Topics Discussion

Overvoltage
- External overvoltage
- Internal overvoltage
- Temporary overvoltage

Electrical Insulation
- Conduction and breakdown in dielectric
- Materials
- Damage and failure mechanisms

Protection Devices

Overvoltage
Main interruption to the generated
power signal.
Causes: lightning and switching
surges.
Consequences: damage on
equipment and load.

Overvoltage
-External Generated by atmospheric disturbances.
Lightning is the most common and the most
severe.
Lightning is produced by nature to maintain a
dynamic balance between the positive charged
and negative in ionosphere and earth
respectively.
The total potential difference between the two
main charge centers may very from 100 to
1000MW.
The height of the thundercloud dipole above
earth may reach 5 km in tropical regions.

Lightning Phenomenon

Facts about Lightning

A strike can average 100 million volts
of electricity.
Current of up to 100,000 A
Can generate 54,000 oF
Lightning strikes somewhere of the
Earth every second.
Kills hundreds of people every year.

Lightning Voltage Surges

The most severe lightning strikes a phase
conductor.
It produces the highest overvoltage for a given
stroke current.
The lightning current magnitudes is rarely less than
10kA.
For typical overhead line surge impedance Z o of
300, the lightning surge voltage will have 1500 kV.
Lightning is always a major source of damage to
power system where equipment insulation may
break down, under the resulting overvoltage and
subsequent high energy discharge.

Lightning Voltage Surges

Overvoltage
-Internal Switching overvoltage.
It become governing factor in the design of
insulation for HV system.
One of the events that would initiate a
switching surge in a power network is a
switching operations.
The operations can be classified as follows:
1.Energization of transmission lines and cable.
2.Reenergization of a line.
3.Load rejection.
4.Switching on and off equipment.
5.Fault initiation and clearing.

Overvoltage

-Some important switching operations which

can lead to switching surges1. Line energization.
2. Reclosing (energization
of a line with trapped
charges).
3. Low voltage side
energization of a line.
4. Energization a line
terminated by an
unloaded transformer.
5. Load rejection at the
receiving end of a line
6. Load rejection at the
receiving end of a line
followed by line
dropping at the
sending end

Overvoltage
-Some important switching operations which
can lead to switching surges7. Interrupting lines at noload (line dropping).
8. Switching of
transformers at no-load.
9. Switching reactor
loaded transformers.
10.Switching high voltage
reactors
11.Switching at
intermediate
substations.
12.Initiation of a singlephase to earth fault
without a switching
operation.

Overvoltage
-Energization of an Unloaded
Transmission Line-

Overvoltage
-Internal Temporary Overvoltage (sustained
overvoltage).
This voltage is differ from transient switching
overvoltage in that they last for longer
duration, typically from a few cycles to a few
seconds.
The classification of temporary overvoltage as
distinct from transient switching overvoltage is
due mainly to the fact the responses of power
network insulation and surge arresters to their
wave shapes are different.

Overvoltage
-Internal Events leading to the generation of temporary overvoltage;
1. Load rejection
When a transmission line or a large inductive load that is fed
from a power station is suddenly switched off, the generator
will speed up and the bus bar voltage will rise.
2. Ferranti Effect.
When current drawn by the distributed capacitance of the line
is greater than in the load at receiving end with no load. So,
voltage drop keeps on increasing towards the end of the
line then, the receiving end voltage tends to get larger than
applied voltage.
3.
Ground Fault.
In the case of a line-to-ground fault, systems with neutrals
isolated or grounded through high impedance may develop
overvoltage on healthy phases higher than normal line-toline voltages

Electrical Insulation failure

Environmental conditions such as
temperature, humidity, pressure can
modify the dielectric properties of an
electrical system.
The failure is due to unsufficient
properties or degradation under
specific environmental condition.

Protection Devices
Four main features of lightning
protection;
1)Air terminal
2)Conductors
3)Ground termination
4)Surge protection

Indoor
Grounding

Lightning
Protection for
Telecommunication
Tower

Lightning Protection for Roof

Mounted Installations

Lightning Protection for Roof

Mounted Installations