Power System

Protection
(EEE64)
Lightning Arrester
Mariselvam Arumuga
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
New Horizon College of Engineering
Bangalore
Lightning Arresters or Surge Diverters
 Lightning arresters are also known as surge diverters or surge
arresters.
 They are connected between the line and the ground at the
substation and always act in shunt (parallel) with the equipment
to be protected, and perform their protective function by
providing a low impedance path for the surge currents so that
the surge arrester’s protective level is less than the surge voltage
withstanding capacity of the insulation of the equipment to be
protected.
 A lightning arrester’s protective level is the voltage appearing
across the terminals of the arrester at sparkover or during the
flow of current through the arrester after sparkover.
 The main purpose of the lightning arresters is to divert or
discharge the surge to the ground.
 Voltage characteristic of Surge Diverter

 When the travelling wave reaches the

diverter, it sparks over at certain
prefixed voltage as shown by point 𝑃
and provides a relatively low impedance
path to ground for the surge current.
 The current flowing to ground through
the surge diverter impedance limits the
amplitude of the overvoltage across the
line and ground known as residual
voltage as shown by point 𝑄 to such a
value which will protect the insulation
of the equipment being protected.
 It is however, essential that the low-impedance path to ground must not
exist before the overvoltage appears and it must cease to exist
immediately after the voltage returns back to its normal value.
Desirable Characteristics of an ideal lightning
arrester
An ideal lightning arrester or surge diverter should possess the
following characteristics.
1. It should not draw any current at normal power frequency
voltage, i.e., during the normal operation.
2. It should breakdown very quickly when the abnormal transient
voltage above its breakdown value appears, so that a low-
impedance path to ground can be provided.
3. The discharge current after breakdown should not be so
excessive so as to damage the surge diverter itself.
4. It must be capable of interrupting the power frequency follow-
up current after the surge is discharged to ground
Impulse ratio of Lightning Arresters
 It is defined as the ratio of the breakdown impulse voltage of a
wave of specified duration to the breakdown voltage of a power
frequency wave.
 The impulse ratio of any lightning arrester is a function of time
duration of the transient wave.
Types of Lightning Arresters
The following are the main types of lightning arresters
1. Expulsion type Lightning arrester
2. Non-Linear Surge Diverter
3. Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOA)
Expulsion Type Lightning Arrester
Expulsion Type Lightning Arrester
 This type of arrester is also known as Expulsion Gap or Protector
Tube.
 It consist of a fibre tube with an electrode at each end. The lower
electrode is solidly grounded. The upper electrode forms a series
gap with the line conductor.
 When a surge appears on the conductor, the series gap breaks
down, resulting in the forming of arc in the fibre tube between
the two electrodes.
 The heat of the arc vaporises some of the fibre of the tube walls
resulting in the generation of an inert gas.
 This gas is expelled violently through the arc so that arc is
extinguished and the power frequency current is prevented from
flowing after the surge discharge.
 The expulsion type derives its name from the fact that gases
formed during its operation are expelled from the tube through a
vent.
 This type of arrester is mainly used to prevent flashover of line
Non-Linear Surge Diverter

 This type of diverter is also

called as valve type lightning
arrester or conventional non-
linear type lightning arrester.
 It consists of a divided spark
gap in series with non-linear
resistor elements.
 The divided spark-gap ad the
non-linear resistor elements
are placed in leak-tight
porcelain housing which
ensures reliable protection
against atmospheric
moisture, condensation and
humidity
Non-Linear Surge Diverter
The functions of the diverter’s divided spark-gap are as follows.
1. It prevents the flow of current through the diverter under
normal conditions.
2. It sparks over at a predetermined voltage.
3. It discharges high energy surges without any change in spark-
over characteristics.
4. It interrupts the flow of power frequency follow current from
the power system after the surge has been dissipated.
Non-Linear Surge Diverter
The functions of the non-linear resistors are as follows
1. They provide a low impedance path for the flow of surge
current after gap sparks over.
2. They dissipate surge energy.
3. They provide relatively high-resistance path for the flow of
power frequency follow current from the power system, thereby
assisting the divided gap to interrupt power frequency current
(i.e., reseal against system voltage)
Non-Linear Surge Diverter
 The divided spark gap consists of short-gaps in series. Each of them has two
electrodes across which a grading resistor of high ohmic value is connected.
The grading resistors ensure even grading of voltage between various gaps.
 The system is similar to that of number of capacitors connected in series
and across each of these capacitors is a high value resistor.
 The voltage grading by means of resistors also makes it possible to raise the
interrupting capacity of the divided spark gap.
 In case of relatively slow variations in voltage, there is no spark over across
the gaps as the influence of parallel grading resistors across the gaps
prevails over that of the spark-gap capacitances with regard to one another
and to the ground.
 But when there is large rapid variations in voltage, the even grading of
voltage across the series gaps no longer remains and the influence of the
unbalanced capacitances of the gaps prevails over the grading resistors.
 The surges are mainly concentrated on the upper spark gaps which on
sparking over result in spark over of the complete arrester.
A typical valve
type lightning
arrester
Non-Linear Surge Diverter
 The main function of the diverter is the protection of the
insulation against dangerously high over voltages and for this
reason the breakdown voltage of the diverter at system frequency
is made 1.8 times the normal value.
 The ideal characteristic for a non linear resistor would be 𝐼𝑅 =
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡, since such a resistor will maintain constant voltage by
changing its resistance in inverse proportion to the current.
 The non-linear resistor is in the form of discs of 9 cm diameter
and 2.5 cm thickness.
 The material used for such resistors, called by trade names of
Thyrite. Hence, this type of lightning arrester is also called
Thyrite type lightning arrester.
 Volt ampere characteristics of non-linear
diverter
The residual voltage is defined as the
peak value of the voltage which
appears between the terminals of the
surge diverter at the instant when the
surge current discharges through it.

A non-linear resistor type lightning

arrester is also known as valve type
lightning arrester.

The valve arrester works as an insulator

at normal system voltage, but it
becomes a good conductor of low
resistance to limit the surge voltages to
a value lower than the basic impulse It re-establishes itself as an insulator
level of the equipment being after the discharge of the surge
protected. current.
Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOA)
 The Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOA) is a recently
developed ideal surge arrester. It is a revolutionary
advanced surge protective device for power systems.
 It is constructed by a series connection of zinc oxide (ZnO)
elements having a highly non-linear resistance.
 The excellent non-linear characteristic of zinc oxide
element has enabled surge arrester to make without any
spark gaps i.e, fully solid-state arresters suitable for system
protection up to the highest voltages.
 The MOA consists of a series connected stack of discs of
ZnO elements.
Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOA)
 It is dimensioned so that the peak value of the phase to ground
voltage in normal operation never exceeds the sum of the rated
voltages of the series connected discs.
 The resistive losses in the arrester in normal operation are
therefore very small. When an overvoltage occurs, the current
will rise with the wavefront according to the characteristics
without delay.
 No breakdown occurs but a rather continuous transition to the
conducting state is observed.
 At the end of the voltage transient, the current is reduced closely
following the I-V curve (i.e. in contrast to the conventional
arrester, there is no follow-up current).
Operation of MOA
Advantages of MOA
The MOA has the following marked advantages over conventional
arresters.
 Series spark-gap is not required.
 It has very simple construction and is a fully solid-state
protective device.
 Significant reduction in size.
 Quick response for steep discharge current.
 Very small time delay in responding to overvoltages.
 Superior protective performance.
 Outstanding durability for multiple operating duty cycle.
 No abrupt transient such as that occurs at the time of spark over
in a conventional arrester.
 Negligible power follow-up current after a surge operation.
Surge Absorber
 A Surge Absorber is also known as Surge Modifier.
 It is a device that absorbs energy contained in a travelling wave
and reduces the amplitude of the surge and the steepness of its
wavefront.
 The energy absorption in the form of corona loss due to corona
formation acts as a kind of natural safety valve in case of
travelling waves which raise the voltage above corona level.
Surge Absorber
 A better method of reducing the risk of travelling waves is to
terminate the line at a distance of 0.8 to 1.5 km from the station
and to connect it to the station with an underground cable.
 This method has following three advantages.
o The cable gets shielded from all electrostatic phenomena, and
from accidental grounds (earths) through various causes.
o When the travelling waves enter the cable from the overhead
line, they are reduced in magnitude to about 20 percent of their
incident value because of the ratio of natural impedances.
o When a travelling wave is transmitted into the cable, it gets
attenuated rapidly due to the dielectric losses taking place in the
cable at high frequencies.
Ferranti Surge Absorber

 The most modern surge absorber

is the Ferranti Surge Absorber.
 It consists of an air core inductor
connected in series with each
line and surrounded by a ground
metallic sheet called a dissipator.
 The inductor is magnetically
coupled but electrically isolated
from the dissipator. The inductor
is insulated from dissipator by
the air.
 This surge absorber acts as an
air-core transformer whose
primary is the inductor and the
dissipator is the short-circuited
secondary of a single turn.
 Whenever the travelling wave is
incident on the surge absorber,
the energy contained in the wave
is dissipated in the form of heat
generated in the dissipator;
firstly due to current set up in it
by ordinary transformer action,
secondly by eddy currents.
 The steepness of the wavefront is
also reduced because of the
series inductance.