Calculation of Electric Field and Voltage Distribution along Glass Insulator String and Optimum Design of its Grading

Rings for 1000kV a.c. UHV Transmission Lines

1

Yanzhen Zhao, Hualiang Li, Xikui Ma

School of Electrical Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, China

AbstractThree-dimensional finite element method has been used to calculate the electric field and voltage distribution along glass insulator string for 1000kV a.c. UHV transmission lines. Compared with the test results, it is verified that the calculation results are accurate. Various parametric designs of the grading rings of the glass insulator string have been analyzed. Based on the designs, the orthogonal experimental method has been employed to propose several optimum designs of the grading ring for reducing voltage distribution ratio along the glass insulator string. The optimization of grading rings indicates that the grading effect is preferable when tube diameter r equals to 60 mm, ring diameter R 550mm, height H 350mm and the number of insulators n 52.

or 1000kV a.c. UHV transmission lines, the field distribution is quite non-uniform because of the high voltage and the long insulator string. High electric field intensity may cause strong corona, partial discharge, and premature aging of insulation. High voltage distribution ratio may breakdown insulators, so that the operation safety of lines can not be ensured [1-3]. Thus, it has important significance to calculate and improve the field distribution along the insulator string through well grading rings design. Because of the distributed capacitance between the insulators and the iron tower, the voltage distribution is quite non-uniform along the insulator string. Various methods have been proposed to calculate the voltage distribution, such as equivalent capacitance method [4], charge simulation method [5] and finite element method. In recent years, some combined methods have been suggested, for example, the combined method based on the boundary element method and the moment method in the reference book [6]. However, there are a few problems among these methods: (1) Many of the methods are in two dimensions [7] which cannot simulate the practical situation very well; (2) Some of them cannot treat the infinite field region well which the insulators lie in. An effective method to solve the infinite field region is asymptotic boundary conditions method presented in the
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I. INTRODUCTION

reference [8], but the method is limited to two dimensions. Another new method called domain-decomposition method was presented in the reference [9], but only can improve its boundary accuracy in the sub-domain boundaries. In this paper, the electric field and voltage distribution along glass insulator string for 1000kV a.c. UHV transmission lines is calculated using three-dimensional finite element method. The iron tower, cross arm, and grading rings are taken into account. The calculation results are verified to be accurate compared with the test results. Based on this, the field distributions with different design dimensions and position of the grading rings corresponding to the glass insulator string are calculated. The effects of the grading rings structural and location parameters, such as ring diameter R, tube diameter r, height H, and number of insulators n on the field distribution are investigated. The orthogonal experimental method is employed to propose several optimum designs of the grading ring to improve the field distribution. II. THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT CALCULATION MODEL In this paper, we consider a suspension II glass insulator strings for 2300kN wires for 1000kV a.c. UHV in Fig.1. In the operating UHV transmission system, the electric field of insulator string appears as three-dimensional field distribution because of the transmission tower and wires. We assume that no corona occurs, insulators are clean and dry, air moisture is low, leakage current and space current are negligible, and charges distribution on the metal caps of insulators keeps invariant. By suspension II glass insulator strings dimensions and structural symmetrical characteristic, the simplified finite element calculation model is established, as shown in Fig.2. Since both steel foot and cap between two insulators are metallic and contact with each other, they can be considered one solid. Insulator strings are hanged down on the tower with bulb suspension link, and are connected with bowl suspension plate and clamps. These hardware fittings structure is complicated, but has little effects on the whole electric field distribution, so that all can be simplified as cylinder solids. By our experience, the umbrellas and anti-pollution slots also have little effects on the whole field

Corresponding author: Yanzhen Zhao(e-mail: zhaoyzh@mail.Xjtu. edu.cn ).

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surface and symmetrical interface. The floating conductors include steel foot and cap of the insulators [10]. III. VERIFICATION To obtain confidence that the three-dimensional finite element calculation model would provide accurate results, a comparison was made between the calculation results and the measurement results, as shown in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3, we see that the calculation results are satisfied. The first ten insulators bear about 45 percent of the total voltage. The maximal voltage of per insulator reaches a value about 47kV which almost approaches wet tolerant voltage of insulator, 50kV. Therefore, we need to optimize the grading rings structural and location parameters and other parameter such as number of insulators to reduce voltage distribution ratio and the maximal field intensity.

1-insulator 2-grading ring 3-yoke plate 4-wire 5-shading ring Fig.1. Suspension II glass insulator strings for 2300kN wires.

distribution, so they can be discarded in order to save memory and improve calculation speed. Both cross arm and iron tower can be simplified as finite grounding plane. The divided conductors are also considered as cylinder solids.

10 9 8

Calculation result Test result

Voltage distribution ratio / %

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Number of insulators( from high voltage terminal)

Fig.3. Comparison between the calculation results and the test results.

Fig.2. FEM calculation model.

IV. OPTIMUM DESIGN OF THE GRADING RINGS OF THE GLASS INSULATOR STRING We already know that the voltage distribution ratio of insulators depends on R , r, H and n. We can write this map function F as R v = F(R, r, H, n), which is a nonlinear mathematical expression and can hardly expressed in explicit function, where R v denotes the voltage ratio of insulators. Our optimal object is to find best combination of R, r, H, n so that the voltage distribution ratio of insulators become as low as possible. In general, we can simply change each parameter in its definition domain to obtain several different design plans. Then, by comparing the design plans, we may choose the best one of them. However, in this method, we always need lots of computation amount. Especially when the practical structure is complicated or there are many variables, the method is hardly to use. In this paper, we will employ the orthogonal experimental method. This is a simple and effective method

Boundary value problems corresponding to the finite element model can be expressed as the following:
2j = 0

Whole field region Type 1 boundary conditions Type 2 boundary conditions The surface of floating conductors

j |S 1 = f1 ( p )
j | = f2 ( p) n s2

j k = Ck

Where, type 1 boundary value is 770kV on the high voltage terminal, the divided conductors, and 0V on the lower voltage terminal and the iron tower; type 2 boundary includes air

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[11,12]. The essence of the orthogonal experimental method is a multi-factor, experimental and optimization method. This method can help you to reach step by step the optimum solution and can be used whether there are interaction effects in the practical problems or not. The method includes two contents: arranging experimental plans and analyzing experimental results. The detailed procedure is as the following: 1. Determine the number and level of factors. 2. Arrange experiments by selecting a suitable orthogonal experimental table. 3. Set top of the table. 4. List the experimental plans. 5. Analyze the experimental results. In our project, we select four factors such as ring Diameter R, tube diameter r, height H, and number of insulators n. The level of the factors is shown in TABLE. With the factors and their level, we select L9 (34) orthogonal experimental table to arrange experimental plans without consideration of interaction effects between the factors. TABLE 2 shows the experiments arrangement and its visual analysis, where S1, S2 and S3 are different optimum objects which mean standard deviation of the voltage distribution ratio of all insulators, the forward twenty insulators by magnitude and the forward twenty insulators from the high voltage terminal, respectively. The standard deviation can be found from the definition expression:

TABLE I THE LEVEL OF THE FACTORS R/mm 450 500 550 H/mm 220 300 350 n 50 52 55 r/mm 50 55 60

Where X , X i and m are the average voltage distribution ratio of insulators, the voltage distribution ratio of per insulator and the number of the insulators, respectively. In TABLE 2 , A 1 , A 2 and A 3 denote the average value of S1, S2 and S3 , E 1 , E 2 and E 3 denote the extreme difference S1, S2 and S3 . The smaller the standard deviation is, the more uniform the voltage distribution ratio is. So we see that the voltage distribution of experiment 9 is the most uniform in all the experiments. The bigger the extreme difference is, the greater the factor effect is on object. Based on this, we conclude three optimum parameter combinations which are also shown in TABLE . By optimum object S1 , the best combination is H3 R3r3n3in which h 350mm, R 550mmr 60mm and n 55. In a similar way, we forecast the other two best combinations by optimum object S2 and S3 .We note that the result from plan 2 is exactly same as from plan 3. Fig. 4 shows the comparison of the results from experiment 9 and from the three optimum combinations. We note that both of the maximum and the minimum voltage distribution ratio by plan 1 and plan 2(3) are smaller than those by experiment 9. The specific numerical results are listed in TABLE .

S=

(X
i =1

- X)

m -1

TABLE EXPERIMENT ARRANGEMENT AND ITS SIMPLE ANALYSIS

Column Factor Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3 Experiment 4 Experiment 5 Experiment 6 Experiment 7 Experiment 8 Experiment 9 A1 A2 by S1 A3 E1 A1 A2 by S2 A3 E2 A1 A2 by S3 A3 E3

1 R/mm 450 450 450 500 500 500 550 550 550 158.756 156.118 153.550 5.206 167.185 161.541 157.868 9.317 174.271 168.201 165.534 8.737

2 H/mm 220 300 350 220 300 350 220 300 350 160.638 154.654 153.132 7.506 172.329 158.977 155.289 17.040 179.357 166.369 162.280 17.077

3 n 50 52 55 52 55 50 55 50 52 157.183 155.797 155.444 1.739 161.559 161.015 164.020 3.005 168.689 168.232 171.084 2.852

4 r/mm 50 55 60 60 50 55 55 60 50 157.250 155.802 155.372 1.878 163.940 161.736 160.918 3.022 170.808 168.752 168.446 2.362 100 S1 165.403 156.585 154.280 159.501 155.041 153.812 157.010 152.335 151.305

Optimum objects 100S2 178.419 162.319 160.818 169.209 161.884 153.531 169.359 152.727 151.518 100S3 185.119 169.618 168.075 176.231 168.456 159.917 176.722 161.032 158.848

The optimum parameter combination is H3R3 r3n3 (plan 1). The optimum parameter combination is H3R3r 3n2 (plan 2) The optimum parameter combination is H3R3r 3n2 (plan 3)

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REFERENCES
10 9 8

Experiment 9 plan 1 plan 2(3)

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Number of insulators( from high voltage terminal)

Fig.4. Comparison of the results from experiment 9 and from the three optimum combinations.

Where S, Vmax, R vmax and R vmin are the standard deviation of the voltage distribution ratio, the maximum voltage, the maximum and the minimum voltage distribution ratio of insulators respectively. In TABLE , it is obvious that the results from plan 1 and plan 2(3) are both better than that from experiment 9. We would like to adopt plan 2(3) because this can also save insulators. V. CONCLUSION (1) The electric field and voltage distribution along glass insulator string for 1000kV a.c. UHV transmission lines have been calculated by using Three-dimensional finite element method. Because the iron tower, cross arm, and grading rings are taken into account, we can obtain acceptability numerical results.
TABLE SPECIFIC NUMERICAL RESULTS Experiment 9 S Vmax/kV Rvmax/ Rvmin/ 151.305 47.477 6.17 0.72 Plan 1 147.816 43.908 5.70 0.66 Plan2(or 3) 148.638 43.826 5.66 0.72

Zhang YuZhang Rui, Approach to Key Technology of Line Insulators for 1000 kV a.c. Transmission Line, Insulators and Surge Arresters, 1, pp.12-14, January 2006. [2] Xu Zhong, Zhong Lianhong, Gu Lili, The Measurement Method of Voltage Distribution on Insulator Strings of the UHV Line, High Voltage Engineering, Vol.24, pp.59-62, December 1998. [3] Liu Zhenya. Ultra-High Voltage Grid. China Economic Publishing House, 2005. [4] Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Insulator . China Machine Press, 1990. [5] Gu Leguan, Zhang Jianhui, Sun Caixin, Partially Optimized Charge Simulation Method for Calculating Electrical Field Distribution along Polluted Insulator, Proceedings of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, S1, pp.65-71, 1993. [6] Zhang Bo, Han Shejiao, He Jingliang, Numerical analysis of electric field distribution around composite insulator and head of transmission line, IEEE Transactions on power delivery, Vol.21(1), pp.959-965, 2006. [7] Wang Bin, Peng Zongren, A Finite Element Method for the Calculation of the Voltage Distribution along the 500kV Line Insulators, Insulators and Surge Arresters, 1, pp.13-15, January 2003. [8] Sima Wenxia, Yang Qing, Sun Caixin, Optimization of Corona Ring Design for EHV Composite Insulator Using Finite Element and Neural Network Method, Proceedings of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, Vol,25(17), pp.115-120, 2005. [9] Imre Sebestyen, Electric-Field calculation for HV insulators using Domain-Decomposition method[J]. IEEE Transactions on magnetics 200238(2)1213-1216. [10] Zhang Ziyang, Zhao Yanzhen, Li Hualiang, Ma Xikui, Voltage distribution along glass insulator strings for 1000 kV ultra high voltage transmission lines, East China Electric Power, Vol.35, pp.29-31, June 2007. [11] Shi Yu, Application Mathematic Statistics. Xian Jiaotong University Publishing House, 2005. [12] Ren Luquan, Optimum Design and analysis of experiment. Higher Education Press, 2003.

[1]

(2) The voltage distribution is quite non-uniform along the insulator string for 1000kV a.c. UHV transmission lines. The first ten insulators bear about 45 percent of the total voltage. The maximal voltage of per insulator reaches a value about 47kV which almost approaches wet tolerant voltage of insulator. (3) The orthogonal experimental method has been employed in optimizing design of the grading ring. An optimum parameter combination has been suggested. The results show that the plan we adopt here can reduce the maximum voltage distribution ratio from 6.17% down to 5.66% along the glass insulator string, improve the electric field distribution and satisfy the security requirement of insulators.

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Voltage distribution ratio / %