Conductor and Transformer Modeling Introduction The primary data for power system analysis is comprised of impedance and

connection data for overhead lines, underground cables, other electrical equipment, and of the magnitude and characteristics of load supplied from the electrical network. Conductor data for overhead and underground conductors is commonly obtained from a variety of sources, often without recognition of the assumptions inherent in published figures. Such factors as the number of conductors and their relative dispositions can have an impact on the values of resistance, inductance and shunt capacitance of multi-conductor lines or cable systems. This review endeavours to identify the significant factors involved and the simplifying assumptions that are permissible in order to provide an adequate set of conductor parameters with acceptable accuracy. OVERHEAD LINES Basic Conductor Impedance Calculations Carson1 developed a technique for calculating the self and mutual impedances of an arbitrary number of conductors in proximity. The use of a below ground image for each conductor, located at a depth equal to the height of the actual conductor above ground, represents the effect of any conductor current returning through ground.

Figure 1
Figure 1 illustrates the concept for two conductors and shows the distances between conductors used in the equations. The equations for self and mutual impedances for these two conductors are:

where

r = conductor resistance on ohms/mile f = system frequency in Hertz GMR = geometric mean radius of conductor in feet R = ground resistivity in ohm-meter Dab = distance between conductors a and b in feet The equations are converted to metric form by using the foot-meter relationship. The GMR of a conductor is a mathematical radius assigned to the conductor that describes the equivalent magnetic flux conditions relevant to computing the inductance. Ground resistivity values of 100 ohm-meter are taken as typical for many countries. Where soil conditions vary considerably from this value, some adjustment may be necessary. The impedances Zbb and Zba are derived using the above equations. The impedances Zab and Zba are symmetrical and therefore equal, but if an additional conductor, c, were to be introduced, the values of Zac and Zab, and Zaa and Zbb would not, in general, be equal since distribution lines are not normally transposed to equalize self and mutual impedances. Three and Four Wire Configurations Using modified forms of Carsons equations, the so-called primitive impedance matrix for a 4wire overhead grounded system can be derived from the self and mutual impedances of each conductor pair and represented in matrix form as:

These values are determined from the conductor spacing (framing). Unless the neutral conductor is to be specifically represented, which is not normally the case, the 4x4 matrix can be reduced to a 3x3 by partitioning the matrix and eliminating the neutral elements as follows.

This array contains the primitive impedance values adjusted by including the effect of the neutral in the phase values. For two and single phase configurations, the equations are now:

For 3-wire systems, the basic impedance matrix is defined directly by the primitive impedances by eliminating the terms relating to the non-existent neutral.

Distribution systems generally are considered to have unbalanced loading across the phases, even when load at the higher voltage levels is balanced, because of the imbalanced loads supplied at lower voltage levels. When analysis was restricted because of computing capacity limitations, it was common to conduct analyses using sequence components. Nowadays, desktop computing power is sufficient to permit direct computation in the phase reference frame described above. Nevertheless, the widespread availability of sequence impedance component values in standard tables makes it convenient to derive relationships between phase and sequence parameters. By applying symmetrical component transformation, the phase self and mutual impedances (equations 4 and 5) are transformed to the equivalent sequence impedances:

The off-diagonal terms are the mutual coupling between sequences. If the simplifying assumptions are accepted that self and mutual impedances are represented by average values, the off-diagonal terms become zero and the sequences are uncoupled. The sequence impedances are now:

Likewise, the sequence impedances can be used to reconstitute the original self and mutual impedances:

Practical Considerations A quantitative measure of the phase impedance imbalances is indicated in the values computed for the two configurations listed in Table 1 where the greatest difference between actual and average phase self and mutual impedance values of a 12.47 kV line are given.

Table 1
These values are for untransposed conductors. If the conductors were regularly transposed over the length of the feeder, all self and mutual impedances would be identical. In practice, the conductor spacing and configuration (framing) can, and usually does, change frequently over the length of a feeder. Depending upon the conductor size, the self-impedance is typically between 2 and 6 times the value of the mutual impedance. If the three-phase loading of the feeder were balanced, the sum of the mutual voltage drops on each phase would tend to zero because of the 1200 phase displacement between the phases. Taking into account the above factors, and the difficulty of keeping track of where the framing changes, it is an acceptable approximation to use the average values for self and mutual impedances whether the line is three, two or single phase. If long three-phase rural lines with homogeneous framing are of concern, the self and mutual impedances of Equation 5 must be used. If the analysis method does not allow for non-symmetrical impedance modeling, as is usually the case, the largest self and mutual values are used to produce the greatest values of voltage drop. Line Capacitance

The voltage and line lengths of overhead distribution feeders are such that shunt capacitance to ground is not significant. For completeness however, the nominal pi representation is commonly used for each conductor where the capacitance is divided into two equal values and applied one at each end.

Figure 2
Thermal Rating Overhead line thermal loading limits depend upon the conductor size, material, physical structure and weather conditions such as temperature, wind speed and solar exposure. Lines can be assigned specific ratings such as normal (N), long-term emergency (LTE) and shortterm emergency (STE) ratings. Apart from the purely thermal conditions, a factor that cannot be ignored is the effect of temperature on the conductor sag that may be the limiting factor in defining safe clearances to ground for the conductor spans. Sag considerations need only be evaluated on a once-only basis when the line is constructed and should not be a factor thereafter. When reconductoring is undertaken to increase feeder rating, the sag issue should be re-addressed. The heat developed by the I2R loss in the conductor is used as the basis for defining continuous thermal ratings. Conductor temperatures should not exceed 75C to ensure that annealing conditions are avoided (the onset of annealing occurs typically at 1000C)3. Continuous ratings are calculated based on this safe temperature limit resulting in permissible temperature rises above ambient that are naturally greater in winter than summer3. For modeling purposes, it is convenient to used wind chill and humidity adjusted equivalent temperatures for winter and summer respectively as model inputs to simplify the model and provide a more robust representation. It is possible to determine continuous ratings for any ambient temperature so that maximum utilization of capacity is achieved3. Unfortunately, modern loading conditions in North America almost always occur in the summer and so the critical design loading must account for this. Assigning emergency ratings is somewhat subjective because the short-term rating will depend upon the previous loading history. It is impractical to determine this for every conductor in the

system and previous experience is often the only criterion for building a set of LTE and STE ratings. These vary across utilities. UNDERGROUND CABLES For underground cables, computing the sequence impedances and load and fault current ratings values is more complicated than for overhead lines because of the effect of physical installation arrangements such as conductor spacing, sheath materials and sheath bonding to ground3. These factors determine phase self and mutual impedances. Larger cable systems, particularly those that use separate phase cables, are designed individually and commonly use phase transposition along the cable route to minimize differences in impedance between phases. In such cases, the manufacturers or cable installation designers are the best sources of information. Underground cable thermal ratings are affected by the depth of burial, laying configuration, whether laid in ducts or direct buried, and the backfill material used in the vicinity if the cable. The true thermal limits for cyclic loading and short-term overloads can be evaluated by using a resistance-capacitance thermal analog model with each cable section treated independently. This is clearly impractical except to provide representative ratings and it is usual to resort to manufacturers representative data to obtain typical rating values. Underground and submarine cables are rated according to IEEE standards2. Because of the difficulty of determining the thermal capability for specific fault conditions, it is usual to define the minimum conductor sizes appropriate to withstanding given levels of fault current for specified fault durations. The Insulated Cable Engineers Association (ICEA) has produced these relationships in tabular form. As an example, quoting from the published table, the minimum size of aluminum cross-linked polyethylene cable necessary to withstand a short circuit current of 15,000 amps for 10 cycles is 250 kcmil. Any size less than this is liable to result in cable insulation damage. The ICEA has also established a set of maximum emergency overload temperatures for underground cables that define the maximum number of hours per year that cables can operate at these temperatures. The values are translated into capacity upgrading factors that can be applied in an emergency situation for the given period. For purposes of modeling, the representations in both phase and sequence coordinates are the same for overhead and underground cables. POWER TRANSFORMERS

For modeling purposes, transformers are represented as positive and zero sequence elements in the branch data. Positive and negative sequence impedances can be taken as being the same. Equivalent for 33-winding Transformers In representing 3-winding transformers for modeling purposes, it is necessary to transform the impedances derived from the conventional definition of the impedance relationship between the three windings to an equivalent (Figure 3) that can be used directly as a network element. The base impedances, all referred (marked ) to the high voltage windings, are defined as: ZHL = effective impedance of winding H with winding L short-circuited and winding T open ZLT = effective impedance of winding L with winding T short-circuited and winding H open ZTH = effective impedance of winding T with winding H short-circuited and winding L open

Figure 3
The equivalents are now defined as: ZHL=ZH+ZL ZLT=ZL+ZT ZTH=ZT+ZH which translates into: ZH=0.5(ZHL+ ZTH - ZLT) ZL=0.5(ZHL+ ZLT - ZTH) ZT=0.5(ZLT+ ZTH - ZHL) Sequence Impedance Equivalents For accurate modeling of transformers, the defining of sequence equivalent impedances is important. The equivalents for some types and connections of transformers can become quite complex. Some basic guidelines are given in defining equivalents for generic transformer types that can be used to determine the equivalents for the majority of transformers likely to be met. The sequence equivalents for a two winding transformer is shown in Figures 6 where all per unit impedances are referred to the primary side. Zab is the transformer leakage impedance between terminals a and b.

Figure 6
The sequence equivalents for a three winding transformer are shown in Figures 7a and 7b. Za, Zb and Zc are the star or wye equivalent of the impedances Zab, Zbc and Zca obtained by transforming the original mesh impedances as defined above. The lower case letters are the terminations of the actual windings. The spaces between the upper and lower case letters represents links that are either open or closed, depending upon the external connections to the transformer at terminals A, B and C.

Figure Figure 7a

Figure 7b

The zero sequence equivalent impedances depend on the transformer phase connections and whether a grounded neutral connection is available. It is useful to determine a few basic rules to assist in forming the equivalent: *No zero sequence currents can flow into or out of a delta-connected winding. *Zero sequence currents flow through a neutral connection only if the neutral is connected to a neutral conductor or ground. *A delta connected winding permits circulation of zero sequence current around the delta. *The ampere-turns product in each of two windings that are linked must be equal. These simple rules will make it easier to determine the equivalent zero sequence representation for connections between the transformer terminals. Transformer Phase Shifts Of significance in modeling is the phase shift of voltages and currents between transformer primary and secondary terminals. The most common phase shift is 300 as a consequence of delta-wye transformations (Figure 8). The shift can be positive or negative, depending upon the internal connections of the delta winding. Using a delta-wye transformation and rotating the secondary 3-phase connections clockwise or anti-clockwise produce 900 phase shifts (Figure 9). A wye-wye, delta-delta or open delta-open delta connection has 00 phase shift between primary and secondary. The phase shifts produced by transformers whose secondaries can be paralleled must be consistent to avoid unintended phase discrepancies between supplies.

Figure 8

Figure 9

Many other unusual connections, some occurring principally in distribution transformers, are referred to in Reference 4. REFERENCES 1. Carson, J.R., Wave propagation in overhead wires with ground return. Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 5, 1926. 2. IEEE Standard No. 135, "Power Cable Ampacities." 3. Electrical Transmission and Distribution Reference Book published byABB (re-published classic Westinghouse book) 4. Distribution System Modeling and Analysis. W.H.Kersting. Published by CRC Press.