ABSTRACT:

This is a new technique for the protection of transmission systems by using the global
positioning system (GPS) and fault generated transients. In this scheme the relay contains
a fault transient detection system together with a communication unit, which is
connected to the power line through the high voltage coupling capacitors of the CVT.
Relays are installed at each bus bar in a transmission network. These detect the fault
generated high frequency voltage transient signals and record the time instant
corresponding to when the initial traveling wave generated by the fault arrives at the bus
bar . The decision to trip is based on the components as they propagate through the
system. Extensive simulation studies of the technique were carried out to examine
the response to different power system and fault condition. The communication unit is
used to transmit and receive coded digital signals of the local information to and from the
associated relays in the system. At each substation , the relay determine the location of
the fault by comparing the GPS time stay measured locally with those received from the
adjacent substations, extensive simulation studies presented here demonstrate feasibility
of the scheme .

1.INTRODUCTION
A century has passed since the application of the first electro chemical over
current relays in power system protection .The majority of protection principles
where developed within the first three decades of century a rough guide to there
development. Distance protection has played an important role in power
line protection since in was first introduced in the early part of the century. It has
many advantages over the power line protection techniques and can be adopted for
fault location and back up protection. however, like other power frequency based
protection techniques it suffers from limitation due to power system
frequency wave form, fault path resistance, line loading and source
parameter variations. In particular, the response speed of the relay cannot meet the
requirements when very high speed fault clearance is required. With the continuous
development of modern technology, protection relays have advanced with the
development of electromechanical, semiconductor, integrated circuits and
microprocessor technologies.
Although decades of research have been put in to the continued
development and perfection of the relay technology, many of the basic
relaying principles of protection have not been changed and are still playing
a dominant role today. the introduction of computer technology have been an
important milestone in the history of power system protection .since the concept
was first raised in the late 60s relay technology has gone through rapid
development. Digital techniques for transmission line protection have been quickly
developed and have included various digital and numeric impedance algorithm for
distance protection.Modern development for power system network, the demand for
fast fault clearance to improve system stability and the need for alternative
protection principles have resulted in the search for methods to increase the speed
of relay response .in the late 70s this led to the development of ultra high speed
protection based on the use of traveling waves and super imposed components these
relays offered the advantage of fast response , directionality , and where not
affected by power swing and CT saturation. However many distinct advantages of
the conventional protection techniques where not retained for example Inherent
back up protection.

In recent years, there is a growing interest in the use of fault generated

transients for protection purposes and extensive research work has been conducted
to develop new relaying principles and techniques based on there detection. This led
to the new concept of transient based protection (TBP).Among these the positional
protection offers attractive solutions for power line protection. This technique is
based on the detection of fault generated high frequency transient signals and
determine the actual portion of the fault on the line by measuring the traveling time
of the high frequency transient voltage or current signals along the line. in contrast
to the conventional traveling wave based protection techniques, this technique
concentrates on the fault generated signals during arcing and their associated high
frequency signals. With this approach not only the close in faults can be detected,
but also the problem of low fault inception angle, voltage zero faults is effectively
overcome since the faults arc signals vary little with the inception angle.
The positional protection uses its associated GPS scheme to determine the
instant when it detects the fault generated high frequency transient signals and uses
the power line communication system to communicate this information to the relays
at the other substations. By comparing the arrival time of the transient at different
points in the network , relay is able to identify where the fault is on the system and
pin point its location . the system can also respond to the high frequency transient
generated by switch gear operation, which provides an immediate opportunity for
comprehensive self testing and calibration checking. Electro magnetic transient
program(EMPT) software has been used to simulate a model
EHV transmission system in order to examine the response of the
protection scheme to a variety of different system and fault condition. Results
demonstrate that the proposed technique offer a very fast relay response and high
accuracy in fault location. It has also been shown that the scheme is immune to
power frequency phenomena which can effect established types of relaying.

2. FAULT GENERATED TRANSIENTS

PROTECTIONTECHNIQUES

AND

ASSOSIATED

A comparison of different protection techniques in the frequency domain

is a power system fault indicates a variety of additional transient components in
additional components contain extensive information about the fault and are spread
through out the spectrum ranging from Dc to may kilohertz and even mega hertz.In
conventional protection scheme , the high frequency signals are considered to be
noise and filtered out and as a result, considerable research has been spent on the
designing of the filters , protection schemes based on detection of fault generated
transient, such as the ultra high speed protection schemes are generally limited by
the band width of transducers used. It is accepted however that the fault generated
high frequency transient components contain a wealth of information about the
fault type, location , its directions and duration . the use of these high frequency
transient signals enables the realization of new protection principles that could not
be implemented using only power frequency signals . this has led to the
development of the transient based protection and the transient identification The
transient based protection technique operate by extracting the fault generated high
frequencysignalsthroughspeciallydesigned detectiondevicesandtheirassociatedalgori
thms. The high frequency current signal are directly extracted from the CT out
puts .Although conventional iron cored CTs alternate the high frequency
signals, their characteristics are such that sufficient signals can be detected for
relaying measurement and several researches are studying there use for high
frequency relaying. Following initial analogue filtering, fast signal processing
algorithms are then applied to the measured signals for fault identification.

3. CHARECTERSTICS
SIGNALS.

OF

HIGH

FREQUENCY

CURRENT

The theoretical aspects of the characteristics of the propagation

of highfrequency signals on transmission lines have been well documented.

3.1 Detection
transients

of

fault

position

and

fault

generated

current

when a fault occurs on a transmission line , wide band voltages and current
signals propagate away from the fault point along the power conductors. In time,
these signals reach discontinuities on the transmission line and some of the signals
is reflected back towards the fault point. The characteristics of these waves are
dependent on several factors including , the fault position on the line , fault path
resistance and the characteristics impedance of the power conductors .this
propagation can be shown graphically .Here relays are located at all of the
substations in the power system and independently monitor the power system. The
frequency range of interest for monitoring these fault generated high frequency
signals is between 40-80 KHz and the signal processing is designed as to
determine the arrival of a high frequency transient characteristics
of
those generated by a fault. at these frequencies , bus bars are dominated by their
capacitive elements , and as a result, the incoming high frequency current signal is
both inverted and reflected . a resistive fault in their frequency range will also
reflect a current wave of the opposite polarity.
Fault current transient detector The proposed scheme uses a specially
designed transient current detector fed from the primary CTs . This extracts are high
frequency signals associated with the fault generated current transients. A
simplified block diagram of the detector arrangement. the circuit comprises of an
analogue input circuit for signal conditioning and a digital circuit for determining
the transients. Particular emphasis has been placed on the development of
digital circuit .The detector is designed to interrogate signals in the range
of frequencies from 40-80KHz. analog circuit acts as a band pass filter which
extracts the band of fault generated transient current signal from the line. as a
result , the response of the scheme is not affected by the power frequency short
circuit band at the busbar or the presise configration of the source side networks.
Signal Processing Unit model transformation is employed to decouple the
signal in to their respective aerial modes. The signal mixing circuit receive the
signal from the 3 phase CTs and continue these to form mode2 and mode3 signals.
There are filters to remove any spurious noise. The outputs of the analog circuit are
then passed to the digital circuit .

4. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND RELAY DESIGN

A short circuit fault on a power transmission line generates voltages and
current signals over a wide frequency range. These signals propagate away from the
fault point in both directions along the transmission system with velocity close to
the speed of light. It has been long recognized that the actual faulted position could
be determined on line if the transient signals could time tagged at key points on the
power system network. The global positioning system , with its ability to provide
synchronization with an accuracy of microsecond over the wide area, provides an
ideal tool for performing this time tagging of the receipt of fault generated
transients.
The basic principle of the technique can be demonstrated by r0eferring to the
400Kv, EHV transmission network, shown in figure. Relays are installed at the bus
bars P,Q,R and S and are responsible for the protection of the network . for this
paper , the study has been concentrated on the protection of the network PQR and
tripping of the breakers associated with that network, high frequency signals are
generated at the fault point and travel outward from that point along the network
conductors. In time they will reach the monitored bus bar and be detected by the
relays connected to them. each relay record the arrival instant of the signal
generated by the fault .The relays then code this time information with details of
their identification.. and transmit this to their neighbouring relays. All relays are
continuously ready to receive the coded massages send by other devices. Data
protocols are used to avoid conflict between information sent by different devices
along the same line. following an event , the relays compare the fault transient
arrival time recorded at its sight with those send by other relays .from this they
determine whether the fault is with in the protected zone. appropriate tripping
instructions are then send to the relevant local circuit breakers. The actual location
where the fault occurs can be clearly identified at each relay location by this
method.
A simplified block diagram of the relay unit is shown in fig.. the transient
detector uni5t is connected to the line using three phase CVTs . these are able to
detect the fault generated high frequency voltage signals. The communication unit,
containing a transmitter and a receiver circuits , also uses the CVTs together with a
hybrid unit to separate the transmitted and received transmitted signal.The transient
detector is responsible for detecting the fault generated fast transient signals and
recording the time tag obtained from the GPS clock.The transmitter circuit sends
this time tag corresponding to the instant when the transient is captured, to the
receivers of the other relays installed involved in the network scheme.Previous
research has investigated the use of digital filters to detect the high frequency
signals generated by the fault and had shown that the accuracy of fault location was
a function of the sampling rate used to digitalize the measured signal. the accuracy
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was directly related to the sampling rate and higher the sampling rate , the
more accurate the measurement. in this system it was therefore proposed to use
continuous sampling. In an analog system and a pass band filter tuned to operate
between 40 and 80 KHz. The protection technique is therefore divorced from the
power system frequency .The communication link used in the scheme modeled
and. Used power line carrier techniques. Although this has several advantages ,
other communication system could be used, such as pilot wire , optical fiber or
microwave .The decision to trip the local breaker depends on the
comparison between the times measured by the GPS system at that location and
those measured by other relays. Unlike the convectional protection scheme,
where each relay associates with one circuit breaker on that line section, the
proposed relaying scheme will be responsible for protection of several lines
connected to the bus bar where it is installed. For eg as shown in fig the relay at bus
bar R responsible for the protection of both line section , connected to the busbar,
by controlling both circuit breakers CB-RP and CB-RQ. Therefore the technique
offers a network protection scheme rather than one which concentrates on specific
units of plant. This provides several technical advantages over conventional
relaying.

5. MODELLING AND SIMULATION

The response of the complete system was evaluated by modeling the
transmission line system together with the relays in the scheme using
the EMTP simulation program. EMTP is a general purpose computer program for
simulating high speed transient effects in electric power systems. The EMTP
program features an extremely wide variety of modeling capabilities encompassing
electromagnetic and electro mechanical oscillations ranging in duration from micro
seconds. Its main application include switching and lightning surge analysis,
insulation co-ordinations, shaft torsional oscillations ferroresonance and
HVDC converter control and operations .The EMTP simulation studies include
1. simulation of line and transformer energization , load rejection and fault clearing
which are done to help determine the required transformer , circuit breaker and
other equipment charecterestics.
2. Additional simulations used to develop recommended procedure for line and
transformer energization.
3. Comparison of several recorded waveforms with the result of EMTP simulation
of same events.
The configuration of a transmission line network used in the studies. The line
lengths , source capacities and fault position studies areshown9in fig. CB-PQ, CBPR,CB-RQ are circuit breakers responsible for isolating the different line sections.
Fig 3(a) shows the primary system voltage at the bus bars experienced during a
earth fault at the point F1 in the fig expected , the seviarity of the fault depends on
the impedance of the line connecting the busbar and the fault point. It is evident that
the high frequency components are produced at the faulted and unfaulted phases.
Fig 3(b) shows the corresponding transient voltage signals captured by the relays at
P,Q and R. it can be seen that the magnitude of the captured transient signal
decreases with increasing distance between the relay and the fault point. Upon
detecting the arrival of the transient signal , each relay time tag the signal and
details of the time are send to other relay locations .The time taken for the
communication will depend on the communication system used. in this study a high
speed communication system has been modeled. the time taken for the
communication is the system overload, which will be added to the processing time
required in the decision making unit. Determining which is the faulted section is
reduced to a comparison of time tags recorded when the fault transients where
detected at the relaying points throughout the network .each relay compares the
time instant of the first wave to arrive at the location with those recorded
at the other location. .a time difference smaller than the time taken to travel through
the corresponding line length indicates that the fault is within the corresponding
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section .the actual fault location can be determined with an accuracy of with in 300
meters using the difference between time measurements taken at the end of the
faulted line.
The relation ship between the tag times and determining which feeder is
faulted and hence which breaker need to be tripped is given by Tp-Tq < Lpq/VTp arrival time of the transient wave as bus bar PTq - arrival time of the transient wave
as bus bar Q =Lpq - length of the line between busbar P and QV - wave velocity on
the line. From the response shown in fig indicates that the fault occurs on the line
section PQ. Since this a TEED feeder , the trip decision will be made up by the
relays at locations P,Q and R respectively and subsequently these relays trip their
associated circuit breakers, as shown in fig 5(b). for this fault , the relays at P and R
are able to discriminate between the TEED feeder PQR and line PQR and line PR
by considering their response and that from the relay at Q.The distance we to the
fault is calculated at both terminals line section between bus bar P and Q. the time
tag data and the measured fault location are given in the table1. The tripping signals
shown assume a high speed communication system. Fig 4 shows the corresponding
responses for an phase to ground fault occurring at the point F2 in fig. In this case ,
the time difference between Tp and Tq , Tp and Tr correspond to the wave
travel time from P to Q and P to R respectively, and therefore the fault is onside the
area considered in the study. Tp - Tq = Lpq/VTp - Tr = Lpr/VThe relays therefore
restrain the circuit breakers associated with sections PQR from tripping.
The relay installed at bus bar will detect the time tag the fault generated
transient wave together with the time tag data received from the relay at bus bar
section is SP and trip the corresponding breaker. The relay located on the bus bar P
will respond in a similar manner. Fig 5 shows the relay response for a phase to
ground fault occurring near a voltage zero at point F3. as expected although
the magnitude of the transient signal has been reduced as compared to those shown
in fig 3 & 4 , relays able to make correct decision based on the signals detected .
details of the relays response is shown in table 1.Again although the magnitude of
the signal s captured are relatively lower due to increase in fault path resistance , the
result clearly shows that the scheme is still able to operate.
Fig 6 shows an fault at point F5 on the TEED feeder PQR . the high frequency
transients are readily detected at the relay location and summary of results are
shown in table 1.Switching operations at any substation will also generate
high frequency transients, which will be detected by the relays. However the time
difference between the time tags will correspond to the transient time along the
feeders and the protection will diagnose that the disturbance is not on the protected
feeders . the response of the system to those of the system to these switching
operations offers the opportunity for a comprehensive self-testing of the fault
detection GPS and the communication system.
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The GPS clock has an accuracy of 1 microseconds roughly corresponds to an

accuracy in fault location of 300 meters. This assumes that the transients travel at
the speed of light in vacuum, where as their speed will be less along the power
conductors.
Error in the time tagging to introduce an uncertainity for faults occurring
close to a bus bar . to for a complete protection scheme which covers, faults on any
part of the transmission line system, the technique need to be complemented by a
high speed directional relaying technique . such relays could be provided by
measuring either current or voltage, transient signals. In the complete scheme ,
thedirection a fault as determined at a bus bar also be transmitted to the
adjacent relays using the communication link.

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6. CONCLUSION
A new technique for the protection of a transmission line network is presented
in this paper. this uses a dedicated fault detector to extract the fault generated high
frequency voltage transient signal and GPS system to time tag these signals. The
traveling time of the transient high frequency signal from the point of fault to the
adjacent substation is used to determine the fault positions .Simulations studies
have been carried out the operation of the system when applied to an EHV
transmission network containing both plain and TEED feeders. Results show that
the proposed scheme is able to identify the faulted section of a transmission
network and issue the trip command to the circuit breaker associated with the
faulted section. The protection is inherently high speed but is dictated by the
data communication system used. Studies show that the proposed technique is able
to offer a high accuracy in fault location. Since the accuracy of fault location is
proportional to digital sampling was chosen, ie an analog fault
detector. Unlike traditional protection schemes , this technique offers a new concept
in network protection. The protection inherently monitors the network to which it is
connected and is not limited to individual units of plant.

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7. REFERENCES
o Zhiqian Q Bo Weller, Tom Lomas and Miles A, Redfern Positional
Protection of Transmission system Using global Positioning System IEEE Trans.
On Power delivery, vol 15 no 4 oct 2000
o Z Q Bo G Weller F.T Dai and M A redfern Positional technique for power
transmission lines in IPEC 99 proceedings of the international power engg
conference
o Protective relays application guide: ALSTOM T & D protection and control
ltd

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