OverheadLineDesignExercise

LearningObjectives:

DesigninganOverheadTransmissionLine

AppreciatetheimportanceofrelativeInternationalStandard

EffectiveuseofstandardsoftwaresinEngineeringAnalysisandModelling

OverheadLineDesignExercise:
Anewdoublecircuit400kVtwinbundledconductortransmissionsystemtowerisrequired.Thespan
lengthofthislineissetto300m.Youareaskedtocalculatethecircuitratingatmaximumoperating
temperature and the tower dimensions required for proper operation given the following
information:

TableI:

ConductorDetails
Conductortype:
AAACRubus
Diameter:
31.5mm
Numberofconductorsinbundle
2
Weight:
1.686kg/m(16.53N/m)
Stringingtensionatinstallation:34.6kNat
Stringingtensionatinstallation:
15oC

Coefficientoflinearexpansion(t):
23e6C1

0.0678/km(at70oC)
Equivalentacresistanceatmaxtemperature:

Maximum operating temperature (assume

70C
elasticexpansion):
InsulatorStringDetails
Requiredcreepagedistance:
12.1m
Availableratioofcreepagetolength:
3.5
Lengthoffittings:
0.4m
OtherInformation
Groundclearance:
8.1m(alwaysrequired)
Shieldingangle:
20o
Windspeedatwhichclearancesmustbe
10m/s
maintained:
Maximumreductionindistancebetween
2.1m
phaseconductorsduetoverticalmovement:
Minimumheatlossduetoconvection:
43.55W/m

ShieldWire

InsulatorLength

TopCrossArm

Creepage
lengthto
prevent
tracking

Level1

InsulatorLength
withfittings
MiddleCrossArm
Conductorto
crossarm
clearancemustbe
sufficientto
preventflashover

Level2

ReducedTower
clearanceowingto
SwingAngle
conductorswing

BottomCrossArm

Level3
Conductortoconductor
clearancemustprevent
flashover.Voltages
largerthanphaseto
earth

Minimumclearance
toground

Conductortotower
clearanceprevent
flashoverandsafety
clearance
infringement

Bottom
Conductor
MinimumSag

Task1:CalculationofBottomCrossarmheight:
Calculatingthebottomcrossarmheightisaprocedurethatrequires:
1. Calculationofsag
2. Calculationofinsulatorlength
3. Knowledgeofgroundclearanceregulationdistance(accordingtoVoltageLevel)
4. Knowledgeofthelengthoffittings:

A. CalculationofSag
ConductorsagistheresultofelasticelongationformedwhentheconductorisinstalledontheOHL
structure.Theelasticelongationisreversibleandrelatedtoconductorelasticity,weightandtension.
Usingtheexpressionsforsagandconductorlengthgivenbelow,inconjunctionwiththeinformation
tabulatedintableIcalculate:

Sagat15oCsagat70oC.

Conductorlengthat15oCand70oC

S Tc

W Rs 2
(1)
8T

l c Rs

W 2 Rs 3
(2)
24T 2

I.

STcconductorsagatconductortemperatureTc

II.

lcconductorlengthwithinaspan,m

III.

WConductorweightN/m

IV.

Rsspanlength,m.

V.

Ttensileforce,N.

B. Calculationofinsulatorlength
Forasuspensiontower,itissignificantthatthelengthoftheinsulatorandtheswingangledefine
how close it will come to the tower structure. Reducing the insulator lengths to the minimum
possible will allow crossarm lengths to be reduced and therefore more compact overhead line
geometriesarelikelytobeproduced.Thecreepagedistance,isbasicallythepathalongthesurface
of an insulator, and is directly proportional to the AC operating voltage. As the insulator, is
lengthened,thevoltageitcanwithstandincreases.
According to IEC 60664:1980 "Insulation Coordination within LowVoltage Systems Including
Clearances and Creepage Distances for Equipment,", creepage is the shortest path between two
conductive parts (or between a conductive part and the bounding surface of the equipment)
measured along the surface of the insulation. A proper and adequate creepage distance protects
againsttracking,aprocessthatproducesapartiallyconductingpathoflocalizeddeteriorationonthe
surface of an insulating material as a result of the electric discharges on or close to an insulation
surface. The degree of tracking required depends on two major factors: the comparative tracking
index (CTI) of the material and the degree of pollution in the environment. Used for electrical
insulating materials, the CTI provides a numerical value of the voltage that will cause failure by
trackingduringstandardtesting.IEC112providesafullerexplanationoftrackingandCTI.Tracking
that damages the insulating material normally occurs because of one or more of the following
reasons:

Humidityintheatmosphere.

Presenceofcontamination.

Corrosivechemicals.

Altitudeatwhichequipmentistobeoperated.

Theshortestdistancefromendtoendoverandalongtheinsulator
surfaceiscalledtheleakagepathorcreepagedistance.Therefore
theinsulatorlengthiscalculated(bytheuseofTableI)as:
Length of insulator (li) = Required Creepage distance / Available
ratioofcreepagetolength

ThereforetheBottomCrossarmheightcanbecalculatedasfollows:
BottomCrossarmheight=Sagatmaximumoperatingtemperature+LengthofInsulator+Length
offitting+GroundClearanceRegulation

Task2:CalculationofMiddleandUpperCrossarmHeight
The height of the overhead line structure is not normally defined by the AC operating voltage but
will be based on lightning impulse (LI) voltage for lower voltage overhead lines and the switching
impulse(SI)voltageforthetransmissionvoltagesystems.Thesevoltages,muchgreaterthantheAC
systemvoltage,requirealargegaptopreventflashover.
Lightning impulse voltages are used to simulate a surge caused by a lightning strike. The usual
source of a lightning overvoltage is a lightning strike to an overhead line. This results in the
production of a fastfronted voltage and travelling waves that propagate along the overhead line.
Measurements and experience have shown that lightning overvoltages can be simulated in the
laboratoryusingashortdurationimpulseofeitherpolarityreachingitspeakvoltagein1to2sand
fallingto50%ofitspeakvaluein50s.

Switching impulse voltages are used to simulate a surge caused by a switching operation (e.g.
connection/disconnectionofanoverheadlinebyacircuitbreaker).Switchingovervoltagesbecome
importantwhenitisnecessarytotestequipmentratedatapproximately300kVandabove.Below
thislevel,thelightningovervoltageismoresignificant.Thewaveformnormallyusedtorepresenta
switchingsurgehasa250srisetimeanda2000sfalltime.Itisknownthattheriseandfalltimes
ofswitchingovervoltagesdovarywidelyaroundthesefiguresbutthevaluesarechosentomatchup
withthewaveshapegivingthelowestflashoverdistanceinair.Impulsetests,whetherlightningor
switching,generallyinvolvetheapplicationofvoltagesintheregionof10timestheworkingvoltage
atthelowervoltagelevels.Thisreducestovoltagesintheregionof3timestheworkingvoltageat
thehighervoltagelevels.

Alternatingvoltagesareusedtoassesstheabilityofinsulationtowithstandthecontinuouspower
systemvoltageandtemporaryovervoltagesthatareproducedduringpowersystemfaultconditions.
Testsincludetheapplicationofavoltage2to3timestheworkingvoltageforashortperiodinthe
regionofoneminute(thewithstandorovervoltagetest)andtheapplicationofavoltagetomeasure
partialdischargeactivityand/ortheradiointerferencelevel.Indoorequipmentisonlytestedinadry
condition but the external insulation of outdoor equipment is usually wettested by applying
standardisedraintoatestobject.

Thevoltagefor50%probabilityofflashoveragainstagapdistanceofarodplanegapisdetermined
bytheformulastabulatedintableII.
TableII:

U 50

StrengthofagapforanACvoltage(peak):

3740
(kV )
8
1
d

U 50 (380k 150k )d (kV )

Strengthofagapforalightningimpulsevoltage:

U 50

Strengthofagapforaswitchingimpulse
voltage:

3400k
(kV )
8
1
d

CreateasimplecomputationalalgorithminMATLABtoplotthevoltagefor50%probability
of flashover against a range of gap distances of a rodplane gap, for an AC voltage, a
lightningimpulsevoltageandaswitchingimpulsevoltage,usingtheformulasoftableII.

Calculate the distance between the phase conductors as determined by the switching
impulse voltage by using the formula given below. The U50 for a switching impulse can be
calculatedbytheuseoftable2,wheredisthelengthoftheinsulator.
d pp

8 1.5 U 50

3400 1.5 U 50

Calculatethemiddlecrossarmheight(h2)andtheuppercrossarmheight(h3)bytheuseof
formulas below. Assume that drr is the maximum reduction in distance between phase
conductors,asgivenbytableI.

MiddleCrossarmheight:

h2 h1 d pp d rr

UpperCrossarmheight:

h3 h2 d pp d rr

Task3:CalculationofCrossarmWidth
Phasetotowerclearances(mainlyapplicableforlatticetowers)usuallydependontheswingangle
oftheoverheadlineinsulatorconductorsystem.Whenthewindblows,awindforceisimposedon
theconductor.Thisforcecanmovetheentireconductorsystemtowardsthetower.Theamountof
movementisdeterminedbytheratioofthewindforceimposedontheconductortotheweightof
theconductorsystemasshownbythefigurebelowandtheaccompanyingequation.Theweightand
windloadoftheinsulatoraredividedbytwotoreferthemtotheextremityoftheinsulatorlength.

Figure1.SwingAngleCalculation
Forasuspensiontower,itissignificantthatthelengthoftheinsulatorandtheswingangledefine
howcloseitwillcometothetowerstructure.Reducinginsulatorlengthstotheminimumpossible
will allow crossarm lengths to be reduced and more compact overhead line geometries to be
produced.
Byneglectingtheweightandwindloadofinsulatorstheswinganglecanbecalculatedas:

F Fi / 2
tan 1 C

W
n
Wi
/
2
C

F
tan 1 C
WC n

Fcistheforceexertedonaconductorowingbythewindandcanbecalculatedas:

Fwind

v 2 d l70 n

Where:

=airdensity1.22kg/m3

v=windvelocityatwhichclearancesmustbemaintained.

d=diameterofconductor

l70=conductorlengthat70oC

n=numberofconductorsinbundle
9

Wcistheweightoftheconductorsystem(twinbundlearrangement)andcanbecalculatedas:

Wc Weight ( N / m) ConductorL ength (l70 ) n

Thephasetoearthclearancedpecanbecalculatedwiththeuseofformulagivenbelow.U50isthe
strengthofagapforaswitchingimpulsevoltage.

d pe

8 U 50

3400 U 50

Consequentlythemaximumreductionindistancebetweenphaseconductorandtowerisgivenas:

d r li sin
where d r isdefinedasthemaximumreductiondistance; li istheinsulatorlength;istheswing
angle.
Thereforethecrossarmwidth(dw)canbecalculatedas:

d w d pe d r

Task4:Calculationofshieldwireheight
According to IEEE Std 14101997, shield wires are grounded conductors placed above the phase
conductorstointerceptlightningstrokeswhichwouldotherwisedirectlystrikethephases.Lightning
current is diverted to ground through a pole ground lead. To be effective, the shield wire is
groundedateverypole.Lightningsurgecurrentflowingthroughthepolegroundimpedancecauses
a potential rise, resulting in a large voltage difference between the ground lead and the phase
conductors.Thevoltagedifferencemaycauseabackflashoveracrosstheinsulationfromtheground
leadtooneofthephaseconductors.
TheshieldingangleisdefinedinIEEEStd14101997astheanglebetweentheverticallinethrough
the overhead ground wire and a line connecting the overhead ground wire with the shielded
conductor.Toensurethatalllightningstrokesterminateontheshieldwireratherthanonthephase
conductors,ashieldingangle(asshownbyFigurebelow)of45orlessisrecommended.Thisisonly
valid for lines less than 15 m tall with conductor spacings under 2 m. Taller lines require smaller
shieldingangles.RefertoIEEEStd12431997[B27]

10

Figure2.DefinitionofshieldingangleasdefinedinIEEE14101997
Forthisparticulartransmissionlatticetowertheshieldingangleis20degree(definedintableI),so
theshieldwireheightcanbecalculatedas:

(d pe d r )

h4 h3
l i 0 .4
o
tan(20 )

Task5:CalculationofCircuitRating
Thepowerratingofanoverheadline(OHL)isdefinedbythevoltagelevelofthelineandthecurrent
ratingandisusuallyexpressedinMVA.ThevoltagelevelaffectsthesizeofthetoweroftheOHLin
order to satisfy the minimum ground clearances is defined at the initial stages of the OHL design.
The ampacity is the maximum continuous current that corresponds to the maximum allowable
conductortemperaturesetbythesystemoperatorsandiscalledthermalratingoftheline.
The conductor temperature is affected by the heat produced from the current flowing through it,
the thermal properties of the conductors and the surrounding ambient conditions. It is raised
primarilyduetoOhmiclosses(I2R)andsecondarilyduetosolarheating.Therearealsotwocooling
mechanisms that take place: convection and conductor radiation. Convection is a major source of
heatlossandisafunctionofairtemperatureandwindspeed.Theconductorradiationisaffectedby
the air temperature and conductor material and size. The method to calculate the thermal rating
considersthattheconductorisinthermalequilibriumatthemaximumoperatingtemperature.
11

Consequently,theheatgainofabareoverheadconductorfromI2Rlossesandsolarheatbalances
theheatlostbyconvectionandconductorradiationcoolingasshownbelow:
Theheatgainequalsheatlost: qc qr qs I R
2

qc=convectionheatlossW/m

qr=radiatedheatlossW/m

qs=solarheatgainW/m

I=conductorcurrent,amperes

RTC=ACconductorresistanceatoperatingtemperature,Tc,/m

Thesolarheatandtheradiatedheatlosscanbeneglectedinthiscase.Theminimumheatlossdue
toconvectionis43.55W/m,astabulatedintableI.
Thereforethecurrentcanbecalculatedaspertheequationbelow:

qc

RTC

Duetothetwinbundledconductor,thetotalcurrentratingwillbe: 2 I .

12