1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTIN

1.1 Background information

In now days, the electricity is very vital in our daily life. Electrical power is continuously
distributed to consumers thanks to large part of the distribution system and transmission lines. A
serious problem facing the electric power systems is failure of overhead cables and transmission
lines caused by various reasons: failure of power system components due to aging of equipment,
personnel errors, lightning, heavy rain, strong wind and other reasons. These phenomena affect
the reliability and quality of the power supply, lead to equipment failure and costly repairs, loss
of productivity and loss of power for customers. This makes it very difficult to determine the
exact location of the faults that occur. There are two main types of faults in power transmission
and distribution system. The first one is open-circuit faults (one conductor open, two conductors
open, three conductors open). Short circuit faults can be divided into two groups (symmetrical
and unsymmetrical fault). Symmetrical faults are three phase fault, three phase to ground fault
and very rare to occur. Unsymmetrical faults are single-line-to-ground fault, double line-to-
ground fault, line-to-line fault and they are the most common types of fault occurred in power
system. The objective of this project is to demonstrate a software simulation and project model
that determines the distance of the cable fault from the base station in kilometers and display it
over the LCD. Cable has many types and every cable has different resistance which depends
upon the material used. The value of the resistance is depending upon the length of the cable. In
here resistance is the leading role of the project. If any deviation occurs in the resistance, the
value of the voltage will be changed that particular point is called fault.
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1.2 Objective of the Project

1.2.1 General Objective

The main objective of this project is to detect the location of fault from the base station in
kilometers using an Arduino board.

1.2.2 Specific Objectives

 To applied the theory of ohm’s law, voltage division rules and concept between the
resistance of cable and its length for locating the fault as a set of series resistors is used in
this project representing the cable length
 To reduce the search time and accurately locating the fault location is of great importance
for improving the reliability of power systems
 To construct a DC power supply circuit
 To design fault sensing circuit
 To display on LCD the exact location of fault that occurs along the lines

1.3 Problem Statement

Modern electrical power systems are complex, extensive, and interconnected systems over a
large geographical area. These systems are made up of generators, transformers, trans- mission
lines, and loads as well as other protective equipment such as relays and circuit breakers. Also,
they operate as balanced 3-phase AC power systems such as when they are in their normal
conditions, the magnitude of both currents and voltages are equally distributed between each
phase. However, a fault in a circuit may occur which will cause a disturbance or a failure that
will disrupt these normal operating conditions. The problem statement for short circuit detection
by using Arduino typically involves developing a system that can detect and identify short
circuits in electrical system. The system should be able to quickly identify the presence of a short
circuit and provide an alert or indication to the user based on simple concept of Ohm’s law. The
goal is to prevent potential damage to the circuit components and ensure electrical safety. That
also saves humans from losses of their properties due to electricity problem and the faster the
fault location we know, the fewer the damage for both sides. The system should be implemented
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using Arduino and appropriate sensors or techniques for detecting short circuit location in a
reliable and effective manner.

1.4 Scope of the Project

The scope of this project is intended to detect short circuit faults in cable lines and to develop
continuous real time condition monitoring and control system for electricity in urban areas. Since
this project intended on detection of faults, it is very crucial. Faults are defined as the flow of a
huge current through an irregular path which will then cause equipment damage eventually
leading to interruption of power supply, human injury, or destabilization of the whole power
system.

1.4.1Rescoures of the Project

 The Arduino and other component require 5V DC Supply.

 Relay requires 12V dc
 It also requires rate of change of voltage and current when a fault occurs
 Arduino IDE software and necessary program is essential to find the fault
location by microcontroller

1.5 Types of Fault in Power System

The fault in the power system is defined as the defect in the power system due to which the
current is distracted from the intended path. The fault creates the abnormal condition which
reduces the insulation strength between the conductors. The reduction in insulation causes
excessive damage to the system. The fault in the power system is mainly categorized into two
types. They are
1. Open Circuit Fault
2. Short Circuit Fault.
The different types of power system fault are shown below in the image.
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1.5.1 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. This type of fault is better than short circuit fault, because
when the open circuit fault occurs, then the flow of current through a cable becomes zero. This
fault can be occurred by disruption in conducting path. Such faults occur when one or more
phase conductors break.
 5

1.5.2 Short Circuit Fault

In this type of fault, the conductors of the different phases come into contact with each other
with a power line, power transformer or any other circuit element due to which the large current
flow in one or two phases of the system. The short-circuit fault is divided into the symmetrical
and unsymmetrical fault.

Symmetrical Fault

In symmetrical fault, three phases are short circuited in this type of fault. Since the three phases
are equally affected, the system remains balanced. That is why, this fault is called a symmetrical
or a balanced fault and the fault analysis is done on per phase basis. The behavior of LLLG fault
and LLL fault is identical due to the balanced nature of the fault. This is a very severe fault that
can occur in a system and if ¯ Zf = 0, this is usually the most severe fault that can occur in a
system. Fortunately, such faults occur in frequently and only about 5% of the system faults are
three phase faults
 6

Unsymmetrical Fault

Faults in which the balanced state of the net work is disturbed are called unsymmetrical or
unbalanced faults. The most common type of unbalanced fault in a system is a single line to
ground fault (LG fault). Almost 60 to 75% off faults in a system are LG faults. The other types
of unbalanced faults are line to line faults (LL faults) and double line to ground faults (LLG
faults). About 15 to 25% faults are LLG faults and 5 to 15% are LL faults.
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Chapter 2
Components and Theory

2.1 Components
The fundamental components used to establish fault location sensing circuit are
1. Arduino UNO
2. Power supply circuit
3. LCD
4. 12V 5 pin relays
5. Relay driver
6. Resistors
7. Switches

2.1.1 Arduino UNO

It is a powerful single board computer, an open source hardware platform allowing creating
interactive electronic objects. It consists of Arduino board, set of various analog and digital I/O
pins, serial communication interfaces, including USB on some models, for loading programs
from personal computers. Its platform provides an integrated development environment (IDE)
based on the processing project, which includes support for C, C++ and Java programming
languages. This method features an Atmel Atmega328 operating at 5v with 2kb RAM, 32kb of
flash memory for storing programs and 1kb of EEPROM for storing parameters. The clock speed
is 16 MHz which translates to executing about of 300,000 lines of C source code per second. We
uploaded the program in the kit. Program was written if any fault occurs in the cable,
immediately will show the exact location of fault.
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Figure 2.1; Arduino UNO

2.1.2 Pin Configuration

Every Arduino board needs a way to be connected to a power source. The Arduino UNO can be
powered from a USB cable coming from our computer or a wall power supplies. It’s not allowed
to use a power supply greater than 20 Volts as we will overpower and thereby destroy the
Arduino. The recommended voltage for most Arduino models is between 6 and 12 Volts. The
pins on the Arduino are the places where it will connect wires to construct a circuit probably in
conjunction with a breadboard and some wire. The Arduino has several different kinds of pins,
each of which is labeled on the board and used for different functions.
GND: Short for „Ground‟. There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of which can be
used to ground your circuit.
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Analog: The area of pins under the “Analog In” label (A0 through A5 on the UNO) is Analog
In pins. These pins can read the signal from an analog sensor (like a temperature sensor) and
convert it into a digital value that we can read.
Digital: Across from the analog pins are the digital pins (0 through 13 on the UNO). These pins
can be used for both digital input (like telling if a button is pushed) and digital output (like
powering an LED).
PWM: The digital pins (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 on the UNO). These pins act as normal digital
pins, but it can also be used for something called Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM).
AREF (Stands for Analog Reference): Most of the time you can leave this pin alone. It is
sometimes used to set an external reference voltage (between 0 and 5 Volts) as the upper limit
for the analog input pins.

2.1.3 Power supply circuit

The power supply circuit is one of the important parts of this project, without a power supply
the electronic device such as switches, relay, and LCD display will not function. Similarly, a
wrong power supply design will lead to the damage of electronic devices used in this project.
The main power supplies needed for this project is 5 VDC and 12 VDC in order to power on the
relay and other electronic devices. The design is done using a transformer, bridge rectifiers and
filter capacitor. Figure below shows the sequential process of designing a constant DC power
supply.
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Figure2.2: Design of Power Supply Circuit

2.1.4 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

An LCD is an electronic display module which uses liquid crystal to produce a visible image.
A liquid crystal display or LCD draws its definition from its name itself. It is combination of two
states of matter, the solid and the liquid. Liquid crystal displays are super-thin technology display
screen that are generally used in laptop computer screen, TVs, cell phones and portable video
games. Liquid crystal display is composed of several layers which include two polarized panel
filters and electrodes. LCD technology is used for displaying the image in notebook or some
other electronic devices like mini computers. Light is projected from a lens on a layer of liquid
crystal. This combination of colored light with the grayscale image of the crystal (formed as
electric current flows through the crystal) forms the colored image. This image is then displayed
on the screen. An LCD is either made up of an active matrix display grid or a passive display
grid. Most of the Smartphone ‘s with LCD display technology uses active matrix display, but
some of the older displays still make use of the passive display grid designs. Most of the
electronic devices mainly depend on liquid crystal display technology for their display. The
liquid has a unique advantage of having low power consumption than the LED or cathode ray
tube. Most of the LCD Displays available in the market are 16X2 (That means, the LCD displays
are capable of displaying 2 lines each having 16 Characters a), 20X4 LCD Displays (4 lines, 20
characters). It has 14 pins.
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Figure 2.3; Liquid Crystal Display Module

2.1.5 Relay
A relay is electromechanical switch which is used in industrial application to provide isolation
between high voltage and low voltage circuits. These two circuits have different voltage rating.
One might be a low voltage side and other high voltage side. Electrical mechanical relay has
three main components coil, spring and contact. When coil is energized, internal spring of electro
mechanical relay attract or pulls contact towards other point and complete the circuit. An
electromechanical relay can be either normally open or normally closed. In our project, normally
open electro mechanical relay is used. A voltage is required to energize the coil, vary from relay
to relay. Voltage may vary from 5 volts to 50 volts and current may vary from 10mA to 20mA.
The relays also have minimum voltage rating. Its means below the voltage rating, relay will not
operate. One can check minimum operating voltage of relay in its data sheet. But current
requirements are not specified in date sheets. Coil resistance is usually provided in data sheet of
relay which can be used to find current requirement of relay using Ohm’s law formula V= IR.
Relays are used in a wide variety of applications like electric power systems, home appliances,
automobiles, industrial equipment, digital computers, etc.
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Figure 2.4 ; 12V 5pin Relay

2.1.6 Relay Driver

Relays are used mostly interfaced with microcontrollers and digital systems. But
microcontroller usually cannot provide enough current to drive relays. Microcontrollers pins
usually provide maximum current of 1-2 mA per pin which is not enough to operate relay. The
circuits which are used to derive relays are called relay driver circuits. Therefore, relay driver
circuits using ULN2003 is used to drive relays.
It is a monolithic high voltage and high current Darlington transistor arrays. It consists of seven
NPN Darlington pairs that feature high voltage outputs with common cathode clamp for
switching inductive loads. It has high current carrying capability of about 500mA. We need to
use relays to control AC loads or high voltage loads. Relays are used to provide isolation
between microcontroller’s circuits and high voltage operating loads. Microcontrollers are only
used to provide on/off signals to relays. Microcontrollers don’t have enough current sourcing
ability to derive relays. Therefore, relay driver circuits IC is used to derive relays properly.
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Figure 2.5; Relay driver

2.1.7 Resistors
The resistor is a passive electrical component that creates resistance the flow of electric
current in the electronic circuit. In a direct-current (DC) circuit, the current through a resistor is
inversely proportional to its resistance, and directly proportional to the voltage across it. In
alternating-current (AC) circuits, this rule also applies as long as the resistor does not contain
inductance or capacitance. Resistors are used for many purposes, for example limiting electric
current, voltage division and adjusting signal levels etc. Resistance value based on the color code
can be read from left to right and silver or gold color usually exists at the right end. The nominal
value of the resistance falls within the manufacturing tolerance, indicated on the component.
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Figure 2.6 : Resistors

2.1.8 Switches

It is a mechanical switch that is used to control the flow of current in a circuit by sliding the
slider from the OFF (open) position to the ON (close) position known as a slide switch. This
switch simply controls the current within a circuit without cutting a wire manually. These
switches will stay in one position until changed into another position manually. The construction
of the slide switch can be done by using metal slides that contact the plane metal elements on the
switch. When the slider in the switch is moved then metal slide contacts will slide from one set
of metal contacts to the other for activating the switch. This switch includes three terminals like
one common pin & remaining two pins which compete for connection toward the common.
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Figure 2.6; SPST Slide Switch

2.2 Ohm's law

Ohm's law states that the voltage (V) across a resistor is proportional to the current (I), where the
constant of proportionality is the resistance (R). For example, if a 300-ohm resistor is attached
across the terminals of a 12-volt battery, then a current of 12 / 300 = 0.04 amperes flows through
that resistor.

Electric voltage is the difference in electric potential energy between two points per unit electric
charge. It is measured in Volts, which are equal to a joule of energy per coulomb of charge.

Electrical current is a flow of electric charge. It is measured in ampere, or amps., which are
equal to a flow of one coulomb of charge per second.

Electrical resistance is the measure of how difficult it is to pass an electric current through a
conductor. It is measured in Ohms, which are equal to a volt per ampere.

Power - the rate of change at which the energy is transformed, i.e. the change in energy per
second. A current is number of coulombs per second flowing through a circuit and the voltage is
a measure of energy per coulomb. By multiplying the voltage and the current, we have

= coulombs/seconds x joules/coulomb

= joules/second

= Power

This is energy per second which we call power. So, we can say that in case of short circuit and
fault conditions, current increases to the higher value and voltage decrease as power is constant
from the generation station.

2.3 Relationship between resistance of cable and its length

The resistance of awire is a measure of how much the wire resists the flow of electric current
through it. The resistance of a wire is directly propotional to its length and inversely proportional
to it cross-sectional area. This relationship is known as Ohm’s Law which states that the current
through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two
points. When a wire is made longer, its resistance increases because there is more wire for the
 16

current to flow through, which increases the likelihood of collisions between the electrons and
the atoms in the wire. Conversely, when a wire’s cross-sectional area is increased, its resistance
decreases because there is more space for the electrons to flow through, which reduces the
likelihood of collisions.
The relationship between resistance and length can be given by the mathematical formula,

R=ρL/A

ρ is the resistivity of a material which is a measure of how strongly it opposes the flow of
electric current. The resistivity of the material depends on the factors such as its temperature,
composition and impurities.

2.4 Voltage Divider Rule

In a circuit, when a number of elements are connected in series, input voltage divides across
the elements. And in a circuit, when a number of elements are connected in parallel,
the current divides across the elements. Therefore, in a parallel circuit, the current divider rule is
used and in a series circuit, the voltage divider rule is used to analyze and solve the circuit. When
two or more impedances are connected in series, the input voltage is divided into all impedances.
To calculate the voltage across each element, the voltage divider rule is used. The voltage divider
rule is the most important and simple rule in circuit analysis to calculate the individual voltage of
any elements. The voltage divider rule is also known as the potential divider rule. In some
conditions, we require specific output voltage. But we don’t have that specific value of the
source. In this condition, we make a series of passive elements and reduce the voltage level to a
specific value. The below circuit shows the voltage divider between the four resistors which is
directly proportional to their resistance.
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Figure 2.7; Voltage Divider Rule using Three Resistors

Voltage division rule for above two resistor circuit

V1(t)= V(t) [ R1/R1+R2+R3+R4]

V2(t)= V(t) [ R2/R1+R2+R3+R4]

V3(t)= V(t) [ R3/R1+R2+R3+R4]

V4(t)= V(t) [ R4/R1+R2+R3+R4]

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law states that the summation of the voltage drops around a circuit must
equate to the total sum of the voltage around the circuit or the voltage supply for the circuit. This
directly relates to the Voltage Divider Rule, where a voltage divider circuit divides the total
voltage around a circuit.
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Chapter 3

Fault Location Estimation and System Design

3.1 Overview of the Project

A fault is defined as flow of a large current which could cause equipment damage. Faults in a
power system can be created by natural events such as falling of a tree, wind, and an ice storm
and sometimes by mechanical failure of transformers and other equipment in the system. If the
current is very large, it might lead to interruption of power in the network. Moreover, voltage
level will change, which can affect equipment insulation. Voltage below its minimum level could
sometimes cause failure to equipment. It is important to study a power system under fault
conditions in order to provide system protection and maintenance. A power system condition can
be analyzed by calculating the system operating voltages and currents under normal and
abnormal states. One of the methods used in real world application to find fault location is
impedance based fault location estimation and we will discuss it later. In our testing model with
Arduino, we will apply Ohm’s law based voltage division method for simulation. In order to
understand how to calculate the fault distance on a transmission line, the use of symmetrical
components in power system must be defined first.

3.2 Symmetrical Components

Power systems are always analyzed using per-phase representation because of its
simplicity. Balanced three-phase power systems are solved by changing all delta connections to
equivalent wye connections and solving one phase at a time. The remaining two phases differ
from the first by 120°. To analyze an unbalanced system, the system is transformed into its
symmetrical components for per-phase analysis. Converting a set of unbalanced phasors into sets
of balanced components is helpful in performing fault calculations, power flow studies, and
stability studies. They are represented by “+”, “-” and “0” or “1”, “2”, and “0” for positive,
negative and zero sequence respectively.

1. Positive Sequence: It consists of three phasors with equal magnitudes and 120° apart
from each other. The phase sequences are in the same order of original phasors.
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2. Zero Sequence: It consists of three phasors with equal magnitudes and zero phase
displacement.
3. Negative Sequence: It consists of three phasors with equal magnitudes and 120° apart
from each other. The phase sequences are in the opposite order of original phasors

Ib1 Ib2

Ic1 Ic2

Figure; 3.1
Let’s take an arbitrary set of three phasors I a, Ib , and Ic . It can be represented in terms of nine
symmetrical components as follows:
I a = I0a + I1a + I2a
I b = I0b + I1b + I2b
I c = I0c + I1c + I2c
Where I0a, I0b, I0c are zero sequence set, I1a, I1b, I1c are positive sequence set and I2a, I2b, I2c are
negative sequence set. Now to find the nine symmetrical components, taking α =e j2 π /3 = 1
∠ 120 °. Multiplying phase sequences I by α gives the magnitude unchanged but increased the
angle by 120 ° which means it rotates I according to the phase angles.
To find positive sequence components of each phase by using operator α ;
I1a = I1a
I1b = 1∠ 120 ° I1a
I1c = 1∠ 240 ° I1a
To find negative sequence components of each phase by using operator α ;
I2a = I2a
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I2b = 1∠ 240 ° I2a

I2c = 1∠ 120 ° I2a
The zero sequence set has equal magnitude phasors with zero phase displacement.
I0a = I0b = I0c

In matrix form;

[][ ][ ]
Ia 1 1 1 I 0a
I b = 1 1 ∠ 120 ° 1∠ 240° I 1a
Ic 1 1 ∠ 240 ° 1∠ 120 ° I 2a

3.3Methods of fault distance calculations

Currently, there are many methods for detecting and estimating faults location in transmission
networks. Some of the commonly used techniques to find fault location are
1. methods of artificial intelligence
2. travelling wave method
3. impedance based method
The main idea of this project with Arduino is inspired by the impedance-based methods that
estimate the fault location based on the measured impedance during fault incidence. So, the
detail estimation of impedance method and voltage division based fault location estimation with
Arduino will be discussed below.
3.3.1Impedance based Method
Impedance based method uses the value of voltage and current phasors from installed
transducers such as numerical relays and fault recorders. Under this technique, phasor voltage
and current can be taken from both terminals or from single terminal of a transmission line.
Impedance based method is widely used because of its simplicity and low cost. After calculating
the line impedance per unit length, the fault distance on the line is calculated. To illustrate the
principle of one-ended methods, consider a single-line-to-ground fault is occurred at point F as
shown in figure.
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Figure 3.2 ; Transmission network

The voltage-drop from the sending terminal to the fault location by using symmetrical
components can be expressed as;
VR1 = mZ1IR1 + VF1
VR2 = mZ2IR2 + VF2
VR0 = mZ1IR0 + VF0
The summation of the three equations results in;
VRa = mZ1IR1 + mZ2IR2 + mZ0IR0 + VF1 + VF2 + VF0
Assume, m = the location of distance from relay, Z1 and Z2 are usually equal.
VF = VF1 + VF2 + VF0 = IFRF
From above assumption,
VRa = mZ1 (IRa + kIR0) + IFRF
Z 0−Z 1
Where k=
Z1

VRa = VR
IR = IRa + kIR0
VR = mZ1IR + IFRF
The apparent reactance measured at the terminal R is obtained by dividing the above equation by
IR,
VR
IR
= mZ1 + RF
IF
Is ( )
To compensate the effect of fault resistance, only the imagery part of equation is computed.

Im (
VR
IR
)= m. Im ( Z1 ) + Im ( RF( )
IF
Is
)
 22

After neglecting the real part of impedance, m =

ℑ
( )
VR
IR
X1

Step by step calculation process is created by a system model using ETAP software where faults
will be simulated. The fault information from the simulation will be used in the fault location
calculation.

66 kV
Bus 1
R
CB

Transmission line
3.72723 +j20.6122

Figure 3.3; Simulation bus one line diagram

From this network, a single line-to-ground
Bus 2 fault at Bus2 will be simulated. The voltages and
currents at Bus1 will be used to represent ‘VR‘ and ‘IR‘, respectively.
Transmission Line Impedance Parameters:
R1 = 3.72723 ohms
X1 = 20.6122 ohms
R0 = 13.5151 ohms
X0 = 62.0961 ohms
The measured voltage VR at faulted phase from relay = 37.93∠−0.04 kV
The measured current IRa at faulted phase from relay = 1.079∠−78.57 kA
To find IR , IRa = 3IRo

IR = IRa + kIR0 = IRa + ( Z1 )

Z 0 −Z 1 I R 0
3

= 1079∠−78.57 + [ 3.72723+ j 20.6122 ]

( 13.5151+ j62.0962 ) −(3.72723− j 20.6122) 1079 ∠−78.57
3
= 1810.26∠−79.79 A
 23

The location of faulted point from relay, m =

ℑ
( )
VR
IR
X1
37930 ∠−0.04
ℑ( )
m= 1810.26 ∠−79.79
20.6122
m = 1.0003
By multiplying ‘m‘ by the transmission line length of 50 km, we can get the estimated fault
location of 50.02 km.

3.4Working principle of Project model

The single phase AC 230V voltage is step-down through step down transformer which is an
electrical device that transfers electrical energy from high voltage to low voltage or vice vasa
through electromagnetic induction. This step-down voltage goes to rectifier which is used to
convert an AC supply into DC supply. AC supply is converts into 12V DC supply and then
moves to the regulator unit. Regulator is an electrical device which is used to maintain a constant
voltage. Voltage regulator 7812 and 7805 are used to maintain 12V and 5V DC supply. 12V is
enough to operate relay unit and 5V is used to handle LCD and Arduino kit. Arduino is the
advanced version of embedded system. These Arduino has many types but we selected Arduino
UNO. These Arduino UNO helps to develop many advanced versions user friendly environment.
It easily to adopt other devices using serial port.
The project uses four sets of resistors in series representing cables i.e. R 1R2R3R4 , R5R6R7R8,
R9R10R11R12(one set for each phase) and R13R14R15R16 for ground. Each series resistors represents
the resistance of the cables for a specific distance thus 4 such resistances in series represent 1-
4kms (i.e. each resistor is placed 1km’s from each other). Three relays are used to check the
cable through R1, R5 and R9 and Arduino digital pins 2,3,4 are connected to operate relay through
relay driver. Twelve switches are placed between the R, Y, B cables and ground cable to
demonstrate the ground fault. If any of 12 switches is closed that means there is a fault between a
phase and ground, then Arduino digital pins will check which phase is in faulted saturation and
Arduino ADC analog pin reads the voltage drop from ground cable and execute as written in the
program. Finally, it sends the distance of the fault from the relay to the faulted point to LCD.
 24

Therefore, in order to write a program to detect the distance of the fault, the following
calculations need to be executed first.
Arduino Analog ADC pins
An analog signal is one that can take on any number of values, unlike a digital signal which has
only two values: HIGH and LOW. To measure the value of analog signals, the Arduino has
multichannel, 10bits analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ADC turns the analog voltage into a
digital value. This function converts the value of the voltage on an analog input pin and returns a
digital value from 0 to 1023, relative to the reference value.

Regulator LCD display Relay driver Relays

Rectifier

Arduino UNO Cables

Step-down
Transformer

AC supply Switches
 25

Figure 3.4; Block diagram of cable fault location detector

3.4.1Calculation of short circuit voltage at 4km which is between R phase and ground;

1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ

LG
R
Fault
1kΩ

Vf
5V dc
1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ
G

Supply voltage, Vs = 5 V

Vf = ?

By voltage division rule or Kirchhoff’s voltage law,

3
8 ×10
Vf = 5 x 3
9 ×10

= 4.44 V

4.44
By converting the analog voltage 4.44V to digital value = ×1023
5

= 908.42

Due to some tolerance, set maximum and minimum limit of voltage at 4km; 890≥ V f ≤ 920

3.4.2Calculation of short circuit voltage at 3km which is between R phase and ground;

1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ

1kΩ

Vf
5V dc
1kΩ 1kΩ 1kΩ
 26

Supply voltage, Vs = 5 V

Vf = ?

By voltage division rule or Kirchhoff’s voltage law,

3
6 ×10
Vf = 5 x 3
7 ×10

= 4.28V

4.28
By converting the analog voltage 4.44V to digital value = × 1023
5

=875.68

Due to some tolerance, set maximum and minimum limit of voltage at 3km; 850≥ V f ≤ 890

3.4.3Calculation of short circuit voltage at 2km which is between R phase and ground;

1kΩ 1kΩ

1kΩ

Vf
5V dc
1kΩ 1kΩ

Supply voltage, Vs = 5 V

Vf = ?

By voltage division rule or Kirchhoff’s voltage law,

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3
4 × 10
Vf = 5 x 3
5 ×10

= 4V

4
By converting the analog voltage 4.44V to digital value = ×1023
5

=818.4

Due to some tolerance, set maximum and minimum limit of voltage at 2km; 750≥ V f ≤ 850

3.4.4Calculation of short circuit voltage at 1km which is between R phase and ground;

1kΩ

1kΩ

Vf
5V dc
1kΩ

Supply voltage, Vs = 5 V

Vf = ?

By voltage division rule or Kirchhoff’s voltage law,

3
2× 10
Vf = 5 x 3
3× 10

= 3.33 V

3.33
By converting the analog voltage 4.44V to digital value = ×1023
5

=681.31

Due to some tolerance, set maximum and minimum limit of voltage at 1km; 600≥ V f ≤ 750

3.5 Software used

3.5.1Preteus version 8
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Proteus 8 is best simulation software for various designs with microcontroller. It is mainly
popular because of availability of almost all microcontrollers in it. So, it is a handy tool to test
programs and embedded designs for electronics hobbyist. After simulating the circuit in Proteus
8 Software, it is easy to directly make design with it. so it could be an all in one package for
students and hobbyists. In addition, it also has various libraries for microcontrollers and sensors
and we can download everything we want.

3.5.2 Arduino Software:

It is designed to introduce programming to artists and other newcomers unfamiliar with software
development. It includes a code editor with features such as syntax highlighting, brace matching,
and automatic indentation, and is also capable of compiling and uploading programs to the board
with a single click. The Arduino IDE comes with a C / C++ library called “Wiring” which makes
many common input/output operations much easier. Arduino programs are written in C/C++,
although users only need to define two functions in order to make a run able program: setup () –
a function run once at the start of a program which can be used for initializing settings and loop
() – a function called repeatedly until the board is powered off. Since the IDE is pin oriented, we
can quickly achieve our desired logic and build a working mode.
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Chapter 4

Results, Discussions and Conclusion

4.1Software simulation and results

Simulation software is based on the process of modeling a real phenomenon with a set of series
resistors. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an operation through
simulation without actually performing that operation. In this project, cable fault detection
system using Arduino microcontroller is proposed. For cable fault detection system, a fault
sensing circuit is designed and the results has been verified with proteus simulation.

Result: In this method, the short circuit fault at a particular distance in the cable can be located
using simple concepts of OHM’s law enables to rectify fault efficiently. Circuit can be tested
with different resistors to simulate various fault conditions. It displays exact location of short
circuit.
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Figure 4.1: Simulation of Resistor and Switch Part

This project can show different results based on various cases.

Case1: when there is no fault in the transmission lines, the following simulated results could be
occurred. i.e. the fault which occurred in the three lines (R,Y,B) is zero.

Figure 4.2: no fault simulation result

Case 2: when there is a LG-fault among one of the three lines, we can get the following the
simulated result. i.e. a fault is happened for the red line in 1km but not in any two lines (Y, B).
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Figure 4.3; LG fault result at 1km

Case 3: when there is a LG-fault among one of the three lines, we can get the following the
simulated result. i.e. a fault is happened for the red line in 2km but not in any two lines (Y, B).

Figure 4.4; LG fault result at 2km

Case 4: if there is a LLG-faults in the lines, the LCD displays the result below. i.e. LLG faults
are occurred in the red line and yellow line (Y, B) in 1km and 1km respectively.

Figure 4.5; LLG fault result at 1km

Case 5: when LLLG-faults exists, the simulated result as shown below indicates that a fault is
happen for the red line in 2km, for the yellow line in 4km and for the blue line in 6km.
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Figure 4.6; LLLG fault result at 2km

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion
It is a difficult task to identify the location of faults in transmission or distribution system. By
using Arduino controller, we can find out exact fault location. Once faults occur in the cable, the
display unit displays the exact fault location that displays which phase is affected in the cable.
The project we have undertaken has helped us to gain a better perspective on various aspects
related to our course of study as well as practical knowledge of cable fault detection system. We
became familiar with software analysis and designing concerned with our project. This paper
explains the importance of locating faults in the distribution network and reviews some of the
cable fault locating methods that are mostly used in practical field. There is a need to immediate
indication about occurrence of a fault via remote communication; hence it needs to implement
some techniques which will help power utilities in immediate indication of fault occurrence and
accurate methods for locating faults. In this paper the exact location of short circuit fault at a
particular distance in the cable from feeder end in ‘‘km’’ can be located by using Arduino
microcontroller. The concept of OHM’s law is used , so fault can be easily detected and repaired.
By using Arduino controller, we can find out exact fault location and simple OHM’s law is used
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to locate the short circuit fault. A DC voltage is applied at the feeder end through a series resistor
which varies depending upon the length of fault of the cable. The voltage-drop across the series
resistor changes accordingly, this voltage drop is used in determination of fault location.