Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

Arduino based Underground Cable Fault Detection

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Till last decades cables were made to lay overhead & currently it is lay to
underground cable which is superior to earlier method. Because the underground cable are
not affected by any adverse weather condition such as storm, snow, heavy rainfall as well as
pollution. But when any fault occur in cable, then it is difficult to locate fault. Proposed
system finds the exact location of fault. Now the world is become digitalized so the project is
intended to detect the location of fault in digital way. The underground cable system is more
common practice followed in many urban areas. While fault occurs for some reason, at that
time the repairing process related to that particular cable is difficult due to not knowing the
exact location of cable fault. Fault in cable is represented as:
• Any defect,
• Inconsistency,
• Weakness or non-homogeneity that affects performance of cable.
• Current is diverted from the intended path
• Caused by breaking of conductor& failure of insulation

1.2 Problem definition

The project is intended to detect the location of fault in underground cable lines from
the base station in kilometres using an Arduino microcontroller kit. In the urban areas, the
electrical cable runs in undergrounds instead of overhead lines. Whenever the fault occurs in
underground cable it is difficult to detect the exact location of the fault for process of
repairing that particular cable. The proposed system finds the exact location of the fault.

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 Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

1.3 Literature survey

SL Author Journal/paper Technique used Work Focused Future

NO Name Name work
1 T.Nandini , "Underground Arduino micro Calculating the Can
J.Shalini , Cable Fault controller kit, Fault point using implement
T.Sai Detection using 16x2 LCD display Arduino kit, notify via
Sangeetha Arduino" Antenna and LCD UI with
display Location
2 T. S. Sidhu “Detection of Fault Location Calculating exact Dividing the
and Z. Xu, incipient faults in Methods for point location on large system
distribution Distribution the faulty cables into small
underground Networks-I and II using network zones.
cables” methods
3 D.Prabhavat “Localization of Mexican hat and Estimate the exact Adaptive
hi Faults in Coif Let wavelet location of faults Network
Dr.M.Surya Underground transform in three phase Based Fuzzy
Kalavathi , Cables by Wavelet techniques underground Inference
K.Prakasam Transform” cables. System
4 M.-S. Choi, “A line to ground Newton-rap son To find the cable Implement
D.-S. Lee, fault location iteration method fault location using can identify
and X. Yang algorithm for or calculation the ground the angle
underground cable method reference between
system,” cables

1.4 Objectives and Methodologies:

Objectives
The project is intended to detect the location of fault in underground cable lines from
the base station to exact location using an Arduino microcontroller. In the urban areas, the
electrical cable runs in undergrounds instead of overhead lines. Whenever the fault occurs in
underground cable it is difficult to detect the exact location of the fault for process of
repairing that particular cable. The proposed system finds the exact location of the fault. This
system uses an Arduino microcontroller and a rectified power supply. Here the current
sensing circuits made with a combination of resistors are interfaced to Arduino micro
controller to help the internal ADC device for providing digital data to the microcontroller
representing the cable faulty location. Whenever a fault occurs in a cable, the buzzer
produces the alarm to alert and to take an immediate action by field workers. It’s mainly
useful for avoid the work pressure of the labour.

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 Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

Methodology:
An Arduino Uno is the heart of the project. The ac power detector circuit is used to
detect the point or location of the cable is disconnected. Buzzer makes sound soon after the
faulty wire detected and senior engineer will get SMS about faulty wire.
The four wire inputs will be given to Arduino microcontroller kit. The current status
of the detection will be displayed on the 16X2 LCD display. The display part consists of the
LCD display interfaced to the microcontroller which shows the status of the cable of each
phase and the distance of the cable at the particular phase, in case of any fault . The input
section through the four dedicated switches attached to the Arduino corresponding LED will
turn on.

RED YELLOW GSM BLUE WHITE

LED LED MODEM LED LED

ANTENNA
RED AC POWER
SWITCH DETECTOR

YELLOW
SWITCH 16x2 LCD
DISPLAY
ARDUINO UNO R3
BLUE
SWITCH
BUZZER

WHITE
SWITCH

POWER
SUPPLY

Fig: General Block diagram of Arduino based Underground Cable Fault Detection

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 Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

Generally there are different types of faults. Frequently occurring faults are given below
 Short Circuit Fault
 Open Circuit Fault
 Earth Fault
Short Circuit Fault a short circuit fault occurs when there is an insulation failure between
phase conductors or between phase conductor(s) and earth or both. An insulation failure
results into formation of a short circuit path that triggers a short-circuit conditions in the
circuit.
Open Circuit Fault an open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by some failure. If
the circuit is not closed that is called open circuit fault.
Earth Fault An earth fault is an inadvertent contact between an energized conductor and
earth or equipment frame. The return path of the fault current is through the grounding
system and any personnel or equipment that becomes part of that system.

1.5 Scope and relevance of the project

This project detects the location of short circuit fault and open circuit fault in
underground cable line, but it also detect the location of open circuit fault by using AC
detector circuit which measure the change in impedance & calculate the distance of fault.
Relevance of this project is
 The exact faulty location of the wire can pointed out without taking the full length
wire out or replacing the wire.
 Senior officer can save their time without joining with the field engineers by getting
an SMS of the current status of the work done.

1.6 Hardware and software requirements

Hardware: Arduino UnoR3, power Supply, AC power detector, 16X2 LCD, Buzzer, GSM
modem, Antenna, LEDs.
Software: Arduino Programming Language.

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 Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

1.7 Limitations of the project

 To find the fault of the cable location to flow lives current on the cable.
 When use the proposed system load must be disconnected.
 Ac detector works on limited distance of cable lines.

1.8 Place of the project to be carried out

 Less number of faults will occur in underground cables as it will be unaffected by
adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, storm or snow.
 Underground cable fault location model are applicable to all types of cable ranging
from 1kv to 500kv & other types of cable fault such as-Short circuit fault, cable cuts,
Resistive fault, Sheath faults, Water trees, Partial discharges.
 Underground cable system will also improve the issue of public safety.
 Its main application is the detection of underground cable fault which is very hard to
detect as it is not possible to see faults like line to line and other such faults which are
quite possible in the case of overhead transmission line.
 So for such cases our project is very helpful as the distance at which the fault has
occurred can be calculated and then further action regarding the fault can be taken to
overcome them.

1.9 Conclusion
This project is intended to detect the exact location of circuit fault in the underground
cables from the feeder end in km by using an Arduino microcontroller. The Arduino
microcontroller works based on the output of the magnetic field of the cable.

1.10 References

 T.Nandini, J.Shalini, T. Sai Sangeetha, "Underground Cable Fault Detection using

Arduino" IEEE reference 2013.
 Qinghai Shi, Troeltzsch U, Kanoun O. Detection and localization of cable faults by
time and frequency domain measurements. Conf. Systems and Signals and Devices,
7th International conference, Amman 2010.
 B. Clegg, “Underground Cable Fault Location. McGraw- Hill, 1993

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 Arduino based Underground cable Fault Detection

 J. Densely, “Ageing mechanisms and diagnostics for power cables—an overview,”

IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 14–22, Jan./Feb. 2001.
 Z. Wang, A.C. Bovik, H.R. Sheikh, E.P. Simoncelli, Image quality assessment: from
error visibility to structural similarity, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing 13 (4)
(2004) 600–612.B. Clegg, Underground Cable Fault
 E. C. Bascom, ―Computerized underground cable fault location expertise, ‖in Proc.
IEEE Power Eng. Soc.General Meeting, Apr. 10–15,1994, pp. 376–382.J. Clerk
Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, 3rded., vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon,
1892, pp.68–73.

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