A wavelet transform based decision making logic method for discrimination between internal faults and inrush currents in power transformers

This paper describes a decision making logic method for discrimination between internal faults and inrush currents in power transformers using the wavelet transform based feature extraction technique. It is shown that the features extracted by the wavelet transform have a more distinctive property than those extracted by the fast Fourier transform due to the good time and frequency localisation characteristics of the wavelet transform. As a result, by quantifying the extracted features, the decision for distinguishing an internal fault from an inrush current in different power transformer systems can be accurately made. The extensive simulation studies have verified that the proposed method is more reliable and simpler, and is suitable for different power transformer systems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.