X International Symposium on

Lightning Protection
9
th
-13
th
November, 2009 Curitiba, Brazil


LIGHTNING ARRESTERS FOR PROTECTION OF DISTRIBUTION
TRANSFORMERS IN CITY BELL

Hctor Leopoldo Soibelzon
1

1
Universidades Nacionales de La Plata y Buenos Aires, Argentina e mail hlsoibel@gmail.com


Abstract - This work proposes a methodology to compare
the distances between lightning arresters and distribution
transformers in Medium Voltage (MV) networks currently
in operation, with the distances suggested in international
recommendations.
CIGRE and IEEE methodologies are compared.
This work addresses some of the fundamentals, illustrated
with practical examples in City Bell MV grid, to evaluate
the maximum admissible optimal distance between the
lightning arrester and the transformer.
Some of the conclusions are: assuming unbiased sampling
of the total network, 57 % have correctly placed lightning
arresters, 28% are wrong placed, and the remaining 15%
lacks overvoltage lightning arresters. The comparison
between methodologies proposed by CIGRE and IEEE
shows similar procedures.
It is shown that in MV aerial substations (with CIGRE
formulas and methodology) is easy to reduce a and b1 but is
difficult to reduce b2.

1 INTRODUCTION

As a general rule, lightning arresters should be placed as
close as possible to appliances to be protected in order to
secure better protection. The greater the rate of the
incident overvoltage, the shorter the distance required.

Placing the lightning arrester away from the appliance
reduces the protective margin. Subject to various
conditioning factors, the voltage transient at the target
appliance can easily attain values exceeding twice the
lightning arrester rating. Therefore, careful analysis is
required to establish how far away the lightning arrester
may be placed, to preserve adequate protection.

This work addresses some of the fundamentals,
illustrated with practical examples in City Bell MV grid,
to evaluate the maximum admissible optimaldistance
between the lightning arrester and the transformer.

City Bell is a small residential city about 10km North of
La Plata and 45km South of Buenos Aires. The Medium
Voltage and Low Voltage distribution networks are
overhead type. The transformers are either placed on
platforms or are similar to the rural type in newer
installations.

2 INTERNATIONAL METHODOLOGIES

2.1 CIGRE proposed methodology

CIGRE [1] recommends some formulae to calculate the
maximum distance between lightning arresters and
transformers in order to reduce the maximum voltage at
the latter. According to CIGRE:

A transformer connected to the end of a line and
protected from lightning overvoltages by means of a
lightning arrester is illustrated in Fig. 1 of this paper,
(Fig. A1, Appendix 1 of the Part 2, draft). Maximum
overvoltage at the transformer might exceed the
lightning arrester protection level. Protection devices
limit the voltage at their terminal to the residual value
Ures. Travelling wave reflections along the connection
points between the device and the appliance (a) and
between the line and the protection device (b) induce a
voltage Ua greater than Ures on the appliance. The
voltage difference U = Ua - Ures increases with
increased distances a and b, as well as with the slope S
of incident overvoltage. Since S can attain elevated
values in Medium Voltage lines, overvoltages at
appliances (Ua = Ures + U) may likewise reach high
values. Reduction of Ua at the appliance, requires
minimum U, which is consistent with choice of a and b
distances as small as possible.

According to CIGRE, an analytical expression for the
transformer voltage may be obtained, subject to the
following assumptions:

Ideal lightning arrester (residual voltage = Ures;
Lines are lossless and have the same characteristic
impedance;
b equals zero;
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Fig. 1 (Fig. A1, Appendix 1 of the Part 2, draft)

The steepness of the incoming lightning voltage is
constant;
No ground potential rise. (Transformer and
lightning arrester connected to the same grounding
system. The galvanic connection between protection
device ground and the appliance must be as short as
possible);
Infinite transformer impedance, i.e. the transformer
represents an open circuit.

Based on theoretical considerations on incident and
reflected waves, a closed form expression may be derived
for the maximum of ua(t), i.e.:

v
a S
U U
res a

+ =
2
(1).

This expression is valid only when the maximum value
does not exceed twice the residual voltage (2 Ures).

After a while, the voltage approaches a constant value
which increases proportionally to b1. This constant value
is greater than the lightning arrester voltage and this
increase is due to the drop in inductive voltage along the
line span b1. It can be shown that this increment is
proportional to the length b1.

The computed results show that, substitution of a in the
closed form expression by (a+b) yields a conservative
but reasonable approximation of the maximum voltage at
the transformer.

The closed form expression would then be:

v
b a S
U U
res a
) ( 2 +
+ = (2).

A good estimate of the maximum optimal distance
between terminals of the protection device and the
appliance may be found with equation (2).

Experience has shown that a safety factor of 1.2 is
sufficient between the appliance BIL and the maximum
voltage Ua which may appear at the appliance. With this
replacement:
v
b a S
U U
BIL
res a
) ( 2
2 , 1
+
+ = (3).

If L=a+b is adopted as a limiting value, the maximum
distance may be calculated as:

=
res
U
BIL
S
v
L
2 , 1
.
2
(4).

Formula 4 is used in this paper.

2.2 Proposed IEEE methodology

IEEE [2] also suggests how to find the distances between
lightning arresters and transformers, which must not be
exceeded to obtain suitable protection.

Section 6 of IEEE 62.22 covers the application of metal-
oxide surge arresters to safeguard electrical distribution
equipment and lines against the hazards of abnormally
high voltage surges, particularly those caused by
lightning.

Annex C4 of IEEE 62.22 is dedicated to calculate
separation distances.

It is easy to see that Fig. 2 of this paper (Fig.1 of IEEE
62.22) is very similar to figure A1 of CIGRE draft.



Fig. 2 (Fig. 1 of IEEE 62.22, Annex C4)

The symbols used to calculate surge arrester separation
distances are defined in Fig. 2 and are as follows:

BIL is Basic Lightning Impulse Insulation Level of
the transformer (in kilovolts)
C is surge propagation rate in overhead conductors
(in feet per microsecond or meters per microsecond)
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CWW is Chopped Wave Withstand of transformers
(in kilovolts) (1.10 BIL) (IEEE Std C57.12.00-1993;
Anderson [B4]; Table 5)
d! is conductor length between junction J and surge
arrester terminal (in feet or meters)
d" is conductor length between surge arrester and
ground (in feet or meters)
d is total surge arrester lead, d! + d" (in feet or
meters)
D is maximum allowable separation distance
between junction J and transformer terminal (in feet or
meters)
di/dt is rate of rise of surge current = 2(S)/Z (in
kiloamperes per microsecond)
J is common point among transformer lead, surge
arrester lead, and surged line
L is inductance of surge arrester lead d (in
microhenries) (assume 0.4 mH/ft or 1.3 mH/m)
N is number of transmission lines, including the
surged line.
S! is rate of rise of incoming surge on the
transmission line (kV/ms) (Use 11 kV/ms per kV MCOV
rating to a maximum of 2000 kV/msIEEE Std C62.11-
1993)
S is rate of rise of incoming surge at junction J (in
kilovolts per microsecond)
Va is surge arrester FOW protective level at 0.5 ms
(in kilovolts) (See Table 1)
Vsa is voltage across the surge arrester, from
junction J to ground (in kilovolts)
VT is maximum voltage stress allowable at the
transformer (in kilovolts):
VT is CWW/1.15 if time to crest voltage is less than
2 ms
VT isBIL/1.15 if time to crest voltage is more than 2
ms
This assumes a 15% protective margin (See Fig. 4)
Z is surge impedance of transmission line (in ohms)
(Refer to Table 5 in IEEE Std C62.11-1993).

However, most examples and cases studied by IEEE
correspond to HV networks, while City Bell network, is a
MV network. As a consequence the IEEE methodology is
only included to demonstrate that its basic premises are
similar to those of CIGRE.

3 SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

In some practical examples, at least in Brazil [3] and
Argentina (this work) the distances established by
CIGRE or by the IEEE have been occasionally exceeded.
In some cases, in City Bell, the transformers have no
lightning protection.

3.1 Various usual configurations to establish practical
links between lightning arresters and protected
appliances

T Henriksen [5] presented at CIRED 2005 a comparison
among three alternatives to connect lightning arresters,
which he rated as poor, good or excellent in each
instance. See Fig. 3 and Table 1.



Fig. 3: Various configurations of lightning arresters and
protected appliances [5]

F: Line affected by lightning discharge, U: Incident
overvoltage, A: Lightning arrester, T: Electric appliance
(Transformer), C: Transformer capacitance to ground.

Table 1: Connection rating according to T Henriksen [5].
Connection 1 Connection 2 Connection 3
Poor Good Excellent

3.2 City Bell installations.

3.2.1 Choice of distance estimation method and
samples for study.

At City Bell, there are numerous substations similar to
rural settings, with three monophase transformers
mounted on the same pole, which is the solution
currently employed by the utility, as well as platforms
with triphase transformers, which have been used in the
past.

It must be stressed that neither the author of this work
nor his collaborators are in any way linked by
employment, consulting or any other means to the utility
(EDELAP). In order to preserve this independence and
avoid contacts with the company at this stage to ensure
complete work independence, the first task which was
undertaken consisted of assigning an equal known
distance to all cases, and subsequently compute all other
distances. In this instance, the chosen reference distance
was the length of Kearney type fuses.
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The second task consisted of choosing the number of
substations to be studied to prepare a representative,
rather than random, sampling. The decision was taken to
include both new installations with three monophase
transformer on the same pole, as well as classic
substations on platforms. The sampled universe spanned
50% of the locality; the types of substation were noted
and seven representative samples were taken.


3.2.2 Measurements undertaken on the chosen
samples
With the stated considerations and after surveying the
present state of protection of substations in the City Bell
locality, some of the survey results are illustrated by the
following photographs.



Photo 1: Platform at the intersection of 467 and 15a,
adequately protected with lightning arresters at transformer
terminals (highlighted with an ellipse).



Photo 2: Platform at the intersection of 464 and 18, with
lightning arresters (highlighted with an ellipse) placed near
line insulators, too far from the transformer. Poor protected.




Photo 3 Threerural type transformers at the intersection of
474 and 21. Without lightning arresters. Not protected.

The placement of the lightning arresters at each
substation is listed in Table 2. Distances a and b were
measured by CAD, using the Kearney fuse length as
reference.

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2.3 Optimal Ua and L calculation

Using equation (4), the basic insulation level (BIL) is
obtained by specification and Ua is calculated. The
adopted BIL is 100kV.

In all cases, assuming I=25 kA, yields Ua [kV] =
83,3kV.

The Up value at each address is obtained from SIEMENS
lightning arrester specification [6], namely Up = 50kV

The equation (4) was employed to calculate the distance
at which the lightning arresters should have been placed.

The numeric values replaced in equation (4) are:

L = a+b, v=300m/s, S=800kV, BIL=100kV, U
p
= 50kV.
The results are listed in Table 3.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Out of seven installations adopted as representative
of the City Bell platform universe, assuming unbiased
sampling of the total network, 57 % (4/7) have correctly
placed lightning arresters, 28% (2/7) are wrongly placed,
and the remaining 15% (1/7) lacks overvoltage lightning
arresters.
The comparison between methodologies proposed by
CIGRE and IEEE shows quite similar procedures.
This work suggests procedures for statistical
analysis, based on representative samples.
A procedure to calculate distances using pictures.
The length of standard parts for reference has been
proposed.
The diversity of the lightning arrester placement
criteria suggests that the utility may not have supervised
the installation work, usually contracted to third party
labour during the works.
It is pertinent to recommend that the utility
undertake a survey of existing installations.
It is suggested that the lightning arresters at
platforms 464/18 and 467/21 should be replaced at a
distance a+b from the transformer less or equal to the
optimal distance, to fulfil their mission of protecting the
line from lightning discharge, which might require
placing near to the transformer terminals.



Table 2: Measured actual distances.
Address Transformer N S [kVA]
Lightning
arrester
a [m] b1 [m] b2 [m] a+b [m]
467 / 15a 1 Triphase 170646 100 YES 0 0 5,5 5,5
462 / 14 c 3 monophase 170523 3x25 YES 0 0 6 6
464 / 18 1 Triphase 170753 100 YES 6 0 8 14
467 / 21 1 Triphase 170011 100 YES 5 0 8 13
474 / 21 3 monophase 171532 3x40 NO ----- ----- ----- -----
474 / 22a 3 monophase 171871 3x41 YES 1 0 4 5
Camino Gral
Belgrano / 474
(1)

Cable insulation
protection
------- ------- YES ------- ------- ------- -------
Camino Gral
Belgrano y/ 474
(2)

1 Triphase 170023 100 YES 0 0 5,5 5,5
(1)
In this case, lightning arresters protect cables because an underground cable connects to the medium voltage line.
(2)
In this case, the transformer is protected by two lightning arresters for each phase, one placed at the transformer
terminal and the other on the cable support.

Table 3: Optimal L calculation.
Address v/2S Ua [kV] Up [kV]
Optimal L
[m]
Actual L
[m]
Rating
467 / 15a 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 5,5 GOOD
462 / 14 c 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 6 GOOD
464 / 18 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 14 BAD
467 / 21 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 13 BAD
474 / 21 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 - NONE
474 / 22a 0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 5 GOOD
Camino Gral
Belgrano / 474
0,1875 83,33 50 6,25 5,5 GOOD

549


It is advisable to install lightning arresters in the
transformer station at 474/21, to prevent interruption of
service in case of lightning discharge, as well as to
extend the transformer operational life expectancy at this
substation.
It is apparent that several installations fulfil
international recommendations, which shows awareness
of good practice, whereas others, built by the same utility
within a few hundred meters of the former, do not.
From Photos and Table 2, it is shown that in MV
aerial substations is easy to reduce a and b
1
but is difficult
to reduce b
2



5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To the National Universities of La Plata and Buenos
Aires, for support to our research.

To Santiago Piana, Sergio Arocas, Julieta Vernieri and
Alicia Darlan for the very important help in different
aspects of this paper.



6 REFERENCES

[1] CIGRE Guide 287 Protection of MV and LV Networks
Against Lightning. February 2006, and Part 2 (draft,
unpublished at the moment of write draft version of present
paper).
[2] IEEE Std C62.22-1997. IEEE Guide for the Application of
Metal-Oxide Surge Arresters for Alternating-Current
Systems
[3] D. Ramalho de Mello, A. A. Da Silva Oliveira, C P
Medeiros, J. A. P. Rodrigues. Evaluation of the protection
of rural lines transformers against lightning discharges. ",
Proceedings of the IX International Symposium on
Lightning Protection, pp. 311 - 316, Foz do Iguau, Nov.
2007.
[4] A. Borghetti, T. Henriksen, Muoz . Rojas P, C. A. Nucci,
M. Paolone, F. Rachidi, H. L. Soibelzon Lightning
protection of medium voltage networks. VIII International
Symposium on Lightning Protection, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 21 -
25 November 2005, Pages 17 to 23.
[5] Henriksen, T., 2005, Lightning overvoltage due to direct
strokes, CIRED.
[6] V. Hinrichsen. Descargadores de Sobretensin de xido
Metlico. Fundamentos. Siemens AG Berln. Alemania.
Septiembre de 2002..



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