EE6701

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It is essential for electrical power engineers to reduce the number of outages and
preserve the continuity ofservice and electric supply. Therefore, it is necessary to
direct special attenuation towards the protection of transmission lines and power
. apparatus from the chief causes of overvoltages in electric systems, namely
lightning overvoltagesand switching overvoltages, Lightining overvoltage is a
natural phenomenon, while switching overvoltages originate in the system itself
by the connection arid disconnection ofcircuit breaker contacts or due to initiation
or interruption offaults. Switching overvoltages·are highly damped short duration
overvoltages. They are 'temporary overvoltages' of power frequency or its
harmonic frequency, either sustained or weakly damped, and originate in switching
and fault-clearing processes in power systems. Although both switching and
power frequency overvoltages have no common origin, they may occur together,
and their combined effect is important in insulation design. The probability of
lightning and switchingovervoltages coinciding together is very small and hence
can be neglected. The magnitude of lightning voltages appearing on transmission
lines does not depend on line design and hence lightning performance tends to
improve with increasing insulation level, that is, with system voltage. On the
other hand, switching overvoltages are proportional to operating voltage. Hence,
there is a system operating voltage at which the emphasischanges from lightning
to switching surge design, this being important above 500 kV. In the range of
300 kV to 765 kV, both switching overvoltages and lightning overvoltages have
to be considered, while for ultra high voltages (> 700 kV), perhaps switching
surges may be the chief condition for design considerations.
For the study of overvoltages, a basic knowledge ofthe origin of overvoltages,
surge phenomenon, and its propagation is desirable. The present chapter is
therefore devoted to a summary of the above topics.
8.1 NATURAL CAUSES FOR OVERVOLTAGES-

LIGHTNING PHENOMENON
Lightning phenomenon is a peak discharge in which charge accumulated in the

clouds discharges into a neighbouring cloud or to the ground. The electrode
separation, i.e., cloud-to-c1oud or c1oud-to-ground is very large, perhaps 10 km
290 High-Voltage Engineering Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 291
--.,...,.---------------------------~Vv___;
--vv
or more. The mechanism of charge formation in the clouds and their discharge
is quite a complicated and uncertain process. Nevertheless, a lot of information
has been collected since the last fifty years and several theories have been put.
forth for explaining the phenomenon. A summary of the various processes and
theories is presented in this' section.
8.1.1 Charge Formation in the Clouds

Air currents
~ Positive rain
7
Thefactors that contribute to the formation or accumulation of charge in the Negative rain
clouds are too many and uncertain. But during thunderstorms, positive and nega-
tive charges become separated by the heavy air currents with ice crystals in the Fig. 8.2· Cloud model according to Simpson's theory
upper part and rain in the lower parts of the cloud. This charge separation de-
larger drops and fall again. Thus, region A, eventually becomes predominantl,Y
pends on the height of the clouds, which range from 200 to 10,000 m, with their
positively charged, while region B above. it, becomes negat~vely charged by atr
charge centres probably at a distance of about 300 to 2000 m. The volume of the
currents. In the upper regions in the cloud, the temperature IS low (below freez-
clouds that participate in lightning flashover are uncertain, but the charge inside
ing point) and only ice crystals exist. The impact of air on these .c~stals makes
the7 cloud may be as high as 1 to 100 C. Clouds may have a potential as high as
8 them. negatively charged, thus the. distribution of the charge within the cloud
10 to 10 V with field gradients ranging from 100 V/cm within the cloud to as
becomes as shown in Fig. 8.2.
high as 10 kV/cm at the initial discharge point. The energies associated with the
However the above theory is obsolete and the explanation presented is not
cloud discharges can be as high as 250 kWh. It is believed that the upper regions
satisfactory.'Recently, Reynolds and Mason proposed modification, according to
of the cloud are usually positively charged, whereas the lower region and the
which the thunder clouds are developed at heights 1 to 2 km above the ground
base are predominantly negative except the local region, near the base and the
level and may extend up to 12 to 14 km above the ground. For thunder clouds
head, which is positive. The maximum gradient reached at the ground level due
and charge formation air currents, moisture and specific temperature range are
to a charged cloud may be as high as 300 V/cm, while the fair weather gradients
required.
are about 1 V/cm.A probable charge distribution model is given in Fig. 8.1 with
the corresponding field gradient near the ground. The air currents controlled by the temperature gradient move upwards car-
rying moisture and water droplets. The temperature is O°C at about 4km from
According to the Simpson's theory (Fig. 8.2) there are three essential regions
the ground and may reach - sqoc at about 12 km height. But water droplets do
in the cloud to be considered for charge formation. Below region A, air currents
not freeze as soon as the temperature is ooe. They freeze below - 40°C only as
travel above 800 cm/s, and no raindrops fall through. In region A, air velocity
solid particles on which crystalline ice patterns develop and grow. The larger the
is high enough to break the falling raindrops causing a positive charge spray in
number of solid sites or nuclei present, the higher is the temperature (> - 40° C)
the cloud and negative charge in the air. The spray is blown upwards, but asthe
at which the ice crystals grow. Thus in clouds, the effective freezing tempera-
velocity of air decreases, the positively charged water drops recombine with the
ture range is ground - 33°C to - 40° C. The water droplets in the thun?er cloud
are blown up by air currents and get super cooled over a range of heights and
+++
+
+ + +
+ + + ~ Cloud motion temperatures. When such freezing occurs, the crystals ~row into large masses
+ + + + + and due to their weight and gravitational force start movmg downwards. Thus, a
thunder cloud consists of supercooled water droplets moving upwards and large
Field
gradient hail stones moving downwards. '
at ground . When the upward moving supercooled water droplets act on cooler hail s~one,
it freezes partially, i.e., the outer layer of the water droplets free.ze~ formmg a
shell with water inside. When the process of cooling extends to inside warmer
water in the core, it expands, thereby splintering and spraying the frozen ice
shell. The splinters being fine in size are moved up by the air.currents and carry
Fig. 8.1 Probable field gradient near the ground corresponding to the probable a net positive charge to the upper region of the cloud. The hall ~tones that travel
charge distribution in a cloud downwards carry an equivalent negative charge to the lower regions of the cloud
and thus negative charge builds up in the bottom side of the cloud.
----------------------'Vv-- ----¥v....------------------------
According to Mason, the ice splinters should carry only positive charge up- Qsh M
(8.4)
wards. Water being ionic in nature has concentration ofH+ and OH- ions. The ion Qg = v [1-exp (-At)] = v[l- exp (-At)]
density depends on the temperature. Thus, in an ice slab with upper and lower
where M = Qs . h = the electric moment of the thunder-storm.
surfaces at temperatures T 1 and T2, (T1 < T 2) , there will be a higher concentration
of ions in the lower region. However, since H+ ions are much lighter, they diffuse The average values observed for thunder-clouds are:
much faster all over the volume. Therefore, the lower portion which is warmer
will have a net negative charge density, and hence the upper portion, i.e., cooler
time constant = 1 = 20 s
region will have a net positive charge density. Hence, it must be appreciated, that electric moment M = 110 C-km and
the outer shells of the frozen water droplets coming into contact with hail stones time for first lightning flash to appear, t = 20 s
will be relatively cooler (than their inner core-s-warmer water) and therefore ac- The velocity of separation of charges, v = 10 to 20 m/s.
quire a net positive charge. When the shell splinters, the charge carried by them
Substituting these values, we get
in the upward direction is positive.
. According to the Reynold's theory, which is based on experimental results.the
Q = 20,000_C
g v
hail packets get negatively charged when impinged upon by warmer ice crystals. 20,000
When the temperature conditions are reversed, the charging polarity reverses. = -WC = 1000 C forv=20 m/s
However, the extent of the charging and consequently the rate of charge genera-
Calculations using Mason's theory show that a maximum charge transfer of
tion was found to disagree with the practical observations relating to thunder
3 x i 0- 3 T esu/cm/ of contact surface for a contact period of 0.01 s, where Tis
clouds.This type of phenomenon also occurs in thunder clouds.
the temperature difference.
Rate ofCharging ofThunder Clouds The theory and observatibns ofReynolds et al., gave values of 5 x 10- 9 esu per
Mason considered thunder clouds to consist of a unifortn mixture ofpositive and crystal impact for a temperature difference of 5°C. Mason's theory seems to give
negative charges. Due to hail stones and air currents the charges separate verti- much higher values, yet it explains the phenomenon satisfactorily.
cally. If A, is a factor which depends on the conductivity ofthe medium, there will
8.1.2 Mechanism of Lightning Strokes
be a resistive leakage of charge from the electric field built up, and this should be
taken into account for cloud charging. When the electric field intensity at some point in the charge concentrated cloud
Let E be the electric field intensity, v be the velocity ofseparation of charges, exceeds the breakdown value of the moist ionized airO(:::dO kV/cm), an elec-
and p the charge density in the cloud. Then, the electric field intensity E is given tric streamer with plasma starts towards the ground with a velocity of about
by 1/10 times that of the' light; but may progress only about 50 m or so before it
dE comes to a halt emitting a bright flash oflight. The halt may be due to insufficient
di+A=pv (8.1) build-up of electric charge at its head and not sufficientto maintain the necessary
pv field gradient for further -progress of the streamer. But after a short interval of
Hence E = - [1 - exp (- At)] (8.2)
A, about 100 ps, the streamer again starts out repeating its performance. The total
This equation assumes initially E = 0 at t = 0, the start of charge separation, time required for such a stepped leader to reach the ground may be 20 ms. The
i.e. there is no separation initially. path may be quite lustrous, depending on the -local conditions in air as well as
Let Q, be the separated charge and Qg be the generated charge, then the electric field gradients. Branches from the initial leader may also be formed.
Since the progress of this leader stroke is by a series of jumps, it is referred as
Qg
p= - (8.3a) stepped leader. The picture of a typical leader stroke taken with a Boy's camera
Ah is shown in Fig. 8.3.
and E=~ (8.3b) The lightning stroke and the electrical discharges due to lightning are
Aeo explained based on the 'streamer' or 'kanel' theory for spark discharges in long
where eo is the permittivity of the medium, A is the cloud area and h is the height gaps with non-uniform electric fields. The lightning consists of a few separate
of the charged region. discharges starting from a leader discharge and culminates in return strokes or
From Eq. (8.2), on substitution
294 High-Voltage Engineering
-------'----------------------'V'v-- Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 295
---vv~---------------------
paths and lead to repeated strokes. The leader strokes of the repeated strokes
progress with much less velocity (::::: 1% of that of light) and do not branch.
This stroke is called continuous leader, and return stroke for this leader follows
with much less current. The interval between the repeated strokes may be from
0.6 ms to 500 ms with an average of30 ms. Multiple strokes may last for 1 s. The
total duration of the lightning may be more than 1 s. The current from the ground
20m.s by the main return stroke may have a peak value of 250,000 A, and rates of rise
may be as high as 100 kA/Jis or 1011 Al.s. The time intervals between successive
Fig. 8.3 Propagation ofa stepped leader stroke from a cloud (* Bright tips
recorded) strokes, the number of successive strokes, the duration of lightning discharges
the discharge current, the rate of rise of current, and wavefront and wave tail
main discharges. The velocity of the leader stroke of the first discharge may be times and their probability distribution are given in Figs 8.5 to 8.10.
·1.5 x 107 cm/s, of the succeeding leader strokes about 108 cm/s, and ofthe return
strokes may be 1.5 x 109 to 1.5 x 1010 cm/s (about 0.05 to 0.5 times the velocity 8.1.3 Parameters and Characteristics of the Lightning Strokes
of light).
After the leader touches the ground, the return stroke follows. As the leader The parameters and characteristics of lightning include the amplitude of the cur-
moves towards the ground, positive charge is directly accumulated under the rents, the rate of rise, the probability distribution of the above, and the wave-
head of the stroke or canal. By the time the stroke reaches the ground or comes shapes of the lightning voltages and currents.
sufficiently near the ground, the electrical field intensity on the ground side' Typical oscillograms of the lightning current and voltage waveshapes on a
is sufficiently large to build up the path. Hence, the positive charge returns to
Q)
the cloud neutralizing the negative charge, and hence a heavy current flows g 100,.----------------,
through the path. The velocity of the return or main stroke ranges from 0.05 to ~
0.5 times the velocity of light, and currents will be of the order of 1000
B
o
80
o 60
to 250,000 A. The return strokes vanish before they reach the cloud, suggesting '0
that the charge involved is that conferred to the stroke itself. The duration of the ~ 40
c:
main or return stroke is about 100 us or more. The diameters ofthe return strokes s
C'"
20
were estimated to be about 1to 2 em but the corona envelop may be approximately ~
50 em. The, return strokes also may develop branches but the charges in the *' 0L.l..l..L.l-l_ _--L.--.l---"--'--'--.L....L-'--------=---'-L-L-L--'---J
0.004 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0
branches are neutralized in succession so that their further progress is arrested. A Time in seconds
Boy's camera picture of return stroke is shown in Fig. 8.4. Fig.8.5 Time interval between successive strokes (ERA average curve)
After the completion of the return stroke, a much smaller current of 100 to
100 r--~--'-------------,
1000 A may continue to flow which persists approximately for 20 ms. Due to
~
these currents, the initial breakdown points in the cloud are considerably reduced c:
~ 80
and discharges concentrate towards this point. Therefore, additional reservoirs of ~
so 60
charge become available due to penetration of a cloud mass known as preferred '0
g
Q)
40
:::l
C'"
~ 20
*' 3 5 7 9 11 13 15
Stroke number
Fig. 8.4 Development ofthe main or return stroke
Fig. 8.6 Number ofstrokes in lightning discharges (ERA average curve)
296 Hiqh-Voltage Engineering Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 297
-------------------------Vv- ---vv~~--------------------
100
(\3
t en
en
·0
en
.0
80
~ (\3
C>
60
ro
en c::
en 60 :0
·0 0> 40
en 40
0>
0
.0
ro X
0>
C>
c:: 20
20 "#.
15
0> 0
0>
0
10
X
0>
10 20 30 40 50
5
'5 Rate of rise in kA/J,lS
2
~
:c
ro
1 Fig.8.10 Rate ofrise ofcurrent ofIightning strokes
.0
e
a.
0.5
(Ref Westimghouse T and D reference book)
0.2
0.1 1.Bergen-43 records on transmission tower
0.05 2. Norinder-magneticfield measurements
10 20 40 60 100 200 3. McEachron-strokes on Empire State Building by CRG measurements
Stroke current, kA ~
1. AlEE committee (1950) 2. Anderson (1968) 3. CIGRE (1972) transmission line are shown in Figs 8.11 and 8.12. The lightning current oscil-
lograms indicate and initial high current portion which is characterized by short
Fig. 8.7 Cumulative distributions ofIightning stroke currents (peak values) front times up to 10 J.1s. The high current peak may last for some tens ofmicrosec-
g> 100 ~------------, onds followed by a long duration low current portion lasting for several mil-
=0 liseconds. This last portion is normally responsible for damages (thermal dam-
~~ 80
0 0......
x- age). Lightning currents are usually measured either directly from high towers
0> 0> 60
'5~ or buildings or from the transmission tower legs. The former gives . high values
~~ 40 and does not represent typical currents that occur on electrical transmission lines,
:=0>
.o..c::
~- 20 and the latter gives inaccurate values due to non-uniform division of current in
e
a. O'----'--'---'------''--~~ legs and the presence of ground wires and adjacent towers. Measurements made
1 234 5 by several investigators and committees indicated the large strokes of currents
Time to peak (ps)
(> 100 kA) arepossible (Fig. 8.7). It was shown earlier that tall objects attract
1. McEachron (1941) 2. Anderson (1968) a large portion of high current strokes, and this would explain the shift of the
Fig.8.8 Time to peak oflightning stroke currents frequency distribution curves towards higher currents.
Other important characteristics are time to peak value and its rate ofrise.
100 From the field data, it was indicated that ,0% of lightning stroke currents have
ro
en a rate of rise greater than 7.5 kA/J.1s, and for 10% strokes it exceeded 25 kA/J.1s.
en 80
·0
en The duration of the stroke currents above half the value is more than 30 J.1s.
.0
ro 60
c::
ro Measurements of surge voltages indicated that a maximum voltage, as high
:5 40 as 5,000 kY, is possible on transmission lines, but on the average, most of the
en
en
~ 20 lightning strokes give rise to voltage surges less than 1000 kV on lines. The time
"#. to front of these waves varies from 2 to 10 J.1s and tail times usually vary from 20
5 10 20 50 100 to 100 J.1s. The rate of rise of voltage, during rising of the wave may be typically
Time (ps) about 1 MVIJ.1s.
Fig. 8·9 Wavefront and wave tail times oflightning strokes (Ref Muller Hiller Lightning strokes on transmission lines are classified into two groups-the
Brand, 1965) direct strokes and the inducted strokes. When a thunder cloud directly discharges
Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 299

---Yy...------------------------
engineers are transmission lines and towers. Normally, it is expected that the
lines are unaffected because they are insulated by string. insulators. However,
because ofhigh field gradients involved, the positive charges leak from the tower
along the insulator surfaces to the line conductors. This process may take quite a
long time, of the order of some hundreds of seconds, When the cloud discharges
to some earthed object other than the line, the transmission line is left with a huge
concentration of charge (positive) which cannot leak suddenly. The transmission
line and the ground will act as a huge capacitor charged with a positive charge
and hence overvoltages occur due to these induced charges. This would result in
a.stroke and hence the name 'induced lightning stroke'.
Sometimes, when a direct lightning stroke occurs on a tower, the tower has
to carry huge impulse currents. If the tower footing resistance is considerable,
the potential of the tower rises to a large value, steeply with respect to the line'
and consequently a flashover may take place along the insulator strings. This is
known as 'back flashover'.
8.1.4 Mathematical Model for Lightning

During the charge formation process, the cloud may be considered to be a non-
conductor. Hence, various potentials may be assumed at different parts of the
(a) to a capacitive balloon (CIGRE) cloud. If the charging process is continued, it is probable that the gradient at
(b) on Empire State Building (McEachron) certain parts of the charged region exceeds the breakdown strength of the air
(c) and (d) on transmission line tower (Berger) or moist air in the cloud. Hence, local breakdown takes place within the cloud.
Fig. 8.n Typical lighting current oscillograms (Ref: Westinghouse T and D This local discharge may finally lead to a situation wherein a large reservoir of
reference book) charges involving a considerable mass of cloud hangs over the ground, with the
air between the cloud and the ground asa dielectric. When a streamer discharge
6- ve + occurs to ground by first a leader stroke, followed by main strokes with consider-
Q)
C> Q) 500 able currents flowing, the lightning stroke may be thought to be a current source
S 4
C>
(5 S 0 of value 10 with a source impedance Zo discharging to earth. If the stroke strikes
> (5
> an object of impedance Z, the voltage built across it may be taken as
~-2 '<l> 1000
e<: .:.t:._
e> Time (f1s) V=1Z
cn~O -.:.t:.
1/)_
C>
c:: 2000
'c 25 50 75 100 150 C>
c:: 1 ZZo
:E 2 "c, Max about-4000 k V o Z + Zo (8.5)
,2> Time (f1s) :E 3000
....J C>
4 ::J 10 Z___ (8.6)
+ve (a) (b) 1+~
Zo
Pig, 8.12 T~picallightningstroke voltage on a transmission line without gr~und
The source impedance of the lightning channels are not known exactly, but
. wzre (Ref: Bell et al., 'Transactions AlEE, Vol. 50, 1931) .
it is estimated to be about 1000 to 3000 Q. The objects of interest to electrical
onto a transmission line tower or line wires it is called a direct stroke. This is the engineers, namely, transmission line, etc. have surge impedances less than
most. severe form of the stroke. However, for bulk of the transmission systems 500 Q (overhead lines 300 to 500 Q, ground wires 100 to 150 Q, towers 10 to
the direct strokes are rare and only the induced strokes occur. 50 Q, etc.). Therefore, the value Z/Zo will usually be less than 0.1 and hence
can be neglected, Hence, the voltage rise of lines, etc., may be taken to be
.When the th~nderstorm generates negative charge at its ground end, the earth
approximately V = 102, where 10 is the lightning stroke current and Z the line
objects develop induced positive charges. The earth objects ofinterest to electrical
surge impedance.
----------------------~'Vv__ -JVv~---------------'----------
If a lightning stroke current as low as 10,000 A strikes a line of 400 n surge The. above empirical formula is of importance in estimating the number of
impedance, it may cause -an overvoltage of 4000 kV This is a heavy overvolt- lightning interruptions on power lines.
age and causes immediate flashover of the line conductor through its insulator
strings. Overvoltages due to Indirect Strokes
In case a direct stroke occurs over the top of an unshielded transmission line, A direct lightning stroke is one that hits either a
the current wave tries to divide into two branches and travel on either side of
(i) shielding wire (ground wire),
the line. Hence, the effective surge impedance of the line as seen by the wave is
(ii) tower, or
Zo/2 and taking the above example, the overvoltage caused may beonly 10,000 (iii) phase conductor of a overhead powerline.
x (400/2) = 2000 kV. If this line were to be a 132 kV line with an eleven 10 inch
disc insulator string, the flashover of the insulator string will take place, as the An indirect stroke is defined as one that strikes the groun.i, a nearby object
impulse flashover voltage of the string is about 950 kV for a 2 Ils front impulse around a power line or an earthed structure longer and higher than the powerline
wave. and causes induced voltages
The incidence of lightning strokes on transmission lines and sub-stations is The voltage induced on the power line by an indirect stroke can be due to the
related to the degree of thunderstorm activity. It is based on the level of "Thun- following reasons:
derstorm days" (TD) known as "Isokeraunic Level" defined as the number of (a) A charged cloud above the power line induces bound charges when the
days in a year when thunder is heard or recorded in a particular location. But this cloud discharges. Bound charges are released giving rise to travelling
indication does not often distinguish between the ground strokes and the cloud- waves on power lines. (Please see Sec. 8.1.5 for travelling waves)
to-cloud strokes. If a measure of ground flashover density (Ng ) is obtained, then (b) Charges released by stepped leader strokes ofa lightning stroke also give
the number of ground flashovers. can be computed from the TD level. From the rise to the above effect.
past records and the past experience, it is found that (c) Residual charge in the return stroke induces overvoltages (electrostatic
Ng = (O.lto 0.2) TD/strokes/km2-year. effect).
It is reported that TD is between 5 and 15 in Britain, Europe and Pacific west (d) The rate of change of current in the return stroke induces overvoltage
of North America, and is in the range of 30 to 50 in Central and Eastern states of due to electromagnetic effects. The induced voltage computation is quite
U.S.A. A much higher level is reported from South Africa and South America. complex and is obtained by solving the equation.
No literature is available for the different regions in India, but a value of 30 to 50
maybe taken for the coastal areas and for the central parts of India. V.I = [VcfJ + 8A]h
8t,
High incidence of lightning strokes causes direct and induced voltages in where ~ = induced voltage
overhead lines. Further, high resistivity soils and regions like deserts, hills or
cfJ = electric potential caused by static charges (electrostatic)
mountain regions where effective earthing and low ground resistance is difficult,
A = magnetic vector potential due to lightning currents (electromag-
give rise to overvoltage problems due to lightning on power lines. Lightning
netic)
accounts for most of the power interruptions.
h = height of conductor above the ground
The ground flashover density (Ng ) is given by
Typical lightning parameters are given as
N g = K1(TD)b where
Total charge z 80 C
K 1 = 0.04 and b = 1.25 (Anderson) or
Front duration z 20 Ils
K 1 = 0.054 and b = 1.1 (Mac Gorman)
Max dl/dt z 2.4 kA/lls
From the experimental and field data collected, the number oflightning strokes
or flashes on to an overhead line in open grounds with no nearby ground or tall Stroke duration z 230 us
objects can be estimated as Model for Lightning Stroke Effect and Computation of
N = Ng(2.8 hO;6 + b/l0) Induced Voltages
h = height of the tower in metres, and
In lightning studies, the strokes to ground are of importance as they induce over-
b = width of the base of the tower. voltages on transmission lines and in nearby objects. Hence, a model based on

302 High-Voltage Engineering ~... . '
------------------------~Vv__
R L R L
lightning return stroke is presented here which assumes that the lightning chan-
nel is straight, vertical and normal to the ground plane. The return stroke current
I (Z, t) is assumed as function of vertical co-ordinate z and time land the initial
current I (0, t) is of importance in engineering applications. The electromagnetic
c
fields associated with the lightning current and the lightning induced voltages are
calculated based on the return stroke current equations taken as
i (z, t) = i (t-z/v) z < vt
- - - - - - - x - - - - - - - -....
i (z, t) = 0 z > vt
Voltage: e(t), Current i(t)
where, v is the return stroke velocity assuming that the current pulse propagates
R ~ Resistance per unit length C- Capacitance per unit length
without attenuation and distortion in the upward channel. Since the current varies
L - Inductance per unit length .G - Leakage conductance per unit length
both in space and time, the electric field and magnetic field associated with it can
be calculated using Maxwell's equations for time varying fields. Fig. 8.13 Distributed characteristic ofa long transmission line
Whenever a transmission line is nearer to the stroke channel there will be a
coupling between the line and the stroke channel. The total voltage induced on
the line is computed by solving the coupling equations involving the total in- dV = iR . dx + fft (i'dx)
duced voltage u (x, t) and the induced current t (x, t) assuming that the transmis-
sion line is in the direction x. ~ (R+LtJ·dx (8.8)
The factors that influence the lightning induced voltages on transmission lines
are (i) the ground conductivity, (ii) the leader stroke current, and (iii) corona. The shunt current through the leakage conductance (G) and capacitance (C) /.
is
The induced voltages based on the model are modified taking into account these
parameters. With computer analysis, the prediction of overvoltage on the trans- di = .§.i. dx = VG . dx + ~ (V cp) (8.9)
mission lines and lightning performance of the line, i.e. flashover rate of the line Ox Ot
insulation, is quite accurate. Here, V cp is the change in electrostatic field flux and is equal to VC·dx, where
V is the potential at the point x.
8.1.5 Travelling Waves on Transmission Lines
Any disturbance on a transmission line or system such as sudden opening or clos-
di = VG· dx + ~ (VC· dx)
Ot
~ ( G + C it) v· dx
ing of line, a short circuit or a fault results in the development of overvoltages or
overcurrents at that point. This disturbance propagates as a travelling wave to the
ends of the line or to a termination, such as, a sub-station. Usually, these travel-
ling waves are high-frequency disturbances and travel as waves. They may be Hence, the above equations can be written as
reflected, transmitted, attenuated or distorted during propagation until the energy
is absorbed. Long transmission lines are to be considered as electrical networks
dV = R + L (di) and di = G + C (dV)
dx dt dx dt
with distributed electrical elements. In Fig. 8.13, a typical two-wire transmission
line is shown along with the distributed electrical elements, R, L, C and G. Taking Laplace transform with respect to the time variable t, the equations can
The propagation of any travelling wave, say, a voltage wave can be analysed be put in the operation form as
by considering an elemental length ofthe line dx. The voltage drop in the positive
x-direction in the elemental length dx due to the inductance and resistance is
Z= (R + Ls) . i = Z . i,
. sv . . Ol/f and
oi
Ox = (G + Cs) V = YV
dV= - ·dX=lRdx+- (8.7)
Ox Ot
Here, Ol/fis the change offlux linkages and is equal to i.L.dx, where i the cur- where, Z= (R + Ls) and Y= (G + Cs)
rent through the line.
--Y'v,-------------------~------
8.2 OVERVOLTAGE DUE TO SWITCHING SURGES, 4

SYSTEM FAULTS AND OTHER ABNORMAL 0)
:J
ro> 0)3
CONDITIONS
-
'c
:J
2
:J
~2
8.2.1 Introduction Q)
a..
. Till the time when the transmission voltages were about 220 kV and below, over-
voltages due to lightning wereof very high-order and overvoltages generated o 0.2 0.6
inside the system were not of much consequence. In later years, with increase in Time (ms) Time (ms)
transmission voltages (400 kVand above), the overvoltages generated inside the (a) Recovery voltage after fault clearing (b) Fault initiation
system reached the same order of magnitude as those of lightning overvoltages,
or higher. Secondly, the overvoltages thus generated last for longer durations
3 3
and therefore are severe and more dangerous to the system. Unlike the lightning
0) 2
overvoltages, the switching and other types of overvoltages depend on the :J
~.
normal voltage of the system and hence increase with increased system voltage.
In insulation co-ordination, where the protective level of any particular kind of -
':Jc -
":Jc
Q) 0 f--::---'-+-L----'--\-.l------'--*
surge diverter is proportional to the maximum voltage, the insulation level and Q) 0 I------'---+..L----+-+--'----,-L_~
a..
a,
the cost of the equipment depends on the magnitudes of these overvoltages. In -1
the EHV range, it is the switching surge and other types of overvoltages that -1
determine the insulation level ofthe lines and other equipment and consequently, Time (ms) Time (ms)
they also determine their dimensions and costs. . (c) Overvoltage at the line end after (d) Energization of long
fault clearing transmission line
8.2.2 Origin of Switching Surges
0) 4
The making and breaking of electric circuits with switchgear may result :J
ro> 2
in abnormal overvoltages in power systems having large inductances and
capacitances. The overvoltages may go as high as six times the normal power
-
":Jc 0
Q)
frequency voltage. In circuit breaking operation, switching surges with a high rate a.. '-2
of rise ofvoltage may cause repeated restriking ofthe arc between the contacts of -4
a'circuit breaker, thereby causing destruction of the circuit breaker contacts. The Time (ms)
switching surges .may include high natural frequencies of the system, a damped (e) Overvoltage at-line end during (d)
normal frequency voltage component, or the restriking and recovery voltage of
the system with successive reflected waves from terminations. . Fig. 8.16 Typical waveshapes ofswitching surge voltages
8.2.3 Characteristics of Switching Surges From the figures of the switching surges it is clear that the overvoltages
are irregular (oscillatory or unipolar) and can be of high frequency or power
The waveshapes of switching surges are quite different and may have origin frequency with its harmonics. The relative magnitudes of the overvoltages may
from any of the following sources. be about 2.4 p.u. in the case of transformer energizing and 1.4 to 2.0 p.u. in
(i) De-energizing of 'transmission lines, cables, shunt capacitor, capacitor switching transmission lines.
banks, banks, etc.
(ii) Disconnection of unloaded transformers, reactors, etc. Switching Overvoltages in EHV and UHV Systems
(iii) Energization or reclosing of lines and reactive loads The insulation has Ithe lowest strength for.switching surges with regard to long
(iv) Sudden switching off of loads air gaps. Further, switching overvoltages are of relatively higher magnitudes as
(v) Short circuits and fault clearances compared to the lightning overvoltages for UHVsystems. Overvoltages are gen-
(vi) Resonance phenomenon like ferro-resonance, arcing grounds, etc. erated in EHV systems when there is a sudden release of internal energy stored
Typical waveshapes of the switching surges are given in Figs 8.16a to e.
320 High-Voltage Engineering Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 32 1
---------------------'Vv-- ---vy.------.---------------------
either in the electrostatic form (in the capacitance) or in the electromagnetic It is necessary in EHV and UHV systems to control.the switching surges to a
form (in the inductance). The different situations under which this happens are safe value of less than 2.5 p.u. or preferably to 2.0 p.u. or even less. The measures
summarized as taken to control or reduce the overvoltages are
(i) interruption of low inductive currents (current chopping) by high speed (i) one step or multi-step energization of lines by preinsertion of resistors,
circuit breakers. This occurs when the transformers or reactors are switched (ii) phase controlled closing or circuit breakers with proper sensors,
off (iii) drainage of trapped charges on long lines before the reclosing of the lines,
(ii) interruption ofsmall capacitive currents, such as switching off ofunloaded and
lines etc. (iv) limiting the overvoltages by using surge diverters.
(iii) ferro-resonance condition The first three methods, if used properly will limit the switching overvoltages
This may1'()@cur when poles of a circuit breaker do not close simultaneously between·1.5 to 2.0 p.u.
(iv) energization of long EHV or UHV lines In Table 8.1, a summary of the extent of overvoltages that can be developed
Transient overvoltages in the above cases can be of the order of 2.0 to under various conditions of switching is given.
3.3 p.u. and will have magnitudes of the order of 1200 kV to 2000 kV on 750 kV
Table 8.1 Overvoltages due to switching operations under different conditions
systems. The duration of these overvoltages varies from 1 to 10 ms depending
Maximum value ofthe system line-to-ground voltage = 1.0 p.u.
on the circuit parameters. It is seen that these are of comparable magnitude or
even higher than those that occur due to lightning. Sometimes the overvoltages Type ofoperation
may last for several cycles. The other situations of switching that give rise to
Switching an open ended line with:
switching overvoltages of short duration (0.5 to 5 ms) and lower magnitudes (2.0
(a) infinite bus as source with trapped chargeson line
to 2.5 p.u.) are (b) infinite bus as source without trapped charges
. (a) single pole closing of circuit breaker (c) de-energising an unfaulted line with a restrike in the
circuit breaker
(b) interruption of fault current when the L-G or L-L fault is cleared (d) de-energising an unfaulted line with a line to
(c) resistance switching used in circuit breakers ground fault (about 270 km in length)
(d) switching lines terminated by transformers (a) Switching a SOO kV line through an auto-
(e) series capacitor compensated lines transformer, 220 kV/SOO from the L.V. side
(b) switching a transformer terminated line
(f) sparking of the surge diverter located at the receiving end of the line to
(c) series capacitor compensated line with SO%
limit the lightning overvoltages compensation
The overvoltages due to the above conditions are studied or calculated from (d) series capacitor compensated line with shunt reactor
compensation
(a) mathematical modelling of a system using digital computers High speed reclosing of line after fault clearance
(b) scale ~odelling using transient network analysers
(c) by conducting field tests to determine the expected maximum amplitude Overvoltage due to Switching Operations in Gas-Insulated
of the overvoltages and their duration at different points on the line. The
Sub-stations
main factors that are investigated in the above studies are
Nowadays, gas-insulated sub-stations and systems in voltage ranges of 33 kV .
(i) the effect of line parameters, series capacitors and shunt reactors on to 400 kV have corne up due to land and space limitations in urban and highly
the magnitude and duration of the transients. populated areas. Very. fast transient voltages are generated during switching
(ii) the damping factors needed to reduce the magnitude of over- operations such as
voltages
(iii) ,the effect of single pole closing, restriking and switching with series (i) closing ground switch
resistors in circuit breakers on the overvoltages, and (ii) fault clearing
(iii) opening or closing a disconnector switch underload, etc.
(iv) the lightning arrester sparkover characteristics.

322 High-Voltage Engineering ~ . . . . .
-----'----'---'---------'-------'-----V'v--
A large number of pre-or re-strikes occur during a disconnector switch or
circuit breaker operations. The switching behaviour and pattern of voltages are
shown in Fig. 8.l7(a to c). During the opening operation, sparking occurs as soon
as the voltage between the source and load side exceeds the dielectric strength of
the gap between the contacts. After restrike high frequency current flows through
the spark gap and will equalize the capacitive load voltage and source voltage.
The frequency of pulse generated is given by
f= _1_:::::: 75 where
4T d
where T is the transit time of the line in GIS (j.ls)
d ductlength in meters andf= frequency in MHz
(a)
(e)
Fig. 8.17 (d and e) Measurement and simulation of overvoltages in a GIS at

closing a switch
Time (ms)
(b)
f is found to be about 5 to 10 MHz which is equivalent to a fast transient of
duration 0.1 J1s (100 ns). A typical transient voltage wave form is shown in
Fig. 8.17 d and e.
til
:
\
I
~\ f\
In fr
~. U
I\
f r
I~ f-J
8.2.4 Power Frequency Overvoltages in Power Systems
L
I I I
The power frequency overvoltages occur in large power systems and they are
II II I I of much concern in EHV systems, i.e., systems of 400 kV and above. The main
\ I I I n \11 causes for power frequency and its harmonic overvoltages are
17 \/ \ I l~ ~ L-j
100 200 300 (a) sudden loss of loads,
Time(ms) (b) disconnection of inductive loads or connection of capacitive loads,
(c)
(c) Ferranti effect, unsymmetrical faults, and
(d) saturation in transformers, etc.
Fig. 8.17 Variation of load- and source-side voltages during disconnector Overvoltages of power frequency harmonics and voltages with frequencies
switching: (a) scheme ofthe equivalent Circuit, (b) opening opertion,
nearer to the operating frequency are caused during tap changing operations,
and (c) closing operation
-------------------------'Vv-- --A/V-----------------------------
by magnetic or ferro-resonance phenomenon in large power transformers, and L R L R
by resonating overvoltages due to series capacitors with shunt reactors or trans-
formers.
1
_cIl
The duration of these overvoltages may be from one to two cycles to a few
c
~~cJ-c
seconds depending on the overvoltage protection employed.
(a) Sudden Load Rejection

Sudden load rejection on large power systems causes the speeding up of
generator prime movers. The speed governors and automatic voltage regulators
will intervene to restore normal conditions. But initially both the frequency and L, Rand C - Inductance, resistance and capacitance
per unit length of the line
voltage increase. The approximate voltage rise, neglecting losses, etc. may be 1- Length of the line
taken as
Fig. 8.18 Typical uncompensated long transmission line
v = fo E' [ (1- fo) ~:J (8.38)

.Considering that the line capacitance is concentrated at the middle of the line,
where Xs is the reactance' of the generator (:=::: the sum of the transient reactances under open 'circuit conditions at the receiving end, the line charging current
of the generator and the transformer), Xc is the capacitive reactance of the line
. CVI 'Vi
1c:=:::JOJ = - (840)
.
at open end at increased frequency, E' the voltage generated before the over- Xc
speeding and load rejection,Jis the instantaneous increased frequency, andlo is
the normal frequency.
This increase in voltage may go to as high as 2.0 per unit.Ip.u.) value with . and the voltage V, =VI [1- 2ic ] (8.41)
400 kV lines. The voltage at the sending end is affected by the line length, short
circuit MVA at sending end bus, and reactive power generation ofthe line (due to where, XL = line inductive reactance, and
line capacitive reactance and any shunt or series capacitors). Shunt reactors may Xc = line capacitive reactance.
reduce the voltage to 1.2 to 1.4 p.u.
This approximation is shown in Fig. 8.19.
(b) Ferranti Effect Equation (8.39) gives a better approximation when the line distributed param-
Long uncompensated transmission lines exhibit voltage rise at the receiving end. eters R, L, G, and C per unit length are known.
The voltage rise at the receiving end V2 is approximately given by Transmission line approximation for line in Fig. 8.18.
v: =~ (8.39)
2 cos /31 Xd2
where, VI = sending end voltage,
lc
I = length of the line, lc
/3 = phase constant ofthe line Eq. (8.12c) Xe

_ [(R + j OJL) (G + j OJC)]1I2
- LC
::::: about 6° per 100km line at 50 Hz frequency.

R, L, G, and C are as defined in Sec. 8.1.5, and Fig. ,8.19 Vector (phase) diagram of an open circuited uncompensated line
OJ = angular frequency fora line shown in Fig. 8.18. showing Ferranti effect

--------------,........;.....-----V\r- Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 327
~,-----------,------------,--------=------,-----=--':"
(c) Ground Faults and Their Effects
is no reflection from the far end. The applied step at the first instance is only
Single line to ground faults cause rise in voltages in other healthy phase. Usually, 0.5 per unit.
with solidly grounded systems, the increases in voltage (phase to ground value) When the resistor is short circuited, a voltage step equal to the instantaneous
will be less than the line-to-line voltage. With effectively ground systems, i.e. voltage drop enters the line. If the resistor is kept for a duration larger than
with 5 ms (for 50 Hz sine wave = 1/4 cycle duration), it can be shown from successive
XXo ~ 3.0 and Ro ~ 1.0 reflect~ons and transmissions, that the overvoltage may reach as high as 1.2 p.u.
I Xl for a hne length of 500 km. But for conventional opening of the breaker the
. resistors have too high an ohmic value to be effective for resistance closing,
(where, Ro andXo are zero sequence resistance and reactance and Xl is the posi-
Therefore, pre-insertion of suitable value resistors in practice is done to limit the
tive sequence reactance of the system), the rise in voltage of the healthy phases
overvoltage to less than 2.0to 2.5 p.u.Normaltime of insertion is 6 to 10 ms.
does not usually exceed 1.4 per unit.
(b) Phase-Controlled Switching
(d) Saturation Effects
Overvoltages can be avoided by controlling the exact instances of the closing of \
When voltages above the rated value are applied to transformers, their magnetizing
the three phases separately. But this necessitates the use of complicated control- \
currents (no load currents also) increase rapidly and may be about the full rated
ling equipment.and therefore is not adopted. .
current for 50% overvoltage. These magnetizing currents are not sinusoidal
in nature but are of a peaky waveform. The third, fifth, and seventh harmonic (c) Drainage ofTrapped Charge
contents may be 65%,35%, and 25% of the exciting current of the fundamental
When lines are suddenly switching off, 'electric charge'may be left on capacitors
frequency corresponding to an overvoltage of 1.2 p.u. For third and its multiple
and line conductors. This charge will normally leak through the leakage path of
harmonics, zero sequence impedance values are effective, and delta connected
windings suppress them. But the shunt connected capacitors and line capacitances the ins~lators, etc. Conventional potential transformers (magnetic) may also help
can form resonant circuits and cause high third harmonic overvoltages. When the drainage ofthe charge. An effective way to reduce the trapped charges during
the lead time before reclosing is by temporary insertion of resistors to ground or
such overvoltages are added, the voltage rise in the lines may be significant. For
in series.with shunt reactors and removing before the closure of the switches.
higher harmonics a series resonance between the transformer inductance and the
line capacitance can occur which may produce evenhigher voltages. (dJ Shunt Reactors
8.2.5 Control of Overvoltages due to Switching Normally, all EHV Iines ·will.have shunt reactors to limit the voltage rise due
to the Ferranti effect. They also help in reducing surges caused due to sudden
The overvoltages due to switching and power frequency may be controlled by energizing. However, shunt reactors cannot drain the trapped charge but will
(a) energization of transmission lines in one or more steps by inserting resis- ~ive r~se to oscillations with ~he capacitance of the system. Since the compensa-
tances and withdrawing them afterwards, tion given by the reactors WIll be less than 100%, the frequency of oscillation
will be less than the power frequency and overvoltages produced may be as high
(b) phase controlled closing of circuit breakers,
as 1.2 p.u. Resistors in series with these reactors will suppress the oscillations
, (c) drainage of trapped charges before reclosing, and limit the overvoltages.
(d) use of shunt reactors, and Limiting the switching and power frequency overvoltages by using surge
(e) limiting switching surges by suitable surgediverters. diverters is discussed in the next section.
(a) Insertion ofResistors 8.2.6 Protection of Transmission Lines against Overvoltages
It is normal and a common practice to insert resistances R in series with circuit
breaker contacts when switching on but short circuiting them after a few cycles. Protection of transmission lines against natural or lightning overvoltages and
~inimizing the lightning overvoltages are done by suitable line designs, provid-
This will reduce the transients occurring due toswitchi~g. The voltage step
applied is first reduced to ZoI(R + Zo) per unit where Zo is the surge impedance mg guard rndground wires, and using surge diverters. Switching surges and
of the line. It is reflected from the far end unchanged and again reflected back power frequency overvoltages are accounted for by providing greater insulation
from the near end with reflection factor (R - Zo)/(R + Zo) per unit. If R = Zo, there levels and with proper insulation co-ordination. Hence, the above two protection
schemes are dealt with separately in the next two sections.' ,
Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric PowerSystems 329

328 High-Voltage Engineering ~
--------.,...---------------~'Vv__
,
G G G
Protection against Lightning Overvoltages and R, R, R,
Switching Surges ofShort Duration
Overvoltages due to lightning strokes can be avoided or minimized in practice I
/
1/ [..),
p'--- ~:- - --'0

: Os\
I '
-r /
/
1/ [..),
:Os \
I
P---+---P.---+-~-Q
\/
I~ \
/ Os :
I
\
\
by I
/P :r P\ , h /P : /P\ : P\
I I I " ,
1
(a) shielding the overhead lines by using ground wires above the phase I
1/ h '.
,
1/ h 1/ '. ~ '\
I , I II , I ,
wires, I
I ,
, / I ) \
I
I
I
,
,
/ /: . :\ \
(b) using ground rods and counter-poise wires, and /77/777777Thvv777777 h777777J7hv~
d:
(c) including protective devices like expulsion gaps, protector tubes on the (a) (b)
lines, and surge diverters at the line terminations and substations.
(a) Lightning Protection Using Shielded Wires or

Ground Wires I
/}-/',
I ' I
/}-/',
,
I
I
Z,
I , I
I~'
I ,
•
Lightning
/ 130°\ / :30°\
Pp : Pp : P channel
Ground wire is a conductor run parallel to the main conductor of the transmis- I I I' I ,
/ I / \ I \
sion line supported on the same tower and earthed at every equally and regularly / h I
/ \ h \,
I '
spaced towers. It is run above the main conductor of the line. The ground wire I
I I I
II
, I
' I
,
,
shields the transmission line conductor from induced charges, from clouds as / I ) \
well as from a lightning discharge. The arrangements of ground wires over the / /: :\ \
/7/////7777J7h7r/T////a'r/7///7T/777
line conductor is shown in Fig. 8.20. (c)
The mechanism by which the line is protected may be explained as follows. If
G- Ground wire h- Height of the ground wire
a positively charged cloud is assumed to be above the line, it induces a negative P- P- Phase wires from the earth surface
charge on the portion below it, of the transmission line. With the ground wire qs - Shielding angle
present, both the ground wire and the line conductor get the induced charge. But
the ground wire is earthed at regular intervals, and, as such, the induced charge Fig. 8.20 Shielding arrangement ofoverhead lines by ground wires
is drained to the earth; only the potential difference between the ground wire and
the cloud and that between the ground wire and the transmission line wire will be fram~ t? ground, (b) through the ground line in opposite directions from the point
in the inverse ratio of their respective capacitances [assuming the cloud to be 'a of striking, Thus the ground wire reduces the instantaneous potential to which
perfect conductor and the atmospheric medium (air) a dielectric]. As the ground the tower top rises considerably, as the current path is in three directions. The
wire is nearer to the line wire, the induced charge on it will be much less and instantaneous potential to which tower top can rise is
hence the potential rise will be quite small. The effective protection or shielding V = /0 ZT
(8.42)
(l+~:)
given by the ground wire depends on the height of the ground wire above the
ground (h) and the protection or shielding angle Os (usually 30°) as shown in T
Fig. 8.20.
The shielding angle Os ~ 30° was considered adequate for tower heights of where, ZT = surge impedance of the tower, and
30 m or less. The shielding wires may be one or more depending on the type Zs = surge impedance of the ground wire.
of the towers used. But for EHV lines, the tower heights may be up to 50 m,
and the lightning strokes sometimes occur directly to the line wires as shown in .If the s~rge impedance of the tower, which is the effective tower footing
Fig. 8.20. The present trend in fixing the tower heights and shielding angles is by res~st~nce, IS reduced, the surge voltage developed is also reduced considerably.
considering the 'flashover rates' and failure probabilities. ThIS IS accomplished by providing driven ground rods and counter-poise wires
connected to tower legs at the tower foundation.
(b) Protection Using Ground Rods and Counter-Poise Wires Ground rods are a number of rods about 15' mm diameter and 2.5 to 3 m
When a line is shielded, the lightning strikes either the tower or the ground wire. long, driven into the ground. In liard soils the rods may be much longer and can
The path for drainage of the charge and lightning current is (a) through the tower be driven to a depth of, say, 50 m. They are usually made of galvanized iron or
--Nv,------,------,------,------------~------
copper-bearing steel. The spacings of the rods, the number of rods, and the depth
to which they are driven depend on the desired tower footing resistance. With
10 rods of 4 m long and spaced 5 m apart, connected to the legs of the tower, the
dynamic or effective resistance may be reduced to IOn.
The above effect is alternatively achieved by using counter-poise wires.
Counter-poise wires are wires buried in the ground at a depth of 0.5 to 1.0 m, run-
ning parallel to the transmission line conductors and connected to the to,,:,er legs.
These wires may be 50 to 100 m long. These are found to be more effective than
driven rods and the surge impedance of the tower may be reduced to as low as
25 n. The depth does not materially affect the resistance of the counter-poise,
and it is only necessary to bury them to a depth enough to prevent theft. It is
desirable to use a larger number of parallel wires than a single wire. But it is dif- 1. External series gap 1. Line conductor on string insulator
ficult to lay counter-poise wires compared to ground or driven rods. 2. Upper electrode 2. Series gap
3. Ground electrode 3. Protector tube
(c) Protective Devices 4. Fibre tube 4. Ground connection
5. Hollow space 5. Cross arm
In regions where lightning strokes are intense or heavy, the overhead lines within 6. Tower body
these zones are fitted with shunt protected devices. On the line itself two devices
known as expulsion gaps and protector tubes are used. Line terminations, junc- Fig. 8.21a Expulsion gap Fig. 8.21b Protector tube mounting
tions of lines, and sub-stations are usually fitted with surge arresters.
current is limited both by its own resistance and the tower footing resistance. The
(i) Expulsion Gaps Expulsion gap is a device which consists of a spark gap
overvoltage on the line is reduced to the voltage drop across the protector tube.
together with an arc-quenching device which extinguishes the curre~t arc wh~n
After the surge current is diverted and discharged to the ground, the follow-on
the gaps breakover due to overvoltages. A typical such arrangement IS shown III
normal power frequency current will be limited by its high resistance. After the
Fig. 8.2la. This essentially consists of a rod gap in air in series with a second gap
current zero of power frequency, the spark gap recovers the insulation strength
enclosed within a fibre tube. In the event of an overvoltage, both the spark gaps
quickly. Usually, the flashover voltage ofthe protector tube is less than that of~he
breakdown simultaneously. The current due to the overvoltage is limited only by
line insulation, and hence it can discharge the lightning overvoltage effectively.
the tower footing resistance and the surge impedance of the ground wires. The
internal arc in the fibre tube due to lightning current vapourizes a small portion (iii) Rod Gaps A much simpler and effective protection device. is a rod-gap
of the fibre material. The gas thus produced, being a mixture of water vapour (refer Sec. 7.2.7-rod-gaps, in Chapter 7). However, it does not meet the complete
and the decomposed fibre product, drive away the arc products and ionized air. requirement. The sparkover voltage of a rod gap depends on the atmospheric
When the follow-on power frequency current passes through zero value, the arc conditions. A typical volt-time characteristic ofa 67 em-rod gap is shown in
is extinguished and the path becomes open circuited. Meanwhile the insulation Fig. 8.22, with its protective margin. There is no current limiting device provided
recovers its dielectric strength, and the normal conditions are established. The so as to limit the current after sparkover, and hence a series resistance is often
lightning and follow-up power frequency currents together can last for 2 to 3 half used. Without a series resistance, the sparking current may be veryhigh and the
cycles only. Therefore, generally no disturbance in the network is produced. For applied impulse voltage suddenly collapses to zero thus creating a steep step
132 or 220 kV lines, the maximum current rating may be about 7,500A. voltage, which sometimes proves to be very dangerous to the apparatus to be
protected, such as transformer or the machine windings. Nevertheless, rod gaps
(ii) Protector Tubes A protector tube is similar to the expulsion gap, in
do provide efficient protection where thunderstorm activity is less and the lines
construction and principle. It also consists of a rod or spark gap in air formed
are protected by ground wires.
by the line conductor arid its high-voltage terminal. It is mounted underneath
the line conductor on a tower. The arrangement is shown in. Fig. 8.2lb. The (iv) Surge Arresters or Lightning Arresters Surge diverters or lightning
hollow gap in the expulsion tube is replaced by a nonlinear element which offers arresters are devices used at sub-stations and at line terminations to discharge
a very high impedance at low currents but has low impedance for high or lightn- the lightning overvoltages and short duration switching surges. These are usu-
ing currents. When an overvoltage occurs and the spark gap breaks down, the ally mounted at the line end at the nearest point to the sub-station. They have
332 High~Voltage Engineering

-------'--------------------'Vv-- -A/'v.....-----------------------------
failures and internal destruction. For other apparatus, which contain self-restor-
ing insulation, like string insulators, they may be allowed to flashover in air. But
700 -
the flashovers should be kept to a minimum so that the system disturbances are
the least. Hence, lightning and switching surge protection requires establishment
ofprotective voltage levels called shunt protection levels, by means ofprotective
devices like lightning arresters.
600 The lightning impulse withstand level known as the Basic Impulse Level
(BIL) is established for each system nominal voltage for different apparatus.
Sparkover
voltage (kV) Various equipment and their component parts should have their BIL above the
system protective level, by a suitable margin. This margin is usually determined
400 with respect to air insulation by statistical methods. For non-self-restoring insu-
lation like the transformer insulation, the margin limit is fixed using conventional
methods.
For system voltages below 400 kV, the switching surges are not of impor-
200 tance. If the BIL is chosen correctly, relative to the prevailing protective level,
the equipment will have an adequate switching surge level. For higher system
voltages, since the switching surges are ofhigher magnitude compared to the
lightning overvoltages, switching surge magnitudes are of importance and the
o following criterion is to be adopted.
0.1 1.0 10 100
- - - - time (,u seconds) ..
(i) The flashover voltage of a protective derive is chosen such that it will
not operate for switching overvoltages and other power frequency and
Fig. 8.22 Volt-time characteristic.ofa standard rod-rod gap its harmonic overvoltages. But other long duration overvoltages, namely,
sustained overvoltage due to faults and even the above-mentioned over-
a flashover voltage lower than that of any other insulation or apparatus at the voltages may sometimes cause thermal overloading due to leakage cur-
sub-station. These are capable of discharging 10 to 20 kA oflong duration surges rents. Therefore, the BIL has to be higher.
(8/20 f.ls) and 100 to 250 kA of the short duration surge currents (1/5 f.ls). The (ii) For EHV systems, it may be economical to use a protective device for
characteristics and detailed discussion of the surge. arresters are presented in limiting the overvoltages due to lightning as well as switching surges to
Sec. 8.3.1. a particular level. At present; there are surge arresters which operate for
both types of overvoltages mentioned above. In such cases, it is preferable
8.3 PRINCIPLES OF INSULATION COORDINATION to assign to each protected equipment a Switching Impulse Level (SIL),
ON HIGH-VOLTAGE AND EXTRA HIGH-VOLTAGE so that there is a small margin above the controlled switching surge level,
POWER SYSTEMS so that the surge diverters operate on switching surges, only when the
Electric power supply should ensure reliability and continuity to the utility con- controlling devices fail. Normally, only rod gaps and lightning arresters
cerns. Hence, the power lines and sub-stations are to be operated and protected are used as protective devices for protection, and their characteristics are
against overvoltages such that the number of failures are as few as possible. At considered here.
the same time, the cost involved in the design, installation, and operation of the The ideal requirements of a protective device connected in parallel or in shunt
protective devices should not be too high. Hence, a gradation of system insula- are the following:
tion and protective device operation is to be followed, keeping in view the im..
portance of the various equipment involved. (a) It should not usually flashover for power frequency overvoltages.
Generally, sub-stations contain transformers, switchgear, and other valuable (b) The volt-time characteristics of the device must lie below the withstand
equipment with non-self-restoring insulation, which have to be protected against voltage of the protected apparatus or insulation. The marginal difference
334 High-Voltage Engineering ~tage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 335
----------------------,-----------'I\.fv--
between the above two .should be adequate to allow for the effects of dis- to the destruction of the transformer tum-to-tum insulation. But still, rod gaps
tance, polarity; atmospheric conditions, changes in the characteristics of provide reasonable protection where lightning surge levels are low, and steep
the devices due to ageing, etc. fronted surges are controlled by overhead ground wires.
(c) It should be capable' of discharging high energies contained in surges and
8.3. 1 Surge Arresters
recover insulation strength quickly.
(d) It should not allow power frequency follow-on current to flow. These are non-linear resistors in series with spark gaps which act as fast switch-
es. A typical surge arrester .or lightning arrester is shown in Fig. 8.24 and its
The behaviour of shunt connected protective devices like rod gaps and surge
characteristics are given in Fig. 8.25. A number of non-linear resistor elements
diverters along with transformer insulation is given in Fig. 8.23.
made of silicon carbide are stacked one over the other into two or three sections.
In Fig. 8.23a, the transformer insulation strength is given as a volt-time char- They are usually separated by spark gaps (see Fig. 8.24). The entire assembly is
acteristic. Figure 8.23b gives the relative insulation strengths of the transformer housed in a porcelain water-tight housing. The volt-ampere characteristic of a
(curve A), rod gaps (curves Band C), and that of a lightning arrester (curve D). resistance element is of the form
A lightning arrester protects the transformer insulation in the entire time re-
I=kva (8.43)
gion. The rod gap protects the transformer insulation, only ifthe rate of rise of
surge is less than the critical slope (curve X). Thus, if the surge voltage rise is where, I d = discharge current,
as shown by curve 1, rod gap flashes and protects the transformer, if the surge V = applied voltage across the element, and
voltage rise follows curve 2, only the surge diverter can protect the transformer k and a are constants dependirig on the material
insulation. and dimensions of the element.
Rod gaps are simple and cheap devices but do not meet all the requirements The dynamic characteristics are shown in Fig. 8.25a.,
of a protective device. Moreover, their flashover characteristics. depend on the
atmospheric conditions, polarity ofthe wave, and waveshape. Also, it may give
rise to very steep impulse waves on the transformer windings as chopped waves,
because no current limiting resistance is used. Chopped impulse waves may lead
1000 r - - - - - - - - - ' - - - - - - - - - , 1000 r - - - - : - - - - - - - - \ \ - - - - - - , 8------r.1Iili
~ ~
Q)
Q)
C)
~ 500 S 500 _ _ _ _:........
-- _-_
A 8
~ ~
Q) Q) 1""-------:=.==-oc
E> 3---~1;;Il;-
E> ::J
::J
C/) C/)
0L...l...--'--~-'---'---'------L--'---I.--'---J
0.11 10100 104 2 4 6 8 100 500
Time (Jis) Time (Jis) 4---f'<-*'~
(a) (b)
Typical transformer characteristic for

1. Steep-fronted lightning surge
2. Slow-fronted lightning surge Transformer-A
3. Fast switching surge Rod gaps - Band C 1. ,Line end connector 2. Porcelain housing
4. Slow switching surge Surge diverter- 0 3. Series gaps 4. Non-linear resistance element blocks
5. Power frequency (1 minute withstand voltage) Critical slope - X 5. Ground connection 6. Spring
7. Base 8. Water tight sealing
Fig. 8.23 Volt-time characteristics of transformer rod gaps and surge
diverters Fig. 8.24 Non-linear element surge arrester
336 High-Voltage Engineering'
~tage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 337
-'-----------------------~~V\r__
Vd
Typical characteristics of surge arresters in the voltage range 100 to 200 kV
10 kA (heavy duty type) are given in Table 8.2. '
Table 8.2 Characteristics of1Qo-200 kV surge arresters 10 kA and heavy duty

Vr type (Ref 14)
id
I, Id Characteristics
(a) Volt-ampere characteristic time (tiS)
of a non-linear resistor block (b) Surge-arrester operation
Maximum 1.2/50 us surge 2.2 to 2.8
1,- Power frequency follow-on Vs - Sparkover voltage sparkover voltage
current at system voltage Vr Vp - Protective level Maximum front of wave sparkover
Vd - Max. voltage across the diverter Vi - Surge voltage voltage
during discharge of surge current ld- Discharge current Maximum switching impulse
with peak value la Vd - Voltage across the diverter when sparkover voltage
discharging the current ta Maximum discharge voltage (Vd) for
8/20 ps current wave
Fig. 8.25 Characteristics ofa surge arrester
5 kA
lOkA
When a surge voltage (Vi of Fig. 8.25b) is applied to the surge arrester, it 20 kA
breaks down giving the discharge current id and maintains a voltage Vd across it.
Thus, it provides a protection to the apparatus to be protected above the protec-
tive level Vp (see Fig. 8.25b). Surge Arresters for EHVSystems
The lighter designs operate for smaller duration of currents, while the heavy The selection of surge arrester voltage rating for EHV and UHV systems de-
duty surge arresters with assisted or active gaps are designed for high currents pends on
and long duration surges. The lighter design arresters can interrupt 100 to 300 A
of power frequency follow-on current and about 5000 A of surge currents. If the (i) the rate of rise of voltage,
current is to be more and has to be exceeded, the number of series elements has ( ii) t h e type of
. system to be handled, i.e., whether effectively grounded or
to be increased or some other method to limit the current has to be used. In heavy grounded through an impedance etc., and
duty arresters, the gaps are so arranged that the arc bums in the magnetic field of (iii) operating characteristic of the arrester.
the coils excited by power frequency follow-on currents. During lightning dis-
charges, a high voltage is induced in the coil by the steep front of the surge, and The usual type ofsurge arresters used for the above purposes are
sparking occursin an auxiliary gap. For power frequency follow-on currents, the (i) silicon carbide arresters with spark gaps,
auxiliary gap is extinguished, as sufficient voltage will not be present across the (ii) silicon carbide arresters with current limiting gaps, and'
auxiliary gap to maintain an arc. The main gap arcs occur in the magnetic field (iii) the gapless metal oxide (zinc oxide) arresters.
ofthe coils. The magnetic field, aided by the hom-shaped main gap electrodes,
elongates the arc and quanches itrapidly. The follow-on current is limited by the Then first two types of arresters have a V - I characteristic of the nature of
voltage drop across the arc and the resistance element. During surge discharge V = A1 , where n varies between 0.5 and 0.6 for the 'elements. The time to spar-
the lightning protective level becomes low. kover for the first type of arresters is around 1 to 2 /..lsand the voltage is limited
Sometimes, it is possible to limit the power frequency and other overvoltages to.2.0 p.u. of the power frequency voltage. The V -I characteristics of arresters
after a certain number of cycles using surge arres.ters. The permissible voltage with no ~park gaps are not enough to limit the power frequency follow-on cur-
and duration depend on the thermal capacity of the arrester. The rated arrester rent, while the arresters with the spark gap provided will, have a high limiting
voltage is normally chosen so that it is not less than the power frequency overvol- vo~tag~. Further, arresters with spark gaps are not very well suited to limit the
tage expected (line to ground) at the point of installation, under any faulty or .switching overvoltages. However, recent developments in solid state technology
abnormal operating condition. have led to the development of metal oxide non-linear resistors. With the use
________________________V'v--
--vv~-----~----~~---~-~=-=-
of these materials, the new class of surge arresters that can handle very small V = [2(R + r)/(R + r + Z)] u(t) (8.44)
to very large current, with almost constant voltage across them, have been de-
veloped. One such arrester is the zinc oxide (ZnO) arrester which uses a base where, Z is the line surge impedance,
material of ZnO) sintered into a different insulating medium such as Bi0 3 · The R is the resistance of the non-linear element,
V - I characteristic of such a unit is of the form Va I" where n = 0.02 ~o 0.03. r is the ground to earth resistance, and
The V- I characteristics of silicon carbide and zinc oxide arresters are shown in u(t) is the surge voltage.
Fig. 8.26 for comparison. The Thevenin equivalent circuit for the arrester is shown in Fig. 8.27.
Fig. 8.27 Equivalent circuit ofa surge arrester
The switch S is open for voltages less than the sparkover voltage of the surge
arrester V~, wh.ile it is closed for voltage magnitudes greater than ~. The closing
Fig. 8.26 Typical V - I characteristics of silicon carbide (SiC) and zinc oxide of th~ switch 1.S represented by injecting a voltage cancellation wave having a
(ZnO) surge diverters negative amphtude equal to the potential difference between the voltage that
appears when the switch is open Vac' and the voltage developed across the
The advantages ofzinc oxide arresters for EHV systems are impedance of the device after the switch is closed. ZTh is the impedance of the
(i) they are simple inconstruction, system viewed from the terminals of the protective device.
(ii) they have flat V-I characteristic over a.wide current range, and
8.3.2 Equipment Insulation Level and Insulation
(iii) the absence of a spark gap that produces steep voltage gradients when
Coordination of Sub-stations
sparking occurs.
The main disadvantage of zinc oxide arresters is the continuous flow ofpow- For steep fronted lightning waves at sub-stations and at different points on lines,
er frequency current and the consequent power loss. Voltage grading system is the voltages at sub-stations may exceed the protective level depending on the
not needed for each of the units of the zinc oxide arresters used in EHV systems. distances involved and the arrester locations. Hence, it is necessary to decide the
A typical 400 kV line arrester may be rated at 15 kA and may have a resistance number of locations for arresters to optimize the overall cost. For high-voltage
sub-stations, it is usual to instal surge arresters between a transformer and its
of 100 ohms at the peak current rating.
circuit breaker, in order to protect the transformer from current chopping and
Protection ofLines with Surge Arresters the overvoltage due to it. Further, nearness of the arrester to the transformer
offers better protection. The basic insulation level is often determined by giving
Since surge arresters are devices that provide low resistance paths for overvol-
a margin of 30% to the protective level of surge arrester and selecting the next
tages through an alternate ground path, their operating characteristics and ap-
nearest standard BIL. The standard values of BIL for system voltages from 145
plication is of importance. The spark gap inside the arrester acts as a fast acting
to 765 kV are given in Tables 8.3 and 8.4. When a surge arrester is used to give
switch while non-linear arrester elements provide the low impedance ground
switching surge protection also, the margin allowed is only 15%~ The insulation
path. The arrester voltage at its terminal when connected to a line of surge im-
level for lines and other equipment is to be chosen separately. The selection of
pedance Z to ground, is given as
340 High-Voltage Engineering Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric PowerSystems W
----'------'--'------------~----~Vv_
--Yy,.--------------------------
Table 8.3 Insulation levels (BIL) for various system voltages (Ref 15)
Table 8.4 Standard insulation levels for equipment (» 300 kV) (Ref 15)
Impulse withstand voltage
Baseforper Ratio between
for standard impulse
unit voltage lightning and
waves
values switching withstand
Full Reduced
voltages
insulation insulation
kV(peak) kV(peak)
650 550
450
1.13
1050 1.27
900 296 1.12
825 1.24
750 1.12
1.24
1300 343 1.12
1175 1.24
1050 1.12
1.24
1675
1.36
1550 429 1.12
1425 1.24
1300 1.36
1.12
1800
1.21
1675 1.32
1550 625 1.10
1425 1.19
2400 1.38
1.09
2100 1.28
1950 1.47
1800 1.16
1.26
1.55
this level for lines depends on the atmospheric conditions, the lightning activity,
insulation pollution present and the acceptable outage or failure rate of the line. The illustrate the principles. of insulation co-ordination, an example of a
The protective level of the sub-station insulation depends on the station 132 kV sub-station is given below.
location, the protective level of the arrester, and the •line shielding used. The
Nominal system voltage 132kV
line insulation in the end spans near the sub-station is normally reduced to limit
the lightning overvoltages reaching the sub-station.:In a sub-station, the busbar Highest system voltage l45kV
insulation level is the highest to ensure continuity of supply. The circuit breakers, Highest system voltage to ground 145 x ~ ~ 119 kV (P~)
isolators, instrument and relay transformers, etc., are given the next lower level. Expected switching surge overvoltage
Since the power transformer is the costly and sensitive device, the insulation (Table 8.1) 3.0 p.u. 3 x 119 = 357 kV (peak)
level for it is the lowest.
(a) Surge arrester
Rating 123 kV

~ . '
-~----------------------V'v-
arresters are to be located and their ratings. It necessary to keep this number to a
Front of wave sparkover voltage 510 kV (peak) minimum. Also, care must be taken regarding switching overvoltages generated
Vd (discharge voltage at 10 kA, 8/20 J.1s due to current chopping which may destroy the transformer or the equipment
impulse current wave) 443 kV (peak) near the circuit breakers. The Basic Impulse Level (BIL) is often determined as
simply 1.25 to 1.30 times the protective level offered' by the surge arrester. Usu-
(b) Transformer
ally, the next higher BIL value from the standard values is chosen. This is quite
Impulse withstand voltage 550 kV (peak) sufficient for smaller stations and station ratings up to 220 kV. For bigger stations
Induced voltage (withstand) level 230 kV (rms) and stations of importance,the 'distance effect' discussed in the next section is to
550-443 be suitably allowed for, when surge arresters are to be used for SIL also; a margin
Impulse protective margin 443 x 100= 24%
of 15 to 20% is normally allowed over the protective level. Distance effect is
(c) Switchgear negligible for long fronted switching surges.
Impulse withstand voltage 650 kV (peak)
Distance Effect
Bus insulation impulse withstand voltage 650 kV (peak)
Usually the circuit breaker, the transformer and other equipment are placed at
In case a rod gap is used for the protection of a transformer, the rod gap with finite distances from the surge arrester and connected through a short distance
a negative sparkover voltage of 440 kV (59 em gap) may be chosen to give the over head line or cable. When a surge arises, it suffers multiple reflections be-
25% margin. The protection is good for surges having a front time notshorter tween each of the equipment which may give rise to overvoltages of consid-
than 2J.ls. But the switching surge sparkover voltage which is about 380 kV erable magnitude (the travel time is usually less than a J.ls). It can be shown
is very near the maximum switching surge generated in the system and hence that when a surge arrester, a breaker and a transformer are in line, the volt-
may cause many outrages. If a rod gap of 66 em is used, the protection becomes age that can build up at a distance D from the surge arrester point is given as
doubtful, as the impulse sparkover voltage for 2 J.ls front wave is 600 kV. V(D) = Vp + 2ST, where Vp is the sparkover voltage/protective level, S is the
steepness ofthe wave front, and T is the travel time = D/v. Here, v is the velocity
8.3.3 Insulation Levels at Sub-stations with Protective Zones of the wave travel, assuming that the line extends to a large distance such that no
reflections come from the line end. The maximum value of V(D) is attained when
Magnitude and Shape ofthe Incoming Voltage Surges 2T = To, the sparkover time of the arrester. The above simple expression shows
Direct strokes to phase conductors near the station point are very dangerous as that the transfer surge impedance is very high. The ratio ofthe transformer termi-
they cause very highcurrents to flow throughthe surge arrester. The discharge nal voltage, Vr to that of the protective level Vp is a function of (T/To). For steep
voltages developed across the arrester elements are very high and the arresters fronted waves, sometimes Vr may exceed even 2 V . It has been shown that in a
may get destroyed. Therefore, the stations are completely shielded from direct 330 kV sub-station a 1.2/50 us, 1500 kV incomingPwavecan give rise to a surge
strokes. The shielding is sometimes effected up to about 2 km on either side of of peak value 1250 kV having rise time of 2 us at the bus terminals (neglecting
the station. This protected zone gives the surges to originate only from outside the transfer capacitance), whereas the protective level offered by the surge ar-
regions. Usually, the voltage wave at the station entrance is estimated by as- rester at the transformer terminal is only 750 kV. The transformer terminals may
suming a voltage magnitude at the beginning of the protected zone as equal to get a surge voltage of930 kV peak. This has been verified by computer calcula-
1.3 times the negative critical flashover voltage of the line insulation. It is also tions for a 1/50 us wave, on a line connected to a 330 kV station.
important that the sloping off of the point of the surge is helpful for the effective
performance of the surge arrester. Back flashovers are also important. There is a
8.3.4 Insulation Co-ordination in EHV and UHV Systems
risk of a more severe surge occurring in the case of back flashovers. The prob- The insulation design of'EHV and UHV stations is based on the following prin-
ability of the occurrence of this depends on the rate of the back flashover of the ciples
protected zone and its length.
(i) stations have transformers and other valuable equipment that have non-
Equipment Insulation Level self restoring insulation, and
For steep-fronted travelling waves, the voltages at different points in the sub-sta- (ii) the protective levels for lightning surges and switching surges are almost
tion can exceed the protective level by amounts that depend on the distance from equal and even overlap. If the basic impulse level forthe equipment or
the arrester location, the steepness of the wave front and other electrical param- the system is chosen, then this level cannot give protection against the
eters. Hence, it is necessary- ttl11OOtde·lhe number.of locations at which surge
------------------------Vv-- ------vv,--------------------~-----
switching impulses. Hence, a separate switching impulse level (SIL) has

to be chosen. It is, therefore, desirable to use protective devices for lim-
iting both lightning and switching overvoltages. As such, the switching ~ -------------------------------- 1
impulse insulation level above the controlled switching surge level has
to be adopted so that the surge arresters operate only rarely on switch-
ingovervoltages when the controls of the control devices for switch-
ing voltages fail. A general guideline that can be adopted for different
EHV and UHV system for maximum switching surge levels are given in
Table 8.5.
Table 8.5 Maximum switching surge level at different line voltages
5
1. Po(Vj)
It is now necessary to allow a suitable margin in the insulation level above 2. Pd(Vj)
the maximum switching surgeovervoltage and also permit a little risk for failure 3. Po(Vj) Pd(Vj)
4. Risk offailure, R = f Po(Vj) PJVj) dVj
in the interest of economical adoption of insulation levels. Usually statistical
5. Probability density of failure at the value V1
methods are adopted based on a given risk of flashover which'is calculated by
combining the flashover voltage distribution function of the insulation structures Fig. 8.28 Risk offailure as a function ofthe probability ofthe occurrence ofa
with the overvoltage probability density function. surge voltage [Pi~)} and the probability ofthe insulation flashover
Let Po (Vi) di/, be the probability ofa surgevoltage occurring as an overvolt- [PlY;)}
age between Vi and (V; + dV;). Let the probability for flashover of the insulation
be Po(V;). Then probability of both the above events occurring simultaneously in the cost of insulation to be provided. For non-self-restoring insulations like that
Vi and (Vo + Vi) will be given by Po(V;) PIV;). The risk of failure over the entire of transformers, etc., the withstand voltage is expressed in terms of the break-
voltage range then becomes down voltage values.
V,
Risk of failure, R = I
0' Po(V;)· PIV;)' sv; (8.45) The protective .level provided by the protective devices like the surge arrest-
ers is established in the same manner as that for other apparatus, the difference
being that the surge arresters must absorb the surge. The safety margin is arrived
If a number of insulation structures such as string of insulators are subjected
at by considering the risk factor R forthe device used for the protection and the
to a switching surge, then the failure is adjusted for appropriate probability, con-
insulation structure to be protected, giving a safe margin.
sidering all the individual probabilities simultaneously. '
In normal practice, the insulation level and the protective safety margin are
The risk of failure is graphically represented in Fig. 8.28. arrived at by
A simplified procedure to evaluate the risk of failure is given by the lEe
(i) selecting the risk of failure R,
which defines the safety factor as a ratio of the statistical overvoltage to that
of statistical withstand voltage (1). The, former voltage is the voltage likely to (ii) the statistical safety factor, 'y,. and
exceed 2% of all the overvoltages, while the latter is the 90% probability voltage (iii) then fixing the-withstand voltage' and designing the insulation level of any
for failure which is given as (CFO - 1.3 a), where a is the standard deviation of equipment or apparatus corresponding to 90% or 95% of the withstand
the overvoltage distribution function and CFO is the critical flashover voltage. voltage thus fixed. '
A graph between the risk of failure and the statistical safety factor is given by the .This type of approach may be understood as follows:
IEC and is shown in Fig. 8.29. It is evident from this figure that increasing the
, Let PiV;) represent the probability of occurrence of an overvoltage of mag-
statistical safety factor will reduce the risk of failure but will cause an increase in
nitude Vas and has only 2% chance to cause the, failure of the insulation. This
-----------------------~V\r_ -----I0v~----'------------------_
2
10-'-2 -, Reference probability
-, 2%
-,
10-3 R1 = f Pd (Vj)'Po(Vj)
r 6
2
"".' \1"'- Statistical (Max) overvoltage Vi
o
-, (a)
10-4
"'"-,
-, 1.0
'\ Reference
-, probability
10-5
-,
"' 90%
1.0 1.1 1.2

0.1
Statistical safety -
I
factor (y)
Vi !Vds = 1.1 v,
Statistical withstand voltage
Fig.8.29 Relation between the risk offailure (R) and the statistical safety Vs Vds
(b) (e)
factor (r)
voltage is known as statistical overvoltage. Let Vds be the voltage' that causes
only 10% or less breakdowns or failures, when applied to the insulation system.
Also, let PiVj ) represent the statistical withstand voltage corresponding to the
f
00
voltage Vds .for the/given insulation system. These probabilities .are shown in Po (Vj) dVj
Fig. 8.30. The statistical safety factor, t defined earlier, is given as the ratio Vi
Vd/Vos' This statistical parameter r, if increased, reduces the risk of failure R.

This is illustrated in Fig .. 8.30, where if the curve of the insulation flashover 0.02 ------------------
voltage [Pi~)] if shifted towards the right, will increase the safety factor and v, V ds Vds = 1.2 v,
reduce the risk of failure. Hence, as has been stated earlier, proper selection of (c) (f)
Rand t is to be done.
R
For proper insulation co-ordination, a certain margin of safety has to be pro-
vided by properly choosing the "protective level" the protective devices, such as
I
spark gaps and surge arresters, and proper insulation level for the equipment and I
I
1
the apparatus. The correlation between the two is illustrated in Fig. 8.31. 1
I
1
In the figure, Rg gives the risk factor for the protective gap with Pi~) as its R2 ---~--
1
I
probability density function. for failure and the overvoltage probability density 1 1
: I
function.Pi~) occurring. The probability density function for insulation (to be R3 ---1----/-----
protected) is given by PlVj ) and R, is its risk factor. The safety margin which is 'Z'1 'Z'2
the difference between PiVj) and Pj(Vj) is also shown. In reality, this computa- (g)
tion is not simple and deviation in the occurrence of overvoltagesgreatly influ-
Fig. 8.30 Thestatistical safety factor (t) and its relation to the risk offailure (R)
ences the risk factors and the safe margin usually gets reduced.
348 High-Voltage Engineering Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems ',349
~~~-----..:~-=---------.:..=--------------V'v- ---Y'v~--------------------
1.2 and approach to determine the rating of arrester without damage to itself is of
importance. In EHV and UHV systems the arresters used are gapless ZnO type.
The arrester must have proper
1.0
(i) MCOV: The maximum power frequency continuous operating voltage
c
0
15
c
10.8 (ii) TOV: Temporary power frequency overvoltage that can appear on it
(iii) Energy: The energy-dissipating capacity, i.e., energy to be absorbed by it
.2 when limiting the surge voltages.
~ 0.6
:0
co
.0
Discharge currents usually considered for protection and voltage protective
e levels are '
a.. I 0.4
(i) 10 kA, 8/20 us lightning Impulse current, and
(ii) 2 kA 36/90 ps switching Impulse current.
0.2
Suitable margin for energy capability and arrester protective level to take care
0 I
of very fast transient (VFT) and distance effect (distance between arrester and
I
I
I
I
I equipment to be protected if it is greater than 20 m) is also taken into account.
I
~
Margin of
safety
~
I
-v- The facts mentioned 'are illustrated with the ~llowing 500 kV system:
'Minimum MCOV (takimg 10% over nomma . 500J3
. 1 vo1tage IS x 1.1 = 317'. 5 kV
Fig.8.31 Protective margin (margin ofsafety) and risk offailure provided by a
protective device
Hence choose an arrester ofrating 332,.kV, 5 minutes and 450 kV, 1 second
The insulation co-ordination and safety margins fixed for a typical 750 kV rating.
station can be as follows: Typical discharge voltage levels of the above arrester are
surge-arrester voltage rating 590kV Nominal voltage reading = 400 kV
maximum sealed-off value of the power Discharge level of 10 kA, impulse current: 870 kV
frequency harmonics 950kV
Discharge level for 2 kA switching surge current = 760 kV
lightning surge protective level 1450 kV
Referring to tables 8.3, 8.4 the BIL and SILfor a 500 kV (525 kV max)
switching surge protective level 1200 kV
reduced insulation are 14~5 kv and 1175 kvrespectively with BIL to SIL level
transformer or reactor BIL 1800 kV ratio 1.21
transformer or reactor SIL 1500 kV Hence, the protective margins are
circuit breaker and other apparatus SIL 1425- 870
when closed 1350 kV (i) Impulse protective margin 1425 ' x 100 = 39%
when open 1500 kV
1175 -: 760
the maximum switching surge level
taken as (2.0 p.u.) 1250 kV
(ii) Switching impulse protective margin 1175 «100 = 35.3%
If the 765 kV line uses a V type insulator string with 35 standar? type disc Thus, adequate margin (35 to 40%) is obtained by choosing surge diverter of
insulators, then the CFO for lightning surges will be about 1350 kV.These ".alues 400 kV power frequency rating.
overlap with the SIL of the circuit breaker and other apparatus. Then, a SUItable
To conclude insulation coordination in power systems at sub-stations is to
design for a conductor to tower clearance and for the conductor to ground clear-
choose a protective device (surge arrester) such that its characteristics give
ance have to be given. sufficient but not very high protective margin.
Surge diverter or lightning arrester is the main device that is used in p~w
er systems and sub-stations to limit the overvoltages. Hence, proper selection
-----------------------~Vv_ ---A./V..- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Magnitude of the transmitted wave to the cable
KEY TERMS = (1 + I) e = (1.786) x 500
• Lattice diagrams = 893 iv
• Overvoltages
= junction voltage
• Lightning phenomenon • Overvoltages due to
• Lightning characteristics switching
• Model for lightning • Switching surge
• Travelling waves on characteristics
transmission lines • Lightning protection Solution
• Surge arresters
1 109
• Reflection and transmission e = E U(t), Zl = 500 Q, and Z2 = C S = 4s
of waves . • Insulation co-ordination 9
. (10 - 500)
T= Z2 - ZI = 4s = (109 - 2000s)
--Yv--- WORKED EXAMPLES --Yv--- z, + z, (tf: + 500) 9
(10 + zooo»
Hence, (l + n= 2 x 10
9
.
6
10
(10 9
+ zeoo» (lr + s)
e"(s) voltage across capacitor = (1 + I) e(s)
106 E
Solution
veI
,1. ' 0 f propagation
ocity ' 1
=. ~ =. I
. 1
(tr +s) -;
'V LC '\j1.26 xur' x 0.009 X 10-6
Taking inverse transforms [ ( )]
= 3 X 105 km/s e" = 2 E 1 - exp _ t
2 X 10- 6
imnedance = ~L
3
Surgelmpe - = h x 10-9
1.26 = 3742 r\
.~"
C ~x10-
Taking the rise time to be 3CZ, the wave is retarded by
Time taken for the surge to travel to the other end is
3 x 2 x 10-6 = 6 x 10-6 s
= 400 5 = 1.33m s or by 6 ps.
3x10
Solution
e = 500 U(t) kV
Solution
z, =500Q
Z2 =60 Q e = 1000 U(t) kV; Zl = 400 Q, Z2 = combination ofLand C given as,
Coefficient of reflection,
. T= (Z2- Z1) = (500-60) =0.786
(Z2 + ZI) (500 + 60)
[c(s2:ic)]
High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages inElectrical PowerSystems
HVDC EHVAC (b) Transient reliability

For synchronous D.C tie lines, no need Two power systems are This .isa factor specifying the performance of .HVDe systems during
of coordinated control for inter- interconnected when they have I recordable faults on the associated A.e system,
connection. coordinated using tie line power Number of times HV,DC system}
and frequency. The problems' . ., . _ { performed as designed x 100
arise due to the presence of large Transient reliability - Number of recordable A.e faults
power oscillations which can
lead to frequency tripping, Recordable A.e faults which are caused by phase voltages drop to below
increase in fault level, 90%.
transmission of disturbances Energy availability andtransient reliability of existing D.e systems with
from one system to the other.
thyristor values is 95% or more.
(/) Ground Impedance:
Ground impedance is negligible, so D.C Ground current cannot be Bipolar D.C line is more reliable than a double circuit A.e line with the
link can operate using one conductor permitted in steady-state due to same power capability. This is because of the fact that failure of one pole
with ground return. high magnitudes of ground does not affect the operation of the other pole.
impedance which will result If the D.e line is overloaded and if the converters on the failed pole can
telephone interference.
be paralleled with the converters on the healthy pole, the prefault power
(h) Economical use 'of underground cables Not possible.
or submarine cables are possible. level can be maintained even with permanent outage of one line.
(i) Fast control to limit fault currents in
\D.C: D.C breakers in two terminal D.C Cannot avoid breakers.
links are avoided. But cost of D.C 1.2.1. Causes for Overvoltages and Its Effect on Power System -
breakers are high.
Lightning Phenomenon
0) Inability to use transformers to change Transformers are used to change
voltage levels. voltage level. Different Kinds of Overvoltages: .
(k) Cost of conversion equipment is high. No conversion equipment cost.
The different kinds of overvoltages are:
3. Reliability + External or Lightning Overvoltages:
It is the probability that an item or a collection of items will perform They are generated internally by connecting or disconnecting the system,
satisfactory, under specified conditions during a given period. This is called or due to the systems fault initiation or extinction.
reliability.
.:. Internal Overvoltages:
Reliability of D.~s good compared to that of A.C. The performance of
Internal overvoltages are subdivided 'into:
thyristor valves is much reliable than mercury arc valves, and control and
~ Temporary overvoltages - Power frequency oscillations or harmonics.
protection is to improve the reliability level. The development of direct light
triggered thyristors (LTT) has been used to improve the reliability. There are ~ Switching overvoltages.
two measures of overall system reliability. The magnitude of the external overvoltagesremains independent of the
system's design, whereas that of internal overvoltages increases with
(a) Energy availability
increasing the operating voltage of the system. So, internal overvoltage
Ener~ availabilit} = (I _ Equivalent outage time)
m percentage Total time x 109 effect has to be taken into account-in the design of high voltage system
where, insulation.
Lightning phenomenon is a peak discharge in which charge accumulated
A I } { System capacity }
Equivalent outage time = { ctu~ outage x loss due to in the clouds discharge into a neighbouring cloud or to the ground.
time
the outage
High Voltage Engineering Oser Voltages in ElectricalPowerSystems
1.2.1.1. Charge Formation in the Clouds 1.2.1.2. Simpson's Theory

During thunderstorms, positive and negative charges become separated
by the heavy air currents with ice crystals in the upper part and' rairi.in the
lower part of the cloud. This 'charge separation depends on the height of the
cloud~, which ranges from 0.2 to 10 km, with their charge centres probably
at a distance of about 0.3 to 2 kIn as shown in Fig.I.8.
Cloud A
Air currents
0.3 to 2 km
Negative rain Positive rain

0.2 to 10 km
~SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSI Fig. 1.10. Charge.formationin cloudaccording to.Simpson'stheory

Three regions are to be considered in Fig. I. 1O.
Fig. 1.8. Probabledistancebetween clouds Below Region A: Air currents travel above 800 em/sec and no raindrops
Charge inside the cloud 1 to I00 colou~b fall through.
Potential of the eloud>- H)7tolO'& voj(with~fteld';gradients In region A:. Air velocity is high enough to break-the falling raindrops
ranging from" '100 V/cm.within the <, causing a positive charge sprays in the cloud and negative charge in the air.
cloud ,to IO-kV/em at the initial The spray is blown upwards, but as the velocity of air decreases, the
discharge point.. positively charged water drops recombine with the, larger drops and' fall
Energy associated with the cloud .250 kwhr again.
The upper region of the clouds are usually. positively charged, whereas RegionB: It, becomes .negativelycharged by .aircurrents (because it is
the lower region of the clouds are negatively charged except the local region, over region A). '
near the base and head, which is positive as shown in Fig.I.9~ , Region C: The temperature is low (below freezing point) and only' ice
crystals exist. The impact of air on these crystals makes them negatively
charged.
1.2.1.3. Reynold and ,Mason Theory
Thunder clouds are developed at heights 1 to 2km above the ground level
and may extend upto. 12 to 14km above the ground.
, Air currents,moisture, specific temperature range are required for
thunder clouds and charge formation.
The air currents controlled by. the temperature gradient move upwards
Ground
carry moisture and waterdroplets, Below - 40° (i.e., above 121<:m), they
.
,
freezeas solid particle on which.crystalline icepatterns develop .and grow.

Fig. 1. 9. Charge distribution in the cloud
The water droplets in the cloud .are blown up byair currents and get super
Fair weather condition: Maximum gradient = 1 V/cm
cooled over a range ofheightand temperature. When such freezing occurs,
Bad weather condition: Maximum gradient reached' at the"ground level the crystals grow into large masses. Due to weight and gravitational force, it
due to charged cloud = 300 V/cm. . fall downwards.
High' Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

1.2.1.4. Mechanism of Lightning Fig.l.ll shows the mechanism of lightning. Consider two negative
In an active thunder cloud, the large particles possess negative charges chargecentres,
and the smaller particles possess positive charges. Thus the base ofthunder When the electric field intensity at some point in the charge concentrated
cloud carries negative charges and the.upper part carries positive'charges. clo-u<fe~ceeds the breakdown value of the moist ionized air·(= 10 kV/cm), an
electric.streamer with plasma start towards the ground with a velocity of
about 11 times that of the light (3 x 108 m/s) but may progress only about
0
50 m or so before it comes to a halt emitting a bright flash of light. The halt
may be due to insufficient build-up of electric charge at its head and not
sufficient to maintain the necessary field gradient for further progress of the
streamer.
(a) Steppedleader and

But after a short interval of about 100 J..lS, the streamer again starts out
(b) Pilot streamer is about to
,.piliJtstreamer repeating its performance. This discharge is known as 'stepped leader'.
make contact with earth
From the tip of the discharge .a 'pilot streamer' starts with low luminosity
and a current of few amperes is as shown in Fig.1.ll(a).
As the leader (negative charges) approaches ground, the electric field
between the leader and earth increases. The pilot streamer is about to make
contact with the upward positive charges from earth as shown in Fig.l.ll (b)
and causes pilot discharges from earth objects like trees, tall buildings, etc.
At some points, the charge concentration is high enough to initiate the
return stroke (positive streamer) from earth to cloud travelling along the
(c) Return stroke from earth (d) First-charge centre is completely previous path and the negative charge of cloud begins to discharge as shown
to cloud discharged; and streamers begin in Fig.1.ll(c).
developing into second charge centre
The first charge centre is completely discharged and streamers' begin
developing in the second charge centre as shown in Fig.l.ll(d).
The return stroke is followed by several strokes. The leader of second and
the subsequent strokes is known as the 'dart leader'. The second charge
centre is discharging to ground through the dart leader, distributing negative
charges along the path as shown in Fig.1.ll(e).
Positive streamers are going up from ground. This is called heavy 'return
stroke', which begins to discharge negatively charge under the cloud and the
(e) Dart leader discharging (f) He(lVy return streamer discharge second charge centre in the cloud as shown in Fig.l.ll (f).
to ground, distributing , \
to earth ofnegatively charged The discharges', takes place between clouds is known as .'sheath
negative charges space under the cloud
lightning'.
Fig. 1.11. Mechanism oflightning Total time required for the stepped leader to reach the ground = 20 ms
Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

High Voltage Engineering
B~anches from the initial leader may also be formed. Since the progress
of this leader stroke is by a series ofjumps, it is referred as stepped leader. '
Rate of Charging of Thunder Clouds
Let A be the Conductivity of the medium, there will be a 'resistive
leakage of charge from the electric field build up.
Let E be the Electric field intensity.
1.2..1.5.. Mathematical Model for Lightning
Let V be the Velocity of separation of charges.
Consider cloud is a non-conductance under charge formation process.
Let p be the Charge density.
dE The potential gradient at different parts of the cloud exceeds the
dt +AE pV breakdown strength of the air in the cloud. Therefore local breakdown
ye
f Pdx f eef dx + C
P dx
occurs. within. the. cloud. This local discharge leads to large reservoir of
charges in the cloud. Now air acts as a dielectric between cloud and ground,
fPdt fA dt whichleads,to streamer discharge (i.e.,) first leader stroke followed by main
stroke' with stroke current flowing. .
f p V e'A t dt + C =A t Let 10 be the lightning stroke current.
E e'A t = P:e'A t + C Let Zo be the source impedance.
'-.V Let Z be the object impedance (surge impedance).

E = ~+Ce-'At
A
To find C, substitute E = 6,t= o.
o P:+c~c=-~V
,. E .eY.
A -
pV_'A
A, e t
E = .eY.
A [l....,.e-j"
. t]
Voltage across the object, V - IZ
Let Qs = Separated charge Zo
Iox Z +Z xZ
Qg Generated charge. o
Charge _ .9K z
p Area - Ah v 10 .
Z
[Dividing by Zo]
1 +-
where, A Cloud area; h = Height of the charged region. Zo
Qs Value of source impedance of lightning channel = 1000 to 3000 0
E
A 8.0
Surge impedance of transmission line <5000
where, 80 Permittivity of the medium. 100 to 1500
Surge impedance of ground wires
Qs 10 to 50 0
=> A Surge impedance of towers
80 E
High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems
z , E'(x, h, t) = Electric field in x direction at a height h

.. Value of Zo < 0.1, and may be neglected.
. Z g = Equivalent ground impedance
Total voltage induced on the line is computed by solving the equations
involving voltage u(x, t)and current i(x, t).
High voltage during lighting causes a flash over of the line conductor
through insulator strings.
E' (x, h, t) dx
i(x, t) , i(x + dx, t)
Suppose direct stroke occurs on top of an unshielded line.fhen the current
wave divide into two branches. t - + +
u' (0, t) u' (L,t)
u' (x, t) c' (x + dx, t)
,which causes flashover of the line conductor through insulator string.
The incidence of lightning strikes on transmission liens and substations

are related to the degree of thunderstorm activity. It is based on thunderstorm
-=- u(x, t)
days (TD). l,ltp..... ,

Fig. Modelfor lightning
Thunderstorm Days (Isokeraunic Level)
Factors influencing the ligh~ng induced voltages on transmission lines:
It is defined as the number of days in a year when thunder is recorded in a )- The ground conductivity ~
particular location. )- The leader stroke current.
Number of ground flashovers, Ng :::: (0.1 to 0.2) '> Corona.
TD/strokes/km2-year I Example 1.1 I Cloud dis~harges 15 coulombs within 1.5 milliseconds
Ngcan be obtained from TD.
on to a transmission line during lightning. Estimate the voltage produced
I . . ' .
at the point 0/ the stroke on the transmission line (Assume the surge
Value ofTD in India =: 30 to 50 impedaitceoflhe line as 350 ohms).
Model for Lightning @ Soludon: Charge = 15 coulomb
When a transmission line is nearer to the stroke channel, there will be a Time = 1.5 msec = 1.5 x 10-3 sec
coupling between line and stroke channel, The voltage at any length x = L Surge impedance, Z = /350 n
can be computed from the equivalent circuit. . Voltage'produced at the point of stroke V = 10 Z
L Length of line Charge(Q)
Ro Source resistance 10 = Time (t)
RL Load resistance 15
= 1.5x 10-3 10,000 Amp
L' Impedance of line per unit length V = 10 Z
C' = Capacitance of line per unit length
10,000 x 350
u'(x, t) Voltage developed at any distance x
3500 kV
i'(x, t) Current through the line at any distance x
1.3~3. Shape of Switching Surges

For '. transmission voltages (400 kV alld above), .the. overvoltages The shape of switching surges are:
to
generated due switching is same as that of the magnitude of'lightning :over )- Irregular.
voltages. These overvoltages exist for a long time, so it is dang~rous to 'the )- Power frequency with its harmonics.
system. Switching overvoltage increases as the system voltage increases. In )- Relative magnitude = 2.4p.u. for transformer energizing
extra high voltage line, switching overvoltages determine the insulation level
== 1.4 to 2.0 p.u. for switching transmission lines.
of the lines and their dimensions' and costs.
1.3.4. Switching Overvoltaqes inEHV and UHV System
1.3.1. Source (or) Origin of Switching Surges (Ultra High Voltage)
Sources,of switching surges' are: Switching overvoltages in EHV and UHV Systems are generated when a
sudden release of internal energy stored due to electrostatic or
)- Opening and closing of switchgears. electromagnetic form. This may happen due to:
~ In circuit breaker operation, SWitching surges with a high rate of rise ~ Interruption of low inductive currents by high speed circuit breakers.
of voltage may cause repeated restriking of the arc between the ~ Interruption of small capacitive currents by switching off the unloaded
contacts of the C.B. lines.
)- Ferro-resonance condition.
~., High naturalfrequencles of the system.
~
, " . - .: . ,',. _ ;:.'
-~ ~.,:',. ,'t"~:"~ ~,~. ~.
Energization of long EHV or UHV lines.

)- Damped normal frequency voltage components. ~ Interruption of fault current when the fault is cleared.
)- Restriking and recovery voltage with successive reflected waves~from ~ Single pole closing ofC.B.
terminations. )- Resistance switching used in C.B.
1.3~2~ Characteristics of SWitching Surges';,

>- Switching operation of series capacitor connected to line for
compensation.
Swit~hirt~' surges arise f~~m anyone bf the"iollowi~g 'Sources:
, .: ','r. \: ,~_ », ,: . ."
)- Sparking of the lightning arrester locatedat receiving end of line.
~ Deenergizing of lines, cables and shunrcapacitorbankst-eze. 1.3.5. Measures to Control Overvoltages due to Switching and
Power Frequency
)- Disconnection of unloaded transformers, r~abtors, etc.
In EHV or UHV lines, we should control the switching voltages less than
)- Opening and closing of protective devices connected to lines and . 2.5 p.u. The following measures are taken to reduce overvoltages:
reactive loads. ' . ',.;, '
)- One or Multi-step energization of lines by inserting resistors.
)- Switch off the loads suddenly. )- Phase controlled closing ofC.B. with proper sensors.
)- Drain the trapped charges before reclosing of the lines.
)- Short circuit due to insulation failure, line to ground contact, line to ~ Using shunt reactors.
line contact, L-L-G contact, 3~ toground contact etc.
<,
~ By using lightning arresters or surge diverters.
)- Clearing of the faults.
One or Multistep Energization of Lines by Inserting Resistors
)- Arcing ground. During switching of circuit breakers, inserting a series resistance in series
withC.B. contacts and short circuiting this resistance after a few cycles. By
using inserting' resistance, the transients due to switching reduces. If the
resistance is inserted for a long time, successive reflections takes place and Sudden Load Rejection
the overvoltage reaches high value. Therefore preinsertion of resistance When there isa sudden load rejection in the system, the speed of the
limits the overvoltage. generators and hence the system frequency will rise. The speed governing
Phase Controlled Closing of Circuit Breakers system will respond by reducing the mechanical power generated by the
Life of the circuit breaker depends on the number of operation of the turbines.
circuit breaker. Overvoltages can be avoided by closing three phases exactly Disconnection ofInductive Loads or Connection ofCapacitive Loads
at the same instant by using phase controlled technique. For improving voltage in the transmission lines, inductive loads -are
Drain the Trapped Charges Before Reclosing of the Lines disconnected or capacitive loads are added. Due, to these ~~itchjng.
If the transmission lines are suddenly switched off,electric charges will operations, power frequency overvoltages may occur.
be stored on capacitors and line conductors (line charging capacitor). These Ferranti Effec(
charges are drained by line insulators.or through potential transformers. But In long transmission lines and cables, receiving end 'Voltage.is greater
the effective method is connecting temporary inserting resistor to ground than sending end voltage during light load or no-load operation. Under no
before reclosure and removing before closure of switch or C.B. load or light load, the capacitance associated withtheline,generate more
Shunt Reactors reactive power than the reactive power which is absorbed, hence VR'> Vs-
Shunt reactors are used to limit voltage rise due to Ferranti effect in EHV This effect is called as Ferranti effect.
lines and reduce surges due to sudden switching. But it will give oscillations Due to Ferranti effect.the power frequencyovervoltagesmay occur.
with the capacitance of the system. To suppress these oscillations and to Shunt reactors are used to limit voltage rise due to Ferranti effect in EHV
limit overvoltages, resistors are connected in series with these reactors. lines.
By Using lightning arrestors or Surge Diverters Unsymmetrical Faults
Lightning arrestors are provided at power stations, substations, big Unsymmetrical faults are single line to ground fault, line to line fault,
industries, tallest buildings, etc., to protect the equipment from lightning. double line to ground fault.
1.3.6. Power Frequency Overvoltages In Power Systems Consider single line to ground fault occurs at phase a.
In EHV lines (400 kV and above), power frequency overvoltages occur. Va = 0,
Power frequency overvoltages are caused during tap changing operations, by Voltage at healthy phase b andc increases.
magnetic or ferro-resonance phenomenon in. power transformers and by For solidly grounded system,
resonating series capacitors with shunt reactors.
Xo Ro
- s 3 and -:::;; 1
Causesfor Power Frequency Overvoltages x, x,
The causes for power frequency and harmonic overvoltages in EHV and where Xo Zero sequence reactance.
UHV systems are:
Ro Zero seq~ence resistance.
~ Sudden load rejection (loss of loads).
XI Positive sequence reactance.
~ Disconnection of inductive loads or connection of capacitive loads.
~ Ferranti effect.
Rise in voltage * 1.4 p.u.
~ Unsymmetrical faults. Saturation in Transformers

~ Saturation in transformers, etc. , When voltage applied to the transformer is more than the rated value or
saturation value, magnetisingcurrents increase rapidly. These magnetising
~ Tap charging operations.
currents are not- sinusoidal butare of peaky waveform. Third, fifth, seventh
harmonics are present. For higher harmonics, a series resonance occurs Protection of equipments in the power system from over voltages due to
between. the transformer inductance and the line capacitance, which lightning can be done by:
produces-overvoltages. ~ Using ground wires above the phase wires.
Tap ehanging. Operations ~ Using ground rods.
Tap changing operations are required when the voltage changes due to ~ Using counter-poise wires.
load variation. So, during these operations power' frequency overvoltages ~ Using protective devices; like .rod gap, expulsion' type and valve •type
occurs. surge arrester, etc.
I'Examele J:2'li A~: 3?phase single circuit· transmission line is 400' km Ground Wires
long. If the-line: is rated-for- 220'kVand having R:O.L Dfcm, L' = 1~26 Ground wire is a conductor .run parallel· to . the main conductor of the
mHlkmandC: 0~'009;JlFlkm,find(l)thesurge<impedance.,. (Z),the 'velocity transmission line, supported on the same tower and earthed at every equally
ofrpropagation.neglecting; resistance' oj the line: If a;surface, of 150rkV and regularlyspaced towers.
(injinitelp.long"tRil}istrikeScot'one:··endlOfthe line, whatfis;thectime'taken;{or; The different arrangement of-ground wires is as shown inFig~·1.12~
the'surgf(to .theotherend·oj!.line?·
.\\ .
@;!Solutloni:'
Ground wire Ground wire
1
(I} Velocity of propagation = -V LC
1
-v 1.26 x 10~3 x 0.009 x 10,6
3x lOS kmlsec
1.26 x 10-3
(2) Surge impedance'
xft= 0.009 x IQ-6
374.20
(3) Time.takenby.thesurgeto . } = Distance Fig. 1.12. Arrangement ofground wire
reach the other end Velocity
Important considerations ofground wires are:
400 Ion
= . - 1.33 m 5 »Ground wire selection should be based on mechanical considerations
3x 10~ km/sec -
rather than electrical considerations.
» It should have high strength and non-corrosive
Ty~esojjaultsthat!may occur in power lines: » Ground resistance, insulation and clearances between the ground wire
and the lines are important in the design.
~. Symmetrical faults - 3<1>, fault'(LLLG).
Shielding Angle or Protection Angle Os
LL-Gfault
tJnSymmetricaHaults~~-L
The angle between the vertical line drawn through the vertical of tower
)".. fault and a line through the ground wire and the shielded conductor is as shown in
li-L-G"fault Fig;!.!3.
Ground wire G G Using Counter-Poise Wires

I~\ Shielding I
~1 \ I
~1 , Counter-poise wires are buried in the ground at a depth of 0.5 to 1 m,
I I \ I I '
,/ G/angle
:as\
/ U, ,~: '\ running parallel to the transmission line conductors and connected to the
~'
r:as\~' asl \
I
Phase P v~ ---'---{)
1 \
P ro \J : QP tower legs. Wire length may be 50 to 100 m long. The arrangement of
I I I' 1 \
wire / : \
I
I 1
1
\
\ I
/ h:I, I,/ P\\ :1 h \\ counter-poise is as shown in Fig.l.14.
I 1 \
,/ :// \\: '\
/ !Height \ I
I
,
., \I
&
\
\
I
I 1
1
\
\ I
I
I 1
II 1\
1\
,
\
Tower legs
, I " I I 1 1 ' \
>7777777;77;777; >77777/777777777777777) Single parallel continuous
Fig. 1.13. Shielding angle

Protection ofLine.Using Ground Wire Double parallel
continuous
Assuming positively charged cloud is present above the line, it" induces a
negative, charge near the line conductors' andground wire, Ground wire is
earthed at regular intervals, so that the negative charges drained to the earth. Radial
As the ground wire is nearer to the line conductor, the induced charge on it
will be much less and.the potential rise is small.
Radial and continuous
A "single'" ground wire reduces the induced voltage to one half of that
without ground wire. For two ground wires, the reduction is one-third of that
without:ground Wire.
Fig. 1.14. Arrangement ofcounter-poise
Effective protecti.on depends -on:
When the lightning stroke, incident on the tower, discharges first through
)-'h (height)
the tower to the ground and discharges through t~e counter-poise. For proper
»Ss (shielding angle) e 30 0
operation,
Material used: Galvanized stranded steel conductors.
Leakage resistance of counter-poise < Surge impedance _
Uses
If lightning strikes a tower, current is injected and potential rises and
» It is used for direct stroke protection of lines for voltages of 110 kV flash over of insulator disc takes place which results in a L.G fault. So, the
and above.
tower footing resistance value should be low.
» To protect lines from attenuation of travelling waves.setup in the
Material used: Galvanized steel wire.
lines.
Using Ground Rods Using Protective Devices
Ground rods are used to reduce the tower footing resistance. These are Protective devices are used to protect the power system components
buried into the ground surrounding the tower structure. against the travelling waves caused by lightning.
Ground rods are anumber ofrodsabout15rnm diameter and 3 m long Basic Requirements ofa Lightning Arrester or Surge Diverter
driven into the ground. The tower footing resistance can be varied by: The basic requirements of a lightning arresters are:
» Varying the spacings of the rod. » It should not pass any current to the system component which is to be
» ,Varying the number of rods. protected at abnormal conditions.
» 'Varying. .tile depth t~ which they are driven.
:' " ',' » It should break down -as quickly as possible when abnormal condition
Material used: Galvanized iron or copper bearing steel. occurs.
~ It should discharge the surge current without damaging it. . .•©-o

~ It should interrupt the power frequency follow current after the surge ~SerieSgap
is discharged to ground.
Rod Gap ~~~~~~--.- Hol1owspace(gap)
Rod gap is used to protect the system from lightning or thunderstorm "I§I~~~~~-"Fibretube
activity is less.
A plain air gap usually between 1 inch square rods cut at right angles at
the ends, connected between line and earth. The rod gap arrangement is as Ground
shown in Fig;.I.IS. electrode
Rod ,Fig. '1.16. Expulsion type liglltning-arrester

~ When lightning incidents, the series. gap and the gap in the tube spark
and . provide low impedance path for power current to flow. The
voltage across the terminals of the arrester drops to a low value after
spark over occurs .and arrester exerts little opposition to the flow of
follow current.
The arc .struek in the tube volatizes some of the fibre, and emitting gas.
This gas rushes out through the vent and are interruption takes place, at zero
current.
Advantages
~ Cheap.
~ To protect small rural transformers where valve type arresters are
expensive.
Disadvantages
~ It is not suitable for protection of expensive station equipment because
of poor volt-time characteristics.
Uses
Uses ~ To protect transmission line insulators (transmission line type).
~ It is used as back-up protection. ~ To protect distripution transformer (distribution type).
Expulsion Type Lightning Arrester (Protector Tube) Valve Type Lightning Arrester (Non-Linear Type)
~ It is a device consists ofa spark gap together with an .arc quenching V alve Type Lightning Arresters are used to protect substations and at line
device which extinguishes the current arc when the gaps break over terminations to discharge the lightning over voltages and short duration
due to over voltages. The expulsion type' lightning arrester is as shown -switching surges. A valve type arrester is as shown in Fig.I :17.
in Fig.1.16.
Disadvantages
-rune. Disadvantages of valve types arresters are:

~
~
Expensive.
Care should be taken.
Sparkrgaps
aridgrihding
I} Sparkgap
and grading
.••••••·jreslSlorsblbck
1. What are the general applications ofhigh voltage?
High voltage is utilized in:
~ Cathode ray tubes
~ Particle accelerators
~ Xerography
~ Spray painting
~ Electrostatic precipitators
~ Ignition is internal combustion engines
Fig. 1.17. Valve type lightning arrester'
~ Gas discharge lamps
A number of non-linear resistor elements made of silicon carbide arc
~ Ozone generators
stacked one o~er the' other into two or three sections. they are separated by
spark gaps. Spark gaps and resistors are protected 'by water' tight housing. » Nuclear research
Non-linear resistor possess low resistance to high currents and high 2. Wlty is Itiglt voltagepreferredfor transmission oflong distance?
resistance to low currents. In high voltage transmission, naturally current decreases. So trans-
Volt-ampere characteristics is given by, mission loss I2R decreases and the size of trarismission conductor
I KVn decreases and the cost of copper required also decreases for a long
distance; Therefore high voltage is preferred for transmission of long
where, I Discharge current distance.
n = Value lies between 2 and 6 3.. List 0.1# the practical generation voltage levels commonly "sed
K Constant The generating voltages are usually 6.6 kV, 10.5kV, 11 kV, 13.8 kV,
V Applied voltage across the element 15.75 kV, etc.
As over voltages occurs due to lightning, the resistance of the non-linear 4. Mention the need ofgoing for EHVA.. C transmission.
. element decreases. Series gap sparks and the arrester discharges. If the ~ EHV transmissionrprovide more reliable and less. constrained
current. ismore.number of series resistors can be added. electricity network capacity.
Advantages ~ Increase in size ofgenerating units:
Advantages of Valve type arrester-s are: . 1
Volume oc ~ and cost ecvolume
~ To protect station equipments rated 400 kV and above. VL
~ To protect transmission line rated apove66 kV. As voltage increases, volume of conductor decreases and cost of the
~ To protect motors and generators. line decreases and the size of generating unit increases.
~ To protect distribution transformers. Transmission of large amount of power over long distances is
economically feasible for EHV transmission.
~ Increase in transmission efficiency: Obra Kanpur line

As voltage increases.rcurrent flows. through the line decreases and Kanpur Moradnagar.line
J2R loss reduces. So, transmission efficiency increases. Koradi Katwa line
~ Pithead steam plants andRemote hydro plants Srinagar Jammu-Kashmir line
Cost of transportation depends on cost of coal in thermal plants. To 765kVLine:
avoid. this,steam or thermal' plants are situated near coal mines is Anpara - Unnao
calledasPilheaasteamplaqts. Tehri Meerut
Hydroplants are mostlysituated at remote areas. In remote places, Vindhayachal - Bina-Nagda
water availability is more, "land and labour cost is. cheap. EHV Kishanpur - Moga (operated at 400 kV)
systems are needed to transmit large amounts of power over long Monubulu Sriperumbudur (operated at 400kV)
distances from Pithead and remote hydro plants to load centres. Agra Gwalior
»Numher ofcircuits anf/and r~quirement: Pichor Malanpur
8. What are the applications ofHVDCsystems?
As voltage increases, number of circuits and land requirement for
transmission decrease's. 1. Long Distance Bulk Power Transmission
~ Line costs: 2. Power Transmission Through Underground or Submarine Cables
3. Asynchronous Interconnection ofA.C Systems Operating' at
As voltage increases, the line installation cost/MW/Km decreases.
Different Frequencies or Where Independent Control ofSystems is
The total line cost including the cost of losses/MW/Km decreases
Desired
with increase in voltage.
4. A.C and D.C Lines in Parallel
~ Surge impedance loading:
5. D.C Transmission with A.C Distribution Systems
5. What arethe1imitations ofEHVAC transmission?
6. Back to Back HVDG Coupling Stations
'~More insulation is required for the conductor and towers.
7. Control and Stabilization ofPower Flow inA.CTies in an Integrated
~ More clearance is required between the conductor and the ground.
Power Systems
~ More distance is required; between 'the conductors. So the length of
9. Wh:at'are the limitations ofHVDC transmission?
cross arms used' increases.
(a) High Cost ofConversion Equipments
~ The. transformers, switchgears and other terminal equipment should
be designed to handle such high voltage. (b) Generation: of Harmonics which require A.C and D.C filters,
adding to the cost of converter station
). Long distance bulk power transmission is not possible.
(c) Blocks the reactive power
6. What is the highest A. C transmission voltage we have in India?
(d) Complexity of control
765kV
(f) Inability to use transformers to change voltage level
7. Name some EHVAC systems in India. (g) The difficulty of breaking D.C currents which results' in high cost
400kVLine: ofD.C breakers.
Dehar - Panipat line 10. What are the advantages ofHVDC transmission?
Obra Sultanpur line The advantages of HYDe transmission are:
Sultanpur Lucknow line ~. HYDC can carry more power with two conductors.
~ Coronaloss and radio interference is less.

14. What are the causes ofover voltage in a power system?
~ -Dielectric loss is less.
I. Lightning
~ Absence of skin effect, reduces power losses.
~ Ground can be used as return conductor. 2. Switching surges
~ Economical for long distance transmission. 15. Name the sources ofswitching surges.
~ No charging current. ~ Opening and closing of switchgears.
~ No transmission of short circuit power in case" of any fault. ~ In circuit breaker operation, switching surges with a high rate of rise
~ Fault clearing time is small. of voltage may cause repeated restriking of the arc between the
~ Don't require line compensation. contacts of the C.B.
~ Asynchronous interconnection of A.C systems operating at ~ High natural frequencies of the system.
different frequencies. ~ Damped normal frequency voltage components.
~ Control and stabilization of power flows in A.C ties in an ~ Restriking and recovery voltage with successive reflected waves
integrated power systems. from terminations.
~ No reactive power loss. 16. What are the characteristics ofswitching surges?
11. What are the disadvantages ofHVDC transmission? ~ Deenergizing of lines, cables and shunt capacitor banks, etc.
~.
~ Terminal equipment cost is high due to the presence of converters ~ Disconnection of unloaded transformers, reactors, etc.
and filters. ~ Opening and closing of protective devices connected to lines and
~ Maintenance cost is high. reactive loads.
~ Cost ofD.C breakers is high. ~ Switch off the loads suddenly.
~ Short circuit due to insulation -failure, line to ground contact, line to
~ Inability to use transformers to change voltage levels.
line contact, L-L-G contact, 3~ to ground contact etc.
~ Converters generate harmonics both on A.C andD.C sides. These
~ Clearing of the faults.
harmonics may interfere with communication systems.
~ Arcing-ground.
~ D.C lines block the flow of reactive power from one end to another
17. What are the factors to be considered for switching over voltages in
end. But these are required by some load that must be fulfilled by
EHVand UHV system?
the inverters.
~ Interruption of low inductive currents by high speed circuit breakers.
~ Point-to-point transmission is not possible by HYDC.
~ Interruption of small capacitive" currents by switching off the
12. Name some HVDC systems. unloaded lines.
I. Rihand-Delhi HYDC Transmission System ~ Ferro-resonance condition.
2. Talcher-Kolar (Commissioned during Sept. 2002) ~ Energization of long EHY or UHY lines.
3. Chandrapur-Padghe (Western region) ~ Interruption of fault current when the fault is cleared.
4. Hirma-Jaipur (Northern region) ~ Single pole closing of C.B.
~ Resistance switching used in C.B.
13. What is the voltage that has been selectedfor HVDC transmission?
~ Switching operation of -series capacitor connected to line for
±400 kV, ±500 kV,±600 kV, ±800 kV, ±IOOO kV, etc.
compensation.
~ Sparking of the lightning arrester located at receiving end of line.
High' Voltage Engineering OVer Voltages in Electrical Power Systems
18. What. are the measures.. to.control.over.voltages-due to ·switching and 22. Jf1hiltiireth·e tlse's,o!ground'wires?
powerfrequency?
1';';,"1')- Itis'iised for direct stroke protection of lines for voltages of 110 kV
In. EHV or UHV lines, we should' control the switching voltages less and above.
than 2.5 p.u. The following measures are taken to reduce over voltages:
» To protectIihes ftdfu attenuation oftravelling waves set up in the
» One or Multi..step energization of lines by inserting resistors. lines·.~:; :
» Phase controlled closingofC.B. with proper sensors. 23. How can the,'tower-/otJlingresislancebe varied?
» Drain the trapped charges before reclosing of the lines. » Varying the spacingsof'the rod..
~ 'Using shunt reactors. L, Ls,)- , Varying, the.numberofrods, .
» By.using lightning arresters or surge diverters. » :,Vatyiilgthe depth te which they are driven.
19~ What are the causes ofpower frequency over voltages? Material used: Galvanized iron or copper bearing steel.
The causes for power frequency and harmonic over voltages in EHV 24. What is the use
ofjJ'Fotecli~e'ilevic(l?' "
andUHV systems are:
Protective devices are used to protect the power system components
» Sudden load rejection (loss of loads). against the travelling 'waves caused by lightning.
» Disconnectionofinductive loads or connection of capacitive loads. 25. What are the basic requirements ofa'lightning arresters?
» Ferrantieffect. » It should not pass any current to the .system component which is to
» Unsymmetrical faults. be protected at abnormal conditions.
» Saturation in transformers, etc. » Itshould<bf:eak,~down as. quickly" as possible when abnormal
» Tap charging.operations. condition occurs.
20. What-are thedifferent.types;offaultsthatmay occur in powerlines ? » It should discharge the surge current without damaging it.
Types offaults thatmay occur in power lines: » It should interrupt the power frequency followcurrentafter the.surge
is discharged to ground.
» Symmetrical faults - 3<j>fault(LLLG)
26. What are tile advantqg~$ 'of:'~ingrfJd;'i'gap lightning arrester for
~
L-Gfault
. protection t
~" Unsymmetrical faults .', ,L-L fault
?r' Sim-pl~ .in construction,
L-L-Gfault
» Cheap.
2L What are the eqf,lipments in the power system to be protectedfrom
over voltages.due to lightning? » Rugg~~ construction, .
Protectionof.equipments in the power system from over voltages due to 27. What are
,i,;;-
~.~ <;
? ,,'..
the<" disadva"',(age$
., - ',- .:'
-,,~,\' '.
t~
of,itsing rod- g!lplighfl(ingarresterfor
._~ ,.,"'!".' ':' ',' ,'.'. ',.' '. ';"._ "." ,'" ~
protection? .
lightning can be done by:
» ~t doesnot il1~errupt the P9w~r frequency followcurrent,
» Using ground wires above the phase wires.
»Every ~~~ration of th~ rod gap results in L-G faultand.thebreakers
» Using ground rods.
must operate JO. isolate the f~u'ty, section.
~ Using counter-poise wires.
28. What are tllf!,(ltJ~tlnla,e$ot1lfXl'lJ's;ion type;lightn~ng,arre~(e.r?
» Using protective devices like rod gap, expulsion type and valve type
,» Cheap.
surge arrester, etc.
» To protect small. rural transformers where valve type arresters are
expensive.
High Voltage.~ngineerjng
29. What are the disadvantages ofexpuisiontype.Jjghtning arrester?

» It is. not suitable ;for protection of expensive station equipment
because of poor volt-time characteristics.
30. W/~qt areme uses ofexpuision type lightning arrester? . Breakdown in Ga;ses',
» To protect transmission line insulators (transmission line type). ~iquids'ancfS()lids
» To protect distribution transformer (djstr.ibutiontype). ,
31. What is the use ofvalve type liglttning arrestert:
Valve Type Lightning Arresters are used, to protect substations and at Gases are! the simplest and most commonly used dielectrics in the
line terminations to discharge the: lightning over voltages and short electrical apparatus.
duration switchingsurges..
Insulating Materials
32. What are the advantages ofvaIvif type.liglltnilJ;g arrester?
Air
Advantages of Valve .typ~ arresters are:
Nitrogen (N2)
» To protect station equipments rated 400kV and above. Carbon-di-oxide (C02)
» To protect transmission line.rated above 66 kV. Freon (CCI 2F 2 - dichloro-di-fluoro methane)
» To protect motors and generators. Sulphur hexllfltibtiae (SF6)
» To protect distribution transformers.
33. '-W/tat are the disadvantages ofvalve type lightning arrester?
U~es oj q~~Jns';lators
Disadvantages of value types arresters are: ,·.Q~s. i~,~Jlaiqr.s; are .used in power transmissionlines .and power apparatus
~ .' ~ [ . " ...J ' . ~ . .J ' • J,} ....; ~.r ". " 1:, ',,' • - : .,.. '". , .~_ ,'." . ',' •
» Expensive, likegenerator,
:"~~".~~",:. ~f ,"
motor, etc.
'. .. .;,"":--,;'" ",'
» Care should be taken. Breakdown Voltage

The maximum voltage.. applied totheinsulatioiiat .the moment .,.0£
br~~k4?~9~
1. Explain lightning phenomenon. Typesioftliscitarges,<in gases '
2. Give the mathematical model of lightning discharges and explain them. There are two types, ,They are:
.3. Discuss over voltages due to surges. » Non-sustaining discharges.
4. What are the causes for switching and power frequency over voltage? » Self-sustairiing'dlscharges.
5. '\Vhttt'arethe.'methods'userl to control ofoVer voltages dueto switching? Properties
Explain briefly.
The properties of gas insulators ate:
6. What are the' different methods employed for lightning protection of
'-'overhead lines?
» Large breakdown. strength;"
7. Explain the selection of surge arresters forE.H.V. system.
» Provide flexible and reliable medium for high voltage applications.
8. Derivethe mathematicalimodel ror ;lighthiligCiisch~rges. » Inertness.
» Chemically stable.
» Give smoothness to the electrode material.
» Arc quenching properties are high in SF 6 gas.

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8.1 NATURAL CAUSES FOR OVERVOLTAGES-

Lightning phenomenon is a peak discharge in which charge accumulated in the

8.1.1 Charge Formation in the Clouds

0.004 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0

Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 299

8.1.4 Mathematical Model for Lightning

Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 303

8.2 OVERVOLTAGE DUE TO SWITCHING SURGES, 4

Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 323

Fig. 8.17 (d and e) Measurement and simulation of overvoltages in a GIS at

(a) Sudden Load Rejection

v = fo E' [ (1- fo) ~:J (8.38)

/3 = phase constant ofthe line Eq. (8.12c) Xe

::::: about 6° per 100km line at 50 Hz frequency.

326 High-Voltage Engineering

Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric PowerSystems 329

p'--- ~:- - --'0

(a) Lightning Protection Using Shielded Wires or

332 High~Voltage Engineering

1000 r - - - - - - - - - ' - - - - - - - - - , 1000 r - - - - : - - - - - - - - \ \ - - - - - - , 8------r.1Iili

Typical transformer characteristic for

Table 8.2 Characteristics of1Qo-200 kV surge arresters 10 kA and heavy duty

Fig. 8.27 Equivalent circuit ofa surge arrester

Overvoltage Phenomenon and Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems 343

switching impulses. Hence, a separate switching impulse level (SIL) has

Table 8.5 Maximum switching surge level at different line voltages

1.0 1.1 1.2

Vd/Vos' This statistical parameter r, if increased, reduces the risk of failure R.

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages inElectrical PowerSystems

HVDC EHVAC (b) Transient reliability

High Voltage Engineering Oser Voltages in ElectricalPowerSystems

1.2.1.1. Charge Formation in the Clouds 1.2.1.2. Simpson's Theory

Negative rain Positive rain

~SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSI Fig. 1.10. Charge.formationin cloudaccording to.Simpson'stheory

freezeas solid particle on which.crystalline icepatterns develop .and grow.

High' Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

(a) Steppedleader and

Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

'-.V Let Z be the object impedance (surge impedance).

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

z , E'(x, h, t) = Electric field in x direction at a height h

,which causes flashover of the line conductor through insulator string.

The incidence of lightning strikes on transmission liens and substations

days (TD). l,ltp..... ,

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

1.3~3. Shape of Switching Surges

Energization of long EHV or UHV lines.

1.3~2~ Characteristics of SWitching Surges';,

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

~ Unsymmetrical faults. Saturation in Transformers

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

Ground wire G G Using Counter-Poise Wires

Fig. 1.13. Shielding angle

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

~ It should discharge the surge current without damaging it. . .•©-o

Rod ,Fig. '1.16. Expulsion type liglltning-arrester

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

-rune. Disadvantages of valve types arresters are:

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems

~ Increase in transmission efficiency: Obra Kanpur line

High Voltage Engineering Over Voltages in Electrical Power Systems