Power transformer differential protection using neural network Principal Component Analysis and Radial Basis Function Neural Network

Many methods have been used to discriminate magnetizing inrush from internal faults in power transformers. Most of them follow a deterministic approach, i.e. they rely on an index and fixed threshold. This article proposes two approaches (i.e. NNPCA and RBFNN) for power transformer differential protection and address the challenging task of detecting magnetizing inrush from internal fault. These approaches based on the pattern recognition technique. In the proposed algorithm, the Neural Network Principal Component Analysis (NNPCA) and Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) are used as a classifier. The principal component analysis is used to preprocess the data from power system in order to eliminate redundant information and enhance hidden pattern of differential current to discriminate between internal faults from inrush and over-excitation condition. The presented algorithm also makes use of ratio of voltage-to-frequency and amplitude of differential current for detection transformer operating condition. For both proposed cases, optimal number of neurons has been considered in the neural network architectures and the effect of hidden layer neurons on the classification accuracy is analyzed. A comparison among the performance of the FFBPNN (Feed Forward Back Propagation Neural Network), NNPCA, RBFNN based classifiers and with the conventional harmonic restraint method based on Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) method is presented in distinguishing between magnetizing inrush and internal fault condition of power transformer. The algorithm is evaluated using simulation performed with PSCAD/EMTDC and MATLAB. The results confirm that the RBFNN is faster, stable and more reliable recognition of transformer inrush and internal fault condition.