Classification of Electrical Power Disturbances on Hybrid-Electric Ferries Using Wavelet Transform and Neural Network

Electrical power systems on hybrid-electric ferries are characterized by the intensive use of power electronics and a complex usage profile with the often-limited power of battery storage. It is extremely important to detect faults in a timely manner, which can lead to system malfunctions that can directly affect the safety and economic performance of the vessel. In this paper, a power disturbance classification method for hybrid-electric ferries is developed based on a wavelet transform and a neural network classifier. For each of the observed power disturbance categories, 200 signals were artificially generated. A discrete wavelet transform was applied to these signals, allowing different time-frequency resolutions to be used for different frequencies. Three statistical parameters are calculated for each coefficient: Standard deviation, entropy and asymmetry of the signal, providing a total of 18 variables for a signal. A neural network with 18 input neurons, 3 hidden neurons, and 6 output neurons was used to detect the aforementioned perturbations. The classification models with different wavelets were analyzed based on accuracy, confusion matrices, and other parameters. The analysis showed that the proposed model can be successfully used for the detection and classification of disturbances in the considered vessels, which allows the implementation of better and more efficient algorithms for energy management.