Southern States Smart Tap - Manual

> Directional Fault Sensing > Smart Tap
A P P L I C A T I O N G U I D E
Fault location and load restoration in transmission networks.
Smart Tap ®
Fault Location in
Transmission Networks
Faults on tapped transmission lines can result in significant outage times and customer dissatisfaction. Commonly used
substation based fault locating solutions for tapped transmission lines can be problematic when trying to locate the specific
line segment where the fault occurred. Using Smart Tap technology, the fault location information is reported through the
SCADA system allowing the system operator to determine which line segment has experienced the fault.
For momentary faults, the SCADA fault information can assist the crews in the location and elimination of the source
of the momentary fault. For permanent faults, the operator can isolate the faulted section and minimize outage times.
Information from each line tap provides an indicator of a fault and fault direction, it also provides deterministic information
to allow proper sectionalizing.
For example, in a transmission network with four taps, there are nine
possible sections where the fault could occur.
•
Faulted section is not identified
• Trial and error approach required to clear fault
• For permanent faults, breakers are reclosed into fault to locate faulted
section
•
The trial and error approach repeated until proper section is
identified
•
Not possible to identify sections where momentary faults occur
KEY FEATURES
• Detects low current and over current faults
• Detects magnitude and direction of permanent and
momentary faults
•
Works on looped transmission lines with radial load taps
• Does not require PTs to determine fault direction
• Direction indication points to faulted section
• Reports information to SCADA operator
• Can be configured for automatic operation
Smart Tap is an innovative new technology that correctly identifies the faulted section for low current momentary
faults and over current permanent faults.