Ali Abur
Mert Korkali
Ali ABUR1 and Mert KORKALI2
1, 2Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
409 Dana Research Center
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5000, USA
1E-mail: abur@ece.neu.edu
Abstract – Operation of the existing power grids is rapidly being transformed due to the widespread deployment of synchronized measurement systems. These systems provide unprecedented advantages in wide-area monitoring of power grids as a result of synchronization among measurements at geographically remote parts of the system. While there are numerous studies focusing on the use of these measurements for steady-state operation and control, there have been relatively fewer investigations reported in the literature on the use of synchronized measurements for detection, characterization and location of transient disturbances such as short circuit faults and switching events.
This paper considers the use of synchronized measurements which may be few in number and possibly disbursed in a sparse manner throughout the system. An analytical derivation of a method by which location of a disturbance can be accurately determined solely based on these sparsely located synchronized voltage sensors, will be reviewed first. This derivation will illustrate some of the limitations and practical constraints imposed by the system topology as well as transmission line characteristics. The paper will then build on the results of the disturbance location approach in order to devise an optimal placement scheme for placing synchronized voltage sensors in the transmission system. This will be accomplished in such a way that any disturbance irrespective of its location can be detected and located by using as few sensors as possible. Simulated fault transients by an electromagnetic transients simulation program will be used to illustrate the performance of the developed techniques.