Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Monitoring in 6–35 kV power networks, location of single-phase ground

fault and detection of fault feeder
Vladimir Kachesov a, *, Andrey Lebedev a, Evgenia Kitova b
a
Department of High Voltage Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Power Engineering, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia
b
Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: To minimize the negative impact of arc overvoltage in three-phase electrical power system (ES) with the
Ineffectively grounded neutral ungrounded or high impedance grounded neutral, it is proposed to monitor transient electromagnetic processes,
Single-phase ground fault which will allow evaluating the current condition of the insulation, and in addition, detecting the damaged
Damaged feeder
feeder and a single-phase ground fault zone using telemetry systems. Detection of the damaged feeder (with a
Insulation degradation
Pre-breakdown voltage
single-phase ground fault) using the parameters of the ground fault transient process can be incorrect due to low
free oscillations frequencies of electromagnetic instrument voltage transformers (EMVT). The superposition of
EMVT free oscillations on the ES oscillations leads to an incorrect determination of the power direction of the
first high-frequency oscillations and, as a result, to incorrect detection of the damaged feeder. A more accurate
detection of the damaged feeder can be done by the proposed method based on the processing the pre-breakdown
voltage of power frequency in the damaged phase. It is shown that the method is suitable for networks with an
isolated neutral, as well as grounded through an arc-suppression reactor (ASR) or a high-value resistor.

1. Introduction special actions are required to temporarily limit such modes, if it is

Medium voltage electrical networks (approximately 6–70 kV) in
many countries have large total lengths, accounting for hundreds of
thousands or a million of kilometers. In some countries such networks
have an inefficiently grounded neutral, therefore, in case of a single-
phase ground fault, the consumer receives power in all three phases
without being affected by a phase insulation fault, and the electricity
supplier does not see any undersupply of electrical energy to consumers.
The average service life of safe operation of many transmission lines
often exceeds the standard service life, which results in increased
number of damages in networks due to various defects in the power
networks, including defects caused by the influence of operating
voltage.
In case of continuous ground fault the insulation of undamaged
phases experiences electrical overload of √3 line-to-ground voltages
(√3ULG.max), but in case of intermittent faults, the arc overvoltages can
reach values 3–3.2 ULG.max. Taking into account the fact that such
overvoltages, caused by unpredictable behavior of grounding arcs, can
last up to several hours or more, the degradation of equipment insu­
lation caused by this arc overvoltage is noticeably accelerated and
possible to control them. When a spontaneous elimination of a defect
(fault) occurs, it is always useful to have information about its location,
since the insulation is not reliable there. However, such defects in the
networks with complex topology are not always detected easily (tree,
ring topology, etc.), so preventive maintenance and repair cannot be
performed in due time.
Insulation defects can appear due to corrosion, thermal and electrical
overloads. The first two types of defects are extremely difficult to detect.
Electrical overloads can result from the external and internal over­
voltage. Modern measurement devices easily determine transient pro­
cesses in ES and overloads taking place, as well as the consequences of
their negative impact on equipment insulation. For these purposes,
various types of monitoring systems are developed [1,21]. Information
concerning the overload types, overload duration and amplitude, and
the power network response to these impacts, is important to evaluate
the reliability of insulation and to perform preventive maintenance.
Modern monitoring systems can perform much more complicated
tasks than simple registration of pre-breakdown and transient condi­
tions. On-line processing of the results obtained from continuous long-
term monitoring allows making a map of the emergency events in the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: kachesov@power.nstu.ru (V. Kachesov), vazuzella@gmail.com (A. Lebedev), kitovaet@mail.ru (E. Kitova).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2023.109271
Received 28 December 2022; Received in revised form 26 March 2023; Accepted 21 May 2023
Available online 4 June 2023
0142-0615/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
V. Kachesov et al.
electrical network, determining the number of preventive measures and
repairs to maintain the insulation of lines (and other equipment) in good
operating condition. The sequence of actions of the task for creating an
ES accident map in a structured and chronological way is shown in
Fig. 1. To create a final accident map (final stage - 5th subtask) which
includes self-extinguishing faults caused by single-phase earth faults, in
addition to currents and voltages registration (stage 1) the following
subtasks are performed: fault type and faulty phase are recognized
(stage 2), faulty feeder is detected (approximate fault location in
extensive ES – stage 3), and area of fault is located (stage 4).
When processing the currents and voltages registered by monitoring
a great amount of ES transient modes it is necessary to recognize and
chose the most frequent type of faults - grounding fault. Effective
(focused) preventive maintenance and repair of insulation of power
transmission lines is undoubtedly impossible without solving the sub­
task of accurate detection of the faulty feeder (subtask 3 in Fig. 1). In this
research in addition to the subtask of recognition of a ground fault, the
main goal was to solve the subtask of detection of a damaged feeder. It
should be noted, that for the ES with an inefficiently grounded neutral,
the problem of recognizing the type of damage (in our case, a single-
phase ground fault), usually cannot be solved separately from the
problem of detecting a damaged feeder. Many various methods are
developed to achieve these goals: steady-state [4–6], artificial current
injection or voltage superposition [5] and transient [8–21].
Single-phase unstable (intermittent) ground faults often eliminate
themselves, and when they become permanent, it is difficult to detect
the location of the fault. Reliable recognition of a ground fault and a
damaged feeder using methods based on artificial neural networks
[11–14], wavelet transformation [18–21], as well as parametric location
methods [30] makes it possible to detect the area of insulation damage.
To communicate information about the damaged feeder from the ES
nodes (from distribution substations) to the information processing
center (for example, to the main power supply center), PLC-, radio- or
GSM-modems, as well as optical communication channels can be used
[2–3].
To recognize a ground fault, methods are developed, for example,
based on monitoring changes in the residual parameters in lines and
phase (capacitive) asymmetries [4]. This method can be improved by
imposing currents of non-industrial frequency (for ES grounded through
arc-suppression rector) or by imposing voltages, as suggested in [5]. The
method based on monitoring changes in the residual parameters of the
entire network and separate feeders was developed further in [6]. The
methods described [4–6] use steady-state values of the measured pa­
rameters as primary information, and therefore they are not suitable for
the tasks of recognizing non-stationary - short-term and single faults.
Watt-metric methods, which also use steady-state values of voltages and
1. On-line monitoring
(uA, uB, uC; i0 - ZS currents in feeders)
2. Line-to-earth fault and faulty phase recognition
3. Faulty feeder detection
4. Fault location
5. Accident map formation of power grid, management of
emergency modes, targeted prevention and repair
Fig. 1. Task structure for on-line diagnostics in distribution network.
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271
currents, often have low sensitivity in ES with resonant neutral
grounding, therefore, an additional grounding resistor [7] must be
connected in parallel with the reactor, increasing the active fault current
and, accordingly, the active component of the zero-sequence (ZS) cur­
rent of the faulty feeder. Without using an additional resistor, it is pro­
posed to increase the sensitivity of the watt-metric method by
calculating the phases of the ZS currents immediately after the fault
during one period of the industrial frequency [8]. In fact, in this method,
transient ZS currents are processed by means of the Discrete Fourier
Transform with sliding window, i.e., more complicated operations are
performed to process the measurement results.
Processing transient parameters for ground fault recognition and
detection of a damaged feeder can be performed, for example, by means
of artificial neural networks (ANN), sometimes these methods and their
modifications are put into a separate group. Three approaches, namely
pattern recognition (PR), and machine learning (ML) and deep learning
(DL) have lately been published [9]. Trained on a large volume of
training images, the ANN formally relates the image provided for
recognition to some known class, which makes this approach more
universal almost regardless of the object to which it is applied. In [10], a
neural network based on multilayer perceptron is used to recognize
short circuits in the extra-high voltage solidly earthed ES, but similar
neural networks can also be used for other types of ES.
Deep learning technique and convolutional neural networks can
automatically recognize the two-dimensional time–frequency gray scale
images of the transient zero-sequence currents obtained by continuous
wavelet transform, to achieve intelligent identification of faulty feeder
[11]. A one dimensional convolutional neural network is also employed
in [12] as a powerful tool to extract more effective features for a faulty
line detection method based on the feature fusion framework. The
convolutional neural network can be trained with different kinds of
training images. To prepare training images of fault signal Choi-
Williams time–frequency analysis was applied in [13]. Here, the task
decomposition framework was first proposed to solve the problem of
unbalanced fault signal sample for better feature extraction.
In [14] a fault feeder detection method is presented, based on a
time–frequency matrix (TFM) and polarity distribution matrix (DPM)
singular values clustering algorithm. After filtering records of zero-
sequence transient currents of all feeders, mathematical processing of
the normalized singular values of TFM and DPM gives a matrix of am­
plitudes and polarities of ZS transient currents, which are clustered into
damaged and undamaged ones. A similar approach using singular value
decomposition and clustering was applied in [15].
To detect the damaged feeder, it is proposed in [16] to use combined
steady-state and transient components of the ZS currents. The detection
of the steady-state component in the ZS current is carried out by means
of FFT back-stepping method and in order to rearrange the transient
components the bubble sort method is used which helps to improve the
detecting accuracy.
For reliable detection of the damaged feeder, several signal pro­
cessing methods are often combined. For example, in [17], the industrial
component and noise are removed from the ZS currents by means of
variational mode decomposition combined with fast Fourier trans­
formation. Then, by means of the moving average filter, the difference
between the processed currents of the damaged and undamaged feeders
is increased. At the final stage the faulty feeder can be detected by
comparing the threshold with the maximum difference value of
comprehensive correlation coefficients for currents processed twice.
Wavelets due to their temporal limitations and diversity, are widely
used for processing transient parameters and fault identification. Any
kind of faults with overdamped transients paper [18] offers to detect by
the discrete wavelet transform (WT) or maximal overlap discrete WT. A
novel wavelet-based methodology for real-time detection of fault-
induced transients in transmission lines is introduced, where the
wavelet coefficient energy takes into account the border effects of the
sliding windows. Fault type is accurately identified by analyzing the
V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

relationship between standard deviation of wavelet singular entropy

and wavelet energy entropy [19]. The wavelet detection method (WDM)
based on the Mallat decomposition algorithm is proposed in [20]. The
authors note the calculation efficiency of the proposed method in the
hardware system, which is sufficiently high for online applications. For
the fast ground fault detection, a sensitive starting algorithm based on
the analysis of the ZS voltage was proposed in [21]. The above
mentioned Mallat decomposition algorithm is also used in [21], which is
due to little time required for the computational process for detecting a
ground fault and minimal hardware requirements.
A brief review of modern methods for recognition of fault types,
including a single-phase ground fault, showed that they are mostly based
on the use of ANN. Training of such networks is quite labor-consuming,
since a large set of training images of ground fault transients depends on
many factors: the electrical load, the location of the fault, and the to­
pology of the ES at the moment of the fault. In addition, the electrical
strength of the damaged section of the insulation is not stable, the
behavior of the grounding arc is stochastic [23,24], which has a sig­
nificant effect on the transient process of the fault and, accordingly, on
the number of the training images. The development of complex soft­
ware is also labor intensive and the processing time is long. Some so­
phisticated methods have more theoretical than practical applications.
Methods based on wavelet transformation generally require less pro­
cessing time, but the selection of mother wavelet is not always obvious.
Therefore, methods based on the basic physical laws of ground fault
transients are more suitable for this type of faults. The processing of
transient currents and voltages in the proposed algorithms is mainly
reduced to finding finite differences and average values of parameters
over small time periods, which makes it possible to perform calculations
in a small number of processor cycles.
In some cases, the solution of the detection problem is difficult due to
technical limitations. Measuring voltage transformers effectively trans­
form only a limited range of frequencies, which results in false results
when using faulty feeder detection methods based on the analysis of
transient voltages in order to determine the direction of power. The
proposed approach makes it possible not to use transient voltage as Fig. 2. Measurement diagram (a) and amplitude-frequency characteristic for
primary information, and use only the steady-state frequency voltage transformation ratio of 10 kV cast resin ZSCT (b).
component, determining the voltage polarity by its pre-breakdown
value. In this case, the main function of the measuring transformer is low frequencies of natural oscillations [20]. To evaluate the free oscil­
used to convert the primary power frequency voltage to the secondary lations frequencies of EMVTs, the transient characteristics of the trans­
winding. This approach can be interpreted as based on a short-term formation ratios in several EMVTs were measured. As an example,
measurement of the power frequency voltage and zero-sequence tran­ Fig. 3a shows the transient response of a 10 kV cast-resin EMVT, and
sient current. Fig. 3b shows the frequency spectrum of voltage fluctuations at the
output of the secondary (unloaded) winding. In addition to very high-
2. Reliable detection of damaged feeder frequency free oscillations (f ≅ 45 kHz), relatively low-frequency os­
cillations (f ≅ 10 kHz) are observed. When detecting damaged feeders in
ZS current transformers, which often used to selection of the networks with short feeders, the frequencies of free oscillations in the
damaged feeder, are often single-turn transformers with a small number electrical network can be superimposed on the frequencies of free os­
of turns on the secondary winding. The parasitic capacitance in these cillations in the EMVT, which will result in a noticeable distortion in the
transformers (intrinsic capacitance for the magnetic circuit and longi­ transient voltages measurement. This leads to incorrect detection of the
tudinal capacitance between the turns) are quite small, which makes it damaged feeder by the parameters of transient voltages and ZS currents.
possible to transform currents in the secondary side in a wide range of
frequencies. Fig. 2a shows the diagram of the frequency response mea­ 3. Detection of the feeder with a ground fault by analyzing the
surement of the transformation ratio of a cast resin zero-sequence cur­ industrial component of the pre-breakdown voltage [22]
rent transformer (CRZSCT), and Fig. 2b shows its amplitude-frequency
characteristics (AFC). A steady transformation ratio (KT = 29 ± 0,5 Earth fault detection in networks with isolated neutral (IN) can be
dB) is maintained, from the industrial frequency to the maximum carried out using an effective mathematical technique - artificial neural
permissible frequency measurements − 25 kHz. Steady transformation networks [11–14]. However, this approach requires learning a special­
ratio in a wide frequency range makes it possible to obtain an accurate ized ANN for a particular ES, in other words, it is necessary to adjust the
information on ZS transient current on the secondary side of the mea­ ANN so it could process multiple transient processes. Another approach,
surement range, which provides data about the damaged feeder after applicable to ES with IN, and which is recommended to use, is based on
processing the information obtained. its property to maintain constant voltage on the neutral after self-
In addition, electromagnetic (measuring) voltage transformers extinction of the grounding arc [23], which is due to the low conduc­
(EMVT) are used to determine the power sign in the initial transient tivity loss in the insulation and the slow process of saturation of the
process of the single-phase ground fault (SPGF). Large winding in­ EMVT magnetic core. In ES networks with neutral grounding through a
ductances in combination with parasitic capacitances result in relatively high-value resistor, the detection method remains practically the same –

3
V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

through the ASR. After processing the waveform, it can be seen that the
value of K significantly exceeds the specified minimum value Kmin,
especially in case of long grounding arc duration.
The derivative of the voltage on the damaged phase is always higher
than on the undamaged phase. This refers both to the ES model, con­
sisting of three-phase power transmission lines with distributed pa­
rameters, and to the simple two-frequency ES model, in which only
oscillations with recharge (f1) and discharge (f2) frequencies take place.
The line-to-ground voltage drop (by module) that occurs during the
breakdown in the phase insulation, which is proportional to the deriv­
ative, is transmitted to the undamaged phases through the electrostatic
coupling coefficient (η = Cm/(CLG + Cm) ≅ 0.2…0.25) which is
noticeably less than one, since the interphase capacitance (Cm) is several
times less than the line-to-ground capacitance (CLG). Therefore, the
location of the damaged phase using the maximum derivative module is
not difficult after fixation of the very fact of a ground fault.
Detection of a damaged feeder is performed in several stages. First,
the fact of a ground fault is fixed, then the damaged phase is located,
and, finally, the damaged feeder is detected. The algorithm for its
detection is as follows. For the damaged phase, the derivative of the
measured voltage dud/dt is determined on digital transient voltage
waveform ud(t) by calculating finite differences. Then the time tm1 of the
voltage derivative maximum in absolute value is fixed. The specified
curves explaining the algorithm for detecting a damaged feeder are
shown in Fig. 5. Next, the time interval to the previous moment of
breakdown in the phase insulation is measured, i.e., up to the previous
maximum derivative by module Δtprev = tm1 - tm0. If a primary break­
down of insulation is considered, then Δtprev > 1 ms is accepted; if Δtprev
< 1 ms, then the maximum of the derivative (the phase insulation
breakdown) is excluded from the processing. If the time interval Δtprev
exceeds 1 ms, i.e. Δtprev > 1 ms, then from time moment tm1 they shift to
the beginning of the waveform ud(t) by the averaging (integration) time
equal to ΔtU ≅ (0.025…0.1)T0 (T0 is the specified frequency period), i.e.
to the time t0 = tm1 - ΔtU. From this time point to time tm1, the average
value of the pre-breakdown line-to-ground voltage is determined:

1 ∑
NU
Ud.avg = Ud,k (1)
NU k=1

where Ud,k - instantaneous line-to-ground voltages on the damaged

Fig. 3. Voltage response on the secondary winding to a rectangular pulse on phase;
the primary winding (a) and the frequency spectrum of the response (b)
NU = ΔthU - the number of line-to-ground voltage samples on the
(unloaded 10 kV cast-resin EMVT).
damaged phase;
h – a sampling period.
by the rate of voltage change in the neutral (by module) which is a
Then the sign of the average pre-breakdown voltage is determined –
calculated value with known resistive coefficient KR ≅ (3ωCLGRN)-1 (RN
sign (Ud.av). From the time moment tm1 average values are determined
- is the resistance of the neutral grounding resistor, CLG - line-to-ground
over a limited time interval ΔtI: for all oscillograms of the registered ZS
capacitance).
currents i0 in the outgoing feeders:
Recognition of fault in ES with neutral grounding through an arc-
suppression reactor (ASR) is carried out using the property of a notice­ 1 ∑ NI

able difference in the RMS-values of the line-to-ground voltages after a I0avg = I0,m (2)
NI m=1
phase-to-ground fault [23]. If the RMS-values of the line-to-ground
voltages obtained immediately after the line-to-earth fault are ranked where NI = Δth I - number of ZS current samples;
as Umin, Umid and Umax (minimum, middle, maximum), then the ratio of
ΔtI ≅ (3f1 )− 1 - integration time, equal to a third of the period of free
the average value to the minimum value (K = Umid/Umin) in most com­
recharge oscillations in the ES;
binations of ES parameters and most arc burning conditions exceeds 3.2, ( √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ )− 1
that is Kmin ≅ 3.2. The minimum value of the parameter K is chosen in f1 = 2π 3(Ls.eqv + LTL.eqv )(CLG + Cm ) ; Ls.eqv , LTL.eqv - respec­
such a way that the ground fault is not confused with such frequent
tively, equivalent inductances of the supply electrical system and load,
switching as the energisation of the feeder with a spread of closing times
and electric power lines.
between the three phases. In [23] it is shown in detail that for feeder
Two largest by module ZS currents are chosen from all average
energisation and the calculation (integration) time (ΔtRMS) of the RMS
currents, and their signs are determined. A feeder in which the sign of
values of line-to-ground voltages equal to 3 ms, the parameter K ≤ 3. The
the average value of the ZS current sign (I0.av) coincides with the sign of
processing results of transients monitoring in the different electrical
the average pre-breakdown voltage on the damaged phase, in other
power systems confirms the correctness of accepting Kmin ≅ 3.2. Fig. 4
words, the sign(I0.av) = sign(Ud.av) is considered to be damaged. This
shows waveforms for a real-world ground fault in a 10 kV electric
approach applies the main function of EMVT - an accurate measurement
network at a thermal power plant, the neutral of which is grounded
of the industrial frequency voltage. A simplified flow chart of proposed

4
V. Kachesov et al.
Fig. 4. Fault record of phase-to-ground voltages and specified fault value K (integrating time ΔtRMS = 3 ms) when multiple ground faults occur in actual 10 kV
underground network.
method is shown in Fig. 6.
As stated above, the time Δtlimit is proposed to be taken as equal to 1
ms, which is quite justified for networks with a frequency of free
recharge oscillations f1 > 1 kHz. In this case, the re-ignition of the arc
after the recovery of voltage on the damaged phase can in most cases
occur only at time periods exceeding t > 1/(2f1), that is half-period of
free oscillations during which the grounding arc ignites. In overhead
electrical networks with long feeders, the frequency of free oscillations
f1 will be determined, in addition to other methods, by the location of
the fault: in case of faults at the end of long feeders the frequency of free
oscillations is noticeably decreased (influenced by LTL.eqv). Therefore,
for overhead ES, similar to the previously described ones, the time Δtprev
must be taken according to the condition Δtprev > 1/(2f1min), for
example, Δtprev ≅ 1/f1min, so that the voltage measured on the damaged
phase has values different from low values during arcing.
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271
4. Testing the method for the feeder detection in the electrical
systems
4.1. ES with a neutral grounding reactor
In ES with a neutral grounded through the arc-suppression reactor,
the operating conditions proposed by the method are favorable, since
repeated ignitions of the grounding arc occur, as a rule, quite rarely. The
time intervals between adjacent arc strikes are determined by the
compensation degree (KL) of the capacitive line-to-ground fault current
by ASR. First it is assumed that the quenching peak voltage Upq [26] is
less than the dielectric strength of the section with weak insulation.
Then, after self-extinguishing of the grounding arc, the voltage on the
damaged phase changes according to the equation (1):
V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

Fig. 5. Calculated waveforms for single phase ground fault.

ufault (t) ≅ ULG.max × estimation of the initial voltage in the neutral, it is assumed that the
[ ( ) (√̅̅̅̅̅̅ )]
× sin ωt + ψ f + Afree e− δ0 t sin KL ωt + φ , (3) voltage on the undamaged phases is far less than the voltage on the
( )2 damaged phase so it is neglected.
β0 During a ground fault, the unfaulty line-to-ground voltages are equal
KL =
ω to their forced (line-to-line) values with a superimposed free component.
where ULG.max – the amplitude of line-to-ground voltage; ψf - angle If the primary circuit occurs on phase “A”, then the voltages on the
(phase) of insulation breakdown; A0, φ, β0 and δ0 – relative amplitude, undamaged phases are determined by expressions (5):
initial phase, angle free oscillations frequency and attenuation coeffi­ √̅̅̅ 5
cient in a ZS circuit. uC (t) = uCA (t) = eC (t) − eA (t) = 3sin(ωt + π)
6
After extinction of the grounding arc through a half-period of free
oscillations π/β1, the voltage in the ES neutral is determined by the uB (t) = uBA (t) = eB (t) − eA (t) =
√̅̅̅ 7
3sin(ωt + π) (5)
average phase charge and, therefore, the average phase voltage, by the 6
equation (4):
∑ and the amplitude of free component (in p.u.) can be determined as
Uγ
A0 = , γ = {A, B, C} (4) πδ
Afree = e− β sin(ψ f )(1 − η)
3
Commonly, the voltage on the damaged phase is not equal to zero for
where δ and β - attenuation coefficient and angular frequency of free
several reasons:
oscillations, ψf = arcsin(Ubr) – phase of initial breakdown in insulation.
(a) - the resistance of the arc channel is finite, and the voltage does
As a rule, πδ/β ≪ 1, therefore, when expanding exponential function
not drop completely to zero at the fault point;
into power series only by two first terms, the attenuation coefficient over
(b) - in long (especially overhead) power lines, the charge on the
half-period of free oscillations can be presented as e− d ≈ 1 - d, according
damaged phase does not have time to fall completely during the time
to the expression (6):
π/β;
(c) - between the phases of the electrical network there are mutual Afree ≅ sin(ψ f )(1 − η)(1 − d) (6)
electrostatic and electromagnetic effects. But for further approximate
At the moment of phase insulation breakdown

6
V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

which can be accurately approximated up to the moment of its highest

maximum by a shifted sinusoid curve according to expression (8):
uap (t) ≅ asin(bt + c) + D (8)

Table 1 shows the approximation coefficients of the upper envelope

of the transient recovery voltage on the damaged phase for various
compensation degrees KL.
Good approximation quality is supported by small number of mean
square errors (RMSE) and high coefficients of determination (R-square).
Using the approximation of the upper envelope of the transient voltage
in the form (7), the time until the next re-ignition of the arc can be
obtained as:
D − Ubr
Δtbr = c + arcsin( )
a
Fig. 7 shows the recovering voltage on the damaged phase, the
approximation of its upper envelope and the arc re-ignition time (Ubr =
2/3p.u.). It is obvious that in a wide range of real compensation degrees
(KL) close to 1, the time until the next breakdown is many times greater
than the required delay time (Δtbr ≫ Δtprev). From the above, it follows
that in the ES with neutral grounding by means of the arc-suppression
reactor, there are no many restrictions on the time selection Δtprev.

4.2. Electrical systems with the isolated neutral

In ES with an isolated neutral, the voltage recovery on the damaged

phase to the required line-to-ground value occurs much faster, and in
these ES with low losses (for example, in networks with low load), the
attenuation of the free component in the circuit with positive can no
longer be neglected. However, in cable ES with heavy loads, free oscil­
lations decay rapidly, and the character of oscillations become more
aperiodic. In this case, the time period from the point when the initial
breakdown of the insulation occurs to the re-ignition of the arc can be
estimated analytically. The charge drain from the phases in the ES
through the measuring voltage transformers and the insulation leakage
is neglected, and, therefore, the voltage in the neutral of the ES after the
arc self-extinction is assumed to be unchanged. Then the condition for
re-ignition of the arc is as follows:
U0 + sin(ωt + ψ f ) = Ubr

Assuming the primary breakdown at the maximum line-to-ground

voltage (ψf = π/2) and taking into account equations (4)-(6), as well
as the fact that the voltage on the ES neutral is opposite to the voltage
which is recovered on the damaged phase, the time interval until the
Fig. 6. Flow chart of proposed method.
next repeated arc ignition can be calculated from the condition:

ψ f arcsin(Ubr ) | − U0 +sin(ωt)| =Ubr

t = tbr = =
ω ω
then
where Ubr – breakdown voltage in per unit (p.u.).
Due to the slow degradation of the insulation, the primary break­ arccos(2(1.5+(1−3 η)(1− d))
− Ubr )
Δtbr =
down, as a rule, occurs at a voltage close to the maximum (i.e., Ubr1 = ω
ULG.max = 1p.u.). If the electrical strength of the defective section of the An aperiodic transient process takes place in the circuit of the second
insulation was not reduced severely after the primary fault, then the order, when the circular frequency of free oscillations and the attenua­
moment of the next breakdown (re-ignition of the arc) occurs only after tion coefficient are comparable (i.e., β ≅ δ), then in the case under
a long period of time, noticeably exceeding Δtprev = 1 ms. This time is consideration Afree ≅ 0, U0 = 1, Δtbr = 3.9 ms, and condition Δtbr >
determined by the condition presented in expression (7): Δtprev is satisfied very reliably. In low loss electrical networks without
ufault (t) ≅ ULG.max ×
[ ( ) (√̅̅̅̅̅̅ )] (7) Table 1
× sin ωt + ψ f + A0 e− δ0 t cos KL ωt = Ubr Characteristics of the approximating functions for various compensation degrees
KL.
The solution of the transcendental equation (7) used to calculate the
KL R-square RMSE a b c D
time period until the next expected insulation breakdown (Δtbr) at a
certain voltage Ubr can be achieved by approximate (iterative, numeri­ 1.01 0.9913 0.00210 0.284 4.79 − 2.09 0.658
1.05 0.9990 0.01649 − 0.821 7.23 0.786 0.986
cal) techniques. The breakdown time can also be determined by using
1.10 0.9997 0.01284 0.965 13.6 − 0.774 1.08
the upper envelope of the maximum values of the transient voltage, 1.20 0.9996 0.01655 1.635 17.7 − 0.191 0.628

7
 V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

Fig. 7. The recovery of the line-to-ground voltage, the approximation of its

upper envelope, a breakdown voltage is supposed positive (KL = 1.05, Ubr = 2/
3p.u.).

electrostatic connections between the phases (cable ES consisting of

single-core cables with earthed sheath, therefore k = 0), the neutral
displacement can be significant. Thus, for example, at d = 0.1, Afree =
0.9, U0 = 1,6p.u., Δtbr = 1.2 ms, the condition for correct processing of
the transient voltage is maintained, although with a smaller reliability. It
should be noted here that long-term monitoring of transient electro­
magnetic processes in cable 10 kV ES [1] and their analysis did not show
neutral displacement to the specified value: the limit value did not
exceed U0 = 1.4p.u.
Fig. 8 shows the voltage on the damaged phase and the current in the
Fig. 8. Voltage on the damaged phase, ZS current and the results of their
ZSCT of the damaged feeder in an overhead ES obtained by modeling in processing at each breakdown in phase insulation.
[25], as well as the results of waveforms processing performed by the
proposed method to detect a damaged feeder. The phase insulation
oscillations.
breakdown voltage continuously decreased from 1ULG.max to 0.15ULG.
max. Processing of transient voltages and currents was carried out for the
following integration times: ΔtU = 1 ms, ΔtI = 250 μs (calculated fre­ 4.3. Power systems with high-resistance grounding
quency f1 = 1.3 kHz). For all breakdowns, the average values of pre-
breakdown voltages and initial transient currents of the ZS coincide in The main purpose of high-resistance grounding is to reduce the
sign (i.e., sign (Uavg) = sign (I0avg)), which reliably detects a damaged voltage in the neutral of power system (uN(t)) by the time of the next arc
feeder. It should be noted that the grounding arc on the transient curves re-ignition and, accordingly, to reduce transient (arc) over-voltages.
presented follows two classical burning mechanisms [26,27]. After the self-extinguish of the arc (without taking into account free
On the selection of integration time ΔtI. In the classical theory of oscillations in the direct sequence circuit) the voltage changes according
transient processes that occur at line-to-earth faults described in [26], it to the exponential function:
is assumed that the fault arc is self-extinguished when the free (over­
KR ω t
charge) oscillations fault current component reaches to zero. In fact, the uN (t) = U0R e−
current contains a wide range of free frequencies, and one of the energy-
intensive components is discharge; its frequency (f2) is noticeably higher where KR = IR/IC =(3ωCLGRN)-1 – resistive coefficient, usually taken
than the charge-exchange oscillation frequency f1. When the discharge close to one (KR ≅ 1),
component of the current is high - a fault through a small resistance in IR – is the active component of the ground fault current,
places not very far from the small-power main step-down substation, the RN - is the resistance of the grounding resistor.
arc can be self-extinguish very quickly. If the grounding arc is extin­ For the frequency ratio 2πf1 ≫ ω U0 can be used instead of U0R.
guished at the moment of this current component crosses zero, so the Now the arc re-ignition condition can be written as:
charges (and, consequently, the voltages) on the undamaged phases do uf (t) = uN (t) + sin(ωt + ψ f ) = Ubr
not have time to reach their maximum values, and the first oscillation of
the ZS current has a short duration. Again, considering the primary breakdown at the maximum line-to-
With a long integration time ΔtI, not only the values of the first peak ground voltage, the time of the secondary ignition of the ground arc is
ZS current are averaged, but also the free current in the ZSCT, created by determined by solving the transcendental equation (9):
the recharge process after the recovery of the symmetrical ES circuit − U0 e− KR ωt + cos(ωt) = − Ubr (9)
(Fig. 9). If the integration time and the sampling period are large ⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏟
enough, then the useful initial part of the ZS current will be super­
uf (t)

imposed by the noise from the measuring (mathematically processed) To eliminate iterative calculations used to find the re-breakdown
points of the rest of the transient process. Therefore, the integration time time (Δtbr), the first and second terms in (9) are substituted with
ΔtI is significantly limited to only a third of the period of free recharge approximating cubic parabolas on one half-period of the industrial

8
­
V. Kachesov et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271

Table 3
Interpolation polynomial coefficients.
a0 a1 a2 a3

uN(t)= 1 18E1 − 9E2 − 11 4E2 − 5E1 + 2 3(E1 − E2 ) − 1

U0(a0 + a1t + 6T 2T2 6T3
a2t2+a3t3)
b0 b1 b2 b3
ef(t)= 1 1 -3 1
b0 + b1t + b2t2 + 12T 4T2 6T3
b3t3

π 2π
π
,E1 = e 3 , E2 = e 3 .
− −
Note: T =
3ω

1 − U0 + Ubr + (b1 − a1 ⋅U0 )⋅t+

(10)
+(b2 − a2 ⋅U0 )⋅t2 + (b3 − a3 ⋅U0 )⋅t3 = 0
In expression (10) the notations are introduced:
A = b1 − a1 ⋅U0 , B = b2 − a2 ⋅U0 ,
C = b3 − a3 ⋅U0 , D = 1 − U0 + Ubr .
Then the roots of the equations are written as:
tbr1 = N0 + N1 − 2N2
√̅̅̅
N1 j 3
tbr2 = N0 − + N2 + (N1 + 2N2 )
2 2

where:

− B SQR 3AC − B2
N0 = , N1 = , N2 =
3C 6C 3⋅SQR⋅C
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√̅̅̅
3
SQR = 36ABC − 108DC2 − 8B3 + 12C 3SQ0
Fig. 9. ZS current, voltage on the damaged phase and current in the fault point √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
(primary arc self-extinction t ≅ 3.5 ms occurs before the zero crossing of SQ0 = 4A3 C − A2 B2 − 18ABCD + 27D2 C2 + 4DB3
recharge free current component of the SPGF). The range of solutions in the interval tbr.min < tbr < tbr.max corre­
sponds to the expected range of breakdown voltages 0.3 < |Ubr| <1.0. It
frequency. With KR = 1 (then the suppression time constant in the ZS is shown in Fig. 10. When the initial neutral voltage (U0) is increased,
loop is equal to τ = 1/ω) and, using the Lagrange interpolation formula the time tbr.min, which is of interest, decreases. For the accepted U0 = 1.3
[28] for four equidistant nodes, an approximation of the neutral-to- (p.u.) the minimum time until breakdown is tbr.min = 5.2 ms.
ground voltage uN(t) is obtained. Thus, for ES with high-resistance neutral grounding, the proposed
Similarly, the cosine wave of the forced component of the voltage on delay time Δtprev = 1 ms can be used (with a significant reliability) to
the damaged phase is approximated. Table 2 gives the coordinates of the process transient voltage waveforms.
interpolation nodes, and Table 3 shows the values of the coefficients of Based on the above considerations concerning ES with an isolated
the interpolation polynomials. Since the resulting voltage on the
damaged phase is represented by a third degree polynomial, the solution
is obtained by applying the Cardano formulas [29]. The equation is as
follows:

1 + Ubr − U0 + (b1 − a1 )⋅t + (b2 − a2 )⋅t2 + b3 ⋅t3 = 0

In order to simplify the approximating function for uN(t) without a
significant loss in approximation accuracy, the last ordinate is approx­
imately taken equal to zero.

Table 2
Interpolation nodes for uN(t) and electromotive force (EMF) of damaged phase
(ef(t)).
Interpolation nodes

1 2 3 4

t 0 π 2π π
3ω 3ω 3ω
uN(t) U0 π 2π 0
U0 e 3
−
U0 e 3
−

√̅̅̅ √̅̅̅
ef(t) 1 3 3 − 1
− Fig. 10. Neutral to earth voltage (uN) and force voltage (ef), their approxima­
2 2
tions (uNap and efap), resulting voltage approximated on the faulty phase (ufap).

9
V. Kachesov et al.
neutral, it follows that a decreased voltage in the ES neutral results in
increased Δtprev, and, therefore, in ES with high-resistance grounding
scheme, to detect a damaged feeder the use of the proposed approach is
more preferable.
5. Discussion
When analyzing the reliability of the proposed method for detecting
a damaged feeder, the influence of free oscillations in the positive
sequence loop, which take place in line-to-ground voltages after self-
extinction of the grounding arc, was not considered. The duration of
such oscillations and their initial amplitude can be significant during
periods of low electrical load in the electrical network. Therefore, free
oscillation superimposed on the forced component can accelerate the
breakdown of the weakened insulation, and the time between adjacent
breakdowns can become less than the limit Δtprev. But this situation does
not lead to incorrect detection of the feeder, it only excludes the
consideration of the secondary ignition of the arc. In the vast majority of
line-to-ground faults, the detection of the damaged feeder can be per­
formed by the primary fault, and a significant decrease in electrical
strength, resulting in a decrease of the time between primary ignition
and re-ignition, is extremely unlikely. The presence of free oscillations of
the specified frequency, in general, is not critical, since the polarity
determination of the pre-breakdown voltage is done by calculating the
average value, i.e., by integrating.
The proposed method is focused on a more accurate measurement of
voltages and currents. The interfering effect from any external processes
is minimal, including the oscillations in the positive sequence circuit
discussed above. In the transient mode, the average (integral) values of
the line-to-ground voltage and ZS current are measured at the small
integration intervals ΔtU and ΔtI. The integration eliminates the influ­
ence of high-frequency interferences, as well as data digitization errors.
The almost steady-state voltage is measured, and the initial ZS transient
current is many times greater than steady-state current component and
its higher harmonic. Therefore, the calculation of the voltage and cur­
rent polarities and, consequently, the power direction does not cause
any difficulties.
6. Conclusions
1. Processing the parameters of transient electromagnetic processes
allows solving the problems of defining the type of damage, and
detecting the damaged phase. By using telecommunications (telem­
etry) systems the damaged feeder and the fault location are detected.
2. For more reliable detection of the damaged feeder, the method is
proposed based on determining the polarity of the pre-breakdown
voltage of the industrial frequency on the damaged phase in com­
bination with determining the polarity of the transient ZS currents.
The proposed method is applicable to ungrounded or high imped­
ance grounded electrical systems.
3. The solution of a set of subtasks for defining the type of damage, for
detecting the damaged feeder and fault location will make it possible
to create on-line ES accident map, which can be effectively used both
for managing ES modes and for effective prevention and repair of
equipment insulation.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Kachesov Vladimir: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software.
Lebedev Andrey: Validation, Investigation. Kitova Evgenia: Formal
analysis, Resources, Project administration.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
10
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 152 (2023) 109271
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
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