Gas Insulated Substation

Sep 24th, 2008 by ayyarao

Tags: Gas Insulated substation

Gas Insulated Substations(GIS) is a compact, multicomponent assembly enclosed in a

ground metallic housing which the primary insulating medium is compressed sulphur
hexaflouride(SF6) gas. It generally consists components Of

a) Bus bars

b) Circuit Breakers

c) Disconnecting switches

d) Earthing switches

e) Current transformers

f) Voltage transformers

g) Cable and boxes

h) Gas supply and gas monitoring equipment

i) Densimeters and

j) Local control

Why we need GIS

1) Gas insulated Substations have found a broad range applications in power systems
over the last three decades because of their high reliability Easy maintenance, small
ground space requirements etc.,.

2) In our country also few GIS units have been in operation and a large number of
units are under various stages of installation.

3) Although GIS has been in operation in several years, some of the problems are
needful attention

4) These problems include VFTO during switching operations or earth faults and
transient enclosure voltages and particle contamination.
Advantages of GIS:

a) Because of the entire equipment being enclosed in enclosures, filled with

pressurized SF6 gas, installation is not subject to environmental pollutions, as
experienced along coastal areas or certain types of industries.

b) Such installations are preferred in cosmopolitan cities, industrial townships, etc.,

where cost of land is very high and higher cost of SF6 insulated switchgear is justified
by saving due to reduction in floor area requirement. It is not necessary that high voltage
or extra high voltage switchgear to be installed out doors.

c) Since most of the construction is modular and the assembly is done in the works,
one site erection time both for supporting structures and switchgear is greatly reduced.

Disadvantages with Air Insulated Substations:

a) It requires huge amount of area .

b) Each and every component of substation is exposed to air and pollution.

c) Particularly in coastal area all the insulators are exposed to air and saline
contamination.

d) Frequent flashovers and breakdown occurs.

e) Maintenance cost is more.

f) Installation time is also more.

g) More concrete work is necessary.

A) The necessity of this study :

Extremely high dielectric properties of SF6 have long been recognized. Compressed
SF6 has been used as an insulating medium as well as arc quenching medium in
electrical apparatus in a wide range of voltages.
Gas Insulated Substations (GIS) can be used for longer times without any periodical
inspections. Conducting contamination (i.e. aluminum, copper and silver particles) could,
however, seriously reduce the dielectric strength of gas-insulated system
B) The origin of these particles :
Metallic particles in GIS have their origin mainly from the manufacturing
process or they may originate from moving parts of the system, such as breakers and
disconnectors.

Metallic particles can be either free to move in the GIS or they may be stuck either to
an energized electrode or to an insulator surface (spacer, bushing etc.).

1) Different metallic contamination viz Cu, Al and Ag have been considered for the
above study. Typically a GIB of inner and outer dia 102/292mm have been considered
for a 245KV system.

2) Wires of radii varying from 0.1 to 0.5mm and length from 1mm to 10mm have been
used for simulation. Co-efficient of restitution and pressure have been varied from 0.1 to
0.9 and 0.1Mpa to 1Mpa respectively.

3) Typical results show that for a variation of copper particles of radii from 0.2 to
5mm, the maximum radial movement reduces from 6mm to 1mm.

4) Whereas in the case of variation of length from 1mm to 16mm the radial movement
increases from 1mm to 9.8mm. With the change of pressure the movement is found to be
almost same for majority of particles considered
If a metallic particle crosses the gap and comes into contact with the inner electrode or
if a metallic particle adheres to the inner conductor, the particle will act as protrusion on
the surface of the electrode, and the voltage required for breakdown of the GIS will be
dramatically decreased.

A metallic particle stuck on an insulator surface in a GIS will also cause a

significant reduction of the breakdown voltage

Depending on the shape of the particles, as well as the geometry and voltage
levels of the system, the particles get more or less influenced by the electric field which,
in turn, makes them hazardous to the electrical system, in terms of partial discharges and
breakdown.

1. The introduction of SF6 gas has revolutionized not only the technology

of circuit breakers but also the layout of substations.

2. The dielectric strength of SF6 gas at atmospheric pressure is approximately three

times that of air.

3. It is incombustible, non toxic, colourless and chemically inert.

4. It has arc-quenching properties 3 to 4 times better than air at equal pressure.

5. This enables the substation to be laid in a much lesser space.

6. Space requirement is only 10 to 25 percent of what is required is a conventional

substation.

7. Thus where creation of a substation becomes necessary but adequate space is not
available, such as in big cities or otherwise highly populated areas, GIS is the solution
A gas insulated substation is an electrical substation in which the major structures are contained
in a sealed environment with sulfur hexafluoride gas as the insulating medium. Gas insulated
substations originated in Japan where the there a major need to develop technology that would
allow substations to be made as compact as possible.

The main applications for gas insulated substations today are:

- high voltage installations (usually 115kV and above although some manufacturers offer
equipment with voltage ratings down to 20kV). The higher the voltage, the more favorable gas
insulated technology becomes. The footprint of 765kV conventional substation is enormous, and
GIS technology allows a significant size reduction.
- urban installations. Usually, but not always, GIS technology is used for installations in areas
where the cost of real estate is a significant consideration
- indoor installations (which are more common in urban areas for aesthetic reasons). It is
generally not practical to build an air-insulated substation inside a building, but GIS can easily go
inside buildings.
- other environmentally sensitive installations. GIS technology is popular in desert and arctic
areas because it can be enclosed in a building with some environmental control. Gas insulated
substations also contain the electrical components within a Faraday cage and are therefore totally
shielded from lightning.

GIS installations tend to be much more expensive that air-insulated installations with the same
rating. The additional capital cost is justified based on the reduced cost of real estate, the ability
to provide environmental containment, or the fact that the substation is totally shielded from
lightning, something that is not practical with air insulated technology.

In most cases, the circuit breakers in gas insulated substations employ SF6 as the interrupting
medium as well as the insulating medium, but there are hybrid installations (especially at lower
voltages) in which breakers use vacuum interruption. The gas pressure required for SF6 to serve
as an interruption medium is much greater than the pressure required for it to be an insulation
medium. In early generation SF6 installations, a dual-pressure approach was required - one gas
pressure in those areas where SF6 is only an insulating medium, and a higher pressure inside
the breaker interrupting compartment. That was complicated and expensive and required high
maintenance. Modern equipment uses a 'puffer' technique in which SF6 gas is forced into the
space between breaker contacts as they are opening, increasing local gas pressure enough to
support interruption.

One of the problems with GIS technology is that the handful of suppliers; this causes some to be
concerned about the competitiveness of commercial offerings.

In the past, there was also a concern that only the original manufacturer of an installation would
be willing to accept the risk of offering an expansion to that installation. The concern was the
integrity of the seals at the point where the original installation and the expansion came together.
As a result, a purchaser who committed to a GIS installation was perpetually tied to the supplier
of that installation for any future expansion needs, and this put the purchaser at the mercy of that
supplier in future expansions. In recent years, manufacturers have overcome the technical issues
of assuring the reliability of the seals between dissimilar equipment, so this problem is less
significant today.
Reprint
Testing
On-Site

of Gas Insulated Substation

with AC Voltage