IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 4, No.

3, July 1989 1573

OFF-NOMINRL FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS IN ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS

M.M. Giray
Power Systems Research Group
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, +>LAEA
Abstract - Some power system protection
applications require accurate estimates of voltage
magnitude and frequency over a wide measurement range.
Most digital techniques for measuring frequency have
acceptable accuracy over a small range in the neigh-
borhood of the nominal value. This paper presents a
method for extending the measurement range of the
Least Error Squares (LES) technique. The paper also
examines the effectiveness of the technique and
presents some results from simulated studies and
laboratory experiments. The proposed method
estimates, in the off-line mode, errors that are
expected when off-nominal frequencies are measured.
On measuring an Off-nOmiMl frequency, the method
combines the measured value and the expected error to
obtain an improved estimate.
Keywords - Power system protection, frequency
measurements, frequency relays, digital relays.
ImoDucTIoN
It is essential to maintain the frequency of a
power system close to its nominal value. Usually,
frequency deviations in the range of two to three
percent only are allowed for short durations of time.
In this range, the Least Error Squares algorithm (LES)
provides accurate estimates and is, therefore, suit-
able for implementing in mast frequency relays
[1,2,3]. However, the measurement errors increase as
the frequency deviation from the nominal value
increases.
During start-up and shut-down of a generator, Its
frequency varies over a wide range. If the generator
is connected to a transformer, both the generator and
the transformer can experience overexcitation [41.
Excessive volts-per-hertz (V/Hz) indicates that
overexcitation has occurred [5,6]. One method of
estimating this parameter is to measure the voltage
magnitude and frequency and then calculate volts-
per-hertz. Volts-per-hertz relays that provide
accurate measurements over 10 to 70 HZ range would be
desirable for use on steam turbine driven generators.
The frequency of the voltage of a thermal generator
is low during start-up and shut-down procedures. If a
fault occurs during this period, the frequency of the
fault currents and voltages will be less than the
nominal value. Most voltage and current relays
operate incorrectly at these frequencies. It would,
therefore, be desirable to have relays that provide
good estimates of voltages and currents over a wide
range of system frequency.
M.S. Sachdev
off-nominal frequencies was investigated to determine
if it can be improved or not. The investigations led
to the development of a method for extending the
useful range for measuring frequency and peak value of
a signal by the LES technique.
This paper describes the developed technique for
measuring frequency of a signal in the 30 to 70 Hz
range. The proposed method was tested using simulated
and laboratory data. This paper presents the
developed method and some results to demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed technique.
DESCRIPTION OF THE LES TECHNIQUE
References 1, 2 and 3 describe the LES technique
for measuring voltage magnitude and frequency. The
technique consists of taking samples of.the voltages
at a power system bus and estimating from the sampled
values the peak value and frequency. The technique is
briefly described for ready reference of the readers.
The technique assumes that the voltage waveforms
are sinusoids of a single frequency. The following
equation, therefore, describes mathematically a
voltage whose peak value and frequency are to be
estimated.
v(t) = vP sin(2nft + e ) (1)
where: v(t) is the instantaneous value of the voltage
at time t,
vP is the peak value of the voltage,
f is the frequency of the voltage
waveform and
e is the arbitrary phase angle.
The use of the well known trigonometric identities
leads to the following equation
v(t) = vP cose sin(2nft) + V sine cos(2nft) (2)
P
Replacing sin(2nft) and cos(2nft) by their first three
terms of the Taylor series expansions in the
neighborhood of the nominal frequency, f , provides
the following equation for the voltage at a% arbitrary
time tl .
v(t,) = a11x1 + a12x2 + a13x3 + a14x4 + a15x5
a16X6 (3)
+

where:
Considering these applications, the LES technique
that simultaneously measures the amplitude and x2 = (Af) V cOSe
frequency of a voltage or current was developed = v~ P
[1,2,3]. The performance of the technique at
x3 = v sine x4 = (Af) v sine
P P
x6 = (Af)2 V sine
P
89 IY 050-6 PWRD A paper recommended and a p p r o v e d all = sin(2nfotl) a12 = 2ntl cos(2nfotl)
by the IEEE Power System Instrumentation 6 Yensure-
inents Conmittee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society
a13 = cos(2nfotl) a14 = -2ntl sin(2nf0t1 )
f o r presentation at the IEEE/PES 1989 Winter Meeting,
New York, “Tew York, lanuary 29 - February 3, 1989.
Manuscript submitted August 2 9 , 1988; made available a15 = -2 (nt1)2 sin(2nfotl)
f o r printing January 4 , 1989.
aI6 = -2 ( ~ t cos(2nfOtl)
~ ) ~ Af f - fo

0885-8977/89/0700-1573$01.0001989 IEEE
1574

The left hand side of this equation is known when the
voltage is sampled at time tl. Since time is an
arbitrary quantity and tl can be assigned a value, the
lla" coefficients in Equation 3 are known but the "x's"
are not. Since there are six unknowns in Equation 3,
five more equations must be established before solving
for the unknowns. If the voltage is sampled at
intervals of AT seconds, six consecutive samples
provide six equations in six unknowns. It was
observed during the development of the technique that
frequency should be estimated using more than six
equations so that the results are reasonably god.
Also, other formulations of the equations could have
more than six unknowns. Equation 4 expresses m such
equations in n unknowns in the matrix form [l].
(4)
[VI
where:
[XI
is the vector of voltage measurements,
is the vector of unknowns from which the
frequency can be estimated and
[A] is the coefficient matrix whose elements
are known.
For m n , the following equation provides the least
squares solution.
[XI = [AI' [VI (5)
where: [A]+ is the left pseudo-inverse of [A] and
is given by [ [AIT [A]1-l [AIT.
The factors that affect the suitability of the LES
technique are the size of the data window, the
sampling frequency and the truncation of the Taylor
series expansions of the sine and cosine terms. A
considerable freedom in selecting these parameters
exists that enables the final design to be suitable
for power system applications [l].
Equation 5 shows that multiplying the row elements
of the pseudo-inverse matrix with the digitized
voltage samples provides the elements of the [XI
vector. The elements of each row of the pseudo-
SOURCES OF ERROR - FREQuENcl ESTIMATION
As described in the last section, frequency
estimates can be obtained using combinations of the
estimates of V cose and Afv cos8, and V sine and
P P P
AfV sine. The frequency estimation technique uses
P
non-recursive digital filters for estimating each
component. This section investigates the reasons for
the proposed technique providing accurate measurements
in a limited range only.
One of the options for calculating frequency is to
use sampled values of a voltage and the filter coeffi-
cients which are the elements of the matrix, [A]'
defined in Equation 5. Figure l(a) shows the
frequency response, IHl(f)l, of the filter that
estimates V sine and Figure l(b) shows the frequency
P
response, IHz(f)l, of the filter that estimates A N
P
sine . These filters use two cycle data windows and
720 Hz sampling rate. The frequency deviation from
the nominal value estimated by the proposed technique
is the ratio of the magnitudes of the frequency
responses shown in Figures l(b) and l(a) respectively.
This is mathematically expressed as
.,
where: denotes that the frequency deviation is an
estimate.
Dividing and multiplying the right hand side of
Equation 8 by Af provides
This equation shows that the estimated frequency, Af,
-
is equal to the true deviation of the frequency when
IIH2(f)l/Af) is equal to IIHl(f)l).
0

inverse matrix are the coefficients of non-recursive

filters that are used to calculate the unknowns, [XI.
Two of the unknowns are V sine and V cose. These
P P
are the real and imaginary components of the voltage
phasors. Other unknowns are AfV sine and AfV cos%
P P
The following equations provide V and Af from the
P x %-
30
calculated values of the elements of the vector [XI. U -
z
2I?-
m
0

0
1
oO.OO 20.00 40.00 60.00 10.00 100.00 120.00
(7.a) FREOUENCY

Equation 7.a is not suitable when v case is small

P
and Equation 7.b is not suitable when V sine is
P
small. A suitable strategy is to use either Equation
7.a or 7.b as the frequency estimation proceeds.
Investigations of other alternatives for calculating
frequency deviation, such as x5/x2 and x6/x4 showed
that they are less suitable for calculating the
frequency deviation. The reason is that the use of x5
and x6 amplify noise much more than xl, x2, x3 and x4 Fig. 1. The magnitude response of the filter used to
c n l n i l a t a (a) v sine and (b) AfV sine.
do 111. P P
 1575

Figure 2 shows the frequency responses of functions can, therefore, be replaced by two series of
IH2(f)l/Af and IHl(f)l versus system frequency. This terms. Each term of the series is a product of a
figure shows that the magnitudes of the frequency numerical value and a phase delay operator. If the
responses are nearly equal in the 58 to 62 Hz range. data window contains 2k samples and the time reference
The difference between the two frequency responses is at the middle of the data window, the function
increases as the frequency deviates farther from 60 Hl(f) is
Hz. The mismatch between the two frequency responses
is the cause of the errors in the estimated frequency Hl(f) = c-kej2nf(-k+O.5)AT + ( k-1)
'
-
ej2nf(-k+l.5)AT +

at off-nominal values. The estimated values of

frequency deviations are, therefore, accurate in the
58 to 60 Hz range but become progressively inaccurate ..... + ej2nf(-0.5)AT + ej2nf(0.5)AT + .....
as the system frequency deviates farther from the -1 1
nominal value.
j2nf(k-1.5)AT ckej2nf(k-0.5)AT (12)
This discussion also shows that the calculated ..... + 'k-le
+

frequency deviation is a function of the actual

frequency deviation as follows. where: CIS are the coefficients of the filter
that estimates V sine.
" d P
IAfl p (5)Af (10) Because the time reference is at the middle of the
window, the coefficients are symmetrical; i.e. c - ~=
In this equation c and d are non-linear functions of
frequency as is shown in Figure 2. -
ck , c - ( ~ - ~ ) c ( ~ - ~ ) ,etc. Collecting the terms
containing the coefficients of equal values, and using
the well known trigonometric identity eje = cose + j
sine, provides the following equation.

Proceeding in the same "er, it can be shown that

the function H2(f) is a series as follows
k
H2(f) = 2 E d cos[2ttf(q-0.5)AT} (14)
q=l q
where: d's are the coefficients of the filter that
- , estimates Af V sine.
0 20 40 60 00 100 120 I40 P
FREOUENCY - HZ
Fig. 2. The magnitude responses of Hl(f) and
H2( f)/Af -
THE PROPOSED TECHNIOUE k
E d ~0~[21tf(q-0.5)AT]
The last section shows that the mismatch between
the frequency responses of Hl(f) and H2(f)/Af is a
major source of errors in estimating the frequency
deviations. A technique that corrects for the errors
at off-nominal frequencies is developed in this
-
lAfl =
Ifl,
IPl
cq cos(2nf(q-0.5)AT)
"
(15)

section. In this technique, the errors expected to be

present in the estimated values of the true frequency
are pre-determined and correct values of the frequency
are stored in a look-up table. When a frequency
deviation is estimated, the corresponding value of the
true frequency is obtained from the look-up table.
This approach increases the useful measurement range
of the technique substantially.
Correcting the Frequency Estimates
The objective is to find the errors caused by the
mismatch of the responses of the filters used to
obtain frequency estimates. As discussed in the last
section, the estimated value of the frequency is a
ratio of the amplitude responses of two filters. This
was expressed in the mathematical form in Equation 8
and is as follows.

(11)

The functions Hl(f) and H2(f) consist of the

coefficients of digital non-recursive filters and
phase delays associated with the coefficients. The
1576

1. the estimated frequency deviations verses
frequency curve has a minima at 32 HZ and a
maxima at 85 Hz.
2. the estimated values of frequency deviation
are identical at different frequencies; for
example, estimated frequency deviation is -15
Hz when the frequency is 20 Hz and 4OHz.
It is, therefore, essential that the proposed
technique be applied over a limited range. To avoid
uncertainties, frequencies below 40 Hz and above 80 Hz
should not be estimated using this design of the LES
technique for measuring frequency.
While developing the LES algorithm used in this
example, the sine and cosine terms were expressed as a
Taylor series in the neighborhood of f = 60 Hz. This
version of the technique provides accurate estimates
in a close proximity of 60 Hz and the extended version
provides reasonable estimates in the 40 to 80 HZ
range. However, if it is necessary to measure
frequency in the 10 to 80 HZ range, two versions of
the LES algorithm should be used; one designed for a
nominal frequency of 60 Hz and the other designed for
a nominal frequency of 25 Hz.
;d
Y
The LES algorithms designed for data sampled at
720 Hz and two and three cycle data windows were used
in these studies. (However, results of the algorithm
that uses two cycle data window only are presented.)
The values of frequency corresponding to frequency
deviations in increments of 0.1 Hz were calculated.
The information was stored in a look-up table. The
range in which the corrections can be applied was also
established for each design of the algorithm.
It was decided that the effectiveness of the
technique be checked for frequencies in the 40 to 70
Hz range. Since the frequency deviation estimates are
accurate in the 58 to 62 Hz range, the correction
procedure was applied in the 40-58 Hz and 62-70 HZ
ranges only. The values of the frequency corre-
sponding to the frequency deviations from -20 to +10
Hz range were calculated using Equation 15 and the
Newton's method. Some of the selected frequency
deviations and the corresponding true values of the
frequency obtained in this manner are given in Table
I. The third column is included in this table to show
the error that would be in a frequency estimate if it
was not corrected using the procedure.
Table I. The Calculated Values of the Frequency
Deviation and the Corresponding True Values of the
Frequency.

g Error in the
.d Estimated value True value estimated value
of the frequency of the frequency of the frequency
deviation (Hz) (Hz) deviation (Hz)
-14.8 39.89 -5.31
-14.7 40.18 -5.12
-14.6 40.46 -4.94
-14.5 40.73 -4.77

-14.0 41.98 -4.02

-13.9 42.21 -3 89
v.n lm n hn.0 80.0 -13.8 42.43 -3.77
True frequency (Ex)
Fig. 3. The estimates of the estimated frequency
deviations vs actual frequency. -5.2 54: 676 -0:134
-5.1 54.773 -0.126
Correcting the Amplitude Measurements -5.0 54 -881 -0.119
-4.9 54.988 -0.112
It is possible to correct the amplitude
measurements after determining the true frequency.
The following procedure is proposed. Testing with Simulated Data

Hl(f) was defined as the frequency response of the The studies reported in this section used data
from simulated voltages for investigating the
function used for calculating V sine. Let H3(f) be effectiveness of the correction process. Voltages of
P frequencies in the 40 to 70 Hz range were simulated
the frequency response of the function for calculating
V cos& These frequency responses are not matched and sampled at 720 Hz in a software program. The
P frequency deviations were estimated using the sampled
over the entire range of the frequency. values and the LES algorithm. The estimates were then
improved using the look-up table. The errors observed
After using the procedure described in the last in the frequency estimates before and after improving
section the frequency is known; let it be f The
gains of the functions corresponding to the fhequency
. the estimates are shown in Figure 4. A study of this
figure shows that, before applying the corrections,
f H (f ) and H (f ) are known. To obtain the true the errors are large at off-nominal frequencies.
eh.;i&tei of the2 r&l and imaginary components of a However, the use of the proposed procedure reduces the
voltage phasor, divide the estimate of V sine by errors significantly. Also, the improvement is less
P when the frequency is in the neighborhood of 40 Hz;
IHl(fl)I and the estimate of V cose by IH3(fl) 1. the errors are up to 0.15 Hz in this region. This is
P
because the difference in the actual frequencies when
TESTING THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE the estimated frequency changes by 0.1 Hz is much more
at 40 Hz than it is at 55 Hz.
A method for improving the accuracy of the
frequency estimates has been described in the last The measurements shown in Figure 4 were repeated
section. The effectiveness of the proposed method was using a look-up table that used frequency deviation
investigated using software generated data and experi- steps of 0.05 Hz. Figure 5 shows the results obtained
mental data collected from experiments conducted in in this manner. This figure shows that the measure-
the laboratory. This section describes some results ment errors at off-nominal frequencies are less than
from those studies and discusses the effectiveness o t the errors observed in Figure 4.
the method.
 1577

The measurements shown in Figure 4 were also The data were obtained in the laboratory from a
repeated using linear interpolation for the inter- Model FDF dynamic frequency source manufactured by the
mediate values of the frequency deviations. Figure 6 Doble Engineering Company. The output of the source
shows that the errors observed are now insignificant can be adjusted from 0 to 140 volts and 40 to 79.99
over the entire 40 to 70 Hz range. Hz. The voltage was set at 110 V and frequency was
selected in the 40 and 65 Hz range. The voltage level
was reduced to 3 V peak value using an isolating
transformer and voltage divider combination. The
reduced level signals were applied to a k5 volts, 12
@ f o r e correction bit analog to digital converter. The digitized values
of the samples were recorded on a magnetic tape via a
PDP-11/60 computer. The voltage magnitude and

$1 0
After correction
frequency of the dynamic frequency source are accurate
within one and 0.001 percent respectively. The A/D
converter used has an accuracy of 0.025 percent in the
full range.
'9 \ , Figure 7 shows the frequency estimates of a 55 Hz
sighal obtained from the calculated frequency devia-
FREQUENCY (HZ) tions before and after applying the proposed proce-
Fig. 4 . The errors observed before and after dure. This figure shows that the mean error is
correcting the frequency estimates. approximately 0.1 Hz when the frequency is calculated
from the estimates of the frequency deviations.
0 \ However, when the proposed procedure is applied using
the look-up table, the mean error reduces signifi-
cantly. The fluctuations of the calculated frequency
about the mean value are due to noise in the input
data; these fluctuations remain practically unchanged.

?
4 After correction

I 7
'4;).00' 44100 ' a:OO ' 5!!W 5S.W W.00 M.W a.00
FREOUENCY

Fig. 5. The errors observed before and after

correcting the frequency.

\ Before correction

:!-I \sre correction

=
El% After Correction
' 1

" P
0
9 Fig. 7. The frequency estimates of a 55 Hz signal
0
'4b.00' 44100 ' 48:OO ' YlOO
FREQUENCY ( H Z )
Fig. 6. The errors observed before and after
correcting the frequency estimates by linear
interpolation.
Testing with Experimental Data
In addition to the simulated data used in the
studies reported in the last section, experimental
data obtained in the laboratory were used for testing
the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Data of
several off-nominal frequencies was used for this
purpose. The measurements were simulated in a
software program using integer arithmetic during
computations. In each case, the improved frequency
estimates were obtained using a predetermined look-up
table. Results from the application of the technique
to measurements of frequency of 55 and 40 Hz signals
are presented in this section.
0 03
TIME *(1/720) SEC
' if00 ' 60~00 ' 64100 ' WrOq
with and without correction.
The study was also repeated using the data of 40 Hz
signal. The mean value of frequency calculated using
the LES technique was about 45.2 Hz - an average error
of over five Hz. After the proposed technique was
applied, the mean error reduced to 0.1 Hz. However,
the fluctuations of the frequency estimates about the
mean value increased substantially. The reason for
this increase is that the nature of the look-up table
is such that it amplifies noise.
The problem was alleviated by suppressing noise.
Averaging, exponential smoothing, or low-pass filters
could be used for this purpose. The measurements of
the 40 Hz signal were repeated using the LES tech-
nique. The estimates of the frequency deviations were
improved by averaging 16 consecutive calculations.
The procedure proposed in this paper was then applied.
Figure 8 shows the results obtained in this manner.
This figure shows that the maximum measurement errors
are of the order of 0.1 Hz.
1578

Mohindar S. Sachdev ("67, SMf73, F'83) was born

in Amritsar, India, in 1928. He received a B.Sc. from
the Benares Hindu University, India, the M.Sc. degrees
from the Panjab University, Chandigarh, India and the
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and the Ph.D.
degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon,
Canada.
He worked for the Punjab P.W.D. Electricity Branch
and the Punjab State Electricity Board, India from

:I,,
d0 . 0 0 IM.OO
, ,
w.00
, I

40.00
,

T I M E +(1/7201 SEC
, ,
6w.w m.oo
, , ,
900.00
, ~

1o50.00
1950 to 1968 in System Operation, Design and Planning.
He joined, in 1968, the University of Saskatchewan
where he is presently Professor and Head of Electrical
Enuineerinu. His areas of interest are Power Svstem
Anilysis &d Power System Protection.
Dr. Sachdev is a Fellow of the Institution of
Engineers (India) and a Fellow of the Institution of
Fig. 8. Frequency estimates of a 40 Hz signal using Electrical Engineers, London (England). He is a
the LES technique and rejecting noise by Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of
averaging sixteen consecutive estimates. Saskatchewan.
CmcLuSIms
A method for extending the useful measurement
range of the Least Error Squares technique for
simultaneously measuring peak value of a voltage or
current and its frequency has been presented in this
paper. This method is useful in designing digital
meters and relays that need to measure system
parameters accurately over a large frequency range.
The proposed procedure is quite general in form
and can be used in conjunction with other digital
techniques for accurately measuring peak values and
frequency over a wide range of frequency.
REFERENCES
Sachdev, M. S. and Giray M. M., "A Least Error
Squares Technique for Determining Power System
Frequency", IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus
and Systems, Vol. PAS-104, No. 2, February 1985,
pp. 435-444.
Sachdev, 1. S. and Giray M. M., "Measurement of
Local Frequency from Digitized Bus Voltage
Samples", Transactions of the Canadian Electric
Association, Engineering and Operation Division,
Vol. 23, Part 3, 1984, Paper No. 84-SP-149.
Sachdev, M. S. and Giray M. M., "Amplitude and
Frequency Measurements by Discrete Fourier
Transform and Least Error Squares Technique",
Transactions of the Canadian Electrical
Association, Engineering and Operation Division
Vol. 24, Part 3, 1985, Paper No. 85-SP-150.
Alexander, G. W., Corbin, S. L. and McNutt, N.
J., "Influences of Design and Operation Practices
on Excitation of Generator Step-up Transformer",
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
Vol. PAS-85, NO. 8, August 1966, pp. 901-909.
Gartner, G. and Birch. F. H., "Transformer
Overfluxing Protection", Report by Working Group
01 of Study Committee No. 3 4 , Electra, 1973,
CIGFE Reports, pp. 65-73.
Goff, L. E., "V/Hz Relay Protects Transformers
against Overexcitation", Electrical world, No.
168, September 1967, pp. 47-48.
BIOGRAPHIES
Mahmut M. Gira (S'83) was born in Ankara, Turkey
on December, 1949 .'
He received the B.Sc. degree in
Electrical Engineering from the Istanbul Technical
University, Istanbul, Turkey in 1973 and M.Sc. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Saskatchewan in
1979 and 1987 respectively.