International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology

Print ISSN - 2395-1990 Available Online at : www.ijsrset.com

Online ISSN : 2394-4099 doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/IJSRSET

Underground Cable Fault Detection System

A. S. Pawar1, S. N. Sondkar1, S. G. More1, V. B. Tarate2
Student1, Assistant Professor2
HSBPVT'S GOI Faculty of Engineering, Kashti, Maharashtra, India

ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT

This work Underground Cable Fault Detector is used for identifying faults
Article History:
in the underground cable. Underground cables are prone to a wide variety
Accepted: 25 March 2024 of faults due to underground conditions, wear and tear, rodents etc.
Published: 12 April 2024 Diagnosing fault source is difficult and entire cable should be taken out
from the ground to check and fix faults. The project work is intended to
detect the location of fault in underground cable lines from the base station
Publication Issue : in km using a Arduino microcontroller. To locate a fault in the cable, the
Volume 11, Issue 2 cable must be tested for faults. This prototype uses the concept of Ohms
March-April-2024 law. The current would vary depending upon the length of fault of the
Page Number : cable. In the urban areas, the electrical cable run in underground instead
256-259 of overhead lines. Whenever the fault occurs in underground cable it is
difficult to detect the exact location of the fault. The prototype is modelled
with a set of wires representing cable length in km and fault creation is
made by a set of switches at every known distance to cross check the
accuracy of the same. In case of fault, the voltage across series wires
changes accordingly, which is then fed to an ADC to develop precise
digital data to a programmed Arduino that further displays fault location
in distance. The fault occurring distance is displayed on a 16X2 LCD
interfaced with the microcontroller.
Keywords – Arduino Uno, Step Down Transformer, LCD.

I. INTRODUCTION very difficult to locate where the fault is.

Till the last decade the cables were made to lay Right now, what is done is that, they locate the
overhead and currently the scenario is to lay approximate area and uncover the cables from the
underground cable, which is superior to the earlier location and check it physically to locate the specific
method. This is because the underground cables are point of discontinuity. Currently an Arduino, a
not affected by the adverse weather conditions. microcontroller, is being developed which can be
Neither does the hot sunny day or rain influence it. used to locate the break from an external point. When
But when the cable breaks due to some reasons it’s an underground cable is broken or short-circuited

Copyright © 2024 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative 256
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0)
 A. S. Pawar et al Int J Sci Res Sci Eng Technol, March-April-2024, 11 (2) : 256-259

then an Arduino will be connected to the circuit and daily used battery chargers use the step-down
locate the exact position of dis- continuity. Hence it transformer in its design.
is an advantage for repairing the fault. The other programmable with the Arduino IDE (Integrated
instruments that can be included are odometer, video Development Environment), via a type B USB cable.
cam, re- mote navigation etc. It can be powered by the USB cable or by an external
9-volt battery, though it accepts voltages between 7
II. OBJECTIVES and 20 volts. It is similar to the Arduino Nano and
• The main objective of this project is to detect Leonardo. The hardware reference design is
abnormalities occurring in underground cables distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution
using Arduino. Share- Alike 2.5 license and is available on the
• Using this project, we can accurately find the
exact location of the fault in the underground
cables.
• This project can be done by using Arduino
microcontroller coded with the program which
is connected to LCD where the exact location of
the fault will beshown

III. COMPONENTS

ARDUINO
The Arduino microcontroller is an easy to use yet Arduino website. Layout and production files for
powerful single board computer that has gained some versions of the hardware are also available.
considerable traction in the hobby and professional STEP DOEN TRANSFORMER
market. The Arduino is open-source, which means A step-down transformer is a type of transformer that
hardware is reasonably priced and development converts the high voltage (HV) and low current from
software is free. The Arduino Uno is an open-source the primary side of the transformer to the low voltage
microcontroller board based on the Microchip (LV) and high current value on the secondary side of
ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by the transformer. The reverse of this is knownas a step-
Arduino. The board is equipped with sets of digital up transformer. A transformer is a type of static
and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be electrical equipment that transforms electrical energy
interfaced to various expansion boards (shields) and (from primary side windings) to magnetic energy (in
other circuits. The board has 14 digital I/O pins (six transformer magnetic core) and again to the electrical
capable of PWM output), 6 analog I/O pins, and energy (on the secondary transformer side). A step-
is If electronic devices are designed to have higher down transformer is used to provide this low voltage
nominal power, transformers with high operating value which is suitable for electronics supplying. It
frequency are used (kHz-s). The transformers with transforms home voltage (230/120 V) from primary to
higher nominal power value and 50/60 Hz nominal a low voltage on the secondary side which is used for
frequency would be too large and heavy. Also, the electronic supplying.

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 A. S. Pawar et al Int J Sci Res Sci Eng Technol, March-April-2024, 11 (2) : 256-259

currents from hundreds of Mille amperes to tens of

amperes, corresponding to power ratings. From
Mille watts to tens of watts. A fixed three-terminal
voltage regulator has an unregulated dc input voltage,
Vi, applied to one input terminal, a regulated dc
output voltage, Vo, from a second terminal, with the
third terminal connected to ground.
The series 78xx regulators provide fixed positive
regulated voltages from 5 to 24 volts. Similarly, the
series 79xx regulators provide fixed negative
regulated voltages from 5 to 24 volts.
LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY (LCD)
The term LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. It is Advantages:
one kind of electronic display module used in an 1) Provides Safety in the critical conditions.
extensive range of applications like various circuits & 2) Less maintenance, and higher efficiency
devices like mobile phones, calculators, computers, 3) It can detect other types of cable fault such as
TV sets, etc. These displays are mainly preferred for short circuit fault, open circuit
multi-segment light-emitting diodes and seven
Applications:
segments. The main benefits of using this module are
1) It can be used in almost all substation.
inexpensive; simply programmable, animations, and
2) They can also be used in dangerous
there are no limitations for displaying custom
environments, where human penetration
characters, special and even animations, etc
could be fatal.

IV. CONCLUSION

Thus, the project on Underground cable fault

detection using Arduino was done and thedistance of
the fault was displayed on the LCD for the three lines
R, Y and B. When thefault switches are operated to
fault condition then the phase corresponding to that
particular switch is considered as the faulty phase,
and the distance of the fault will be shown in the
liquid crystal display using Arduino microcontroller.
VOLTAGE REGULATOR
Voltage regulators comprise a class of widely used ICs. II. REFERENCES
Regulator IC units contain the circuitry for reference
source, comparator amplifier, control device, and [1]. Abhishek Pandey, Nicolas.H, Younan,
overload protection all in a single IC. IC units provide “Underground Cable Fault Detection and
regulation of either a fixed positive voltage, a fixed Identification via Fourier Analysis”, 2010 IEEE.
negative voltage, or an adjustable set voltage. The [2]. Xia Yang, Student Member, Myeon-Song Choi,
regulators can be selected for operation with load Member, Seung-Jae Lee, “Member, Fault

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 A. S. Pawar et al Int J Sci Res Sci Eng Technol, March-April-2024, 11 (2) : 256-259

Location for Underground Power Cable Using

Distributed Parameter Approach” 2008.
[3]. A.Ngaopitakkul, C.Pothisarn,
M.Leelajindakrairerk,(2011), “Study of
Characteristics for Simultaneous Faults in
Distribution Underground Cable using DWT”,
2011 IEEE.
[4]. Mr. M. R. Hans, Ms. Snehal C. Kor, Ms. A. S. Patil
(2017), “Identification of underground cable fault
location and development”
[5]. Tarlochan S. Sidhu, Zhihan Xu, “detection and
classification of incipient faults in underground
cables in distribution systems”.

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