The Vanishing Fault – Why Did the Circuit Breaker Trip With No Recorded Fault?

The live presentation of this event has already taken place.

Please view the PDF slides here or watch the video recording below:

Emeritus Professor Akhtar Kalam’s Electrifying Mysteries

This webinar series provides a structured examination of real-world engineering challenges. Each session will address specific, technically focused topics relevant to professional engineers.

Webinar details

Few engineering puzzles are as confounding as a tripped circuit breaker with no trace of fault current or event record. This session explores the enigma of “ghost faults” and unexplained protection operations in contemporary electrical systems. Through forensic analysis of system behaviour, participants will explore transient disturbances, CT saturation, capacitive coupling, and relay maloperations that may cause such phenomena. The webinar also highlights how digital protection systems can both obscure and illuminate the truth behind a vanishing fault.

• The webinar will be recorded and will be sent out to registered attendees afterwards.
• A certificate of attendance will be provided to attendees who request one near the end of the live webinar session.
• Please note: the time stated on this event is in UTC. You will need to convert this to your own time zone.

Key takeaways from this webinar

• Identify potential causes of unrecorded tripping events, including transient phenomena and instrumentation errors.
• Strengthen the ability to interpret relay logs and waveform data to reconstruct fault events accurately.
• Develop diagnostic strategies to verify, validate, and mitigate “phantom” fault scenarios.
• Recognise the importance of coordination between protection settings, network modelling, and operational procedures.

Related courses

This webinar/topic relates to our school of Electrical Engineering and is particularly found in the following courses:

• Online – Bachelor of Science (Electrical Engineering)
• Undergraduate Certificate in Electrical Engineering
• Professional Certificate of Competency in Electrical Power System Fundamentals for Non-Electrical Engineers 
• 52888WA Advanced Diploma of Applied Electrical Engineering (Power Industry)
• Professional Certificate of Competency in Smart Grids

To learn more about tuition fees, please click here.

About the presenter

Emeritus Professor Akhtar Kalam

BSc, BScEng, MS, PhD, FIET, CEng, FAIE, FIEAust, CPEng, NER, APEC Engineer, IntPE(Aus), PEV, MCIGRE, Life Senior Member of IEEE.

Professor Akhtar Kalam is a supervisor of EIT’s Doctoral students. He has worked at Victoria University since 1984 and recently associated with the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities. He is the Editor in Chief of Australian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering. Further, he has Distinguished Professorship position in many national and international institutions. He has been recognized internationally and nationally for his research. He is regularly invited to deliver lectures, work on industrial projects, and examine external theses overseas. Professor Kalam is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Victoria (PEV), Fellow of EA, IET, AIE, a life Senior Member of IEEE, NER, APEC Engineer, IntPE (Aus) and a member of CIGRE AP B5 Study Committee.