Development of IEEE Guide for Conducting Corona Tests on Insulator Assemblies and Hardware for Overhead Transmission Lines

and Substations

Dr. John Kuffel, FIEEE

Kinectrics Inc.

July 2012 IEEE PES General Meeting San Diego

WHAT IS CORONA
Corona discharges occur when the local electrical field intensity exceeds the breakdown strength of surrounding air. Function of
electric field distribution
Voltage Electrode shape Proximity to other phases and grounded structures

air pressure humidity electrode material

POSITIVE CORONA VERSUS NEGATIVE CORONA

Negative corona usually occurs at a lower voltage
Discharges appear as a visible spherical bluish glow and an extending conical column. Hissing sound Existing conical column reaches out with little branching

POSITIVE CORONA
As voltage is increased
negative-corona spots transform to positive glow at the positive half cycle of the applied voltage and then turn into positive streamers with increased voltage.

Positive corona discharges

white bright discharges many filamentary branches extending from origin produce a crackling or snapping sound significant RIV

(+) ive (-) ive

CORONA TESTING
Why worry? Corona causes power losses, radio noise, audible noise and damage to non-ceramic insulators Corona Performance Requirement Insulator assemblies and hardware must be free of corona when operating under design conditions How is this ensured Through laboratory testing

TRADITIONAL CORONA TESTING

single phase mock-up of the conductor/hardware/insulator assembly at a given height above the ground with 110% to 120% of the rated line-to-ground operating voltage. does not appear in any standards, but is used as a generally accepted test method.

Acceptance Criterion
Mock up assembly is free of corona under the specified test voltage

Shortcoming
This test method can give erroneous results as corona inception is a function of electric field not applied voltage.

GUIDANCE
IEEE task force jointly sponsored by the insulator and corona and field effects WGs formed

SCOPE Prepare a guide for the performance of corona tests on insulator assemblies and hardware for line and station applications

PROGRESS PAR 1829 approved in 2011 Work ongoing for several years Currently in final stages of review prior to ballot process

CONTENTS OF GUIDE
1. Overview
The purpose of this guide is to establish uniform procedures for the testing of transmission line and station bus hardware in high voltage laboratories. A uniform procedure is a prerequisite to assure that: hardware is free from visible corona and does not add any appreciable radio interference (RI) Insulators are not installed in conditions where corona activity will accelerate end of life

2. DEFINITIONS
corona: A luminous discharge due to ionization of the air surrounding an electrode caused by a voltage gradient exceeding a certain critical value. corona inception gradient: The gradient on that part of an electrode surface at which continuous corona first occurs as the applied voltage is increased. corona inception voltage: The voltage applied to the electrode to produce the corona inception gradient. corona extinction gradient: The gradient on that part of an electrode surface at which continuous corona last persists as the applied voltage is gradually decreased. corona extinction voltage: The voltage applied to the electrode to produce the corona extinction gradient. radio influence voltage (RIV): The radio frequency voltage appearing on conductors of electrical equipment or circuits, as measured using a radio noise meter as a two-terminal voltmeter in accordance with specified methods (generally termed conducted measurements).

3. TEST ARRANGEMENTS COVERED Lines

Insulator assemblies Tension Suspension Hardware Dampers, compression sleeves, monitoring devices, etc.

Stations
Station bus hardware

4. TEST PROCEDURE
Method based on utilizing the mid-span operating conductor surface electric field as a basis for tests Available from analytical calculations Determination of acceptance conductor surface test voltage gradient

Lab test conductor surface gradient established by a) Calculation 2 and 3 dimensional field calculations to determine test setup gradient b) Calibration Use of calibrating spheres to determine the test setup gradient

DETERMINATION OF ACCEPTANCE TEST VOLTAGE GRADIENT (contd) Altitude Correction and Surface Ageing 1. Altitude Correction: Relative Air Density ()
corona onset is a function of both electric field intensity and relative air density

voltage must be adjusted to account for the difference in RAD between the test laboratory and the proposed line location. corona onset voltage for the same test setup decreases as decreases (altitude increases) hardware in the lower elevation laboratories must be tested at a higher voltage to account for the increased altitude.

ALTITUDE OR AIR DENSITY CORRECTION

To compensate for the difference in altitude between the testing laboratory and the altitude for which the hardware will be applied, one of following three formulas can be used: V/Vo = o/, altitude correction term developed by Peek V/Vo = (o/)2/3, altitude correction term developed by Peterson V/Vo = (o/)1/2, altitude correction term developed at Leadville, CO. where V is the voltage to be determined Vo is the specified acceptance voltage is the relative air density for the altitude at which the hardware will be used. o is the relative air density for the altitude of the testing laboratory

ALTITUDE OR AIR DENSITY CORRECTION

1 0.95 RELATIVE AIR DENSITY, P.U. 0.9 0.85 0.8 0.75 0.7 0.65 0.6 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 ALTITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL, METERS

Relative air density versus altitude, based upon standard atmospheric tables

ALTITUDE OR AIR DENSITY CORRECTION

RELATIVE AIR DENSITY. P.U. 1.5 1.45 VOLTAGE INCREASE, P.U. 1.4 1.35 1.3 PEEK 1.25 1.2 1.15 1.1 1.05 1 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 ALTITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL, METERS LEADVILLE PETERSON 0.954 0.908 0.863 0.821 0.78 0.741 0.704 0.668

Voltage increase required for testing hardware in HV laboratories to account for higher altitudes

DETERMINATION OF ACCEPTANCE TEST VOLTAGE GRADIENT (contd) 2. Surface Ageing Long term exposure to the environment causes roughening of the surface of hardware Surface roughening causes lower corona inception and extinction voltage levels Corona inception and extinction voltage levels can drop by up to 20% or 30 % for hardware that has been exposed to environmental ageing for 20 plus years. Voltage should be adjusted to take this into account

ACCEPTANCE GRADIENT
Test gradient for acceptance usually set between 1.1 and 1.3 times max operating gradient Agreement between utility and supplier Depends on Altitude (air density) Environment (ageing of hardware over service life)

Assemblies must be shown as positive corona free when tested at conductor or sub-conductor surface gradient defined as the acceptance gradient

VISUAL CORONA TEST PROCEDURE

Steps
Calculate mid-span sub-conductor voltage gradient Set required acceptance test gradient based on altitude and surface ageing corrections Select the appropriate size corona calibrating sphere and calibrate the sphere on appropriate dia conductor Use corona calibrating sphere to establish required test voltage on full scale conductor setup Build full scale single phase assembly mock-up in the lab Perform visual corona and RIV test

CORONA CALIBRATING SPHERES

CORONA CALIBRATING SPHERE APPLICATION

Used to establish electric field at conductor surface through calibration Individual spheres are assigned inception gradients based on a known geometry and a given conductor size.

concentric cylinder geometry

single conductor above ground plane

E=

V R r ln r

E=

V 2h r ln r

where:V = voltage applied to the conductor R = radius of the concentric cylinder r = radius of the conductor

where:V = voltage applied to the conductor h = height of conductor above ground plane r = radius of the conductor

SETUP FOR GRADIENT ASSIGNMENT TO CALIBRATING SPHERE

CORONA CALIBRATING SPHERE GRADIENT ASSIGNMENT

Range of sphere size vs conductor diameter is given in reference materials Steps sphere installed on conductor voltage increased at positive corona inception, E at conductor surface is calculated based on the applied voltage and geometry

E=

V R r ln r
OR

E=

V 2h r ln r

TYPICAL CALIBRATING SPHERE GRADIENT ASSIGNMENT RESULTS

Height above ground (ft) 1 2.0 92.7 Positive Corona Inception Voltage (kV)

Surface Gradient (kV/cm)

2 91.6

3 91.6

4 91.2

5 91.7

Average 91.6 15.49

3.0

101.5 100.5 100.0 100.0 100.0

100.5

15.48

3mm sphere on 26.8 mm bus

CONDUCTOR ASSEMBLY CALIBRATION

Smooth metal tubes used as conductors or bundle subconductors. Conductor assembly is suspended above a conducting ground plane (usually the floor of a hvl) Calibrating sphere is installed in the same location as which the insulator assembly of hardware will be positioned for testing. Procedure 1. Raise voltage to above the corona inception level of the calibrating sphere to condition the sphere 2. Lower voltage to 30% below the corona extinction level

CONDUCTOR OR BUNDLE CONDUCTOR ASSEMBLY CALIBRATION contd

3. Raise and lower the voltage five times per steps 1 and 2 and note the voltage at positive corona inception and extinction on the calibrating sphere Average the five inception/extinction readings to determine the positive corona inception/extinction voltage of the calibrating sphere Previous calibration of the calibrating sphere on the same diameter conductor shows positive corona inception gradient of X kV/cm. Utilizing this pre-determined calibration data for the sphere, the relation between applied voltage and conductor surface gradient of X kV/cm is established.

4.

5.

6.

DETERMINATION OF REQUIRED TEST VOLTAGE Es Vr = Vc Ec

Vr = The required applied test voltage

E s = The voltage gradient at which the test assembly must be free of

positive corona E c = The positive corona inception voltage gradient for the conductor mounted calibrating sphere (in this case X kV/cm) Vc = The applied voltage at which corona inception occurred during the bundle calibration.

TEST PROCEDURE
Remove calibration sphere and install insulator assembly or hardware to be tested Install ground planes as required (ie. to simulate tower arms, poles, etc.) Raise the applied voltage to above the level at which positive corona appears on the assemblies under test, and then lower the voltage until corona extinction is observed. Each reported corona extinction and inception voltage is based on the average values of corona extinction and inception voltages determined from a series of 5 voltage excursions. If the voltage at corona extinction exceeds the required test voltage, then the assembly is considered to have passed the test. If corona extinction voltage is below the required test voltage, then the assembly is considered to have failed the test.

IDENTIFICATION AND RECORDING OF VISIBLE CORONA

Visible corona (or lack thereof) can be detected by long exposure still photographs light amplification systems (image intensifiers) UV cameras Corona cameras

TESTING 765 kV POLYMER V-STRING

TESTING 230 kV BUS CONNECTOR

TESTING 345-kV HORIZONTAL VEE INSULATOR ASSEMBLY

Corona inception

Corona extinction

Questions