Real-time Transient Classification System

Modern society is highly dependant on electricity; large scale blackouts can cost billions of dollars. High-voltage power transmission systems that transmit electricity from the generating stations to load centres could be subjected to a variety of disturbances such as faults, lightening strikes etc. These transmission systems must be protected against faults using suitable protective equipment to ensure the safety of equipment and people. Faster protection schemes can improve the power transfer capability and reduce the transmission system down-time, thereby enabling reliable and cost-effective service to electricity customers. Thus, this research proposes to develop an important element in a novel protection scheme that works using the high frequency signals (transients) generated during the transmission systems faults. This new protective technique will be faster that traditional techniques that use low frequency (60 Hz) signals to detect the faults. The proposed transient classifier will prevent the false operation of the new protective devices to high-frequency signals generated during normal operation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Athula Rajapakse

Student:

Nuwan Perera

Partner:

Manitoba HVDC Research Centre

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Manitoba