Cable fault location in power cables

Pre-location with ARM

arc reflection technologies
Contents:

1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3
2. The components .................................................................................................. 4
3. Fault types ........................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Normal faults ................................................................................................. 5
3.2 Short Circuits ................................................................................................. 5
3.3 Interrupts / open circuit .................................................................................. 6
4. ARM® (Arc Reflection Methods) fault prelocation methods .................................. 7
4.1 ARM® technology (inductive) ......................................................................... 7
4.2 Double surge method .................................................................................... 8
4.3 ARM® process (active)................................................................................... 9
4.4 ARM® KLV method (passive / resistive)...................................................... 10
4.5 ARM® Plus technology................................................................................. 11
4.6 Decay Plus method ..................................................................................... 12
4.7 ARM® – Burning .......................................................................................... 13

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1. Introduction

More than 80% of cable faults are high-impedance faults. These faults create very small
or no visible impedance changes and cannot be located with the standard pulse
reflection method. The standard conversion of a high-impedance to a low-impedance
fault with a highcapacity burn down unit is used in decreasing cases. Today, high-power
burn down units are used for the modification of the fault resistance in wet cables and
®
water filled joints and for prelocation in connection with ARM burning (arc reflection
burning). Among various pre-location methods used for cable fault location, the
combination of a high-voltage method with the pulse reflection method has always been
the most effective way to locate cable faults. For an arc, while burning at the fault
location the reflection factor r = -1, as the fault resistance is close to zero Ohms at the
arc location, meaning, it is close to a short circuit. Locating a fault becomes possible by
comparing a reflection trace without the burning arc (reference trace) to a reflection trace
taken while the arc was burning at the fault location. With this method, the two measured
traces diverge at the position of the arc corresponding to the fault location. There are
three basic principles applied for igniting an arc at the fault location:

1 The arc is ignited by a sudden discharge of a charged capacitor into the cable
(application for all faults).
2 The arc is ignited by charging the cable with a DC voltage source until breakdown
(application for chargeable cables).
3 The arc is ignited by a high-capacity DC burn down unit
(application for humid/wet cable faults).

For defined triggering of the reflectometer, a stabilising of the arc and extension of the
arc duration is required. When the operator decides on a method, he has to check
whether a faulty cable can be charged at all and at what voltage it breaks down. The
Breakdown voltage level of the fault can be determined with DC voltage testing. For
example, if there is excessive leakage current due to a resistive fault, the cable it cannot
be charged. In this case it is not possible to choose a method that implies charging of the
cable. Thus, HV pulse reflection methods based on the discharge of a surge capacitor
should be used. This decision makes sense anyway, as a cable that cannot be charged
has a low ignition voltage which is the best prerequisite for ARM methods.

Note:
At typical requirement for most applications is to observe the following rule.
The pulse width of the measurement pulse should not be below 500 ns for the first
measurement!
Ensure the cable end is visible!
Then for short fault distances and for more details, the pulse width can be reduced
carefully!
Only this will provide a reliable measurement, were no detail and important
information will be lost.

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2. The components

All devices used for arc reflection methods consist of the following basic components:
1. A DC voltage source (can also be the burn down unit)
2. A surge wave generator, consisting of:
a. surge capacitor
b. switch that discharges the surge capacitor into the device under test
3. A filter causing the capacitor discharge extension necessary for arc stabilising
a. inductive, a coil causes the arc extension
b. resistive, a resistance delays capacitor discharge
c. active, by another low-voltage pulse unit
4. A coupling unit that generates the pulses necessary for measurement by itself or
injects the measurement pulses generated by the reflectometer.

High voltage High voltage

Power
High voltage source separation
DC generator Filter (ETF/ESF)
Surge generator Coupling Measured pulse
Burner device
unit

Reflectometer (TDR) Reference trace: without high voltage

System Reflectometers Fault trace: with high voltage
Teleflex MX
Teleflex T30E Measurement pulse

Fig. 1: Simplified diagram of the pre-location with ARM® high voltage methods

The following technologies for the HV arc reflection measurement (ARM) are available
for selection in addition to other processes:

ARM® for cable faults which can or cannot be loaded, short fault distances.
Resistive as well as inductive methods are regarded as ARM
processes
LSG 3E for cable faults which can or cannot be loaded, short fault distances.
ARM® Plus for cable faults which can and cannot be charged, large fault
distances
ARM® Burning for cable faults which can and cannot be charged, wet faults
DECAY Plus for cable faults which can be charged up to 80 kV

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 Reference trace without visible fault
End of the cable – positive reflection

Fault trace with arc at the fault

Fault visible – negative reflection

Fig. 2: Reference and fault trace

3. Fault types

3.1 Normal faults

Since the reflection trace created by a power cable is rarely ever clean and undisturbed
but rather shows impedance changes, joints and other influences, the user will hardly
ever detect a fault in a standard reflectogram just by looking at it.
For this reason, the ARM methods are typically based on a comparison of a reference
trace and a fault trace. An immediate identification of the fault location is mostly only
possible by a direct comparison of these two traces. Both measurements are generally
carried out on the same cable. The reference trace, which is typically taken with a lower
voltage or as standard reflectogram without high voltage, will not show the fault. The
trace shows the cable in a “good” condition. A clear negative reflection at the fault
location cannot be seen unless high voltage is applied.
In some situation it can be very helpful to use all three phases and compare them to
get a real comparison.

3.2 Short Circuits

Short circuit faults will immediately appear as negative reflection already in the reference
trace due to their low resistive properties. But they are exceptions. In such a case,
reference trace and fault trace can be identical or almost identical. In a correct fault
location sequence this can already be determined by the fact that the resistance during
the insulation measurement is significantly below 100 Ohms.
In this case it makes sense to use a second conductor to provide the information for the
reference trace.

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3.3 Interrupts / open circuit
A cable interrupt is a further problem; where various effects are possible.

a. The distance between the cable ends is sufficient to avoid flash-over. It is important
to verify that the visible “end” is really the end of the cable. If it turns out during fault
location that there is may be cable break, the far end should be grounded. With an
intact cable, this process would immediately be visible on the reflectometer (see fault
classification). If the grounding is not visible at the far end, i.e. polarity does not
change at the “end” there is definitely a cable break. The grounded end shows now
an opposite behaviour to a standard parallel fault. The trace of a good trace shows
an “end”, the fault trace shows a longer cable with a small reflection at the fault
location but with negative reflection at the correct end location.

b. Another problem which could occur in the case of complete severed points is the
flashover into one of the parallel conductors which should be grounded in a
correct setup. This means that the measuring pulse will not proceed to the end of
the faulty core but travels instead via the parallel core back to the grounded start
of the cable. In this case the resulting reflectogram can be very confusing du to
the completely unexpected path.
One way to solve this effect, is the removal of all groundings and to ground the faulty
line at the far end only. In this case, highest safety precautions are required, since
the ungrounded lines can charge up to very high voltage potentials.

Fig 3: Interrupt. Reference blue trace, Fault red trace

This shows the high importance of following the general fault location rules and
above all, the safety rules.
Whoever does the fault location in the correct sequence at the start will rarely be in a
situation in which the behaviour of the cable appears illogical and incomprehensible.
An even more technical fault location will not be successful if the elementary rules of
cable fault location are not followed.

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4. ARM® (Arc Reflection Methods) fault prelocation methods

4.1 ARM® technology (inductive)

This classic ARM® technology was patented by HDW in 1965. In this process, the
discharge of a surge generator happens through an optimised series impedance for the
extension of the arc on the fault position without voltage reduction.
Triggering the reflectometer and activating the measurement pulse takes place in the
first current maximum of the oscillation. The measurement pulse itself is generated in
the reflectometer and the coupled into the HV by an energy separation filter (ETF or
ESF). The maximum pulse amplitude that can be achieved is about 65 V with a pulse
width of 5 µs. This process is therefore particularly suitable for the measurement of
power cables with a total length of up to about 5 - 8 km. Positive results were also
achieved with fault distances of up to 10 km.
The measurement pulse from the reflectometer which is smaller in amplitude has the
advantage that the begin of the reflectogram is not covered by the measurement
pulse itself (dead zone). The ARM® process is therefore particularly well suited for
shorter distances (up to 5 km) and lower breakdown voltages up to 12 kV.

ESF

MV Surge unit

=
G Teleflex

®
Fig. 3: Simplified diagram for the ARM process for arc stabilisation

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4.2 Double surge method
With higher surge voltages above 12 or 16 kV, the double surge method is used to
stabilise and extend the arc. (Centrix: 16/32 kV plus 4 kV, R30 system: 25/50 kV plus
12 kV surge generator). With a double surge process the fault is first ignited with the
higher voltage. But then the ionisation phase, which happens during ignition, would not
enable a stable burning and resulting not a stable measurement at such high voltages.
Therefore, as soon as a sufficiently high and stable current is flowing, another surge
generator with the before mentioned lower voltage is discharged into the arc and
extends this arc significantly which then enables a reliable measurement.

ESF

HV Surge Generator

G Teleflex

MV Surge Generator

®
Fig. 4: Simplified diagram for the ARM process for arc stabilisation by double impulses

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 ®
Fig. 5: ARM measurement in a 8 km cable

Systems with ARM:

EZ-Thump
Smart Thump
Surgeflex 8-1000
Surgeflex 15 kV
SPG 40/Compact city
Centrix 1 and 3
System R30

Individual unit:
M 219

4.3 ARM® process (active)

A similar process to the ARM® process and the double surge method is the arc
stabilisation. In this process an arc, which has been ignited with a normal surge
generator discharge voltage, is stabilised using an additional 2 kV surge generator and
then measured with the reflectometer by releasing a measuring pulse through a filter
circuit into the burning arc. The LSG 3E can be used, with its internal 2 kV impulse
capacitor as a direct pre-location device for low voltage distributions.

Systems:
Classic

Individual unit:
LSG 3E

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4.4 ARM® KLV method (passive / resistive)
The technically easiest way to extend an arc is carried out by using resistors.
This means, that the discharge of the surge generator is extended by a resistor with
typically 300 Ohms, connected in series wit the surge generator.
The method is called KLV (short term arc process) or als known as SIM / S.I.M.
(Secondary Impulse Method). One of the fundamental disadvantages of this method is
the discharge through a resistor, which then limits the available voltage, by acting as a
voltage divider. Consequently it is not always possible to break the fault down, even if
the comparison of breakdown voltage and Surge generator output indicate sufficient
voltage. Advantages of the KLV technology are the attractive size, weight and the price
of such a filter. But generally, several measurements have to be taken.
Storing the individual measurements is always recommended. When using the latest
Teleflex generation this is done automatically.
Also here the pulse width of the measurement pulse should not be below 500 ns for
the first measurement. With short fault distances, the pulse width can be reduced in the
second step.
KLV 300 Ώ

MV Surge Generator

G Teleflex

Fig. 6: Simplified Diagram of KLV

Systems:
Surgeflex 32 kV
SFX 25 kV
Classic (optional)

Individual
LSG 300

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4.5 ARM® Plus technology

The ARM® Plus technology is based on the release of a high voltage surge discharge
pulse for the ignition and extension of the fault followed by a low voltage discharge for
the measurement itself. The Reflectometer operates in this case only as transient
recorder and receives its data from a Rogovski coil. Above 16 kV the ARM Plus
technology works also as double surge method where a high voltage surge generator,
up to 32 kV ignites the fault. The actual stabilisation of the arc is then achieved by the
coupling of another MV surge generator level (4 kV). The arc burning period is
dependent on the oscillating frequency of this circuit, which results from the combined
parameters of test object - test system, and the insulation which again is dependent on
the cable length, and is in the range of a few ms. The measurement pulse for the fault
location arises from the impulse discharge of a pulse capacitor via ark gaps and has a
maximum pulse amplitude of 1500 V. The measurement pulses which are very
powerful in comparison, enable a fault location in power cables with up to approx. 10
km length.The fault position is detected by comparison of the two traces (between the
reference and fault trace) at the fault position.

HV Surge Generator
16 / 32 kV

G
DC supply

1 kV 200 V

MV Surge Generator
4 / 8 kV

Teleflex

Fig. 7: Simplified diagram for the ARM® plus method

®
Fig. 8: ARM plus method in a 8 km cable

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4.6 Decay Plus method
The Decay Plus technology permits the fault pre-location in chargeable cables with
very high ignition voltages of up to 80 kV. It extends the ARM® Plus process from the
standard 32 kV surge voltage to the test voltage limit of 80 kV.
The arc is ignited in DC mode by charging the cable until a flashover occurs at the fault
location. The actual extension of the arc is then achieved by the coupling of the “lower”
MV surge generator level with a fixed value of 4 kV. This provides a stable burning arc
at the fault location. This is then, like in the normal ARM Plus method used to release a
1500 V measuring pulse. This process with the powerful measuring pulse enables an
80 kV ARM fault pre-location in power cables of up to approx. 10 km long.
The fault position is detected by the deviation of the two traces (between reference
and fault trace) at the position of the fault and has, in principle, an identical trace in
comparison with the ARM or ARM® Plus process.

DC generator
=
up to 80 kV
G

1 kV 200 V
Surge Generator

Teleflex

Fig.
Fig 9: Simplified diagram for the Decay Plus method

Fig. 10: DECAY Plus, Reference and fault trace

Systems with ARM® Plus and Decay Plus® :

Centrix 1/3

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4.7 ARM® – Burning
Despite of all of the other available technologies, burning has not completely
disappeared from the process of cable fault location. Special wet joint and similar
problems can bring the normal arc reflection methods to their physical limits.
To have an effective and reliable, cable preseving burn process, ARM® and Burning
were combined. This means, during the burn process, a continuous ARM arc reflection
measurement takes place. This technology permits the observation of the fault
changing the display while the burning happens. The fault distance is immediately
available and the system stops the burning process automatically as soon as a stable
low resistance or impedance condition is achieved. Like for all ARM processes a
reference and fault trace are then compared.
An additional pre-location is not necessary, the process can directly be followed by
the pinpointing procedure.
The advantage of this method compared with conventional burning is the controlled
process which limits the burning to the shortest necessary time. As a result, this
burning ist fast and comparatively cable preserving.

ESF
Ι

Burn device R

Teleflex

Fig. 11: Simplified diagram for the ARM® burning process

Systems
Centrix 1
Centrix 3
Classic
R30 system

Next:
In addition to the ARM arc reflection methods there are also the so-called transient
methods for impulse current (ICE) and voltage coupling (DECAY).

These methodes as well as their various application possibilities are described in the
application paper “Prelocation with Transient Methods”

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