A Contactless Method for Measuring Unbalanced Loading of Utility Transformer

Three phase unbalancing remains a serious power quality issue in overhead power distribution lines. Variation of the load is a major contributor in unbalancing. This paper reports a contactless method with a minimum number of magnetic field sensors for measuring unbalance loading of the distribution network. The network is developed in Simulink based on parameters of a typical Pakistan distribution network. This paper also discusses about the orientation of magnetic field sensor so that the results are not affected by any field. The optimal location of sensors will help the system to differentiate between balanced and unbalanced loading. Sensor placement system was developed through MATLAB programming. Another contribution in this paper is the use of a pattern recognition technique instead of the current reconstruction algorithm commonly found in the literature review. With the help of pattern recognition based machine learning, the system is able to predict the unbalance loading of distribution lines.