Case Study: Traveling-Wave
Fault Locating for a HVDC
Transmission Line
Paulo Lima
Regional Technical Manager – Brazil
© 2023 Customer Company and SEL
Overview
Introduction to TWFL
TWFL for IE Madeira ± 600 kV HVDC
transmission line
– System characteristics
– Existing ABB LFL system
– Challenges for applying SEL devices in DC
– Proposed pilot project
– Field results
– Automatic TWFL for HVDC
DETWFL 𝑡 𝐿 −𝑡 𝑅
𝐿𝐿
𝑀= [1+ ]
2 𝑇𝑊𝐿𝑃𝑇
Fault
GNSS clock Relay-to-relay GNSS clock
communication
Relay S Relay R
TWFL for AC Transmission Lines
Current Arrival
Time-of- Time
i(t) Smoother is(t) Differentiator dis/dt
d/dt Peak ta
(LPF)
Estimator
i dis/dt
i(t)
is(t)
dis/dt
t t
ta
Madeira River
Transmission
System
Conversora
Connects two hydro power Porto Velho
plants to Southeast region (CPV)
– Jirau (3.3 GW)
– Santo Antonio (3,1 GW).
2 x ± 600 kV HVDC lines Araraquara
(ARA)
– Bipole 1
– Bipole 2
2401.8 km long
IE Madeira 2400 km, ± 600 kV HVDC Bipole
Por to Velh o Ara raquar a
500 kV S ubsta tion 500 kV S ubsta tion
- 600 kV Tran smission Line
15 mH 15 mH
2 x 958 MVA DC DC 2 x 958 MVA
500/258 kV Filte rs Filte rs 500/258 kV
Bipo le 2
300 mH 300 mH
Electrode Line Electrode Line
300 mH 300 mH
10 µF 10 µF
2 x 958 MVA DC DC 2 x 958 MVA
500/258 kV Filte rs Filte rs 500/258 kV
15 mH + 600 kV Tran smission Line 15 mH
Bipo le 1 – Same as B ipole 2
Existing ABB Line
Faul Locator (LFL)
AC DC
DC AC
Main components 𝑖𝑐 Couplin g
capacitor
Curren t
sensor
– Coupling capacitor
Pea k Pea k
– Current sensor detecto r detecto r
Sub station ya rd
– Peak detector Control house
Trigger Trigger
– Trigger I/O I/O I/O
SDH SDH
– GPS Clock GPS
clock
GPS
clock
– Main LFL computer HVDC
protection
Main LFL compu ter system Main LFL compu ter
– Server
Ser ver (HMI and Ser ver (HMI and
stor age) stor age)
LFL Panel LFL Panel
2,900 pF Coupling capacitor at Current sensor
Araraquara Substation 0.5 Hz to 500 MHz
Output: voltage
Ratio: 0.1 V/A
Maximum peak current: 10 kA
ABB LFL
LFL System Limitations
Lack of transient recording
Number of components and their obsolescence
Expensive repairs
Obsolete OS
Quality of SEL 1 MHz transient records and Bewley
diagram caught the attention of IE Madeira
Challenges for Applying SEL Devices in the
IE Madeira HVDC Line
Line length is beyond the Line
Length setting of our devices
Current sensor provides a
voltage output
Voltage step Couplin g Output vol tag e
change du e to capacitor Curren t of the current
a fa ult current sensor sensor
Proposed TWFL – Pilot Project
UHS Relay (SEL-T400L) for AC DC
transient recording DC Couplin g
capacitor
AC
Curren t
TWVDD and IN101 for sensor
triggering the event record UHS
Relay
UHS
Relay
Server computer collects and IRIG-B
GPS GPS
IRIG-B
stores IEEE COMTRADE clock Sub station ya rd clock
files Control house
HVDC
DETWFL is performed offline Ser ver (HMI
and sto rage)
protection
system
ETH ETH
switch IE Mad eira switch
backbone
Sensor Compatibility with T400L
Voltage Input
UHS Relay
VAN VBN VCN IA IB IC
Pulse
Curren t Gen erator
sensor
Pilot Project Field Installation
Field Results
#Fault 1
October 5th 2022
#Fault 1
October 5th 2022
tR
tL
tRR
tRL
tLR
tLL
#Fault 1
October 5th 2022
tR
tL
DETWFL result
obtained by using four
TW arrival times (tLL,
tRR, tRR and tRR) for
improved FL
tRR
tRL
tLR
tLL
#Fault 2
July 18th 2023
#Fault 2 July
18th 2023
tR
tL
DETWFL result
obtained by using four
TW arrival times (tLL,
tRR, tRR and tRR) for
improved FL
tRR
tRL
tLR
tLL
Field Results for
Stagged Faults
#Staged
Fault 1 tL
tR
tLL
tLR
tRL
tRR
Summary of Fault Locations for
Staged Faults
Low-Energy Events
Low-Energy Event in the HVDC Line – 1T
Initi al traveling wave
from the low-ene rgy
event
16,159.0 µs
Reflection from the
remote ter min al
Natural sp ikes fro m
the HV DC system
Low-Energy Event in the HVDC Line
Bewley
Diagram for
Low-Energy
Event
tR
tL
tRL
tLR
Providing Automatic
Fault Location
Automatic TW Fault Location System
COMTRADE
Files
UHS UHS
Relay Relay
IRIG-B IRIG-B
GPS GPS
clock Sub station ya rd clock
Control house
RTA C
ETH ETH
switch IE Mad eira switch
backbone
SCADA
CSV File with Historical FL Data
ARA FL CPV FL
Time_Stamp [km] [km] Location_Type TW_Time_ARA TW_Time_CPV Status
DT#2022-03-30- DT#2022-03-30- DT#2022-03-30-
18:10:52.833600 1371.831 1209.969 EVENT_LOCATION 18:10:52.833508 18:10:52.832358 OK
DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09-
11:02:41.634500 664.623 1737.176 FAULT_LOCATION 11:02:41.634426 11:02:41.638034 OK
DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09-
11:02:49.906700 1125.096 1276.704 FAULT_LOCATION 11:14:49.906688 11:14:49.907198 OK
DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09- DT#2022-11-09-
11:48:55.636500 1505.305 896.494 FAULT_LOCATION 11:48:55.636435 11:48:55.634387 OK
DT#2023-06-18- DT#2023-06-18- DT#2023-06-18-
04:47:00.137644 1239.099 1162.701 FAULT_LOCATION 04:47:00.137557 04:47:00.137300 OK
Summary of Automatic FL Results for
the Staged Faults
Automatic System Tests
SEL Solution is Getting Attention
Questions?
