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Su Wei1, Gong Yanfeng1, Li Yan1
1. North China Electric Power University, Beijing102206, China

Abstract—This paper presents a novel traveling-wave-based
fault location algorithm for a hybrid multi-terminal HVDC
system. Traveling-wave-based line fault location in hybrid
circuits is a challenging task because the impedance is
discontinuous in the point of overhead lines and cables which
makes the reflection wave recognition more difficult. This
algorithm can identify the faulty branch correctly and locate the
distance accurately only by using the arrival time of the initial
traveling wave. And corresponding simulation cases were
carried out to verify this algorithm has good robustness which is
not affected by fault distance, fault resistance, fault type and
faulty line.
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I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, distributed generation has been increasing
in proportion to power generation, and the number of DC loads
is increasing. Using cable to transmit power not only can
increase the transmission capacity of the line, but also can
reduce the pressure on the line channel, improve the channel
utilization, simplify the network connection [1~3]. With the
development of urban power grid, the proportion of cable lines
in the power grid is increasing gradually, so the hybrid line
consisting of overhead lines and cables is increasing. Accurate
and quick fault location algorithm is necessary to prevent more
economic losses when a line fault occurs in a hybrid
multi-terminal HVDC system [4].
The traveling-wave-based fault location principle has been
successfully applied to transmission line fault location because
of the advantages of less effect of fault resistance and fault
location. Traveling-wave-based line fault location in hybrid
circuits is a challenging task because the impedance is
discontinuous in the point of overhead lines and cables which
makes the reflection wave recognition more difficult [5~8].
The two-terminal method, which makes use of only the initial
surge generated by the fault, is far more reliable and accurate
than the single-terminal method which requires the use of
secondary reflections [9]. Therefore, it is generally necessary
to use two-terminal method to realize accurate and reliable
transmission line fault location.
In this paper, a new algorithm is proposed for fault location
in a hybrid multi-terminal HVDC system consisting of one
overhead line and multiple cables. The remainder of this paper
is organized as follows: in Section Ċ, the line fault-location
algorithm is provided. In Section ċ, the simulation case is
showed. And the conclusion is stated in Section Č.
II. PROCEDURE FOR PAPER SUBMISSION
A multi-terminal HVDC system consisting of an overhead
line, collector bus and several cables is showed in Figure 1.
The multi-terminal is labeled as 1~N. These lines are
connected to a common point o. The lengths of each line is
known as L1~LN, and the wave traveling times in each line are
known as IJ1~IJN.
Overhead line
2
Overhead line 0
1 cable
3
cable
N
Figure 1. hybrid multi-terminal transmission line
A. Identification of faulty branch
Assume that the fault occurs at time t0 in line 1, the distance
from fault location to terminal 1 is Xf and the time from fault
location to terminal is IJXf. The arrival times of the initial
traveling wave at each terminal are given by t1~tN. So each of
these travel times can be expressed as follow:
­ t1 =W Xf +t 0
°
° t 2 =W 1  W Xf +W 2 +t 0
® (1)
° #
° t =W  W +W +t
¯ N 1 Xf N 0
For canceling out fault inception time t0, tmn is defined as
tmn tm  tn (2)
Therefore, the time differences can be shown by
subtraction of any two arrival times:

‹,(((
 N
­ t 12 =2W X  W 1  W 2 ¦ (tmn  W m  W n )
°
f

n 1, n z m
° t 23 =W 2  W 3 WX (7)
® (3)
f
2 u ( N  1)
° #
Where m is the faulty branch, n is other non-faulty branch, N
° t ( N 1) N =W N 1  W N
¯ is the number of the transmission lines.
Then the distance can be expressed as
The differences between each pair of the wave traveling
times in transmission are defined as which are known a priori. WX
Xf Lm u (8)
f

By comparing tmn and IJmn can find the differences between

Wm
each tmn and IJmn of non-faulty branch is the same.
Applying (3) to an N order matrix can be shown as: C. The processing of fault location
Start
ª0 t 12 " t 1N º
«t 0 " t2N »
't= « »
21 Decouple the current signal and obtain
(4) mode-1 current
«# # % # »
« »
¬ t N1 t N2 " 0 ¼ Capture the arrival time (t) of the
initial traveling wave
In order to identify the faulty branch better, form a matrix ǻ
denotes the ratio of the tmn and IJmn. Matrix ǻ is shown as:
Form the time differences matrix ‘t
ªu t 12 t 13
"
t 1N º
« W 12 W 13 W 1N »
« » Form the matrix ‘to identify the
« t 21 t 23 t2N » faulty branch

«W u "
W 23 W 2N »
« 21 »
' = « t 31 t 32 t3N » (5) Y
«W u " »
If all the elements are The fault is occur on
W 32 W 3N equal to one the common point o
« 31 »
« # # # % # »
N
« »
« t N1 t N2 t N3
" u »
«¬ W N1 W N2 W N3 »¼ If the elements are not
equal to one are in the
N
Fail to find the
faulty branch
same row/column
When fault occurs on the line 1, elements in row 1 and
column 1 in matrix ǻ are not equal to one. On the contrary, the
other elements in matrix ǻ are equal to one if ignoring error. So Y
the matrix to identify the faulty branch can be shown as:
Calculate the distance from
the fault location to terminal
Finish
ªu z1 z1 " z 1º
«z 1 u =1 " =1 » Figure 2. Faulty branch identification and fault calculation method
« »
' « z 1 =1 u " =1 » (6) Through the analysis of the first two sections, the main
« » steps of the fault location algorithm are shown as follow:
«# # # % #
» 1) Using the Karenbauer’s transformation to decouple the
«¬ z 1 =1 =1 " u »¼ current signal and obtain mode-1 current which is relatively
According to (6), the faulty branch identifying principle of stable and can reduce the effect of the outside environmental
multi-terminal can be concluded as: excepting the main parameters [10~12].
diagonal, elements of faulty row and column are not equal to 1 2) Using modulus maxima of discrete wavelet transform
and other elements are equal to one. If all the elements are (DWT) method to capture the arrival time (t) of the initial
equal to one, the fault is occur on the common point o. traveling wave. In this paper, db4 mother wavelet is used to
B. Calculation of fault distance deal with all the current signal.
Once the faulty branch is identified, the time that the fault 3) Calculating the time differences (tmn) between each pair
traveling wave propagate from the fault location to the of the wave traveling times by (2) and forming the time
terminal can be calculated by differences matrix ǻW like (4).
 4) The ratio of the tmn and IJmn are calculated and forming
the matrix ǻ by (5). ª 0 -214 131 -77 º
« 214 0 345 137 »
5) Excepting the main diagonal, if all the elements are not 'W = « » (9)
equal to one are in the same row f and column f, and the faulty « -131 -345 0 -208 »
branch is f. If all the elements are equal to one, the fault is «¬ 77 -137 208 0 ¼
»
occur on the common point o.
6) Using (7) and (8) to calculate the distance from the fault B. Simulation result
location to the terminal once the faulty branch is identified. Assuming a single pole grounding fault is located 50km
The steps of the fault location algorithm can be conclude DZD\IURPWHUPLQDO)DXOWUHVLVWDQFHLVVHWDVȍ
by Figure 2. Using the Karenbauer’s transformation to decouple the
current signal and Figure 4 shows the mode-1 current signal
D. Amendment principle of identified matrix
which is the wave traveling propagate from fault location to
In practical engineering, the environment and other factors each terminal.
will cause the error in the calculation. In order to eliminate the
influence of various factors, a certain error margin need to use 0.8

in the matrix. 0.7

1
2
3

Error margin is set as İ and an element in the identified 0.6

4

matrix is a, so the corrected value is: 0.5

1) 1-H d a d 1+H , correct a equal to one; 0.4

2) a<1-H ‰ a>1+H , correct a not equal to one.

0.3

0.2

Generally, the error margin is not very large. In general, 0.1

the error margin is 0.05.
0

III. SIMULATED CASE STUDY -0.1

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Time
A. Simulation model
A schematic diagram of a four-terminal VSC-HVDC Figure 4. Mode-1 current signal
system is shown in Figure 3 and the simulation is carried out
Figure 5 shows the high frequency information after DWT.
with PSCAD/EMTDC. The HVDC transmission line consists
Daubechies-4(db4) mother wavelet in scale 16 is used in the
of one overhead line branch of 100km in length and three cable
transformation. Using modulus maxima method to obtain the
branch of 80, 30 and 60km in length. Because of the high
arrival time of traveling wave.
frequency of single pole grounding fault, this paper use single
pole grounding fault in simulation. Sampling frequency is set 5
10
-6

as 1MHz which means sampling period is 1us. Error margin is

4
X: 638
3 Y: 4.894e-06

set as 0.05.
2

1
T1

-1

F 80km Convertor -2

Convertor 100km 0 Station 2 -3

Station 1 -4

30km Convertor -5
3
10
-6 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Station 3
2
X: 442
Y: 2.853e-06

60km Convertor 1

Station 4
T2

-1

Figure 3. Four-terminal VSC-HVDC system -2

-3
-6 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
10
2

The wave traveling times in transmission lines are shown 1.5

in table. 1. 1

0.5
T3

TABLE 1. WAVE TRAVELING TIME -0.5

X: 511
-1
Y: -1.595e-06

branch 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 -1.5

time(us) 335 549 204 412

-2
-8 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
10
2.5

X: 721

The differences between each pair of the wave traveling

1.5

1
Y: 2.029e-08

times in transmission can be calculated and form a matrix ǻIJ. 0.5

T4

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Time

Figure 5. Obtain arrival time after DWT

 The arrival time of the initial traveling wave at each Set single pole grounding fault 50km away from terminal 2,
terminal are shown in table. 2. and the fault resistances are 0.1¡, 10¡and 100¡, respectively.
The results of calculation is shown in table. 4.
TABLE 2. ARRIVAL TIME OF THE TRAVELING WAVE
TABLE 4. DIFFERENT FAULT RESISTANCE
Terminal 1 2 3 4
Arrival time 638 442 511 721 fault resistance(¡) Xf(km) absolute error(m) Relative error
0.1 49.885. -115 0.14%
C. Fault location result 10 49.885 -115 0.14%
Calculating the differences between the arrival times which 100 49.885 -115 0.14%
are given by table. 2 and forming the matrix ǻW.
3) Fault in different transmission line
ª 0 196 127 83 º Set single pole grounding fault 50km away from terminal 1,
« 196 2 and 4, respectively. The fault resistance is 10¡The results
0 69 279 »
't « » (10) of calculation is shown in table. 5.
« 127 69 0 210 »
« » TABLE 5. DIFFERENT TRANSMISSION LINE
¬ 83 279 210 0 ¼
Transmission line Xf(km) absolute error(m) Relative error
The ratio of ǻW and ǻIJ is the identified matrix ǻ.
L1 49.602. -398 0.40%
ª u 0.9158 0.9694 1.0479 º L2 49.885 -115 0.14%
« 0.9158 L4 50.103 103 0.13%
u 0.2 2.0365 »
' « » (11) Analyzing the result in table. 3, 4 and 5 can show the
« 0.9694 0.2 u 1.0096 »
« » proposed fault location algorithm has satisfactory accuracy in
¬ 1.0479 2.0365 1.0096 u ¼ different condition. In practice, the facts of external
And according to amendment principle of identified matrix, environment may lead to inaccurate fault location which
ǻ can be change to (10). include synchronization error of GPS, sampling frequency,
noise, etc.
ª u z 1 =1 =1 º
« z 1 u z 1 z 1» IV. CONCLUSION
' « » (12) A fault location algorithm for star-connected hybrid
« =1 z 1 u =1 »
« » multi-terminal VSC-HVDC transmission system has been
¬ =1 z 1 =1 u ¼ proposed in this paper. The measures are provided using
In (10), all the elements in row 2 and column 2 are not current transducers and obtain mode-1 current signal by using
equal to one, and other elements are equal to one. So the fault is the Karenbauer’s transformation. The arrival time of fault
occur on the branch 2-0. traveling wave is detected by modulus maxima of discrete
wavelet transform (DWT) method. The fault location
The distance from fault location to terminal 2 is calculated
as algorithm is explained in detail in section Ċ . And a
simulation case is showed in section ċ.
Xf 49.885km (13) This algorithm has the following characteristics:
So the fault location is occur 49.885km away from terminal 1) Only using the arrival time of the initial traveling wave
2. The absolute error between the calculated value and the real can identify the faulty branch and locate the distance.
value is 115m. Relative error is 0.14%. 2) The fault distance is calculated by taking the average
value of every two terminal, so it has good accuracy.
D. Analysis in different condition 3) This algorithm has good robustness which is not affected
1) Different fault distance by fault distance, fault resistance and faulty line.
Set single pole grounding fault in line 2, and the fault
distances are 20km, 50km and 70km, respectively. The fault REFERENCES
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