Novel Approach of Arcing Faults Electromagnetic Radiated Energy Source Location Using Antennas in Power Systems

This paper presents novel approach of power arcing faults source location using the arc electromagnetic (EM) radiated energy absorbed by strategically placed antennas. Real electric arc was reproduced during a laboratory measurement by a pine tree leaned on an energized current conductor to mimic actual arcing fault phenomenon. Once the arc RF signal data were gathered, only the first cycle of the arrival wave front was considered in order to minimize the effect of the signal reflections from the walls of the measurement room. Using the signal energy contained in this first cycle the Inverse Square Law (ISL) was exploited to derive the distance that separates the antennas from the arcing fault source point. Subsequently the Arc Source Cartesian Coordinates (ASCC) were calculated via iteration method. Next the measured and actual ASCC were compared and the results show that this new approach of using exclusively the arc EM radiated energy can be integrated in power systems as an arcing faults monitoring device to supplement the conventional fault detection methods.