Power Systems Faults Location with Traveling Wave Based on Hilbert-Huang Transform

Identification of the signal of traveling wave is the key for power line faults location. Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT), as a kind of time-frequency analysis method, is proposed to analysis the signal in the power system. Traveling wave of the fault circuitry is decomposed by the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), and the inherent mode functions (IMF) are extracted. Then Hilbert transform is used to calculate the instantaneous amplitude of the appropriate IMF component. The arrival time of traveling wave can be detected accurately by means of the instantaneous amplitude. Combined with a new method of line location, it can avoid the influence of wave velocity and the arc of line, and the location will be more accurate. Simulation results show that HHT can accurately extract the arrival time of traveling wave, and the precision of fault location is in the range of practical acceptance.