Time-varying waveform analysis for power transformer protection using frequency shift empirical mode decomposition

Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method is a novel time-frequency analysis tool to analyse non-stationary signals, which decomposes the signal concerned into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) modulated in terms of both amplitude and frequency. The original version of EMD, however, suffers from an algorithm difficulty to separate two individual components, frequencies of which are within an octave. To improve the frequency resolution, a signal pre-processing method is used to shift the frequencies apart based on signal communication theory. This proposed frequency shift EMD has been successfully applied to extract modal parameters of low frequency oscillations for power systems. In this paper, this method is used to analyse the transient signals (inrush current) in the field of power transformer protection. Comparing with low frequency oscillation signals, these signals include more frequency components with faster dynamics. Numerical simulations are conducted to verify the frequency shift EMD. The results show that this method is adequate for time-varying waveform analysis for power transformer protection, and with the information provided by this frequency shift EMD, more robust protection schemes for power transformer could be proposed.