INADVERTENT FAILURE OF A

LIGHTNING ARRESTER OF A POWER

TRANSFORMERring
i n e e
PRESENTED BY JOHNE n g
o b l e KWEKU AMOO-
AMOO-OTOO, P.E,

D
STOCKHOLM
PRESENTATION
CONSULTANT
AT EURODOBLE CONFERENCE,
STOCKHOLM--SWEDEN, OCT 2011

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF THE
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
AGENDA
A. Event Description
ng
B
B.
e eri
Description of the purpose of Lightning arrester
i n
C.
E ng
Immediate action taken and results
o b le
D
D.
D
Performance of Extended Condition
assessment
E Design review and schematic of lightning
E.
arrester

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
AGENDA (Ctd)

r i ng
F. Pictorial definition of lightning arrester and
its component
i n e e
E ng
G. Review and analysis
o b l e of the failure
H. Review ofDmaintenance
(test, etc) and
post installation testing after replacement
of original silicon carbide arrester
I. Recommendation
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF LIGHTNING
ARRESTER

Event: There was a line to ground fault on

the A phase lightning arrester of the main
r i ng
step-up
step
e e
up transformer which resulted
i n
in the
Eng
tripping of the main generator.
o ble
D

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 INADVERTERNT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Basic Purpose of a surge arrester: It is
used to protect a power transformer from
r i n
over voltage conditions fromelightningg
g i n e and
E n
switching activities. Upon
e
the occurrence
o b
of a high voltagel
voltage, the arrester provides a
path to D
ground which limits the over-
voltage conditions and drains of the
excess current
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Therefore in a nutshell
nutshell, an arrester has
two functions to fulfill, it must provide a
r i n g
path for over
over-voltage
voltage conditions
i n e e to pass to
E n
ground and it must limit g the drain of
o
current during b l e
normal operation and allow
D
current to flow
on leakage

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate actions taken and results
Root cause investigation was launched
ng
i n e eri
immediatelyy and it was found out that the cause

ng
of the failure was due to a manufacturing defect.
le E
Do b
The fault recorder readings g did not indicate any
y

grid disturbance prior to the failure of the
surge/Lightning arrester but indicated a voltage
d
depression
i which
hi h iindicates
di a single
i l liline to
ground Fault.
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate actions taken and results (ctd)
Inspection of the lightning arrester around the
ng
the corona ringg indicated that the fault was
i n e eri
ng
centralized around the transformer area
le E
Do b
Also it was the transformer pprotective relays
y that

responded to the fault and not the generator
protective relay which indicates that the fault is
l
local
l to the
h transformer
f

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate actions taken and results (ctd)
Further analysis indicated that the glass tape
ng
that hold the metal oxide blocks had become
i n e eri
ng
wedged in between the blocks
le E
During
Do b
g normal operation
p of the lightning
g g arrester,,

there is an air-gap in between the blocks but
with the wedging of the glass tape it led to an
arcing
i iin bbetween the
h blblocks.
k

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate actions taken and results (ctd) ( )
An inspection of the blocks also indicated that
ng
eri
continuous switching created surges which
eroded
d d the
h edges
d off the
h bl
i n
blocks e
k in
i addition
ddi i to
E
periodic lightning strikes ng
o b le
D
Investigation also revealed that this surge
arrester (Metal Oxide Varister) replaced the
original silicon carbide arrester, due to the fact
that the original silicon carbide arresters are
prone to failure due to age related
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 INADVERTERNT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate actions taken and results (ctd) ( )
Based on the manufacturing testing record most
ng
eri
of the lightning arresters are tested before they
are shipped
hi d to the
h customer b
i n e
but iit was very
E ng
difficult that such a defect would have been
o b le
detected based on the results that were
obtained D
Also the manufacturer had sold over 24,000
units and only 55 failures had been reported due
to flashovers from moisture intrusion, animals
and system over-voltage conditions
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate action taken and results (ctd)
Due to the configuration of the Transformer
ng
beingg wye-delta,
y , a fault on the high
i n eri
g side will
e
ng
appear on the low voltage side as line to line
le E
b
fault which is supported by the tripping of both
Do

phase A and B over-current relays
The sudden pressure relay targets did not
activate
i which
hi h indicates
i di that
h the
h ffault
l did not
originate inside the transformer
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Immediate action taken and results
(ctd)
r i ng
n e e
Actuation of the line differential
i
relay on
E
indicates an A phasen gfault between the
b le
upotransformer
main step
D
step-up
breaker
and the circuit

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 INADVERETENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Performance of Extended Condition
Assessment: It was found out that the
r i ng
i n e e
stations class of lightning arrester from
such manufacturer was
E ng limited only to this
step-up
step o b l e
up transformer
D

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Review of the design of Lightning arrester for
this application
ng
Since the line to g
ground Voltage
eri
g is about 210KV,, 4
i n e
ng
subsections of the lightning arrester were
le E
b
connected together to achieve a total Maximum
Do

Continuous Operating Voltage (MCOV) of
212KV. Hence the design and installation is
within the accepted line to ground system
voltage

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Schematic
d i off
design
Lightning
ng
eri
arrester

i n e
ng
Generator 1W MPT Switchyard

le E
b
A B C

Do Failed Arrester

Zinc Oxide type

Arresters
Silicon Carbide
type Arresters
1E MPT

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 Inadvertent Failure of Arrester
Picture of a typical
section of a lightning
ng
eri
arrester
i n e
E ng
o b le
D

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
ARRESTER
Definition of the components
p of the arrester
Neoprene Rubber Gasket used to prevent
ng
eri
moisture intrusion
i n e
ng
Vent Port used for pressure relief during an
le E
over-voltage conditions which allows hot vapor
Do b
to vent off those ports

Zinc oxide blocks will conduct voltage to
ground
g ou d du
duringgaan o
over-voltage
e o tage cocondition
dto a and
d
during normal operating conditions will prevent
current from flowing to ground
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Definition of components
p
Glass tapes that hold zinc oxide blocks to-
ng
eri
gether and magnesia oxide sand to conduct
heat away
i n e
E ng
Magnesia sand: When an over-voltage occurs
b le
the zinc oxide blocks act as a low impedance
o
pathth and
D
d provide
id a path th tto ground
d th
thatt protects
the transformer and the arrester can withstand
t t
provided that the temporary over-voltage is
within
i hi the
h capability
bili off the
h arrester ffor the
h surge
duration while the magnesia sand helps to
dissipate
p the heat away. y
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF A
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Effect of a surge on the lightning
arrester
r i ng
n e e
If a surge occurs the unit punctures
i
and
ng
arc forms down theEcenter of the stack and
b le up and burst the copper
the pressureobuild
diaphragm
D
at each end which allows the
unit to burst preventing the porcelain
structure from being destroyed.
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Review and analysis of the Failure
Analysis of the failure indicates that there were 4
ng
i n e eri
subsections in the arrester. The subsection 4 is

ng
the one that is connected to the high voltage line
le E
b
and the subsection 1 is the one that is
Do

connected to the ground conductor. It was
discovered at subsection 2, the glass tape that is
used to hold the blocks had become wedged at
two locations

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF THE
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Failure Analysis (Ctd)
Based on the wedging under normal situation
ng
there is an air-gap
i n e eri
g p in between the blocks which

ng
resulted in a leakage current but because the
le E
b
material got wedged in between the blocks it
Do

resulted in an arc and because surge from
lightning has caused punctures on the edge of
some of the blocks,
blocks hence the flow of current
was concentrated on the remaining blocks which
overstressed the remaining blocks
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF A
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Analysis of the Failure (Ctd)

r i ng
The failed section 2 block thus caused an
over-voltage
i n
over voltage condition on thee e rest of the
stack of blocks En g
b l e
Do

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF THE
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Performance of lightning arrester when
subjected to TOV (Transient Over
Voltage)-Review
g ) of test records r i ng
i n e e
n g
An arrester like that is subject
E
to a vendor
TOV testing
b l
g where
o e 1.06 times the
D
reference voltage is applied. The
reference voltage for this arrester is
264KV Th
264KV. Thus ththe ttotal
t l voltage
lt applied
li d was
279.84KV for 10,000secs
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
This TOV value is also equivalent to 1 1.32
32
times the maximum continuous operating
r i ng
i n e e
Voltage (MCOV) rating of 212KV
212KV. If the
stress had been duentogTOV, the failure
E
ble been a thermal runaway
mode would ohave
D

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTER
Post Installation Testing
It was determined that the post installation
r i ng
test was a Doble testing that
i n e e was
n g
performed and thatEincludes testing at
o b l e
D
10KV for power loss
loss, capacitance and
resistance and that would have
Insulation
been difficult to detect a defect like this

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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHNING ARRESTER
Thermography-Review of records

r i ng
It was found out that thermography would
e e
n
not have revealed such a defect
i
E ng
b l e
Do

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 INADVERTERNT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTERS
Recommendations and corrective
actions implemented
r i ng
A. Replace the entire population
i n e e of all
n g
silicon Carbide arresters
E
with Zinc Oxide
arresters
o b l e
D
Arresters should be installed on
B. Identical
all transformers
C. Vendor test data be supplied for review
byy Station Plant engineering
g g
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 INADVERTENT FAILURE OF
LIGHTNING ARRESTERS
QUESTIONS?

ng
i n e eri
E ng
o ble
D

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