Journal of Energy and Power Engineering 6 (2012) 1301-1307 D DAVID PUBLISHING

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of

Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

Mahmoud Gilany1, Ahmed Al-Kandari1 and Bahaa Hassan2

1. Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Technological Studies, Shuwaikh 70654, Kuwait
2. Egyptian Electricity Authority, Egypt

Received: August 11, 2011 / Accepted: November 08, 2011 / Published: August 31, 2012.

Abstract: This paper presents an ANN (artificial neural networks)-based technique for improving the performance of distance relays
against open-circuit faults in transmission networks. The technique utilizes the small capacitive current measured in the open-phase
plus the currents in the two healthy phases in calculating the open-circuit fault distance. The results obtained show that a distance relay
with the proposed scheme will not only be able to detect the open-conductor condition in HVTL (high voltage transmission line) but
also to locate the place of this fault regardless the value of the pre-fault current loading. There is no need for especial communication
schemes since the existing media could work properly for the needs of the proposed technique.

Key words: Distance relay, open-conductor, ANN, transmission networks, fault location.

1. Introduction and a fire hazard also exists [1]. Opening a conductor

also causes the system to operate on two phases only
System faults can be divided into two types
which badly affects system stability [2]. The
according to its nature: single-point faults and
transmitted power through this power transmission line
multi-points faults. Examples of single-point faults
will be reduced. The healthy phases may suffer from
include the single line-to-ground faults, phase-to-phase
over loading. Isolators of the healthy phases will not be
faults, etc.. Examples of multi-points faults include the
far from the drawbacks. The voltage upon healthy
case of the open-conductor. Reasons for two-point
phases may increase if the system is not directly
faults on transmission lines include undesired opening
earthed.
of breaker, case of open bridle (especially in tension
The big problem is that the case of open-conductor
towers) and direct breaking of the line conductor.
can not be detected by the main protection of the power
Opening a conductor in power transmission lines is
transmission lines which is the distance protection.
one of the serious problems in the operation of power
This is because open-conductor is not associated with
systems. High impedance faults characteristically show
any increase in current or decrease in voltage. This
very low currents, which often are not detectable by
means that the measured impedance by the distance
conventional protection devices. The most frequent
relay will not decrease in case of open-conductor. In
and worrying type of high impedance faults occur
fact, the impedance measured by a distance relay on the
when an energized primary conductor breaks and falls,
healthy-phases increases with the occurrence of
contacting earth. This situation is especially dangerous
open-conductor causing the distance relay to go far
since risks of electric shocks are posed to the public
away from operation region.
Corresponding author: Mahmoud Gilany, professor,
Consequently, the case of open-conductor will
research fields: power system protection and power system continue to exist until other protection scheme detects
planning. E-mail: mahmoudgilany@ieee.org.
1302 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

it. The protection scheme which may detect this type of 2. Typical Problems
fault (according to the pre-fault current value) is the
For an open-circuit fault occurred in a single phase
earth fault relay. However, even if the line is equipped
of line C-D as shown in Fig. 1, the distance relays R1,
with an earth fault protection and the pre-fault current
R2 and R3 can easily detect such unsymmetrical fault
value was large enough to initiate the operation of the
since one of the three phases is almost zero. However,
earth fault relay; there will be a large time delay since
unless the settings for the three relays (as well as the
earth fault relays is actually a backup protection for
settings of the associated earth fault relays) are
HVTLs (high voltage transmission lines).
accurately estimated, a discrimination problem
There is a lack of researches considering cases of
between the three relays is expected and a false trip
open (downed) conductor, since most of protective
from relays R1 and R2 can not be avoided. Usually, the
relays do not respond to these types of faults. Protection
open-circuit case starts with a simple problem and ends
engineers believe that the protective devices are not
with a wide disconnected area.
designed for open-conductor fault case. Even the field
A recorded open-circuit fault case is illustrated in
experts find that no response from protective relays for
Fig. 2. An open-circuit fault occurred on one of the two
case of open-conductor is accepted. There are not
parallel circuits. The fault, as expected, was not
significant research efforts in the field of using distance
detected by the distance relays at both sides of the line.
relay to detect or locate the open-conductor fault Instead, it was detected by the earth fault relays: EFR-1
especially in the high voltage interconnected systems. and EFR-2.
The only effort exerted in field of studying The unbalance level at the earth fault relay EFR-2 (at
open-conductor problems is in distribution networks 220 kV side) is much higher than the unbalance level
[1, 3-5]. A brief review of some open-conductor fault at EFR-1 (at 66 kV side). Consequently, the earth fault
detection techniques can be found in Refs. [6-8]. Most relay EFR-2 tripped faster than the earth fault relay
of the proposed techniques are based on a device
located in the substation, such as a relay which operates
R1 R1' R2 R2' R3 R3'
monitoring non-60 Hz parameters of the feeder current
[9, 10] as changes in second or third harmonics for
Fig. 1 Open circuit fault.
example.
In all the previous studies, the research work is
concentrating on detecting the open-conductor fault
case. However, there is no work that is done in the area
of estimating the distance of the open-circuit fault. The
objective of this paper is to modify the typical distance
relay algorithm to be able to estimate not only the
distance to short-circuit-faults but also to detect and
estimate the distance to open-circuit faults. In this work,
the line is assumed to be open from both sides. In the
next sections, the effect of open-circuit faults compared
with short-circuit faults is demonstrated with typical
recorded case studies. The mathematical formulation
of open-circuit problem and the proposed ANN-based
technique are then presented. Fig. 2 Reverse grading problem.
 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines 1303

EFR-1. Therefore, the major 220 kV transformation 3. Existing Solutions

station was totally disconnected resulting in a major
As stated above, most of the solutions are related to
shut-down in that area. This problem is practically
distribution networks. Some researches introduced
known as “reverse grading” problem. In some other
techniques for detecting cases of down conductor and
recorded faults, the remaining healthy circuit was also
high impedance faults by monitoring non-nominal
tripped by the overcurrent protection as a result of
frequency parameters [6, 7]. Other techniques used for
overloading condition.
distribution feeders are depending on locating number
Another recorded open-circuit case is described in
of voltage sensors along the feeder to sense unbalance
Fig. 3. In this case, circuit-II ABZ/SLM 66 kV was
voltages resulted in case of open-conductor [1]. This is
disconnected from both sides by overcurrent protection
not suitable for transmission lines. There are two
without any recorded faults. At the same time, the two
known methods to solve such a problem in
main transformers 220/66 kV were also disconnected
transmission networks.
by the earth fault protection (EF) at ABZ substation
without any recorded faults. 3.1 Method Depends on the Earth Fault Relays
The analysis of this incident showed that an
Open-circuit fault can be detected by earth fault
open-conductor on phase B of the circuit-I occurred
relay since it represents a kind of unbalance condition.
first. The phase B in circuit-II was then overloaded,
The zero sequence current under such conditions is
causing the overcurrent protection on this circuit to
used to detect such a fault. However, the resulted
operate.
unbalance is depending on the value of the pre-fault
Once circuit-II was disconnected, circuit-I (which is
current [11]. With heavy pre-fault load, the probability
originally opened in the phase B) was highly loaded on
for detecting such an unbalance is low. Also, the earth
the two healthy phases. As a result of the unbalance
fault relay is usually used as a back-up relay and
current in the neutral of the two main transformers, the
earth fault relays at ABZ substation operated and consequently it takes large time to operate. Moreover,
disconnected the two transformers. No earth fault these relays are unselective and consequently, more
relays were installed on the 66 kV lines. than one relay can trip for a single fault (refer to the
recorded case in Fig. 2).
ABZ 220 kV
3.2 Method Depends on (I2/I1) Ratio
EF EF
The new numerical relays give a facility of using what
is called “open-conductor detection function” [11]. This
function depends on measuring the ratio between
EF EF negative and positive sequence currents (I2/I1) in the
protected line. The ratio is not affected by the pre-fault
66 kV
current. However, this method requires very sensitive
settings for this ratio. It may also lead to mal-operation
with any other unbalanced condition. Consequently, it is
Circuit-II
Circuit-I

usually used only as an alarm function.

4. Problem Formulation
SLM 66 kV

Fig. 3 Wide disconnected problem resulted from Considering the power system shown in Fig. 4, a
open-conductor. single-phase open-conductor fault (in phase A) is
1304 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

Z'1F is the impedance of the line from the place of

open circuit till the other end of the line;
Z1SX is the positive sequence source impedance at
bus X;
Z1SY is the positive sequence source impedance at
bus Y;
Fig. 4 System under study.
X equal to (Z0/Z1).
assumed on line X-Y between points P and Q. The The problem is that the impedances Z1, Z2 and Z0 are
source impedances of the supplies behind the two measured at the place of open-conductor not at the
distance relays (RX and RY) are represented by ZSX and relaying point, which means that they are not available
ZSY. The actual impedance between distance relay RX for the relay and hence, it can not be used in the fault
and the open circuit fault place is ZF. distance calculations.
The sequence voltages are given in Eq. (1): By re-arranging Eq. (4), the positive sequence
1 impedance Z1F can be written as:
(V1 ) PQ  [(Va ) PQ  a (Vb) PQ  a 2 (Vc ) PQ ]
3 I1PF Z1  Z 0 
1 Z 1F     Z1F  Z1SX  Z1SY
'
(5)
(V2 ) PQ  [(Va) PQ  a 2 (Vb) PQ  a(Vc) PQ ] (1) I1  X  1 
3
1 Also, the zero sequence line impedance from the
(V0 ) PQ  [(Va ) PQ  (Vb) PQ  (Vc) PQ ]
3 relaying point to the place of open circuit, Z0F can be
where (Va)PQ , (Vb)PQ and (Vc)PQ represent the voltage written as [12]:
drop between points P and Q in each of the three phases
Z 0F 
 I2
I1

Z 2  Z 0   ( Z 0' F  Z 0 SX  Z 0 SY ) (6) 
respectively. Since both (Vb)PQ and (Vc)PQ are equal to
zero, then: Substituting Z0F = 3 Z1F and Z'0F = 3 Z'1F, then Eq. (6)
1 can be re-written in the form:
(V1 ) PQ  (V2 ) PQ  (V0 ) PQ  (Va ) PQ (2)
I 
 
3
The sequence currents can be written in terms of the 
3Z 1F   2  Z 2  Z 0   3Z 1' F  Z 0 S  X  Z 0 S Y (7)
 I1 
sequence network impedances as follows [12]:
From Eqs. (5) and (7) the positive sequence
Z1  I1PF
I1  impedance from the relay point to the fault location can
 ZZ 
Z1   2 0 
 Z2  Z0  be written as:
 I2   3I 1PF  I 1  2 X   (8)
I2  
Z 0 I1
(3) Z 1F    Z 1    Z 0    Z SX  Z SY 
Z0  Z2  I1  I 2   3 I 1   X  1  
Z 2  I1 where
I0  
Z0  Z2 ZSX = [Z1SX + (1/3) Z0SX] and ZSY = [Z1SY + (1/3) Z0SY].
where I1PF is the pre-fault phase-current in phase A. From Eq. (8), it can be seen that the line positive
The line impedance from the relaying point till the sequence impedance from the relaying point till the
place of the fault in case of an open-circuit from both place of open-conductor (Z1F) is depending on the
sides can be written as follows [12]: following values:
 Z   Pre-fault loading current, I1PF;
Z1F I 1PF  I 1 Z1SX  I 1 Z1F  I 1  0   I 1 Z1' F  I 1 Z1SY (4)
 X 1  Sequence currents I1 and I2;
where  Source impedances at both end ZSX and ZSY
Z1F is the line impedance from the relaying point till (assumed to be constant);
the place of open circuit;  Sequence Thevinen’s impedance at place of
 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines 1305

open-circuit (Z1 and Z0). These values are the input values fed to the ANN
The last factor can not be obtained by any distance where the output is the required positive sequence
relay since it is considered as unforeseen data. The impedance of the line till the place of open-conductor.
proposed distance relay in this paper is using Eq. (8) to
6. Simulation Results
estimate the location of the open-conductor using
ANN. The proposed scheme identifies the case of
open-conductor based on the level of current in each of
5. ANN Configuration the three phases. Under single phase open-conductor
ANN is a suitable technique to be used in this study condition, the current in one of the three phases will be
since ANNs are prepared to work with incomplete and below a current threshold (Idetc). The scheme also
unforeseen data. checks if the phase breaker is open or not (to avoid
The researchers were motivated to use ANN for conflict with the case of segregated phase breakers).
transmission line relaying for several reasons [13-15]. The case of open-conductor is confirmed if the
First, the ability of ANNs to learn complex nonlinear difference between the other two phase currents is less
input/output relations and their inherent immunity to than an error.
changing operating conditions played a role. At the Different open-circuit faults were applied at
same time, ANNs have a high degree of robustness and different locations along the line X-Y in the power
ability to learn. system model shown in Fig. 4. Part of the power
In this paper, different configurations (different system specifications is presented in Table 1.
number of hidden layers, different number of neurons in Fig. 5 shows typical results for an open-circuit case
hidden layer, different transfer function for hidden and at distance of 10% of the protected line measured from
output layer(s) and different training methods) are tested the relay RX. The calculated RMS values for current and
in order to choose the best configuration for the voltage signals at both sides of the line are shown in
proposed ANN scheme. The configuration achieved Figs. 5a-5d where the impedance seen by distance
minimum error goal includes two hidden layers with relays RX and RY are shown in Figs. 6a and 6b.
five neurons. The hidden layer neurons transfer function It is clear that the relay can not detect the open fault
is Tansig where the output layer neuron transfer function case since the impedance seen by the relay is much
is Puerlin. The proposed ANN based fault classification larger than the load impedance.
scheme has been designed using Trainscg function. Table 2 shows a summary of test results of the
MatLab is used in building and training the ANN. proposed scheme. The maximum error recorded is less
The values of the sequence currents versus the than 11%. This can be improved by training the ANN
positive sequence impedance Z1 are analyzed with more fault cases. The error is accepted taking into
statistically to get the best formation of the training account that the ordinary distance protection is not able
inputs. This yields the following three inputs: to even detect such kind of faults.
 I  7. Conclusions
Input 1   1PF 
 I1  I 2 
2 A novel ANN-based technique is proposed to
I 
Input 2   2  (9) improve the performance of the ordinary distance relay
 I0  against open-circuit faults. The maximum error in the
2
I  calculated impedance is less than 11%. The results
Input 3   1 
 I2  obtained show that a distance relay with the proposed
1306 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

Table 1 Data of the power system model. 50000

Z (at side X)
Equipment Data 40000

30000
Feeding source at side-X 2.5 GVA
20000
Feeding source at side-Y 3.05 GVA
10000
Line length 100 km
0
Capacitance 3.8 × 10-6 F/km
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
Positive sequence reactance 0.296 Ω/km Time
Positive sequence resistance 0.04 Ω/km
(a) Calculated impedance at side X
Zero sequence reactance 0.25 Ω/km
4000
Zero sequence resistance 0.95 Ω/km

Z (at side Y)
3000
2000
2000
1000
IA (side X)

1500
0
1000
0 0.05 Time 0.1 0.15 0.2
500

0
(b) Calculated impedance at side Y
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Fig. 6 Calculated impedance at both ends under
Time open-circuit fault condition.

Table 2 Part of the results of proposed technique.

(a) IA current at side X
Open Actual Measured Percentage
2000 place impedance impedance error
1500 8% 1.184 1.18282 00.997%
IA (Side-Y)

1000 18% 2.664 2.510983 5.7439%

500 21% 3.552 3.280613 7.6404%
0 25% 3.7 3.856137 -4.22%
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 24% 3.552 3.280613 7.6404%
Time 28% 4.144 3.985487 3.8251%
30% 4.44 4.409496 0.0687%
(b) IB current at side Y 38% 5.624 5.514159 1.9531%
45% 6.66 6.190767 7.0455%
200000
50% 7.4 6.598375 10.8328%
150000
V A (Side-X)

60% 8.88 8.061088 9.222%

100000
64% 9.472 8.762028 7.4955%
50000
68% 10.064 10.2301 -1.65%
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
70% 10.36 10.46878 -1.05%
72% 10.656 11.02803 -3.491%
Time
76% 11.248 11.40967 -1.437%
(c) VA voltage at side X 84% 12.432 13.02945 -4.806%
94% 13.912 15.51949 -11.555%
200000
150000 scheme will not only be able to detect the
V A (Side-Y)

100000 open-conductor condition in HVTL but also to locate

50000
the place of this fault regardless the value of the
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 pre-fault current loading. The ANN used in the
Time proposed scheme does not impose large time delay to
the operation time of the distance relay as it is of simple
(d) VB voltage at side Y
Fig. 5 Current and voltage signals at both ends under configuration and trained off-line. There is no need for
open-circuit fault condition. especial communication schemes as the existing media
 Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines
could work properly for the needs of the proposed
technique.
Acknowledgments
The financial support from the KFAS (Kuwait
Foundation for Advancement of Science) is highly
appreciated.
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