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Line Constant Measurements and Loading Current Test in Long-Distance 275 kV GIL
Akinobu Miyazaki, Naoki Takinami, Shinichi Kobayashi, Takao Yamauchi, Member, IEEE, Hiroyuki Hama, Member, IEEE, Tomoo Araki, Hideaki Nishima, Hiroyuki Hata, and Hiroaki Yamaguchi

AbstractThis paper reports on the results of a loading current test and measurements of the line constants of a long-distance gas-insulated transmission line (GIL) in a tunnel. The loading current test was carried out at 80% rated current, to verify the soundness of the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL. As a result, the performance of the GIL was confirmed to be appropriate in terms of the thermal expansion and contraction. With respect to the line constants and transient enclosure voltage, each of the measured values was found to be at an appropriate level presenting no problem for the service operation of this line. Index TermsCapacitance, DC resistance, enclosure voltage under switching condition, gas-insulated transmission line, inductance, line constant, loading current test, pulse propagation speed, surge impedance, thermal expansion and contraction.

TABLE I SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SHINMEIKATOKAI LINE

I. INTRODUCTION O MEET the transmission requirements for power generated by a thermal power station, Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. has constructed the longest GIL for an underground transmission line (the 275 kV ShinmeikaTokai line) in a tunnel. Table I shows the specifications of the ShinmeikaTokai GIL [1]. Since the highest reliability is required for such a long-distance GIL, it is important to verify the soundness of the GIL for the required performance. Hence, extra measures for quality control during manufacturing, tests during installation, and an after-laying test on site are indispensable. We have developed a high-sensitivity partial discharge measuring system that can locate partial discharge signals [2]. This system was applied to the after laying test of a GIL on site, and the effectiveness of the system for verifying the required performance of a long-distance GIL in a tunnel was confirmed [1]. In this paper, we describe the measurement results of line constants. These data must be quite useful for designing a future GIL, because this is the rare report on the line constants measured in such a long-distance GIL. The line constants of the GIL were measured and the appropriateness of each measured value was confirmed. The transient enclosure voltage under switching condition was also measured. The measured voltage shows no

adverse effects on the human body. The loading current test at 80% of rated current was carried out. The soundness of the GIL was verified in terms of thermal expansion and contraction. II. MEASUREMENT OF LINE CONSTANTS A. Measured Items and Results Several line constants of the constructed GIL were measured. The measured items and results obtained are shown in Table II. Each value is considered to be sufficiently close to the assumed value or calculated value, presenting no problem for the service operation of this line. Some considerations are described below. B. DC Resistance The measured DC resistance of the conductors was equal to the value calculated from the conductivity of the conductors (that is, more than 59.5% and with an area of 9425 mm ) and the resistance of the contacts. C. Capacitance of the coaxial structure of this GIL is The capacitance given by the equation: where is the electric constant, is the outside radius of the conductor, and is the inside radius of the enclosure. The dielectric constant of the medium filled in the enclosure is determined by that of SF gas, while also considering the contribution of insulators. Conventionally we have used the value in designing a GIL. If the inner space is filled with 1.1 as , then is 0.0559 F/km using the only SF gas, i.e., above equation. Comparing this value to the measured value F/km, the value of is estimated as 1.057.

Manuscript received January 11, 1999. A. Miyazaki, N. Takinami and S. Kobayashi are with Chubu Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Nagoya, Japan. T. Yamauchi and H. Hama are with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Amagasaki, Japan. T. Araki and H. Nishima are with Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Osaka, Japan. H. Hata and H. Yamaguchi are with The Furukawa Electric Company, Ltd., Chiba, Japan. Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8977(01)03407-0.

0885-8977/01$10.00 2001 IEEE

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TABLE II MEASURED LINE CONSTANTS OF SHINMEIKATOKAI LINE AND RESULTS OBTAINED

D. Inductance of a coaxial GIL is considered to be The inductance , the inner the sum of the self-inductance of the conductor and the enclosure . space is calculated by the following equation: 1) where is the magnetic constant, and GMR is the geometric mean radius of the conductor calculated by the equation:

where is the outside radius and of the conductor. is given by: 2)

is the inside radius

Fig. 1.

Method for measuring surge impedance and pulse propagation speed.

where is the inside radius of the enclosure. is given by: 3)

where is the outside radius of the enclosure. When an AC current is assumed to flow in the whole section of the conductor, the calculated value is 0.2436 mH/km. On the other hand, when the current flows only through the surface and mH/km. of the conductor, The measured value 0.216 mH/km, as shown in Table II, is between these calculated values. The physical reason for this result is assumed to be that AC current flows mostly in the whole section of the conductor but is not uniformly distributed. This condition is closely compatible with the concept of designing the thickness of the conductor. That is, the capability of flowing current in the conductor must be saturated at a thickness of about 20 mm because of the skin effect. E. Surge Impedance and Pulse Propagation Speed The surge impedance (SI) and pulse propagation speed (PS) were measured with a step-pulse generator and an oscilloscope. Fig. 1 shows the method used for this test. A step-pulse voltage

launched in the line from the end of the line was propagated through the line and reflected at the opposite end of the line; the observed voltage at the launched end showed the impedance of the line and the propagation time of the pulse. The measured values of the surge impedance were beand the propagation speed was between tween 59 and 61 290 and 292 m/ sec. These results are equivalent to the calculated values using the equations and , where is the measured value, mH/km calculated in the 0.0591 F/km; and preceding section. This shows that the surge current flows only through the surface of the conductor. III. ENCLOSURE VOLTAGE UNDER SWITCHING CONDITION A. Design of Grounding System The grounding system of the ShinmeikaTokai line is shown in Fig. 2. The enclosures were solidly bonded and grounded at both ends of the GIL. An aluminum bonding bar was used for the interconnection of the enclosures. The conductors of the grounding system of the enclosures at both ends were connected to the mesh earth of the substation.

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Fig. 2.

Grounding system of ShinmeikaTokai line.

Fig. 4.

Attenuation property of transient voltage at fixed supports along GIL.

Fig. 3. Method for measuring enclosure voltage.

AVERAGE V

OF

TABLE III ALL TEST CASES (1ST LINE)

Fig. 5. Examples of measured waveforms of transient enclosure voltage.

B. Measurement Results Transient enclosure voltage caused by operating the disconnector (DS) or the circuit breaker (CB) was measured with a high-speed digital oscilloscope (analog bandwidth 500 MHz, sampling speed 2 GS/sec.) through high-voltage probes transformed in the ratio of 1 000 : 1 and/or optical isolation equipment. The measuring method is shown in Fig. 3, and the measurement results are shown in Table III. There is no difference beof the CB surge and that of the DS surge. The maxtween imum voltages at the insulated flanged joint occurred when the CB or the DS was closed (on).

These conductors was kept as short as possible to achieve a low inductance. The enclosures were grounded at each fixed support; that is, at 56 meter intervals in the tunnel. The conductors of the grounding system consisted of two copper wires embedded in the floor concrete. These embedded wires were connected with the mesh ground of the substation at both ends of the GIL.

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Fig. 6. Structure of GIL for absorbing effects of thermal expansion and contraction.

Fig. 7. Measurement points in curved section.

The maximum voltage at the insulated flanged joint was below 20 kV, the limiting voltage of the surge arrester, mounted at the insulated flanged joint. Fig. 4 shows the transient voltage at the fixed supports along the GIL, and Fig. 5 shows examples of the measured waveforms. The maximum voltage between the enclosure and the earth was below 7 kV and had a very fast (high-frequency) transient waveform. These results show that there would be no adverse effect on the human body [3]. It was also verified that the enclosure voltage was reduced at each grounding point (the fixed supports) at a ratio of about 3 : 1. IV. LOADING CURRENT TEST A. Structure for Thermal Expansion and Contraction In the tunnel, the GIL enclosure is held in place by fixed supports installed every 56 m. Fig. 6 shows the structure for absorbing the effects of thermal expansion and contraction, employing an aluminum bellows in each section. In addition, sliding supports provided at 7 m intervals have a structure whereby the enclosure slides along the supports only in the axial direction. In a shaft, unlike in a tunnel, the structure is such that thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL is absorbed by deflection of the line at angled sections.

B. Test Circuit A loading current test circuit was constructed by shorting the conductor and enclosure of the ShinNagoya Power Station. The loading current test was performed for each single phase. Multiple compensating capacitors were used in order to compensate for the reactive power of the GIL. The loading current was set to 5100 A (80% of rated current) in order to make it possible to distinguish the amount of thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL. This current is sufficient to verify the appropriateness of the GIL design in terms of thermal expansion and contraction. The loading cycle for one test (one cycle) was 8 hours on and 16 hours off. This GIL has 6 phases, and 3 cycles were performed for each phase. C. Measurement Items The measurement points and items are shown in Fig. 7. In a curved section, stress occurs in the GIL itself and in its supports, perpendicular to the line, leaving it open to the likelihood of a failure (deflection of the unit or deflection of the supports) to occur there. Thus, measurements of thermal expansion and contraction were mainly taken in a curved section. Measurements were taken before and under current loading.

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Fig. 8.

Relationship between amount of bellows expansion and increase in enclosure temperature.

Fig. 9. Amount of change in aluminum bellows.

Fig. 10.

Amount of movement of GIL.

D. Measurement of Thermal Expansion and Contraction of GIL The measurements confirmed that the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL was taking place normally and that the design for thermal expansion and contraction was appropriate. If the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL is smooth, the GIL is found to elongate as the temperature rises. The GIL slides along the supports in the axial direction, and the aluminum bellows contracts by exactly this distance. Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the amount of expansion of the bellows and the increase in temperature of the enclosure (that is, the temperature difference before and under current loading). Fig. 8 shows the results of measuring the expansion of all of the bellows, including those installed in both the straight and curved sections. A fiber-optic temperature distribution sensor [2] measured the increase in temperature of the enclosure. In Fig. 8, a comparison is made of the measured and calculated values. It is found that the measured values are 1620 mm versus the calculated values of 2022 mm, thus demonstrating general agreement between the two. The fact that the measured values are somewhat smaller is attributed to two causes: the effect of the force of friction of the GIL and the supports, and the fact that the temperature was slightly high (because the optical-fiber as a sensor [2] was installed at the top of the GIL circumference). Fig. 8 reveals no clear differences between the straight and the curved sections of the tunnel in the amount of expansion of the bellows. This is thought to be because even in the curved sections there was almost no perpendicular protrusion, and the sections slid normally. Figs. 9 and 10 show the amount of change in the bellows and the amount of movement of the GIL (the amount of change from the initial value), respectively, in each cycle. Comparing the cycles, the fact that the amount of change varies relatively constantly suggests that the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL occurs normally. Moreover, no deflection of the

GIL, fixed supports, or sliding supports was seen in these measurements. Fig. 11 shows the results of measurement and analysis (by the finite element method) of the amount of thermal expansion and contraction in a shaft. The measured values and the analysis values agree closely, within 1.0 mm (that is, within the measurement error). Thus, no unusual behavior or deflection of the GIL in a shaft was observed in these measurements. V. CONCLUSION We confirmed that the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL was taking place normally. Both the design for thermal expansion and contraction and the measured line constants of the GIL were appropriate. The details are summarized as follows: 1) Several line constants of the GIL were measured. Each value is considered to be sufficiently close to the calculated value, presenting no problem for the service operation of this line. 2) The enclosure voltage under switching condition was measured. The maximum voltage between the enclosure and the earth was below 7 kV and had a very fast transient waveform. The enclosure voltage was reduced at the fixed supports that had the grounding point. 3) With respect to the thermal expansion and contraction function of the aluminum bellows, the measured and the calculated values agreed closely and there was almost no perpendicular protrusion of the GIL in the curved section of the tunnel. Therefore, the function of the aluminum bellows was appropriate. 4) No deflection of fixed supports or sliding supports caused by thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL was seen in these measurements. 5) With respect to the thermal expansion and contraction of the GIL in the shafts, the measured and calculated values

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Fig. 11.

Results of measurement and analysis of thermal expansion in shaft.

agreed closely. The change of phase from the initial value varied constantly for each cycle. These results and data are expected to be used as a reference for designing or planning the after-laying test of GILs. REFERENCES
[1] T. Nojima et al., Installation of 275 kV-3.3 km gas-insulated transmission line for large capacity transmission in Japan, CIGRE Paris, 21/23/33-01, 1998. [2] T. Nojima et al., Study on an after-laying test for a long-distance GIL, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, vol. 13, no. 3, 1998. [3] IEEJ Technical Report, (in Japanese), , pt. I, vol. 273.

Takao Yamauchi was born in Fukui, Japan, on January 1, 1942. He received the B.S. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1964, and joined Mitsubishi Electric Co. in the same year. He has mainly been engaged in the field of gas-insulated circuit breakers and gas-insulated switchgears, and is currently Chief Engineer at the Itami Works. Mr. Yamauchi is a member of the IEE of Japan and a Member of IEEE.

Hiroyuki Hama was born in Hyogo, Japan, on September 21, 1955. He received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Osaka University in 1979, 1981 and 1996, respectively. He joined Mitsubishi Electric Co. in 1981, and has been engaged in the development of gas-insulated switchgears. Dr. Hama is a member of the IEE of Japan and a Member of IEEE.

Akinobu Miyazaki was born in Mie, Japan, on January 24, 1958. He received the B.S. degree from the Science University of Tokyo in 1981 and Dr. Eng. degree from Nagoya University in 2000. He joined Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. in 1981. He has been engaged in the design and construction of underground transmission lines and GILs, and is currently Manager of the Underground Transmission Lines Section, Electrical Engineering Department. Dr. Miyazaki is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Tomoo Araki was born in Kumamoto, Japan, on October 18, 1944. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degree from Kyushu University in 1969 and 1999, respectively. He joined Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. in 1969. He has been engaged in the development and design of GILs, and is currently Senior Manager of the Power Cable and Industrial Wire & Cable Division. Dr. Araki is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Naoki Takinami was born in Shizuoka, Japan, on August 14, 1961. He received the B.S. degree from Meiji University in 1984, and joined Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. in the same year. He has been engaged in the development and installation of EHV underground transmission lines and GILs, and is currently Assistant Manager of the Electrical Engineering Planning Section. Mr. Takinami is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Hideaki Nishima was born in Hyogo, Japan, on January 4, 1959. He received the M.S. degree from Kobe University in 1983, and joined Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. in the same year. He has been engaged in the development and design of GILs and monitoring systems for power cables, and is currently Assistant Manager of the Electric Power System Technology Research Laboratories. Mr. Nishima is a member of the IEE of Japan, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, and the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers.

Hiroyuki Hata was born in Hiroshima, Japan, on November 4, 1944. He received the M.S. degree from Jochi University in 1970, and joined the Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. in the same year. He has been engaged in the development, design and manufacture of GILs, and is currently General Manager of the Ecology & Energy Laboratory. Mr. Hata is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Shinichi Kobayashi was born in Nagano, Japan, on June 2, 1966. He received the B.S. degree from Yokohama National University in 1989, and joined Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. in the same year. He has been engaged in the installation of EHV underground transmission lines and GILs, and is currently Assistant Manager of the Electrical Engineering Section. Mr. Kobayashi is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Hiroaki Yamaguchi was born in Kagoshima, Japan, on March 25, 1967. He received the M.S. degree from Kagoshima University in 1993, and joined the Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. in the same year. He has been engaged in the development and design of GILs and power cable accessories research. Mr. Yamaguchi is a member of the IEE of Japan.