Type D travelling wave fault location on branched underground low‐voltage networks

Abstract

Low voltage cable faults are frequently associated with arcing at the fault which creates 2 high frequency transients which propagate away from the fault towards opposite ends of the cable and whose difference in arrival times can be used to determine the fault's location using the Type D method. A variant of the Type D method, known as the Transient Recording System (TRS) using asynchronous data acquisition units (ADAU) has been used successfully in situations where multiple branches on a cable have precluded the use of other travelling wave methods. The range, and precision of location, of the TRS method is extended by the use of a Marker Unit (MU) which allows the distance and direction to a fault to be determined relative to the point of connection of the MU. The asynchronous data acquisition units operate in ‘listening’ mode and are triggered by the arrival of the transients created by the fault arc. Prior to triggering, the ADAUs continuously (over)write all received data into their cyclic buffers, including the low amplitude MU pulses. Shortly after triggering the (over)writing of the cyclic buffer stops and earlier (pre‐trigger) data retained – including the received MU pulses.