Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | NIA_UKPN0019 | |
| Title | OHL Fault Location Concept and Directional Earth Fault Passage Indication | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 100%; | |
| Research Types | Applied Research and Development 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Project Contact No email address given Eastern Power Networks plc |
|
| Award Type | Network Innovation Allowance | |
| Funding Source | Ofgem | |
| Start Date | 01 May 2016 | |
| End Date | 01 September 2018 | |
| Duration | 28 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £2,585,000 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Power | |
| Region | London | |
| Programme | Network Innovation Allowance | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Project Contact , Eastern Power Networks plc (99.999%) |
| Other Investigator | Project Contact , South Eastern Power Networks plc (0.001%) |
|
| Web Site | http://www.smarternetworks.org/project/NIA_UKPN0019 |
|
| Objectives | The project aims to further reduce search times by identifying that permanent faults as being down a particular spur, or locating them to a particular location between sectionalisation points on the main line. Secondly, it aims to demonstrate that developing or "incipient" faults can be reliably detected. The project will be deemed to have been successful when: at least one developing or "incipient" fault has been detected; the combination of Fault Passage Indicators, Tollgrade Lighthouse Power Sensors and existing equipment is successfully discriminating the correct spur which has faulted, or identifying that the fault is on the main line; and in the latter case, is providing a location estimate. | |
| Abstract | Faults on overhead lines are responsible for a significant proportion of all Customer Interruptions (CI) and Customer Minutes Lost (CML) in EPN and SPN. Such faults tie up resources, are time-consuming to locate and adversely impact customer service. It is evident therefore that if the overall number of faults on overhead lines could be reduced and if the restoration of supplies following an outage could be sped up, then substantial benefits to operational efficiency and quality of supply could be achieved. Even though we are increasing the number of points on our overhead lines where we can split up or sectionalise the network, significant search time is required to locate faults along the network between two sectionalisation points. Single faults can typically be repaired in 1-2hrs but they can take several hours (6-10hrs) to locate, especially if they are intermittent, are in a hostile environment or are at night. This problem becomes even more acute during storm periods when many incidents occur in a short space of time. Faults can occur on overhead lines for a wide variety of reasons such as contact with trees, bird strikes, insulation failure and high winds. Traditional methods of detecting developing or "incipient" fault location rely on foot patrols traversing the length of the line but these often fail to pick up internal failures such as cracked or pinholes in insulators, damaged conductors and surge arrestors. Difficulties in detecting both developing or "incipient" faults and permanent fault location are compounded by land access problems, a proliferation of "teed" circuits, a combination of overhead line and underground cable circuits, the accuracy of existing detection mechanisms and the inability to connect test equipment easily. The project will develop functionality to detect faults, determine their direction whether upstream or downstream of the sensors, and estimate the location of the fault using the following equipment and techniques. It will be carried out in the following phases: Phase 1a: Tollgrade’s LightHouse Power Sensors and additional Fault Passage Indicators which report via SCADA into our control room will be installed. Where possible, existing items of equipment (existing remote terminal units (RTUs) which can be upgraded) will be modified to report estimates of distance to a fault. Phase 1b: Tollgrade will enhance the LightHouse SMS software and LightHouse Power Sensor firmware to report directionality of fault events based on the phase angle of the captured faults. Software and firmware deployed during phase 1a will be remotely upgraded. As fault events are detected, the enhanced solution will demonstrate the reporting of the direction of fault current from each sensor location. The location of faults in the upstream or downstream direction will be confirmed by associated UK Power Networks records following outage resolution. Phase 2: Fault Library and Fault LocationTollgrade will enhance their LightHouse SMS software to calculate distance to fault based on the readings from the LightHouse Power Sensors. In addition, the LightHouse Power Sensors will capture, time stamp and communicate critical measurements and event waveforms back to the LightHouse SMS software. This will allow UK Power Networks and Tollgrade to evaluate the reliability with which these are representative of developing or incipient faults, and to configure alarms via text or email toassigned personnel. The data will remain in the LightHouse SMS software as a repository, where it will also be used to understand whether it is possible to recognise the type of event or failure from the data captured.Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above | |
| Data | No related datasets |
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| Projects | No related projects |
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| Publications | No related publications |
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| Added to Database | 14/09/18 | |
