VLF AC Testing

David M. Boyer High Voltage, Inc. Copake, NY. USA www.hvinc.com

Major Cable Components

Conductor Conductor or Strand Shield Insulation Insulation Shield Metallic Shield/Neutral

Jacket (Recommended)

Good Cable = Uniform Electric Field

When both shields are: smooth intact Then, electric field lines are uniform, with a controlled electrical stress distribution.

Basic Stress Enhancements

High Stress

Voltage High Stress High Stress

Higher Stress

Protrusion

Empty Void

No Defect

High Permittivity Contaminant

Tree Affect

Conversion of Water to Electrical Trees

Electrical tree growing from water tree

Acts as a stress enhancement or protrusion (non-conducting) Water tree increases local electric field Water tree also creates local mechanical stresses If electrical and mechanical stresses high enough electrical tree initiates Electrical tree completes the failure path rapid growth

DC Testing
Advantages:
DC hipots are small, portable, and economical. Easy to operate Considered Non-Destructive

Disadvantages:
DC has been found to be damaging to Solid Dielectric
insulation. DC leakage currents are ineffective at determining cable life. No diagnostic tools available.

Why DC Is Damaging
Negative space charges

DC hipot input

AC input

DC hipot output negatively charges up water tree areas. These trapped space charges remain after test. When AC is reapplied, theres a high difference of potential across very little of the insulation. Leads to electrical trees cable fails.

No Testing

Advantages:

Easy to Operate No expensive equipment Unplanned outages Loss of Revenue No feel for the health of your system Allows a reaction only mentality. Not Proactive

Disadvantages:

Power Frequency Testing

Advantages:

The same profile as Service Conditions. Correlates to factory testing. Allows diagnostic testing. Very Large and Expensive equipment. Difficult to operate.

Disadvantages:

VLF Testing
Advantages:

Stress Similar to Service Conditions. Light Weight, Low Cost. Easy to Use. Easy to interpret results. A Go-No Go test. Sine Wave Output can be used with Diagnostic Equipment.

Disadvantages:
Voltage Waveform in Some Designs (trapezoidal)
dont allow diagnostics of PD or Tan Delta. Destructive Cable May Fail Under Test.

WHAT IS VLF?
A VLF instrument is just an AC hipot but with an output frequency lower than 50/60 Hz. Very Low Frequency: 0.1 Hz and lower. By decreasing the frequency, it is possible to test miles of cable with a small and affordable unit. Models range from 0.1 0.01 Hz.

VLF Explained
Xc = 1 2 x pi x f x C

The lower the frequency, the higher Xc (capacitive reactance). The higher Xc (or resistance across the power supply output), the lower the current/power needed to apply a desired voltage. At 0.1 Hz, it takes 600 times less power to test a cable, or any other high capacitance load, than at 60 Hz. At 0.01 Hz, 6000 times higher capacitive loads can be tested than at 60 Hz.

60 Hz vs. 0.1 Hz
At 60 Hz. a 1 F cable has an Xc of 2.65 kOhms. At 22 kV, it requires 8.3 amps of current to test. Total power supply rating must be 183 kVA. At 0.1 Hz, the Xc is 1.59 megohms. At 22 kV, the current needed is 14 mA. Total supply power needed is .304 kVA.
(22 kV is the maintenance test voltage for 15 kV cable)

VLF rapidly grows defects to failure VLF is non-destructive to good insulation VLF exposes existing defects insulation and accessories that can be excited by the applied voltage. VLF with Tan Delta or PD offers an excellent non destructive diagnostic test.

IEEE VLF Std 400.2

Recommends test voltage of 3V0 (V0 equals line-to-ground voltage). Test duration is 15 60 minutes. Recommendation is for 30 minutes minimum.

IEEE 400.2 Field Test Voltages For Shielded Power Cable Systems Using Sine Wave Output VLF
---------------------- 0.1 Hz Test Voltage -------------------System Voltage phase to phase kVrms Installation phase to ground kVrms/kVpeak Acceptance phase to ground kVrms/kVpeak Maintenance phase to ground kVrms/kVpeak

5 15 25 35

9/12 18/25 27/38 39/55

10/14 20/28 31/44 44/62

7/10 16/22 23/33 33/47

Test voltages are generally 2.5 3 time the line-to-ground system voltage.

XLPE Tree Growth Rate

Per IEEE 400-2001

Test voltage factor (V/Vo ) 2 3 4 5

Growth rate at 0.1-Hz sinusoidal test voltage (mm/h) 2.3 10.9-12.6 58.3-64.2 336

A 15kV 133% cable has an insulation thickness of 5.9 mm. In a 30 minute test, nearly all defects will grow to failure.

XLPE TESTING STATISTICS

TNB in Malaysia
Minutes to failure 0 - 12 13 - 30 31 - 45 46 - 60

3 V0 @ 60 minutes

17,435 VLF tests performed 2,179 cable failures

Failures 1472 469 129 107 % of total 67.62 21.54 5.93 4.92

89.16%

2.78% of tested cables failed later in service. (Many cables were PILC) Tests conducted 2001 2002.

Diagnostic Cable Test Methods Partial Discharge Tan Delta

Simplified Cable Model and Phasor Drawing

Tan Delta = IR/ IC - measured in radians
I
The tangent of this angle is calculated

IC

IR IC = tangent of

Cable Cross Section

Cable insulation

IR

With perfect insulation, a cable is a near perfect capacitor, with a 90 phase shift between voltage and current. Less than 90 indicates insulation degradation. Cables can be rated good, marginal, or bad.
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Tan Delta vs.Voltage for New and Aged XLPE Cables

New and Aged 15 kV XLPE Cable (Nov 2000) 0.06 Less Healthy

0.05
Loss Angle (Tan Delta)

0.04

Aged cable non-linear tan delta #s versus voltage healthy cable linear tan delta #s versus voltage

0.03

0.02

0.01

0 0 2.5 5 VLF Voltage (kV rms) 7.5 10

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Diagnostic Testing Tan Delta

Courtesy of NEETRAC, Cable Diagnostic Focused Initiative Meeting Presentation in New York, NY. October 28-29, 2009
3/15/2011 23

PD Set Up
HV Filter ICMflex
+

male female female

male

High Voltage Supply e.g. VLF System, Transformer, Resonant Test System,

PD and TD Field Test

PD INFO

Thank You
David Boyer - High Voltage, Inc. www.hvinc.com

David Boyer has spent his entire career in the world of electrical test equipment and the operation, maintenance, and repair of electrical equipment. In high school he worked in the manufacturing department of Hipotronics. After high school David served for 6 years in the Navy as a Nuclear Electrician on board the fast attack submarine U.S.S. Gato. He specialized in switchgear repair and refurbishment, training, and quality assurance procedures. His post Navy career brought him to a NETA testing company, Advanced Testing Systems Inc., where he specialized in cable testing and fault location for over 7 years. In 1999 David returned to Hipotronics, joining their sales and training team as the North American Manager. In 2004 he reunited with the Peschel family at High Voltage Inc. David is currently the North American Sales Manager and responsible for field testing worldwide in the VLF and Tan Delta platforms. David is also an active member of the NEETRAC CDFI study.