Identification of Faulted Section in TCSC

Transmission Line Based on DC Component

Measurement
Piotr Mazniewski
Wroclaw University of Technology
Wroclaw, Poland
piotr.mazniewski@pwr.wroc.pl
Abstract-This paper presents an analysis of possibility of
detection of a fault position with respect to the compensating
bank in a series compensating transmission line. The algorithm
designed for this purpose is based on determining the contents of
dc components in the distance relay input currents. Fuzzy logic
technique is applied for making the decision whether a fault is in
front of the compensating bank or behind it. The delivered
algorithm has been tested and evaluated with use of the fault
data obtained from versatile ATP-EMTP simulations offaults in
the test power network containing the 400 kV, 300 km
transmission line, compensated with the aid of TCSC (Thyristor
Controlled Series Capacitor) bank installed at mid-line. The
results of the evaluation are reported and discussed.

Index Terms- ATP-EMTP, digital measurement, distance

protective relay, fault simulation, fuzzy logic, power
transmission line, TCSC.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The concept of FACTS (Flexible Alternating Current

Transmission Systems) was proposed by EPRI (Electric
Power Research Institute) in the mid of 1980s. Since the rapid
development
of
microprocessors,
microelectronics,
electronics and communications in recent years, it is possible
to implement FACTS technology now. FACTS is referred to
the application of power electronic equipment with one or
more functions at certain location transmission systems to
regulate and control the electrical parameters (such as
voltage, impedance, phase angle, etc.) to realize more
reliable, flexible and effective transmission systems [1].
Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) is an
important member of FACTS family and continuous changes
of the transmission line impedance. Transmission line can be
compensated by Fixed Series Capacitors (FSC) or more
effectively by TCSC.
It has great application potential in accurately regulating
the power flow on a transmission line, damping inter-area
power oscillations, mitigating subsynchronous resonance
(SSR) and improving transient stability. However, the
employment of series compensation creates certain problems
for its protective relays and fault locators using conventional
techniques because of the rapid changes introduced by the
associated TCSC control actions in primary systems
parameters such as line impedances and load currents [2].
The compensating bank affect both, the steady state and
transient conditions of the distance relay measurements.

Jan Izykowski
Wroclaw University of Technology
Wroclaw, Poland
jan .izykowski@pwr.wroc.pl

SY.

TEMA

CTSA

FA

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of series compensated line for considering

distance protection: FA - fault in front of compensating banks, Fe - fault
behind compensating banks.

If a series compensated line suffers a fault behind the SCs

as seen from the relaying point (fault FB in Fig. 1), a fault
loop measured by a distance relay contains, depending on a
type of fault, one (for single phase faults) or even two (for
inter-phase faults) compensating banks. As a consequence,
the operating conditions for protective relays become
unfavourable and include such phenomena as voltage and/or
current inversion, subharmonic oscillations, high frequency
oscillations due to MOVs [4]. The most important singularity
of a series compensated line as the object to be protected,
lays, however, in the fact that the positive sequence
impedance measured by a traditional distance relay is no
longer an indicator of the distance to a fault.
The aforementioned problems with protective relaying for
series compensated lines are being extensively explored as a
series of studies performed [5]-[10] . Protection of networks
with series compensated lines is considered as one of the
most difficult tasks. There is still much room for developing
efficient protective relaying for such networks. The approach
presented in this paper is one of the attempts for realizing
that.
II. TCSC MODEL AND STEADY STATE OPERATION
The TCSC is composed of a series compensating capacitor
in parallel thyristors controlled reactor (Fig. 2). The TCSC is
constructed similar to the TSSC if the impedance of the
reactor is significantly smaller than the impedance of
capacitor. If this is the case the TCSC can be operated in a
similar on/off manner as the TSSC [3].
The thyristor controlled series reactor operating at the
fundamental system frequency behaves like a continuously
variable reactive impedance, controllable by a delay angle a.

978-0-947649-44-9/09/$26.00 2009 IEEE

i
i

150

---j"-----tr----j-------t-------i-------j--------i------t------j--------[------

100

Inductive!

50

'-'

: .: ,-----~- -------!--------~- ------~---- ----~---- ---t-------~----- ---~----- i

iii

iii i

iii

----~--------f+----j-------+-------f-------j--------f-------i-------j--------f-----~-~~~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~-

-100
-150

Fig. 2. Basic Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor.

The basic operating principle behind the TCSC is that it
can provide a continuously variable capacitor by means of
partially cancelling the effective compensating capacitance of
the thyristors controlled reactor [1].
The parallel LC circuit determines the steady-state
impedance of the TCSC. The LC circuit consists of a fixed
series capacitor and a variable inductive impedance.
The impedance of the TCSC as a function of the delay
angle a is illustratedby (1) and Fig. 3 [2]:
_ XCXL(a) _ ( )
XTCSC ( ) -13) Xc + 13 2 -13 413 5 - Xc
Xc - XL a

(1)

where:

XCXL
XC-XL

132

133

~
=vXZ'

413~cos2(1t-a)
,
1tXL
XC - series capacitors reactance,
XL - reactor reactance,
CL - firing angle.
In the impedance compensation mode the TCSC maintains
the maximum rated compensating reactance at any line
current up to its rated maximum. For this mode the TCSC
thyristor controlled reactor and capacitor are chosen so that at
the CLclim the maximum capacitive reactance can be
maintained at and below the maximum line current rating.
The two types of voltages compensation modes are
capacitive and inductive. In capacitive voltage compensation
mode the minimum delay angle CLclim sets the limit for the
maximum compensating voltage up and until the line current
reaches such a value that voltage across the capacitors is a
maximum.
=

ii

i i iii
i i
S;eady ~ Stat~ Oper~ting Point '-------L----L----

----L-----U!, !, II !, !, '"

----+-------H-----J-------+-----

ii

!_l

!_________

,-------j-----

'"

Cap~Cltlve,

'

----~------

-+-----------~------------~--- -------+-----------~--- ------)----------~----------150 155 160 165

Firing angle (0)

170 175

180

Fig. 3. Operating characteristic ofthe TCSC.

III. ALGORITHM FOR DETECTING FAULT POSITION WITH

RESPECT TO COMPENSATING BANK

The concept of fuzzy logic was conceived by Lotfi Zadeh
as a way of processing data by allowing partial set
membership rather than crisp set membership or nonmembership. It offers several unique features that make it a
particularly good choice for many problems [II], [I2].
A classic logic is based at two represented values, the most
often by 0 and 1, or truth and falseness. Border between them
is defmite unambiguously and invariable. Fuzzy logic
introduces values between standard 0 and 1 and fuzzification
of the borders between them, giving the possibility of
appearing the values from between this compartment.
Schematicdiagram of the proposed fuzzy logic algorithm is
presented in Fig. 4, in Fig. 5 - fuzzy comparison.
First, digital integration of phase currents is performed with
the aid of the trapezoidal principle as follows:

i~rg '(n) = i~rg'(n -1) + ~ ~Ph(n) + iph(n -1))

134 = 133 tan[133 (1t - a)]- tan(1t - a),

135

(2)

where:
n - index denoting the current sample of the processed
current,
Ts - sampling period.

iph (n )

.int ,( )
i filter. (n)
Digital lph
n Filterin~ for ph
integration =;---.. derejec ion ----,

_____J

,------___________________________________J

II
I
I

IL

r-

._
I iD(n),
Fuzzification
+_ Difference

I..

'.

current

Setting

Jl(iD(n))

Fuzzy

Comparison

Decision
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of fuzzy logic based detection offault position.

----------t---------------l------------t--------------t--

OJ)

.S

~ 0.8

""0

!!

.-1..__ _..

_. 1

~0.6 _-_tj_-__[

.g
o

i l l

. . +-_..__.+.. . ._-+._-_ .

--------t--------------t----------l-------------~--l-----t-

0.4 _tj

0.

.a~

0)

i,

_.1

~l : + ::

_-_+1---
!

i Setting

---J------~-------------~-------------+-- --------

_t......_...

i..........

...._..j...._..

S 0.2 .._.._.... .t. . . .

-.1 _ .

-..A.",,' .F_1

48

36
i

50

52

54

O (A)

Fig. 5. Illustration of fuzzy comparison.

Next, filtration for de rejection [13] is applied according to:
.int.()
N)
n + l.int.(
h n-

-filter,
l ph
l ph
(n) =

1 N-1.

TABLE 1
t

i'~ '(n - k)

N k=O P

BASIC PARAMETERS OF THE TEST TRANSMISSION NETWORK

(3)

where:
N - number of samples in the single fundamental frequency
cycle.
Then, the difference current is calculated:
. (n) = l.inL()
(4)
10
h n - l.fiIter.(
h
n)
p

transmission line, compensated with a three-phase bank of

series capacitors installed at mid-line. The compensation rate
of 70% up to 85% was assumed. MOVs installed in parallel
to series capacitors were modelled as nonlinear resistors
defmed with the analytical characteristic and its parameters as
given in Table I. The thermal protection (TP in Fig. 1)
preventing the MOV from overheating was modelled as the
component integrating the accumulated energy. After
exceeding the set threshold for energy, the sparking of the
associated air-gap undergoes, and the MOV becomes
shunted. It has been checked that for the considered
application, i.e. for the high-speed protective relaying, the airgap sparking does not take place prior to detecting a fault
position. Thus, the thermal protection does not influence the
algorithm.
The model includes the Capacitive Voltage Transformers
(CVTs) and the Current Transformers (CTs). The analogue
filters with 350 Hz cut-off frequency were also included. The
sampling frequency of 1000 Hz was applied.

Equivalent system
at terminal A (q>=OO)

~ISA

(0.656+j7.5) n

~OSA

(1.l67+j 1l.25) n

Equivalent system
at terminal B

~ISB

(1.31+jI5) n

~OSB

(2.33+j26.6)o

~;L

(0.028+j0.315) O/km

Z~L

(0.275+j 1.027) O/km

C;L

13.0 nF/km

C~L

8.5nF/km

Series capacitors
Position of
thecomnensatinz bank
TCR inductance
P

0.70 X 1L

(q>= -W)

The calculated samples of the difference currents undergo

fuzzification. For this purpose the set of five consecutive
samples are taken for determining the membership function
in the shape of the triangle. The points of this triangle are
determined with the minimum, average and maximum values
of the difference current .
The setting applied in the comparison was determined
arbitrary, for each fault type separately.
Making the decision on the fault position is a result of the
fuzzy comparison determined with the following relationship:
F

w=-

LineAB

Series compensation
MOY characteristic:
i MOV

(5)

FI

where:
F - area below the membership function IlUO) ,
F, - area obtained from F by limiting it with the applied
setting (Fig. 5).
If the ratio (5) exceeds the specified threshold, the decision
is taken that a fault is in front of the compensating bank.
IV. ATP-EMTP ANO MATLAB EYALUATION
The presented algorithm for detecting the position of the
fault with respect to the compensating bank, in terms whether
a fault occurred in front or behind the bank, has been tested
and evaluated with the fault data obtained from versatile
ATP-EMTP [14] simulations of faults in the test power
network. Basic parameters are gathered in Table I.
The test power network contains the 400 kV, 300 km

=p(~J
V
REF

Line length
System voltage

VREF
q

0.5p.u.
50mH
I kA
150kY
23
300km
400kY

Faults, occurring in front and behind the compensating

bank, of different specifications have been modelled. The
following parameters have been altered:

distance to fault - 17 values: 30, 40, 45, 50, 60, 90, 120,
149,151,180,210,240,250,255,260,270,290 [km],

fault resistance:
for faults L-E and L-L-E - 5 values: 0.1, 5, 10, 25,
50 [11],
for faults L-L, L-L-L (L-L-L-E) - 5 values: 0.1, 0.5, 1,
2,5[11],

point on the wave at which the fault is applied - 10

cases: by changing the angle from 00 (at zero crossing)
up to 90 0 (at maximum),

angle of EMFs at the end A was set as cp=O (the cosine

wave with zero phase shift in the phase a), while for the
end B - 4 cases: -20, -IS, 15,20,

fire angle 3cases: 165, 160, 155.

The presented algorithm for detecting the fault position
(schematic diagram shown in Fig. 4) has been reflected in
MATLAB [IS] environment.
The example I, for which the results are presented in
Fig. 6, is for the fault FA (occurring in front of the
compensating bank) with the following specifications - fault
distance : d=0.5 p.u., fault resistance RF=10 Q .
The example 2, for which the results are presented in
Fig. 7, is for the fault FB (occurring behind the compensating
bank) with the following specifications - fault distance :
d=0 .5 p.u., fault resistance RF=lO Q .
The presented examples (Fig. 6-7) illustrate effectiveness
of the proposed detection algorithm . The results of the overall
evaluation are gathered in Table II.
In Fig. 6 the phase currents are shown. Since this is the
fault occurring in front of the compensating bank, the current
from the faulted phase ' a' contains a considerable de
component. This current , together with the signals from the
presented fault position detecting algorithm are visualised in
Fig. 7. As a result of integrating the faulted phase current one
obtains the signal: i~~t. in which the de component is highly
magnified . In tum, filtering the faulted phase current with the
digital algorithm (2) results in effective rejection of the dc
component. The fundamental frequency components in the
signals i~~t. , i~~ter. are in phase and have identical
magnitudes . Therefore , their difference , i.e, the difference
current i o (4) contains only the magnified de component: the
curve (FA) in Fig. 8. The samples of difference current i o
from the fault interval undergo fuzzification (Fig. 4) and then
the fuzzy comparison (Fig. 5).
The samples of difference current i o from the fault interval
undergo fuzzification (Fig. 4) and then the fuzzy comparison.
12

,J ,'\
,
-- ,..., , \ /
,
"
,
,, 'n ,1\, f\

int
100 'ph--

8
~

::'"
~
u=

h, I'\..
V

If).,

'J

"

--

"ph

100 filter.
ph
I

-6

.-

,,'

,
:
,,

0.04

0.06

,
iph .......

~
u=

,
,,'", ~.,"" , ,
, I, \\, ,: \\
\\ 1/ , " ,
'/
,
i \ ,: , ,' , ,: ,
, ,, ,, ,, , ,
\

r-,

<;

f'A" h,Vf\.~\) f\.

V

~\)

~,

1\

-2

,,'

\. \

, , , , 'I ,, ,
, ,, ,,
,, ~
\

,-'

100 i filler. .ph

-6 0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08
0.1
0.12 0.14 0.16
Time (s)
Fig. 7. Signals of fuzzy logic based detection of fault position : Example 2 fault behind compensating bank (fault Fa).

The samples of difference current i o from the fault interval

undergo fuzzification (Fig. 4) and then the fuzzy comparison.
The setting applied in this comparison was determined
arbitrary for each fault type. In further investigations, the selfadjust ing fuzzy settings will be applied .
For each fault type (phase -to-earth , phase-to-phase, double
phase-to-earth and three phase faults), 10200 cases were
applied in evaluation of the fault position detecting algorithm.
Almost all faults occurring behind the compensating bank
(fault FB) were successfully detected (98% efficiency). In
tum , the faults occurring in front of the compensating bank
(fault FA) were correctly recognised with the efficiency of
around 85%.
In some fault cases (for faults in front of the compens ating
bank) with unfavourable point on the wave of fault inception
and/or high fault resistance , the dc component may be very
low (or even not present) and very quickly decaying. This
justifies why the 98% efficiency is not achieved for detecting
faults occurring in front of the compensating bank. However,
the efficiency rate of the order of 85% can be considered as
relatively high.
100

r-----,-------,--------,---,--------,-------,----~----=

80

$
,'!l

60

u=

0)

40

0.02

100 iint.
ph

, ,,
,, , ,I

! ..~I

-2

r: ',," ,
\)

0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
Time (s)
Fig. 6. Signals of fuzzy logic based detection of fault position: Example I fault in front of compensating bank (fault FA),

Ci 20

ol....-_.l...-_..L...-_.......
o 0.02 0.04 0.06

_~

___I.__

0.08
0.1
Time (s)

___.L_

0.12

___.L_

___J

0.14

0.16

Fig. 8. Typical shapes of difference current under: fault position in front of

compensating bank (FA), fault position behind compensating bank (Fa).

The approach based on identifying the subharmonic

oscillations - occurring under faults behind the compensating
bank [8], also is not 100% efficient.
Average time of the fault position detection is around
25 ms. In order to get higher speed of detection, the other
filtering digital algorithm, as for example applying the halfcycle dc rejection [16] can be applied.
TABLE I
EFFICIENCY OFDETECTION OFFAUL TSFA,FB
Fault
type
Phase toearth
Phase to
phase
Double
phase toearth
Three
phase

Number
of fault
cases

Detection
of faults FA
[%]

Detection
of faults FB
[%]

Average
time
of detection
[ms]

10200

83

95

27

were recognised with around 85% efficiency. Some fault

cases with very low dc contents were not detected as
occurring in front of the compensating bank. However, it has
been checked that even so, for majority of unrecognised faults
in front of the bank, the distance relay operates correctly and
the fault loop impedance encroaches the relay characteristic.
It is expected in future research that a multi-criteria
algorithm will be developed. It seems that only multi-criteria
approach can assure completely correct recognition of the
fault position with respect to the compensating bank, for very
wide range of specifications of faults and the transmission
network parameters.
REFERENCES
[1]

10200

84

99

24

10200

85

97

26

[2]

10200

87

99

23

[3]

FA - fault in front of SCs/MOVs,

V.

FB - fault behind SCslMOVs

CONCLUSIONS

The paper presents the algorithm aimed at recognising the

fault position with respect to the compensating device. The
decision with respect to the fault position, i.e, whether a fault
occurred in front of the bank or behind it, is highly required
for design of the adaptive distance relay. Knowledge of the
fault position allows to make the distance relay adaptable to
presence of the compensating bank in the fault loop. For
faults occurring behind the compensating bank, there is a
need for reflecting of presence of TCSCs&MOV (or
TCSCs&MOVs in the case of inter-phase faults) in the fault
loop considered by the distance relay. For this purpose, the
differential equation or fundamental frequency equivalenting
approaches, known from the numerous references, can be
applied. By reflecting the presence of TCSCs&MOVs in the
fault loop (for faults occurring behind them) the quality of
distance protection can be substantially improved. In
particular, one can avoid shortening of the reach for the highspeed first zone.
The presented algorithm for detecting the position of the
fault with respect to the compensating device is based on
exploring the contents of dc components in the protective
relay input currents. The decision with respect to the fault
position is made using fuzzy logic reasoning.
The delivered algorithm has been tested and evaluated with
the fault data obtained from versatile ATP-EMTP simulations
of faults in the test power network with the 400 kV, 300 km
transmission line. Different specifications of faults and prefault power flows (in total, above 50 thousand cases) have
been considered in the evaluation study. Application of fuzzy
logic appeared as the tool which allowed to obtain efficient
detection of the fault place. The faults occurring behind
TCSCs&MOVs have been detected almost perfectly correct
(98%). In tum, faults occurring in front of TCSCs&MOVs

[4]
[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]
[15]
[16]

N.G. Hingorani and L. Gyugyi, "Understanding FACTS: Concepts and

Technology of Flexible AC Transmission Systems," Wiley - IEEE
Press 1999.
M. Khederzadech and T. S. Sidhu, "Impact ofTCSC on the Protection
of Transmission Lines," IEEE Trans. on Power Del., vol. 21, no. 1, pp.
80-87, Jan. 2006
P. K. Dash, S. R. Samantaray and G. Panda, "Fault classification and
section identification of an advanced series-compensated transmission
line using support vector machine," IEEE Trans. on Power Del., vol.
22, no. l,pp. 67-73, Jan. 2007.
CICGRE SC-34 WG-04, Application guide on protection of complex
transmission network configurations, CIGRE materials, August 1990.
B. Bachmann, D. Novosel, D. Hart, Y. Hu and M. M. Saha,
"Application of artificial neural networks for series compensated line
protection," in Proc. of the International Conference on Intelligent
Systems Applications to Power Systems, Orlando, FL, pp. 68-73, Jan.
28-Feb.02, 1996.
A. A. Girigis, A. A. Sallam and A. K. El-Din, "An adaptive protection
scheme for advanced series compensated (ASC) transmission lines,"
IEEE Trans. on Power Del., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 414-420, Apr. 1998.
J. A. S. B. Jayasinghe, R. K. Aggarwal, A. T. Johns and Z. Q. Bo, "A
novel non-unit protection for series compensated EHV transmission
lines based on fault generated high frequency voltage signals," IEEE
Trans. on Power Del., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 405-413, Apr. 1998.
D. Novosel, A. Phadke, M. M. Saha and S. Lindahl, "Problems and
solutions for microprocessor protection of series compensated lines," in
Proc. of Sixth International Conference on Developments in Power
System Protection, Nottingham, UK, Conference Publication No. 434,
lEE 1997, pp. 18-23,25-27 March 1997.
M. M. Saha, B. Kasztenny, E. Rosolowski and J. Izykowski, "First
zone algorithm for protection of series compensated lines," IEEE
Trans. on Power Del., vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 67-73, Apr. 2001.
Q. Y. Xuan, Y. H. Song, A. T. Johns, R. Morgan and D. Williams,
"Performance of an adaptive protection scheme for series compensated
EHV transmission systems using neural networks," Electric Power
System Research, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 57-66, Jan. 1996.
W. Rebizant, A. Wiszniewski and L. Schiel, "Acceleration of
transformer differential protection with instantaneous criteria," in Proc.
Advanced Power System Automation and Protection, Jeju, Korea, April
24-27, 2007.
A. Wiszniewski and B. Kasztenny, "A multi-criteria differential
transformer relay based on fuzzy logic," IEEE Trans. on Power Del.,
vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 1786-1793, Oct. 1995.
A. Magdziarz and Z. Zagan, "Elimination of dc component from the
input signals of power system control and protection devices,"
Electrotechnical Review (Polish Journal), No 1,2005.
H. W. Dommel, Electro-Magnetic Transients Program, BPA, Portland,
Oregon, 1986.
MATLAB, High-performance numeric computation and visualization
software. External interface guide, The Mathworks, Inc., January 1993.
E. Rosolowski, J. Izykowski and B. Kasztenny, "A new half - cycle
adaptive phasor estimator immune to the decaying dc component for
digital protective relaying," in Proc. of North America Power Systems
(NAPS) Conference, University of Waterloo, Canada, October 23-24,
2000.