MANAGEMENT OF METALIC PARTICLE CONTAMINATION IN GAS INSULATED SUBSTATION / GAS INSULATED TRANSMISSION LINES BY ELECTRODE COATING

Abstract The power industry has some years of manufacturing and field experience with compressed gas insulated switchgear and transmission lines. Metallic particle contamination is one of the areas of insulation design that are considered critical. The management and control of particle contamination are crucial considerations as the industry moves forward to higher voltage GIS and long GITL designs u s i n g S F 6 in s o m e c o m p o n e n t s . This paper demonstrates the control of metallic particles in compressed GIS/GITL by using dielectric coating on the inside s u r f a c e o f the outer enclosure of a coaxial electrode system. Several mo d e l s o f particle motion, particle charging and liftoff field, and SF6 breakdown are used. Results show that coating the enclosure with a dielectric m a t e r i a l i s effective in inhibiting particle motion, lowering charge acquired by a particle, increasing particle lift-off field. Experimental results are also given.

contamination are debris left from the manufacturing and assembly process, mechanical abrasion, movement of the central conductor under load cycling and vibration during shipment. Even with a very high level of quality control, it appears that a certain level of particulate contamination is unavoidable. Under an applied electric field a conducting particle acquires a charge and lifts off from its resting position on the conductor when the electrostatic force from the field becomes equal to the gravity force. Metallic particles move randomly in a horizontally mounted GIS/GITL system due to the electrode surface roughness and particle irregularities. Under 50/60 Hz AC voltage, the particle can cross the gap at a sufficiently high voltage level. However, the particle may remain in mid-gap or hover near the central electrode for several voltage cycles [1-3]. Particle movement plays a crucial role in determining the insulation behavior of GIS/GITL systems. Conductors in a gas-insulated system may be coated with a dielectric material to restore some of the dielectric strength of the compressed gas that is lost due to surface roughness and contamination with conducting particles. Coating reduces the degree of surface roughness on conductors, thus decreasing the high local electric fields [4-6]. The coating impedes the acquisition of charge by a particle resting on the coating and consequently the particle lift-off field is much increased due to the coating. The effect of dielectric coatings on the insulation performance of compressed gas insulated systems has been studied by several workers under DC, AC, and impulse voltages. Coating thickness has been varied, and a variety of coating materials with a broad range of

1. INTRODUCTION The development of gas insulated substation (GIS) and gas insulated transmission line (GITL) equipment has progressed rapidly worldwide because of the excellent insulation properties of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas. Free conducting particles may lower the corona onset and breakdown voltage of a GIS/GITL system considerably [1]. The most likely causes of such

physical properties have been used, for example, polymeric films and varnishes, epoxies, paraffin wax, and anodized aluminum. However, in this work, only coating thickness, resistivity, and dielectric constant are taken into account. The effect of coating is discussed for AC voltage. Particles in practical systems can exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and of materials of different densities. However, most contaminating particles have been reported to be wire in shape in practical compressed gas insulated systems [1]. In this paper, the performance of aluminum wire particles in horizontally mounted coaxial electrode systems under 50/60 Hz AC applied voltage is considered both theoretically and experimentally. In the theoretical calculations, the wire particle was represented by a cylinder hemi-spherically terminated at both ends [7]. 2. THEORETICAL CALCUATIONS The theoretical calculations were carried out with models of particle motion, particle charging and lift-off field, and SF6 breakdown probability. 2.1. Particle Motion Once levitated, the particle executes a random motion, and due to the inevitable roughness of the particle and the enclosure, it acquires a horizontal velocity. However, it was observed that lateral particle motion is inhibited as the applied voltage is increased, which may be due to a greater intensity of the electric field. At a sufficiently high applied voltage, the particle may cross the interelectrode gap. The particle movement may be studied for a variety of variables, for example, applied voltage, gas pressure, particle size, and GIS/GITL geometry. Particle movement can be described by a simple model [8]. In the presence of dielectric coating, the particle charging/discharging processes at the impact with the electrodes are complex. The charging mechanism is assumed as a partial discharge between the wire particle and the dielectric coating. Some calculated results of particle movement with coated enclosure have been presented elsewhere [8, 9], where the effects of applied voltage and gas pressure on the maximum height reached by wire particle are demonstrated. Pseudo resonance occurs with low coefficient of restitution. Results showed that the dielectric coating is effective in inhibiting particle movement. For aluminum wire particles of 0.27 mm diameter, the effect of particle length on maximum height reached by the particle in a 110 mm/304 mm coaxial electrode system is illustrated in Figure 1. For a given voltage level and duration, the maximum bounce height increases with particle length. This is mainly because the charge on the particle increases with the length of the particle. The

Figure 1: Variation of maximum bounce height with particle length maximum height reached by the particle is greatly reduced with a coated enclosure if compared with an uncoated enclosure. Figure 2 shows that the time elapsed for the particle to cross the inter-electrode gap, for the first time, would decrease with the particle length for a given applied voltage. Calculations were done assuming the sinusoidal wave of the applied voltage passes through the time origin. Figure 2 also shows that the particle needs more time to cross the gaseous gap at higher pressure and/or with coated enclosures. Although in gas discharges there are many reasons for uncertainty, the random nature of particle position is one such reason leading to the uncertainty in the risk of failure of GIS/GITL systems in the presence of metallic particles. The particle position density function demonstrates the probability the particle can reach a given height, as shown in Figure 3. As the applied voltage increases, the particle would have more chance to

Figure 2: Effect of particle length on time to first gap crossing

Figure 3: Normalized particle position density function reach the inner electrode. A knowledge of this function could provide useful guidance of the particle location during its movement under voltage application. 2.2. Particle Charging and Lift-off Field With the application of 50/60 Hz AC voltages, metallic particles in GIS/GITL systems would lift off from the outer enclosure when the electrostatic force overcomes the gravitational force. Before its lift-off, a particle lying horizontally or standing vertically on the surface of the outer enclosure would acquire some charge through the dielectric coating. However, the physical processes through which the particle acquires charge at lift-off and at subsequent encounters with the enclosure are not fully understood. It is believed that both conduction through the coating and microdischarges between the particle and the coating are assumed to play a role. The calculations of charge acquired by a particle at lift-off from the coated enclosure were considered under two mechanisms, conduction and discharge mechanisms [10]. Lift-off fields of wire particle were calculated accordingly with particle initial positions, horizontal and vertical [10, 11]. It was proposed that the controlling geometric parameter for field distribution around the wire particle is the particle length-to-radius ratio [8]. Generally, longer wire particles lead to higher field intensification, which would lower the lift-off field. On the other hand, longer particles are heavier, which requires more electrostatic force to lift off. Figure 4 shows the effect of coating thickness on the lift-off fields and charges of wire particles of the same diameter. The particle length varies from 3 to 9.5 mm. Generally, longer particles lift off at lower applied field than shorter particles, which means that wire particles are more hazardous than spherical particles. Meanwhile, the increase in the ratio of lift-off fields with a coating thickness of 100 m compared to uncoated enclosure is from about 4.8 to 2.5 for a range of particle lengths from 3 to 9.5 mm, which shows that longer wire particles are less affected by dielectric coating. The corresponding drop in the lift-off charge,

Figure 4: Effect of coating thickness on the lift-off field and charge of a vertical wire particle by micro discharge mechanism Compared with uncoated enclosure, is from about 80% to 60%. Figure 5 shows a comparison of the calculated lift-off fields using the two mechanisms for a vertical wire particle in a coaxial electrode system. It is difficult to predict which mechanism is dominant in the charging process of the particle with the practically used gas pressures and coating resistivity. This may suggest that a combination of the two mechanisms contributes to the particle charge accumulation process for the vertical wires. 2.3. SF6 Breakdown Probability Particle-initiated breakdown in a compressed gas configuration generally depends, among other parameters, on the position of the particle in the gaseous gap. For each position of the particle, there is a corresponding value of the voltage to be applied to the gap for breakdown to occur. It has been shown that the

Figure 5: Calculated lift-off fields for a wire particle in vertical position by two charging mechanisms

breakdown occurs in a two-stage process when the particle is near the central conductor. At a sufficiently high applied voltage the small gas gap between the particle and the central conductor breaks down first, followed by a breakdown across the larger gap to the enclosure. The concept of breakdown voltage profile in particlecontaminated GIS/GITL systems has been introduced using the steamer formation criterion in SF6 [12]. The profile describes the instantaneous breakdown voltage as a function of the particle position. The concept was extended to include corona stabilization [13]. The modification is necessary only for a positive point breakdown [14, 15]. For all pressures less than the critical pressure, the radius of the corona cloud replaces the original particle radius in estimating the breakdown voltage. For both coated and uncoated enclosures, Figure 6 shows the breakdown voltage profiles at two pressures for a wire particle. Both the gas pressure and coated enclosure would increase the instantaneous breakdown voltage at each position. The figure also shows that the coated enclosure would increase the critical breakdown voltage. It is assumed that the charge accumulation on the coating does not affect the field in the coaxial gas gap. The breakdown voltage profile together with the particle position density function may be used in estimating the breakdown probability in particle contaminated GIS/GITL systems [16]. In this approach, the statistics of availability of an initiatory electron at an appropriate place and time are ignored. Figure 7 shows the calculated breakdown probability as a function of applied voltage. At a given gas pressure the probability of the SF6 breakdown, due to the presence of a charged particle, increases with the applied voltage. It should be pointed out that the effect of electrode surface roughness and particle surface irregularities were not considered in the model. Figure 7 also shows that the deleterious effects are less pronounced at higher pressures, and the dielectric coating of outer enclosure greatly reduces the breakdown probability of SF6 in the presence of metallic particles. 3. EXPERIMENTAL Figure 8: Experimental set-up Experiments were conducted on the particle lift-off field and dynamics. The GIS bus used in the experiments is a part of single-phase prototype bus with both the inner electrode and outer enclosure made of aluminum. Figure 8 shows the experimental set-up. The lift-off voltage was determined by applying a linearly rising AC ramp voltage (8-9 kV/sec) and observing the particle when it lifted from its resting position on the enclosure. The procedure was repeated approximately 10 times. Due to the confined space of the GIS bus, it was difficult to paint the coating on the inside surface of the outer enclosure and get a coating thickness sufficiently uniform at the same time. Therefore, loose rolled aluminum sheets were used along the entire length of the GIS bus. The aluminum sheet was then coated by epoxy coating. Two types of epoxy coatings were used in the experiments, which have dielectric constants of 3.5 and 7.23, respectively. Four aluminum wire particles were used in the measurements. Particles were cut into desired lengths and no attempt was made to smooth the wire ends. The variations of measured values of lift-off fields from the mean value are less than 30%.

Figure 6: Effect of dielectric coating on breakdown voltage profile

Figure 7: Effect of applied voltage and dielectric coating on SF6 breakdown probability

Figure 9 shows measured and calculated values of lift-off fields, where the measured values are marked with square dots. Measured values of both coating types are displayed after being converted to peak values for comparison. It should be noted that the zero value of coating thickness corresponds to uncoated enclosure. The particle position is set as vertical in the calculations since the particle lifted off from its vertical position in the experiments. The calculations were with the both charging mechanisms. Calculations show that the dielectric constant of the coating has very little effect on lift-off fields for vertical wire particles. It may be seen that neither of the two charging mechanisms, conduction or microdischarge, is dominant in the charging process of the particle. The effect of coating sheet on the ambient field distribution was not considered in the calculations. Detailed experimental results have been presented in Reference [17], where the video footage of the particle lift-off process and movement in the inter-electrode gap was obtained. Video shots of particle lift-off process verified the lateral motion of particle. Pseudo resonance of particle motion was also observed at low applied voltage. The comparison of calculations and observations of particle movement shows that the computational model of particle motion is useful in the study of particle movement. Due to the system constraint, the test of the particle-initiated SF6 breakdown probability could not be carried out since the system flashover would take place before the occurrence of the particle-initiated breakdown. 4. DISCUSSION Conducting particle contaminants in compressed GIS/GITL play a crucial role in adversely affecting the insulation performance of the system. Efforts are currently being made to study different methods of particle detection, control, and elimination, in an attempt to overcome the problem of particle contamination. In this research, management of particle contamination by coating the outer enclosure is discussed. The models of particle movement, particle charge and lift-off field, and SF6 breakdown probability are presented. Calculations show that dielectric coatings applied to the inside surface of the outer enclosure of a coaxial GIS/GITL system improve the insulation performance. The experimental work includes particle lift-off measurements and observation of particle dynamics. Comparison of measured and calculated results of particle lift-off fields shows that neither of the two charging mechanisms, conduction or micro discharge, is dominant in the particle charging process. Hence, a combination of the two mechanisms may contribute to the lift-off the particle. The system insulation integrity benefits only from thin coatings when the outer enclosure is coated. Both the calculations and measurements show that particle lift-off Figure 9: Comparison of calculated and measured liftoff fields (measured data are marked with square dots) field does not increase continuously with the coating thickness. There is experimental evidence that dielectric coatings acquire surface charge under an applied voltage. The two models for particle charging discussed in this paper have not taken into account such surface charges. Also it is difficult to quantify the magnitude and distribution of the charges. The present work is focused on the AC applied voltage. However, there is considerable industry interest in DC GIS/GITL [18, 19]. The particle contamination effects under DC applied voltage are very severe, since as soon as a particle levitates at an appropriate applied voltage magnitude, it will cross the inter-electrode gap, and may cause gas breakdown, or may get embedded on the central conductor and lead to breakdown. The most dangerous condition is an embedded or strongly adhering particle on a support spacer. Some manufacturers have combined dielectric coatings and electrostatic field shaping to drive particles away from spacers [18]. A recent development is to use thicker dielectric coatings on the central conductor to increase the breakdown voltage of the insulating gas. Such coatings will acquire charge and some researchers have developed models to predict improvement in overall insulation strength. The insulation performance of charged coated surfaces is difficult to control and predict over the life time of GIS/GITL equipment [19]. 5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research is supported form the United States National Science Foundation (Grant No. ECS-97 06297) and from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The helpful discussions with Dr. Stanislaw M. Gubanski of Chalmers University of Technology are greatly appreciated.

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