An Evaluation of Intelligent Systems For Fault Diagnosis

James A. Momoh
Department of Electrical Engineering Howard University Washington, D.C. 20059

Dijan Sobajic
Electric Power Research Institute Palo A t ,California lo

James Dolce
NASA-LeRC Cleveland, Ohio

A bssract: This paper discusses the foundation

of Intelligent Systems sufficient for studying space station and/or utility power systems, where fault detection are of paramount importance.
The functionality of these Intelligent Systems or toois, such as expert systems, artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic, for aiding in design, control and analysis of power systems diagnosis is emphasized. The argument for selecting them in terms of their abilities and platforms for using them are discussed. Finally research activities using these tools for both space power systems (Space Station Freedom) and terrestrial distribution systems in a major utility are presented. The evaluation has shown that the Intelligent Systems hold significant promise for on line fault analysis or diagnosis. Criteria for using these tools as embedded took in classical methods of fault study are discussed. Intelligent systems are useful for managing input data and interpreting faulty results.
1.

potential of intelligent tooh fc-h power systen; andjsis, planning and operation. This paper evaluates the ability of intelligent systems (IS) for fault studies. To address these problems, a number of papers and text exist covering the foundation of the various methods, the concepts behind them and their suitability for fault studies. Examples of such works reviewed can 'be found in [2,1%,17,18,30,31]. The organization of this paper is as follows:

(a)
(b)

(c)

Classical methods of fault anaiysis. Intelligent methods for fault analysis. Functional and basic concepts of intelligent took that are considered effective for fault
diagnOSiS.

The evaluation scheme for adopting these tools for fault study is described. A step by step procedure is clearly shown. Finally resu!ts of an going fault diagnosis work using these t o s is discussed. ol The examples illustrated includes faults in utility dishbution systems and onboard ihe space station. The space station feeder typically consists of sources DDCU @cto-DC converter), lines between power sources and experimental loads which can number in the hundreds for the Space Station Freedom.

INTRODUCTION

The computation requirementsand different levels of uncertainties by conventioral (classical) methods of fault analysis are approximately several magnitudes higher t a hn those of single heuristic based techniques reported. These high requirement and typically off-line approaches make it infeasible to implement a real time fault analysiddiagnosk scheme. Novel methods that stand alone exist with the capability to clearly define the location of faults, classify faults types, and recommend corrective actions U, remove the cause of faults. These novel methods are embedded in classical diagnosis techniques to minimize the computatid burden. The complexity in detecting fauIts, especially faults on the electric power subsystem (EPS) of the Space Statiori Freedom, and the presence of arcing and non-arcing faults in utility distribution systems is of prime concern for the survival and security of the respective systems. Recognizing these complexities, NASA and EPRI. and utility companies including LADWP, Puget Sound Electric Company and several others sponsored several research projects to define the research needs, scope and demonstration projects. Subsequently, several research projects have been initiated over the years by vendors, universities and government agencies including NASA and EPRI, that recognize the

The breakdown of the different classes of faults in a space station or a utility distribution system, systems could operate in AC or DC modes. Therefore, a fault description tree for a typical power system is shown in Figure 1. It consists mainly of fault types in AC and DC for each system.

Figure 1.

Fault Description Tree Diagram

Evaluation of fault analysis techniques will be divided into two classes. namely, classical approaches and IS approach-

0-7803-2129-4194 $3.00 0 1994 IEEE

11.1

h The classical algorithmic approaches uses the voltage, current relations, and energy contents of the signal during and after the fault, to identify fault types and in some cases to detect arcing and non-arcing conditions (utility distribution systems), whereas in the space station power system, the standard V-I relationship characterizing the devices is used to isolate the faulty feeder.

model based on simulation of fault types.[lO] It is mainly based in information from operation of protection relays, tripped circuit breakers which are readily available and usable 1 by experienced operators. [ 12 . Each of these methods uses ES framework. Incapability to detect arcing and location of Eaults, which use t pose Ufxulty, are overcome by the ES techniques. The o ES techniques are in general useful for fault estimation. The ANN based approaches have proven to be attractive in reported work. They have been used to classify fault types and are able to detect arcing snd non-arcing combinations. The ANN approaches are far superior to existing classical techniques.

The techniques currently considered to be classical

are:
(1 )

These techniques compute magnitude and phase angle (built by PTI, Hughes Aircraft, Norden Research t Development), sponsored by EPRI and recent ones have been expanded to handle arcing using the 3rd Harmonic Approach. 1221

(2)
Built by Texas AIM under an EPRI Project,it uses a processor based energy algorithm for detection of sudden increase in the level for a given frequency or band of l frequency (surplus). 7Iis method cannot detect a l arcing faults. Another version of the energy technique is called the Randomness Algorithm, which has the potential to detect intermittent arcing situations or low and high levels of energy with respect to frequency. [lo] The ratio of neutral current to the positive sequence current is detected. This signal is proportional to the r o ot mean square value of the ground current. Developed by Carr, this technique detects the downed conductor conditions of faults.[23] This method c8n only detect 8 0 4 5 % of faulty feeders.
(4)

T e work sited by [ 171 uses a four layer perceptron h network, and the back propagation learning algorithm. Recent work by Momoh and Butler uses the clustering based approach for arcing fault detection.[21] The work by asn Fernando and W t o combines ANN and FL to improve an fault detection in an arcing environment[25]
The FL based approach for fault detection aims at improving on decision making by eliminating ambiguity in tenns of severity and location of fault. Work reported in [151 is a good representation of this method.

(3)

The following system requirements are relevant for developing or assessing each of these IS. They are briefly mentioned h a :
(a)

U e the load analysis algorithm to monitor patkms ss in load current which gives a good i d c t r of a tripped feeder niao [U]. Other methods using hypothesis testing, symmetrical components of lst, 3rd & 5th harmonics, give indications of low current arcing faults and can be computationally intensive. Ground faults / open faults using proportional relaying also exist.
J tli nev The intelligent support scheme using artificial intelligence (AI) approaches o techniques for fault analysis r have a number of characteristics in common. They are aimed at verifying concepts o improving decision maling. They r consider small system models for prototyping. They are eacily meant to be embedded in existing classical tools for fault analysis. Recent activities using non-algorithm approaches for fault study include, expert systems (ES), artificial neural networks (ANN), and fuzzy logic (FL). The reported work using ES computes multiple energy parameters, generates a rule based scheme from a 11.2.

(b) (c) (a) (e) (f)

I&I&ifblimofstates. selectivity of controls. Leammg ability to update knowledge. coordinationoftasks. Flexibility. Ability to handle uncertainty.

Each of the intelligent systems are described based on their functionality. Figures 2.3 and 4 show a functional description of related components used to build the IS.

Figure 2.

Types of ANN Functionality

41 4

Lisp. C, C++,Fortran77 SmallTalk. KDL, VL, et cetera. Table 1 encapsulates the implementations of some of these tools. Table 1. ES Tools for Fault Analysis I ES I N d IPlatfm Application LanFG *OF55 van, Pc AC faults =OB83 vax, PC vax,Pc G2 all platforms "expert *ADA all platforms *ADA all platforms DC faults G2 vax. PC ONexpext -0PS5 Controls *C++ *Mathlab all platforms GCLisp PC,Mac

I Developer
GenSym

GenSym Nedata Varies Varies GenSym Varies Mathworks Golden Hill

toextemalappCcatron usB( suppott graphics

Figure 3.

Types of ES Functionality

III2
Figure 4. III. In. 1 Types of FL Functionality

. . :

OVERVIEW OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS FOR FAULT DIAGNOSIS

ANNs can be defined by three elements; namely the neurons, the specific topology of weighted interconnections between the neurons,and a learningalgorithm which provides for the validity of the intexwnnection weights. They are based on a parallel distributed architecture. The steps for using ANN are as follows:

a .
The function of the ES consists of its ability to collect and store in a computer an experts ability to solve a problem so that a nonexpert can use it. The functional components of an ES and the scheme for building a particular one for fault diagnosis ate discussed next. b.
C.

d
e.

Collect representative data for training purpose. Normalizedata Select ANNarchitecture. Train ANN. Test ANN.

(1)

(2)

Knowledge Base: Contains all the p t e s of the atm fault model describing devices /feeders or bus faults, transformer faults and other electrical network components. User Interface: Inputloutput or so called manmachine interface gives the necessary information about some relays, circuit breakers and systems topology and decision rules to the operators or

In addition, a proper selection of a network architecture and performance analysis o selected training sets is done. f
A survey of the several types of A N N S that can be used for fault analysis including back propagation, clustering are identified in Table 2.

dispatchers.
(3)
Inference Engine: The analysis of fault based on the knowledge of states of this system (model of different faults data base) the sequence of possible faults using if then roles based on gWdata aiented strategy called forwardbackward chaining respectively is used

Table 2. ANN Toc Developer Plarfom ANN Name Application AC faults -Back Nware PC

$ 2k 2k 3k N/A 30k 10k

propagaton
=clustering *Newsight Powet Combustion DC faults
Controls

Mac
Sun

Bte ulr
ALWm (Sobajic/

Vax/PC sun/vax

PC
Pcmc

Pao)
wr a e

Other modules such as control mechanism and modification loops are usually included o achieve a robust expert system. Languages and tools used for E 3 developed in fault study includes the following: KEE, Nexpert, OPS5.0PS83, ART, KES, Goldworks, SNAP,ADA, PROLOG, CORE,

*Badr propagaton
*Clustering

Sun

*process
opumization

lk -

2k 3k N/A 5k

415

m.3

. .

'

1.

Fuzzy set theory offers new methods for modeling the inexactness and uncertainty concerning decision making. The FL approach improves the potential for modeling human reasoning and for presenting and utilizing linguistic descriptions in a computerized inference. Two methods of developing fuzzy models are based on:
1.

2.

3.

Heuristic knowledge and information concerning fault situations modeled as membership functions of fuzzy sets. Combine fuzzy set alternatives. Location of the faults can be obtained and arranged accordingto their possibility based on availabie information on the fault situation. Select locations of faults and do necessary switching.

2.

Laws of cause and effect which use rules of relation described by reasoning in variable sets theory. Laws of transition which use ordinary algebraic equations to express cause and effect relationship (fuzzy sets are used for variables).

Table 3 lists some of the fuzzy logic tools that can be used far fault analysis. Table 3. FL Tools Suitable for Fault Analysis IDeveloper Tool IPlatform (MS I495 Cubicalc 1 - .H c I windows 1 Tilshell I Togai I PC,MAC, I8,900

Is

Clearly, fuzzy set theory uses the concept of possibility defined as a number between one (completely possible) and zero (totally impossible). This is in contrast to probability which appropriately measures the uncertainty of statistical information available. While probability fails without statistical data (for example the failure rate o feedefi) f in fault diagnosis, fuzzy set theory does a better job than other IS.
A mathematical formulation for fuzzy set theory is defined as follows:

If x is a collection of objects, such as faulty elements denoted generically by x, then a fuzzy set A in x is of ordered pairs

IV.

SOME ILLUSTRATIVEEXAMPLES OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS FOR FAULT ANALYSIS

A = {x,p,,(x$

E X) where

p is called

IV.l F -

the membership function,o grade of membership of x in A. r In a fault situation, the basic crisp set on the

universe of X consists o al components of the faulted feeder. fl and Sdd, the The two crisp sets are given: intersection of which is empty set:

sfd

The Autonomous Power Expert (APEX) Computer Program is a prototype expert system program developed by
NASA Lewis Research Center. It detects faults in an electrical power distribution system. It is written in LISP and executes on a computer workstation capable of receiving data from sensors within a 2OkHz power distribution test

x = Sfd USd&f&
SU I mf l m

G x,

bed-[lI

SfdnS+&=O
U e of optimization with fuzzy sets via their s membership functions are well defined. Far example:
1.

For the operator in the control center who does not know the exact location of a fault, a fuzzy set model is typically formed. The concepts of fuzzy set theory are in [263. A scheme for developing a fuzzy based fault &agnosis tool in space or temuial power systems is the subject of ongoing research. Basically, it consists of:

APEX includes a knowledge base that contains facts and rules acquired from a human expert. APEX data base contains sensory data and results of calculations based on data It c n an inference engine basedon reasoningmechanism o " which draws conclusion from information stored in the knowledge base and also provides the reasoning capability to choose appaopiate recovery capability. APEX is also capable of simulating data to enable testing when the test bed is unavailable. An external scheduling computer generates source profiles t a represent power sources that will be ht available during a specified time and load profile to indicate Row much power the loads consumes during the same time. Another working example using Intelligent Systems is the model based diagnostics f r the Space Station Freedom. o The roo1 called MARPLE was used lo develop and run the fault management system.[27] MARlPLE's capabilities are
41 6

similar to those of other expert system shells, except that it is model based rather than rule based. It was developed by TRW; and tested at NASA Lewis Research Center. This approach is one of several techniques being tested for fault management. The version of MARPLE used for the Space Station project is written in LISP and runs on a Texas MicroExplorer. (a Macintosh II rnachine with Instrument 0 a TI Lap board). MARPLE contains all functions needed to run a model based system. The model-based expert system was tested using a VAX based simulation program. This program computes the equivalent system state via load flow and state estimation to compare against fault quantities detected by the expeat system. The success of this prototype demonstrates the feasibility for to power system diagnosis. applying model based This model based expert system can easily be used for diagnosis of terrestrial systems.

The current version for real time approach is based on a C++ program executing on a 386 PC machine. The prototype is c o ~ e c t e d the SCADA system. The scheme to obtains network data of the faulted feeder r e d from the network data base system using the real time switching status and borrowing information from SCADA system. By using b&uristic knowledge and infomation concerning the fault, systems are modeled as various inembership functions of fuzzy sets. By combining these fuzzy sets, altemative places of the fault can be obtained and arranged according to their possibility based on the available information on the fault situation.

Various methods can be used to select the most likely fault location. In our on going work at Howard University, an expert system based scheme is used for location of faults in distribution systems.[30] The exampies discussed are easily adaptable t faulty situations in terrestrial o or space electrical power subsystems.
V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

IV.2

-SSb eaa tt eural

'on Freedom

Considering the main finding of our evaluation, we

A clustering based artificial neural network algorithm has been developed fox fault analysis. The prototype result reported in a previous NASA contract by Dolce, Sobajic and Pa0 is capable of analyzing system security during a given contingency.[28] Extensions were o made t the clustering based ANN algorithm, developed by Butler and Momoh, by modification of the stabilization phase of the clustering algorithm and combination of the ANN with a statistical feature extraction module to detect arcing faults in delta-delta distribution systems. The scheme is currently being adapted to Space Station Freedom fault detection and classification types. The ANN scheme for non-terrestrial power system fault analysis is at the developmental stage at Howard University under a grant h m NASA Lewis Research Center. It classifies fault on a simple 5 bus system represented by a secondary power distribution unit and tertiary power distribution units (TPDU). The detection o fault type and location is done by f using the SPICE circuit emulation program to simulate the system topology, oc t s bed, and to generate the fault types.. et The representative voltage and c m t projections are extended and trained via the ANN clustering based technique. The location and fault type of an unknown contingency are determined via an ANN consultation phase.[29] The ANN program which executes on a VAX platform was developed in the FORTRAN77 and C programming languages. IV.3
can concl& that most of the existing IS for fault detection

are based on the first generation of intelligent systems. The application tools are mostly in favor of Es. The consequence of t i apprcsh is that they are rather system specific and are hs m A few examples hased on models are favored for future expert system ksed schemes, The combination of expert system (model) based schemes and state estimation is considered to be an area of future research. The ANN based types have gamed recent interest Several prototype examples are promising in their ability to classify and estimate faults in both average and non averaging environments. Estimates of erroneous data or uncertainty using neural networks are areas of future work.
Fuzzy set theory is relatively new as a fault detection tool. Further validation of membership functions and use of network operation support scheme using real fault situations is being examined by several researchers.

A standardized method for building intelligent systems for fault study/development is essential in this report. The methodologies discussed in the paper, while not exhaustive is a major source of inspiration for future i developers of IS for fault diagnosis. The a m is that it will acceaerate t e introduction of IS to the modeling culture of h distribution fault diagnosis.
Some practical actions could be considered without pretending to be exhaustive, we suggest
1.

A FL based example for fault location on a distribution system has been built by Jarventauta, et al.[15] It deals with uncertainty involved in the process of locating faults in a distribution network. The prototype scheme serves and support tools for real time fault diagnosis. It employs f the heuristic knowledge o the expert control center operators.

2.

Organize session a IEEE sponsored tutorials on t intelligent systems. Introduce IS courses to the curriculum of universities.

41 7

3.

Deploy prototype working IS support scheme for operators a substations and control centers for t evaluation,

17.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors w s to acknowledge the support of ih NASA (NAGS-1426) and NSF/RIMI (HRD-9253055) in this endeavor.
VI.
1.

S. Ebron, D. Lubkeman. and M. White, "A Neural Network Approach to the Detectionof Incipient Faults on Power Distribution Feeders". IEEE Transactions on POW= Delivery. Vol. 5. NO. 2 April 1990. pp 905.
914.
P.I. Jeerings and J.R. Linden. "A Practical Protective Relay for Down-Conductor Faults, "IEEE Transactions on POW= Delivery, Vol. 6,NO.2 April 1991. p ~ 565, .

18.

REFERENCES
19.
"Expert System Detects Power Distribution Faults Electronic System," NASA Tech Briefs, June, p. 44. NASA Lewis Remuch Center. Zhu Yangli, Y.H. Yang. et. i. "An Expert System for d. Power System Fault Analysis". "Potential Application of ES to Power System Protection," Work Group 110 of the Line Protection Subcomminec. 93SM 384-8PWRD. S. J. Lee et a. ."Prospect: An Expert System for l. Protective Relaying". Proceedings of the IFAC Symposium on Power Systems and Power Plant Control (Korea), pp 1003-1007, August 1989. A. A. Girgir. M.B. Johns, "A Hybrid Expert System for Fault Type Classification and Development of Fault Location Algorithms," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 4,pp 978-985, April 1989. Proceedings of the First Symposium on ES Application to Power Systems, (Stockholm/Helsinki), August

574.
B.D.Russel1 and K.Watson, "Power Substation Automation Using a Knowledge Based System -Justifidon and Preliminary Field Experiments", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. Vol. 2 No. 4 O t . . c.

2.
3.
4.

1987, p 20. 21.

~ 1090-1097. .

22.

5.

A.F. S u l p et al.. "Detecting Arcing Downed-Wires using Fault Current Flicker and HalfCycIe Asymmetry". 93 WM 2154 PWRI). K.L. Butler and J.A. Momoh. "Robust Features Selection Scheme for Fault Diagnosis in an Electric Power Distribution System", Canadian Conference on CO rad Electrical Engineering. Sept. 1993. Hum& "Analysis and Detection Algorithms of High Impedsncc Faults in Primary Distribution Systems", Final Report of the Research Project NSC74-0404EOO6-06, NotiolrPl Science Council, Taiwan, December

1985.
23.
J.Cm, "Detection of High Impedance Faults on MultiGrounded Primary Distribution Systems". IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-100. NO. 4 April 1981. p ~ 2008-2016. . . "A Tutorial Course on Knowledge-Based System Techniques with Applications to Power Systems", 93 EH0 387-1-PWR, IEEE Fernando and Watson, "High Impedance Fault Detection using a Time-Delayed Neural Network". Intelligent Engineering through Artificial Neural 2. Networks (ANNIE9 ) ASME Press 92,pp. 433438. W. Pz w, Control and Fuzzy Systems", 1989. "Fuzzy John Wdey & Sons. LM.Fesq, A S tephan, M. LeRutte. "Model-Based Dqnostics for Space Station Freedom". Proceedings of the 26th Intersociety Energy Conversion Conference, (IECEC-1991). J.DOlce, DSobajic. and Y.Pao, "Automating Security Monitoring md Analysis for Space Station Freedom's Electric Power System". Proceedings of the 25th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering
Confaen~e (IECEC-1990).

6.
7.

1988. 8. 9. 10.
Proceedings of the Second Symposium on ES Application to Power Systems. (Seattle) July 1989. Proceedings of the Third Symposium on ES Application to Power Systems. (Tokyo/Kobe-),April 1991. T. S. Dillon md M. A. Laughton. e s , " Expert System d. Applications in Power Systems". United Kingdom: Prentice Hl, 1990. page 383-408. al C. Kim, B. Don Russel, and Karen Watson. "A Parameter-Based process for Selecting High Impedance Fault Detection Technique Using Decision M k n aig under Incomplete Knowledge," IEEE Transactions on POW^ Delivery. Vol. 5, p~ 1314-1320,July 1990. K. Tomsovic ami P. Hoang, "An Adapiive Fuzzy Method for Generator Control". Proceedings 1993 North American Power Symposium .pp. 308-314. Proceedings of INNS/EPRI S m Workshop on Neural Networks Complting for the Electric Power Industry Sandford, CA. August 17-19.1992. D. J. Sobajic and Y. H. Pro, "Neural-NST control in Power System". NSF Workshop on Application of Neural Network Methodology in Power Syskm, Engineering. Clemson SC. April 8-10.1990. Hiroyuki M r , Senj Tsuzuki. "Artificial Neural Net oi Application Power Systems: in Japan". Proceedings of NSF workshop on application of Neural Network Methodology in Power Systems Engjneering. Clemson, SC. April 8-10.1990. pp 13-16. P. Jarventauta, P. Verho. J. Partanen, "Using Fuzzy Sets to Model the University in the Fault Locating Process of Distribution Network. Paper as SM 416-8PWRD. Tomsovic K.. Ling J. M., "A Proposal Fuzzy Informarion Approach to Power System Security. Third Symposium on Es Application to Power Systems, Tokyo-Kobe, JWUI April 1991, P. 427-432.

24. 25.

26. 27.

11.

12.
13.

28.

29.
30.

14.

is
16.

31.

W.E. Oliver Jr.. J.A. Momoh, J.L. Dolce, "Fault Analysis of Space Station DC Power Systems Using Two-Stage ANN", (to be presented at NAPS 1994). J.A. Momoh L.G. Dias. T. Thor and D. Lair4"RuleBased &cision Support Systems for Single-Line Fault Detection i a Delta-Delta Connected Distribution n System", Proceedings of the Power Industry Computer Applications Conference, May 1993. JA. Momoh. X.W. Ma, K. Tomsovic, "Overview and Literature Survey of Fuzzy Set theory in Power Systems", (to be presented in Winter PES-95).

41 8