UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

School of Electrical and Information Engineering

ELEC 5205 HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING

TUTORIALS
Note: System frequency in Australia is 50 hz.

1. Consider a typical lattice tower transmission line, such as that shown in fig T1. Comment
on all possible causes of failure, relevant to various parts of Australia from the tropics to
Tasmanian highlands, in summer and winter.

2. Develop the formula for the phase to neutral inductance of a balanced 3-phase line:
L = 2 x 10-7.ln(D/r’), where D is the spacing and r’ the effective radius (self
GMR) of the conductors.

3. Considering the general case of n forward and return conductors, develop the expression
for phase to neutral inductance,
L = 2 x 10-7.ln(GMD/GMR),

and hence the GMR of the composite conductor,

4. Determine the formulas for the GMR of 2-wire, 3-qwire and 4-wire bundles. In each case,
each conductor has an equivalent radius of r’ and the spacings between each conductor in
the bundle is d.

5. Show that the phase to neutral shunt capacitance of a 3-phase line, of conductor spacing D
and radius r, is given by
C = 2πε/ln(D/r).

6. Show that the phase to neutral shunt capacitance of a co-axial (sheathed) cable of
conductor radius r and insulation thickness D, is given by
C = 2πε/ln(D/r),

and the phase to neutral inductance is

L = 2x 10-7ln(D/r’).

Compare with a single-phase 2-wire line and a balanced 3-phase line in both cases. Why
the differences?

7. Consider the distribution pole and transmission tower lines shown in fig T1. Both lines
use the same Aluminium conductor “iodine” (7 strands of 4.75 mm dia). Details are
shown. Calculate the inductance and shunt capacitance and surge impedance for pole and
tower (single and bundled conductor) lines and comment on the differences. (Consider
just one circuit for the tower lines, ignore any mutual impacts of the second circuit). What
impact may the differences in L and C have on the power transfer capacities of the lines?
Note: In the tower lines, ‘E’ is the earth wire, 4 m above the top conductor
Fig T-1
8. A three-phase power line has horizontally arranged conductors of “iodine” conductor
(above) and spacing 2 meters. Average height above ground is 10 meters. Calculate the
average phase to neutral capacitance, both ignoring and considering the presence of the
earth. Comment on results.

9. Calculate the current-carrying capacity of “iodine” 7-strand Aluminium overhead

conductor under “summer” conditions of 35 deg C ambient temperature, maximum
conductor temperature of 100 deg C under both calm and in wind conditions of 1 m/sec
wind speed. The conductor has a resistance of 0.29 ohms/km and each strand a diameter
of 4.75mm. (Calculate the “equivalent” radius based on an equivalent smooth single
conductor of the same cross-sectional area). Use a thermal emissivity constant of 0.5

10. An underground cable is energised from “cold” by a step load. The step load is 2 times
the steady-state rated load of the cable. The cable thermal response time is that it reaches
95% of its ultimate temperature after 30 minutes (for a step load input). If the conductor
and insulator temperature is not to exceed normal limits, how long can the step load be
applied before the cable reaches its thermal limit?

11. Several underground cables are laid in a common trench. Use the standard de-rating
factors for 2, 3, 4 and 5 cables. The raw cable cost is 20% of the total installed cost (cable
+ trenching + restoration) for a single-cable trench. Trenching costs for 2, 3, 4 and 5-
cable tranches are 105%, 110%, 115% and 120% of the costs of a basic 1-cable trench.
What is the optimum number of cables to place in a common trench?

12. The average “thunder-day” level in the Sydney region is 35. Using the formulae in Ref
(2), estimate the average number of strokes a 100-km long transmission line ought to
experience. From the lightning mitigation table, recommend a typical design approach for
the Sydney area.

13. For the transmission line in Q 7 above, estimate the inductive voltage at a tower due to a
lightning stroke. Assume 100 m of conductor. The mean lightning front rises from 0 to
30 kA in 1.5 µsec.

14. Calculate the size of earthing rod required at a HV transmission tower, if the maximum
tower earthing resistance is to be limited to 10 ohms. Thermal resistivity of the soil is 1.2
K.m/W.

15. Consider a single-phase 132 kV cable, using the same “iodine” conductors as used in the
OH lines in Fig T1. The cable insulation is 1.5 cm thick. Calculate the L and C phase to
neutral and surge impedance Zo for the cable. Compare to the OH lines of Q7 and
comment on the differences. Calculate the peak electric field stress in the insulator, under
normal operating conditions of nominal volts ±10%.

16. Determine the insulation thickness for an XLPE insulated, single core, 220 kV cable.
Lightning impulse strength is 800 kV and switching impulse strength is 800 kV.

17. A 132kV UG cable circuit consists of 3 single-core cables with 500 mm2 Al conductor of
26 mm diameter. Each phase is sheathed. Continuous circuit rating is 525 amps/phase.
The XLPE insulation material is 1.5 cm thick. Dielectric loss angle tanδ is 1 x 10-3.
Calculate-

- The charging current per km and the maximum cable length, based on charging
current 10% of cable current rating,
 - The cable dielectric loss per km and maximum cable length based on losses 10%
of cable rating.

18. A large industrial customer takes a high voltage supply at 22 kV. Its load consists of a
passive load plus a local generator G and two large synchronous motors M1 and M2, as
shown below in Fig T2.

Local gen Grid

Legend
G

CB
B2 B1

B2 B2 B2

M1 M2
Motors Load

Fig T2 Network Schematic

The three-phase and single-phase to earth fault levels on the 22kV busbar are 500 MVA.
The local generator G has a sub-transient reactance of 12% on its rating of 5 MVA base
and a steady-state short circuit current of 1.3 per unit. The two motors M1, M2 have sub-
transient reactance of 20% on a rating of 3 MVA each. The load is 10 MVA.

Calculate the peak and steady state short-circuit levels on the customer’s main 22kV bus.
Specify the minimum circuit breaker ratings for this application, assuming (a) high-speed
protection, operating in less than 0.5 second, and (b) slow-speed protection, operating
above 0.5 second. The grid incoming circuit breaker (B1) should be able to handle total
load without local generator and all other CBs (B2) the greatest of local generation, motor
or local load.

19. A cumulonimbus thundercloud has a base area of 10 km2 and its base is 1500 m above the
ground. A typical lightning stroke can be simplified by assuming it rises linearly from
zero to 40kA in 1.5 µsec and then decays back to zero in 100 µsec. Calculate –

- The total charge held on the cloud base, assuming the lightning totally discharges
the cloud;
- The peak potential difference, just prior to the lightning flash;
- The energy stored in the cloud.

A children’s cartoon once depicted a mad professor powering homes from lightning.
From your calculations above, would this seem feasible? The average Australian home
uses 15 kWh of electric energy each day.

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