Feasibility of fractal-based methods for visualization of power system disturbances

In this paper, an application of a fractal-based approach is proposed to detect power quality disturbances. In the proposed method, a fractal number computation is embedded within the detection procedure. These computed fractals are refined through the moving average technique, and then compared with the predetermined threshold in order to signal encountered events. In this way, the characteristics of non-stationary disturbances can be more closely monitored. The transient behavior, cavities and discontinuities in the signals can be all investigated. The proposed method has been tested on various disturbances, including voltage sag, voltage swell, momentary interruption, oscillatory transient and harmonic distortion scenarios. The results have demonstrated the feasibility of the approach for visualization of power system disturbances.