Load Influence on Voltage Dip Characteristics

I. Rendroyoko R.E. Morrison Peter K.C. Wong*

Department of Electrical & Computer Science

Monash University, PO BOX 35, CLAYTON, VICTORIA 3800
Phone: 61-03-99053465, Fax: 61-03-99053454
Ignatius.rendroyoko@eng.monash.edu.au

* United Energy Ltd., Moorabbin, VIC 3189

Abstract

Voltage dips are short duration reductions in rms voltage. They are mainly caused by short circuits.
Voltage dips are one of the most troublesome power quality problems due to the interference they
cause to several types of equipment. An important issue concerning voltage dip problems is the
influence of loads on voltage dip characteristics. This paper explains in part the load influence on
voltage dip characteristics. Measurements of voltage dip, which are collected from a distribution
system under study, are presented to quantify the analysis. The voltage dip measurements show that
the remaining rms voltage present during the dip for busbars closer to the load. The measurements
also show that the load influence the voltage dip shape.

1. Introduction 2. System Components

Voltage dips have become a major concern in power
quality in the past decade. The cost of economical
loses and inconveniences caused by voltage dips have
triggered some studies and research activities. Many
experts have tried to characterise voltage dips [1,2,3].
The existing standard on voltage dip characterises the
voltage dips in terms of magnitude and duration. The
characterisation of the standard is based on the
assumption that faults will cause rectangular voltage
dips. It is also assumed that the voltage drops to a
certain low value immediately and when the fault is
cleared, the voltage recovers back to normal
immediately.
The distribution system under study is presented in
fig. 1. A main 66kV bus bar supplies the 22kV
distribution system trough 2 66/22kV 30-MVA
transformers and the sub-system is supplied at 415 V
from a 22/0.415kV 400-kVA transformer.
Figure 1
One-line diagram of the sub-system under study
The transmission and distribution systems supply

The assumption of rectangular voltage dips, however,

is not correct in a realistic system, which largely
consists of rotating machines or motors. When a fault
occurs, all the rotating machines in the system slow
down and after the fault is cleared, the motors will
accelerate to the normal condition. During
acceleration, motor will draw high current from the
system and thus prolong the voltage dip.

This paper will discuss load behaviour on a system

during and after a voltage dip. For the purpose of this
paper, one sub-system in south-eastern Victoria was
selected. This sub-system has significant differences
in load characteristics between the summer and winter electric power to a south-east area of Melbourne, it is
season. In the summer season, there is an increase of owned by United Energy Ltd. (UE). The sub-system
energy consumption, which is mostly due to the supplies mostly commercial customers, and a few
operation of air conditioners. Therefore, part of the residential and light industrial customers.
load consists of electrical rotating machines.
 4. Post Fault Voltage Recovery
The circuit parameters of the distribution system
under study are shown on table 1. Faults in the distribution system might cause voltage
dips. The location of fault, type of fault, fault clearing
Circuit Voltage Postv Seq-% on 100MVA Zero Seq-% on 100MVA
From To No kV Type R1 X1 B1 R0 X0 B0
time and the electrical system configuration will also
affect the voltage dip [3].

Source NW 66kV 66 Generator/Source 2.05% 6.99% 2.11% 17.95%

A Voltage dip is normally characterised by a
NW 66kV NW 22kV 1 66/22 Trfr - 20/30MVA 1.98% 51.36% 7.92% 20.54%

NW 66kV NW 22kV 2 66/22 Trfr - 20/30MVA 1.93% 50.96% 7.72% 20.38%

magnitude and duration, however, another researcher
NW 22kV WHORSE-SVLE 1 22 O/H - 19/3.25AAC 0.19 0.33 1.75 0.34 1.59 0.67 also mentioned phase angle jump and post fault dip as
22kV/433V 400kVA 1 22/0.433 Trfr - 400KVA 4.00% 4.00% a further important characteristics [4]. A voltage dip
Cap Banks NW 22kV 1 22 4.7 Mvar
occurring in a system that has resistive loads, will
Cap Banks NW 22kV 2 22 6.0 Mvar
have rectangular shaped dips. When the fault occurs,
the voltage directly reduces to a particular value, and
Table 1 when the fault is cleared, the voltage recovers back to
Sub-system's Circuit Parameters its original level immediately [1].
For monitoring and measurement purposes, UE has This does not happen when parts of the load consist of
installed power quality monitoring equipment at the rotating machines such as induction motors or air
22kV bus and 415V bus. Thus, every fault occurring conditioner motors.
in the system will be recorded.
One of the results of the voltage dip recording is
3. Summer and winter loads shown in figure 3. Figure 3 shows 415V bus voltage
due to a fault of 200ms on a 22kV distribution system.
The subsystem under study has a specific The fault which has occurred on the 22kV system is a
characteristic in load trend. To some extend, the single phase to ground fault. However, it is seen in the
amount of load is difference between the summer and low voltage side as a two phase to ground fault
winter seasons. Usually, in summer, the system has because of transformer connection. The voltage dip
more loads than in winter. The load variation between was recorded at 20:51:34 PM, on 10 December 2000.
summer and winter is shown in fig. 2.

Figure 2
Summer and Winter Max Load Variation
Voltage Dip
Sub-system Max Load
260
Summer 2000 and Winter 2001
350 250
Voltage (V)

300 240
250
230
200
220
Load

150
210
100

50
200
0 0.05 0.15 0.25 0.35 0.45 0.55
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (s)
Days
kW June01 kVA June01 kVAR June01 V1 V2 V3
kW Dec00 kVAR Dec00 kVA Dec00

Figure 3
Since, the subsystem consists of residential, Voltage dips in the subsystem
commercial and light industrial customers, the
difference of load between summer and winter in this When the fault occurred, the bus voltage decreased to
subsystem could be due to air conditioners. In a certain point and then decaying to a lower rapidly
summer, the sub-system will have more rotating voltage level during the short circuit period. After the
machines. fault is cleared, the voltage did not directly recover to
its level before fault. The voltage need a longer time to
recover back and this could be caused by air
conditioning motor loads.
5. Simulation of Post Fault Load
Behaviour

In order to evaluate and analyse the rotating machine's

influence to the sub-system, a simulation model of the
sub-system has been developed. The simulation uses
the power system blockset tools within the MATLAB
package. For simulation purposes, a SLGF and a
3Ph-G fault are simulated at both 22kV and 415V.

In the model, the subsystem mimics the real

subsystem shown in figure 1. There are six feeders
supplying electricity to consumers consisting of
resistive loads and rotating motor load models. The air
conditioning motor load is 27% of the load in the
subsystem. The typical air conditioning motor
parameters used here are given below:
swings lengthen the duration of the recovery
process [3].
Rating Rs Xs Rr Xr Xm J
5.2 Unbalanced Fault
1Ph Motor 1 Hp 1 4.14 0.9 4.14 69.11 0.146
3Ph Motor 2 Hp 0.6 2.98 0.5 2.98 41.73 1
Most of the faults on a medium voltage system are
Xm : magnetizing reactance single-phase to ground faults [5]. Single-phase faults
J : rotor inertia often result from lightning, wind, and tree-branch
contact or insulator failure. The behaviour of the sub-
Table 2 system under study during an unbalanced fault is
Air conditioning motor parameters more complicated than during a three-phase to ground
balanced fault.
5.1 Balanced Fault

During a 3Ph-G fault in the 22kV system, the 415V

bus bar voltage also drops in magnitude. Some of the
simulation results are shown below:

Figure 4
Voltage dip for a 3Ph-G fault
Figure 5
Load current during 3Ph-G fault

Figure 4 and 5 show the 415V-bus voltage and load

current during a 3Ph-G fault in the 22kV system.

At the 3Ph-G fault, the bus voltage will be suppressed

until the fault is cleared. The characteristics of the air-
conditioning motor load affects the voltage drop and
voltage recovery. The subsystem voltage may swing Figure 6
for a few cycles before returning to normal. These Voltage dip for a 1Ph-G fault
 Figure 7
Load Current during 1Ph-G fault
The busbar voltage during a single phase to ground
fault at 22kV line is shown in fig. 6. The 22/0.415kV
transformer connection makes the voltage dip seen as
a 2Ph-G fault at the 415V busbar voltage.
Single phase to ground faults give less severe
problems to motor loads than 3Ph-G faults. However,
voltage recovery after the fault is still affected.
Using symmetrical components, the characteristics of
the voltage waveform can be clearly seen by divide
them into positive, negative and zero sequence voltage
components.
The result of this process is shown in figure 8 and 9
below.
Figure 8
Positive, negative and zero sequence voltage for the
single phase to ground fault shown in fig. 6
Figure 9
Positive, negative and zero sequence current for the
single phase to ground fault shown in fig. 7
After fault initiation, the positive-sequence voltage
decreases while the negative-sequence voltage
increases. In fig. 9, the positive-sequence current
drops after fault initiation and suddenly jumps to
almost three times than normal load current before its
slowly decays to a steady level during the fault. This
phenomenon is caused by the air conditioning motor
characteristics. When the fault occurs, the motors slow
down causing a decrease in positive-sequence
impedance. This decrease in positive-sequence
impedance is the cause of the increase in positive-
sequence current and the decrease in positive-
sequence voltage. The effect is probably due to speed
reduction of the motor.
6. Conclusions
It has been reported that voltage dips which occur on a
system with no rotating machines result in a
rectangular profile dip. The voltage directly drops to a
particular level during fault. After the fault is cleared,
the voltage returns to the level present before the fault
occurred.
A different phenomenon can be found in a system
with rotating machine loads. When a fault occurs, the
voltage does not directly drop to its minimum level
but it decays until reaching a steady condition before
the fault is cleared. At that time, the voltage does not
directly return, but recovers slowly until reaching its
original level.
From these two results, it can be declared that the load
influences the voltage dip characteristization.
7. References

1. Math H.J Bollen, "Understanding Power Quality

Problems: Voltage Sags and Interruptions", IEEE
Press, New York, 2000.
2. Math H.J Bollen, The Influence of Motor
Reacceleration on Voltage sags, IEEE Trans. on
Ind. Applicat., Vol. 31, No. 4, July/August 1995.
3. J.C Das, The effects of momentary voltage dips
on the operation of induction and synchronous
motors, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol.26,
pp.711-718, 1990.
4. Lidong Zhang; Math H.J. Bollen, Characteristic
of Voltage Dips (Sags) in Power Systems, 8th
International Conference on Harmonics and
Quality of Power ICHQP’98, 1998, pp. 555-560.
5. McGranaghan, Mark F., Mueller, David R.,
Samotyj Marek J., Voltage Sags in Industrial
Systems, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat., Vol. 29,
No. 2, March/April 1993
6. Shaffer, John W., Air Conditioner Response to
Transmission Faults, IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, Vol.12, No.2, May 1997

Ignatius Rendroyoko, a student member of IEEE,

was born in Indonesia in 1970. He graduated from the
Institute Technology of Bandung, Indonesia in 1994
and served as an electrical engineer in PLN since
1995. He is currently working towards a M.Eng.Sc.
degree at Monash University, Australia.
Professor RE Morrison was born in Stoke on Trent,
United Kingdom in 1951. He received his BSc degree
and PhD degree from University of Staffordshire
University, UK in 1973 and 1981 respectively.
Professor Morrison worked for ALSTOM (UK) from
1973 to 1983 and at Staffordshire University from
1983 to 1997. He joined Monash University, Australia
in 1997.
Peter KC Wong