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Evaluation of the probability of arrester failure in a high-voltage transmission line using a Q

learning artificial neural network model

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2011 Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 045702

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IOP PUBLISHING MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 045702 (6pp) doi:10.1088/0957-0233/22/4/045702

Evaluation of the probability of arrester

failure in a high-voltage transmission line
using a Q learning artificial neural
network model
L Ekonomou, P Karampelas, V Vita and G E Chatzarakis
A.S.PE.T.E.School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Department of Electrical
Engineering Educators, N Heraklion, 141 21 Athens, Greece
E-mail: leekonom@gmail.com, pkarampelas@gmail.com, vasvita@yahoo.co.uk and
gea.xatz@aspete.gr

Received 15 November 2010, in final form 24 January 2011

Published 23 February 2011
Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/22/045702

Abstract
One of the most popular methods of protecting high voltage transmission lines against
lightning strikes and internal overvoltages is the use of arresters. The installation of arresters
in high voltage transmission lines can prevent or even reduce the lines failure rate. Several
studies based on simulation tools have been presented in order to estimate the critical currents
that exceed the arresters rated energy stress and to specify the arresters installation interval.
In this work artificial intelligence, and more specifically a Q-learning artificial neural network
(ANN) model, is addressed for evaluating the arresters failure probability. The aims of the
paper are to describe in detail the developed Q-learning ANN model and to compare the
results obtained by its application in operating 150 kV Greek transmission lines with those
produced using a simulation tool. The satisfactory and accurate results of the proposed ANN
model can make it a valuable tool for designers of electrical power systems seeking more
effective lightning protection, reducing operational costs and better continuity of service.
Keywords: artificial neural networks, lightning performance, lightning protection, Q-learning
method, overhead high voltage transmission lines, surge arresters

1. Introduction effect of arresters on them [14]. In this work artificial

Lightning strikes are a common reason for failures in
power systems. In order to protect overhead high voltage
transmission lines and to reduce the failure rate, arresters are
installed between each phase and earth. Arresters consist
of columns of metal-oxide discs in series inside a polymer
housing and behave as highly nonlinear resistors, which
present a momentary path to earth for voltages above a
defined value, removing the superfluous charge from the line,
according to the voltagecurrent characteristic of the discs.
In the recent years several studies, based on simulation
tools (e.g. EMTP, PSCAD, Pspice, Simulink etc), have been
presented in the technical literature in an effort to evaluate
the lightning performance of transmission lines, to improve
their lightning protection and to study the installation and
intelligence and more specifically artificial neural networks
(ANNs) are used to evaluate the probability of arrester
failure. ANNs have lately seen increased usage in power
system areas such as fault classification and fault location
in transmission lines [5, 6], prediction of energy consumption
[7], voltage stability analysis [8], power flow problems [9], on-
line calculations [10], prediction of magnetic performance of
strip-wound magnetic cores [11], estimation of contamination
of distribution system voltage insulators [12] etc, due to their
computational speed, their ability to handle complex nonlinear
functions, robustness and great efficiency, even in cases where
full information for the studied problems is absent. ANNs
offer a number of advantages, including less formal statistical
training requirements, the ability to implicitly detect complex
nonlinear relationships between dependent and independent

0957-0233/11/045702+06$33.00 1 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 045702
variables, the ability to detect all possible interactions between
predictor variables and the availability of multiple training
algorithms.
In this work, a Q-learning algorithm has been used for
the training of the proposed ANN model that is able to
predict the probability of arrester failure. Input and output
data produced by Simulink simulation tool have been used
to train the ANN model. The developed ANN model has
been applied to five operating 150 kV Greek high voltage
transmission lines in order to ascertain that it works properly
and produces accurate results. ANN model results for these
five analyzed transmission lines, which do not use arresters
as a means of protection, are also compared to data on actual
recorded lightning failures. The developed ANN model can be
used as a valuable tool in the studies of designers of electrical
power systems (especially in Greece where lines do not use
arresters as a means of protection) who are looking for more
effective lightning protection, reduced operational costs and
better continuity of service.
2. The probability of arrester failure
Arresters are installed on transmission lines between phase
and earth in order to improve the lightning performance and
reduce the failure rate. The main characteristics of an arrester
are [13]:
Continuous operating voltage, which is the designated
permissible rms value of power-frequency voltage that
may be applied continuously between the arrester
terminals.
Rated voltage, which is the maximum permissible rms
value of power-frequency voltage between its terminals at
which it is designed to operate correctly under temporary
overvoltage conditions as established in operating duty
tests.
Residual voltage, which is the peak value of power-
frequency voltage that is applied to the arrester to obtain
the reference current.
Thermal runaway, which is the situation when the
sustained power loss of an arrester exceeds the thermal
dissipation capability of the housing and connections,
leading to a cumulative increase in the temperature of
the resistor elements and culminating in failure.
The lightning energy E (in joules) absorbed by an arrester
is computed from the relation
 t
E= u(t) i(t) dt (1)
to
where u(t) is the residual voltage of the arrester in kV and i(t)
is the value of the discharge current through the arrester in kA.
When the energy absorbed by the arresters exceeds their
maximum acceptable level of energy, the arresters are damaged
and the probability of arrester failure is given by the equation
[14, 15]
   the current flowing through themtaken by Simulink
Pf = f (IP ) hA (IP ) dIP g(Tt ) dTt
Tt IA (Tt )
   dissipated by the arresters, which, when it exceeds the
+ f (IP ) hB (IP ) dIP g(Tt ) dTt (2)
Tt IB (Tt )
2
L Ekonomou et al
where IA (Tt ) is the minimum stroke peak current in kA
required to damage the arrester, when lightning hits a phase
conductor, depending on each time-to-half value; IB (Tt ) is
the minimum stroke peak current in kA required to damage
the arrester, when lightning hits the overhead ground wire,
depending on each time-to-half value; f (IP ) is the probability
density function of the lightning current peak value; g(Tt ) is
the probability density function of the time-to-half value of the
lightning current; hA (IP ) and hB (IP ) are the probabilities that
the lightning strikes a phase conductor or the overhead ground
respectively, dependent on the electrogeometrical model
[16].
There are numerous widespread commercial software
tools used for power systems simulation, such as EMTP,
PSCAD, Matlab R
and Simulink etc, that give a graphical
representation and transient analysis of the systems. In
the current work Matlab R
and Simulink were used, which
additionally have programming advantages [17, 18]. The
waveform of the lightning surge has been produced by a double
exponential wave. The time to crest value was constant at
2 s, since its influence was negligible in comparison with
the time-to-half value, which was varied. The frequency
distributions and the parameters of the lightning current were
based on the measurements performed by Berger in Monte San
Salvatore [19].
The transmission lines were represented by a distributed
parameter line model, which was based on Bergerons
travelling wave method used by the EMTP and represents wave
propagation phenomena and line end reflections efficiently.
The surge impedance values were 400  for phases and 700 
for ground wires. The towers were represented as distributed
parameter lines with a value of 200 . An equivalent circuit
for a one-phase conductor is shown in figure 1.
In the case of a lightning strike on a ground wire, the
flow of the lightning current to earth causes an increase in
the potential of the metal structure, with a backflashover
occurring when it reaches the critical flashover voltage. The
dielectric strength of the insulator was represented as a voltage-
controlled switch (figure 2). When the voltage U exceeds the
critical flashover voltage the switch closes.
The arresters that were used in this simulation have a
rated voltage of 144 kV, nominal discharge current 10 kA,
discharge energy class 3 and withstand energy capability
8 kJ kV1 MCOV. Arresters with these characteristics are used
by the Greek Public Power Corporation S.A. for substation
protection. It must be mentioned that the Greek Public Power
Corporation S.A. does not use arresters for line protection. In
the simulation, arresters were installed on all phases and three
different cases were examined: case 1 with arresters installed
on every single tower, case 2 with arresters installed on every
second tower and case 3 with arresters installed on every third
tower.
The waveforms of the arresters terminal voltage and
simulationwere used in order to calculate the energy
arresters energy capability, causes a fault. The arresters
failure rate was computed using (2) in order to find the
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 045702 L Ekonomou et al

Ground Wire

... Line Line Line

...
Phase

Surge Surge
Arrester Arrester
Tower Tower

Tower Footing
Tower Footing
Resistance
Resistance

Figure 1. Equivalent circuit for a one-phase conductor.

wj1
Ground Wire
wj2
Output
wij xi aj

wjn
xn

U Figure 3. A simple model of an ANN.

Insulator 3. Design and training of the proposed artificial

Phase
Tower Footing
Resistance
Figure 2. Insulator string representation.
minimum stroke currents for each time-to-half value IA (Tt )
and IB (Tt ) that are required for the arresters failure. For
this purpose an arithmetic method programmed in Matlab R
was used [17, 18]. Considering a stroke on phase or on
ground wires, for each time-to-half value the lighting current
is calculated that damages the arresters, with a time-to-half
range from 10 s to 1000 s with step 1 s.
neural network (ANN) model
Figure 3 shows the essential constituents of an artificial neuron,
the basic element of an ANN. At time t, this neuron j is in a
state of activation, expressed as state aj (t) with a value between
0 and 1. The state is determined by the algebraic sum of the
weighted inputs (3) [20]:

n
aj = f (xi , wj i ) = wj i xi (3)
i=0
where xi is the ith input and wj i is the weight associated with
the path going from i to j .
The developed artificial neural network model consists of
one hidden layer with seven neurons. Its transfer function has
been selected to be the sigmoid function and the Q-learning
algorithm is used for its training. As far as the technical part
of the neural network is concerned, a set of scenarios has
been taken with an inner change of hidden layers (1 or 2) and
number of neurons in each hidden layer (2 to 25), in order to
find the best architecture for the network, i.e., the number of
neurons in the hidden layer that gives the minimum root mean
squared error. However, it must be mentioned that a larger
number of neurons reduces the application speed, something
that is a major factor in ANNs [20].
The Q-learning model was used in order to adapt the
artificial neural network learning rate based on the results.
This helped the network not only to improve its speed but also

3
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 045702 L Ekonomou et al

Table 1. Line characteristics of the analyzed transmission lines. where a [0, 1) is the parameter of the learning
Tower footing algorithm.
Line Region Towers resistance () The operation of the model was based on the following
algorithm:
Igoumenitsa-Sagiada I 129 57.5
II 3044 14.9 For all the present situations s in a discernible range
Pyrgos-Megalopoli I 166 6.2 of situations S initialize the Q function Q(s, ) in one
II 67124 10.8 arbitrary value
III 125179 14.5 REPEAT (for every trial)
Aktio-Argostoli I 155 4.8
II 56137 64.9 Initialize the present situation s
III 138224 126.3 REPEAT (for every step of the trial)
Acheloos-Arachthos I 170 3.0 Observe the present situation s
II 71130 3.1 Choose an action following a policy
III 131192 3.6 Execute the action
Megalopoli-Sparti I 145 5.1
II 4675 39.7 Receive a direct reward r
III 76173 11.2 Observe the new situation s
Renew the value Q(s,) according to the equation (4)
its performance. The algorithm of the Q-learning method was ss
based on the definition of Q function. In every iteration the UNTIL s to be the final situation.
present situation was observed and one action was chosen. The presented Q-learning ANN model capable of
The action was executed and whether the error was high evaluating the probability of arrester failure caused by
or not there was an appropriate acknowledgement. After lightning consisted of three inputs and one output. The
this, the Q function was renewed according to the following inputs were: (a) the tower footing resistance in , (b) the
equation [20, 21]: withstand capability of the arrester in kJ and (c) the arrester
Q (s, ) (1 a)Q (s, ) + a(r + max Q (s,  )) (4) interval (every one, two or three towers). The output of the

Table 2. Representative results for the probability of arrester failure from Simulink and the ANN model.
Arrester energy Arrester interval Simulinks failure ANNs failure Relative
Line Region capability (kJ) (casea ) probability (%) probability (%) error (%)

Igoumentitsa-Sagiada I 1200 1 1.653 1.681 1.694

I 1200 2 1.824 1.813 0.603
I 1200 3 2.031 1.982 2.413
II 1300 1 0.627 0.658 4.944
II 1300 2 0.727 0.753 3.576
II 1300 3 0.749 0.716 4.406
Pyrgos-Megalopoli I 1200 1 0.253 0.236 6.719
I 1200 2 0.387 0.359 7.235
II 1200 3 0.770 0.793 2.987
II 1300 1 0.525 0.509 3.048
III 1300 2 0.711 0.728 2.391
III 1300 3 0.779 0.795 2.054
Aktio-Argostoli I 1200 1 0.188 0.197 4.787
II 1200 2 2.041 1.967 3.626
III 1200 3 4.140 4.266 3.043
I 1300 1 0.165 0.158 4.242
II 1300 2 1.869 1.935 3.531
III 1300 3 3.973 4.152 4.505
Acheloos-Arachthos I 1200 1 0.726 0.684 5.785
I 1200 2 0.901 0.928 2.997
I 1200 3 1.264 1.227 2.927
II 1300 1 0.680 0.702 3.235
II 1300 2 0.924 0.988 6.926
II 1300 3 1.338 1.247 6.801
Megalopoli-Sparti I 1200 1 0.015 0.014 6.667
II 1200 2 0.472 0.496 5.085
III 1200 3 0.083 0.079 4.819
I 1300 1 0.004 0.004 0.000
II 1300 2 0.453 0.479 5.740
III 1300 3 0.066 0.064 3.030
a
Case 1: The arresters are installed on every single tower; case 2: the arresters are installed on every second tower; case 3:
the arresters are installed on every third tower.

4
Meas. Sci. Technol. 22 (2011) 045702
Table 3. Field observation data versus obtained ANN results for the
years 20022006.
Average field
observation ANN failure rateb
Line failure ratea Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
Igoumenitsa-Sagiada 2.8 0.851 1.372 1.865
Pyrgos-Megalopoli 3.4 1.340 1.824 2.415
Aktio-Argostoli 5.5 2.786 3.527 4.163
Acheloos-Arachthos 5.3 2.418 3.235 4.028
Megalopoli-Sparti 1.6 0.344 0.782 0.953
a
Average field observation failure rate means recorded lightning
failures (actual data).
b
Case 1: The arresters are installed on every single tower; case 2:
the arresters are installed on every second tower; case 3: the
arresters are installed on every third tower.
neural network was the arresters failure probability. In order
to train the ANN model a database was created using the
procedure described in section 2. Seven hundred and eighty
input and output data were used in order to train and validate
the ANN model. The lightning performance of the line was
considered for tower footing resistance values ranging from 5
to 130 , with a step of 5 . For each grounding resistance,
arresters with energy capabilities from 400 kJ to 1300 kJ were
implemented. Each case was simulated for three different
arrester intervals (arresters installed on every tower, every
second tower and every third tower).
4. Results
The developed ANN Q-learning model has been applied
on five different operating 150 kV Greek high voltage
transmission lines in order for its accuracy to be verified. The
characteristics of these lines are presented in table 1. It must be
mentioned that no transmission line in the Greek transmission
network is using arresters as a means of protection.
Arresters with various energy capabilities (1200 kJ and
1300 kJ) were implemented (considered) on every single tower
(case 1), on every second tower (case 2) and on every third
tower (case 3) of the five analyzed transmission lines. The
developed ANN model has evaluated the arresters failure
probability for all the possible scenarios of arrester installation.
Table 2 presents representative results from each one of the five
analyzed transmission lines. The ANN models results are
compared with those obtained using the Simulink simulation
tool considering again the three cases above. It is obvious that
the performance of the ANN model is very satisfactory, giving
results similar to those of the simulation tool with a relative
error ranging from 0.603% to 8.698% for all analyzed cases
and an average value of 3.911%.
For completeness purposes, table 3 presents the average
field observation failure rate of the five analyzed transmission
lines for the years 20022006 [22]. These constitute the
recorded lightning failures of these lines which are not
protected with arresters. In table 3 are compared these actual
lightning failure data (lines equipped with no arresters) with
the results obtained from the simulation tool and the developed
ANN model considering arresters on every single tower
5
L Ekonomou et al
(case 1), on every second tower (case 2) and on every third
tower (case 3).
5. Conclusions
In this paper a Q-learning artificial neural network model has
been developed in order to evaluate the probability of arrester
failure in high voltage transmission lines caused by lightning.
For the training and validation of the ANN model a database
of inputs and outputs was created, using an appropriate
simulation tool (Matlab R
& Simulink). The developed ANN
model has been applied to five operating 150 kV Greek high
voltage transmission lines, presenting satisfactory results in
comparison to those produced by Simulink, considering for
both methodologies that the lines are equipped with arresters
on every single, on every second and on every third tower.
Having in mind that none of the Greek transmission lines
today use arresters as a means of protection and in an effort to
present the improvement of the lightning performance of the
analyzed lines in the case that these are equipped with arresters,
ANN model results and Simulink results are also compared to
data on actual recorded lightning failures for these lines. The
proposed ANN methodology can be used by electric utilities as
a useful alternative tool for the design and lightning protection
of electrical power systems and especially transmission lines,
reducing the operational costs and providing continuity of
service.
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