A Correlation Based Method for Discriminating Inrush Current from Short Circuit Current Using Wavelet Transform in Power Transformer Differential Protection

This paper presents a new approach for power transformer differential protection. The Wavelet Transform is applied to discriminate between inrush currents and internal fault currents in power transformers. Discrete wavelet transform decomposes the current signal into sub-bands that give more information about the properties of the signals in different frequency bands. Also، this transform is used to investigate the energy distribution of the signal on the different time and frequency scales. Recognition method is based on the correlation factors between energy percentage vectors of the Wavelet coefficients. Discrete Wavelet transform is used for decomposing the current signals to different frequency coefficients. After that، by constituting the energy percentage vectors of wavelet transform coefficients and calculating the correlation factors between these vectors، it is possible to form a recognition criterion to distinguish between inrush and internal fault current in the proposed method. The proposed algorithm is tested for several conditions by simulated inrush and internal fault currents. Simulation of current signals is performed using electromagnetic transient program PSCAD/EMTDC software that is a powerful program for the investigation of transient signals. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme accurately identifies inrush and fault currents in the distance of the power transformer protection in less than quarter of power frequency cycle. Also، beside the sensitivity and high reliability، the proposed method has low computation content and unlike the common methods does not require to determine the threshold for each new power system.