CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSIONS AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

8.1 CONCLUSIONS

Transmission lines are used to transmit a huge amount of power over a long distance.
But, as these lines are located in the open atmosphere, they are highly affected by different
types of abnormal conditions or faults. Hence, a highly reliable numerical distance protection
scheme is generally provided to perform a task of providing adequate protection to the
overhead transmission lines against such conditions. It is desirable that this protection system
must be able to identify different types of faulty conditions within a minimum possible time
delay. This thesis is devoted to the development of different types of protection schemes for
different types of faults occurred on different configurations of transmission lines.

Following are the major conclusions of the research work carried out in this thesis:

1. The work starts with a thorough analysis of a high resistance ground fault condition.
From a detailed fault analysis, it has been concluded that performance of the
conventional digital distance relaying scheme is affected to a great extent by the
combined effect of load flow and the presence of fault resistance in the faulted path. To
improve the performance of the conventional digital distance relaying scheme against
such conditions, a new digital distance relaying algorithm is proposed in this thesis.
The new algorithm uses symmetrical components of voltages and currents to find the
impedance of the faulted portion of the transmission line in case of a high resistance
ground fault. It has been proved from the simulation results that the proposed
methodology is not affected by the presence of high resistance in the faulted path, the
variations on the fault location and the change in system loading conditions. Therefore,
it operates correctly even in extreme situations, like a ground fault with high resistance
close to the zone boundary, with heavy system loading. The results also prove that the
methodology is precise and robust in these aspects. Also, as the proposed algorithm
performs the protection duty with a very less computational bourdon, it is suitable for
practical implementation even in fast protection systems designs. As the proposed
algorithm follows impedance-based fault location method, it is very simple compared
to the other types of fault impedance estimation methods.

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2. Conventional digital distance relays are not capable to provide adequate protection to
the transmission lines against single line-to-ground fault containing large value of fault
resistance in the faulted path. Hence, to provide adequate protection the transmission
line against such faulty condition, a new digital distance relaying scheme is proposed.
This new fault impedance compensation scheme is based on the estimation of phase
shift between the fault current at one end of the line and the current which flows
through the fault resistance. The proposed scheme has solved the problems of under-
reach/over-reach, which are present in the conventional digital distance relays.
Furthermore, it has been proved that the same scheme is also applicable to
simultaneous open conductor and ground fault. Consequently, the simulation results
proved that the proposed scheme is able to detect the aforementioned faults and
measures the impedance of the faulted portion of a transmission line with an average
accuracy of the order of 98%. Moreover, it maintains the same accuracy even against
wide variations in system and fault conditions, such as fault resistance, magnitude &
direction of power flow and remote infeed. The final equation of the proposed scheme
is simple, non-iterative and utilizes voltage and current signals available at one end of
the transmission line only. Hence, it is more reliable compared to other techniques
which use remote end data.

3. Conventional philosophies directing the use of distance protection schemes for parallel
transmission lines may not be able to provide adequate protection in the case of inter-
circuit faults. Therefore, in this thesis, a new digital distance relaying scheme has been
proposed for parallel transmission lines, which effectively compensates the errors
present in the measurement of apparent impedance by the conventional digital distance
protection schemes during inter-circuit faults. The proposed scheme is based on digital
computation of the compensated value of impedance using symmetrical components of
voltages and currents. The proposed scheme does not require data from remote end and
hence, it is very simple compared to the other techniques, which require remote end
data in order to change the relay characteristic in case of variation in external system
conditions. The proposed scheme has been simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK
software. Further, it is highly accurate as it measures correct values of resistance and
reactance of the faulted portion of the transmission line having percentage error within
0.579%. Moreover, it remains stable during inter-circuit faults against wide variations
in system and fault conditions.

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4. A simultaneous open conductor and ground fault on parallel transmission lines may
cause mal-operation of the conventional phase and ground digital distance relays. This
may cause tripping of both lines unnecessarily. Therefore, it is required to consider the
two transmission lines in their entirety in order to produce correct relaying decision for
all faults on parallel lines. Considering this fact into account, a new digital distance
relaying scheme is presented in this thesis, which provides adequate protection to
series compensated parallel transmission lines during a simultaneous open conductor
and ground fault. The proposed scheme is based on the derivation of the compensated
values of impedance using the symmetrical components theory. It measures the correct
value of fault impedance for different fault locations, different values of fault
resistance, various zero-sequence mutual coupling impedance, different degrees of
series compensation and various system loading conditions. Moreover, the application
of the proposed scheme does not require separate communication channel for remote
end data transmission. A comparative evaluation of the proposed scheme and the
conventional scheme indicates that the proposed scheme is highly accurate and robust
against wide variations in system and fault parameters as its percentage error is within
4.19%.

5. In order to provide proper treatment to the series compensated transmission lines in

case of uncertainties involved during inter-circuit faults, a new digital distance relaying
scheme is presented in this thesis. The proposed scheme effectively compensates the
errors present in the measurement of impedance of the faulted portion of the series
compensated parallel transmission line by the conventional digital distance relays. It is
based on digital computation of sequence components of three-phase current and
voltage phasors. Further, the proposed scheme uses only the data collected at the local
end of the faulted circuit. In addition, the proposed scheme is independent of the fault
resistance and the mutual coupling effect caused by the zero-sequence current of the
adjacent parallel circuit. Moreover, it is very simple compared to other techniques,
which require remote end data in order to change the relay characteristics in case of
varying system conditions. The proposed scheme has been tested under conditions of
earthed and un-earthed inter-circuit faults considering wide variations in fault
resistances, degree of series compensation, effect of mutual coupling and fault
locations. From the simulation results it has been proved that the proposed scheme
measures the fault impedance very precisely. Moreover, it is also applicable to the

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 other types of faults having any possible combination among the six phases and ground
after minor modifications.

6. At last, in this thesis, a new digital distance relaying scheme is presented for phase
faults that measures the correct values of resistance and reactance of faulted portion of
series compensated double infeed transmission line. The proposed scheme is based on
fundamental quantities of voltage and current signals. Further, it uses local end data
only. The performance of the proposed scheme has been tested considering wide
variations in system and fault parameters, such as degree of series compensation,
power transfer angle, short-circuit capacity, remote infeed/outfeed, fault resistance and
arc resistance. The proposed scheme provides better stability against close-in faults.
Moreover, it provides better reliability in discriminating in-zone & out-zone faults at
the first zone boundary of the protected line. In addition, it improves the performance
of the conventional digital distance relay for series compensated transmission lines in
the case of phase faults by modifying compensation factor. The results of computer
simulations show the improvement of sensitivity and selectivity of the relay.
Moreover, it does not provide erroneous operation during reverse faults. Additionally,
it measures the fault impedance accurately with an average accuracy of the order of
95%.

8.2 SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

It is almost impossible to have a relaying scheme that is suitable for all types of faults
and abnormal conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to consider some of the situations for
which further study is required. Some of the areas in which further research is required to
improve the performance of a digital distance relaying scheme is suggested as follows:

1) The relay algorithm discussed for a single line-to-ground fault on single infeed
lines and double infeed lines in chapters 2 and 3 can be extended for parallel
transmission lines with necessary modifications. Further, the effect of series
compensation can be included in the modified algorithm.

2) In this thesis, different digital distance relaying schemes are proposed for two types
of simultaneous faults, namely, inter-circuit fault and simultaneous open conductor
& ground fault. However, the solution against a cross country fault on parallel
transmission lines is not covered. Hence, there is a scope to develop a new digital
distance relaying scheme for a cross country fault.

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3) This thesis covers protection schemes of the series compensated transmission lines
using SC/MOV parallel combination along with necessary spark gap and bypass
breaker arrangements. These schemes can be extended for other types of
transmission lines having compensation device, such as TCSC, SVC, UPFC, etc.
after necessary modifications. Consequently, the proposed schemes can be
modified as per the requirements so that the same schemes can work equally well
for transmission lines using other compensating devices.

4) The adverse effects of Current Transformers (CTs) and Potential Transformers

(PTs) have not been considered in all the computer simulations performed for all
the proposed schemes in this thesis. Consequently, the effects of CTs and PTs can
be tested on the performance of all the proposed schemes. Afterwards, the
proposed schemes can be modified to provide adequate protection to the
transmission lines considering the errors produced by the CTs and PTs.

5) The saturation of CT is inevitable during severe fault condition. Hence, saturation

phenomenon of CT can be considered during the fault analysis and relay operation.
Therefore, along with the main distance relay algorithm, a CT saturation detection
algorithm can be added to increase the effectiveness of the protection scheme
during severe transmission line fault.

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