IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO.

3, JULY 2003 781

Lightning Protection of Medium Voltage Overhead

Lines by Modular Long-Flashover Arresters
Georgij V. Podporkin, Senior Member, IEEE, Vladimir E. Pilshikov, and Alexander D. Sivaev

Abstract—A long flashover arrester (LFA), which comprises

three flashover modules using the creeping discharge effect, is
described in this paper. In this design, the total arrester-stressing
voltage is applied simultaneously to all of the modules so that
the voltage-time characteristics of the arrester are improved
considerably assuring reliable protection of medium voltage (e.g.,
10-kV) overhead power lines against both induced overvoltages
and direct lightning strokes.
A single LFA per support or pole is found to be sufficient to pro-
tect an overhead line against induced overvoltages. An LFA should
be arranged in parallel with each insulator in order to protect a
line against direct lightning strokes.
Index Terms—Arc, arresters, fault current, flashover, lightning
protection, power distribution lines.

I. INTRODUCTION (a) (b)

L ONG flashover arresters (LFAs) were shown previously

[1]–[4] to be effective for lightning overvoltage protection
of medium voltage overhead lines, such as those rated at 6 to
10 kV. They are particularly important for lightning protection
of lines with insulated conductors, which must be safeguarded
against burn-outs by power arcs caused by a lightning flashover
of an insulator.
A new modular LFA model has been developed, designated
as LFA-M, which offers a number of technical and economic
advantages.
The protection performance of loop-shaped LFA was dis-
cussed in [2] and [3], where it was shown that induced over-
voltages can be counteracted by installing a single arrester on
an overhead line support (pole). The LFA-M can be used simi-
larly (i.e., with one unit installed per support).
An important feature of the LFA-M model, however, is that
(c)
it can be applied for lightning protection of overhead lines
against both induced overvoltages and direct lightning strokes. Fig. 1. LFA10-M arrester for protection of 10-kV overhead lines. (a) Block
diagram. (b) Electric schematic. (c) Arrester testing.
The latter aspect of their application is discussed in this paper.

II. DESIGN OF LFA-M lower piece of the same resistance applies the low potential 0
to the surface of the upper piece, also at its center. In this way,
An LFA-M arrester consists of two cable-like pieces with a
the total voltage is applied to each flashover module at the
semiconductive core of resistance . The cable pieces are ar-
same moment, and all three modules are assured conditions for
ranged so as to form three flashover modules 1, 2, 3 as shown
simultaneous initiation of creeping discharges developing into
in Fig. 1.
a single long flashover channel.
The semiconductive core of the upper piece, whose resistance
Tests have shown that, as the line conductor is stressed by
is , applies the high potential to the surface of the lower
a lightning overvoltage impulse, flashover channels develop at
piece at its middle. Similarly, the semiconductive core of the
different rates. Modules 1 and 3 flashover first, followed by
module 2, and thus, forming a rather long flashover channel
Manuscript received March 8, 2001; revised February 4, 2002. along the LFA.
The authors are with Streamer Electric Company, St. Petersburg 194902,
Russia (e-mail: georgij@pod.spb.su). Due to the long flashover path, a flashover does not give rise
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2003.813597 to a power arc as the arc extinguishes when the power frequency
0885-8977/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
782 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO. 3, JULY 2003

TABLE I
COEFFICIENTS a AND b OF FUNCTIONS U = at APPROXIMATING MEASURED
VOLTAGE-TIME CHARACTERISTICS OF INSULATOR UNITS AND ARRESTERS
 
(0:2 s : t 2 s)

current crosses zero. This assures uninterrupted power supply of

the LFA-protected overhead line.

III. FLASHOVER PERFORMANCE

The flashover performance of LFA-M arresters of two (a)
different flashover lengths and the voltage-time characteristics
of LFA loop arresters (LFA-L), as well as those of the most
common Russian insulator units ShF10-G and ShF20-G with
flashover lengths 17 and 23 cm, respectively, were studied in
[5]. The 50% flashover voltages of these units are 130 and 160
kV when stressed by standard 1.2/50- s lightning impulses
of negative polarity. Therefore, these units will be referred
hereafter as INS130 and INS160, respectively.
The voltage-time characteristics of the arresters and insula-
tors can be approximated by expressions of the following type:

(1)

where is the flashover voltage in kilovolts; is the time to

crest in s; and are empirical coefficients whose values are
given in Table I.

IV. PROTECTION AGAINST DIRECT LIGHTNING STROKES (b)

The physical phenomena associated with a direct lightning
stroke on an unprotected power line causing line tripping are
well known (e.g., see [7]). The general pattern is as follows: for
an overhead line in delta configuration shown in Fig. 2(a), the
top center phase is the most vulnerable. For a lightning stroke
on a phase conductor, the lightning current propagates both
ways from the stroke point overcoming the surge impedance
of the line. A fairly high voltage drop develops at the point
where the line’s equivalent resistance equals half of the surge
impedance ; this point is the closest to insulator unit of
the lightning-struck phase conductor. This voltage causes the
insulator to flash over. A heavy impulse current flows through
the flashover channel, the pole, and the pole footing resistance (c)
resulting into a large sharp voltage rise at the cross-arm. Due Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit diagrams for calculating overvoltages at direct
to electromagnetic coupling between phases, the potential of lightning strokes on a conductor close to a pole. (a) Arresters arrangement on
the pole. (b) Schematic. (c) Electric equivalent.
the healthy outer phases also increases and it can be assessed
from the conductor coupling factor. This voltage, however, is
not as high as that for the lightning-struck conductor. Thus, arc accompanied by heavy short-circuit currents, which dictates
the insulators of the healthy phases are stressed and flashed immediate line tripping.
over by a voltage equal to the potential difference between the It follows from the previously described sequence of events
cross-arm and the phase conductor. Phase-to-phase lightning that a direct lightning stroke causes flashover of all the insula-
flashover is also highly probable to occur resulting to a power tors on the affected pole. Therefore, in order to protect the line
PODPORKIN et al.: LIGHTNING PROTECTION OF MEDIUM VOLTAGE OVERHEAD LINES BY MODULAR LONG-FLASHOVER ARRESTERS
against a direct lightning stroke, LFAs should be mounted on
the pole in parallel with each line insulator [see Fig. 2(a)].
A delta arrangement of conductors maximizes direct light-
ning strokes on the top (center) phase, which acts as a shielding
wire for the bottom (outer) phases. The shielding failure of the
outer phases is reduced and can be estimated by the following
equation [7]:
(2)
where is the protection angle between the top and bottom
phases, in degrees, and is the pole height, in meters. For
example, for m and , the probability of a
lightning stroke on the outer phases can be as low as 0.001.
An LFA mounted on the top phase [see Fig. 2(a)] must
flashover before the top phase insulator. It is stressed by fairly
steep overvoltage impulses associated with direct lightning
strokes on a conductor. Therefore, this arrester should be
relatively short. As it will be shown later, for a 10-kV overhead
line, the length of a top-phase LFA can be around 1 m.
After a top-phase LFA flashes over, lightning current will
flow, through the affected conductor and through the pole to
the ground. Thus, the voltage on the cross-arm increases at a
much slower rate than it does on the lightning-struck conductor
before the flashover of the top-phase LFA. On the other hand,
the potential of the adjacent phases also increases due to
electromagnetic coupling between conductors, but at a much
slower rate than that applied to the top-phase insulator. Con-
sequently, an outer-phase arrester operates under much easier
coordination conditions than a top-phase arrester. With one
or both outer-phase arresters activated, a two- or three-phase
lightning flashover is initiated. To prevent transition of an
impulse flashover to a PAF, the total flashover path must be
long enough. It can be calculated from the formula
(3)
where is the maximum operating line voltage; is the
critical gradient of the power frequency voltage that rules out
PAF.
Some results of published experimental studies on the critical
gradient are shown in Fig. 3. As seen from Fig. 3, the critical
gradient depends greatly on the line fault current. As the fault
current increases from 20 to 300 A, the critical gradient drops
abruptly from 20 to 7 kV/m. The rate of decrease of the critical
gradient slows down for larger fault currents. Over the 1000
to 10 000-A fault current range, the critical gradient decreases
from 5 to 4 kV/m.
Phase-to-phase faults on a pole can give rise to fault current
in order of a few kiloamperes. Therefore, the critical gradient
can be assumed to be 4 kV/m. For a 10-kV power line oper-
ating at maximum voltage (20% higher than nominal), the total
flashover length is equal to m. With a 1-m
flashover length of the top center phase LFA, the length of the
LFA protecting an outer phase must be 2 m.
783
Fig. 3. Experimental results of critical post-flashover power arc gradient
2
versus line fault current. —Bellaschi, laboratory [8]; •—Podporkin et al.,
+
laboratory [2], [3]; o—Podporkin et al., power line; —Burgsdorf, power line
[9]; —Armstrong et al., power line [10]; —Morooka et al., power line [6].
V. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF DIRECT LIGHTNING STROKE
PROTECTION
The direct lightning performance of the modular arresters was
carried out using the equivalent circuits of Fig. 2. The arresters
are connected between the pole and all of the phase conduc-
tors in parallel with the insulators [Fig. 2(a)]. The arresters are
assumed to be variable resistors [Fig. 2(b)] whose resistance
changes stepwise from infinity to zero, in steps of , , ,
0.
As an illustration, let us consider the operation of phase A
arrester. Due to different propagation rates of flashover chan-
nels for lightning impulses of positive and negative polarity (see
the Appendix), the first module to flash over is module 1 (see
Fig. 1) with a flashover length of . Before flashover, the total
resistance of the arrester can be assumed to be infinitely large.
After module 1 flashes over at time (see Fig. 5), the arrester
resistance is equal to that of one cable piece , that is
, where is the length of one cable
piece of phase A arrester, LFA , and is the per-unit-length
resistance of the cable.
As tests have shown, module 3 of phase A arrester will usually
flash over after module 1 (see Fig. 1). At this instant , the resis-
tance of the second cable piece gets connected in parallel
with the resistance of the first piece and the total equivalent re-
sistance of the arrester becomes . When the central
part of the arrester (i.e., module 2 in Fig. 1) flashes over at instant
, the arrester sparks over through a single spark channel of
very low resistance. Since the resistance of the flashover channel
is low compared to other resistances affecting lightning over-
voltages (surge impedance of the conductor and of the lightning
channel, etc.), it was assumed to be equal to zero. Therefore,
starting from instant the arrester resistance is zero.
A lightning stroke on the phase A induces voltages on the
outer phases B and C. However, as shown by calculations, until
784 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO. 3, JULY 2003

arrester LFA flashes over, none of the modules of phase B ar-

rester, LFA , flash over. In other words, in time interval
when LFA flashes over completely, none of the LFA ’s
modules are affected. As the voltage keeps rising, module 1 of
LFA flashes over, and the flashover development and resis-
tance change for the LFA follow the same pattern described
for the LFA .
The effect of the power frequency voltage of a 10-kV line
on discharge process on the arrester surface is negligible. Since
phases B and C and their arresters operate under identical condi-
tions, it is practical to combine them in an overvoltage analysis
[see Fig. 2(c)].
Phase B and C arresters are represented by a variable resis-
tance while the surge impedance of phases B and C on
both sides of their arresters are represented by resistance
where is the line conductor surge impedance. The pole in-
ductance is replaced by the concentrated inductance
where H/m is the per-unit-length inductance
of the pole and is the pole height.
A flowchart of the calculations is shown in Fig. 4. First, the
line parameters are entered, including the arrangement and ra-
dius of the conductors, the pole height, the grounding resistance,
etc. Next, the insulators and arresters voltage-time characteris-
tics (VTCs) are entered in an analytical form. Finally, the over-
voltage calculations are performed for a given lightning current
steepness in order to determine the lightning protection perfor-
mance. The calculation is carried out for a linear increase of the
lightning current, that is
(4)
where is the lightning current steepness and is the time.
The time is incremented in equal steps (for example,
s). The equivalent EMF is calculated as follows [7]:
(5)
where is the surge impedance of the lightning channel (
).
The next step is to calculate flashover voltages for the indi-
vidual discharge components or modules. Initially, for ,
the equivalent resistance of phase A and B arresters (LFA and Fig. 4. Flowchart of lightning overvoltage calculation for direct lightning
LFA , respectively) is infinitely large. strokes on a conductor close to a pole.
The equivalent circuit for this time interval is elementary
comprising and [see Fig. 2(c)]. The voltage and its of , where and are the instants of iter-
rate of rise on arrester LFA and insulator Ins are calculated. ations and , respectively. After a module of the LFA
Equation (A4) of the Appendix is used to find the rate of prop- flashes over across resistance , the pole reactance and
agation of discharge channels in modules 1 and 3 of arrester get involved [see Fig. 2(c)], and the voltage and the rate of
LFA and the distance covered by these channels over time . voltage rise on , LFA , , and LFA are calculated.
Next, the channel lengths in the LFA ’s modules are compared The rate of channel propagation on arrester modules is deter-
to the modules lengths. If the channel length is greater or equal mined, and the modules are checked for flashovers. In case of a
to the module length, a flashover is assumed to have occurred flashover, the respective resistance and/or is changed.
for that particular module and the equivalent arrester resistance Finally, the calculation is checked for completion. If both the
abruptly becomes equal to the resistance of the respective semi- LFA and LFA arresters flashed over, the lightning protec-
conductive cable section. Furthermore, the arresters and insula- tion system performed successfully; if a flashover occurred on
tors are checked for flashover based on their voltage-time char- at least one of the insulators or , the lightning pro-
acteristics. Flashover of insulator indicates lightning pro- tection failed. Both results put an end to the calculation, and a
tection failure. At this point, the calculation is stopped and the printout is produced. If only a partial flashover of the arrester
output is printed, including the steepness of the lightning cur- occurred, the calculation is restarted at a new time step .
rent at which the insulator flashed over. If insulator Fig. 5 gives typical voltage versus time curves for phase A and
does not flashover, the calculation restarts at a new time step B insulators and arresters. It is seen from Fig. 5 that until module
PODPORKIN et al.: LIGHTNING PROTECTION OF MEDIUM VOLTAGE OVERHEAD LINES BY MODULAR LONG-FLASHOVER ARRESTERS 785

Fig. 6. Critical steepness of lightning current and reduction of lightning

outages versus grounding resistance for the INS160 and INS130 insulators.

For a line using phase B arresters with a flashover length

Fig. 5. Voltage-time characteristics (VTC) of phase A and B insulator units m, the critical time is s (i.e.,
(I ns) and arresters (LFA) and respective voltage stresses (U ) versus time for a voltage surge reflected from the nearest pole will be able to
negative direct lightning strokes on the phase A (insulator unit, INS160; l = 1
m; l = 2 m; grounding resistance R = 50
; lightning current steepness
reach the lightning-struck pole and lower the voltage applied to
I = 20 kA/s). insulator and arrester LFA ). The above calculation does
not take into account the effect of near-by poles; thus, the cal-
culated lightning performance of LFA-protected overhead lines
1 of the LFA arrester flashes over ( ) the rate of rise can be regarded to have a certain margin.
for phase A voltage is quite high. When module 1 flashes over Fig. 5 puts in evidence a lightning protection hazard of steep
at instant , the voltage first drops abruptly but insignificantly lightning overvoltages. The voltage rate of rise is propor-
and then it starts increasing but at a slower rate in the tional to the steepness of the lightning current. This is the reason
interval. When module 3 flashes over at instant , the why the calculation takes into account the critical values of the
voltage drops abruptly again and then, over the lightning current steepness at which the insulator flashes
interval, it keeps increasing at a still slower rate until time . At over for a given set of parameters.
, phase A voltage curve crosses the VTC curve of the LFA Fig. 6 shows the critical lightning current steepness
arrester and the second (middle) module of the LFA flashes versus grounding resistance for a line with INS160 insu-
over, (i.e., the arrester is now fully flashed over and the voltage lators. It can be clearly seen that as the grounding resistance
drops on both the insulator and phase A arrester). At instant increases, the critical lightning current steepness de-
, an opposite polarity surge takes rise on insulator and creases.
arrester LFA of phase B. After the LFA fully flashed over, The number of lightning outages caused by direct light-
the lightning current travels through the pole and its footing. ning strokes (DLS) on conductors of an unprotected line can be
Thus, the voltage on phase B rises at a much slower rate than on estimated by the following equation [7]:
phase A before the LFA flashed over. The pattern of voltage
rise on the LFA is similar to that on the LFA but features (6)
a slower rate of rise. At instants , , and the first, third, where is the number of DLS on a line; is the proba-
and second modules of arrester LFA flash over, respectively, bility of a lightning current likely to cause flashovers of the line
changing the resistance of the arrester. Fig. 5 shows that the VTC insulation; is the probability of a power arc caused by an
of insulators and arresters cross at relatively small times to crest impulse flashover of an insulator; and is the probability of
. For a line using INS160 insulators and phase A LFAs with successful line breakers reclosure.
a flashover length m, the critical time is It should be pointed out that virtually any lightning current as-
s. The average span length of a 10-kV line is usually sociated with a direct lightning stroke on a 10-kV line will cause
about 70 m. The travel time of a reflected wave from the nearest flashover of the line insulation, which explains why .
pole to the lightning-struck pole is As it was shown before, the steepness and not the magnitude
s where m/ s is the speed of of lightning current is the important factor in the perfor-
propagation of an electromagnetic surge along the line. Thus, mance of an LFA protected line. Thus, (6) can be written in the
is larger than and a voltage surge reflected from the following form:
nearest pole comes to the lightning-struck pole only after the
arrester has operated or the insulator flashed over. Therefore, the (7)
nearest pole is not to be taken into account in the coordination where is the number of lightning outages on an LFA pro-
analysis of the LFA . tected line caused by direct lightning strokes on the phase con-
786 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 18, NO. 3, JULY 2003

ductors and is the probability of a lightning current application of the total arrester-stressing voltage simul-
with steepness greater or equal to . taneously to all the modules.
The efficiency of LFA lightning protection against direct 2) The voltage-time characteristics of this modular arrester
lightning strokes can be expressed as the ratio of the number assure reliable protection of medium voltage overhead
of lightning outages for unprotected lines according to (6) lines against both induced overvoltages and direct light-
and for lines protected by LFA arresters according to (7), ning strokes.
as following: 3) To protect a line against induced overvoltages, a single
arrester must be mounted on a pole.
(8) 4) The conditions for the efficient protection of a medium
voltage (e.g., 10-kV) overhead line against direct light-
ning strokes, are as follows:
where is the outage reduction factor of lightning outages
• delta configuration of phase conductors;
caused by direct lightning strokes.
• mounting of LFA-M arresters on all poles in parallel with
Fig. 6 shows the outage reduction factor of a line protected
each insulator;
by LFA10-M arresters ( m; m), versus
• a relatively short flashover path (for example, 1 m for a
the grounding resistance for the INS160 and INS130 insulators.
10-kV line) for the top phase LFA-M arrester;
A line with LFA arresters and INS160 insulators is shown to
• a longer flashover path (for example, 2 m for a 10-kV line)
have good lightning protection performance for direct lightning
for the bottom phases LFA-M arresters.
strokes. For grounding resistance , LFA10-M ar-
resters assure a 200-fold decrease of lightning outages, virtu-
APPENDIX
ally ruling them out. As the grounding resistance increases, the
CALCULATION OF THE PROPAGATION RATE OF FLASHOVER
outage reduction factor decreases faster up to and
CHANNELS ON THE LFA SURFACE
then more slowly. For , is approximately equal to
20 and for , . Thus, the number of outages The propagation rate of flashover channels on arresters and
caused by direct lightning strokes can be lowered with the use insulators can be estimated from the voltage-time characteristic.
of LFA arresters by an order of magnitude or more even for high The average channel propagation rate is
values of grounding resistance.
As shown by calculations, in the case of INS160 insulators, it (A.1)
is important to coordinate the performance of phase B arrester where is the flashover path length and is the flashover time.
and insulator because the voltage rate of rise, and thus, the light- It is assumed that the channel propagation rate is a function
ning protection efficiency at direct lightning strokes depends of the voltage steepness (i.e., the voltage rate of rise) . Based
heavily on the grounding resistance (see Fig. 6). on (1), can be written as
With the INS130 insulators (see Fig. 6, Curve , INS130) the
number of lightning outages is lowered by a factor of five, the (A.2)
outage reduction factor being practically independent of whence
the grounding resistance. In this case, it is essential to coordi-
nate the arrester and the insulator on the lightning-struck phase
(A.3)
A. As indicated before, the coordination of arrester LFA is not
dependent on the grounding resistance because the pole does
Substituting (A3) into (A1), we obtain
not get involved in the path of the lightning current until the
insulator or the arrester have flashed over. It was shown by cal-
(A.4)
culation that a 1-m-long arrester LFA is coordinated with an
INS130 insulator at much lower values of the lightning current For illustration, (A4) is used to calculate the channel propaga-
steepness than with an INS160 unit. It was also shown that, after tion rate for arrester LFA-L with a flashover length cm,
the LFA arrester has successfully operated, the voltage rate of stressed by a standard 1.2/50 s, 100-kV lightning impulse. The
rise on phase B insulator and its arrester becomes low and this voltage steepness is kV/ s. For a positive
facilitates successful operation of the LFA arrester, at least, polarity impulse, and (see Table I)
over the 10 to 100- grounding resistance range.
It should also be remembered that even large lightning cur- cm s
rents do not present any hazard to these arresters because the
discharge develops in the air and not inside the device [2]. For a negative polarity impulse, and
Therefore, this new lightning protection system is thought to
feature simple design, low cost, and high reliability. cm c

It is therefore seen that the rate of propagation of the lightning

VI. CONCLUSIONS flashover channel for a voltage close to 50% flashover voltage
1) A long flashover arrester (LFA) comprising three is about 40% larger for the negative polarity than for the posi-
flashover modules using the creeping discharge effect tive polarity impulse. This agrees well with findings of a study
was presented in this report. Its special resistors assure on propagation of surface creeping discharges on covered con-
PODPORKIN et al.: LIGHTNING PROTECTION OF MEDIUM VOLTAGE OVERHEAD LINES BY MODULAR LONG-FLASHOVER ARRESTERS
ductors [11], showing that flashover channels are always longer
and flashover voltages lower for negative lightning impulses.
REFERENCES
[1] G. V. Podporkin and A. D. Sivaev, “Electric power transmission line
with protection devices against lightning overvoltages,” US Patent no.
6,108,187, Date of Patent August 22, 2000, PCT Pub. no. WO 97/19456,
Russian Federation Application Priority Data Nov. 17, 1995.
[2] , “Lightning protection of overhead distribution lines by long
flashover arresters,” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 13, pp. 814–823,
July 1998.
[3] G. V. Podporkin, A. D. Sivaev, and V. E. Pilshikov, “Application of
long flashover arresters for lightning protection of overhead distribution
lines,” in Proc. 24th Int. Conf. Lightning Protection, Birmingham, U.K.,
Sept. 14–18, 1998, pp. 605–610.
[4] G. V. Podporkin, V. E. Pilshikov, and A. D. Sivaev, “Application of long
flashover arresters for improvement of lightning protection and oper-
ating voltage reliability of distribution lines,” in Proc. Elect. Dist. 15th
Int. Conf., Nice, France, June 1–4, 1998, Rep. 1p-9.
[5] , “Semiconducting-core long flashover arresters for lightning
overvoltage protection of overhead distribution lines,” in Proc. 25th Int.
Conf. Lightning Protection, Sept. 18–20, 2000, Rep. 6.35, pp. 581–586.
[6] Y. Morooka et al., “Line breakage prevention capitalizing on creeping
discharge characteristics of insulated power wires,” in Proc. 10th Int.
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[7] M. V. Kostenko et al., Lightning Discharge Physics and Lightning Pro-
tection of Overhead Power Transmission Lines (in Russian): Leningrad
Polytechnic Inst., 1982.
[8] P. L. Bellaschi, “Lightning and 60-cycle power tests on wood pole line
insulation,” Amer. Inst. Elect. Electron. Eng. Trans., vol. 66, pp. 838–50,
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[9] V. V. Burgsdorf, “Lightning protection of overhead transmission lines
and operating experience in the U.S.S.R.,” in CIGRE, Paris, France,
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[10] H. R. Armstrong, H. O Stoelting, and E. F. Veverka, “Impulse studies on
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787
Georgij V. Podporkin (SM’94) was born on August
26, 1950. He received the B.S., Ph.D., and Doctor of
Science degrees in electrical engineering from St. Pe-
tersburg Technical University, Russia, in 1973, 1977,
and 1990, respectively.
Currently, he is Managing Director of the
Streamer Electric Company, St. Petersburg, Russia,
and Part-Time Professor at the St. Petersburg
Technical University. From 1973 until 1991, he
was a Research Scientist with the Extra High
Voltage Laboratory of the St. Petersburg Technical
University. He was also a Scientific Consultant of CEPEL, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, from 1992 to 1995. His fields of interest include lightning protection
and insulation of overhead transmission and distribution lines.
Vladimir E. Pilshikov was born on January 24,
1950. He received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
electrical engineering from St. Petersburg Technical
University, Russia, in 1973 and 1979, respectively.
Currently, he is a Research Scientist with the High
Voltage Department of St. Petersburg Technical Uni-
versity in the field of internal and external insulation
of high voltage apparatus.
Alexander D. Sivaev was born on July 22, 1955. He
received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical en-
gineering from St. Petersburg Technical University,
Russia, in 1978 and 1999, respectively.
Currently, he is Technical Director of the Streamer
Electric Company, St. Petersburg, Russia. He was a
Research Scientist at the Extra High Voltage Labora-
tory of the St. Petersburg Technical University from
1981 to 1995 in the field of insulation and lightning
protection of overhead transmission lines.