Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

c 2009 SAIEE, Innes House, Johannesburg

Copyright

ISBN 978-0-620-44584-9

INFLUENCE OF THE NEW K-FACTOR METHOD OF THE IEC DRAFT

60060-1 ON THE EVALUATION OF LIGHTNING IMPULSE
PARAMETERS IN RELATION TO ULTRAHIGH-VOLTAGE TESTING
1

Martin Hinow 1* and Thomas Steiner1

HIGHVOLT Prftechnik Dresden GmbH, Germany
*Email: <hinow@highvolt.de >

Abstract: High-Voltage Impulse Generators are broadly applied for standard quality tests on highvoltage isolations such as power transformers. The wave shapes for the generated impulses are
standardized with their time parameters and tolerances in IEC 60060-1[1]. The mentioned standard
will be reviewed after nearly twenty years by the IEC where one of the most important changes
will obtain the introduction of the k-factor method in order to improve the overshoot evaluation.
Thereby not only the magnitude but also the duration of an overshoot will be taken into account.
Especially the application of ultrahigh-voltage testing complicates the realization of the permitted
parameters of front time T1 and overshoot . Under certain conditions the realization of both
parameters is very difficult. Therefore, the paper presents two overshoot compensation circuits and
compares theirs physical principle. It discusses the corresponding parameter ranges concerning the
physical and technological possibilities of an ultrahigh-voltage testing.

1.

2.

INTRODUCTION

The production of high voltage equipment for the use

in the energy grids is vulnerable to small failures in the
insulation. An intensive quality control has been also
established with the high voltage testing to ensure
defined insulation properties of the produced
equipment. The insulation is stressed with grid
adequate stress which includes an AC testing, a
switching and a lightning impulse testing. The latter is
performed by an impulse testing system which contains
the system components impulse generator, chopping
gap, voltage divider and test object.

STATE OF THE ART

2.1. Overshoot definition

The impulse test system can be described by the
equivalent circuit, see figure 1. The current paper
distinguishes between the component generator and the
additional system components. The following elements
are considered:
Cs
= charging capacitance
SG
= spark gap
RE
= discharging resistor
RD
= front resistor
LG
= generator parasite inductance
LS
= parasite inductance of the
additional system components
CP
= parasitic generator capacitance
CAFC
= chopping gap capacitance
CT
= test object capacitance
CU
= voltage divider capacitance
RU
= divider resistor.

General testing parameters are defined in the horizontal

IEC standard 60060-1. In particular the lightning
impulse is among others defined by peak value Up, the
front time T1, time to half value T2 and the overshoot .
Validation rules are defined in the vertical component
specific standards.
With the goal to deliver large quantity of power over
long distances new energy grid projects e.g. in India
(1200 kV AC) or China (1100 kV AC) provided a new
voltage class definition, the ultrahigh-voltage (UHV).
New testing standards have to be published for the
UHV equipment. A current question is how and in
which relation the present testing standard IEC 600601 can be applied to UHV equipment.

SG

RD

LS

LG

CU
CS

RE

CP

CAFC

CT

RU

Figure 1: equivalent circuit of an impulse testing

system.

The current paper deals with the application of

lightning impulse testing to UHV equipment. It
discusses the evaluation of overshoot and explains the
physical principle of parallel and serial overshoot
compensation. Finally it identifies physical and
technological limits of UHV lightning impulse testing
in relation to the existing IEC standard 60060-1.

The impulse test system provides in the ideal case with

no circuit inductance LG = 0 and LC = 0 the ideal
lightning impulse of two superimposed exponential
functions. The low but physical not complete avoidable
inductances of the impulse circuit causes a
superimposed oscillation, which is called overshoot,
see figure 2.
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Paper G-14

Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

c 2009 SAIEE, Innes House, Johannesburg
Copyright

ISBN 978-0-620-44584-9

Voltage in kV

with low frequencies will be assessed with nearly the

same value.

Figure 3: Experimental results of [2, 3, 5], the k-factor

describes the relation between breakdown voltage and
overshoot frequency.

Time in s

Figure 2: Principle of an ideal lightning impulse

1.2/50 with a superimposed oscillation (overshoot).

In contradiction to the frequency weighted overshoot

estimation an only magnitude related overshoot is
still in discussion [4]. This term is given by

The definition and possibilities for evaluation

procedures of the overshoot have been investigated [2,
3] and broadly discussed [4]. In order to take
oscillation magnitude and duration into account a
frequency weighted overshoot evaluation (k-factor
method) has to be applied. Its principle and advantages
are broadly documented [5]. The evaluation of the kfactor method is presented in [6, 7].

Ut Ub
Ut

2.2. Identification of the inductance afflicted

components

(1)

As shown in figure 2 the overshoot is a physical not

avoidable phenomenon. Thus the following paragraph
deals with the question which components of the
testing system are inductance afflicted and in what kind
of testing respectively in which voltage class the
mentioned overshoot occurs dramatically. The high
voltage theory book [8] indicates the length related
circuit inductance of an impulse testing system for all
components with L= 1H/m. A detailed consideration
shows that it has to be distinguished between the
generator inductance LG and the inductance LS of the
additional system components. The first one depends
mainly on the quality of the front resistors and
charging capacitances and is proportional to the
number of stages. The latter depends on the quality of
the additional system components and the high voltage
connections between them. Higher voltage testing
classes require longer distances between the high
voltage components. Thus a impulse UHV testing
system is naturally afflicted with a higher parasite
circuit inductance than a corresponding system of a
lower voltage testing class.

Where Ub is the maximum of an ideal impulse which is

used as a reference curve and Ut is the maximum of the
test voltage curve which presents at its peak the
equivalent dielectric stress on the insulation as the
recorded curve Ue. The equivalent dielectric stress on
the isolation for Ut can be evaluated by using the kfactor method. Therefore the following equation is
used:

U t = U b + k ( f ) (U e U t )

(2)

The k-factor function has been evaluated

experimentally with break down tests by [2, 3] and can
be expressed with:

k( f ) =

1
1 + 2.2 f 2

(4)

where Ue is the maximum of the recorded voltage. This

evaluation procedure estimates an overshoot regardless
if the oscillation is 1ns or 1s what is physically
incorrect.

The relative frequency weighted overshoot * is given

by:

* =

Ue Ub
Ue

(3)

The corresponding function is shown in figure 3. This

means in practice that the k-factor method reduces the
values of overshoots with high frequencies. Overshoots

2.3. Overshoot compensation

Goal of overshoot compensation is to reduce in
addition to the implemented front resistors the
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Paper G-14

Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

c 2009 SAIEE, Innes House, Johannesburg
Copyright

ISBN 978-0-620-44584-9

superimposed oscillation to acceptable values.

Therefore the oscillating energy of the overshoot has to
be stored in an additional component, what can be
mainly a resonant circuit. Such resonant circuit can be
realized as parallel or as serial overshoot
compensation. The first solution is shown as an
equivalent circuit in figure 4 which has been
implemented successfully by HIGHVOLT for a
1800 kV impulse testing system.
SG

RD

LG

CU

CC

CP

CAFC

CT

RU

LC

Figure 4: Impulse testing system with a parallel

overshoot compensation consisting of the components
compensation resistor, compensation capacitance and
compensation inductance.

From another point of view the serial compensation

requires always a compensation resistor RC which
works in the circuit as an additional damping resistor.
This item provokes longer front times.

The resonant circuit has to be adapted on the circuit

typical overshoot frequency. The oscillating energy of
the impulse front is stored in the compensation
elements and is returned to the system during the
impulse tale. The serial overshoot compensation works
by the same manner. An additional serial circuit
absorbs the oscillation energy during the impulse front
and returns it to the system during the impulse tale.
The principle of the equivalent circuit is shown in
figure 5.

However the effectiveness of both circuits is primarily

determined by the adaptation to the relevant overshoot
frequency. The frequency adaptation is an engineering
process which requires detailed knowledge about the
frequency behaviour of all system components.
Moreover the compensation circuit has to work
together with the generator owned damping RD.
Figure 6 shows an example comparison between a
serial, parallel compensated and uncompensated
1800 kV lightning impulse. Serial and parallel
compensation reduce the overshoot with the same
effectiveness from *= 10 % to *= 3.0 % (serial)
respectively *= 2.6 % (parallel) by keeping the front
time of T1= 1.3 s.

CC
SG

RD

LS

LG

LC
CS

RE

CU

RC
CP

CAFC

CT

COMPARISON BETWEEN PARALLEL

AND SERIAL OVERSHOOT
COMPENSATION

Both compensation principles can be compared with

various criterions. The most important one is the
effective reduction of overshoot. The serial
compensation is a trap circuit and the parallel
compensation is an absorption circuit. Both
compensations use the same physical principle of a
resonant circuit what leads to the consequence that
both compensation should have similar reduction
behaviours. Otherwise the parallel compensation
contains a capacitance what increase the total
capacitance of the testing circuit. A consequence of it
could be that the load of the test object has to be
reduced by the value of the parallel compensation. A
much better solution is to use small capacitances in an
order of magnitude which is much less than CC < 1nF
to make the mentioned disadvantages negligible.

LS
RC

RE

3.

RU

All relevant ATP-EMTP [9] simulation data are

summarized in table 1.
Figure 5: Impulse testing system with a serial
overshoot compensation consisting on the components
compensation resistor, compensation capacitance and
compensation inductance.

2000

Voltage in kV

1600

The current paper emphasises that the overshoot

compensation is not the ultimate solution for overshoot
reduction. The overshoot compensation works together
with the front resistors. A detailed adaptation of the
front resistors may lead also to an effective overshoot
reduction.

1200

800

Uncompensated
Parallel Compensation
Serial Compensation

400

Beside the mentioned resonance circuits also additional

overshoot reducing components e.g. Schniewindt
resistor elements are existing. These low inductive
elements are installed between the generator and the
test object in order to reduce the oscillation.

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Time in s

Figure 6: Example simulation for serial, parallel

compensated und uncompensated 1800 kV lightning
impulse with a test object capacitance of CT = 5nF.
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Paper G-14

Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

c 2009 SAIEE, Innes House, Johannesburg
Copyright

ISBN 978-0-620-44584-9

assumed with L = 70 H. An overshoot compensation

can reduce the oscillation to a certain level. A complete
absorption is not possible. The simulation example had
the goal to reduce the overshoot to 5% by increasing
the front resistor RD. Both compensation principles
provide equivalent results, the front time increases up
to 1.8 s what is not conform to the IEC 60060-1. It
should be left to the relevant technical committee to
define which parameter is more important and to allow
the corresponding tolerances.

Table 1: Data of the lightning impulse circuit and the

applied overshoot compensation.
Component
Test object capacitance CT[nF]
Voltage divider capacitance CU [nF]
Voltage divider resistance RU [Ohm]
Chopping gap capacitance C AFC [nF]
Parasite capacitance CP [nF]
Compensation capacitance serial CC,serial [nF]
Total circuit inductance LS[H]

value
5
0.89
90
0.89
0.47
4.1
45

3500

Other decision criterions for installing overshoot

compensation are the:

2500

Investment cost
Suitability and
Installation size.

Voltage in kV

3000

Serial compensation can be installed as a single

component or as several to the stages divided
components. Investment cost of the latter one is
determined by cost per stages and by the number of
stages. Especially for UHV testing systems with a high
number of stages this item is a disadvantage. If the
compensation is installed as a single component, the
investment cost for parallel and serial compensation
can be assumed as equivalent. Only two high volt
connections have to be un-, installed in the testing
system for a single component solution for
maintenance activities. The stage related solution
requires a higher effort in this case but has the
advantage of a compact execution.
4.

2000

1500

1000

Uncompensated
Serial Compensation
Parallel Compensation

500

0
8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Time in s

Figure 7: Example simulation for serial, parallel

compensated und uncompensated 3000 kV lightning
impulse with a test object capacitance of CT = 5 nF
The data of the simulation example is summarized in
Table 2. The marginal difference between both
evaluation procedures can be seen as well as the
difference between a lightning impulse with and
without compensation.

UHV TESTING

Testing of UHV equipment presents a new dimension

(up to 3 MV) of testing systems. Because of that the
issue increases of overshoot reduction by keeping a
certain front time. The higher voltage level requires a
corresponding higher number of generator stages what
leads consequently to a higher generator related circuit
inductance LG. Moreover the UHV-level causes higher
distances between the high voltage system components
in order to keep the dielectric requirements. The longer
circuit leads also to a higher circuit inductance of the
additional system components LS. The higher circuit
inductance provides automatically a higher ratio of
overshoot and a lower overshoot frequency. The latter
means that the frequency weighted overshoot
evaluation (*) will not provide lower -values by
using the k-factor method in comparison with the today
used evaluation procedure. In this case the differences
between * and can be considered as small because
of the low overshoot frequencies at approximately f=
250 kHz. A second simulation clarifies the relation
between front time T1 and overshoot compensation in
the UHV range, see figure 7. An uncompensated 3 MV
lightning impulse for a test object with a capacitance of
CT =5 nF has an overshoot of more than 16 % by
keeping a front time of T1 = 1.56 s. The total circuit
inductance for the entire testing system has been

Table 2: Simulation data of a UHV lightning impulse

Parameter
T1 [s]
* [%]
[%]

5.

Uncompensated

Parallel
compensated

Serial
compensated

1.5
16.1
16.7

1.8
5.0
5.4

1.8
5.0
5.4

CONCLUSION

Testing of UHV equipment permits not an identical

application of the existing IEC 60060-1. Especially the
evaluation of overshoot and its permitted value has to
be reviewed. As the simulation showed the permitted
maximal front time of T1=1.56 s and the allowed
maximal overshoot of 5% are in a discrepancy. The
current paper shows that serial and parallel overshoot
compensation has an equivalent efficiency for
oscillation reduction. Moreover it has been showed that
the k-factor method reduces the overshoot values only
marginal.
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Paper G-14

ISBN 978-0-620-44584-9

6.

Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

c 2009 SAIEE, Innes House, Johannesburg
Copyright

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Authors would like to express their thanks to Matthias

Birle from Technical University Ilmenau (Germany)
for the support with the system simulation.
7.

REFERENCES

[1] IEC 60060-1 (1989-11) High-Voltage Test

Techniques Part 1: General Definitions and Test
Requirements.
[2] Pascual Simon Comin: Research of the
characteristic parameters of the behavior of
dielectric media under non standard lightning
impulse in high voltage; PHD thesis University of
Zaragoza Spain 2004.
[3] Sonja Berlijn, "Influence of lightning impulses to
insulating systems, PhD thesis TU Graz Austria,
2000.
[4] IEC TC 42 Maintenance Team: Committee Draft
for Voting 42/236 CDV: High-voltage Test
Techniques, Part 1: General definitions and test
requirements, 2008
[5] S. Berlijn, F. Garnacho, F. Simon, E. Gockenbach,
P. Werle, K. Hackemack, M. Watts "Final report:
Digital measurement of parameters used for
lightning impulse tests for high voltage
equipment", EU contract no. PL- 951210-SMTCT96-2132, 1999
[6] Anne Pfeffer: Analysis of lightning impulse
voltages using the k-factor; diploma thesis
University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2007.
[7] F J. K. Hllstrm et al.: Applicability of different
implementations of k-factor filtering schemes for
the revision of IEC60060-1 and -2, Proceedings
of the XIVth International Symposium on HighVoltage Engineering, Beijing, 2005, paper B-32, p
92..
[8] A. Kchler: Hochspannungstechnik Springer
Berlin Heidelberg 2005; ISBN: 3-540-21411-9
[9] EEUG: ATP EMTP realise 2008; Alternative
Transients Program (Simulation Software)

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