LOAD BEHAVIOUR DURING VOLTAGE DIPS:

A VOLTAGE QUALITY STUDY IN LOW VOLTAGE

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
I. Rendroyoko R.E. Morrison Peter K.C. Wong*

Department of Electrical & Computer Science

Monash University, PO BOX 35, CLAYTON, VICTORIA 3800
Phone: 61-03-99053465, Fax: 61-03-99053454
Ignatius.rendroyoko@eng.monash.edu.au

* United Energy Ltd., PO BOX 1185, Moorabbin, VIC 3189

Abstract

Over the last ten years, many studies have been performed on voltage dip characteristics in
industrial, commercial and residential systems. The characteristic of each voltage dip is unique and
particular to each electrical system. This paper presents a study of load behaviour during voltage
dips on a low voltage distribution system, consisting of light commercial and residential customers.
The recorded voltage dip measurements were used to analyze the system voltage dip characteristic.
The Power System Blockset (PSB) from MATLAB was used in modeling the distribution system
components and simulating the voltage dips caused by faults. The influence of loads on voltage dips
during faults, especially during the winter and summer season, is presented. It is concluded that the
load may influence the voltage dip characterization and that load effects must be accounted for to
achieve high modeling accuracy.

1. INTRODUCTION This paper will discuss load behaviour on a system

Voltage dips have become a major concern in power
quality in the past decade. The cost of economical
loses and inconveniences caused by voltage dips have
triggered some studies and research activities. Many
experts have tried to characterise voltage dips [1,2,3].
The existing standard on voltage dip characterises the
voltage dips in terms of magnitude and duration. The
characterisation of the standard is based on the
assumption that faults will cause rectangular voltage
dips. It is also assumed that the voltage drops to a
certain low value immediately and when the fault is
cleared, the voltage recovers back to normal
immediately.
The assumption of rectangular voltage dips, however,
is not correct in a realistic system, which largely
consists of rotating machines or motors. When a fault
occurs, all the rotating machines in the system slow
down and after the fault is cleared, the motors will
accelerate to the normal condition. During
acceleration, motor will draw high current from the
system and thus prolong the voltage dip.
during and after a voltage dip. For the purpose of this
paper, one sub-system in south-eastern Victoria was
selected. This sub-system has significant differences
in load characteristics between the summer and winter
season. In the summer season, there is an increase of
energy consumption, which is mostly due to the
operation of air conditioners. Therefore, part of the
load consists of electrical rotating machines.
2. SYSTEM COMPONENTS
The distribution system under study is presented in
fig. 1. A main 66kV bus bar supplies the 22kV
distribution system trough 2 66/22kV 30-MVA
transformers and the sub-system is supplied at 415 V
from a 22/0.415kV 400-kVA transformer.
The transmission and distribution systems supply
electric power to a south-east area of Melbourne in the
geographical distribution area of United Energy Ltd.
(UE). The sub-system supplies mostly commercial
customers, and a few residential and light industrial
customers.
 subsystem could be due to air conditioners. In
summer, the sub-system will have more rotating
machines.
Subsystem Max Load
500
KVAR1
KW1
450 KVA1
KVAR2
KW2
400 KVA2

350

300

Load
250

200

150

100

50
1 : Winter 01 load
2 : Summer 00 load
0
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Days
Figure 1
One-line diagram of the sub-system under study Figure 2
Summer and Winter Max Load Variation
The circuit parameters of the distribution system
under study are shown on table 1.
4. VOLTAGE RECOVERY
Circuit Voltage PostvSeq-%on100MVA ZeroSeq-%on100MVA
Faults in the distribution system might cause voltage
From To No kV Type R1 X1 B1 R0 X0 B0
dips. The location of fault, type of fault, fault clearing
time and the electrical system configuration will also
Source NW66kV 66 Generator/Source 2.05% 6.99% 2.11% 17.95%
affect the voltage dip [3].
NW66kV NW22kV 1 66/22 Trfr - 20/30MVA 1.98% 51.36% 7.92% 20.54%
NW66kV NW22kV 2 66/22 Trfr - 20/30MVA 1.93% 50.96% 7.72% 20.38% A Voltage dip is normally characterised by a
NW22kV WHORSE-SVLE 1 22 O/H- 19/3.25AAC 0.19 0.33 1.75 0.34 1.59 0.67 magnitude and duration, however, another researcher
22kV/433V 400kVA 1 22/0.433 Trfr - 400KVA 4.00% 4.00% also mentioned phase angle jump and post fault dip as
CapBanks NW22kV 1 22 4.7Mvar a further important characteristics [4]. A voltage dip
CapBanks NW22kV 2 22 6.0Mvar
occurring in a system that has resistive loads, will
have rectangular shaped dips. When the fault occurs,
the voltage directly reduces to a particular value, and
Table 1
when the fault is cleared, the voltage recovers back to
Sub-system's Circuit Parameters
its original level immediately [1].
For monitoring and measurement purposes, UE has
This does not happen when parts of the load consist of
installed power quality monitoring equipment at the
rotating machines such as induction motors or air
22kV bus and 415V bus. Thus, every fault occurring
conditioner motors.
in the system will be recorded.
One of the results of the voltage dip recording is
3. SUMMER AND WINTER LOADS shown in figure 3. Figure 3 shows 415V bus voltage
due to a fault of 200ms on a 22kV distribution system.
The subsystem under study has a specific The fault which has occurred on the 22kV system is a
characteristic in load trend. To some extent, the single phase to ground fault. However, it is seen in the
amount of load is different between summer and low voltage side as a two phase to ground fault
winter seasons. Usually, in summer, the system has because of transformer vector connection (delta/star).
more loads than in winter. The load variation between The voltage dip was recorded at 20:51:34, on 10
summer and winter is shown in fig. 2. December 2000.
Since, the subsystem consists of residential, When the fault occurred, the bus voltage dip did not
commercial and light industrial customers, the follow step change but instead decreased to a certain
difference of load between summer and winter in this point and then decaying to a lower rapidly voltage
levels during the short circuit period. After the fault is 5.1 Balanced Fault
cleared, the voltage did not directly recover to its level
before fault. The voltage need a longer time to recover During a 3Ph-G fault in the 22kV system, the 415V
back and this could be caused by air conditioning bus bar voltage also drops in magnitude. Some of the
motor loads. simulation results are shown below:
Voltage Dips Voltage Dips
270 500
V1
V2
400 V3

260
300

200
250

Voltage (V)
100
Voltage (V)

240
0

−100
230

−200

220 −300

−400
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
210 time (s)
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
time (s)

Figure 4
Figure 3 Voltage dip for a 3Ph-G fault
Voltage dips in the subsystem
Load Current during Voltage Dips
800
5. SIMULATION OF POST FAULT I1
I2
I3
LOAD BEHAVIOUR 600

400
In order to evaluate and analyse the rotating machine's
influence to the sub-system, a simulation model of the 200
Current (A)

sub-system has been developed. The simulation uses

0
the power system blockset tools within the MATLAB
package. For simulation purposes, a SLGF and −200

a 3Ph-G fault are simulated at both 22kV and 415V.

−400

In the model, the subsystem mimics the real

−600
subsystem shown in figure 1. There are six feeders
supplying electricity to consumers consisting of −800
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
resistive loads and rotating motor load models. The air time (s)

conditioning motor load is 27% of the load in the

subsystem. The typical air conditioning motor Figure 5
parameters used in the simulation are given below: Load current during 3Ph-G fault

Figure 4 and 5 show the 415V-bus voltage and load

Phase 1 Ph Motor 3Ph Motor current during a 3Ph-G fault in the 22kV system.
At the 3Ph-G fault, the bus voltage will be suppressed
Rated Capacity 1 Hp 8 HP
until the fault is cleared. The characteristics of the air-
Power Supply 240 V 415 V
50 Hz 50 Hz
conditioning motor load affects the voltage drop and
Frequency
Rs (stator resistance) 1 0.2 voltage recovery. The subsystem voltage may swing
Xs (stator reactance) 4.14 1.8 for a few cycles before returning to normal. These
Rr (rotor resistance) 0.9 0.4 swings lengthen the duration of the recovery
Xr (rotor reactance) 4.14 1.8 process [3].
Xm (magnetizing reactance) 69.11 38.2
J (rotor inertia) 0.146 1 5.2 Unbalanced Fault

Table 2 Most of the faults on a medium voltage system are

Air conditioning motor parameters single-phase to ground faults [5]. Single-phase faults
often result from lightning, wind, tree-branch contact The results of this process are shown in figure 8 and 9
or insulator failure. The behaviour of the sub-system below.
under study during an unbalanced fault is more
complicated than during a three-phase to ground 400
Voltage Dips

balanced fault.
350

Voltage Dips
500
V1 300
V2
400 V3
250

Voltage (V)
300
200
200

150
Voltage (V)

100

100
0
V1
V2
50
−100 V0

−200 0
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
time (s)
−300

−400
Figure 8
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
time (s) Positive, negative and zero sequence voltage for the
single phase to ground fault shown in fig. 6
Figure 6
800
Voltage dip for a 1Ph-G fault I1
I2
I0
700
Load Current during Voltage Dips
500
I1 600
I2
400 I3

500
300
Current (A)

400
200

300
Current (A)

100

200
0

−100 100

−200 0
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
time (s)
−300

−400 Figure 9
1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2
time (s) Positive, negative and zero sequence current for the
single phase to ground fault shown in fig. 7
Figure 7
Load Current during 1Ph-G fault After fault initiation, the positive-sequence voltage
decreases while the negative-sequence voltage
The busbar voltage during a single phase to ground increases. In fig. 9, the positive-sequence current
fault at 22kV line is shown in fig. 6. The 22/0.415kV drops after fault initiation and suddenly jumps to
transformer connection makes the voltage dip seen as almost three times than normal load current before its
a 2Ph-G fault at the 415V busbar voltage. slowly decays to a steady level during the fault.

Single phase to ground faults give less severe
problems to motor loads than 3Ph-G faults. However,
voltage recovery after the fault is still affected.
Using symmetrical components, the characteristics of
the voltage waveform can be clearly seen by dividing
them into positive, negative and zero sequence voltage
components.
This phenomenon is caused by the air conditioning
motor characteristics. When the fault occurs, the
motors slow down causing a decrease in positive-
sequence impedance. This decrease in positive-
sequence impedance is the cause of the increase in
positive-sequence current and the decrease in positive-
sequence voltage. The effect is probably due to speed
reduction of the motor.
6. CONCLUSIONS
It has been reported that voltage dips which occur on a
system with no rotating machines result in a
rectangular profile dip. The voltage directly drops to a
particular level during fault. After the fault is cleared,
the voltage returns to the level present before the fault
occurred.
1973 to 1983 and at Staffordshire University from
1983 to 1997. He joined Monash University, Australia
in 1997 as director of The Centre for Electrical Power
Engineering.
Peter KC Wong received his BSc in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in
1983. He is currently the Protection & Planning
Manager, United Energy, where he is responsible for
protection strategy and long-term system planning of
the electricity and natural gas distribution networks.
He is a member of IEE and IEAust.

A different phenomenon can be found in a system

with rotating machine loads. When a fault occurs, the
voltage does not directly drop to its minimum level
but it decays until reaching a steady condition before
the fault is cleared. At that time, the voltage does not
directly return, but recovers slowly until reaching its
original level.

From these two results, it can be concluded that load

influences the voltage dip characteristization.

7. REFERENCES
1. Math H.J Bollen, "Understanding Power Quality
Problems: Voltage Sags and Interruptions", IEEE
Press, New York, 2000.
2. Math H.J Bollen, The Influence of Motor
Reacceleration on Voltage sags, IEEE Trans. on
Ind. Applicat., Vol. 31, No. 4, July/August 1995.
3. J.C Das, The effects of momentary voltage dips
on the operation of induction and synchronous
motors, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol.26,
pp.711-718, 1990.
4. Lidong Zhang; Math H.J. Bollen, Characteristic
of Voltage Dips (Sags) in Power Systems, 8th
International Conference on Harmonics and
Quality of Power ICHQP’98, 1998, pp. 555-560.
5. McGranaghan, Mark F., Mueller, David R.,
Samotyj Marek J., Voltage Sags in Industrial
Systems, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat., Vol. 29,
No. 2, March/April 1993
6. Shaffer, John W., Air Conditioner Response to
Transmission Faults, IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, Vol.12, No.2, May 1997

Ignatius Rendroyoko, a student member of IEEE,

was born in Indonesia in 1970. He graduated from the
Institute Technology of Bandung, Indonesia in 1994
and served as an electrical engineer in PLN since
1995. He is currently working towards a M.Eng.Sc.
degree at Monash University, Australia.
Professor RE Morrison was born in Stoke on Trent,
United Kingdom in 1951. He received his BSc degree
and PhD degree from University of Staffordshire
University, UK in 1973 and 1981 respectively.
Professor Morrison worked for ALSTOM (UK) from