Abstract In this paper, we describe optimised accessories for the use with OPPC (OPtical Phase Conductor) on medium voltage power lines up to 36 kV. Materials and design considerations will be discussed as well as the high voltage performance and ease of installation, which lead to an extension of OPPC applications to the power distribution networks. Keywords: OPPC; optical phase conductor; high voltage power line; separator. 1. Introduction In the range of optical aerial cable on power lines, OPPC and its associated accessories like separators and joint boxes have increased their importance during the past years [1]. So far, the focus was on the trunk network with voltage levels ranging from 36 kV to 245 kV. With the successful implementation of OPPC technology on such lines, power utilities start to look for a further expansion on the distribution part of their networks. Up to now, the distribution networks were dominated by dielectric solutions like ADSS and OPAC (OPtical Attached Cable) typically wrapped or lashed cables. These have in common that they are additionally put on the poles or towers adding load to the tower construction and/or increasing ice and wind loads. In some cases, such additional load can even bar the realisation of a project. That is when OPPC technology comes in handy. Assuming a good electrical and mechanical match between the phase conductor and the replacing OPPC such load issues can be avoided completely. Moreover, the attached cable solutions need significant maintenance compared to an OPPC solution. Furthermore, in some areas, particularly such of importance for tourism, the utilities get no permission to add additional cable to the poles.
Figure 1: Ordinary 36 kV separator on a 15 kV line OPPC technology can help because there is except for the separators, which look like insulators, nothing added to the lines. The use of the existing OPPC accessories for 36 kV [2, 3] is possible but not always advisable. There are several reasons: First, they are fairly bulky (Figure 1). With a length of 940 mm and a weight of appr. 30 kg they were designed for strong tower constructions with enough free space. Contrary to that, many of the distribution lines are installed on concrete or wooden poles with limited space. Definitely, they would be a thorn in the flesh of the tourism lobby. Secondly, the existing accessories were designed for point-to-point connections which means for the separators, they were used as line terminations only. The distribution networks, in general, are more meshed, with more branching and in-line switches (Figure 2). With respect to separators, it means a lot more of them are necessary to maintain the network's flexibility.
Figure 2: Bridging a line switch with 2 ordinary 36 kV separators on a 15 kV line Another issue for any installation on power lines is the time needed for the line outage. For good reasons this time has to be as short as possible. For an ordinary OPPC installation the outage time is roughly the sum of cable stringing, installation of accessories and splice works. To improve, it is possible to optimise the different operational steps and materials but still the gain is small. Therefore, the idea was to remove the separator splice works which is a major part from the calculation i.e. to do the splicing after re-energising the line. From the above, it was evident that new accessories especially suiting the medium and low voltage line requirements had to be developed and tested in a field installation. International Wire & Cable Symposium 389 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS 2. Accessory Design Before going into design details, let us resume the functional requirements for this new technology: Approved composite insulator design Light weight, small-sized separators. Optical fibres pass separator without being cut (spliceless). Optical fibres are spliced in a separate joint box in an electrically safe area. In-line OPPC joint box for cable connection on high potential. All accessories are suited for cables with fibres in a stainless steel tube. Fulfilling these requirements led to the accessories described in the following chapters. 2.1 Spliceless Separator 2.1.1 Insulator body. Achieving the requirements for light weight and small size was the easiest task. Based on our experience with the larger separators made in approved composite technology and with the electrical requirements given in IEC 60071-1 [4], we defined the dimensions for the insulating body, first (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Spliceless separator - insulating body The interior part of the insulating body is a tube made of high- strength FRP with fibres of electrical grade (E)-glass. The housing and the sheds consist of UV-resistant high temperature vulcanised (HTV) silicone rubber; the outer diameter is 30 mm. In order to optimise the model range, we split the separators into four types: Two voltage levels with two pollution classes, each. The following tables show the main properties of the separator with respect to the insulating part; Table 1 for a voltage level of 24 kV and Table 2 for 36 kV, respectively.
Table 1. Spliceless separator, 24 kV - main properties Tension, Um kV 24 Pollution class (IEC 60815) II IV Number of sheds 3 5 Creepage mm 575 855 Arcing distance, min. mm 219 259 Dry lightning withstand volt. kV 50* Wet power frequency withstand voltage kV 145*
Table 2. Spliceless separator, 36 kV - main properties Tension, Um kV 36 Pollution class (IEC 60815) II IV Number of sheds 4 7 Creepage mm 740 1190 Arcing distance, min. mm 259 349 Dry lightning withstand volt. kV 70* Wet power frequency withstand voltage kV 170* * Nominal figures according to IEC 60071-1 2.1.2 Metallic end fittings. To get a complete separator (Figure 4), the insulating body has to be equipped with metallic end fittings.
Figure 4. Complete 36 kV, class II separator Their purpose is twofold: First to hermetically seal the inner tube to protect it against moisture ingress, and secondly to block the insulating fluid which is injected into the tube during installation. Furthermore, the end fittings provide means for the separator tower attachment and include a sealed fibre in- and outlet. The described configuration allows for cables with an outer diameter range from 10 mm to 28 mm with one steel tube ranging from 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm. Tables 3 and 4 show the overall dimensions and weights of the different separator types. International Wire & Cable Symposium 390 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS Table 3. Spliceless separator, 24 kV - dimensions Tension, Um kV 24 Pollution class (IEC 60815) II IV Diameter of sheds mm 138 Overall height mm 629 669 Weight (appr.) kg 3.8 4.2
Table 4. Spliceless separator, 36 kV - dimensions Tension, Um kV 36 Pollution class (IEC 60815) II IV Diameter of sheds mm 138 Overall height mm 669 759 Weight (appr.) kg 4.0 4.6
Compared with an ordinary 36 kV, class II separator (Figure 1), the height reduction for the spliceless separator is 370 mm and the weight is decreased by 22 kg, which is quite a significant advantage. It is also economically adapted as the cost of the new separator including an ordinary closure is just half the cost of the large one. 2.2 In-line OPPC joint box The in-line OPPC joint box is used for connecting two OPPC without leaving the high voltage level. It is designed to be installed self-supporting, in-between the jumper cable, either at a tension or suspension tower [1]. In general it is not used very often in the distribution networks because there are hardly any ture end-to-end connections, unlike with the trunk networks. Due to switches and branching, there are more separators needed than in-line joint boxes. Just like with the existing separators, the joint box had to be tailored to fit to the reduced dimension scenario of the distribution networks. Figure 5 shows the final joint box.
Figure 5. In-line joint box It is made of seawater resistant aluminium alloy and can take up to 144 crimp splices or 72 heat-shrinkable splices. The cable clamping range is the same as for the separators; the number of steel tubes per OPPC can be three. The main characteristics are given in Table 5. Table 5. In-line joint box - characteristics Tension, Um kV 90 Short time current, I 2 t kA 2 s 3600 Continuous current A 1000 Overall height mm 240 Overall width mm 405 Weight (appr.) kg 10
The maximum electrical tension of 90 kV was derived by a corona and radio interference (RIV) test. Therefore, this joint box can also be used on higher voltage levels. Optionally it can be equipped with an eye on top to allow for a suspended attachment. 3. System considerations What we have not covered yet is the requirement of a splice-free passing of the fibres through the separator and its further way to a separated splice box. The solution will be given in the following chapter. The starting situation is that you arrive with your OPPC on top of the separator. You dismantle all stranding wires on a length of several meters except for the steel tube containing the fibres. Fix the OPPC in the clamp, cut and dismantle the steel tube; finally feed the fibres through the separator. Now the real problem shows up. What to do with the fibres leaving the separator at the bottom? They have to be protected and the separator has to be sealed to avoid humidity ingress and leakage. First thing is, a really long-term, temperature stable sealing system directly working on the optical fibres, without endangering them, is not available. Taking a plastic pipe to protect the fibres would give enough mechanical stability for the sealing but creates further drawbacks. The fibres have to be threaded through a several meters long plastic pipe which is not an easy task, particularly when standing in pouring rain in the fields. Moreover, the plastic pipe has to be filled with some compound to avoid leakage of the separator. This method seems to be no viable solution. Fortunately, there is a fairly simple way to overcome the problems: Cut the steel tube and pull it back carefully for the required distance - the length of the dielectric, insulating body - in the worst case appr. 400 mm. Seal and clamp the steel tube at the bottom of the separator and feed it through a protective pipe, either corrugated steel or UV-resistant plastic. This pipe will go to an ordinary aerial cable closure out of the reach of the high voltage. Pulling tests have proven that it is possible to pull-back around 10 m of steel tube without too much effort and without damaging the fibres. The sealing of the steel tubes at the top and bottom of the separator is assured by a water and gas tight sealing kit. It is a modified version of kits used for connecting and sealing metal pipes. For stranded steel tube OPPC it comes in handy to use a tube straightening tool. International Wire & Cable Symposium 391 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS 4. Testing Before getting a permission to install anything on a power line, extensive testing has to be performed to assure the suitability for the use on such lines. 4.1 Separator testing Although we already successfully tested separators on voltage levels from 36 kV up to 245 kV, the new separators were exceeding the tolerable design changes, specified in IEC 61462 [5]. Therefore, part of the design tests, notably the tracking and erosion test according to IEC 62217 [6] had to be repeated. For the electrical testing according to IEC 60383 [7] and IEC 60060-1 [8], the 24 kV separator had been chosen. It passed all tests successfully. Figure 6 shows the separator during the wet power frequency withstand voltage test.
Figure 6. 24 kV separator - wet power frequency withstand voltage test at 85 kV 4.2 In-line joint box testing Besides the normal mechanical and environmental tests like water tightness, temperature cycling and cable pull-out force, a corona and RIV test has been performed to evaluate the influence of the joint box shape with respect to the high voltage level. The test results led to a classification of the joint box to a maximum voltage of 123 kV according to IEC 60071-1. The RIV test result for 82 kV was 38V or 31.6 dB, respectively. Although the maximum voltage was 123 kV, we decided to use the joint box only up to 90 kV. 5. Field installation To prove the practicability of the new technology, a field installation on a 20 kV line was realised in April 2005. Although it was only a short line of 2 km length, it included as much difficulties as possible like installation constraints and a hilly terrain with complicated access to the poles. This was done on purpose by the power utility to check the new technology under severe conditions. The power outage time was set up to 5 days and the training of the linemen doing the accessory installation was requested to be held on site, during installation. 5.1 OPPC design The phase conductor to be replaced was an all-aluminium alloy 148-AL4. The OPPC requirements were 36 optical fibres and of course, a 'best match' for the other conductor characteristics. A comparison of conductor and OPPC is shown in Table 6. Table 6. Comparison between conductor and OPPC Type Conductor 148-AL4 OPPC 143-AL4, 36 SMF Figure
Diameter [mm] 15.75 16.0 Weight [kg/km] 415 425 Rated Tensile Strength [kN] 47.7 46.5 DC-Resistance [/km] 0.224 0.229 Minimum bending radius [mm] - 240 5.2 Line demands The line was a typical 20 kV line with one electrical system installed on concrete poles (Figure 7) including one branching pole, with a branch line running to a nearby farm.
Figure 7. 20 kV line - branching pole in front Furthermore, the power utility insisted on using all kind of clamps, like suspension clamps, jumper clamps and special detachable clamps - used as line breakers - they normally install on such lines for the OPPC installation, as well. International Wire & Cable Symposium 392 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS More complications were created by the suspension pole construction. As can be seen in Figure 7 (pole in the background), the metal top construction had a rhombical shape and as the centre phase conductor had been chosen for replacement, the stringing sheaves had to be reduced to a diameter of 200 mm which was less than half of the OPPC's minimum bending radius. To increase the likelihood of a success, we tested every single clamp under different installation conditions in the run-up to the field installation. In a special tensile test on a sheave test bench we checked the maximum tolerable pulling tension with a 200 mm sheave under different angles. The result of all the testing allowed us to create a set of rules for the cable stringing with a maximum safety for the OPPC and the optical fibres. The OPPC installation was planned for two cable sections with the branching pole as a natural cut. At this point it was mandatory to install two separators (Figure 8) to allow for an independent shut-off of the different line sections. Figure 9 demonstrates the situation for the termination pole.
Figure 8. Separator installation on branching pole
Figure 9. Separator installation on termination pole
5.3 Installation After the stringing of the two OPPC sections we started the first separator assembly on a termination pole. Notwithstanding the idea of fibre splicing only after energising the line, we immediately spliced all fibres from the OPPC to the approach cable to make sure that everything went right during the assembly. After a slight correction, the fibres inside the separator had been stressed a little bit, everything was alright. Taking into account that it was the first real assembly and the linemen were not trained on it, the result was very good. Figures 10 and 11 show the assembled separators on the different poles.
Figure 10. Separator mounted on branching pole
Figure 11. Separator mounted on termination pole
International Wire & Cable Symposium 393 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS The assembly of the remaining separators proceeded without any problems, on time. To sum up, the successful installation had approved the concept; all expectations had been fulfilled. The system is fully operational since two years now without any difficulties. 6. Conclusions The presented paper demonstrates that by using optimised accessories and new installation methods, the range of application for OPPC can be extended to low and medium voltage lines. The shown solutions are highly reliable, economical and easy to install. They present an excellent alternative to dielectric solutions like ADSS and OPAC. 7. References [1] Girbig, Bernon, Chaussecourte, Le Gac, OPPC Solutions for 63 kV, 90 kV and 225 kV Power Lines, International Wire and Cable Symposium Proceedings 2005, pp. 570-574 (2005). [2] Girbig, Jansen, Hg, New Generation of Optical Phase Conductor Accessories for Different Voltage Levels, ROC&C'2003, IEEE section Mexico (2003). [3] Girbig, Jansen, Hg, Advanced OPPC Accessories for Medium and High Voltage Applications, WireChina 2004 Technical Conference, Shanghai (2004). [4] IEC 60071-1, Insulation co-ordination - Part 1: Definitions, priciples and rules, Ed. 7.0 (1993) [5] IEC 61462, Composite Insulators - Hollow Insulators for Use in Outdoor and Indoor Electrical Equipment - Definitions, Test Methods, Acceptance Criteria and Design Recommendations, Ed 1/CD (2004) [6] IEC 62217, Ploymeric Insulators for Indoor and Outdoor Use With a Nominal Voltage > 1000 V - General Definitions, Test Methods and Acceptance Criteria, Ed 1/CDV (2004) [7] IEC 60383, Insulators for Overhead Lines With a Nominal Voltage Above 1000 V - Definitions, Test Methods and Acceptance Criteria, (1993) [8] IEC 60060-1, High-Voltage Test Techniques - Part 1: General Definitions and Test Requirements (1989) 8. Pictures of Authors
Reinhard Girbig Draka Comteq Germany GmbH & Co. KG Bonnenbroicher Str. 2-14 41048 Mnchengladbach GERMANY
Reinhard Girbig (1954) obtained his Dipl.-Ing. degree from the Ruhr-University-Bochum in 1982 and joined the company in 1987. After working in different fields of fibres, fibre optic cables and installation techniques, he is now in charge of the D&E department for optical aerial cables.
Hans-Werner Korporal Draka Comteq Germany GmbH & Co. KG Bonnenbroicher Str. 2-14 41048 Mnchengladbach GERMANY
Hans-Werner Korporal (1951) obtained his high voltage electrician degree from the Duisburger Kupferhtte and qualified as a certified engineer. He joined the company in 1974. After working in different fields of product and process development for CATV, copper and optical telecommunication cables, he is now working as a development engineer in the D&E department for optical aerial cables.
International Wire & Cable Symposium 394 Proceedings of the 56th IWCS