C. Mazzetti

Influence of a lossy ground on lightning-induced voltages on overhead lines

A comprehensive study on the effect of a lossy ground on the induced voltages on overhead power lines by a nearby lightning strike is presented. The ground conductivity plays a role in both the evaluation of the lightning radiated fields and of the line parameters. To be calculated by means of a rigorous theory, both fields and line constants need important computation time, which, for the problem of interest, is still prohibitive. The aim of this paper is to discuss and analyze the various simplified approaches and techniques that have been proposed for the calculation of the fields and the line constants when the ground cannot be assumed as a perfectly conducting plane. Regarding the radiated electromagnetic field, it is shown that the horizontal electric field, the component which is most affected by the ground finite conductivity, can be calculated in an accurate way using the Cooray-Rubinstein simplified formula. The presence of an imperfectly conducting ground is included in the coupling equations by means of two additional terms: the longitudinal ground impedance and the transverse ground admittance, which are both frequency-dependent. The latter can generally be neglected for typical overhead lines, due to its small contribution to the overall transverse admittance of the line. Regarding the ground impedance, a comparison between several simplified expressions used in the literature is presented and the validity limits of these expressions are established. It is also shown that for typical overhead lines the wire impedance can be neglected as regard to the ground impedance.

Lightning-induced voltages on overhead lines

A modeling procedure that permits calculation of lightning-induced voltages on overhead lines starting from the channel-base current is discussed. The procedure makes use of a coupling model already presented in the literature, based on transmission line theory, for field-to-overhead line coupling calculations. Both models are discussed and compared with experimental results. The hypothesis of perfect conducting ground, used to analyze the voltages induced on an overhead line by a nearby lightning return stroke with a striking point equidistant from the line terminations, and the limits of its validity are determined. A comparison shows that peak value and maximum front steepness of the induced voltages calculated using other lightning return-stroke models differ. It is also shown that another coupling model used in the power-lightning literature by several other authors may result in a less accurate estimation of the induced voltages. >

Comparison of two coupling models for lightning-induced overvoltage calculations

The two coupling models most frequently used in the power-lightning literature for the calculation of lightning-induced overvoltages, namely the model by Chowdhuri and Gross (1967) and the model by Agrawal, Price and Gurbaxani (1980), are compared and discussed. It is shown that the Chowdhuri-Gross model is incomplete: the source term due to the contribution of the magnetic induction is missing. The authors investigate how much the lack of the source term affects the accuracy of the calculated overvoltages. Experimental tests of the two models using a short line illuminated by a NEMP simulator support the theoretical conclusion. >

Response of multiconductor power lines to nearby lightning return stroke electromagnetic fields

The calculation of voltages induced by indirect lightning on multiconductor overhead power lines has been the subject of several studies. The reported conclusions are not always in agreement with each other. In this paper, using a modeling procedure presented in a previous work, the authors study the shielding effect due to mutual coupling among the conductors of a three-phase power line and between the ground wires and the line conductors. The results are compared with those published by other authors, and explanations of the disagreements are given. Additionally, a simplified method to evaluate lightning-induced voltages on a multiconductor line from the values obtained for the single conductor case is presented, and a simple formula which gives the magnitude reduction of the induced voltages due to the presence of other conductors is derived. It is shown that, for the examined case, the derived simple formula gives practically the same results as those obtained using the rigorous procedure. The authors have also compared results obtained using the simplified formula proposed by Rusck to evaluate the protective ratio of a ground wire with their results, and they have found that the values predicted by the Rusck formula are about 6% lower than their own.

Partial discharge pulse sequence patterns and cavity development times in transformer oils under AC conditions

Discrete partial discharge (PD) pulse occurrence times within the PD pulse bursts in transformer oils were found to extend from approximately 0.42 to 2.9 /spl mu/s, with the discrete pulse separation times evincing a weak dependence on the inverse of the oil viscosity. Many PD pulse burst patterns exhibited substantial deviation from the classical behavior, which is normally characterized by successive discrete pulses of ascending amplitude with well defined increases in the pulse separation times. The average elapsed time from the incipient formation for the cavity to the onset of the first partial discharge event extended downwards from 0.62 to 0.42 /spl mu/s with increasing oil viscosity.

Phase relationship of PD pulses in dielectric liquids under ac conditions

Partial discharge pulse phase analysis carried out on a mineral oil and a perfluoropolyether with point-to-plane electrodes provided further and additional evidence that discharge epochs tend to be concentrated in the vicinity of the alternating voltage peaks at discharge inception in lieu of the voltage zeros characteristic of normal cavities occluded in solid and liquid-impregnated solid insulating systems. Relatively large positive polarity discharge pulses, having an associated charge transfer of /spl ges/15 pC with a recurrence rate of at least one per every ten consecutive cycles, appear initially on the positive half-cycle; with further increases in applied voltage both their number and magnitude continue to exceed those of negative polarity over the negative half-cycle. This behavior is to be distinguished from that commonly observed with high sensitivity measurements, which clearly indicate that early discharge onset in liquids is characterized by the occurrence of minute highly intermittent negative polarity pulses. The increase in charge transfer of the discharge pulses with applied voltage is suggestive of the development of longer more intense streamers in the dielectric liquids at the more elevated electrical fields. Also the results infer that discharges or streamers form and propagate more readily in the mineral oil than in the electronegative perfluoropolyether.

Simultaneous ultrawide and narrowband detection of PD pulses in dielectric liquids

Simultaneous narrow band (300 kHz) and wide band (500 MHz) measurements were carried out to obtain estimates of the apparent charge transfer associated with discrete isolated discharge pulses and discharge pulse bursts, which are observed to occur in dielectric liquids when wide band detection systems are utilized. The integrated apparent charge transfers determined with the narrow band system ranged from 12 to 95 pC, which represents typically the lower range of values normally encountered with PD activity in dielectric liquid-filled or impregnated equipment. While the discharge phenomena in perfluoro polyether liquids was found to be typified by sporadic appearances of single isolated pulses involving charge transfers between 33 and 38 pC, the discharge events in mineral oils assumed most frequently the form of pulse bursts, displaying the usual pulse sequences of quasi-ascending amplitudes; the overall integrated apparent charge transfer of the observed pulse bursts extended commonly from 12 to 16 pC. The charge release, occurring with the first (initiating) smallest discharge pulse within the pulse bursts, was estimated to be of the order of /spl sim/1 pC.

PD pulse burst characteristics of transformer oils

Partial Discharge (PD) characteristics of four typical transformer oils, having respective viscosities of 3.5, 9.1, 13.0, 18.3 cSt at 40/spl deg/C, were examined under ac conditions, using a needle-to-plane electrode system. Wide and narrow bandwidth measurements were carried out to determine simultaneously the apparent charge transfers associated with the overall PD pulse bursts in the oil as well as that of the individual discrete PD pulses within the PD pulse bursts themselves. Based on the apparent charge transfer value, the size or depth of the PD initiating microcavities in the field direction within the oils, producing the first detected discrete PD pulse, were estimated to be in the order of 2 /spl mu/m. The recurrence rate of the PD pulse bursts was found to increase with voltage above the PD inception voltage; this increase was accompanied by both an increase in number of discrete PD pulses and their amplitude within the pulse burst itself. These increases were reflected by a substantial rise in the apparent charge transfer per PD pulse burst. The charge transfer levels of the PD pulse bursts associated with the highly pressurized gas microcavities were of the same order of magnitude as those produced within the normally much larger macroscopic cavities that exist under atmospheric pressure in conventional oil-impregnated insulating systems of power transformers.

Early stages of negative PD development in dielectric liquids

The pulse shapes in the early stages of partial discharge (PD) development, well before liquid streamer onset, and obtained with a 500 MHz wide band detection system using needle-to-metallic plane electrodes submerged in a mineral oil, were compared to those measured with needle to mineral oil plane electrodes in air under negative dc potential. All measurements were carried out /spl ap/50% below the breakdown field value, using gap separations between 3 and 25 mm. Whereas the needle to plane discharge behavior in the mineral oil was characterised by discrete sporadic pulses or burst of several pulses of increasing negative amplitude and oscillatory form, the needle to mineral oil plane gap in air gave rise to primarily dense bursts of unidirectional negative pulses with sequentially decreasing amplitude. The pulses had rise times typically of the order of 1 to 2 ns, indicating the involvement of rapid PD mechanisms. >

Partial discharge pattern recognition by neuro-fuzzy networks in heat-shrinkable joints and terminations of XLPE insulated distribution cables

An identification technique is described, based on a developed adaptive fuzzy logic network, that enables the recognition of partial discharges (PD) generated by different defects in heat-shrinkable joints and terminations of XLPE insulated power distribution cables. It is shown that different sources of PD can be identified on the basis of fuzzy rules applied to a selection of parameters derived from PD-pulse phase and amplitude distributions. A comparison with other PD pattern recognition techniques based on traditional neural networks is presented and discussed.