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Types of Faults and Effects in Electrical Power

Systems

The electrical power system is growing in size and complexity in all sectors such
as generation, transmission, distribution, and load systems. Types of faults like
short circuit conditions in the power system network result in severe economic
losses and reduce the reliability of the electrical system. An electrical fault is an
abnormal condition, caused by equipment failures such as transformers and
rotating machines, human errors, and environmental conditions. These faults
cause interruption to electric flows, equipment damages, and even cause the
death of humans, birds, and animals. This article discusses an overview of
different types of faults and their effects that occurred in electric power systems.

What is an Electrical Fault?

An electrical fault is the deviation of voltages and currents from nominal values
or states. Under normal operating conditions, power system equipment or lines
carry normal voltages and currents which results in safer operation of the
system.
 Faults in Electrical Power System

But when a fault occurs, it causes excessively high currents to flow which
causes damage to equipment and devices. Fault detection and analysis are
necessary to select or design suitable switchgear equipment, electromechanical
relays, circuit breakers, and other protection devices.

Types of Faults in Electrical Power Systems

In the electrical power system, the faults are mainly two types like open circuit
faults and short circuit faults. And further, these types of faults can be classified
into symmetrical and unsymmetrical. Let us discuss these types of faults in
detail. These faults are classified into two types.

Symmetrical Fault
Unsymmetrical Fault

Symmetrical Faults
These are very severe faults and occur infrequently in the power systems. These
are also called balanced faults and are of two types namely line to line to ground
(L-L-L-G) and line to line (L-L-L).
 Symmetrical faults

Only 2-5 percent of system faults are symmetrical faults. If these faults occur,
the system remains balanced but results in severe damage to the electrical
power system equipment.

The above figure shows two types of three-phase symmetrical faults. Analysis of
this fault is easy and usually carried on a phased basis. Three-phase fault
analysis or information is required for selecting set-phase relays, rupturing
capacity of the circuit breakers, and rating of the protective switchgear.

The symmetrical faults are classified into two types

Line – Line – Line Fault

Line – Line – Ground Fault

L – L – L Fault

These kinds of faults are balanced which means the system remains balanced
after the fault occurs. So this fault rarely occurs, although it is the harsh kind of
fault that holds the largest current. So this current is used to determine the rating
of the CB.

L – L – L – G Fault
The 3-phase L – G fault mainly comprises all the 3- phase of the system. This
fault mainly occurs among the 3-phases as well as the ground terminal of the
system. So, there is a 2 to 3% of probability to occur the fault.

Unsymmetrical Faults
These are very common and less severe than symmetrical faults. There are
mainly three types namely line to ground (L-G), line to line (L-L), and double line
to ground (LL-G) faults.

Unsymmetrical faults

The line to ground fault (L-G) is the most common fault and 65-70 percent of
faults are of this type.

It causes the conductor to make contact with the earth or ground. 15 to 20

percent of faults are double line to ground and causes the two conductors to
make contact with the ground. The line to line faults occurs when two
conductors make contact with each other mainly while swinging of lines due to
winds and 5- 10 percent of the faults are of this type.

These are also called unbalanced faults since their occurrence causes
unbalance in the system. The Unbalance of the system means that that
impedance values are different in each phase causing unbalance current to flow
in the phases. These are more difficult to analyze and are carried by per phase
basis similar to three-phase balanced faults.

The unsymmetrical faults are classified into two types

 Single L – G (Line-to-Ground) Fault
L – L (Line-to-Line) Fault
Double L – G (Line-to-Ground) Fault

Single L – G Fault

This single L – G fault mainly occurs once a single conductor falls toward the
ground terminal. So around 70 to 80 % of the fault within the power system is the
single L – G fault.

L – L Fault

This L– L fault mainly occurs once two conductors are short-circuited and also
due to heavy wind. So the line conductors can be moved because of heavy wind,
they may touch with each other and causes short-circuit. So, 15 – 20% of the
faults can occur approximately.

Double L – G Fault

In this kind of fault, both the two lines get in touch with each other through the
ground. So, there is a 10% probability for faults.

Open Circuit Faults

The open-circuit faults mainly occur because of the malfunction of one
otherwise more conductors used in the power system. The open-circuit faults
diagram is shown below. This circuit is for 1-phase, 2- phases, and 3-phases
open condition.

These faults mainly occur because of common issues like failure of joints in
overhead lines, cables, failure in the phase of a circuit breaker, melting of
conductor or fuse within one phase or more phases.
These faults are also known as series faults which are unbalanced types
otherwise unsymmetrical types apart from 3-phase open fault.

For instance, a transmission line works through a balanced load before an open
fault circuit occurs. In the transmission line, if any one of the phases gets
dissolved then an alternator’s actual loading can be decreased & increases the
acceleration of the alternator, so it works at a speed somewhat higher than the
synchronous speed. In other transmission cables, this over speed can cause
overvoltages. Therefore, 1-phase & 2-phase open conditions can generate
currents and voltages of the power system that causes huge damage to the
apparatus.

These faults are categorized into three types like following.

Open Conductor Fault

Two conductors Open Fault
Three Conductors Open Fault.

Causes and Effects of Types of Faults

These faults can be caused because of the circuit malfunctioning as well as
broken conductor in 1- phase or more phases. The effects of open circuit faults
include the following.

Electrical power system irregular operation

These faults may danger to animals as well as human beings
In particular, a portion of the network, when the voltage is exceeded beyond
normal values then it causes insulation failures and develops short circuit
faults.
Even though, these types of circuit faults can be accepted for a long time as
compared with short circuit type faults, because these faults must be
detached to decrease the high damage.

Short Circuit Faults

Short circuit faults mainly occur because of failure within insulation among
phase conductors and earth. An insulation failure can cause a short-circuit path
formation that activates short-circuit conditions within the circuit.
The definition of a short circuit is, an abnormal connection of extremely less
impedance among two points of dissimilar potential, whether completed by
chance or purposely. These faults are the most common types which result in
the abnormal high current flow throughout the transmission lines or equipment.

If short circuit faults are allowed to continue even for a small-time, then it leads
to wide harm to the apparatus. Short circuit faults are also known as shunt faults
because these faults mainly occur because of the failure in insulation among
phase conductors otherwise among phase conductors and earth

The different achievable short circuit fault conditions mainly comprise 3-phases
to earth, 3-phase clear of the earth, 1- phase to earth, phase to phase, 2- phase to
earth, phase to phase and single-phase to earth.

Both the 3-phase fault clear of the earth, as well as the 3-phase fault toward
earth, can be symmetrical or balanced while other faults are unsymmetrical
faults.

Causes and Effects of Short Circuit Faults

The short circuit faults may occur because of the following reasons.

These faults may occur because of the internal otherwise external effects
Internal effects are transmission lines breakdown, equipment damage,
insulation aging, corrosion of insulation within the generator, improper
installations of electrical devices, transformers, and their inadequate
design.
These faults can be occurred because of outside effects of apparatus,
insulation failure because of lighting surges & mechanical damage by the
public.

The effects of short circuit faults include the following.

Arcing faults can cause fire & blast in apparatus like transformers as well
 as circuit breakers.
The flow of power can be restricted severely otherwise even totally blocked
if the short circuit error persists.
The system operating voltages can go above or below their acceptance
values to make a damaging effect on the service provided through the
power system.
Because of abnormal currents, the apparatus gets heated so that the life
span of their insulation can be reduced.

Causes of Types of Faults

The main reasons to cause electrical faults include the following.

Weather Conditions

It includes lighting strikes, heavy rains, heavy winds, salt deposition on overhead
lines and conductors, snow and ice accumulation on transmission lines, etc.
These environmental conditions interrupt the power supply and also damage
electrical installations.

Equipment Failures

Various electrical equipment like generators, motors, transformers, reactors,

switching devices, etc causes short circuit faults due to malfunctioning, aging,
insulation failure of cables, and winding. These failures result in high current to
flow through the devices or equipment which further damages it.

Human Errors

Electrical faults are also caused due to human errors such as selecting improper
rating of equipment or devices, forgetting metallic or electrical conducting parts
after servicing or maintenance, switching the circuit while it is under servicing,
etc.

Smoke of Fires

Ionization of air, due to smoke particles, surrounding the overhead lines results
in spark between the lines or between conductors to the insulator. This flashover
causes insulators to lose their insulating capacity due to high voltages.

Types of Faults & Their Effects

The effects of electrical faults mainly occur because of the following reasons.

Over Current Flow

When the fault occurs it creates a very low impedance path for the current flow.
This results in a very high current being drawn from the supply, causing the
tripping of relays, damaging insulation and components of the equipment.

Danger to Operating Personnel

Fault occurrence can also cause shocks to individuals. The severity of the shock
depends on the current and voltage at the fault location and even may lead to
death.

Loss of Equipment

Heavy current due to short circuit faults results in the components being burnt
completely which leads to improper working of equipment or device. Sometimes
heavy fire causes complete burnout of the equipment.

Disturbs Interconnected Active Circuits

Faults not only affect the location at which they occur but also disturb the active
interconnected circuits to the faulted line.

Electrical Fires

Short circuit causes flashovers and sparks due to the ionization of air between
two conducting paths which further leads to fire as we often observe in news
such as building and shopping complex fires.

Fault Limiting Devices

It is possible to minimize causes like human errors, but not environmental
changes. Fault clearing is a crucial task in the power system network. If we
manage to disrupt or break the circuit when a fault arises, it reduces the
considerable damage to the equipment and also property. Some of these fault
limiting devices include fuses, circuit breakers, relays are discussed below.

Protecting Devices

Fuse

It is the primary protection device. It is a thin wire enclosed in a casing or glass

which connects two metal parts. This wire melts when excessive current flows in
the circuit. The type of fuse depends on the voltage at which it is to operate.
Manual replacement of wire is necessary once it a blowout.

Circuit Breaker

It makes the circuit at normal as well as breaks at abnormal conditions. It causes

automatic tripping of the circuit when a fault occurs. It can be electromechanical
circuit breakers like vacuum/oil circuit breakers etc, or ultrafast electronic circuit
breakers.

Relay

It is a condition-based operating switch. It consists of a magnetic coil and

normally open and closed contacts. Fault occurrence raises the current which
energizes the relay coil, resulting in the contacts to operate so the circuit is
interrupted from flowing of current. Protective relays are of different types like
impedance relays, mho relays, etc.

Lighting Power Protection Devices

These include lighting arrestors and grounding devices to protect the system
against lightning and surge voltages.

Application-based Three-phase Fault Analysis

We can analyze three-phase faults by using a simple circuit as shown below. In
this temporary and permanent faults are created by fault switches. If we press
the button once as a temporary fault, the timer’s arrangement trips the load and
also restores the power supply back to the load. If we press ON this button for a
particular time as a permanent fault, this system completely shutdowns the load
by relay arrangement.

Three Phase Fault Analysis

How to Detect and Locate the Faults?

In transmission lines, the fault is very easy to identify as the crisis is generally
noticeable. For instance, once any tree has fallen over the transmission line,
otherwise, an electrical pole can be damaged as well as the conductors are lying
on the earth.

In a cable system, fault locating can be done when the circuit is not worked
otherwise when the circuit works. There are different methods for fault location
which can be divided into terminal techniques, which work with currents as well
as voltages measured at the cable ends & tracer methods which need inspection
through the cable. The normal area of the faults can be located at the terminal
techniques to speed up tracing over a transmission cable.

In wiring systems, the location of the fault can be found throughout the
verification of the wires. In difficult wiring systems, wherever the wires may be
buried, these faults are placed through a Time-domain reflectometer that sends a
pulse down the wire & after that examines the reflected signal to recognize faults
in the electrical wire.

In a famous underwater telegraph cable, responsive galvanometers were utilized

to compute fault currents through testing at fault cable ends. In cables, two
methods are used to locate faults like the Varley loop as well as Murray loop.

In a power cable, an insulation fault cannot occur at low voltages. So, a thumper
test is used by applying a high voltage pulse, high energy to the cable. The fault
location can be done by listening to the discharge sound at the error. When this
test donates to harm at the site of cable, it is useful as the faulted location would
have to be re- insulate once set up in any case.

In a distribution system with high resistance grounded, a feeder can expand an

error to earth however the system maintains in process. The faulted as well as
energized feeder can be found in a ring-type current transformer which gathers
all the phase wires for the circuit; simply the circuit includes a fault to earth will
illustrate a net disturbed current. The grounding resistor is used to make the
current of the earth fault easier to notice among two values to beat the fault
current.

I hope that you got a basic idea about three-phase faults. Thanks for your
valuable time spending with the article. Furthermore any queries regarding
electrical and electronic projects, please write your feedback in the comment
section below.

Photo Credits

Fires due to electrical faults by 3.bp.blogspot

Unsymmetrical faults by pdfonline
Protecting devices by inspectapedia

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