Developments in Stress Control Systems in HV Cable Accessories

Alexander Eigner, M.Sc., Tyco Electronics Raychem GmbH, Ottobrunn, Germany

Fency Anthony, Raychem RPG (P) Ltd, Gujarat, India

Abstract
Based on the fact that the majority of todays cable circuits are using power cables with extruded insulation, the
technology of the corresponding high voltage cable accessories has also moved from oil/paper to dry materials.
Furthermore the development of the stress control elements showed major improvement over the last years and
represent today intensively developed and complex products. This article shows the current status of the stress
control technology of high voltage cable accessories. The history, current techniques and trends are shown and
additionally new developments are discussed1 [15].

Introduction

Originally (approx. 1920s) stress control technology

inside accessories was based on wrapped papers. For
this, conductive papers were wrapped in such a way
that the end of the semi conductive layer of the power
cable represented a geometrical cone. This shape defines the electrical field distribution between earth and
high voltage electrode and reduces the electrical stress
down to uncritical levels. Today this taping technology is only in use at oil/paper cables which are still in
operation and not replaced yet. But the oil/paper cables and accessories usage is declining and will become less important in future [1,2].
Nowadays the dominating cable insulation material is
XLPE up to voltages of 550 kV. Consequently the
insulation material and stress control of cable accessories changed from impregnated to dry as well. But the
function is still the same: the stress control element
has to control the electric field distribution inside the
accessory and ensure that it does not exceed the material limits. For example the normal operation at rated
voltage and also the occurrence of short impulses with
much higher level have to be considered. Figure 1
shows the electric field levels inside a power cable
which have to be controlled at the end of the cable by
the stress control system of the high voltage cable accessory. For this survey, different cable manufacturers including their used insulation thickness were taken and the electric field value calculated. The crosses
show the mean electric field of AC power cables of
the year 2004 at rated voltage for the inner and outer
surace of the insulation respectively. Rectangular
points are indicating the same but for high voltage
power cables which were produced in the year 2013.
For medium voltage power cables upto 42 kV, there is
nearly no change in the insulation thickness and consequently electric stresses. Reason is that the insulation thickness at this voltage level is specificed by
standards and limits possible variations accordingly.
In the extra high voltage range (>170 kV), a slight dif-

ference between 2004 and 2013 can be seen [4,5,6].

At this it is intended that improved manufacturing
techniques and better materials allow this reduction of
the wall thickness of the power cable insulation.
However todays high voltage power cables in the
range between 72 kV and 170 kV show a major difference in the insulation thickness and electric field
compared to 2004 (not considering the influence of
other parameters like conductor diameter change).
Price erosion and big competition are the main reason
for this trend which caused an electric field increase
of approx. 30%. Although the nowadays used high
voltage cable accessories have still the same rated
voltage class, they have to operate on much higher
electric field values as 10 years before. This trend did
not stop yet and will continue. Today there are materials like EPR (Ethylene-Propylene-Rubber) or SIR
(Silicone rubber) in use [2].

Figure 1: Comparison of electric stress of high votlage AC power cables in the year 2004 and 2013 [3]

This paper was presented at the 3rd Interactive Workshop on High Voltage
Cables, Accessories and Installation organized by CIGRE and CBIP on 30-31
January 2014 in New Delhi, India

2
Different stress control techniques
In order to decrease the electric field inside of the
high voltage accessories different technologies were
developed. Theoretically all methods have the Maxwell equations in common and use more or less one of
the given parameters in order to control the electric
field:

Gausss Law

ance stress control, just taking the cable and/or tubing

capacitance not into account. This technique is typically for heat shrinkable cable accessories and used
upto 123 kV. Currently new materials are developed
in order to cope with higher voltages and electrical
field strengths. Further on the conduction mechanism
inside of such, carbon black filled, stress control system is a subject of intensive research.

(1)

B
Maxwell-Faraday Equation
(2)
t
E

B 0 J 0
Amperes circuital Law (3)
t

(4)
B 0 - Gausss Law for Magnetism
E

Equation 1-4: Maxwell equations

The geometrical stress control (see figure 2) uses the
parameter for defining the electrical field. Practically a conductive component with a predefined shape
is installed or already integrated in the high voltage
cable accessory. The geometry has a defined curve
and reduces the electric field by means of the capacitive coupling. At this two special shapes became famous: the Rogowski and Borda profile. Nevertheless
the main development in the field of geometrical
stress control is at the moment not the optimisation of
the electric field but rather the improvement of production of stress control elements. In case of joints
there is also the trend to minimize the volume of the
insulating material in which the geometrical stress
control system is embedded. In general this stress
control technique is nowadays the most used one in
high voltage cable accessories up to 550kV. This
stress control technique is also the main stress control
technique for the use in HV DC applications. Today
there are materials like EPR (Ethylene-PropyleneRubber) or SIR (Silicone rubber) in use. This technology implies some advantages compared to the former
used oil/paper technology:

Quality of stress control element is independent

of jointer skills
Every piece can be 100% electrically tested
Geometry is predefined
Easy to install

Resistive or impedance stress control systems (see

figure 3) are using the parameters J or

E
of equat

tion 3. They allow a current flow within the stress

control element in order to define the voltage distribution and electric field subsequently. The resistive
stress control technique is a special case of the imped-

Figure 2: Geometrical stress control

Figure 3: Impedance stress control

For the refractive stress control system (see figure 4),
the parameter which is mainly used cannot be directly
seen in Maxwells equations. But this parameter the
r is in the parameter E of
equation 1, 2 and 3 via the polarization of the material
integrated. This parameter defines how strong the
electric field will be diffracted when crossing this material. Maximum voltage at which this stress control
technology is solely used is 72 kV. Furthermore this
stress control method is frequently applied as an additional component in stress control systems which consist of different techniques (e.g. combination of refractive and impedance stress control). Current developments deal with the decrease of electrical losses
of the refractive method as the high polarity of the
used materials generates heat in electrically high
stress areas.

However, the disadvantage of using a High Di-electric

constant material is that its permittivity varies with
temperature. Here the Impedance method of stress
control scores over the high di-electric constant method. Though the permittivity may vary due to temperature, the total impedance offered remains the same.
The temperature of the cable varies in its lifetime due
to the current flowing in it and also due to the ambient.

Figure 4: Refractive stress control

Non-linear stress control systems (see figure 5) are
also using the current flow J or

E
(see equation 3)
t

for limiting the electric field but do not have a linear

current flow. In case of e.g. Zinc Oxide, the current
flow is electric field dependent and increases nonlinearly when reaching the switching point [7,8]. This
effect allows adjusting the electrical stress control
performance element on the requirement of the high
voltage cable accessory. From the development point
of view, this technique is the latest in the field of high
voltage cable accessories. It provides the selfregulation of the electric field and is therefore not
only used in high voltage cable accessories but also
insulators and other high voltage equipment. Present
developments deal with the processing of this material
as well as the integration of the functional material
into different matrixes.

Figure 5: Non-linear stress control

New developments in Stress

Control Systems

Apart from the use or update of existing stress control

elements new techniques are under development. One
technique which is under investigation is the usage of
Nano-components for stress control systems [9]. This
can either be nanoparticles, nano-fillers or nanostructured materials. All these technologies allow improving the performance of the base material and/or
adding an additional function. For example increases
the addition of SiO2 to XLPE the dielectric breakdown strength. Similar investigations are also done
with other insulation and stress grading materials.
Another new development in the field of stress control systems for high voltage cable accessories are
systems for the use in HVDC. Compared to HVAC
the electric field inside of high voltage cables and cable accessories is strongly dependent on conductivity
and temperature [10,11]. This leads to the effect that
the common electrical field distribution is not valid
anymore. Depending on the temperature, a complete
reversal of the electric field is possible the higher
electric field strength at the outer semi conductive cable screen and the lower electric field strength at the
inner semi conductive screen. Besides the temperature
effect, space charges become at HVDC important too.
These charge carriers create local electric field increments and must be also control by an appropriate
electric stress control system.
Most of the todays used conductive materials for the
use in high voltage stress control systems are based on
matrix systems filled with carbon black [12, 13]. The
carbon black gives the stress control system the needed volume conductivity and allows consequently the
correct stress control function. Based on this fact the
carbon black and its influence on filled materials is
also under investigation. For instance the surface of
the carbon black and its consequences on the volume
conductivity of the filled material is studied. Other
parameters which are investigated are the influence of
mechanical stresses on the carbon black/silicon matrix, change of the surface conductivity of carbon
black filled systems in respect to type of carbon black.

Example for todays complex

HVCA stress control system

A typical example of a nowadays stress control system will be given on basis of a filter termination. Filter terminations are used for cleaning the smoke of

industrial plants. For this, the smoke is cleaned by

means of corona. In order to generate a stable corona
a DC voltage with very fast impulses (100 kV/nsec) at
typically 150 kV is generated. The power required to
generate the corona is low therefore the cross section
of these cable is normally in the range below 10 mm2.
Insulation thickness of such a cable is approx. 10 mm,
consequently the electric field strength is in the range
of 28 kV/mm.

The present article shows that today all up to date

known techniques for the electrical stress control are
still in use and further developments on each technique are ongoing. Apart from the enhancement of
existing stress control techniques, there are also complete new approaches for electrical stress control visible. But all todays already used stress control methods have one thing in common without their existence, nowadays high voltage engineering would not
have been possible and in this case they are one key
element which allows high voltage cables and cable
accessories a lifetime longer than 40 years.

Figure 6: Voltage distribution for filter cables

In order to provide an optimized electrical stress control system, different stress control methods have ben
applied at the same time. One stress control system,
based on the Impedance stress control, is used in order to control the underlying AC component and field.
A second layer of Impedance stress control (not purely Impedance stress control) covers the DC field
whereas a third stress control system ZnO stress
control patch covers the high frequency surges. The
complete termination including its stress control system has been successfully tested according to relevant
standards and works now for more than 10 years reliable in industrial plants around the world.

Figure 7: Filter termination

Outlook

References:

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Kabelgarnituren berblickund Stand der Technik,
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Power Engineers (India) Seminar, January 18 2014,
Vadodara India