EMP 31(11) #7619

Electric Power Components and Systems, 31:11011114, 2003 Copyright c Taylor & Francis Inc. ISSN: 1532-5008 print/1532-5016 online DOI: 10.1080/15325000390243300

Deterioration of LPOF Cable Insulation Due to Ingress of SF6 Gas

MOHAMMAD I. QURESHI ABDULAZIZ A. AL-SULAIMAN
Electrical Engineering Department King Saud University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Contamination of oil in low-pressure, oil-lled, paper-insulated, high-voltage cables connected to the high-pressure chambers of gas-insulated switchgear, due to the leakage of SF6 gas, have often been reported by electric power utilities. As a consequence this contamination can impair not only the dielectric behavior of oil and oil-paper composite but also the dielectric integrity of adjoining termination. This experimental investigation explores the impact of trace amounts of SF6 gas in oil on its dielectric strength under the power frequency and lightning impulses. The results show that minor leakages of SF6 gas improve the power frequency dielectric strength of oil. However, longer contact of gas with oil can signicantly reduce it both under the power frequency as well as the lightning impulses of both polarities. Vaporization of liquid is found to cause pre-breakdown discharges which lead to its nal breakdown. Keywords electric cables, gas contamination

1. Introduction
Despite the advent of extruded polymeric insulation, paper-insulated oil-impregnated cables are still in widespread use worldwide because of their excellent longterm reliability, since (1) physical and chemical stability of cellulose renders it highly resistant to deterioration in the absence of oxygen at temperatures even above 100 C, (2) they are highly resistant to damage from ionic discharge (corona), which readily destroys XLPE insulation, and (3) capacity for absorption of oil into hollow cellulose bers and their interstices and onto the surface of the paper creates a homogeneous dielectric in which oil is segregated into thin lms or minute pockets, the strength of which increases as their dimensions are reduced [1].

Manuscript received in nal form on 23 July 2002. The authors thankfully acknowledge the nancial and technical support given by the Research Grants Committee, Deanship of Scientic Research, King Saud University, through their research grant No. 5/418. Thanks are also extended to Mr. M. I. Al-Asseri and K. S. Al-Motairi for carrying out the experimental work, and to Mr. A. R. F. Karim and Mr. T. Farooq for typing this manuscript. Address correspondence to A. A. Al-Sulaiman, Electrical Engineering Dept., King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: asulmann@ksu.edu.sa

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Low-pressure oil-lled (LPOF) paper-insulated cables form an important link in the transport of electric energy in the Arabian Gulf countries, at both HV as well as EHV proles. These utilities as well as others worldwide have occasionally experienced power outages on account of leakage of SF6 gas from gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) into oil-lled cables through their high-voltage terminations [2, 3]. The weakest point in the GIS termination is the rubber seal as shown in Figure 1. The chamber of SF6 switchgear and the oil-lled cable side operate at dierent pressure levels. Since the gas is at high pressure, therefore at the instant of leakage, it will get into oil and oil-paper composite. Slow leakage of SF6 into cable oil generally goes undetected for extended periods of time without appreciable changes in pressure. Utility engineers generally replace/replenish the oil in the cable network as soon as the concentration of SF6 gas or residual gas pressure in oil attains a certain preset level during the service. These set values are based on the recommendations of manufacturers; however, the details and scientic merit of these recommended set values is generally not known. If the leakage is extensive, the gas can be trapped at the sealing end and experience a breakdown. However, the slow ingress of gas in the cable system will not lead to immediate breakdown but may cause adverse eects that need to be explored. In particular, the dielectric loss factor, breakdown strength of both the oil and impregnated paper, besides the chemical reactions of SF6 and its by-products need to be addressed. These properties, if found to be getting deteriorated, can be detrimental to the life of these cables. The leakage in the termination as elucidated above can occur in three forms (modes) and can be modeled as shown in Figure 2. In the rst case, if the oil-gas interface seal is ruptured, the gas can suddenly be trapped at the sealing end by pushing the oil away into the cable system. Consequently, the dry sealing end shall face a serious breakdown. In the second case the gas can permeate through the molecular mattress of the rubber sealing ring and come in gentle contact with the oil in the cable system. The oil has a strong tendency to absorb gas; therefore, in the long term the oil molecules can get doped up with the SF6 gas molecules and thus pollute the uid network. In the third case, pinhole formation in the sealing ring due to aging can lead to the ingress of SF6 in oil in the form of a stream of bubbles that may transit deep along the length of the cable. This investigation simulates the second and third modes of leakage of SF6 gas into the matrix of the cable through its termination. In the rst case (mode II), the slow leakage of SF6 gas into the composite insulation of cable was simulated by maintaining the oil and impregnated Kraft paper samples in contact with SF6 gas at a pressure of 2.0 bar for periods that varied up to 120 days. The eects of dierent concentrations of dissolved SF6 were investigated for dielectric properties of oil and oil-paper composite. In the second case (mode III) the SF6 gas maintained at 2.0 bar pressure was bubbled through the cable oil at a constant bubble discharge rate for periods that varied up to 100 days in this case. In this case the eects of dierent concentrations of dissolved SF6 gas in oil on the power frequency and impulse behavior of cable oil have been investigated.

2. Experimental Techniques
In practice, the GIS works at a pressure of 5.0 bar, whereas the oil in the cable remains at a pressure of 24 bar depending on the site prole of the cable layout.

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(a)

(b) Figure 1. (a) Schematic of a 132 kV LPOF cables GIS termination. (b) Details of GIS chamber and cable sealing end connection.

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Figure 2. Dierent modes of gas leakage from GIS termination to LPOF cable.

In average the dierential pressure remains around 2.0 bar. To simulate the slow leakage of gas to the oil system (mode II), a test chamber which acted as a buer tank, as shown in Figure 3, was designed in which oil samples as well as impregnated Kraft paper samples were introduced. The gas circuit that proceeds this chamber was kept closed in this case. This chamber was kept at SF6 gas pressure of 2.0 bar while maintained at room temperature. The oil under test, a semisynthetic cable oil, was acquired from a local power utility and was dehydrated and ltered through a sintered glass lter of 1016 m porosity. The cellulose paper subjected to these tests is the same as the one used in the 132 kV-LPOF cables operating in Riyadh region. Dierent samples of oil and impregnated paper were prepared

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Figure 3. Experimental setup for doping oil and paper samples with SF6 gas for mode II and mode III.

by letting them stand in contact with SF6 gas for periods of 10, 67, and 119 days, respectively. Impregnated Kraft cellulose-based paper samples were prepared earlier in a vacuum chamber. Dielectric loss factor (r tan ) was measured by a precision power frequency Tettex type 2821 Schering bridge at an electric stress of 10 V/m. Breakdown of the oil was measured by an auto 90 kV oil tester using VDE electrodes following the testing technique as per IEC-156. Each data point on the curves indicates an average value, while the standard deviation does not exceed 5%. The breakdown measurements of paper samples were made according to IEC-243. In this case the paper samples were immersed in the same oil in which they were impregnated and tests were performed using a 2.5 kVA, 050 kV, 60 Hz noise-free transformer equipped with a fast electronic tripping system. In this case, due to large scatter in breakdown values, the average values are plotted along with the error bars to show the range of the minimum and maximum scatter. To simulate (mode III) in the laboratory, the gas from SF6 cylinder was pumped into air-evacuated buer tank maintained at a precise pressure of 2.0 bar. This buer tank was connected with a gas dehumidier cum lter and a needle control valve as shown in Figure 3. By the dint of this needle control valve a precise gas discharge of 0.5 liter per minute could be easily regulated. In this way a smooth stream of uniform-sized gas bubbles eject smoothly into the oil reservoir. Using this technique ve samples of oils doped with SF6 gas were prepared by bubbling them for 2, 10, 20, 50, and 100 days, respectively. Preliminary tests showed here that gas contact period in days is almost directly related to gas concentration in oil. To evaluate the breakdown characteristics under standard lightning impulses of both polarities, an impulse test cell built according to ASTM-D3300-77 [4] was used in which the gap could be precisely adjusted from 1 to 30 mm. Before lling the cell, it was rinsed with petroleum ether and then dried in oven maintained at 110 C. The steel ball was removed each time the cell was washed/rinsed. Standard lightning impulses of both polarities were obtained by a single-stage generator that was built for this purpose. Its details are given elsewhere [5]. The measurements were made using a multiple-level method as per IEC-60060-2 [6], and a breakdown

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probability distributions curve for a given sample and gap spacing was determined by applying a set of ve shots of impulses at a xed voltage level at intervals of 30 s. If the impulses failed to produce a breakdown, then the voltage was raised by 0.5 kV under positive polarity and 3 kV in case of negative polarity impulses, and the test run as described above was repeated for ve consecutive shots. This procedure was continued till 5 out of 5, that is, a 100% breakdown level (V100 ) was attained. In this study the plotted results show 0% probability (p) at p = 0.01%, whereas 100% probability is shown at p = 99.9%. After each run of breakdowns, the cell was thoroughly cleaned and its needle electrode was replaced before a fresh sample was relled in the test cell.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Related to Mode (II) Eect of presence of SF6 gas in cable oil. Figure 4 illustrates the variation of loss factor as a function of temperature. It is clear that the loss factor increases with temperature; however, the loss factor in SF6 -doped samples of oils is lower than in a fresh cable oil sample. However, in the present case the electronegativity of SF6 gas does modify the dependence of electric losses of oil at electric elds of up to

Figure 4. Variation of loss factor of oil as a function of temperature. Numbers on curves indicate the days the sample was kept in contact with gas. F = Fresh oil sample.

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10 V/m, and imparts opposite and benecial eects. The variation of dielectric losstemperature characteristics for dierent concentrations of SF6 gas (contact days in gure) exhibits a nonmonotonic trend, which is contrary to the well-known conduction losses due to impurities in the bulk of oil. Although utmost care was taken during the preparation and treatment of samples, yet the likelihood of ingress of trace amounts of atmospheric moisture cannot be ruled out. Its content, once the samples were dopped with SF6 , could not be monitored. The nonmonotonic variation in loss magnitude can be attributed to the presence of OH and H+ ions and their reaction with the SF6 gas molecules or their stress-decomposed radicals. It is known that electric losses of contaminated oil are increased since the presence of electric stress oxidizes the contaminating impurities. The contamination of mineral cable oil with trace amounts of low-ionization potential impurities has been found to increase the conduction losses manifolds [7]. Similarly, under the action of electric arcs the SF6 dissolved in oil is decomposed into CF4 , SF4 , SOF2 , SOF4 , S2 F10 , HF, SO2 , etc. [8, 10]. However, under mode (II), it is clear that such by-products are not formed, rather electron-scavenging reactions take place that cause overall reduction in the magnitude of the conduction process. Figure 5 shows the eect of power frequency breakdown voltage of oil samples as a function of gas content. It is clear that oil breakdown strength decreases with increase in SF6 content (10 days), whereafter it increases and attains its fresh oil breakdown level. This shows that prolonged contact of SF6 gas with oil shall not eect its breakdown strength in a considerable manner. It is known that the breakdown process is initiated when a minuscule amount of oil in contact with the electrode is vaporized to gaseous form, which under the action of a Laplacian eld propagates toward the opposite electrode in the form of lamentry channels known as trees [9, 17]. If the oil has a gas-absorbing tendency, then the formation of this gaseous phase becomes dicult, whereas in gas-evolving liquids, tree formation

Figure 5. Eect of SF6 gas content on the breakdown voltage of oil samples. F = Fresh oil sample.

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can occur fairly easily. The presence of SF6 gas in oil has been shown to make it gas absorbing, and during this process it is itself consumed through energytransfer reactions [10]. Mineral-based oils are generally gas evolving. The reduction in breakdown level in oil up to the S10 level can be attributed to the presence of an insucient amount of SF6 in oil. As in this case, inecient charge transfer reactions would let it behave like an impurity. However, a further increase in SF6 content lets these reactions become mature, which make the oil gas absorbing. Eect of presence of SF6 in impregnated paper. Figure 6 explains the variation of loss factor of impregnated samples as a function of temperature for dierent SF6 doped samples. Unlike in the bulk of oil, the benecial eect of the electronegativity of SF6 molecules in the paper lm is conned only to their minimal presence (two days contact as shown in the gure). But the introduction of further content aects adversely on its leakage current performance. It can be attributed to the presence of weak organic acids present in the porous cellulosic mattress of Kraft paper as well as due to remnant moisture content in its bers, which generate H+ and OH ions. These are known to posses large propensity to react with SF6 molecules as well as with their stress-decomposed products [8]. With the increase in temperature this eect is further elevated. On the other hand, the breakdown strength of impregnated

Figure 6. Variation of loss factor of impregnated paper samples as a function of temperature. Numbers on curves indicate the days the sample was kept in contact with gas. F = Fresh oil sample.

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Figure 7. Eect of SF6 gas content on the breakdown voltage of impregnated paper samples. F = Fresh oil sample.

paper increases almost by 20% due to a longer contact with SF6 gas, as illustrated in Figure 7. This again shows that partial discharge activity that is a precurser to the nal breakdown event is suppressed due to the gas-absorbing character of SF6 -doped paper insulation. The results presented so far reect the gas content absorbed in the cables insulant up to 120 days. However, it is to be noted that once the oil-paper composite gets fully saturated, then free gas molecules will be left migrating in the cable. These will eventually end up in the form of bubbles at locations that are comparatively at a higher mechanical level in the cable network. If these locations are sealing ends or splices, where generally the high stresses prevail, then strong partial discharge activity and local arcing can take place. These activities, once initiated, can generate very corrosive by-products that may cause rapid deterioration of paper insulation. 3.2. Related to Mode (III) Eects of SF6 in oil on ac breakdown. Figure 8 illustrates the variation of the ratio of power frequency breakdown voltage of SF6 -doped oil samples (Vbp ) to the breakdown voltage of a clean oil sample (Vbc ) as a function of the SF6 gas contact days in oil. It is clear that addition of SF6 gas molecules up to concentrations that are related to 10 days contact with oil causes a signicant increase in the breakdown strength, but beyond that level of concentration it decreases semilinearly with the increase in gas concentration. A decline of 30% is noticed after 100 days of gas contact, and it is anticipated that prolonged contact will further deteriorate this characteristic of oil.

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Figure 8. Variation of the ratio of [Vbp /Vbc ] as a function of SF6 gas concentration in oil samples under the application of power frequency stresses. Numbers on curves show electrode gap spacing.

Under the action of alternating elds, electrohydrodynamic (EHD) motion of the liquid sets in, which creates turbulence in the oil which can lead to formation of cavities. Similarly, particles in the bulk of the liquid and those residing on the electrodes can get raised up while leaving cavities in their wake. These cavities become a source of initiation of discharge in the interelectrode gap [8, 11]. However, the presence of SF6 gas molecules in such cavities will suppress the discharge initiation processes because of their electronegativity and electron-trapping character. The second eect of EHD motion in oil can be in the form of cooling at the tip of asperities in the electrodes from where the discharges are known to initiate due to vaporization of minuscule oil lms that are in contact with asperities. Vaporization of liquid at such sites is known to generate trees in the oil, which nally lead to breakdown of oil. The presence of SF6 in oil has been found to increase the EHD motion [12], thus enhancing the cooling eect and suppression of tree formation.

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Contact of SF6 in oil samples exceeding 10 days shows a signicant decline in Vbp values. This could be attributed to the by-products of SF6 that are very corrosive in nature and cause a considerable increase in the leakage current of oil [10]. These by-products may be formed as a result of intense discharge activity in the vapor bubbles/cavities in the presence of excess amount of gas. Ali [13] has indeed reported a signicant increase in partial discharge activity of SF6 -doped oil samples. Which one of the two processes, viz., the cavitation and the vaporization, is the actual source of such eects, or whether it is that only one of them is operative in the present situation, needs to be carefully looked into. Under the action of short-duration unipolar impulses, the particles do not get sucient time to lift o mechanically the electrodes to generate evacuous cavities. The role of EHD motion and its associated instabilities in the insulating liquid, which occur as a result of a transient unipolar charge injection, have been investigated by several researchers [14, 15]. Though the particulate contaminants with diameters less than 1 mm in nonpolar liquids have been proved to act as charge carriers [15], yet a signicant time delay between the application of high-voltage (HV) impulse and the onset of EHD turbulence is reported. In the case of mineral oil and several nonpolar insulating liquids, it has been reported by Cross and Wang [14] that such time delays vary in order of milliseconds under the application of voltage steps of up to 105 volts. Therefore in the present experiments, under the application of 50 s duration unipolar HV impulses the EHD motion cannot set in. Similarly, shockwaves are also found to propagate with the onset of discharge streamers. However, any subsequent discharge activity that could arise as a result of turbulence generated as a consequence of such shock waves is not possible under such short-duration impulses, and to the best of the authors knowledge has never been reported in literature [16, 17]. Based on the preceding discussion, it is our premise that under the application of short-duration impulses the two sources of discharge initiation, viz., the vaporization and cavitation, can be isolated. Moreover, the determination of impulse breakdown strength is also important, since the cable network is occasionally subjected to lightning surges during service. Eects of SF6 in oil on impulse breakdown. Figure 9 depicts breakdown probability distribution as a function of applied voltage in a fresh oil sample. Similar results are obtained for all the other oil samples and gap spacings investigated. It is clear that under the application of positive lightning impulses, the distribution is Gaussian, whereas it is non-Gaussian under negative polarity. It is clear that negative V50 values are higher than positive V50 values, which emphasize the severity of the impact of positive lightning surges on the oil-lled cable systems. Figure 10 shows the ratio of [Vbp /Vbc ] based on V50 values of breakdown under both polarities of impulses as a function of SF6 gas concentration in oil samples. There is 15% reduction in [V50 ] of gas-polluted oil under negative impulses, which tends toward saturation despite the increase in gas concentration. On the other hand, the V50 values decrease with increase in gas contact time, which approaches 30% in the case of a 100 days aged sample. It is anticipated that it will further deteriorate with the increase in contact period. It is also interesting to note that contact periods of up to 10 days show significant decrease in V50 values under both polarities, whereas under power frequency voltage these samples showed 25% increase in Vb . This result clearly demonstrates that cavity-based breakdown processes are not the ones which lead to breakdown

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Figure 9. Breakdown probability distribution as a function of applied voltage, under the application of standard lightning impulses on fresh oil sample.

of oil, but certainly the vaporization of minuscule liquid lms in contact with protrusions and asperities on high-voltage electrodes is the main controlling factor of tree formation in oil, which nally leads to its breakdown. Further work on the eects of leakage of SF6 gas on the other dielectric characteristics of impregnated cellulose-based insulation of EHV cables is currently in progress in this laboratory.

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Figure 10. Variation of [Vbp /Vbc ] as a function of SF6 gas concentration in oil samples under the application of standard lightning high-voltage impulses.

4. Conclusions
Based on the presented experimental results of this ongoing research the following conclusions are derived: 1. Under power frequency, the slow leakage of SF6 gas in the form of bubbles causes a slight increase in the breakdown of cable oil, which signicantly decreases due to longer contact of gas with oil. 2. Under the impact of lightning surges the dielectric strength of SF6 -doped oil is impaired. The worst eects are imparted under the application of positive polarity surges. 3. It is anticipated that even under longer periods of gas contact, provided the bubbles are not formed, the composite insulation of oil-lled cable shall not be eected. 4. These results reject the theory of cavitation-induced breakdown of oil, but instead support the formation of pre-breakdown trees due to liquid vaporization.

References
[1] K. Bow, Selected panel session: 1994 transmission and distribution conf. and exhibition, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 4451, 1995.

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[2] M. Al-Huwaiti and A. P. Cela, SF6 ingress in LPOF cable sealing ends, Proceedings of CIGRE (GCC) 5th Symposium on High Voltage O/H Line and Underground Cables, Qatar, 1994, Paper No. 4. [3] J. A. H. Jamal et al., MEW-Kuwait experience in the maintenance and repair of underground lled cables, Proceedings of CIGRE (GCC) 5th Symposium on High Voltage O/H Line and Underground Cables, Qatar, 1994, Paper No. 6. [4] A.S.T.M. Test Method, D-3300, Dielectric breakdown of mineral insulated oils under impulse voltages, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, 1979. [5] A. A. Al-Sulaiman, M. I. Qureshi, and F. A. El-Sharrari, Impact of HV surges on mineral cable oil doped with additive, Proceedings of 5th Saudi Engineering Conference, vol. 2, pp. 205214, 1999. [6] IEC Publication 60060 pt. 2, High voltage test techniques, The International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva, Switzerland, 1994. [7] R. Bartnikas, Dielectric losses in solid-liquid insulating systemsPart II, IEEE Trans. on Electrical Insulation, vol. EI-6, pp. 1421, 1971. [8] N. H. Malik, A. A. Al-Arainy, and M. I. Qureshi, Electrical Insulation in Power Systems, New York: Marcel Dekker, 1998. [9] O. Lesaint and R. Tobazeon, Streamer generation and propagation in transformer oil under AC divergent eld conditions, IEEE Trans. on Electrical Insulation, vol. 23, pp. 941954, 1988. [10] A. Denat and B. Gosse, Inuence of SF6 on the electrical behavior and gassing properties of transformer oil, IEEE Publication 81CH 1594-1, Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown of Dielectric Liquids, pp. 411415, 1981. [11] A. A. Zaky and R. Hawley, Conduction and Breakdown in Mineral Oil, London: Peter Perigrinus, 1973. [12] A. A. Zaky et al., Eect of liquid ow velocity on the breakdown of mineral oil under highly non-uniform eld, Proceedings of 10th ICDL, Grenoble, France, 1990, pp. 564568. [13] A. S. Ali, Eect of dissolved SF6 on the performance of paper-oil cable insulation, Electrotechnika, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 4042, 1991. [14] J. D. Cross and H. T. Wang, Interfacial instability: a new approach to transient EHD motion with unipolar injection, IEEE Trans. on Electrical Insulation, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 641646, 1991. [15] J. D. Cross and A. Jaksts, Particulate contamination and stress induced motion in transformer oil, Proceedings of IEEE 9th International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Liquid Dielectrics, Salford, UK, 1987, pp. 291294. [16] O. Lesaint, Propagation of positive discharge in long liquid gap, Proceedings of IEEE 12th International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Liquid Dielectrics, Rome, 1996, pp. 161166. [17] A. Beroul et al., Propagation and structure of streamers in liquid dielectrics, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 617, 1998.