ELECTRIC POWER LINE ON-LINE DIAGNOSTIC METHOD

摘要

An arrangement and method is provided for determining the present condition and/or expected life of electric power lines via the measurement and analysis of the current into and the current out of the electric power line, thus permitting preventive action on electric power lines before problems arise. In this way, any departure from normal operation may also be detected, e.g. such as caused by a high-impedance fault or the like. The phase angle difference between the input and output currents provides a measure of the condition of the line, i.e. specifically, this phase angle shift between the input and output currents increases as the line ages and loss factors increase. Due to the inherent noise in the current signals, in one embodiment the phase angle shift is measured via a cross-correlation between the input and output current signals to provide the measured phase angle. This phase angle is compared to that of acceptable lines and a determination is then made as to the condition or quality of the measured line. Where the signals are extremely noisy, an auto-correlation process is carried out on one of the current signals to provide an error factor that is a measure of the possible error in the cross-correlation process. This error factor is then subtracted from the phase shift as measured in the correlation process to provide a more realistic estimate of the phase angle shift between the input and output currents.