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13.1 INTRODUCTION
The power system performance is evaluated for the steady state, temporary
overvoltages, switching overvoltages and fast front transients. Switching, faults and
lightning surges cause the overvoltages in a power system. In this Chapter,
overvoltages due to lightning surges are evaluated in the power system from the line
protection and safety points of view. Specifically, overvoltages due to lightning
strike are important in the insulation coordination and insulator flashover.
Therefore, this type of study is used to specify the surge arrester specifications for
system protection and optimum location of the arrester. Also, based on this study
sometimes the surge capacitors are installed to reduce the rate of rise of the surge
voltages. In this Chapter, the type of lightning surges, the effect of these surges on
the power system, the system modeling and example studies without and with
lightning arrester are presented.
The lightning surges interacting with the power system can be identified as direct
lightning stroke or back flashover.
y) + 2Cx
Ds (13.1)
2(h-y)
Where C = V* 2 + ( h ~ y ) 2 (13.2)
G1 G2<? Cloud
Position
R (max)
T y
1
A, B, C = Phase Conductors, Gl, G2 = Ground Conductors
Figure 13.1 Example for the Calculation of Maximum Lightning Current in the
Case of a Direct Stroke on a Phase Conductor
Is - (13.3)
The current source representing the lightning surge is dependent on the geometry
of the tower configuration. The field data shows that the lightning on the phase
conductor is responsible for overvoltages in about 90% of the cases.
Example 13.1 - Calculate the lightning strike current for a 345 kV system, with h
= 49.4 m, y = 42 m and x = 2.05 m. Is this a significant current to do any damage
to the tower, insulator or conductor?
Solution - Using equations 13.1 through 13.3, the equivalent current can be
estimated.
Is=
l.l
This is a significant current on a 345 kV system. This type of current flow on a 345
kV system can cause considerable damage if the system is not protected
accordingly.
Back flashover - Lightning strokes are of very high potential with the capacity
to discharge hundreds of kilo- Ampere with low-rise time. The surges can strike
overhead neutral wires, towers or phase conductors and may produce
overvoltages sufficient to cause sparkover across the insulators. Since most of the
stroke current flows into the ground during the back flashover, the tower footing
resistance has a major impact on the overvoltages generated. The back flashover
causes a line to ground fault that will be cleared by a circuit breaker. A line
outage will result until the circuit breaker is reclosed. Typical range of lightning
surge characteristics causing the back flashover is:
The surge current from the tower or the neutral conductor to the phase conductor
is characterized by a sharp rise time and much smaller magnitude of the order of
10 to 20 kA.
The models are identified for each of the power system components used in the
transient simulation.
Circuit breaker - Depending on the nature of the study, the circuit breakers can be
represented as time-dependent or voltage-dependent switch.
Transformer - The model for multi-phase systems can be the typical two winding
transformer described in Chapter 10. For other transformers a capacitance
representation is adequate. Sometimes a damping resistor is used across the
capacitor.
Transmission lines or cables - If the surge impedance and the travel time is
available for the phase conductor and the ground conductor, such a model is
suitable for lightning surge analysis. Phase conductors and shield wires between
towers are represented individually in order to include the effects of tower
resistance and associated grounding effects. The insulators are represented with the
flashover characteristics. Figure 13.3 shows the model for line conductors, shield
conductor, insulators, the tower and the tower footing resistance [1]. The required
line parameters can be determined by using a line constants program utilizing the
tower configuration and conductor geometry. The surge impedance is defined by:
T
Zs = - (13.4)
where L and C are the inductance and capacitance of the line per unit length. The
corresponding wave speed is given by:
1
(13.5)
'LC
line length
Travel time = (13.6)
where the line length is known. Typical surge impedance of the line conductors
varies from (250 to 500) Ohms, while the ground mode surge impedance is around
700 Ohms. The surge impedance of the cables is much lower.
X X
Insulator
Capacitance
~=
Surge Impedance
of the Tower
Resistance of
the Tower
Figure 13.3 Model for Line, Insulators, Tower and Tower Footing Resistance
A typical transmission line model suitable with the lightning surge propagation is
shown in Figure 13.3 [1].
Towers and tower footing resistance - The steel towers are usually represented by
a surge impedance and the velocity of propagation. The tower footing resistance
varies from 10 Ohms to 100 Ohms. The surge impedance of the tower depends on
the geometry of the structure. The travel time is obtained by dividing the height of
the tower by the speed of light. In the case of wooden towers, a parallel combination
of resistance and capacitor can be used. This leakage impedance can vary
significantly depending on the temperature and moisture content in the air.
Substation buses and cables - Though the buses and the cables in the substation
are of very short length, sometimes they are represented in the transient analysis.
Such modeling plays an important role when comparing the performance of the air
insulated bus versus the gas insulated substation (GIS) arrangement. The other
substation equipment such as circuit breakers, instrument transformers and the step
down transformers are represented by the stray capacitance to ground. Typical
capacitance values of substation equipment [1] are presented in Table 13.1.
Capacitance to Ground, pF
Equipment 115kV 400 kV 765 kV
Disconnect switch 100 200 160
Circuit breaker (dead tank) 100 150 600
Bus support insulator 50 120 150
Capacitive PT 5,000 5,000 4,000
Magnetic PT 500 550 600
Current transformer 250 680 800
Auto-transformer 3,500 2,700 5,000
Point by point model - The model for the transient's program is selected by using
a type 92 nonlinear device with the following characteristics:
Current, kA 10
The device goes into the conduction mode when V > Vbreakdown and stops
conduction when the current reaches zero. The point-by-point data for the surge
arresters are available from the manufacturer's data sheet. Sample point-by-point
data for a 230 kV metal oxide surge arrester are given below.
Current, kA Voltage, kV
1.5 379
3.0 401
5.0 414
10.0 440
20.0 488
40.0 546
This type of data can be readily used for the simulation in a suitable format.
Where q = 26 for zinc oxide arrester. For gapped silicon type of arrester q = 6. In
order to use this model the following parameters are required.
1000
Time, Microsecond
Time step and simulation duration - The accuracy of the digital simulation can
be affected by the time step that is too large or too small. The time step depends
on the type of the surge, the minimum length of the travelling modes and other
Calculation of the tower top voltages - Due to lightning strike on the tower,
shield conductor or directly to phase conductors there will be a current flow
through the tower to the ground. The tower is a metallic structure with a definite
resistance and hence there will be a voltage at the tower top with respect to the
ground. It is estimated that 40% of the lightning strokes hit the conductor in the
span and 60% of the strokes hit the tower. If the tower top voltage exceeds a
critical limit then there will be a flashover across the insulator to the phase
conductor. Therefore, the tower top voltage is an important factor in the tower
design and the selection of the insulators. An approximate estimation of the tower
top voltage (Vt) can be performed with reference to Figure 13.6 as described
below:
I A/
(13.7)
Where
Z
SZT
(13.8)
Zg + 2Zy
= (13.10)
2
T z s; Z T +R
2T
(13.11)
Example 13.2 - Calculate the tower top voltage of a 230 kV tower using the
following parameters. Zs - 350 Ohm, ZT = 200 Ohm, R - 10 Ohm, Tt = 0.3
microsecond, TO = 2 microsecond. The current through tower is 10 kA.
(350) (200)
Z = = 93.3 ohm
1
350 + 2(200)
(2) (200)
" _
~ "
Conductor
Vt
The lightning surge analysis is performed using the Electro Magnetic Transients
program [8]. The following assumptions are made in this analysis in order to
simplify the overall complexity.
The overhead lines, bus and the cables are modeled using the surge
impedance and the travel time.
The system resistance is ignored.
The effect of corona is neglected.
The effect of mutuals are neglected.
A single phase model is used.
Example 13.3 - The one-line diagram of the 230 kV system for the surge analysis is
shown in Figure 13.7. The various transmission line sections, bus and cable are
modeled using surge impedance and wave travel time. The appropriate surge
impedance and travel time involved in various sections are listed in Table 13.2.
Solution - The standard lightning wave is switched on to the line at bus 3 location
using a time-dependent switch. The lightning surge is assumed to hit the phase A
conductor directly. The following two cases are considered.
Case 1: No surge arrester present at bus 6 location (Figure 13.7, ignore SA).
Case 2: Lightning arrester is present at bus 6 location. A 192 kV/phase surge
arrester with MCOV of 152 kV is used in this example.
The time domain waveforms are studied at various locations. Figure 13.8 shows the
waveform at bus 6 for case 1. The peak voltage magnitudes due to the lightning
currents are of the order of 2,000 kV (10.7 P.U.). Such overvoltage magnitude can
cause flashover across the insulator and failure. Figures 13.9 and 13.10 respectively
show the voltage waveforms at bus 6 and bus 7 when a surge arrester is present at
bus 6. At bus 6, the voltages are clamped to 400 kV which is higher than the
breakdown voltage of the 230 kV surge arrester. But as can be seen at bus 7
(transformer location) the voltage magnitudes are higher than the surge arrrester
breakdown voltage because of the travelling wave reflections. The summary of
results for the cases 1 and 2 are presented in Table 13.3.
=- - ict ^Rt
It can be seen from the results of case 2, that the overvoltage magnitudes are
controlled by the surge arrester at bus 6 to 2.13 P.U. But the overvoltage
magnitudes at the transformer bus 7 is 4.26 P.U. The allowed fast front transient
for a 230 kV surge arrester is 2.6 P.U. Therefore, in order to protect the
transformer adequately, another set of surge arresters are needed at the
transformer location, namely at bus 7.
o c;nn nnn
9 oon ooo -
>
of
1,500,000
^X^v^x
o> NV/AV
2 f \
>
o 1 000 000
cnn nnn /
n _
0.00000 0.00002 0.00004 0.00006 0.00008 0.00010
Time, Second
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
-200,000
^00,000
-600,000
-800,000
-1,000,000
0.00000 0.00002 0.00004 0.00006 0.00008 0.00010
Time, Second
Discussions - This is a very simplified approach for the lightning surge analysis.
However, the results are useful in understanding the behavior of the power
system during lightning strike without and with surge arresters. The accuracy of
the results is limited due to the following reasons:
At fast front transient level (10 kHz to 30 MHz) the line resistance becomes
fairly high, due to the skin effect in the conductors.
When the flashover across the insulator occurs, the travelling waves will take
the path of the tower. This simulation involves the tower and the tower
footing resistance.
Example 13.4 - Using the single phase model discussed above, prepare a muti-
phase model for the lightning surge analysis. Include a ground conductor with a
surge impedance of 755 Ohm. The lightning surge hits phase A. Perform the
analysis without and with surge arresters at bus 6.
Solution - A three-phase four wire system model for the lightning surge analysis
is presented in Figure 13.11. A 10 Ohm resistance is used to represent the tower
and the tower footing resistance. The mutuals are neglected. The following two
cases are simulated using the Electromagnetic Transients Program [8].
Case 3: No surge arrester present at bus 6 location (Figure 13.11, ignore SA).
Case 4: Lightning arrester is present at bus 6 location. A 192 kV/phase surge
arrester with MCOV of 152 kV is used in this example.
The time domain waveforms are studied at various locations. Figure 13.12 shows
the waveform at bus 6 for case 3. The peak voltage magnitudes due to the lightning
currents are of the order of 2,000 kV (10.7 P.U.). Figures 13.13 and 13.14
respectively show the voltage waveforms at bus 6 and bus 7 when a surge arrester is
present at bus 6 for case 4. At bus 6, the voltages are clamped to 400 kV, which is
higher than the breakdown voltage of the 230 kV surge arrester. But it can be seen
at bus 7 (transformer location) that the voltage magnitudes are of the order of 3.73
P.U. These results are similar to the results from the single-phase model.
-o
Vb SA tq
Vc
Cb bt
ti Ct
Rg
o c;nn nnn
o nnn nnn i\
r~S \_~,
1 nnn nnn
0.00000 0.00002 0.00004 0.00006 0.00008 0.00010
Time, Second
800,000
600,000
400,000 -
200,000
0
-200,000
-400,000
-600,000
-800,000
0 0.00002 0.00004 0.00006 0.00008 0.0001
Time, Second
The risk assessment due to lightning surges can be estimated based on the
historical data on the number of lightning days per year for a given location and
the critical current due to lightning on the phase or ground conductor. The
insulator withstand voltages are known. Based on the critical current magnitudes
on the system, the probability of exceeding the flashover voltage of the insulator
can be evaluated. Knowing the risk, the loss of load probability can be estimated.
The assessment approach is approximate since many of the variables involved are
not easily measurable.
The direct stroke and the back flashover lightning strokes on the power system
are discussed in this Chapter. An approach to estimate the current magnitudes
due to the lightning stroke on the power system is identified. The power system
model suitable for the lightning surge analysis is discussed and some examples
are presented to show the simulation approaches. The effect of surge arresters to
control the overvoltages within allowed levels is shown through simulation
results.
PROBLEMS
E
<
100 microsecond
Time
3. In Example 1 if the surge current is 110 kA, calculate the tower top voltage. Is
this a voltage magnitude that can cause any severe damage to any component
or equipment?
4. In theory and calculations the discussion are on a single lightning strike and
the system protection related issues. Is there a possibility of multiple lightning
strikes at the same location? What are the expected consequences?
REFERENCES