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S. Zhang et al.: Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation

Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP

Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation
and Advanced Equal Margin Design Method
Shiling Zhang, Zongren Peng and Peng Liu
State Key Lab. of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment
Xian Jiaotong University
Xian, 710049, China
ABSTRACT
The iso-margin method based on the classical analytical equations is widely used in the
development of extra high voltage (EHV) bushing. Therefore, its effectiveness and
feasibility have been fully validated. However, with the theoretical formula, it is
difficult to evaluate the influence of stray capacitance and temperature on the internal
electric stress of the ultra high voltage (UHV) bushing. Its necessary to further
improve the traditional iso-margin method. Firstly, the basic principle of iso-margin
method has been briefly described. After that, the E-field distribution of condenser
bushing was investigated on the Finite Element Method (FEM) computing platform.
Then, the mathematical model of the advanced equal margin design method was
established. Furthermore, this paper presents the program flow of optimization which
combines the simulation of electro-thermal coupling process and the particle swarm
optimization (PSO) algorithm. The proposed methodology was applied to the design of
the prototype of the UHV resin impregnated paper (RIP) oil-SF6 bushing, which
realizes the uniform axial E-field distribution of the bushing condenser. Meanwhile, the
partial discharge margin between adjacent foils can be equal. Moreover, the hot-spot
temperature is lower than the operation limiting temperature of the RIP material. The
bushing condenser was fabricated according to the optimal structure design. The
prototype of bushing has passed through all the type tests. In this paper, the FEM
electro-thermal coupling simulation and the advanced equal margin design method
were applied to the inner insulation structure optimization of the UHV RIP oil-SF6
bushing. Meanwhile, the proposed methodology provides some theoretical guidelines
for the future research and development of other types of bushing on the UHV level.
Index Terms - UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing, equal margin design method, finite element
method (FEM), electro-thermal coupling simulation.

1 INTRODUCTION
HIGH voltage condenser bushing has been widely used in
the UHV power transmission system. In this kind of power
equipment, a capacitor core is installed between the center
conductor and the outer flange as its main insulation.
Meanwhile, the multi-layer metal foils are embedded in the
crepe paper layers to make the distribution of electric stress
much more even. Therefore, the reasonable design of the
bushing core could lead to much longer lifespan and higher
reliability. In general, the traditional method, for instance the
equal step and equal capacitance design method, is
fundamental. Yet the overall electrical performance needs to
be improved due to the uneven axial E-filed at the foil edges.
In the 1980s, the equal thickness but unequal step design
Manuscript received on 22 July 2013, in final form 23 March 2014,
accepted 18 April 2014.

method was proposed to minimize the size of the condenser.

In the 1990s, the iso-margin method was used. It effectively
enhances the partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV)
compared with the traditional methods. In addition, it has
been proved theoretically and verified by experiments [1-4].
This method has been developed into a software package
which has significantly improved the bushing products.
In recent years, a new type of insulating material called the
resin impregnated paper (RIP) with the superior thermal and
electrical performance is prevalent. In the RIP structure, the
oil phase is completely eliminated. The RIP technology
preserves all the essential advantages of OIP and is free from
the fire hazard and unsatisfactory mechanical property. In
addition, the AC UHV transmission system is developing
rapidly in China, which raises the higher requirements for the
design and manufacture of the UHV RIP bushings.
There are some literatures concerning the design method of
bushing, specifically about the computation of E-field and

DOI 10.1109/TDEI.2014.004211

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014

temperature distribution in the condenser of bushing. The

paper of Jyothi [5] proposed a mathematic method to solve
the nonlinear differential equation with the thermal and
electric boundary conditions. Paper of Monga [6] applied the
FEM electric field computation to optimize the internal field
shaper of gas fileld high voltage composite bushing. Paper of
Mohammad Hesamzadeh [7] used an advanced optimal
approach based on the improved genetic algorithm, which
obtains the well-distributed electric stress.
In the AC UHV case, the physical dimension of bushing
condenser is quite large. On the other hand, the thermal flow
in the condenser is intimately linked to two electro-thermal
heat sources, namely, eddy heat due to the conductor current
and dielectric loss due to the applied voltage respectively. The
latter one is quite significant on the UHV level. It is therefore
imperative to improve the design method of bushing in the
following aspects: 1) to calculate the internal radial and axial
E-field stress as accurately as possible, 2) to incorporate the
nonlinearity of resistivity with the temperature into the
thermal and electric field distribution [8]. Concretely, the
radial and axial electric stress is affected by the metal foils
lengths and their relative positions. But the stray capacitance
due to the existence of metal parts shall also affect the internal
E-field distribution to some extent. Additionally, under the
rated operating condition, the temperature gradient is
established across the bushing core, which, more or less,
modifies the E-field distribution. However, the traditional
design method cannot take these factors into consideration [912].
In engineering practice, to get an accurate analytical
solution of a complex problem is difficult. Fortunately,
numerical methods such as the FEM can be utilized to the
design of bushing condenser. Firstly, the classic analytical
formulas were given to calculate the electric stress and
complete the rough design of the foils lengths and their
relative positions. Secondly, the FEM was used to simulate
the distribution of thermal and electrical field with a full-scale
model. The interactive program flow of optimization process
which combines the electro-thermal coupling simulation and
the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm had been
dealt with in detail. Finally, the above advanced iso-margin
design method was used in the optimization design of the
UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushings inner main insulation. The
prototype had passed through all the type tests.

2 THE TRADITIONAL ISO-MARGIN DESIGN

METHOD
The photo of a bushing condenser and internal parallel
foils arrangement with the relevant parameters are shown in
Figure 1. n is the number of foils inside the bushing condenser.
Considering the thin solid insulation in the parallel-plane
geometry of bushing condenser, the partial discharge
inception voltage (PDIV) of the k th insulating layer U k
(k=1n) is shown
(1)
U k Wdk 0.5
where W is the harmful partial discharge coefficient, and dk is
the thickness of k th solid insulating layer between adjacent
foils. Equation (1) is an empirical formula obtained by fitting

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the experimental result. It has been used in the optimal design

of HV transformer bushing [13].
With the iso-capacitance design method, PDIV of the entire
bushing core U is expressed by
0.5
U nWdmin

(2)

where dmin is the minimum value of the insulations

thickness. Theoretically, if U k denotes the actual voltage
drop of the k th insulating layer, it is feasible to equate the
partial discharge margin (PDM) of the insulating layer. The

Figure 1. The photo of a bushing condenser and the foils arrangement. r0

rn and l0ln are the radius and length of the innermost and outermost foils. dk
is the thickness of k th solid insulating layer between adjacent foils. and
1k

2k are the upper and lower step lengths of the k th foil.

PDM is expressed by U k / U k . Then the overall PDIV of

'

the bushing core U can be rewritten as follows:

n

k 1

k 1

U U k W d k0.5 Wn(d )0.5

'

(3)

'

U is the PDIV obtained with the iso-margin design method.

The average insulation thickness d which is described by
equation (4) is larger than dmin.
1 n
(4)
d
d
n

k 1

The careful comparison between equations (2) and (3)

'
indicates that U U . Therefore, the iso-margin method can
effectively improve the PDIV. According to the design
conception of iso-margin method, the ratio of partial
discharge inception voltage to actual voltage drop on each
insulating layer can be equated to a constant A (A>1). In
equation (5), E k is the partial discharge inception electric
stress of the k th insulating layer. It is expressed by U k / dk .
Erk is the actual radial electric stress. With the reference to
equation (1), then
U k E k U k / d k W ( d k ) 0.5

A
Erk
Erk
U k Erk

(5)

The thickness of the k th insulation layer can be obtained

AE
(6)
d k ( rk ) 2
W
With the reference to Figure 1, equation (7) is reduced to
n
n
AE
(7)
rn r0 d k ( rk )2
W
k 1
k 1

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S. Zhang et al.: Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation

Solving equation (7), the constant A now becomes

n

W ( Erk2 )0.5

(8)

k 1

(rn r0 )0.5

Equations (5)-(8) can form the iterative format, which is

given by equation (9). The superscript represents the
calculated values in the first iteration.

A(1) Erk 2
)
d k (
W

r (1) r (1) d (1)

k 1
k
k

lk(1) (l02 (ln

Erk(1)

rk(1)
r
/ ln n )(l02 ln2 ))0.5
r0
r0

(9)

U (l0 ln ) 1
2 ln(rn r0 ) rk(1)lk(1)

If the insulation layer between adjacent foils is positioned

according to the bushings geometry, the insulation layer
voltage U k is obtained
2 Erk(1)lk(1) rk(1) ln
U k(1)

rk(1)
rk(1)1

lk(1)1 lk(1)

(10)

The upper and lower step lengths are determined by

equation (11). Ea1k and Ea 2 k are the upper and lower axial
electric stress of the k th foil.
1(1)
k

U k(1)
U k(1)
2(1)k
Ea1k
Ea 2 k

(11)

After a few steps of iterations, the equal PDM of each

insulating layer between adjacent foils can be obtained
numerically. Meanwhile, the radius and length of each foil
can also be worked out. Based on the iso-margin method, the
large and small foil design method is used, which inserts the
small foils into the large ones to shield the high electric stress
zone near the foil edge, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 3. The steady-state heat-flow pattern in the bushing core. Tmax is the
maximum temperature at the interface between the conductor and the
insulation, Ta is the ambient temperature.

The heat flow continuity formula in the steady state can be

written as
2

1 d dT (r )
d ( r )
(12)
r

0
r dr
dr
dr
where is the thermal conductivity of the insulation. T (r ) ,
(r ) is the axial temperature and the potential value at the radius
position r in the insulation respectively. is the AC conductivity
of the insulation. The E-field stress E(r) may be written as:
d ( r )
(13)
E (r )
dr
can be expressed by the relative permittivity r and the
loss factor tan .
(14)
2 f 0 r tan
where f is the operating frequency, 0 is the permittivity of
vacuum. For the bushing condenser, the axial electric stress
distribution E(r) is expressed by
(15)
U (l l )
E (r )

r
l ln2
r
2 ln( n )r l02
ln( )
rn
r0
r
0
ln( )
r0
2
0

where U is the applied voltage. The boundary conditions of

the above model have been assumed as

Figure 2. The structure of the large and small foils arrangement. Insert XJ1
small foils between DJ1 large foils near the inner conductor, insert XJ3 small
foils between DJ3 large foils near the flange, and insert XJ2 small foils
between DJ2 large foils in the middle of the bushing core.

3 THE ELECTRO-THERMAL SIMULATION

METHOD
With regard to the RIP core, the axial heat flow is
negligible due to the large ratio of its length to radius.
Therefore, in the steady-state condition, the heat-flow can be
treated as a radial-outward flow, as shown in Figure 3.

dTdr( r ) rr 2 Pr1
0
T ( r ) T 1
r r a

(16)

where P1 is the heat generating in the conductor per unit

length. r is a large distance from the external boundary. By
solving equations (12)-(16), the temperature distribution T(r)
is written as the sum of T (r ) and T (r ) . The detailed
expressions of T (r ) and T (r ) are given in Appendix A.

T (r ) T (r ) T (r )

(17)

T ( r ) is the contribution of the eddy heat due to the current,

and T (r ) is the contribution of the dielectric loss due to the

applied voltage. The closed-form solution only exists on

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014

condition that and are independent on the temperature.

However, take the RIP material used in the UHV oil-SF6
bushing condenser as an example, and , as functions of
the temperature, have been obtained by the experimental
measurements. The AC conductivity varies like U shape
in the temperature range of 0-110 , and rises markedly in
the range of 110-140 shown in Figure 4.

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separate solid model should be established. After that, the

model should be meshed into small elements with the material
attribution of (T ) and (T ) . Afterwards, the boundary
conditions, including the voltage in the setting of electric
analysis and the temperature in the setting of thermal analysis,
are applied to the meshing model, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. The principle of the electro-thermal coupling method based on the

FEM. The temperature and dielectric loss can interact in the settings of
electric and thermal analysis.

Figure 4. The experimental and fitting curves of AC conductivity which is a

function of the temperature for the RIP material used in the UHV oil-SF6
bushing. And subplot (a) can be obtained when subplot (b) is enlarged in the
temperature range of 0-110 .

The dual-exponential function was used to fit the nonlinear

relationship between the conductivity and the temperature, then
(18)
1e1T 2e2T
and 1 =6.624e-13

S/cm, 1 =-0.01015,

2 =3.3e-16 S/cm, 2 =0.06816

for the RIP material of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing.
In Figure 5, the experimental results indicate that both the
thermal conductivity and the heat capacity of the RIP
materials used in the UHV oil-SF6 bushing are functions of
the temperature. Therefore, a kind of new electro-thermal
coupling method based on the FEM is proposed to calculate
the temperature distribution of bushing. The method takes the
nonlinearity of the RIP material into account.

For the second problem, the new solution has been proposed
using ANSYS APDL codes. In the traditional finite element
analysis, the study object shall be the volume with its material
properties considered consistent. From the above analysis, it can
be concluded that the temperature gradient could be established
across the bushing condenser which leads to the gradient
distribution of the material properties. In order to show the
nonlinearity, the study object should be modified to the tiny
elements. The reason can be interpreted as follows: the volume of
a tiny element is much smaller than that of the overall bushing
condenser. Therefore, the material properties within the local
volume can be treated identically. The high calculation accuracy
can be achieved if a large number of elements are generated
inside the bushing condenser. The solution of the E-field and
temperature of every element can be obtained by applying the
iterative calculation, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 5. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity and
heat capacity of the RIP materials used in the UHV oil-SF6 bushing are
functions of the temperature.

Two problems in the computing technology need to be

addressed: 1) one is that how to combine the two separate
processes, the electric stress and temperature calculation; 2) the
other is that how to incorporate the nonlinearity of the RIP
material into the calculation. For the first problem, the physical
settings used for the electric stress and temperature calculation
should be respectively defined. In each physical setting, the

Figure 7. The iterative calculation of the electro-thermal coupling method

based on the FEM.

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S. Zhang et al.: Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation

Initially, the temperature distribution T(r) across the

bushing condenser is roughly determined by (A1)-(A3).
Then, the material properties (e.g., (T ) and (T ) ) of each
element could be modified according to the experimental
results. Firstly, the electric stress E(r) and the dielectric
loss of every element can be obtained by the harmonic
field analysis in the setting of electric calculation.
Secondly, the thermal boundary conditions shown in
equation (16) and the dielectric loss are used in the setting
of thermal calculation to recalculate the temperature
distribution. Then, the material attributions of each element
are modified again. If the inequalities in equation (19) are
satisfied, the iterative process is assumed to have
converged, and then output the E-field and temperature
distribution.
T u T u1 1

(19)

Eu Eu1 2

where u is the iteration number, and 1 ,

2 are specified

small numbers, T and E are temperature and electric stress

of every element. If the inequalities in equation (19) are
not satisfied, set the new interaction as u=u+1 and repeat
the calculation.

4 THE ADVANCED EQUAL MARGIN

DESIGN METHOD
The traditional iso-margin method should be
transformed into an optimum problem with the relevant
restriction. It has been validated that the temperature has
apparent influences on the radial stress Er, the axial stress
Ea and the partial discharge margin PDM. Up till now, the
temperature distribution has been obtained by the electrothermal coupling method. Furthermore, this methodology
should be combined with the traditional equal margin
method. In the first place, the fitness function is given in
Appendix B. Its effectiveness has been validated in [7].
The optimization parameters of the bushing include the
foil lengths lk (k=1 to n-1), the foil radiuses rk (k=1 to n-1)
and the foil thicknesses dk (k=1-n). The full-scale FEM
model of the bushing can be established with the
combination of randomly selected structure parameters.
And then, based on the electro-thermal coupling method,
the electric and temperature field calculation can be carried
out. Ultimately, the values of Er, Ea and PDM of the
bushing condenser are used to calculate the value of the
objective function (B1). If the value reaches the minimum
point, it means that the current combination of structure
parameters is the optimal solution, which ensures that Er,
Ea and PDM meet the pre-select control value, and
distribute uniformly. Moreover, the PSO intelligent
optimization algorithm is used to solve the optimum
problem [14]. In this paper, the PSO algorithm is
implemented in the ANSYS computing environment. The
flow chart of the advanced equal margin method
combining the FEM and PSO is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. The flow chart of the advanced equal margin design method.

In the first place, input the bushing condensers material

parameters, testing voltage, rated operating current and the
size of the condenser. The initial values of the foil length,
the foil radius and the insulation thickness of adjacent foils
are obtained with the traditional iso-margin method.
Secondly, in the ANSYS computing environment, the fullscale FEM model should be created to calculate the electric
stress and temperature distribution of the bushing
condenser with the electro-thermal coupling method.
Thirdly, extract the radial stress Er, the axial stress Ea and
the partial discharge margin PDM to calculate the value of
the fitness function. The PSO operation program will
continue until the best solution (the minimum of the fitness
function) is found. Finally, the flow chart of the advanced
equal margin method returns the optimum combination of
parameters.

5 APPLICATION OF THE ADVANCED

EQUAL MARGIN DESIGN METHOD
Implement the proposed advanced equal margin method to
the optimization of the inner insulation structure in the UHV
RIP oil-SF6 bushing. Its basic technical specifications chosen
for the case design are as follows:
The highest voltage for the equipment (Um)
635 kV
The rated power frequency withstand voltage (Un) 1200 kV

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

The rated frequency

The rated current

Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014

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50 Hz
3150 A

The designed outer contour of the condenser is shown in

Figure 9, and the initial parameters of the outer contour are
listed in Table 1.

Figure 11. The full-scale calculation model of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing.

Figure 9. The outlet of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing.

Table 1. The parameters of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing condenser.
Parameters

l0 (mm)

ln (mm)

r0 (mm)

rn (mm)

Value

4405

1045

78

320

95

The actual testing and operating environment of the UHV

oil-SF6 bushing is shown in Figure 10, which includes the GIS
bus-bar, the transformer oil tank, the gas-side shield electrode
and the intermediate flange.

indicates that the region with the highest electric stress is

mainly inside the bushing condenser. And the hottest-spot
temperature is about 95 , which locates on the interface of
the inner conductor and the bushing condenser. Moreover,
the hottest-spot temperature is limited below the control
value under the full load. However, the allowed limiting
temperature of the RIP material will be determined by the
long-term ageing of the actual RIP core in the future work.
Based on the test results, the optimization of the bushing
condenser and the inner conductor structure should be
further carried out. At present, the inner insulation structure
of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing has been optimized with the
proposed advanced iso-margin design method. The results of
foil length lk, foil width dk and foil step 2k (k=1-n) are
shown as Table 2.

Figure 10. The testing environment of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing.

The previous analysis indicates these metal attachments

have certain impact on the inner E-field distribution of the
bushing condenser. Therefore, the full-scale model has been
established for the E-field and temperature field calculation,
shown in Figure 11, which is consistent with the actual testing
and operating environment.
In the calculation of the temperature field, the joule heating
of the insulation medium and the eddy heating of the inner
conductor should be considered together. The electric stress
and temperature distribution of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing
under the full-scale model is shown in Figure 12. This figure

Figure 12. The E-field and temperature distribution under the full-scale
model of the UHV oil-SF6 bushing.
Table 2. The optimum design of the inner insulation structure.
k

2k (mm)

lk(mm)

dk(mm)

rk(mm)

Erk(kV/mm)

Eak(kV/mm)

PDM

1
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
75

20
20
22
24
25
25
23
19
18

4365
4023
3601
3135
2637
2133
1651
1229
1045

1.6
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.4
3.4
2.8
1.9
1.6

79.6
95.6
118.1
146.0
178.7
212.7
243.5
266.6
275.1

4.32
3.81
3.34
3.00
2.81
2.83
3.15
3.85
4.33

0.73
0.73
0.72
0.71
0.72
0.73
0.72
0.72
0.73

1.40
1.41
1.42
1.43
1.42
1.41
1.42
1.43
1.40

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S. Zhang et al.: Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation

from 1.2 to 1.4. As a result, the partial discharge inception

voltage (PDIV) of the entire bushing condenser is upgraded
from 762 to 889 kV. Based on the optimized structure of the
inner insulation in the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing, the
prototype has been manufactured in Figure 14.

a) The radial stress

Figure 14. The prototype of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing.

6 THE ELECTRICAL AND THERMAL

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
The new design method and the prototype of a new
production should be verified by the experiment [15-17].
With the experimental verification, the effectiveness of the
electro-thermal simulation and the advanced iso-margin
design method can be evaluated. Therefore, the electrical and
thermal experiments have been carried out.
b) The axial stress

6.1 THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENT

The electrical performance test is conducted according to
the standard GB/T4109-2008 AC voltage above 1000V
insulated bushing or IEC60137-2008. It is the first time to
manufacture the prototype of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing in
the world. Therefore, the type tests reported in the paper are
slightly different from the IEC 60137-2008. Some of the type
tests can be considered as the researching tests. The
experimental set up is shown in Figure 15.

c) The partial discharge margin

Figure 13. The radial stress, axial stress and partial discharge margin on
each capacitive layer for conventional and optimum design.

Figure 13 shows that the proposed method is promising

with consideration to the essential technological limitations.
The radius of the bushing condenser has decreased from 320
to 275 mm, and the total number of large and small foils also
has decreased from 95 to 75, so the more compact condenser
has been obtained. The U shape curve of the radial stress
cannot be changed since it is determined by the intrinsic
structure of the condenser bushing. In the conventional design,
the axial stress of B and B is not equal. But in the optimum
design, the axial stress of A and A is equal. The radial stress
is slightly bigger after the optimization due to the more
compact design of bushing condenser. However, the radial
stress at any site of foil is still smaller than the control value
which is set to be 4.5 kV/mm. The axial stress Ea and the
partial discharge margin PDM of the optimally designed
bushing are more uniformly distributed. The maximum value
of the axial stress has a drop from 0.85 to 0.75 kV/mm, and
the minimum value of the partial discharge margin has a rise

a) The outdoor setup

b) The indoor setup
Figure 15. The onsite type tests of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing.

The testing items and the results are showed in Table 3.

The measured dielectric loss value tan under the power
frequency voltage of 120, 300 and 667 kV should not exceed
0.5 %. And the capacitance of the condenser should remain a
constant. Under the dry withstand voltage test at the power
frequency, there should be no external flashovers and internal
breakdowns under 1200 kV for 5 min. Under the applied
voltage of 953 kV, the amount of partial discharge should be
smaller than 10 pC. When the voltage drops to 667 kV, the
partial discharge level should be smaller than 5 pC. Under the
lightning impulse dry withstand voltage 2400 kV and the
switching impulse dry withstand voltage 1950 kV, the
external flashovers and internal breakdowns cannot occur.

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014

Table 3. The electrical type test results.

The type tests
The dielectric loss factor and
capacitance measurements
The ambient temperature: 15
The relative humidity: 58 %

The dry withstand voltage test at

power frequency
The ambient temperature: 15
The relative humidity: 58 %

The partial discharge

measurement

The lightning impulse withstand

voltage test
The ambient temperature: 10
The relative humidity: 44 %

The switching impulse dry

withstand voltage test
The ambient temperature: 16
The relative humidity: 76 %

The test results

120 kV tan: 0.45 %
Cx: 384.1 pF
300 kV tan: 0.46 %
Cx: 384.1 pF
667 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.1 pF
The applied voltage: 1200 kV
The duration time: 5 min
no flashover and breakdown occur
After the test, the repeated
measurement data of dielectric loss
factor and capacitance is as follows:
120 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.3 pF
300 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.3 pF
667 kV tan: 0.46 %
Cx: 384.3 pF
The pre-applied voltage: 1100 kV
The testing voltage: 953 kV
The partial discharge quality: 5 pC
The testing voltage: 667 kV
The partial discharge quality: 2 pC
The system background noise: 1 pC
The Pos. full-wave: (2377-2401) kV.
The Neg. full-wave: (2381-2397) kV.
The Neg. chopped-wave: (2649-2741)
kV
no flashover and breakdown occur
After test, the repeated measurement
data of dielectric loss factor and
capacitance is as follows:
120 kV tan: 0.43 %
Cx: 384.9 pF
300 kV tan: 0.43 %
Cx: 384.9 pF
667 kV tan: 0.43 %
Cx: 385.0 pF
The Pos. full-wave: (1925~1946) kV
The Neg. full-wave: (1930~1958) kV
no flashover and breakdown occur
After test, the repeated measurement
data of dielectric loss factor and
capacitance is as follows:
120 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.1 pF
300 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.1 pF
667 kV tan: 0.47 %
Cx: 384.2 pF

Table 3 indicates that the results of the electrical type tests

done for the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushings prototype can readily
satisfy the requirements of IEC60137-2008 or GB/T41092008 AC voltage above 1000V insulated bushing. This proves
that the improved iso-margin design method is effective on
the UHV levels bushings.
6.2 THE THERMAL EXPERIMENT
The temperature-rising experiment of the UHV RIP oil-SF6
bushing has also been carried out. The temperature-rising
process at key points around the bushing can be recorded by

1775

the sensors. The arrangement of the temperature sensors is

shown in Figure 16. The basic principle for arranging the
temperature measurement points is to focus on the metal parts
on both ends of the bushing condenser. Furthermore, the
effective contact of the sensors with the measurement points
must be ensured, shown in Figure 17. During the temperaturerising test, the ambient temperature of the testing hall was
about 22 . And the transformer oil was heated to 80 . The
rated value of the current flowing through the bushings inner
conductor is set to be 3150 A. The current which is applied to
the bushing condenser lasted nearly 10 hours. And the
temperature was recorded every one hour. Moreover, the
temperatures changing processes of all the key measuring
points are shown in Figure 18.

Figure 16. The temperature measuring points on the contour of the bushing
condenser. 1, 16, 19, 20the current carrying inner conductor. 2, 3, 4, 5, 15,
17, 18, 21the aluminum accessories. 10, 11the middle flange. 22, 23
the transformer oil. 9 SF6. 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 the RIP bushing
condenser.

Figure 17. The installation of temperature sensor with the silver plating

Figure 18. The temperature-rising curves of the measurement locations.

It is concluded that the temperature of each measuring

point increases dramatically in the range of the starting 5
hours, and reaches the steady state in the range of the
remaining 5 hours. The steady-state temperature in the oil side
of the bushing is higher than that in the SF6 side. It also can be
found that the hottest-spot temperature with the value of 95

1776

S. Zhang et al.: Inner Insulation Structure Optimization of UHV RIP Oil-SF6 Bushing Using Electro-thermal Simulation

locates at the inner conductor of the bushing which fits well

with the electro-thermal simulation result.

7 CONLUSION
The paper has combined the electro-thermal coupling
simulation with the PSO algorithm to improve the traditional isomargin design method. Then, the optimal structure of the inner
insulation is used to develop the prototype of the UHV RIP oilSF6 bushing. The following conclusions can be obtained:
(1) The stray capacitance and temperature have significant
influences on the internal E-field distribution of the UHV
bushing after evaluating quantitatively by the FEM. Based on
this, it is important to improve the traditional design method,
and obtain the uniform radial stress, axial stress and partial
discharge margin.
(2) The electric and thermal properties of the RIP material
used in the bushing condenser are functions of the operating
temperature which determines the electric and thermal
distribution inside the bushing condenser. Therefore, it is
reasonable to take the nonlinear characteristic into
consideration during the design of the actual bushing with the
proposed electro-thermal coupling method.
(3) The improved iso-margin design method has been used in
the optimization design of the UHV RIP oil-SF6 bushing. The
prototype has passed through all the type tests, which proves
that the proposed iso-margin design method is effective and
reasonable.
(4) The long-term aging performance evaluation of the RIP
materials based on the accelerated thermal and electric stress
will be carried out in the follow-up work. The aim is to
evaluate the allowed operation temperature of the UHV RIP
oil-SF6 bushing. Based on the test results, the structure
optimization of the bushing condenser and the inner
conductor should be further carried out until the hottest-spot
temperature is lower than the allowed operation temperature
of the RIP material.

APPENDIX
A. THE CLOSED-FORM SOLUTION OF THE HEAT
FLOW CONTINUITY EQUATION
The closed-form solution of the heat flow continuity
equation is described as:

T (r )

P1
r
ln( ) Ta
r
2

M b b N ln r
r
( ln
ln( )(ln(b N ln r0 )
N N
b N ln r
r
1) ln(b N ln r ) ln r ln(b N ln r ) ln r ))

T ( r ) m(

(A1)

(A2)

Where
M (

l0 ln 2
)
r
2 ln( )
r0

b l02 N ln r0

l02 ln2
r
ln
r0
2

m U

(A3)

B. THE FITNESS FUNCTION OF THE ADVANCED

EQUAL MARGIN DESIGN METHOD
The fitness function used in the advanced equal margin
design method is available in [7]. However, for the quick
reference, the expression and descriptions are described as:

MaxEk r ERC
Min k
) Er 1) X (
)]
[(1 X ) ((
Max
ERC

(B1)
n

MaxEk a EAC
Min k

) Ea 1) X (
)]
Min [(1 X ) ((
Max
EAC
k 1

PDC
MaxPDM
Min k

[(1
)
((
)
1)
(
)]

X
X

PDM
Max
PDC

subject to

(B2)
where , and are the weight values of different design
parameters, which satisfy the equation (B2). X is an integer
variable which may be either 0 or 1. ERC is the control value of
the radial stress, EAC is the control value of the axial stress, and
PDC is the control value of the partial discharge margin. Then
take the radial stress as an example. If the maximum value of the
radial stress is greater than ERC, the value of X is set to 1. The
minimization of ( MaxErk ERC ) / ERC makes Er as close as
possible to ERC. Otherwise, if the maximum value of Er is less
than ERC, X is set to 0. The minimization of ((Min / Max)kE 1)
r

guarantees the maximum and minimum of Er will be as close as

possible. The uniform distribution of Er can be obtained. The
optimization strategy of Ea and PDM is identical to that of Er.

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Zongren Peng was born in Shaanxi province,

China, in 1953. He graduated from Major of
Insulation, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Xian
Jiaotong University, Xian, China, in 1977. He is
currently a professor at State Key Laboratory of
Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xian
Jiaotong University. His research fields are the high
voltage and electrical insulation technology,
including the insulation structure optimization and
the calculation of complex fields; the forming
mechanism of space charges in dielectrics and its
measurement methods; and the materials, structure and electrical properties
of UHV AC/DC bushings.

Shiling Zhang was born in Chongqing, China, in 1986.

He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
from Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China, in 2008.
Now he is working for the Ph.D. degree in high voltage
and insulation technology at Xian Jiaotong University.
His research fields of interest are in structure design and
optimization of extra-high voltage and ultra-high voltage
insulation system, especially the internal and external
insulation system of extra-high voltage and ultra-high
voltage bushings.

Peng Liu was born in Ningxia, China, in 1979. He

received the B.Sc., M.Sc.. and Ph.D. degrees in
electrical engineering from Xian Jiaotong University,
China in 2001, 2004, and 2010, respectively. He is a
researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Electrical
Insulation and Power Equipment, in Xian Jiaotong
University, since 2011. His research topics focus on
the dielectric properties of epoxy resin and its
composites, including the space charge behavior of
polymeric insulation materials.