BiT

February, 2017
Declaration
We, the undersigned, declare that this semester project is our original work, and this semester
project work has not been presented for a project in this or any other universities, and all sources
of materials that will be used for the project work will be fully acknowledge.

Robel Yifter __________________

Samsom Gebremeskel ___________________
Selamsew Eshetie ____________________
Selemon Tigabu ____________________

Name Signature

Date of submission: 09/02/2017 E.C

This semester project has been submitted for examination with our approval as a university
advisor.

Mrs. Betlhem D. __________________

Project Advisor Signature

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Acknowledgement
First of all, we would like to thank God for his blessing, and we also express our deep sense of
gratitude to Mrs. Betlhem Dereje for encouraging us to work on this project and providing her
support and guidance throughout the implementation of the project. Our deepest appreciation
also goes out to Electrical & Computer Engineering department who gave us many needed
support, encouragement and help throughout our Project, and our friends who struggling with us
exploring this scope. Finally, thank you to all those involved directly and indirectly helping us
out during our design & simulation which we can’t state out every one of them. A special
expression of gratitude is extended to everyone for their tolerance and patience in doing the
Project. We must admit that they had enriched us in many ways and words alone are not enough
to express our gratitude.

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Table of Contents
Declaration ..................................................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................ ii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... v
List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................... vi
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... vii
Chapter One .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background Information ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the problem .................................................................................................................... 3
1.2.1 General Descriptions of the Problems in the Area ........................................................................... 3
1.3 Objectives of the Project ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.3.1 General Objective ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.3.2 Specific Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Methodology of the Project................................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Major Assumptions Made for the Work ............................................................................................. 4
1.6 Scope of the Project ............................................................................................................................ 5
1.7 Organizations of the Project ................................................................................................................ 6
Chapter Two.................................................................................................................................................. 7
Review of Related Literatures....................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 General Literature Review of the project ............................................................................................ 7
Chapter Three................................................................................................................................................ 9
System Design and Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 System Components and Operations .................................................................................................. 9
3.1.1 System Descriptions of the Project .............................................................................................. 9
3.1.2 Overall Operation of the Project ................................................................................................ 14
3.2 System Design and Analysis ............................................................................................................. 16
Chapter Four ............................................................................................................................................... 24
Results and Discussions .............................................................................................................................. 24
4.1 Software Simulation Results and Discussions .................................................................................. 24
Chapter Five ................................................................................................................................................ 26
Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Work .................................................................................. 26

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5.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 26
5.2 Recommendations for Future work................................................................................................... 27
References ................................................................................................................................................... 28
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................. 29

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List of Figures
Figure 1.1: An A-Frame Method of Finding Cable Fault Location ................................................ 2
Figure 1.2: Methodology of the Project .......................................................................................... 4
Figure 3.1: Block Diagram of Underground Cable Fault Detector ................................................ 9
Figure 3.2: Arduino UNO R3 ....................................................................................................... 11
Figure 3.3: Relay Driver UIn2003 ................................................................................................ 12
Figure 3.4: Full Bridge Rectifier ................................................................................................... 13
Figure 3.5: 7805 and 7812 Regulator Voltage .............................................................................. 13
Figure 3.6: Schematic Diagram of Alarm ..................................................................................... 14
Figure 3.7: Schematic of the Conducting Wire ............................................................................ 15
Figure 3.8: System Model Diagram .............................................................................................. 16
Figure 3.9: Flowchart of Underground Cable Fault Detection ..................................................... 17
Figure 3.10: Design of Power Supply Circuit ............................................................................... 18
Figure 4.1: Simulation Result for Single Phase ............................................................................ 24
Figure 4.2: Simulation Result for Three Phase ............................................................................. 25

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List of Acronyms
A Amperes
AC Alternating Current
ADC Analog to Digital Converter
C Capacitance
DC Direct Current
F Frequency
GND Ground
KM’s Kilometers
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LED Light Emitting Diode
N Number of Turns
R Resistor
TDR Time Domain Refectory
V Voltage

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Abstract
The project is intended to detect the location of fault in underground cable lines from the base
station in kilometers using an Arduino board. This project uses the standard concept of Ohms
law i.e., when a low DC voltage is applied at the feeder end through a series resistor to the Cable
lines, then current would vary depending upon the location of fault in the short-circuited cable.
In the urban areas, the electrical cable runs in undergrounds instead of overhead lines. Whenever
the fault occurs in underground cable it is difficult to detect the exact location of the fault for
process of repairing that particular cable. The proposed system finds the exact location of the
fault. This system uses an Arduino board and a rectified power supply. Here the current sensing
circuits made with combination of resistors are interfaced to Arduino board with help of the
internal ADC device for providing digital data to the microcontroller representing the cable
length in KM’s. The fault creation is made by the set of switches. The relays are controlled by
the relay driver IC which is used for switching the power sequentially to all the lines. A 16x2
LCD display connected to the microcontroller to display the information. In case of short circuit
(Line to Ground), the voltage across series resistors changes accordingly, which is then fed to an
ADC to develop precise digital data to a programmed Arduino board that further displays fault
location in kilometers. The project future can be implemented by using capacitor in an ac circuit
to measure the impedance which can even locate the open circuited cable

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Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background Information
Power cables that are used to deliver electrical power are placed underground in order to avoid
unnecessary interference. This makes it very difficult to determine the exact location of the faults
that occur. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a self-made hardware model that
determines the distance of the cable fault from the base station in kilometers and display it over
the internet. Underground power cable system is a common practice followed in major urban
areas. A fault might occur due to a multitude of reasons such as digging, earthquake,
construction work, etc. The repairing process related to that particular cable is difficult due to
unknown location of the fault in the cable. This impediment is tackled with the help of optical
fiber system. A bunch of optical fibers is placed along with the power cables. The optical fiber
system constantly measures various parameters (such as voltage, current and temperature of the
cable) at multiple checkpoints located at regular intervals on the power cable. As soon as a fault
occurs, the values of the parameters of the surrounding checkpoints change “abnormally”. The
data corresponding to the particular location of the checkpoints surrounding the fault is obtained.
Hence the approximate distance of the cable fault is located using this method. After the
approximate location, has been identified, high voltage pulses are transmitted over the faulty
cable to determine the exact location of the fault. In our model, we intend to demonstrate the
methodology employed to find out the exact location of the fault and to send data in graphical
format to a dedicated website together with on board LCD display. Instead of using optical
fibers, the model uses the standard theory of Ohms law, i.e., when a low DC voltage is applied at
the feeder end through a series resistor (cable lines), then the current would vary depending upon
the location of the fault in the cable as the resistance is proportional to the distance. Hence the
potential drop would also vary across each resistor. These potential drop variations are used to
determine the location of the fault.
Programs uploaded in Arduino UNO kit to detect faults from the underground cables. When a
fault occurs in the underground cables, we can find out faults through Arduino controller kit.
LCD display which displays the faults in Kilometers. In this project, we created faults manually.
Cable has many types. Every cable has different resistance which depends upon the material

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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. We are find out those faults.
Faults have many types. Frequently occurs the faults are given below
 Short Circuit Fault
 Open Circuit Fault
 Earth Fault
Short Circuit Fault
A short circuit fault occurs when there is an insulation failure between phase conductors or
between phase conductor(s) and earth or both. An insulation failure results into formation of a
short circuit path that triggers a short-circuit conditions in the circuit.
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.
Earth Fault
An earth fault is an inadvertent contact between an energized conductor and earth or equipment
frame. The return path of the fault current is through the grounding system and any personnel or
equipment that becomes part of that system.

Figure 1.1: An A-Frame Method of Finding Cable Fault Location

In A-frame method, a pulsed direct current (DC) is injected into the faulty cable and earth
terminal to locate the ground fault. The DC pulse will flow through the conductor and return via
earth from the earth fault location back to the ground stake as shown in Figure 1.1. The flow of

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pulsed DC through the ground will produce a small DC voltage. A sensitive voltmeter is used to
measure the magnitude and direction of the DC voltage in segments of the earth along the cable
route. Analyzing the results of the measuring voltage along the route, the location of the fault in
the cable can be pinpointed A-Frame is an accurate method but it is not the fastest one, since the
operator has to walk along the length of the cable from the transmitter to the ground fault. This
method may face a problem if the return DC finds some easier path back to the earth stake of
transmitter instead of returning through the ground. If the ground is sandy, paved which provides
high resistance and consequently, less current flows through the ground. In that case, the
voltmeter fails to measure the voltage and fault detection becomes complicated.
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.2.1 General Descriptions of the Problems in the Area
Underground cable fault is a series problem in urban areas and to solve this Arduino based
microcontroller kit should be available and is performed by using ohms’ law. Therefore, to
provide continuous street lighting system underground cable fault problem must be solved easily
using simple ohms’ law with a series of resisters and capacitors in the circuit diagram. The basic
problems related underground cable fault are: short circuit fault, open circuit fault and earth fault.
A short circuit fault occurs when there is an insulation failure between phase conductors or
between phase conductor(s) and earth or both. An insulation failure results into formation of
short circuit path that triggers a short-circuit conditions in the circuit. 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. An earth fault is an inadvertent contact between an energized conductor and earth or
equipment frame. The return path of the fault current is through the grounding system and any
personnel or equipment that becomes part of that system.
1.3 Objectives of the Project
1.3.1 General Objective
The main objective of this project is to detect the location of fault in underground cable lines
from the base station in kilometers using an Arduino board.

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1.3.2 Specific Objectives

 To design fault sensing circuit
 To identify and protect short circuit fault
 To interface LCD with Arduino microcontroller kit
 To develop the model using Arduino software
 To review the simulated electrical system and improve it into practical

1.4 Methodology of the Project

The Project detects the location of fault in underground cable lines from the base station in
kilometers using an Arduino board. It uses the standard concept of ohms’ law i.e., when a low dc
voltage is applied at the feeder end through a series resistor to the cable lines, then current would
vary depending upon the location of fault in the short-circuited cable. When there is a short
circuit, the voltage across series resistors changes accordingly and fed to an ADC to develop
precise digital data which the programmed Arduino would display using LCD in kilometers. The
project consists of series of resistors representing cable length in kilometers and fault creation is
made by a set of switches at every known km. In order to make successful completion of this
project some steps will be followed to carry out different tasks. Different literature will be
revised relating to this project and data will be collected about Arduino based underground cable
fault detection. Based on this parameter system model was designed. Some software’s were
selected to develop the software programming. Then the system prototype and implementation
will be our last issues to complete our project.

Figure 1.2: Methodology of the Project

1.5 Major Assumptions Made for the Work

The assumptions we made here was center tapped transformer full wave rectifier circuit are
replaced by a full bridge rectifier circuit during power supply design.

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1.6 Scope of the Project

The scope of this project is intended to detect short circuit faults in underground cable lines and
to develop continuous real time condition monitoring and control system for electricity in urban
areas. We were design and simulate the system in this project. We will go on implementation the
prototype of a project in the next semester. Since this project intended on detection of faults, it is
very crucial. What makes it highly especial is since, it saves the human life especially patients
which is unrecoverable if once lost through electricity shortage; this project also save humans
from losses of their properties due to electricity problem. Finally, the highest priority is given to
the software design in order to develop a suitable algorithm that will promptly interact with the
Arduino.
Significance of the Project
The project has the following main advantages;
 Highly reduced Maintenance and Operating Costs.
 Lower storm restoration costs
 Increased reliability during severe weather (wind-related storm dame will be greatly
reduced for an underground system.
 Improved Reliability.
 Not subject related to flooding and storm surges experience minimal damage and in
interruption of electric service.
 Less damage during severe weather
 Far fewer momentary interruptions
 Improved utility relations regarding tree trimming
 Improved Public Safety
 Fewer motor vehicle accidents
 Reduced live-wire contact injuries
 Fewer Fires
Limitation of the Project
 cost, must consider life time costs not just initial
 cost differential decreasing with time
 fault location instantaneous can have, longer repair time

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1.7 Organizations of the Project

The entire project is composed of five chapters, each covering a section of the work as
summarized below:
Chapter one: gives about a brief introduction to Arduino based underground cable fault
detection system, and answers why we have gone for this project, what the objectives, what
advantages can we get from the project and its project scope.
Chapter two: covers an extensive literature review of previous works on Arduino based
underground cable fault detection and the different established standards and protocols, and the
platforms over which cable fault detection can be implemented.
Chapter three: system block diagram: In this chapter, brief description about architecture and
interfacing of the devices such as Relays, LCD display, Relay drivers and the ATMEGA
Arduino micro controller being used are proposed.
Chapter four: System design and implementation: covers the detailed design and
implementation each switch corresponding to the resistance values, and the overall integrated
system or main projects results and output.
Chapter five: Conclusions and recommendations: This chapter concludes the entire work
performed during the project and Points out some few recommendations on improving the
performance, and efficiency.

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Chapter Two
Review of Related Literatures
2.1 General Literature Review of the project
Between 1940 and 1990, electrical accidents were the fourth leading cause of death in the
industry (Cawley, 2000). During this period, the data showed that fatalities were ten times more
likely to occur when the accident involved electricity. Electrical accidents tend to occur less
frequently than other types of accidents, yet when they do occur they tend to be far more severe.
Nowadays cable faults are the most severe and that why is most scholars resemble on this idea.
Lekshmi.M has discussed Sectionalizing method in 1959: This procedure risks reducing cable
reliability, because it depends on physically cutting and splicing the cable. Dividing the cable
into successively smaller sections and measuring both ways with an ohmmeter or high-voltage
insulation resistance (IR) tester enable to narrow down search for a fault. This laborious
procedure normally involves repeated cable excavation.
Touaibia.I has discussed Time domain reflectometry (TDR) method in 2001: The TDR sends a
low-energy signal through the cable, causing no insulation degradation. A theoretically perfect
cable returns that signal in a known time and in a known profile. Impedance variations in a “real-
world” cable alter both the time and profile, which the TDR screen or printout graphically
represents. One weakness of TDR is that it does not pinpoint faults.
Dhekale.P.M has discussed Murray loop test method in 2006: It is a bridge circuit used for
locating faults in underground or underwater cables. It uses the principle used in potentiometer
experiment. One end of the faulted cable is connected through a pair of resistors to the voltage
source. Also, a null detector is connected. The other end of the cable is shorted. The main
disadvantage of this method assumes that only a single fault exists, a low resistance when
compared with UG cable resistance and cable conductors have uniform resistance per unit length
Raghu Raja Kalia has discussed Varley loop test method in 2010: If the fault resistance is high,
the sensitivity in Murray bridge is reduced and Varley loop may be more suitable but only a
single fault exists. Except that here the ratio arms are fixed and a variable resistance is connected
to the test end of the faulty cable. For electrical usage, transmission lines form the backbone of
power systems. With regard to reliability and maintenance costs of power delivery, accurate fault

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location for transmission lines is of vital importance in restoring power services and reducing
wastage of time as much as possible. Underground power cables have been widely implemented
due to reliability and environmental concerns. To improve the reliability of a distribution system,
accurate identification of a faulted segment is required. In the conventional way of detecting
fault, an exhaustive search in larger scale distance has been conducted. This is time consuming
and inefficient, not only that the manpower resources are not utilized, but also the restoration
time may vary depending on the reliability of the outage information. Hence an efficient
technique to locate a fault can improve system reliability. Power systems need an accurate and
automatic fault location method due to number of key factors namely: reliability of supply,
quality of supply, reducing operating costs of repairs and charging staff works practices, and low
tariff charges to maintain a competitive edge. The trend of transmission line construction from
overhead to underground is increasing even though the underground system costs more for initial
construction. However, the underground system requires faster detection and correction of
accidental faults along the lines for more reliable service. Various methods have been developed
to reduce damage and inference. But most of fault detection methods have shortcomings. Some
have low accuracy, some are difficult to apply because of surrounding environment, and some
give unwanted damage to healthy neighboring cable and facilities [3-4]. Another method that is
pulse echoing method is also used. This method uses time difference between incident and
reflected pulse to calculate fault location detection and it has relatively high accuracy because it
uses short period pulse. Although it has high accuracy, pulse echoing method has some
drawbacks. When we apply this method to low impedance accident, the error will be increased.
If cable is not open circuit and there is no impedance change, there are no reflected pulse waves,
and it is difficult to find fault location. Because it is also very expensive system, on-line
monitoring and fault location detection of cable using Arduino or microcontroller is a better
automatic digital way to locate faults. All the above methods discussed in the above have their
own drawbacks. So, by standing from the power engineer’s point of view we are modifying and
upgrading the basic method of locating fault by overcoming the drawbacks of the above methods
to certain extent using OHMs law concept.

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Chapter Three
System Design and Analysis
3.1 System Components and Operations
3.1.1 System Descriptions of the Project
Underground fault detector deals with finding of exact fault location from the base station itself.
Cables have some resistance. We are mainly focusing that resistance. Resistance can vary with
Respect to the length of the cable. If the length of the cable is increase, the value of the resistance
will also increase. If any deviation occurs in the resistance value, we will call that is fault point
and finding that place through Arduino technology. That fault point represents the standard of
distance (kilometer) from the base station. This value displayed by display unit.

Figure 1.1: Block Diagram of Underground Cable Fault Detector

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Light Emitting Diode (LED)

Here, we have used the infrared sensor that consists of infrared transmitter which is one type of
LED, which emits infrared rays generally called as IR Transmitter. Similarly, IR Receiver is
used to receive the IR rays transmitted by the IR transmitter. One important thing is that, both IR
transmitter and receiver should be placed straight line to each other. The transmitted signal is
given to IR transmitter whenever the signal is high, the IR transmitter LED is conducting and
passes the IR rays to the receiver. The IR receiver is connected with comparator to feed input
signal.
Power Supply
The circuit uses standard power supply comprising of a step-down transformer from 230Vto 12V
and 4 diodes forming a bridge rectifier that delivers pulsating dc which is then filtered by an
electrolytic capacitor of about 470μF to 1000μF. The filtered dc being unregulated, IC LM7805
is used to get 5V DC constant at its pin no 3 irrespective of input DC varying from 7V to 15V.
The input dc shall be varying in the event of input ac at 230volts section varies from 160V to
270V in the ratio of the transformer primary voltage V1 to secondary voltage V2 governed by
the formula V1/V2=N1/N2. As N1/N2 i.e. no. of turns in the primary to the no. of turns in the
secondary remains unchanged V2 is directly proportional to V1. Thus, if the transformer delivers
12V at 220V input it will give 8.72V at 160V.Similarly at 270V it will give 14. 72V.Thus the dc
voltage at the input of the regulator changes from about 8V to 15V because of A.C voltage
variation from 160V to 270V the regulator output will remain constant at 5V. The regulated 5V
DC is further filtered by a small electrolytic capacitor of 10μF for any noise so generated by the
circuit. One LED is connected of this 5V point in series with a current limiting resistor of 330Ω
to the ground i.e., negative voltage to indicate 5V power supply availability. The unregulated
12V point is used for other applications as and when required.
Arduino
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 [5]. Its platform provides an integrated development environment
(IDE) based on the processing project, which includes support for C, C++ and Java programming

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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 [4]. 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 open the relay terminal and disconnect that faulty line only. Rest of the other
lines operates normally. Now a day’s embedded system changed meteorically. Arduino is the
advanced version of embedded system. These Arduino has ample types but we selected Arduino
UNO. These Arduino UNO helps to develop many advanced versions of Arduino UNO creates
user friendly environment. It is easily to adopt other devices using serial port.

Figure 3.2: Arduino UNO R3

Relay
Relay is nothing but an electrical device here which acted as a switch if any fault occurs in the
line, will disconnect the line using relay. The connector of the relay moves from normally close
conduct to the normally open conduct easily find the fault and to disconnect the fault line.

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Relay Driver Uln2003

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 [5]. It has high current carrying capability of about 500mA.

Figure 3.3: Relay Driver UIn2003

Liquid Crystal Display

Most common displays are 16*2 and 20*2 display. The standard refers to as HD44780U, which
refers to the controller chip which receives data from an external source (LCD) and
communicates with the LCD [4]. Display unit is connecting the Arduino kit which is used to
where the fault occurs and to display it.
Rectifier
It converts ac into pulsating dc with the help of a bridge rectifier. Rectifier is nothing but an
electronic device which used to convert an AC supply into DC supply. This project we were
using bridge rectifier.12V AC supply is converts into 12V DC supply. These voltage moves to
the regulator unit.

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Figure 3.4: Full Bridge Rectifier

Voltage Regulator
It is required to maintain a constant voltage level. Here we use 7805 voltage regulators.
Regulator is an electrical device which is used to maintain a constant voltage. Here we were
using two voltage regulators. Namely voltage regulator 7812 and voltage regulator 7805.7812
voltage regulator maintains the 12V DC supply. This voltage is enough to operate relay unit and
7805 voltage regulators maintains the 5V DC supply. This voltage is used to handle the Arduino
kit.

Figure 3.5: 7805 and 7812 Regulator Voltage

Transformer
Transformer is an electrical device that transfers electrical energy between two or more circuits
through electromagnetic induction. Generally, transformers are used to increase or decrease the
voltages of alternating current in electric power applications. This step-down voltage goes to
rectifier unit.
Buzzer
A buzzer or beeper is a signaling device, usually electronic, typically used in automobiles,
household appliances such as a microwave oven, or game shows. It most commonly consists of a

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number of switches or sensors connected to a control unit that determines if and which button
was pushed or a preset time has lapsed, and usually illuminates a light on the appropriate button
or control panel, and sounds a warning in the form of a continuous or intermittent buzzing or
beeping sound. Initially this device was based on an electromechanical system which was
identical to an electric bell without the metal gong (which makes the ringing noise). Often these
units were anchored to a wall or ceiling and used the ceiling or wall as a sounding board.
Another implementation with some AC-connected devices was to implement a circuit to make
the AC current into a noise loud enough to drive a loudspeaker and hook this circuit up to a
cheap 8-ohm speaker. Nowadays, it is more popular to use a ceramic-based piezoelectric sounder
like a Son alert which makes a high-pitched tone. Usually these were hooked up to "driver"
circuits which varied the pitch of the sound or pulsed the sound on and off.

Figure 3.6: Schematic Diagram of Alarm

3.1.2 Overall Operation of the Project

The project uses four sets of resistances in series representing cables i.e. R10, R11, R12, R13 and
R17, R16, R15, R14, then R21, R20, R19, R18, then R25, R24, R23, R22 one set for each phase.
Each series resistors represents the resistance of the underground cable for a specific distance
thus 4 such resistances in series represent 1-4kms. 3 relays are used to common point of their
contacts are grounded while the NO points are connected to the input of the R17, R21 & R25

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being the 3-phase cable input. R10 is fed with a series resistor R1 to 5v supply. The common
point of R10 & R1 is given to input pin of 6 of ADC0804.The four sets of resistances in series
representing cables i.e. R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5, R6, R7, R8 then R9, R10, R11, R12, then R13,
R15, R16, R17and twelve switches representing faults are simulated using PROTEUS. Switch
SW3 is closed. This results in a voltage drop across R19. While any of the 12switches
(representing as fault switches) are operated they impose conditions like line to ground (LG),
line to line (LL), line to line to line(3L) fault as per the switch operation. The program while
executed continuously scans by operating the 3relays in sequence of 1sec interval. Thus, any NO
point while driven to GND through the common contact point of the relay develops a current
flow through R1 & any of the cable by the fault switch depending on the created fault. Thus, the
voltage drop at the analog to digital (ADC) pin varies depending on the current flow which is
inversely proportional to the resistance value representing the length of cable in kilometers. This
varying voltage is fed to the ADC to develop an 8-bit data to the microcontroller port1. Program
while executed displays an output in the LCD display upon the distance of the fault occurring in
km. In a fault situation, it display’s R=3km if the 3km’s switch is made ON. Accordingly, all
other faults are indicated. Here the operation principle is described basically as: regular
conducting wire along with resistors is used to represent the power cable. Four switches and the
resistors have been inserted at regular intervals on the wire. These switches are used to create
faults. Power supply of +5V is provided from one end of the cable and an LED is attached to the
other as shown in Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7: Schematic of the Conducting Wire

Initially, all the switches are closed and the LED is ‘ON’. Potential drop across each resistor is
measured. As soon as a fault is created by opening a switch, potential across resistors succeeding
the opened switch becomes 0 and potential across resistors preceding the opened switch becomes

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+5V. The LED turns ‘OFF’. The potential across each resistor is fed to a micro-controller. In the
near future, we intend to interface an LCD with microcontroller displaying the potential values
across each resistor.

3.2 System Design and Analysis

The designed underground cable fault detection system uses ATMEGA Arduino
microcontroller, relays, switches and LCD display. At this stage, we have actually design the
block and describe actual implementation of a circuit and the block and finally collected them
into the complete working system.

Figure 3.8: System Model Diagram

Through several processes, we have shown the detailed designed components of our project.
The designed project integrates these components and ensures "underground cable fault
detection system". This overall designed circuit detects the perfect fault location through
fault creation switches across a series of resistors.

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Figure 3.9: Flowchart of Underground Cable Fault Detection

The final flow chart that we developed gives the detailed information about how the system can
be developed and how fault detecting purpose is performed. The system checks the fault
happening whether it is or not in normal condition. The Arduino microcontrollers send
information about the fault created at specific distance to LCD display. When fault occur across
a series of resistors at a particular distance condition the buzzer sound is ON to indicate fault and
protect human’s safety. Whenever a fault occurs the microcontroller sends a trip signal to the
relay and thereby protecting the electrical devices from burning. Relay is nothing but an

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electrical device here which acted as a switch if any fault occurs in the line, will disconnect the
line. From our final circuit, all the relays are connected to relay drivers, LCD displays with
Arduino microcontroller and finally all the set of resistors are connected also to Arduino to
provide analog voltage input. The LCD display that is interfaced to the Arduino microcontroller
is used to display the location of faults at a particular distance with their phase name.
Power supply circuit design
The power supply circuit design 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 3.10 shows the sequential process of designing a constant
DC power supply.

U2 V1
78L05 5V

+V
IN OUT

COM R1
1k

D4
LED0
D1
T1 18DB1
TRANS U1
78L12
+ IN OUT 12V
Vs1

+V
230V
COM
-
R2
2.2k

C1
1000uF
D3
LED0

Figure 3.10: Design of Power Supply Circuit

The input source is 230v single phase with frequency of 50HZ and this must be converted to 5v
Dc and 12v DC. The 5v in needed for the LCD, Switches, and Arduino Microcontroller.
Whereas 12v is for the relay driver and coil. After the bridge the 12 DC is with a high ripple and
is not smooth, and a shunt capacitor of 1000uf is a must to remove this ripple. The choice of the
capacitor value needs to fulfill a number of requirements. In the first case the value must be

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chosen so that its time constant is very much longer than the time interval between the successive
peaks of the rectified waveform:
RloadxC>>1f
Where:
Rload=the overall resistance of the load for the supply
C=value of capacitor in farads
f= the ripple frequency this will be twice the line frequency a full wave rectifier is used shown
below.
f= 2xline frequency
f= 2x50=100HZ
C>>1f x Rload
C>>1uF and we have taken 1000Uf
IC 7812 and 7805 are voltage regulators which are used to produce a fixed voltage of 5v and
12v.The 1k and 2.2k ohm resistors are used for safety purpose. The above designed circuit is
simulated on proteus software and the result is shown below. The bridge rectifier converts ac
voltage to dc voltage.
The advantages of bridge rectifiers are:
 The center tap of the transformer secondary is eliminated.
 It provides output twice that of center taps circuits for the same secondary voltage.
 The peak inverse voltage is one half of the center tapped circuits.
Choosing Diode
VREV (reverse voltage in diode) = VP-VF
VP = VO max + 2VF =12.6 + 2(0.7) = 14V
VREF = 14V – 0.7V = 13.3V
I (average forward current) = ILDC/2 = 35 mA
IFRM (forward repetitive current) = IL/t2 (t1+t2) =500mA
Now from datasheet 1N40001 is chosen
For 1N4001 IF (surge) =30mA
So, R surge =VP/I surge = 14V/30A=0.5ohm
Choose standard 1 ohm

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Designers recommend;
C2 = C3 = 0.1 µF
For proper output of IC7805
Rectification circuit
Outputs 12VDC for 70mA load
Let’s allow 10 % ripple for the rectified output
Then: - R ripple = 0.1*12V
V max = 12v +0.5(1.2v) =12.6v
V min=12v-0.5(1.2v) =11.4v
T=1/50HZ=20m sec
θ1=sin−1 ( 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛/𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥) = 65 ͦ
θ2 = 90 ͦ - 65 ͦ = 25 ͦ
t2 = charging time = (θ2/360) *T = 1.4 m sec
t1 =discharging time = (T/2) - t2 =8.6m sec
Then C1= (Il/Vr) * t1= (70mA*8.6m sec)/1.2V = 500 µF
Use standard C1 =470 µF
Assume silicon diode
Vf =07 v, Vdc = 5v
V primary = 220v and
Vr =10% of Vdc = 0.5v
So C1 = (IL* t1)/VR
But IL = V dc/ R l = 5v/500 =10mA and
Discharging time (t1) = 0.5T-t2
t2 (discharging time) = 1.17m sec
T (period) = 1/50
So t1=15.5m sec
C1= (10 Ma*15.5m sec)/0.5v=310nF
Diode Selection
P peak =V max +2Vforward
=5.25 +2*0.7

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=6.65v
For a full wave rectifier
V reverse = V p = 6.65v
I forward (average) = IL/2=5mA
IFRM is repetitive surge current
IFRM = (T* IL/2) t2=10(15.5+1.17)/1.17
=142.5mA
From data sheet
IFSM = 10A
So, R s = V p / IFSM = 6.65/10=0.667ohm =1ohm
12-Volt DC Power Supply
Vr = 0.1*Vdc
V max = 14.7 v
Vmin = 13.3v
Let I l= 100mA
θ1=sin−1 ( 𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑛/𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥) = 65 ͦ
θ2 = 90 ͦ - 65 ͦ = 25 ͦ
t2=charging time = (θ2/360) *T=1.4m sec
t1=discharging time= (T/2) - t2=8.6m sec
Then C1= (I l / Vr) * t1= (100mA*8.6m sec) /1.4=615µF
Choose Standard C1=1000 µF
RS=V p / I Surge= (V o max + 2Vf) / 30A= (14.7 + 1.4) / 30 = 0.54 ohm
Choose standard R = 1.2 ohm
Bridge Rectifier Ripple Voltage
Bridge Rectifier Ripple voltage is calculated using the equation: -
Where, I= the DC load current in amperes
f= the frequency of ripple or twice of the input frequency in Hertz, and
C =the capacitance in Farads.
The fundamental ripple voltage is twice that of the AC supply frequency (100Hz) where for the
half-wave rectifier it is exactly equal to the supply frequency (50Hz).

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Software Used
Proteus
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. We can simulate our programming of
microcontroller in Proteus 8 Simulation Software. After simulating our circuit in Proteus 8
Software you can directly make PCB design with it so it could be an all in one package for
students and hobbyists. So, I think now you have a little bit idea about what is proteus software.
Basically, PROTEUS is also simulating software but it helps us attach many components with
the Arduino. Like comparator, capacitors, LEDs (sensors), motor derivers, LCDs, keypads, ICs
etc. and these are just few that we have named in general. It has a complete library and we will
find everything that you will need. You can design your complete circuit and then simulate it to
view the final output.
Power (USB) and 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 your Arduino are the places where it will connect wires to construct a circuit probably in
conjunction with a breadboard and some wire. They usually have black plastic „headers‟ that
allow you to just plug a wire right into the board. 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. 5V (4) & 3.3V (5): As we might guess, the 5V pin supplies 5 volts
of power, and the 3.3V pin supplies 3.3 volts of power. Most of the simple components used
with the Arduino run happily off of 5 or 3.3 volts.
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.

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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.
Arduino Software
The Arduino IDE is a cross-platform application written in Java which is derived from the IDE
made for the Processing programming language and the Wiring project. 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. There is typically no need to edit Make files or run programs on the command line. The
Arduino IDE comes with a C / C++ library called “Wiring” (from the project of the same name),
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 runnable 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. The code written in
Arduino not be seen by a standard C++ compiler as a valid program, so when the user clicks the
“Upload to I/O board” button in the IDE, a copy of the code is written to a temporary file with an
extra include header at the top and a very simple main () function at the bottom, to make it a
valid C++ program. Since the IDE is pin oriented, we can quickly achieve our desired logic and
build a working model.

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Chapter Four
Results and Discussions
4.1 Software Simulation Results and Discussions
Simulation software is based on the process of modeling a real phenomenon with a set of
mathematical formulas. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an operation
through simulation without actually performing that operation. In this project, underground cable
fault detection system using Arduino microcontroller is proposed. For underground cable fault
and current detection system, a fault sensing circuit and current sensing circuits were designed
and the results have been verified with proteus simulation.
The results were as shown below:

Figure 4.1: Simulation Result for Single Phase

Result: In this method, the short circuit fault at a particular distance in the underground cable
can be located using simple concepts of OHM’s law enables to rectify fault efficiently. Circuit
can be tested with different resistor values to simulate various fault conditions. It displays exact
location of short circuit. Similarly, you can find the open circuit in a cable using capacitance
measurement technique.
Result displayed on LCD:

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Cable Fault
Res: 2.30 ohm
Dist: 114.84 Mtr
The LEDs glow indicates there is no fault in underground cable means the limit switches are
normally closed. Whereas the LEDs off indicates there a fault in underground cable and the limit
switches will be in the normally open state.

Figure 4.2: Simulation Result for Three Phases

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Chapter Five
Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Work
5.1 Conclusion
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 underground 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. To facilitate the development, the
preliminary investigation requirements and the essential segments to be verified are presented in
this paper. In this paper the exact location of short circuit fault at a particular distance in the
underground 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. It’s a difficult task to
identify the faults in underground cables. 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 and how long it’s affected and buzzer system is
used to create an alerting signal which is helpful to humans. Buzzer system create an alerting
sound signal, once if the fault occurs in the underground cable. A self-made hardware model
illustrating the concept of underground cable fault detection system has been demonstrated. In
this project, simple OHM’s law is used to locate the short circuit fault. A DC voltage is applied
at the feeder end through a series resistor, depending upon the length of fault of the cable current
varies. The voltage drop across the series resistor changes accordingly, this voltage drop is used
in determination of fault location. Generally Underground cables are used largely in urban area
instead of overhead lines. But We can’t easily identify the faults in the underground cables.
Therefore, this project deals with microcontroller, buzzer and LCD to sufficiently detect and
identify the faults in underground cables easily.

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5.2 Recommendations for Future work

The system can be further advanced by interfacing a Microcontroller and using sensors like
current, voltage and fault in the system that will inform about the position of the fault; thus,
provides easy location. This project provides a mechanism how to prevent cable fault detection by
using Arduino. In our project work we have done the prevention of short circuit fault using OHMS
law for the set of resistors. Along with potential, temperature will also be measured across each resistor.
The LCD will be interfaced with the micro-controller and the values of the potential and temperature
across each resistor will be displayed on the LCD screen. This project is a small implication of our
concept in protecting and underground short circuit cable fault detection system. The practical
applications of this project are immense and can have vast level of implementation. This project can
be implemented in a large scale to encompass or address the underground cable fault problem district
by using OHMS law with Arduino technology. This small concept can be also used in fields such as
power system, power system planning and operation and many other related fields where continuous
protection and detection of faults is needed. So, this is not the end of the project but rather is a step
towards exploring other possibilities that it brings with it. We feel very happy to work in such a
challenging project which has tremendous application and possibilities. We can further explore and
expand this project to detect other type of faults such as open circuit fault and earth fault in addition
to short circuit fault for the future thesis.

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References
[1]. Raghu Raja Kalia, Preeti Abrol, ’Design and implementation of wireless live wire fault
detector and protection in remote areas’, IEEE, (2014), vol. 97, No.17
[2]. Touaibia.I, Azzag.E, Narjes.O,’Presentation of HVA faults in SONELGAZ underground
network and methods of faults diagnostic and faults location’, IEEE, (2014).
[3]. Pooja.P.S, Lekshmi.M,’Fault detection technique to pinpoint incipient fault for
Underground cables, IEEE (2015), vol.3. Cable Fault
[4]. Dhekale.P.M, Bhise.S. S,’Underground Distance Locator’, IJIER, (2015), Vol.2.
[5]. Darvhankar.G. S, Gharpande.A. S, Bhope.S. D, Meshram.A. S, Bobad.A,’Study of 3-ph
Underground Cable Fault Locator Using Acoustic Method’, SJIF, (2015), Vol. 2.
[6]. Gilany, Mahmoud, Doaa Khalil Ibrahim, and El Sayed Tag Eldin. "Traveling-wave-based
fault-location scheme for multiend-aged underground cable system." Power Delivery, IEEE
Transactions on 22.1 (2007): 82-89.

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Appendices
Appendix A
Source Code for Single Phase
/*
circuits4you.com
Arduino Based Underground Cable Fault Detection
*/
// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
Liquid Crystal lcd (7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2);
const double Rc = 0.01; //Cable Resistance per meter its 0.01 Ohm/Mtr
void setup () {
// set up the LCD's number of columns and rows:
lcd. Begin (16, 4);
// Print a message to the LCD.
lcd. Print (" Cable Fault”);
}
void loop () {
double Vx= (5.0/1024.0) * analog Read(A0); //Voltage across Rx
double Rx = Vx / (1.25/12); //Cable Resistance (1.25/R2) =I Constant Current Source
//Display Cable Resistance
lcd. set Cursor (0, 1); // set the cursor to column 0, line 2
lcd. Print("Res:");
lcd. Print(Rx);
lcd. Print (" Ohm");
//Display Fault Location
lcd. set Cursor (0, 2); // set the cursor to column 0, line 3
lcd. Print("Dist:");

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lcd. Print((Rx/Rc)/2); //Find Location of Fault

lcd. Print (" Mtr");
}
Appendix B
Source Code for Three Phases
// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);
// define phase control pins
int phase[3] = {7, 8, 9};
//*********************************************************
int distance(int inputVoltage) {
if (inputVoltage >= 890 && inputVoltage < 920) {
return 8;
}
else if (inputVoltage >= 850 && inputVoltage < 890) {
return 6;
}
else if (inputVoltage >= 750 && inputVoltage < 850) {
return 4;
}
else if (inputVoltage >= 600 && inputVoltage < 750) {
return 2;
}
else return 0 ;
}
//*********************************************************
void setup() {
// set up the LCD's number of columns and rows:

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lcd.begin(16, 2);
// set pin mode for phase relays
for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
pinMode(phase[j], OUTPUT);
}
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(phase[0], HIGH);
delay(500);
int dist1 = distance(analogRead(A0));
if (dist1 == 0) {
lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
lcd.write("R: ");
lcd.setCursor(3, 0);
lcd.write("NF ");
}
else {
lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
lcd.write("R: ");
lcd.setCursor(3, 0);
lcd.print(dist1);
lcd.setCursor(4, 0);
lcd.write(" KM");
}
digitalWrite(phase[0], LOW);
//================================================
digitalWrite(phase[1], HIGH);
delay(500);
int dist2 = distance(analogRead(A0));
if (dist2 == 0) {

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lcd.setCursor(8, 0);
lcd.write("Y: ");
lcd.setCursor(11, 0);
lcd.write("NF ");
}
else {
lcd.setCursor(8, 0);
lcd.write("Y: ");
lcd.setCursor(11, 0);
lcd.print(dist2);
lcd.setCursor(12, 0);
lcd.write(" KM");
}
digitalWrite(phase[1], LOW);
//==================================================
digitalWrite(phase[2], HIGH);
delay(500);
int dist3 = distance(analogRead(A0));
if (dist3 == 0) {
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.write("B: ");
lcd.setCursor(3, 1);
lcd.write("NF ");
}
else {
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.write("B: ");
lcd.setCursor(3, 1);
lcd.print(dist3);
lcd.setCursor(4, 1);

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lcd.write(" KM");
}
digitalWrite(phase[2], LOW);
}

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