Underground Cable Fault Distance Locator

Abstract

Underground cables undergoes a wide variety of faults due to underground conditions, wear and tear, etc. Diagnosing fault source is difficult and the cable should be fully taken out from the ground to check the faults. The project work is intended to detect the location of fault in underground cable lines from the base station in km using a micro controller. To detect a fault in the cable, thecable must be tested for faults. This prototype uses the simple concept of Ohms law. Depending upon the length of fault of the cable, the current will be varied. In the urban areas, the overhead lines are replaced by underground cables. When the fault occurs in underground cable, the process to detect the exact location of the fault in underground cable is very difficult. We can find the exact location of the fault by this proposed system. The prototype is modelled with a set of wires representing cable length in km and fault creation is made, at every known distance to cross check the accuracy of the same.In case of fault, the voltage across wires changes accordingly, which is then fed to an Arduino.LCD which is connect to Arduino displays fault location in distance. The fault occurring distance and phase is displayed on a 16X2 LCD interfaced with the microcontroller.