2019 8th International Conference on Modern Power Systems (MPS)

Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Fault Location

and Detection in Distributed Generation Power
Systems
Cosmin Darab, Radu Tarnovan, Antoniu Turcu, Corina Martineac
Department of Electric Power System
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Cluj, Romania
cosmin.darab@enm.utcluj.ro

Abstract—There are multiple reasons that distributed The difference between distributed generating power systems
generation systems are exposed to faults and errors. Among them and conventional ones is the fact that there are supplementary
we can consider the most common ones being failure of the power generating power sources placed near the load, forming small
system components or lighting strikes. Power system failure is microgrids. A schematic comparison between the two is
usually caused by components failure, human error or equipment presented in Fig. 1.
aging. The above-mentioned events affect the power system
reliability and imply expensive repairs, lost of productivity and
dissatisfied customers. Due to the fact that faults are
unpredictable, fast fault location and isolation is necessary to
minimize the impact of fault in distribution systems. Therefore,
many methods have been previously developed by researchers to
locate and detect these faults in distribution power systems that
incorporate distributed generation. The main available methods
can be split into two categories: conventional and artificial
intelligence techniques. Conventional methods are composed of
travelling wave method and impedance-based method while
artificial intelligence techniques include Artificial Neural
Network, Support Vector Machine, Fuzzy Logic, Genetic
Algorithm and matching approach. However, fault detection using
intelligent methods are difficult to implement due to the fact that
it requires training data for processing and also are time
consuming. This paper presents some of the newly introduced
artificial intelligence techniques for islanding detection in Fig. 1 Centralized (a) vs Distributed (b) Generation Power Network.
distributed generation power networks. Research works in
islanding detection, control algorithms, advantages and There are a lot of benefits from introducing distributed
disadvantages are presented, hence the opportunities in islanding generating sources into the power network. The first one being
detection research area in power distribution system can be that these sources are environmentally friendly. Due to the fact
explored further. that they are placed near the load means increased efficiency.
Also, by forming these microgrids the need for capacity
Keywords— wavelet transform; fault detection; photovoltaic upgrades for transmission and distribution is reduces. However,
system; islanding detection one should consider the drawbacks of integrating these green
power sources into the power network. Among them the most
I. INTRODUCTION notable to be tackled are voltage fluctuations, frequency
Traditional power systems networks are usually composed stabilization and power quality issues. Another aspect to be
of one or more power generating resources that are located considered as a drawback is the oscillating nature of the
upstream and included in the transmission network. This type of renewable sources that are highly dependable on the weather
networks is known as passive distribution power systems. In conditions [1,2].
order to benefit from small renewable generating resources, the The purpose of this paper is to provide a means of islanding
concept of distributed generation was imposed. For best results, detection. Islanding refers to the situation in which microgrids
these “green” energy sources are introduced in the distribution form as a result of disconnecting the main power source without
level in power networks. At this level these power sources have stopping the distributed renewable sources [3]. When referring
a maximum generating power of a few megawatts. Usually to an islanding situation one can categorize it as intentional or
alternative power sources are composed of wind generators, unintentional. The intentional disconnection from the main
solar power generators, hydro or geothermal energy sources. power source would be a means of protection for the microgrid

978-1-7281-0750-9/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

and is typically applied when there is a fault on the network that
injects disturbances [4,5]. Using intentional islanding methods
depends on the power network system configuration. In some
cases, this type of protection is not allowed, and the system
stopes the distributed generation when sensing the main power
source disconnection. This configuration relies on the personnel
safety reasons. Most distributed power generation networks are
the result of modifying the traditional power system with
minimal device upgrading; thus, the need of disconnecting the
distributed sources. An undetected “island” microgrid is
the “unintentional islanding”. Fig. 2 presents unintentional
islanding case when a fault occurs in the power network.
Fig. 2 Unintentional islanding representation.
In order to deal with these situations some standards were
created. IEEE 1547-2003 and IEEE 929-1988 state that an
unintentional island must be detected in maximum 2 seconds
and the disconnection of the distributed generation in islanded
microgrids, respectively [6]. This explains the need for rapid
islanding detection methods. In the last years literature these
methods were divided into central and local techniques. Some
central or remote techniques widely spread in research literature
are intercropping, switch state monitoring and system state
monitoring. All of these methods refer to a monitoring process
that uses real time communication between the network
equipment. Local techniques are based on measurements on the
network parameters at the distributed generation level such as
voltage and frequency. These methods were further classified
into passive, active and hybrid techniques based on the action
taken when islanding is detected [7,8].
One of the most common used hybrid techniques is based on
voltage and real power shift. The passive component is the
average voltage signal and the active component is the real
power shift. This method is suitable for configurations with
multiple distributed sources operating in the same power
network. Real power shift needs to be applied in cases where the
passive component fails in islanding detection.
Other hybrid techniques are based on the voltage unbalance
and frequency set point. The advantages of using three methods
simultaneously like: voltage unbalance, positive feedback and
total harmonic distortions, is that where one fails the other may
succeed. For each distributed generation the voltage unbalance
method is used because is more sensitive to disturbances and
using the total harmonic distortion the method discriminates
between islanding situation and load switching [9].
For detecting voltage sag/swell one of the most used method
is the dq-transform. This method is suited for a three-phase
power network. First the phases are transformed into d and q
components, then the square root of the sum of squares of the
components is extracted [10]. The result is compared with a set
value and the obtained result is passed through a low pass filter,
thus resulting in the positive sequence of the voltage. A negative
voltage component generated by voltage sag it will appear as an
error in this method. The low pass filter needed for obtaining the
positive value of the voltage is a narrow band filter that can cause
delay and lengthen the response time of the algorithm. In order
to detect the voltage changes the output of the filter is passed
through a hysteresis comparator that generates the detection
signal. A high signal indicates a voltage sag/swell situation;
otherwise the output signal will be a low. The drawbacks are that
the method can not detect voltage sag lower than a defined depth
[11].
The method described in this paper is classified under the
signal processing methods used for detecting the islanding
mode. These techniques are regarded as intelligent artificial
methods used to determine the network condition. The focus of
the paper is concentrated on wavelet theory that uses a
mathematical model for small waves called wavelets.
II. WAVELET TRANSFORM
As mentioned above a wavelet is a small wave extracted
from the signal, this implies that the studied function must be an
oscillating signal. First a “mother wavelet” is generated from
which the wavelets are generated. Usually a translation term is
used to keep track of the window length as the algorithm
progresses [12].
Fig. 3 Wavelet sampling representation
Most proposed algorithms work with discrete wavelet
transform instead of using the time-domain version of the signal.
In the below equation the mathematical expression of the
discrete wavelet transform is presented:
Ψ , (t) = (1)
Where n and m are used to refer to the translation and dilation
of the wavelet, a0 is the dilation step (needs to be grater than one)
and b0 represents the translation step (needs to be grater than
zero) [13-15].
Ψ(τ, s) = ( )Ψ ∗ (2)
| |
, = ( ) Ψ( t − n )dt (3)
Equation 2 represents the discrete form of (1) while (3) refers to
the time-frequency domain representation of scale location
signal indicated by the m, n indexes.
For simplicity and practical implementation, the term
“power of two” is used. Many researchers studying wavelet
method applied the dyadic grid configuration for the dilation and
translation steps [16,17]. Doing so it will result in the creation of often used instead of short Fourier transform which uses a
an orthonormal wavelet basis presented in (4). fixed window size.
( )=2 / Many studies were carried out in order to determine
, (2 − ) (4)
the best wavelet order to be considered in order to have
( )=∑ ∑ , ( ) , ( ) (5) accurate results and low number of coefficients for fast
processing [19, 20]. In this paper the number wavelet 5 is
Hence using the orthonormal basis, one can reproduce the signal
selected, thus the level of computation is set to 5. First a brief
using the inverse form of the discrete wavelet transform and the
schematic of the algorithm is presented in the below
wavelet coefficients, as presented in the above mathematical
expression. representation:

When decomposing the signal into wavelets it is necessary

to include a low pass filter and a high pass filter. Doing so each
signal wave is divided into lower resolution items. Thus,
resulting in the approximation and detail components.

Fig 4. Wavelet transform representation

Fig. 5 Algorithm logic representation

Approximations are obtained after applying the low pass
filter and the details are the high frequency items. After one In order to continue the presented algorithm, the next
iteration the next signal to be considered is the low frequency figure describes the filtering process.
component. These steps can then be repeated and each time an
iteration is processed the time resolution is halved because only
half of the sample numbers represent the signal and the
frequency resolution is doubled due to the fact that frequency
band spreads only on half the previous one [18]. For a better
understanding of the method the above schematic representation
is proposed.
( )=∑ ( ) (2 − ) (6)
( )=∑ ( ) (2 − ) (7)
Finding the approximations and details values the above
mathematical expression may be used; where l(k) and h(k) Fig. 6 Filtering method representation
represent the low pass and high pass filtering values.
As already described the flow of the process follows
III. ISLANDING DETECTION METHOD the voltage signal that passes through the low pass filter and
high pass filter. The results are sub-sampled, and the
The wavelet transform method presented above resolution is reduced by half regarding the number of
represents a time-scale representation of a waveform using samples. This will make the frequency resolution to double
basis functions to scale and translate a sample into a wavelet. due to the fact that the frequency band now covers half of the
This way both the time and frequency values are preserved previous frequency band. The number of repetitions of this
without reducing the resolution. That is why this method is algorithm will determine the level of the wavelet transform
method. This method uses Daubechies wavelets of order 4 in
order to detect voltage interruption, voltage sag/swell and
transient disturbances in the distributed generation power
system.
IV. CONCLUSION
Due to rapid increase number of distributed generating
units in modern power systems, the need for rapid islanding
detection arises. Conventional methods tend to fail in islanding
detection due to power network increase in complexity. In this
paper a detection method that is based on wavelet transform is
proposed. The requirements of the technique are cost efficient
due to the fact that the measurements are done at the point of
common coupling and does not require additional
communication with every grid component. The processed
signals are the voltage and the current of the power network.
Proposed method uses both frequency and time domain analysis
for detecting voltage changes in the power grid. The advantage
of the wavelet transform method over conventional islanding
detection methods represents the ability of transient detection
of frequency changes in short period of time. Overall the
presented detection method overcomes traditional methods in
detecting balanced and unbalanced voltage saw/swell as well as
frequency related changes in distributed generation power
networks.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The results presented in this paper were obtained in the
framework of the GNaC 2018 ARUT grant “Consequences of
Power Quality Issues for Electromechanical Receivers”,
research Contract no. 3092 / 05.02.2019, with the financial
support of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.
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