FAULTS

In an electric power system, a fault is any abnormal electric current. For example, a short circuit is a fault in which current bypasses the normal load. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by some failure. In three-phase systems, a fault may involve one or more phases and ground, or may occur only between phases. In a "ground fault" or "earth fault", charge flows into the earth. The prospective short circuit current of a fault can be calculated for power systems. In power systems, protective devices detect fault conditions and operate circuit breakers and other devices to limit the loss of service due to a failure. In a polyphase system, a fault may affect all phases equally which is a "symmetrical fault". If only some phases are affected, the resulting "asymmetrical fault" becomes more complicated to analyze due to the simplifying assumption of equal current magnitude in all phases being no longer applicable. The analysis of this type of fault is often simplified by using methods such as symmetrical components.

Different types of faults are:Faults can be broadly classified into two main areas which have been designated Active and Passive.

Active Faults
The Active fault is when actual current flows from one phase conductor to another (phase-tophase) or alternatively from one phase conductor to earth (phase-to-earth). This type of fault can also be further classified into two areas, namely the solid fault and the incipient fault. The solid fault occurs as a result of an immediate complete breakdown of insulation as would happen if, say, a pick struck an underground cable, bridging conductors etc. or the cable was dug up by a bulldozer. In mining, a rock fall could crush a cable as would a shuttle car. In these circumstances the fault current would be very high, resulting in an electrical explosion.

This type of fault must be cleared as quickly as possible, otherwise there will be: Greatly increased damage at the fault location. (Fault energy = 1 x Rf x t) Danger to operating personnel (Flash products). Danger of igniting combustible gas such as methane in hazardous areas giving rise to a disaster of horrendous proportions. Increased probability of earth faults spreading to other phases. Higher mechanical and thermal stressing of all items of plant carrying the current fault. (Particularly transformers whose windings suffer progressive and cumulative deterioration because of the enormous electromechanical forces caused by multi-phase faults proportional to the current squared). Sustained voltage dips resulting in motor (and generator) instability leading to extensive shut-down at the plant concerned and possibly other nearby plants. The incipient fault, on the other hand, is a fault that starts from ver y small beginnings, from some partial discharge (excessive electronic activity often referred to as Corona) in a void in the insulation, increasing and developing over an extended period, until such time as it burns away adjacent insulation, eventually running away and developing into a solid fault. Other causes can typically be a high-resistance joint or contact, alternatively pollution of insulators causing tracking across their surface. Once tracking occurs, any surrounding air will ionize which then behaves like a solid conductor consequently creating a solid fault.

Passive Faults
Passive faults are not real faults in the true sense of the word but are rather conditions that are stressing the system beyond its design capacity, so that ultimately active faults will occur. Typical examples are:
Overloading - leading to overheating of insulation (deteriorating quality, reduced life and ultimate failure). Overvoltage - stressing the insulation beyond its limits. Under frequency - causing plant to behave incorrectly. Power swings - generators going out-of-step or synchronism with each other.

It is therefore very necessary to also protect against these conditions.

Types of Faults on a Three Phase System

The types of faults that can occur on a three phase A.C. system are as follows:

Figure 1 Types of Faults on a Three Phase System.

(A) Phase-to-earth fault (B) Phase-to-phase fault (C) Phase-to-phase-to-earth fault (D) Three phase fault (E) Three phase-to-earth fault (F) Phase-to-pilot fault * (G) Pilot-to-earth fault * * In underground mining applications only It will be noted that for a phase-to-phase fault, the currents will be high, because the fault current is only limited by the inherent (natural) series impedance of the power system up to the point of faulty (refer Ohms law). By design, this inherent series impedance in a power system is purposely chosen to be as low as possible in order to get maximum power transfer to the consumer and limit unnecessary losses in the network itself in the interests of efficiency. On the other hand, the magnitude of earth faults currents will be determined by the manner in which the system neutral is earthed. Solid neutral earthing means high earth fault currents as this is only limited by the inherent earth fault (zero sequence) impedance of the system.

It is worth noting at this juncture that it is possible to control the level of earth fault current that can flow by the judicious choice of earthing arrangements for the neutral. In other words, by the use of Resistance or Impedance in the neutral of the system, earth fault currents can be engineered to be at whatever level is desired and are therefore controllable. This cannot be achieved for phase faults.

Transient & Permanent Faults

Transient faults are faults which do not damage the insulation permanently and allow the circuit to be safely re-energized after a short period of time. A typical example would be an insulator flashover following a lightning strike, which would be successfully cleared on opening of the circuit breaker, which could then be automatically reclosed. Transient faults occur mainly on outdoor equipment where air is the main insulating medium. Permanent faults, as the name implies, are the result of permanent damage to the insulation. In this case, the equipment has to be repaired and reclosing must not be entertained.

Symmetrical
A symmetrical fault is a balanced fault with the sinusoidal waves being equal about their axes, and represents a steady state condition or a condition where either (a) all three phases of the system are short circuited to each other, or (b) all three phase of the system are earthed. This is in general a balanced condition, and we need to only know the positive-sequence network to analyze faults. Further, the single line diagram can be used, as all three phases carry equal currents displaced by 1200. Typically, only 5% of the initial faults in a power system are three phase faults with or without earth. Of the unbalanced faults, 80 % are line-earth and 15% are double line faults with or without earth and which can often deteriorate to 3 phase fault. Broken conductor faults account for the rest.

Figure 2 symmetrical fault

Asymmetrical Faults
An asymmetrical fault displays D.C. offset, transient in nature and decaying to the steady state of the symmetrical fault after a period of time. The common types of asymmetrical faults occurring in a Power System are Single line to ground faults Line to line faults Double line to ground faults

The amount of offset depends on the X/R (power factor) of the power system and the first peak can be as high as 2.55 times the steady state level.

Figure 3 An Asymmetrical Fault.