Traveling Wave Fault Location in Protective Relays : Design , Testing , and Results

Faults in power transmission lines cause transients that travel at a speed close to the speed of light and propagate along the line as traveling waves (TWs). This paper shows how these transients can be measured in a protective relay and used to enhance its fault locating function. The TW-based fault locating function in a protective relay takes advantage of the internal protection elements, the communications channel to the remote terminal, and Global Positioning System-based time synchronization. This approach provides accurate fault location estimation for transmission lines automatically within a couple of seconds after the fault. The TW fault locator within the relay uses conventional current transformer measurements and does not require any additional wiring or special installation considerations. These relays detect internal line faults and use TWand impedance-based algorithms to optimize the estimation and reporting of the fault location. The TWand impedancebased algorithms complement each other to provide accurate fault location estimation for all internal faults, independent of the fault incidence angle. This paper provides a tutorial on TW fault location and describes a TW fault locating algorithm that uses time-synchronized measurements of the TW currents at the line terminals to determine the fault location. The proposed implementation is suitable for line terminals with one or two breakers. The paper also discusses methods for testing the TW fault locating algorithm using a playback system and a hardware model that mimics a transmission line. The paper presents the details and experiences of a field application of these relays on a high-voltage transmission line.

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