Bushing types

Porcelain Insulation
The earliest bushing designs use electro porcelain for both indoor and outdoor
applications. Porcelain is impervious to moisture once sealed by fired glaze and is low cost and
flexible to manufacture. The main disadvantage with porcelain is that its small value of linear
expansion has to be accommodated by using flexible seals and substantial metal fittings, both of
which present manufacturing and operational problems.
A basic porcelain bushing is a hollow porcelain shape that fits through a hole in a wall or metal case,
allowing a conductor to pass through its center, and connect at both ends to other equipment.
Bushings of this type are often made of wet-process fired porcelain, which is then glazed. A semi-
conducting glaze may be used to assist in equalizing the electrical potential gradient along the length
of the bushing.
The inside of the porcelain bushing is often filled with oil to provide additional insulation and
bushings of this construction are widely used up to 36 KV where higher partial discharges are
permitted.
Where partial discharge is required to conform to IEC60137, paper and resin insulated conductors
are used in conjunction with porcelain, for unheated indoor and outdoor applications.
The use of resin (polymer, polymeric, composite) insulated bushings for high voltage applications is
common, although most high-voltage bushings are usually made of resin impregnated paper
insulation around the conductor with porcelain or polymer weather sheds, for the outdoor end and
occasionally for the indoor end.

Paper Insulation
Another early form of insulation was paper, however, paper is hygroscopic and absorbs moisture
which is detrimental and is disadvantaged by the inflexible linear designs. Cast resin technology, has
dominated insulated products since the 1960s, due to its flexibility of shape and its higher dielectrical
strength.
Typically, paper insulation is later impregnated either with oil (historically), or more commonly today
with resin. In the case of resin, the paper is film coated with a Phenolic resin to become Synthetic
Resin Bonded Paper, (SRBP) or impregnated after dry winding with epoxy resins, to become Resin
Impregnated Paper or Epoxy Resin Impregnated Paper (RIP, ERIP).
SRBP insulated bushings are typically used up to voltages around 72.5 kV. However, above 12 kV,
there is a need to control the external electrical field and to even out the internal energy storage
which marginalises the dielectric strength of paper insulation.
To improve the performance of paper insulated bushings, metallic foils can be inserted during the
winding process. These act to stabilize the generated electrical fields, homogenising the internal
energy using the effect of capacitance. This feature resulted in the Condenser/Capacitor bushing.
The condenser bushing is made by inserting very fine layers of metallic foil into the paper during the
winding process. The inserted conductive foils produce a capacitive effect which dissipates the
electrical energy more evenly throughout the insulated paper and reduces the electric field stress
between the energised conductor and any earthed material.
Condenser bushings produce electric stress fields which are significantly less potent around the
fixing flange than designs without foils and, when used in conjunction with resin impregnation,
produce bushings which can be used at service voltages over one million with great success.
Resin Insulation
Since the 1965s, resin materials have been used for all types of bushing up to the highest voltages.
The flexibility of using a castable form of insulation has replaced paper insulation in many product
areas and dominates the existing insulated bushing market.
As with paper insulation, the control of electric stress fields remains important. Resin insulation has
greater dielectric strength than paper and requires less stress control at voltages below 25 kV.
However, some compact and higher rated switchgear designs, have earthed materials closer to
bushings than in the past and these designs may require stress control screens in resin bushings
operating as low as 12 kV Fixing points are often integral with the main resin form, and present
fewer problems to earthed materials than the metal flanges used on paper bushings. However, care
must be observed in resin insulated bushings designs which use internally cast screens such that
the benefit of electrical stress field control is not off set by increasing partial discharge caused by the
difficulties of eliminating micro voids in the resin around the screens during the casting process. The
need to eliminate voids in resin becomes more sensitive as voltages increases, and it is normal to
revert to resin impregnated, foiled paper insulation for bushings rated over 72.5 kV.

Transformer Basics
One of the main reasons that we use alternating AC voltages and currents in our homes and
workplaces is that AC supplies can be easily generated at a convenient voltage, transformed
(hence the name transformer) into much higher voltages and then distributed around the country
using a national grid of pylons and cables over very long distances.

The reason for transforming the voltage to a much higher level is that higher distribution
voltages implies lower currents for the same power and therefore lower I2R losses along the
networked grid of cables. These higher AC transmission voltages and currents can then be
reduced to a much lower, safer and usable voltage level where it can be used to supply electrical
equipment in our homes and workplaces, and all this is possible thanks to the basic Voltage
Transformer.

A Typical Voltage Transformer

The Voltage Transformer can be thought of as an electrical component rather than an electronic
component. A transformer basically is very simple static (or stationary) electro-magnetic passive
electrical device that works on the principle of Faradays law of induction by converting
electrical energy from one value to another.

The transformer does this by linking together two or more electrical circuits using a common
oscillating magnetic circuit which is produced by the transformer itself. A transformer operates
on the principals of electromagnetic induction, in the form of Mutual Induction.

Mutual induction is the process by which a coil of wire magnetically induces a voltage into
another coil located in close proximity to it. Then we can say that transformers work in the
magnetic domain, and transformers get their name from the fact that they transform one
voltage or current level into another.

Transformers are capable of either increasing or decreasing the voltage and current levels of their
supply, without modifying its frequency, or the amount of electrical power being transferred
from one winding to another via the magnetic circuit.

A single phase voltage transformer basically consists of two electrical coils of wire, one called
the Primary Winding and another called the Secondary Winding. For this tutorial we will
define the primary side of the transformer as the side that usually takes power, and the
secondary as the side that usually delivers power. In a single-phase voltage transformer the
primary is usually the side with the higher voltage.

These two coils are not in electrical contact with each other but are instead wrapped together
around a common closed magnetic iron circuit called the core. This soft iron core is not solid
but made up of individual laminations connected together to help reduce the cores losses.

The two coil windings are electrically isolated from each other but are magnetically linked
through the common core allowing electrical power to be transferred from one coil to the other.
When an electric current passed through the primary winding, a magnetic field is developed
which induces a voltage into the secondary winding as shown.