CONTENTS

CHAPTER.NO NAME OF THE CHAPTERS PG.NO

1 CONDUCTORS 3

1.1 INTRODUCTION 4

1.2 CONDUCTOR MATERIALS 4

1.3 TYPES OF CONDUCTOR 5

1.4 AAC: ALL ALLUMUNIUM CONDUCTORS 5

1.5 AAAC: ALL ALLUMINIUM ALLOY CNDUCTORS 6

1.6 ACSR: ALUMINIUM CONDUCTORSTEEL REINFORCED 7

1.7 ALLUMNIUM CONDUCTOR, ALLOY REINFORCED 8

1.8 BUNDLED CONDUCTORS 8

2. INSULATORS 9

2.1 TYPES OF INSULATORS 10

2.2 PIN TYPE INSULATOR 10

2.3 SUSPENSION TYPE INSULATOR 13

2.3.1 HEWIETT SUSPENSION TYPE 14

2.3.2 CEMENTED CAP TYPE 15

2.3.3 CORE AND LINK TYPE OF INSULATOR 16

2.4 STRAIN INSULATOR 16

2.5 STAY INSULATOR 16

2.6 SHACKLE INSULATOR 17

1
3. JUMPERS 18

3.1JUMPERS 19

3.2 TYPICAL 220KV AIS SUBSTATION LAYOUT 20

2
CHAPTER-1

CONDUCTORS

3
1.1INTRODUCTION
A conductor is one of the most important components of power system. Selecting a
proper type of conductor for overhead lines is as important as selecting economic
conductor size and economic transmission voltage. A good conductor should have the
following properties:
 high electrical conductivity
 high tensile strength in order to withstand mechanical stresses
 relatively lower cost without compromising much of other properties
 lower weight per unit volume

1.2 Conductor Materials

Copper was the preferred material for overhead conductors in earlier days, but, aluminium
has replaced copper because of the much lower cost and lighter weight of the aluminium
conductor compared with a copper conductor of the same resistance. Following are
some materials that are considered to be good conductors.
 Copper: Copper has a high conductivity and greater tensile strength. So, copper in
hard drawn stranded form is a great option for overhead lines. Copper has a high
current density which means more current carrying capacity per unit cross-sectional
area. Therefore, copper conductors have relatively smaller cross-sectional area.
Also, copper is durable and has high scrap value. However, due to its higher cost
and non-availability, copper is rarely used for overhead power lines.
 Aluminium: Aluminium has about 60% of the conductivity of copper; that means,
for the same resistance, the diameter of an aluminium conductor is about 1.26 times
than that of a copper conductor. However, an aluminium conductor has almost half
the weight of an equivalent copper conductor. Also, tensile strength of aluminium is
less than that of copper. Considering combined factors of cost, conductivity, tensile

4
 strength, weight etc., aluminium has an edge over copper. Therefore, aluminium is
being widely used for overhead conductors.
 Cadmium-copper: Cadmium-copper alloys contain approximately 98 to 99% of
copper and up to 1.5% of cadmium. Addition of about 1% of cadmium to copper
increases the tensile strength by up to 50% and the conductivity is reduced only by
about 15%. Therefore, cadmium-copper conductors can be useful for exceptionally
long spans. However, due to high cost of cadmium, such conductors may be
uneconomical in many cases.
 Other materials: There are many other metals and alloys that conduct electricity.
Silver is more conductive than copper, but due to its high cost, it is not practical in
most of the cases. Galvanized steel may also be used as a conductor. Although steel
has very high tensile strength, steel conductors are not suitable for transmitting
power efficiently due to the poor conductivity and high resistance of steel. High
strength alloys such as phosphor-bronze may also be used sometimes at extreme
conditions.

1.3Types Of Conductors
As it is already mentioned above, aluminium conductors have an edge over copper
conductors considering combined factors of cost, conductivity, tensile strength, weight
etc. Aluminium conductors have completely replaced copper conductors in overhead
power lines because of their lower cost and lower weight. Though an aluminium conductor
has larger diameter than that of a copper conductor of same resistance, this is actually
an advantage when 'corona' is taken into consideration. Corona reduces considerably
with increase in the conductor diameter. Following are four common types of overhead
conductors used for overhead transmission and distribution to carry generated
power from generating stations to the end users.
Generally, all types of conductors are in stranded form in order to increase the flexibility.
Solid wires, except for very small cross sectional area, are very difficult to handle and,
also, they tend to crystallize at the point of support because of swinging in winds.
1. AAC : All Aluminium Conductor
2. AAAC : All Aluminium Alloy Conductor
3. ACSR : Aluminium Conductor, Steel Reinforced
4. ACAR : Aluminium Conductor, Alloy Reinforced

5
1.4AAC : All Aluminium Conductor
This type is sometimes also referred as ASC (Aluminium Stranded Conductor). It is
made up of strands of EC grade or Electrical Conductor grade aluminium. AAC
conductor has conductivity about 61% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard).
Despite having a good conductivity, because of its relatively poor strength, AAC has
limited use in transmission and rural distribution lines. However, AAC can be seen in
urban areas for distribution where spans are usually short but higher conductivity is
required
.

1.5 AAAC : All Aluminum Alloy Conductor

These conductors are made from aluminium alloy 6201 which is a high strength
Aluminium-Magnesium-Silicon alloy. This alloy conductor offers good electrical
conductivity (about 52.5% IACS) with better mechanical strength. Because of AAAC's
lighter weight as compared to ACSR of equal strength and current capacity, AAAC may
be used for distribution purposes. However, it is not usually preferred for transmission.
Also, AAAC conductors can be employed in coastal areas because of their excellent
corrosion resistance.

6
1.6ACSR : Aluminium Conductor, Steel Reinforced

ACSR consists of a solid or stranded steel core with one or more layers of high purity
aluminium (aluminium 1350) wires wrapped in spiral. The core wires may be zinc coated
(galvanized) steel or aluminium coated (aluminized) steel. Galvanization or aluminization
coatings are thin and are applied to protect the steel from corrosion. The central steel
core provides additional mechanical strength and, hence, sag is significantly less than all
other aluminium conductors. ACSR conductors are available in a wide range of steel
content - from 6% to 40%. ACSR with higher steel content is selected where higher
mechanical strength is required, such as river crossing. ASCR conductors are very widely
used for all transmission and distribution purposes.

7
1.7 Aluminium Conductor, Alloy Reinforced
ACAR conductor is formed by wrapping strands of high purity aluminium (aluminium
1350) on high strength Aluminum-Magnesium-Silicon alloy (6201 aluminium alloy) core.
ACAR has better electrical as well as mechanical properties than equivalent ACSR
conductors. ACAR conductors may be used in overhead transmission as well as
distribution lines.

1.8 Bundled Conductors

Transmission at extra high voltages (say above 220 kV) poses some problems such as
significant corona loss and excessive interference with nearby communication lines when
only one conductor per phase is used. This is because, at EHV level, the electric field
gradient at the surface of a single conductor is high enough to ionize the surrounding air
which causes corona loss and interference problems. The electric field gradient can be
reduced significantly by employing two or more conductors per phase in close proximity.
Two or more conductors per phase are connected at intervals by spacers and are called
as bundled conductors. The image at right shows two conductors in bundled form per
phase. Number of conductors in a bundled conductor is greater for higher voltages.

8
CHAPTER-2

INSULATORS

9
2.1Types of Insulators
There are several types of insulators but the most commonly used are pin type,
suspension type, strain insulator and shackle insulator.

The overhead line conductors are supported on the poles/ turns with the help of
insulator to prevent the flow of current to earth. Thus the insulator plays an important
part in the successful operation of the lines. In general, the insulator should have the
following properties:-

 High mechanical strength.

 High insulation resistance to avoid leakage current.

 High dielectric strength.

 Materials of Insulator should be non-porous, free from impurities and cracks.

 High ratio of puncture strength of flashover voltage.

Different types of Insulators are used in transmission and distribution line.

2.2) Pin type Insulator

In the figure, the pin type insulator is shown. It has two parts, i.e porcelain and
galvanized steel bolt. The galvanized steel bolt is joined at the bottom by cementing.
The fixing of pin insulator is shown in the figure. There are various methods of securing

10
insulator to the bolts:- i)The insulator has coarse threads and the steel bolt also has
coarse threads but is provided with a soft washer at the top.

ii)The porcelain insulator has coarse threads but they are lined with a soft material into
which the coarse steel pin is screwed. This method is generally adopted.
iii)Into the coarse threaded porcelain, the insulator is screwed the steel bolt with a lead
head. There is a groove on the upper end of the insulator for housing the conductors.
The conductors pass through this grove and is bound by the annealed wire of the same
material as the conductor.
Pin type is used for transmission and distribution of electric power at the voltage up to
50 KV.

11
Insulator are required to withstand both mechanical and electrical stresses. The
electrical breakdown of the insulator can occur either flash-over or puncture. In flash
over, an arc occurs between the line conductor and insulator pin (i.e earth )and the
discharge jumps across the air gaps, following shortest distance (i.e a+b+c+d ) for the
insulator which is shown in the figure.

When the insulator are wet their outer surface is almost conducting so their flashover
distance is = (b+c+d) . It is seen that the flashover distance when the insulators are wet
is less and to keep the inner side of the insulator dry. During rain, the rain sheds are
made in the order that these rain sheds should not disturb the voltage distribution they
are so designed that their surface at right angles to the electrostatic lines of force on.
The electrostatic lines both when d ry and wet are shown in the figure.

12
In the case of puncture , the discharge occurs from conductor to pin through the body of
the insulator. When such breakdown is involved, the insulator is permanently destroyed
due to excessive heat. In practice, sufficient thickness of porcelain is provided in the
insulator to avoid puncture strength to flash-over voltage is known as the safety factor.

The value of safety factor is high so that flashover takes place before the insulator gets
punctured. For pin type insulator, the value of safety factor is about 10.

2.3) Suspension Type Insulator

13
As the line voltage increase, the pin insulators to be used become heavy and
complicated in construction also its cost increase. Further, the replacement of the
damaged insulator will cost more. So, pin insulator is not an economical problem for
higher voltage. For higher voltage suspension insulator is used, a number of them are
connected in series by metallic links to form a chain and the line conductors are carried
by the bottom-most insulator. The advantage of this type insulator are given below:-
Each suspension insulator is designed for 11 KV, so by connecting a number of such
insulators a string of insulators can be designed for any required voltage. If any one of
the insulator in the string fails, it can be replaced easily and at a lesser cost. The
mechanical stresses on the string decrease since the line suspended are flexible. When
the string of the insulator is used in conjunction with the steel towers, the line
conductors are lower than the cross arm which is earthed and acts as a lighting
arrestor.

In general, there are three types of suspension insulator:-

i)Hewiett suspension type.

ii)Cemented cap type.

iii)Core and link type of insulators.

2.3.1Hewiett suspension type:-

14
It is one of the earliest designs, and consists of one porcelain disc. The central top
portion of the insulator consists of two curved tunnels, the planes of which are at right
angles to each other. Lead covered steel U links are passed through these tunnels and
is bolted to the two similar units at top and bottom as shown in fig. The advantages of
this type of insulators are - i) Its design is simple. ii ) No cement etc is required. The
porcelain in between the two tunnels is under compression only and provides high
mechanical strength to the insulator. If by any accident the porcelain breaks, the line
conductors do not fall. The only disadvantage of this insulator is that the porcelain in
between two links is under the greatest electrostatic stress due to which it is liable to
puncture.

2.3.2Cemented Cap Type:-

It consists of a porcelain disc insulator which is grooved at the bottom in order to

increase the flashover distance. At the top of the insulator is cemented a galvanized
cast iron cap. In the hollow cavity of the insulator is cemented galvanized forged steel
pin, the lower enlarged end of this steel pin fits into the cavity of the steel cap of the
lower suspension insulator and forms a ball and socket connection. The main
disadvantage in this type of insulator is that cubical ex-pensions of the three materials –
iron, porcelain, and cement -- are different and no provision is made for their expansion
and due to this insulator fail.

15
2.3.3Core and link type insulator:
It is a combination of both the above types of suspension insulators. In this, the
advantages of Hewiiett and cemented cap type insulators have been grouped together.
In this type, each insulator disc is symmetrically placed and conforms to electrostatic
lines of force. This is the most recent type of construction and it permits the disc to be
formed out of quite thick porcelain thereby allowing the disc to be of one piece only. The
other important advantage is that it has high puncture strength.

2.4) Strain Insulator

When there is a dead end of the line or the line or there is the corner or sharp curve, the
line is subjected to greater tension. In order to relieve the line of excessive tension ,
strain insulator are used. For low voltage lines ( < 11 KV ), shackle insulators are used
as strain insulators. However, for high voltage transmission lines, strain insulator
consists of an assembly of suspension insulators as shown in Fig. The disc of strain
insulator is used in the vertical plane. When the tension in lines is exceedingly high, as
at long river spans, two or more strings are used in parallel.

Strain Insulator

2.5) Stay insulator

For low voltage lines, the stays are to be insulated from the ground at a height not less
than 13 meters from the ground. The insulator used in the stay wire is called as the stay
insulator and is usually of porcelain and is so designed that in a case of breakage of the
insulator the guywire will not fall to the ground.

Stay Insulator

16
2.6) Shackle Insulator or Spool Insulator
In early days, the shackle insulators were used as strain insulator. But, now days, they
are frequently used for low voltage distribution lines. Such insulator can be used either
in a horizontal position or in a vertical position. They can be directly fixed to the pole
with a bolt or to the cross arm. In the fig. shows, a shackle insulator fixed to the pole.
The conductors in the groove are fixed with a soft binding wire.

17
CHAPTER-3
JUMPERS

18
3.1 JUMPERS
ACSR conductor is usually used for jumper connections in substations. It is reasonably
flexible and serve the purpose. AAC or AAAC conductor is used when the atmosphere
is highly corrosive. But these being soft, care shall be taken in installation. Once bent, it
cannot be taken to earlier shape.

Some precautions are required in jumper connections. Let me narrate two incidents.

Some 30 years back, HV (220 KV) bushing failures were reported on a 600 MVA GSU
bank. Upper porcelain cracked and bushing had to be replaced. These were RIP ( resin
impregnated condenser bushings, first time being used in India)Since these were dry
type bushings without oil, bushing failure did not cause a transformer fire. The cause of
failure was that the jumper connection was without sag and connected to the middle of
the conductor catenary. During wind or short circuit current flow, catenary jumped and
oscillated, causing excessive pull on the bushing. When the jumper connection was
shifted to one end of catenary problem disappeared.

In another case 400 KV bushing exploded in a large inter connecting auto- transformer
(ICT). The jumper connection to bushing was made in hot summer at 45C with out
sufficient sag. When winter came, one early morning, at 2C ambient, bushing failed
tripping the transformer.

19
20