A comparative evaluation of Stacked Auto-Encoder neural network and Multi-Layer Extreme Learning Machine for detection and classification of faults in transmission lines using WAMS data

Smart grid is envisaged as a power grid that is extremely reliable and flexible. The electrical grid has wide-area measuring devices like Phasor measurement units (PMUs) deployed to provide real-time grid information and resolve issues effectively and speedily without compromising system availability. The development and application of machine learning approaches for power system protection and state estimation have been facilitated by the availability of measurement data. This research proposes a transmission line fault detection and classification (FD&C) system based on an auto-encoder neural network. A comparison between a Multi-Layer Extreme Learning Machine (ML-ELM) network model and a Stacked Auto-Encoder neural network (SAE) is made. Additionally, the performance of the models developed is compared to that of state-of-the-art classifier models employing feature datasets acquired by wavelet transform based feature extraction as well as other deep learning models. With substantially shorter testing time, the suggested auto-encoder models detect faults with 100% accuracy and classify faults with 99.92% and 99.79% accuracy. The computational efficiency of the ML-ELM model is demonstrated with high accuracy of classification with training time and testing time less than 50 ms. To emulate real system scenarios the models are developed with datasets with noise with signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) ranging from 10 dB to 40 dB. The efficacy of the models is demonstrated with data from the IEEE 39 bus test system.