A Fault Analysis Method Based on Association Rule Mining for Distribution Terminal Unit

Xuecen Zhang,Guofeng Liu,Xin Ning,Qiang Liu,Jiankun Chen,Yi Tang

doi:10.3390/app11115221

Abstract

With the development of distribution networks, large amounts of distribution terminal units (DTU) are gradually integrated into the power system. However, limited numbers of maintenance engineers can hardly cope with the pressure brought about by the substantial increase of DTU devices. As DTU fault would pose a threat to the stable and safe operation of power systems; thus, it is rather significant to reduce the fault incidence of DTU devices and improve the efficiency of fault elimination. In this paper, a DTU fault analysis method using an association rule mining algorithm was proposed. Key factors of DTU fault were analyzed at first. Then, the main concept of the Eclat algorithm was illustrated, and its performance was compared with FP-growth and Apriori algorithms using DTU fault databases of different sizes. Afterwards, a DTU fault analysis method based on the Eclat algorithm was proposed. The practicality of this method was proven by experiment using a realistic DTU fault database. Finally, the application of this method was presented to demonstrate its effectiveness.

Highlights

The distribution terminal unit (DTU) collects real-time operation data of distribution networks and uploads them to the distribution automation system (DAS) or the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system
Since fault data was updated according to the real-time operation of DTU devices, newly generated rules were probably not in the initial rule bases and some of them might have been unreliable
Strong rules founded by association rule mining algorithms were sometimes redundant and repetitive; in this case, manual inspection is indispensable

Summary

Introduction

The distribution terminal unit (DTU) collects real-time operation data of distribution networks and uploads them to the distribution automation system (DAS) or the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. With DTU devices, DAS/SCADA can monitor the operating state of distribution networks and control secondary-side devices remotely, which shortens fault elimination time and reduces the maintenance cost to some extent. With the development of distribution networks, large-scale integration of DTU imposes pressure on maintenance work. DTU faults may lead to device failure, which would have severe impacts on the distribution network. Lowering fault incidence and the enhancing fault elimination ability are vital for guaranteeing the safe and stable operation of distribution networks and power systems. During DTU operation, significant fault data is generated and recorded which, is not fully utilized

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion