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ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
6TH SEMESTER, BATCH 2017, SECTION (A)
OPEN-ENDED PROJECT REPORT OF ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION (EL-322)
THE OPEN-ENDED PROJECT TITLE IS
MURRAY LOOP TEST FOR UNDERGROUND
CABLE FAULT DETECTION
BY
Muhammad Qutubuddin Siddiqui 2017-EL-001
Muhammad Kamran 2017-EL-005
Salman Ahmed 2017-EL-013
Muhammad Awais Sharif 2017-EL-018
SUBMITTED TO
Sir Aamir Ali & Ma’am Meher-un-Nisa
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ABSTRACT
In recent years, power systems have been very difficult to manage as the load
demands increase and environment constraints restrict the distribution network. One
another mode used for distribution of Electrical power is making use of underground
cables (generally in urban areas only) instead of overhead distribution network. The
use of underground cables arises a problem of identifying the fault location as it is not
open to view as in case of overhead network. To improve the reliability of a distribution
system, accurate identification of a faulted segment is required in order to reduce the
interruption time during fault. Speedy and precise fault location plays an important
role in accelerating system restoration, reducing outage time, reducing great financial
loss and significantly improving system reliability. The objective of this paper is to
study the methods of determining the distance of underground cable fault from the
base station in kilometers. Underground cable system is a common practice followed
in major urban areas. While a fault occurs for some reason, at that time the repairing
process related to that particular cable is difficult due to exact unknown location of
the fault in the cable. In this paper, a technique for detecting faults in underground
distribution system is presented.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. OBJECTIVE ............................................................... 4
2. HARDWARE REQUIRED .......................................... 5
3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 6
3.1 Implementation Procedure ........................................................................................................ 6
4. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM .................................................. 6
.
5. OBSERVATIONS ......................................................... 7
6. RESULT & ANALYSIS ................................................ 7
7. CONCLUSION ........................................................... 8
8. REFERENCES ........................................................... 8
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1. OBJECTIVE
This test is used to find the fault location in an underground or underwater cable by
making one bridge in it and by comparing the resistance we shall find out the fault
location. But we should use the known length of the cables in this experiment. The
necessary connection of the Murray loop test is shown in below figure. In this test, the
faulty cable is connected or being short with sound cable by a low resistance wire,
because that resistance should not affect the total resistance of the cable and it should
be able to circulate the loop current to the bridge circuits without loss.
Below shows the circuit diagram for locating the earth fault by Murray loop test. Here AB
is the sound cable and CD is the faulty cable; the earth fault occurring at point F.
The far end D of the faulty cable is joined to the far end B of the sound cable through a
low resistance link. Two variable resistances P and Q are joined to ends A and C (See Fig)
respectively and serve as the ratio arms of the Wheatstone bridge.
Let;
R = resistance of the conductor loops up to the fault from the test end X= resistance of
the other length of the loop
Note that P, Q, R and X are the four arms of the Wheatstone bridge. The resistances P and
Q are varied till the galvanometer indicates zero deflection.
In the balanced position of the bridge, we have,
𝑃 𝑅 𝑃 𝑅
= => + 1 = + 1
𝑄 𝑋 𝑄 𝑋
𝑃+𝑄 𝑅+𝑋
=
𝑄 𝑋
If r is the resistance of each cable, then; R + X = 2r
4
𝑃+𝑄 2𝑟
=
𝑄 𝑥
Or;
𝑄
𝑿 ∗ 2𝑟
𝑃+𝑄
If l is the length of each cable in meters, then resistance per meter length of cable = r / l
Distance of fault point from test end (d) is;
𝑋∗𝑙 𝑄 𝑙
d= = 𝑃+𝑄 * 2r *𝑟
𝑟
Thus, the position of the fault is located. Note that resistance of the fault is in the battery
circuit and not in the bridge circuit. Therefore, fault resistance does not affect the
balancing of the bridge. However, if the fault resistance is high, the sensitivity of the
bridge is reduced.
2. HARDWARE REQUIRED
• Breadboard
• Faulty Cable (90m)
• Healthy Cable (90m)
• Multi-meter
• Galvanometer
• Two Variable resistors
• Connecting wires
• Soldering Iron
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3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE
Assemble the circuit according to the given diagram on the breadboard.
Connect P and Q variable resistors on a value so that initially galvanometer shows
unbalancing. Connect sound and so-called faulty cable by shorting them using soldering
iron. Then connect the whole cable having resistance (R + X) to the bridge and in between
the two points of A and C, connect the Galvanometer. And then ground the so-called
faulty cable at one point to be determined by this test.
After completing the connections, switch on the main supply to the breadboard and
balance the bridge by regulating the variable resistances. When the bridge is balanced
properly and galvanometer shows pointer at its zero position, then
1. Note L, the total length of each line
2. Measure P, the first arm resistance of Wheatstone bridge 3. Measure Q, the second
arm resistance of Wheatstone bridge
3. Calculate fault location from test end using formula.
4. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
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5. OBSERVATIONS
𝑸 𝑸
P Q L 𝒅= ∗ 𝟐𝒍
𝑷+𝑸 𝑷+𝑸
80k 40k 0.40 180m 84m
6. RESULTS & ANALYSIS
The location of fault point from the testing end is found to be 84 m.
The above test is only valid when the lengths of the cables are known. In Murray Loop
Test, the fault resistance is fixed and it may not be varied. Also, it is difficult to set the
bridge as balance. Thus, the determination of the fault position is not accurate. Then the
current circulation through the cable would cause temperature rises due to high voltage
or high current. If the resistance varies according to the temperature, then the balance
collapses. So, we need to apply less voltage or less current to this circuit.
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7. CONCLUSION
The simulation results show that the proposed method responds very well insensitive to
fault type, fault Distance and system configuration. For the problem under consideration
of simulation has been successfully applied. Therefore, different types of fault analysis
and fault location can be done with ease. Applied simulation methods are practically
possible in field. Development for a wide range of cable length will be made in the further
work in terms of safety and compact size for field measurements. A series of tests were
conducted at actual cable line sites and at the company's training facility to evaluate the
locational precision of the prototype Murray loop bridges. - The potentiometer type
indicated good results. Locational errors stayed around +0.8% even under
superimposition of a 230 V induced voltage. - The relay switching resistor type provided
a similar level of locational precision compared to the potentiometer either with or
without induced voltage. It could be confirmed that both prototypes have comparable
performance.
8. REFERENCES
Md. Fakhrul Islam, Amanullah M T Oo, Salahuddin. A. Azad1, “Locating
Underground Cable Faults: A Review and Guideline for New Development”, Power
Engineering Group, Faculty of sciences, Engineering and Health Central
Queensland University North Rockhampton QLD 4702 Australia
ShwetaGajbhiye and S.P.Karmore “Cable Fault Monitoring and Indication: A
Review”, International Journal of computer science and Network, Volume
2,Aug2013 ISSN(Online):2277-5420
R. H. Salim, et al., "Extended fault-location formulation for power distribution
systems," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 24, pp. 508-516, 2009
HeenaSharma,M.T.Deshpande,RahulPande “Different types of fault Analysis and
Techniques of Fault Location Using PSCAD”,International Journal of Emerging
Technology and Advanced Engineering(2250-2459)May2013
M. Komoda, et al., "Development of a current detection type cable fault locator,"
Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 6, pp. 541-545, 1991.
