6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN POWER SYSTEMS MPS2015, 18-21 MAY 2015, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Detecting The Fault Location Using Traveling Wave

Ing. Ioan Vasile Brbura, Ing.Tudor Mihai Petrovan, Ing. Ichim Nsui, Ing. Stelian Bugnar, Ing. Ioana Nsui Zah,
Ing. Ioan Boiciuc
relee@energobit.com
Electrical Engineering Department
Protection relays Compartment
Energobit SA, Cluj Napoca , Romania

I. INTRODUCTION limitations, including nonhomogeneity of the transmission

Fault locating as a discipline dates back to the 1940 and
continues to evolve.
To be able to locate fast and accurate the fault location of
faults on transmission and distribution lines it is mandatory
that relays which are protecting the lines to have fault location
function.
Fault locating using electrical measurements evolved from
simple electromechanical devices to microprocessor based
system with geospatial data. The algorithm of fault location of
electromechanical relays is based on fault current level
measured and the calculation of fault location using system
and line parameters. The estimated error is 20% of line length.
Develop of automatic oscillographs was an improvement over
electromechanical relays and the accuracy of fault location
was improved on 10%.
line, variability of the arc the arc resistance of the fault,
uncertainty of the line impedance data.
As a result accuracy of the impedance based fault locators is in
order of 0.5-2 percent. For a 100km transmission line, a 15
error leaves a 2 km section which have to be patrolled by the
operational team in order to find the location of the fault.
Imagine how it will be to patrol the line in a mountain area or
a deep forest area.
III. TRAVELLING WAVE TECHNIQUE
A fault at any point on the voltage wave other than at voltage
zero launches a step wave, which propagates in both directions
from the fault location as shown in figure 1. One method of
determining the fault location uses precise measures of the
TW arrival times on both end of the transmission line.

II. FAULT LOCATION TECHNIQUES

Other fault locators used active injection to locate permanent

faults. After the breaker opening a short pulse was sent into Figure 1 TW propagate on both directions away from the
the faulted line (such as 1s, 10kV) using a radar method fault
measuring the travel time to and from the fault. The expected Travelling wave (TW) methods use the naturally occurring
accuracy is 1%. Another approach was a resonance method surges and waves that are generated by the fault. Bonneville
applying a series of frequency to measure the frequency Power Administration (BPA) has been a pioneer in TW fault
response of the faulted line. The fault location was deduced locating with first implementations dating back 1940s (see fig
from the frequency response plot. The expected accuracy for 2).
this method is 2 to 5 percent.
Usual fault locating algorithms implemented in present relays
are impedance based and are using voltage and current
measurements at system frequency combined with different
assumptions about the power system to dramatically improve
accuracy over the automatic oscillograph method.
First method implemented on into protective relays was
Schweitzer method. This method is observing that the fault
current at the fault location is in phase with negative sequence
current at the line terminal. The assumption that the fault
current at the fault location is in phase with the fault
component of the current at the line terminal lead to Takagi
method.
Over the years , several different impedance based methods
have been used, using information form one or both line ends.
All these impedance based methods, however face accuracy Figure 2. TW fault locating using microwave channel

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 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN POWER SYSTEMS MPS2015, 18-21 MAY 2015, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

According with figure above, the TW reaching the master tL2. The time tL2 tL1 is the travel time from L to the fault
terminal starts an electronic counter and the remote terminal and back.
send a stop pulse to the master terminal via the microwave
channel when TW reaches on remote terminal.
Taking in consideration the time delay after its compensation,
the distance of fault is calculated as follows:
m = [ l-( t Timer t Channel ) * v ]
where:
l is the length
t Timer is the counter elapsed time
t Channel is the communications channel delay
v is the TW velocity
Modern TW locators are based on digital communications,
intelligent devices and satellite based time synchronization.
They are using a common time reference for the devices
capturing the TW at the line terminals are simple. In figure 3 it
is shown a TW locating known as Type D.

Figure 4 lattice diagram

To estimate fault location, this single-end fault locating
method uses the time difference between the first arrived TW
and the successive reflection from the fault, as shown below.

Figure 3 fault locating based on common time reference.

The distance of fault is measured according with formula
bellow:
m = [ l+( tL tR ) * v ] where The fault can be located using information from one end, as
l is the length long as we are not confused by other reflected or transmitted
tL is the TW arrival time at L energy.
tR is the TW arrival time at R
v is the TW velocity IV. TW IMPLEMENTED ON RELAYS
Type D fault locating can be further illustrated using the
Bweley lattice diagram as shown in fig 4 that shows a line The relay uses type D (double ended) traveling wave (TW)
connecting two busses, L and R with networks behind each algorithm to compute the fault location. Starting from
bus. distance=velocity*time, in the case of a traveling wave that
Fault at distance m from L launches TWs toward L and R. If begins at an unknown fault location, can be written a similar
the fault is in the middle of the line, then the TW reaches L equation to determine beginning location:
and R at the same absolute time, so the relative time of arrival
is zero. We drew Fig. 4 with m < l m, so the TW reaches L
before R. The energy of the incident TW reaching L divides
three ways: some reflects back toward the fault, some
transmits through L, and some is absorbed. Of course, similar where:
things happen at R, only a bit later in this case.
The first thing known at L about the fault is the initial arrival is the travel time of the wave on the transmission line.
of the TW from the fault at time tL1, and the first thing known p is the phase velocity of the traveling wave.
at R about the fault is the initial arrival of the TW from the
fault at time tR1. Two-end fault locating methods use these While we know that the phase velocity of the wave
first TW arrival times and do not rely on subsequent TW approaches the speed of light, this is not precisely c
reflections. (300km/ms) but we know that
Another TW fault locating method uses TW information from
one end of the line and eliminates need for precise relative
timing and communications. Referring to Fig. 4 again, we see
the TW reaching L is both transmitted and reflected. The
reflected energy bounces off the fault (some is transmitted We can determine for the line constants of a transmission line
toward R) and eventually travels back to L, arriving at time

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 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN POWER SYSTEMS MPS2015, 18-21 MAY 2015, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Where

L is the line inductance

C is the line shunt capacitance

Using these characterizations we can express the fault location

as

Where:
Figure 5 primary current at PS frequency filtering
S and R refer to the sending and receiving terminals.
Using GPS based clocks providing a typical accuracy of 100 The same currents from figure 5 going through a 10kHz to
ns and a guaranteed accuracy of 500 ns, this timing gives an 600kHz filter
accuracy of about 300m.
The relay discussed in this paper uses a 64 kbps channel that
exchanges currents for differential protection purposes. The
relay takes advantage of this bandwidth and includes TW
information within the data packet without affecting the
performance of the differential element. The relays exchange
the times of arrival of the TWs (see Fig. 4) and use this
information to estimate the fault location, make the results
available at the relay location, and send the results to the
control center within a couple of seconds after the occurrence
of the fault.

figure 6 same wave as fig 5 with filter 10kHz to 600kHz.

Figure 7 is showing the arrival at two ends of travelling wave.

The first wave front is the arrival of the wave at the nearest
terminal and the second wave front is the arrival of the wave
at the farther line end. Additional spikes are due to reflections.

Fig 4 relays exchange the time of arrival of the TW

In order to determine the time of arrival of the TW the

sampling frequency of TW systems is 1.5 Mhz. Figure 5 is
showing the primary current at power system frequency
filtering considering a fault. The sudden change of current at
time 0.3 signals the imitation of TW. Evan if we can see the
current changes between time 0.3 and approximately time
0.305 it is not accuracy enough to establish the fault location.

Figure 7 double ended travelling wave detection

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 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN POWER SYSTEMS MPS2015, 18-21 MAY 2015, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Based on equations and figures above, with settings required Event Utility (mi) SEL-411L
by the relay to determine the fault location, line length, Flashover 68.24 68.73
secondary cable length and the line propagation velocity Gunshot 38.4 38.42
calculated as described above the relay is calculating the fault Lightning strike Under 67.76
location. investigation
An additional practical consideration is to avoid a nuisance
operation of the traveling wave fault location system when If is not possible to have communication between ends it is not
there is no actual fault on the line. Any event on the line or a problem to find the fault using TW. Manually can be
neighboring lineline switching, surge arrester conduction, or collected travelling waves event reports from each substation.
large birds landing on the linewill produce a traveling wave. The event reports include the time of arrival of the wave for
Using a sensitive tripping element, such as a line current manual fault location estimation.
differential element, to qualify line events can eliminate these
problems. V. CONCLUSIONS

Imagine that using travelling wave the fault location can be
estimated with an error of 30-40 m, as an example after a BG
fault on a transmission line the relay have indicated that the
fault was at 61.12km. The operating personal have found the
fault at 61.41km form the terminal.
Figure 8 shows a fault after a lightning strike lasting 100 ms.
The line crew was not able to find this fault.
Highly accurate fault location can help utility companies in
order to save their costs with maintenance teams, to find and
solve the faults in a short time and more accurate. Modern
relays have line differential and TW capability on same device
helping companies to save their costs and also to save the
customer costs.
VI. REFERENCES

Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, Armando Guzmn,

Mangapathirao V. Mynam, Veselin Skendzic, and
Bogdan Kasztenny, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories,
Inc.
Stephen Marx, BPA Locating faults by the traveling
waves they launch

N. Fischer, V. Kendzic, R. Moxley, J. Needs Protective

relay travelling wave fault location
Figure 8 lighting strike
Armando Guzman, Venkat Mynam
The table below shows the fault locations after the Catch the Wave: SEL-411L Traveling wave fault
investigation of utility company and the fault location location
recorded by relay SEL-411L.

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