Technical information

Voltage grading of EXLIM and PEXLIM surge arresters

Surge arrester performance

The performance of a zinc oxide surge arrester is defined by its protective levels, its temporary overvoltage and energy discharge capabilities and the long term-stability of the zinc oxide material. The temporary overvoltage and energy handling capabilities are closely related to the temperature of the zinc oxide blocks during normal operation. This temperature depends on the power losses, which increase rapidly with voltage stress, due to the block materials non-linear voltage-current characteristics.Therefore the most essential parameters to minimize the temperature during normal operation are inherently low power losses in the zinc oxide material, together with a linear voltage distribution along the block column. The voltage distribution along the block column depends on the capacitance of the zinc oxide blocks and the influence of stray capacitances.The stray capacitances are strongly dependent on the height of the block column. Short arresters - up to about one meter in height - usually have a sufficiently linear voltage distribution along the block column, as the self-capacitance of the zinc oxide blocks is relatively high. For taller arresters, the influence of stray capacitances makes the voltage distribution less linear. If no measures are taken to prevent an uneven voltage distribution on a tall arrester, the local voltage stress at the top will reach the knee-point of the voltage-current characteristic of the zinc oxide material.This leads to a localized increase in the power losses, with high temperatures in the block column as consequence.

EXLIM and PEXLIM arresters equipped with grading rings

Electric field calculations

The solution to this problem is the introduction of additional voltage grading equipment. For EXLIM and PEXLIM surge arresters the addtional voltage grading is obtained by using external grading rings. When designing surge arrestesrs, grading rings are usually selected and positioned with help of two-dimensional, axis-symmetric, singlephase electric field calculations. Figure1 shows equipotential lines as the result of such a calculation for an EXLIM Q360-DH420 arrester, positioned two meters above ground. An important matter, which often remains unconsidered, is the influence on the voltage distribution by adjacent surge arresters in a three-phase installation.Three-dimensional, three-phase field calculations according to the
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Figure 1: Single-phase electric field calculation

boundary element method show, that the voltage stress at the top of an arrester may be up to eight percent higher compared to values calculated by normal single-phase field calculation methods. The influence from adjacent phases on voltage distribution has been calculated for several typical three-phase installations ranging from 145 kV to 800 kV system voltage. In order to simulate the maximum possible three-phase influence on the voltage distribution, these calculations were performed using the minimum phase spacing for each voltage level and the arresters were placed in the vicinity of a grounded wall. Figure 2 shows the set-up used for calculations on a three-phase 245 kV arrester installation.

Figure 2: Typical 245kV surge arrester installation

2,5 m

2,0 m

3,0 m

1,6 m

Verification of long-term stability

Both IEC and ANSI standards require the maximum voltage stress to be taken into consideration in accelerated ageing tests on zinc oxide blocks. However, it is not possible to determine the correct voltage stress to be used in these tests without proper calculations of the maximum voltage stress occuring in practical three-phase installations. If no such calculations have been performed, the tests should therefore be carried out with a voltage stress corresponding to the knee-point of the voltage-current characteristics, i.e. at the reference voltage. The grading arrangements for EXLIM
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and PEXLIM surge arresters are based on complete electrical field calculations for each arrester design - at the maximum continuous operating voltage and with the maximum possible three-phase influence taken into account.This guarantees that the voltage stress remains below the critical level at all points along the block column.This maximum voltage stress level is used in accelerated ageing tests on the zinc oxide blocks for ABBs arresters.Thus, the longterm stability of the zinc oxide blocks is verified at the highest possible voltage stress found in any installation under normal service conditions.
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ABB Power Technology Products AB High Voltage Products Surge Arresters S-771 80 Ludvika, Sweden Tel: +46 (0)240 78 20 00 Fax: +46 (0)240 179 83 www.abb.com

2353en ed. 2 / 2001-08