Chapter 5

Mechanical Design of Transmission Lines

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Outline

 Introduction
 Types of conductors
 Line supports
 Spacing between the conductors
 Sag-tension calculations
 Effect of wind and ice

2
Introduction

3
4
• An overhead line comprises mainly

i ) conductors: which carry electric power from the sending end

station to the receiving end station
ii ) support structures: which may be poles or towers and keep
the conductors at a suitable level above the ground.
iii ) insulators and pole fittings: which are attached to supports
and insulate the conductors from the ground.
iV) Cross arms: which provide support to the insulators.
V) Shield wires: which provides grounding and may be
communication services for the overhead transmission line.
Vi) Miscellaneous items such as phase plates, danger plates,
lightning arrestors, anti-climbing wires etc.

5
The function of overhead lines is to transmit electrical energy. The
conductor is one of the important items overhead line as most of the
capital outlay is invested for it. Therefore, proper choice of material and
size of the conductor is of considerable importance.

The conductor material used for transmission and distribution of electric

power should have the following 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.

All above requirements are not found in a single material. Therefore, while
selecting a conductor material for a particular case, a compromise is
made between the cost and the required electrical and mechanical
properties.

The metals which posses the above properties are copper, aluminum
and steel, which are used either alone or in combination.
6
 Types of conductors
Copper
• The most common conductor used for transmission is hard-drawn
copper, because it is twice as strong as soft drawn copper and it
stretches to a much lesser extent than soft drawn copper.
• The merits of this metal as a line conductor are:
i. It has a best conductivity in comparison to other metals. The
conductivity of copper, however depends upon the percentage of
impurities present in it, the more the impurities the lesser will be
the conductivity. The conductivity of copper conductor also
depends upon the method by which it has been drawn.
ii. It has higher current density, so for the given current rating,
lesser cross-sectional area of conductor is required and hence it
provides lesser cross-sectional area to wind loads
iii. The metal is quite homogeneous
iv. It has low specific resistance
v. It is durable and has a higher scrap value
7
Aluminum
• Next to copper aluminum is the conductor used in order of
performance as far as the conductivity is concerned. Its merits and
demerits are:
i. It is cheaper than copper
ii. It is lighter in weight
iii. It is second in conductivity (among the metals used for
transmission). Commercial hard-down aluminum wire at
standard temperature has approximately 60.6 percent
conductivity in comparison to standard annealed copper wire.
iv. For same ohmic resistance, its diameter is about 1.27 times that
of copper.
v. At higher voltages it causes less corona loss
vi. Since the diameter of the conductor is more, so it is subject to
greater wind pressure due to which greater is the swing of the
conductor and greater is the sag
vii. Since the conductors are liable to swing, so it requires larger
cross arms
8
 viii. As the melting point of the conductor is low , so the short circuit etc. will
damage it .
ix. Joining of aluminum is much more difficult than that of any other
material
• In the modern over head transmission system, bare aluminum conductors
are used (for purpose of heat dissipation) which are classifies as:
i) AAC - All Aluminum Conductors
ii) AAAC - All Aluminum Alloy Conductors
iii) ACSR – Aluminum Conductors Steel Reinforced
iv) ACAR - Aluminum Conductors Alloy Reinforced
Steel
• No doubt it has got the greatest tensile strength, but it is least used for
transmission of electrical energy as it has got high resistance. Bare steel
conductors are not used since, it deteriorates rapidly owing to rusting.
Generally galvanized steel wires are used. It has the following properties:
i) It is lowest in conductivity
ii ) It has high internal reactance
iii ) It is much subjected to eddy current and hysteresis loss
iv ) In a damp atmosphere it is rusted
• Hence its use is limited
9
 Line supports

• The line supports are poles and the chief requirements for such
supports are:
i) They must be mechanically strong
ii ) They must be light in weight without the loss of strength.
iii ) They must have least number of parts.
iv ) They must be cheap.
v) Their maintenance cost should be minimum.
vi ) They must be easily accessible for point and erection of line
conductors.
vii ) They must have longer life.
viii ) They must be of pleasing shape.

10
• The different types of poles which can be used as line supports are:

a. Wooden poles
b. Steel tubular poles
c. Reinforced concrete poles
d. Steel towers

Fig.(1):Single phase single-circuit

11
 Spacing between the conductors

• The most suitable spacing

between the conductors can be
arrived at by mathematical
calculations.
• It can only be obtained by
empirical formulae which have
been obtained from practical
considerations.

Fig.(7):Three-phase single circuit horizontal disposition of conductor and steel towers12

 Conductor Spacings:
• The spacing of conductors is determined by considerations partly electrical and partly
mechanical. Larger spacing causes increase in inductance of the line and hence the voltage
drop, so that to keep the latter within a reasonable value the conductors should be as close
together as is consistent with the prevention of corona.
• The basic consideration regarding the minimum spacing between conductors is that the
electrical clearances between conductors under the worst condition i.e. maximum
temperature and wind pressure shall not be less than the limits for safety, particularly at the
mid spans.
• Owing to the action of the gusts of wind, conductor has got tendency to move about in an
elliptical path, therefore, in case of suspension insulators, the minimum clearance to
supporting structures should be calculated with a 45° swing of the suspension string towards
the structure.
• An empirical formula commonly employed for determination of spacing of conductors for
an aluminium conductor line is given below:
• Spacing = √S + (V/150) metres … (10.1)
• where S is sag in metres and V is line voltage in kV.

13
• Generally the following formulae is used for obtaining spacing between the
conductors(phases):

• In addition to phase conductors, a

transmission line usually includes
one or two steel wires called shield
wires. These wires are electrically
connected to the tower and to the
ground, and, therefore, are at
ground potential.
• In large transmission lines, these wires are located above the phase
conductors, shielding them from lightning.
14
 Sag-tension calculations for overhead lines
• The theory of sag tension calculation is based on the fact that when a wire of
uniform cross-section is suspended between two points at the same level, the
wire sags down and assumes the shape of a parabolic or catenary shape.
i) Parabolic is the shape of a cable that supports a uniform horizontal load
ii) catenary is the shape that is formed by a hanging cable whose weight is
constant per unit of arc length

15
 16
Fig.(15.1) Conductor suspended between supports at same level
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Effect of ice covering and wind over the line
• Under the severest conditions of ice covering and wind,
the stress over the line is increased to the maximum.
The ice covering over the conductor increase the weight
of the conductor per unit length. Let, (d cm) be the
diameter of the conductor and (r cm) be the radial
thickness of ice.

Fig.(16): Representation of conductor covered with ice 25

• Cross-sectional area of the conductor
 d2

4
• Overall cross-sectional area when covered with ice
 2
 (d  2 r )
4 2
  d
• Sectional area of the ice = (d  2 r )2 
4 4

= [ (d  2 r )2  d 2 ]
4

= [ d 2  4 r 2  4 d r d 2 ]
4
= r ( d  r )
26
• Density of ice  0.915 g / cm 3
• Weight of ice per meter length

  r ( d  r )  100  0.915  10 3 Kg
 0.287 r ( d  r ) Kg

• The effect of wind is allowed for by assuming that the

wind is blowing with a velocity of ( 80.45 km) per hour
across the line. It is equivalent to a pressure of (33.7 kg)
per square meter of the projected surface to the line to
ice.
• The projected surface per meter length of the conductor
( d 2r )
 1 sq.m
100 27
 ( d 2 r )
Pw  33.7 
100
 0.337 ( d  2 r ) Kg

Fig.(11):Representation of resultant force acting on the conductor .

So, the resultant force Wi acting on the conductor from figure, is given as:

2 2
W i  (w  w i )  P w
28
Sag template

29
Cont’d

30
 Example
An overhead line has a span of 220 meters, the lines conductor
weights 684 kg. per 1,000 meters. Calculate the max. sag in the
line, if the maximum allowable tension in the line is 1,450 kg

Solution
l  220 m
W l 2

Maximum sag = 8 T0 T 0  1, 450 Kg

Weight per unit length Max. sag

684
 Kg 0.684  220  220
1, 000 
 0.684 Kg 8  1, 450
 2.85 m
31
 ? Any Question ?
?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ? ? ?
? ? 3