A Noniterative Method for Locating Soft Faults in Complex Wire Networks

Abstract

International audienceReflectometry-based methods are the standard choice for fault detection techniques in wire networks. While effective when dealing with simple networks and relatively hard faults, their results can be of more difficult interpretation if a network presents more than two branches. In this paper we propose the use of an alternative technique based on a coherent multi-port characterization of a network under test. The data thus collected are used to define excitation signals that will be focusing over the position of a fault, following a method already successfully applied in geophysical prospection techniques and non-destructive testing, namely the DORT method, based on the synthesis of time-reversed signals. It is shown that a direct transposition of this technique to wire networks is not possible, due to the guided nature of wave propagation in wire networks, leading to the impossibility of assuming a dominant direction of propagation, as opposed to the case of propagation in open media. A differential version of the DORT method is introduced, enabling an accurate identification of the original position of faults. Numerical and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach

An efficient method based on the electromagnetic time reversal to locate faults in power networks

“…Both the overhead line and the cable parameters have been inferred from typical geometries of 230-kV linesand cables. The series impedance and shunt admittance matrices for the line and cable are given by (22)- (25), shown at the bottom of the next page, and have been calculated in correspondence of the line and cable switching frequency. See (22) and (25) at the bottom of the next page.…”

“…Another method based on the time reversal, called decomposition of the time-reversal operator (DORT) [24], was also proposed to locate soft faults in wired networks [25].…”

An efficient technique based on DORT method to locate multiple soft faults in wiring networks

“…This operation allows removing the spurious echoes generated by impedance discontinuities like junctions, leaving only those echoes initially generated by the interaction between the testing signals and the faults. The resulting scattering matrix will thus only contain data related to the signals scattered by the fault, which will be used to synthesize the testing signals aiming to focus on the fault's position [5]. This is accomplished by creating the TRO = † ,…”

Wire Troubleshooting and Diagnosis: Review and Perspectives

“…It uses a self-adaptive signal which is adjusted to the network under test [74], thus propagating information about the inhomogeneity. This matched signal helps to cancel the effects of the cable itself and focus on the defects [75].…”