transmission line. This intentional
delay in fault clearance time introduces the
power swing condition in both voltage and
current signals.
Figure (7) shows the output
waveforms of dq (direct and quadrature
Figure 5. Impedance Plot of Symmetrical axis) based active power in per unit under
Fault with Load Angle of 600 symmetrical fault with load angle of 1600.
The apparent impedance is given by
the ratio of phase ‘A’ voltage to the phase
‘A’ current with respect to time is plotted
is shown in the Figure (5) for the abnormal
condition with load angle of 600. The fault
period from 0.7 to 0.8 seconds, the
apparent impedance is low and apparent
impedance is high in non- fault period.
B. Three Phase Fault with Load Angle
1600
Figure 7. Output of dq Based Active
The test system is simulated under
Power under Symmetrical Fault with Load
abnormal condition with a load angle of
Angle of 1600
1600, swing frequency of 2 Hz and fault
UHVLVWDQFHRIŸFigure (6) shows the During power swing condition, the
three phase voltage and current signals of fault period of 0.2 to 0.3 seconds has dq
the test system under symmetrical fault based active power is greater than its
with load angle of 1600.
 2015 Online International Confernece on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET 2015)

threshold value, then the symmetrical fault References

is detected under such condition and
[1]
during non- fault period, dq based active
power is lesser than its threshold value.
[2]
[3]
Figure 8. Impedance Plot of Symmetrical
IEEE Power System Relaying Committee of the IEEE
Power Eng. Soc., Power swing and out-of-step
considerations on transmission line. Rep.PSRCWGD6,
July, 2005.
Ahmad Farid Abidin, Azah Mohamed and Hussain
Shareef, “Intelligent detection of unstable power swing
for correct distance relay operation using S-transform
and neural networks”, Expert Systems with
Applications, Vol.38, pp.14969–14975,2011.
Behnam Mahamedi and Jian Guo Zhu,“A Novel
Approach to Detect Symmetrical Faults Occurring
During Power Swings by Using Frequency Components
of Instantaneous Three-Phase Active Power”, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 27, no.3,
pp.1368- 1376,July 2012.

Fault with Load Angle of 1600
The apparent impedance is given
by the ratio of phase ‘A’ voltage to the
phase ‘A’ current with respect to time is
plotted is shown in the Figure (8) for the
abnormal condition with load angle of
1600. The fault period from 0.2 to 0.3
seconds, the apparent impedance is low
and apparent impedance is high in non-
fault period.
V. CONCLUSION
[4] Brahma S M, (2007) “Distance relay with out-of-step
blocking function using wavelet transform”, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 22,No.3,
pp.1360- 1366.
[5] Kumarraja Andanapalli and B.R.K.Varma, “Park’s
Transformation based Symmetrical Fault Detection
during Power Swing”, IEEE , 2014.
[6] Saeed Lotfifard, Jawad Faiz and Mladen Kezunovic,
“Detection of Symmetrical Faults by Distance Relays
During Power Swings”, IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
vol.25, no. 1, pp. 81-87,January.2010.
[7] Song, X., Jiao, S., Wanshun L., Zhenhua, Z., Ruihua, X,
“A fuzzy theory based principle to distinguish stable
swings and unstable swings in complicated power
systems”, International Conference on Power System
Technology, Vol. 2, pp. 1091–1095,1998.

In this paper, the proposed method

which uses Park’s transformation along
with Fast Fourier Transform to
discriminate the three phase fault from
power swing condition is tested in the
IEEE-14 bus system. The proposed
threshold value setting is the most reliable
threshold setting to maintain a balance
between the security and dependability of
the relay decision during the stressed
system condition. The test system is tested
under normal and power swing condition.
For validation of the proposed method, the
test system under fault locations, swing
frequencies and fault inception times are
examined during the power swing period.
The simulation results verify the inherent
potential of the proposed method to
overcome the problem of symmetrical
fault discrimination from power swing
condition quickly and precisely.