Power system insulator condition monitoring automation using mean shift tracker-FIS combined approach

Within the hierarchy of power system, distribution system automation plays a crucial role to provide reliable service to customers. Though initially computer aided automation started as substation monitoring system (SMS) just for monitoring some key parameters such as voltage and currents of different components in a substation, the technological advancement has enabled to have access to more features from components of the entire distribution system. Since the distribution system has expanded to cater power to even remote locations, thus for reliable power supply, insulator condition monitoring automation plays an important role because the failure of insulator either causes complete disruption of power or reduction of system voltage leading to heavy power losses. This paper presents a methodology for condition monitoring automation of insulators by a combined approach using mean shift tracker and fuzzy inference system (FIS) and the case studies validate the efficacy of the methodology.