Underground Cable Fault Detection using Arduino

Rifat-Ibn-Alam Sakib Sheakh

Shakibul Islam
Computer Science and Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
American Internation University- American Internation University-
American Internation University-
Bangladesh Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]
[email protected]
+8801521108947 01771134492
+8801850708702
Tanjim Ferdoush Shuvo Samman, Md. Rafe
Sabique Islam Khan
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Computer Science and Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering
American Internation University- American Internation University-
American Internation University-
Bangladesh Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]
[email protected]
01679795536
+8801621972117
Hassan Shahriar Ayon Chinmoy Mondol
Computer Science and Engineering Computer Science and Engineering
American Internation University- American Internation University-
Bangladesh Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]
01928081956 01779641115

Abstract—This project is aspired to detect the faults in components are installed, reduces the probable hazard,
underground cable lines. It is aimed to find out the fault’s reduced chances of conductor theft, sabotage and illegal
appropriate location in kilometers using an Arduino micro- connections. And also, the installation of underground cable
controller kit. Generally, the overhead lines are used but in systems is mostly done for economic reasons. But the major
rushed places or cities it is not feasible to use overhead lines. problem of underground cables is the fault detection. The
That is why underground lines are used. Usually, in city areas, cables are laid under the surface so the visual methods
the cable lines run in undergrounds. It is really difficult to detect inspections will not work.
the exact location if a fault occurs in underground cables. This
following project reduces the time surprisingly and it operates This paper is structured as follows. In Section II we
efficiently. These faults often occur due to construction works discussed the earlier researches that has been done to
and several other reasons. It is arduous to dig out the whole Underground Cable Fault Detection using Arduino. The basic
cable if the exact location of the fault is not known. Thus, it working process of our proposed system are stated in Section
becomes a hectic task to repair that particular faulty cable. On III. Hardware implementation described in Section IV. Cost
the other hand, if the exact location of the fault is known, the analysis of our model is done in Section V and future works
process of repairing becomes much easier. That is the reason are described in Section VI and society and environmental
behind this project. impact Section VII and overall conclusion in section VIII.
Index Terms—Cable faults, Arduino, Arduino IDE, Proteus,
cable resistance, cable capacitance, resistance per meter, II. LITERATURE REVIEW
capacitance per meter. Abhishek Pandey, Nicolas H. Younan, Presented
underground cable fault detection and identification via
I. INTRODUCTION fourier analysis. The methods of impedance calculation via
sending end voltage and differential voltage can be used for
It is very much harmful for the environment if the differentiating between the different types of cable defects
underground cables are being cut off because those are used from phase information. It needs study to be conducted to find
to carry electricity which contains bundle of electrical the best way of visualizing the results, especially the
conductors. An underground cable generally has one or more magnitude response [4]. Yuan Liao, Ning Kang has presented
conductors covered with suitable insulation and a protective fault location algorithms without utilizing line parameters. By
cover [1]. Faults are considered as the total breakdown or loss utilizing unsynchronized voltage and current measurements
of synchronism of power system network which does not from both ends of line without requiring line parameters based
exclude the environmental hazards such as electrocution and on the distributed parameter line model. The fault location
a devastating fire outbreak [2]. This means that the general estimatie is not sensitive to measurement errors while line
belief as at the time was purely of the reliance on overhead parameter estimates are sensitive to measurement errors.
lines for transmission of signals. This left the use of High Thus, relatively precise measurements are required to obtain
Voltage (HV) and Extra High Voltage (EHV) insulated cables accurate line parameter estimates [5]. S. Navaneethan, J. J.
to be dedicated to DC submarine links. Faults are however Soraghan, W. H. Siew, F. McPherson, P. F. Gale, presented
meant to be located and cleared as fast as possible to forestall an automatic fault location method using TDR. This method
further loss of revenue and discomfort from the customer end uses acquired data from an existing TDR instrument. It
[3]. The underground cable system has been considered by enables user of TDR equipment to locate ULVDN cable faults
power system operators in various countries. It is more without user interpretation [6]. H. Shateri, S. Jamali Et Al.,
efficient way to lower transmission losses, absorb emergency Proposed An impedance-based fault location method for
power loads, lower maintenance costs. Furthermore, less phase to phase and three phase faults. This method utilized the
measured impedance by distance relay and the super imposed IV. SIMULATION, CIRCUIT AND RESULT
current factor to discriminate the fault location. This method
In this project, Arduino Uno is used along with all the
is sensitive to the measured impedance accuracy and super
required components. The project is solely implemented
imposed current factor [7]. Pooja P.S and Lekshmi. M
developed a resilient incipient fault location algorithm in the virtually on Proteus 8.9 with virtual Arduino Uno, Resistors,
time-domain, which utilizes data collected by PQ monitors to capacitors, voltage regulator, buttons, buzzer and DC power
estimate the fault location in terms of the line impedance by sources. At first, all the components were placed in Proteus
taking into account the arc voltage associated with the Schematic Design board, then all the components were
incipient cable faults. So the algorithm predicts cable fault connected accordingly. After that, Program code for Arduino
location between two adjacent manholes.The ANNs are a was written in Arduino IDE and exported into a hex binary
family of statistical learning algorithm inspired by biological file. Then, the binary was imported into Proteus. Finally, the
neural networks and are used to appropriate functions that simulation was run to check whether the project is working
depend on the large number of inputs. The proposed algorithm accordingly or not.
exactly pinpoints the exact fault in the underground cable [8].
A.Ngaopitakkul, C. Pothisarn, M. Leelajindakrairerk
,presented behaviour of simultaneous fault signals in
distribution underground cable using DWT. The simulations
were performed using ATP/EMTP, and the analysis behaviour
of characteristics signals was Performed using DWT. Various
case studies have been carried out including the single fault
and simultaneous fault [9].

III. BASIC CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT

From figure 1, it can be seen that at first, one input button
will dictate whether a fault is present or not. If a fault is not
present, the display will print “No fault” and the process will
end. If a fault is present, another button will dictate whether
the fault is open circuit or short circuit. If it is short circuit
fault, the distance to the fault will be calculated from the Figure 2: Simulation on Proteus
measured resistance and the value of resistance, distance will
be printed on the LCD display. If the fault is due to open
circuit, the distance to the fault will be calculated based on
cable capacitance. After that, the value of both Capacitance
and distance will be shown in the display. Finally, the process
will be ended.

Figure 3: Code on Arduino

In figure 2, the whole schematic for the project was

captured from Proteus and in figure 3, a partial program code
snippet was captured from Arduino IDE which drives the
whole project.
V. FUTURE SCOPE
The project is implemented using a DC input. Cable
capacitance per meter and cable resistance per meter was
considered constants due to the time constraints and so many
factors need to be considered when calculating them. In real
life, these values may vary according to the values of cable
component type, cross-sectional area etc. Also, AC input was
not implemented although it was considered initially due to
the time constraints and complexity AC inputs bring. In
Figure 1: Project Working Principle future a system can be developed to detect faults for AC
signals with varied cable resistance and capacitance per REFERENCES
meter.
[1] Anurag. D. Borkhade (2014) ‘Transmission Line Fault Detection Using
VI. SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Wavelet Transform’ International Journal on Recent and Innovation
In the rural areas where underground transmission system Trends in Computing and Communication Volume. 2 Issue. 10. [2] Xia
Yang, Myeon-Song Choi, Seung-Jae L
is used. it is difficult to find the fault in the cable. So, this [2] Abdul Kareem A., C.O.A Awosope, A.A Awelewa “The use of
project is beneficial to use to detect the fault location. So, the threephase fault analysis for rating circuit breakers on Nigeria 330KV
fault can easily locate and extinguish. The progress made in Transmission Lines”. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
the underground cable detector design can induce high 11(12): 2612-2622, 2016.
penetration of the underground cable technologies into the [3] Awelewa A.A, Mbamaluikem P.O, Isaac A. Samuel “Artificial neural
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major cities of the developing countries to minimize Transmission Line”. International Journal of Engineering Trends and
environmental disasters associated with overhead Technology, 54(3), 2017.
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Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, 11-14 Oct.
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through transmission line connection and maintenance. [5] Liao, Yuan, and Ning Kang. “Fault-location algorithms without
utilizing line parameters based on the distributed parameter line
VII. CONCLUSION model.” IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery 24.2 (2009): 579-584.
S. Navaneethan, J. J. Soraghan, W. H. Siew, F. McPherson, P. F. Gale
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conditions in this project faults up to a distance of 4km can [7] Shateri, H.. (2012). “Impedance based fault location method for phase
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