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ABSTRACT

Gas Insulated Substations are high voltage Substations that are

compact, requiring little maintenance when compared to air-insulated

conventional Substations. Compressed Gas Insulated Substations (CGIS)

consist basically a conductor supported on insulators inside an enclosure

which is filled with sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6). The compactness is with

the use of SF6 gas, which has high dielectric strength. The voltage

withstand capability of SF6 Busduct is strongly dependent on field

perturbations, such as those caused by conductor surface imperfections

and by conducting particle contaminants. The contaminants can be

produced by abrasion between components during assembly or

operations.

Electrical insulation performance of compressed gas insulated

Substation is adversely affected by metallic particle contaminants. Free

conducting particles, depending upon their shape, size and location, may

lead to serious deterioration of the dielectric strength of the system and

also one of the major factors causing breakdown of the system and

leading to power disruption. These particles can either be free to move in

the Gas Insulated Busduct (GIB) or they may be stuck either to an

energized electrode or to an enclosure surface. The presence of

contamination can therefore be a problem with gas insulated substations

operating at high fields. If a metallic particle crosses the gap and comes

into contact with the inner electrode or if a metallic particle adheres to the

inner conductor, the particle will act as a protrusion on the surface of the
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electrode. Consequently, voltage required for breakdown of the GIS will be

significantly decreased. Several methods have been used to reduce the

effect of conducting particles, including electrostatic trapping, use of

adhesive coatings, and discharging of conducting particles through

radiation. Dielectric coating of a metallic electrode surface affects the

particle charge mechanism.

The charge acquired by a particle, the equation of motion, the bounce

and the drag are discussed by several authors. The present work makes

use of the equation proposed by H. Anis, K.D.Srivastava and M.M.Morcos,

it also includes the concept of random motion along axial direction. The

random motion is due to the cross sectional irregularities of the metallic

particles.

Present work analyses the movement pattern of metallic particles in

Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) or Gas Insulated Busduct (GIB). In order

to determine the particle trajectories in a GIB, an inner diameter of 55

mm and outer enclosure diameter of 152 mm were considered.

Aluminum, Copper and Silver particles of 0.2 mm/12 mm

(diameter/length) were considered to be present on the enclosure surface.

The motion of the metallic particle was simulated using the charge

acquired by the particle, the gravitational force on the particle, field

intensity at the particle location, drag force, gas pressure, restitution co-

efficient and the Reynolds number. The distance traveled by the particle,

calculated using the appropriate equations, is found to be in good

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agreement with the published work for a given set of parameters. The

results are also presented for other set of parameters.

In order to determine the random behavior of moving particles, the

calculation of movement in axial and radial directions was carried out by

Monte-Carlo technique. Typically for Aluminum particle for a given

Busduct voltage of 100 kV RMS, the movement of the particle (0.25

mm/12 mm) for 1.5 s was computed to be 30.839 mm in radial and

841.12 mm in axial directions. Similar calculations are also extended for

other types of voltages. Typical results for aluminum, copper and silver

particles are presented in this thesis.

The effect of various parameters like radii and length of particles, co-

efficient of restitution, pressure in the Busduct and the applied voltage

has been examined and presented. Different metallic contaminants viz.,

Al, Cu and Ag have been considered for the above study. Typically a GIB

of 55mm/152mm (inner conductor diameter is 55mm and outer

enclosure diameter is 152mm) has been considered for a 132 kV system.

The thesis presents the movement pattern of metallic particles at

different operating voltages in a Gas insulated Busduct (GIB) which has

been simulated with and without enclosure coating. The purpose of

dielectric coating is to improve the insulation performance. Free

conducting particles situated inside the GIS enclosure decrease high local

fields caused by conductor roughness. The coating reduces the charge on

the particle colliding with the coated enclosure, which in turn reduces the

risk of breakdown due to increase of the lift-off field of particles. The

movement of a particle has been carried out not only by its electric field
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effect on the particle but also considers electromagnetic field and image

charge effects. The simulated results are presented at Power frequency,

lightning/switching impulse superimposed on power frequency,

triangular, square and asymmetric voltages. Particle trajectories obtained

for various voltages of aluminum, copper and silver particles are

presented and duly discussed.