ECEG-3154 Introduction to Power Systems

Chapter 6
Introduction to Power Systems
(ECEG-3154)

Instructor: Abiy.E (Msc).

Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
Wollega University
College of Engineering and Technology

May, 2017
 Main Components of Overhead Lines
1. Conductors
2. Supports
3. Insulators
4. Cross arms which provide support to the insulators.
5. Lightning arrestors, anti-climbing
 1.Conductor Material-properties
(i) High electrical conductivity.
(ii) High tensile strength in order to withstand
mechanical stresses.
(iii) Low cost so that it can be used for long distances.
(iv) Low specific gravity so that weight per unit volume
is small.
 Conductor Material
• Copper,
• Aluminium,
• Steel-cored aluminium,
• Galvanized steel and
• Cadmium copper
 2. Line Supports-properties
(i) High mechanical strength to withstand the weight of
conductors and wind loads etc.
(ii) Light in weight without the loss of mechanical
strength.
(iii) Cheap in cost and economical to maintain.
(iv) Longer life.
(v) Easy accessibility of conductors for maintenance.
 Line Supports
• Wooden poles,
• Steel poles,
• R.C.C. poles - Reinforced Concrete Poles and
• Lattice steel towers
wooden poles
R.C.C. poles - reinforced concrete poles
OVER HEAD LINE INSULATORS AND CABLES

INSULATOR
Insulators provide necessary insulation between
line conductors and supports and thus prevent
any leakage current from conductors to earth.
 Electrical insulation is a material or object which contains no free electrons to permit the
flow of electricity. When a voltage is placed across an insulator, no charge or current
flows. An object intended to support or separate electrical conductors without passing
current through itself is called an insulator. The term electrical insulation has the same
meaning as the term dielectric.
Some materials such as silicon dioxide or teflon are very good electrical insulators. A
much larger class of materials, for example rubber-like polymers and most plastics are still
"good enough" to insulate electrical wiring and cables even though they may have lower bulk
resistivity. These materials can serve as practical and safe insulators for low to moderate
voltages (hundreds, or even thousands, of volts).

In order to prevent the flow of current to the earth from support the transmission lines
or distribution lines are all secured to the supporting tower s or poles with the help of
insulators. Thus the insulators play an important part in the help of
operation of lines.
 The chief requirements for the insulators are:
i. They must be mechanically very strong.
ii. Their dielectric strength must be very high.
iii. They must provide very high insulation resistance to the leakage currents.
iv. They must be free from the internal impurities or flows.
v. They should not porous.
vi, They must be impervious to the entrance of gases or liquids into the
materials.
vii. They should not be effected with change in temperature.
viii. They must have high ratio of puncture strength of flash over voltage.
The main cause of failure of insulators is due to flash over puncture. The
flash over may occur bin the line conductor and the earth.
Materials of insulators
 TYPES OF INSULATOR
1. Pin type insulator
2. Suspension type insulator
3. Strain insulator(tension)
4. Shackle insulators
5. Stray or egg insulator
Pin type insulator
Suspension type insulator
Strain insulator(tension)
(<11kv)
Shackle insulators
Stray or egg insulator
Potential Distribution over Suspension
Insulator String
Mathematical expression.
• String efficiency =
Methods of Improving String Efficiency

(i) By using longer cross-arms

(ii) By using a guard ring.
 (i) By using longer cross-arms

string efficiency depends upon the value of K i.e., K = C1/C ratio of shunt capacitance to
mutual capacitance.
(ii) By using a guard ring
 Porcelain is the most common material used, in addition to this molded
toughened glass and static are also used

A) Porcelain insulators; - the porcelain is manufactured from china clay which

occurs in nature in the form of aluminum silicate. It is mixed
with plastic kaolin, feslpor and quarture. The insulator so obtained must
be hard, smooth, glazed and free from porosity, due to the glaze of
material its surfaces will be free from trace of water. The porosity of
the insulator material will decrease its dielectric strength, also any
impurity or air bubble left within the material with result in a lower
dielectric strength.
 b. Glass insulators
Many times glass is used as insulating material. The glass is made tough by annealing
and these insulators have the following advantages.
i) They have very high dielectric strength of the order of about 140kv per cm of thickness
of the material.
j) When properly annealed they have high resistively.
k) They have low coefficient of thermal expansion.
l) Due to higher dielectric strength, the glass insulators have simpler design and
even one-piece designs can be used.
m) They have higher compressive strength than porce lain insulator.
n) They are transparent, impurities air bubbles, cracks impurities etc can be easily detected.
o) They are quite homogeneous.
p) They are cheaper than porcelain.
The mains disadvantages of such type of insulators are: -
i) The moisture easily condenses over the surface, due to which dirt will deposit
in its surface and it will help to the leakage of currents,
ii) For higher voltages the glass cannot be cast in irregular shapes since due to irregular
cooling internal strains are caused.
c) Steatite insulators: - The steatite is a magnesium silicate found in various
proportions of magnetism oxide and silica in many parts of the world. It has a
very high tensile strength as compared to porcelain insulator, and can
advantageously be used in situations where the insulator is in pure tension i. c.
when transmission lines take sharp turns.
 TYPES OF INSULATOR
1/ Pin-tvpe insulators
It is attached to, a steel bolt or pin which is secured to the cross-arow on the
tower. The porcelain shall not be indirect contact with the hard-metal pin and
the two surfaces must be separated by a soft metal thimble.
The pin-type insulators are available for use up to 50k V, but they are never
used for voltages beyond 80k V as in that case suspension insulators are useful
and cheaper hence at higher voltages they become uneconomical, the cost
increasing rapidly as the voltage increases, being proportional to V X where x is
grater than 2.
The insulator and its pin should be sufficiently strong mechanically to
withstand the resultant force due to the combined effects of weight of span,
wind pressure and possible ice-loading.
 Fig. Pin-type
insulator
2. suspension type insulator
As the voltage increases the pin-insulator to be used becomes heavy and
complicated in construction, also its cost increases. Further the replacement of
the damaged insulator will cost more so pin insulators are not an economical
problem for higher voltages.
For higher voltages suspension insulators are used number of them are
connected in series by metallic links to form a chain and the line conductor is
carried by the bottom-most insulator. The voltage of such a system are:
(i) Each suspension insulator is designed for 11kV so by connecting a
number of such insulators a string of insulators can be designed for
any required voltage.
(ii) If anyone of the insulator in the string fails, it can be replaced easily
and at a lesser cost.
(iii) The mechanical stresses on the string decrease line the line suspended
is flexible and it can oscillate bait and it will attain that position where
the stress is pure tensile.
(iv) When the string of the insulator is used in conjunction with the steel
towers, the line conductors are less effected by lighting, since the line
conductors are lower than the cross arm which is earthed and acts as a
lighting arrestor.
(V) If the load to be supplied, by the transmission lines increases, it can either
accomplished by running another parallel line which will no doubt cost more, or the
potential of the existing line can be further increased by simply increasing the number of
insulators in the string.
High-Voltage line are insulated by suspension insulators in which case, as the name
indicates, the line conductor is suspended below the
support by means of the insulator or insulators.
(Vi) In the event of an increase in the operating voltage of a line the insulation requirements
can be met by adding the appropriate number of units to the string instead of replacing all
insulators as would be made necessary with the pin type.
# On suspension type of insulator, the conductors are held in place with the
help of a clamp or shoe.
(3) Strain insulators
These insulators are used to take the tension of the conductors at termination of the line and at
angle positions where there is a change in direction of the line.
For low voltage line shackle insulators can be used but for high voltage transmission lines
strain insulators consists of an assembly of suspension insulator
Failure of insulators
There are two ways in which all insulator may breakdown:
1) As the result of direct puncture through the body of the insulator material
which is directly affected by the electrical characteristics of the material
chosen and the care taken in the manufacture of the unit, and
2) A flash over across its surfaces - which is related to the case with which
water and dirty may be accumulated on the surface, and therefore to the
surface shape.
The causes of the failure of insulators are
(1) Cracking of insulators:- caused due. to the stresses produced in the porcelain

due to unequal expansion and contraction produced in cement, steel and

porcelain caused by seasonal heat, cold, dryness, and dampness or by heating of
the insulator .
2) Defective insulator material -If the material the insulator is defective anywhere ,
it will puncture-from these places and thus becomes unfit for further use.
(3) Porosity of the material. :- If the porcelain of the insulator is manufactured-of
lower temperature, it will make it porous, and due this reason it will absorb
moisture from air or from cement and thus its insulation will decrease
( 4) Improper glaze: - If the insulator material is not properly glazed, the water will
stick over it which will result in to deposition of dust etc. over it which is
partially conducting and reduces the flash over distance .
 
UNDERGROUND CABLE

TYPES OF CABLE
 CABLES

•Normally electric power is transmitted through

overhead lines or underground cables.
•The overhead lines consist of conductors only but
cables consist of conductor and insulating layer.
ADVANTAGES
• Low voltage drop.
• Low maintenance cost.
• Less faults.
DISADVANTAGES
• Installation cost is more.
• Insulation problems at high voltages.
 Underground Cables

An underground cable essentially consists of one

or more conductors covered with suitable
insulation and surrounded by a protecting cover.
Construction of Cables
 (i) Cores or Conductors
A cable may have one or more than one core
(conductor) depending upon the type of service
for which it is intended.

The conductors are made of tinned copper or aluminium

and are usually stranded in order to provide flexibility to the cable.
 (ii) Insulation
Each core or conductor is provided with a suitable thickness of insulation, the
thickness of layer depending upon the voltage to be withstood by the cable. The
commonly used materials for insulation are impregnated paper, varnished cambric or
rubber mineral compound.
 (iii) Metallic sheath
In order to protect the cable from moisture, gases or other damaging liquids
(acids or alkalies) in the soil and atmosphere, a metallic sheath of lead or
aluminium is provided over the insulation
 (iv) Bedding
Over the metallic sheath is applied a layer of bedding which consists of a
fibrous material like jute or hessian tape. The purpose of bedding is to
protect the metallic sheath against corrosion and from mechanical injury
due to armoring.
 (v) Armouring
Over the bedding, armouring is provided which consists of one or two layers of
galvanised steel wire or steel tape. Its purpose is to protect the cable from mechanical
injury while laying it and during the course of handling. Armouring may not be done in
the case of some cables.
 (vi) Serving
In order to protect armouring from atmospheric conditions, a layer of fibrous
material (like jute) similar to bedding is provided over the armouring.
 Insulating Materials for Cables
• the proper choice of insulating material for
cables is of considerable importance. In
general,
• the insulating materials have the following
properties
• High insulation resistance to avoid leakage
current.
• High dielectric strength to avoid electrical
breakdown of the cable.
• High mechanical strength to withstand the
mechanical handling of cables.
• Non-hygroscopic i.e., it should not absorb
moisture from air or soil.
• Low cost so as to make the underground
system a viable proposition.
• Unaffected by acids and alkalies to avoid any
chemical action.
 Classification of Cables

Two ways according to

(i) Type of insulating material used in their manufacture
(ii) Voltage for which they are manufactured. However, the
latter method of classification is generally preferred,
according to which cables can be divided into
the following groups :
• (i) Low-tension (L.T.) cables — upto 1000 V
• (ii) High-tension (H.T.) cables — upto 11,000 V
• (iii) Super-tension (S.T.) cables — from 22 kV to 33 kV
• (iv) Extra high-tension (E.H.T.) cables — from 33 kV to 66
kV
• (v) Extra super voltage cables — beyond 132 kV
• A cable may have one or more than one core
depending upon the type of service for which
it is intended. It may be (i) single-core (ii) two-
core (iii) three-core (iv) four-core etc. For
• a 3-phase service, either 3-single-core cables
or three-core cable can be used depending
upon the operating voltage and load demand.
(i) single-core
 Cables for 3-Phase Service
• The following types of cables are generally
used for 3-phase service :

1. Belted cables — upto 11 kV

2. Screened cables — from 22 kV to 66 kV
3. Pressure cables — beyond 66 kV.
Belted cables or called paper belt is wound
 Screened cables.

These cables are meant for use upto 33 kV, but in particular cases their
use may be extended to operating voltages upto 66 kV. Two principal
types of screened cables are H-type cables and S.L. type cables

Hochstadter and
hence the name
 S.L. (separate lead)

• type cable. It is basically H-type cable but the

screen round each core insulation is covered
by its own lead sheath.
 Pressure cable

• Oil filled cables

• Gas pressure cables
Gas pressure cable
Single core low tension
cable

Oil-filled cables
Cable
Dielectric Stress in a Single Core Cable
 CAPACITANCE OF A THREE CORE CABLES

Capacitance of a cable system is much more

important than that of overhead line because
• Conductors nearer to each other and to the
earthed sheath.
• They are separated by a dielectric permittivity
much greater than air.
 ? Any Question ?
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