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4, OCTOBER 2007
AbstractIn electrical distribution systems, low current faults Nevertheless, the impossibility to design a completely reli-
may be caused by a high impedance fault or by the fault current able system has demanded the development of numerous tech-
limitation caused by the neutral to ground connection. In the nologies destined to detect shortcomings and to restore the elec-
former case, an indirect contact or insulation degradation give
a high value of the fault impedance. In the latter, the neutral tric power supply as soon as possible. In case of short-circuit
grounding may be either isolated or compensated. Nevertheless, faults, the important increase in the current level makes these
these types of faults do not produce enough current so that the faults easily detectable. However, and due to their special char-
traditional overcurrent relays or fuses are not able to detect the acteristics, low current faults (LCF) in distribution systems do
fault. This paper presents a new methodology, based on the super- not originate enough current to be detected by conventional pro-
position of voltage signals of certain frequency, for the detection of
low current single phase faults in radial distribution systems. The tection systems.
simulation analysis and laboratory tests carried out have proved LCF can be caused by the existence of high impedance faults
the validity of the methodology for any type of grounding method. (HIF) or due to the fault current limitation produced by the neu-
Index TermsDistribution systems, fault diagnosis, grounding, tral grounding connection. In the first case, indirect contacts
low current faults, signal superposition. or insulation failures produce fault impedances with very high
values that limit the circulation of fault currents. In the second
case, isolated systems or those grounded by means of a compen-
NOMENCLATURE sation reactance can allow to maintain the power supply without
Fault resistance of phase p, feeder i. significant variations in currents, despite the fault situation.
Residual current of feeder i. Anyway, no-detection of LCF can cause that an energized
Neutral voltage. conductor is within reach of people, with the consequent risk
Voltage of phase p. of accident. Although current levels are small and they do not
Homopolar voltage. suppose a problem for equipment, their voltage levels can be
dangerous for the security of people. Therefore, LCF detection
Asymmetry of feeder i.
must be considered as practice of public security.
Relative variation of the asymmetry of feeder
Currently, there are multiple research works trying to achieve
i.
(a) Prefault situation. the best solution for this problem. Methods based on neural net-
(b) Superposition situation. works [1], [2], wavelet transform [3][5], and intelligent sys-
tems [6], [7] are becoming more and more important. Low fre-
quency signal analysis is also being used for the characteriza-
I. INTRODUCTION
tion of these faults [8]. In compensated systems, new methods
UBLIC security and quality in the service constitute two are being developed based on the change of the coil mismatch or
P key aspects within the designmaintenance and operation
of electrical distribution systems. Electrical power must be pro-
on the injection of industrial frequency current (50/60 Hz) in the
neutral, by means of an injection system placed in parallel with
vided under the best possible conditions, taking care of a com- the grounding reactor [9][12]. However, most of these tech-
mitment between the appropriate quality of service and the exi- niques only identify some types of LCFs or just are applicable
gible safety limits. All of this must take place under the new leg- in certain conditions and types of distribution networks.
islative situation and while looking for a correct balance among In this paper, a method based on the superposition of voltage
necessary technical improvements and maintenance of the eco- signals, in order to detect low current faults in distribution net-
nomic costs within satisfactory parameters. works with any grounding method, is presented.
Manuscript received June 6, 2006; revised October 25, 2006. This work was II. METHODOLOGY FOR LCF DETECTION
supported by the MCYT-Spanish Government under Project DPI 2002-01248.
Paper no. TPWRD-003082006. A. Fault Detection Based on Superposed Voltages
I. Zamora, A. J. Mazn, and K. J. Sagastabeitia are with the Depart-
ment of Electrical Engineering, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao A single phase fault changes the parameters and the steady
48013, Spain (e-mail: inmaculada.zamora@ehu.es; javier.mazon@.ehu.es;
koldo.sagastabeitia@ehu.es).
state electrical magnitudes of the network. The phase to ground
J. J. Zamora is with Department of Electronic and Telecmmnication Engi- admittance of the faulted phase changes and the feeder increases
neering, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao 48013, Spain (e-mail: juan- its asymmetry. Therefore, the value of the phase to ground ad-
jose.zamora@ehu.es). mittance can be used as fault detection parameter. The fault
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. impedance value of sound phases is very high; however, in case
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2007.905273 of fault, this value decreases and the fault can be detected.
0885-8977/$25.00 2007 IEEE
ZAMORA et al.: NEW METHOD FOR DETECTING LOW CURRENT FAULTS IN ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 2073
second stage is achieved adding the zero-sequence to the signal system, for each one of the outlined situations (prefault, super-
superposed for the first stage. position, and present). Homopolar voltage can easily be calcu-
The measures taken in these two situations are memorized lated from phase to earth voltages as shown in (6)
and used for the calculation of fault resistance, until a new su-
perposition cycle provides another image of the system.
(6)
In a second step, the fault resistances are calculated for each
phase and feeder, using previously taken system image and ac-
The process followed for fault detection do not have anymore
tual values of system voltages and currents. In case a fault has
variations for this grounding method.
occurred, the feeder and phase are directly identified. This op-
eration is repeated until a new superposition cycle begins.
III. SIGNAL SUPERPOSITION
Therefore, whereas positive-sequence signal is permanently
applied, addition of zero-sequence signal is only carried out at Signal superposition in the electrical network started to be
the beginning of each new cycle. used long time ago for applications related to information trans-
In order to assure the reliability of the detection system, cal- mission. These applications have had to overcome many diffi-
culation of the fault resistance should always be carried out with culties due to the nature of the electrical systems. Hence, a revi-
a system image properly updated. For that reason, the duration sion of signal superposition for applications related to commu-
of superposition cycles must be defined taking care of real ne- nication systems is presented in order to throw some light on the
cessities of each distribution system. Nevertheless, these cycles implementation of signal superposition for protection purposes.
can also be triggered externally by an operator or, automati- The medium and low voltage electrical networks are used for
cally, when significant variations in measures are detected, cor- communication with three differentiated frequency ranges.
responding with a change in the network topology. Frequency range of 30 to 1000 Hz, used by ripple control
For that reason, besides the fault resistance, relative variation systems for the remote on or off switching of loads.
of the asymmetry of each feeder must also be calculated, as Frequency range of 3 kHz to 145.8 kHz, used for the trans-
shown in (3) mission of information of the network operator or the con-
sumer.
(3) Frequency range of several megahertz, used for the digital
communication and data transmission mainly as an access
technology for Internet provider.
where reference asymmetry (corresponding to the system image Power line signaling is affected by signal attenuation and this
acquired at the beginning of the superposition cycle) is com- attenuation depends on frequency. Thus, low frequency shows
pared with the present asymmetry. In (4) and (5), the equations lower attenuation and seems more suitable for protection pur-
of both asymmetries are presented poses. Besides, high frequency values find some technical ob-
stacles. The network is designed to carry power signals at 50/60
Hz and is optimized for this task. At higher frequencies, power
transformers are modelled by their leakage reactance and tend to
(4)
block the signals. Capacitor banks used for power factor correc-
tion present a low impedance path to ground and sink the signals
unless they are trapped out with reactors. If the frequency value
is kept low, these obstacles are overcome.
(5) Anyway, in order to implement the methodology in a real
distribution system, it is necessary to analyze the existing level
of noise and its frequencies. The frequency value chosen for
the superposed signal will depend on the characteristics of the
particular network and must be different to the frequency values
C. Particularities Due to the Grounding Method of the noise.
Up to now, the proposed methodology has been described In addition, it is necessary to consider that the maximum
in a generic way, without making distinction about the neutral value of superposed voltage signal comes limited by the fre-
grounding connection type. In fact, as it has been verified, the quency used. Thus, values recommended for frequencies be-
detection of these resistive single-phase faults based on voltage tween 110 Hz and 485 Hz are shown in Table I [14].
superposition is applicable in all types of distribution systems,
independently of the neutral grounding: isolated, resonant, IV. VERIFICATION OF THE METHODOLOGY
solid, or through an impedance. In order to verify the reliability of the proposed methodology
However, according with the grounding method, it is neces- a complete series of tests has been made, using the software
sary to make certain appreciations. Thus, when the neutral is tool RESFAL [15] developed with Matlab/Simulink. The cor-
solidly grounded, it is clear that the neutral voltage cannot be rect operation of this methodology has been verified with dif-
obtained . ferent types of neutral connection and a great number of faults
In this case, when calculating the fault resistance, neutral to with different characteristics have been chosen, both because of
earth voltage must be replaced by homopolar voltage of the value of the fault resistance and/or because of its location. For
ZAMORA et al.: NEW METHOD FOR DETECTING LOW CURRENT FAULTS IN ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 2075
TABLE I TABLE II
MAXIMUM VALUE OF THE SIGNAL RESULTS OBTAINED WITH THE SIMPLIFIED MODEL
TABLE IV
ISOLATED GROUNDING
TABLE V
RESONANT GROUNDING
TABLE III
REAL VERSUS SIMULATED SYSTEM
analyzed: in all phases and feeders, near and far from substa-
tion, and in ramified areas with more or less loads between fault
point and substation. tion method. Additionally, the feeder, the phase and an approx-
As an example, in Tables IVVII, a summary of the results imate localization of the fault are specified for each case.
obtained in tests, for each grounding method, is presented. The proposed fault detection method has detected the fault in
In these tables, values of the simulated fault resistances are all the simulated cases, identifying correctly the feeder and the
compared with those obtained by means of the proposed detec- phase where the fault has taken place.
ZAMORA et al.: NEW METHOD FOR DETECTING LOW CURRENT FAULTS IN ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 2077
TABLE VI (since the method is thought initially for low current faults) and,
SOLID GROUNDING generally, located in areas far away from the substation. But
these deviations do not jeopardize in any case the detection of
the fault.
Finally, it has been verified that the methodology is able to
discern between fault situations and other normal circumstances
in the distribution system operation. Thus, multiple topology
changes in each feeder have been simulated and it has been veri-
fied that false fault detections do not take place. In all the simula-
tion tests carried out topology changes have been correctly iden-
tified when detecting that, in the absence of a fault, the asym-
metry of corresponding feeder varies in a significant way (see
Table VIII).
In fact, the surveillance of each feeder asymmetry takes a spe-
cial relevance in the fault detection process. Since all variation
in feeder topology has to imply starting another superposition
cycle that provides the new system image.
TABLE VIII
CHANGE IN THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK TOPOLOGY
Fig. 6. Voltage signal: fundamental frequency voltage plus the tone one.
VI. CONCLUSION
The new methodology presented in this paper allows to detect
single-phase faults with values of fault resistance up to 15 ,
in radial distribution systems, independently of its neutral con-
figuration. This method is based on the superposition of voltage
signals with a frequency different from the main frequency value
(50/60 Hz).
As it has been shown, the faulty feeder and phase are correctly
identified and an approximated value of the fault resistance is
provided.
The results of the simulation tests carried out by the software
RESFAL have allowed to verify the validity of the proposed
methodology, even for high impedance faults in distribution
Fig. 5. Block diagram of the injection system/equipment.
systems, with isolated or resonant grounding. Also, topology
changes in the system are correctly identified and false detec-
tions do not take place for this reason.
for each step of the detection methodology. Fig. 6 shows the re- Furthermore, the results obtained in laboratory tests with a
sultant voltage signal after superimposing a tone of 217 Hz and new developed injection device have reaffirmed the validity of
3% (see Table I) to the fundamental frequency voltage. this methodology and the values obtained by means of simula-
Applying the proposed methodology in these laboratory tests, tion with Matlab and ATP.
low current faults have been detected in all cases, identifying
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