Method and system for protection in a mixed line

Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for protection in response to a fault in a mixed line. The mixed line comprises two or more sections, with a first substation at a first end and a second substation at a second end. Every two consecutive sections of the mixed line are separated at a junction. The method is performed by an IED, and comprises obtaining one or more measurements of current at the first end, and one or more measurements of current at the second end. The method also comprises identifying a section of the two or more sections having the fault, by estimating a value of current for each junction and comparing the estimated value with the one or more measurements of current. In addition, the method comprises controlling a switching device based on the section identified with the fault.

Claims

1. A method for determining a location of a fault in a mixed line comprising two or more sections, with a first substation at a first end of the mixed line and a second substation at a second end of the mixed line, every two consecutive sections of the mixed line being separated at a respective junction, the method being performed by an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED), the method comprising: obtaining one or more current measurements at the first end of the mixed line, from a current signal received from a measurement equipment of the first substation; receiving one or more current measurements at the second end of the mixed line, over a communication channel; estimating a value of current for each junction of the mixed line using the one or more current measurements at the first end, an equivalent source impedance of the first substation, an equivalent source impedance of the second substation, and impedance of each section of the two or more sections of the mixed line, the estimating the value of current for each junction of the mixed line being performed without using any voltage measurement, a first section of the two or more sections having a first predetermined impedance characteristic, and a second section of the two or more sections having a second predetermined impedance characteristic different from the first impedance characteristic; identifying a section of the two or more sections of the mixed line having the fault, based on a comparison between the value of current estimated for each junction and the one or more current measurements at the second end; and determining the location of the fault in the section of the mixed line identified as having the fault, using the one or more current measurements at the first end, the one or more current measurements at the second end, the equivalent source impedance of the first substation, the equivalent source impedance of the second substation, and the impedance of each section of the two or more sections.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising controlling a switching device connected to the mixed line, according to the section having the fault.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each section of the two or more sections has a respective predetermined impedance characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling an auto-reclose function in response to the section having the fault being an overhead section.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising blocking an auto-reclose function in response to the section having the fault being an underground cable section.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the value of current for each junction comprises estimating the value of current at a Pth junction away from the second substation as: $\left(\frac{Z_{\mathrm{sM}}+Z_1+Z_2+\mathrm{.Math.}+Z_P}{Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+Z_{P+1}+Z_{P+2}+\mathrm{.Math.}+Z_K}\right)\times \Delta I_M$ where the mixed line has K sections, Z.sub.1, Z.sub.2, . . . Z.sub.K (are respective impedances of the K sections of the mixed line, Z.sub.sM is the equivalent source impedance of the first substation, Z.sub.sN is the equivalent source impedance of the second substation, and ΔI.sub.M is a difference between pre-fault current and post-fault current at the first substation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The subject matter of the invention will be explained in more detail in the following text with reference to exemplary embodiments which are illustrated in attached drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a simplified representation of a mixed line system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is an exemplary circuit diagram illustrating a fault at a junction between an overhead section and a cable section;

(4) FIG. 3 is an exemplary circuit diagram illustrating a pure fault network for the fault at the junction between the overhead section and the cable section;

(5) FIG. 4 is an exemplary circuit diagram for a fault in the overhead section;

(6) FIG. 5 is an exemplary circuit diagram illustrating a pure fault network for the fault in the overhead section;

(7) FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for identifying a section with the fault, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

(8) FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for locating the fault, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) The present invention provides a system and method for protection in response to a fault in a mixed power transmission line (referred to as ‘mixed line’ hereafter). The mixed line typically includes at least two line sections (or sections) having different impedance characteristics (for example different surge impedances). Every two consecutive line sections in a mixed line are connected at a junction.

(10) A mixed line is illustrated in FIG. 1. The mixed line illustrated includes one overhead line section (overhead section) denoted by a reference numeral 10A, and one cable section denoted by a reference numeral 10B. Further, the overhead section 10A is separated from the cable section 10B at a junction 10C. As illustrated, the mixed line connects a first substation (E.sub.M) at a first end and a second substation (E.sub.N) at a second end. The overhead section 10A of the mixed line originates at the substation E.sub.M and the cable section 10B terminates at the substation E.sub.N as shown in FIG. 1. Measurement equipment may be connected at one or more of the substations E.sub.M and E.sub.N. The measurement equipment may be a Current Transformer (CT), a Potential Transformer (PT), capacitance coupled voltage transformer (CVT), a sensor-based measurement equipment etc.

(11) In accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the measurement equipment at the first substation include a current transformer 12A and a voltage transformer 12B. An Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) 14 is connected to voltage transformer 12B and current transformer 12A. Thus, IED 14 has current, voltage and/or other transmission line measurements of the first end. For example, current differential or line protection IED receives the current measurements from both sides of the line with sampling frequency of 1-4 KHz (directly through measurement equipment or using dedicated communication with IED at the other end). The measurements corresponds to the point in the mixed line, wherein the measurement equipment is connected. In case of A/C line, the measurement will reflect current/voltage for each phase (of the multi-phase line). It should be noted that the method is not restricted to an A/C line, and can be implemented for a D/C line.

(12) It would be apparent that IED 14 may be connected only with the current transformer, or it may receive a signal from other equipment, or from different type of equipment. Also, another IED 16 may be connected at a line section, junction or other location. IED 14 is connected to a communication channel 18. IED 14 can receive various communication over communication channel 18. For instance, IED 16 can communicate current and/or voltage measurements at the second end, over communication channel 18 to IED 14.

(13) IED 14 utilizes the current measurements at the first end (e.g. from current signal received from current transformer) along with the current measurements at the second end (e.g. received over the communication channel), for handling faults in the mixed line. For example, IED 14 can sense a fault from the current signal received from the current transformer.

(14) IED 14 accordingly estimates a value of current for each junction (e.g. 10C in FIG. 1), for identifying which section has a fault. The value of current for each junction is determined based on the current measurements of the first end along with impedances of the sources/sections. For example, IED 14 estimates a value of current flowing through each junction based on the one or more current measurements of current at the first end, equivalent source impedance of the first subsystem, equivalent source impedance of the second subsystem, and impedance of each section of the mixed line. The equivalent source impedances may be determined from current and voltage phasors, or provided as input to IED 14. In one embodiment, the junction current of the P.sup.th junction as seen from the remote substation bus (N) is estimated using the following equation:

(15) $\Delta I_{\mathrm{JPCalculated}}=\left(\frac{Z_{\mathrm{sM}}+Z_1+Z_2+\mathrm{.Math.}+Z_P}{Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+Z_{P+1}+Z_{P+2}+\mathrm{.Math.}+Z_K}\right)\times \Delta I_M$
where, the line has of K (number) sections with P junctions and Z1, Z2 . . . ZK are the impedances of each section, and ΔI.sub.M is the difference between the pre-fault and post-fault current at bus (M). Similarly, junction current for other junction can be estimated using source and line/section impedances.

(16) IED 14 compares the value of current estimated for each junction and the actual measurements of current at the second end, to obtain the section with the fault. IED 14 controls a switching device (not illustrated in figures) connected to the mixed line according to the section having the fault. For example, an auto-reclose function can be enabled according to the section having the fault. Here, IED 14 enables/blocks auto-reclosing functionality based on whether the section is an overhead section/underground cable section.

(17) IED 14 can also determine the location of the fault in the section identified with the fault. The fault location is determined based on the current measurements of the first end and the second end along with impedances of the sources/sections. For example, IED 14 estimates the fault location based on the one or more current measurements of current at the first end, the one or more current measurements of current at the second end, equivalent source impedance of the first subsystem, equivalent source impedance of the second subsystem, and impedance of each section of the mixed line.

(18) The following describes exemplary implementations of the method described herein. In accordance with the implementation, the method utilizes pre-fault and post-fault current measurements at local and remote bus of the mixed transmission line to identify the section with the fault. Consider the mixed line system shown in FIG. 1. Here, assume the total series impedance of the overhead section (10A) and the cable (10B) are denoted by Z.sub.OHL and Z.sub.UGC, respectively. Also, Z.sub.sM and Z.sub.sN are the source impedances of the local and the remote end respectively. Assume that IED 14 has impedance characteristics of each section (i.e. characteristics of overhead line and cable section (e.g. per km impedances)). IED 14 also receives current data of both the sides (two ends of the mixed line).

(19) Consider that the fault occurs at the junction in FIG. 1. The equivalent circuit diagram for this case is shown in FIG. 2, where V.sub.M and I.sub.M are the measured current and voltage at the local source end M, V.sub.N and I.sub.N are the measured current and voltage at the remote source end N, R.sup.f is the fault resistance and I.sub.f is the fault current.

(20) Let V.sub.Mf and I.sub.Mf be the post-fault voltage and current phasors obtained from measurements at the local source end M, and V.sub.M and I.sub.M be the pre-fault voltage and current phasors. Similarly at the remote end N, let V.sub.Nf and I.sub.Nf be the post-fault voltage and current phasors obtained from measurements and V.sub.N and I.sub.N be the pre-fault voltage and current phasors. The estimated fault voltage and current components at both the ends can be calculated using:
ΔV.sub.M=(V.sub.Mf−V.sub.M);ΔI.sub.M=(I.sub.Mf−I.sub.M)  (1)
ΔV.sub.N=(V.sub.Nf−V.sub.N);ΔI.sub.N=(I.sub.Nf−I.sub.N)  (2)

(21) The equivalent source impedances at the first substation and the second substation can be determined using:

(22) $\begin{array}{cc}{Z}_{\mathrm{sM}}=-\left(\frac{\Delta V_M}{\Delta I_M}\right);Z_{\mathrm{sN}}=-\left(\frac{\Delta V_N}{\Delta I_N}\right)& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

(23) Using the superposition principle, the network during a fault is decomposed into pre-fault and pure fault network. The pure fault circuit diagram has been shown in FIG. 3. From the circuit diagram, equations (4) and (5) can be obtained:
ΔI.sub.M×(Z.sub.sM+Z.sub.OHL)+R.sub.fI.sub.f=V.sub.F  (4)
ΔI.sub.N×(Z.sub.sN+Z.sub.UGC)+R.sub.fI.sub.f=V.sub.F  (5)

(24) From equations (4) and (5), an estimated value of current at the junction J as seen from end N (ΔI.sub.NCalculated) can be obtained using equation (6):

(25) $\begin{array}{cc}\Delta I_{\mathrm{NCalculated}}=\left(\frac{Z_{\mathrm{sM}}+Z_{\mathrm{OHL}}}{Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+Z_{\mathrm{UGC}}}\right)\times \Delta I_M& \left(6\right)\end{array}$

(26) In the above, Z.sub.sM and Z.sub.sN can be obtained and substituted from equation (3) or source impedances are available in IED database. Hence equation (6) gives an estimated value of the junction current seen from the remote bus end, using local end measured current and system parameters for a fault at the junction of overhead and cable section.

(27) Now the calculated fault current seen from remote bus N using equation (6) is compared with the actual measured fault current (measured at remote bus N). According to the comparison, the section with fault (i.e. overhead/cable) can be found. In one implementation, if estimated junction current is greater than the actual measured current, the overhead section has the fault, else the cable has the fault.

(28) Thus, in accordance with the invention, an estimated value of current at the junction J as seen from end N can be obtained in case of fault in overhead or cable sections. Also, depending on the number of junctions, different estimates can be obtained for the corresponding junctions. Comparison of the estimates of the junction current values with the actual current measurements provides the section with the fault.

(29) Assuming that the line has two sections, and the estimated value of current is greater than the actual measurement, then the section with the fault may be concluded as the first section in accordance with one implementation. In such an implementation, if the estimated value is less than the actual measurement, then it is concluded that the fault is in the second section.

(30) Assuming that the mixed line has three sections, the fault section can be identified as follows: If the actual measured current at second end is less than the estimated currents for junction 1 and junction 2 (estimated from actual measurement of current at first end and system parameters), then the fault is in first section; If the actual measured current at second end is greater than estimated current for junction 1 and less than estimated current for junction 2, then the fault is in second section; and If the actual measured current at second end is greater than the estimated currents for junction 1 and junction 2, then the fault is in third section.

(31) In addition, the location of the fault can be determined according to the section having the fault. Consider a case, wherein the fault occurs in the overhead line section. The equivalent circuit diagram is shown in FIG. 4. Using the superposition principle, the network during a fault is decomposed into pre-fault and pure fault network. The pure fault circuit diagram has been shown in FIG. 5. From the circuit diagram the following equations (7) and (8) can be obtained:
ΔI.sub.M×(Z.sub.sM+dZ.sub.OHL)+R.sub.fI.sub.f=V.sub.F  (7)
ΔI.sub.N×(Z.sub.sN+(1−d)Z.sub.OHL+Z.sub.UGC)+R.sub.fI.sub.f=V.sub.F  (8)

(32) From equations (7) and (8). Abs (ΔI.sub.N) can be calculated as follows:

(33) $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{Abs}\left(\Delta I_N\right)=\mathrm{Abs}\left(\left(\frac{Z_{\mathrm{sM}}+{\mathrm{dZ}}_{\mathrm{OHL}}}{Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+\left(1-d\right)Z_{\mathrm{OHL}}+Z_{\mathrm{UGC}}}\right)\times \Delta I_M\right)& \left(9\right)\end{array}$

(34) From equation (9), by equating the calculated and measured currents, the following equation 10 is obtained:

(35) $\begin{array}{cc}d=\mathrm{Abs}\left(\frac{\left(Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+Z_{\mathrm{OHL}}+Z_{\mathrm{UGC}}\right)\Delta I_N-\left(Z_{\mathrm{sM}}\Delta I_M\right)}{Z_{\mathrm{OHL}}\left(\Delta I_M+\Delta I_N\right)}\right)& \left(10\right)\end{array}$

(36) The fault location (d) can be obtained using equation (10). Similarly, in case of fault in cable section, the fault location can be obtained using the following equation (11):

(37) $\begin{array}{cc}d=L_{\mathrm{OHL}}+\mathrm{Abs}\left(\frac{\left(Z_{\mathrm{sN}}+Z_{\mathrm{UGC}}\right)\Delta I_N-\left(Z_{\mathrm{sM}}+Z_{\mathrm{OHL}}\right)\Delta I_M)}{Z_{\mathrm{UGC}}\left(\Delta I_M+\Delta I_N\right)}\right)& \left(11\right)\end{array}$

(38) In an implementation, one or more of the abovementioned equations (e.g. equation 9, 10, 11 etc.) are solved by separating real and imaginary parts of the corresponding electrical parameters. Here, various components of the equation may be substituted by real and imaginary counterparts. For example, (ΔI.sub.m×Z.sub.SM) may be substituted by k.sub.1+j*k.sub.2, (ΔI.sub.m×Z.sub.L) may be substituted by k.sub.3+j*k.sub.4 etc. Thereafter, the distance ‘d’ can be obtained by solving the polynomial equation arrived at after making abovementioned substitutions. Finally, a solution of the polynomial equation can be selected according to its feasibility (e.g. solution being real and positive, and within system boundaries).

(39) FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the method for identifying the section with the fault, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. At 602, voltage and current measurements are taken from Potential transformer (PT) and current transformer (CT), respectively. At 604, phasor calculation of the measured voltages and currents is performed (e.g. using Discrete Fourier transform (DFT)). The junction fault current as seen from the remote bus is estimated using the local current and system parameters at 606. The conclusion about identification of fault section is derived by comparing the calculated and measured current at 608. Accordingly, the fault can be determined to be in the overhead section or cable section.

(40) FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the method for identifying the location of the fault, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. At 702, voltage and current measurements are taken from PT and CT, respectively. At 704, phasor calculation of the measured voltages and currents is performed (e.g. using Discrete Fourier transform (DFT)). The fault current seen from remote bus M is estimated using local measured current, fault location and system parameters at 706. The fault location is calculated by equating the absolute value of estimated and remote measured currents at 708.

(41) Methods presented herein can be used for other different mixed line combinations such as OHL connected with cable and then connected with OHL (OHL+UGC+OHL), Cable connected with OHL and then connected to Cable (UGC+OHL+UGC) etc. Thus, the invention enables detection at an IED the section having a fault based on information measured at the IED and communication received from another IED. The method enables robust fault section/location identification using two ended current signal information for mixed line. The method is a two end current based method that requires low sampling frequency. Additionally, identification is independent of zero sequence impedance which is more uncertain parameter in mixed line configurations.