HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING - UNIT 5 The Design of High-voltage Equipment

The previous units have indicated why and how gases, liquids and solids break down electrically, and why and how breakdowns occur across surfaces. In this chapter, the design of some items of HV equipment are examined to see how this knowledge is applied. 1. Cables

XLPE Distribution Cables Distribution cables (<50 kV) may be single- or 3-core and are usually stranded copper conductors with extruded cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. This is polyethylene (polythene to laymen) where chemical bonding has been caused between some of the long polyethylene molecules making a stiffer material. Because of the tendency of thermal cycling (caused by load cycling) to cause some de-bonding of the plastic from the conductor, due to the much greater expansion rate of the polyethylene, there is usually a thin slightly-conducting layer placed between them, consisting of a carbon-loaded polyethylene. This will have the same expansion rate as the main insulation, and be at the same potential as the conductor. Consequently it doesnt matter if there are gaps in between the plastic and the conductor. This also improves the uniformity of the field (lessening the chance of treeing) which otherwise would be increased locally due to the stranding of the conductor and microscopic irregularities on its surface. Similarly, an outer layer of conducting plastic is extruded with, and bonded to, the insulation under the copper screen. Armouring with steel wires or corrugated aluminium may be needed and then a PVC covering will, typically, be applied overall. The materials outside of the copper screen depend on the ruggedness deemed necessary for the particular application. For 20kV and below the cable usually has 3 cores (example shown on next page). In the photograph a high-voltage cable is shown (in this case, a DC one), probably rated at about 50kV, but clearly showing the stranded conductor (in this case, of aluminium), the carbon-loaded XLPE screen, the main XLPE insulation, the outer carbon-loaded XLPE screen, the copper wire screen, the aluminium sheath and the PVC protective covering.

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Oil-paper Transmission Cables At transmission voltages (>50 kV) the insulation must be much thicker and may be either oil-paper or extruded XLPE. Oil-paper cables use many layers of thin paper tapes as insulation. After adding the sheath, almost all the air trapped between the layers of paper is sucked out under vacuum, and then the cable is impregnated with a mineral oil under pressure. This double process almost completely eliminates voids. However, the oil filling results in the inconvenience of having oil reservoirs at intervals along the route and stop joints to avoid undue hydrostatic pressure where the cable goes up a hill. Stop joints are joints where the flow of oil is blocked: oil cannot move from one section to the other. The good aspect is that if a cable is damaged, it will leak oil only slowly and may be run for a considerable time (if the pressure is kept up and the oil reservoirs are kept full) until it is convenient to repair it.

1. Oil-filled AC transmission cable 2. Mass-impregnated DC transmission cable (no oil duct) 3. XLPE AC transmission cable 4. 3-core XLPE distribution cable 5+6. XLPE distribution cables for DC In the photograph it will be seen that oil-paper cables also use slightly-conducting layers between the conductors and main XLPE insulation, in this case carbon-loaded paper. XLPE Transmission Cables Polyethylene cable does not have these troublesome and costly oil pressurising stations but is not yet commonly used above 300 kV except for short lengths (e.g. within hydro electric. The problem is the increasing difficulty of avoiding the presence of voids in larger cables and the progressive deterioration of the cable due to the growth of trees in them. Continuous research into manufacturing techniques has hugely improved the situation in respect of voids and hence the long-term reliability of polyethylene cables. For greater stiffness cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) is used rather than ordinary polyethylene. 5.2

The photograph shows a 500-kV XLPE cable as used in a pumped storage station in China. The permittivity of polyethylene is lower (2.3) than that for oiled paper (4.5), and therefore the capacitance and charging current are lower on XLPE cables than on oil-paper cables. This means less reactive compensation is necessary. The loss factor is also less: this means less heat is generated in the insulation and thus allows an increased current rating; it also means lower losses.

2.

Bushings

The insulators used where an hv conductor passes through an earthed metal wall (or similar) are known as bushings. In air the highest field would be at the edge of the hole in the wall: this can be reduced by placing a collar of metal there. This might be sufficient if there were no requirement to separate one side of the wall from the other side by a solid barrier. Given that surface flashover occurs at much lower fields than breakdown, the air/conductor surface must be several times longer than the radius of the hole in the wall. The field will still be greater on the surface near the edge of the hole in the wall so foil grading is used to control the voltage distribution in the bushing: cylindrical foils are included during the winding on of the bushing insulation and these will form a number of capacitors in series, which, if equal in value, will ensure the voltage between each adjacent pair of foils is equal. Their relative size can also be adjusted to have a lower gradient near the wall than elsewhere. 5.3

A porcelain covering may be added to the external half of the bushing with shedding to increase the creepage distance and break up the flashover path. The word shedding refers to the strangely-shaped stack of discs or cones around the bushing Perhaps because it causes it to shed water easily, that is, to allow the rainwater to run together and drip off it at the edge. If the bushing is vertical, the shedding will be smooth and sloping on top for this reason, and ridged underneath, again to break up flashover paths. 9.3 Circuit Breakers

Sulphur hexafluoride circuit breakers SF6 circuit breakers are widely used at transmission voltages and increasingly at distribution voltages, too. SF6s high attachment coefficient removes free electrons from the arc and its high thermal capacity removes heat from the arc. For transmission voltages, the circuit breaker is a single sealed tank containing the contacts and insulated with SF6 at a pressure of about 5 bars. As the contacts start to move, the design is such that a quantity of SF6 gas is compressed by the movement and is released by the contacts separating which separation also causes an arc. The blast of SF6 gas blows out the arc. This puffer mechanism is unnecessary at distribution voltages. A simplified explanatory diagram is shown below (animation: puffer.exe) and below that is the real thing.

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A major advantage of SF6 circuit breakers over older types (oil-blast and air-blast) is their lack of maintenance and smaller size. Almost all the transmission-voltage switchgear in urban areas is SF6-insulated.

It is extremely important for manufacturers to ensure that neither contaminating particles nor moisture (must be less than 500 ppm) are present in the gas. If contaminating particles are present, lower-thanexpected breakdowns may occur see Lecture 2. If moisture is present (more than 500 ppm) this will react with the chemical dissociation products produced in the arc, to form highly corrosive chemicals which will etch and erode the surfaces of the insulators. Vacuum circuit breakers Vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) are the norm at distribution voltages. They are small because of the good insulation and the very small movement of one contact the moving electrode of about 0.5mm. They have a long life with virtually zero maintenance, a maximum arc duration of only 1 or 1.5 cycles at all levels of current, cause no additional fire risk and produce no noise or gas emissions when operated. The construction is completely sealed, gives very consistent arcing times and allows very fast automatic reclosure.

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One of the two contact discs

A 5 m x 5 m sample of the surface

To obtain such long-lifetimes and consistent results, it is necessary to ensure the metal contacts are not damaged by local heating at the arc root; the metal contacts are outgassed before sealing the vacuum; and the metal vapour from the arc does not condense on the insulating walls of the breaker and eventually cause a short-circuit; These are ensured by causing the arc to move across the surface of the contacts by cutting slots in them (see photograph above) such that magnetic fields are produced by the current through the contact to the shaft (F=BiL); careful heating of the contact material by a high-frequency discharge, with a vacuum pump running to remove the absorbed gases before sealing (outgassing); removing electron emission points by the same high-frequency discharge; and placing a thin cylinder surrounding the contacts so that any metal vapour will condense there, thus shielding the insulating walls from metal deposits.

It is common for enclosures around the VCB to be filled with SF6 gas to avoid external flashover ( i.e., vacuum inside the bottle, SF6 outside). 9.4 Overhead Line Insulators

Post insulators support conductors and need to be rigid (see the pin-type insulator on the right), but insulator strings for overhead lines at voltages above 100 kV need to be flexible to absorb the forces on the lines from the wind. They are therefore made up of cap and pin insulators (on right, lower picture) which are connected together to form strings. 5.6

For 400 kV, a string of typically about 20 cap and pin insulators are used. The voltage drop across each insulator tends to be uneven due to their different surface resistances because of the differing amounts of pollution which they have collected, and to be much higher near the HV conductor end and, to a much lesser extent near the earthed arm of the tower. This is due to the stray capacitance between the metal of the cap (and the pin which is plugged into it) and the tower. To decrease this effect, a metal loop is attached to the HV end, to produce stray capacitance between the metal cap and this HV loop (see the bottom left photo). All insulator designs - whether of the pin-type, for distribution voltages, cap-and-pin strings for higher voltages, or post insulators for outdoor switchgear have this in common: they have long creepage paths between HV and earth. These are to make it more difficult for surface flashover to occur but unfortunately also make it easier to trap pollution. As always, designs must be a compromise. When the pollution becomes moist it tends to conduct and then dry out to form dry bands, with local arcing or flashover. Materials used for outdoor insulators are usually chosen to resist tracking but surface erosion may occur and this encourages the collection of moisture and pollution.

Strings of cap & pin insulators on a 400-kV transmission tower

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Composite insulators 60 to 150 kV

Composite insulators with a fibre-glass rod for tensile strength and a shedded cover are becoming more common as a replacement for the cap-and-pin strings. This shedded cover is commonly made from silicone rubber, a material which has the advantage of eroding rather than tracking when a surface discharge occurs The problem of contamination by pollution can be overcome by regular washing of the insulators or by coating them with grease which breaks up the water film into small separate droplets. The former can be done when the insulators are live but is not usually cost-effective on high transmission towers unless they are situated in very polluting conditions. Also the automatic washing equipment can be unreliable because of corrosion and the multitude of valves and joints involved. Very wet insulators, particularly the post-type, tend to flash over very easily, so live washing is not always advantageous. Greasing is effective but is labour-intensive and only practical in switchgear enclosures not on transmission towers. Also, after a while, the grease tends to trap dirt and is eventually no longer effective. Also in hot weather the grease tends to melt and drip off. The removal of old and dirty coats of grease is very unpleasant work. A power utility helicopter washing insulators

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Maintenance work on a 400-kV transmission line the worker is sitting in a seat suspended by poly-propylene chains.

Remote-controlled jet-washing on the 190m-high towers of the 400-kV line crossing the Thames River. Servocontrolled nozzles are used.

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