Systems and methods for characterizing fault clearing devices

• US 9,217,775 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Mousavi, Mirrasoul, Saarinen, Kari, Stoupis, James, McGowan, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Barbee, Manuel L
• Application Number:
  US13/155,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20120004867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 702/58, 702/59
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 11/25 Arrangements for indicating or signalling faults
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/086 in power transmission or distribution networks, i.e. with interconnected conductors
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3274 Details related to measuring, e.g. sensing, displaying or computing; Measuring of variables related to the contact pieces, e.g. wear, position or resistance measuring contact resistance G01R27/205
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/58 Testing of lines, cables or conductors testing of electric windings G01R31/72
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/52 Outage or fault management, e.g. fault detection or location

Abstract

Systems and methods for characterizing a device that operated to clear a fault in a power line, such as a power distribution system feeder, are disclosed. Characterizing the device may include receiving measured data corresponding to a current measured along the feeder proximate a substation bus, determining from the measured data that a fault has occurred in at least one phase and has been cleared, subtracting reference data from the measured data to estimate residual fault data, and estimating from the residual fault data a characteristic of the device that operated to clear the fault. The systems may include an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) and a processor linked to the IED.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for characterizing a device that operated to clear a fault in a power distribution system feeder, the method comprising:

measuring, by an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) connected to the feeder, a current along the feeder proximate a substation bus;

sending measured data corresponding to the measured current to at least one computer processor; and

receiving from the at least one computer processor a most probable device size for the device that operated to clear the fault, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to;

determine from the measured data that the fault has occurred in at least one phase and has been cleared;

subtract reference data from the measured data to estimate residual fault data;

after the device operated to clear the fault, estimate from the residual fault data an operating point for the device that operated to clear the fault;

calculate density functions for a plurality of device sizes;

calculate for the operating point a proximity measure for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

identify the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest proximity measure as the most probable device size for the device that operated to clear the fault.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the reference data corresponds to a pre-fault current measured along the feeder proximate the substation bus prior to the fault.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the measured data and the reference data each include a plurality of samples, the at least one computer processor is configured to extrapolate the reference data over a period of time corresponding to the measured data, and the reference data is subtracted from the measured data sample by sample.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the residual fault data approximates fault current passed through the device, and the at least one computer processor is configured to estimate from the residual fault data a clearing time for the fault.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to calculate a fault energy from the clearing time and the residual fault data, determine from the fault energy a maximum device size for the device that operated to clear the fault, and compare the clearing time and the approximated fault current to a time-current characteristics curve for at least one device that is no larger than the maximum device size.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the device that operated to clear the fault is a fuse, the time-current characteristics curve comprises minimum melt time and maximum clearing time curves, the clearing time and the approximated fault current together define the operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault, and the at least one computer processor is configured to:

form a closed polygon from the minimum melt time and maximum clearing time curves for at least one fuse size;

determine whether the operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault is within the closed polygon for the at least one fuse size; and

determine that the at least one fuse size is a possible fuse size for the fuse that operated to clear the fault if the operating point is within the closed polygon for the at least one fuse size.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein:

the clearing time and the approximated fault current together define the operating point for the device;

the at least one computer processor being configured to calculate for the operating point a proximity measure for each of the plurality of device sizes comprises the at least one computer processor being configured to calculate a Mahalanobis distance for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

the at least one computer processor is configured to identify the most probable device size as the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest Mahalanobis distance.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to:

extract at least one event feature from the measured data; and

determine at least partially from the at least one event feature at least one probable classification for the fault.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the measured data is received from the IED, and the at least one computer processor is configured to:

isolate from the measured data transient data corresponding to the fault;

define at least two monitoring zones for the IED; and

identify from the isolated transient data a probable one of the monitoring zones in which the fault occurred.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to determine a most probable classification for the fault.

11. A computer implemented method for characterizing a device that operated to clear a fault in a power distribution system feeder, the method comprising at:

measuring, by an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) connected to the feeder, a current along the feeder proximate a substation bus;

sending measured data corresponding to the measured current to at least one computer processor; and

receiving from the at least one computer processor an estimate for a device size of the device that operated to clear the fault, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to;

determine from the measured data that the fault has occurred in at least one phase and has been cleared;

subtract reference data from the measured data to estimate residual fault data, wherein the residual fault data approximates fault current passed through the device;

estimate from the residual fault data a clearing time for the fault and a characteristic of the device that operated to clear the fault, wherein the characteristic of the device that operated to clear the fault is the device size, the clearing time and the approximated fault current together define an operating point for the device that operated to clear the fault;

provide a set of minimum melt time curves for a set of candidate device sizes;

calculate a set of modeled parameters, wherein each of the modeled parameters is calculated from one of the set of minimum melt time curves;

calculate an operating parameter from the operating point for the device that operated to clear the fault;

determine a largest one of the set of modeled parameters that is not greater than the operating parameter; and

identify the one of the set of candidate device sizes corresponding to the determined largest one of the set of modeled parameters as the estimate for the device size of the device that operated to clear the fault.

12. A computer implemented method for characterizing a device that operated to clear a fault in a power distribution system feeder, wherein the feeder includes phases a, b and c, the method comprising:

measuring, by an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) connected to the feeder, a current along the feeder proximate a substation bus;

sending measured data corresponding to the measured current to at least one computer processor; and

receiving from the at least one computer processor a number of most-affected phases N_Ph, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to;

determine from the measured data that the fault has occurred in at least one phase and has been cleared;

subtract reference data from the measured data to estimate residual fault data;

after the device operated to clear the fault, estimate from the residual fault data a characteristic of the device that operated to clear the fault; and

determine a number of most-affected phases N_Ph from;

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to identify as most-affected phases the N_Ph ones of phases a, b and c that have a larger RMS current therethrough than do the remaining ones of phases a, b and c.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a plurality of machine-readable instructions configured to be executed by a computer processor to characterize an interrupting device that has operated to clear a fault, the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprising instructions to:

measure a current along a feeder proximate a substation bus, wherein the signal is measured by an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED);

receive measured data corresponding to the measured current;

determine from the measured data that a fault has occurred in at least one phase of the feeder and has been cleared;

subtract reference data from the measured data to estimate residual fault data;

estimate from the residual fault data an operating point for the device that operated to clear the fault;

calculate density functions for a plurality of device sizes;

calculate for the operating point a proximity measure for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

identify the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest proximity measure as a most probable device size for the device that operated to clear the fault.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the reference data corresponds to a pre-fault current measured along the feeder proximate the substation bus prior to the fault.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the residual fault data approximates fault current passed through the device, and the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprise instructions to estimate from the residual fault data a clearing time for the fault.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the device that operated to clear the fault is a fuse, the clearing time and the approximated fault current together define the operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault, and the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprise instructions to:

calculate a fault energy from the clearing time and the residual fault data;

determine from the fault energy a maximum fuse size for the fuse that operated to clear the fault;

form a closed polygon from a minimum melt time curve and a maximum clearing time curve for at least one fuse size that is no larger than the maximum fuse size; and

determine that the at least one fuse size is a possible fuse size for the fuse that operated to clear the fault if the operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault is determined to be within the closed polygon for the at least one fuse size.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein:

the clearing time and the approximated fault current together define the operating point for the device;

the instructions to calculate for the operating point a proximity measure for each of the plurality of device sizes comprise instructions to calculate a Mahalanobis distance for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprise instructions to identify the most probable device size as the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest Mahalanobis distance.

19. A system for characterizing a device that has operated to clear a fault, the system comprising:

an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) connected to a feeder and configured to measure current along the feeder proximate a substation bus; and

a processor linked to the IED and configured to execute instructions to perform a method comprising;

determining from the measured current that a fault has occurred in at least one phase and has been cleared;

subtracting a reference current from the measured current to estimate a fault current passed through the device;

after the device operated to clear the fault, estimating from the fault current an operating point for the device that operated to clear the fault;

calculating density functions for a plurality of device sizes;

calculating for the estimated operating point a proximity measure for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

identifying the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest proximity measure as a most probable device size for the device that operated to clear the fault.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the reference current is a pre-fault current measured along the feeder proximate the substation bus prior to the fault.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the device that operated to clear the fault is a fuse, the clearing time and the fault current together define the estimated operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault, and the method comprises:

determining from the fault current a clearing time for the fault;

calculating a fault energy from the clearing time and the fault current;

determining from the fault energy a maximum fuse size for the fuse that operated to clear the fault;

forming a closed polygon from a minimum melt time curve and a maximum clearing time curve for at least one fuse size that is no larger than the maximum fuse size; and

determining that the at least one fuse size is a possible fuse size for the fuse that operated to clear the fault if the estimated operating point for the fuse that operated to clear the fault is determined to be within the closed polygon for the at least one fuse size.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the method comprises:

determining from the fault current a clearing time for the fault, wherein the clearing time and the fault current together define the estimated operating point for the device;

calculating for the estimated operating point a Mahalanobis distance for each of the plurality of device sizes; and

identifying the most probable device size as the one of the plurality of device sizes corresponding to the smallest Mahalanobis distance.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the method comprises:

extracting at least one event feature from the measured current;

determining at least partially from the at least one event feature at least one probable classification for the fault;

isolating from the measured current transient current corresponding to the fault;

defining at least two monitoring zones for the IED; and

identifying from the isolated transient current a probable one of the monitoring zones in which the fault occurred.