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Real-time Monitoring and Capture of Power System Transients

D. F. PEELO1, F. RAHMATIAN2, M. NAGPAL3, and D. SYDOR3

Consultant1, Quanta Technology2, and BC Hydro3
CANADA

SUMMARY

Conventional voltage and current transformers have shown excellent performance for legacy
applications in the power system. Most of these applications use measurements at or near power
frequency, with limited focus on faster transient events. Optical devices, however, have wide
bandwidth capabilities and herald the potential of real-time on-line measurement of transients as they
occur. This paper provides a perspective on the scope of the required measurements, the proven
performance of optical devices and future instrumentation setup to achieve transient capture for high-
speed applications and event analysis.

Power system transients cover a wide spectrum of signals, ranging from several-nanosecond events for
Very Fast Transient (VFT) signals in Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) systems to several-millisecond
switching impulse events in high-voltage transmission systems. Lightning over voltages (standard
waveshape of 1.2/50 s/s) and transient recovery voltages (TRVs) associated with fault current
interruption fall in this range too.

Examples of the performance of optical sensors for transient event measurement are shown in this
paper, focusing on systems using commonly available recorders operating at speeds less than 100 kHz
i.e., 100,000 samples per second (S/s). A set up is proposed, using optical VTs and CTs with multiple
output interfaces, to support both legacy applications with bandwidth less than 5kHz and high-speed
transient measurement applications requiring bandwidth up to several MHz. The set up enables
economical use of optical sensors to support legacy protection, metering, recording, and power quality
applications as well as offer opportunities to develop newer high-bandwidth applications such as
travelling wave accurate fault location, switching transient evaluation, and TRV measurements. The
set up also supports accurate point-on-wave (POW) switching applications taking advantage of the
near-DC performance of optical sensors to measure trapped charges on transmission lines and high
voltage (HV) capacitors banks.

KEYWORDS

Bandwidth Fibre Optic High Frequency Instrument Transformer Optical Sensor Power Quality
Reactive Switching Real-Time Monitoring Ultra High Voltage Transients

dfpeelo@ieee.org or frahmatian@quanta-technology.com
1. INTRODUCTION

Conventional voltage and current transformers are essentially power frequency devices with limited or
no capability to measure faster transient events. Optical devices, however, have this capability and
herald the potential of real-time on-line measurement of transients as they occur [1]-[4]. Power
system transients cover a wide spectrum of frequencies, from DC to several hundred MHz [5]. Very
fast transients in GIS installations as well as lightning overvoltages with sub-microsecond rise times
are some of the fastest signals to be measured in an HV power system. Certain switching overvoltages
during transmission line and cable switching as well as TRVs associated with fault current interruption
are slower occurring having signal transition times up to several hundred microseconds.

This paper provides a perspective on the scope of the required power system transient measurements,
the performance of optical devices for wide-bandwidth measurements, and future instrumentation
system architecture to achieve transient capture for a new generation of protection systems or later
analysis. The following section provides an overview of power system transients to be measured,
including details of bandwidth requirements and conditions to be considered. Section 3 provides a
review of the performance of optical voltage and current sensors, elaborating on factors to be
considered for optimizing an optical sensor for transient signal measurement over a wide range of
frequency and signal magnitudes. Section 4 provides some examples of in-field waveform
measurements using optical and conventional sensors, demonstrating various limitations and potential
congestion in the instrumentation chain. In Section 5, we propose an instrumentation architecture and
set-up to use optical instrument transformers for routine voltage and current measurement applications
and transient recording simultaneously. Section 6 contains a summary and our conclusions.

2. POWER SYSTEM TRANSIENTS

Power system transients, both voltage and current, cover a wide spectrum of magnitudes and
frequencies. The transients considered here are both external, those caused by lightning strikes, and
internal, those caused by switching events. The switching events of significance are high-speed
reclosing following fault clearing, actual fault clearing and making and breaking inductive and
capacitive load circuits.

For insulation coordination testing purposes, a standard lightning impulse voltage has the well-known
1.2/50 s/s waveshape [5]. In reality, a so-called lightning flash is a discharge current between a
piece of cloud and earth. The surge current becomes a voltage when it encounters the surge impedance
of the struck equipment. In the context of this paper, the monitoring of lightning transients is
unlikely to be of interest except perhaps where a specific application requires such monitoring.

Switching surges are represented by a standard 250/2500 s/s waveshape [5]. This waveshape is not
related to actual expected waveshapes but rather to the front-time which corresponds to the minimum
withstand capability for air-gaps of varying configurations [5]. Switching surges typically result from
closing circuit breakers at differential voltages other than zero. For example, for a single line to ground
fault and three-pole tripping on an uncompensated line, a DC charge is left on the two sound phases.
The differential voltage on reclosing can at worst equal 2 pu resulting in switching overvoltages
approaching 3 pu. Usually mitigation measures are taken to limit these overvoltages such as closing
resistors, line surge arresters and controlled or delayed closing [6]. Actual magnitudes and waveshapes
are dependent on a number of variables line length, configuration, degree of compensation,
mitigation measures and can only be studied through detailed simulation or on-site measurements.

Fault clearing is a case of great interest. In the event of a fault one or more circuit breakers are tripped
to interrupt the fault current. The voltage at the circuit breakers recovers to the steady state voltage by
way of a transient recovery voltage usually referred to as a TRV. The TRV has both a power
frequency component dependent on the system earthing and fault type, and an oscillatory component
which can be either underdamped or overdamped with travelling wave effects [7]. Also, on closing
into a fault, the resulting fault current may include a DC component decaying at a rate determined by

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the system configuration. The time constants associated with such currents are difficult to calculate
accurately and being able to exactly determine the DC component has significant value.

Transients associated with switching shunt capacitor banks and shunt reactors are local rather than
system wide events. (However, on rare occasions, switching in a capacitor bank in one station may
have negative consequences at a remote station). The most onerous overvoltage case is the occurrence
of simultaneous restriking in two phases. Usually surge arresters are applied to limit the magnitude of
the overvoltages [8]. Shunt reactor switching is an onerous duty for circuit breakers [9]. Reignitions in
themselves can be detrimental for the breakers and the reignition overvoltages for the reactors. For HV
and EHV applications, this is usually resolved through the use of controlled switching [10].

The so-called very fast transients (VFTs) are unique to gas insulated switchgear (GIS) installations.
The VFTs occur during the operation of disconnect switches. The VFTs are installation dependent and
no attempt has been made to standardize them in a manner similar to lightning and switching over-
voltages. Their existence is simply recognized [5]. However, for GIS applications at Ultra High
Voltage (UHV), opening resistors are used to mitigate these transients.

The approximate signal frequency ranges of the overvoltages discussed above are summarized in
Table I below. Note that slower temporary overvoltage transients also occur on power systems but are
outside the scope of this paper.

Table I
Range of Power System Overvoltage Rise Times
Overvoltage Type Typical Rise Times (s)
Lightning 0.1 20
Switching surges 20 5000
TRVs 2 1400
Reactive load switching 0.5 5
VFTs 0.003 0.1

3. OPTICAL VOLTAGE AND CURRENT SENSORS

Unlike conventional wire-wound and/or capacitively coupled instrument transformers, optical voltage
and current sensors are generally very linear devices with respect to signal frequency and magnitude
[1]-[4]. Consequently, optical sensors can be suitable for voltage and current measurement over a
wide range of frequencies and amplitudes. Nevertheless, as with any other devices, there are practical
limits, and the sensors should be optimized for measuring signal ranges of interest. For example,
when measuring high frequency signals with optical fibre CTs (Current Transformers), care must be
taken to make sure the time of travel of light in the sensing fibre is significantly shorter than the
electric signal (current) period. Reference [1] provides more details on signal walk-off
considerations and shows the sensitivity of a fibre optic CT with various sensing fibre lengths as a
function of the frequency of the current signal being measured (see Figure 1 below taken from [1]).
As the frequency of the signal to be measured increases (its period decreases), the sensitivity of the CT
decreases. In order to ensure appropriate signal measurement, as a rule of thumb, the length of the
optical sensing element should be, at most, an order of magnitude smaller than the wavelength of the
signal to be measured. For example, to accurately represent 5 MHz transient signals, the length of the
sensing element should be less than 2 metres.

Reference [1] also provides more details on the optimization of the length of the sensing element
(fibre), the number of fibre turns, and the amplitude and frequency of the signals to be measured. An
optimized configuration is shown where a typical fibre optic CT having a 3 metre long sensing fibre in
a 4-turn wrap-around configuration is used to measure currents up to 15 kA and 6 MHz [1].

Another key factor to be considered when using wideband optical sensors is the amount of noise
present in the output of the sensor system. Low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can have adverse impact

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on the functionality being served by a measurement; accordingly, the sensing system should be
designed to provide sufficient SNR for the application(s) of interest. This is a key consideration for
using wideband optical CTs over a very wide range of currents. There are various sources of noise in
measurement devices, optical or non-optical. For a typical optical CT, the dominant noise is usually
the shot noise [11]. Generally speaking, this noise is a white noise with Gaussian distribution,
averaging to zero over time. The Gaussian noise of a typical fibre optic CT discussed here has a
standard deviation equivalent to 0.2 A-turn/Hz. For example, the noise level (1-sigma standard
deviation) for a 20 fibre turn optical CT with a bandwidth of 10 kHz is equivalent to 1 A of primary
current; i.e., when using this sensor for measuring a 1000 A 60 or 50 Hz current, the SNR in the output
of the optical CT will be about 1000:1 or 60 dB. As another example, the noise level for a 4-turn
optical CT with a bandwidth of 1 MHz is the equivalent of 50 A of primary current; this allows for a
SNR of 100:1 (40 dB) when measuring a 5 kA signal.
120
L = 20 m
100
L = 10 m
L= 5m
L= 4m
Relative Sensor Sensitivity (%)

80
L= 3m

60

40

20

-20

-40
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Frequency (MHz)
Figure 1. Relative sensitivity of an in-line optical fibre CT versus
frequency for CTs having various sensing fibre length, L, [1].

In a measurement system using optical VTs and CTs, the optical elements constitute only part of the
measurement chain. It is important to design the entire measurement system, including the optical
sensing element, its associated electronics, and the signal recording or storage system with appropriate
characteristics. A benefit of optical sensing elements (having linear performance over a very wide
range of frequency and signal amplitudes) is that one sensing elements can be used in combination
with several different signal processing algorithms and output interfaces in the associated sensor
electronic chassis to provide appropriate measurements for various applications simultaneously. For
example, a two-output fibre optic CT has been reported on in [2], where one output was used for
measuring low DC currents (a few to several tens of Amperes) and the second output was used for
measuring 50/60 Hz AC currents up to 3000 A. Each output had a different SNR, sensitivity
(equivalent to wire-wound CT turns-ratio) and bandwidth, while the primary part of the sensor was
one. Similarly, in using optical sensors for measurement of transients in power systems, we may use
one optical sensing element in multiple measurement chains for various reasons including signal
fidelity, system reliability, and cost optimization. Section 5 provides more details on the schematic
proposed for use of optical sensors systems for transient recording while maintaining the use of the
sensor for regular substation applications, such as routine metering and protection functions.

4. SAMPLE TRANSIENT RECORDINGS

Figure 2 shows waveform recordings from a staged fault test at a 500 kV series capacitor bank in 2003
[3]. The data were acquired using optical voltage and current sensors and a data recording system
operating at 100,000 samples per second (S/s). Voltage and current waveforms across Metal Oxide
Varistors (MOVs) as well as the fault current waveforms are shown in Figure 2(a). Figure 2(b) shows
the primary fault current and secondary arc current, continuing for a period of time after primary fault

4
clearance. Figure 2 clearly shows the benefit of wideband (and DC) performance of optical VTs and
CTs for capturing all transient and non-power-frequency (50 or 60 Hz) events.

15 MOV Current (kA) Fault Current (kA) MOV Voltage (kV) 250 0.8

12 200

9 150
0.4
6 100

MOV Voltage (kV)

3 50

Fault Current (kA)

Current (kA)

0 0 0.0

-3 -50

-6 -100
-0.4
-9 -150

-12 -200

-15 -250 -0.8

-0.01 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 -0.02 0.02 0.06 0.10 0.14 0.18 0.22 0.26 0.30 0.34
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) (b)
Figure 2. Staged fault tests at a 500 kV series capacitor bank station: (a) MOV voltage and current and
fault current traces; (b) primary fault and secondary arc currents [3]

Figures 3 and 4 show waveform recordings when switching a 500 kV line at BC Hydros Ingledow
Substation in the fall of 2011. Data from a CVT and an OVT (optical VT) on the line side and a CVT
on the bus side of the circuit breaker are shown. Figure 3 shows line de-energization and shows an
anomaly (voltage ringing) on the readings from the line CVT, as well as fast decaying of the near-DC
voltage still remaining on the disconnected line. The OVT readings, on the other hand, do not show
any transient anomalies and reproduce the trapped charges on the line (the apparent increase in the
trapped charge voltage is due to coupling effects between phases and from the parallel energized line).

Figure 4 shows similar waveforms during energization of the same line. Figure 4b shows better how
the transient response of the CVTs results in higher overshoots during the switching process. The
transient response of CVTs can be quite complex. The main reason for this behaviour is the resonance
between the divider capacitance and the compensating reactor inductance. The main factors affecting
the CVT transient response are divider capacitance value, burden resistance, ferroresonance circuit
type (active versus passive), and input waveform characteristics. See [12] and [13] for more details of
CVT transient response.

The data shown were acquired using standard BC Hydro recorders operating at 24,000 S/s. All OVT
and OCT data shown in Figures 2 to 4 were acquired from their low-energy analog output (<10V)
interfaces. The optical devices used for acquiring data shown in Figures 3 and 4 also have a separate
115 V and 1 A rated interface for connection to revenue metering systems.

800
Line OVT -PhA (kV) Bus CVT -PhA (kV)
Line CVT -PhA (kV)
600

400
Voltage (kV)

200

-200

-400

-600
-0.015 -0.010 -0.005 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
Time (s)
Figure 3. Waveform recording during line de-energization switching at Ingledow
substation, Surrey, BC, Canada, 2011. The data were recorded at 24,000 S/s.

5
 Line Current (A) Line OVT -PhA (kV)
1000 Bus CVT -PhA (kV) Line CVT -PhA (kV) 800 100

0 600 Line OVT -PhA (kV)

0
Bus CVT -PhA (kV)
-1000 400 -100 Line CVT -PhA (kV)
Current (A)

Voltage (kV)
Voltage (kV)
-2000 200 -200

-3000 0 -300

-4000 -200 -400

-5000 -400 -500

-6000 -600 -600

0.152 0.157 0.162 0.167 0.172 0.154 0.156 0.158
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) (b)
Figure 4. Waveform recording during line energization switching at Ingledow substation, Surrey, BC,
Canada, 2011. The data were recorded at 24,000 S/s. (b) shows the same voltage reading, zooming into
the first few milliseconds after energization, showing line CVTs additional fluctuation.

The waveform recordings shown here illustrate some of the features of optical voltage and current
sensors, demonstrating suitability for transient recording applications. Nevertheless, recorders and
interfaces used in these cases were designed for lower bandwidth performance (< 40 kHz), as such
higher speed transients were not recorded.

5. PROPOSED SET-UP FOR MEASURING TRANSIENTS IN HV SYSTEMS

Waveform capture with high bandwidth is beneficial for applications such as controlled switching of
reactive equipment on EHV transmission systems (and detecting high-frequency phenomena and
oscillations), validating models for use in electro-magnetic transient studies, as well as travelling wave
fault detection and fault location schemes, to name a few examples. Optical sensor systems can
provide measurement over a wide frequency range; however, traditionally, the electronic interface
associated with optical voltage and current sensor systems has been designed to support only
traditional metering, protection relaying, and power quality applications, providing a bandwidth up to
a few kHz only. Performance of optical sensors for measuring DC signals, as well as signals having
rise-times faster than 0.1 s, has been shown previously [1]-[2]. In other words, optical sensors have
been shown to measure voltage and current signals in power systems at frequencies ranging from DC
to several MHz. We propose a set-up where an optical sensor system can be used for both legacy and
wideband (and DC) applications concurrently. Figure 5 shows a schematic of the proposed system.
The electronics associated with the optical sensor can be designed to have several independent output
interfaces, each being optimized for performance over a different range of frequency and signal levels.
The output interfaces used for traditional (legacy) applications typically provide bandwidths less than
5 kHz and satisfy various national and international standards (e.g., IEEE C37.92 or IEC 60044-7/8
for analog interface and IEC 61850-9-2 and IEC 61869-9 for digital interface). These standards-based
interfaces simplify deployment of sensors in common legacy power system protection, metering, and
control applications, while supporting redundancy and high-availability system architectures.
Nevertheless, these interfaces, as required by standards, mask DC and higher frequency (e.g., >10
kHz) signals. We propose a separate output interface from the optical sensors electronic chassis to
support transient recording and wide bandwidth (e.g., MHz) applications. In order to capture fast
transients, the output interfaces associated with the optical sensing system as well as the recording
system can be chosen to have bandwidths in excess of 2 MHz. These wideband interfaces (analog or
digital) can be connected to a high-speed data acquisition system (DAQ) as well as a number of
advanced electronic devices for transient recording, new application development and trial
applications (e.g., high-accuracy travelling wave fault location). Ideally, all these devices are
synchronized to better than 1 s using an accurate GPS (Global Positioning System) clock in the

6
substation. The sensor system can use a single set of passive optical sensing elements in the substation
yard (shown on the left in Figure 5), and high-speed data are available inside the electronics chassis of
the optical sensor system; however, separating the output interfaces for legacy and high-speed
applications has the following advantages:
Lower noise levels for the legacy/standard outputs (signal filtering to narrower bandwidth);
Optimized rated signal levels and SNR for different applications;
Better system reliability and availability for critical legacy applications, such as protection
relaying and revenue metering;
Decoupling (elimination of cross-talk) between various IEDs connected to the optical sensor
system; and
Easy maintenance and upgrade of the system as new applications/IEDs become available.

Optical Voltage and Current Measurement System (Redundancy Not Shown)

OVT GPS Clock

OCT
Wideband
Applications
High-Speed Data
Development
Acquisition and
Storage

Pilot Application 1

Wide Bandwidth Analog

(<10 V rated) or digital interface

Pilot Application n

IEDs
Wideband (Relays, Meters,
Output
Optical Digital Interface Recorders, )
Legacy
Cables Optical (IEC 61850-9-2 and
IEC 61869-9) Applications
VT and/or CT (using narrowband
Electronics IEDs data)
(Relays, Meters,
Chassis Analog Interface
Recorders, )
(4V, 100V,
1A, 5A, ...rated)

Figure 5. Proposed schematic of system connections when using optical VT or CT systems for legacy and
wide-bandwidth applications concurrently.

6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we discussed the use of optical instrument transformers for transient recording and future
high-speed applications in the electric power systems. The following list provides examples of
potential applications that can be served effectively (or more effectively) by wideband high-speed
measurements of voltage and current:
Accurate fault location with traveling waves:
o The proposed system will leverages infrastructure of wideband current and voltage
sensors to replace existing specialized, costly equipment (e.g., drain coils, 100%
double-shielded cable, etc.) used in present day travelling wave detection
methodology.
Travelling wave fault detection:
o The proposed system can potentially enable fast bypass initiation of series capacitor
banks on faulted transmission line.

7
 Point-on-wave switching:
o The proposed system will provide accurate representation of uncompensated
transmission line DC trapped charge for use in minimizing switching surges during hi-
speed auto-reclosing,
o The waveforms from the proposed system will provide an accurate representation of
shunt reactor compensated transmission line non-power frequency ringdown voltage
for use in minimizing switching surges during hi-speed auto-reclosing.
Switching transient evaluation:
o The waveforms recorded from the system will be accurate representations of:
TRVs during fault clearing for comparison to standardized values,
Transmission line high-speed auto-reclose energization transients, and
Shunt capacitor energization transients.
o The waveforms recorded can help verify EMTP models and surge arrester application.

The proposed system will use optical sensor systems for high-speed and DC applications concurrently
with legacy narrow-band applications, while supporting the high reliability and availability required
for legacy applications. It will facilitate the evolution of power system control and protection schemes
in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. The electronics associated with the optical sensors, as well
as IEDs serving various power system functions, can be upgraded and evolved over time, while the
investment in the passive optical sensing elements used in the field (e.g., substation yard) is preserved
over a very long period of time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] F. Rahmatian and D. F. Peelo, Use of Optical Instrument Transformers for High-Voltage
Testing, (CIGRE General Session 43, Aug. 22 - 27, 2010, paper A3-301).
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Electric Power Transmission Systems, (CIGRE General Session 42, Aug. 24-29, 2008, paper
A3-301).
[3] F. Rahmatian, D. Peelo, G. Polovick, B. Sunga, and J. Lehtimaki Optical Current and Voltage
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