UNIT – II PROTECTION

AGAINST OVER
VOLTAGES
DR. K. K. C. DEEKSHIT,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, EEE DEPT, SNIST
HYDERABAD
 Content:

Generation of Over Voltages in Power

Systems, Protection against Lightning Over
Voltages ,Valve type and Zinc-Oxide Lighting
Arresters, Insulation Coordination -BIL, Impulse
Ratio, Standard Impulse Test Wave, Volt-Time
Characteristics.
 CAUSES OF OVERVOLTAGE

The over voltages arising on power

system are classified into:
➢ External over voltages (Lightning)
➢ Internal over voltages (Switching Over
voltages)
Voltage stresses due to over voltage can
cause damage to the equipment.
 Lightning Over voltages
Natural phenomenon.
Magnitude of lightning voltages
does not depend online design
If the system operating voltage is
less than 500 KV, lightning over
voltages must be considered.
Table 3.1
Switching Over
voltages
Originate in the system by
connection and
disconnection of C.B
Switching over voltages are
proportional to operating
voltage.
If the system operating
voltage is 300 KV-765 KV,
both switching and
lightning over voltages
must be considered.
 Overvoltage factor

Transient over voltages arising on the power system

are accessed by overvoltage factor
 CAUSES OF LIGHTNING

➢ Lightning phenomenon-
Peak discharge in which charge accumulated
in the cloud into neighboring cloud or to the
ground

➢ Electrode separation – cloud to cloud or cloud

to ground is about 10 km or more
CHARGE FORMATION OF CLOUD

➢ Positive and negative charges become

separated by heavy air current with ice
crystals in the upper part and rain in the
lower region.
➢ Charge separation depends on height of
cloud (200 – 10,000m).
➢ Charge centers at a distance about 300 –
2km
 CHARGE FORMATION OF CLOUD

➢ Charge inside the cloud – 1 to 100 C

➢ Cloud potential – 107 to 108 V

➢ Gradient within a cloud – 100 V/cm

➢ Gradient at initial discharge point – 10kV/cm

➢ Energy at discharge – 250 kWhr

CHARGE FORMATION OF CLOUD

Fig 3.1
MECHANISM OF LIGHTNING
FLASH

➢ Pilot streamer and Stepped leader

➢ Ground streamer and return stroke

➢ Subsequent strokes
PILOT STREAMER AND STEPPED
LEADER

Fig 3.2
GROUND STREAMER AND RETURN
STROKE

Fig 3.3
 LIGHTNING STROKES

➢ Direct stroke
directly discharges on to transmission line or
line wires
➢ Induced stroke
cloud generates negative charge at its base,
the earth object develops induced positive
charge
 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHTNING
STROKE

The parameters of lightning include

amplitude of currents, rate of rise,
probability distribution of above and the
wave shapes of lightning voltages and
currents.
LIGHTNING CURRENT

➢ Short front time - 10µs

➢ Tail time – several ms.
STATASTICS

 25% of all the strokes are below 10kA

 86% of all the strokes are below 50kA
 11% of all the strokes are between 50kA to
100kA
 2% of all the strokes are between 100kA to
150kA
 0.5% of all the strokes are above 150kA
 Highest Current measured is 400kA
RATE OF RISE

➢ 50% lightning stroke current – greater than

7.5kA/µs.

➢ 10% lightning strokes current – exceeds 25

kA/µs.

➢ Stroke current above half value – more than

30µs.
SURGE VOLTAGE

➢ Maximum surge voltage in transmission line

– 5MV
➢ Most of the surge voltage is less than 1000
kV on line.
➢ Front time – 2 to 10 µs
➢ Tail time – 20 to 100 µs
➢ Rate of rise of voltage – 1MV/ µs
 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO
GOOD LINE DESIGN

➢ The objective of good line design is to

reduce the number of outages caused by
lightning.

➢ Lightning problems can be eliminated if

all transmission was through tunnels 20
ft under the ground.
➢ Tall towers are more vulnerable to lightning. In
order to prevent lightning, some clearances
must be provided.

➢ High ground impedance or tower footing

resistance are to be avoided.

➢ High surge impedance in ground wires, tower

structures are to be avoided.
 PROTECTION AGAINST LIGHTNING
TRANSIENTS

GROUND WIRES :
It is a conductor that runs parallel to the
main conductor of the transmission line
supported on the same tower and earthed at
regularly spaced towers. It runs above the
main conductor of the line.
GROUND WIRE PROTECTION
➢The ground wires are placed above the line
conductors at such positions that practically all
lightning strokes are intercepted by them (i.e.
ground wires).

➢The ground wires are grounded at each tower or

pole through a low resistance as possible.
➢Due to their proper location, the ground
wires will take up all the lightning strokes
instead of allowing them to line conductors.

➢The degree of protection provided by the

ground wires depends upon the footing
resistance of the tower.
The various functions of ground wire are

➢Dramatically reduces the number of

outages.

➢Shields the phase conductors.

➢Protection against lightning transients.

 Tower Footing Resistance

➢ It is the resistance offered by tower footing to the

dissipation of current.

➢ A low value of tower footing resistance results in

less voltage stresses across line insulation.

➢ A tower footing resistance of 20 ohm for EHV lines

and 10 ohm for HV lines provides sufficient light
protection.
R T = tower footing resistance

R g = Tower footing resistance at low frequency and

low current

I = Surge current (KA)

I g = Limiting current initiating soil ionization(KA)

Other protective devices:
Expulsion gaps : online itself
Protector tube : online itself
Surge arrestors : at line terminations, junctions
of lines, substations
Rod gaps: at line terminations, junctions
of lines, substations

https://electrical-engineering-
portal.com/complete-overview-of-lightning-
arresters-part-3
 Valve type Arrester

 path of :
a- surge current
b-follow current
 Components
Shown comprise
Requirement for a 6 kV arrester
 Construction

❖ A porcelain bushing (Fig. 16.11) contains a number of series

gaps, coil units and the valve elements of the non-linear
resistance material usually made of silicon carbide disc, the
latter possessing low resistance to high currents and high
resistance to low currents.

❖The discs are 90 mm in dia and 25 mm thick.

❖A grading ring or a high resistance is connected across the

disc so that the system voltage is evenly distributed over the
discs.
Valve Type Arrester

1. Sparks Gap
2. Non-Linear
Resistors

Non-Linear Resistors are

made with:

• Thyrite
• Metrosil
 Operation of Valve type Arresters

 Magnetic field created by coil follow current in coil

reacts upon this current in arcs of gap assemblies
 causing them to be driven into arc quenching
chambers
 arc extinction occur at first current zero by
elongating & cooling arc
 Operation of a gapped arrester is little different from
plain nonlinear resistor at least up to point of gap
spark-over
 The sequence illustrated in fig.
 Metal Oxide Arresters

 Metal Oxide Arresters

1- introduced for O/V protection(1960)

2-larger α than SiC

3- like SiC is crystalline

4-90% ZnO & metal oxides

5-material is ground, mixed, pressed,& sintered and shape disk blocks

6-the nonlinear property depend on boundary areas between crystals

7-Fig16-12,VI characteristic, Dyna Var 209kV

Zinc Oxide Surge Arrester
 Metal Oxide Arresters

 Metal Oxide Varistors 1st for O/V protection in 1960

(safeguard electronic components)
 Years passed until technology advanced to where
large disks of consistent quality & stability made &
applied in PWR SYS
 impact on PWR INDUS. Since then, is profound
 metal oxide material different from silicon carbide in
exponent α which typically 20 rather than 4 for SiC
 It is about 90% ZnO & rest of other metal oxides
 Metal Oxide Arrester …

 Material is ground, mixed, pressed, & sintered to

form disk-shaped blocks with a dense, fine
structure
 Property of SiC derives from bulk material itself,
while in ZnO it resides in boundary layers
between crystals
 Grain size & number of boundaries is dependent
on sintering process , so VI controlled by
sintering as well as composition as shown in next
fig.
 Metal Oxide Arrester ….

 Influence of ZnO grain

size upon Varistor
Voltage➔
 However VI
characteristic of a
real sample named
“Dyna Var” 209 kV
metal Oxide arrester
shown in fig of next
slide
Advantages of Zinc Arresters

The metal oxide surge arrester has the following merits:

1.It eliminates the risk of spark over and also the risk of shock to the
system when the gaps break down.
2.It eliminates the need of voltage grading system.
3.At the normal operating condition, the leakage current in the ZnO
is very low as compared to other diverters.
4.There is no power follow current in ZnO diverter.
5.It has high energy absorbing capability.
6.ZnO diverters possess high stability during and after prolonged
discharge.
7.In ZnO diverter, it is possible to control the dynamic over voltages
in addition to switching surges. This results in economic insulation
coordination.
 Insulation Coordination

Purpose: To determine the necessary and

sufficient insulation characteristics of the
various network components in order to
obtain uniform withstand to normal voltages
and over voltages of various origins .
Objective: Ensure safe, optimized
distribution of electrical power.
 Insulation Coordination (IEEE)

➢ The selection of insulation strength consistent

with expected over voltages to obtain an acceptable
risk of failure.

➢ The procedure for insulation coordination consists of

❖Determination of the voltage stresses and

❖selection of the insulation strength to achieve
the desired probability of failure.
Insulation Coordination:
“The process of bringing the insulation
strengths of electrical equipment and buses
into the proper relationship with expected
over-voltages and with the characteristics of
the insulating media and surge protective
devices to obtain an acceptable risk of
failure.”
❖Insulation coordination means the correlation of the
insulation of the various equipment in a power system to the
insulation of the protective devices used for the protection of
those equipment against over voltages.

❖In a power system various equipment like transformers,

circuit breakers, bus supports etc. have different breakdown
voltages and hence the volt-time characteristics.

❖In order that all the equipment should be properly protected

it is desired that the insulation of the various protective
devices must be properly coordinated.
Thus, any insulation
having a withstand
voltage strength in
excess of the insulation
strength of curve B is
protected by the
protective device of
curve A.
The intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines
gives the point on the V-T curve.

49
❖ The over voltages against which coordination is required
could be caused on the system due to system faults,
switching operation or lightning surges. For lower
voltages, normally up to about 345 kV, over voltages
caused by system faults or switching operations do not
cause damage to equipment insulation although they may
be detrimental to protective devices.
❖ Over voltages caused by lightning are of sufficient
magnitude to affect the equipment insulation whereas for
voltages above 345 kV it is these switching surges which
are more dangerous for the equipment than the lightning
surges.
Basic lightning impulse insulation level (BIL):

“The electrical strength of insulation expressed in

terms of the crest value of a standard lightning impulse
under standard atmospheric conditions.”

Basic switching impulse insulation level (BSL)

“The electrical strength of insulation expressed in

terms of the crest value of a standard switching impulse.”
 INSULATION CO-ORDINATION
Steps for Insulation Coordination:
1. Selection of a suitable insulation which is a function of
reference class voltage (i.e., 1.05 X Operating voltage of
the system)
2. The design of the various equipments such that the
breakdown or flashover strength of all insulation in the
station equals or exceeds the selected level
3. Selection of protective devices that will give the
apparatus as good protection as can be justified
economically 52
 Basic insulation level

Fundamental requirements,

The selection of a suitable insulation level,

The assurance that the breakdown or flashover

strength of all insulation in the station will equal or
exceed the selected level,

The application of protective devices.

 Impulse Ratio

• The ratio of the flashover, sparkover or

breakdown voltage of an impulse to the
crest value of the power-frequency
flashover, sparkover or breakdown
voltage.
• Impulse ratios of insulator and lightening
arrestor should be high & low respectively

• The energy criterion for various insulations

can be compared in terms of a common term
known as Impulse Ratio