A nonintrusive power system arcing fault location system utilising the VLF radiated electromagnetic energy

This paper describes research being conducted by the Power and Energy Systems Group at the University of Bath into a novel technique for monitoring the condition of transmission and sub-transmission circuitry using the electromagnetic radiated energy emitted from a power system arcing fault, together with the propagation effects of very low frequency (VLF) radio waves. The emission of an atmospheric radio wave, collectively known as a sferic, from a power system arcing fault will be characterised and is similar to the way a lightning strike induces a sferic. The paper describes the hardware infrastructure necessary to be able to monitor the condition of transmission and sub-transmission circuitry, together with the real-time intelligent algorithm which enables discrimination between power system arcing faults and other sources of impulsive radio noise in the VLF spectrum The technique described in this paper is not limited to monitoring a specific line or circuit as no physical connection is required to the system, instead the described system monitors a geographic area and therefore it can be economically used on sub-transmission circuitry