School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication, University of New South Wales

ELEC4617 Power System Protection

Laboratory 1: Signal processing for digital protective relaying
Signal processing is of paramount importance in modern digital protective relaying. All
algorithms are based on processing input signals, mainly voltages and currents from current
transformers (CT) and voltage transformers (VT).
Objectives
This laboratory targets at using several basic methods to compute the magnitudes of voltage,
current and impedance and the argument or angle of impedance.
The methods include:
1) Sample and first-order derivative method;
2) Frist-order and second-order derivative method;
3) Two-sample-point technique;
4) Three-sample technique to compute magnitude and angle of impedance;
5) Fourier analysis based algorithm.
Policy for doing this laboratory
No copying any files to PC and no email or internet retrieval of files. Plagiarism is not allowed.
Fundamentals of the methods
1. Sample and first-order derivative method
v(t ) V sin 0t , i(t ) I sin 0t , v' (t ) 0V cos 0t ,

i ' (t ) 0 I cos 0t

V v(t )2 v' (t ) / 0 ,
2

I i(t )2 i ' (t ) / 0

(1)
(2)

The magnitude of the impedance is

2
2
Z V / I v(t )2 v ' (t ) / 0 i(t )2 i ' (t ) / 0

The argument of the impedance is

Z V I ; V 0t; I 0t . v(t ) V sin V , v' (t ) 0V cos V

Z V I tan 1 (v0 / v ') tan 1 (i0 / i ')

(3)

(4)

Approximation of derivatives in discrete form:

Two-sample-point approximation:
f f k 1
f k' k
(5)
t
Three-sample-point approximation:
3 f 4 f k 1 f k 2
(6)
f k' k
2t
where f could be i or v, t is the sampling interval, and k, k-1 and k-2 are subscripts referring to a
series of consecutive samples.
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 1

2. First-order and second-order derivative method

Algorithm of this type generally reduces errors arising from slowing decaying DC transients.
Peak values of voltage and current are computed by
2
1
(7)
V
v '(t )2 v" (t ) / 0 ,
0
2
1
(8)
I
i '(t )2 i " (t ) / 0
0
Magnitude of the impedance is
Z V / I v '(t )2 v" (t ) / 0

i '(t )2 i" (t ) / 0

(9)

The argument of the measured impedance is

Z V I ; V 0t; I 0t .

Z V I tan 1 i " (0 i ') tan 1 v " (0 v ')

(10)

For this method, the following expressions are used to compute first- and second-order
derivative:
f f
f k' k 1 k 1 ,
(11)
2t
f 2 f k f k 1
(12)
f k" k 1
(t )2
where f could be i or v, t is the sampling interval, and k+1, k and k-1 are subscripts referring to
a series of consecutive samples.
3. Two-sample-point technique
Peak value of voltage is
V

vk2 vk21 2vk 1vk cos 0 t

sin 0t

(13a)

Peak value of current is

ik2 ik21 2ik 1ik cos 0 t

sin 0 t

Magnitude of impedance is
Z V / I
Angle of impedance can be computed by
i v i v (i v i v ) cos 0 t
cos 1 k k k 1 k 1 k k 21 k 1 k

IV sin 0 t

4. Three-sample technique to compute impedance

2v i v i vk ik 2
R f k 1 k 1 2 k 2 k
2 ik 1 ik ik 2
Xf

vk 1ik 2 vk 2ik 1
sin 0t
ik21 ik ik 2

(13b)

(14)
(15)

(16)
(17)

Z f R 2f X 2f

(18)

Z tan 1 ( X f / R f )

(19)
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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 1

5. Fourier analysis based algorithm

Voltage can be expressed as

a
v(t ) 0 an cos n0t bn sin n0t
2 n1
n 1
t

T
2 0
where an v(t ) cos n0t dt , n 0,1,
T t0
2 t0 T
bn v(t )sin n0t dt , n 1,2,
T t0
and 0 is the angular frequency of the fundamental component and T is its period.
By letting n=1, the fundamental component of a voltage and/or current waveform can be
extracted from the corresponding faulted waveforms.
Let Vx =a1 and Vy =b1.
2 t0 T
Vx a1 v(t ) cos 0t dt
T t0
Now let N be the number of samples per cycle of the fundamental component, t the sampling
time interval, tj=jt, the time of jth sample, and T=Nt, the period of the fundamental
component.
Then one can obtain
2
v(t0 ) cos 0t0 v(t1 ) cos 0t1 v(t j ) cos 0t j v(t N 1 ) cos 0t N 1 v(t N ) cos 0t N t
Vx
N t
2
2
2 j
Since 0t j 2 f 0 jt
jt
jt
T
N t
N
N
2

2 j 2 N
Vx v j cos
(20)
Wx , j v j
N j 0
N N j 0
where vj=v(tj) is the jth sample of the voltage waveform, and Wx,j is the weighting factor of the jth
2 j
sample used to calculate Vx. Wx , j cos
, j 0,1, , N .
N
In a similar way, one can obtain imaginary part of v(t):
2 N
2 j 2 N
Vy v j sin
(21)
Wy , j v j
N j 0
N N j 0
2 j
where Wy , j sin
, j 0,1, , N , and N can take different values.
N
Then a1 cos 0t b1 sin 0t Vx cos 0t Vy sin 0t Vm sin(0t )

Vm Vx2 Vy2 ,

(22)

I m I x2 I y2 ,

(23)

In a similar way

Z Vm / I m

(24)

Z tan (Vx / Vy ) tan ( I x / I y )

1

(25)

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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 1

Procedures
Step 1
The program using method 1 is given as an example. It is based on equations (1) through (6).
Open file named Laboratory1_Method1.m under the directory of Laboratory1 on the desktop.
Study it. The data sets for testing this algorithm are named as Laboratory1DataSet1.mat and
Laboratory1DataSet2.mat. Run the program using MATLAB with two sets of data. Examine
the results by using Method 1 and comment on the results.
Step 2
Develop your own code using MATLAB to fulfill method 2 (Equations (7) through (12)) to
compute magnitudes of voltage, current and impedance, and the angle of impedance. Process the
same two sets of data as in Step 1. Compare the results with those in Step 1 and comment.
Name your file as L1Method2_YourName.m for submission.
Step 3
Develop your own code using MATLAB to fulfill method 3 (Equations (13) through (15)) to
compute magnitudes of voltage, current and impedance, and the angle of impedance. Process the
same two sets of data as in Step 1. Compare the results with those in Steps 1 and 2 and comment.
Name your file as L1Method3_YourName.m for submission.
Step 4(Optional)
Develop your own code using MATLAB to fulfill method 4 (Equations (16) through (19)) to
compute magnitudes of impedance, and its angle. Process the same two sets of data as in Step 1.
Compare the results with those in Steps 1, 2 and 3 and comment.
Name your file as L1Method4_YourName.m for submission.
Step 5 (Optional)
Develop your own code using MATLAB to fulfill method 5 (Equations (20) through (25)) to
compute magnitudes of voltage, current and impedance, and angle of impedance. Process the
same two sets of data as in Step 1.
Name your file as L1Method5_YourName.m for submission.
Submission
Submit the files of your codes of Method 2 and Method 3 in Step 2 and Step 3 to your
demonstrators for evaluation.
Also edit a word file which contains the comparison of first three methods from the aspects of
convergence speed, converged value, overshooting and undershooting etc. Name the files as
L1Comparison_YourName.doc.

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ELEC4617 Power System Protection: Laboratory 1