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An ANN Routine for Fault

Detection, Classification,
and Location in Transmission
Lines
D. V. Coury , M. Oleskovicz & R. K. Aggarwal
Published online: 30 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: D. V. Coury , M. Oleskovicz & R. K. Aggarwal (2002) An ANN

Routine for Fault Detection, Classification, and Location in Transmission Lines,
Electric Power Components and Systems, 30:11, 1137-1149

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 Elec tric P o we r C ompo ne nts and Syste ms, 30:1137–1149, 2002
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DO I: 10.1080/ 15325000290085433

An ANN Routine for Fault Detection,

Classi¯cation, and Location in Transmission Lines

D. V. COURY
M. OLESKOVICZ
Department of Electrical Engineering
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 11:37 31 January 2014

EESC/USP, University of Sao~ Paulo

Av. Trabalhador Sancarlense, 400
CEP Sao~ Carlos (SP)
Brazil

R. K. AGGARWAL
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Bath
Bath, England

This article presents an ArtiŽcial Neural Network ( ANN) approach to simulate

a complete scheme for distance protection of transmission lines. The protection
technique is based on a modular approach whereby diŒerent neural network
modules have been adopted for fault detection, fault classiŽcation and fault
location. Three-phase voltage and current samples were utilized as inputs for
the proposed scheme. The Alternative Transients Program ( ATP ) software was
used to generate data for the transmission line ( 400 kV ) . The results obtained
show that the global performance of the ANN architectures is highly satisfactory
under a wide variety of diŒerent fault conditions.

K eywords system protection, fault detection, fault classiŽcation, fault loca-

tion, artiŽcial neural networks, and pattern recognition

1. Introduction
Protective relaying aims to safeguard expensive equipment such as generators,
transformers, and cables, and also to maintain the system integrity that is necessary
for a continuous and economical supply of electric power. The role of protective

Manuscript received in Žnal form on 8 November 2001.

The authors wish to acknowledge the Department of Electrical Engineering, Univer-
sity of São Paulo, Brazil and the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering,
University of Bath, England for facilities provided to conduct this research project, as well
as to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo ( FAPESP ) for the Žnancial
support given. Our acknowledgments also extend to NeuralWare, Aspen Technology for
facilities related to NeuralWorks software.
Address correspondence to D. V. Coury. E-mail: [email protected]

1137
 1138 D. V. Coury et al.

relays in a power system is to detect abnormal situations. In case of a fault (whether

transient or permanent) , the aŒected equipment should be isolated as rapidly as
possible from the rest of the system in order to minimize damage and preserve
system stability. Thus, reliable protection is vital for stable and secure operation of
a modern power system.
Among the various elements of an electric power system, the transmission line
is the most likely to experience faults, especially because of its environment and
physical dimension. In practice, about 70{80% of faults on transmission lines are
single-line-to-earth faults, followed by phase-phase, double-phase-earth, and three-
phase faults, in that order. Protective relays for transmission lines normally use
voltage and current input signals in order to detect, classify, and locate faults on
a protected line. In the case of a fault, the relay will send a trip signal to a circuit
breaker in order to disconnect the faulted line. In an interconnected system, the rest
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of the network can then continue to work normally or at least under near-to-normal
conditions.
With the recent advances of ArtiŽcial Neural Network (ANN) techniques, diŒer-
ent architectures have been suggested in the literature to solve problems related to
power systems. Neural networks are useful for power system applications by virtue
of the fact that they can be trained with o‚ ine data. An overview of the application
of ANNs to power systems can be found in [1]. Concerning the application in the pro-
tection Želd, some pattern recognition approaches to fault identiŽcation should be
mentioned such as those in [2{5]. Design and testing of an ANN applied as a fault di-
rection discriminator for transmission lines is presented in [6]. Moreover, [7{12] show
some approaches concerning fault classiŽcation using ANNs. References [13{15]
show the ANN approach proposed to distance protection. It has been shown that
these schemes improve the protection system selectivity and they adapt to the
actual power system condition [14, 15].
The work presented in this article is an ANN approach to simulate a complete
scheme for distance protection of a transmission line. The distance protection
technique is based on a modular approach whereby diŒerent neural network modules
have been adopted for fault detection, fault classiŽcation, and fault location. A
complete integration among these diŒerent modules is therefore essential for the
correct behavior of the proposed technique. The three-phase voltages and currents
sampled at 1 kHz, in pre- and post-fault conditions, were utilized as inputs for
the proposed scheme. The Alternative Transients Program (ATP) [16] software
was used to generate data for a 400 kV transmission line under diŒerent faults.
The NeuralWorks software [17] was used to set up the ANN topology, train it,
and obtain the synoptic weights as an output. This software provides a exible
environment for research and the application of techniques involving ANNs. The
supervised error backpropagation (EBP) algorithm was utilized during the training
process.

2. The ANN Approach

With an increasing usage of digital technology in power substations and even
more so in the protection control Želd, distance relays have experienced some
improvements relating to e cient Žltering methods as well as a shorter decision
time [18]. The trip/no trip decision has been signiŽcantly improved compared to
 ANN Routine for Fault Detection 1139

electromechanical/solid state relays. However, the relay characteristics in most cases

remain Žxed.
Considering a global scheme for transmission line protection, it is necessary,
as mentioned, to detect the fault situation. Following that, fault classiŽcation and
fault location should also be ascertained. As highlighted, this work proposes an
alternative method that utilizes ANNs to perform such tasks. The reach for the
Žrst protection zone of the distance relay approach was set to 95% of the 150 km
line length (line EF in Figure 1) . An uncertainty zone of § 2% of the Žrst zone
reach was considered. The § 2% uncertainty (between 139.65 to 145.5 km from
bus E) was designed as Transition Zone 1, where incorrect results from the ANNs
were expected. The reach of the second zone was set at 130% of the line length
(line EF) . Here again an uncertainty zone of § 2% of the reach was considered in
this case. This uncertainty zone was called Transition Zone 2 (between 191.1 to
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198.9 km) , where incorrect results from the ANN distance relay were also expected.
Finally, the third zone was set at 150% of the line length EF; this corresponds to
240 km from bus E. Faults next to the region where trip/no trip condition exchanges
(95% and 130% for the lines used) had special treatment. In such cases, a lower
degree of sparsity was chosen when considering fault locations used for training.
As diŒerent operation conditions were used in the training process, an adaptive
behavior was attributed to the relay concerning fault location in the protection
zones.
In order to evaluate the applicability of the proposed scheme, a simulation of
the transmission line in a faulted condition was utilized. This work makes use of
a digital simulator of faulted Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission lines known
as Alternative Transients Program (ATP) , as mentioned earlier. It should be men-
tioned that although the technique described is based on Computer Aided Design
(CAD) , practical considerations such as the Capacitor Voltage Transformer (CVT)
and Current Transformer (CT) transients, anti-aliasing Žlters (cutoŒfrequency of
300 Hz) and quantization (assuming a 16-bit ADC) on system fault data were also
included in the simulation. The simulated data obtained was thus very close to that
found in practice. The technique also considers the physical arrangement and the
characteristics of the conductors, mutual coupling, and the eŒect of earth return
path. Perfect line transposition was assumed. The 400 kV transmission line used to
train and test the proposed ANNs is shown in Figure 1.
This study takes into account phase-to-earth faults, phase-to-phase faults,
phase-phase-to-earth and three-phase faults. Voltage and current postfault values,
measured at bus E and sampled at 1 kHz, were utilized as data inputs to the ANN-

Figure 1. Power system analyzed.

 1140 D. V. Coury et al.

based technique. The data set was composed of various fault situations considering
diŒerent fault locations, fault resistances, and fault inception angles. It should be
pointed out that for the training process, approximately 333, 138, and 1,000 diŒerent
fault cases (for each type of fault) were utilized for the detection, classiŽcation, and
location schemes, respectively.
The NeuralWorks software was used to set up the ANN topologies, train them,
and obtain the appropriate weights. The data used by the neural networks learning
algorithms were divided into two parts: one used for training (called the total
training set) , and another one used for tests (called the test set) . In the experiments
carried out in this work, the total training set is further subdivided into the training
and the validation sets. The sizes of the training and validation sets are 80% and
20% from the total training set, respectively. Concerning the training/validation
data set, the fault conditions utilized in the ANN scheme were used in a random
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fashion.
The data involved in the ANN training and test processes used data windows.
Four samples each of the three-phase voltages and currents from bus E were utilized
as inputs. In the data windows, when a new sample becomes available, the oldest
value is discarded and the new sample value is included.
Several diŒerent topologies for the MLP (multilayer perceptron) neural net-
works were tried for all the modules described. The supervised algorithm known
as the Norm-Cum-Delta Learning Rule [17] was used. It is a variation of the cu-
mulative Back-Propagation learning rule, which is immune to changes in the epoch
length. As an alternative to the sigmoid transfer function, the hyperbolic tangent
transfer function was utilized in this work. During the training process, diŒerent
learning rates in the range of 0.01 to 0.4 were used in the hidden and output layers.
Likewise, the momentum value was varied between 0.001{0.2 interval.
After training, the ANN architectures were converted to a C code and a
complete algorithm was developed. In the proposed algorithm, all the modules
were connected in a sequential form as shown in Figure 2. The process starts
with the fault detection module: (24 nodes in the input layer, 9 units in the
hidden layer, and one output layer with 2 units, i.e., architecture ANN1 24-9-2
(Table 1) . This module is the directional detector; i.e., it should recognize whether
a reverse/forward fault or a normal network situation occurs. The expected outputs
from ANN1 (D1 and D2 ) are represented in Table 1. When a fault is detected
(reverse or forward fault) the latest voltage and current samples are transferred to
the classiŽcation module (ANN2) .
As shown in Figure 2, ANN2 (architecture ANN2 24-16-4) is designed to classify
the phases involved in a reverse or forward fault situation. The ANN2 distinguishes
10 types of faults as illustrated in Table 1. The ANN2 expected outputs as sig-
niŽed by C1 , C2 , C3 , and C4 are also shown in the table for the diŒerent types of
faults.
After the Žnal decision concerning the classiŽcation module, the sampled data
are directed to one of three ANN architectures in the location module (ANN3 24-48-
44-3, ANN4 24-42-40-3 or ANN5 24-24-20-3) . ANN3 is responsible for phase-earth
fault location (phase A , B, or C to earth) . ANN4 for phase-phase, and phase-phase
to earth fault location (faulted phases AB, AC, BC, and faulted phases AB, AC,
or BC to earth) . The location of the three-phase fault is eŒected by ANN5. For the
location modules, the outputs L1 , L2 , and L3 are associated with the protection of
zones 1, 2, or 3 as shown in Table 1.
 ANN Routine for Fault Detection 1141
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Figure 2. A complete scheme for fault detection, classiŽcation, and location in transmis-
sion lines using neural networks.
 Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 11:37 31 January 2014

Table 1
The ANNs expected answers

ClassiŽcation scheme
Detection scheme ANN2 (24-16-4) Location scheme

Situation D1 D2 Fault situation C1 C2 C3 C4 Fault situation L1 L2 L3

Normal 0 0 A-E 1 0 0 1 Zone 1 1 0 0
Reverse fault 1 0 B-E 0 1 0 1 Zone 2 0 1 0
Forward fault 0 1 C-E 0 0 1 1 Zone 3 0 0 1

1142
AB 1 1 0 0
AC 1 0 1 0
BC 0 1 1 0 ANN3 (24-48-44-3)
ANN1 (24-9-2) AB-E 1 1 0 1 ANN4 (24-42-40-3)
AC-E 1 0 1 1 ANN5 (24-24-20-3)
BC-E 0 1 1 1
ABC 1 1 1 0
 ANN Routine for Fault Detection 1143
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Figure 3. ANN1 for phase-to-earth fault detection.

3. Simulation Results
A test set was created to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm.
A total of 405 diŒerent cases for each type of fault were utilized in the test set. The
test set was comprised of the following variables: (1) fault locations in the range
10{320 km in approximately 10 km intervals; (2) fault resistances ( «) (phase-earth,
30, 60, 90, and phase-phase, 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9) ; and (3) fault inception angles, 20¯ ,
50¯ , and 80¯ .
As in the training process, a window of four samples per phase for voltages and
currents (pre- and post-fault values) from bus E, sampled at 1 kHz, were utilized
as inputs to the ANNs. Figures 3 to 11 depict the results attained in relation to the

Figure 4. ANN1 for phase-phase-to-earth and phase-phase fault detection.

 1144 D. V. Coury et al.
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Figure 5. ANN1 for three-phase fault detection.

performance of the complete scheme. As can be seen from the Žgures, the detection,
classiŽcation, and location modules give a very high percentage of accurate answers.
The processing time for each module is seen in the Žgures.
The results presented in Figures 3 to 11 typify the e ciency of the scheme.
In all the tests, the detection module (ANN1) was able to recognize correctly a
normal condition as well as a fault condition in 100% of the cases. In almost all of
the 4,050 cases tested, the processing time for fault detection was 2 ms after fault
occurrence (Figures 3, 4, and 5) .
For the 4,050 cases which were tested (405 cases for each type of fault) ,
the second architecture (ANN2{classiŽcation module) was able to classify faults
accurately in 99.44% of the test cases, with classiŽcation times between 4 to 12 ms

Figure 6. ANN2 for phase-to-earth fault classiŽcation.

 ANN Routine for Fault Detection 1145
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Figure 7. ANN2 for phase-phase and phase-phase-to-earth fault classiŽcation.

after fault occurrence (Figures 6, 7 and 8) . It should also be mentioned that the
ANN2 is able to classify the phases involved in both reverse and forward fault
situations.
Figures 9, 10 and 11 illustrate the performance of the last three ANN archi-
tectures (ANN3, ANN4, and ANN5) associated with fault location. It can be seen
that the majority of the 3,240 cases tested on protection zones 1, 2, and 3 were cor-
rectly located; these Žgures also include the performance associated with transition
zones 1 and 2. One observes a high percentage of correct answers when considering
the protection zones. However, the transition zones, as expected, present a lower
percentage of correct answers.

Figure 8. ANN2 for three-phase fault classiŽcation.

 1146 D. V. Coury et al.
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Figure 9. ANN3 for phase-to-earth fault location.

With regard to the overall processing time, it is estimated that the complete
scheme (detection, classiŽcation, and location) can operate in an average time of
about 13 ms after the fault occurrence.
It should be pointed out that for all the modules, an ANN output µ 0.3 was
considered as equal to zero and an output ¶ 0.7 as equal to unity. Any other
outputs were considered as uncertain cases. It should also be mentioned that the
Žnal decision from the detection network is based on a consistent output for two
windows (not necessarily consecutive) . Likewise, the classiŽcation and location
networks outputs are taken as Žnal only if the outputs are consistent for four
windows (again, not necessarily consecutive) . This is done essentially to increase
the stability of the ANNs spurious noise.

Figure 10. ANN4 for phase-phase and phase-phase-to-earth fault location.

 ANN Routine for Fault Detection 1147
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Figure 11. ANN5 for three-phase fault location.

4. Hardware Implementation of the Complete Technique

As mentioned before, the CAD technique described herein takes into account all
the transducer and hardware errors and limitations so the performance presented
is closer to that in real life.
In a hardware implementation of the algorithm, the prototype model could be,
for example, based on the Analog Device’s ADSP 2181 digital signal processor.
This processor combines high performance with low cost and is ideally suited for
the type of applications described herein. Among its many attributes, the processor
provides all the requisite memory and I/O and interface support in a single chip.
Furthermore, its appropriate code is easy to debug via its readily available software
emulator. Of course, associated with this would be typically a high precision 16-bit
analogue-to-digital converter, essentially to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the
hardware model through minimization of the quantization error.

5. Conclusion
The use of an ANN as an alternative method for fault detection, classiŽcation,
and location tasks for transmission line protection has been investigated in this
work. The three-phase voltages and currents sampled at 1 kHz, in pre- and post-
fault conditions, were utilized as inputs for the proposed scheme. This study took
into account phase-to-earth faults, phase-to-phase faults, phase-phase-to-earth and
three-phase faults.
A total number of 4,050 diŒerent faulted cases were applied to the transmission
system analyzed. The results obtained show that the global performance of the
ANN architectures was highly satisfactory in both accuracy and speed of response
for all the modules described. Considering the test cases for the detection module,
the ANN outputs converged to the requisite levels very quickly within up to
3 ms of the fault occurrence. This module also works as a direction discriminator
recognizing the diŒerence between reverse and forward faults on a transmission line.
 1148 D. V. Coury et al.

The classiŽcation module was able to discriminate correctly the phases involved in
the fault in between 4 to 10 ms after the fault occurrence. Finally, considering
the three protection zones, the results clearly show that this approach leads to a
reliable location for all types of faults (with times between 8 to 15 ms after fault
occurrence) . It should be pointed out that the ANN relay estimated the expected
response in approximately 98% of the 4,050 patterns tested (including all types of
faults and protection and transition zones) considering changes in the operational
conditions of the system. An extension of the relay primary protection zone to 95%
of the line length was implemented, enhancing system security and improving its
performance; this is a signiŽcant advantage over conventional distance relays which
have a reach setting of only 80%. It should be noted also that in almost all the test
cases, the operating time of the global scheme is 13 ms after fault occurrence.
Although the training and testing of diŒerent ANN-based modules involved
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is a lengthy and time-consuming process, this tool opens a new dimension in

relay philosophy which should be widely investigated, allowing one to overcome
many problems and limitations associated with conventional distance protection of
transmission lines.

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