PHD Loos

Single Phase to Ground Fault Detection
and Location in Compensated Network

Matthieu Loos
A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Engineering Sciences
Academic year 2013-2014
Thesis director:
Professor Jean-Claude Maun
Abstract
This work takes place in the context of distribution power system protection and tries
to improve the detection and location of earth faults. The protection problem is vast and
many ideas emerge every year to enhance the reliability of the grid. The author has focused
his energy into the compensated and isolated network protection in the specific case of single
phase earth fault. This PhD thesis is divided in two main parts that might be considered as
independent. The first part studies the detection of single phase earth fault and the second
analyzes the fault location of such fault.
Pragmatism was asked during these three years because a product development was necessary especially regarding the fault detection problem. The first part of the thesis took 18
months of research and development to obtain a prototype of transient protection able to
detect single phase earth fault in compensated and isolated network. The sensitivity of the
algorithm has been emphasized regarding the fault impedance and to detect earth fault up
to 5 kOhm depending on the network characteristic. The fault location problem has been
much more theoretical although the problem links to the accuracy of the algorithm and its
robustness regarding wrong fault location indication has been strongly considered.
Compensated networks and in some conditions isolated networks are distribution from 12
kV up to 110 kV mostly used in East and North Europe but also in China. Others areas
also work with such networks but they also have others systems and they do not use them
on all the territory. These networks have the particularity to obtain very small fault current
in case of single phase earth fault. Low current means the difference between a faulty and a
sound feeder is not significant. Therefore classic overcurrent protection is completely useless
to protect the network, forcing the development of more complex algorithm. A possibility
to overcome the problem of the small fault current is to develop a transient protection. The
transient occurring at the beginning of the fault has strong information to distinguish a faulty
from a sound feeder. In this work I have chosen to use not only the transient but also the
steady state to get the best sensitivity.
Then the fault location has been investigated but the small information coming from
the faulty feeder is not sufficient to have a precise enough position of the fault. Therefore,
active system has been suggested to be implemented in the grid to increase the faulty current
and have enough power for a precise location. Different existing algorithms based on the
steady state at the nominal frequency are compared using a tool developed during this work.
Recommendations are then made depending on the topology, the network parameters, the
measurements precision, etc. Due to the complexities of the problem, a simulator has been
coded in Matlab . The user of a possible fault location must then use this tool to understand
and see the future fault location precision that he could obtain from different algorithm on
his network.
Acknowledgement
This work has been made in three years. These years have been enjoyable for many reasons
but one that is very important is people who contributed to the achievement of this work.
Professor Jean-Claude Maun is certainly the first person to be acknowledged. Indeed, he
is the person who gave me this very interesting job opportunity. I think this PhD thesis has
sharpened my engineer skills and changed my way of thinking and solving problems.
The people from Siemens AG especially Matthias Kereit and Stefan Werben have brought
a strong support to the realization of this work. The conclusions and the contents would
surely not have been so consistent without them. I also want to thank the people from
Siemens Berlin where I have worked four months who have helped me to learn some German
basic and discover the city.
I also want to thank Professor Pierre Mathys for the remarks and comments that makes
this document much better.
Three years of research would not have been as fun if the colleagues were not there. A
very special thanks to Pierre, Olivier and Gilles who have been my officemates and who have
created a enjoyable environement with nice office decorations and very interesting talks. Of
course, I want to thank the rest of the team Mlik, Quentin, Fabien, Michael, Momo, Yves,
Martin and the youngers Benoit, Thomas for the working atmosphere and the friday nights.
The Eco marathon project has been one of the most interesting project I had here aside
of my thesis. This project has been a great success and it keeps improving each year thanks
to Johan, Fabien, Gilles, Mlik and Bilal as assistants but also and of course the students. I
hope the project will continue and I am sure the records will be beaten.
I would aslo like to thank the secretary of our department Ariane who took care of the
reimbursement and all the administrative stuffs link to this work.
Working on a thesis is a special work where you always think about it days and nights,
therefore I think to my friends who give more than one reason to relax. I will particularly
remember all the chats with Johan, the drinks, games and party with the friends from Arlon.
A personal thank goes also to Yas who has supported me during these three years more
especially the two last years which had been heavy in work load due to my master at the
Solvay Business School.
Last but not least, I think this PhD could not be achieved without the support of my
parents and family who gave me the opportunity to study at the University and always push
me forward.
Contents
Introduction
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1 Context
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2 The fault detection
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3 The fault location
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4 Contributions
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II Overview of Distribution Network Grounding Practices and Single

Phase to Ground Fault Behavior in Compensated Network
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1 Introduction
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2 Distribution Network Grounding in Medium

2.1 Solid Grounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Isolate Grounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Low Impedance Grounding . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 High Resistance Grounding . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Resonant Grounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.6 Examples of Industrial Grounding . . . . . .
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3 Single Phase to Ground Fault In Compensated Network

3.1 Steady State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.1 Isolated network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.2 Compensated network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Transients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.1 Symmetrical components to study the transients . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.2 Discharging frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.3 Charging frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.3.1 The charging frequency model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.3.2 Charging transient magnitude considering the fault resistance
3.2.4 Transient due to the fault resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.4.1 Neglecting the parallel resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.4.2 Considering the parallel resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Voltage
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CONTENTS
3.3
3.2.5 Transient due to inception time . . .

3.2.6 Extinction of the fault . . . . . . . .
Intermittent and restriking earth fault . . .
3.3.1 Shape of an intermittent earth fault
3.3.2 Shape of restriking earth fault . . .
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4 Confrontations of the Theory with the Field

4.1 The topologies of the distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 The circulating current problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 Asymmetric series impedance . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.2 Network coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.3 Illustration with real recordings and simulations
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5 Summary
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III
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Single Phase to Ground Fault Detection Algorithms
1 Introduction
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2 Review of today fault detection devices

2.1 The Wischer principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 The QU-method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 The Wattmetric function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3 The
3.1
3.2
3.3
faulty feeder C0 method algorithm

The capacitive behavior of the sound feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Disadvantages of the method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4 The
4.1
4.2
4.3
directional method algorithm

The observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Specific topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.1 Discussion about the active power flow . . . . . .
4.3.2 Possible direction of the 4 relays in a closed ring
5 Tests and simulations of the methods

5.1 Classic fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 High impedance fault . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Coil effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4 Intermittent earth fault . . . . . . . .
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6 Summary
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IV
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Fault Detection Prototype Development
1 Introduction
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CONTENTS
2 The signal conditioning

2.1 High pass FIR filter - Purpose and design
2.2 Circulating current issue . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1 The detection . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.2 The first suppression technique . .
2.2.3 The second suppression technique
2.3 Current condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 The
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
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C0 method
Integrating the current i0 . . . . . . . . . .
Estimating C0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Error threshold computation . . . . . . . .
3.3.1 Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.2 Feedback and updates from the tests
Calculation of the error and its integration .
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4 Device running criteria

4.1 Blocking the algorithm . . . .
4.2 Stopping the algorithm . . . .
4.3 Characterization of the fault .
4.4 Faulty phase determination .
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5 Directional method
116
5.1 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.2 Feedback and updates from the tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
6 Summary
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121
Fault Location in Compensated Network
1 Introduction
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2 The needs of fault location in compensated network

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2.1 Todays fault location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
2.2 What fault location algorithm could bring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3 State of the art of fault location
3.1 Charging transient . . . . . . .
3.2 Fault passage indicators . . . .
3.3 Traveling waves . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Steady state . . . . . . . . . . .
and application
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4 Challenges of steady-state fault location

4.1 The compensated network problem . . .
4.2 Single-ended method . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 Heterogeneous line . . . . . . . .
4.2.2 Tree structure . . . . . . . . . . .
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126
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CONTENTS
4.3
4.4
Two-ended method . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.1 Heterogeneous and tree structure
4.3.2 Loop topology . . . . . . . . . .
Loads and DGs impact on fault location
4.4.1 Loads and DGs impact . . . . .
4.4.2 Loads and DGs model . . . . . .
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5 Summary
135
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VI Fault Location Tool and Sensitivity Analysis in Compensated Network

143
1 Introduction
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2 Fault location main problem

145
2.1 Parameters and measurements accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
3 Graphical User Interface Tool
3.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.1 Network description . . .
3.2.2 SimNet.m script . . . . .
3.2.3 RunSimNet and the GUI
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4 Sensitivity analysis
4.1 Purpose of the sensitivity analysis . . . .
4.2 The parallel resistance importance . . . .
4.3 Size of distribution network . . . . . . . .
4.4 The single-ended measurements precision
4.4.1 Todays knowledge . . . . . . . . .
4.4.2 Improvement of Z0 knowledge . . .
4.4.3 Heterogeneous line . . . . . . . . .
4.4.4 The parallel resistance effect . . .
4.5 Two ended measurements precision . . . .
4.5.1 The best symmetrical system . . .
4.5.2 The parallel resistance effect . . .
4.5.3 The loop advantage . . . . . . . .
4.5.4 Heterogeneous line . . . . . . . . .
5 The load impact and bias error
5.1 The impact . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1 The single-ended algorithm
5.1.2 The two-ended algorithm .
5.2 A solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 Summary
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148
148
148
148
151
155
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159
159
160
161
162
162
164
165
166
167
168
170
172
173
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174
174
174
175
177
179
CONTENTS
VII
10
Conclusions
181
1 General conclusions
182
2 Fault detection
183
3 Fault location
184
4 Future work and perspectives
186
VIII
195
Appendices
A Network Information
B DSO Survey
B.1 The description
B.2 Customer 1 . .
B.3 Customer 2 . .
B.4 Customer 3 . .
B.5 Customer 4 . .
B.6 Customer 5 . .
B.7 Customer 6 . .
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196
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C Fault location simulation network
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198
198
203
206
210
213
216
218
220
List of Figures
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
Network representation of two feeders network with single phase earth fault .
Single phase earth fault representation with symmetrical components . . . . .
Representation of solidly grounded transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Representation of a solidly grounded network with two feeders . . . . . . . .
Single phase earth fault on phase A in a solidly grounded network . . . . . .
The current is flowing through the shunt capacitance in case of single phase
earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.7 The voltage neutral is floating in isolated network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.8 The current flows are opposite for the sound and the faulty feeder . . . . . .
2.9 Representation of a high resistive grounding in single phase to earth fault
situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.10 A phase angle of 90 is measured for a high resistive grounding system . . .
2.11 Representation of a compensated network in single phase to earth fault condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
The isolated network has capacitive current circulating through the healthy
phases in case of single phase earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Steady state amplitude on the faulty feeder depends on the healthy feeders .
Fortescue representation of the zero-sequence current flows in case of EF . . .
Fortescue representation of the zero-sequence current flows in case of EF . . .
No phase angle between the faulty and sound feeder with a perfect Peterson coil
Phase angle appears between the faulty and sound feeder with a realistic Peterson coil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Simplified zero sequence system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Phase Angle of the faulty feeder depends on RN G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the symmetrical components is equivalent to the distributed model for
the transients consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Representation of the discharge of the faulty phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Representation of the charge of the healthy phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Model of a network with three feeders to characterize the charging transients
with symmetrical components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three charging frequencies are measured on a network with three feeders . .
Charging transient with a 0 earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Charging transient with a 100 earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Charging transient with a 1.66 k earth fault contains only 50 Hz signal . . .
Slow increasing of the 50 Hz voltage and current with Rf ault =1.66k . . . . .
11
26
27
28
29
30
31
31
32
33
34
34
37
38
38
39
40
40
41
42
43
44
45
47
47
48
48
49
49
LIST OF FIGURES
12
3.18
3.19
3.20
3.21
3.22
3.23
3.24
3.25
3.26
3.27
3.28
Influence of the fault resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Validation of the equation considering the parallel resistance . . . . . . . . .
Peterson coil effect on symmetrical components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Transient current due to the Peterson coil is measured only on the faulty feeder
Decreasing exponential occurs only on the faulty feeder . . . . . . . . . . . .
Decreasing of V0 and I0 after fault extinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
50 Hz resonating zero-sequence system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
52 Hz resonating zero-sequence system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Typical intermittent earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Typical intermittent earth fault with coil effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Typical restriking earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
50
51
51
52
52
53
53
54
55
56
56
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
60
61
62
4.5
4.6
4.7
Pfalzwerke distribution network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Asymmetry in the series phase impedance creates circulating current . . . .
Single conductors in parallel and trefoil position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zero-sequence voltage is measured during healthy operation due to mutual
coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Circulating current due to coupling with parallel asymmetric network . . . .
Circulating current before the single phase earth fault on feeder J03 and J07
Simulation of the load power on the zero sequence circulating current . . . .
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
The 7SN600 transient earth-fault relay from Siemens

Detection of transients in the Wischer principle . .
The EOR-D device of a-eberle . . . . . . . . . . . .
Illustration of the QU method . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Wattmetric function decision criteria . . . . . .
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69
70
71
72
73
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
A least square method is necessary to get a C0 value . . . . . . . . . .

In case of low impedance fault, the error signal is very high . . . . . . .
High impedance fault with error signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Integration of the error signal to increase the sensitivity of the algorithm
Transient has bigger error than the steady state . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Transient does not exactly matches the capacitive model . . . . . . . .
No problem to know which feeder is faulty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Detection of the faulty feeder is not possible with four devices in a loop
. . .
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76
76
77
77
78
79
79
80
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
Active power depends on the current and voltage behavior . . . . . . . . .

Main power flow in a compensated network during single phase earth fault
Instantaneous zero-sequence active power power for small impedance fault
Instantaneous zero-sequence active power power for high impedance fault .
Energy evolution of a low impedance fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Energy evolution of a high impedance fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Schematic active power flow in closed ring structure . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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82
83
84
85
85
86
86
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
Simulation network to test the algorithm . . . . . . . .

Zero-sequence current and voltage for a low impedance
QU diagram of a classic single phase earth fault . . .
Integration of the error signal . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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89
90
90
91
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fault
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63
64
65
65
LIST OF FIGURES
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13
5.14
5.15
5.16
5.17
5.18
Energy in case of classic single phase earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Zero sequence current and voltage for high impedance fault . . . . . . . . . .
QU diagram in case of high impedance fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Integration of the error signal for a high impedance fault simulation . . . . .
Energy in case of high impedance fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zero sequence current and voltage with a coil effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Coil effect disappears with the high pass filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
QU diagram with a coil effect is easy to detect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Integration of the squared error with a coil effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Energy for direction determination with coil effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Simulation of an intermittent and restriking earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . .
The feeder 1 is not on a straight line in the QU diagram . . . . . . . . . . .
The integration of the squared error works well with intermittent earth fault
The direction determination works correctly in case of intermittent earth fault
2.1
Integration of the current i0(t) without (left) and with (right) high-pass filtering
compared to voltage signal U0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
High pass filter characteristic for signal conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Illustration of circulating current from real recording before a single phase earth
fault happens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Healthy feeder can be detected as faulty without dealing the circulating current
Suppression of the 50 Hz component to delete the circulating current . . . . .
Deletion of the circulating component without filtering . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
13
91
92
92
93
93
94
94
95
95
96
96
97
97
97
101
102
103
104
104
105
Illustration of the trapezoidal integration compared to a perfect integration .

Estimation of C0 in case of sound or faulty feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Estimation of C0 in case of faulty feeder with unrealistic C0 value . . . . . . .
Threshold value depending on C0 value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Minimum value of the threshold limited in case transient detection . . . . . .
Evolution of the threshold depending on the current signal . . . . . . . . . . .
Relay picks up after the inception of the fault with Feeder 1 faulty and 3kOhm
fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8 C0method values and threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9 Updates make the relay picked up before the inception of the fault . . . . . .
3.10 The threshold can be smaller in this case and detect the faulty feeder . . . .
111
111
112
112
4.1
Voltage is decreasing when the fault has disappeared . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
114
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
Flowchart of the direction determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

The three zones of direction and determination in case of LIF . . . . . . . . 117
The three zones of direction and determination in case of HIF . . . . . . . . 118
Zero sequence active energy with circulating current in a four feeders sound loop118
Zero sequence active energy without circulating current in a four feeders sound
loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
2.1
Flowchart explaining the procedure to locate the faulty section in compensated

network with ring possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Schematic describing the faulty section location in a ring structure . . . . . .
2.2
106
108
109
109
110
110
124
124
LIST OF FIGURES
14
3.1
3.2
3.3
Model to determine the frequency of the charging transient . . . . . . . . . .

Example of fault passage indicators for a radial feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Effect of the fault used in the traveling wave fault location principle . . . . .
127
128
128
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
Connection of a parallel resistance to increase the fault current . . . . . . .

Example of signal increasing due to the connection of a parallel resistance .
Example of current increasing due to the connection of a parallel resistance
Injection of a signal from the transformer neutral . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Schematic of a fault location model using a single ended method . . . . . .
Computation of the current and voltage on the faulty section . . . . . . . .
Topology of a tree feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Schematic of a fault location model using a two ended method . . . . . . .
Identification of the faulty branch with a two ended algorithm . . . . . . .
Procedure to isolate the faulty branch in a tree feeder and locate the fault
Closed ring structure made of more than two feeders . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Impact of the distributed loads if the fault current is not significant . . . .
There is no impact on the fault distance if the loads are beyond the fault .
Method of load tap from [Altonen and Wahlroos, 2007] . . . . . . . . . . . .
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130
131
131
132
133
134
134
135
136
137
138
140
140
141
2.1
2.2
Standard error representation on a phasor measurement . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bias error representation compared to the standard error . . . . . . . . . . .
146
147
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
Illustration of the PI model from the interface . . . . . . . .

Positive sequence system node number . . . . . . . . . . . .
Negative sequence system node number . . . . . . . . . . .
Zero sequence system node number . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Screenshot of the Graphically User Interface . . . . . . . . .
Algorithm selection - Popup button and list of fault locator
Example of text box information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Variance detailed example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Checkbox display information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Standard deviation edit box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Algorithm option window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The parallel resistance design button . . . . . . . . . . . . .
150
152
153
153
155
156
156
156
157
157
158
158
4.1
4.2
4.3
Additional questions are brought by the requirement of the fault locator . . . 159
The active system can make the fault location possible in compensated network 160
Comparison of single phase earth fault between compensated and solidly grounded
network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Standard deviation for three different C0 total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Fault location accuracy with single-ended method and actual knowledge of the
network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Fault location accuracy with improvement of the zero sequence impedance in
single ended method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
The ratio X/R is not important compared to the absolute value of the impedance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Variance contribution of the main parameter for single ended method versus
the parallel resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
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LIST OF FIGURES
15
4.9 Multiple measurements can help to improve the fault location . . . . . .

4.10 Illustration of the zero sequence system two-ended method fault location
4.11 Voltage value of the three symmetrical systems depending on the parallel
sistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.12 Zero sequence system variance with two ended solution . . . . . . . . . .
4.13 Positive sequence system variance with two ended method . . . . . . . .
4.14 Negative sequence system variance with two ended method . . . . . . . .
4.15 Compensation effect with the loop structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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re. .
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170
171
171
172
173
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
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174
175
176
177
177
A.1 Network length and topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A.2 Position of the phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
196
196
B.1
B.2
B.3
B.4
B.5
B.6
198
199
200
201
201
216
Impact of the loads on the single ended algorithm . . . . . . . .

The zero sequence system is not influenced by the loads . . . . .
The positive sequence system is strongly influenced by the loads
The negative sequence system is almost not affected by the loads
Load impact integration in the faulty area estimation . . . . . .
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Illustration of fault location problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Voltage difference between the faulty position and the measurement position
Illustration of the parallel resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PI model used for fault location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Grid representation with measurements devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Description by customer 5 of the fault location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
167
169
List of Tables
4.1
Survey of the German Distribution Network topology . . . . . . . . . . . . .
59
2.1
Wischer direction logical table
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
70
4.1
The different indication of the direction protection in closed ring . . . . . . .
87
2.1
Default value of the standard deviation of the parameters . . . . . . . . . . .
146
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
Example of the network initialization text file . . .

Example of line characteristic in the text file . . .
Measurements node in the text file . . . . . . . . .
Loads information in the text file . . . . . . . . . .
Distributed generation information in the text file
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149
150
151
151
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
Accuracy of the single ended method and contribution of each parameter . .

Single ended method accuracy if the knowledge on Z0 is improved . . . . . .
Comparison of the symmetrical system for fault location . . . . . . . . . . .
Accuracy and contribution of each symmetrical system with two-ended method
Accuracy of the each symmetrical system with two ended method in a loop .
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A.1 Line parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
197
B.1
B.2
B.3
B.4
B.5
B.6
B.7
B.8
B.9
B.10
B.11
B.12
B.13
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204
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218
Example of information provided by the fault locator

Network information of the customer 1 . . . . . . . .
Precision of the customer 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16
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Part I
Introduction
17
1.
Context
This PhD thesis has been sponsored by Siemens with the goal of developing a new protection device for compensated network at the end of the first year followed by a study about
the fault location in same network. Therefore the work has been very practical with regular
feedback from the industrial party. Meetings and live meetings have been regularly held every
2 to 3 months to follow the work and get results. This way of working has been efficient to
give new objectives or change the effort in the construction of the fault detection algorithm
and a fault location strategy.
A few months were necessary to get used to the subject and the problem related to single
phase earth fault in compensated and isolated network. Five months later, several algorithms
were presented with simulation results and sensitivity tests. Some real recordings were also
available and have been tested to compare the different methods and to work on some fine
tuning. Nine months after the beginning of the project, four months have been devoted to
develop a first prototype using two of the different algorithms proposed. This work has been
done in Berlin with a strong technical support of Siemens. Some weeks were still needed at
the end of the internship to fine tune the methods and to test bench the device. Once the
tests finished the algorithms have been transferred to the industrial partner who has started
the phase of product development.
Some feedback and live meetings have been necessary to fully transfer the knowledge
developed on the fault detection method but while I was already working on the fault location
problem. A review of the published methods has been made which has revealed different
strategies to locate the fault. Based on the knowledge built during the first year and the
prototype development, one strategy has been deeply investigated. However, the chosen way
to locate the fault needs an active system to increase the faulty current. To understand the
needs and the efforts the distribution system operators are ready to put to get a fault location
system in their network, a survey has been written and distributed among the operators
during a German meeting. The results were interesting and have oriented the study in a
more practical way to meet some of the possible market needs. It has been noticed that the
main problems for fault location in compensated network is not only technical due to the
small fault current but also practical because the distribution system operators do not know
all the symmetrical parameters required for an accurate fault location.
The efforts have then been put to find the best technical way to locate the fault with a
comparison of the different recent or existing algorithms which finally led to the development
of a tool to indicate the precision of the methods with the actual knowledge the users have of
his network. Results demonstrate that the fault location is indeed almost impossible with the
actual way the compensated networks are used and therefore needs additional equipments.
The goal of this tool is to provide the actions the operator has to handle to achieve the
precision that he wants on the fault location.
18
2.
The fault detection
The three first chapters of this thesis concern the single phase to ground fault detection
problem in compensated network. The algorithms have been developed for compensated
network but they can be directly used for isolated network because they have similar behavior
regarding single phase earth fault. The objective of the fault detection was to find and develop
an algorithm able to beat the sensitivity of the Wischer relay from Siemens regarding the fault
impedance.
This problem has been tackled by a review of the compensated network characteristic
in healthy and faulty conditions. Then some simulations and model improvements based
on recordings have been developed and are part of the first chapter of this document. A
comparison with the others grounding systems is presented at the beginning of this chapter
to give an overview of the techniques and the arguments to choose a compensated network
instead of a different grounding system. The single phase earth fault is then presented in
compensated and isolated network using both symmetrical system and three phases power
representations. The problem is divided in the steady state and the transients phenomena
which are compared between the faulty feeder and the sound feeder. The differences between
the faulty and healthy are emphasized to understand all the information available to have the
best fault detection.
Next to the important phenomena for the fault detection, an other phenomenon is presented which has been discovered during test of the algorithms with real recordings. It has
occurred that the permanent loop topology (i.e. two feeders connected on the main substation
and at their ends) in a compensated network can generate zero sequence current big enough
to jeopardize the detection of the fault. This problem is caused by the creation of a mutual
coupling between the symmetrical systems with the loop structure. A mathematical model
of the coupling is then presented with simulations and real recordings to provide sufficient
details of the issue.
The second chapter presents two algorithms selected by Siemens to be implemented in
a prototype. The description is more theoretical and the equations of both method are
explained. The first method is named C0. It considers the sound feeder as a capacitance in
the zero sequence system and assumes that the faulty feeder does not act as a capacitance.
Therefore, an estimation of the zero sequence capacitance is made using a simple least square
method. Then the quantification of the deviation from a perfect capacitive model is calculated
and memorized. The second algorithm wanted to be a directional algorithm that can be placed
not only in the main substation but also along the line. This method is able to indicate if
the fault is forward or reverse. This indication is especially helpful in the case of a loop to
identify which part is faulty. The solution has been to compute what it is called the zero
sequence active energy using the information in the transients but also in the steady state to
determine the fault direction. In conclusion of this chapter, some illustrations of the working
19
2. THE FAULT DETECTION
20
principle are presented with low impedance fault, high impedance but also circulating current
problem.
The third chapter of this document presents the practical implementation of the algorithms. The four months spent in Berlin to develop the prototype have revealed many points
to be solved before obtaining a commercial product once the theoretical algorithms are set.
Indeed the current and voltage signals coming from the measurements is not as pure as the
one from the simulations. Therefore filtering is necessary to treat the signals before applying the algorithm but this filtering process should not filter the important information that
might reduce the sensitivity. The computation power of a protection device is also different
than then a personal computer which requires code optimization, etc. All these problems are
described in this chapter. Also feedback from tests with real recordings have led to small
changes in the algorithms.
3.
The fault location
The hardest part of the work was probably the fault location. The small fault current
in compensated network makes it a real challenge to have reliable fault location. A lot of
papers claim great solutions and great algorithms for fault location but the precision of these
methods in real conditions have always been a question. However, even if the author does not
claim to have brought new methods that could improve fault location, the approach taken
in this work looks very interesting to identify the effort to be made to have a useful fault
location. The industrial partner, Siemens, has also asked for a further development of this
approach, so that the work will continue after this PhD thesis.
The fourth chapter of this report is the first regarding the fault location. This one is an
introduction to the fault location problem. Firstly it is very important to understand what is
the need of fault location from the industry and especially for distribution system operators.
In compensated network, two steps are necessary before repairing a fault in a power line.
The first step is to identify which section on a feeder is faulty. A section is an homogeneous
electrical part of the feeder ranging between 100 meters to several kilometers. Once this
section is identified, the second step consists in a very accurate fault location made by using
high sampling rates devices to dig the ground along only few meters to do the repairs. This
work has been focused on the first step because it looked to be the one that requires a lot
of time that could be shorten by a powerful and well used algorithm which could be able to
identify one or two likely faulty section. Details about the procedures are then described.
Next, a short state of the art of the fault location methods is explained. Four different
strategies to locate the fault, for the most part, inspired from the transmission grid problem
are briefly presented. The charging transient has a relation of the distance with the frequency.
This transient is caused by a sudden connection of one phase to the ground. Some equations
are presented from bibliographical resources with some models to locate the fault with this
mean. Then a simple method based on several direction indicators is explained followed
by the traveling waves solution. The last one concerns the steady-state at 50 Hz and is
the solution chosen for this work. Several explanations are provided to justify the choice of
the steady state method for fault location in compensated network. Some of the arguments
raised are the heterogeneousity of distribution feeder, actual sampling frequency, etc. Then
the following part of the chapter concerns a deep description of the steady-state 50 Hz fault
location algorithm using an active system to increase the faulty current. Single ended and two
ended measurement methods are detailed with equations using symmetrical components. The
problems met in distribution system such as heterogeneousity are solved and improvement
of the actual method is made for the loop structure. Finally the impact of the loads and
distributed generations is investigated and solutions are proposed.
The fifth and last chapter of this document concerns the real contributions brought by
this work on the fault location problem. The goal of the fault location in this work is to
21
3. THE FAULT LOCATION
22
provide an area to investigate in which the fault has strong chance to be. No distance is given
by the algorithm because there will always be errors on the result. The estimated faulty
area must be the smallest possible but the size depends on the accuracy the user has on his
network parameters and measurements. It also depends on the topology and the structure
of this network where different equations can be used if possible. Therefore a graphical user
interface has been built in Matlab . The purpose is to estimate which algorithm is the best
to get the best accuracy for a specific fault position. Many variables are implied in a fault
location process and often the result from the fault locator will not be as accurate as expected.
An estimation of the variable contribution in the total faulty area is also provided to indicate
the user that it has to improve his knowledge on specific variable to significantly improve the
precision. Once the explanation and the details about this tool are described, an extensive
sensitivity analysis is considered. The goal of this sensitivity analysis is to bring general
information regarding specific topology to the user interested in a fault location system. The
information provided in this report should be interesting enough to explain where the efforts
have to be made to get the precision required to significantly improve the first step of the fault
location process. Indeed, additional measurements can be placed or measurement campaign
can be performed to improve the knowledge on the zero sequence impedance and parallel
resistances must be placed to increase the fault current. All these questions are supposed to
be answered at the end of the reading.
Finally the last part of the chapter explains that the impact of the load is to create a
bias error instead of contributing to the size of the faulty area. Indeed only the statistical
errors are considered for the faulty area but the model error (coming from a line model or
neglected infeed current as the loads or distributed generations) shifts this faulty area. If
the area is small compared to this bias error, the fault location could be completely wrong.
Therefore estimation of the loads impact has to be taken into account. This mostly influences
the positive sequence system and very slightly the negative sequence system. Solutions are
then suggested to avoid wrong fault location to the profit of a bigger faulty area. It has been
considered a larger area including the default is better than an smaller area which is not at
the right place.
4.
Contributions
This PhD thesis has taken three years to be set including the four months spent in Berlin
to develop the prototype. During this research time the contributions have been various both
in the academic and the industrial sector. Several meetings with Siemens have been held
in Brussels and in Berlin to follow up the work which have led to many technical reports
every 2-3 months. A list of the reports sent to the industrial partner can be found in the
Bibliographical contribution section.
The development of the fault detection methods have conducted to a Patent application
that has been finalized in a Patent publication in May 2013. This patent fully describes the
two algorithms presented in this work.
A prototype has been built with Siemens AG that has been transformed into a SIPROTEC
product at the beginning of 2013 and is now tested in the Scandinavian countries.
The fault location is for the moment a more theoretical approach and an industrial product
is more complex to set. Nevertheless, Siemens has shown strong interest in the simulator tool
presented in the last chapter of this document. A version useful for Siemens internal use at
the beginning and perhaps for commercial purpose in the future will be developed starting in
November 2013.
Regarding the academic part, five conference papers have been written and presented in
Europe and North America. The papers concern both the fault location and fault detection
issues in compensated network. Such papers have made new connections in the academic
power system sectors in an international level and have also brought constructive feedback
from an international audience.
23
Part II
Overview of Distribution Network

Grounding Practices and Single
Phase to Ground Fault Behavior in
Compensated Network
24
1.
Introduction
This first chapter of the thesis reviews the different techniques used to ground the distribution network and the single phase to ground fault behavior in compensated and isolated
network. It explains the choice of compensated network and the problem that occurs.
The first section describes every strategy with their advantages and disadvantages using
isolated, low resistance, high resistance, solid or resonant grounding. The goal is to give the
reader a clear understanding of why the compensated network is used and the difficulties it
implies compared to other groundings.
The second section considers the compensated and isolated network behavior during single phase to ground fault. The aim of this section is to provide all the required knowledge
to understand the single phase fault detection and location problem and to understand the
way the algorithms have been developed. The steady-state signal is discussed and the difference with the isolated network is explained. The transients occurring with a single phase
ground fault are detailed such as a short, high frequencies, discharging transient or a longer,
medium frequencies, charging transient is analyzed and transient due to the Peterson coil is
explained. The difference between high impedance and small impedance fault is highlighted.
Then intermittent and restriking earth fault are explained because they occur quite often in
compensated network. The increasing share of distributed generations (DGs) in the distribution network drives the operators to use their network more and more in closed loop structure.
This specific topology is also studied and the impact on the symmetrical components in case
of fault is explained. Model validation is illustrated with the utilization of the Alternative
Transients Program (ATP).
The third section is an illustration of the explanation made along this chapter. Real
recordings coming from compensated networks in Germany are shown and comparison with
the theory is made.
25
2.
Distribution Network Grounding in Medium

Voltage
There are many different strategies regarding the distribution network grounding and it
can be stated that there is no universal solution. Every technique has its own advantages
and disadvantages which are described in this section. This choice depends more on a historical, legislation reasons and the will for rapid fault fixing rather than on being a solution
a technical problem. The purpose of the grounding is the choice of specific network behavior
in case of single phase earth fault which is the most frequent earth fault in a power system
[Gerstner et al., 2013, Gomez-Exposito et al., 2008]. Indeed, the grounding has no impact in
a healthy balanced system. The decision in the grounding will affect the protection strategy used by the system operator. The fault current behavior will differ and the protection
algorithms used in one kind of grounding are useless in others.
The following figure 2.1 illustrates a classic three phases network with a single phase earth
fault. The connection of the transformer neutral will depend on the grounding and is part
of the discussion. The phase to phase capacitances have been neglected as well as the series
impedances for the sake of clarity.
Figure 2.1: Network representation of two feeders network with single phase earth fault
In case of single phase to ground fault, the three symmetrical systems are connected in
series as illustrated in the figure 2.2 where lines are modeled with PI line model. This representation with the symmetrical components simplifies any unbalanced three phase power
systems into three balanced system [Fortescue, 1918]. The fault current will then depend
26
2. DISTRIBUTION NETWORK GROUNDING IN MEDIUM VOLTAGE
27
on the capacitance of the positive and the negative system respectively in parallel with the
source and transformer impedance or only with the transformer impedance. The positive and
negative sequence capacitances are generally high impedance compared to the transformer,
therefore the biggest part of this current will go through the negative and positive transformer
impedance. Regarding the zero-sequence system, the connection of the transformer neutral
is in parallel with the zero sequence capacitances, therefore it will depend on the transformer
connection to know the current flowing through the zero-sequence system. The faulty current characteristic in single phase to ground fault is then mainly defined by the transformer
connection, the others symmetrical systems having an insignificant influence.
Figure 2.2: Single phase earth fault representation with symmetrical components
This section reviews the existing system grounding in the different country with the solidly
grounded, ungrounded, low impedance, high resistance and resonant grounded network. The
aim is to provide the necessary knowledge to the reader to understand the general context of
the compensated network and why they are used in some countries.
2.1
28
Solid Grounding
Behavior
One strategy to operate the medium voltage distribution network is to solidly connect the
neutral of the transformer. This means there is no impedance between the system neutral
and the ground. However, the meaning of a solidly grounded network can depend in some
country. For example, The National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) [ANSI/IEEE, 2002] in
the US defines an effectively grounded system as:
An effectively grounded system is intentionally connected to earth through a
ground connection or connections of sufficiently low impedance and having sufficient current carrying capacity to limit the buildup of voltages to levels below that
which may result in undue hazard to persons or to connected equipment.
This technique leads to a strong faulty current which could damage the network but it can be
quickly detectable and the protection can run effectively. The figure 2.3 represents a solidly
grounded transformer with its connections to the three phases of the bus bar.
Figure 2.3: Representation of solidly grounded transformer

Once the transformer is connected to the bus bar, it will feed several lines where the loads
are connected. The figure 2.4 represents a solidly grounded distribution network with two
feeders during single phase earth fault. The arrows shows the current loop of the fault.
If one phase is touching the ground, the source voltage is applied on a small impedance
which is the sum of the series impedance of the line Zl , the earth impedance ZE and a fault
impedance if there is one Zf .
If =
VLG
Zl + ZE + Zf
(2.1)
The series impedance can be considered in the symmetrical system as:

Z1 + Z2 + Z0
2Z1 + Z0
=
(2.2)
3
3
If there is no rotating electrical system in the grid, the positive and negative impedances
are the same. The identification of the zero sequence impedance and the earth impedance
is very difficult but some authors make the assumption that it is simply proportional to the
positive impedance [Gonen, 1987]. This strategy might be correct for fault detection but it
is not accurate enough for fault location purpose as it is studied in the concerned chapter.
Zl =
29
Figure 2.4: Representation of a solidly grounded network with two feeders
Z0 = K0 Z1
(2.3)
Another solidly grounded strategy consists in connecting the network to the ground in
multiple position (called Multi-grounding). This happens in case of single phase loads. In
this condition, a fourth wire is connected to the neutral of the transformer to provide low
impedant way of return for the loads [Roberts et al., 2001].This fourth wire must be grounded
every 400 meters or less. The following benefits compared to the single point grounded neutral
system [Nelson, 2002] are:
1. Safety is enhanced for the utility personnel because it reduces the voltage difference in
the ground also known as stray voltage.
2. The cost of equipment is lower.
3. Reduction of the zero sequence impedance which improve the ground fault return.
4. The surge arrestor can be optimized. The grounding is more efficient, therefore less
voltage increasing must be considered to effectively stop the current.
The main disadvantage of this method is a more complicated installation and maintenance
over the long term.
Detection methods
The grounding as described above shows strong faulty current in the faulty feeder. The detection is then very easy for low impedance fault and the simple used of overcurrent protection
is enough.
For example, the figure 2.5 shows a simulation with the ATP/EMTP simulation software
the current in a solidly grounded distribution network on a feeder with a load of 14 MW.
The load is balanced and the over current can easily detect the low impedance fault. In this
simulation the impedance is 1k. However, high impedance fault with unbalanced loads in
30
600
Ia
Ib
Current [Amp]
400
Ic
200
200
400
600
0
Fault inception
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 2.5: Single phase earth fault on phase A in a solidly grounded network
Multi-grounding network as developed in America creates strong zero sequence current (i.e.
unbalanced current) in healthy network and high impedance fault creates current magnitude
not higher that the unbalancing. Very complex algorithm must then be applied in such case
and are considered in [Masa, 2012].
2.2
Isolate Grounding
Behavior
Ungrounded the neutral of the transformer makes the network isolated from the ground.
Such networks are used in medium voltage or in weak network to maintain power when
single phase to ground fault occurs and no automatic tripping occurs [Detjen and Shah, 1992].
However, the reality is that the power lines and the earth are both electrical conductor
separates by an insulator which makes the whole system a natural capacitance. If one phase
is touching the ground, this capacitance creates an electrical way for the fault to circulate,
the fault current magnitude is then proportional to the overall zero sequence capacitance of
the network in case of single phase to ground fault. The next figure 2.6 illustrates the isolated
network with its natural capacitance and the connection with the fault current in case of
single phase to ground fault. In this case, the fault current on the faulty phase c can be
estimated as:
I1 = I2 = I0 =
V0
X0C
(2.4)
3V0
(2.5)
X0C
Regarding the equation 2.4, this is correct for the fault current but not for the current in the feeder because the symmetrical systems have their own capacitances X1C ,X2C
[Lewis Blackburn and J. Domin, 2006].
Ic = 3I0 =
31
Figure 2.6: The current is flowing through the shunt capacitance in case of single phase earth
fault
A three phases system has a floating neutral meaning the neutral is equal to the ground
voltage in a sound network if it is correctly balanced. The capacitances create a balanced
system setting the neutral around the earth voltage. However, if a single phase to ground fault
occurs, the floating neutral will be set by the phase touching the ground and its impedance.
The phase-to-ground voltage is then increasing on the healthy phases as it is illustrated by
the figure 2.7 where
the faulty phase as a voltage near zero and the healthy phase has a
voltage increased by 3. This voltage increasing requires additional electrical insulation of
the cables and the overhead lines to handle this higher electric tension between the conductor
and the ground. Otherwise, multiple phases fault to ground could occur and severely damage
the network.
Figure 2.7: The voltage neutral is floating in isolated network

In addition to the increased voltage on the healthy phases, a high voltage transient occurs
caused by the oscillation of the capacitances and the series inductance of the lines. The phase
touching a low resistive ground can be considered as a voltage step on an system with several
zeros and poles. It leads to a step response oscillation with a ringing phenomenon. Such
transients occur also in compensated network and will be deeply studied in the chapter 3.
A problem that can occur in ungrounded system is over voltage due to load imbalance
or ferroresonance effect [Walling et al., 1995]. The ferroresonance effect comes from the line
capacitance (or even the transformers capacitance which creates a self-ferroresonance effect)
in case of open line which creates a resonance with a non-linear inductance. This nonlinear inductance comes from a saturation of the iron-core of the transformer. Such fer-
32
roresonance has unsteady operation point which can be dangerous in ungrounded system
[Valverde et al., 2007].
Detection methods
To detect such fault, the current amplitude does not help because it is the same order of
magnitude as the sound current if the total zero sequence capacitances of the network is not
excessive. However, the zero sequence voltage V0 will increase due to the unbalanced voltage
created by the fault. If this value exceeds a defined threshold, the user can be sure there is a
single phase to ground fault in his network but he does not know which is the faulty feeder
because the voltage applied is the same on the whole distribution power grid.
The current and voltage signal gives the opportunity to select the faulty feeder with simple
algorithm. Some protection devices use the transient as detailed in the Wischer Protection
[AG, 2010] and similar one [A-Eberle, 2004]. Such devices are fast but might not be very
sensitive to high impedance fault because the transient does not appear in such fault. This
problem is deeply investigated in the further sections and chapter to solve this sensitivity
difficulty.
Another solution is to use the zero sequence steady state of the current in faulty and
healthy feeder. The healthy feeder acts as a capacitance and the faulty feeder acts as an
inductance. This behavior can be understood by the figure 2.6 because the current flows are
reversed for the sound and faulty feeder. The figure 2.8 shows a ATP/EMTP simulation of
an ungrounded network with the zero sequence voltage at the bus bar and the zero sequence
current flowing through theStandar and sound feeder. The magnitude of the signal has been
changed to ease the comparison between the phase angles.
Faulty I
Sound Io
Vo
20
30
40
50
60
time [ms]
70
80
90
100
Figure 2.8: The current flows are opposite for the sound and the faulty feeder
2.3
Low Impedance Grounding
This system connects a low resistance in the transformer neutral to limit the fault current
between 50 to 600 primary amperes. This current limitation allows simple over current
protection because the magnitude difference is still significant and the insulation does not
have to be enhanced because the healthy phases voltage are not increasing too much in case
of single phase-to-earth fault.
33
The low impedance grounding can be done by a reactance or a resistance in delta/wye

transformer. Another strategy consists in the connection of a zig-zag transformer, the impedance
of the transformer is usually enough for a low impedance grounding but sometimes, additional
reactance is necessary. This grounding is then a compromise to maximize the benefits of the
solidly grounded such as easy protection and the aim of limiting the faulty current to avoid
damage on the grid.
2.4
High Resistance Grounding
Behavior
The resistance connected to the transformer neutral is equal or slightly less than the
total capacitance to ground of the system. This condition limits the potential transient over
voltages and minimizes the fault current with a magnitude around 1 to 25 primary amperes.
Such grounding is mainly used for industrial application because it avoids strong fault current
that might damage the materials and it reduces the over voltages created by ungrounded
systems [Baldwin Bridger, 1983]. It allows also continuity of service which can be a strong
cost decision in industry with continuous process.
Figure 2.9: Representation of a high resistive grounding in single phase to earth fault situation
In case of single phase to earth fault, the voltage on the sound phases will rise and a
line-to-line insulation is required especially if the tripping of the system is slow. However, it
seems the voltage increasing will be smaller than in the ungrounded method and therefore
less insulation could be required.
Fault detection
The current in the high resistive grounded network is not strong enough to be detected
with a classic overcurrent protection.
The figure 2.10 above shows the zero-sequence signal in a simulation of a high resistance
grounding. The difference between the faulty and the sound feeder can be seen by the phase
34
V0
I0 Faulty
I0 Sound
50
100
150
time [ms]
Figure 2.10: A phase angle of 90 is measured for a high resistive grounding system
angle in relation to the voltage. It is also important to notice the absence of charging transient
like in the isolated network. The current on the sound feeder is not very capacitive because
the voltage is not rising and therefore the zero-sequence voltage does not rise as in the isolated
network. The current flowing through the fault is coming from the transformer neutral which
is connected to a resistance. The faulty current measurement in the zero-sequence system is
then active.
2.5
Resonant Grounding
Behavior
The resonant grounding is widely used in Eastern, Northern Europe and China but is is
spreading in Italy and south of Europe distribution networks.
Figure 2.11: Representation of a compensated network in single phase to earth fault condition
35
The connection of the transformer neutral is made to the ground with a reactance called
Peterson coil which impedance is close to the total zero sequence capacitance. This network
is also known as Compensated Network because the Peterson coil compensates the current
created by the zero sequence capacitance in case of single phase to earth fault. This solution
creates a zero-sequence impedance theoretically infinite at the 50 Hz frequency. Hereby, the
faulty current is reduced to a minimum value which is in an ideal steady state case zero.
The capacitance and the coil in parallel creates an infinite impedance of the zero sequence
system at 50 Hz which theoretically extinguishes the fault arc.
Fault detection
The fault detection in compensated network is much more difficult than in the others
groundings because the fault current is almost zero. Therefore, many protection devices use
the transients behavior at the fault inception to detect the faulty feeder. These transients come
from the charging of the healthy phases due to the voltage increasing and the discharging
transient due to the faulty phase de-energization. Such transients occur also in isolated
networks because the voltage increasing and decreasing is almost the same. In consequence
the transient protection devices working on the compensated network can also be applied
in isolated networks. However, if the network is not perfectly compensated, a steady state
current remains and circulates through the fault. Such current can be exploited to detect the
fault; it has been done in this work and it will be explained in the next chapter.
2.6
Examples of Industrial Grounding
Mining
A medium-high-resistance grounding has been developed for underground mining systems
[Lewis Blackburn and J. Domin, 2006]. This grounding is more and more used for hazardoustype applications because it emphasizes the personnel safety. This system limits the fault
current to 25-50 primary amperes with a four wire system which is enough to provide safe,
reliable and fast relay to trip off the faulty feeder.
Oil Extraction
The Marathon Oil Company wanted to improve the life and reliability of their electrical
system. They have submersible pumps and motors and they wanted to protect them from the
voltage transients and over voltage conditions. The installed solution is a specific High Resistance Grounding. The major advantage is that it allows the user to continue the operation if
the fault is not situate in a dangerous area. Marathon Oil Company has run during several
hours their pumps during single phase earth fault condition without damaging the electrical
system [Revolt and Shipp, 1999].
3.
Single Phase to Ground Fault In Compensated Network
In this chapter, the performance of an earth fault in compensated and isolated networks
will be detailed in three steps.
Firstly, the steady state of the fault is presented. This steady state occurs in case of
continuous earth fault. It means that the contact between the faulty conductor and the earth
is permanent - e.g. an overhead line falling on the ground. The difference between isolated and
compensated network is explained and a model of the faulty current and the sound current
is done.
Secondly, the transients are analyzed. They contain the largest amount of information to
detect the faulty feeder. Every kind of transients is studied like the influence of the inception
time, the influence of the fault resistance, the fault extinction and the transient due to the
charge of the healthy phases and the discharge of the faulty phase. Their relation with the
electrical quantities of the network are described and a model is suggested for every kind of
transients with the help of the symmetrical components.
Thirdly, a short description of the intermittent and restriking earth fault is presented.
These are faults where the connection between the faulty conductor and the earth is not
permanent for several reasons such as insulation recovery, tree branch, burning object, etc.
This description uses real recordings to link the theory presented with the reality of the field.
A distinction between intermittent and restriking earth fault is made and the difficulty to
detect them is explained.
3.1
Steady State
The steady state is very different between the isolated network and the compensated
network. The steady state is the 50 Hz constant component of the signal, therefore the
transients are not studied in this subsection. The compensated network has an inductance
which reduces the fault current and has a capacitive behavior if well compensated. On the
contrary the isolated network has a circulation of capacitive current coming from all healthy
feeder. The fault current depends then on the total network zero-sequence capacitance.
3.1.1
Isolated network
In isolated network, when an earth fault occurs, all the capacitive current from the healthy
phases flows to the fault as the diagram 3.1 below shows it. The measurement of the zerosequence current 3I0 is completely different on the faulty and the healthy feeder. The series
impedances of the feeders have been neglected for the sake of the clarity. However, the
36
3. SINGLE PHASE TO GROUND FAULT IN COMPENSATED NETWORK
37
current circulating through this series impedance is small compared to a solidly grounded
system. Therefore the voltage drop along the line is very small and the contribution of the
series impedance is then insignificant. The main contribution in a sound feeder is the shunt
capacitances that link the feeder to the ground and create a loop with the earth fault. Practical
and theoretical results have both shown that the influence of the series impedance can be
neglected and that the current is measured as capacitive in absence of loads. The voltage on
the faulty phase is very small because it is connected to the ground, then capacitive current
is circulating almost in the two healthy phases and this creates a zero-sequence current due
to this unbalance.
Figure 3.1: The isolated network has capacitive current circulating through the healthy phases
in case of single phase earth fault
The equations below show mathematically why the zero-sequence current on the faulty
feeder measured is inductive if the phase current flowing in the healthy phases is capacitive.
The loads have no impact on the zero-sequence current because they are supposed to be
balanced in the European distribution power system.
3I0sound =IA1 + IB1
(3.1)
3I0f aulty
(3.2)
=IA2 + IB2 + If ault
If = IA2 IB2 IA1 IB1
(3.3)
3I0f0 aulty = IA1 IB1 = 3I0sound
(3.4)
Due to this diagram 3.1 and the equations 3.4, it is easily understandable that the measurement of the zero-sequence current of the faulty feeder is the sum of the zero-sequence
current coming from every healthy feeder. The calculation can be done for a network with
more than two feeders and this will result in a sum of every current in the two healthy phases
of each feeder. The zero-sequence current of the faulty feeder will be seen as an inductive
current instead of a capacitive current due to the direction of it. The capacitive current
from the faulty feeder is not visible in the zero-sequence system because this current comes
back through the fault and the sum on the three phase makes zero. The next figure 3.2
shows a simulation on ATP/EMTP of the zero-sequence current I0 of each feeder and the
zero-sequence voltage U0 in an isolated network with two feeders. The two feeders network
38
shows that the steady state amplitude is the same for the faulty and sound feeder because the
capacitive current of the feeder in default is not visible. This might be a future problem if the
network has small capacitive feeder and one highly capacitive. If this feeder with significant
capacitance is faulty, the faulty current measured could be very small. If the feeder is a short
overhead line, for example, no zero-sequence current could be measured in healthy condition.
All these problems are dealt in the chapter on the fault detection algorithm.
Faulty Io
Sound Io
Vo
Steady State
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
Figure 3.2: Steady state amplitude on the faulty feeder depends on the healthy feeders
The figure 3.3 shows the same network diagram but with the symmetrical model of the
zero-sequence system. It is simple to understand why I0f aulty = I0sound .
Figure 3.3: Fortescue representation of the zero-sequence current flows in case of EF

Due to the insulation of the transformer - visible on the left, no connection after ZT o ,
the current that circulate through the F2 measurement transformers will circulate through
the F1 measurements transformer in the opposite direction. In this case, the detection of an
earth fault in isolated network regarding the steady state is very easy using specific algorithms
because the faulty feeder will measure the sum of every capacitive current from the sound
feeders and the current measured will be seen as inductive instead of capacitive.
The difficulty might come in case of intermittent earth fault as detailed further because
no 50 Hz steady state is measured. In this case, transient system must be used for the reason
explained further in this report.
3.1.2
39
Compensated network
In case of single phase earth fault in compensated network, looking at the zero-sequence
steady state current on the faulty feeder, the current has also the capacitive characteristic like
the sound feeder. If a perfect Peterson coil - i.e. no consideration of the parallel resistance
simulating the coil losses - compensates all the capacitive current - i.e. 100% tuned meaning
the zero-sequence impedance is infinite - then there is no current in the fault and the faulty
feeder is seen as perfectly healthy. The measured zero-sequence current on the faulty feeder
will be the current circulating through the sound capacitances of this feeder.
Figure 3.4: Fortescue representation of the zero-sequence current flows in case of EF

To perfectly compensates the zero-sequence capacitance of the whole distribution network,
the admittance of the total zero-sequence system must be zero. This admittance consists in
the neutral of the transformer in parallel with the zero-sequence capacitance:
1
C0
LN G
1
= 2
C0
0=
LN G
(3.5)
(3.6)
If the Peterson coil does not perfectly compensate the zero-sequence capacitances then
the measured current will be the capacitive current of the faulty feeder minus the uncompensated current. Therefore, if the network is slightly overcompensated, the faulty current
will be capacitive with higher magnitude than the current measured in perfectly compensated
network. On the opposite, if the network is slightly under compensated, the faulty current
will be capacitive with a smaller magnitude.
If =IN G + IC0
1
1
If =V0 (
C0 +
)
LN G
RN G
(3.7)
(3.8)
If is the fault current, IN G is the current circulating in the transformer neutral, IC0 is
the current due to the zero-sequence capacitance and RN G is the resistance emulating the
losses in the coil. If the current in the transformer neutral has no active component then
the faulty current will be purely capacitive or inductive depending on the tuning factor. The
figure 3.5 shows the zero-sequence current I0 on a sound and a faulty feeder with the voltage
U0 in case of a perfectly inductive Peterson coil. The phase angle depends only the Peterson
40
coil imperfection and not on the inductance value. The current looks more or less capacitive
depending on the compensation tuning. Extreme case can occur if the faulty feeder has a
small capacitance and the Peterson coil is highly under tuned. This could create a measured
zero-sequence current on the faulty feeder that looks inductive instead of capacitive because
the faulty current is bigger than the capacitive current of the feeder. The scale is fit for
the sake of visibility but does not represent any real amplitudes comparing the voltage and
current value.
Faulty Io
Sound Io
Vo
Max Sound &

Fault feeders
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
200
Figure 3.5: No phase angle between the faulty and sound feeder with a perfect Peterson coil
In reality, the Peterson coil is not a perfect inductance and can be modeled with a parallel
resistance approximately 20 times the value of the reactance. This resistance models the imperfection in the insulation of the windings and the iron losses [Leitloff, 1994][Welfonder, 1998].
Applying a voltage in the transformer neutral creates a small active current in addition to
the compensation current because the insulation of the windings is not perfect. The figure
3.6 shows the steady-state current for a sound and a faulty feeder, the faulty feeder has an
active component differentiating its steady state from the healthy one.
Faulty Io
Sound Io
Max Faulty
feeder
Vo
Max Sound
feeder
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
Figure 3.6: Phase angle appears between the faulty and sound feeder with a realistic Peterson
coil
41
In some countries such as France [Coemans, 1994], real parallel resistance can be connected
in parallel to the coil for fault location/detection purpose by increasing the faulty current.
The active current is seen as a phase angle between I0 on the faulty feeder and I0 on the
sound feeder. The parallel resistance of the Peterson coil creates a way for the circulation of
an active current through F2. If the Peterson coil is not perfectly tuned, it does not impact
the phase angle of the faulty feeder current but it impacts its magnitude. The magnitude of
the voltage has no importance then its magnitude has been scaled to the current magnitude
to ease the comparison between the phase angle.
Modeling the Peterson coil imperfection:
This work has modeled the Peterson coil imperfection and has established a relation
between the resistance value and the phase angle of the steady state zero-sequence current
with the zero-sequence voltage.
Comparing to the significant value of inductance LN G with the small impedance of the
transformer and the line, the network can be simplified by neglecting the smallest one. The
simplified zero-sequence symmetrical system is shown on figure 3.7. The network modeled has
only two feeders but the lines are in parallel therefore the problem can be extended to multiple
P
feeders by considering C0sound = soundf eeder C0 . The positive and the negative symmetrical
systems have also been neglected in the figure for the sake of the illustration and because
they have no impact in this problem due to the small value of the transformer impedance
compared to the capacitances in these systems. Most of the current is flowing through the
transformer.
Figure 3.7: Simplified zero sequence system

Concerning the sound feeder 1, the current and voltage measurements are directly applied
0
on the capacitance. If a voltage V0 is applied, F1 will measure a current I0 = jCVsound
that has
0
a phase angle of 90 . With these assumptions, the current measured by F2 can be calculated
and the phase angle can be determined. The current circulating through F2 is the sum of the
RN G
current circulating through C0sound and the Peterson coil. The variable x is equal to x = L
.
NG
V0
=Z(j)
I0F 2
(3.9)
1
1
+
)1
3RN G 3jLN G
3jRN G LN G
Z(j) =
sound
2
3C0
LN G RN G + jLN G + RN G
3RN G LN G
then |Z(j)| = q
( 2 3C0sound LN G RN G + RN G )2 + (LN G )2
Z(j) =(jC0sound +
and Arg(Z(j)) =
42
LN G
+ atan(
)
2
RN G (1 2 3C0sound LN G )
if RN G =xLN G
3xLN G
then |Z(j)| = q
( 2 3C0sound x)2 + 1
1
)
and Arg(Z(j)) = + atan(
2
2
x(1 3C0sound LN G )
(3.10)
(3.11)
(3.12)
(3.13)
(3.14)
(3.15)
(3.16)
The next figure shows a graphical representation of the impact of the parallel resistance
RN G on the phase angle between I0 on the faulty feeder and V0 . This result comes from an
EMTP/ATP simulation using line distributed model and the theoretical faulty feeder comes
from the equation 3.16. XN G is the reactance of the Peterson coil. The angle is the phase
angle between the zero-sequence voltage V0 and the zero sequence current I0 on the concerning
feeder.
Phase Angle comparing to V0 []
0
Faulty Feeder
Sound Feeder
Eq. 1.18
20
40
60
80
100
0
10
15
20
x=RNG/XNG
25
30
35
40
Figure 3.8: Phase Angle of the faulty feeder depends on RN G
A remark regarding this graphic concerns the slight difference between the equation 3.16
and the simulation of the faulty feeder if the x ratio is small. The explanation comes from the
fact that we have neglected of the series impedance which might be improper in this condition
because the faulty current is higher and the compensation is very bad which creates significant
neglected terms in the equation 3.16.
3.2
43
Transients
Every electrical power system consists in a bunch of inductances, resistances and capacitances. All these assembled components will create a resonant system in case of sudden
change in the circuit conditions. The sudden change studied in this work is the single phase
earth fault in isolated and compensated network. The transients with a higher frequency than
the fundamental are the same for both compensated or isolated network because the Peterson
coil has a very big impedance compared to the capacitance. Hereby all studied transients are
for both network except if it is precised in the report.
3.2.1
Symmetrical components to study the transients
As explained in the first chapter, a phase to earth fault is represented as the connection
in series of the three symmetrical components. The symmetrical components have been
developed for steady state calculations but according to [Lehtonen, 1992, Greenwood, 1991]
they can also be used for transient studies. This conclusion gives us the opportunity to use
this model to understand transients phenomena in a simpler way because we assume that
there is no mutual coupling between the symmetrical systems.
However very high frequencies as the discharging transient discussed in [Welfonder, 1998]
may not be described because the assumption to create the three symmetrical systems are not
so accurate with such frequencies. In practice, such frequencies are filtered by the anti-aliasing
filter of the protection, hereby they will be briefly discussed.
The next figure 3.9 shows the zero-sequence current on each feeder using the symmetrical
components and using the distributed1 model using ATP.
Figure 3.9: Using the symmetrical components is equivalent to the distributed model for the
transients consideration
Usually the positive and negative sequence impedances are very small compared to the
zero-sequence impedances in such networks because of the transformer impedances. These
1
Distributed model means a network using distributed overhead line and underground cable as provided by
EMTP/ATP software. This model has been used to plot the blue curve of this chart.
44
two systems will be neglect in this section to make the calculation easier. Also the zero
sequence system is independent of the loads in Europe due to the delta-wye connection.
3.2.2
Discharging frequency
The discharging transient appears in both isolated and compensated network. This
is caused by the sudden drop of the voltage on the faulty phase. The energy contained
in the line to earth capacitances of the faulty phase is evacuated through the fault but
the line inductance between the capacitance and the fault creates an oscillating system.
This frequency is very high - more than 1 kHz - because it involves only the capacitance
of the line and its inductance. Usually a traveling wave model is used to consider them
[Lehtonen, 1992, Pundt, 1963, Welfonder, 1998]. Welfonder has determined an equation of
this discharging frequency based of this traveling wave model and concluded this discharging
process is depending on the distance of the fault (d [km]) and the linear parameter of the
faulty feeder (ld [H/km] and cg [F/km]).
fdischarge =
1
4d ld cg
p
(3.17)
The assumptions for this equation are such as the inductance of the transformer coil is
large compared to the inductance of the lines, it can be then considered as opened. The fault
is considered as a closed extremity because such discharging frequency occurs only during
metallic fault. The voltage on the bus bar is the maximum value and the fault voltage is zero.
The wave propagation speed is v= 1 with L and C the inductance and capacitance of the
ld dg
v
line per kilometer. The frequency can be found with the fault distance fdischarge = 4d
. These
assumptions show that only the faulty part of the network has to be considered in the model
of the discharging frequency.
Figure 3.10: Representation of the discharge of the faulty phase

The amplitude of this discharge transient depends on the value of the voltage when the
fault happens. Also it varies linearly with the frequency. If the frequency is high, the initial
amplitudes can be relatively high. However, in real network, the skin effect and the line
45
resistance quickly reduces this transient. The figure 3.10 below represents the propagation of
the discharging frequency using a three phases diagram.
3.2.3
Charging frequency
When an single phase earth fault occurs, the voltage on the faulty phase is suddenly falling
to zero but at the same time it moves the neutral voltage of the transformer and increases
the phase to ground voltage on the healthy phases. This voltage variation was explained by
the figure 2.7 in the isolated network section. The healthy phase to earth capacitances on the
sound phases will be charged by the voltage increasing and it will produce a transient also
known as the charging transient caused by the resonance of the inductance and capacitance
of the system. It has relatively high frequency - generally higher than 100 Hz and lower than
2 kHz.
Figure 3.11: Representation of the charge of the healthy phases

The Peterson coil is designed to stop the steady-state fault current (at nominal frequency)
in the fault but not the transient. This coil is not playing a role because its impedance is
too high at the transient frequency. Therefore the contribution of the Peterson coil on this
transient can be neglected and the charging transient study is exactly the same as for the
isolated or the compensated networks. For example, if the frequency is 100 Hz, it means
that the coil impedance will be 4 times larger than the impedance from the capacitances,
therefore 80% of the transient will circulate through the capacitances. Figure 3.11 shows how
this transient flows in the network. ItA2 labels the transient current in the phase A on feeder
2. The cable-type current transformer only measures the transient from the healthy feeder
because:
Sound F eeder 3I0tsound =ItA1 + ItB1

F aulty F eeder 3I0tf aulty
If
tf aulty
3I0
46
(3.18)
=ItA2 + ItB2 + If
(3.19)
= ItA1 ItB1 ItA2 ItB2
(3.20)
= ItA1 ItB1
(3.21)
The t index stands for transient. This equation 3.21 means that even if the protected
feeder is very short which means its zero-sequence capacitance is very low, transient will be
very high if this feeder is faulty because it does not depend on the own C0 of the faulty
feeder but on the total C0 from the sound feeders. If this feeder is sound, no transient will be
measured because its capacitive current is too small to be measured.
3.2.3.1
The charging frequency model
The two equations below 3.22 [Welfonder, 1998] and 3.23 [Druml et al., 2003] are describing the charging frequency with the network parameters. Different assumptions are made
in the two case. Welfonder is considering the distance of the fault, the phase to phase capacitance Cp and the faulty line impedance ld where these parameters are neglected in the
equation developed by Druml. Both are considering the transformer impedance and the phase
to earth and phase to phase capacitances.
fcharge
1
q
(3.22)
2 (1.5LT + dld )2(Cg,tot + Cp,tot )

fcharge
1
3LT C2E
(3.23)
According to both equations, not only the faulty feeder parameters is necessary but also
the whole network capacitance.
This work has made a deeper investigation regarding this charging frequency with the use
of the electromagnetic transients program ATP. Both models make the assumption that only
one charging frequency occurs in the network because they simply model the sound feeders
as a global capacitance. With such model there is only one capacitance which resonates with
the transformer and faulty line impedance. However, if the network model keeps every feeder
separated and using the symmetrical components as stated in the section 3.2.1, the network
model is shown in the figure 3.12 considering three feeders.
A zero-sequence voltage step can be considered occurring in the bus bar, therefore every
feeder will resonate depending on its own parameter fcF x = L 1 C . If the Peterson coil
Fx Fx
is large enough to be neglected, then the transients will circulate through the fault and be
measured on the faulty feeder. The figure below 3.13 shows the result of a simulation using
very different line characteristics (i.e. underground cable for F3 and overhead line for F1).
The measurement on one feeder shows several frequencies and the faulty feeder contains
every frequency because of the connection of the fault which is a return path for the sound
current as illustrated on figure 3.11. For example, on the figure 3.13 the feeder 2 is the faulty
one, every frequency of the others feeder is contained in this feeder but they do not contain
every frequency from the others. Also the magnitude of the FFT is the same which proved
that the transient is circulating through the fault.
47
Figure 3.12: Model of a network with three feeders to characterize the charging transients
with symmetrical components
Figure 3.13: Three charging frequencies are measured on a network with three feeders
3.2.3.2
Charging transient magnitude considering the fault resistance
This small section illustrates the impact of the fault resistance on the transient magnitude
and damping. The illustration in this section shows a simulation of the transient with different
fault resistance value. The current and voltage signals have been filtered by a band pass filter
to suppress the 50Hz component. Therefore the transient is more visible2 .
A fault resistance of 0 is illustrated on figure 3.14. The zero-sequence current 3I0 and
voltage V0 are illustrated and the phase angle between the voltage and the current in a
faulty and healthy feeder can be compared. The faulty feeder shows an inductive transient
current and the sound feeder shows a capacitive transient current. This conclusion fits with
the schematic on figure 3.11 which shows the transient flow as the steady state flow in an
isolated network.
Regarding the transient duration, the fault starts at 35 ms and the transient is completely
gone at 90ms of simulation which makes almost three nominal periods of useful information to
2
The filter is the same as used in the 7SN600 Wischer developed by Siemens
48
detect the faulty feeder. The old transient protections are working very well in such condition
because they are usually based on the comparison of polarity between the voltage and current
transient. It is easy to identify the faulty feeder at the fault inception using this criteria with
such clear fault. The transient frequency is around 200 Hz, the simulated network has one
underground cable reducing this frequency as stated by the charging frequency equation.
The higher frequency seen at the very beginning of the fault corresponds to the discharging
frequency, it is usually not visible in the classic protection because they run at 2 kHz or
maximum 8 kHz, which is too small.
Transient Vo
Transient Sound I
Transient Faulty Io
30
40
50
60
time [ms]
70
80
90
Figure 3.14: Charging transient with a 0 earth fault

The figure 3.15 represents the transient with a 100 fault resistance. The transient is
still visible but the damping factor is very high which makes the duration very short. The
transient exists for only half a second and its frequency does not change with the fault
1
resistance (fcharge LC
). The transient on the faulty feeder is still inductive and the sound
feeder is still capacitive then the detection is still possible.
Transient Vo
Transient Sound Io
Transient Faulty Io
30
40
50
60
time [ms]
70
80
90
Figure 3.15: Charging transient with a 100 earth fault

Very high resistive fault makes things totally different. The charging transient is no more
visible because its energy is too small and the damping very high as shown by the figure
3.16 with a fault resistance of 1.66 k. It is not possible to measure the charging transient,
the discharging is measured but a classic protection device does not see it. This discharging
cannot be use to determine if it is capacitive or inductive and detect the faulty feeder the
49
same way as the charging transient. The other oscillation is the 50 Hz which is not well
filtered because it increases slowly as it is considered in the next section of this work.
Transient Vo
Transient Sound I
Transient Faulty Io
30
40
50
60
time [ms]
70
80
90
Figure 3.16: Charging transient with a 1.66 k earth fault contains only 50 Hz signal
3.2.4
Transient due to the fault resistance
The fault resistance does not have an impact on the phase angle between the zero-sequence
current and the zero-sequence voltage. This resistance reduces the charging transient process
as considered in the section above and makes the 50 Hz voltage V0 and the current I0 growing
up slowly.
Faulty Io
Sound Io
Vo
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 3.17: Slow increasing of the 50 Hz voltage and current with Rf ault =1.66k
Figure 3.17 shows the increase of voltage V0 and the sound current I0 for a fault resistance
of 1.66 k. The faulty I0 is not growing because it is an overhead line with low capacitances.
The time constant of the growing voltage and current depends on the Peterson coil tuning
with the zero sequence capacitance and the fault resistance. If the Peterson coil is well tuned
and the fault resistance is high, the time constant is the highest. If it is not well tuned, a low
frequency oscillation will appear.
Based on the symmetrical components, the network in case of single earth fault can be
simplified with high resistance fault. The impedances of the line and transformer are neglected
because the fault current is very small and their impact does not create significant voltage
50
drop. The positive and negative sequence circuits have also been neglected because most of
the current is flowing through the transformer and not into the symmetrical capacitances.
Figure 3.18: Influence of the fault resistance

LN G is the inductance of the Peterson coil, C0 is the total capacitance of the network,
RN G is the parallel resistance of the Peterson coil and Rf is the fault resistance. This work
has developed the equation to model the voltage increasing, firstly by considering a perfectly
inductive Peterson coil and secondly by considering a parallel resistance to model the leaks
in the coil.
3.2.4.1
Neglecting the parallel resistance
Firstly the value of V0 is determined with an infinite parallel resistance RN G . If is the

current through the fault resistance R and s is the Laplace variable:
V0 =E 3Rf If
(3.24)
If =IN G + IC0
(3.25)
1 + s2 C0 3LN G
)
s3LN G
1 + s2 C0 3LN G
)
E =V0 + 3Rf V0 (
3sLN G
V0
sLN G
= 2
E s 3C0 LN G Rf + sLN G + Rf
If =V0 (
3.2.4.2
(3.26)
(3.27)
(3.28)
Considering the parallel resistance
The parallel resistance on the Peterson coil RN G is considered. The same development as
the previous section can be used but the faulty current has IRN G .
V0 =E 3Rf If
(3.29)
If =ILN G + IRN G + IC0

1
1
+
+ sC0 )
If =V0 (
s3LN G 3RN G
RN G + sLN G + s2 3RN G LN G C0
V0 =E 3RF V0 (
)
s3RN G LN G
V0
s3RN G LN G
=
E s2 9Rf RN G LN G C0 + s(3RN G LN G + 3Rf LN G ) + 3Rf RN G
(3.30)
(3.31)
(3.32)
(3.33)
51
A simulation on ATP has been done with and without the parallel resistance RN G =20XN G .
A Matlab/Simulink model has been created to test equation below and compare it with the
simulation. The fault resistance Rf =1666 . The next figure shows that the equation fits
the simulation but the presence of RN G gives some differences which cannot be neglected.
Using Matlab/Simulink, the figure 3.19 shows that the previous equation is correct when we
consider the parallel resistance RN G in ATP.
8
6
4
Vo w/out RNG
Theoretical Vo w/out RNG
Vo with RNG
Theoretical Vo with RNG
Vo [kV]
2
0
2
4
6
8
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
200
Figure 3.19: Validation of the equation considering the parallel resistance
3.2.5
Transient due to inception time
When an earth fault appears a sudden voltage V0 is present on the Peterson coil. The
connection of an inductance to a sinusoidal system could also create a transient depending
on the inception time because the magnetic flux cannot be discontinuous. By solving the
equation of the RL circuit as figure 3.21, the equation 3.34 is obtained. The inductance of
the transformer has been neglected because it is very small compared to LN G and no RN G .
The parameter i is the phase angle with the voltage at the fault inception.
iN G (t) = q
v1
Rf2
+ (LN G
)2
[cos(t + i ) cos(i e
RF
NG
)]
(3.34)
Figure 3.20: Peterson coil effect on symmetrical components

The term i is -90 if the fault occurs at the maximum voltage on the faulty phase and
is
if the fault occurs at the zero-crossing voltage on the faulty phase. If the fault does not
0
52
appear at the maximum voltage (i.e. cos(i )6=0), a decreasing exponential appears on the
zero sequence current.
However, the figure 3.21 explains that this current appears only on the faulty feeder
because it is the only way for a non periodic signal to circulate. It does not flow through
the capacitance. The figure 3.20 shows the same effect but with the symmetrical components
representation. The capacitances block the current and the parallel resistance is very large
which limits the circulation of current in it.
Figure 3.21: Transient current due to the Peterson coil is measured only on the faulty feeder
Figure 3.22 illustrates the case if the fault does not occur at the maximum voltage on the
faulty phase. The exponential decrease is visible and it confirms that it is only observable
on the faulty feeder. The worst case is when a fault occurs near zero volt. This case does
not seem very realistic because an insulation breakdown would occur before the voltage is
reaching zero. The time constant of this decreasing current is several periods if the fault is
nearly metallic.
Sound feeder
50
100
150
time [ms]
Faulty feeder
200
250
300
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 3.22: Decreasing exponential occurs only on the faulty feeder
3.2.6
53
Extinction of the fault
In compensated network, the fault extinction creates a resonating zero-sequence voltage

and current. The figure 3.23 shows the fault the zero-sequence current and voltage oscillating after the fault extinction. The symmetrical components are disconnected and the
zero-sequence system is an RLC which oscillates.
Vo
Io
Fault Extinction
0
50
100
150
200
250
time [ms]
300
350
400
450
500
Figure 3.23: Decreasing of V0 and I0 after fault extinction

The frequency of this system depends on the tuning of the Peterson coil and how much it
compensates the network capacitances. If it is 100% tuned, the frequency will be 50 Hz but
if it is 90% tuned, it will be 52.7 Hz as the next equation details it:
fres =
(3.35)
2 LN G C0,tot
The zero-sequence voltage and current are slowly decreasing depending on the parallel
resistance of the Peterson coil RN G . If the parallel resistance of the coil RN G is small, the
decrease of the voltage and the current will be strong but if RN G is high, the time constant
of this decrease will be very long. If there is no RN G , there is no decreasing of the voltage
because there are no losses.
4
1.5
x 10
Vo
VA
1
0.5
0
0.5
1Fault
Inception
1.5
0
Fault
Extinction
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
Figure 3.24: 50 Hz resonating zero-sequence system
300
54
The figures 3.24 and 3.25 illustrate this frequency with a parallel resistance of approximately 20 times the reactance of the coil XN G . The first figure is a 100% tuned Peterson coil
and the second one is a 90% tuned Peterson coil. The zero-sequence voltage is in blue and
the phase to ground voltage of the faulty phase is plotted in red to illustrate the difference of
frequency. On the first figure, the voltage V0 is 50Hz because it is exactly the same frequency
as VA . The voltage on the faulty phase is increasing slowly until it has reached the steady
state then V0 will be zero.
Here V0 is 53 Hz because the tuning of the Peterson coil is around 90 %. When VA has
reached its steady state amplitude, V0 will not be exactly zero because the healthy phases are
still not stable, VA is oscillating. Some time is necessary until the decrease of V0 is completed
to recover the pre-fault steady state.
Vo
VA
Fault
Inception
0
Fault
Extinction
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 3.25: 52 Hz resonating zero-sequence system

In not perfectly compensated network, slow oscillation appears before the voltage is stabilized. This oscillation can be calculated by resolving the RLC circuit. The phase angle
between V0 and VA just after the fault extinction is depending on the tuning of the Peterson
coil. Then a 100 % compensated network will have a 180 phase angle but a 90 % will have
a 90 . The decreasing of V0 shows that the healthy phases are slowly discharging.
3.3
Intermittent and restriking earth fault
In the literature the difference between intermittent and restriking earth fault is not clear.
Lorenc is characterizing these faults by a duration time and a pause time [Lorenc et al., 2003]:
Duration time is the time during which a fault is present in the network.
Pause time is the time between the extinction of the fault and the inception of the next
one. The healthy phases are slowly discharging by the resonance of the zero-sequence
system.
The duration time of the intermittent and restriking earth faults are almost the same. It
ranges from a few ms to some periods.
Concerning the pause time, it seems that intermittent earth faults have a regular and
shorter pause time than the restriking earth faults. Usually intermittent single phase earth
55
fault has a duration time less than 100 ms. Schinerl describes the intermittent earth fault as
a series of insulation breakdown in underground cables because of reduced voltage withstand
[Schinerl, 2005]. This also creates a periodic ignition of the fault which can be characterized
by regular and short pause time also. This is not a general definition accepted by the whole
scientific community but this report uses this definition.
3.3.1
Shape of an intermittent earth fault
The shape of the fault can be understood with the theory presented in the above sections.
The fault is generally one peak followed by a few cycles before the fault extinguishes itself.
This peak consists in the sum of the charging process, discharging process and Peterson coil
effect [Altonen et al., 2003].
In most of the intermittent earth fault, the recordings can be explained as:
First fault, a high peak is present because the healthy phases are not charged. This
high current is mostly a charging transient or the Peterson coil effect.
Once the fault is gone, the zero-sequence current I0 is capacitive; this is the resonance
of the zero-sequence system. I0 amplitude depends on the capacitances of the feeder.
The healthy phases are slowly discharging. This is the pause time.
The second fault appears. It has a smaller charging current, lower than the first peak
because the healthy phases are almost charged, a small discharging current because the
faulty phase is almost discharged and perhaps a small Peterson coil effect depending on
the inception time and on the voltage amplitude.
The sampling frequency of these recordings is 800 Hz which is too slow to see the discharging
frequency if a discharging process was visible.
First fault
High current to charge the healthy phases
Vo
Faulty Io
No fault
Slow Discharge of
the healthy phases
End of the second fault
End of the first fault

Second fault
Less amplitude because healthy phases are almost charged
180
200
220
240
time [ms]
260
280
300
320
Figure 3.26: Typical intermittent earth fault

When the fault ignited again, the zero-sequence voltage V0 is sometimes close to zero or
sometimes close to the maximum. It depends on the tuning of the Peterson coil as explained
in the previous section.
Regarding the coil current and voltage, the voltage is V0 and the current is a 50 Hz or
lower signal which is globally equal to the sum of the zero-sequence current. The peaks are
56
very short so the Peterson coil has no effect on them because the inductance of the Peterson
coil is high for transient above 50 Hz. The peak current circulates through the fault because
its impedance is much lower. The only effect of the Peterson coil is a decreasing exponential
current as described above. This effect could be visible on the first fault but it will be very
weak in case of intermittent earth fault because the voltage vf at the ignition of the fault is
small. The next figure 3.27 shows this effect on the first fault.
First fault
Transient due to the Petersen coil effect
Vo
Faulty Io
End of the first fault
180
200
220
Slow discharge of
the healthy phases
240
time [ms]
260
New fault
280
300
Figure 3.27: Typical intermittent earth fault with coil effect

The detection of the faulty feeder could be difficult with these faults because the fault
is short and has small energy. It is impossible to identify the faulty feeder during the pause
time because the fault has gone.
3.3.2
Shape of restriking earth fault
The fault on restriking earth fault is the same as intermittent earth fault; it is short and
it consists in the sum of the discharging, charging and Peterson coil effect. However, the
restriking earth fault has a longer pause time as the next figure illustrates it.
Vo
Discharge of the healthy phases

Resonance of the zerosequence
system
Faulty Io
Second fault
Filtered fault
100
150
200
time [ms]
250
300
Figure 3.28: Typical restriking earth fault

The discharge of the healthy phases is longer meaning that the voltage on the faulty phase
recovers a higher amplitude before the second fault occurs. Then the amplitude of the second
57
fault can be much higher than the intermittent fault because the healthy phases are more
discharged.
On this recording, the problem is the extremely short duration of the fault. The fault
lasts a few milliseconds. Therefore, the fault is strongly filtered by the measurement system
and sometimes only one sample in a low sampling frequency device represents the fault. In
reality, the zero-sequence current and voltage must be the highest during the fault duration
as explained previously and then decreased.
The detection of these faults is also difficult for the same reason as the intermittent earth
fault; the fault has a really short duration time. But the restriking fault has more energy due
to the longer discharge of the healthy phases. As for intermittent earth fault, it is not possible
to detect the faulty feeder during the pause time because every feeders act as a capacitance.
4.
4.1
Confrontations of the Theory with the

Field
The topologies of the distribution
Distribution network have many different topologies which leads to different fault detection strategies. The simplest network structure is the radial structure where the feeders are
connected to the main substation and they feed their loads where secondary substations are
connected.
Usually the feeder has branches where lines are connected to substation to feed a different
area of several hundreds meters next to the main power line. The feeder is known as a tree
structure.
Another common topology is the loop structure. Two feeders or more are connected to the
main substations and their ends is connected in the same secondary substation. The feeders
create an electrical loop. Some operators disconnect the ends between the two feeders so that
no current can circulate. If the ends are disconnected, the topology is called open ring and if
they are connected, the topology is called closed ring. Even if the network is run in open ring,
operators have the possibility to run it in closed ring, usually for fault location purpose as
explained in the related chapter. Of course, many of these loops have branches as the radial
topology.
In distribution network, the loads are connected along the feeders. This is a huge difference
with the transmission grid where lines are powering loads at the end which is called a node
in a meshed network. The loads are distributed and several substations are connected to the
main feeder.
The rise of ecological awareness and the liberalization of the electrical market have significantly increased the distributed generation (DG) such as photovoltaic panels, wind turbine,
co-generation, etc. They are also placed along the feeder and might change after a single
phase earth fault.
A survey with six German Distribution System Operators (DSO) has indicated that they
use mainly loop structure operating in open ring condition. Almost every DSO has distributed
generation in its network. The results are shown on table 4.1.
The distributed compensation is an additional Peterson coil placed in the network. It can
happen in case of very strong capacitive feeder. The smaller Peterson coil is connected in a
secondary substation. The figure 4.1 below shows an example of real distribution network
in Germany. Distributed compensation coil is on the feeder J02, the feeders are radial with
branches and operated in closed ring. Many tests case have been provided by this DSO
which has permitted the test of the algorithm developed during this work on difficult and
complicated cases.
58
4. CONFRONTATIONS OF THE THEORY WITH THE FIELD
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
DG
Distributed Compensation
DSO 1
x
100 %
x
30 %
30 %
DSO 2
50 %
50 %
x
Yes
x
DSO 3
40 %
60 %
x
Yes
0%
DSO 4
x
90 %
10 %
Yes
x
59
DSO 5
20 %
80 %
x
x
x
DSO 6
x
80 %
20 %
Few
x
Table 4.1: Survey of the German Distribution Network topology
4.2
4.2.1
The circulating current problem

Asymmetric series impedance
The problem found with the recordings was a strong zero-sequence current without zerosequence voltage or a very small zero-sequence voltage during healthy operation. This observation was made only in loop topology and not in radial network, the comparison between the current level in each feeders from the same loop has revealed that the current
is actually circulating in the loop. This current generation comes from a zero-sequence
voltage difference between the two feeders that make the loop. The cable has a small
series impedance and therefore a small voltage difference creates a strong zero-sequence
current. This voltage difference comes from an asymmetry of the series phase impedance
[Druml et al., 2009, Druml et al., 2001, Kalyuzhny and Kushnir, 2007]. This creates a mutual coupling between the positive sequence and the zero sequence system, therefore when
there is strong load in the network, the zero sequence current will increase.
The figure 4.2 shows the problem that occurs when the phase impedances are not symmetric in the feeder 1 and the feeder 2. The load is symmetric and a loop structure is feeding
it which is often the situation in the distribution network in Germany. If each phase of a
feeder has the same impedance then the current will be uniformly distributed between the
two feeder depending on the impedance differences.
However if the phase impedances are not equal within one of the feeder, the current
distribution will not be balanced. The example in this section shows an impedance which is
two times smaller than it should be. The consequence is that a current of 66 Amps is flowing
through this impedance instead of 50 Amps, the sum of the phase current gives a zero-sequence
current different of zero even for the balanced feeder. The zero-sequence current looks like it
circulates in the loop; because the whole system is balanced this is the only electrical way it
has. This is a real problem for protection using the 50Hz component and the zero-sequence
current. The example is a simple problem because it does not consider the mutual coupling
between the phases. If it has been considered then this circulating current could occur even
if the series impedance is the same and therefore the cables buried in the ground are exactly
the same.
The circulating current can be mathematically described as a coupling between the symmetrical system. The impedance of a three phase feeder can be expressed by the following
equation with the matrix Z abc :
Z abc
Za Zab Zac
= Zba Zb Zbc
Zca Zcb Zc
(4.1)
60
Figure 4.1: Pfalzwerke distribution network

This matrix represents the series impedance and mutual coupling of a three phase conductor. For example, Zab is the impedance between the phase a and the phase b. Za represents
the impedance of the phase a. The Fortescue matrix transformation A can transform this
impedance in symmetrical components:
1 1 1
A = 1 a2 a
1 a a2
(4.2)
where the symbol a is the phase angle of 120:

a = ej
2
3
(4.3)
The matrix impedance of the symmetrical components is computed with the equation
below:
Z 012 = A1 Z abc A
(4.4)
61
Figure 4.2: Asymmetry in the series phase impedance creates circulating current
The result of this equation leads to the following matrix:
aZc
+ aZca )
+(Zbc + aZac + a2 Zcb )
Za + aZb + a2 Zc
+a(Zab + aZbc + a2 Zca )
+(Zba + a2 Zac + aZcb )
Za + aZb + a2 Zc
+(Zab + aZbc + a2 Zca )
+a(Zba + a2 Zac + aZcb )
Za + Zb + Zc
2
+a (Zab + Zbc + Zca )
+a(Zba + Zac + Zcb )
Za + a2 Zb + aZc
+a(Zab + a2 Zbc + aZca )
+(Zba + aZac + a2 Zcb )
Za + a2 Zb + aZc
+(Zab + a2 Zbc + aZca )
+a2 (Zba + aZac + a2 Zcb )
Za + aZb + a2 Zc
2
+a (Zab + aZbc + a2 Zca )
+a2 (Zba + a2 Zac + aZcb )
Za + Zb + Zc
+a(Zab + Zbc + Zca )
+a2 (Zba + Zac + Zcb )
Za + Zb + Zc
+Zab + Zbc + Zca
+Zba + Zac + Zcb
Za + a2 Zb +
2
+a (Zab + a2 Zbc
Z 012 =
(4.5)
Usually the mutual coupling between the phase impedance is considered as the same for
every phase. This assumption makes the matrix Z 012 diagonal and no coupling between the
symmetrical systems exist.
Z 012
Z0 0
0
= 0 Z1 0
0
0 Z2
(4.6)
Z0 , Z1 and Z2 are respectively the zero-sequence series impedance, the positive-sequence

series impedance and the negative-sequence series impedance.
The position of the cables influences the series impedance of the feeder. The mutual
coupling between the phases is the same if the cables are laid in a trefoil position as shown
in the figure 4.3 because this impedance depends on the distance between the two electrical
conductors. In the trefoil position this distance is equals but not in the parallel position.
The unbalanced series impedances create a mutual coupling in the impedance matrix.
Therefore, the equation 4.6 becomes a non diagonal matrix.
Zab/ba
Zbc/cb
Zab/ba
62
Zbc/cb
Zac/ca
Zac/ca
Figure 4.3: Single conductors in parallel and trefoil position
Z 012
Z0 M01 M02
= M10 Z1 M12
M20 M21 Z2
(4.7)
In this case the series impedances are equals and the symmetrical system coupling comes
from the difference in the impedance mutual coupling. In the case described by the figure 4.2,
the mutual coupling also comes from a difference in the series impedance. Therefore if the
mutual coupling is not neglected, the following equation clearly shows that the generation of
a positive sequence current can generate a zero sequence voltage:
V0
I0
012
V1 = Z
I1
V2
I2
(4.8)
The figure 4.4 represents the coupling between the zero-sequence system and the positivesequence system - the negative-sequence system is neglected. During healthy operation, the
zero-sequence voltage and current are usually very small in European distribution networks
because the loads are balanced. Many protection devices as described in the next chapter 2
use the zero-sequence components to detect a single phase earth fault. The presence of the
zero-sequence voltage can be a criterion for the detection of such an earth fault. In a radial
network, the small V0 generated produces only capacitive current because it is the only way
out for the current and this does not disrupt the algorithm because this current is very small
and healthy. However, in loop the voltage difference creates random zero-sequence current
which will disrupt some algorithms.
More complex system can be found with multiple loops in the network where there is coupling between the positive and zero-sequence system but also between the loops themselves.
4.2.2
Network coupling
Circulating current can also happen if is the network is perfectly symmetric. If a network
with zero-sequence current is close to a network with loop structure, a magnetic coupling can
occur between the two networks and therefore zero-sequence current will circulate in the loop
due to an induced voltage. This problem is usually encountered in railways network where
loads are not symmetric. The figure 4.5 illustrates this problem. The circulating current
can also be temporary if the parallel network has a single phase earth fault which leads to
strong zero-sequence current. A low zero-sequence voltage will be measured but a strong
zero-sequence current [Druml et al., 2009].
63
Figure 4.4: Zero-sequence voltage is measured during healthy operation due to mutual coupling
4.2.3
Illustration with real recordings and simulations
The Pfalzwerke network illustrated in 4.1 operates two closed ring structure with zerosequence circulating current measured. The recordings have been done by a digital fault
recorder SIMEAS-R at 16 kHz. The recordings of the zero sequence voltage show no voltage
before the fault because the threshold of the SIMEAS-R is too high and therefore the triggering
occurs only during single phase earth fault. According to the simulation of the network, the
voltage is around 20 V primary before the fault inception which is below the trigger of the
SIMEAS-R. The figure 4.6 shows circulating currents in the German distribution network.
Circulating currents are measured in both loops. The proof that they are circulating is
that the sum of the four currents is zero. The remaining current is mainly the capacitive
current created by the small zero sequence voltage. In the loop of two feeders, the circulating
current is around 1 Amp primary. In the loop of four feeders, circulating currents are between
2 Amp and 3 Amp primary. The voltage shows the presence of a fault in the network because
the voltage produced by the unbalanced impedance seems to be too small. For a fault, the
amplitude is varying at each period and the signal is not as stable as the circulating current.
Around 20 earth faults have been recorded from this network, most of them were temporary. The circulating current has always been measured on the loop of four feeders with
different but very stable amplitude. These measurements seem to consolidate the idea of a
coupling between the load or positive sequence system and the zero sequence system. On the
loop of two feeders, the circulating current was not always measured and the amplitude was
always smaller than on the multi loop.
Due to this circulating current, the earth fault signal is corrupted by a current that
does not have specific behavior - i.e. capacitive or inductive. In compensated or isolated
networks, several protection devices are using the capacitive behavior of the sound feeder as
reference. Anything that has a non capacitive behavior will be considered as a faulty feeder.
For example, an algorithm evaluating the active current as a fault indicator will measure an
active current on every healthy loop. This can lead to wrong fault detection but this problem
will be handled in the next chapter.
64
Figure 4.5: Circulating current due to coupling with parallel asymmetric network
A network with a loop of two feeders and a loop of four feeders has been simulated
trying to reproduce the real network from the field measurement with the data available.
Underground cables have been studied; the feeders are in parallel for 2 kilometers and are
separates by approximately 40 cm. The length of the lines has been adapted to match the
zero sequence capacitance of each feeder of the real network and its serial impedances. The
position of the cables has been set in the way to obtain a difference in the phase impedance
and consider the mutual coupling between the loops. However, the flat position has not been
implemented because the distribution system operator had indicated that the cables were laid
in a trefoil position. A trefoil position has been implemented without symmetrical position
to obtain a mutual coupling between the systems. There are two different bus bars connected
to their own transformer but these transformers have the same neutral and the Peterson coil
is compensating both networks with an overcompensation of 10%. Each transformer has a
nominal power of 10 MVA. The four feeders loop consists only of cables and the two feeders
loop consists of a mix of overhead lines and cables.
The simulations have been performed, for different value of the perfectly balanced load
from 0 to 50% of the nominal power of the transformer. The zero sequence voltage remains
very small and does not disturb the protection devices. Its maximum amplitude has been
measured to 0.5% of the nominal voltage. This voltage is measured on the both bus bar
and the radial feeder will produce a zero sequence current which is not circulating. However,
this zero sequence current measured on the radial feeder is caused by the voltage on the zero
sequence capacitances of the line. This current is a sound one for the protection devices that
protect the network. The circulating current amplitude is proportional to the load because the
positive sequence current is directly influencing the zero sequence system. The zero sequence
current can represent 6% of the nominal current of the network.
Simulations have proved the link between the positive sequence system and the zero
sequence system due to unbalanced serial impedances in the loop. This current can have
a big impact on protection because this current does not have the expected behavior for a
proper detection of the faulty feeder. In case of high impedance fault it can be observed that
the zero sequence current caused by the fault is smaller than the zero sequence circulating
U0 [Vprim]
5000
65
Fault Inception
0
5000
J03
J07
I0 [Aprim]
10
0
Circulating current
10
J14
J15
I0 [Aprim]
10
0
10
Circulating current
J16
J17
I0 [Aprim]
10
0
Circulating current
10
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
time [ms]
140
160
180
200
Figure 4.6: Circulating current before the single phase earth fault on feeder J03 and J07
3.5
Loop of two feeders
Loop of four feeders
Zero seuqnece current [A]
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
10
20
30
40
Load (% nominal power transformer)
50
Figure 4.7: Simulation of the load power on the zero sequence circulating current
current.
However, this circulating current is probably steady during the whole fault because the
load is not disturbed by a single phase earth fault in such network. The phase to phase
voltage does not vary in case of single phase to earth fault. This current is then stable if the
consideration that the load is constant during the time window for the earth fault detection.
Estimating the phase angle and the amplitude of this current during the pre fault state could
allow filtering this component without filtering the 50 Hz component produced by the fault
at least for the first 100 millisecond after the fault inception. Active filter and non linear filter
could be a solution [Druml et al., 2009].
This problem has been presented during the IEEE PES GM Conference [Loos et al., 2012].
5.
Summary
This chapter has introduced the neutral problem of the transformer and the connection
of the distribution network to the earth. The neutral connection choice depends on the will
for a rapid tripping time, safety, material protection and faulty operation of the network in
case of single phase earth fault. The solidly grounded networks have a strong faulty current
leading to an easy fault detection in case of low impedance fault. Isolated networks have
faulty current magnitude depending on the total zero sequence capacitance and need extra
insulation to handle the voltage increasing on the healthy phases. The compromise between
these two networks consist in the installation of a resistance to limit the faulty currents
and the voltage increase on the healthy phases. This strategy is used for some industrial
process where a continuous operation even during a phase fault event could save a significant
amount of money. Then the compensated network is another solution used in some areas for
distribution network to reduce the fault near 0. An inductance is placed in the transformer
neutral and its value is the same as the total zero sequence capacitance of the network. It
results in a therotical infinite impedance of the zero sequence system.
The impact of a single phase earth fault in compensated and isolated network has been
presented. The steady state current is completely different between these two stragies. The
isolated network has an inductive faulty current seen from the zero sequence system and
the compensated one has capacitive faulty current with a slightly active part due to the
coil imperfection. The transients are studied, the one with the highest frequency is the
discharging transient caused by the sudden voltage drop on the faulty phase, its value is
determined using the distributed line model. Then the most visible and useful transient is
the charging transient caused by the voltage increasing on the healthy phases. This transient
has a capacitive behavior on the sound feeder but an inductive value on the faulty feeder
in the isolated and compensated network. Others transients have been considered such as
the coil transient due to a magnetic flux discontinuity at the fault inception. This decaying
current is measured only on the faulty feeder. Then the transients occuring in case of high
impedance is presented and modeled with some equations developed during this work. At
last, the decaying voltage after a recovery is described. The network can recover its initial
healthy value several tenth of periods after the fault is gone. The reality has shown the
impact of the Peterson coil which creates intermittent earth fault by stopping the current of
the steady state. The transients discussed in this chapter are visible during such fault but
the power decreases during restriking because the network has not recovered completely when
the fault reappears.
A confrontation of the developed theory with recordings have shown that circulating
current happens in loop structure. Therefore modeling of this event has been made and has
shown that unbalanced impedance creates mutual coupling between the symmetrical system
causing zero sequence current during healthy operation.
66
Part III
Single Phase to Ground Fault

Detection Algorithms
67
1.
Introduction
This second chapter presents two algorithms developed to detect single phase-to-earth
fault in compensated and isolated network. Both methods are based on the statement that
the sound feeder can be considered as pure capacitance in the zero-sequence system while the
faulty feeder is not. The first developed method is the C0 method which detects the deviation
from a pure capacitive model and indicates if the feeder is faulty. The second method is a
directional method measuring the active energy flow in each feeder to determine the forward
or reverse direction of the fault.
The first section presents a review of the existing methods to detect the fault in compensated network. This work focuses mainly on the sensitivity regarding the fault impedance
and the tripping delay. Depending on the algorithm, some methods are intrinsically more
sensitive to the fault impedance (e.g. they are not using only the beginning of the fault) but
they are not faster for tripping.
We present every steps of the algorithms with figures describing the phenomena. The
technical specifications with a scientific explanation of each decisions is detailed such as the
filter used, the numerical integration of the signal, the length, etc. This is made for both
the C0method and the directional method. The technical questions linked to the prototype
development is detailed in the chapter IV.
Some basic simulations and recordings are presented to illustrate the performance of the
developed method. Complicated tests made during the development of the prototype are also
referred for the interested readers.
This second chapter presents the core of this work made during the first and an half year
of this PhD thesis. This part has been completed by the delivery of a functional prototype
to Siemens AG which has led to a new product released in mid 2013.
68
2.
2.1
Review of today fault detection devices
The Wischer principle
Several decades ago, Siemens AG has developed a method to detect earth-fault in compensated and isolated network. The protection is an analog electronics device considering the
fault inception. The protection is called Transient earth-fault relay SIPROTEC 7SN600
and the principle is based on the Wischer principle [AG, 2010]. A picture of the device is
illustrated by the figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1: The 7SN600 transient earth-fault relay from Siemens

The Wischer principle is built around the transient flowing assumption developed in 3.2.3
and considers that the transient is the same for both the compensated network and the
isolated network. The aim of this method is to identify the direction of the charging transient
flow in the zero sequence system. The figure 2.2 shows a diagram of the principle. To do
that, the 50 Hz component of the current and voltage signals must be filtered. In practice, a
oscillating circuit is set playing the role of a band-pass filter centered at 50 Hz. The output of
this filter is then subtracted from the original signal. This operation results in the transient
signal whose frequency is usually higher than 100 Hz. The frequencies smaller than 100 Hz
are filtered due to the band-width.
Once the transient is isolated, the polarity of the fault inception is computed. This polarity
is computed by comparing the instantaneous value with a threshold. If the transient reaches
this threshold then it will be considered as positive or negative. The transient is always
decreasing therefore the polarity is determined for the first increase of the signal. If this first
inception maximum is missed then the logic will be wrong because the current and voltage
69
2. REVIEW OF TODAY FAULT DETECTION DEVICES
I0
Oscillating
circuit
50 Hz
70
I0 Transient
Comparator
V0
Oscillating
circuit
50 Hz
Direction
V0 Transient
Figure 2.2: Detection of transients in the Wischer principle

have a phase angle of 90 and not 180 - then the polarity after a zero crossing is changing.
The consequence of this principle is that the Wischer logic uses only a very small part of the
energy available in the transient because it uses only the magnitude at the first maximum
which reduces its sensitivity regarding fault impedance.
If the polarity of the transient has been determined, the logic table 2.1 is used. If the
voltage and current polarity are the same then the fault is in reverse direction, otherwise it
is in the forward direction. It could happen that the voltage or the current is too small and
cannot be measured, in such case no indication is provided to the user.
I
Pos
Pos
Neg
Neg
Pos/Neg
V
Neg
Pos
Neg
Pos
-
Result
Forward
Reverse
Reverse
Forward
none
Table 2.1: Wischer direction logical table

Additional analog logic has been implemented in the relay such as detection of continuous
earth fault based on the presence of a zero-sequence voltage.
The Wischer principle is very simple and therefore very reliable. However, several tests
have been made during this work regarding the sensitivity of this protection and the conclusions were that it was not very sensitive for fault impedances higher than 1 kOhm [Masa, ].
This can easily be explained with the theory developed in the high impedance fault section
where the charging transient cannot be measured 3.2.3. In general, the charging transient
does not exist anymore once the fault is higher than 1 kOhm therefore all the signal is at
50Hz which is filtered by the device. The consequence is that the protection does not see
any transient from which it can determine the fault direction. However, the theory developed
in this work has shown that the fault inception still indicates a fault direction and will be
considered in the proposed algorithms.
Another problem with this principle is the case of strongly capacitive network. More and
more distribution networks are fully underground in cities which makes them very capacitive.
As stated in the charging transient frequency, the more the network is capacitive the lower is
the frequency. Some practical cases have shown that the transient frequency could be lower
71
than 100 Hz which is strongly filtered by the relay. Again, this case shows that the filtering
of the 50 Hz component destroys some useful information about the fault and hence reduces
the relay performance.
On the contrary, this principle seems to be unaffected by the circulating current because
they are only a 50 Hz part of the signal which is filtered by the device. However, the continuous
fault indication might be impacted by the circulating current because it uses the zero-sequence
voltage presence to indicate if the fault is still present. This case is very specific because zerosequence voltage is usually very small with circulating current for the reason explained in the
last chapter.
Many devices are operating with similar principle with the comparison of the polarity
such as [Trench, , Vamp, ].
2.2
The QU-method
The a-eberle company has developed a digital device ago based on the QU-method. The
protection is called Earth fault-Detection-Relay EOR-D and it is able to work in isolated
and compensated network [A-Eberle, 2004]. The figure 2.3 presents a picture of the device.
Figure 2.3: The EOR-D device of a-eberle

The QU method has been presented in 2003 by [Druml et al., 2003, Druml et al., 2009]
and it is based on the charging transient and its capacitive behavior in sound feeder. The
statement that summarizes the principle is that if the sound feeder can be considered as
a simple capacitance in the zero-sequence system, the detection can be made if the feeder
does not act like a capacitance. By measuring the zero-sequence voltage and zero-sequence
current, the algorithm will integrate the current to obtain the zero-sequence charge. Then
the following equation will have to be satisfied:
t
1
v0 (t) = v0 (t0 ) +
i0 ( )d
(2.1)
C0 t0
An illustration of the principle is made on figure 2.4. A QU diagram with the voltage on
the X-axis and the integration of the current on the Y-axis clearly identifies the sound feeder
because it is a straight line. The faulty feeder does not have this behavior but it does not
have to be modeled because the capacitive model of the sound feeder is very simple and a
deviation from this model can indicate if the feeder is faulty.
The determination of the fault direction can be made by looking at the slope at the fault
inception. If the slope is negative, it means the fault is forward and if it is positive it means
the fault is reverse. The analogy with the table used by the Wischer can be made, if the
72
2.5
Fault I0
x 10
q0 Faulty
Sound I0
q0 Sound
1.5
V0
q0 (As)
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
20
30
40
50
Time [ ms ]
60
70
80
1.5
4
V0 [p.u]
Figure 2.4: Illustration of the QU method

current and voltage and the same polarity then the slope will be positive. The slope can be
0)
at the fault inception.
computed as the derivative of the dq0v(v
0
Several tests have been made using an Omicron CMC256 to send current and voltage
signal simulation to the device. The EOR-D is very sensitive for high impedance fault and
detect fault up to 5 kOhm depending on the network topology and characteristics. The device
provides also a direction indication and therefore needs the inception of the fault to make a
correct detection. If the beginning of the fault is missed for any reason then the algorithm is
blocked and no indication is given.
The device is affected by the circulating currents because it does not filter the 50 Hz
component unlike the Wischer principle. However a second version of the device, the EOR3D, can handle this problem by using an active filter method which filters only the circulating
and not the faulty part of the signal.
2.3
The Wattmetric function
Another classic way to detect single-phase earth fault in compensated networks the Wattmetric function. The statement of this protection is that the faulty feeder generates a negative
active power and the sound feeder produces positive active current. According to the considered theory, this is clear because the current and voltage transient had the same polarity
during a single phase earth fault on a sound feeder but had 180 of phase angle for the faulty
feeder.
The Wattmetric function does not filter the 50 Hz component and this component does
not have a 180 phase angle for the faulty feeder. Therefore, the measurement of the phase
angle will depend on the compensation factor of the Peterson coil.
The figure 2.5 below illustrates the computation of the power of the same signal as the
QU-method. Depending on the zone of the results, the Wattmetric function shows which
feeder is faulty.
This function works well if the voltage and current do not have phase angle error measurement. In case of high impedance faults, the difference between the faulty and the sound
feeders is very small and the power phasor could be in the unknown area where no decision
can be made with sufficient confidence.
x 10
2
Unknown
Q0
Forward Fault
Reverse Fault
3
3
0
P0
3
5
x 10
Figure 2.5: The Wattmetric function decision criteria
73
3.
3.1
The faulty feeder C0 method algorithm

The capacitive behavior of the sound feeder
A model of a sound feeder has been detailed in the previous chapter and we assume that
a sound feeder behaves as a capacitance. The steady state is clearly a capacitance and the
charging transient does act as a capacitance also. Moreover the non capacitive effects occur
only on the faulty feeder such as the coil effect due to a fault inception not at the voltage
maximum or the coil imperfection creating an active current flow. The protection device has
an anti-aliasing filter which limits the frequency to 2 kHz for the SIPROTEC v4 and 16 kHz
for the SIPROTEC v5. The impact of the discharging frequency is neglected and its energy
is usually much smaller than the others phenomenon. The equation of the sound feeder for
the whole signals is:
C0 v0 (t) = i0 ( )d
(3.1)
The zero-sequence system is only considered because its impedance is much larger than
those of the positive and negative sequence. The measurement of the zero-sequence current
and zero-sequence voltage are provided by neutral current and voltage transformer or three
phases measurement transformer. In this last case, the zero-sequence signals are computed
by the protection device using the next two equations:
1
v0 (t) = (vA (t) + vB (t) + vC (t))
3
1
i0 (t) = (iA (t) + iB (t) + iC (t))
3
(3.2)
(3.3)
Also the zero-sequence current and voltage can be obtained from a sensitive input in the
digital relays which improved the accuracy.
Regarding the faulty feeder, the capacitive behavior is not verified. Firstly, the steady
state has an active part depending on the leakage of the Peterson coil. Secondly, the charging
transient is inductive. And thirdly, if the fault appears not in the maximum voltage, a slowly
decaying transient will be measured. All these phenomena could be modeled independently
and identified to detect the faulty feeder but a general assumption could be:
C0 v0 (t) 6= i0 ( )d
(3.4)
The strongest advantage of this consideration is that every phenomena is considered whatever the frequency is. Compared to the Wischer principle, more information will be used
74
3. THE FAULTY FEEDER C0 METHOD ALGORITHM
75
because no filter is needed and because the signal after the fault inception can also be used
to enhance the faulty feeder detection. The Wattmetric function does use every information
but only at the fault inception because it computes a power which is the largest at the fault
inception that moment. The QU-method it is much more sensitive at the fault inception because it considers every phenomena which are not capacitive. Therefore it is a better model
of the wattmetric function but it does not run if the fault inception is missed and then cannot
detect the faulty feeder.
3.2
The algorithm
The idea of our new algorithm is to determine iwhich feeders acts as a capacitance. For this
purpose, only the measurement of the zero-sequence current 3I0 and the zero-sequence voltage
U0 are required. The following method has been presented during the CIRED conference in
2013 [Loos et al., 2013a]. This method has also been patented by Siemens AG.
Based on the capacitance equation 3.1, the algorithm detects if the feeder is faulty or not.
Firstly the zero-sequence current and the zero-sequence voltage of each feeder must be
measured.
Secondly, the zero-sequence charge is computed by integrating the zero-sequence current:
t
q0 (t) =
i0 ( )d
(3.5)
t0
From this result and if the zero-sequence capacitance of the feeder is known, an error
signal can be computed:
(t) = v0 (t)
1
q0 (t)
C0
(3.6)
However, the zero sequence capacitance is usually unknown. It has to be estimated from
the measurements. A least squares method can be applied to estimate the zero-sequence capacitance if there are enough samples. The least square method will tend to reduce the value
of because it reduces the distance between the straight line and the samples as mathematically detailed in 3.2. Physical criteria can be set such as C0 must be only positive and belong
to a range bounded by known minimum and maximum values. Such criteria are very powerful
especially for low impedance faults where the straight line from a least square method has a
negative slope as the figure 3.1 illustrates it.
The computation of the error signal can be graphically understood as the distance between
the measured voltage and the slope. The distance is always vertical because the Volt unit
is much more important than the Coulomb unit in this problem. The figures 3.2 below
shows the two terms of the equation 3.6, the blue curve is the faulty part of the signal which
does not match at all the voltage curve instead of the red dashed curve fitting perfectly the
voltage curve. The second figure on the right illustrates the error signal; a strong error signal
still exists during the steady state, the explanation is because the faulty feeder has very low
capacitance (overhead line) and the current measured is inductive instead of capacitive. This
figure proves why most of the compensated network protections for single phase to ground
fault are transient protection, once the steady state is reached, the difference between the
faulty and the sound feeder is very hard to measure. The capacitive model is also verified
76
50
LS Line
Samples
60
Samples
LS line
V0 [V]
V [V]
40
20
(t)
Line slope = 1/C0
20
2
4
q0 [C]
50
1
10
Slope but feeder faulty
0.5
0
q0 [C]
x 10
0.5
1
3
x 10
Figure 3.1: A least square method is necessary to get a C0 value

in this case because the transient of the sound feeder matches very well the transient of the
voltage which is not the case for the faulty feeder. However once the steady state reached,
the difference is very small.
5
200
V0
150
q0F aulty
C0
100
q0Sound
C0
x 10
(t) Faulty
(t) Sound
0.5
error (t) [V]
(t) [V]
250
50
0
50
0.5
100
150
200
250
0
50
100
1.5
0
150
time [ms]
50
100
150
time [ms]
Figure 3.2: In case of low impedance fault, the error signal is very high
The next figures 3.3 show a more difficult case with a high impedance fault. The difference
between the sound and the faulty feeder is extremely tight and there is a strong need to catch
the fault inception to get most of the faulty information required to make a decision. However,
due to the increasing of the voltage, the information about the faulty feeder lasts longer as
seen in the plot of the error signal. Some discontinuities can be seen on the faulty part, this
is caused by the re-estimation of the zero-sequence capacitance each period.
Thirdly the integral of the squared error is computed to accentuate the extreme variation.
The integral starts from the fault inception t0 until the present t and stops once the fault has
disappeared.
t
2 ( )d
int (t) =
(3.7)
t0
The integration has a memory impact on the detection, this is very important for high
impedance fault where the difference between a faulty feeder and a sound feeder is very small.
150
77
60
(t) Faulty
(t) Sound
V0
100
q0F aulty
C0
40
q0Sound
C0
20
(t) [V]
Voltage [V]
50
0
50
20
100
40
150
0
50
100
60
0
150
50
time [ms]
100
150
time [ms]
Figure 3.3: High impedance fault with error signal

The small differences will be accumulated and after several periods, the difference between
the sound and faulty feeder will be much easier to detect. The figure 3.4 shows the integration
of the signal represented at the figure 3.3, the y-axis is in logarithmic value which makes the
difference between the sound and the faulty feeder significant.
10
10
Faulty
Sound
5
2 [V2s]
10
10
10
10
10
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 3.4: Integration of the error signal to increase the sensitivity of the algorithm
The value drops at 120 ms because the algorithm computes five periods and reset the value
to avoid drifting of the value. The detection is easiest during the fault inception, however,
the next part of the figure shows that the difference between the sound and faulty feeder is
visible - there is a factor 40,000 between both signals - and a detection can be made even
if the algorithm misses the fault beginning. This functionality is not possible on the device
presented in the first section because they are all focus on the transient and does not make use
of the steady state component. The reset of the integral value put it to zero but it increases
linearly which is not well represented on the figure because of the logarithmic scale.
The distinction between the faulty feeder and the sound feeder is made by a threshold. The
design of this threshold is quite complex because the value of the integral depends mostly
on the fault impedance and the zero-sequence capacitance. This observation has made a
threshold inversely proportional to C0 and a coefficient k which depends on the current
level, to take into account the fault resistance, of the monitored feeder. The equation below
mathematically describes the threshold design:
78
A
(3.8)
C0
The term A is a general constant which has to be designed by a rule of thumb and by the
experience for fine tuning. The value of C0 is limited to a maximal and minimal value which
are realistic for a distribution network and k can take two value; if the current is smaller than
20% of the rated current the value of k is 1 otherwise it takes the value 5. The charging
transient on the sound feeder increases the error value. The threshold is also dynamic and is
increasing at every period by a factor 5% to take into account the drifting of the error. All
these actions make the algorithm very sensitive with a threshold as close as possible as to
the limit of the sound feeder. More details about the rule of thumb and the experience taken
from the tests are described in the chapter 3.3 concerning the prototype development.
T hreshold = k
3.3
Disadvantages of the method
The developed method considers the zero sequence capacitance independent of the frequency which is not exactly true because of the presence of the series impedance, noise and
modeling error. Then in case of low impedance fault, transients with high charging frequencies (above 500 Hz) do not fit exactly the capacitive model on sound feeders. This is creating
a higher error signal than the normal noisy error signal on the sound feeder which could lead
to a wrong detection if the C0 method is adjusted with too sensitive settings. This problem
is illustrated on figure 3.5 where the zero-sequence charge signal has been computed and superposed to the voltage signal, the frequency of the transient is correct but not its magnitude
which is correct for the steady state.
150
Voltage V0
F1 Faulty
100
F2 Sound
q0 (t)/C0 [Volt]
F3 Sound
50
0
50
100
150
20
30
40
50
time [ms]
60
70
80
Figure 3.5: Transient has bigger error than the steady state
This also depends on the sound line capacitance as it is shown, feeders with relatively
strong capacitance have less problem because the ratio steady state to transient magnitude is
relatively important compare to low capacitive feeder where the transient magnitude is much
more important than the steady state magnitude.
The QU diagram 3.6 below shows that the transient does not exactly fit the capacitive
model. The result could be an error detected on the sound feeder. The problem is that these
errors are integrated and can be as high as the result of a high impedance fault. The solution
is to increase the threshold to a reasonable value to take into account these deviations if a
transient is detected.
79
150
F1 Faulty
F2 Sound
100
F Sound
q0 (t)/C0 [Volt]
50
50
100
150
150
100
50
0
V0 [Volt]
50
100
150
Figure 3.6: Transient does not exactly matches the capacitive model
To prevent any wrong detection, the threshold of the C0 method must be high enough to
consider the errors created by the transient. A dynamic threshold is then necessary to keep
a high sensitivity regarding high impedance fault. This dynamic threshold is detailed in the
development chapter 3.3. The algorithm must be able to detect transient or sudden high peak
of current which will lead to a bigger error. If the algorithm is detecting such current, it will
automatically increase its threshold and when no transient is measured and the error signal
reset, the full sensitivity is recovered.
Another problem of this method is regarding the closed ring topology and specific position
of protection device in this closed ring. The problem with the new algorithm is that it uses
the relation between the zero-sequence voltage and zero-sequence current to determine if the
feeder is faulty or not. In radial structure network, there is no problem with this information
as seen on figure 3.7.
: Sound
Busbar
: Faulty
: Faulty flow
Secondary
substation
Figure 3.7: No problem to know which feeder is faulty

However, on closed ring structure, the faulty current can circulated in several feeders
and the information faulty or sound is not enough to determine which feeder is faulty. This
80
problem is shown on the next figure 3.8. Some DSOs are using devices at the end of the feeder
on the secondary substation. The goal is to isolate the faulty feeder in a loop structure. If
they are only protection devices in the main substation, the C0 method will detect both feeder
as faulty because the faulty current is spreading in both direction and non capacitive behavior
is measured by every device. Therefore no selection between the two feeders of the loop can
be isolated as faulty. The solution made by some DSOs is to place devices at the secondary
substation. This system works very well with transient protections because they measure the
faulty flow and they do not model the behavior of the sound feeder.
Busbar
: Sound
: Faulty
: Not working
: Faulty flow
Secondary
substation
Figure 3.8: Detection of the faulty feeder is not possible with four devices in a loop
The C0 method cannot select the faulty feeder from the loop but it considers the whole
loop as faulty. The faulty information is flowing in the whole loop which does not make any
piece of the loop as a zero sequence capacitance. On the contrary, the transient protection
measures only the flow of the faulty current which allow them to make direction decision.
This is a problem for the C0 method because it means it will not operate properly in specific
topology where four measurement devices are put in a ring structure, that is a reason why
Siemens has asked the ULB the research in a directional method.
4.
4.1
The directional method algorithm

The observation
One disadvantage of the C0 method presented is that it is a faulty/sound detection and not
a forward/reverse principle. This difference causes problem for loop structure with two ended
fault detection where some DSOs are selecting the faulty feeder inside the loop. Another
method has been developed to solve this direction problem. This method has been presented during the Eurocon 2013 conference [Loos et al., 2013b] and has also been patented
by Siemens AG.
The principle is based on the same assumption as the C0 method supposing the sound
feeder is capacitive. The integration method which accumulates the deviation from a perfect
capacitive model wanted to be preserve also to increase the sensitivity of the protection.
Every phenomena described in the first chapter has to be considered also to make use of
all information available for forward detection. However, the use of these phenomena is
completely different and is more equivalent to the Wattmetric function. The statement is
that the sound feeder consumes active power and faulty feeder supplies active power. This
can be understood as the charging of the capacitance, during a steady state a capacitance
does consume only reactive power but when it has to charge, it needs active power. This
can be explained mathematically with the equation of the active power. First we define the
zero-sequence instantaneous power:
p0 (t) = v0 (t)i0 (t)
(4.1)
Then, the definition of the active power is the integration of the instantaneous power over
one period T divided by the length of this period:
P0a
1
=
T
T
p0 (t)dt
(4.2)
If the voltage and current sinusoidal signal is periodic and constant, then the integration
of perfect sinus over one period is clearly zero because the exchange of over one period in a
capacitance is zero. However, if the voltage is increasing or decreasing, so is the current, the
instantaneous power over one period will not be constant, therefore the integration - i.e. the
active power - is not equal to zero. The next figure 4.1 represents different situation where
the voltage and current is increasing with an inductive or capacitive behavior.
The instantaneous power is showed on the right, its frequency is two times the signal
frequency due to the phase angle. The active power for this period is also displayed as a
title of each instantaneous power plot. The graphic representation clearly shows that the
81
4. THE DIRECTIONAL METHOD ALGORITHM

Voltage
Current
Constant
1
0
1
10
15
20
Inductive up
10
15
20
0.5
10
15
20
10
15
20
Pa = 0.0325
0.2
Inductive down
P = 0.0215
10
15
20
0.2
10
15
20
Pa = 0.0325
0.5
Capacitive up
10
15
20
0.5
0.2
Capacitive down
10
15
20
P = 0.0215
0
1
p(t)
0.5
0.5
Pa = 0
0.5
0
82
10
time [ms]
15
20
0.2
0
10
20
time [ms]
Figure 4.1: Active power depends on the current and voltage behavior
integration of the power will lead to a positive or negative active power because the swept
surface is bigger in the positive part than in the negative part in case of charging.
The following schematic 4.2 reminds the three main power flows of active power in a
compensated network, i.e. the steady state, the charging transient and the coil effect. The
power flows have the same direction in the faulty feeder. The charging transient flows from
the fault to the sound feeder capacitance as indicates by the blue arrows. The active steady
state is due to the imperfection of the Peterson coil and is represented by a parallel resistance.
This resistance creates a way where steady state active current circulates and is indicated by
the red arrows. The coil effect is less important but could happen if the fault does not occur
at the maximum voltage value on the faulty phase. This creates a phenomena described in
3.2.5 where a decaying current during several periods occurs caused by the inductance of the
Peterson coil and is represented by the black arrows.
These phenomena are used to make a direction criteria which is not the case of all the
existing transient protections. For example, the old Wischer device filters the 50 Hz component, this suppresses the steady state and also the transient in highly capacitive network
where the charging frequency is low.
4.2
The algorithm
Based on the concept that capacitance are consuming or producing active power during
not steady event, this work has defined an instantaneous active power to observe the variation
of the active power during the fault. The zero-sequence is only used for the fault detection
83
Figure 4.2: Main power flow in a compensated network during single phase earth fault
therefore, the zero-sequence instantaneous active power is defined by the equation 4.3 below:
pa0 (t)
1
=
T
t
p0 ( )d
(4.3)
t-T
Two simulations have been made for a small impedance fault with a strong charging
transient and a high impedance fault with a small increasing of the voltage. The first figure
4.3 shows the instantaneous active power for a faulty and a sound feeder for a small impedance
fault. The charging transient is clear and most of the active power is produced during this
transient. The sound active power is positive at the fault during the beginning of the fault
and the faulty feeder is negative. During the steady state, the active power is zero for the
sound feeder because it is a capacitance but this is not true for the faulty feeder because
the imperfection of the Peterson coil creates a circulation of active power during the steady
state, that is the reason why the faulty instantaneous active power is not zero. The shape
of the instantaneous power can be understood by a combination of the 50 Hz component
and a transient around 200 Hz frequency. The first spike of the transient is big in absolute
value because both current and voltage is high near the fault inception. However, several
oscillations are very small after the first one because the voltage are around zero, then the
transient disappears. The polarity changes 20 ms after the fault inception comes from the
sliding window used to compute the instantaneous active power, the first half of the oscillation
is not within the window anymore and this changes the polarity because the overall surface
of the instantaneous power p0 changes. However this spike is not important because the
tendency clearly shows a distinction between the faulty and the sound feeder. This can be
seen on the figure 4.1 is the first half period of a transient signal is avoid, the result polarity
is changing. The effect of the steady state active current circulation through the faulty feeder
is visible with a negative power during the steady state.
The next figure 4.4 is the result of a high impedance fault simulation. A small high
frequency transient can be seen and is the discharging frequency but is usually filtered by
the protection device. The voltage and current is increasing slowly which creates a positive
instantaneous zero-sequence active power for the sound feeder and a negative one for the faulty
feeder. The discharging frequency has nearly no impact because the frequency is too high
and decreases to quickly. The fault inception is important because it determines the polarity
84
5000
Faulty pa0
5000
Sound pa0
10000
0
10
20
30
40
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
50
60
time [ms]
70
80
90
100
Faulty i
Sound i0
Voltage v0
10
Figure 4.3: Instantaneous zero-sequence active power power for small impedance fault
of the active power. The imperfection of the Peterson coil is more important in relative value
in case of high impedance fault. The interpretation of the instantaneous zero-sequence active
power is not easy because for the small impedance fault, the transient was decreasing but
for the high impedance fault a transient is increasing and in both cases the result is positive
for the sound feeder and negative for the faulty feeder. The physical explanation is that the
capacitance does need active power to reach the voltage level where they will oscillate. The
faulty feeder is one of the return path of this active energy, then its flowing is in the opposite
direction.
The signal interpretation is easy for the fault inception because the voltage and current
has the same polarity the first half period for the sound feeder. This is the opposite for the
faulty feeder. However, active power remains after this first half period.
According to these observations, a simple criteria is to measure the zero-sequence active
power and make a decision on the polarity. However, high impedance fault produces several
periods of active power, an integration of this signal should ease the direction determination.
The following equation has been set for this purpose:
t
ea0 (t)
pa0 ( )d
(4.4)
t0
This energy is a good criteria for the fault direction determination because the energy
is going in one direction. The integration of the power on the figure 4.3 is represented in
the figure 4.5, the tendency is clear and the detection of the direction is easy. Both signals
increase in their respective direction. The interesting part is the steady state signal which
continues to increase for the faulty feeder. This is a strong advantage compare to the classic
85
Faulty pa0
500
Sound pa0
0
500
1000
0
50
100
150
100
150
Faulty i0
Sound i0
Voltage v
50
time [ms]
Figure 4.4: Instantaneous zero-sequence active power power for high impedance fault
transient methods that stop after the measuring the transient signal. However, regarding the
whole energy delivered during the transient, the energy produced by the steady state is very
small in case of low impedance fault. This is not the case for high impedance fault.
3
x 10
Sound ea0
Energy [Jsec]
0.5
Faulty e0
0
0.5
1
1.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
Figure 4.5: Energy evolution of a low impedance fault

The following figure 4.6 illustrates the integration of the high impedance fault simulation
represented with the instantaneous active power in figure 4.4. The direction determination
could be made only on a positive or negative value criteria but a more complex value has
been calculated for the threshold settings which is explained in the next chapter.
86
x 10
Energy [Jsec]
0
Sound ea0
Faulty ea0
6
0
50
100
150
time [ms]
Figure 4.6: Energy evolution of a high impedance fault
4.3
Specific topology
Some DSOs are using the transient protection in specific topology where the C0 method
could not be used, therefore the direction method is better if the sensitivity between both
method is comparable. As it is explained in the next section of this chapter, the C0method,
it is not possible to place four devices in the ring structure. This is not a problem for the
directional method because it measures the polarity of the zero-sequence active energy which
makes the direction decision possible. However, the results will depend on the fault energy,
position and the network characteristics - actually, this is the same problem as for the others
transients protections.
4.3.1
Discussion about the active power flow
In case of closed ring, the active power flow has two ways to circulate; the aim is to charge
the healthy capacitance of the network. Here is a schematic of the active current circulation,
red arrows illustrate the steady state and blue arrows illustrate the transient. The transient
can have different direction depending on the fault position and the feeder impedance the
steady state too but because the transient is more important, only the transient will be
considered.
Busbar
F1
: Transient flow to F1
: Transient flow to F2a
: Transient flow to F3
F2a
F2ae
F3
F2b
F2be
Secondary
substation
Figure 4.7: Schematic active power flow in closed ring structure
87
The direction that the transient will take is explained in 4.3.2. This schematic indicates
the way the active flow can circulate. Regarding the steady state, the current is circulating
from the fault towards the Petersen coil. This current will be split in two parts because there
are two ways towards the coil because of the loop. The distribution of the current going into
one way and the other depends on the impedance of each ways. Then it depends on the
feeders impedance and fault position. For example, if the fault is at the beginning of the
feeder and the feeders of the loop are the same then most of the current will flow left according
to figure . If the fault is at the end of the feeder, then the current will be approximately 50%
in each direction.
Concerning the transient part of the active current, the direction is not determined by
the Petersen coil but the healthy capacitance that are charged by the increasing voltage. On
the radial part of the network, the flow of the current is always going from the bus bar to the
capacitance. In a loop, there are two ways for the current to circulate. From the fault, part of
the current will charge the capacitance inside the loop, and part will charge the capacitance of
the others feeders. Depending on the network structure, a relative amount of current will flow
outside the closed ring, towards the sound feeders. This current will help to detect the fault
forward because is negative. The current charging the loop will flow depending on the fault
position and the feeders impedance. This current can give a positive or a negative polarity
to the active power flow measured by the relays in the loop. This will lead to a forward or
reverse direction.
4.3.2
Possible direction of the 4 relays in a closed ring
If the fault occurs on the feeder 1, here are every possibilities of direction indication. The
forward and reverse is based on the convention that forward is in the direction of the feeder
the relay protects.
1
2
3
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
Fault position
middle F2b
middle F2b
end F2b
near F2b
near F2be
F1
F3
F2b
Forward
Forward
Forward
Forward
Reverse
Reverse
Forward
F2be
Forward
Forward
Forward
Reverse
Forward
Forward
Reverse
F2a
Reverse
Reverse
Forward
Reverse
Forward
Reverse
Forward
F2ae
Forward
Reverse
Reverse
Forward
Reverse
Forward
Reverse
Table 4.1: The different indication of the direction protection in closed ring
Case 1: The fault is in the middle of the feeder 2b and the capacitance of the feeder 2a are
charged by both sides active energy is coming from F2a and F2ae. The forward direction
of F2be can come if F3 is highly capacitive and active energy from the fault is charging the
capacitance of F3 by F2be and F2ae. There is no problem to identify the faulty feeder in this
case.
Case 2: The fault is in the middle or at the beginning of the feeder 2b. The reverse direction
of F2ae can come if F3 is lowly capacitive and active energy from the fault is charging the
88
capacitance of F3 only by F1e. There is no problem to identify the faulty feeder in this case.
Case 3: The fault is at the end of the feeder 2b. The impedance from the fault to the
bus bar is almost the same for F2a and F2b, the active energy needed to charge F3 will flow
through F2a and F2b. There is no problem to identify the faulty feeder in this case.
Case 4: If for any reason, the impedance of the feeder 2a is much smaller than the impedance
of the feeder 2b and if the fault occurs at the beginning of F2b, then the active energy will
flow through feeder 2a to charge the capacitance at the end of the feeder 2b because the
shortest ohmic way is through feeder 2b. Another condition is that F3 does not have high
capacitance. In this case, there is a problem to identify the faulty feeder but it might be only
a theoretical case.
Case 5: If for any reason, the impedance of the feeder 2a is much smaller than the impedance
of the feeder 2 and if the fault occurs at the end of F2b, then the active energy will flow through
feeder 2a to charge the capacitance at the beginning of the feeder 2a because the shortest
ohmic way is through feeder 2b. In this case, there is a problem to identify the faulty feeder
but it is perhaps only a theoretical case. Particularly, if the threshold of the direction method
is well evaluated, the F2a will indicate unknown because only a very low active energy is
going through it. Case 4 and 5 depends on a very specific network topology but this is not
sure that this case is often met.
Case 6: This is the result for the fault outside the ring. The protections on the main bus
bar see the fault behind them and the protections on the secondary see the fault ahead.
Case 7: This is the result for the fault beyond the ring on the feeder 3.
5.
Tests and simulations of the methods
This section tests the two algorithms with simulations and some real recordings. The goal
is to validate the theory with the different phenomena presented in the theory. The classic
earth fault with a nice charging transient is illustrated, the high impedance fault without
charging transient is shown, the coil effect and also intermittent faults are illustrated. The
technical problems link to the development of the algorithm and the first prototype are
considered in the next chapter. The simulation with the software EMTP/ATP and the
network has been created with the ATPDraw tool. the figure below shows the network using
the distributed line model.
Figure 5.1: Simulation network to test the algorithm
5.1
Classic fault
The classic fault is a 1 Ohmic fault resistance in a medium capacitive network. The
network information can be found in the appendix A. All tests will be done with this network
for the sake of illustration. Deeper tests can be found in the appendix and are described in
the technical chapter. In this example, the fault occurs at the end of the feeder F1. The
transient between the feeder F1 and F3 can be seen and the difference between the faulty
feeder and the sound is easy. F3 does not have strong capacitance which makes the steady
state very low and its transient also. The signals are measured in the secondary measurement
with a ratio 200:1 for the voltage and 100:1 for the current. The charging transient is also
visible on the voltage but less because of the high value of the voltage near its nominal value.
The current is only capacitive and very small compare to the nominal current value.
89
90
200
200
20
Current I0 [Asec]
Voltage V0 [Vsec]
5. TESTS AND SIMULATIONS OF THE METHODS
40
60
80
100
120
F1
F2
F3
1
20
40
60
80
100
120
time [ms]
Figure 5.2: Zero-sequence current and voltage for a low impedance fault
If the C0 method is first considered, the estimation of the zero-sequence capacitance is
well done. The figure 5.3 illustrates this estimation. The straight lines are the least squared
line with a slope equals to C0 . The feeder 1 which is the faulty feeder has a strong dispersion
of its samples which makes the capacitance estimation not true. The feeder 2 has a good
estimation but the transient puts the samples not on the straight line which will create error.
The feeder 3 which has a very small capacitance but the estimation looks quite good because
all the samples are on the straight line.
3
1.5
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
q0 (t) [C]
0.5
0.5
1.5
150
100
50
0
V0 [Volt]
50
100
150
Figure 5.3: QU diagram of a classic single phase earth fault

The integration of the error signal shows the same conclusion. The faulty feeder is easily
detected but the second feeder has also a strong error because of its transient. This transient
creates a bigger error signal than the feeder 2, even if the capacitance is smaller, the threshold
on feeder 3 has been increased to take care of the error caused by the transient. The error
on the feeder 3 is more than 30 times the error on the feeder 2. The slow increasing between
20 ms and 40 ms is due to an increasing of the voltage which activates the algorithm before
the fault occurs. However, according to the polarity problem of the current and voltage, the
faulty feeder can already be detected. The filter design is discussed in the next chapter.
Regarding the direction method, the following figure 5.5 shows the sensitivity of the
method. A zoom is made on the figure on the right to see the threshold value. Even if
the third feeder as a very small capacitance, the method is still able to determine the fault
91
10
10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
10
10
10
10
10
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
Figure 5.4: Integration of the error signal

direction.
3
x 10
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Energy
Energy
2
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
6
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
1
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
Figure 5.5: Energy in case of classic single phase earth fault
5.2
High impedance fault
The same network has been used with a fault impedance of 3000 Ohm. The figure
5.6 shows the zero-sequence current and voltage, they are rising slowly because of the high
impedance fault. The difference between the faulty and the sound feeder is extremely difficult, only the fault inception has different polarity and the rising of the current has a small
phase angle. The current and voltage values is also much smaller than the classic fault with
transient. The voltage does not reach the 100 V on the secondary side and the current is ten
times smaller. The capacitive behavior of the feeders is visible on this simulation and the
faulty feeder has only a very small part of resistive current which is circulating through the
imperfection of the Peterson coil.
The QU diagram shows also this problem in the figure 5.7. The feeder 1 is the faulty feeder
and the feeder 3 is a small capacitive overhead line. The difference between the estimated
slope of feeder 1 and 3 shows how the faulty feeder will be detected. Also the estimated slope
is computed during the first period of the fault and the figure 5.7 shows all the samples for
the next 7 periods. Therefore, the algorithm will compute a slope which will tend to the blue
area. That is one reason why the beginning of the fault is very important.
The integration of the error signal clearly identifies the faulty feeder but it takes more
than one period to make the difference between the faulty and the sound feeder. Indeed, in
the figure 5.8, the blue threshold is reached during the second period. The sound feeders are
92
Voltage V0 [Vsec]
100
Current I0 [Asec]
100
0
50
100
150
200
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
F1
F2
F3
0.1
0.1
0
Figure 5.6: Zero sequence current and voltage for high impedance fault
4
q0 (t) [C]
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
5
50
0
V0 [Volt]
50
Figure 5.7: QU diagram in case of high impedance fault

very distant from their threshold but the faulty feeder is 5 times bigger than its threshold.
After five periods of computation, the threshold and the integral of the squared error is reset
to avoid drifting of the signal. This might be a problem because the faulty information is
extremely small and the inception of the fault is not considered after this. Therefore, once the
feeder has been detected faulty, it remains faulty until the zero-sequence voltage decreases.
The algorithm is still running for the sound feeder in case they become faulty. Indeed,
during the research, it has been stated that if it is possible, the algorithm should continue
running in case of another earth fault on the same phase in another feeder. The probability
is extremely small, especially on the same phase. If the fault occurs on a different phase,
the fault will become a two phase fault which will strongly increase the faulty current. The
current algorithm is then unnecessary in this case. The feeder 2 has a higher error than the
feeder 3 because of its very small capacitance, small error on the small capacitance creates big
error and therefore the threshold must be increased. This is the case because the threshold
of the feeder 2 is much higher than the threshold on the feeder 3.
Regarding the direction method, the increasing of the energy is making the decision possible for every feeder. This method is very sensitive and the forward or reverse indication can
be provided. After 5 cycles, the direction detection stops until the voltage is decreasing which
means the fault has gone. Once the voltage is increasing again, the algorithm restarts and
the direction can be done. A zoom indicates the limits have been reach to detect the reverse
fault on the low capacitive feeder 2. The reverse threshold is set at 1.6e-6 J and the computed
energy on the feeder 2 reaches 6e-6 which is slightly more than 3 times the threshold value
93
10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
0
10
10
10
10
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 5.8: Integration of the error signal for a high impedance fault simulation
compared to a factor 100 for the feeder 3. However, the important thing in this detection is
the indication forward which is easily made with the feeder 1 even if the fault impedance is
extremely high. Difficulty has occurred in case of circulating current as it is mentioned in the
development part. The figure 5.9 shows the result of the high impedance fault simulation. A
zoom is made on the right figure to illustrate the threshold value relatively to the computed
active energy value. A discussion about the tuning of the forward and reverse threshold is
made in the development chapter.
4
x 10
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Energy
Energy
6
8
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
1
0
20
40
60
80
100
time [ms]
120
140
160
180
Figure 5.9: Energy in case of high impedance fault
5.3
Coil effect
The fault inception has been edited in the simulation so the fault does not occur when the
voltage is maximum with a small fault resistance of 1 Ohm. The following figure 5.10 shows
the zero-sequence voltage and the three zero sequence currents of the three feeders. The
difference between the faulty feeder and the sound is easily visible. The charging transient is
weaker than the classic fault and this is explained in the theory developed on the previous
chapter. Also the voltage transient is not visible in this case and it was visible if the fault
occurs at the maximum voltage on the faulty phase. This is because the charging of the sound
capacitance is not a step which makes the system oscillating slowly. The polarity difference
shows the faulty feeder.
The coil effect is actually not very visible due to a filter. Indeed, during the development,
the necessity of a high pass filter has been proved as it is explained in the next chapter. The
non filtered signal shows clearly the coil effect on the figure 5.11. This effect occurs only
during low impedance then it is not necessary to have this information to detect the fault,
Current I0 [Asec]
Voltage V0 [Vsec]
94
200
200
0
0.5
20
40
60
80
100
120
40
60
time [ms]
80
100
120
F1
F2
F3
0.5
0
20
Figure 5.10: Zero sequence current and voltage with a coil effect
the transient is enough. This effect occurs if the fault on the faulty phase occurs when the
voltage is not maximum. In reality, most of the faults occur at the maximum of the voltage
because the breakdown is more likely to happen. However, some recordings show this coil
effect indicating the fault could occur when the phase to ground voltage is near zero. One
reason could be due to activities forcing the breakdown such as road work, materials touching
the phase, etc.
1
Non Filetered Signal
Filtered Signal
Current I0 [Asec]
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 5.11: Coil effect disappears with the high pass filter
The charging transient has a smaller with the coil effect than without. This is due to non
step voltage on the sound capacitance leading to a reduced oscillation of the system.
The QU diagram on figure 5.12 shows a strong deviation of the faulty blue plus samples.
This leads to an easy detection. The charging transient still does not make a perfect straight
line for the sound feeder 3 which has to be considered in the threshold. Regarding the faulty
feeder 1, a non capacitive behavior is clearly identify even if the coil effect is mostly not
considered because filtered. The low capacitive feeder does not show strong deviation from
the estimated straight line but small error will be increased because the error is computed by
dividing with C0 which is also very small.
The integration of the squared error makes the detection easy of the faulty feeder during
the beginning of the fault. The error on the sound feeders is almost the same for both feeder.
The feeder 2 has the algorithm starting one period later because the current is too small at
the fault beginning. Indeed, for the others feeders, the filter used creates a small increasing of
the current before the real fault inception which triggers the algorithm, this is the reason why
the integral does not increase directly after the run of the algorithm. This small increasing
95
x 10
1.5
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
q0 (t) [C]
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
150
100
50
0
V0 [Volt]
50
100
150
Figure 5.12: QU diagram with a coil effect is easy to detect

can be seen on the figure 5.10 before 40 ms. This increasing is more important on the feeder
1 because it has not completely filtered the coil effect. This is not the case for the feeder
2 due to its very small zero sequence capacitance. This result can be seen on the following
figure 5.13. The threshold is higher for the feeder 2 because its capacitance is smaller, the
threshold for the feeder 3 is higher than it would be if no transient was measured. Indeed,
the transient creates errors requiring a decreasing of the sensitivity at the beginning to still
consider this feeder sound.
10
10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
10
10
10
10
10
20
40
60
time [ms]
80
100
120
Figure 5.13: Integration of the squared error with a coil effect

The energy makes the direction decision also very easy. The direction is correct for every
feeder. The feeder 2 has the smallest energy which makes it more difficult to detect but
the faulty feeder is quickly considered as forward. The determination is made in the first
period, the fault occurs at 40 ms and the thresholds are reached before 50 ms. However,
the computation of the energy is made every 20 ms than the protection will indicate the
direction in the worst case 20 ms after the fault inception. The fault could occur in anywhere
in the considered 20 ms window which could reduce the tripping time but this is a random
parameter.
5.4
Intermittent earth fault
The last presented test is the simulation of an restriking earth fault. Three single phase to
ground faults are simulated on the same network as the tests made in the previous sections.
The first fault occurs at 47 ms and lasts 5 ms, then a restrike occurs around 75 ms and lasts

3
x 10
1.5
1
96
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Energy
Energy
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0
50
100
time [ms]
150
1
0
200
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 5.14: Energy for direction determination with coil effect
200
200
0
Current I0 [Asec]
Voltage V0 [Vsec]
also 5 ms, a pause is then made to let the capacitance recharges and a last restrike happens at
165 ms. The fault resistance is set at 1 Ohm and occurs at the maximum of the phase voltage
to avoid any coil effect. The signal is illustrated on the figure 5.15 with the zero sequence
voltage and zero sequence current. The charging transient amplitude depends clearly on the
state of charge of the sound capacitance. If a fault has occurred one period before the restrike,
the charging transient is very weak as the second fault indicates.
50
100
150
F1
F2
F3
200
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
1
0
Figure 5.15: Simulation of an intermittent and restriking earth fault

The QU diagram of the simulation is illustrated on the figure 5.16. The feeder 1 does not
followed a straight line with the samples. The feeder 3 is impacted by the charging transient
but the tendency is clearly on a straight line. At each fault inception, the samples form have
a negative slope tenancy and the addition of the 50 Hz component and the transient does not
have especially this tendency but indicates clearly a non capacitive behavior.
The integration of the squared error illustrated on the figure 5.17 shows the detection
of the faulty feeder works properly. The faulty feeder is quickly detected faulty at the first
fault. The thresholds are automatically increased because the charging transient. This is an
automatic way to reduce the sensitivity of the method. After five cycles, the integration of
the error is set to zero and the algorithm restarts to check if a new fault has not occur in other
part of the network and to avoid drifting of the integral. The thresholds are low because they
do not measured transients. They are increased at the fault restrikes. The feeder 3 which is
sound has its error increasing due to the charging. The faulty feeder 1 has a much bigger error
as illustrated by the figure 5.17 in logarithmic scale. However, the threshold is a bit too high
in this case because the restriking does not bring as much energy as the first fault inception.
The fault disappears a few ms after its inception, therefore no steady state information can
97
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
1.5
1
q0(t) [C]
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
150
100
50
0
V0 [Volt]
50
100
150
Figure 5.16: The feeder 1 is not on a straight line in the QU diagram

be used to increase this error. The detection of the last restrike is a problem of fine tuning
the threshold which is discussed in the next chapter.
10
10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
10
10
10
10
10
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 5.17: The integration of the squared error works well with intermittent earth fault
Regarding the direction determination method, it is easily and quickly detected as forward
or reverse. The restriking does not impact the decision and increases the value in the right
direction. This is illustrated on the figure 5.18. A problem might come if a fault occurs
on another position in the network. The energy should have to be reset if another feeder
is detected as faulty. However, if the restriking of the fault occurs periodically, the energy
calculated at the beginning will decrease and become negative after a few periods.
3
x 10
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Energy
Energy
0
1
2
3
4
5
0
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
1
0
50
100
time [ms]
150
200
Figure 5.18: The direction determination works correctly in case of intermittent earth fault
6.
Summary
This chapter describes the actual transient protection devices to detect single phase earth
fault in compensated network. As their name indicates it, most of them use only the transient
because most of the fault information is contained in this part of the signal. The QU method
considers a model of the sound feeder and detects any deviation from this model. Such
methods are more accurate because they use more information.
Then the methods developed during this work is presented. The first algorithm is a
detection strategy based on the assumption the sound feeder is capacitive in the zero sequence
system. Using the zero sequence voltage and current, an estimation of the zero sequence
capacitance of the monitored feeder is made. Deviation of the samples from this estimated
value creates an error signal which is integrated and compared to a threshold. If this threshold
is reached, it means the model is not capacitive and is considered as faulty. Otherwise, the
feeder is healthy. This method is sensitive but is impacted by the non perfectly capacitive
behavior of the charging transient and cannot work at the end of closed ring topology to
distinct the faulty feeder inside a loop. This is due to the fact that the faulty information
is circulating in the whole loop and therefore no part of the loop has a capacitive behavior
and everything is detected as faulty. This last problem has been solved by the design of a
direction method.
The direction method calculated the zero sequence active energy flowing through a feeder.
This energy can be positive or negative depending if the feeder is faulty or not. The charge
of the capacitance creates a positive active energy and the fault produces this active energy
which is flowing outside the faulty feeder and is seen as negative. The other phenomena such
has the steady state with the generation of active current is also negative and adds in the
faulty feeder detection. This solution determines a direction of the fault flow which allows
the determination of the faulty feeder in a closed ring structure.
98
Part IV
Fault Detection Prototype

Development
99
1.
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the development of the fault detection prototype. The technical
problems specific to the development are presented such has filtering, circulating current,
recordings difference with simulations, threshold design, etc. The author has spent four
months in the Siemens AG department in Berlin to develop a prototype of the C0 method
and directional algorithms.
The implementation has been made in C code on a 7SN64 SIPROTEC V4 device based
upon a micro-controller. This brings many constraints compared to a Matlab script using
a computer processor in term of computing time and performance. Several adaptations have
been done. Also lot of the methods used during the research part are Matlab functions.
These functions have been recoded with some differences accuracy or processing speed. This
problem is presented in this chapter. Several methods have sometimes been tested during the
development before choosing one, the different strategies are shown and a discussion is made
about the choice made during this period.
Lot of recordings have been tested to develop the most accurate prototype, therefore lot
of phenomena which did not occur in the simulations have been discovered and additional
processes have been implemented to deal with these problems. The recordings are mostly
coming from the Pfalzwerke network where two rings structure are operated; one with two
feeders and one with four feeders. The circulating current can be strong in these loops and a
method to run the algorithms with such problem has been implemented.
The parameters accessible to the users are presented. The indications provided by the
device are also shown and explanations about the delays and tripping times are detailed.
Once the prototype has been developed, many tests have been made to compare the
performance with the old Wischer Relay and also the A-Eberle EOR-D Transient protection.
This has been reported to Siemens which has decided to build the first product end of 2012
and has started to deal it in the European Nordic Country. The conclusions of these tests are
presented in this chapter and the test results are provided in appendix.
100
2.
2.1
The signal conditioning

High pass FIR filter - Purpose and design
The current signal i0(t) and the voltage signal u0(t) must be filtered by a high pass filter.
This high pass filter blocks the small oscillations and the DC offset of the current and voltage
which disrupts the algorithm. During the design of the algorithm, tests on recordings have
shown very small oscillations (around 5 Hz) of the current I0. This is probably caused by
measurement errors coming from the measurement transformers. This has a big impact when
this current is integrated, the algorithm can handle most part of this oscillation by changing
the estimated capacitance value but the accuracy is better with filtering. The two next figures
illustrated this problem (signals are from real recordings). Normally, the signal q0(t) in red
should fit the signal u0(t) when they are decreasing. They must have the same phase angle
and quite the same amplitude. Picture without high-pass filtering shows the necessity of this
filter. Without filtering the relation between q0 and u0 is not linear and the estimation of
C0 is bad. With the high-pass filter, the small oscillations of the current are deleted and the
signal q0(t) has a much better relation with the voltage which increases the sensitivity of the
algorithm regarding faulty feeder. The relation between the voltage and the charge is linear
and the estimation of C0 can be well done as the figure 2.1 shows it.
u0
q0
100
200
300
400
time [ms]
500
600
u0
q0
700
100
200
300
400
time [ms]
500
600
700
Figure 2.1: Integration of the current i0(t) without (left) and with (right) high-pass filtering
compared to voltage signal U0
The filter used is non recursive and has 40 samples. The processor used in 7SN64 is not
fast enough to support floating point arithmetic for the filtering so the coefficients have to be
transposed to integer values.
The 32-bit integer range is sufficient for the summation; the resolution on the coefficients
must be fine enough to realize nearly the same frequency response as with floating point
coefficients. After the summation, the result is converted to IEEE floating point format.
With this process the time consuming floating point operations are reduced to a minimum
101
2. THE SIGNAL CONDITIONING
102
with fixed-point data.

To use the whole 32-bit range, the integer coefficients are calculated with the following
equations (postulate: the input values are 16-bit integer values).
IN T 32_M AX
k=0 (| an,k | M AX_SAM P LE)
q = Pn1
(2.1)
With INT32_MAX = maximum 32-bit integer value and MAX_SAMPLE = maximum

sample value = 32768.
ai,k = f loor(an,k q + 0.5)
(2.2)
A FIR filter has been designed. The FIR is a choice for stability imposed by Siemens. The
coefficient has been designed in Matlab with the function fdatool. To design again or a new
filter based on this one, here are the parameters to enter in the fdatool window of Matlab:
Response type: High-Pass filter
Design method: FIR
Constrained equiripple
Filter order: 40. Number of samples per period at a sampling frequency of 2kHz.
Frequency Specifications: Units Hz, Fs=2000, Specify stop band edge, Fstop=1.
Magnitude specifications: Units dB, Astop=80, Apass=1.
The figure below shows the Bode representation of the filter.
Figure 2.2: High pass filter characteristic for signal conditioning
2.2
Circulating current issue
The recordings have shown strong circulating currents which disrupt the algorithm because
these currents do not have a capacitive behavior in the sound feeder. As explained in the
theory chapter, the circulating currents come from a physically unbalanced system which
creates symmetrical system coupling.
103
Current I0 [Ampprim]
The C0 method is using the capacitive performance of the sound feeder to make the
distinction between a faulty and a sound feeder. However, in some networks topology, some
zero sequence current can be not capacitive even in a sound feeder. In closed ring structure,
undesirable 50 Hz zero sequence current I0 can be measured even without earth fault. The
measurement of this current I0 appears as a circulating current in the loop structure. This
current is depending on the load and on the unbalance of the series impedance for example
caused by cable lying. This phenomenon creates a coupling between the symmetrical system
and the load consumption of positive current produces a small zero sequence voltage. This
voltage creates zero sequence current especially if the feeders are in a ring structure because
it creates an electrical circuit where the impedance is very small. Usually, these circulating
currents produce high a zero sequence current but no - or a very small - zero sequence voltage.
An example of circulating current is shown on the next figure 2.3. The circulating current
can be seen before the fault occurs.
20
0
20
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
50
100
150
200
time [ms]
250
300
350
400
Voltage V [V
prim
x 10
5
0
Figure 2.3: Illustration of circulating current from real recording before a single phase earth
fault happens
The results of the C0 method and the directional algorithm can be seen on the figure
2.4. The monitored feeders on this figure are both healthy but the results show that they are
detected as faulty with the C0 method. It delivers a completely wrong result. This is not the
case for the directional method because the transient is very strong which reduces the impact
of the circulating current. However, this will have an impact in case of very high impedance
fault because the signal is much smaller.
2.2.1
The detection
To deal with the circulating currents, they have to be removed from the signal going
into the algorithms. The first problem is the detection of the current. The theory shows
that a small zero sequence voltage is able to produce strong current. This is validated by
the recordings because none of them have measured only sound behavior because the zero
sequence voltage was too high and starts to record. All recordings show earth fault with
only the beginning being healthy. This can be seen on the figure 2.3 where the voltage is
near zero. Therefore, the detection of the circulating current will occur if the zero sequence
voltage is smaller than the threshold voltage to trigger the fault detection methods and if the
current is higher than a set value. This set value is defined as a value that will not impact
the algorithms for fault detection.
104
10
10
10
10
10
100
120
Energy
140
160
180
200
160
180
200
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
x 10
0
1
2
100
120
140
time [ms]
Figure 2.4: Healthy feeder can be detected as faulty without dealing the circulating current
Because not every closed ring has these circulating currents, it is not necessary to filter
the 50 Hz component every time. A detection method of the high circulating current has
been implemented. The algorithm will not filter the 50 Hz at each fault which will improve
the global sensitivity of the algorithm.
To detect this current, the algorithm computes the root mean square value of the current
if the zero sequence voltage is not reached. If the RMS current reaches a threshold (high
circulating current detection threshold) during 1 s and no V0 pickup has been detected, then
circulating current is detected on this feeder and the 50 Hz component will be filtered.
Remark regarding threshold and 1 s detection time: It appears that the fundamental
would be the best quantity to detect the circulating current. However this quantity is not
available so the RMS value is used. To avoid any wrong detection a delay of 1 s is used. This
seems to be practical since bigger load changes are rare.
2.2.2
The first suppression technique
The first technique developed is the filtering of the circulating current which means the
suppression of the entire 50 Hz component.
Current [A
sec
0.5
0.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1
Current [A
sec
Faulty Feeder
Sound Feeder
0
1
0
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 2.5: Suppression of the 50 Hz component to delete the circulating current

The biggest problem with this method is the lack of sensitivity. Filtering the 50 Hz component severely reduces the sensitivity regarding the fault impedance. Indeed, high impedance
105
fault has only a 50 Hz component which makes the detection of the faulty feeder impossible
because all the important information is filtered. This solution has been aborted after several
tests during the prototype development.
2.2.3
The second suppression technique
The second developed technique is the suppression of only the circulating currents considering they are exactly at 50 Hz and are remaining constant during the detection process.
The solution of the pre fault evaluation is used to suppress this circulating current without
suppressing the valuable information at 50 Hz. This current is assumed to depend on the
load and the load is not affected by a single phase earth fault because it is fed by the phaseto-phase voltage of the network. The circulating current will not vary during the beginning
of the fault.
If no zero sequence voltage is detected - i.e. the voltage does not reach the threshold
starting the algorithm - the zero sequence current is measured and stored in memory for the
last 3 periods. At the next periods, the current memorized three periods before is subtracted
from the actual measured current. This new current is used in the algorithm if there is
relay pick up. Three periods are used because in case of high impedance fault, a part of the
beginning of the fault could be missed and this is not a circulating current. Three periods
ensure that the algorithm is not measuring any information from the fault. This deletion
technique is shown on the figure 2.6
Current [A
sec
0.5
0.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Current [A
sec
0.5
0.5
0
Figure 2.6: Deletion of the circulating component without filtering
2.3
Current condition
One last condition needs to be fulfilled before running the C0 algorithm and and the directional algorithms. The RMS value of the current for the 20ms samples must be high enough
(>2.5 mA secondary current). If the value is too low, the least-square method to estimate
the capacitance of the network could not work properly. This means that for extremely short
lines, the algorithm will never run when a single phase earth fault occurs outside this feeder.
It will only run when an earth fault is on this line because the current is not the capacitive
current from the zero sequence capacitance of the feeder, but the current from the total capacitance of the network. The indication available will only be: Faulty/Forward or Current
I0 too low which is not a real problem.
3.
3.1
The C0 method
Integrating the current i0
The integration of the zero sequence current is done with the use of the trapezoidal rule.
This rule uses the two closest points of the data received and calculates the area formed by
the trapezoid from 0 to these points. This is the red surface on the figure below. The error
on the integral is shown in blue on the following figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1: Illustration of the trapezoidal integration compared to a perfect integration

However, a 2 kHz sampling frequency is high enough to reduce this error to a value very
small compared to others errors in the signals.
b
f (x)dx (b a)
f (b) + f (a)
2
(3.1)
(b-a) corresponds to the time between two samples; at 2 kHz (b-a) = 0.005 sec. The
general equation for the value of q0 (k):
q0 (k) =
3.2
([i0 (j + 1) + i0(j)]
0.005 k
)
2 j=1
(3.2)
Estimating C0
Once the fault inception is found, 20 ms of the signals are recorded to estimate the
capacitance of the feeder. This way, 40 samples are recorded for this first period. We suppose
1
q 0k + err where
that these points form a straight line corresponding to the equation u0k = C0
106
3. THE C0 METHOD
107
err is a possible offset in the measurement. The method used to determine the slope 1/C0
and the offset err is the least square method. It is described below:
The purpose is to minimize the equation 3.3; this is the minimization of the distance
between the samples of coordinates (q0k,u0k) and a straight line where the slope and the
y-intercept are unknown:
E(C01 , err) =
N
X
(u0k C01 q0k err)2
(3.3)
k=1
u0 k and q0 k are the

sampled value of the signals u0 and q0 . As the value C01 and err
that minimize E has to be calculated, the following equation is defined:
kth
E
=0
C01
(3.4)
E
=0
err
(3.5)
Some manipulations results in:

N
X
E
(u0k C01 q0k err)q0k = 0
1 =
C0
k=1
N
X
E
=
(u0k C01 q0k err) = 0
err k=1
(3.6)
(3.7)
The two equations can be rewritten as:
N
X
2
q0k
)C01 + (
k=1
N
X
N
X
q0k )err =
k=1
N
X
q0k )C01 + (
k=1
N
X
u0k q0k
(3.8)
u0k
(3.9)
#
PN
wk q0k
k=1
PN
(3.10)
1)err =
k=1
k=1
N
X
k=1
In matrix representation, the result is:

" P
N
2
k=1 wk q0k
A = PN
k=1 wk q0k
k=1 wk
" P
#
N
w
u
q
k=1 k 0k 0k
P
b=
N
k=1 wk u0k
(3.11)
wk is the weight of each sample k. In this algorithm, the weight of each sample is the
same (i.e. wk=1). Then we obtain an estimation of C01 and err given by the equation:
"
C01
err
= A1 b
(3.12)
3. THE C0 METHOD
108
The algorithm has measured and computed the samples u0k and q0k. Every cell of the
matrix A and b must be computed. Then the determinant of A must be computed (here
wk=1):
detA = A(0, 0)A(1, 1) A(0, 1)A(1, 0) = N
N
X
2
q0k
k=1
N
X
q0k )2
(3.13)
k=1
Then the inverse of the matrix A must be calculated:

A1
1
=
detA
"
A(1, 1) A(0, 1)
A(1, 0) A(0, 0)
(3.14)
C0 and err can be found as:
C01 =
err =
N
N
N
X
X
X
1
(N
u0k q0k
q0k
u0k )
detA
k=1
k=1
k=1
(3.15)
N
N
N
X
X
X
X
1
2
(
q0k
u0k q0k +
q0k
u0k )
detA k=1
k=1
k=1
k=1
(3.16)
The result is then illustrated on the following figure.

60
50
Slope not limited but feeder faulty
50
30
U0
U0
40
Line slope = 1/C0
20
10
0
10
4
q0
50
1
8
4
x 10
0.5
0
q0
0.5
1
3
x 10
Figure 3.2: Estimation of C0 in case of sound or faulty feeder

The next step for C0 is to compare the value with a minimum C0min and a maximum
value C0max . The minimum value C0min can be considered as 10 % of the capacitance seen
from the device toward the underlying network (direction bus bar to loads). In case of a
ring structure the whole ring needs to be considered plus eventually the underlying network
parts. C0max is defined as 10 times the maximum capacitance of the considered network part.
This could avoid the algorithm to not detect any fault because of a false value of C0 for
example negative C0 which is not possible if the feeder is faulty. Once C0 has been estimated
for the first 20 milliseconds, a new estimation of C0 is done for the next 20 milliseconds of
data received. The previous data are not used for the estimation which make available the
possibility to find the real value of C0 when the fault is gone.
3. THE C0 METHOD
109
5
x 10
Slope limited in case if C0 is too low
U0
0.5
0.5
1
8
2
q0
8
4
x 10
Figure 3.3: Estimation of C0 in case of faulty feeder with unrealistic C0 value
3.3
3.3.1
Error threshold computation

Basis
With the first estimated value of C0 , it is possible to compute a threshold value for
the integration of the error. When C0 is small, the current is also small because of the
0 (k)
. Then the signal to noise ratio is smaller with small current
equation: i0 (k) = C0 dudt
which leads to a bigger error (t). To be insensitive
to this problem - i.e. a sensitivity
2
proportional to the line length - a threshold for depending on C0 is used. The threshold
is proportional to 1/C0 ; this is shown on the next figure 3.4. In the device, the threshold is
equal to 1/(Th.Red.Fact.*C0 ) on the secondary value. This threshold is then compared to
a minimum and a maximum value. For an extremely long line, the threshold for a healthy
feeder is very low and this could lead to an error due to a too strong sensitivity. The threshold
is then limited to a reasonable value (default max threshold = 1/(Th.Red.Fact.*C0min ) and
default min threshold = 1/(Th.Red.Fact.*C0max )). The problem in case of very short line
is the contrary, the function could be not sensitive enough to detect a fault and this high
threshold must be limited.
Threshold
2500
0.25
C0min
C0
C0max
Figure 3.4: Threshold value depending on C0 value

The threshold is dynamic. This means that this threshold is evolving during the fault
to be the most sensitive without getting wrong tripping. When the integral is reset, the
threshold is evaluated again. In case of low impedance fault, transients occur and they are
not fitting properly the capacitive model of the algorithm. The error computed is then high
even for sound feeders and could lead to a fault detection on a sound feeder. The solution is to
temporarily increase the threshold (if it is too low) to a minimum value to take into account
3. THE C0 METHOD
110
this error. If new transient occurs, the threshold is increased by 5%. Once the integral is reset,
the transient is gone and a new, more sensitive, threshold may be set. This configuration is
graphically explained by the figure 3.5.
Threshold
2500
Threshold is limited
0.25
C0
C0min
C0max
Figure 3.5: Minimum value of the threshold limited in case transient detection
If the threshold is high enough, it is only increased by 5% when a transient is detected. If
the threshold is lower than 25, it will be set to 25 at the first transient detection and increased
by 5% at each new transient.
Threshold
30
20
10
0
Current
Integral is reset
Threshold is low
Fault Inception
Transient detected
Threshold increased
0
100
Integral is reset
No transient detected
Sensitivity is high
Algorithm is blocked
Voltage is decreasing
200
Another transient detected

Threshold increased of 5%
300
time [ms]
400
500
600
Algorithm is resumed
Transient detected
Threshold increased
Figure 3.6: Evolution of the threshold depending on the current signal

The way to detect the transient is done by computating the rms value of the current. A
transient will generally create a high step in the root mean square value, detecting these steps
will be considered as a transient. The step must be at least higher than 0.2 Amp secondary
to be considered as a transient. An example of the threshold evolution is illustrated by the
figure 3.6.
When a circulating current is detected, the 50 Hz component is filtered; only remain
frequencies higher than 50 Hz. The estimation of the zero-sequence capacitance is not so
accurate hence the threshold must be high by default. If the threshold is lower than 100, it
will directly be put to 100 and will be increased by 5% if current rms jumps are detected.
3. THE C0 METHOD
3.3.2
111
Feedback and updates from the tests
Several tests have been made and the sensitivity during high impedance fault was not as
high as expected. One reason is the difficulty to set the threshold so that false alarms are
avoided while keeping a high sensitivity. The other reason is that the inception of the fault
is not used in case of high impedance fault. As it is shown in the next figure 3.7, the voltage
is detected more than one period after the inception of the fault. The signal comes from a
simulation from ATP but similar events often occur on real distribution network.
Figure 3.7: Relay picks up after the inception of the fault with Feeder 1 faulty and 3kOhm
fault
Looking at the error signal and the active energy on the next figure 3.8 to determine if
the feeder is faulty or not, the value of 2 for the feeder 1 is higher but does not reach the
threshold and therefore it is considered as healthy instead of faulty.
Figure 3.8: C0method values and threshold

By looking at the value of 2 , the first idea could be to reduce the threshold to detect the
faulty feeder. This idea is not working because others recordings and simulations with lowest
impedance faults create an 2 for the sound feeder which is higher than the 2 of the faulty
feeder in this recording.
To increase the sensitivity, the following solution is suggested: use the information before
the relay picks up to take into account the inception of the fault. The way to do it is to
run the algorithm even without voltage pick up and if the next period has a voltage pick
up, the last 2 with its threshold and zero sequence active energy must count in the result
computation. In this case, if the current is high enough to make an estimation of C0 , this
3. THE C0 METHOD
112
means that the fault impedance is very high. If the fault impedance was very low, there
would be no current before the algorithm picks up because the inception of the fault would
be catched. The threshold can then be decreased by a factor ten to increase the sensitivity.
Due to this decreasing of the threshold and because the 2 is increasing continuously on
every feeder, it is better to increase the threshold at each cycle of the algorithm to take into
account this drift. However, if there is a jump of the rms current ies, this is the indicator
to increase the threshold because of a low impedance fault - LIF - rising. This LIF could
create a transient that will increase 2 on every feeder. The next figure 3.9 shows that the
improvement is able to catch the inception of the fault.
Figure 3.9: Updates make the relay picked up before the inception of the fault
This increases the error computed signal 2 of the faulty feeder and also identifies the
event as a high impedance fault and the threshold is decreased to have a higher sensitivity.
This is illustrated by the next figure 3.10.
Figure 3.10: The threshold can be smaller in this case and detect the faulty feeder
3.4
Calculation of the error and its integration
With C0 , the instantaneous error (k) is calculated as defined by the equation:

(k) = u0 (k)
q0 (k)
err
C0
(3.17)
3. THE C0 METHOD
113
In case of sound feeder, the capacitive behavior is verified and the error created comes
from a small amplitude difference coming from noise and from the quantification error and
rounding due to the use on integers. Regarding a faulty feeder, the error consists in an
amplitude, because no correct capacitance estimation can be found, but also a in phase angle
difference. Therefore the faulty feeder has a much larger error signal than the sound feeder.
Once this error is computed, the algorithm is calculating the equation (with the trapezoidal
k
rules described above): k0 (k)2 dt; the integral is used to remember every previous error made
and the square value gives more weight to the extreme errors than to the smallest ones. The
integral is done with the same trapezoidal method as for the current i0 (k). This result is
compared to the threshold defined by C0 and if the integral exceeds this threshold, a faulty
feeder is detected.
Of course, even the error of the sound feeder is not exactly zero. It oscillates around zero
and it will increase the integral but much slower than for a faulty feeder. To avoid drift, the
integral is also reset every 2 to 5 periods.
4.
4.1
Device running criteria

Blocking the algorithm
In compensated network, when the fault is gone, voltage and current signals are decreasing
slowly during several periods. This is due to the resonance of the zero sequence system between
the Peterson coil and the line-to-earth capacitances.
60
Fault disappeared
Voltage is decreasing
Voltage [V]
40
20
0
20
40
TBlock
60
0
50
100
150
time [ms]
200
250
300
Figure 4.1: Voltage is decreasing when the fault has disappeared

It is not needed to run the algorithm when the fault is gone, a small error signal subsists
when there is no fault. The algorithm can be paused i.e. it does not calculated the error signal
and the integral any longer when the voltage has been decreasing for five periods, because
this means that the fault is gone and no more feeder is faulty. Stopping the algorithm before
this five cycles delay could make the method miss some intermittent earth fault. Once the
voltage is going higher again, the algorithm is resumed. For every forty samples received i.e. 20ms of data - the device looks for the highest absolute value and compares it with the
previous ones, if the maximum voltage has been decreasing since minimum five cycles, the
algorithm will stop estimating C0 and wait for a new higher voltage - higher than 105% or
two times higher than 95%.
If the voltage is still high but the current too low, the algorithm is also paused when the
root means square value of the current is - <0.0025 Amp secondary - and the algorithm is
waiting for a higher current.
114
4. DEVICE RUNNING CRITERIA
4.2
115
Stopping the algorithm
The stop criterion is a zero sequence voltage below the start threshold. The stop threshold
must be smaller than the start threshold because there must be some hysteresis. This avoids
any disturbance if the voltage is near this limit. When the voltage is below this threshold, all
the internal parameters are reset and the algorithm will start a new process when the voltage
is reaching the start threshold again.
To avoid the use of a data window which contains a voltage drop to zero in case of wrong
switching-off of the line; a fast voltage drop detection is required to block the algorithm before
it tries to estimate of C0 on a disconnected line. Such voltage drops may be caused by a circuit
breaker opening or any other phenomenon. If, in the window of 20ms, the last 5ms are near
PN/4
2
zero, the algorithm will stop. The ten samples are computed as: N4 k=1 u0 (k0 )2 < u0_stop
.
2
The parameter u0_stop is the U0/UN Pickup setting minus the hysteresis: U0/UN
pickup*0.95. The algorithm must be blocked before the voltage drops occurs.
The capacitive model is not suited when the voltage drops and if the C0 method tries to
estimate a capacitance with a part of the voltage and current near zero, it will lead to an
error.
4.3
Characterization of the fault
Additional information can be indicated by the function detecting the fault. The function
recognizes three kinds of fault:
Temporary: A fault has been detected but the voltage has decreased and the fault is
gone, the fault was only temporary. If the function has been blocked once due to a
voltage decrease, the fault is considered as only temporary.
Intermittent: If the fault disappears, the voltage will decrease and the function will be
blocked. If the fault occurs again due to an intermittent earth fault and than disappears
again, the function will be blocked several times and it will be detected as an intermittent
earth fault.
Continuous: If the fault does not disappear or if the fault reappears within 80 ms it is
considered as a continuous earth fault. The function will never be blocked and the fault
will be considered as a continuous earth fault after 1 second.
4.4
Faulty phase determination
The device can also determine which phase is faulty if the phase measurements are provided. The algorithm measures the lowest rms voltage value and if the rms value is 90% below
the rms value of the two others phases, then this phase is considered as the faulty one. The
two highest phase voltage must have a rms value of minimum u0_start. This determination
can be difficult when the fault impedance is very high because the phase voltage is decreasing
or increasing very slowly.
5.
5.1
Directional method
Implementation
If the fault is in a forward direction, the measured active zero sequence energy is negative
because U0 and I0 are opposite. This power is measured during a maximum of three periods.
This power is integrated to measure the energy through the feeder. Then this energy is
compared to a threshold. If the energy is below this threshold, the direction is considered as
forward. If the average energy is above this threshold, the energy is considered as reverse.
And if the average energy is between the two thresholds during three consecutive periods,
then the direction is considered as unknown. The algorithm can be stopped when the energy
has reached one threshold. The flowchart below details the way to determine the direction of
the fault.
u0(140)
i0(140)
Compute the active power:
Maximum 2 times
pa (t )
1
u 0( )i 0( )d
T
0
Compute the active energy:

T
ea ea _ old pa (t )dt
0
Is ea<Threshold?
Is
ea>Threshol
d?
No
Yes
Yes
Forward
Reverse
No
Reverse
Figure 5.1: Flowchart of the direction determination

First the zero sequence power must be calculated:
p0 (k) = u0 (k)i0 (k)
116
(5.1)
5. DIRECTIONAL METHOD
117
With the trapezoidal rules developed, the zero-sequence active power is computed:
pa (k) =
1
T
p0 (k)
(5.2)
kT
And then the active zero sequence energy is calculated and compared to a threshold
pa (k)
e0 (T ) = e0_old +
(5.3)
Some explanation can clarify the way to compute the active power equation 5.2. The
active power of the sample k is the integration of the forty previous samples - one period if
the sampling frequency is different than 20 ms - divided by the period. Because is is assumed
that the p0 is almost zero before the earth fault, the first period received to determine the
direction can be computed that way:
1 k
pa (k) =
p0
(5.4)
T 0
The vector pa must be placed in memory - named old_pa - and will be used for the next
period:
1 k
new_pa (k) =
p0 + old_pa (last_sample) old_pa (k)
(5.5)
T 0
With this way to compute the active power, it will fit the equation 5.2 without memorizing
too complex vector due to the use of a sliding window.
The two next figures 5.2 and 5.3 illustrated the way to determine the direction. The
direction determination starts at 46 ms in this figure. In case of low impedance fault, the
average energy during the window 46ms -66ms is high enough to be detected as reverse or
forward in both case.
3
x 10
Energy pa (k)
Sound Feeder
Faulty Feeder
Reverse zone
Reverse direction!
1
Unknown
zone
0
1
Forward zone
2
3
45
50
Forward direction!
55
60
time [ms]
65
70
75
Figure 5.2: The three zones of direction and determination in case of LIF
The importance of the synchronization with the inception of the fault can be explained
with this picture. If the determination of the direction window starts earlier, the average
energy will be much smaller and could be in the unknown zone. On contrary, if the window
starts much later, the fault could be gone and the energy will be decreasing which will be
measured as a negative energy by the device and could lead to a wrong determination.
A high impedance fault shows a very small energy and therefore the average energy could
be not high enough to determine safely the direction of the fault. The fault direction is then
unknown in this case as illustrated by the figure 5.3.
118
x 10
Sound Feeder
Faulty Feeder
Energy pa (k)
2
Reverse zone
1
Unknown zone
0
1
Forward zone
2
3
50
60
70
80
90
100
time [ms]
Figure 5.3: The three zones of direction and determination in case of HIF
5.2
Feedback and updates from the tests
The new way to determine the direction of the fault has shown really good results regarding
the sensitivity. However, in some cases, false direction determinations occurs. In every case,
the problem occurs when a loop with strong circulating currents is measured.
The circulating current does not have the behavior of an earth fault and if the feeder
is faulty, it could be detected as a sound one because of this behavior. This circulating
current could have an active part compared to the zero sequence voltage produced by the
fault. Because this current is circulating, one feeder will measure an active part which is
positive and the other will measure it as negative. The determination of the direction is then
disturbed by these currents.
The next figure shows the zero sequence active energy if the circulating currents are not
filtered. The signals come from real recording and the four feeders are connected in one big
loop. The four feeders are sound, if there is no circulating current, all the active energy should
increase to charge the healthy capacitance of the loop. The fault impedance is really high and
the zero sequence current produced by the fault on the sound feeder has a smaller amplitude
than the circulating current.
5
x 10
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Feeder 4
Energy
3
550
555
560
565
570
575
time [ms]
580
585
590
595
600
Figure 5.4: Zero sequence active energy with circulating current in a four feeders sound loop
If the circulating currents are suppressed by the signal processing as detailed in section 2.2,
the zero sequence active energy measured is mostly due to the charging of the zero sequence
capacitance of the sound loop. There is still a small drift because the circulating currents are
not completely filtered; the threshold should take this into account and the detection window
too. If no fault has been detected several cycles after the fault inception, the deletion of the
119
x 10
0
Feeder 1
Feeder 2
Feeder 3
Feeder 4
Energy
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
550
560
570
580
590
600
610
620
time [ms]
Figure 5.5: Zero sequence active energy without circulating current in a four feeders sound
loop
circulating current could not be as efficient as it was because of drifting, loads level changes,
etc. Therefore, the algorithm should be stopped after five cycles.
6.
Summary
This chapter focuses on the technical aspect regarding the development of a prototype
for fault detection and direction determination of single phase earth fault in compensated
network. The constraints that occur when transferring from the Matlab code to the device
has been described.
The fine tuning concerning the threshold, the starting, stopping of the methods have
been considered. Several problems have been noticed during the first test phase and the
development especially regarding the starting time and the pick-up threshold. Feedback from
these tests have been used to improve the sensitivity of both methods and reduced the number
of wrong fault detection.
The circulating current problem has been solved by an active filtering using the pre-fault
value and considering the loads as constant before and during the fault. This method keeps
a good sensitivity but cannot run the algorithm in case of permanent earth fault because the
drift in the suppression of the circulating current could create errors after several periods.
120
Part V
Fault Location in Compensated

Network
121
1.
Introduction
Once a detection algorithm has been implemented in a prototype, the next part of the
research concerns the fault location of single phase earth fault. The research has begun with
a state of the art and a comparison of the existing methods but it quickly appears that it was
important to define the goal of the fault location to take the right direction. A survey was
then made among several operators which helped to understand the problems of a commercial
fault location.
This chapter introduces the theoretical concepts of the fault location made during this
work. Many different solutions exist and come from the transmission power system. However
there is some differences between the transmission and the distribution network.
The first section describes the needs of fault location in the German compensated networks. It was important in this work to clearly understand what are the needs of the distribution system operators to design the adequate technique. A survey has also been made
with several operators to understand their problem and the structure of their network with
distributed generations, loops, etc.
The second section gives a general state of the art in fault location. The standard
[C37.114-2004, 2005] elaborated in 2004 by the IEEE society is mainly used because most
techniques are summarized in it. Classic impedance method is presented and compared to
traveling wave techniques. Some methods developed especially for the fault location in compensated networks are analyzed. Others have been developed during the nineties but no truly
commercial application has appeared since. The experience built during this PhD work tries
to explain the reasons of this lack. Then we shall explain how and why we have chosen a fault
detection strategy based upon the steady state.
The third section describes the challenges of the fault location choice using the steady state
such as the current level, the equations and the different possible topologies. Explanations
are provided for decision making in case of trees structure. The loads and the distributed
generations could also be a problem because it is a current infeed/outfeed that the algorithms
are not aware of.
122
2.
2.1
The needs of fault location in compensated network

Todays fault location
First of all, it is necessary to explain how a fault location is processed in a compensated

network nowadays. When a single phase earth fault is detected on a feeder, either this fault
is permanent or not. If it is not permanent then no action is taken because the fault can
come from many short-life phenomena. Floating plastic bags or tree branches touching the
overhead lines then burning are an common example.
If the fault is permanent, a location of the fault must be performed to enable the repair.
This fault location is made in two steps. Firstly an intervention team has to go along the line
to locate the faulty section then secondly they precisely locate the position where the repair
must be made. A section is a part of a line between two secondary substations, this section is
homogeneous meaning the linear impedance is the same along the section (i.e. it is the same
power line characteristics). Each section must be checked until the faulty one is found. The
procedure to find it is extremely time consuming because the intervention team has to switch
off and switch on manually some of the feeders.
In Germany, many distribution system operators have the possibility to connect the faulty
feeder with another feeder to create a temporary loop structure. The goal of this loop is to
have two direction indications in the main substation so, by opening the loop at different
position, it is possible to locate the faulty section. The advantage of this technique is to
maintain the power in the whole network during the location of the faulty section. The
procedure to locate the faulty section in a temporary closed ring is the following:
1. Detect the fault on the feeder
2. Connect the feeder to the other one to create a temporary loop structure
3. Disconnect the loop at another position
4. Check if the feeder is still faulty, if yes go to step 3
5. If not, the section disconnected from the former faulty feeder is the faulty one
The following figure 2.1 describes the procedures with a flowchart diagram. Each switching on
and off is usually done manually. Therefore a patrol has to drive to the secondary substation
to connect or disconnect the feeder [saha et al., 2010, Nikander and Jrventausta, 1998]. This
procedure is then very time consuming and the whole procedure can take one or two workdays.
New substations are sometimes connected to a central control room from which they can be
123
2. THE NEEDS OF FAULT LOCATION IN COMPENSATED NETWORK
124
teleoperated but even in that case the direction information coming from the protection
devices are usually not sending the information back to the central unit. Therefore, a patrol
still has some driving distance to do.
Fault detection
Close the ring
Open the ring at a

different position
No
Does the fault

direction has
changed?
Yes
Fault detection
Figure 2.1: Flowchart explaining the procedure to locate the faulty section in compensated
network with ring possibilities
The following figure 2.2 illustrated the procedure in four steps. The ring is opened in
different position until the fault direction is changing, the faulty section is then the feeder
that has changed on the open loop.
1
Faulty section is located
Figure 2.2: Schematic describing the faulty section location in a ring structure
Once the faulty section has been detected, a so called chariot is brought to the secondary
substation of the faulty section to make an accurate fault location. This concerns fault
location in cables. This equipment creates pulses which allows the team to locate the fault
2. THE NEEDS OF FAULT LOCATION IN COMPENSATED NETWORK
125
precisely and to begin the repair by digging into the ground at the exact fault location if
it is a underground cable. Fault location in overhead line can be easier if the field is more
accessible.
2.2
What fault location algorithm could bring
Bringing a fault location algorithm into the main substation will save a lot of time to the
operators if the location can be faster than the whole process described above. However, it is
not possible with todays structure and technologies to precisely locate the fault using only
the measurement from one substation. There are many factors that impact the precision.
Therefore, it has been assumed that the fault location will still be operated in two steps.
This work has then been focused on the improvement of the first step i.e. finding the faulty
section, because it is the most time-consuming one, due lots of travels and non-automated
tasks..
An algorithm that would find the faulty section would save time to the intervention team
because it will not have to drive and disconnect the sections many times. However, once the
faulty section is detected, the precise fault location still must be done with the appropriate
equipment. If this fault area is quickly located then the user will have to check only a few
sections instead of the whole feeder.
An efficient fault location to isolate the faulty section or to provide the user a faulty area
where the fault has a great chance to be is the goal of this thesis. A short state of the art
is presented and then a choice in the actual fault location solution has been made and a
deep study of this solution is the outcome of this work with practical suggestions for future
implementation.
3.
State of the art of fault location and application
The goal of this chapter is to provide very general information about the different fault
location techniques. The presented methods have advantages and disadvantages and they
were not deeply investigated in this work
The steady state method is the one used in this work. Some reasons are given why it has
been chosen but the others methods could be more investigated in the future and are clearly
not rejected.
3.1
Charging transient
During the 1990s, several works have been presented to locate the fault in compensated
network using the charging transient [Welfonder, 1998, Lehtonen, 1992]. Depending on the
network model used, an equation of the charging transient can be linked to the fault distance.
For example, Welfonder has determined the equation of the frequency of this transient as
(detailed in the section 3.2.3.1):
fcharge
1
q
(3.1)
2 (1.5LT + dld )2(Cg,tot + Cp,tot )

The parameter LT is the inductance of one phase of the transformer, ld is the linear inductance of the faulty line, Cg and Cp are the total capacitance phase-to-ground and capacitance
phase-to-phase of the network. According to this equation, if the frequency can be measured
with enough accuracy and the parameters are known, then the fault location can be found
because there is a relation with the distance in this equation. The model on figure 3.1 has
been used to determine this equation. The left drawing illustrates the network with a three
phases representation and a two-feeder compensated network. The right figure shows the
simplified network developed by Welfonder to establish the relationship between the charging
frequency and the network parameters.
The parameters must then be very accurate so as the measurements of the charging
frequency. However, even if some simulations show that there is obviously a relationship
between the frequency and the distance the reality seems more complex than the model
currently proposed if a distributed lumped model is used for fault simulation. Also, to confront
this model with the reality some assumptions might be reconsidered:
1. This model assumes the lines are homogeneous which is often the case in transmission
network but not in distribution network.
126
3. STATE OF THE ART OF FAULT LOCATION AND APPLICATION
127
Figure 3.1: Model to determine the frequency of the charging transient

2. The capacitive model is considered with only a series impedance on the faulty phase of
the line.
3. The fault is purely resistive during the transient.
To identify the charging frequency, several method can be used such as a simple FFT or
more complex mathematical tools such as wavelet, differential or neural network algorithms
[Imris, 2006, Hnninen et al., 1999][Eberl et al., 2000].
Despite this modeling problem that could be improved, experimental results and recordings have shown that the transients is not always present in single phase-to-earth fault. The
fault can have a high impedance in which no charging frequency is measured. More often
the fault is intermittent due to the effect of the Peterson coil. Such intermittence lasts only
half a period of the charging transient, the fault is only a strike or a few milliseconds which
makes very difficult to measure the charging frequency. On a set of 40 recordings received
from Siemens, only 20% had a frequency higher than 50 Hz which could be considered as a
charging frequency. It might be possible that a higher sampling frequency than the 12.8 kHz
- supposing that the charging frequency was higher than 6 kHz - used in the recorder would
have measured a higher charging frequency but this could have increased by 10% the signals
with interesting frequency. Fault location using this system then depends on the network
conditions and are not controlled by the user. Therefore, this solution was not chosen in this
work.
3.2
Fault passage indicators
A technique requiring much more equipments is the installation of several fault indicators
along the feeder. The distribution network has a direction indication at each secondary
substation [Management, 2013]. Using the transient measurement or based on a magnetic
sensor [Bjerkan and Venseth, 2005], a direction indication is provided to the user. Usually a
color is displayed on the device e.g. green means that the section is reverse and red means
that the fault is forward. Unfortunately these devices are not equipped with any transmission
system, so that a patrol has to drive at each secondary substation to check which direction
128
has been detected. This technique is faster than the complete manual fault location because
neither opening nor closing of secondary substations are required.
An example of faulty section identification using fault passage indicators is illustrated by
the figure 3.2.
BB
sBB 1
sBB 2
sBB 3
sBB 4
sBB 5
: Reverse
: Forward
Figure 3.2: Example of fault passage indicators for a radial feeder

The costs of such system can vary depending of the network and the technology used.
If the fault current is significant, the fault passage indicators can catch the magnetic flux
from the fault current and indicates the direction. Such devices do not require any current
or voltage transformers and can be relatively cheap.
3.3
Traveling waves
This method needs a very high sampling frequency because it measures the electromagnetic wave reflection on the bus bar and on the fault location. The principle of the fault
location is simple and is described by the figure 3.3. When the fault occurs, an electromagnetic traveling wave is produced by the fault, once it reaches a point where the medium has
a different impedance, a reflection will occur. At this moment a first peak is measured by the
device. This wave will reflect at the fault position due to the presence of the fault arc and
will come back to the bus bar. The measurement of the time between the two peaks and the
knowledge of the wave speed gives the fault distance.
t0
t11
t12
Figure 3.3: Effect of the fault used in the traveling wave fault location principle
This solution is used in transmission grid [Crossley and McLaren, 1983, Lopes et al., 2011]
but some papers are trying to implement it for application in distribution network as explained
in [Borghetti et al., 2007]. One advantage compared to the others solutions is the immunity
129
to power-frequency phenomena such as transformation saturation, power wings1 , fault type

and source parameters of the system [saha et al., 2010].
Some methods use an additional measurement device to achieve a two-ended traveling
wave method. The devices are then synchronized by GPS [Lopes et al., 2011]. The speed of
the waves is different in cables and overhead lines which could decrease the accuracy if the
speed is assumed to be the speed of light. The heterogeneity of the feeders creates multiple
reflection between the secondary substations which could create difficulty in the algorithm.
Teed circuits are difficult topology where multiple reflections appear but solutions are
suggested [Evrenosoglu and Abur, 2005].
3.4
Steady state
This method uses the 50 Hz component of the network to find the fault location. An
impedance based model of the faulty feeder is made for example using PI line model. When
a fault occurs, measurements are taken and the fault distance can be found thanks to the
relationship between the measurements and the parameters of the model. The accuracy of
the steady state depends on the voltage drop along the line.
Phasors are usually computed during the steady state of the fault. Different equations
and techniques are available to compute the value in the literature.
The first and simplest technique is the use of one single point of measurement. In this case
every parameter of the feeder is required and a model of the fault must be developed. Indeed,
the electrical loop used to determine the fault location equation consists in the feeder and in
the return path from the ground. The second way is the use of multiple measurement points.
It is necessary if there are several infeed in the network. The equations are then different and
can use a path which does not need the ground impedance and a fault model.
This work will focus on the steady state method. A model of the feeder has been created
and studied. The following sections of this chapter describe the equations considered during
this work and the associated problems. Then different strategies are presented depending on
the topology of the network and on the faulty part.
moving power lines
4.
4.1
Challenges of steady-state fault location

The compensated network problem
The problem of compensated network compared to the other distribution network is the
very small faulty current. Therefore the associated voltage drop is not high enough to enable an accurate fault location. This statement is demonstrated in the next chapter with a
sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. Another problem linked to the Peterson
coil is that this small faulty current is not strong enough to avoid insulation recovery for
example in underground cable. The fault is restriking when the voltage is increasing again
and has a sufficient magnitude to break through the insulation. This phenomenon leads to
intermittent and restriking earth faults which do not have steady-state fault current making
the fault location impossible.
Two solutions are suggested in the literature to use the steady-state method with compensated network.
The first one proposes to change the compensation of the network by switching on a resistance in parallel to the Peterson coil [Eberl, 2004, Fickert et al., 2007]. The fault current will
be increased because the impedance of the zero sequence system is smaller. Such resistance
provides a fault current magnitude between 1 to 3 times the maximum load current of the
feeder. Others resistances can provide much bigger fault current but there is a question of
safety and damage on the equipment. This is enough to stabilize the fault and have a sufficient
steady state to make a correct phasor estimation. The figure 4.1 illustrates the connection of
a parallel resistance to make a steady state fault location.
Figure 4.1: Connection of a parallel resistance to increase the fault current

The impact of the parallel resistance are recorded and shown in the following figure 4.2.
The figure illustrates the voltage on the faulty phase, it decreases quickly at the beginning
of the fault and is quite stable until the parallel resistance is switched on. The fault is very
stable even during the earth fault however it is important to notice that it is a recording made
during a test field where the fault has been solidly connected to the ground. The behavior
of a actual fault might be different. Also the voltage on the faulty phase during the fault
130
4. CHALLENGES OF STEADY-STATE FAULT LOCATION
131
does not drop very much. This could be explained by a high fault resistance which limits the
voltage drop.
4
x 10
Voltage phase 2 [V]
Beginning of the fault

1
1
Parallel resistance switched on
2
500
1000
1500
2000
2500 3000
Time [ms]
3500
4000
4500
5000
Figure 4.2: Example of signal increasing due to the connection of a parallel resistance
The small voltage drop during the fault has also an impact on the faulty current. The
figure 4.3 shows a very small current increase of around 20 Amps primary compared to the
100 Amp of load before the fault occurs. Switching on the parallel resistance doubles the
faulty current value but it is still small compared to the loads current. This is due to the
small voltage drop. However, simulations of the parallel resistance clearly shows a stronger
faulty current as it is discussed in the chapter VI.
150
Beginning of the fault
Current [A]
100
50
0
50
100
150
500
Parallel resistance switched on

1000
1500
2000
2500 3000
time [ms]
3500
4000
4500
5000
Figure 4.3: Example of current increasing due to the connection of a parallel resistance
The second idea is to install an active element in the transformer neutral. The goal is to
keep the compensation at 50 Hz and injects a current at higher frequency [Buigues et al., 2012,
Dan and Raisz, 2010]. It has the advantage that the series impedance of the line will be larger
because the line is mainly inductive - L f - which could make the fault location more
accurate. However, the shunt capacitances are also smaller at higher frequency. Steady state,
they could be neglected at 50 Hz but probably not at higher frequencies. The model of the
line might not be always true. The injection source must be strong enough to stabilize the
fault even if the 50 Hz signal is not stable. The injection is in the transformer neutral which
will lead to a production of zero sequence current.
132
Figure 4.4: Injection of a signal from the transformer neutral

Our fault location algorithm has been implemented using this method. A model of the
network is built and simulations are run with thousands of different fault positions and fault
impedances for a specific injected frequency. This builds a look-up table where the fault can
be located once the voltage and current measurements have been made. There is almost
no computation during the fault, all the computation is made during the setup of the fault
locator. Values are then interpolated if they are between two simulated values.
4.2
Single-ended method
The single-ended method uses only one measurement point which is the one available in
the main substation. The three phases current and voltage are measured and the symmetrical
components can be computed from them. The electrical circuit used to locate the fault is
illustrated by the figure 4.5. The fault current is flowing through every symmetrical system
and the fault. The distance is computed as the distance that creates the voltage drop on the
circuit on each symmetrical system. The fault connects each system at this point.
The equation of the fault location is then:
V0 dZ0 (I0
dC0 V0
dC1 V1
dC2 V2
) + V1 dZ1 (I1
) + V2 dZ2 (I2
) = 3Rf If
2
2
2
(4.1)
This equation has two unknown variables which are the fault resistance and the distance.
The faulty current can be estimated based on the zero sequence current.
If = I0
(4.2)
More complex models can be made to consider the zero sequence current flowing through
the capacitances of the faulty line but with the increasing of the faulty current by the parallel
resistance, the capacitive current can be neglected. However, the model of the fault has to
be a pure resistance because a complex impedance would add an unknown parameter to the
equation and the system would have two equations for three unknown variables. Nevertheless,
this assumption is plausible because it is generally accepted that the electrical arc consumes
only active power over one period and therefore can be considered as a pure resistance. Shunt
capacitances are considered in this model with a PI model depends on the kind of power line.
The shunt capacitance can usually be neglected for overhead line but there influences must
be evaluated for cables. This impact is deeply studied in the next chapter.
The fault location equation can be divided into a real part and a complex part and simply
solved by a matrix equation:
133
Figure 4.5: Schematic of a fault location model using a single ended method
"
d
Rf
"
real( 2i=0 Zi (Ii dC2i Vi ) 3real(If )

P
imag( 2i=0 Zi (Ii dC2i Vi ) 3imag(If )
P
#1 "
real( 2i=0 Vi )
P
imag( 2i=0 Vi )
P
(4.3)
The model with the shunt admittance needs an iterative computation of the fault distance
to converge to the real distance value. For example, d begins with a value of 50 % and changes
at each iteration.
4.2.1
Heterogeneous line
The equation 4.3 assumes the line is homogeneous because the impedance is constant on
the PI model. Additional equation is necessary is the line is not homogeneous because the
voltage and current must be computed at the location where the section is homogeneous.
This is illustrated by the following figure 4.6. The faulty is not known on the faulty feeder
therefore, the fault location must be tested on several section before finding the faulty section.
Here the algorithm tests the first section then the second, etc. until a result is possible.
The equation to compute the voltage and current at the end of the section is simply a
computation of the voltage drop and the current leaking into the shunt capacitance. The
134
V&I
Step 1:
Test FL
d>1
Step 2:
V&I
Test FL
d>1
Step 3:
V&I
Test FL
d<1
Figure 4.6: Computation of the current and voltage on the faulty section
following equation gives the equation for the zero sequence system where i is the end of the
ith section.
4.2.2
C0i V0i
)
2
C i (V i + V0i1 )
= I0i1 0 0
2
V0i = V0i1 Z0i (I0i1
(4.4)
I0i
(4.5)
Tree structure
Specific topology might require additional measurements to locate the fault on every part
of the feeder. This problem occurs in case of a treed feeder. This feeder has a main power
line in which secondary substations distribute the power in several direction called branches.
The following figure 4.7 illustrates the topology of a tree feeder.
F1
BB
F2
:V&I
F3
Figure 4.7: Topology of a tree feeder

The problem with the single-ended method is the case where the fault is on one of the
branches F1, F2 or F3. The algorithm finds several solutions where the fault might be. If
the fault is at a position smaller than any branch length than the fault could be on any
branch. Therefore no distinction can be made until additional measurements are installed in
135
the network. To locate the fault in one position, only two current measurements have to be
installed on the two branches. By checking this current value, it is possible for the algorithm
to detect if the branch is faulty or not.
4.3
Two-ended method
Some topologies or the addition of a voltage and current measurements create the possibility to use a two-ended method. In this case, a different electrical path is available to find
the fault distance using the steady state. This path is very interesting because it uses only
one symmetrical system and does not need any model of the fault because the circuit does
not integrate it.
Figure 4.8: Schematic of a fault location model using a two ended method
The equation of such fault location is then:
dC1 V1bb
)
2
(1 d)C1 V1end
)
= V1f ault (1 d)Z1 (I1end
2
V1bb = V1f ault + dZ1 (I1bb

V1end
(4.6)
(4.7)
The unknown variables of these two equations are the complex value of the voltage at the
fault location and the real part of the distance. A complex part is computed and represents
the errors made on the voltage measurements. This part is not important for the fault location
but it could still be considered as a precision information. The equations presented represent
the positive sequence system. However, any symmetrical system can be used for the fault
location and the equations are the same. Of course using one symmetrical system will require
the respective parameters and measurements of this system.A huge advantage of this method
is that it does not need any model of the fault current or impedance. Only the accuracy on the
measurements, parameters and PI model impacts the error on the result. All this sensitivity
is analyzed in the next chapter. A simple matrix equation can compute the distance.
136
"
"
dC V bb
Z1 (I1bb 12 1 )
Z1 (C1 V1end dC1 V1end )
1
1+
(1d)Z1 C1
2
#1 "
V1f ault
d
V1bb
V1end + Z1 (V1end C1 dC1 V1end )
(4.8)
The model with the shunt admittance needs an iterative computation of the fault distance
to converge to the real distance value. Also, one difficult tasks with two ended method is
to bring the information at the same place where the fault location can be computed. This
requires a synchronization of the signals and communications link. The fault voltage is not
necessary in our application but its value can be checked to be realistic or not. The distance
is normally a real quantity but errors on the variables will solve the equation in a complex
value. Only the real part represents the distance to the fault. However the complex part can
be checked, perfect case should lead to a null complex quantity or a very small one. Big value
should indicate strong error and suggests that the computed distance is probably not the real
distance to the fault.
4.3.1
Heterogeneous and tree structure
Regarding the non homogeneity of the power lines in distribution network, the technical
developed for the single ended measurement can be applied in the two ended method. The
voltage must be computed for the both end of the considered section. Voltage at the beginning
and at the end of the line must be used for the respective beginning and end of the section.
The tree feeder has the same problem as the single ended method. It is not possible to
know on each branch the fault is. However, a method can be used to find the faulty section if
there is only one branch per secondary substation. It is not possible to locate the fault with
a two ended algorithm but the isolation of the faulty section can be made.
V&I
Step 1:
V&I
Test FL
d>1
V&I
Step 2:
V&I
Test FL V&I
d>1
Step 3:
V&I
Test FL
d<1
V&I
Figure 4.9: Identification of the faulty branch with a two ended algorithm
The figure 4.9 illustrates the procedures to identify a fault which is not on the main feeder
but on the branch.
137
Once this branch has been detected as faulty, the voltage and current at the secondary
substation feeding this branch can be computed. This value can be used to apply a singleended algorithm on the branch if the branch is very long and contains several sections.
If the feeder had several branches starting from the same secondary substation then additional measurements must be installed to identify which branch is faulty.
If the feeder has only one branch per secondary substation then it is theoretically possible
to isolate the faulty section and apply a single-ended method to locate the fault. The following
figure 4.10 illustrates the procedure.
V&I
Step 1:
V&I
Test FL
d>1
V&I
Step 2:
V&I
Test FL V&I
d>1
Step 3:
V&I
Test FL
d<1
V&I
Figure 4.10: Procedure to isolate the faulty branch in a tree feeder and locate the fault
The fault location must be applied on each section of the main power line. If no fault
has been located on this main power line it means that the fault is on one of the branches
connected to it. According to the measurements at both ends, the computation of the voltage
at the substation feeding the faulty branches will be equivalent if it is computed from the
bus bar measurement and from the end measurement. This is not true for the others node
because an over or under estimation of the voltage drop will happen from one side. Indeed,
if we assume the fault is on the first branch of the figure 4.10 instead of the second branch,
then, the voltage at this node computed from the end will not match the voltage at this node
computed from the main substation. The voltage from the end will be much bigger because it
does not considered the fault current flowing through the second section. The measurements
value are true only for this specific faulty branch.
4.3.2
Loop topology
One specific topology of the distribution especially in Germany is the loop structure. This
structure has a strong advantage for the two-ended method [Nikander et al., 2003]. The two
measurements are in the same main substation which avoid the cost and the installation
of a communication link between the two ends of the feeder. The synchronization is also
very simple. The voltage measurement is also the same for both devices which simplifies the
equations.
dC1 V1
)
2
(1 d)C1 V1
= V1f ault (1 d)Z1 (I1end
)
2
V1 = V1f ault + dZ1 (I1bb

V1
138
(4.9)
(4.10)
The equation is then much simpler and the synchronization error is almost non-existent
which such strategy. The equation when the line is homogeneous is only a current ratio.
Indeed, the current will be distributed depending on the fault position.
d=
I1end C12V1
I1bb + I1end C1 V1
(4.11)
The series impedance is not present in this equation therefore an error on this parameter
does not impact the result of the fault location.
Some distribution system operators have loops with more than two feeders. The voltage
at the end can be calculated but it is sometimes measured, this can be done using two sound
feeders. There is a redundancy in such system to compute this voltage because there are
several electrical paths.
1
Figure 4.11: Closed ring structure made of more than two feeders
In such configurations, the fault location is made in two steps; the first one is the detection
of the faulty feeder inside the closed ring and the second one is the location of the fault. The
detection of the fault can be made using the directional algorithm if there are direction
indicators on both end of the feeders. If such devices are not available then the strategy is
to assume that the fault is on one feeder, to run the algorithm and to check if the result is
coherent.
The equation below is an example of fault location formula if the fault is on the feeder 1
with a closed-ring structure made of four feeders as illustrated by the figure 4.11. The positive
sequence is used and the shunt admittances are neglected for the sake of clarity but can be
considered in the final algorithm.
V1bb = V1f ault + dZ1 I1bb
(4.12)
V1bb = V1f ault + (1 d)Z1 (I2bb + I3bb + I4bb ) + Zx Ix
(4.13)
The subscript x is one of the assumed sound feeders. In this case, x will take the value
2, 3 and 4. One of this equation will result in a distance between 0 and 1 while the other
139
ones will not. The selection of the faulty feeder is based on this result. This feeder should be
the one with the best (i.e. having the least standard deviation) measurements. If the feeders
seem equivalent, the position could be run with every sound feeder and a least square method
will minimize the error on the location.
4.4
Loads and DGs impact on fault location
In compensated network, the fault current is small and a parallel resistance must be
switched on to increase the faulty current. However, the faulty current will be increased up
to one to three times the maximum load current on a feeder. Therefore, the impact of the
loads cannot be neglected for fault location and a model must be used. Also the distributed
generation can be considered here as a negative load where current is an output instead of an
input. The difference made in this work is that the distributed generation can be impacted
by the single phase earth fault and therefore the infeed current from the sources can change
before and during the earth fault. The loads are not affected by the single phase earth fault
because they consume phase to phase current which does not change during single phase-toearth fault.
4.4.1
Loads and DGs impact
The impact of the loads on the fault location concerns a current flow that is not modeled in
the network which leads to wrong voltage drop estimation. The problem appears if the loads
are distributed along the feeder because there is a current flow that cannot be measured. By
assumption, the fault locators using the positive and negative sequence symmetrical systems
are impacted by the loads. The zero sequence system does not have any load connected
because the transformer connection is a delta wye in Europe which blocks the circulation of
zero sequence current between the two voltage levels.
The following figure 4.12 illustrates the problem of the fault location if the faulty current
is not high enough to neglect the load current. The loads consumes current which reduces the
current along the feeder. Therefore the voltage drop is smaller beyond each load as illustrated.
If the algorithm is not aware of this load information, it assumes that the current is constant
along the feeder and hence that the voltage drop remains constant. Therefore the estimated
position of the fault is closer than it is in the reality.
However, this error only occurs if the loads are between the measurements and the fault.
If the fault is closer than the loads, the faulty current is overestimated if the zero sequence
current is not used but the voltage drop is correct. Overestimating the fault current leads
only to a underestimation of the fault resistance but does not impact the distance. This is
illustrated by the figure 4.13.
This condition is often not realistic in distribution network because the network is made
of several secondary substations where the loads or low voltage networks are connected. The
loads must be then considered as distributed along the power line. The quantification of their
impact is studied in the next chapter regarding the sensitivity of the methods and their errors.
The best solution to avoid any error due to the load is to measure it and transmit the
synchronized measurement to the fault locator. Such a solution is extremely expensive and
therefore not realistic except in a long term fully integrated smart grid. This work wants to
be more practical and pragmatic and suggests others strategies. Some model of the loads
must be made to estimate the current flowing into them.
140
BB
Voltage
Vbb
Vfault
Estimated
fault position
distance
Figure 4.12: Impact of the distributed loads if the fault current is not significant
BB
Voltage
Vbb
Vfault
Estimated
fault position
distance
Figure 4.13: There is no impact on the fault distance if the loads are beyond the fault
Our fault location algorithms uses the steady-state signal and considers an impedance
based load. The reality can be different because the load consumption is not always depending on the voltage value especially with the increasing part of non-linear electronics loads.
However due to the use of the steady state and to the short amount of time required for the
fault location, the load is supposed constant during the whole process and can be modeled
as a simple impedance. More investigations could be done in future work on fault location in
distribution network.
4.4.2
Loads and DGs model
Some papers present different methods to estimate the loads in a distribution network.
The first method consists in the estimation of the equivalent load tap somewhere along the
feeder depending on the prefault value [Altonen and Wahlroos, 2007]. The authors assume
evenly distributed load along the feeder. A fictional load tap having the value of the prefault
is introduced at a distance s from the substation. This distance s depends on the actual
voltage drop along the line. This method is illustrated by the figure 4.14.
The measured prefault current and a model of the power line gives the slope of the dashed
blue line. This blue line is stopped where it reaches the voltage at the end of the feeder. This
141
Figure 4.14: Method of load tap from [Altonen and Wahlroos, 2007]
method requires the voltage at the end of the line to know the tap distance s defined by
the equation below with the numerator being the actual maximum voltage drop of the feeder
and the denominator is the fictional voltage drop if the entire load would have been tapped
in at s.
s=
Udrop(real)
Udrop(s=1)
(4.14)
This method reduces the error made by the load if the tap is between the fault and the
bus bar because it estimates a current flow for the loads which the classic algorithm does not
consider. However, if the load tap is beyond the fault location then the error is the same
because the equation is the same. This method is not perfect because it does not consider
the real current flow.
Others methods assume the load position is known and only a model of it is necessary
[Herrera-Orozco et al., 2012, Nunes and Bretas, 2010]. These models improve the fault location but they do not consider the fluctuations of the loads or the distributed generation along
the time.
Others papers use the ultimate solution consisting in measuring of the distributed generation to consider it in the fault locator [Orozco-Henao et al., 2012].
The problem with these models is that they do not consider any time dependance of
the loads which can change from 0% to 100% during a working day depending on their
nature. Therefore, this work has been focused on the development of a strategy taking those
fluctuations into account and which is the subject of the next chapter.
5.
Summary
This chapter presents the general information required to understand the fault location
problem in compensated network. The need of a fault locator by the distribution system
operators has been discussed and the goal of the fault locator has been clearly defined.
Firstly the problem of fault location is discussed. The purpose of a fault location algorithm
is explained as well as the benefits it could bring to the operators of compensated network.
The main argument is a time saving to locate the faulty section of a feeder. A more accurate
fault location is particularly useful if digging to repair the cable is necessary.
A short state of the art regarding fault location algorithm is detailed. The specific charging
transient in isolated and compensated network has been described for fault location purpose.
Then the traveling waves problems have been introduced followed by the steady-state theory.
Each theory has pros and cons regarding the accuracy of the fault location and its implementation. Comparing the different methods, we have chosen the steady state fault location
method.
The challenges of the steady state method have been detailed for different algorithms using
either a single measurement or several ones. The topology of the faulty feeder influences the
algorithms because some decisions must be made. Tree feeder requires additional current
measurement if a single-ended method is used. Two-ended methods can identify a faulty
branch in theory but location inside a branch is not always possible. Then the loop structure
is considered and the advantages of this topology are explained with the use of a two-ended
method. We have shown the advantages of combining this topology with a two-ended method.
Last, a short discussion has been then made on the modeling and on the impact of the loads.
142
Part VI
Fault Location Tool and Sensitivity

Analysis in Compensated Network
143
1.
Introduction
This last chapter describes the work made to locate the fault in a compensated network.
The work has been focused on the accuracy of the existing algorithms and not in the developments of new methods or power line models. It has been assumed and demonstrated that
the models are not the main issue but that the present problems of the fault location comes
from the knowledge on parameters and measurements.
The main problem with the fault location is its accuracy. The distance found has to be
as close as possible to the real distance. If not, the user will not be able to improve costs
and restoration time. In fault detection, the accuracy is not important because it is only a
difference between a faulty and a healthy model which is significant to work properly. Fault
location requires an accurate model of the network and also accurate measurements. Each
error will change the distance found. The impact of the errors will be deeply studied in
the next chapter with a sensitivity analysis. This section considers the algorithms that are
used in this work and the line model studied to locate the fault. A discussion about the
implementation of the method in the real distribution is also made based on the interviews
the author has had during his PhD thesis.
Firstly algorithms are usually accurate enough if the parameters and the measurements are
well known. The problem is that the users do not know exactly the parameters. Considering
all the possible errors, the fault locator will be less accurate even if the equations are correct.
Therefore the performance of the algorithm should not be made on the exactness of the model
but more on the sensitivity with the different parameters using Monte Carlo simulations or a
probabilistic law.
Secondly, due to the demonstrated complexity of the fault location, a tool has been suggested to understand the improvements which could be brought in a compensated network
to achieve the required accuracy for an operational fault location.
Then a sensitivity analysis is presented. It has been made to understand the weaknesses
of the steady-state fault locator in compensated network. We have studied the impact of the
fault current magnitude, the power lines model, the single-ended and two-ended algorithm
comparison, topologies, etc. These results are followed by suggestions depending on the
topology and on the actual the accuracy to have an efficient fault locator.
144
2.
Fault location main problem
Many papers are publishing new methods for fault location and different models but
a few are really implemented in the distribution network. The problem often lies in the
non consideration of the errors coming from the measurements and on the parameters. An
accurate fault location requires a as good as possible knowledge on parameters such as the
series impedances and precise measurements of the voltage and current. However, according
to a survey amount German distribution system operators and available ion the appendix B,
many distribution system operators state they do not know the value of their zero sequence
series impedance.
2.1
Parameters and measurements accuracy
The fault location with the steady state values require lot of information from the network.
The topology. The algorithm has to know which method is able to locate the fault depending on the actual lines layout. If there are branches, decisions must be made to select
the faulty branch and use additional methods to estimate the fault location in this branch.
The voltage and current. Depending on the method, the three symmetrical components
must be known which requires a measurement on the three phases.
The parameters of the faulty lines. The series impedance and shunt admittances for
each section for the three symmetrical system are required for the algorithms. The distribution
system operators usually know very well the positive sequence. The negative sequence is the
same because there are no rotating part in a distribution network and consequently is the
same as the positive value. The loads and DGs are not considered because only the network
part is necessary with this method. Loads and DGs bring others errors that will be explained
further. However, the zero sequence parameters are not known and when they have to use
them, the operators apply a coefficient to the positive sequence impedance as in equation 2.3.
The information has to be very accurate otherwise the method cannot work properly.
Indeed, the idea behind the fault location is to build a model of the system where the distance
parameter is the only unknown. However, if the others parameters have errors, then applying
a perfect model leads to errors on the distance.
This work separates the errors in two different kinds. The first kind is the standard
error coming from the errors made during the measurements of the current and voltage but
also from the power lines parameters. These errors come from the noise on the signals and
the accuracy limits of the measurement devices.It means that if several measurements are
145
2. FAULT LOCATION MAIN PROBLEM
146
made on a parameter, the value will be spread around a mean value. The parameters have
a standard error because it is possible to measure several times their value and obtained a
Gaussian distribution of the impedance and admittance. An example of standard error is
represented by the figure 2.1. This error is uniformly distributed on the real and complex
axis but different shape like an ellipse can be investigated in the future. Indeed, magnitude
and phase errors can be different. The errors are considered as a percentage of the nominal
value therefore the relative error depends on the measured magnitude. The figure 2.1 shows
that if the current magnitude is smaller, then the relative error will be larger (but the fault
current is small in compensated network). This is important to know because it means that
the larger is the value, the better is the accuracy. This problem is also due to the quantization
error of analog-to-digital converters(which is at least +/- 1/2 bit), and has a larger relative
impact on small values.
Imag(I)
Error I1%
Error I30%
Real(I)
Figure 2.1: Standard error representation on a phasor measurement

Regarding the standard error, each parameter has a standard deviation. This deviation
has been set by default for the variables in the table 2.1. The measurements of the current
and voltage are very accurate and an error of 1 percent has been considered. A discussion
could be made about the analog-to-digital conversion regarding the zero sequence measurement because some protection devices have a sensitive measurement for this value. However
a conservative value has been kept. The positive series impedance is also well known depending on the manufacturer and the position of the cable, it is often used by the distribution
system operators. The network has no rotating part therefore the negative system is equal
to the positive. The shunt admittance is a more difficult parameters to estimate therefore an
accuracy of 20 percent has been considered. Most of the values considered are inspired from
[Philippot, 1996] and on a survey made with several distribution systems operators.
Zero
std (% rated value)
Positive
std (% rated value)
Negative
std (% rated value)
V0
1
V1
1
V2
1
I0
1
I1
1
I2
1
Z0
20
Z1
1
Z2
1
C0
20
C1
20
C2
20
Table 2.1: Default value of the standard deviation of the parameters

The next error is the bias error. This is an error due to a model problem. Even if the
2. FAULT LOCATION MAIN PROBLEM
147
parameters, voltage and current are measured many times, an error still exists because the
model is not the reality. Some examples that are deeply investigated in the next sections
are the use of series model for the fault location instead of a PI model or neglecting the
loads effect. Neglecting the shunt capacitances of a line depends on the amount of current
circulating through them compared to the fault current. This is the same for the loads, even
if the parameters are correct, neglecting them creates a bias error because some current will
flow in unknown nodes. This kind of errors is represented on the figure 2.2.
800
destimmean
dreal
bias
600
400
200
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
length [pu]
Figure 2.2: Bias error representation compared to the standard error
3.
3.1
Graphical User Interface Tool

Purpose
Many solutions for fault location in distributed network using the steady state are proposed
in the literature. All of them can be applied to compensated network but their accuracy is
difficult to predict if you do not consider the error as described above, the standard for fault
location considers only the precision on the bias error which is a small part of the error in
these conditions. The impact of each parameter depends on the network parameter and others
variables. Therefore, an interface has been developed to select the best algorithm depending
on the network topology and on the knowledge that the user has on the parameters and on
the measurements.
The purpose of this interface was first to help understanding the algorithms of single-ended
and two-ended method and how they are impacted by the measurements and parameters
accuracy and also the model of the network. Then a second purpose appeared: to indicate to
the user where to put its effort in order to obtain a fault locator of a defined accuracy.
3.2
Structure
To fully understand the purpose and the added value of this Graphical User Interface, this
section describes every steps required to run it. First the network parameter and topology
must be indicated then the sensitivity is computed for each algorithm implemented and the
result is plotted. Several actions are then possible to understand the weaknesses of the
considered method.
3.2.1
Network description
Network.txt is the file that describes the whole network and gives all the information the
simulator needs. The network description is divided in several parts. The name of the text file
has to be Network.txt. This can be changed in the readNetwork.m script file by changing
the code line: fid = fopen(network.txt,r);
Each part of the network is separated by a % xxx (% is also a comment instruction; %
must be followed by a space to be a comment) where xxx is the title of the part. The syntax
in this text file does not follow any rule from any existing language.
Network initialization
This part contains the general information about the network:
148
3. GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE TOOL
149
% Network initialization (Ltfo & Rtfo are secondary side and couple Dy)
UnetDSO(Volt) 12000
Lpet(mH)
2763
Rpar(Ohm)
10
Ltfo(mH)
0.65
Rtfo(Ohm)
0.012
Rfault(Ohm)
0.1
BusbarNode
BB
Table 3.1: Example of the network initialization text file
UnetDSO(Volt): This is the rated voltage of the distribution network. In the text box
above, the network is a 12 kV network. This value must be entered in Volt.
Lpet(mH): This is the inductance of the Peterson coil.
Rpar(Ohm): This is the value of the parallel resistance that is switched on once the
faulty feeder has been detected.
Ltfo(mH): This value is important to simulate the network. This is the inductive part
of the transformer in the secondary side.
Rtfo(Ohm): This value is the real part of the transformer impedance.
Rfault(Ohm): This is the value of the fault resistance that will be simulated in the
network. The higher is the fault resistance and the larger is the error on the fault locator.
BusbarNode: This is a string value which gives the reference to the algorithm. Therefore
it knows where to place the Peterson coil and transformer.
The line characteristic
The second part is the line characteristics.
% Line (every parameter is in per unit length)
% Start with feeder connected to the bus bar
< Node 1 > < Node 2 >
<R0 (Ohm)>
BB
F11
3.2806
BB
F21
5.6768
<R1 (Ohm)> <L1 (Ohm)>
1.5806
3.047
2.574
4.9700
<L0 (Ohm)>
15.802
20.6024
<Y1 (F) >
0.1263
1.1319
<Y0 (F)
0.0551
1.0088
<Pos X>
1 10
15
>
<Pos Y>
11
44
Table 3.2: Example of line characteristic in the text file

The line characteristic contains 10 variables:
Node 1: This is the node at the left of the line, this is a string variable. The bus bar in
this network is at the left hence this is the node closest to the bus bar. At least one of the
node among all the lines must be the BusbarNode defined in the network initialization.
Node 2: This is the node at the right of the line, this is a string variable.
R0 (Ohm): This is the value of the real part of the series impedance of the line in the
zero-sequence system.
X0 (Ohm): This is the imaginary part of the series impedance of the line in the zerosequence system.
150
Y0 (F): This is the zero-sequence shunt admittance value of the PI model. This value
is the sum of the left and right admittance of the PI model.
R1 (Ohm): This is the value of the real part of the series impedance of the line in the
positive-sequence system.
X1 (Ohm): This is the imaginary part of the series impedance of the line in the positivesequence system.
Y1 (F): This is the positive-sequence shunt admittance value of the PI model. This
value is the sum of the left and right admittance of the PI model.
Node 1
R+jX
Node 2
Figure 3.1: Illustration of the PI model from the interface

Pos X: This is the coordinates of the line in the plot graphic of the GUI. This value is
used to compute the line length. Two values must be entered separated by a space. The
first value is the x-axis position of the Node 1 and the second value is the x-axis position of
the Node 2. The values are in kilometers. The resolution of the algorithm goes down to 10
meters, below the display will not be efficient for the user and the algorithm cannot reach
such accuracy.
Pos Y: This is the y-axis position for the line. Two values have to be entered by a space.
The values are in kilometers.
Examples of line parameters are shown in the text box at the beginning of this section.
Measurements node
The following part is the placement of the measurement points. There are the current
and voltage measurements.
The current measurements: They are defined by introducing a Node 1 different than
the Node 2. The script will understand that this is the measurement of the current flowing
from the Node 1 to the Node 2.
The voltage measurements: To measure the voltage at a node, the Node 1 must be
the same as the Node 2. The algorithm understands this is a voltage measurement.
It is very important to keep the line % Measurement points the same because this
sentence is a criteria for the script to stop encoding the line characteristics.
% Measurement points (if node 1=node 2, it is a voltage measurement, if not it is current)
< Node 1 > < Node 2 >
BB
BB
BB
F11
Table 3.3: Measurements node in the text file
151
The load information

The next step is the load description. The line % Loads must be kept as it is because
it is the stop criteria for the measurements points encoding.
% Loads
% Indicate
< Node >
F31
F32
the node where the load is connected, its active power and its reactive power
< P [kW] > < Q [kVA] >
500
100
400
50
Table 3.4: Loads information in the text file
The load has three parameters:

Node: This is the node where the load is connected.
P [kW]: This is the active power of the load.
Q [kVAr]: This is the reactive power of the load.
The distributed generation information
The last step is the distributed generation. The line % Distributed Generation and
% EndOfFile must not be changed because it is a stopping criteria.
The distributed has exactly the same parameters as the loads:
Node: This is the node where the DG is connected.
P [kW]: This is the active power of the DG.
Q [kVAr]: This is the reactive power of the DG.
% Distributed Generation
% Indicate the node where the DG is connected, its power and short circuit value
< Node > < P [kW] > < Q [kVA] >
F21
300
0
Table 3.5: Distributed generation information in the text file
3.2.2
SimNet.m script
Once the text file has been read, the simulation of the network can happen. The script will
create structured variables containing the network information. If there are DGs, a NewtonRaphson method [Tinney and Hart, 1967] will be run, this is the NR_tool.m script. Once
this is done, a simulation of the network for fault position every 500m or at the middle of the
section if it is smaller than 1 km will be done. This is the BuildNet.m script.
After the computation of the voltage for each node, the current is computed in the SimNet.m script according to the measurements indicated in the text file.
Then every fault location algorithm is tested. Once all the fault location have been
made for every position, the script fills two four-dimension variables containing the standard
deviation (vard) and the bias error (meand). The first dimension is the section number as it
is encoded in the text file, the second dimension is the position of the fault in this section, the
third is the variance contribution regarding the symmetrical measurements and parameters
152
and the last dimension is the algorithm. To add an algorithm, it is necessary to add one
dimension to vard(x,y,z,n+1).
NR_Tool.m
By solving a matrix equation of the network and introducing the power produced by
each generation, the load flow is solved with an iterative process and the angle between each
generation and load can be found.
BuildNet.m
This script is the building of the admittance matrix of the whole network. The admittance
matrix is computed using the symmetrical components in series which simulates a single phaseto-earth fault. The node order is shown at the next three pictures. Please refer to the script
file for the node name.
Rfault
(NbNode+1)
(1)
(Nodenb)
(Nodenb)
(Nodenb)
(Nodenb)
(2*NbNode+2)
Figure 3.2: Positive sequence system node number

The negative sequence system is connected in series with the zero sequence node and
the positive sequence node. Therefore, the fault node on the negative sequence system is
connected to the ground of the positive sequence system and the ground of the negative
system is connected to the fault of the zero sequence system. The logic is to start the number
from the bus bar and complete one symmetrical system before starting to count on the next
work. Therefore the node number starts with NbNode+2 for the negative sequence system.
The next figure shows the node number and references for the zero sequence system. This
is the last system to be referenced therefore the values are between two and three times
the number of nodes. The ground of this system is also the reference for the computation
therefore it is not referenced.
Once the admittance matrix is built, the voltage is equal to V=A-1 I where I is the current
sources (there is only one in case of non active network).
(2*NbNode+2)
153
(Nodenb+1+NbNode)
(Nodenb+1+NbNode)
(NbNode+2)
(Nodenb+1+NbNode)
(Nodenb+1+NbNode)
(3*NbNode+3)
Figure 3.3: Negative sequence system node number
(3*NbNode+3)
(2*NbNode+3)
(2NbNode+2+Nodenb)
(Ground)
Figure 3.4: Zero sequence system node number

The fault location algorithm
Each algorithm is different however they have the same basis in the Matlab code. Two
functions are in each script of the fault location algorithm. The first function computes
the bias error and the standard deviation error, the bias error is computed by running the
algorithm with the real parameters and the real measurements, the result is then compared
with the real fault position and the difference gives the bias error. This error comes from a
modeling error by neglecting the loads or some network parameters. The variance error has
been computed by Monte Carlo simulations at the beginning of the study but a linearization of
the equations have shown very closed results. Therefore this error is computed by application
of the following equation which means that the variance on the distance is the sum of the
variance weight by its impact on the distance.
d 2
d
d
2
2
) + Im
(
)2 + Re
(
)2
Vbb
Vend
ReVbb
ImVbb
ReVend
d
d 2
d 2
2
2
2
+ Im
(
)2 + Re
(
) + Im
(
)
Vend
Ibb
Ibb
ImVend
ReIbb
ImIbb
d
d 2
d
2
2
2
)2 + Im
(
)2 + Re
(
)
+ Re
(
Iend
Z
Iend
ReIend
ImIend
ReZ
d 2
d 2
d 2
2
2
2
+ Im
) + Re
) + Im
)
(
(
(
Z
Y
Y
ImZ
ReY
ImY
154
2
d2 = Re
(
V
bb
(3.1)
(3.2)
(3.3)
To compute the sensitivity regarding each parameter, the fault location is computed for
each derivative. The subsections are explaining the principle of each algorithm.
7SA522 The algorithm is a single ended algorithm, it uses all the symmetrical system and
it solves the following equation:
d(Z 0 I 0 + Z 1 I 1 + Z 2 I 2 ) + 3Rf If = V 0 + V 1 + V 2
(3.4)
Rf and d are unknown but the equation is complex therefore the real part and the imaginary part provides a single solution to this problem (Rf and d are real value).
Before applying this equation, the algorithm is computing the voltage and current for the
section where the fault might be. Every section is tested and the section where the fault is
between 0 and 1 is the faulty section. 1 is the length of the section.
Single-ended - SE This method considers the shunt capacitance and therefore reduces the
bias error compared to the 7SA522 method. The equation is then iterative:
V 0 dZ 0 (I 0
dV 0 C 0
dV 1 C 1
dV 2 C 2
) + V 1 dZ 1 (I 1
) + V 2 dZ 2 (I 2
) = 3Rf If (3.5)
2
2
2
The shunt admittance depends on the distance that is why an iterative calculation must
be done.
Two-ended - 2E 2E means Two-ended method and the number after the 2E_ means the
symmetrical system used. The 2E_0 means the zero-sequence system used with 2-ended
measurements, 2E_1 means 2-ended method using the positive sequence system and 2E_2
means 2-ended method using the negative sequence system.
Firstly, the algorithm will check if there are two measurements available for the fault
location. Then it looks at the topology of the feeder, if it has branches, loops, etc. this is the
frow_build script which is made in the first function because this result is used often and it
is sent to the FL function.
Once the feeder structure is found, the fault locator will determine the voltage and current
at each side of the tested section. Once the voltage at both end is known, the iterative fault
location is made with the following equation:
(
V1 = Vf + dZ(I1 dV21 C )
2C
Vf = V2 + (1 d)Z(I2 (1d)V
)
2
(3.6)
155
V1 and V2 are the voltages from both side of the faulty section, Z is the series impedance
of this faulty section, Y is the shunt admittance and I1 and I2 are the currents from both
side. This equation is applied on one of the symmetrical system, if the fault location occurs
in the zero sequence system, the voltage, current, impedance and admittance will be in the
zero sequence system.
3.2.3
RunSimNet and the GUI
The GUI interface has been done to ease the understanding of fault location algorithm
and the use of the tools. The center of the interface provides a general view of the system
with color indicating the accuracy of the fault locator. Buttons have been implemented to
change the parameters and see the impact they could have in the reality. General information
is given on the left side with variance per section and a small legend.
Figure 3.5: Screenshot of the Graphically User Interface

The interface has several buttons that are described in this section. All the functions
are written in the script RunSimNet.m. The following sections describe each option of the
interface.
Start - Push button
This button will start the whole process for the fault location. It will read the network.txt
file to create the network, then it will compute the voltage at each node and it will make the
fault location at many positions in the network to calculate the accuracy of the fault locator.
Once the computation is done, the network is displayed with the results.
Algorithm selection - Popup button
This button provides a list of the algorithms available in the tool. The algorithms have
already been described in the section 3.2.2. A general view is also available; this view mixes
the algorithms in the network representation and selects only the best algorithm for the
specific fault position.
156
Figure 3.6: Algorithm selection - Popup button and list of fault locator
The information box - Text box
This text box on the left of the window provides the information about the algorithm
accuracy. Once an algorithm is selected, its worst accuracy on each section is displayed.
Figure 3.7: Example of text box information

Different informations can be displayed, for example, if the variance details button is used,
the contribution of each parameters and measurements is displayed to provide additional
information to the user about his fault location strategy.
The variances details - Push button
The variance button will make a cross appear and the user has to select a fault position
in the network.
Figure 3.8: Variance detailed example
157
Once the position has been selected (by left clicking on it), the tool will draw the area where
the fault might be (blue circle) and details the variance contribution for each parameters. The
goal of this button is to show to the user the parameters or the measurements that are the
most sensitive to improve significantly the algorithm accuracy.
Display CT/VT - Checkbox
This check box displays the loads, DGs and the current/voltage measurements. A legend
is also plotted on the bottom left.
Figure 3.9: Checkbox display information
The standard deviation settings - Edit box

This area gives the user the opportunity to edit the standard deviation of the parameters.
Each time the accuracy is changed, the fault location will be computed for every position in
the network. The new result is then displayed. The goal is to show the user the impact of
each inaccuracy in his network; this is also helped by the text box on the left.
Figure 3.10: Standard deviation edit box
Algorithm options
The bottom box has an option regarding the loads in the fault location algorithm. The
user can edit the load level in the network, the load in the text file is the nominal value but
the loads can run at different level and this is what the user can change. The bias error will
be smaller in this case because the current flowing through the loads is smaller than in the
first calculation.
158
Then another box can be checked to give the algorithm the possibility to use the prefault
current and the knowledge the algorithm has about the loads to reduce the load impact. This
box is called load estimation because it is only an estimation of the loads depending on the
knowledge available for the algorithm.
Figure 3.11: Algorithm option window
The parallel resistance analysis

This is another option for the user. He can edit the value of the parallel resistance and see
the impact of a larger or smaller parallel resistance. Also a design rpar button can be clicked
and the algorithm will test one hundred different values of parallel resistance and the result
will be displayed to the user for each algorithm. This option consumes lot of computation
resources. Therefore the user can optimize his own parallel resistance with the accuracy he
needs.
Figure 3.12: The parallel resistance design button
4.
Sensitivity analysis
The Graphical User Interface has helped to study the sensitivity of different algorithms to
the parameters standard deviation. This section studies the impact of the parallel resistance
value on the fault locators performance. The influence of the precision on the measurements
and on the parameters is also demonstrated. Suggestions are then made regarding the efforts
a distribution system operators have to make to improve fault location.
4.1
Purpose of the sensitivity analysis
The purpose of the sensitivity is to answer the two last questions of the following flowchart.
What
method?
What has an
impact?
Steady state
Parameters
info
+
Detune the
network
How much the

detuning?
+
Additional
measurements
Where? How
many?
Figure 4.1: Additional questions are brought by the requirement of the fault locator
Indeed, the steady-state solutions have been chosen to locate the fault in the compensated
network. However, as it will be proven in the next sections and has been demonstrated in the
chapter V, using only the algorithm does not provide a sufficient accuracy for a commercial
fault locator. Therefore the network has to be decompensated and some measurements or
parameters must be measured more precisely. However, the topology of a network is very specific therefore the actions for the decompensation and the improvement of the measurements
will not have the same effect on different network. This tool provides a clear information of
159
4. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
160
the impact of each effort made. It helps to size the parallel resistance and get the best fault
location with minimum cost.
4.2
The parallel resistance importance
Number of samples from

the MonteCarlo tests
Since the beginning of the fault location research project, the needs to locate a single phase
earth fault in a compensated network have increased. There were two suggestions for the fault
location: using the transient or the steady state. The transient is due to the charging of the
healthy phase capacitances. Experiences gained thanks to the recordings used for the fault
detection development have shown very few identifiable charging transient because of high
impedance fault or very short earth fault. This is probably caused by the good compensation
of the network which extinguishes the fault. The sampling frequency of the fault locator
could also be a problem. Then the steady state has been investigated to be used as classic
fault locators do. However, in compensated network the steady state is not always stable
because the Petersen coil extinguishes the fault which makes the fault intermittent. Even if
the fault is continuous, simulations have proved that the fault current is not very high. The
information coming from the fault is then too small to obtain a sufficient accuracy for the
location. The figure 4.2 below shows a Monte Carlo simulation of the distance computed by
a fault locator using the steady state in a compensated network (extremely detuned). The
result clearly shows the need of a parallel resistance. If the network is normally compensated
(95% in this case), the standard deviation of the fault is larger than the length of the line, this
means the fault will be located anywhere on the line due to the error on the measurements
and parameters. However, if the decompensation is significant (i.e. the parallel resistance is
2 times less impedant than the coil), the standard deviation is reduced to 10% of the line
length.
6000
4000
2000
0
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
Estimated distance [pu]
0.2
0
200
800
600
400
Parallel resistance [%Xng]
1000
Figure 4.2: The active system can make the fault location possible in compensated network
The steady state solution can then be improved by an active method on the network.
The goal consists in the decompensation of the network which increases the fault current
and therefore the information about the fault. The single phase earth fault will have higher
current amplitude and should be more stable. More energy will be available for the location
and the fault location could be accurate enough to locate the fault in some places.
The general accuracy of a fault locator shows the importance of the parallel resistance. It
is also important to understand the evolution of the parameters contribution on the overall
161
distance error with the parallel resistance value. The understanding and the interpretation
of this can be made further in the document but it is specific to the algorithms.
The downside of increasing the faulty current is of course the safety and the damages on
the power system. A compromise must be made between increasing the accuracy and avoiding
the damages on the grid. These effects are very difficult to quantify but if the operators know
a fault current limit, the tool is able to compute the minimum value of parallel resistance
that can be used to stay below this limit.
For the rest of the analysis, the parallel resistance has been set to produce a fault current
two times bigger than the maximum load current on the feeder.
4.3
Size of distribution network
The size of a network has an impact on the magnitude of the fault current especially the
size of the total zero-sequence capacitance. In a perfectly compensated network, the fault has
no current because the Petersen coil and the total zero-sequence capacitance make impedance
infinite. However, in reality a network cannot be perfectly compensated and the difference
between the total zero sequence capacitance and the inductance of the Peterson coil creates
an excess of capacitive or inductive current that flow through the fault.
In solidly grounded network, the fault current is very high because the impedance is
very small (impedance of the transformer + impedance of the line to the location + fault
impedance). The current magnitude depends on the voltage source and the impedances.
The next pictures 4.3 show the difference of current flow in a compensated and in a solidly
grounded network. The switching of the parallel resistance creates a network which is between
these two states.
Figure 4.3: Comparison of single phase earth fault between compensated and solidly grounded
network
Simulations have been made with three different networks with an identical topology but
different zero sequence capacitance with short overhead lines (few km) or underground cable
difference. The simulations was made with ATP-EMTP with the same parallel resistance.
The fault location is the same; the difference is the capacitance of the network sound part.
162
The next figure 4.4 shows the standard deviation in per unit, it indicates that there is no
significant difference between the three networks and therefore the compensation factor is not
important due to the parallel resistance. It is justified because most of the fault current is
flowing through the parallel resistance and not in the Peterson coil.
Different results might be obtain in the standard deviation if there is a difference on the
distance to the fault or on the line parameters.
Standard deviation [pu]
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
Small [IC0 = 14.7 Amp]
Medium [IC0 = 39.2 Amp]
High [IC0 = 91.9 Amp]
Figure 4.4: Standard deviation for three different C0 total
4.4
The single-ended measurements precision
The voltage and current measurements are always impacted by the noise and the precision
of the devices. The goal of this section is to identify the contribution of the voltage and current
accuracy on the fault location.
V0 dZ0 (I0
4.4.1
dV0 C0
dV1 C1
dV2 C2
) + V1 dZ1 (I1
) + V2 dZ2 (I2
) = 3Rf If
2
2
2
(4.1)
Todays knowledge
The single-ended algorithm uses every symmetrical system to locate the fault; therefore
the error on each system has an impact to the distance standard deviation. This implies to
have a good precision on each measurement made in the substation. Moreover the knowledge
on the positive, negative and zero sequence parameters of the faulty line must be accurate.
Unfortunately, the zero-sequence parameter is often not known by the distribution system
operators and a bad approximation is made to estimate its value.
Using these assumptions (detailed in section 2.1), a simulation has been made by the tool
on a theoretical network with the parameters available in appendix C. The bias error is not
considered for this test and only the measurements from the bus bar have been used for the
fault location. The standard deviation on the distance to the fault goes from 0.3 km to 15
km. It is interesting to notice that the accuracy on the fault location is decreasing with the
distance from the bus bar. The results for a test network are illustrated on the figure 4.5.
Several tests have been made to study the accuracy of the fault location in a classic singleended method. The conclusions of these tests are the same along the whole line because the
zero sequence impedance has an impact that contributes to 76% of the total error (with 13
% for V0 and 10 % for V1 ) if the fault is near the bus bar and a contribution of more than
163
Figure 4.5: Fault location accuracy with single-ended method and actual knowledge of the
network
99 % if the fault is at the end of the line. An example of the detailed contribution of each
parameter and measurement is shown on table 4.1. The variance contribution shows that the
zero sequence impedance contributes the most to the total error. The accuracy is also rather
poor: the algorithm indicates an area of 2.2 km for the fault (with a confidence of 95%). The
result is extremely bad if the fault is at the end of the line: the area is 15 km which is half
the feeder length. In a city, the section length can reach several hundreds of meters which is
too small for the accuracy of this single ended method.
4
V
I
Z
C
Zero sequence
1%
0.19 %
97.71 %
0%
Positive sequence
2.2 km
1%
0.02 %
0.01 %
0%
Negative sequence
0%
0.01 %
0.01 %
0%
Table 4.1: Accuracy of the single ended method and contribution of each parameter
Depending on the user needs for fault location, an improvement can be made by a better
estimation on the zero sequence impedance. System operators often do not measure this value
and effort could be put on this task depending on the cost of a measuring campaign. One
remaining problem with the zero sequence impedance is the dependence of the ground itself
which is varies according to weather condition, etc. Therefore the measure of Z0 can not be
as accurate as the positive impedance.
The equation has been simplified according to some assumptions. The negative sequence
voltage is very small compared to the positive and zero sequence voltages, this is one reason
why its impact is neglected in the table 4.1. Also Z0 is often larger than the positive and
negative impedance, therefore a deviation of 1% of Z0 has more impact on the denominator
164
than the others impedance, even if the precision is the same and if the currents are assumed
equal (neglecting loads and capacitive current).
V0 dZ0 I0 + V1 dZ1 I1 + V2 dZ2 I2 = 3Rf If
(4.2)
V0 dZ0 I0 + V1 dZ1 I1 dZ2 I2 = 3Rf If

V0 + V1 3Rf If
d =
Z0 I0 + Z1 I1 + Z2 I2
V0 + V1 3Rf If
d =
I0 (Z0 + Z1 + Z2 )
(4.3)
(4.4)
(4.5)
In conclusion, the main problem with a single ended method is the accuracy on the zero
sequence series impedance. As stated above, the majority of the distribution system operators
do not know this value and estimate it if necessary which might lead to error even greater
than 20 %. The fault location using single-ended method is therefore almost impossible with
these conditions. The precision might be sufficient at the beginning of the line and using fault
location on short line might not be interesting. The general accuracy depends also on the
network but the error is so important on this parameter than it can be a general conclusion
of this study.
4.4.2
Improvement of Z0 knowledge
If the precision on Z0 is a problem, it is interesting to understand what could be the

accuracy when the precision on the zero sequence impedance is the same as on the positive
and negative symmetrical systems. Therefore the next problems to solve can be anticipated
and the user could know if it is worth the effort to measure it.
The table 4.2 provides the results at the same position as the table 4.1 but with a standard
deviation of 1 % for Z0 instead of 20 %. The accuracy of the algorithm is much better and
is improved with a reduction of the faulty area by a factor 7. The series impedances are no
longer the main problem to the fault location. Of course, it depends on the network topology
and in this case it strongly depends on the position of the fault in this network. At the end
of the feeder, the positive sequence voltage has 59% contribution, the zero sequence current
18 % and its impedance 21 %. At the beginning of the feeder, the problem is for 55 % on the
zero sequence voltage and 43 % on the positive sequence voltage.
4
V
I
Z
C
Zero sequence
44.97 %
7.406 %
8.497 %
0%
Positive sequence
0.33 km
37.79 %
0.33 %
0.32 %
0%
Negative sequence
0.30 %
0.33 %
0.32 %
0%
Table 4.2: Single ended method accuracy if the knowledge on Z0 is improved

However, the accuracy of the fault locator still depends on the distance to the fault.
Two times the standard deviation on the distance of the fault goes from 0.14 km to 1.6 km
depending if the fault is near or far away from the bus bar. The improvements put could be
only on the parameters that mostly impact the fault at the end of the feeders. Unfortunately,
165
the contribution is well spread among many parameters when the fault is far away from the
substation. Therefore, efforts must be put to improve the precision of variables which could
be difficult. The practical maximum accuracy available has been reached for the single-ended
fault location algorithm. Other algorithms could be found but any single-ended method
will always need every symmetrical system. Usually this method is improved with a better
modeling but it has been shown that the first problem is the variables precision.
The figure 4.6 shows the accuracy of the fault location algorithm on the total network.
Figure 4.6: Fault location accuracy with improvement of the zero sequence impedance in
single ended method
The results are much better and they could be used for a real fault location; even if the
algorithm is not able to identify the faulty section, a large part of the feeder will be declared
as healthy and hence can be skipped for further investigations. However, as stated about the
zero sequence impedances, the earth impedance plays a role and is difficult to measure and
therefore will always limitthe accuracy of the fault locator.
4.4.3
Heterogeneous line
Distribution networks can present very complex topologies for many reasons compared to
the transmission grid. One difficulty can be an heterogeneous line. Indeed, the single-ended
algorithm remains the same but more tests are required in case of heterogeneousity as detailed
in the section 4.2.
Two questions were to be answered with this test. The first was to know if the heterogeneity could impact the fault location if the ratio X/R is changing and if the absolute impedance
value is changing. A simulation has been made to understand the impact of different X/R
ratio along a feeder. The impact of the zero sequence impedance is the strongest one therefore
the ratio has been changed on this parameter. The zero sequence impedance starts with a
first section having a ratio of 4.82, the second section has a ratio of 2.41 but with the same
absolute impedance value and the last section has a ratio of 4.82 but with resistance and
reactance two times smaller for the same length.
166
The result shows that the ratio does not change the size of the faulty area but the absolute
value of the impedance is important. The fault location is more accurate if the impedance
is higher because it creates a higher voltage drop per kilometer and therefore reduces the
relative error. The X/R ratio has no impact on this voltage drop if the absolute value of the
impedance is the same. The figure 4.7 shows the result on the Matlab user interface developed
during this PhD. The last section shows a stronger color with an heterogeneous line which
indicates a worst precision than the homogeneous line.
Figure 4.7: The ratio X/R is not important compared to the absolute value of the impedance
This conclusion can be a disadvantage for the cables because they have a smaller impedance
per kilometer compared to the overhead lines. The operation of a fault locator will then change
from section to section and a strange case might occur where the fault could be located with
a relatively good accuracy on the feeder except in some parts. Therefore, the limitation of a
fault locator could be the line with the smallest impedance.
4.4.4
The parallel resistance effect
The parallel resistance is necessary for fault location in compensated network. This resistance improves the precision of the fault locator by increasing the fault current. More
current leads to an increased voltage drop and therefore changes the contribution of each
parameter. The figure 4.8 shows the variance contribution of the parameters and measurements contributing for more than 99 % of the total error (the rest is neglected). A very
small parallel resistance creates a very high fault current and the error is mainly due to the
zero sequence series impedance. Then if the parallel resistance increases, the voltage on the
positive sequence and zero sequence system begin to have an impact on the total error of the
fault position. The voltage drop is smaller if the fault current is decreasing meaning that an
error on the voltage measurement will deviate the solution significantly.
The variance of the zero sequence impedance is almost constant and independent of the
parallel resistance value. This information is important because it means that it is not useful
to decrease the parallel resistance value below 300 Ohms because the variance will be constant,
167
0.5
V0
0.4
Variance
0.3
Z0
0.2
0.1
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
R// []
600
700
800
900
1000
Figure 4.8: Variance contribution of the main parameter for single ended method versus the
parallel resistance
it is much more important to improve the knowledge on Z0 before increasing the fault current
(without considering the stability of the fault).
4.5
Two ended measurements precision
The active method increases the faulty current but not as high as a solidly grounded network which reduces the accuracy of the fault locator in compensated network. In the context
of smart grids, communication between the devices of a network will be much easier. This
communication could be extremely helpful in the context of fault location because it brings
additional information. If a fault location is not accurate enough with a single measurement
point, extra measurements along the feeder can improve the accuracy. For example, the
measurement of the voltage and current on both sides of a feeder permits the use of another
algorithm which needs only one symmetrical system instead of three. In the case of a loop,
the voltage is the same on both ends and the current measurement can easily be done in
the same substation. If both measurements are available, then the standard deviation on the
distance can be reduced by a factor 10 as the figure 4.9 below illustrates it. This figure is a
test on a loop structure where a two-ended method is applied and a single-ended method is
applied starting from one side and then from the other side.
Standard deviation [pu]
0.2
2 ended
Mean of both single ended results
Single ended one side
Single ended from the other side
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
distance [pu]
0.7
0.8
0.9
Figure 4.9: Multiple measurements can help to improve the fault location
168
The result simply illustrates the performance of the two ended method in this situation
and proves that the use of several measurements can help to improve the fault location.
4.5.1
The best symmetrical system
Using a two-ended method gives the opportunity to choose the symmetrical component
to use. Each symmetrical system has pros and cons which is described by the table .
Zero
Positive
Negative
Advantages
No load impact
Better knowledge of the parameter
Better knowledge of the parameter and no generators
Disadvantages
Z0 less known
Load impact
Load impact
Table 4.3: Comparison of the symmetrical system for fault location

The loads have no influence on the zero sequence system because the connection of the
transformer made an infinite impedance for the load in this system. This is a strong advantage if the load is important and creates strong bias error which would require a lot of
information about the loads along the feeder. The impact of the loads is the strongest on the
positive sequence system if we assume that the loads are constant impedances (i.e. no rotating machine). The voltage on the positive sequence is close to one per unit compared to the
negative sequence where the voltage on the bus bar is near a tenth of per unit which means
that the current flowing to the loads is much more important in the positive sequence system.
The fault current is the same in every system therefore the contribution of the loads current
at the measurement point is also much more important in the positive sequence system.
Regarding the parameters, as discussed above, the positive and negative sequences are
well known and usually measured but the zero sequence system is not and is impacted by the
earth impedance.
A test has been made on a radial feeder with a voltage measurement at the end of the line.
The result is shown by the table 4.4 with the size of the faulty area and the contribution of
each parameter and measurement. This test is made on a radial feeder and does not consider
the result on the loop structure.
4
V
I
Z
C
Positive
0.2 km
38.15%
39.52%
21.43%
0.9%
Negative
0.2 km
39.26%
32.69%
28.04%
0%
Zero
3.3km
0.15%
0.14%
99.71%
0%
Table 4.4: Accuracy and contribution of each symmetrical system with two-ended method
The accuracy of the positive and negative sequence systems is very good using the twoended method, the faulty area has the same order of magnitude as a section length. The
contribution of each variable is well distributed except for the shunt capacitance because a
small part of the current is flowing through them. This result indicates that improvements
will require efforts in every measurement and parameter. The figure 4.10 shows the result for
two times the standard deviation using the zero sequence system.
169
Figure 4.10: Illustration of the zero sequence system two-ended method fault location
The zero sequence system is not so accurate due to the knowledge problem on the
impedance. Indeed the error on the faulty area using this symmetrical system is mainly
due to Z0 . The relation of the faulty area size is also dependent of the fault distance from
the main substation. The fault location equation could help to understand this behavior.
d=
V1 V2 ZI2
Z(I1 I2 )
(4.6)
V1 and I1 are respectively the voltage and the current at the beginning of the line and V2
and I2 the voltage and the current at the end of the line. If there is no current at the end of
the line, I2 = 0, the equation becomes:
d=
V1 V2
ZI1
(4.7)
The zero sequence system shows that the voltage is responsible for 12 % of the total error if
the fault is at the beginning of the line and the impedance contributes for 87 %. The positive
sequence system contributes for 97 % on the voltage at the beginning of the feeder and for
95 % at the end with an increase of the impedance. For the negative sequence system the
figures are 38 % on the voltage, 44 % on the current and 18 % on the impedance if the fault
is at the beginning of the line and this evolves to 31 % for the voltage, 49 % for the current
and 20 % for the impedance at the end of the line. Depending on the symmetrical system,
the contribution of each parameter is very different. If the distance is longer the current will
decreased because the impedance is higher. However, the numerator is not the same if the
fault is near the bus bar or at the end of the line but a smaller current reduces the voltage
drop on the same impedance which makes the voltage drop per per unit of impedance smaller
if the fault is farther. This explanation assumes that the voltage on the bus bar is the same
if the fault is near or at the end of the power line. This is almost true if the fault current
is not very high. If it is too high, the voltage drops on the transformer cannot be neglected.
170
Therefore, the accuracy of the two-ended method on a radial feeder is the best if the fault is
in the middle because the errors are compensating the most.
The improvement of the two-ended method will then depend on the symmetrical system
used. Also some improvements could be mathematically done by coupling the equation of the
positive and the negative systems to have a impedanceless method. However, the first problem
that the operators would probably face is the practical implementation of an additional voltage
measurement at the end of the feeder.
4.5.2
The parallel resistance effect
The impact of the parallel resistance on the different parameters and measurements is
studied for the three symmetrical systems. To understand the evolutions of the symmetrical
systems with the decompensation, an evolution of the voltage on the main substation and at
the end of the line is represented by the figure 4.11. The negative sequence voltage remains
small and slightly increases if the fault current is very strong. The positive sequence voltage
is mostly constant in the main substation but decreases at the end of the line because of the
voltage drop mainly produced by the fault current. The zero sequence voltage is very close to
the positive sequence in magnitude if the network is well compensated but it decreases much
stronger if the fault current is increasing. The voltage difference between the beginning the
main substation and the end of the feeder is higher because of the higher value of the zero
sequence impedance.
7000
6000
2
Vbb
Voltage [V]
5000
Vend
4000
V0bb
3000
V0
2000
V1bb
end
V1end
1000
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
R// []
600
700
800
900
1000
Figure 4.11: Voltage value of the three symmetrical systems depending on the parallel resistance
The zero sequence system sensitivity is shown on the figure 4.12. The series impedance
does not depend on the parallel resistance value. One explanation could come from the
equation where Z is constant value, a variation has the same impact independently of the
others variables. The current should have the same impact as the series impedance but
the variance on the measurements is 400 times smaller than on the impedance which makes
its contribution very small compared to the rest of the variables. Regarding the voltage,
its contribution is constantly increasing with the parallel resistance value. If the parallel
resistance is larger, less current can circulate through the fault and the voltage difference
between the main substation and the end is getting smaller. Therefore an error on one of
the voltage measurements will have more impact on the voltage difference (which is smaller)
which is increasing the error on the distance.
171
0.4
0.35
Variance
0.3
V0
0.25
I0
0.2
Z0
0.15
Y0
0.1
0.05
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
R// []
600
700
800
900
1000
Figure 4.12: Zero sequence system variance with two ended solution
The positive sequence system is shown on the figure 5.3 is mainly about the voltage
problem. As it is shown in the figure 4.11 the voltage difference is very small if the parallel
resistance and the voltage value are both large. This value also depends on the angle between
the two phasors which is not represented in this figure. This angle depends on the load current
and the line parameters. Therefore the results could be very different depending on the loads
if they are significant compared to the fault current.
The small decrease of the voltage at 1000 Ohms might be a particularity of the system
because the error contribution does increase significantly for higher resistance values.
10
V1
I
Z1
Y
Variance
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
R// []
600
700
800
900
1000
Figure 4.13: Positive sequence system variance with two ended method
Regarding the contribution of each variables in the negative sequence system represented
in the figure 4.14, the total error is much smaller than the others systems. The negative
sequence voltage is much smaller on both end which makes a deviation less important on
the voltage difference (e.g. a deviation of 1 % of the voltage on the bus bar will not change
that much the result on the distance). The contribution of the impedance is constant as
explained above for the others systems. The last significant contribution is the current which
is the most important variable for the distance error, this evolution comes from an hyperbolic
dependance of the fault current with the parallel resistance value.
This analysis of the active system influence on the parameters is clearly not general and
depends on a lot of variables where each case needs a specific investigation. However, these
172
x 10
1.5
Variance
I2
Z2
1
0.5
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
R// []
600
700
800
900
1000
Figure 4.14: Negative sequence system variance with two ended method
figures provide a good information on how to design a parallel resistance and the efforts that
could lead to an improvement of the fault location.
4.5.3
The loop advantage
The fault location as it is made nowadays often uses the loop structure to temporarily
keep the service and locate the faulty section. This loop could be used temporarily to apply
a fault location algorithm with a two-ended method using the measurements from the same
substation. These measurements could be easily synchronized because one device can be
connected to the two measurements.
The table 4.5 shows the result for each symmetrical system of the two-ended method if
the feeder is a loop that has two measurements from both feeders in the main substation.
The feeders are homogeneous in this test. The method with a closed ring structure shows
extraordinary results regarding the size of the faulty area. Theoretically, the precision is less
than the meter. The error mainly comes from the shunt capacitances which are not very well
measured with a standard deviation estimated at 20 %. This parameter was not significant
in the previous test because the current flowing through the capacitance is very small but the
accuracy with a loop is so good that this small current matters. Therefore the current has
also an impact because the loop structure is simply a ratio of the current from both side due
to a compensation from both side.
4
V
I
Z
C
Positive
1.7e-3 km
0.76 %
12.02 %
0%
87.21 %
Negative
8e-5 km
0.04 %
1.87 %
0.07 %
98.02 %
Zero
1e-4 km
7.275 %
32.44 %
0.175 %
60.11 %
Table 4.5: Accuracy of the each symmetrical system with two ended method in a loop
The series impedance has no effect. Indeed, if the loop is homogeneous, a compensation
effect occurs which makes any error on the impedance insignificant. The compensation effect
is described by the figure 4.15 to explain why the loop has a better accuracy than the twoended radial method. This effect also applies on the voltage because the error is the same on
both end since there is only one voltage measurement. The error created by the impedance
173
from one side will be exactly the same on the other side which cancels its impact on the fault
position. The error will increase or decrease the voltage at the fault position. However this
value is not important for the fault location.
Error on Z (10% bigger than reality)
This has no impact of the distance result
V&I
Vbb
Vf
Vf
V&I
dfault
Length loop
Figure 4.15: Compensation effect with the loop structure

This effect can also be explained by the equation below. The series impedance is not
in the equation due to the compensation effect. The voltage is in the equation if the shunt
capacitances are not neglected in the model but, because the error on the capacitance is bigger
than on the voltage, the impact of the capacitance is more important in the total error.
d=
I1end C12V1
I1bb + I1end C1 V1
(4.8)
An accuracy of a few meters is excellent for the purpose of the fault location. However,
this precision could not be met in practice for many others reasons such as modeling error,
non perfect homogeneity of the line, loads, etc. still this method seems to be the best one to
implement.
4.5.4
Heterogeneous line
The compensation effect works well if the line is homogeneous but this effect is not 100 %
effective if the line is heterogeneous because the impedance is not completely compensated in
the equation. The result will strongly depend on the error made on the measurements of the
different series impedance in the feeder. A test of heterogeneity has been made by changing
the ratio X/R of the section F51-F52 from 4.8 to 1.9 and of the section BB-F51 from 4.8 to
6.9 on the zero sequence system.
This modification increased the distance from 5e-4 km to 0.69 km, for the zero sequence
system where the impedance has a strong standard deviation due to the bad knowledge the
operators has. Therefore a small deviation creates large error on the distance. If another
symmetrical system is used, the modification increases the faulty area to 0.04 km instead of
0.001 km with compensation for the positive and negative sequence system. The results are
still very good with these systems.
Again, the ratio is not important but the absolute value that produces a voltage drop
along the line is the most important. The error will be larger if the difference of absolute
value is significant between both the two sides of the fault.
5.
The load impact and bias error
The connection of the parallel resistance increases the faulty current to 1 to 3 times the
maximum load current. This magnitude is not enough to neglect the influence of the loads
on the fault location.
There is a big difference between the loads in transmission network and distribution network. In transmission network, the loads are usually located at the end of the long power
lines at different nodes in the meshed network. In distribution network, the loads are located
along the lines every 100 meters to several kilometers. Therefore, there is current infeed in
different position in the feeder in compensated network that are not monitored. Such currents
are not measured, only the total loads consumption on the feeder can be measured in the
main substation.
5.1
The impact
The loads will perturb the algorithm but they will not increase or decrease the faulty area
because the error is no due to the imprecision on a measurement or a parameter. This can
be assimilated to a modeling error which leads to a bias error. The bias errors are difficult to
estimate because they are due to the deviation of the model from the reality which is difficult
to quantify.
5.1.1
The single-ended algorithm
The single-ended algorithm uses the three symmetrical systems which implies a load impact in the negative and positive sequence system.
Three loads of a total of 1.5 MW with 0.3 MVar have been connected along the feeder
BB-F43. The load on F41 is 500 kW and 200 kVar, the one on F42 is 1000 kW and 100 kVar.
The results on this line are illustrated on the figure 5.1. The bias error is represented by small
vertical purple bar along the feeder. However, this error being too small to be represented
significantly it has been exaggerated to illustrate the consequence of distributed load on a
single-ended method.
Figure 5.1: Impact of the loads on the single ended algorithm
174
5. THE LOAD IMPACT AND BIAS ERROR
175
The bias error goes from 0 m to 1.4 km which is 11% of the faulty area for a feeder of 29
km. As it is observed on the figure 5.1, the bias error occurs beyond the loads as it has been
explained in the previous chapter 4.4. The load on F41 is small so that the bias between F41
and F42 is very small. If the fault is between the measurements and the first load then there
is no bias error. The simulation tool validates thus the theory developed.
If there are many loads along a feeder that are equally distributed then the bias error will
progressively increase with the distance. This can shift the faulty area and the fault has a
strong probability to be outside this area. Such a result could be understood by the user as
a malfunctioning of the device but it is simply due to the fact that the algorithms do not
considered everything in the network.
To avoid such malfunctioning, the algorithm has to know what are the currents flowing through the loads. However this idea requires a high investment in measurements and
communications which can be dreamt in future smart grids but is not economically realistic
today.
5.1.2
The two-ended algorithm
The two-ended method is not impacted in the same way as the single-ended method
because it computes current flows coming from the both end and this method uses only one
symmetrical system.
First, in Europe the loads are connected with delta wye connection which makes their
impedance infinite in the zero sequence system. Therefore, fault location with the two-ended
method using the zero sequence system is not affected by the loads. The figure 5.2 shows that
there is no bias error due to the load.
Figure 5.2: The zero sequence system is not influenced by the loads
In addition to the line BB-F43, two loads of 1 MW have been added on the loop BB-F52.
The bias error is represented by purple vertical bars along the lines; they are visible on the
branches F31-F34. They are not due to the loads but to the fact that the algorithm does not
176
take the branches into account. A decision algorithm must be implemented to provide several
faulty areas when the fault might results in different positions if no additional information is
given.
The positive sequence system is the most affected system when we use the two-ended
method. The voltage is near 1 per unit creating an important load current that is not
considered in the algorithm. The bias error can reach 4 km, this is very important compared
to the size of the area. Therefore, using the positive sequence system without taking the loads
into account will lead to a wrong location of the area. The purple bars representing the bias
error can be seen in different parts of the network in the figure 5.3. The loop structure shows
a strong bias error on the first sections due to the large value of the load. However the bias
error is much smaller on the section F51-F52 because the load F51 and F52 are quite similar
in rated power. This creates again a compensation effect similar to the series impedance but
this effect is not predictable unlike for the series impedance because the loads are changing
with the time and this effect can happen or not without which is impossible to know if there
are no load measurements.
Figure 5.3: The positive sequence system is strongly influenced by the loads
The negative sequence system is not much affected by the loads as the figure 5.4 shows
it. The bias error is not much than 10 meters because the negative impedance of the load
has been considered the same as the positive sequence (assuming that the load contains no
rotating machines) and the negative voltage is very small which creates a very small negative
current in the load. If we would add rotating machines the load current would be almost 3
times bigger which does not change much the conclusions because it remains much lower than
the faulty current.
The negative sequence system seems to be the best system with load if a two-ended method
is possible in the network. Such a good result might focus the perspectives of this work in
the line modeling of the system which could be the most significant error in the reality.
177
Figure 5.4: The negative sequence system is almost not affected by the loads
5.2
A solution
If the negative sequence system cannot be used for any reason, we have thought about a
solution to consider the bias error without knowing the loads. We have at least to provide the
position of the loads to the algorithm. Those are known by the operators because loads are at
the secondary substations. Moreover the rated values of the transformers give an indication
of the maximum value of the loads. This knowledge gives the algorithm the opportunity to
compute a fault location with full load and no load. This idea is illustrated by the figure 5.5.
FL result w/out load estimation
V&I
FL result w/ few load information
V&I
FL result with full load measurement
V&I
Figure 5.5: Load impact integration in the faulty area estimation

This will result in two different positions that are the extreme bias error caused by the
178
loads. The distance between those two positions is then added to the faulty area to increase
it and be sure that the bias error is integrated in this area. The problem is that it can
strongly increase the size of the area. Therefore the prefault conditions can be used to limit
the maximum load current assuming that a single phase earth fault does not change the
load consumption. One more step could be done to reduce the size of the faulty area is to
integrate any additional information from the loads for example consumption curve, real-time
consumption, etc.
6.
Summary
This chapter concludes the fault location study. The first part of this chapter consisted in
the details of a graphic user interface tool developed in Matlab to understand and illustrate
the fault location precision and problems. This tool has many part such as standard deviation
estimation, lot of different algorithms, parameters settings and options. The goal was to be
very flexible to be adapted to the needs of an external user. A Newton-Raphson has also
been implemented to allow the network to integrate distributed generation and understand
the impact of loads and generations in fault location.
Thanks to this tool, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to identify the weaknesses
of each considered fault location method. General tests were considered such as the size of
the network and the parallel resistance value. Tests clearly indicate the need of a parallel
resistance to improve the precision of the algorithm. However the size of the network and the
amount of capacitances does not seem important in the fault location precision because the
parallel resistance increases significantly enough the fault current.
The single-ended algorithm is not accurate because the zero sequence series impedance is
often not known by the operators. However, our analysisshows that a much better precision
could be achieved if this impedance was better known. The limiting variables were then
the voltage on the positive and zero sequence system. However the contribution depends
greatly of the position of the fault and the line parameters if the knowledge on Z0 is solved.
Therefore it might be difficult to improve the precision in this case because all the parameter
should probably be measured more accurately. Then the parallel resistance impact on the
contribution of each variables have been considered. The contribution of the zero sequence
series impedance is constant or slightly decreasing if the fault current is decreasing but the
most important variables are the zero sequence and the positive sequence voltages which are
significantly increasing with the parallel resistance value.
The heterogeneousity of the feeder has then been studied. The main conclusions are that
the absolute value of the impedance is influencing the precision of fault locator. Feeders with
very small series impedance produce smaller voltage drop which reduce the precision of the
fault locator.
The two-ended method has also been investigated and has shown good result in radial
structure for the positive and negative sequence. The zero sequence system has still the
problem of the series impedance accuracy which makes the method not efficient with this
system. The loop structure has proved excellent precision because of a compensation effect
on the series impedance. The best case is an homogeneous loop where the fault location
equation is only a ratio of the measured current from both end.
Then the bias error was investigated with the load impact. The single-ended method and
the two-ended method using the positive sequence system are very sensitive to the loads and
therefore require estimation methods which increases the size of the faulty area. The negative
179
6. SUMMARY
180
sequence system has a very small voltage, therefore the loads on the negative sequence system
consume very small current compared to the fault current. The precision of the fault locator
is then not impacted.
Part VII
Conclusions
181
1.
General conclusions
Three years of research were necessary to deliver this document. The work has been
followed up by the industrial partner Siemens AG and supported by the BEAMS Department.
This collaboration led to very practical results. Even if there is only one document, it can be
divided in two almost independent parts because the knowledge of one is not necessary for
the understanding of the other one.
The first part of the thesis concerns the detection of single phase earth fault in compensated network. The beginning of the project has started by understanding the phenomena
occurring in a compensated network during single phase earth fault. This thesis also brings
some mathematical development and simulations to illustrate the network behavior. Then algorithms have been suggested, implemented and tested in simulations and on real recordings.
The main strategy for the algorithms is to consider the sound feeder as a pure zero sequence
capacitance and not the faulty feeder. This has led to two methods using both the transients
signal and the steady state for the greatest sensitivity regarding the fault impedance.
One of the outputs of this work is a prototype which is now almost the new transient
protection of Siemens for the compensated and isolated network. A patent has also been
taken to protect the algorithms.
Fault location using the steady state was investigated after the fault detection. It has
appeared that compensated networks have a too small fault current to locate precisely the
fault. This is also due to a lack of knowledge coming from the operators who do not measure
the zero sequence series impedance and therefore do not know all the parameters required
for a precise fault location. A last reason why steady state fault location is not possible in
compensated network is the intermittence of many fault because of the Peterson coil effect.
This intermittence does not provide a sufficiently stable signal to compute the current and
voltage phasors for a proper location.
Therefore, one solution is the addition of an active system to the network that is able to
increase the fault current. We propose to switch on a resistance in parallel to the Peterson
coil. This solution significantly improve the fault location but many parameters can still
be improved. A simulation tool has then been developed to determine which parameters
are reducing the precision and select the best algorithm depending on the topology and on
the network condition. This tool will be further developed after this PhD to be used inside
Siemens.
182
2.
Fault detection
Two solutions have been proposed and implemented for the single phase-to-earth fault
detection problem in compensated network. The solutions consider the capacitive behavior of
a healthy feeder compared to the non-capacitive behavior of a faulty feeder. The transients
are playing an important role in the fault detection because the fault can be intermittent
or very weak. However both methods use all information from the transient and from the
50 Hz signals to be the most sensitive. Contrary to the Wischer relay that used only the
transient signal, our methods are very sensitive because they use the rising transient during
high impedance faults.
The first method consists in an estimation of the zero sequence capacitance of the monitored feeder. An integration of the current is made and a least square method estimate the
slope the signals on a q0-u0 diagram. Once this estimation has been made, each sample is
compared to the perfect capacitive behavior. The deviations of the samples from the perfected
capacitive behavior is integrated and a threshold is set. If this threshold is reached meaning
the deviation from a perfect capacitive behavior is large enough then a fault is detected.
This method has shown good result regarding the sensitivity during high impedance faults
however the fine tuning of the threshold was very difficult. It has finally been set by using a
theoretical rule and also a feedback from the tested recordings during the implementation of
the prototype. Low impedance with strong transients have shown differences in the perfect
capacitive model which largely increases the error signals and makes the detection more
difficult. A dynamic threshold has then been implemented to deal with this problem.
The second algorithm is also considering the capacitive behavior of the healthy feeder
but details the behavior of the faulty feeder as producing a negative active power in the zero
sequence system whereas the sound feeder consumes active power. Based on these conclusions,
the fault detection has the advantage of being directional unlike the first method. The method
uses the voltage and current zero sequence signals to calculate the zero sequence active energy
which is an integration of the zero sequence active power. This energy makes the detection
of the fault very quick and sensitive because a lot of faulty information can be accumulated
for the detection.
The common problem of these algorithms was the circulating current. The non-capacitive
behavior of this current with a 50 Hz frequency was disrupting the algorithms because it
does not satisfy the assumptions made during the creation of the algorithms. Therefore the
algorithms consider such a behavior as faulty. However this problem has been solved using
appropriate filters and the devices can now be used in network operating with loop structure
and having such circulating currents.
183
3.
Fault location
The fault location was the most difficult part of this work because there were many
possibilities of fault location strategies and the problem is more complex than fault detection
with many parameters. The primary decision was to chose which location method to use and
try to improve. A short comparison of the methods has been presented and the steady state
at 50 Hz has been chosen. The sampling frequency and the experience got with the recordings
for the fault detection prototype development are some reasons why the transients have not
been selected to locate the fault. The heterogeneity of the power lines was also an argument
to use steady-state fault location instead of traveling waves.
The goal of the fault location had to be defined. It appears that fault location in compensated network is made in two steps. The first step is to locate the faulty section which
is a part of the feeder between two secondary substations. The length of a section ranges
between 100 meters and several kilometers. Once the faulty section is found, some materials
are brought to the closest secondary substation and a very accurate fault location (+/- 1 m)
is done to know where the digging has to be made. The first step takes between several hours
to one or even 2 days and is done by driving along the faulty feeder and switching on and
off different secondary substations. It is very time consuming and if an algorithm is able to
directly select one or two section with strong probability of being faulty, it will save a lot of
time and money to the operators. Therefore the efforts have been put to develop such an
algorithm.
The intermittence of the fault is a problem encountered with steady state fault location,
the fault must be stable for at least several periods to have a good estimation of the voltage
and current phasors. The installation of a parallel resistance has been proposed to stabilize
the fault current. This resistance is switched on in parallel to the Peterson coil which changes
the compensation factor resulting in a much bigger faulty current that improves the accuracy
of the fault locator.
The main problem discovered during this work is not about the algorithm already developed in the literature but it is more about the nature of the compensated network and the
distribution network characteristics. Indeed the small fault current and the line parameters
make the voltage drop from the bus bar to the fault position relatively small. Therefore the
errors made on the measurements and on the parameters make any algorithm unable to locate
the fault accurately enough. The error on the fault location does not come from a model error
but is due to the precision of the measurement devices and the insufficient knowledge that
the operator has on its network.
Consequently a tool has been developed with a graphical user interface to estimate the
accuracy of different fault location algorithms in a specific distribution network. The user is
allowed to change the precision on the parameters, on the measurements, the value of the
decompensation, etc. the goal is to indicate if the fault location with current algorithms is
184
3. FAULT LOCATION
185
possible on his network and if it is not then the operator can understand which actions could
be taken to obtain a useful fault location.
The results of this tool even if they depend on the network structure and on the parameters
provided some general conclusions. The zero sequence system has the weakness of the series
impedance which is not known by the operators. Therefore the single-ended method and the
two-ended method using this system are not very accurate. However a two-ended method
using the positive or the negative sequence system has a relatively good accuracy if the loads
are not considered. The loads create current infeed which the algorithms are not aware of,
leading to strong bias errors when we use the positive sequence. The negative sequence is
almost not impacted by the loads because of its very small voltage. If a two-ended method
technique can be used then the negative sequence system seems to be the most accurate. The
topology has also a great influence in the precision. The loop structure creates a compensation
effect which boosts the fault location precision to a very interesting level. The errors on
the parameters are not even more the main problem in this case and others error must be
considered as the modeling error.
4.
Future work and perspectives
Even if the fault detection has led to a useful device, some work can still be done. Some
details will be found with the experience from the fields and the sensitivity will probably
be impacted. Some additional mechanisms such as a better dynamic threshold or stopping
criteria could enhance the algorithms. New solutions could be found in the problem of circulating currents which is still reducing the sensitivity. A more efficient filtering system could
be investigated for this purpose.
The fault location topic has not been solved in this work but strong tools have been
developed to identify the problems depending on the topology, the current way of operating
a distribution network, the measurements accuracy, etc. Tests of these simulations on a
real network could provide lot of information about the fault location and demonstrates the
possibility to implement such system. The effect of the parallel resistance and the increasing
of the faulty current should be more investigated. For example, it is supposed that the
increasing of the faulty current will stabilize the fault and might transform an intermittent
earth fault into a permanent earth fault. This effect must still be proven;
Also the simulation tool has been developed for compensated network but it can be
adapted to of other network and others applications than the fault location problem. Six
months will be spent after this thesis to develop a more commercial product of this simulator.
186
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Bibliographical contribution
Technical reports
1. Loos, M.. Detection of earth faults in compensated networks. October 25 2010. 32
pages report. Siemens-ULB October 2010 meeting.
2. Loos, M. Intermittent & Restriking Earth Fault - Recording from EDF and Eon-Sweden.
17 pages report. November 15 2010. Technical study for Siemens.
3. Loos M., QU-algorithm and QU2-Algorithm. 7 pages report. November 15 2010. Technical study for Siemens.
4. Loos, M. Study of the QU-method using phases measurement and the q(t) analysis. 22
pages report. January 11 2011 Technical study for Siemens.
5. Loos, M. EF in compensated network - Development of algorithm based on the knowledge of Co. 18 pages report. January 31 2011. Siemens-ULB February 2011 meeting.
6. Loos, M. Transient Effect caused by Earth Fault in Compensated Network. 34 pages
report. February 14 2011. Siemens-ULB February 2011 meeting.
7. Loos, M. Using a sampling frequency of 2 kHz for the new algorithm to detect EF in
compensated network. March 18 2011. 18 pages report. Technical study for Siemens.
8. Loos, M. Description of a new algorithm to detect EF in compensated network. April
6 2011. 15 pages report. Siemens-ULB April 2011 meeting.
9. Loos, M. Tests of a new algorithm to detect EF in compensated network. April 6 2011.
26 pages report. Siemens-ULB April 2011 meeting.
10. Loos, M. High circulating current, Problems and solutions. May 2011. 16 pages report.
Techinal study for Siemens.
11. Loos, M. Presentation of a new algorithm to detect EF in compensated/isolated network.
June 21 2011. 46 slides. Presentation to Siemens department as Siemens intern.
12. Loos, M. C0 estimation algorithm Prototype Implementation and test. July 8 2011. 16
pages report. Internship report for ULB.
13. Loos, M. Directional information with the ULB algorithm. November 9 2011. 32 pages
report. Siemens-ULB November 2011 meeting.
192
BIBLIOGRAPHY
193
14. Loos, M. Technical improvements on the prototype C0 method and directional method.
September 12 2011. 14 pages report. Siemens-ULB September 2011 meeting.
15. Loos, M. Fault location algorithm - Method comparison. January 17 2012. 34 pages
report. Siemens-ULB January 2012 meeting.
16. Loos, M. Fault location algorithm - Parameter study. March 28 2012. 36 pages report.
Siemens-ULB April 2012 meeting.
17. Loos, M. The needs and the topology of fault location in compensated network. June
12 2012. 35 pages report. Siemens-ULB June 2012 meeting.
18. Loos, M. Tool development for fault location optimization. 24 pages report. September
6 2012. Siemens-ULB September 2012 meeting.
19. Loos, M. Tool development for fault location optimization. 32 pages report. December
6 2012. Siemens-ULB December 2012 meeting.
20. Loos, M. Fault Location Algorithm Specifications Report. 38 pages report. March 22
2013. Siemens-ULB 2013 March meeting.
21. Loos, M. Adaptation of the Pfalzwerke network to the tool. 20 pages report. June 12
2013. Siemens-ULB 2013 June meeting.
22. Loos, M. Fault Location Simulators Specifications. 17 pages report. June 12 2013.
Siemens-ULB June meeting.
Development Specification
1. Loos, M. Development Specification Firmware; 7SN64 / Earth Fault Detection. 95
pages. February 16 2012.
Survey
1. Loos, M. and Werben, S. Fault location in compensated network - Information and
questions for the attention of Distribution System Operators. April 17 2012. 4 pages
survey.
Patent
1. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. Method and protective device for identifying a ground fault
in a polyphase electrical energy supply network having a compensated or isolated star
point. Europe PCT/EP2011/068992. Issued October 28, 2011.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
194
Conference papers
1. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. and Werben, S. Circulating Currents in Closed Loop Structure, a New Problematic in Distribution Networks. Presented at IEEE PES GM 2012.
Poster session.
2. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. and Werben, S. Multiple Measurements to Locate Single
Phase Earth Fault in Compensated Network. Presented at ISGT Europe 2012. Paper
session.
3. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. and Werben, S. and Kereit, M. Detection of single phase
earth fault in compensated network with C0 estimation. Presented at CIRED 2013.
Poster session.
4. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. and Werben, S. and Kereit, M. Fault Direction Method in
Compensated Network using the Zero Sequence Active Energy Signal. Presented at
IEEE EUROCON 2013. Paper session.
5. Loos, M. and Maun, J.-C. and Werben, S. and Kereit, M. Fault Locator Comparison
Tool and Designer for Distribution Network. Presented at IEEE PES GM 2013. Poster
session.
Part VIII
Appendices
195
A.
Network Information
The network used to test the detection algorithm is a 12kV distribution network with a
Peterson coil of 584.1 mH with a equivalent parallel resistance of 3669.9 Ohm which is 20
times the coil impedance. There are three feeders, the line can be overhead or undergound.
Figure A.1: Network length and topology

The following figure shows the position of the phases.
Figure A.2: Position of the phases

The next table shows the the symmetrical parameters of each feeders.
196
APPENDIX A. NETWORK INFORMATION
197
Cable F1
Z1 () Phase L1
0.2133+j0.7357
C1 (F) Phase L1
1.7086
Z0 () Phase L1
1.2991+j1.1547
C0 (F) Phase L1
2.4702
Z1 ()Phase L2
0.2117+j0.7393
C1 (F) Phase L2
1.7082
Z0 () Phase L2
1.2988+j1.1546
C0 (F) Phase L2
2.47
Z1 ()Phase L3
0.2156+j0.7385
C1 (F) Phase L3
1.7082
Z0 () Phase L3
1.2988+j1.1546
C0 (F) Phase L3
2.47
Line F2
Z1 () Phase L1
3.1628+j6.109
C1 (F) Phase L1
0.2527
Z0 () Phase L1
6.1612+j30.192
C0 (F) Phase L1
0.1052
Z1 ()Phase L2
3.1628+j6.109
C1 (F) Phase L2
0.2527
Z0 () Phase L2
6.1612+j30.192
C0 (F) Phase L2
0.1052
Z1 ()Phase L3
3.1628+j6.109
C1 (F) Phase L3
0.2527
Z0 () Phase L3
6.1612+j30.192
C0 (F) Phase L3
0.1052
Cable/Line F3
Z1 () Phase L1
1.5066+j3.1065
C1 (F) Phase L1
1.8085
Z0 () Phase L1
3.8509+j13.359
C0 (F) Phase L1
2.5206
Z1 ()Phase L2
1.505+j3.11
C1 (F) Phase L2
1.8081
Z0 () Phase L2
3.8506+j13.359
C0 (F) Phase L2
2.5204
Z1 ()Phase L3
1.5088+j3.1092
C1 (F) Phase L3
1.8081
Z0 () Phase L3
3.8506+j13.359
C0 (F) Phase L3
2.5204
Table A.1: Line parameters
B.
DSO Survey
During the PhD thesis, a survey has been made with six distribution system operators
to identify the need of a fault location devices in their network. It was also important to
understand what are the efforts they are ready to put to have such fault locators. This study
has oriented the research towards more pragmatic results and has been very important. This
appendix shows the small description provided to the operators and their answers.
B.1
The description
Todays goal of fault location in compensated network

The goal of a fault locator today is to provide an area where the fault could be located.
The precision of this information wont be accurate enough to dig into the ground and repair
a cable but it should be accurate enough to identify and isolate one or some sections of the
cable (or overhead line) where there is the fault.
The picture below B.1 shows an example of a network with one heterogeneous feeder.
This feeder is faulty and has three different sections. For example, the section number 1 is
an overhead line, the section number 2 is a cable and section 3 is another cable with different
characteristic. A section is an homogeneous line or cable within a feeder.
80%
Fault at 80% of
the line length
Figure B.1: Illustration of fault location problem

The next table B.1 gives some example of information that can be brought to the user
by a fault locator. Because of the accuracy of the measurements and the knowledge on the
parameters (Z0, Z1, Z2 and C0), the device can compute only an area where the
198
APPENDIX B. DSO SURVEY
199
fault could be. This area should be within one or two sections of a feeder (one section is
considered to be around several 100m).
Fault on feeder 1
Fault on feeder 1
Fault on feeder 1
Example of information provided by the fault locator

95% of chance that the fault is between 70% and 95% of the line
The fault is on the third section of the feeder
The fault can be at the end of the second section or the beginning of the third
Table B.1: Example of information provided by the fault locator

A fault locator cannot locate the fault with a precision of a few meters because the
precision of the measurement of the current and the voltage is not accurate enough and the
knowledge on the line parameters is not perfect and gives errors that reduce the accuracy on
the distance.
The fault location principle

A line can be considered as a PI model. The fault locator does actually measure the
voltage difference between the voltage at the measurement point Vm and the voltage at the
faulty position Vf. The fault location will be better if the voltage difference Vm-Vf is high
because the absolute error magnitude is relatively constant and independent of the voltage
magnitude.
Figure B.2: Voltage difference between the faulty position and the measurement position
This voltage difference comes from the current flow through the serial impedance of the
lines.
Vm Vf = Zs (Ic + If )
(B.1)
Ic is the current that flows in the capacitance of the line and If is the current that flows
in the electric fault. In such a model, the voltage drop caused by the capacitive current does
not increase the accuracy of the fault location because this voltage drop occurs also if the
feeder is sound. Only an increasing of the fault current will improve the precision of the fault
distance. In conclusion, the bigger the fault current is, easier it is to locate the fault.
This is one reason why the metallic fault can be located and the high impedance fault not.
The compensated network special features

The idea of the compensated network is to reduce the fault current. This has some
advantages concerning the supply of electricity but it makes the fault location impossible.
200
Typically, the fault current in a compensated can be a few amps (primary side) and considering
an error of 1 amp on the measurement will create an error on the location bigger than the
line length. Also, this fall of current can create a side effect which is the intermittence of the
fault1 .
To make the fault location possible in compensated network, the current through the fault
position must be increased. Two ideas are suggested:
Change the tuning of the transformer neutral. Connecting a parallel resistance to the
Petersen coil when the fault is detected creates a circulation of active power in the fault.
This parallel resistance strongly increases the faulty current by a factor 40 to 50. In
classic compensated network, if a parallel resistance is connected it could absorb around
400 amps on primary side.
Figure B.3: Illustration of the parallel resistance

Injection of non 50Hz frequencies. Some systems inject around 300 Hz to 400 Hz with
amplitude of 2 to 4% of the nominal current. Power electronics can be connected in the
neutral of the transformer and in parallel with the Petersen coil. Several frequencies
can be injected and should not be harmonics. The accuracy of the systems might be a
bit better than the parallel resistance but the complexity of such system is bigger. This
accuracy enhancement will come from the injection of multiple frequencies which add
redundancy in the measurement.
With such systems, the faulty current will be increased for 300 to 600ms and the voltage
drop at the faulty point will be bigger and less inaccurate to calculate. The compensated
network needs an active system to make the fault location working.
Impact of load and distributed generation

The loads and the distributed generations could disrupt the fault location algorithm. The
current flowing through the loads or injecting by the generator is changing the assumed voltage
drop. The algorithm supposes that the measured current is the current in the fault and in the
capacitances as explained in the equation above; the load/generator current is then a signal
disruption. However, the algorithm is able to take into account these currents if it knows the
position and the load consumption. The maximum information about each load and
generation must be known to introduce such parameters or measurements in the
algorithm.
1
The small faulty current makes the recovery of the insulation of a cable possible. This recovery is broken
when the voltage starts to increase again and an intermittence of the fault is created.
201
What a fault locator does usually need

To provide the information on the distance and the confidence of this information, the
fault locator needs several inputs from the user to work properly. The voltage drop can be
calculated only if the parameters of the PI model are known:
The serial impedance or the multiple serial impedances in case of heterogeneous feeder.
The positive, negative and zero sequence system must be known Z0, Z1 and Z2.
The shunt admittance or the multiple shunt admittances in case of heterogeneous feeder.
The positive, negative and zero sequence system must be known C0, C1 and C2.
Figure B.4: PI model used for fault location

However, if communication (time stamped phasors voltage and/or current as
detailed on the figure below) devices are placed in the network at the beginning
and at the end of the feeder, only one symmetrical system is needed and the fault
location accuracy can be improved. A measurement must be done at the bus bar if there is a
possibility of loop structure and an additional measurement point must be placed at the end
of the feeder in a radial network. The figure below gives an example of which measurement
device is needed depending on the location in the network.
Figure B.5: Grid representation with measurements devices

To locate the fault the minimum measurements needed are the current and voltage at the
bus bar. Every additional measurement should improve the accuracy of the fault locator. For
example, voltage and current measurements along the feeder improve the location because
the information will be closed to the fault position. If there are several branches, having
the current measurement gives the information to select the faulty part. If the voltage and
current of a load is known, the knowledge of the network will be better and the model will
be improved.
202
Abbreviations: STLIE = short term low impedance earthling
General conclusions
There is a generally a big need for improving the principles to detect the faulty section
(line part between two secondary substations) on a feeder; improving means: improving
the time to detect the faulty section; this time currently is many hours to few days.
The knowledge of Z0 in a medium voltage network is a major problem. Also the expected
change of the Z0 over the time due to many different influences (even the weather). It
seems that currently there is no solution for that problem.
Protection data communication from a feeder end to the substation is not realistic, since
the involved costs are far too high.
B.2
203
Customer 1
Network information
20 kV Compensated network.
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Decentralized Generation
Decentralized Compensation
Percentage
100 %
30 %
30 %
Comments
Table B.2: Network information of the customer 1
Currently used fault locating principles

In the substation at all feeders of all open rings protection devices are applied
The protection principle is the static directional sensitive ground fault protection function (ohmic rest current detection)
The protection device will indicate the faulty feeder and therefore the affected ring
By (repeated) shifting of the isolation point (open point) of the faulty feeder towards the
substation and the respective signaling of the two protection devices the faulty section
between two switch-disconnectors (between two secondary substations) will be found
The shifting of the isolation point takes place by first closing the open point of the ring
(the ring is now for a limited time a closed ring, which will maintain the supply) and then
opening the next switch-disconnector (of the faulty feeder towards the substation); at
the moment where the protection device no longer indicates fault in forward direction
(and the protection device of the other feeder of the ring signals faulty) the faulty
section has been found
This must be done locally (someone has to drive to the secondary substation) because
the switch-disconnectors cannot be operated from remote
If the fault section (between two secondary substation) has been identified the cable
measuring wagon is applied to precisely find the faulty location
Problems of the current principles / options for improvements
Very time consuming
204
Additional information
Inner-city the distance between two secondary substations vary between 50 m to 400 m
Outer-city the max. distance is up to 6 km
Regarding the performance of the described fault locator, what could be

the benefits of such a system in your network
Reducing the time to locate the affected section.
An active system is needed to have a working fault location system in compensated network.
Would you invest in such a system to have a fault locator?
Yes
Which of the two active types would you prefer and why?
Injection of a non-50Hz signal. Because this is less stress to the operating equipment.
Also he expect that such a system bears less cost
Attention: a) other currently used non 50Hz-signals must be considered when choosing
such a frequency b) it might be required to get an permission by the German post to
use such a signal
However, he considers this to be a very good idea
Parallel resistors (for short term low impedance earthling) are expensive; they are quite
fast thermally overloaded
Do you know the precision of measurement on the positive, negative and

zero sequence parameters? Check your assumed precision, if you know it
precisely, please indicate:
Z1, Z2
80%
Z0
0%
C
80%
ICE
80%
Table B.3: Precision of the customer 1
Do you know the real load variation of the secondary transformer compare
to nominal value? What is the information you know about each load on a
feeder?
Very little knowledge of the actual load
90 % of the secondary stations are without communication
205
Do you have medium voltage infeed from distributed generation? If yes,

what is the knowledge of this source (rated voltage, current, power, etc.)?
Yes
Knowledge of U,I,P, . . . . via the power quality device Q80 (from SIEMENS)
Do you see the option to have a protection data link from the feeder end or
distributed generation to the substation?
Possible, but very expensive
Would you support some scientific tests of such fault location system in your
network?
Yes
Further comments / remarks

The resistance of cable joints are unknown
Decentralized generation: for power > 100 kVA a CB plus QU-protection is required
B.3
206
Customer 2
Network information
110 kV, Compensated network
Typically 20 feeders per substation
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Percentage
50%
50%
yes
Comments

Determination of the faulty feeder in the substation via a) Wischer-principle for nonstatic faults and b) Admittance-principle for static faults
Admittance-principle by Trensch or Schwedisch Neutral (Mr. Winter) [links need
to be found]; they use this system in 28 of their substations
Via changing the position of the isolation point they determine the fault sections (refer
to Municipal utilities company of Neustrelitz for detailed description)
Improvement of fault section detection by applying Wischer in secondary substations
Inner-city the distance between two secondary substations vary between 50 m to 400 m
Outer-city the max. distance is up to 6 km

Mr. Petschulat
No, not as long as Z0 of the sound system is unknown and in distribution networks Z0
is usually unknown
Distance to fault measurement in case of a closed ring could be possible
207
Mr. Schulz:
For low-impedance earth faults it can be assumed that the faulty section can be determined quite well
For high-impedance earth faults or reverse earth faults the localization might still be
difficult
Disadvantage: the fault current at the faulty position will be increased
Mr. Petschulat:
Unlikely, because they do not be believe in an approach where Z0 is required
Mr. Schulz:
Maybe in system B (non-50Hz injection) for testing purposes
Mr. Petschulat:
Actually they are removing STLIE principle from their networks since their networks
are becoming too big for that application (the current is becoming to small?).
If an active system maybe the non-50Hz-injection system could work at their networks
In fact such system are already present as RSK-systems ) ???, siehe Frage 4

In 110 kV the Z0 is determined via a specific measurement device (e.g. device CDC 100
by OMICRON)
A theoretical determination is according to their experiences not possible
For this Z0 measurement the network (line) must be switched off; in 110 kV they have
the option to do so but not in 20 kV
Z0 of the MV network is unknown and will remain unknown
No Z0 measurement in MV due to: a) switching states are changing too frequently ->
you would need to know Z0 for all different switching states b) line data and therefore
Z0 is changing due to construction and other work too frequently c) they do not have
the option to switch off parts of the 20 kV network for Z0 measurement

Z1, Z2
75%
208
Z0
75% (only 110kV)
C
75%
ICE
75%
feeder?
No

Mr. Petschulat:
Yes; but only connected power (nominal power); this must not be the actual power
No knowledge about short circuit power or power flow different from connected power
Mr. Schulz:
They have a lot of distributed generation in the 20 kV network
Their knowledge about the actual infeed values is very imprecise, due to strong fluctuation of the infeed power cause by wind turbines and photo voltaic.
And: there are currently no data lines from distributed generation to the secondary
substation
Mr. Petschulat:
Only in 110 kV thinkable
Mr. Schulz:
Maybe possible in areas with higher station density and network in ring topology, but
quite unlikely due to too high cost involved
Not in networks with low station density and many feeders in radial structure
network?
Depends on effort and cost
209

Swedisch Neutral (SN):
This system is a central system in the substation which gets the 3I0 of all to the
substation connected feeders and the U0
This system states that it is capable to determine the fault location in km
WEMAG believes that this might be possible in case of closed rings but they do not
use it since the SN system is not included in their control system and therefore has not
all information about the switching state of the network
The system seems to make a comparison measurement between sound and faulty state.
It is doing no classical fault location measurement
It operates in two steps 1: localization of the fault feeder 2. localization within the
faulty feeder (the 2nd step is not used by WEMANG)
They are / were tripping with STLIE (quite unusual)
B.4
210
Customer 3
Network information
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Percentage
40%
60%
Yes
0%
Comments
Rural areas
Towns

Pulse localization; device by A-Eberle non 50Hz pulses are applied from the substation
into the feeders in case of an earth fault; on the feeder pulse detection devices are applied
which indicate if the pulse has been detected. If yes, this indicates that this part of the
feeder is still faulty
Some of these pulse detection devices have a communication link to the control system;
if there is no communication a person has to drive to these device and look if they have
responded to the pulse or not.
Anwendung durch die NLS -> Frage 1
Getting the information from all pulse detecting devices automatically to the control
centre.
It is sufficient to detect the faults section (between two secondary substations)
They have many problems with their old cables, due to bad isolation; however, when
applying new cable they observe almost no more EF faults; therefore they prefer to
invest in removing their old cables rather than into expensive fault locating systems

For their new cables he expects high efforts with little benefits (because they do hot
have that much earth faults anymore)
Such a system might be beneficial in networks with frequently occurring earth faults.
211
Yes, as long as the investment is not too high
It might sometimes be difficult to add such a system into existing equipment due to
space limitations
The determining factor is the cost of the system. Supposing that both are beneficial
they would prefer the one that bears less efforts and cost to install.

Partly they did determined the Z0 via measurement
Otherwise they use literature and recommended values
Z1, Z2
80%
Z0
0%
C
80%
ICE
80%
feeder?
Only partly, currently quite little knowledge
But with increasing tendency
However this information is not going to the substation; it is going to the control centre
via public mobile communication

Yes and Yes
However this information is not going to the substation; it is going to the control centre
via public mobile communication
The nominal values are known in the control centre in the infeed data base
For infeed >100 kV the values must be delivered to the control centre every 3 minutes
212
Only exceptionally possible, too expensive
network?
Yes
B.5
213
Customer 4
Network information
20 kV, 10 kV, Compensated network
Mostly rural areas, however that cable percentage is quite high: 5000 km cable and
2000 km Overhead lines
Approx. 50 substations (Unterwerke) in their responsibility
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Percentage
Comments
90%
10%
Yes
0%

They apply STLIE (= short term low impedance earthling): 120 A for 300 ms
A feeder selective faulty signal is then generated
For this purpose two different principles are being used: a) Watt-metric rest current
principle (as of a SIEMENS protection device, e.g. 7SJ64) b) Admittance principle
by TRENCH (further information is given below under additional information)
On the feeders they apply simple non-directional overcurrent devices with 3I0> measurement with a pickup value of 80A; this is functioning in 99% of their cases; the 1%
is a very high ICE (>80A) due to a unfavorable switching state und fault position; in
this case they get a wring indication on the feeder
From the substation they only get the information about the faulty feeder, not about
the affected section
Trensch device: this is a central substation (Unterwerk) device which offers two functionalities: a) detection of the faulty feeder (via admittance principle) b) feedbackcontrol (as I understood for the Peterson coil)
The Trensch device obtains the 3I0 from each feeder and the U0 plus the switching
state of the substation
214

Refer to the next question
They decided to apply their own principle KNOSPE 2000 which means STLIE with
2000 Amps.
Up to now the current STLIE increases the test current to 120 A for 300 ms
The STLIE 2000 will increase the fault current to 2000 A for 300 ms; the 2000 A will
only be present in case of a close fault. However the min. current for a distant fault
at the feeder end will be 400 A. With this they expect to get a fault location via the
classical fault location algorithm - e.g. incorporated in a SIEMENS distance protection
device - to identify the faulty section with enough precision.
They will apply one distance protection device per feeder and double the protection
with an OC protection device
Refer to above

Z0 is only known via literature (table values)
Up to now they had no need to determine the value precisely via measurement; however
if there is a need for that they could imagine to do so
Currently they have no general knowledge about the precision since they do not need
these values
Z1, Z2
80%
Z0
0%
C
80%
ICE
80%
feeder?
No information
215

The nominal values are known
The actual values are not known
No, the costs are far too high
network?
Maybe

In case of decentralized generation the apply load Shedding, depending on the underfrequency
In case of reverse power from the decentralized generation to the busbar they block the
load-shedding for this feeder (via 7SJ6x flexible protection functions)
Swedish Neutral: : - active compensation, no static (I assume of the Peterson coil);
the system tries to keep the rest current below 500 A If the Rest current becomes too
high (> 500 A) the system will trip because the touch-voltage is becoming to high and
to dangerous (this is not allowed by law) - However, they decided to not use Swedish
Neutral because the system is too expensive - they are a little Municipal utilities with
a quite low modernization rate: 1 substation per year; so it makes no sense to invest in
too complex and cost effective solutions
B.6
216
Customer 5
Network information
Compensated network
ICE = 850 A, 3 sub-grids each with approx. 300 A ICE
2..5 % active rest current, which will be increased to 30 A by switching an R in series
to the coil (this must not be mistaken with switching an R in parallel to the coil, which
is STLIE)
100 % cable, since municipal (urban)
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Percentage
20%
80%
-
Comments

Protection / Detection principle: Wattmetric function
Finding the affected section via moving the isolation point (also refer to the detailed
description in customer reply 1)
Figure B.6: Description by customer 5 of the fault location
217

This works quite well

It is not possible to determine Z0 correctly. Even if it has been measured, this measurement is only true for that moment. There are too many influences like weather (rain),
earth-work . . . Therefore it is Mr. Hollenders strong opinion that any principle which is
based on a static Z0 will fail.
Maybe a comparing method (comparing pre-fault and fault condition) without the
knowledge of a static Z0 value might be an option???
No
No one

Z1, Z2
80%
Z0
0%
C
80%
ICE
80%
feeder?
No information
B.7
218
Customer 6
Network information
Compensated network
Type
Radial
Open Ring
Closed Ring
Percentage
Comments
80%
20%
Few
No

KNOSPE (=STLIE), 300 A for 500 ms (via parallel R)
Dir. determination per feeder in the substation during STLIE

Yes, faster detection of the faulty section
Less probability of secondary faults (in German Folgefehler)
Yes, this is already being applied (STLIE), however no fault location position is applied,
only classical faulty section determination

No online information
Z1, Z2
80%
Z0
0%
C
80%
ICE
80%
219
feeder?
No information

Yes, but information is only available for generation lager 500 kW, for lower generation
no information is available
In the future: information for generation > 30 kW should be available via meter
management
Howeve,r this information goes to a centre and not into a substation
No
network?
Yes
C.
Fault location simulation network
% Network initialization (Ltfo & Rtfo are secondary side and couple Dy)
UnetTSO(Volt) 110000
UnetDSO(Volt) 12000
Lpet(mH)
2763
Rpar(Ohm)
10
Ltfo(mH)
0.65
Rtfo(Ohm)
0.012
Rfault(Ohm)
0.1
BusbarNode
BB
% Line (every parameter is in per unit length)
% Start with feeder connected to the busbar
220
APPENDIX C. FAULT LOCATION SIMULATION NETWORK

<Node 1>
<Node 2>
221
<R0 (Ohm)>
<L0 (Ohm)> <C0 (F)> <R1 (Ohm)>

<L1 (Ohm)> <C1 (F)> <Pos X>
BB
F11
3.2806
15.802
0.0551
1.5806
3.047
0.1263
1 10
BB
F21
5.6768
20.6024
1.0088
2.574
4.97
1.1319
15
BB
F31
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
15
BB
F41
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
15
F41
F42
5.12595
24.6906
0.0861
2.4697
4.761
0.1974
5 17
F42
F43
5.12595
24.6906
0.0861
2.4697
4.761
0.1974
17 30
F31
F32a
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
5 10
F32a
F33a
3.2806
15.802
0.0551
1.5806
3.047
0.1263
10 20
F33a
F34aa
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
20 25
F33a
F34ab
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
20 25
F31
F32b
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
5 10
F31
F32c
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
5 10
F32c
F33c
3.2806
15.802
0.0551
1.5806
3.047
0.1263
10 20
F33c
F34ca
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
20 25
F33c
F34cb
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
20 25
F21
F22
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
5 10
BB
F51
3.2806
15.802
0.0551
1.5806
3.047
0.1263
1 10
F51
F52
1.6403
7.901
0.02755
0.7903
1.5235
0.06315
10 15
BB
F52
4.9209
23.703
0.0827
2.3709
4.5705
0.1895
1 15
BB
F77
4.9209
23.703
0.0827
2.3709
4.5705
0.1895
15
% Measurement points (if node 1=node 2, it is a voltage measurement, if not it is current)
< Node 1 > < Node 2 >
<Pos Y>
11
44
10 10
16 16
16 16
16 16
10 10
10 10
10 10
10 13
10 13
10 7
77
77
74
44
21 21
21 21
24 24
27 27
APPENDIX C. FAULT LOCATION SIMULATION NETWORK
222
BB
BB
BB
F11
BB
F21
BB
F31
BB
F41
BB
F51
BB
F52
BB
F77
F22
F22
F21
F21
F43
F43
F21
F22
F34ca F34ca
F34aa F34aa
% Loads % Indicate the node where the load is connected, its active power and its reactive
power
< Node > < P [kW] > < Q [kVA] >
F31
500
100
F32
400
50
F41
500
200
F43
1000
100
F32b
100
0
F32c
100
0
F33a
100
20
F34ab
50
20
F22
350
0
% Distributed Generation % Indicate the node where the DG is connected, its power and
short circuit value
< Node > < P [kW] > < Q [kVA] >
F21
300
0
% EndOfFile

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Single Phase to Ground Fault Detection

and Location in Compensated Network

A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Engineering Sciences

Academic year 2013-2014

2 The fault detection

3 The fault location

II Overview of Distribution Network Grounding Practices and Single

2 Distribution Network Grounding in Medium

3 Single Phase to Ground Fault In Compensated Network

3.2.5 Transient due to inception time . . .

4 Confrontations of the Theory with the Field

Single Phase to Ground Fault Detection Algorithms

2 Review of today fault detection devices

faulty feeder C0 method algorithm

directional method algorithm

5 Tests and simulations of the methods

Fault Detection Prototype Development

2 The signal conditioning

4 Device running criteria

Fault Location in Compensated Network

2 The needs of fault location in compensated network

4 Challenges of steady-state fault location

VI Fault Location Tool and Sensitivity Analysis in Compensated Network

2 Fault location main problem

4 Future work and perspectives

C Fault location simulation network

Influence of the fault resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pfalzwerke distribution network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The 7SN600 transient earth-fault relay from Siemens

A least square method is necessary to get a C0 value . . . . . . . . . .

Active power depends on the current and voltage behavior . . . . . . . . .

Simulation network to test the algorithm . . . . . . . .

Energy in case of classic single phase earth fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Illustration of the trapezoidal integration compared to a perfect integration .

Voltage is decreasing when the fault has disappeared . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Flowchart of the direction determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Flowchart explaining the procedure to locate the faulty section in compensated

Model to determine the frequency of the charging transient . . . . . . . . . .

Connection of a parallel resistance to increase the fault current . . . . . . .

Standard error representation on a phasor measurement . . . . . . . . . . . .

Illustration of the PI model from the interface . . . . . . . .

4.9 Multiple measurements can help to improve the fault location . . . . . .

A.1 Network length and topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Impact of the loads on the single ended algorithm . . . . . . . .

Illustration of fault location problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Survey of the German Distribution Network topology . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wischer direction logical table

The different indication of the direction protection in closed ring . . . . . . .

Default value of the standard deviation of the parameters . . . . . . . . . . .

Example of the network initialization text file . . .

Accuracy of the single ended method and contribution of each parameter . .

A.1 Line parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Example of information provided by the fault locator

The fault detection

2. THE FAULT DETECTION

The fault location

3. THE FAULT LOCATION

Overview of Distribution Network

Distribution Network Grounding in Medium

2. DISTRIBUTION NETWORK GROUNDING IN MEDIUM VOLTAGE

2. DISTRIBUTION NETWORK GROUNDING IN MEDIUM VOLTAGE

Figure 2.3: Representation of solidly grounded transformer

The series impedance can be considered in the symmetrical system as: