Improved GPS travelling wave fault locator for power cables by using wavelet analysis

The paper proposes an improved approach to cable-fault location, which is essentially based on synchronised sampling technique, wavelet analysis and travelling wave principle. After an outline of the new scheme and brief introduction to the three major techniques, wavelet analysis of faulty transient waveforms is conducted in details to determine the best wavelet levels for this particular application. Then a 400 kV underground cable system simulated by the Alternative Transient Program (ATP) under various system and fault conditions is used to fully evaluate the approach. Numerical results show that this scheme is reliable and accurate with errors of less than 2% of the length of the cable line. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.