A New Method for Locating Positions of Single-Core Cables in Three-Phase Submarine Power Circuits Based on Phase Difference Data

The identification of submarine cable locations is crucial for their operation and maintenance. Precise location data enables the monitoring of route changes and facilitates rapid fault detection. Magnetic sensing is commonly used for detecting buried submarine cables. However, current research seldom discusses the impact of mutual magnetic field interference among submarine power cables on location accuracy and considers only the magnetic field intensity for cable detection. In this study, the authors first establish a general magnetic field model for three parallel single-core submarine power cables carrying three-phase currents and thoroughly investigate the variations in the amplitude and phase difference of the magnetic field surrounding the cables. Based on this model, the authors introduce a gradient measurement method based on the phase difference for the first time and compare its location accuracy with that of the traditional extremum method. Our findings reveal that the phase difference method offers higher location accuracy at longer detection distances, whereas the extremum method is preferable for shorter distances because of its simpler device and criteria.