Underground Cable Fault Distance Locator

Abstract:
The work is intended to detect the location of a fault in underground cable lines from the base
station in kilometers.In the urban areas, the electrical cables run underground instead of running
overhead. Whenever any fault occurs within the underground cable, it becomes difficult to
detect the exact location of the fault for the process of repairing that particular cable. The
proposed system finds the point of the exact location of the fault.
The system uses the standard concept of Ohms law, i.e., when a low DC voltage is
applied at the feeder end through a series resistor (Cable lines), then the current would vary
depending upon the location of the short circuit fault in the cable.This system uses a
microcontroller of the 8051 family and a rectified power supply. Here, the current sensing
circuit in combination with the resistors is interfaced to the microcontroller with the help of an
ADC device for representing the cable length in Km. The fault creation is made by a set of
switches. The relays are controlled by a relay driver IC, which is used to check the cable line.
The 16x2 LCD display connected to the microcontroller is used to display the information.
In case of a short circuit (Line to Ground), the voltage across the series resistors changes
accordingly. It is then fed to an ADC to develop the precise digital data which is directed to
the programmed microcontroller of the 8051 family in order to display the same

in

kilometers.The work in future can be implemented by using a capacitor in an AC circuit to

measure the impedance which can even locate the open circuited cable.

Under the Supervision of :

Submitted by:
E. Haresh(12121a0422)

Ms. D. LEELA RANI, M.Tech., (Ph.D,)

C. Bharghava Reddy(12121a0413)

Associate Professor

A. Swathi(12121a0401)

Department of ECE

D.Leeladri(12121a0420)

Batch No:1604