D

Journal of Energy and Power Engineering 6 (2012) 1301-1307

DAVID

PUBLISHING

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of

Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines
Mahmoud Gilany1, Ahmed Al-Kandari1 and Bahaa Hassan2
1. Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Technological Studies, Shuwaikh 70654, Kuwait
2. Egyptian Electricity Authority, Egypt

Received: August 11, 2011 / Accepted: November 08, 2011 / Published: August 31, 2012.
Abstract: This paper presents an ANN (artificial neural networks)-based technique for improving the performance of distance relays
against open-circuit faults in transmission networks. The technique utilizes the small capacitive current measured in the open-phase
plus the currents in the two healthy phases in calculating the open-circuit fault distance. The results obtained show that a distance relay
with the proposed scheme will not only be able to detect the open-conductor condition in HVTL (high voltage transmission line) but
also to locate the place of this fault regardless the value of the pre-fault current loading. There is no need for especial communication
schemes since the existing media could work properly for the needs of the proposed technique.
Key words: Distance relay, open-conductor, ANN, transmission networks, fault location.

1. Introduction
System faults can be divided into two types
according to its nature: single-point faults and
multi-points faults. Examples of single-point faults
include the single line-to-ground faults, phase-to-phase
faults, etc.. Examples of multi-points faults include the
case of the open-conductor. Reasons for two-point
faults on transmission lines include undesired opening
of breaker, case of open bridle (especially in tension
towers) and direct breaking of the line conductor.
Opening a conductor in power transmission lines is
one of the serious problems in the operation of power
systems. High impedance faults characteristically show
very low currents, which often are not detectable by
conventional protection devices. The most frequent
and worrying type of high impedance faults occur
when an energized primary conductor breaks and falls,
contacting earth. This situation is especially dangerous
since risks of electric shocks are posed to the public
Corresponding author: Mahmoud Gilany, professor,
research fields: power system protection and power system
planning. E-mail: mahmoudgilany@ieee.org.

and a fire hazard also exists [1]. Opening a conductor

also causes the system to operate on two phases only
which badly affects system stability [2]. The
transmitted power through this power transmission line
will be reduced. The healthy phases may suffer from
over loading. Isolators of the healthy phases will not be
far from the drawbacks. The voltage upon healthy
phases may increase if the system is not directly
earthed.
The big problem is that the case of open-conductor
can not be detected by the main protection of the power
transmission lines which is the distance protection.
This is because open-conductor is not associated with
any increase in current or decrease in voltage. This
means that the measured impedance by the distance
relay will not decrease in case of open-conductor. In
fact, the impedance measured by a distance relay on the
healthy-phases increases with the occurrence of
open-conductor causing the distance relay to go far
away from operation region.
Consequently, the case of open-conductor will
continue to exist until other protection scheme detects

1302

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

it. The protection scheme which may detect this type of

fault (according to the pre-fault current value) is the
earth fault relay. However, even if the line is equipped
with an earth fault protection and the pre-fault current
value was large enough to initiate the operation of the
earth fault relay; there will be a large time delay since
earth fault relays is actually a backup protection for
HVTLs (high voltage transmission lines).
There is a lack of researches considering cases of
open (downed) conductor, since most of protective
relays do not respond to these types of faults. Protection
engineers believe that the protective devices are not
designed for open-conductor fault case. Even the field
experts find that no response from protective relays for
case of open-conductor is accepted. There are not
significant research efforts in the field of using distance
relay to detect or locate the open-conductor fault
especially in the high voltage interconnected systems.
The only effort exerted in field of studying
open-conductor problems is in distribution networks
[1, 3-5]. A brief review of some open-conductor fault
detection techniques can be found in Refs. [6-8]. Most
of the proposed techniques are based on a device
located in the substation, such as a relay which operates
monitoring non-60 Hz parameters of the feeder current
[9, 10] as changes in second or third harmonics for
example.
In all the previous studies, the research work is
concentrating on detecting the open-conductor fault
case. However, there is no work that is done in the area
of estimating the distance of the open-circuit fault. The
objective of this paper is to modify the typical distance
relay algorithm to be able to estimate not only the
distance to short-circuit-faults but also to detect and
estimate the distance to open-circuit faults. In this work,
the line is assumed to be open from both sides. In the
next sections, the effect of open-circuit faults compared
with short-circuit faults is demonstrated with typical
recorded case studies. The mathematical formulation
of open-circuit problem and the proposed ANN-based
technique are then presented.

2. Typical Problems
For an open-circuit fault occurred in a single phase
of line C-D as shown in Fig. 1, the distance relays R1,
R2 and R3 can easily detect such unsymmetrical fault
since one of the three phases is almost zero. However,
unless the settings for the three relays (as well as the
settings of the associated earth fault relays) are
accurately estimated, a discrimination problem
between the three relays is expected and a false trip
from relays R1 and R2 can not be avoided. Usually, the
open-circuit case starts with a simple problem and ends
with a wide disconnected area.
A recorded open-circuit fault case is illustrated in
Fig. 2. An open-circuit fault occurred on one of the two
parallel circuits. The fault, as expected, was not
detected by the distance relays at both sides of the line.
Instead, it was detected by the earth fault relays: EFR-1
and EFR-2.
The unbalance level at the earth fault relay EFR-2 (at
220 kV side) is much higher than the unbalance level
at EFR-1 (at 66 kV side). Consequently, the earth fault
relay EFR-2 tripped faster than the earth fault relay
R1

R1'

R2

Fig. 1 Open circuit fault.

Fig. 2 Reverse grading problem.

R2'

R3

R3'

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

EFR-1. Therefore, the major 220 kV transformation

station was totally disconnected resulting in a major
shut-down in that area. This problem is practically
known as reverse grading problem. In some other
recorded faults, the remaining healthy circuit was also
tripped by the overcurrent protection as a result of
overloading condition.
Another recorded open-circuit case is described in
Fig. 3. In this case, circuit-II ABZ/SLM 66 kV was
disconnected from both sides by overcurrent protection
without any recorded faults. At the same time, the two
main transformers 220/66 kV were also disconnected
by the earth fault protection (EF) at ABZ substation
without any recorded faults.
The analysis of this incident showed that an
open-conductor on phase B of the circuit-I occurred
first. The phase B in circuit-II was then overloaded,
causing the overcurrent protection on this circuit to
operate.
Once circuit-II was disconnected, circuit-I (which is
originally opened in the phase B) was highly loaded on
the two healthy phases. As a result of the unbalance
current in the neutral of the two main transformers, the
earth fault relays at ABZ substation operated and
disconnected the two transformers. No earth fault
relays were installed on the 66 kV lines.

1303

3. Existing Solutions
As stated above, most of the solutions are related to
distribution networks. Some researches introduced
techniques for detecting cases of down conductor and
high impedance faults by monitoring non-nominal
frequency parameters [6, 7]. Other techniques used for
distribution feeders are depending on locating number
of voltage sensors along the feeder to sense unbalance
voltages resulted in case of open-conductor [1]. This is
not suitable for transmission lines. There are two
known methods to solve such a problem in
transmission networks.
3.1 Method Depends on the Earth Fault Relays
Open-circuit fault can be detected by earth fault
relay since it represents a kind of unbalance condition.
The zero sequence current under such conditions is
used to detect such a fault. However, the resulted
unbalance is depending on the value of the pre-fault
current [11]. With heavy pre-fault load, the probability
for detecting such an unbalance is low. Also, the earth
fault relay is usually used as a back-up relay and
consequently it takes large time to operate. Moreover,
these relays are unselective and consequently, more
than one relay can trip for a single fault (refer to the
recorded case in Fig. 2).

ABZ

220 kV

EF

EF

EF

EF

Circuit-II

Circuit-I

66 kV

3.2 Method Depends on (I2/I1) Ratio

The new numerical relays give a facility of using what
is called open-conductor detection function [11]. This
function depends on measuring the ratio between
negative and positive sequence currents (I2/I1) in the
protected line. The ratio is not affected by the pre-fault
current. However, this method requires very sensitive
settings for this ratio. It may also lead to mal-operation
with any other unbalanced condition. Consequently, it is
usually used only as an alarm function.

4. Problem Formulation
SLM

66 kV

Fig. 3
Wide disconnected problem resulted from
open-conductor.

Considering the power system shown in Fig. 4, a

single-phase open-conductor fault (in phase A) is

1304

Fig. 4

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

System under study.

assumed on line X-Y between points P and Q. The

source impedances of the supplies behind the two
distance relays (RX and RY) are represented by ZSX and
ZSY. The actual impedance between distance relay RX
and the open circuit fault place is ZF.
The sequence voltages are given in Eq. (1):
1
(V1 ) PQ [(Va ) PQ a (Vb) PQ a 2 (Vc ) PQ ]
3
1
(1)
(V2 ) PQ [(Va) PQ a 2 (Vb) PQ a(Vc) PQ ]
3
1
(V0 ) PQ [(Va ) PQ (Vb) PQ (Vc) PQ ]
3
where (Va)PQ , (Vb)PQ and (Vc)PQ represent the voltage
drop between points P and Q in each of the three phases
respectively. Since both (Vb)PQ and (Vc)PQ are equal to
zero, then:
1
(2)
(V1 ) PQ (V2 ) PQ (V0 ) PQ (Va ) PQ
3
The sequence currents can be written in terms of the
sequence network impedances as follows [12]:
I1

Z1 I1PF
ZZ
Z1 2 0
Z2 Z0

I2

Z 0 I1
Z0 Z2

I0

Z 2 I1
Z0 Z2

(3)

where I1PF is the pre-fault phase-current in phase A.

The line impedance from the relaying point till the
place of the fault in case of an open-circuit from both
sides can be written as follows [12]:
Z
Z1F I 1PF I 1 Z1SX I 1 Z1F I 1 0 I 1 Z1' F I 1 Z1SY (4)
X 1
where
Z1F is the line impedance from the relaying point till
the place of open circuit;

Z'1F is the impedance of the line from the place of

open circuit till the other end of the line;
Z1SX is the positive sequence source impedance at
bus X;
Z1SY is the positive sequence source impedance at
bus Y;
X equal to (Z0/Z1).
The problem is that the impedances Z1, Z2 and Z0 are
measured at the place of open-conductor not at the
relaying point, which means that they are not available
for the relay and hence, it can not be used in the fault
distance calculations.
By re-arranging Eq. (4), the positive sequence
impedance Z1F can be written as:

Z 1F

I1PF Z1 Z 0
'

Z1F Z1SX Z1SY

1
I1
X

(5)

Also, the zero sequence line impedance from the

relaying point to the place of open circuit, Z0F can be
written as [12]:
I2
Z 2 Z 0 ( Z 0' F Z 0 SX Z 0 SY ) (6)
Z 0F
I1

Substituting Z0F = 3 Z1F and Z'0F = 3 Z'1F, then Eq. (6)

can be re-written in the form:
I
3Z 1F 2 Z 2 Z 0 3Z 1' F Z 0 S X Z 0 S Y (7)
I1
From Eqs. (5) and (7) the positive sequence
impedance from the relay point to the fault location can
be written as:

I2
Z 1F
I1 I 2

(8)
3I 1PF I 1
2 X
Z 0
Z 1
Z SX Z SY
3
1
I
X

where
ZSX = [Z1SX + (1/3) Z0SX] and ZSY = [Z1SY + (1/3) Z0SY].
From Eq. (8), it can be seen that the line positive
sequence impedance from the relaying point till the
place of open-conductor (Z1F) is depending on the
following values:
Pre-fault loading current, I1PF;
Sequence currents I1 and I2;
Source impedances at both end ZSX and ZSY
(assumed to be constant);
Sequence Thevinens impedance at place of

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

open-circuit (Z1 and Z0).

The last factor can not be obtained by any distance
relay since it is considered as unforeseen data. The
proposed distance relay in this paper is using Eq. (8) to
estimate the location of the open-conductor using
ANN.

1305

These values are the input values fed to the ANN

where the output is the required positive sequence
impedance of the line till the place of open-conductor.

6. Simulation Results
The proposed scheme identifies the case of
open-conductor based on the level of current in each of

5. ANN Configuration

the three phases. Under single phase open-conductor

ANN is a suitable technique to be used in this study

condition, the current in one of the three phases will be

since ANNs are prepared to work with incomplete and

below a current threshold (Idetc). The scheme also

unforeseen data.

checks if the phase breaker is open or not (to avoid

The researchers were motivated to use ANN for

conflict with the case of segregated phase breakers).

transmission line relaying for several reasons [13-15].

The case of open-conductor is confirmed if the

First, the ability of ANNs to learn complex nonlinear

difference between the other two phase currents is less

input/output relations and their inherent immunity to

than an error.

changing operating conditions played a role. At the

Different open-circuit faults were applied at

same time, ANNs have a high degree of robustness and

different locations along the line X-Y in the power

ability to learn.

system model shown in Fig. 4. Part of the power

In this paper, different configurations (different

system specifications is presented in Table 1.

number of hidden layers, different number of neurons in

Fig. 5 shows typical results for an open-circuit case

hidden layer, different transfer function for hidden and

at distance of 10% of the protected line measured from

output layer(s) and different training methods) are tested

the relay RX. The calculated RMS values for current and

in order to choose the best configuration for the

voltage signals at both sides of the line are shown in

proposed ANN scheme. The configuration achieved

Figs. 5a-5d where the impedance seen by distance

minimum error goal includes two hidden layers with

relays RX and RY are shown in Figs. 6a and 6b.

five neurons. The hidden layer neurons transfer function

It is clear that the relay can not detect the open fault

is Tansig where the output layer neuron transfer function

case since the impedance seen by the relay is much

is Puerlin. The proposed ANN based fault classification

larger than the load impedance.

scheme has been designed using Trainscg function.

Table 2 shows a summary of test results of the

proposed scheme. The maximum error recorded is less

MatLab is used in building and training the ANN.

The values of the sequence currents versus the

than 11%. This can be improved by training the ANN

analyzed

with more fault cases. The error is accepted taking into

statistically to get the best formation of the training

account that the ordinary distance protection is not able

inputs. This yields the following three inputs:

to even detect such kind of faults.

positive

sequence

impedance

Z1

are

Input 1 1PF
I1 I 2
I
Input 2 2
I0

I
Input 3 1
I2

7. Conclusions
(9)

A novel ANN-based technique is proposed to

improve the performance of the ordinary distance relay
against open-circuit faults. The maximum error in the
calculated impedance is less than 11%. The results
obtained show that a distance relay with the proposed

1306

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

Table 1 Data of the power system model.

Z (at side X)

50000

Data
2.5 GVA
3.05 GVA
100 km
3.8 10-6 F/km
0.296 /km
0.04 /km
0.25 /km
0.95 /km

IA (side X)

20000
10000
0

0.05

Time

0.10

0.15

0.20

(a) Calculated impedance at side X

4000

1500

3000
2000
1000
0

1000

500
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Time

2000
1500
1000
500
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Time

(b) IB current at side Y

200000
150000
100000
50000
0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

Time

(c) VA voltage at side X

0.05 Time 0.1

0.15

0.2

(b) Calculated impedance at side Y

Fig. 6
Calculated impedance at both ends under
open-circuit fault condition.
Table 2

(a) IA current at side X

IA (Side-Y)

30000

0.00

2000

V A (Side-X)

40000

Z (at side Y)

Equipment
Feeding source at side-X
Feeding source at side-Y
Line length
Capacitance
Positive sequence reactance
Positive sequence resistance
Zero sequence reactance
Zero sequence resistance

Open
place
8%
18%
21%
25%
24%
28%
30%
38%
45%
50%
60%
64%
68%
70%
72%
76%
84%
94%

Part of the results of proposed technique.

Actual
impedance
1.184
2.664
3.552
3.7
3.552
4.144
4.44
5.624
6.66
7.4
8.88
9.472
10.064
10.36
10.656
11.248
12.432
13.912

Measured
impedance
1.18282
2.510983
3.280613
3.856137
3.280613
3.985487
4.409496
5.514159
6.190767
6.598375
8.061088
8.762028
10.2301
10.46878
11.02803
11.40967
13.02945
15.51949

Percentage
error
00.997%
5.7439%
7.6404%
-4.22%
7.6404%
3.8251%
0.0687%
1.9531%
7.0455%
10.8328%
9.222%
7.4955%
-1.65%
-1.05%
-3.491%
-1.437%
-4.806%
-11.555%

V A (Side-Y)

200000
150000
100000
50000
0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

Time

(d) VB voltage at side Y

Fig. 5 Current and voltage signals at both ends under
open-circuit fault condition.

scheme will not only be able to detect the

open-conductor condition in HVTL but also to locate
the place of this fault regardless the value of the
pre-fault current loading. The ANN used in the
proposed scheme does not impose large time delay to
the operation time of the distance relay as it is of simple
configuration and trained off-line. There is no need for
especial communication schemes as the existing media

Novel Algorithm for Estimating the Distance of Open-Conductor Faults in HV Transmission Lines

could work properly for the needs of the proposed

technique.

Acknowledgments
The financial support from the KFAS (Kuwait
Foundation for Advancement of Science) is highly
appreciated.

References
[1]

[2]
[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]
[7]

E.C. Senger, Broken conductor protection system using

carrier communication, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery 15 (2) (2000) 525-530.
B.M. Weedy, B.J. Cory, Electrical Power Systems, 4th ed.,
John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998.
IEEE Guide for Determining Fault Location on AC
Transmission and Distribution Lines, IEEE Standard
C37.114, Dec. 2004.
C. Fan, K.K. Li, W.L. Chan, W. Yu, Z. Zhang,
Application of wavelet fuzzy neural network in locating
single line to ground fault (SLG) in distribution lines,
Electrical Power and Energy Systems 29 (2007) 497-503.
D.I. Jeerings, J.R. Linders, A practical protective relay for
down-conductor faults, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery 6
(2) (1991) 565-574.
High Impedance Fault Detection Technology, Report of
PSRC working group D15, Mar. 1996.
B.D. Russell, IEEE Tutorial Course Text, Detection of

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]
[12]
[13]

[14]

[15]

1307

Downed Conductors on Utility Distribution Systems,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New
York, Feb. 1990.
Downed Power Lines: Why They Can not Always Be
Detected, IEEE Power Engineering Society Public Affairs
Document, Feb. 1989 (Green book).
C.L. Benner, B.D. Russel, Practical high impedance fault
detection on distribution feeders, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications 33 (3) (1997) 635-640.
H. Calhoun, M.T. Bishop, C.H. Eichler, R.E. Lee,
Development and testing of an electro-mechanical relay to
detect fallen distribution conductors, IEEE Transactions
on Power Apparatus and Systems PAS-101 (6) (1982)
1643-1648.
ALSTOM, Technical Guide Distance Protection Relays,
TG 1.1671-B, Vol. 1, pp. 441-444.
Power System Protection, The Electricity Council, UK,
Vol. I, 1989.
R.N. Mahanty, P.B.D. Gupta, Comparison of fault
classification methods based on wavelet analysis and
ANN, Electrical Power Components and Systems 34 (1)
(2006) 47-60.
D.V. Coury, D.C. Jorge, Artificial neural network
approach to distance protection of transmission lines,
IEEE Trans. Power Delivery 13 (1) (1998) 102-108.
R. Venkatesan, B. Balamurugan, A real time hardware
fault detector using an artificial neural network for
distance protection, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery 16 (1)
(2001) 75-82.