IEEJ TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

IEEJ Trans 2018

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI:10.1002/tee.22690

Paper

1000-kV UHV Substation Live Working and Safety Recommendations

Yaqi Fang* , Non-member
Habibur Rehman** , Non-member
Bin Xiao*** , Non-member
Tian Wu*** , Non-member
Kai Liu*** , Non-member
Linong Wang*a , Non-member

This work focuses on the measurement and analysis of the electric field for live working in a 1000-kV substation. Also, it
compares the electric field and the shielding efficiency requirement of a 1000-kV substation with 1000-kV transmission lines.
The electric field at the ground potential of the substation was measured using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based
device. However, for safety reasons and to acquire rigorous data, finite element method (FEM) was applied to calculate the
electric field at equipotential. Two cases of entry into equipotential were considered: one in which the worker moves along
tension insulators to live conductors, and another where the worker is lifted to an energized bus bar on an insulated elevating
platform. Our results indicate that the electric field values on the worker in the 1000-kV substation and transmission lines are
about the same at ground potential, while at equipotential, the substation’s maximum electric field is 25.2% higher outside the
conductive clothing and 47.4% higher outside the metallic mask as compared to the 1000-kV transmission lines. Based on these
results, for live working in a 1000-kV substation, we recommend the use of conductive clothing with 60-dB shielding efficiency,
which is similar to that used in live working on a 1000-kV transmission line, but the metallic mask should have 25-dB shielding
efficiency, which is 5 dB higher than that used for the transmission line. © 2018 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Keywords: 1000-kV substation; electric field measurement; finite element analysis; live working; shielding efficiency

Received 30 March 2017; Revised 10 December 2017

1. Introduction
Recently, 1000 kV transmission lines and substations are built
to meet the growing power demand in China. Reducing the outage
time and improving the power system reliability are of prime
importance. Therefore, live working for repair and maintenance
in the ultrahigh voltage (UHV) power grid is getting more and
more attention because of its effectiveness as well as technical and
economic benefits. The “hot stick” and the “bare hand” are two
main techniques of live working [1]. Of these, the latter method has
been widely adopted for live working on high-voltage transmission
lines.
The presence of the worker in an energized power system
considerably distorts the electric field due to accumulated surface
charges on his body [2]. Thus the field strength on various parts
of the worker’s body will be different. The first study on electric
field measurement on a live line worker’s body was conducted
on 138 and 345 kV lines, and the electric field recognition level
of the human body was determined as 240 kV/m (6 kV/in) [3,4].
In this case, the worker feels like a gentle breeze blowing on his
skin, which is due to the action of the electric field on the hairs
of the skin. If the electric field exceeds 240 kV/m, the live line
worker will hear a buzzing sound. This kind of noise is due to
the mechanical vibration on the eardrum caused by the AC field.
a Correspondence to: Linong Wang. E-mail: wangln@whu.edu.cn
* School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072,
China
** American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates
*** China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430074, China
Worse still, the live line worker will have a tingling feeling when
he is floating on a strong AC field. These uncomfortable feelings
will affect normal operations and can even cause accidents.
Thus, a high-voltage live line worker should essentially wear
conductive clothing to reduce the adverse effects caused by the
AC electric field [5]. The international guidelines IEEE Standard
C95.6-2002 [6] and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing
Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) [7] give reference safety levels
of 5 and 10 kV/m for general public and occupational exposure,
respectively. The International Council on Large Electric Systems
(CIGRE) points out that 15 kV/m is also an acceptable safety
level for occupational exposure [8]. Based on these guidelines,
the Chinese National Standard GB 6568–2008 [9] specifies that
the electric field inside the conductive clothing should be less than
15 kV/m, and for the exposed body parts, such as the worker’s face,
it should be less than 240 kV/m. With the increased voltage levels
of power transmission, the electric field is also being investigated
for HV and UHV power systems while taking the human body
into consideration [10–14]. The ongoing construction of 1000 kV
UHV projects in China has initiated research on the subject of live
working technology and working personnel’s safety requirements
for 1000 kV power networks [15–20]. In our earlier work, we
developed a conductive clothing to be used for live working on
1000-kV transmission lines and tested its electrical performance
[17]. Furthermore, the electrical field on the worker’s body was
measured both at ground potential and at equipotential [17–19].
The measurement results showed that the maximum electric field
on the worker’s body when performing live working on 1000-kV
transmission lines was nearly twice that on 500-kV transmission
lines and about 1.5 times that on 750-kV transmission lines

© 2018 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Y. FANG ET AL.

[16,17]. Presently, live working through a helicopter on 1000-

kV transmission lines has been investigated, and the shielding
efficiency of the conductive clothing is recommended [20].
Live working has been also adopted in substations to avoid the
huge economic losses caused by power interruptions. However,
live working technology in substations is less mature compared
to that in transmission lines. Previous work on substation’s live
working mainly focused on the minimum approach distance
(MAD) and work procedures, and most of the work was conducted
for voltage levels below 500 kV [21–25]. Until now, research
pertaining to live working in a 1000-kV substation has not
been reported. The electric field environment of a 1000-kV
substation for live working is more complex than that of 1000-
kV transmission lines because of more energized equipment and
complicated conductor arrangements in the substation. Therefore,
workers’ safety and protection must be investigated and ensured
Fig. 1. Substation 1000-kV side for electric field measurements
before conducting live working in a 1000-kV substation.
For the first time, this work investigates the electric field
on a live line worker’s body while performing work in a
1000-kV substation both at the ground and equipotential levels.
Also, it provides recommendations for shielding efficiency of
the conductive clothing and the mask that should be used for
live working in a 1000-kV substation. Section 2 reports the Probe
measurement results and analysis of electric field on the worker’s
body at various locations in an energized UHV substation at
ground potential. Section 3 presents the modeling and simulation
results of equipotential level. Our previous work on 1000-kV single Sensor chip
circuit transmission line [16–18] and the simulations performed
in this paper on the double circuit transmission line showed that
electric field calculation by finite element method (FEM) matches
very well with the actual measurements. Therefore, for safety
reasons and rigorous data acquisition, we use FEM to calculate the Signal processing
electric field on the worker’s body during the process of entering
equipotential. In Section 3, two cases are considered: one is to
Fig. 2. Photo of the electric field measurement device
approach the energized phase conductors by moving across the
tension insulators, and another is to touch the bus bar through
the insulated elevating platform. Section 4 compares the electric High voltage electrode
field of 1000-kV substation with 1000-kV single and double circuit
transmission lines at equipotential level. Our recommendations for
shielding efficiency of conductive clothing and metallic mask for
live working in a 1000-kV substation are also provided in this E DSP module
section. Finally, concluding remarks detailing the findings and
contributions made by this work are presented in Section 5.

Ground electrode Electric field probe

2. Electric Field Measurements at Ground Potential
2.1. Measurement scheme The 1000-kV UHV substa-
tion located at Zhejiang province, China, was selected, and the
electric field measurements were carried out at the 1000-kV side
of this substation, as shown in Fig. 1. A microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS)-based electric field measurement device, shown
in Fig. 2, was used for measuring the electric field at ground poten-
tial. The device consists of a field probe and a signal processing
module. The electric field probe has a diameter of 30 mm and
it includes a sensitive chip. The sensitive chip contains a comb
driving electrode, a shield electrode, a sensing electrode, and sup-
porting beams. The driving electrode forces the shielding electrode
to oscillate back and forth. This movement shields the sidewalls
of the sensing electrode periodically, thus generating an induced
current in the sensing electrode. By demodulating the current sig-
nal, the corresponding electric field strength can be obtained. The
device needs calibration [26] before conducting the electric field
measurements in the substation. Figure 3 shows the calibration
test layout of the measurement device in a large, uniform elec-
tric field. The uniform electric field is generated by two circular,
plane-parallel electrodes with a diameter of 3 m with the distance
Optical fiber
Fig. 3. Measuring device calibration experiment
between the two electrodes of 1 m. The probe is placed at the
center of the grounded electrode, and the field strength data is
transmitted to a computer via a optical fiber cable. In the onsite test,
the measured data is transmitted to the computer through wireless
signals and analyzed by the computer. Electric field strengths on
various parts of the worker’s body are measured to determine the
electric field level while working at ground potential. Based on
our earlier live working experience on 1000-kV transmission lines
[17–19], seven typical locations, shown in Fig. 4, were selected
for the ground potential measurements. During the test, the worker
wore a conductive clothing with 60-dB shielding efficiency and
held the probe to measure the electric field at different body parts.
The electric fields outside the surface of conductive clothing and

2 IEEJ Trans (2018)

 SUBSTATION LIVE WORKING AND SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS

of the substation and the transmission lines. Table I shows that

the electric field inside the conductive clothing on the worker’s
body is negligible at the ground potential. Also, it indicates that
6 7 the electric field on the surface of the conductive clothing varies
at different locations, i.e., the electric field values are higher at
locations 4−7 than at locations 1−3 because the former locations
5 are closer to conductors or bus bars than the latter ones. The
electric field outside the conductive clothing increases to 102%
at the head top, 321% at the fingertip, and 60% at the chest
when the worker moves from location 1 to the steel structure
at location 7. The largest electric field always occurs at the top
of the head. These measurements indicate that, from the safety
perspective, more attention should be given to the electric field at
4 the worker’s head than other body parts. The brim of the cap can
be appropriately enlarged to reduce the electric field impact.

3. Electric Field Modeling and Simulations

for Entering Equipotential
3 2 1
The electric field near live conductors is much stronger than that
Fig. 4. Worker’s locations for electric field measurements at near grounded structures. Therefore, considering the risk of onsite
ground potential implementation, the electric fields on the worker while approaching
live conductors and bus bars were calculated using the FEM-based
software ANSYS. Also, through computer simulations, rigorous
Table I. Electric field strength (kV/m) on the worker at ground
electric field data could be collected at multiple points for different
potential
scenarios. We have validated the accuracy of our simulation
On the surface of conductive clothing results by demonstrating the agreement between our previously
Inside
measured and simulated results of electric field for 1000-kV single
Top of conductive
Location head Fingertip Chest clothing circuit transmission lines [17,18]. In this paper, we also performed
computer simulations for 1000-kV double circuit transmission
Loc.1 114 24 75 0.3 lines and compared the measured and calculated values of the
Loc.2 107 27 70 0.2 electric field to further validate the numerical techniques. Some
Loc.3 117 19 83 0.2 others have also found the FEM method useful and accurate for
Loc.4 196 51 92 0.5 assessing the electric field at the UHV level [20,27].
Loc.5 195 63 112 0.6 Two cases of approaching live conductors are considered. In
Loc.6 216 69 104 0.5 Case I, presented in Figs 6 and 7, the worker approaches live
Loc.7 184 80 90 0.5
conductors through tension insulators. In Case II, detailed in Figs
10 and 11, the worker approaches the bus bar through an insulated
elevating platform. Substation and human body descriptions are
inside it were measured at these seven different test points at the given in Section 3.1, while detailed modeling and calculation
ground potential. for Case I and Case II are included in Sections 3.2 and 3.3,
respectively. A workstation equipped with 16 × 3.07 GHz Intel
2.2. Measurement results and analysis The 60-dB Xeon processors and 64 GB RAM was used to ensure smooth
conductive clothing and the 20-dB metallic mask have been simulation calculations.
recommended for live working on 1000-kV transmission lines [17].
We choose the same as a reference to evaluate their efficacy for live 3.1. Human body and substation description Con-
working in the 1000-kV substation. Table I shows the measured sidering the complexity of the human body, a simplified model of
electric field on the worker’s body at ground potential. According the worker’s body was used according to the statistical data from
to GB/T 6568–2008 [8], the electric field inside the worker’s the Chinese National Standard GB 10000-88 [28]. The worker was
conductive clothing should be less than 15 kV/m while that on assumed to wear a full set of conductive clothing, which includes
exposed parts of the body should be less than 240 kV/m. Table I a mask, suit, gloves, socks, and shoes. The shape of the worker’s
shows that the electric field on the surface of conductive clothing body is more regular when the worker wears conductive cloth-
ranges from 19 to 216 kV/m and the electric field inside conductive ing, thus simplifying the worker’s body. The worker’s head was
clothing varies between 0.2 and 0.6 kV/m. These values of electric assumed spherical, and the body was modeled as an elliptic cylin-
field are well below the limits set by GB/T 6568–2008. Our der. His arms and legs were simulated as cylinders. In order to
previous work on live working on 1000-kV transmission line [17] reduce the electric field distortion caused by the edge effect, the
found the electric field to be 42–265 kV/m outside conductive cylinders of the human body model were smoothed. Table II shows
clothing and 0.4–0.8 kV/m inside conductive clothing at ground the geometry and size of the worker’s body, and Fig. 5 shows the
potential. When the worker stands right below the conductors detailed parameters of human body model.
at location 1, the electric field at the worker’s head and chest The 1000-kV substation framework is adopted with the lower
in the 1000-kV substation is 114 and 75 kV/m, respectively, frame of 38 m (height) and 61 m (width) and the upper frame
which is slightly different from those of the transmission line of 55 m (height) and 54 m (width). Four-bundle conductors with
(106.4 kV/m at the top of the head and 74.2 kV/m at chest) 71 mm diameter and 600 mm bundle spacing are used as connec-
[17]. For other locations, there is a small difference between tions between porcelain insulator strings. The tension II-string has
the electric field range of the worker in the 1000-kV substation 61 insulators (170 mm in unit spacing and 330 mm in diameter),
and the transmission lines due to the different tower structures and the suspension V-string has 59 insulators (160 mm in unit

3 IEEJ Trans (2018)

 Y. FANG ET AL.

Table II. Geometry and size of the worker’s body used in

simulations

Body part Geometry Size of geometry (cm) Framework

Head Sphere Radius = 11

Arms Cylinder Radius = 6, Length = 60
Torso Elliptic cylinder Major axis = 50, Minor
axis = 30, Length = 70
Legs Cylinder Radius = 8, Length = 80

Jumper Insulator string

Bundle conductor
Head
11
sphere
Edge chamfer

60 6 Fig. 6. Case I: Simulation model for entering equipotential through

Arms
the tension insulators
cylinde
70

Torso Location1
elliptic cylinder
30 Location2
50
Location4

Legs Insulator string

cylinder 80 Location3

Location5 Framework

Fig. 7. Case I: Worker’s locations for electric field calculation

8

3.2. Case I: Worker moves along tension insulators

Fig. 5. Parameters of the human body model
spacing and 320 mm in diameter). The height and diameter of bus
bars are 17.65 m and 250 mm, respectively. Post insulators are
used to support the bus bars, and the height of their grounded
metallic supports is 7.4 m. In the substation model, the conduc-
tors and bus bars were formed by hexahedral elements through
swap meshing, and the other equipment was meshed with tetra-
hedral elements through free meshing to reduce the number of
elements and improve computational efficiency. In this work, elec-
trostatic field analysis was applied. If one phase voltage reaches
the positive peak value U m , the voltages of other two phases are
−U m /2. Earlier research [27] has found that when U m is applied
to the middle phase, the electric field distribution is more uneven
compared to the other two side phases in a 1000-kV substation.
Therefore, considering the most critical
√ situation,
√ the maximum
nominal system voltage U m = 1100 × 2/ 3 = 898.146 kV was
applied to the middle phase, and the voltage applied on other two
phases was −U m /2 = −449.073 kV. The potential of outer bound-
aries and the ground plane was assumed to be zero. The potential
of the frameworks and grounded metallic supports was also set to
zero according to real conditions.
The presence of the human body disturbs the electric field
around him. This disturbance in the electric field can be defined
by an enhancement factor [11], which is the ratio of the electric
field with and without the worker, and can be defined as follows:
Em
Enhancement factor =
E0
where E m is the maximum computed electric field with the worker,
and E 0 is the initial electric field without the worker.
to live conductor Figures 6 and 7 show the case of entering
equipotential while the worker moves along the 10-m-long tension
insulators to the live conductor. In this case, some typical locations
shown in Fig. 7 were taken into consideration for calculating
and analyzing the electric field. The worker’s initial position
at the framework is defined as location 1 (which is similar
to location 7 in Fig. 4). He starts crouching on the insulators
and reaches the location 2, which is 1 m form the framework,
while at location 3 he is 1 m away from the live conductor. At
location 4, the worker is standing on the insulators, 0.5 m away
from the conductor, with his arms close to the body. Finally,
the worker enters the live conductor and stands on the bundle
conductor, which is defined as location 5. We assume that the
worker is stretching his arms to consider the worst scenario at this
location.
The model developed for this case included frameworks, bundle
conductors, jumpers, insulator strings, grading rings, and fittings.
Some of the components such as post insulators were neglected
in this model because they have very little effect on the results.
The worker wearing conductive clothing can be regarded as an
equipotential object when computing the external electric field of
the worker’s body. The potential of the worker was set to zero at
location 1. For locations 2−4, the worker was treated as a floating
object. The phase voltage was applied to the worker at location
5. Table III displays the numerical results of electric field, and
Figs 8 and 9 show the electric field distribution for locations 3
and 5, respectively, in a visual and intuitive way. The following
(1) observations can be made from these simulation results:
1. The electric field on the worker’s body varies with the
working location. While approaching the live conductor, the

4 IEEJ Trans (2018)

 SUBSTATION LIVE WORKING AND SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS

Table III. Case I: Worker’s electric field strength (kV/m) calculations

Body part Loc.1 Loc.2 Loc.3 Loc.4 Loc.5

Top of head 176 196 982 1308 2494
Face 44–106 79–138 303–756 551–1170 1033–2314
Fingertip 106 609 2040 206 2876
Chest 56–93 20–59 76–378 138–413 382–652
Feet 194 393 1587 2062 385
Enhancement factor 8.29 9.22 10.91 11.98 12.39

E-field (kV/m) 3. When crouching on the insulator string (locations 2 and

0
78.10 3), the worker’s potential floats. The electric field on the
156.3
234.4 worker’s body is within 20–2040 kV/m, and the largest
312.5
390.6 electric field occurs at the worker’s fingertips.
468.8 4. When standing on the insulators (location 4), the worker
546.9
625.0 is at space potential relative to the energized conductor,
703.1
781.3
859.4
and the electric field on the worker’s body is about
937.5 200–2060 kV/m and the largest electric field appears at
1016
1094 his feet as a result of the potential difference between the
1172
1250 worker and the insulators.
1328
1406 5. When the worker stands on the live conductor (location
1484
1562 5), i.e., the worker is at line voltage, the electric field on
1641
1719 the body parts outside the bundle conductor (i.e., head and
1797 hands) is relatively high. The electric field at the fingertips
1875
1953 is 2876 kV/m, and it also exceeds 2400 kV/m at the head
2031
2109
2188
top. However, the electric field on the body parts inside the
2266 bundle conductors (e.g., the chest) is much lower (about
2344
2422 380–650 kV/m) because of the shielding effect.
2500
6. The electric field enhancement factor was calculated using
Fig. 8. Case I: Electric field distribution on the worker’s body at the simulated electric field with the human body and the
location 3 simulated electric field at these five locations without the
human body. During the process of entering equipotential,
the enhancement factor increases with decreasing distance
E-field (kV/m)
0 between the worker and the live conductor. The electric
113.3
203.9 field enhancement factor increases from 8.29 to 12.39,
294.5
385.2 which is an increase of 49.5%.
475.8
566.4
657.0
747.7 3.3. Case II: Worker moves through insulated ele-
838.3
928.9 vating platform to bus bar In this case, we studied the
1042
1133 worker’s electric field while approaching the bus bar through an
1223
1314 insulated elevating platform, as shown in Fig. 10. Figure 11 shows
1405 the various positions at which the electric field was analyzed dur-
1495
1586
1677
ing this process. Initially, the worker stands on the platform at
1767
1858
the height of the grounded structure at location 1. The platform
1971 then moves to location 2, which is 5 m away from the bus bar.
2062
2152
2243
2334
2424
2515
2605
2696
2787
2900
Drop conductor
Bus bar
Fig. 9. Case I: Electric field distribution on the worker’s body at
location 5

electric field on the worker’s body keeps increasing from

location 1 to location 5 and reaches a maximum value when GIS
the worker reaches at the line voltage at location 5.
2. The electric field on the worker’s body at ground potential
CVT
while standing on the steel structure (location 1) is less
than 194 kV/m, and the electric field values at worker’s Post insulator
head and feet are larger than on other body parts. These
results of location 1 are consistent with the measured values
of electric field at location 7 in Fig. 4, thus proving the Fig. 10. Case II: Simulation model for entering equipotential
accuracy of the simulation results as well. through the elevating platform

5 IEEJ Trans (2018)

 Y. FANG ET AL.

E-field (kV/m)
Location4 0
78.13
156.3
234.4
312.5
390.6
Location3 468.8
546.9
Bus bar 625.0
703.1
781.3
859.4
937.5
1016
Location2 1094
1172
1250
1328
Post 1406
1484
insulator 1562
1641
1719
1797
Location1 1875
1953
2031
2109
2188
2266
2344
2422
Working 2500

platform
Fig. 12. Case II: Electric field distribution on the worker’s body
at location 3

E-field (kV/m)
0
84.3
168.8
Fig. 11. Case II: Worker’s locations for electric field calculation 253.1
337.5
421.9
506.3
590.6
Table IV. Case II: Worker’s electric field strength (kV/m) 675.0
759.4
calculations 843.8
928.1
1012
Body part Loc.1 Loc.2 Loc.3 Loc.4 1097
1181
1266
Top of head 243 533 1629 1351 1350
1434
Face 86–186 240–453 521–1499 450–1171 1519
Fingertip 128 176 261 270 1603
1688
Chest 14–71 59–234 65–456 270–541 1772
1856
Feet 314 613 1824 2523 1941
2025
Enhancement factor 15.62 16.01 17.80 19.54 2109
2194
2278
2362
2447
2531
At location 3, the worker’s head is 0.5 m away from the bus bar. 2616
2700
At location 4, his hands touch the bus bar, i.e., he has reached the
line voltage level. Fig. 13. Case II: Electric field distribution on the worker’s body
The simulation model developed for this case comprised of at location 4
frameworks, bundle conductors, drop conductors, bus bars, post
insulators, capacitor voltage transformer (CVT), grading rings, and from 314 to 1824 kV/m, an increase of 4.8 times during this
gas-insulated switchgear (GIS). The insulated platform was also movement.
taken into account in this modeling. In this case, the worker was 3. The electric field of the worker’s body reaches its max-
assumed as a floating object at locations 1−3, and the worker’s imum value of 2523 kV/m at location 4. However, the
potential was set as the phase voltage at location 4. Table IV shows electric field at the worker’s head is lower in this situa-
the computed results of electric field, and Figs 12 and 13 present tion than that at location 3 due to the shielding effect of
the electric field distribution at locations 3 and 4, respectively. The the bus bar.
following observations about the electric field distribution can be 4. During the process of entering equipotential by the insulated
extracted from Table IV and Figs 12 and 13. platform, the electric field enhancement factor increases
from 15.62 to 19.54, an increase of about 25.1%.
1. The electric field on the worker’s body varies at different
locations during the process of approaching the energized In Case I, the electric field distribution changes greatly with
bus bar. As the distance from the bus bar decreases, the the variation of worker’s posture. The largest electric field occurs
electric field on worker’s body keeps on increasing. The at his feet at location 1, while the peak value appears at his
maximum electric field always occurs at the worker’s feet. fingertips at location 5. In Case II, although the electric field
2. The worker is at floating potential at locations 1−3, and the increases with decreasing distance from bus bar, the electric field
electric field on his body is within the range 14–1824 kV/m. distribution changes a little before the worker touches the bus bar.
The electric field values at the worker’s head and feet are When the worker stays at the bus-bar voltage level, the electric
much larger than at other body parts. When approaching field at the head top and face in Case II is 84.6% and 97.6%,
the bus bar (from location 1 to location 3), the electric field respectively, which are lower than those in Case I. However, the
at worker’s head top changes from 243 to 1629 kV/m, an electric field at the worker’s feet in Case II is about 5.6 times
increase of 5.7 times. The electric field at his feet increases that in Case I.

6 IEEJ Trans (2018)

 SUBSTATION LIVE WORKING AND SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS
Table V. Percentage error between measured and calculated
results
Percentage error
for single
Body part circuit TL (%)
Top of head 5.8
Face 0.045
Fingertip 7.1
Chest 7.4
Feet — 1.8
1000 kV single circuit(measured)
3500
1000 kV single circuit(calculated)
1000 kV double circuit(measured)
3000 1000 kV double circuit(calculated)
1000 kV substation(calculated)
2500
Electric field (kV/m)
2000
1500
1000
500
0 2788.1 kV/m. When the worker performs equipotential operation
Top of head Face Chest
Different parts of worker's body
Fig. 14. Electric field intensity comparison between transmission
lines and substation at equal potential
4. UHV Substation and Transmission Line Electric
Field Comparison and Safety Recommendations
4.1. Comparison of the electric field between a 1000-
kV substation and 1000-kV transmission lines In our
earlier work, the electric field on the worker’s body when
performing live working on a 1000-kV single circuit transmission
line was measured and calculated [17,18]. Also, the electric
field at the worker’s body in the case of a 1000-kV double
circuit transmission line was measured [19]; in this work, we
calculate the electric field on the worker’s body due to the double
circuit transmission line. Table V summarizes the percentage
error between the measured and simulated values of the electric
field both for single and double circuit transmission lines. The
percentage error for the single circuit transmission line ranges
from 0.045% to 7.4%, while for the double circuit transmission
line it is in the range 1.8−6.6%. These results prove that the
simulated values of electric field are reasonably accurate and
thus can be relied upon for assessing the electric field in the
1000-kV substation where it is not safe to conduct measurements
at multiple points with numerous pieces of energized substation
equipment. The simulation results in this paper indicate that the
electric field in Case II is generally smaller than that in Case
I. Therefore, based on these simulation results and measurement
data from our previous work, a comparison of the worker’s
electric field (on the surface of conductive clothing and mask)
when standing on the bundle conductor of a 1000-kV substation
(Case I) and 1000-kV transmission lines is given in Fig. 14. Also,
Case I of standing on the conductor is closer to the transmission
lines scenario.
The electric field on the surface of a 1000-kV transmission line
conductor has been investigated [29] and the results show that
2400 Double circuit transmission line
Subsatation
2200
Percentage error
for double 2000
Electric field (kV/m)
circuit TL (%)
1800
3.9
2.3 1600
6.6
1400
5.4
1200
1000
800
–10 –8 –6 –4 –2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Distance relative to center of face(cm)
Fig. 15. Electric field comparison outside the mask for substation
and double circuit transmission line
electric field on the surface of bundle conductors will increase with
reduced number of subconductors. The maximum electric field on
the surface of an eight-bundle conductor is 2511.5 kV/m. How-
ever, the maximum electric field on the surface of a six-bundle
conductor is up to 2788.1 kV/m. Therefore, the maximum elec-
tric field on the surface of the four-bundle conductor, which is
adopted in the 1000-kV substation, is expected to be higher than
Fingertip Feet on a four-bundle conductor in the substation, the electric field on
the worker’s body will be higher than that on the eight-bundle
conductor of the transmission lines. Figure 14 shows that, when
the worker stands on the bundle conductor, the electric field on
worker’s body of a 1000- kV substation is significantly higher
than that of 1000-kV transmission lines. The maximum electric
field measured on worker’s body of a 1000-kV transmission line
is 2298 kV/m (at the fingertips) [19]. For the substation, the max-
imum electric field on the worker’s body is 2876 kV/m (at the
fingertips), which is 25.2% higher than that of the 1000-kV trans-
mission line. For the other body parts, the electric field in the
substation increases by 30.2% at the worker’s head and by 49.5%
at his chest as compared to that of transmission line. These differ-
ences can be ascribed to two reasons: (i) the electric field around
four-bundle conductors is higher than that around eight-bundle
conductors; (ii) four-bundle conductors with a radius of 0.848 m
provide less shielding effect for the worker than eight-bundle con-
ductors with a radius 1.045 m when the worker stands on the
conductors. It can be also observed from Fig. 14 that the electric
field distribution of the 1000-kV substation is consistent with that
of the 1000-kV transmission lines. That is, the electric field at the
body parts with a smaller radius of curvature like head and hands
is much larger than at other body parts because the body parts with
a smaller radius are more likely to cause higher electric field.
The measured and calculated values of electric field outside the
mask are about the same for the 1000-kV single circuit and double
circuit transmission lines. However, the electric field outside the
mask is significantly different for the 1000-kV substation and the
transmission lines, as shown in Fig. 15. The maximum electric
field of transmission lines at the center of the face is 1145 kV/m,
whereas in the case of the substation, the electric field at the same
point outside the mask is 1663 kV/m, which is 45.2% higher than
that of the transmission lines.
4.2. Safety recommendations for live working in a
1000-kV substation Conductive clothing is used for live
working in a UHV power network to reduce the electric field effect.
7 IEEJ Trans (2018)
 Y. FANG ET AL.
Shielding efficiency, which is the ratio of electric field reduction,
is an important index of conductive clothing and can be defined
as follows [30]:
 
Uref
SE dB = 20log10 (2)
U
where SE dB is the shielding efficiency, U ref represents the
reference voltage without conductive clothing, and U is the voltage
measured at the same spot with conductive clothing.
IEC 60895–2002 [30] and GB/T 6568-2008 [8] stipulate that
the shielding efficiency of conductive clothing must be higher than
40 dB up to the voltage level of 800 kV. In an electrostatic field,
the voltage and electric field have a linear relationship, thus the
obtained electric field can be used to calculate SE dB . Based on
the numerical results, the maximum electric field on the worker’s
body at equipotential is 2876 kV/m. The conductive clothing with
a shielding efficiency of 40 dB (reduction factor of 100) cannot
meet the Chinese National Standard limit of 15 kV/m electric field
inside the conductive clothing. Therefore, conductive clothing with
greater shielding efficiency is needed to maintain the electric field
intensity within the specified limit.
The maximum electric field strength of 2876 kV/m can be
reduced to the allowable level of 15 kV/m by using conduc-
tive clothing with a minimum shielding efficiency of 45.7 dB.
Shielding efficiency greater than 45.7 kV/m will be better for
keeping some safety margin. For single and double circuit trans-
mission lines, the maximum measured electric field reported in
Fig. 14 at the fingertips outside the 60-dB conductive clothing
will be reduced to 2.164 and 2.298 kV/m, respectively. For the
substation, the 60-dB conductive clothing will reduce the maxi-
mum electric field to 2.876 kV/m, which is well below the spec-
ified limit of 15 kV/m and is also quite close to electric field
level being experienced by transmission line workers. Therefore,
we recommend the use of 60-dB conductive clothing, which
has been already developed for 1000-kV transmission line live
working [17].
Figure 15 displays the details of the calculated electric field for
a 1000-kV substation and a 1000-kV double circuit transmission
line at various points on the worker’s face (outside the mask). The
electric field on worker’s face ranges from 1033 to 2314 kV/m
for the substation while it varies from 785 to 1570 kV/m for the
transmission line. It can be seen that in a substation the electric
field on worker’s face increases more rapidly from his jaw to the
forehead than in the case of transmission lines. The maximum
electric field on the worker’s face in the case of transmission lines
is twice its minimum value, while for the substation it is 2.24
times the minimum value. In addition, the maximum electric field
on the worker’s face in the substation is 47.4% higher than that
of the transmission line. According to GB/T 6568-2008 [8], the
electric field on the exposed body parts, such as the face, should
be less than 240 kV/m. Considering the highest field strength of
2314 kV/m, the 20-dB metallic mask adopted for transmission
line will reduce the electric field level to 231.4 kV/m. Although
this level of electric field is below the limit of 240 kV/m, it is
significantly higher than the measured electric field inside the
metallic mask for transmission lines. In our earlier experience
of live working on 1000-kV transmission lines, the electric field
measured inside the 20-dB metallic mask was 112–127 kV/m
[17,19]. The worker will not have any unpleasant feelings while
working on energized conductors at this level of electric field.
Also, sufficient safety margin is guaranteed without approaching
the maximum allowable limit of 240 kV/m. Therefore, for the
1000-kV substation, we recommend an additional 5-dB shielding
efficiency of the metallic mask. The 25-dB shielding efficiency
mask will lower the electric field on substation worker’s face form
2314 to 130 kV/m, a level that is similar to the one experienced
by the transmission line worker.
8 IEEJ Trans (2018)
In addition, the largest enhancement factor at equipotential
level indicates that worker’s posture also has a major impact on
the electric field enhancement. Although our specified shielding
efficiency will keep the worker safe, we recommend that the
worker should watch his posture and he should be educated about
the posture effects on the electric field distortion. We recommend
that the worker should not stretch his arms out and should keep
himself inside bundle conductors as much as possible to minimize
the electric field distortion while standing on the conductors. When
the worker performs operation on the energized bus bar, the electric
field at the face is much lower than the case in which the worker
is standing on the conductors. Thus for bus bar live working, the
worker should pay more attention to his feet because the highest
electric field occurs at his feet. Therefore, the conductive socks
must be perfectly connected to the trousers of conductive clothing
in order to guarantee the shielding effect.
5. Conclusion
The electric field on a worker for performing live working
in a 1000-kV substation was measured and calculated. The
agreement between measured and calculated values of electric
field both for single and double circuit transmission lines proved
the accuracy of using FEM-based technique for the electric
field assessment. Therefore, electric field measurements at the
substation were performed at ground potential while FEM-based
substation modeling and simulations were used to evaluate the
electric field while entering the equipotential level.
Our results showed that there is no significant difference
between the electric field of a 1000-kV substation and that of
transmission lines at ground potential. However, at equipotential
level, the maximum electric field outside the 60-dB conductive
clothing in the substation is 25.2% higher than that of the
transmission lines. Inside the conductive clothing, the maximum
electric field is less than 3 kV/m, which is well below the specified
limit of 15 kV/m. Therefore, the 60-dB conductive clothing already
adopted for 1000-kV transmission line live working suffices for
the substation as well. The maximum electric field outside the
metallic mask in the substation is 47.4% higher than that of
transmission lines. Thus, we propose that the metallic mask for live
working in the substation should have an additional 5-dB shielding
efficiency as compared to the 20-dB metallic mask already used
for transmission lines. Our 25-dB recommendation will limit the
electric field at the worker’s face to less than 130 kV/m. This is
the electric field level at which currently a 1000-kV transmission
line worker does not experience any discomfort while performing
live working.
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Yaqi Fang (Non-member) received the B.E. degree in electri-
cal engineering from Wuhan University of
Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2013. She
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in
high-voltage and insulation technology at
the School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan
University. Her current research interests
include electromagnetic field calculation in
engineering and live working technology.
Habibur Rehman (Non-member) received the B.Sc. degree from
the University of Engineering and Tech-
nology Lahore, Pakistan, in 1990, and the
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, in 1995 and
2001, respectively, all in electrical engineer-
ing. Presently, he is an Associate Professor
with the Department of Electrical Engineer-
ing, the American University of Sharjah. He
has worked on the installation, testing, and commissioning of a
500-kV substation. His research interests include power systems,
power electronics, adjustable-speed drives, and alternative energy
vehicles.
Bin Xiao (Non-member) received the M.E. degree in electri-
cal engineering from Xi’an University of
Science and Technology, Xi’an, China, in
2007. He is currently with the China Elec-
tric Power Research Institute. His research
interests include transmission line operation
and maintenance technology and live work-
ing technology.
Tian Wu (Non-member) received the B.E. degree from the
China Three Gorges University, Yichang,
China, in 2006, and the Ph.D. degree in
high-voltage and insulation technology from
Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, in 2012.
He is currently with the China Electric
Power Research Institute. His research inter-
ests include external insulation in power sys-
tems and live working technology.
 Y. FANG ET AL.
Kai Liu (Non-member) received the B.E. degree in electri-
cal engineering in 2001, and the M.E. and
Ph.D. degrees in high-voltage and insulation
technology in 2004 and 2012, respectively,
from Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
He is currently with the China Electric
Power Research Institute. His research inter-
ests include transmission line operation and
maintenance technology and live working
technology.
10
Linong Wang (Non-member) received the B.E. degree in electrical
engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University,
Xi’an, China, in 1998, and the M.E. and
Ph.D. degrees in high-voltage and insulation
technology from Wuhan University (WU),
Wuhan, China, in 2006 and 2011, respec-
tively. He is currently a Professor with the
School of Electrical Engineering, WU. His
research interests include transmission line
operation and maintenance technology, live working technology,
and electrical engineering materials.
IEEJ Trans (2018)