A Critical Review on a Paper Entitled Compensation of Earth Faults in Ungrounded Systems by Tanu

Rizvi and M.T. Deshpande

March 22, 2015
Edu Daryl C. Maceren MSEE 1

Ungrounded systems nowadays are obsolete or at least very few. This is because a high fault
current doesnt decay quickly by itself as it occurs in an ungrounded system and its difficult to isolate a
faulty region from the system without any link to ground. The earth or ground is an infinite conductor and
it acts as a sink where excess current would flow. The ground plays an important role in system
protection and it has a huge part in system stability. However, if there would be a means to extract the
fault current in an ungrounded system, then we need a device that would compensate or make-use of the
fault current. Also, it should be considered that the device must detect a fault current fast enough to sense
the high energy that comprises the fault. Perhaps, there are some safety issues to ungrounded equipment.
One of the common issues in ungrounded systems is the selectivity of protective devices to be used. Due
to the absence of the ground, chances are the protective device would fail to protect where its supposed
to and so the fault could destroy the other parts of the system. People who are working in the system are
not safe if the equipments or components are ungrounded.
In this research paper, present techniques for faulty feeder detection is presented. According to
the authors that the present technique to detect faulty feeder is by voltmeter method. Protective relays
were not even discussed which are very important in system protection. Through protective relays,
engineers can identify the location of the fault and restore of the system after some actions of fixing the
fault. This method is time consuming according the authors. They made a simulation that allow them to
see the behavior of the voltage and current under fault condition and compare the results to the system
with a lightning arrester as a fault compensating device.
The research paper introduces a method to compensate and neutralize a fault current by using a
Peterson coil and lightning arresters that are obviously connected to the ground. Unfortunately, there
are no further definition or some explanations about Peterson coil. Also there is no discussion that
explains its effects to the system nor its disadvantages. The authors also talk about the application of
lightning arresters as fault suppressant. Lighting arrester is a protective device that prevents an electrical
system from surge or high current caused by lightning. It is basically connected to the ground.
Unfortunately, in the research paper, there is no schematic diagram of the said simulation.
In the presentation of the simulation, there is no explicit discussion that pertains the results.
Simulation results are just presented with the figures based on computer softwares named
PSCAD/EMTDC. Another important part of the paper isnt presented is the theoretical framework that
would provide the reader some insight about what is the theory behind the research.
When lightning or a fault occurs in the system, sensitive equipments are saved by the arrester.
The arrester diverts the fault current to the ground. However, it only protects the equipments that are
connected in parallel with it. The lightning arrester is made-up of Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV), a

semiconductor that is very sensitive to transient voltage. During normal voltages the MOV disks in a
lightning arrester will not conduct a current unless a high voltage causes the MOV to ionize and becomes
a conductor. In other words, it behaves as a very fast switch when a fault energizes it.
In the conclusion, the authors stated that the fault compensation can be done with the use of
Lightning arresters, though the challenge is to determine the actual fault location. One feature of this
technique of system protection of an ungrounded system is that it maintains a quality electricity even
under fault condition. There are infinite applications of lightning arresters. Perhaps soon we could develop
a protective device that is derived from a lighting arresters that is still capable of detecting a fault current
without utilizing protective relay. Furthermore, ungrounded system may not be a concern when the
system has a lightning arrester installed in parallel with its components.
This research paper promotes some further studies regarding lightning arresters through
simplification of the protection scheme. The author stated that changes in voltage and current can be
analyzed for different fault conditions to determine the fault conditions and its location. Lighting arresters
can be improved more make it an intelligent device by using microcontrollers and microprocessors with
the use of computer softwares. Protective relay may be incorporate in a LA to reduce the complexity of
the system protection design without compromising the reliability of the system.