Open-Ended Lab

Lightning Protection of A 22kV Distribution

Overhead Line- A Case Study

Problem Statement:
Sometimes due to lightning a surge is produce in the electrical system mostly in
overhead transmission lines. These surges can cause serious damage to the expensive
electrical equipment’s like power transformers , generators e.t.c. To protect our
system from these surges we use surge arrester’s.

Background knowledge:
A protective device that is used to protect the electrical power system from surges
caused by lightning is known as surge arrester. It includes two terminals like high
voltage and ground. Once an electric surge travels through the surge arrester from the
power system, then a huge voltage current can travel to the insulation directly
otherwise to the ground terminal to protect the system from damage.

The Working of Surge Arrester is, whenever lightning or power surge hits a

particular electrical system, then it will harm the entire system as well as electrical
devices that are connected to this system because these devices work at a fixed
voltage range.

If the voltage received by the electrical devices is high than the fixed voltage, then
they get damaged or blow up. To overcome this situation, a surge arrester is used to
protect the devices from damage, because this arrester ensures that the huge voltage
cannot travel through the electrical system.

So this is a voltage-activated device, used to protect computers as well as other

electronic equipment transient voltages or surges in data cables or electrical power
from a switching surge/ lightning. The working of this arrester can be done by
redirecting the additional voltage into the earth wire instead of traveling throughout
the electronic devices.

The protection against lightning on power distribution and transmission networks has
primarily been carried using equipment such as (surge arrestors, surge capacitors,
shield wires and basic insulation earthing systems). The fundamental application of
the protection equipment is to attempt to minimize the high induced voltage resulting
from lightning strike. Minimizing the high voltages reduces the extent of damage on
the system. Overhead electrical systems are mostly exposed to the effect of lightning.
Technically lightning induces a rapidly voltage on the power system network, thus
this could result in substantial power outages. Lightning has the potential to affect and
damage the power system equipment. It is therefore imperative that adequate
electrical protection is installed to minimize the extend of the damage. In recent years,
most power utilities have adopted a technique based on installing a shield wire to
protect the phase conductors whenever there is a direct lightning strike. This shield
wire is used to redirect the surge current induces form the lightning into to the ground.
It is therefore, important that ground earthing is sufficient. Surge arrestors have
mostly been used to protect electrical equipment against over-voltages from lightning
and switching events. The surge arrestor insulates the electrically connected part and
the ground. This enables a deviation of surge current which may be induced on the
equipment to be directed to the ground. The design of surge arrestors is not meant to
eradicate the presence of lightning but rather to minimize the damage against
lightning strokes within the vicinity of the conductor . In power distribution medium
voltage systems between (6.6 kV -33 kV), lightning protection is achieved by
adequate basic insulation level (BIL). The use of streamers for power systems line
protection against lightning provides a comprehensive system. Ruling out the
possibility of shortcircuit faults, these devices are also capable of breaking the high
follow current that appears on a line as the result of direct lightning strikes.

Surge Arrester Failure Modes:

Surge arrester failure can result in short circuits in houses. In most of the situations, a
fault occurs because of dielectric breakdown once the internal structure of the system
damages. So the arrester cannot resist the applied voltage like lightning, normal
system voltage, switching surge overvoltage. In this, humidity otherwise moisture
plays an essential role because moisture will increase leakage current, thermal heating
and cause discharge. The faults of surge arrester can cause due to some reasons like
sealing defect, moisture ingress, and influence of moisture in Arrester.

Characteristics of Surge Arrester

The electrical characteristics of this include the following.

 The voltage across this arrester where the current flow is interrupted after
spark over, this is known as resealing voltage.
 It has the highest power frequency which ranges 50 Hz/60 Hz
 Maximum constant operating voltage
 Rated short circuit current
 Nominal discharge current and the values are 5 kA, 10 kA & 20 kA.
 These are connected among the life conductors as well as the earth.
 While installing the arresters with above 52 kV, surge arrester’s may be
supplied by discharge operation counters.

Select Appropriate Equipment & Tools:

MATLAB Simulink is used to implement this lab, So we design a 22KV distribution
overhead line and implement surge arrester on it, and try to remove that surge from
electrical system.
Analysis & Results:

Voltage and Current wave form's using surge arrester’s (before clearing the fault)

Voltage

Current
 Voltage & Current

From the figures it may be clearly seen that the surge arrestor attempts to clip the
surge voltage after 0.04 sec to return the system to steady state.
Voltage and Current wave form's using surge arrester’s (after clearing the fault)

Voltage

Current
To analyze the effect of lightning on a power system, the performance of surge
arrester’s after clearing the fault is critical. The voltage and current waveforms using
surge arrestors is presented from Fig. Above.

Conclusion:
This paper outlines the impact of lightning protection using surge arrester’s A model
of an existing a 22kV power system is performed in MATLAB/Simulink library.
From the results analyzed, it is seen that surge arrester’s clips the surge voltages
efficiently.