NIA SSEN 0052: Low Voltage Feeder Cable Open Circuit Detection

Key Activities

Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) currently identify open circuit fault locations using equipment from different manufacturers with varying accuracy of results, which sometimes requires an excavation for the equipment to work. This project will investigate different types and ways of sending signals during cable fault location events to investigate which of them is best at pinpointing and locating the position of the cable open circuit fault.

Expected Benefits

During this project the following benefits could be realised:

• More accurate location of underground cable open circuit faults on a variety of cables of various shielding construction and understanding any limitations of the device.
• More efficient planning of remedial repairs.
• Greatly reduced Customer Minutes Lost (CMLs).

Progress

The ability to accurately detect open circuit cable faults, including in buried cables, has successfully been proven in the lab environment. However, although the result accuracy can be better than anticipated, there remains a design fault where the design accuracy is unstable. This has been investigated and the issue is understood, with the solution being tested.

Much of the physical electronic hardware development has been completed for both the injector and the detector equipment.

The success during field trials has been limited to being able to find Open Circuits on the low voltage network. There has been intermittent instability with measuring the signalling that enables the Open Circuit Finder (OCF) to locate Open Circuit faults. The design finalisation will continue outside of this project, funded in Business as Usual (BaU). It is expected that the outcome of the development will transition to BaU, making the OCF available to all DNOs.

Collaborator

Haysys

Project Budget

£408,169

Start/End Date

December 2020 – March 2024

Project Manager

Kevin Dennis