Connectors The Weak Link in the Chain!

Carl R. Tamm Classic Connectors, Inc. November 2010 The concept of setting up an aluminum extrusion facility at a power plant, specifically for the purpose of extruding a continuous flow of aluminum conductor, which in a fairytale world could be pulled to all destinations without interruption, is an intriguing fantasy! For the rest of us, who live in the real world, we must rely on connectors to join long spans of conductor hundreds of miles. Once thought permanent we have come to realize that forever is a really long time and connectors, like most everything else in our infrastructure, have a limited service life.

The aging infrastructure known as the grid has reached an average age, where connector failures have become common place, and most utilities have come to the realization that an impending issue exists which cannot be ignored. Furthermore, the demand for power continues to grow, and with right-of-way at a premium, or more commonly, simply unavailable, utilities are being forced to operate aged and existing lines way beyond their design factors. This only exacerbates the demise of the aged electrical interface of the connectors. The fastest, easiest, and most economical means to restore integrity to aged electrical connectors, to nearly double the longevity of a line, or to boost their performance level to allow for system uprating, is to fit them with a mechanical and electrical shunt. This paper briefly addresses the failure mechanisms of connectors, discusses methods for determining their present state of health, and methods to restore both mechanical and electrical integrity to connectors with a single device, designed to be installed on energized lines without the need for power interruptions.

An Aging Infrastructure No different than highways, bridges, sewer systems, pipelines of all types, fleets of trucks, fleets of aircraft, or the clothes on your back everything that moves, and everything that has an interface between substances which move or convey power, electrical connectors are subject to deterioration and eventual demise. Corrosion, erosion, friction, and thermal cycles wreak havoc on all such items, including electrical connectors. The 21st Century has been dubbed The era of rebuilding as a result of aging infrastructure and unprecedented increase in population and the demand this great mass of people put on the infrastructure. The interruption of the flow of traffic, trains, aircraft, water, gas, fuel, and electricity has a paralyzing effect on our world and economy, and with many elements of our infrastructure not only in poor condition, but also taxed to the limit, taking them out of service for maintenance or improvement becomes increasingly difficult from each day forward. The first aluminum conductor used commercially in a transmission application was by the Hartford Electric Light Company in 1899. By 1929, 300,000 miles of aluminum conductor spanned the United States, much of which has already been replaced once. Since that time, there has been built, approximately 300,000 miles of transmission line, and over two million miles of distribution circuit in North America. Most of this was built following WWII, up through the mid 1970s, and it follows that the vast majority of aluminum conductor in North America is 40 to 70 years old. The design parameters for most utility grade connectors up through the 1970s, when 90% of the existing infrastructure was built, was 30 years at a max conductor operating temp of 70C. Surveys of utilities across North America reveal that incidents of connector failures are increasing at an alarming rate, with some specific types of connectors showing incident rates doubling and sometimes tripling from one year to the next! Utility grade connectors tend to live between 40 to 70 years, depending on (a) the workmanship employed during installation, (b) the corrosiveness or hostility of their environment, (c) the operating conditions to which they are subjected, and (d) the type of connector. Electrical connectors, like people, are individuals. (a) Some people exercise and eat nutritious foods, and generally follow sound healthy habits some electrical connectors are installed with the proper procedures on well brushed, cleaned conductor, and provided with the proper inhibitor and such people and connectors typically live long and useful lives! (b) Some people live in relatively benign environments, and when they must venture into hostile environments, don the appropriate protective apparel or gear some connectors live in such benign environments but some people are subjected to environments which are proven to be detrimental to their health and likewise some connectors live in environments which shorten their service life. (c) People are designed to live at temperatures below 40C (105F), and when

subjected to temperatures beyond their design parameters, like electrical connectors, are likely to have shorter life expectancies. And then there is the odd lot everyone knows somebody that has smoked like a freight train, drank like a fish, and generally lived a slovenly lifestyle, and yet lived into their 90s or even past 100 and so it goes with a few connectors but like people, the odds are not in their favor, and they generally represent a really small part of the population! Everyone has different math skills, but most of us can figure out, that if the average age of most connectors in the grid is 40 to 70 years, and the average life expectancy of such connectors is 40 to 70 years, we might be facing a little issue that perhaps deserves our attention! Almost every utility will tell you that they have dropped more lines this year than they did last year (due specifically to a connector failing mechanically) and would have answered exactly the same had you asked them last year! And there are some that will tell you that they have worked in this industry for 30 years, and this is the first theyve seen, and therefore have little reason to think it is an epidemic yet. Most of this last group will be in areas of the country that have not experienced the unprecedented growth that other parts have, and therefore their load is not increased accordingly. Key Parameters Temperature, induced by current, is paramount in longevity of connectors. And, particularly with aluminum connectors, there is a specific temperature which gives rise to concern, and that temperature is 93C (200F). It is at this temperature that the onset of long-term annealing begins with most of the aluminum alloys used in our industry. Our forefathers, whether due to keen insight, or just blind luck, chose 70-75C as a maximum continuous operating temperature for conductors (yes the connectors appear cooler this in intentional, and includes this conductor temperature parameter). From where did this arise? Actually, it is an extension of the several decades of experience with copper that preceded the move to aluminum as the favored conductor, being specified as a 30C rise over a 40C ambient for connector operations. The aluminum conductor manufacturers came up to 75C as there was no inherent problem with aluminum conductor at this temperature. The connectors however, have that quirky little addition inhibitor and of course they have that wonderfully dynamic electrical interface! A quick question for those purists the EEs among you: To what particular property do we give credit to the rise of thermal energy produced when an electrical current passes through a material? Did I hear someone say resistance? Now one a bit more complicated: Where do you suppose the greatest resistance is found, in (a) the material of the conductor, (b) the material of the connector, or (c) that pesky little interface? For those of you who answered a or b we would recommend a bit further study! It is the interface. And what is more important, it is not perfectly stable, and the interface resistance increases with age. And with increased resistance, we have more thermal energy resulting in higher temperatures, which you guessed it increases the resistance. Left unchecked, the ultimate result is thermal runaway, and the

connector will fail not only electrically, but also mechanically. For those overhead lines that are not supported along their entire length with helium balloons the result is a conductor on the ground. An often asked question regarding connector performance is: At what temperature must one take action concerning an imminent connector temperature? The answer has all to do with the conductor temperature, which does not have to be hot at all! A connector can melt with a conductor operating only a few degrees above ambient. One specific instance, of several, to which I can attest, was a deadend which failed during a summer evening at a modest ambient temperature. The specific temperature of the conductor at the time was not known, but the highest load ever recorded during the short 6 year life of this connector was only sufficient to take the conductor to a maximum temperature of 68C (155F)!

Back to that pesky interface. In the instance above, it was the interface between the bolted pads of a deadend / jumper terminal assembly which resulted in the tension component softening to the point it failed mechanically. The same instance occurs with the compression interface as well, common obviously in splices, where there are two compression interfaces. Knowing that the major component of thermal energy in a connector is generated at the interface, and knowing that the cross-section of material of the connector (of those manufactured by reputable companies) will have less resistance than the conductor itself, and knowing that the connector has much more surface area than the conductor with which to radiate the thermal energy away the connector should always be cooler than the conductor. Therefore, the answer to the question is derived from a T differential between the conductor and the connector. A connector operating at 100C on a 125C conductor is quite satisfactory, whereas the same connector operating at 100C on a 75C conductor is in eminent failure mode, and should be addressed as soon as possible! It is the voltage drop across the interface that is the concern, and it only requires 3/10ths of a volt drop across the interface to raise the temperature of the aluminum to 650C, at which point the aluminum melts!

Inhibitors Another key factor to the longevity of aluminum connectors is an oxidation inhibitor. Traditional mineral oil based inhibitor compounds will not tolerate extreme temperatures. The base mineral oil of such inhibitors begins to breakdown at 162C. While the connector may appear to be operating far below that threshold, the electrical interface is operating at much higher temperatures than may be detected on the surface of the connector. Empirical data has supported life expectancies of 30 - 50 years for electrical connectors applied to conductors operating at 70C to 75C. The increase of current density resulting in conductor operating temperatures in the range of 90C, presently adopted by most utilities, has resulted in an increasing number of reported connector failures. Most of these prove to be related to the inevitable breakdown of inhibitor compounds under extreme thermal conditions, and a lack of inhibitor having been used (poor installation practice). Synthetic inhibitors have been developed which operate with much greater success in extreme thermal environments. All these issues point to the imminent failure of connectors. Unfortunately, we only have a few analysis methods to determine the state of health of an electrical connector. Diagnostic Methods Unfortunately, the diagnostic methods available are limited, and none provide 100% assurance of connector life, and longevity is pretty much a shot in the dark how many more years did your doctor say you had.? The most prevalent in use today is infrared imaging, commonly known in the industry as thermography. Its top attributes include being comparatively fast and inexpensive, and does not require contact with the conductor. It allows one to see temperature differentials.

Among the problems with IR include issues with emissivity, insufficient line loading which should typically be above 40% of rating, and wind that rapidly cools hot connections resulting in false negative results.

Another option is measuring resistance across the interface under operating conditions. As one might imagine, this does require contact of the energized connector with a meter. Obviously this is more time consuming but has the potential of more accurate results.

X-Ray can reveal some anomalies with connectors, but also requires contact with the line, although this can be done with the line de-energized. (Courtesy USAirmobile)

Thermochromatic Paint is an upcoming option which has been investigated for application on utility class connectors. It is painted on the connectors as some point in their life before they become suspect of going bad and upon reaching a predetermined temperature the paint changes color! Someone has to paint the connectors! What temperature determines a bad connector? Unfortunately, it is a comparison to the conductor on which it resides however, the paint will likely indicate it before it fails. Like we humans, numerous diagnostic tools are used to determine our health, and yet someone may be diagnosed in perfect health one day and be dead within a week! We have numerous tools to diagnose connectors, and while none are 100% accurate, most can give you a good indication of average health of a connector. For humans, the time honored and highly recommended direction is preventative measures. What preventative measures can a utility utilize once their system gets into the phase of frequent connector failures, or more appropriately before their system deteriorates to that state?

Shunts

Deadends

Splices

Suspensions

Over the past few decades, connector failures have been few and far between. However, due to the reasons assigned, the turn of the century has brought a marked difference in that view. Up till recently, the concept of obtaining an outage and spending a day changing out a problematic connector has not been unreasonable. As the number of such change-outs has increased, the problem becomes one of available time / manpower and the option of taking the line out of service has become increasingly more difficult. As seen in the first three photographs, shunts may be used for a variety of repair situations, such as deadends or splices, and applications where conductor damage has occurred due to vibration at suspension systems. Conductor repair from such incidents as gunshot wounds are easily and quickly repaired. A popular application is to upgrade a line to a higher thermal capacity (ampacity) provided adequate sag clearances are available by protecting the connectors and thereby, obtaining an additional 30+ years from the system.

While the concept of shunting a connector is not new, the option of doing so with a device designed for such applications that is easy to install has become increasingly more attractive. When the hands on job is reduced from 6-8 hours down to 15-20 minutes, and the cost is reduced by a factor of 4-5, and the job can be done on an energized line without the need for an outage, and without the need to physically cut the conductor the option is now almost a necessity!

Typical Gear Used for Cutting a Splice Out and Replacing it with Two! A shunt is a device designed to attach to the original conductor on each respective side of a connector and provide an alternate current path. Optimally, this device will also serve to restore the mechanical integrity to the system which has likely been degraded from the thermal energy of the failing electrical interface as well as natural aging. A significant advantage of shunting is the ability to install shunts either with hotsticks, gloves, or barehand on EHV without the requirement of an outage. Such installations are typically handled in 15 to 20 minutes, including conductor preparation. In such instances, the linemen spend much less time in the live line environment than would be required to replace connectors in the old fashioned method, and the principal conductor is never severed.

Repair of gunshot conductor with shunt

Shunting over broken strands in span

Installation of large flexible shunt over splice with hotsticks

Installation of shunts over deadends on energized 345kV using the barehand method

Conclusion Overhead electrical conductors have a potential to fail. Because they are suspended overhead, their failure commonly results in their coming to rest on the ground. Being energized, the propensity to cause severe damage, fire, serious injury or death, is unmistakable. It is important to understand that current industry standards do not subject connectors that have been through heat cycle testing to post mechanical stress requirements. The mechanical requirements are tested on new connectors which have not been subjected to thermal cycling. The test temperatures to which connectors are subjected during these tests such as ANSI C119.4 - Class A or Class AA, do not qualify the connectors for operation above 93C. While many lines exist today which have been subjected to exceedingly high temperatures, and have not yet failed, the propensity for them to fail has been substantially increased due to the thermal stress to which the conductor and connectors and suspension systems have been subjected. Prudent design practice for increasing line ampacity is to utilize shunts to protect the connectors, to assure they will not be subjected to thermal stress beyond their design limits. While the question may be repeated over and over, and study after study may be conducted to determine at what thermal limits aluminum conductors, both homogenous and non-homogenous, and aluminum bodied structural connectors may be operated, the true answer is provided by the material properties. For those still seeking this answer, Mother Nature has conveniently drawn a line in the sand, and that mark is 93C. At the point the electrical interface of an aged connector increases in resistance sufficient to drive the temperature of its parent material above 93C, the connectors electrical and mechanical integrity should be restored by installing a shunt. We must not forget that our first responsibility is to the general public and their safety. Unaware of any potential danger, children and adults alike pass underneath suspended conductors, day in and day out ultimately trusting the professionals in the electrical industry to make the wise and safe decision.
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Carl Tamm is a Critical Application Specialist with Classic Connectors, Inc., Design Engineering Department; the manufacturer of ClampStar Connector Corrector shunts. A 23 year veteran in the electrical industry, his focus has been in connector design and analysis. He presently holds twenty U.S. Patents, and has several pending. He is the author of four published papers on high power electrical connectors. Carl is a voting member of the ANSI C119 committees and Chair of the ANSI C119.7 Committee, developing the ANSI Standard for High Temperature Connectors for use on Conductors Operating Above 93C.