International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 03, March-2015

Identification of Faults and its Location in

Transmission Line by using Wavelet Transform
Pyare Lal Tandan Prof. Abhijit Mandal
Dept. Electrical and Electronics Engg. Dept. Electrical and Electronics Engg.
Disha Institute of Management and Technical Education Disha Institute of Management and Technical Education
Raipur, Chhattisgarh Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Abstract In order to reduce damage of transmission line Effective feature extraction using wavelet has
due to fault and reliability, high-speed, sensitive and been proposed in (4). Suitability of WT for non-stationary signal
dependable protection system is a primary requirement of analysis is dealt in (7). Local analysis of relaying signal with the
todays interconnected power system. Accurate pin-pointing help of WT expressed in (8, 9). WT is applied in (10) to capture
of fault location and diagnosis is also required to expedite the high frequency components of travelling waves for detection
service reinstallation and thus, to reduce outage time, of faults and faulty phase selection. Discrete Wavelet Transform
operating costs, and customer complaints. In the power (DWT) is used to design the fault classification tool for series
system, stability and reliability must be ensured to provide compensated transmission lines in (11). DWT is used as online
continuity of service. Transmission lines run over several kilo tool for relaying applications (12). Even though the WT is
meters will have the chance for occurrence of fault. In order highly suited for analysis of transient waves, some
to maintain stability and reliability, faults clearance should be improvements are needed in WT to detect and classify the
at short span of time with recent advancements in signal faults. There are certain limitations to exhibit several fancy
processing. In this paper, a novel technique for the protection pictures and its transformed output still contains large number of
of transmission lines is proposed. The projected system uses data which need further processing. This hinders the automatic
Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) which is widely used in feature extraction in fault detection and classification.
recent times for power scheme protection. DWT is used here The combined features like WT with ANN, WT with
to take out the hidden factors from the fault signals by fuzzy logic have already been applied (1, 7, 8, and 19).These
performing decomposition at different levels. Daubechies techniques are fully depends on huge samples and training for
wavelet dB5 is used with single level decomposition and knowledge representation, which gives complication to complete
adaptive threshold is calculated to discriminate and detect the a job. Also, uncertain factors in the transmission system will
faulty phase. The locality of faults is carried out by obtaining cause problems in managing them.
the local fault information and remote location fault The focus of this paper is to develop a novel technique
information along with the transmission line length. The for real-time fault detection, classification and location by
system is independent of any statistical system data and has applying discrete wavelet transform to the fault signals. The
negligible fault resistance. Test system is modelled in EMTP inputs for the system are three-phase current samples provided
and fault signals are generated to test the reliability of the when a fault is generated. Only a single level of decomposition is
algorithm. The proposed system promises the result by employed; hence, the computational requirements are reduced
detecting, classifying and locating all the ten faults possible in considerably when compared to multilevel decomposition
the transmission line of the power system. employed in most of the works reported earlier. The proposed
logic detects, classifies and locates the faults at high speed with
Index Terms Fault detection, Fault classification, Fault good accuracy. The logic is easy to comprehend and implement.
location, Discrete wavelet transform, Transmission line. An important feature of this paper is that the logic is
deterministic, which makes it system independent and avoids
the need for collecting historical data which may not be
I. INTRODUCTION readily available.
Transmission line is a vital part in power system. Faults in This paper is organized as follows: basic introduction of
transmission line causes instability and damage to equipment. discrete wavelet transform explain in section II, proposed fault
Therefore, it is necessary to protect the electric power system detection, classification and location algorithm is introduced in
from faults. For efficient protection, fault should be detected section III. In section IV we present simulation case studies in
quickly for immediate isolation of faulty line from the system. EMTP & MATLAB package on a two bus system. Section V
Subsequently fault classification and its location must be concludes the paper
performed for restoration and speed recovery of the system.
Competitive electric power industry. Accurate pin-pointing of II. DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORM
faults is required by operators and utility staff in order to expedite
service restoration and, thus, to trim down outage time, operating Discrete Wavelet Transform is found to be useful in
costs, and consumer complaints. analyzing transient phenomenon such as that associated with
According to fault transients, there are number faults on the transmission lines. Multi-Resolution Analysis
of algorithms have been developed for detection of faults and its (MRA) is one of the tools of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT),
classification. In this proposed algorithm, how transient which decomposes original, typically non-stationary signal into
features are extracted from original fault signal is an important low frequency signals called approximations and high frequency
issue. Wavelet Transform (WT) is selected as the strongest tool to signals called details, with different levels or scales of resolution.
analyze the fault because of its perfect time frequency localization It uses a prototype function called mother wavelet for this. At
ability (2-6). each level, approximation signal is obtained by convolving

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 03, March-2015

signal with low pass filter followed by dyadic decimation, introduces abrupt changes of amplitude and phase in current and
whereas detail signal is obtained by convolving signal with voltage signals. Fault signals can be contaminated with different
high pass filter followed by dyadic decimation. The transient components such as exponentially-decaying dc-offset
decomposition tree is shown in Figure.1. The DWT maps the one (mainly in current signals) and high-frequency damped
dimensional time domain signal f (t) into two dimensional signals oscillations (mainly in voltage signals), among other
as: components. These changes of amplitude and phase, and the
appearance of transient components, can be used to detect the
F (t) =cj (k) (t-k) + dj (k) (2-jt-k) (1) inception of a fault.
k k j
Where cj and dj are approximate and detail coefficient
respectively; (t) and (t) are scaling and wavelet functions
respectively and j is the decomposition level.

Figure.1. Decomposition tree

III. PROPOSED SYSTEM LOGIC

The proposed logic uses wavelet transform for extracting the
hidden information in the current waveforms when a fault
occurs, which is then suitably transformed to extract fault
signatures to characterize and locate the faults. Figure.2. Block diagram of detection algorithm

III.A. Wavelet Decomposition Figure.2. presents the block diagram of the decomposition
The three-phase current signals are fed through a discrete algorithm. Phase currents IR, IY, IB are obtained when a
wavelet decomposition filter to decompose transients into a disturbance is detected. Then these currents are subjected to
series of wavelet components, each of which corresponds to a decomposition using discrete wavelet decomposition filter to
time domain signal that covers a specific octave frequency band extract high frequency details from the current signals. If the
containing more detailed information. Such wavelet components absolute value of the first difference of the high frequency
appear to be useful for detecting, localizing, and classifying the detail coefficients of the corresponding line currents is
sources of transients. Wavelet transform is largely due to this greater than a threshold value then fault is detected on that
technique, which can be efficiently implemented by using only particular line. After the fault has been detected in that line the
output value is logic 1 indicates the presence of fault or logic
two filters, one high pass (HP) and one low pass (LP) at level
0 indicates absence of fault.
(k). The results are down-sampled by a factor two and the same
The Detect signal goes high, if a disturbance is detected
two filters are applied to the output of the low pass filter from
in any one of the three-phase currents and the detected signal
the previous stage. The high pass filter is derived from the is subjected to fault classification to determine the type of fault.
wavelet function (mother wavelet) and measures the details in a The threshold value Td can be fixed based on the maximum range
certain input. The low pass filter on the other hand delivers a of analog input to the signal pre-processor, sampling frequency,
smoothed version of the input signal and is derived from a and the wavelet chosen. Td is set to provide maximum detection
scaling function, associated to the mother wavelet. The choice of of fault generated for this paper, considering a maximum analog
mother wavelet is very important in detecting and localizing input magnitude of 10 V, a sampling frequency of 1 KHz, and
different types of fault transients. The daubechies (dB) is the db5 wavelet. The time required for disturbance detection is less
commonly used mother wavelet suitable for protection than half cycle.
applications. In this paper db5 wavelet is used which
decomposes the signal effectively. The filter output consists of III.C. Fault Classification
high frequency details, which can be down sampled by two to The algorithm presented in this paper is based on db5 wavelet and
get level-1 high frequency detail coefficients HFDR, HFDY, and first decomposition level with sampling rate of 1 kHz. Samples
HFDB in the range of 500 to 1000 Hz. which are used by the algorithm are collected over a short time
span of 0.3 seconds. The fault classification algorithm consists of
III.B. Fault Detection two separate logic, depending on whether the fault involves
A fault detector must detect the fault inception and to issue an ground or not. This is essential, as the characteristics of a fault
output signal representing this condition. During usual involving ground are considerably different from that which does
operating conditions the currents and voltages of the power not involve ground and have to be handled separately.
system are sinusoidal signals. Load variation with time may The classification algorithm enables to discriminate between:
Single phase to ground faults: L1-G, L2-G, and L3-G.
produce slow amplitude changes in current signals and, in a
Double phase to ground faults: L1-L2-G, L1-L3-G, and L2-L3-
lesser extent, in voltage signals. The inception of the fault
G.

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 03, March-2015

Double phase faults: L1-L2, L1-L3, and L2-L3. local fault location information FLRT from the remote terminal.
Three phase faults: L1-L2-L3. The length of the transmission line is denoted as TL.
Three phase to ground faults: L1-L2-L3-G.

Figure.4.Block diagram of the fault location algorithm

The fault location is computed using the formula given as:

Figure.3. Block diagram of classification algorithm
FLRT TL
Figure.3.presents the block diagram of classification of algorithm 5
is presented. The coupling effect of the mutually coupled three- FLST FLRT
phase transmission line must be nullified effectively before the
information is provided for discriminating the type of faults.
A simple transformation called karrenbaur transformation is IV. MODELING AND SIMULATION METHODOLOGY
used to achieve this. The karrenbaur transformation is achieved
The overall framework of simulation methodology is shown in
with summers/substrates alone without any need for multipliers.
Fig. 5. ATP is free version of Electromagnetic Transient Program
The transformation matrix is given as:
(EMTP) [26], which is widely used to implement accurate and fast
electromagnetic transient simulation. Power system is simulated in
1 1 1 ATP. Time synchronized samples are then generated in ATP file.
This data is then processed in MATLAB. Algorithm for fault
T 1 2 1 location is implemented in MATLAB. The entire implementation
1 1 2 consists of two parts:

Simulation of power system in ATP

The transformed signals R0, R1 and R2 are obtained by Algorithm implementation in MATLAB
multiplying the transformation matrix with the high frequency
details coefficients obtained earlier. Similarly, with phases Y and IV.A. SIMULATION RESULTS
B as references, Y0, Y1, Y3, B0, B1 and B3 can be obtained. It is
observed that R0=Y0=B0, R1=B2, Y1=R2, and B1=Y2. A 500-kV, 118 km -long line was chosen for simulation. The
Hence the fault information can be obtained from four signals, parameters of this line are in Appendix 1 the line sections on two
R0, R1, Y1 and B1. When the detect signals goes high,
indicating a fault, these four signals are squared and cumulatively sides of the fault point were modeled as coupled PI sections with
added to get Rinfo, Yinfo, Binfo, and Ginfo . the steady state source at both ends. ATP model of the system
The information must be gathered for a short span of
time to ensure that the signal become stable and sufficient considered is shown in following fig. 5.
information is gathered, obtained information are used to classify
the different types of fault occurrence in the preferred line.

III.D. Fault Location

After detection and classification of the fault, the location
algorithm is performed. The block diagram of the location
algorithm is presented in Figure.4. In the location algorithm the
three phase current signals after decomposed, the peak magnitude Fig.5 ATP model of the transmission line.
of the currents at the end of a half cycle is provided as input to the
fault locator. A single faulted phase is selected from the output of In order to study the performance of fault location scheme
the fault classifier and is used to extract the local fault location discussed above Alternative Transients Program (ATP) and fault
information FLST from the source terminal. In a similar way the detection, classification and location algorithm is implemented in
MATLAB. The algorithm is 1 if there is any fault in the system

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 03, March-2015

otherwise output will be 0 result obtained from algorithm is shown

in Table 1.The percentage error for fault location is calculated as
| Actualloca tion Faultlocat ion |
% Error 100
Totallinel ength
The fault classification, location and detection process of the test
system is explained as follows. For discussion a two phase fault
(RY) with respect to bus1 and a phase to ground fault (YG) with
respect to bus1 are considered. When a fault occurs the phases R, Figure.7.High frequency details for YB fault with respect to
Y, B can be found faulty if Rv, Yv, or Bv exceeds the prefixed bus 1
threshold Tp which is being set with different values for the three TABLE 2
phases. A ground fault can be found if Gv exceeds the ground
threshold Tg. The faulty phase is identified in this case if the FAULT LOCATION CASE STUDIES
discriminant signal Rv, Yv, or Bv exceeds the adaptive threshold
Tc. Figure.6, and Figure 7 shows the high frequency details of the
phase fault (RY) and ground fault (YG). It can be observed that the
faulty phase consists of significant amount of high transients
compared to the non-fault phase. Fault location case studies for
mid section of line is shown in Table 2. Fault Detection (0 or 1) Actual
Percentage
Fault type Location
Table 1 Error
R Y B (Km)
PERFORMANCE OF FAULT DETECTION & CLASSIFICATION RG 1 0 0 59 -0.38
METHOD USING DATA OBTAINED FROM EMTP ANALYSIS
YG 0 1 0 59 0.33
BG 0 0 1 59 4.72
Fault Detection (0 or 1) Fault Type
Fault type (Line or RY 1 1 0 59 0.51
R Y B Ground) YB 0 1 1 59 0.76
RB 1 0 1 59 1.25
RG 1 0 0 Ground
RYG 1 1 0 59 5.59
YG 0 1 0 Ground
YBG 0 1 1 59 -0.43
BG 0 0 1 Ground
RBG 1 0 1 59 4.47
RY 1 1 0 Line
RYB 1 1 1 59 5.59
YB 0 1 1 Line
RYBG 1 1 1 59 5.42
RB 1 0 1 Line
RYG 1 1 0 Ground V. CONCLUSION
YBG 0 1 1 Ground
RBG 1 0 1 Ground A novel technique for fault detection, classification and
RYB 1 1 1 Line location in transmission lines is proposed. WT used to
RYBG 1 1 1 Ground extract information from three phase current signals
and to process the high frequency details to derive
information about the fault. The salient features of this
proposed logic are single dB5 high pass wavelet filter
is enough for each phase, need for multipliers avoided
using karrenbaur transformation, simple transient
energy calculation required for fault detection,
classification and location is done. For ground fault
adaptive threshold calculation is employed. The logic is
fully deterministic, easy to understand, and also the
classifier operation is fast and reliable. Simulation results
are verified under various fault cases using EMTP.

APPENDIX 1
Line data of 500-kV, 118 km length.
Figure.6.High frequency details for RY fault with respect to bus 1
Line Length = 118 km
R1 0.249168/km
L1 0.00156277 H /km
C1 19.469E-9 F/km
R0 0.60241/km
L0 0.004830 H /km
C0 12.06678E-9 F/km

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