First International Power and Energy Coference PECon 2006

November 28-29, 2006, Putrajaya, Malaysia

267

A New Method For Locating The Source Of Lightning

Transients
Noraliza Hamzah, IEEE Member, Azah Mohamed, IEEE Senior Member
Abstract - Power system transients are power quality
disturbances that can be harmful especially to electronic
equipment. This paper presents a new method to locate
the source of lightning transient relative to the
monitoring point. The proposed method is based on
complex wavelets energy which is calculated from the
voltage and current data obtained at the monitoring
point. The data is transformed to its complex wavelet
counterpart. The transient power is first calculated and
the complex wavelet energy is obtained by integrating
the transient power. From the wavelet energy plot
against time, a change in wavelet energy from an
approximately zero to a negative value indicates that the
transient source is from downstream or in front of the
monitoring point. On the other hand, a change in
wavelet energy from an approximately zero to a positive
value indicates that the transient source is from
upstream or behind the monitoring point. To verify the
proposed complex wavelet method, simulations using the
PSCAD/EMTDC software have been performed.
Lightning strikes in a PSCAD library model have been
adapted for the impulsive transient simulation.
Simulation results prove that complex wavelet energy is
capable of locating accurately the source of transients in
a power distribution system.
Index terms -Power Quality, transient, complex wavelet transform

I. INTRODUCTION
Transient voltage is a common disturbance that is caused by
capacitor switching, lightning and generated by some power
electronic device when they are switched on. Utility
capacitor switching events can have negative impacts on
power quality, such as tripping of drives, halting of
production processes, high over-voltage on a transformer,
excite circuit resonance, creating transient voltage
magnification in the secondary network and problems with
sensitive electronic equipment at customer facilities.
In recent years, many efforts have been made to

detect, classify and characterize power system transients [1,

2]. However, not much work has been done to locate these
transients as to where the transients originate. It is important
to locate transients before any mitigation technique can be
done to eliminate the transients. The advantage of locating
the source of transient is that it may help in diagnosing
power quality problems as to either utility or customer as the
transient disturbance contributor so that a proper mitigation
technique can be carried out.
An analysis for locating the source of transient source
disturbance is found in [3] which employed the disturbance
power (DP) and disturbance energy (DE) concept to
determine which side of a recording device the transient
originates. The principle of the DP and DE indicators is
based on the concept that active power tends to flow away

1-4244-0273-5/06/$20.00 C2006 IEEE

from a nonlinear load and that the directions of the DE as

well as the DP flows are used to locate a transient source
[3]. The disadvantage of the method is that it relies on the
degree of confidence of both the DP and DE. In [4], two
other indicators have been introduced for transient source
location which is also based on the waveforms of the DP
and DE and are known as the ratio rule (R) and the
maximum peak of disturbance power rules. From the
literature, neither time frequency nor wavelet transform has
been employed to locate the source of transient disturbances.
However, complex wavelet transform has been used to
provide the instantaneous phase-related information such as
that of a transient signal [5]. Complex wavelet has also been
used to determine phase information of the sending and
receiving signals in low-voltage distribution networks [6].
The method exploits the complex wavelet transform to
calculate the difference between transients voltage and
current angle at a measuring point. The complex wavelet
transform is used because it has been proven to be able to
provide a difference in phase information of the transient
signals in [5,6]. In this paper, instantaneous voltage and
current waveforms at the monitoring points are transformed
into their complex components by using the complex
Gaussian wavelet. From these complex component values,
the change in energy flow is used to locate a transient
disturbance as to whether it is behind or in front of the

monitoring point.

ILIMPULSIVE TRANSIENT
An impulsive transient is a sudden change in the
steady state condition of voltage, current or both, that is
unidirectional in polarity, either positive or negative [7]. It is
damped quickly by the resistive components in a circuit and
normally do not propagate far from its source. The most
common cause of impulsive transient is lightning. When a
lightning stroke hits a transmission line, an impulsive
overvoltage is induced [8].
A typical lightning waveform exhibits a 0.2 to 1.5 tS
(tail time) duration and persists to 50 to 200 tS (rise time).
The current at the strike point can be described by the

following equation [9],

Io
n

(tI/'l )
(tIl'r)m +1

where,

Io return stroke amplitude

t1 front time constant
N amplitude correction factor
m exponent given by m = 2... 10

decay time constant

(-t/1)

(1)

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The lightning-induced voltage wave can be described
mathematically as the difference of two exponential
functions [12]:
e(t) = E (e W(2)
where,
Ep peak induced voltage
cx associate with tail time, tt (typically 1.2g5)
D associate with rise time, t, (typically 50g5)

e-ft)

III. PRINCIPLE OF TRANSIENT SOURCE LOCATION

METHOD
In this section, the principle based on flow of
complex wavelet power and the change of complex energy
to locate the source of transient is explained.
When a power system experiences a transient
disturbance, the total voltage and current signals at any point
in the system can be considered as consisting of three parts
which are sinusoidal steady-state component, superimposed
quantities due to the occurrence of transient which is
considered in traveling wave and the remainder is the
transient-generated high-frequencies component [5,6]. In the
proposed method for locating the source of transients,
complex wavelet is employed to obtain the phase angles of
voltage and current at the monitoring point during transients,
so that the active power and its respective energy can be
calculated.
Lightning can be considered as an ideal current
source. When lightning hits a transmission line, it generates
an electric current surge, which in turn causes an overvoltage. Fig. 1 shows the transient current components when
a lightning strokes hits the transmission line. In the figure,
the stroke current will flow equally to the left and right of
the stroke point, X. Similarly, the induced voltage waves
travel in the both directions from the of point X [10].

E/O

IA

MA

/1IS

end of the transient period given in equation (7) will provide

the flow of the transient energy at the monitoring point.

P(t) = V(t)I(t) cos(a(t) - ,(t))

(6)

where V and I is the modulus of voltage and current at the

monitoring point, respectively, where a and : is the phase
angle of voltage and current respectively. Integrating P, the
transient energy is obtained as,
E

E(t) =P(t)dt

(7)

where B and E are the initial and end period of a transient

disturbance, respectively.
Initially, before any transients occur, there is no
transient power, thus no energy is delivered to either side of
the transient source. However, when a transient occurs, the
system falls out of steady-state operation, causing a change
in the instantaneous power flow. Likewise, the change in
energy will also be observed between steady-state condition
and during a transient event. Information about changes in
the instantaneous transient power is so small compared to
the changes in the instantaneous transient energy.
From Fig. 1, at MB, the initial energy at steady-state
is zero. During lightning stroke, more power and energy is
delivered to MB in which a change in energy from
approximately zero to a more positive values is expected.
From the obtained positive energy, it indicates that the
source of transient disturbance is behind the monitoring
point or seen as coming from upstream. On the other hand,
at MA, a negative direction of power flow will result in less
energy delivered than its steady state value which is zero.
Likewise, from the energy against time plot, a change in
energy from approximately zero to a more negative value is
expected. From the obtained negative energy, it indicates
that the source of transient disturbance is in front of the
monitoring point or seen as coming from downstream.
VI. COMPLEX WAVELET-BASED POWER AND
ENERGY MEASUREMENT
A new approach to analyze the location of a transient
disturbance is proposed by using the complex wavelet
transform. A complex Gaussian wavelet is chosen as the
mother wavelet due to its smooth oscillating function and it
is given as,

~~mB

N~~~~~~f) P.(t), V(t)/ a\/\%

(t,).

Fig. 1 Lightning stroke in a transmission line

UG

The voltage related to the lightning is given by,

VA =IAZA
VB =IBZB

(4)

IA =-IB

(5)

(3)

(X) = CPe-x e-JX

(8)

where Cp is a scaling parameter and x is the instantaneous

voltage or current values. Figure 2 shows the mother
wavelet of the complex wavelet used in the analysis.

where,
From Fig. 1, at the monitoring point MB a positive
transient current direction is assumed flowing from the point
of lightning stroke, X towards the impedance ZB. Taking the
voltage measurement at MB as a reference and assuming
that the phase angles of voltage and current can be measured
at this point, the real power can be calculated using equation
(6). The integral of the real power from the beginning to the

Time (S)

Time (S)

Fig. 2 Mother wavelet of complex Gaussian at scale 2

(a) Real part (b) Imaginary part

269
In a single-phase system, the instantaneous amplitude
and phase values of a filtered voltage and current, VW and

hw for each sub band or scale s at time t, are given by [5]:

(9)
Vw (t, s) = Vw (t, s) / a(t, s)

I, (t, S) = I, (t, S)Z/(t, S)

(10)

Pw (t, S) = VW (t, S).IW (t, S).COS(OW (t, S))

(1 1)

Ow(t, s) = avw (t, s) - #w(t, s)

(12)

Gen 1

t) )

Using the transient voltage and current amplitudes and the

transient phase difference between voltage and current, a
complex-wavelet based momentary active power quantity,
Pw which is analogous to the Fourier-based active power
definition, is given by,
where,

The power definition in equation (11) is known as the active

complex wavelet power. It is also noted that the active
complex wavelet differs from the time-domain physical
power of p(t)=v(t).i(t), because a transient is a frequency
domain oscillating quantity. Integrating Pw, the wavelet
energy is obtained as,
E

JPW (t, s)dt

w=

(13)

where B and E are the starting and ending time of a

transient disturbance, respectively. The complex wavelet
energy, Ew is considered as an indicator for locating a
transient source. It is plotted against time and its gradient is
used to locate a transient source. From the plot of complex
wavelet energy for the upstream and downstream case
respectively, for the proposed method, in which if an
increase in wavelet energy from an approximately zero
value is obtained, it indicates that the transient source is
behind the monitoring point or upstream. On the other hand,
if a decrease in wavelet energy from an approximately zero
value is obtained, it indicates that the transient source is in
front of the monitoring point or downstream.
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPLEX POWER AND
ENERGY TO LOCATE A TRANSIENT SOURCE

The implementation procedure to locate a transient

source using the complex wavelet power and energy is
described in this section. Lightning strikes in a PSCAD

library model have been adapted for the impulsive transient

simulation. Voltage and current waveforms are used to
compute the power and energy quantities and all data
processing codes are done via Matlab script files.
A. Test system
The test system used to verify the proposed method is
shown in Fig. 3. The test system is fed from a 13.8kV,
15MVA source at 50 Hz frequencies.
For an impulsive transient, a lightning stroke is
induced at point L and several monitoring points considered
are MI, M3, M4, M5, M6 and M7.

Fig. 3 Test system for locating source of

lightning transient.
B. Implementation Procedure
The instantaneous voltage and current contain both
the fundamental and the transient frequencies. Therefore, the
fundamental frequency is filtered before applying the
complex wavelet transform. The following steps describe
the procedures carried out in the proposed method.
i. Create a transient disturbance condition by simulating a
capacitor switching event or induce a lightning stroke at
a specified location.
ii. Obtain the voltage and current data at the monitoring

point.
iii. Filter the voltage and current at the fundamental
frequency.
iv. Transform the instantaneous data to its real and
imaginary parts using the complex wavelet, 'cgau8'.
v. Calculate the active complex wavelet power and its
complex wavelet energy using equations (1 1) and (13),
respectively.
vi. Graphically plot coordinates of power and energy
against time for a period of transient disturbance.
vii. Check the polarity of the initial peak complex wavelet
power and also the gradient of the complex wavelet
energy. If the initial peak complex wavelet power is
positive and the gradient of complex wavelet energy is
positive, the transient source is upstream or behind the
monitoring point. On the other hand, if the initial peak
complex wavelet power is negative and the gradient of
complex wavelet energy is negative, the transient source
is downstream or in front of the monitoring point.

VI. TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this section, results and discussions of the proposed
complex wavelet-based transient power and energy method
for locating impulsive transients are presented. For an
impulsive transient, lightning stroke is induced at L in the
test system of Fig. 2. When lightning strikes at point L, the
monitoring points at M4, M5 and M6 see the disturbance as
coming from upstream or behind the monitoring points.

270

On the other hand, the monitoring points at PCC, MI,

M2 and M3 see the disturbance as coming from downstream
or in front of the monitoring points. Table 1 shows the
transient disturbance locations relative to the position of the
monitoring points.

a)
0K

TABLE 1: LIGHTNING

Disturbance location
Upstream
Downstream

a)

b)

07x10

0X

0727 072

074

07

072

73

D.

S507

32

74

Time (S)

C)

LD

0-74

076

12

072<4 072 072 0,720,723Tq< 0,T29 0,73 0,731 0.732 0.733 0i T34

Fig. 4 Downstream lightning, at MI a) Bus

voltage b) Wavelet power c) Wavelet energy

0.729 0,73 0.731 0.432 0733 0,7344

Time (S)

c)
724 10-725 0-7:26 0-727 0- 728 0-7291 1373 0- 731 0-732 0-733 0-73;44
Time (S)

Fig. 5 Upstream lightning at M4 a) Bus voltage

b) Wavelet power c) Wavelet energy
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper has proven that the source of transient
disturbance can be located by examining the initial peak
complex wavelet power and change of complex wavelet
energy in power distribution systems. However, the change
in complex wavelet energy is a better indicator because it
shows clearly the positive or negative gradient for the entire
transient duration. The advantage of the proposed method is
that it requires only single-phase voltage and current
measurements at the monitoring point. In addition, the
method is able to locate the source of a transient disturbance
at the PCC which is the point between a utility and a
customer, hence it can be used to penalize responsible
parties that cause the disturbance if regulation is to be
enforced in the future.
VI. REFERENCES

S. Santoso, E. J. Powers, W. M. Grady, A. C. Parson, "Power Quality

Disturbance Waveform Recognition Using Wavelet-Based Neural
Classifier-Part 1: Theoretical Foundation," IEEE Trans. Power
Delivery, vol. 15, pp. 222-228, July 2000.
[2] S. Santoso, E. J. Powers, W. M. Grady, A. C. Parson, "Power Quality
Disturbance Waveform Recognition Using Wavelet-Based Neural
Classifier-Part 2: Application," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol.15,
pp. 229-235, July 2000.
[3] Y A. C. Parson, W. M. Grady, E. J. Powers, J. C. Soward, "A
direction finder for power quality disturbances based upon
disturbance power and energy," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 15,
pp. 1081-1086, July 2000.
[4] A. C. Parsons, W. M. Grady, E. J. Powers and J. C. Soward, "Rules
for Locating the Sources of Capacitor Switching Disturbances," Proc.
Power Engineering Soceity Summer Meeting, July. 18-22, pp. 794799, 1999.
[5] J. Driesen and R. Belmans, "Wavelet-based power quantification
approaches," IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 52, pp. 1232-1238, pp.
2003.
[6] H. He, S. Cheng, Y Zhang and J. Nguimbis, "Analysis of Reflection
of Signal Transmitted in Low-Voltage Powerline With complex
Wavelet," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 19, pp. 86-91, January
2004.
[7] IEEE Recommended Practice for Monitoring Electric Power Quality,
IEEE Standard 1159- 1995.
[8] C.A. Nucci, F. Rachidi, M. V. Ianoz, and C. Mazzetti. "Lightninginduced overvoltages and overhead lines," IEEE Trans. Electromagn.
Compat., 35(1), pp. 75-86. Feb. 1993.
[9] G. Diendorfer. "Induced Voltage on an Overhesd Line Due to Nearby
Lightning," IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., 32(4), pp. 292-299.
Nov. 1990.
[10] L. V. D. Sluis. Transients in Power Systems. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
England. 2001.

[1]

073
Timne (S}

xRO~~~~T

24 0722< 02 1727 0

Figure 5 shows the bus voltage with its respective

wavelet power and wavelet energy at monitoring point M4.
At the beginning of the transient the first positive peak
values in the wavelet power plot and the wavelet energy plot
as shown in Figs. 5b and 5c are observed. The first peak
value of the wavelet energy indicates that the location of the
transient disturbance is from upstream or in behind the
monitoring point, M5. This result is in agreement with the
upstream location of transient disturbance with respect to
the monitoring point, M5 as stated in Table 1.

.71

b)

Monitoring point
M4, M5, M6
PCC, M1,M3

Figure 4 and 5 present the results obtained at

monitoring points MI and M4. Figure 4 shows the bus
voltage with its respective wavelet power and wavelet
energy at monitoring point MI. From Fig. 4b, it is shown at
the beginning of the transient, the wavelet power has a
significant first negative peak value. Meanwhile, from Fig.
4c the change in the wavelet energy is from approximately
zero to negative is observed. From Table 1, the disturbance
location with respect to the monitoring point, MI is noted to
be from downstream or in front of the monitoring point.

0-71

271
VII. BIOGRAPHIES
N Hamzah (Member 2003) received her BEng. (Hon) and MSc. (Power
System), from University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology in
1988 and University of Malaya, Malaysia in 1993 respectively. Her
research interests are in power quality, artificial intelligence and power
electronic studies. She is currently at Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
UiTM, Malaysia. She can be reached at n
A Mohamed (Senior Member 2003) received her BSc.Eng. From King's
College, University of London in 1978 and MSc. and PhD (Power
System), from University of Malaya, Malaysia in 1988 and 1995,
respectively. She is currently a professor at Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. Her current research interests are in power
quality and other power system studies. She can be reached at