EEPB463

HIGH VOLTAGE
TECHNOLOGY
Dr Muhamad Safwan Abd Rahman
BN-1-051
asafwan@uniten.edu.my

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INTRODUCTION INSULATION COORDINATION
• Insulation coordination is the correlation of electrical
equipment insulation with the characteristics of
protective devices such that the insulation is protected
from excessive overvoltages

basic
insulation
level

statistical insulation time lags for

approach coordination breakdown

volt-time
characteristics

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INTRODUCTION INSULATION COORDINATION
• Generally, transformer, switchgear, and other valuable
equipment are with non-self restoring insulation
• These equipment must be protected against failures and
internal destruction
• Other apparatus, such as string insulators, are self-restoring
insulation
• This equipment can be allowed to flashover in order to save
the non-self-restoring equipment

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 INTRODUCTION INSULATION COORDINATION
• From IEEE 1313.1-1996
– Insulation coordination is the “selection of the insulation
strength consistent with the expected over-voltages to
obtain an acceptable risk of failure”
• From IEC 71-1-1993
– Insulation coordination is the “selection of the dielectric
strength of equipment in relation to the voltages which can
appear on the system for which equipment is intended and
taking account the service environment and the
characteristics of the available protective devices
• To specify the insulation strength, the normal, usual, and
standard conditions that are used must be known
• There are several methods of describing the strength, such as
the BIL, BSL and CFO which will be defined later
• All specifications of strength are based on the following
conditions:
a) ambient temperature:20°C
b) air pressure:101.3kPa or 760 mm Hg
c) absolute humidity:11 grams of water/m3 of air
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 BASIC INSULATION LEVEL (BIL)
• BIL-Basic Lightning Impulse Insulation Level = the electrical
strength of insulation expressed in terms of the crest value of
the “standard lightning impulse”
• BIL is tied to a specific wave shape in addition being tied to
standard atmospheric conditions
• BIL may either be a statistical BIL or a conventional BIL
• Statistical BIL is applicable only to SR insulations
• Statistical BIL = the crest value of standard lightning impulse
for which the insulation exhibits a 90% probability of
withstand, a 10% probability of failure
• Conventional BIL is applicable to NSR insulations
• Conventional BIL = the crest value of a standard lightning
impulse for which the insulation does not fail when subjected
to a specific number of applications of the overvoltages
• BSL is similar to BIL, but for switching overvoltages
• However, in IEC, it is not divided into conventional and
statistical definitions
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BASIC INSULATION LEVEL (BIL)
• Due to the statistical nature of overvoltage breakdown, its
probability of occurrence may be represented by what is
known as the S curve
• Statistical BIL (Left Figure) vs Conventional BIL (Right
Figure)
• The conventional BIL or BSL is more simple definition
but has less meaning as regards to insulation strength

probability for
breakdown, P

0.5

voltage
0 A C B magnitude 6
BASIC INSULATION LEVEL (BIL)

probability for
breakdown, P

0.5

voltage
0 A C B magnitude

• For voltages below point A, no breakdown occurs (P = 0)

• For voltages above point B, breakdown will definitely
occur (P = 1)
• At point C, there is a 50% probability of breakdown to
occur at that voltage magnitude (P = 0.5)
• 50% or the mean of this distribution is also defined as
critical flashover voltage or CFO
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TIME LAGS FOR BREAKDOWN
• Mechanism of breakdown is a function of ionization
processes
• In practical engineering however, breakdowns are usually
due to rapidly changing voltages, i.e. surge voltage
• Consider an impulse voltage of amplitude V applied to a
gap that breaks down at Vb after a period of time (V>Vb)
• The time which elapses between the application of V and
the breakdown is called the time lag
• It consists of two components:
statistical
time lag,
ts

time
lags
formative
time lag,
tf
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TIME LAGS FOR BREAKDOWN
• Statistical time lag is the time taken to produce primary
electron to cause initial ionization
• The amount of such electron to be produced is statistical
in nature
• Formative time lag is the time taken for breakdown to
occur once the primary electron has been initiated
voltage

breakdown occurs
V

Vb

time

time lag

is it possible to distinguish
the two from figure above? 9
 VOLT-TIME CHARACTERISTICS
• On different impulse voltages applied, breakdown will
occur and the time lag will depend on the rate of rise of
the applied voltage and the field geometry
• Thus for each gap configuration it is possible to construct
a volt-time characteristic
• A number of impulse of increasing level is applied and
time lag for breakdown is recorded using an oscilloscope
• Thus, voltage-time characteristic can be constructed

voltage voltage
volt-time
characteristic

time time

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VOLT-TIME CHARACTERISTICS
• Typical volt-time curve for transformer & classification of
surge
 1 For steep fronted lightning surge
 2 Slow fronted lightning surge
 3  Fast switching surge
 4  Slow switching surge
 5  Power frequency

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VOLT-TIME CHARACTERISTICS

voltage
insulation to
be protected
protecting
device

safety margin

time

• From the figure above, the upper curve represents the

overall BIL for all insulations whereas the lower curve
represents the protective voltage level provided all
protective devices
• The volt-time characteristics of the protection devices can
be obtained and they must be below that of the insulation
to be protected
• Difference between the curves provides the safety margin
for the insulation system
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STATISTICAL APPROACH
• In extra high voltage (EHV) and ultra high voltage (UHV)
systems, it is not practical to have insulation levels that
could withstand all forms of overvoltages
• It is also impossible to have 100% failure free insulation
since the current in the lightning stroke can be 200kA
• This is because the insulation needs to be extremely high
due to the magnitude of voltage applied and this cannot
be achieved from economical point of view
• Thus protective devices need to be employed at sensitive
points that would limit overvoltages at those points
where a little risk for failure is permitted in the interest of
economic consideration.
• Current practice of insulation coordination rely on
statistical approach which relates directly the electrical
stress and electrical strength
• In other words, the coordination for insulation is based on
its risk of failure
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STATISTICAL APPROACH
• Consider a case of an occurrence of overvoltage
represented by probability density Po(Vi)dVi (a Gaussian
distribution) between Vi and (Vi + dVi)
• Pd(Vi) is the probability for flashover of the insulation
can be represented by the normal S curve
• The probability of both event occurring simultaneously
at an overvoltage Vi is Pd(Vi) Po(Vi) dVi
• Risk of failure (R) is given by Integration of Pd(Vi)
Po(Vi)dVi from zero to Vi
• Knowledge of these distributions determines the ‘risk of
failure’ (represented by the shaded area under curve R)
insulation
Po breakdown Pb

overvoltage
distribution

voltage 14
applied, Vi
STATISTICAL APPROACH
• However, it would be uneconomical to consider the
complete distribution functions for overvoltage and
withstand of insulation because the samples can be very
large
• A simplified procedure (given by IEC) is to be based on:
-statistical overvoltage, Vs that has a 2% probability for
overvoltage to reach Vs
-withstand voltage, Vw that has a 10% probability that
breakdown will occur in insulation
Po Pb

2%

10 %
voltage voltage
Vs applied, V Vw applied, V

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STATISTICAL APPROACH
• Statistical safety factor, γ is given as

• Relative shift of the two curves will vary γ

• Increasing the statistical safety factor γ will reduce the
risk of failure R
• Statistical approach to insulation withstand voltages
establishes the ‘insulation level’
risk of
Po Pb failure, R

R1

R2

10 % R3
voltage safety
Vw1 Vw2 Vw3 applied, V γ1 γ2 γ3 factor, γ

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STATISTICAL APPROACH
• Consider a case of an insulator string protected by a spark
gap of lower breakdown strength
• Both are subjected to the same overvoltage represented by
Po, and probability of breakdown for spark gap and
insulation string are given as Pg and Pi respectively
• Risk of failure for spark gap is much higher than that of
insulation string
• Safety margin is defined as the voltage difference
between 50% flashover values of protecting gap and
insulation
Po Pg Pi Pb

50 %

voltage
applied, V
safety
margin
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SUMMARY
based on volt-time
characteristics

basic protection is below

volt-time characteristic
insulation level of insulation

safety margin is defined

with respect to voltage
applied
insulation
coordination
based on probability of
overvoltage and
breakdown of insulation

statistical protection has higher

risk of failure than
approach insulation

safety margin is defined

with respect to voltage
applied
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 THE END

SEE YOU IN FINAL

EXAM 
GOOD LUCK

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