“UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DISTANCE LOCATOR USING MICROCONTROLLER WITH GSM”

Abstract

The objective of this project is to determine the distance of underground cable fault from base station in
kilometres. The underground cable system is a common practice followed in many urban areas. When a fault occurs for some
reason, at that time the repairing process related to that particular cable is difficult due to not knowing the exact location of
the cable fault. The proposed system is to find the exact location of the fault. The project uses the standard concept of Ohms
law i.e., when a low DC voltage is applied at the feeder end through a series resistor (Cable lines), then current would vary
depending upon the location of fault in the cable. In case there is a short circuit (Line to Ground), the voltage across series
resistors changes accordingly, which is then fed to an ADC to develop precise digital data which the programmed
microcontroller of 8051 family would display in kilometres. The project is assembled with a set of resistors representing
cable length in KMs and fault creation is made by a set of switches at every known KM to cross check the accuracy of the
same. The fault occurring at a particular distance and the respective phase is displayed on a LCD interfaced to the
microcontroller. In addition to this a new technique called GSM Mode is also installed in this system.