2009 IEEE International Advance Computing Conference (IACC 2009)
Patiala, India, 6-7 March 2009
Detection, Measurement and Classification of Power
Quality Disturlbances in Distribution Systems
Aritra Dasgupta, MTech Student
Dept. of Electrical Engg.
Netaji Subhash Engineering College
Kolkata - 700152. West Bengal, India
e-mail: aritradguptag yahoo.co.in
Abstract- Detection, localization and quantification of voltage
and current disturbances are important tasks in monitoring and
protection of distribution systems. The concept of Discrete Wavelet
Transform for feature extraction of power quality disturbance
signals has been incorporated as a powerful tool for detecting and
classifying power quality problems. This paper presents the ability
of multiresolution signal decomposition technique, by plotting
standard deviations of the decomposed signal at different resolution
levels, to classify and quantify the power quality disturbance. It has
been also shown that the curve obtained by plotting the entropy of
the decomposed signal at different levels provides clear information
quantifilcation of the powerquality
for the detection and quantification power quality
tu nes
detection and of the
dis
Index Terms-Power quality, voltage events, wavelet transform,
entropy.
I. INTRODUCTION
POOR power quality may cause many problems for affected loads
such as malfunctions, instabilities and short lifetime. The
dependence of modem life upon the continuous supply of
electrical energy makes power quality topic of utmost
importance in the power systems area. The increased
requirements on supervision control and performance in modem
power systems makes power quality monitoring a common
practice for utilities. In order to improve electric power quality
and to take proper mitigating actions the sources and causes of
such disturbances should be known. To determine the causes and
sources of disturbances one must detect and localize those
disturbances and classify the types of the disturbances. New
tools are required to extract all relevant information from the
recordings in an automatic way.
978-1-4244-2928-8/09/$25 .00 ( 2009 IEEE
Sudipta Nath, Professor
Dept. of Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engg.
Netaji Subhash Engineering College
Kolkata - 700152. West Bengal, India
e-mail: nath sudiptag yahoo.com
A voltage event is an abnormal and temporary variation of the
magnitude of voltage supply. Voltage dips, short interruption
and voltage swells are the most important events in voltage
supply that produce huge losses in industrial and commercial
consumers due to sensitivity of equipment to the voltage
variations. Gaoda et al. [1] introduced the use of wavelet
transform and multiresolution signal decomposition as a
power alsist thaticanrbedusegtolmonitoroan easure
thesystem response to ditratedigl Soso etal [2
presented unique features that characterize power quality events
and methodologies to extract them from recorded voltage and
current waveforms. A hybrid scheme using a fourier linear
combiner and a fuzzy expert system for the classification of
transient disturbance waveforms in a power system has been
presented by Dash et al [3]. Olivier et al [4] investigated the use
of a continuous wavelet transform to detect and analyze voltage
sags and transients. They developed an efficient and simple
algorithm for power quality analysis. Styvaktakis et al [5]
presented an expert system that is able to classify different types
of power system events and offer useful information in terms of
power quality. The expert system uses the voltage waveforms
and distinguishes the different types of voltage dips as well as
interruptions. Gaing [6] implemented and tested a prototype
wavelet based neural network classifier for recognizing power
quality disturbances. The discrete wavelet transform technique
has been integrated with the probabilistic neural network model
to construct the classifier. The need to analyze power quality
signals to extract their distinctive features made Gargoom et al
[7] to use Hilbert transform and Clarke transform for the
classification of power quality signals and they compared the
performance of these techniques with wavelet transform.
Elkalashy et al [8] used DWTs to detect high impedance faults
917
due to leaning trees. Wireless sensors have been considered for
processing the DWTs. Mishra et al [9] presented an S transform
based probabilistic neural network classifier for the recognition
of power quality disturbances. A new method has been proposed
by Peres and Barros [10] for the online real-time detection and
classification of voltage events in power systems. They used
wavelet analysis for the detection and estimation of time related
parameters of an event and used extended Kalman filtering for
the confirmation of the event.
The aim of this paper is to present the applications of
multiresolution analysis as a powerful tool for detecting,
classifying and quantifying short duration power quality
disturbances. The disturbances are sag, swell and interruption.
The localization and duration of the disturbance has been
detected using the first decomposition level i.e. the detail DI of
the first decomposition level clearly indicates the time interval of of detail level 1 of the signals with intermediate swell and
the event and hence can classify the phenomena as momentary or interruption
temporary. The standard deviation curves obtained by plotting
the standard deviations at different decomposition levels can
diagnosis the type of the disturbance and provide early warning
purpose. The graph pertaining to detail coefficients at level 1 i.e.,
DI provides the necessary information to precisely locate the
occurrence of the disturbance. The sudden increase in the value
of the coefficient in detail 1 indicates the occurrence of a
disturbance event. Fig. l(a) shows the coefficients of detail level
DI detail
of a pure sinusoidal signal. Fig. l(b) reveals the coefficients
of level 1 of a sinusoidal signal having intermediate sag. It
is observed that sufficiently large detail coefficient occurs
around at 400th
sample and at 800th
sample. Now the time
duration of the original signal is 0 to 0.1 seconds which is
divided into 1000 sample values. So the 400th sample, for
example will correspond to 0.04 seconds and 800th sample
corresponds to 0.08 seconds. Hence we conclude that a
disturbance has initiated at 0.04 second and lasted till 0.08
seconds. Similarly Fig. l(c) and Fig. l(d) shows the coefficients
i irr*inriEiir!!rinrrrrnuEiir*mr
mi_ !I_ 1i
s

of impending power quality problems. Moreover the shape of the _

standard deviation curve provides information about theh
harmonic content in the signal. It has been shown also that the d1
entropy curve of the signal at different decomposition levels canscn
classify the disturbance present in the in the signal. m m x m 0 0 m m
(a)
II. APPLICATION OF WAVELET TRANSFORM FOR
MONITORING SHORT DURA\TION DISTURBIANCES IN S IJj~li JI~~I~ i 1~i~mIi~~UlDIlj l~ 1
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS -
The term quality is sometimes used as synonymous with supply d1 i
reliability to indicate the existence of an adequate and secure X 4
power supply. Judging by the content of innumerable (b
contributions to the topic of power quality in recent years, power
quality is generally used to express the quality of the voltage. s rf1lrg1q l rlS'
While harmonic distortion is an increasing quality problem, a ; __i_____
wider power quality concept is needed that includes non X
periodical and transient deviations from the ideal waveforms. d_
The present analysis includes localization (the time of
occurrence), detection (sag/ swell/ interruption) and finally
quantification of short duration variations of power quality (c)
events. The following signals have been considered for analysis:
* Normal / Pure Sinusoidal signal
* Sinusoidal signal with intermediate Sag dj
* Sinusoidal signal with intermediate Swell 540 20 3 40 m EX ?DO

* Sinusoidal signal with intermediate Interruption

Fig. 1. Magnitude of detail coefficients of DWT (a) Pure
sinusoidal signal (b) Sinusoidal signal with intermediate sag (c)
All these signals were analyzed using Wavelet Transform. Sinusoidal signal with intermediate swell (d) Sinusoidal signal
Here we have chosen Daubechies 4 at level 4 for the analysis with intermediate interruption

918 2009 IEEE Internlationlal Advance Computing Conference (IACC 2009)

 Now the signals with above power quality disturbances are swell the peak of the curve is higher than that of the ideal signal.
analyzed by wavelet transform at different levels and the Hence the standard deviation curves clearly detect the type of the
standard deviation pertaining to all levels of decomposition for disturbance.
each signal has been computed. Then the standard deviations are S
plotted against the decomposition level to obtain the standard 1
deviation curve. The standard deviation curves for the low
frequency (50 Hz) signal and high frequency (154.7 kHz) signal -- (a}--
are shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 respectively. The basic difference
in the two curves is that for low frequency signal there is one 0a6
,- - X-
peak and for high frequency signal there are two peaks.
Pure Sine Wave ~--

0.6 0.2--- / 4
a)
,0.4 _- ------e
r 0.4_/

0.2 -

0
0 2 4 6

Fig.2. Standard deviation curve for low frequency signal -8 04 --

Pure Sine Wave 1/

0.8 2- I,
------

.7
0 2 4 6
0.6

0.5

0.3 -7
0.4
0.2

01
2 4 6 8 10 c27---
0
Level 0 2 4 e
Fig.3. Standard deviation curve for high frequency signal
Fig. 4 shows the standard deviation curves for 50 Hz. signals Fig.4. Standard deviation curves for low frequency signal with
with power quality
2009~~~disturbances i.e.
~ sag,I swell ~ interruption
and
~ EEItrainlAvneCmuigCneec,ICpower quality disturbances
09(a) sag (b) swell (c) interruption 1
respectively. It is seen that the peak value of the curve detects The standard deviation curves for high frequency signal are
the type of the disturbance. For example the peak value of shown in Fig. 5. It is found that the second peak of the curve
standard deviation curve in Fig. 4(a) is less that that at Fig. 2 remains same irrespective of the presence of disturbance in the
indicating that there is sag in the disturbed signal. For signal. By observing and monitoring the changes occurring at the
interruption the peak is still less than that in sag. Similarly for first peak with respect to the peak for normal sinusoid we can
categorically define the type of disturbance. The first peak of the case of interruption as compared with the normal signal.
standard deviation curve is less in case of sag and still less in

a? 07

i- r-

---- -a ----0 5 ---- ----

~~~~~~~- -I

aa -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~----0.3

a2--- ------o~

Q 2 4 6 5 1Q 8 02 4 5 0LA5
2 4

Fig.5. Standard deviation curves for high frequency signal with power quality disturbances (a) sag (b) swell (c) interruption

x 16 EntrboY F0r5O Hz
- - nt erru[!it:-o
~~~~~~I

-4 ---- ---

Pure

uJ

-14
1 2 3 ~~~~~45 6 7

Fig. 6. Entropy curve for different power quality disturbances at low frequency

easily detected. Fig. 7. presents the entropy curve for different

Similarly the first peak of the standard deviation curve in power quality disturbances at high frequency
presence of swell is higher. Fig. 6 shows the curve of entropy
of different short duration disturbed signals at different II EUT N ICSIN
decomposition levels. Initially the magnitude of the curve for II EUT N ICSIN
swell is high and that for interruption is low. By observing the Fig. 8 (a) shows a series resonant inverter circuit with resistive
nature of the entropy curves of different disturbed signals with loading. Fig. 8 (b) shows a simple equivalent circuit
respect to the normal signal the type of the disturbance can be representation of a system in which the transformer and load are
represented by RL impedance and the inverter output is
represented by an equivalent square wave source. For this circuit
R = 12 ohms, L = 0.231 mH, C = 0.1082251 microfarad and Vd,
= 1OOV. Fig. 9 shows the voltage across the capacitor from
simulation run using SIMULINK.
O X Ib Ertropi For H1gh Freq

u 6

~ :~~~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nt r:: tIu

_1 - 3 4 --6

Fig. 7. Entropy curve for different power quality disturbances at high frequency

_~~~~~~
change in the shape of the curve indicates the presence of
L g A HA1~L t k
rd
~~~~~~~~~much
~~~~~~~~~~~~harmonics in thethatsignal.
less than of theMoreover
pure sine the peak
wave of the curve
indicating iS
that the
< 1 C__ disturbance is sag in nature. Fig. 11 shows the entropy curve
L ---+ of the capacitor voltage and that of the pure sine wave up to
J&U N first
Z+i six decomposition levels. Here also the change in the
s v w- k !~ shape of the curve indicates the presence of harmonics in the
signal and as the magnitude Of the entropy iS always less than
____________________ ~~that of the pure wave hence sag is predominant in the distorted
(a) signal.

I P. 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fig. 8. Series resonant inverter circuit (a) original circuit (b)

equivalent circuit
Fig. 10 shows the standard deviation curve for the distorted
capacitor voltage of the first eight decomposed level. The

2J009 IEEE InternXation7Xal AdlvanXce Computing Conference (IACC 2009u ) 92i1

 Voltage across Capacitor Fig. 9. Voltage waveform across capacitor
400

300

200 IV. CONCLUSIONS

1000 This paper presents a new method for the detection and
classification of voltage events in power systems using
Seentropy of the distorted signal. Different simulation results
0

-100 showing the ability of discrete wavelet transform in

-200 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ clas ifying
different power quality problems has been shown.
The standard deviation curves both for low and high
-300- frequency signals have been analyzed. Using different
-400
A
0 100 200 11
300
IETl
400 500 600
properties of discrete wavelet transform one can detect,
localize and classify different short duration disturbances in a
Sample Values signal.

Std EPV Fb Pure Sirie W\ave dhd Circijit W Capacitr Voltage

L36

13 1 1 5 7 , t * .~~~~~~~~~~~~A1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------8
8 ----
-------

1 2 ----
Levei~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ee
Fig. 11. Entropy curve for the capacitor voltage.
Fig. 10. Standard deviation curve for capacitor voltage.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the financial support given by
Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India
for sponsoring this research to Dr. Sudipta Nath. The authors
also acknowledge Dr. Abhijit Chakrabarti, Professor in the
Department of Electrical Engineering, Bengal Engineering
and Science University, Shibpur for his valuable suggestions.

REFERENCES
[1]. A.M. Gaouda, M.M.A. Salama, M.R. Sultan and A.Y. Chikhani,
"Application of multiresolution signal decomposition for
monitoring short-duration variations in distribution systems" IEEE
Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 478-485, Apr. 2000.

922 2009 IEEE Internlationlal Advance Computing Conference (IACC 2009)

[2]. S. Santoso, W. M. Grady, E. J. Powers, J. Lamoree and S. C. Bhatt,
"Characterization of distribution power quality events with fourier
and wavelet transforms", IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 15, no.
1, pp. 247-254, Jan. 2000.
[3]. P.K. dash, S. Mishra, M.M. A. Salama and A.C. Liew,
"Classification of power system disturbances using a fuzzy expert
system and a fourier linear combiner" IEEE Trans. Power
Delivery, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 472-477, Apr. 2000.
[4]. 0. Poisson, P. Rioual and M. Meunier, "Detection and
measurement of power quality disturbances using wavelet
transform" IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1039-
1044, July 2000.
[5]. E. Styvaktakis, M. H. J. Bollen and I.Y.H. Gu, "Expert system for
classification and analysis of power system events", IEEE Trans.
Power Delivery, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 423-428, Apr. 2002.
[6]. Zwe-Lee Gaing, "Wavelet based neural network for power
disturbance recognition and classification" IEEE Trans. Power
Delivery, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 1560-1568, October 2004.
[7]. A.M. Gargoom, N. Ertugrul and W.L. Soong, "Investigation of
effective automatic recognition systems of power quality events",
IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 2319-2326,
October 2007.
[8]. N.I. Elkalashy, M. Lehtonen, H.A. Darwish, A.M.I. Taalab and
M.A. Izzularab, "DWT based detection and transient power
direction based location of high impedance faults due to leaning
trees in unearthed MV networks", IEEE Trans. Power Delivery,
vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 94-101, January 2008.
[9]. S. Mishra, C.N. Bhende and B.K. Panigrahi, "Detection and
classification of power quality disturbances using S transform and
probabilistic neural network", IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol.
23, no. 1, pp. 280-287, January 2008.
[10]. Enrique Perez and Julio Barros, "A proposal for on-line detection
and classification of voltage events in Power Systems" IEEE
Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 2132-2138, October
2008.

2009 IEEE Internlationlal Advance Computing Conference (IACC 2009) 923