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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Introduction
In now days, the electricity is very vital in our daily life. Electrical power is
continuously distributed to consumers thanks to large part of the distribution system
and transmission lines. A serious problem facing the electric power systems is failure
of overhead cables and transmission lines caused by various reasons: failure of power
system components due to aging of equipment, personnel errors, lightning, heavy
rain, strong wind and other reasons. These phenomena affect the reliability and
quality of the power supply, lead to equipment failure and costly repairs, loss of
productivity and loss of power for customers. This makes it very difficult to determine
the exact location of the faults that occur.
There are two main types of faults in power transmission and distribution
system. The first one is open-circuit faults (one conductor open, two conductors open,
three conductors open). Short circuit faults can be divided into two groups
(symmetrical and unsymmetrical fault). Symmetrical faults are three phase fault, three
phase to ground fault and very rare to occur. Unsymmetrical faults are single-line-to-
ground fault, double line-to-ground fault, line-to-line fault and they are the most
common types of fault occurred in power system.
This project is to demonstrate a software simulation and project model that
determines the distance of the cable fault from the base station in kilometers and
display it over the LCD. Cable has many types and every cable has different
resistance which depends upon the material used. The value of the resistance is
depending upon the length of the cable. In here resistance is the leading role of the
project. If any deviation occurs in the resistance, the value of the voltage will be
changed that particular point is called fault.
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1.2. Aim and Objectives

 To detect the location of fault from the base station in kilometers using an
Arduino board.
 To applied the theory of ohm’s law, voltage division rules and concept
between the resistance of cable and its length for locating the fault as a set of
series resistors is used in this project representing the cable length
 To reduce the search time and accurately locating the fault location is of great
importance for improving the reliability of power systems
 To construct a DC power supply circuit
 To design fault sensing circuit
 To display on LCD, the exact location of fault that occurs along the lines

1.3. Problem Statement

Modern electrical power systems are complex, extensive, and interconnected
systems over a large geographical area. These systems are made up of generators,
transformers, trans- mission lines, and loads as well as other protective equipment
such as relays and circuit breakers. Also, they operate as balanced 3-phase AC power
systems such as when they are in their normal conditions, the magnitude of both
currents and voltages are equally distributed between each phase. However, a fault in
a circuit may occur which will cause a disturbance or a failure that will disrupt these
normal operating conditions.
The problem statement for short circuit detection by using Arduino typically
involves developing a system that can detect and identify short circuits in electrical
system. The system should be able to quickly identify the presence of a short circuit
and provide an alert or indication to the user based on simple concept of Ohm’s law.
The goal is to prevent potential damage to the circuit components and ensure
electrical safety. That also saves humans from losses of their properties due to
electricity problem and the faster the fault location we know, the fewer the damage
for both sides. The system should be implemented using Arduino and appropriate
sensors or techniques for detecting short circuit location in a reliable and effective
manner.

1.4. Scope of the Project

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The work proposed here is a very simple, fast efficient and cost-effective
approach to identify the fault location in the power network using Arduino. The
proposed system uses to identify the location of short circuit faults (single-line-to-
ground fault, double-line-to-ground, three-line-to-ground). Based on the program
coded, it senses the voltage drop in the fault line. Then, it compares with the
predefined value for fault condition and sends information of fault distance in “km” to
LCD.

1.5. Outline of Project

There are five chapters in this project. The introduction of the project is
expressed in chapter one. Literature review and background theory is presented in
chapter two. In chapter three, the system design and methodology are used for the
fault location detector with Arduino. Chapter four includes test and result of the
system. Finally, discussions and conclusion and recommendation of this project are
presented in chapter five.