The 20th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 27 – September 01, 2017

CONVERTER TRANSFORMER BUSHING EXTERNAL INSULATION DESIGN

P. Cardano1, A. Pigini2, M. Sehovac2, G. Testin1, P. Valvassori1

1GE Energy Connections, Grid Solutions, Sesto San Giovanni, Italy

2Consultant, Milano, Italy

*Email: <pigini@ieee.org>

Abstract: The voltage at the converter transformer bushings in the DC side includes a DC component plus
harmonics. Since it is not possible to design and test insulators with exactly the above stresses, equivalent
voltage stress must be defined to verify the performance of the bushing external insulation under steady
state conditions. Based on available experimental results, the paper proposes to perform tests with an AC
equivalent voltage. Consequences for the design under pollution and icing conditions are discussed, making
also reference to recent experimental results.

1 INTRODUCTION by the effect of a possible severe fault inside the

Examples of bushing for converter applications are
shown in Fig.1 [1]
active core of the component. On the contrary, in
other HVDC substation, the transformers are still
located in the AC yard, but relatively far from the
valve hall building. In this case the valve bushings
installed on the transformer are consequently
exposed to the external environmental conditions,
often related to pollution, heavy rain and also ice.
The design of the external insulation of bushings in
these last conditions will be examined in the
following, taking into account the specific distorted
voltage condition and the impact of environment
especially in case the transformers should face
severe environmental conditions.

a) 2 VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS AT THE

CONVERTER TRANSFORMER BUSHINGS

The steady state voltage on the bushings and on

the post insulators connected to the bushings
results as a combination of DC and different
harmonics, as shown in the examples of Fig. 2

b)
Figure 1. Examples of bushings for HVDC
converter applicationsn: a) bushings to be installed
inside the DC hall; b) bushing for outdoor
application

In many of the recent HVDC projects, while th

transformer is placed externally, the bushings are
Figure 2 Examples of the steady state voltages on
installed with their air side insulator inside the valve
the converter transformer bushings.
hall. In this conditions they are protected by the
effects of the external ambient conditions. On the
Peak voltages of short duration as those in Fig. 2
other hand the design of these bushings is driven
can be assimilated to overvoltages and the
by the high temperature normally present in the
strength under the above peaks is not considered
valve room, by the installation conditon close to
in the engineering practice to verify the
horizontal and by the necessity to minimize the risk
performance under steady state conditions (as
of fire or damages to the surrrounding equipment
under pollution or icing). For example, in the case
of AC the design under pollution and under
freezing condition is not carried out with reference
to overvoltages or to the peak voltages but to the
rms voltage, which is the value that determines the
insulator lengths. Nowadays results of tests with
voltage stresses as in Fig. 2 are not available and
even feasible for actual HV apparatus and
insulators, so it is necessary to define an
equivalent voltage stress to be taken as a basis for
design purposes. This is the approach followed by
the dual logo IEC-IEEE Standard for DC bushings
[2], which makes reference for the design and
testing of external insulation to an equivalent
voltage U1 defined as “rated voltage”.
In particular, as per this Standard [1] U1 is defined
as “the rated continuous DC voltage (in case of
pure DC regime) or the rms value of the combined
DC and AC phase to earth voltage, depending on
the point of application of the bushing in the
electrical scheme (kV)” to be evaluated according
to the following formula:
(1)
Where
• Udm is the highest DC voltage for valve
bridge;
• Uvm is the maximum phase-to-phase AC
operating voltage of the valve windings of the
converter transformer on which the bushing
will be assembled;
• N is the number of six-pulses bridges
connected in series from the neutral of the DC
line to the rectifier bridge connected to the
bushing.
In practice the rated voltage U1 represents in a
simplified way the stress by considering only the
DC component, Udc, and the AC component Uac
rms value, disregarding the other harmonics.
Then the voltage U1 is evaluated as the square
root of the sum of the squares of the previous AC
and DC component appearing on the bushing:
U1=(Udc2+Uac2) (2)
The problem remains if U1 can be really
assimilated to an AC voltage from the point of view
of design and testing or if it would be better to
consider it as an equivalent DC voltage.
This aspect is discussed in the following.
The impact of the adoption of a AC or DC voltage
on the design is also discussed, especially from
the point of view of the performance under
pollution and icing.
3 RATED VOLTAGE SELECTION
As shown by laboratory tests for air gaps and
external insulation, in general the flashover under
composite overvoltages is dominated by the upper
part of the voltage, with no appreciable influence of
the DC component. Considering the above fact, SI
and LI tests which verify the performance of the
external insulation of DC apparatuses are made
without the need to simulate any DC superimposed
service voltage, as in AC.
Less information is available about the influence of
the DC stress when AC and DC components form
an important part of the service voltage.
Recent pollution tests made on small insulator
samples by applying different proportions of AC
and DC voltages have indicated that the flashover
voltage UF under the mixed voltage AC+DC is
higher than the value expected under pure AC [3],
as shown in Fig. 3, which reports the U value,
evaluated according to equ. 2 starting from the
data in [3], as a function of the ratio
Udc/(Udc+Uacrms). The Figure shows that in the
range of interest for converter bushings (of about
0,7) the UF value is generally higher than the value
for the DC=0 case (only AC component,) and that
the testing with only AC voltage (DC=0) could be a
conservative approach. This conclusion is also
supported by a qualitative analysis of the voltage
shape in Fig. 2, which appears closer to an
oscillating than to a direct voltage.
Anyway, additional investigation on large insulator
samples to confirm and verify the above
assumption would be very useful.
Figure 3 – Pollution tests on a small composite
insulator sample (10 cm length) with SDD=0,05
and 0,11 mg/cm2 with positive and negative
polarity. Data derived from [2] by applying equ 2.
What mentioned above is valid for the design of
the external insulation and cannot be extended to
the design of the internal insulation, to be
dimensioned on the contrary by considering both
the transient and DC stress.
In the following the impact of the selection of DC or
AC voltage on the design will be analysed with
special reference to two demanding design
conditions: design under pollution and icing.
4 DESIGN UNDER POLLUTION CONDITIONS designed for an environment characterized by
ESDD=0,5 mg/cm2.
For the design under polluted conditions primarily
reference can be made to the recent IEC
Specifications. Considering a reference case of
bushings with an average diameter of 250 mm, the
comparison of the required specific creepage
distances, according to [5], are reported in Fig. 4.
For AC IEC suggests same USCD values for
ceramic and composites, conservatively not
considering the better performance to be expected
for composite insulators. The curve for AC in Fig. 4
is an extrapolation of the indications in part 2 and 3
of [4] to permit a direct comparison with the
indications given in part 4 of [4] for DC. For DC IEC
suggests different curves for ceramic and
composites, taking into account in this case the
Figure 6: AC voltage. USCD evaluated according
better expected performance of composites.
to the statistical design approach: continuous
curve: ceramic, dotted curve: composites.

5 DESIGN UNDER ICING CONIDTIIONS

Ice and snow can significantly affect the insulator

Figure 4: Unified specific creepage distance
USCD versus equivalent salt deposit density
ESDD.
The Figure 4 indicates that remarkable higher
creepage distances and thus insulator lengths
would be required if the design should be made
based on DC voltage rather than on AC voltage.
The importance of a correct selection of the
voltage type may be even more appreciated if a
less conservative approach is applied for AC,
adopting the same approach as for DC, with two
reference curves for composites and ceramic [5].
performance and have an impact on the electrical
system reliability as shown by the many flashover
problems occurred in the world [7].
Presently design and testing is dealt with only by
IEEE standards [8], which relates the insulator
strength to the ice thickness evaluated in the test
through a measurement of the thickness reached
on a reference cylinder adjacent to the insulator
under test. An important parameter is also the
water conductivity that characterizes the water
forming the ice: IEEE makes basically reference to
a conductivity of 100 μS/cm. As far as the
geometrical parameters are concerned, for the
case of heavy icing, with the insulator practically
short circuited by ice, only the arcing distance (and
the insulator maximum diameter) influences the
flashover.
The maximum voltage per unit meter allowed in
withstand condition, evaluated in a deterministic
way according to the available experimental
knowledge [7] is reported in Fig. 7 for a bushing
with maximum diameter of 250 mm, referring to a
water conductivity of 100 μS/cm.

Figure 5: USCD versus ESDD assuming the same

approach for AC and DC as far as composite
insulators are concerned.

A more accurate design from the pollution point of

view for AC can be obtained applying the statistical
approach suggested in [5] and [6], as shown in the
example of Fig. 6, which reports the risk of
flashover, for each pollution event, versus the Figure 7: Maximum withstand voltage per unit
pollution severity for the reference case of a meter as a function of equivalent ice thickness,
bushing with an average diameter of 250 mm, bushing 250 mm diameter. Water conductivity 100
μS/cm
Also in this case the selection of DC voltage
against AC one would appear more demanding
and unnecessary conservative.
It should be underlined that a parameter which
influences remarkably the insulator strength is the
water conductivity as shown in Fig, 8 which
compares, in case of AC voltage, the insulator
withstand with 100 μS/cm. with that expected for
30 μS/cm.
Figure 8: Maximum withstand voltage per unit
meter as a function of equivalent ice thickness,
bushing 250 mm diameter. AC voltage. Influence
of water conductivity.
In particular, for clean areas, as mountain areas,
where heavy ice and snow phenomena may be
more probable, a conductivity value of 30 µS/cm
may be the more representative one, while the
“standard” reference conductivity of 100 µS/cm as
in IEEE standard would lead to an excessive
design [9].
A more accurate design from the pollution point of
view for AC can be obtained again by applying the
statistical approach suggested in [9], as shown in
the example of Fig. 9
Figure 9: Bushing 250 mm diameter. AC voltage
242 kV phase to ground. Required insulator length
for the water conductivity of 100 μS/cm (upper
curve) and 30 μS/cm (lower curve). Ice thickness
30 mm.
The Figure reports the risk of flashover, for each
icing event, versus the bushing arcing distance.
The example refers to the design for a voltage of
242 kV AC and an equivalent ice thickness of 30
mm.
6 CONCLUSIONS
• Conservative pollution and icing tests on
converter bushings can be made by
adopting equivalent AC rated voltages.
• Tests with DC voltage would bring to an
overdesign.
• Statistical design approaches are
suggested to optimize the design.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Cardano, T. Gargano, S. Iacono A.Pastore,
S. Pellegrino, G. Testin,, E.P. Valvassori, A.
Pigini, M. Sehovac “Design and testing of
bushings for HVDC Converter Transformers
with special reference to severe operating and
environmental conditions” VIII WORKSPOT-
International Workshop On Power
Transformers Recife, 2016
[2] IEC/IEEE 65700 International Standards -19-
03 Bushings for DC applications
[3] A. Wagner, J. Knauel, R. Puffer, J.M. Seifert,
M. Brückner, B. Rusek, S. Steevens, K.
Kleinekorte “Performance of Polymeric
Insulators In Hybrid AC/DC Overhead Lines
under Polluted Conditions” CIGRE 2016 paper
D1-112
[4] IEC 60815-4 Ed. 1.0: Selection and
dimensioning of high-voltage insulators
intended for use in polluted conditions - Part 1-
2-3 and 4
[5] A.Pigini ,I. Gutman “Evaluation of the
performance of polluted insulators: the IEC
simplified approach against the statistical
approach” INMR World Congress 2013
[6] A. Pigini, R. Cortina ”Evaluation of the
performance of polluted insulators under DC: a
statistical approach” ISH 2011“
[7] M. Farzaneh, W. A. Chisholm “Insulators for
icing and polluted environments” Jon Wiley &
son’s publication
[8] IEEE Std 1783-2009 “IEEE Guide for Test
Methods and Procedures to Evaluate the
Electrical Performance of Insulators in
Freezing Conditions”
[9] A.Pigini, R.Cortina, M.Marzinotto,
G.Lagrotteria “Line insulator performance in
presence of ice and snow” ISH 2017