2004 International Conference on

Power System Technology - POWERCON 2004

Singapore, 21-24 November 2004

Condition Monitoring System

for TransGrid 330kV Power Cable
Steven Jones, George Bucea, Andrew McAlpine
Masaharu Nakanishi, Shoji Mashio, Hidehiko Komeda, Atsuhide Jinno
for CMS architecture introduced a series of new and innovative
functions designed to supervise and control the operating
parameters of the cable and to limit the likelihood of a cable
failure.

Abstract -- A Condition Monitoring System (CMS) has been

designed and installed as part of a new 330kV power cable
circuit in Sydney, Australia by TransGrid and J-Power Systems
Corp (JPS). The principal aim of the CMS is to provide real
time monitoring of cable conditions, and to assist in asset
management to ensure reliable cable operation. The major
features of the CMS are the cable temperature monitoring and
prediction functions based on a Distributed Temperature
Sensing System (DTS) and fluid pressure monitoring system.
This paper describes the CMS as specified and implemented by
TransGrid and JPS.

II. CMS OVERVIEW

The objectives of the CMS are to:
Improve cable reliability through the early detection of
potential faults
Extend the lifetime of the cable system by enabling
improved cable management through real time
condition monitoring and trend prediction.
Reduce operational cost of the cable system
Increase automatic supervision and asset utilization.

Index Terms -- Condition Monitoring System, Distributed

Temperature Sensing System

I. INTRODUCTION

Based on these objectives the CMS for Cable 42, as

described
in this paper, was designed to acquire, validate,
ransGrid has recently commissioned a 330kV power cable
(Cable 42, Fig 1) designed to meet the growing need for evaluate and record electrical, physical and environmental
electricity supply to Sydney Central Business District parameters to which the cable system is subjected, predict
(CBD). As a part of this project the cable has been specified to future trends and provide dynamic rating capabilities. The
include a number of monitoring features and systems CMS is divided into three major subsystems as follows:
Cable Temperature Monitoring & Prediction based on
incorporated in a multifunctional Condition Monitoring
DTS system
System (CMS) manufactured by JPS.
Fluid Pressure Monitoring via distributed pressure
The cable conceptual design included a comprehensive CMS,
sensors and gauges.
which was developed and tested on a specially implemented
R&D trial installation simulating the entire range of
Integrated Supervisory & Historical Database & GUI.
hypothetical operating conditions related to both hydraulic and
thermal parameters.
The 28km cable route runs between an existing 330/132kV
Sydney South substation and a new 330/132kV indoor
substation built at Haymarket in the Sydney CBD and consists
of four independent and phase segregated hydraulic sections as
shown in Fig 2. The cable circuit is predominately installed
Haymarket
direct buried in-ground apart from a 3.6 km tunnel section in
330/132kV Substation
the Sydney CBD[2].
Sydney
CBD
The two substations are interconnected via an optical fiber
cable network dedicated to the CMS. A DTS unit is located at
the end of the cable to monitor the temperature of the cable and
environment along the route. A local controller is located at the
end of each hydraulic section to transmit the local oil pressure
Picnic Point
and valve statuses to the GUI host server in Haymarket
Sydney South
substation. The optical fiber network for the five local
330/132kV Substation
controllers is double looped for redundancy.
Cable Route
The GUI host server in Haymarket substation acquires,
Fig 1. 330kV Cable Route for Cable 42
processes and records data from the DTS units and local
Compared to industry practice the TransGrid specification controllers and is directly connected to the Haymarket
substation SCADA to exchange key operational information.
All information from the CMS can be monitored via
S. Jones, G. Bucea and A. McAlpine are with TransGrid, Australia.
TransGrids
Corporate Wide Area Network for authorized
M. Nakanishi, S. Mashio, H. Komeda and A. Jinno are with J-Power
remote users.
Systems Corp., Japan.

0-7803-8610-8/04/$20.00 2004 IEEE

S/S
Protection
Circuits

Sub

Main

LC1

SM 4 cores

6/7

1-2

Soil Temp.
(at Burial Parts)

DTS cable

19/20

24/25

End Box

2-2

LC2

3-1

29/30

35/36

4-1

L3 Trip Alarm

LC4

E/O
Converter

O/E x 5

Contact
Equip.

DO

GUI Host Server

DI

MODBUS

TransGrid's
WAN

Authorized users

HAYMARKET S/S

Master Controller
OTM1 MCPU
OTM2 SCPU

Sub

Switching
HUB
Optical
Converter
Main

DTS2

4-2

SECTION 4

LC5

Tunnel Air Temp.

& Ceiling Temp.
(at Tunnel)

3-2

SECTION 3

Fig 2. System Configuration of CMS

SM 4 cores LC3

Optical fiber network (double loop)

13/14

2-1

SECTION 2

LC: Local Controller

OTM: Optical Transmission Module
MCPU: Master Central Processing Unit
SCPU: Sub Central Processing Unit
DTS: Distributed Temperature Sensing System Equipment
GI: Graded Index (Multi-mode) Fibre
SM: Single Mode Fibre

Abbreviations

SYDNEY SOUTH S/S

O/E
Converter

Contact
Equip.

OR

1-1

DTS1
GI1

Switching
HUB

GUI Client

Gauge
Panel

SECTION 1

III.

S/S
Protection
Circuits

Backup
Alarms

S/S
SCADA

CABLE TEMPERATURE MONITORING

(High Density Polyethylene) jacket. Only one GI fiber core is

actively used for temperature measurement while the other
fibre is spare. Two SM fiber cores were also added in case of
future applications. A cross section of the DTS cable and its
installation method is shown in Fig 5 and Fig 6.

A. DTS (Distributed Temperature sensing System)

The merits of DTS technology in measurement of cable
distributed temperature using an optical fiber attached or
incorporated in cable makeup are well known [3].
A light pulse injected at one end of an optical fiber is
subjected to scattering due to temperature gradients as it travels
along the fiber. Raman Scattering is the name for a part of the
light scattering phenomenon, and consists of Stokes and AntiStokes light components. The Raman scattered light is
reflected to the photo detector as illustrated in Fig 3.
Since the speed of pulse propagation in the fiber is constant,
the location where the scattering occurs can be determined by
measuring the time between the pulse injection and the
detection of Raman scattering.
The measured temperature is directly related to the light
scattering intensity along the optical fiber.

Stainless Tube

HDPE

Jelly compound

5.0 mm

1.8 mm

1.4 mm

Optical Fiber
SM: 2cores
GI: 2cores

Fig 5. Section View of DTS Cable

RAMAN
SCATTERING
LD

PC

DTS Cable

Signal
Signal
Processing
processing
circuit
circuit

Optical Fiber
(GI 50/125um)

Photo -detector

Fig 3. Measurement Principle of DTS

A DTS unit, as shown in Fig 4, can measure up to 15.5km

route length using a Multi Mode Graded Index (GI) optical
fiber. Therefore, two DTS units were installed at the ends of
the Cable 42 to cover the entire 28km cable route.
Fig 6. Installation Method of DTS Cable

C. Ambient Temperature Sensors

Ambient Temperature Sensors were designed to measure the
temperature of the soil and tunnel wall. They consist of a
bundle of DTS cable mounted on a nylon base plate. The 28
factory-made ambient sensors were installed along the cable
route and connected to the DTS units.
IV. DYNAMIC CABLE RATING

Fig 4: DTS Unit

A. Cable Conductor Temperature Monitoring

One of the important features of the CMS is the real time
calculation of conductor temperature. Alarm signals provided
by the CMS are based on calculated conductor temperature as a
function of measured cable surface temperature. These alarms
are prioritized as a function of cable conductor temperature as
follows:

The specific data of the DTS is shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1: DTS Data
Item
Specifications
Type
SUT-E15
Maximum Operating Range
15.5 km
Sampling Resolution
1m
Spatial Resolution
5m
Temperature Accuracy
+ 1 oC
Measuring Time
10 min

B. DTS Cable
The DTS Cable was designed to measure the power cable
surface temperature and is attached on to the central phase of
the power cable circuit. It incorporates two SM (Single Mode)
and two GI (Graded Index, Multi Mode) cores drawn into a
stainless steel tube protected against corrosion by an HDPE

Level 1 90oC.
Level 2 100 oC.
Level 3 105 oC. This alarm results in automatic
tripping of the cable.

B. Cable Conductor Temperature Calculation

The calculation is done by the form of a C-R (Capacitance and
Resistance) ladder thermal equivalent network model, which
has been widely used for the modeling of transient temperature
3

analysis, as shown in Fig 7. The calculated real-time conductor

temperature is continuously displayed on the CMS GUI screen
and updated at 10-minute intervals.
Wd - Dielectric

DTS Cable
Section A
(Duct Bank)

0.9m
7.5m

Ws(t) - Sheath

7.5m

Cable Surface Temp

9m

Node1
Tc(t)
C1

Node2
R1

Td(t)
C2

Node3
R2

Ts(t)
C3

Node4
R3

Ta(t)

10m

55m

11m

10m

Te(t)

R4

Fig 9: Section View of Temperature Test Setup

C4

The trial installation concept was designed to verify the

software program designed to calculate the dynamic cable
rating (DRS) and to verify and calibrate the DTS system against
thermocouple recordings. The measured and calculated
temperature variations of cable conductor and outer sheath
carried out at one metre intervals along the trial installation
showed differences of less than 2C at 100% load for direct
buried installation conditions. In the case of lower loading (5070%) the differences were even lower, as shown in Fig 10.
This proved that the software designed to calculate the dynamic
ratings was accurate and that the prototype DRS software and
DTS was verified against actual installation conditions.

Fig 7. C-R Ladder Thermal Equivalent Network

C. Cable Temperature Prediction

A cable temperature prediction function is also available
based on any user defined load pattern.
In order to predict the overload capacity for longer periods,
the transient temperature change of the outer surface of the
cable must be determined. The procedure of the calculation is
based on the assumption that a cable can be represented by a
line heat source located in a homogeneous, infinite medium
with uniform initial temperature which obeys the general heat
transfer equations defined in IEC 853-2[1] and other documents.
Conductor temperature is determined by C-R ladder
temperature calculation with this predicted cable surface
temperature, and can be displayed on the CMS GUI screen as
shown in Fig 8.

50

2000

Temperature [deg-C]

45

[Prediction Mode] - Conductor Temperature (Calculation Result)

40

1500

35
30

1000

(70%)

25

(50%)

20
15

Conductor(Calculated)
Surface(Measured)

10

Conductor(Measured)
Surface(Calculated)
Load Current

Temperature (deg-C)

Oil Tank

Section B
Section C
Section D
Section E
(Looped Cond.) (Shield Plate) (Concrete Slab) (Reinforced Trough)

0
24-Nov

500

Load current [A]

Wc(t) - Conductor

DTS Cable

-500
29-Nov

4-Dec

9-Dec

14-Dec

Fig 10. Temperature Measurement at Transient Conditions

Conductor
Cable Surface
Input Load

V. FLUID PRESSURE MONITORING

A. Overview
The fluid pressure monitoring system includes analog
pressure gauges, micro switches, differential pressure gauges
Up to 4 days
and pressure transducers designed to monitor the variation of
impregnating fluid between the extreme operating limits as
Fig 8. Display of Predicted Conductor Temperature Profile
follows:
Level 1 Emergency differential pressure alarm from
D. Temperatures Profile Test
differential gauge contacts indicating an unbalanced
The cable temperature profile test was carried out in
differential fluid pressure between hydraulic circuits
conjunction with an EMF experiment designed to measure the
(cable phases within a hydraulic section) greater than
magnetic field magnitude in the vicinity of power cable circuits.
15kPa.
The experiment included a trial installation simulating most
Level 2 Emergency low-pressure alarm from pressure
cable configuration and installation conditions of the Cable 42
switches indicating that the cable fluid pressure in the
project such as direct buried in ground, in concrete troughs and
cable hydraulic circuit has fallen below normal
in duct embankments. The three single-core cables were laid in
minimum operating pressure.
flat and trefoil formations at variable spacing and the metallic
Level 3 Emergency automatic trip (de-energising) and
sheaths connected in single-point or solid bonding systems. A
alarm from pressure switches. L3 is the pressure level
section view of the test setup is shown in Fig 9.
below which the cable insulation characteristics would

be seriously impaired if continued to operate under load

and / or nominal voltage conditions.
B. Gauge Panels
Gauge panels incorporating pressure gauges, transducers
and alarm limit switches are located at the ends of each
hydraulic section to monitor the pressure of impregnating fluid
in the cable system. Since Cable 42 has four, phase segregated,
hydraulic sections, there are 24 gauge panels in total.

Fig 13. Local Controller

VI. SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT AND REDUNDANCY

The GUI Host at Haymarket substation, as shown in Fig 14,
performs the central processing of all CMS functions and has
the following features:
Power supply for CMS cubicles is sourced from two
independent 125Vdc substation batteries.
Two DC/AC converters are included to provide a hot
standby capability.

In case of main DC supply failure, a UPS is provided

to maintain the system for the duration of the failure.

RAID 5 hard disk architecture is applied for GUI

host server computer, to avoid the loss of data from the
hard disk failure. Three hard disks are running
simultaneously, two for duplication (mirror) and one
for hot spare.
The optical network communicating with the Local
Controllers is duplicated.
Two Master Controllers, which acquire data from the
Local Controllers, are installed for each optical
network of the Local Controllers.
Ethernet network between both substations is
duplicated.

Fig 11. Fluid Pressure Gauge Panel

The measured fluid pressure and valve statuses from the

gauge panes can be displayed on the GUI screen as shown in
Fig 12.

LOCATION:

HYDRAULIC CONDITIONS
GAUGE PANEL

PRESSURE

356.5 kPa

1-2-R

V-3

CABLE

NORMAL

L3

NORMAL

V-2

FLOW LIMITTER

PRESSURE SW.

L2

R-W

DIFF. PRESSURE SW.

NORMAL

4.40 kPa

V-1

NORMAL
OHTER PHASE

EV PANEL
WATER LEVEL

NORMAL

FLOW LIMITTER

EV-1

NORMAL
V-5

NORMAL
TANK

18.1 deg-C

Fig 12. Hydraulic Valves Conditions Display on Selected Gauge Panel

C. Local controllers
Local controllers (LCs) are installed to transmit analog and
digital signals from the gauge panels to the host computer in
Haymarket substation via the CMS optical fibre cable.

Fig 14. CMS Equipment at Haymarket substation

VII. CONCLUSION
Andrew McAlpine works for TransGrid as a
project engineer with responsibilities for the project
management of major substation and transmission
line capital works.
He has worked for TransGrid since 1990 in a
variety of areas including HV system operations,
system planning, substation equipment maintenance
and refurbishment and control system design.
He completed his B.E. (Hons) at the University
of Technology, Sydney in 1995.

The fluid pressure monitoring, DTS and communication

systems have been commissioned on the cable following an
extensive R&D and verification process including factory
acceptance testing and simulation tests. The elements of the
system have also been calibrated on site during precommissioning and commissioning testing.
There are significant benefits in monitoring the cable
condition using the CMS, especially using DTS to determine
the hottest point on the cable. This system allows remedial
action to be taken if appropriate, and the determination and
supervision of any changes in the thermal environment
affecting the rating or the condition of the hydraulic circuits.
The CMS for Cable 42 has been challenging to develop and is
envisaged to lead to future applications of cable monitoring s
in the electricity transmission industry.

Masaharu Nakanishi works for J-Power Systems

Corp. as a Senior Engineer in Osaka Systems
Section of Power Information Dept.
Since 1992, he has been responsible for design
and installation of condition monitoring system for
power facilities, which includes the Tr ansGrid Cable
42 project as well.
He received the M.S. degree of Electrical
Engineering from Osaka University, Japan 1992.

VIII. REFERENCES
[1]
[2]

[3]

Shoji Mashio was born in Niigata, Japan, on

October 3, 1972. He received the B.S. degree of
Electrical Engineering from Tokyo Unive rsity, in of
Electrical Engineering in 1995. Currently he is an
engineer in Overseas Project Dept. of J-Power
Systems Corp.

IEC 853-2,Calculation of the cyclic and emergency current rating of

cables
S. Jones, et al, Pre-selection of cable type and cable manufacturers
for the MetroGrid project in Sydney, Australia, 6th International
Conference on Insulated Power Cables (Jicable), June 2003, Paper
A.1.3.
H. Kent et al, Distributed temperature sensing of high voltage cables
case study from Sydney Australia, CIGRE-Report 21-304, 1992.

Hidehiko Komeda was borne in Nara, Japan, on

June 8, 1960. He received the M.S. degree from
Osaka University, Japan 1985. Currently he is a
specialist in Engineering Section of Power
Information Dept. of J-Power Systems Corp.

IX. BIOGRAPHIES
Steven Jones is the Manager/Design at TransGrid,
the high voltage transmission utility based in New
South Wales, Australia. His team is responsible for
the design of all aspects of high voltage networks
including substations; transmission lines; cables;
telecommunications and protection systems. His
responsibilities also include the management of
associated research and development projects for
TransGrid.
Steven represents Australia and New Zealand on
the CIGRE international study committee on High Voltage Equipment and
has authored a range of international papers on substation and equipment
topics. He is also on the Board of Governors of the Australian Photonics
Cooperative Research Centre and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers,
Australia.
Steven is a graduate electrical engineer with postgraduate qualifications
as a Master of Engineering and Master of Business Administration.

Atsuhide Jinno was borne in Ehime, Japan, on Jan

29, 1952. He received the B.S. degree and the M.S.
degree of Electrical Engineering from Kyoto
University, in 1976.
In 1976 he joined the
Sumitomo Electric Ind.,LTD. and has been engaged
in development and engineering of extra high voltage
power cable. Currently he is general manager for
Oceania, Asia and Africa in Overseas Projects Dept.
of J-Power Systems Corp. He is a member of IEE of
Japan and IEEE.

George Bucea holds the position of Principal

Engineer/Cables with TransGrid in Sydney, Australia.
Over the past 30 years, he has been responsible
for technical and economic feasibility studies,
project management, installation, testing, system
design, commissioning and maintenance of High and
Extra High Voltage Underground Power Cable
Systems. He has authored several papers presented
at CIGRE SC21, Jicable Conference and other
forums. He received his qualifications in Electrical
Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Romania.