2001TR027 by Math Bollen
Algorithms for characterizing measured three-
phase unbalanced voltage dips
Math H.J. Bollen, Senior Member, IEEE
= algorithms are applied to a number of synthetic events to
Abstract— This paper addresses the problem of estimating the
characteristics of three-phase unbalanced voltage dips from
measured phase voltages. This is important for obtaining statistics
on voltage dips and for obtaining information about the
underlying event (e.g. the fault type). Two different algorithms
are compared. The “six-phase algorithm” is computationally
simple and easy to interpret. However large phase-angle jumps
lead to wrong estimations. The “symmetrical component
algorithm” gives a correct value in almost all cases. Exceptions
are events with very severe load influence on the voltages during
the fault. The latter algorithm is studied in more detail: through a
measurement example and through a study of a range of synthetic
events. The conclusion is that both algorithms have their specific
application areas.
Index Terms— electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), power
quality, power quality monitoring, power system faults, voltage
dips (sags).
I. INTRODUCTION
V oltage dips due to non-symmetrical faults will affect
three-phase equipment in a different way than voltage
dips due to symmetrical faults. Therefore additional
characterization effort is needed for these so-called three-
phase unbalanced dips (i.e. voltage dips due to non-
symmetrical faults). A number of proposals for their
characterization were compared by [1]. Further contributions
were made by [2][3][4][5]. Most of this work was directed
towards obtaining dip characteristics from measurements,
without considering the basic circuit theory behind the
phenomenon. An alternative approach was followed in [6]:
from analyzing basic fault types in idealized systems, a
classification in four dip types was proposed. Although the
classification can be used for stochastic prediction and
equipment testing [7], it could not directly be used to classify
measured voltage dip events. The work presented in [8][9]
generalizes the classification and proposes an algorithm for
extracting dip type and characteristics from measured voltage
waveforms; a simplified algorithm is presented in [10].
The aim of this paper is to find the limitations of these two
characterization methods. After a description of the
characterization method including a discussion on the need for
characterization, two algorithms are described for extracting
characteristics from measured voltages. Next these two
M. H. J. Bollen is with the Department of Electric Power Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden (e-mail:
m.bollen@ieee.org).
1
compare their performance. One of the algorithms is also
applied to a measured event to show some of the
implementation problems. Finally a range of severe events is
used to explain the occurrence of erroneous estimates with the
algorithm.
II. CHARACTERIZATION
A. The aim of Characterization
Voltage-dip characterization concerns the quantification of
voltage-dip events through a limited number of parameters.
The forthcoming power-quality measurement standard IEC
61000-4-30 uses two parameters: retained voltage and
duration. The retained voltage is the lowest one-cycle rms
voltage; the duration is the length of time during which the rms
voltage is below a threshold [11]. This constitutes a loss of
information for non-rectangular and multistage events but is an
appropriate approximation for most
measurements.
single-channel
Multi-channel measurements are characterized by the lowest
retained voltage and the longest duration of all channels. This
is only an appropriate approximation for balanced dips,
whereas the majority of dips are unbalanced. A somewhat
strange consequence of this is that the dip due to a single-
phase fault in a resistance-grounded system will be quantified
the same (or even more severe) as the dip due to a three-phase
fault. However a customer behind a Dy-transformer only
experiences a severe event in the second case. Some utilities
solve this by connecting their monitors phase-to-phase, but
that will limit the amount of information to be obtained from
the monitors. To overcome this and similar problems an
improved dip characterization method has been proposed in
[6], which will be summarized below.
The aim of voltage-dip characterization is to present
statistics in a simple way. These statistics can next be used in
compatibility studies, to assess system performance, etc.
Another aim is to extract information on the underlying
event(s). The dip characterization proposed in [6] can be used
to find out the type of fault and the voltage level at which the
fault occurred. Such an algorithm can be used as part of an
expert system for the automatic classification of power-quality
disturbances [12].
Voltage-dip statistics will typically be obtained at the lower
voltage levels, close to the end-users. Automatic analysis of
2001TR027 by Math Bollen
power-quality disturbances could find its application at any
voltage level. At higher voltage levels it could be part of
disturbance recorders of protection relays.
B. Types of Three-Phase Unbalanced Dips
Voltage dips are due to short circuits and earth faults,
transformer energizing and motor starting. By using the
voltage recovery and the voltage unbalance during the dip it is
possible to distinguish between these three types from voltage
recordings [12]. A further subdivision of voltage dips due to
faults is proposed in [6][7]. The basic distinction is between
types A, C and D:
• type A is an equal drop in the three phases;
• type C is a drop in two phases;
• type D is a large drop in one phase with a small drop in
the other two phases.
For types C and D a further subdivision is needed to include
the symmetrical phase (the phase with the large voltage drop
for type D, the phase without voltage drop for type C). The
resulting six types of three-phase unbalanced dips are shown in
Fig.1. Type Db is a drop in phase b; type Cb a drop in phases a
and c, etc. Alternatively, type Cb can be interpreted as a drop
in the ac voltage difference, etc.
Ca Cb
Da Db
Fig. 1, Six types of three-phase unbalanced voltage dips: thin arrows indicate
normal voltages; thick arrows voltages during the event.
The two parameters quantifying the dip are the
characteristic voltage V and the so-called PN factor F, both
complex numbers. The phase voltages as a function of these
two parameters are, for a type Ca dip:
Va = F
Vb = − 12 F − 12 jV 3
Vc = − F +
1 1
jV 3
2 2
and for a type Da dip:
Va = V
Vb = − 12 V − 12 jF 3
Vc = − 12 V + 12 jF 3
The phasor diagrams in Fig. 1 are given for V=0.5 and F=1.
The aim of the two algorithms to be discussed below is to
obtain the dip type according to Fig.1, the characteristic
voltage V, and the PN factor F, from the complex phase
2
voltages Va, Vb, and Vc. The latter are obtained from the
measured voltage waveforms. Both characteristic voltage V
and PN factor F are complex numbers. The absolute value and
the argument of the characteristic voltage are referred to as
“magnitude” and “phase-angle jump” of the voltage dip,
respectively. The magnitude (absolute value of the
characteristic voltage) is a generalization for three-phase
events of the retained voltage defined in IEC 61000-4-30.
C. Relation with Fault Types
The dip type depends on the fault type and the winding
connection of the transformers between the fault and the
measurement location [6]. The characteristic voltage is the
main characteristic describing the event. It is determined by
the positive-sequence source and feeder impedance for two-
phase and three-phase faults. For single-phase faults the zero-
sequence impedance also affects the characteristic voltage of
the dip [7].
The PN factor is a second characteristic. It is a measure of
the unbalance of the event. The lower the magnitude of the PN
factor, the more balanced the dip; where the PN factor cannot
be smaller than the characteristic voltage (in absolute
value)[8]. For single-phase and phase-to-phase faults the PN-
factor is close to 1 pu. The deviation from 1 pu is due to the
Cc load and will be discussed in more detail later. For two-phase-
to-ground faults in solidly-grounded systems, the PN factor is
less than 1 pu. The drop in PN factor is at most one third of the
drop in characteristic voltage. For three-phase faults the PN
factor is equal to the characteristic voltage.
The zero-sequence voltage V0 can be used as a third
Dc characteristic to completely describe the event. It gives
additional information for obtaining the location of the
underlying event, but the zero-sequence voltage rarely affects
the operation of equipment so that it is not needed for
statistics.
III. THE TWO ALGORITHMS
A. The Symmetrical Component Algorithm
The algorithm proposed in [8] determines the dip type from
the positive-sequence and negative-sequence voltages. From
(1), (2) and similar expressions for the other dip types in Fig.
1, it can be concluded that the positive-sequence voltage (with
(1) reference to a-phase pre-fault voltage) is the same for all dip
types:
V1 = 1
2
(F + V ) (3)
The negative-sequence voltage is the same in magnitude but
different in argument:
(2)
2001TR027 by Math Bollen 3

V2 = 1
2
(F − V ) type C a arguments of the complex numbers V and F. The argument of
the characteristic voltage is the phase angle of the voltage that
V 2 = a (F − V )
1
2 type C b gives the lowest rms value: va-v0 for type Da, vb-vc for type Cc,
V 2 = 12 a 2 (F − V ) type C c etc. The argument of the PN factor is the phase angle of the
(4) voltage that gives the highest rms value.
V 2 = − 12 (F − V ) type D a
V 2 = − 12 a(F − V ) type D b IV. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
V 2 = − 12 a 2 (F − V ) type D c To show the performance of the algorithms and their
limitations, the complex phase voltages are, for a number of
where a constitutes a rotation over 120°. If we assume that cases, calculated from given dip characteristics according to
F=1 the angle between the drop in positive-sequence positive (1) and (2). The two algorithms are next applied to the
and negative-sequence voltage is an integer multiple of 60°. complex phase voltages and the resulting characteristics
The angle obtained from a measurement can be used to obtain compared with the known input values.
the dip type:
1 ì V ü A. Single-phase fault
T= × arg í 2 ý (5)
60° î1 − V1 Consider a drop of voltage in phase a down to 50% of its
where T is rounded to the nearest integer: pre-event value. It is assumed that the voltage in b and c
T = 0
type Ca remains as before. According to the classification introduced
T = 1
type Dc before this is a dip of type Da with F=1, V=0.67, V0=-0.33.
T = 2
type Cb The results for the symmetrical component algorithm are
T = 3
type Da shown in the first column of Table 1. The remaining columns
T = 4
type Cc give the results for a voltage drop in one phase, including a
T = 5
type Db phase-angle jump of -20°, -30°, -40°. As the PN factor equals
Knowing the dip type, the other characteristics can be exactly one, the angle between drop in positive sequence and
obtained, e.g. from the sum and difference of positive and negative-sequence voltage is exactly 180°. The dip type is
negative-sequence voltage according to (3) and (4). obtained correctly and so are the other characteristics.
The phenomenon that the characteristic voltage is not
B. The six-phase algorithm exactly equal to the voltage in the faulted phase for single-
A simplified algorithm is described in [10]. After phase faults is described in [6].
subtraction of the zero-sequence voltage, the rms voltage is
TABLE I
obtained for the three phase voltages and the three phase-to- SYMMETRICAL COMPONENT ALGORITHM DURING SINGLE-PHASE FAULTS.
phase voltages: 50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40°
{
V A = rms v a − 13 (v a + v b + v c ) } Va 0.50 0.47-0.17j 0.43-0.25j 0.38-0.32j
V B = rms{ v b − 13 (v a + v b + v c ) }
Vb -0.50-0.87j -0.50-0.87j -0.50-0.87j -0.50-0.87j
(6a)
Vc -0.50+0.87j -0.50+0.87j -0.50+0.87j -0.50+0.87j
VC = rms{ v c − 13 (v a + v b + v c ) } V0 -0.17 -0.18-0.06j -0.19-0.08j -0.21-0.11j
V1 0.83 0.82-0.06j 0.81-0.08j 0.79-0.11j
ì v − vb ü
V AB = rmsí a ý
V2 -0.17 -0.18-0.06j -0.19-0.08j -0.21-0.11j
î 3 angle 180° 180° 180° 180°
V 0.67 0.65-0.11j 0.62-0.17j 0.59-0.21j
ì v − vc ü
VBC = rmsí b ý (6b) |V| 0.67 0.66 0.64 0.63
î 3 F 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
ì v − va ü
VCA = rmsí c ý TABLE II
î 3 SIX-PHASE ALGORITHM DURING SINGLE-PHASE FAULTS
The dip parameters are obtained directly: the characteristic 50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40°
voltage is the lowest of the six rms voltages, the PN factor the Type 3 (Da) 3 (Da) 3 (Da) 4 (Cc)
|V| 0.67 0.66 0.64 0.60
highest of the six. The dip type is determined from the voltage
|F| 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02
according to (6) with the lowest rms value:
VA lowest
type Da
The same synthetic dips are also applied to the six-phase
VB lowest
type Db
algorithm. The results are shown in Table II. For moderate
VC lowest
type Dc
values of the phase-angle jump, also the six-phase algorithm
VAB lowest
type Cc
gives the correct type and characteristics. For a -40° phase-
VBC lowest
type Ca
angle jump the six-phase algorithm results in a type Cc instead
VCA lowest
type Cb
of Da. The rotation in the a-phase voltage is so large that the
The six-phase algorithm can also be used to obtain the
2001TR027 by Math Bollen 4

ab-phase difference becomes less in absolute value (after

removal of the zero-sequence component). TABLE IV
SYMMETRICAL COMPONENT ALGORITHM WITH ADDITIONAL DROP IN
VOLTAGE DUE TO LOAD EFFECTS
B. Phase-to-phase fault 50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40°
The same testing has been done for drops in the voltage Va 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85
between the phases b and c to 50%, thus representing a phase- Vb -0.43-0.37j -0.55-0.35j -0.61-0.32j -0.66-0.28j
to-phase fault at the same voltage level or a single-phase fault Vc -0.43+0.37j -0.30+0.35j -0.24+0.32j -0.19+0.28j
at another voltage level. For this the algorithm should result in V1 0.64 0.62-0.07j 0.61-0.11j 0.59-0.14j
a dip of type Ca with F=1 and V=0.5. The results for both V2 0.21 0.23+0.07j 0.24+0.11j 0.26+0.14j
algorithms are shown in Table III, where the bottom three angle 0° 6.9° 8.6° 9.18°
rows refer to the results of the six-phase algorithm. Again the V 0.43 0.40-0.15j 0.37-0.21j 0.33-0.27j
symmetrical component algorithm gives the correct result in F 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85
all cases, whereas the six-phase algorithm gives a wrong dip
type and characteristics for large phase-angle jumps. D. Impact of load – phase shift
The change in load currents not only leads to a drop in the
TABLE III three voltages, it typically also causes a phase shift (rotation)
THE TWO ALGORITHMS DURING PHASE-TO-PHASE FAULTS of the three voltages. It is again assumed that the load effect is
50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40° the same for the three phases: a drop of 15% and a rotation of
SYMMETRICAL-COMPONENT ALGORITHM -20°: thus F=0.85exp(-j20°). The results for this case are
Va 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 shown in Table V. It turns out that the symmetrical component
Vb -0.50-0.43j -0.65-0.41j -0.72-0.38j -0.78-0.33j algorithm gives an erroneous result for small phase-angle
Vc -0.50+0.43j -0.35+0.41j -0.28+0.38j -0.22+0.33j jumps in the voltage. The rotation in PN-factor severely affects
V1 0.75 0.73-0.09j 0.72-0.13j 0.69-0.16j the angles of (1-V1) and V2, leading to a wrong dip type. For
V2 0.25 0.27+0.09j 0.28+0.13j 0.31+0.16j larger phase-angle jumps the error in angle becomes less than
angle 0° 0° 0° 0° 30° so that the correct dip type results after rounding to the
V 0.50 0.47-0.17j 0.43-0.25j 0.38-0.32j nearest multiple of 60°.
F 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
The problem with the symmetrical component algorithm can
SIX-PHASE ALGORITHM be relatively easily solved. The dip type is determined in (5)
Type 0 (Ca) 0 (Ca) 1 (Dc) 1 (Dc)
by rounding off the angle. Modifying the rounding somewhat
|V| 0.50 0.50 0.47 0.40
will solve the problem: the range -50°, +10° becomes dip type
|F| 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.04
0, etc. The resulting equation, replacing (5) reads as:
C. Impact of load – drop in voltage ì V ü
argí 2 ý + 20°
Measurements [7][10][12] as well as simulations [7][9][13] T= î1 − V1 (7)
have shown that the voltages in the three phases drop by an 60°
equal factor due to the load. In terms of the classification where T is again rounded to the nearest integer. The results for
presented in Section II of the paper, the PN factor F drops to a this improved symmetrical component algorithm are shown in
value less than unity. Table VI.
This has been modeled for the phase-to-phase faults (type TABLE V
SYMMETRICAL COMPONENT ALGORITHM WITH ADDITIONAL VOLTAGE DROP
Ca dips) studied before. It is assumed that the voltage drops by AND ROTATION DUE TO LOAD EFFECTS
15% in all three phases due to the load. The input values of the 50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40°
dip characteristics are Type=Da, V=0.43, F=0.85. The effect Va 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.29j
of the phase-angle jump is a rotation in V but not in F. The Vb -0.53-0.20j -0.64-0.14j -0.68-0.09j -0.78-0.04j
results are shown in Table IV. As the PN-Factor is no longer Vc -0.27+0.49j -0.16+0.43j -0.12+0.38j -0.08+0.33j
equal to one, the angular difference between the drop in V1 0.60-0.22j 0.56-0.28j 0.54-0.31j 0.51-0.33j
positive-sequence and the negative-sequence voltage is no V2 0.20-0.07j 0.24-0.01j 0.26+0.02j 0.29+0.04j
longer exactly an integer multiple of 60°. But after rounding to angle -48.5° -34.9° -29.8° -26.2°
the nearest integer multiple of 60° the algorithm still gives in V 0.56-0.01j 0.45-0.07j 0.27-0.33j 0.21-0.37j
the correct results. F 0.64-0.53j 0.67-0.49j 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.30j
As all three phases are affected in the same way, the six- Type 0 (Ca) 0 (Ca) 1 (Dc) 1 (Dc)
phase algorithm shows the same behavior as for unity PN- |V| 0.43 0.43 0.40 0.34
factor. |F| 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.89
2001TR027 by Math Bollen 5

TABLE VI
IMPROVED SYMMETRICAL COMPONENT ALGORITHM WITH ADDITIONAL 1.5
VOLTAGE DROP AND ROTATION DUE TO LOAD EFFECTS
50% 0° 50% -20° 50% -30° 50% -40° 1
angle -28.5° -14.9° -9.8° -6.2°
V 0.40-0.15j 0.33-0.27j 0.27-0.33j 0.21-0.37j 0.5
F 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.29j 0.80-0.30j

V. THE SIX-PHASE ALGORITHM
In the previous section, the six-phase algorithm has been
applied to a small number of synthetic dips with known
characteristics. This same process has been repeated for a
larger number of synthetic dips covering a wide range of
magnitude and phase angle of the characteristic voltage. (As
mentioned before, the PN-factor does not affect the
performance of the six-phase algorithm.) The results are
presented graphically in Fig. 2. The black dots indicate the
combinations of magnitude and phase-angle (of the
characteristic voltage) for which the algorithm gives incorrect
results. Also indicated in the figure, through the solid curves,
is the range of magnitude and phase-angle jump that can be
expected. The upper and lower curves are for impedance
angles +10° and -60°, respectively. The black dots are
generated by varying the impedance angle between -90° and
+90°. (See Appendix A for an explanation of the term
“impedance angle”.) It follows from Fig. 2 that the six-phase
algorithm gives incorrect results for events with a large
(negative) phase-angle jump and moderate drops in voltage.
Voltage [pi]
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time [Cycles]
Fig. 3. Example of a three-phase unbalanced dip.
Applying the symmetrical component algorithm to these
measurements will result in positive and negative-sequence
voltage phasors V1 and V2, respectively. The symmetrical
component voltages are calculated from the complex
fundamental phase voltages over a half cycle (10 ms) window.
A sliding window is used to obtain the symmetrical component
voltages as a function of time. The angle between (1-V1) and
V2 is used to determine the type of dip. This angle is shown in
Fig. 4 during the fault. The values of the angle before and after
the fault are ill-defined because the negative-sequence voltage
is very small. The half-cycle window used to extract the
symmetrical component voltages makes that it takes about one
half-cycle to obtain a value for the angle. Initially (shortly after
fault initiation) the angle is close to 240°: the “ideal value” for
a type Cc dip. But gradually the angle decreases. In this case,
the maximum deviation is about 25 degrees, just within the
error margin. A slightly larger deviation would have resulted
in the estimation of a type Da dip.
240

230

220
Angle [Degrees]

210

200
Fig. 2. Whole-range testing of the six-phase algorithm: the black dots
indicate where the algorithm gives an incorrect result.
190

VI. CHARACTERISTICS VERSUS TIME

To show some of the potential problems when implementing 180
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10
the symmetrical component algorithm, it is applied to the Time [Cycles]

three-phase unbalanced dip shown in Fig. 3. The voltages are
measured in an 11-kV distribution system during a 132-kV
fault. The fault is cleared in about 5 cycles, after which the
voltage recovers. The slow but balanced recovery indicates the
presence of large amounts of induction motor load..
Fig. 4. Angle between drop in positive-sequence voltage and negative-
sequence voltage for the dip shown in Fig. 3.
The resulting characteristics are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.
Fig. 5 shows the magnitude of characteristic voltage and PN-
factor. Initially the PN-factor is close to unity, but decreases
2001TR027 by Math Bollen 6

during the event. Note that the PN-factor is continuous both at
fault initiation and at fault clearing. This behavior has been
observed for all single-phase and phase-to-phase faults. The
decay and recovery of the PN-factor can be explained from the
decay and recovery of the voltage source behind reactance in
the induction machine model. This also explains that the ratio
of characteristic voltage and PN-factor is constant during the
fault [9].
Fig. 6 shows the phase angle of the characteristic voltage
and the PN-factor. The large transients in the angle at fault
initiation and fault clearing are artifacts due to the Fourier
transform method used to extract the phase-angle information.
The figure shows that the angle of the PN-factor is zero at fault
initiation and decreases to about -12° during the 5-cycle
duration of the fault. Note that a 12° rotation in PN-factor (Fig.
6) gives a 25° rotation in the angle used to detect the dip type
(Fig. 4).
1
0.9
Magnitude [pu]
frequency will result in additional errors in the angle used for
detecting the type of dip. An error of 0.1 Hz in frequency will
give in 10 cycles an error of 7.2° in phase angle for the phase
voltages, leading to an error up to 14.4° in the angle used for
detecting the dip type.
VII. THE PERFECT ALGORITHM
To understand why there is no perfect algorithm to
determine the dip characteristics, consider the following set of
synthetic events:
Dip Type = Ca
xe − j 60°
V= (8a)
1 + xe − j 60°
− j 40°(1− V )
F = (0.7 + 0.3V ) e (8b)
with 0<x<∞. The characteristic voltage is given for an
impedance angle of -60° (see Appendix A). For the PN-factor,
both magnitude and phase angle are assumed to depend
linearly on the magnitude of the characteristic voltage.
This represents dips with a large (characteristic) phase-angle
jump, a large drop in PN-factor, and a large phase shift in PN-
factor. The symmetrical component algorithm according to (5)

0.8
has been applied to these events. The resulting values are
0.7
shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. For x<0.6 the algorithm results in
an incorrect dip type (Db in this case). The incorrect dip type
in turn results in incorrect values for characteristic voltage and
0.6
PN-factor.
The estimated magnitudes of characteristic voltage and PN-
0.5
factor are shown in Fig. 7; the phase angles in Fig. 8. In both
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time [Cycles]
12 14 16 cases the magnitude of the actual characteristic voltage is
given along the horizontal axis. For low values of the
Fig. 5. Absolute value of characteristic magnitude and PN-factor for the dip
shown in Fig. 3.
characteristic magnitude the algorithm results in significant
errors in both magnitude and phase angle, where the
10 magnitude of the PN-factor and the phase angle of the
characteristic voltage reach unrealistic values. The presence of
5
these unrealistic values can be used as an indication that the
0
algorithm has given an incorrect result.
Angle [Degrees]

-5
1

-10

0.8
-15
Estimated Magnitude

-20 0.6

-25
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0.4
Time [Cycles]

Fig. 6. Phase angle of characteristic voltage (solid line) and PN-factor (dotted
0.2
line) for the dip shown in Fig. 3.

As the symmetrical component algorithm uses complex 0

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
phase voltages as its input, the system frequency must be Actual Characteristic Magnitude

known accurately. The discrete-Fourier transform algorithm Fig. 7. Estimated magnitude of characteristic voltage (solid line) and PN-
for extracting the complex phasors must be synchronized to factor (dashed line). The actual values are indicated through dotted lines.
the pre-fault voltage. Assuming exactly 50 Hz (60 Hz)
2001TR027 by Math Bollen 7

problems for large rotations in the PN-factor. It is however

0
unclear how often such large rotations occur in practice. But
-10 even when they occur, the initial value of the PN-factor (i.e.
-20 shortly after dip initiation) is always close to unity without any
-30 phase shift. Using the information that the dip type cannot
Estimated Phase Angle

suddenly change without a change in the phase voltages, can

-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Actual Characteristic Magnitude
Fig. 8. Estimated phase-angle of characteristic voltage (solid line) and PN-
factor (dashed line). The actual values are indicated through dotted lines.
The “incorrect values” are mathematically speaking not
incorrect. There are simply two combinations of dip type, F
and V, that result in the same phase voltages. For example the
voltage dip, according to (8), with characteristic magnitude
50% has the following phase voltages:
Va = 0.85∠ − 20°
Vb = 0.68∠ − 162°
Vc = 0.53∠ + 107°
These phase voltages were generated from a type Ca dip
with the following characteristics:
V = 0.50∠ − 34°
F = 0.85∠ − 20°
But exactly the same phase voltages are obtained for a type
Db dip with characteristics:
V = 0.68∠ − 42°
F = 0.72∠ − 10°
The only way of distinguishing between them is by realising
that one of the solutions gives non-realistic values of the
characteristics. Being able to make such a decision requires
knowledge of dip characteristics as they may occur in practice.
This calls for a further analysis of available monitoring data
and for detailed simulations of unbalanced faults in realistic
systems. The effect of the load on the complex voltages plays
an important role in the dip characteristics so that special
emphasis has to be placed on the load model.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
It is shown that both algorithms are capable of correctly
obtaining the dip characteristics for most three-phase
unbalanced dips. However the six-phase algorithm results in
incorrect dip type and characteristics for shallow and moderate
events with a large phase-angle jump. Voltage dips due to
faults on distribution cables could fall into this category. More
statistical information on dip characteristics is needed to assess
the severity of this limitation.
The symmetrical component algorithm covers all
combinations of magnitude and phase angle jump, but shows
be used to accurately track the changes in the dip
characteristics. More knowledge of the load effects on voltage
dips is needed before this problem can be addressed further.
For applying the symmetrical component algorithm it is
essential that accurate values of complex positive-sequence
and negative-sequence voltage are obtained. They can be
obtained by applying the Fourier transform on the phase
0.7 0.8 0.9 1 voltage waveforms, or through a forward and a backward dq-
transform. With both methods is it important that the algorithm
accurately tracks the system frequency. A small error in
frequency may result in an erroneous dip type.
In this paper, only single-phase and phase-to-phase faults
have been considered. Two-phase-to-ground faults already
give a non-unity PN-factor immediately after fault-initiation. A
large initial phase angle shift in the PN-factor may lead to
errors in the classification in that case.
For extracting additional information on the underlying
event of a voltage disturbance it is essential that the algorithm
gives a correct result, and the symmetrical component
algorithm should be used. To extract statistics on the supply
performance erroneous results in a limited number of cases
may be acceptable. The simplicity of the six-phase algorithm is
clearly an advantage for statistical studies when large numbers
of events need to be processed.
IX. APPENDIX A
For faults on a given feeder the complex characteristic
voltage is found from the standard voltage divider equation:
z
V= (A1)
ZS + z
where the pre-event voltage is assumed to be 1pu, with Zs
the source impedance at the pcc, the distance between the
pcc and the fault, and z the feeder impedance per unit length.
Expression (A1) can be rearranged into:
λe jα
V= (A2)
1 + λe jα
z
with λ = a measure for the “electrical distance” to the
ZS
ì lz ü
fault, and α = arg í ý the angle between source impedance
î ZS
and feeder impedance. It easily follows from (A2) that
lim arg(V ) = α , so that α is the maximum phase-angle jump
V →0
for faults on the given feeder. The angle between source and
feeder impedance (α) is referred to as the “impedance angle”.
It determines the relation between magnitude and phase-angle
jump of a voltage dip. Expression (A2) is suitable for the
2001TR027 by Math Bollen
generation of synthetic voltage dips with realistic magnitude
and phase-angle jump combinations.
The feeder impedance is normally more resistive than the
source impedance, so that α is typically negative. Realistic
values for the impedance angle are between -10° and +10° for
transmission system faults and between –60° and -10° for
distribution system faults. For faults on distribution cables
values between –40° and -60° have been found.
X. REFERENCES
[1] G. Desquilbet, C. Foucher, P. Fauquembergue, Statistical analysis of
voltage dips, PQA-94 Amsterdam.
[2] J.C. Smith, J. Lamoree, P. Vinett, T. Duffy, M. Klein, The impact of
voltage sags on industrial plants, Int. Conf. on Power Quality: End-use
Applications and perspectives (PQA-91), pp.171-178.
[3] M.F. McGranaghan, D.R. Mueller, M.J. Samotyj, Voltage sags in
industrial power systems, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications,
Vol.29, no.2, pp.397-403, Mar/Apr 1993.
[4] L. Conrad, K. Little, C. Grigg, Predicting and preventing problems
associated with remote fault-clearing voltage dips, IEEE Transactions
on Industry Applications, Vol.27, no.1, Jan. 1991, p.167-172.
[5] D.O. Koval, M.B. Hughes, Canadian national power quality survey:
frequency of industrial and commercial voltage sags, IEEE Transactions
on Industry Applications, Vol.33, no.3, pp.622-627, May/June 1997.
[6] M.H.J. Bollen, Characterization of voltage sags experienced by
three-phase adjustable-speed drives, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, Vol.12, no.4, pp.1666-1671, October 1997.
[7] M.H.J. Bollen, Understanding power quality problems – voltage sags
and interruptions. New York, IEEE Press, 1999.
8
[8] L.D. Zhang, M.H.J. Bollen, Characteristic of voltage dips (sags) in
power systems, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 15, no.2
(April 2000), pp.827-832.
[9] L.D. Zhang, Three-phase unbalance of voltage dips, Licentiate thesis,
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, November
1999.
[10] M.H.J. Bollen, E. Styvaktakis, Characterization of three-phase
unbalanced dips (as easy as one two three?), IEEE Power Summer
Meeting 16-20 July, 2000, Seattle, WA, USA, pp.899-904, Vol.2.
[11] IEC 61000-4-30, Power quality measurement methods, CDV 2001.
[12] E. Styvaktakis, M.H.J. Bollen, Y.H. Gu, Expert system for classification
and analysis of power system events, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, in print.
[13] G. Yalcinkaya, M.H.J. Bollen, P.A. Crossley, Characterisation of
voltage sags in industrial distribution systems, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Vol.34, no.4, July 1998, p.682-688.
XI. BIOGRAPHY
Math Bollen (M’94, SM’96) is professor in
electric power systems in the department of
electric power engineering at Chalmers University
of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. He received
his MSc and BSc from Eindhoven University of
Technology in 1985 and 1989, respectively.
Before joining Chalmers in 1996 he was post-doc
at Eindhoven University of Technology and
lecturer at UMIST, Manchester, UK. Math Bollen
leads a team of researchers on power quality,
reliability and power-electronic applications to
power systems. His own contribution to research consists of the development
of methods for voltage dip analysis, which resulted in a text book on power
quality. Math is active in IEEE and CIGRE working groups on voltage dip
analysis and statistics