2013 International Symposium on Lightning Protection (XII SIPDA), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, October 7-11, 2013.

Metal-Oxide Surge Arresters Leakage Current Analysis and Thermography

Wagner A. M. Ursine, Jos L. Silvino
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG Belo Horizonte, Brazil wagnerursine@ufmg.br
AbstractMetal-Oxide arresters are used to protect substations equipment against surges. Because their constructive properties, a small current, called leakage current, flows through them in normal operation condition. The resistive part of this current is a good indicator of the arresters degradation state and is also responsible for its heating. This paper discusses the use of thermography and some methods that measure the leakage current for autonomous monitoring of metal-oxide surge arresters. Environment factors that contribute for its surface temperature and, therefore, affect thermography results are evaluated and discussed. In addition, a simple and direct current measurement method is used to obtain the resistive current and show its relation with thermography. Keywords surge arrester; thermography; leakage current;

Leonardo G. Fonseca, Roberto M. de Andrade

Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG Belo Horizonte, Brazil

miliamperes. The total leakage current ( ) is composed by a capacitive component ( ) and a resistive component ( ). The latter, called resistive current, is very small in relation to the first, so-called capacitive current, causing the total leakage current to be predominantly capacitive [1]. Automating the inspection and diagnosis of assets has emerged as a plausible alternative within the context of substation maintenance. The benefits go from the increase in inspection frequency, forming an even richer database, to process standardization and systematic application of technology. Still, it is possible to unify the tasks of acquisition and analysis for all equipment, creating an integrated platform for maintenance management [2]. Given the surge arrester importance, it is essential that the automatic monitoring systems contemplate its functioning, properties and possible anomalies, being able to predict failures and determine the best time to remove device from service. Therefore, it becomes necessary to develop tools for its analysis and study the parameters of interest for its diagnosis as well. II. DEVELOPMENT

I.

INTRODUCTION

Reducing operating costs and improving quality of the provided services, based on better management and consequent increased availability of assets, are key points for electricity companies. Investments in research and development in the field of maintenance, combined with the experience acquired over the years, enabled to start the creation of a knowledge database that is a crucial pillar for the asset management. Surge arrester is used in order to protect substations equipment against overvoltages coming from the system itself or lightning strikes. Such protection is very important when regarding the reliability of these installations, making device failure during request a critical matter. Its diagnosis can be done by analyzing the leakage current and also by thermography. Thermography is the most widely adopted technique for monitoring and diagnosis of substation equipment. However, the transition from a qualitative to a quantitative approach still requires efforts to determine the factors of influence and the uncertainty associated with temperature measurements. The quality of the data and deep knowledge about the equipment are essential for the correct diagnosis of detected thermal anomalies and choice of the best time for a replacement or intervention. Since the metal oxide surge arrester is usually connected between one phase and earth, it presents a current flowing continuously between its terminals, even in normal operating conditions. This current is called leakage current and its value can range from a few hundreds microamperes to some

A. Thermography and leakage current The resistive component of the leakage current is responsible for the heating of the surge arrester (in the absence of external factors) and its increase is reflected as an increase in the temperature of the equipment [3]. If the surge arrester is in perfect condition, such heating is practically uniform on the surface and will be within predetermined limits. On the other hand, the occurrence of degradation may change the distribution of currents in the arrester blocks. When this occurs, the ZnO grains could be allowing the passage of an amount of current higher or lower than normal. In the first case, the grain behaves like a short circuit, increasing the current passing through it and, consequently, decreasing the current in its vicinity. In the second, the grain resembles an open circuit, preventing the passage of current and generating a current increase in its vicinity. These types of degradation generate the appearance of hot spots or hot regions [4]. The leakage current and thermography therefore display a relationship of complementarity and can be combined to a more consistent and detailed analysis.

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B. Resistive current extraction For the ideal case, an arrester that has no degradation and operates with proper voltage, the leakage current can be considered almost totally capacitive, as shown Fig. 1.

Other methods for extracting the resistive current can be found in [1] [3] [5] [6]. C. Influence factors in thermography The use of thermography for assessing the equipment condition is well established, even if it is often underutilized or misused. However, the lack of knowledge about the asset under analysis is just the beginning of a chain of factors that can destroy a thermographic inspection. It is not unusual to replace equipment still in good condition or ignore one that effectively requires more care. Such situations can occur either by underestimating or by overestimating the problems (if / when) detected [7]. The scenario can be even worse if an erroneous quantitative approach is used to plan asset management. That said, there is a need for greater reliability of thermographic inspections so that the frequency at which decisions are made based on incorrect information and mispriced cost is minimized. The reliability of thermographic inspections is subject to intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect the temperature measurement, as well as the critical temperature values from the detailed study of the relationship between temperature and the actual condition of the equipment. Intrinsic factors are related to errors introduced by the internal components of the acquisition devices. Extrinsic factors are related to errors introduced by the properties of the object of study and the conditions to which it is subjected. To determine the influence of some of intrinsic and extrinsic factors present in the inspection, a series of experiments dealing with the solar radiation, wind speed, ambient temperature and also the parameters required by infrared cameras for acquisition was performed. III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Fig. 1. Voltage and leakage current in a varistor

When the surge arrester undergoes some kind of degradation, flaws or operates with a voltage above its rated operating voltage, the resistive component becomes significant enough to distort the ideal waveform of the leakage current, as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Leakage current of a surge arrester on which the applied voltage is greater than the rated voltage

In order to obtain only the portion of the resistive leakage current, it is necessary to eliminate its capacitive part. Although some methods utilize compensation capacitors and field antennas, it is desirable that the measurement takes place directly and with the equipment in full operation. Whereas the waveform of capacitive current is almost identical to the one of the voltage applied to the surge arrester, it is possible to determine the capacitive part of the total leakage current knowing only the waveform of the applied voltage. In order to do this, the voltage waveform must be scaled so that it has the same amplitude as the capacitive current. Then, the modified voltage waveform is shifted until it is in phase with the capacitive current. Consequently, one can determine the resistive portion that flows through the device by subtracting the capacitive amount of the total current. Fig. 3 shows a typical waveform of the resistive current.

A. Solar radiation For checking the influence of solar radiation on the surface temperature, a surge arrester was placed in sun exposure (without shade interference), for a period from 8 am to 4 pm. Two pyranometer type solarimeters were positioned close to the surge arrester for measuring diffuse and total radiation received. The diffused radiation is obtained through the use of a shading ring capable of blocking direct radiation. Thus, the direct radiation can be determined by the difference between the total and diffuse. The environmental conditions were determined through sensors positioned within a meteorological shelter. Such conditions include atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and temperature. The solarimeters and meteorological data were collected every 15 minutes. Four thermograms spaced of 90 were obtained hourly. The thermogram positions cover the entire area of the arrester, with the pairs 1-3 and 2-4 being diametrically opposed. Note that the wind speed during the experiment was negligible. Fig. 4 shows the equipment used. The results are presented in Table I and Fig. 5.

Fig. 3. Voltage and Resistive current of a typical surge arrester

It is important to emphasize, in Fig. 3, that the position of the resistive current peak value coincides with the peak value of the applied voltage, as mentioned earlier.

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unnecessary increase in the inspection frequency of this equipment. Fig. 6 presents four thermograms representing the four positions used in the experiment. Moreover, such thermograms show the temperature measurements made at 4 pm.

Fig. 4. Solar radiation experiment TABLE I. MEASURED TEMPERATURES SOLAR RADIATION

EXPERIMENT

Time 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Environment Temp. ( ) 26,2 27,4 30,1 32,0 34,3 35,0 35,2 35,2 35,0

Pos. 1 Temp. ( ) 28,6 31,7 34,6 35,8 38,0 40,1 39,8 42,1 39,9

Pos. 2 Temp. ( ) 29,2 32,3 35,8 36,3 38,8 39,6 40,1 41,0 37,5

Pos. 3 Temp. ( ) 29,4 32,3 34,6 34,8 37,6 38,5 39,5 39,9 35,8

Pos. 4 Temp. ( ) 28,8 31,4 34,1 35,0 37,4 39,0 39,8 40,4 36,0

Fig. 6. Thermograms from the four positions at Pos1: 35,0C Pos2: 39,9C Pos3: 37,5C Pos4: 36,0C

16

oclock

B. Wind speed In this experiment, a surge arrester is energized inside a wind tunnel. Maintaining a constant voltage, different wind speeds are used to determine the behavior of the device. The process is repeated for four voltage values and two types of surge arrester, a new and a degraded one. Measurements were carried out after the accommodation of the surge arrester temperature, a process that takes about one hour. The current is obtained through the shunt resistors and the temperature through thermograms. The wind speed is monitored with a hot wire anemometer. The equipment used in the experiment can be seen in Fig. 7. The results are shown in Table II and Table III.

Fig. 5. Solar radiation during the day

As expected, the total radiation increases during the morning until it reaches its maximum near noon. From then it begins to decrease, reaching its minimum value measured at the end of the experiment. The temperature values for each position on the surface of the arrester vary according to the amount of direct radiation received by it. While one region is at an elevated temperature, other can be protected from direct radiation and display temperature significantly lower. Good examples are the values obtained at 16 o'clock for positions 1 and 3, which are diametrically opposed. As the first position receives direct radiation and displays a temperature of 39,90,8 , position 3 is at 35,80,6 . In the worst case, the temperature difference between these positions can reach 5,5 , which, in a real situation, would recommend

Fig. 7. Wind speed experiment

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TABLE II.
Wind Speed (m/s)

RESULTS FOR NEW SURGE ARRESTER WIND SPEED

EXPERIMENT

Voltage ( )

Ambient Temp. ( )

Surge Arrester Temp.

( )

Leakage Current ( )

Resistive Current ( )

8000

9000

10000

11000

0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10

25,9 26,7 27 27,8 28,5 29,5 31 26,6 24,6 23,9 23,5 23 23,3 23,5 22,8 23,6 24,5 25,7 25,5 26,7

26,6 26,6 29,5 28,4 31,5 32,5 32,2 27,1 24,9 24,7 25,4 24 24,1 24 22,4 25,4 26,1 26,9 26 27,6

0,24 0,23 0,24 0,24 0,24 0,25 0,25 0,26 0,26 0,26 0,29 0,29 0,29 0,29 0,29 0,33 0,33 0,32 0,32 0,33

0,06 0,069 0,055 0,047 0,037 0,059 0,048 0,073 0,035 0,06 0,121 0,112 0,094 0,075 0,099 0,188 0,175 0,16 0,154 0,159

The temperature difference between the surge arrester and the ambient temperature in the absence of external influence should be a function of the thermal energy generated in the device due to the passage of the leakage current. The dissipation of this energy is then in charge of the processes of radiation and convection. Since this temperature difference is small (reaching a maximum value of 3C for the new device and 6.3C for the degraded) the convective heat transfer rate is small. This situation is opposite to what happens with connections and other equipment that are constantly driven by high current and present high temperature. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of air is small, making the convective coefficient small and even more difficult to dissipate the heat generated. The increase in wind speed acts to increase the convective coefficient, allowing greater heat exchange between the object and the fluid (air). However, this increase is not sufficient to cause significant decrease in the temperature of the arrester. It can be seen therefore that the energy balance resulting in the final temperature of the surge arrester is very complex. This temperature is not determinable only by knowing its resistive current. C. Room temperature The two surge arresters were energized with two different voltage levels in a temperature-controlled room. The room temperature was varied within the range allowed by the refrigeration equipment and relevant data collected after the stabilization of the surface temperature. The data of interest in this experiment are the temperature and leakage current of the devices. The weather conditions were monitored by a digital hygrometer and wind circulation was null. Fig. 8 shows the equipment used in this experiment. The results are shown in Table IV and Table V.

TABLE III.

RESULTS FOR DEGRADED SURGE ARRESTER WIND SPEED

EXPERIMENT

Voltage ( )

Wind Speed (m/s)

Ambient Temp. ( )

Surge Arrester Temp. ( )

Leakage Current ( )

Resistive Current ( )

8000

9000

10000

11000

0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10 0 1 3 5 10

28,2 28,9 28,1 27,1 26,4 24 24,8 25,5 27 27,1 27,7 28 28,3 28,2 27,7 27,3 26,5 26,2 26,2 26

30,3 30,6 28,7 28,2 26,3 26,4 26,7 26,6 28,6 28,6 32,1 30,9 30,5 30,1 29,6 33,6 30,7 28,9 28,7 27,5

0,29 0,28 0,29 0,29 0,29 0,32 0,33 0,34 0,34 0,35 0,38 0,39 0,4 0,41 0,4 0,48 0,48 0,47 0,48 0,47

0,079 0,075 0,082 0,078 0,069 0,091 0,093 0,115 0,109 0,113 0,120 0,143 0,156 0,134 0,169 0,220 0,173 0,221 0,198 0,200

Fig. 8. Room temperature experiment

The resistive current does not appear to have a significant relationship with wind speed in any of the tested devices. Its small variation is attributed to the fluctuation of the voltage applied, which contributes greatly to the value of the resistive current. It is worth mentioning that the higher the applied voltage, the greater the contribution of this current to the value of the total leakage current.

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TABLE IV.

RESULTS FOR NEW SURGE ARRESTER ROOM TEMPERATURE

EXPERIMENT

Voltage ( )

8000

11000

Room Temp. ( ) 17,60 18,80 20,60 21,10 21,80 22,80 23,10 24,00 25,00 26,00 18,90 21,40 22,00 23,00 24,00 25,00

Surge Arrester Temp. ( ) 20,30 21,10 21,90 22,80 23,30 24,10 24,80 26,30 27,40 28,40 22,40 25,70 26,60 27,40 28,3 28,9

Resistive Current ( ) 0,037 0,027 0,023 0,036 0,030 0,021 0,032 0,072 0,059 0,074 0,110 0,124 0,134 0,121 0,159 0,157

surface temperature of a surge arrester was measured by thermocouples and compared to the values measured in a thermogram. Fig. 9 shows the equipment used for this experiment.

Fig. 9. Thermal camera parameters experiment

TABLE V.

DEGRADED SURGE ARRESTER RESULTS ROOM

TEMPERATURE EXPERIMENT

Initially, the measured values are arranged in Table VI.

TABLE VI. MEASURED VALUES THERMAL CAMERA PARAMETERS
Emissivity ( ) 0,92 Room Temp. ( ) 17,6 Surge Arrester Temp ( ) 20,1 Thermocouple Temp. ( ) 19,2

Voltage ( )

8000

11000

Room Temp. ( ) 18,90 20,30 20,90 21,80 23,10 24,50 19,10 20,30 21,00 21,90 23,00 23,60

Surge Arrester Temp. ( ) 21,80 22,60 23,70 24,90 26,80 27,90 27,20 27,80 28,20 27,20 28,10 30,20

Resistive Current ( ) 0,062 0,057 0,070 0,065 0,088 0,078 0,198 0,188 0,185 0,129 0,146 0,183

Reflected Temp. ( ) 27,4

The variation of each parameter, while the others are held constant and its influence on the temperature measured by the thermogram are shown in Fig. 10, Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.

Room temperature is a very important factor when the power generation term (Ri^2) is small, as in the case of the surge arrester. Considering the minimal influence of other factors, it was expected that the difference between the surface temperature and the room temperature remained constant for all situations, a fact that was not observed. The rise in room temperature appears to contribute slightly to the increase in resistive current, however, it is not possible to assert that this increase is primarily due to this factor in the room temperature range tested. D. Infrared camera parameters Upon acquisition of a thermogram, some parameters of thermal camera should be adjusted according to the object properties and environmental conditions. Three of these parameters stand out because they are considered important sources of error in measuring temperature: emissivity, room temperature and average reflected temperature. In order to assess the consequences of the misuse of these variables, the

Fig. 10. Variation of surface temperature with average reflected temperature

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representing the voltage applied. This methodology was developed to be incorporated into a power substation autonomous monitoring system and enable full evaluation the arresters, acting as a complement to thermography. Thermography was addressed in order to better identify the factors influencing the measurement of surface temperature and thus the diagnosis of thermal anomalies. Performing an experiment to evaluate only one factor at a time proved to be quite complex, since isolate the influence of this factor requires a highly controlled environment. Outdoor experiments, like solar radiation, imply the lack of control over room temperature and wind speed, besides of impossibility of leakage current measurement (for safety reasons). For the wind tunnel, it was impossible to control the room temperature or monitor the arrester temperature variation in real time. Nevertheless, the results obtained indicate a direction of improvement for monitoring and diagnosis of surge arrester. The incidence of solar radiation caused distinct heating in different regions of the device. The portion of greater relevance is the direct radiation, and the region exposed to it had higher elevation in surface temperature. The diffuse radiation caused a lesser magnitude and near uniform heating across the surface. The temperature difference between the regions of the surge arrester due to solar radiation can be easily confused with one caused by a thermal anomaly, causing erroneous diagnosis.
Fig. 12. Variation of surface temperature with room temperature

Fig. 11. Variation of surface temperature with emissivity

The average reflected temperature was significant for measuring the surface temperature of the surge arrester. Considering it above its real value will result in an underestimation of the surface temperature of the device. The opposite case is also true. The situation is worse when equipments emissivity is low, leading to high reflectivity. To consider very low emissivity leads to absurd temperature measurements. Values within a 5% range of the actual emissivity value provided in the worst case, a difference of 0,3 . In the experiment, the surface temperature showed a close to logarithmic relationship with emissivity. The influence of the emissivity can be even more drastic in cases where the average reflected temperature is considered equal to the room temperature. In this case, the variation of emissivity values generates measurements completely different from the expected, noting that such consideration can be quite harmful to the inspections results. Finally, it can be said that the room temperature value inserted into the thermal camera is little influence on the measurement result. In cases where the difference between the considered temperature and the measured room temperature was greater than 15 , the surface temperature showed less than 0,3 of variation. Therefore, even if the room temperature measurement during inspection is rude, it does not compromise the outcome of the equipment analysis. This conclusion is also valid for low emissivity devices. IV. CONCLUSION This paper described a methodology for determining the resistive current of metal-oxide surge arrester based on measuring the total leakage and sampling a waveform

In the conditions in which they were conducted, the experiments in the wind tunnel showed that the wind speed is not an important factor for the surface temperature. In field situations, the heating of the surge arrester is not only function of the resistive current. Upon the occurrence of insolation, for example, it is possible that the surge arrester reach temperatures well above room temperature, enhancing the heat exchange process. Thus, the wind speed could become much more significant in the cooling process, being able to mask hot spots. In the experiment about the room temperature, the difference between the surface temperature and room temperature was attributed only to the resistive current, seeking a relationship between this current and the difference between the temperatures. However, despite an increase in the resistive current cause an increase in temperature difference, it was not possible to clearly determine an approximation to this relationship. The results of variation of the parameters of the cameras thermals show that the value used for the ambient temperature is little relevant for temperature measurement. The emissivity is responsible for relate the amount of radiation received and the temperature of an object. An error on this parameter causes quite misleading measurements and may lead to temperature underestimation or overestimation. Using a single value for all equipment in an installation is assuming the risk of compromising all diagnoses based on these measurements. The average reflected temperature also proves to be important to temperature measurement, even if the device has low reflectivity. To consider the reflected temperature equal to the room temperature would be plausible if equipment and people were in thermal equilibrium. However, most of the objects near

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the surge arrester do not meet that requirement, making it necessary to measure the average reflected temperature upon acquisition of thermograms. Lack of knowledge about the uncertainties related to the temperatures measured by thermography and the absence of studies on the failure modes of the surge arrester and his real symptoms can compromise the reliability of thermal inspections. The application of quantitative thermography is possible only from the increase in the quality and relevance of information. From a rigorous metrological evaluation it is possible to avoid very conservative and to implement more efficient asset management, targeting the most opportune time to carry out interventions. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank the Lightning Research Center (LRC) and the Thermometry Laboratory (LabTerm), both from Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), for their full support.

REFERENCES
[1] Shirakawa, S., Endo, F., Kitajima H., Kobayashi, S., Kurita, K., Goto K., Sakai, M., Maintence of surge arrester by a portable arrester leakage current detector; IEEE Transaction on Power Delivery, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1988, p. 998-1003. Bergman, W. J. Equipment Monitoring Selection as a part of Substation Automation. IEEE Switchgear Meeting. Pittsburg, 1999. Bok-Hee, L., Sung-Man, K., A new on-line leakage current monitoring system of ZnO surge arresters. Materials Science & Engineering B, 119, p. 13-18, 2005. Su-Bong, L., Seung-Ju, L., Bok-Hee, L., Analysis of thermal and electrical properties of ZnO arrester block. ELSEVIER Current Applied Physics, Incheon, n. 10, p. 176-180, May 2009. Heinrich C. , Heinrich, V., Diagnostics and Monitoring of Metal-Oxide Surge Arresters in High-Voltage Networks Comparison of Existing and Newly Developed Procedures, IEEE Transactions On Power Delivery, Vol. 16, No. 1, January 2001, p.138 143. Zhi-niu Xu, Li-juan Zhao, Ao Ding, and Fang-cheng L, A current orthogonality method to extract resistive leakage current of MOSA, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 28, No. 1, January 2013. Snell, J.; Renowden, J. Improving results of thermographic inspections of electrical transmission and distribution lines. IEEE 9th International Conference on Transmission and Distribution Construction, Operation and Live-Line Maintenance Proceedings. Montreal, 2000, p. 135-144.

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