DEGRADATION OF METAL OXIDE SURGE ARRESTERS UNDER SIMULATED NATURAL

CONDITIONS
P.M. Vipin, N.K. Klshofe, G.R. Nagabhushana and B.N. Jayaram,
Departmentof High Voltage Engineering,
Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012

ABSTRACT 2-EXPERIMENT
Th,& degradation of metal oxide surge
arresters (MOSA) under continous 2.1 Scheme of experiment
operating voltage ( C . 0 . V ) ,with time, is
a well known fact. But the contribution The representation o f thi. 5 1 . 1 v i i . 1
of bransient overvoltages in the form of conditions is achieved by c s t iiiit>t i i i t j I l i t *
lightning surges,switching surges stress cycle per year. T h i s c y c l i - i x ;
etc..against which the arrester is used then applied to the surye al-icstr*i
as a prot.ection device, to the arrester element over one day, to simii1.3Le tIv>
degradation has not been studied much. electrical stresses coming I I L ~ I I t I I P
The simulation of a situation, wherein arrester under field condit ions. A
the arrester is kept uder C . 0 . V and typical transient stress cycle c)vi-r i t i i r -
different surges are applied on it, is year has been broadly esLiamIi~t1 .I-
somewhat complex. A method for follows:
simulation of field operating conditions
of an arrester in the laboratory is
presented in this paper. Results of two (i)Lightning transients
seperate degradation studies on
different samples under A.C, and D.C (a) direct stroke, s i n i u l a t c t l Iig . I
excitations with superimposed transient surge current of 4/1O)is, 50kA
stresses are given. A com$arison of
9
postulated to occur OIICC- c.vi*r.g
observed data with calculated ones is 5 years,
also made.
(b) indirect strokes, simu1;ltid 11y
1.INTRODUCTION surge currents 01 n/70)1s
duration and magnitudes 5 , I O
Developments in material technology ana 20kA occtii-i II'J
have spurred quantum advances in power respectively; at fl-cc/[[r:rlc: i v s
system equipment protection within the of roughly 18,5 and 2 t i n i c s i i i i
past two decades. Eversince its advent, year.
around 1970's, metal oxide based surge
arresters have emerged as the most (iilswitching transients siriwIa1:c.tl l l y
reliable device against power system J rnct:angular current. L n i 1 * : P r,t
traiisient overvoltages. It is being 1kA magnitude and 1- .4 111:;
increasingly used in surge protection pulsewidth,.occurring oricc! i r i t i 1 1
due to its superior nonlinear year.
characteristics and greater energy
handling capabilities. But, due to the
absence of any series isolating gaps, While the above transients arc
the surge arrester elements are applied the arrester is kept undi~i~
continously stressed by the system continous operating voltage ( C . 0 . V ) at a
voltage, which causes the flow of a 0
small leakage curent (about SO* or sol. temperature of 60 C . Experiments were
This current as well as the energy carried out with D.C and A . C cscitations
absorption at the time of impulse applied to the arrester elements. T l i c
discharges, cause gradual degradation of 0
theelements. In order to predict the elevated temperature of G O C siiiiitla,l.es
period of reliable operation of a metal the maximum probable element t cmp r a t CII'(-
oxide surge arrester, or its life, the in field service, taking into a c c - i - ~ i 1 I i l
degradation phenomena is studied the the influence of ambient teniper;11:urp,
worldover. Still, a definite procedure solar radiation and inE11~c1ic.i~
is yet to be postulated to assess pollution on the arrester Iioiisirig [ 1 1.
degradation under both A.C and D.C Further, one year field l j r r . iir 1 1 1 1 .
excitations. Here we present the results arrester is simulated within ani. 11.1y
of work done-in our laboratory to study fo11owing t he acce1eratcd a q i 11.3
the degradation of surge arrester procedure described in clause 6 1 . 7 cif
element-s under simulated natural IEC T C 37 WG-4 AUGUST 1980 docr~rnriil- f t l !
conditions. MOSA. Accordingly, after the abq.>li i - . > I - i t ) i > ,
of surges the sample was Iica!cil 1 1 1 . I

165
 0 cycles of aging, a comparison lict\;cc?ii
temperature of 115 + / - 4 C and kept at the A.C and D.C leakage cul-rc~~l'
thak temperature with the C . 0 . V across variations for a 10 year p r r i o c l O C
it,, ,till the start of the next aging simulationran be.done. This is depjr:t.ed
cycle.,A 2 0 day simulation on the above in Fig.2 in the form o f normal i s c d
lines was carried out with minimum curves (normalised with respect .to tllc
interruption of the A.C operating initial leakage current values U I I ~ C I . A . C
voltage across the arrester clement. and D.C respectively). IVhilc tllc
Another 10 day experiment with D.C increase- in leakage current is a b r ~ \ i t 5
opefkking voltage on a different sample fold in case of A . C voltage (after a
was.a l s o conducted. ,ljeriod of 2 0 year simultion), tllat j n
the case of D . C - excitation is r o u g h l y 4
times (after 10 days = 10 ypt3t.s,
2 . 2 .Instrumentation .accelerated aging). It is also ol>st?rvt?tl
that the magnitude of leakage curl.ei1~s
.The' lightning impulse current's were in case of D . C is more than double t h ; ~ t
gen,ek-ated using'a capacitor discharge. under A . C [Figs.3(a) & 4 t a ) l .
One'generator was capable of giving upto
4OkA, .'.8/20psand another generator of 3.2 Barrier Height:
200kA,.'4/10ps. The switching impulse T h e barrier height is calculated f r c > # t i
current' was obtained from . a 8 stage the low voltage D . C characteristics of
1adder:network transmission line model. the arrester element after each cyc11: uF
It had, a surge impedance of 3.6 ohms and aging. The calculation is based on tlic
the output pulse width was 2.4ms. The following equation:
A.C/D.C' excitation for the arrester
elements was obtained from a 230V/3.6-0-
3.6kV, O.SkVA, oil filled transformer
and * half-wave rectifier. & filter where p - resistivity in Q '111
capacitor arrangement. The arrester Po. - constant
element was kept inside a temperature vb - barrier height i n cv
controkled oven to maintain thF elevated k,, - Boltzman constant,
temperatures. The oven had a maximum -5 0 ,
0
8.625*10 eV/ K
temperature capability of 30.0 C with a 0
0
+ / - 2 ,C regulation.
T - temperature i n 1;

The measuring instrumentation, The variation in barrier height. i s

coniprised of a 17.5mnco-axial current found to be quite small initially under
shunt with Gould 4074 looMHz Digital both A . C and D . C voltages. But, arter
Storage Oscilloscope , for measuring about 6 to 8 cycles of aging a
impulse currents and a resistance significantly abrupt decrease is I

potentjal divider to monitor the observed in h o t h cases ( F i g s . 5 b 6 1 .

residual voltage across the arrester as
well , a , s the C.O.V. Typical 8/20ps 3 . 3 Capacitance and Tan delta:
lightning impulse .current and 2.4ms
iswitching impulse current waveforms, The capacitance and tan . c l c l ta
obtained using the above arrangement are measurements were made at lkHz without.
shown in Fig.1. The leakage current any external bias voltage., The
through the arrester element was . capacitance values show gdlleral
monitored using a series resistance- decreasing trends under both D . C and A . C
di.gita1 . multimeter scheme. The operating voltages. On the otlicl-li.iird
capacitance and tan delta 'variation with measured tan delta values at thc! etid,of
aging..was measured using GENRAD RLC
Digibridge Type 1657 . each cycle 'of aging show a randainly
varying spread, which is hard
explain. While it exhibits a s h i
3 .RESULTS .spectrum of values , w i t h ovrr,al I
increase, in case of D . C , ,the vai-.Lat i o n
The variation in the different is highly erratic, with some p c , a I c s , i i i
case of A . C .
degradation indices monitored are
graphically depicted in Figs. 2 to 10 as 4.DISCUSSION
a iunction of the aging cycles. I

Eventhough the 1eakag e current and As a real .life simulation o f > I O S A

barrier height were the main indices under field conditions, it is fcll. 1.11;11.
monitored, capacitance and tan delta much more need to be done to havr: a c_loud
variations are also shown. I(
representation of the, operat3 iir~
atmosphere. Even then, the present sc:lic:!iiir:
3.1 'Leakage current: offers a guidelin6,on how to p l a n a
laboratory simulatbn of PlOSh ric1c.I
1.ns.piteof the scatter observed, the life, to study the complexities o r r 1 . ; 1 1
leakqge current shows . significant life stress gegrada-tion.
overall increase after successive aging , The leakage current seems to bc t h c
cycles under both A . C and D . C operating best index of degradation, showirig a
voitages. since the a .c leakage current predictable variation with SUCCCSS~VC.
i s fo11nd b.0 s t a h i l i s ~ somewhat. aCte1. 10 cyclds
. .of aging. The . values
.1
. - of c x p c ? c t . e d

166
leakage;, currents were calculated based found to fo'llbw a predictable \ ? d i i . j , i i . i t i n
on an, expression given by Y.Fujiwara opening up possibilities of 1 i fi-
et a1[21. prediction on the basis of t l i c i i r < l c * i , * i f
its variation. Eventhough thc gi>tit.i-.i1
trends of variation in i3<,qi.qiil.li i r i i i
It i s observed that the calculated indices is similar under botli A . C . i i i t l
values of leakage currents show matching D.C voltages. evidence of ~ ~ 1 ~ ~ 1 1 1 ~ ~ 1 ~ 1 ~
trend with the observed values, different phenomena of aging i s c . t l i s c s i . \ . c - t l
eventhough slight deviations are from the tan delta and c.,lLaai<.i t : i i i ( . ~ ~
present. The following features could be variations.
observed from the calculated and
observed graphs [Figs. 3(b) & 4(b)l:
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
(i) While the calculated values are
more conservative than the The assistance of Blr. B. RarJiiutLiin III
observed values in case of D.C setting up the experimenCa1 C;3(.i 1I I I I*\
voltage aging, it is reverse 11 is gratefully acknowledged.
in case of A.C voltage aging.
(ii) The leakage current variation
with respect to number of aging
'cycles is determined by the surge REFERENCES
current density, . element
,.temperature and number of IEC TC 37 WG-4 AUGUST 1.r)ee "surwr;
absorbed surges - which were used ARRESTERS - Part 3: Metal O s i d r S L I I - ~ J I '
to compute the theoretical values arresters without gaps for A . C s y s t c i r i s "
under both A.-C and D.C vol'tages.
(iii,) While the effect of surges on T.Nitta,
.
1 2 1 Y Fu j iwa ra , Y .S 11ibuy a , P1 . T mi 1. ;I IC i S
"Evaluation or ~ I I l ~ ~ J ~ '
degradation is found to be Degradation of Metal Osidr: Siii~~.l~-
pronounced at the elevated Arresters" , IEEE Trans. on l'~~h'c?t~
temperature and operating Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-101,
voltage, the contr.ibutionof'the No.4, pp. 9 7 8 - 9 8 5 , April 1 9 0 2 .
thermal stress to aging is less
than that of the former.
, Considering the barrier , height
variation, the almost steady value and
then the sudden drop evident from the
Figs. 5 . & 6 , indicate that irreversible
changes in the microstructure of the
MOSA material happen only after some
cycles .of aging. In the present case. it
is observed that such a change happens
after about 8 cycles of aging in case of
D.C & 6"cycles of aging in case of A.C.
But i t , .is.notable that the order of
change in case'D.C is far more than that
in case of A.C. This cl.early indicates
the p o 1 a r i z a ~ ; ~e~f nf e c t s '..me into play
'

in case of . . an unidirectional excitation

131. , . I

The::: decreasing capacitance values

with number of aging cycles might be the
result's:".. of microstructural changes
happerling at the depletion region near
the ZnO,'grain-graininterfaces, in the
arreste,r',material. This as well as the
erratic,'..nature of tan delta variation
will have to be explained based more on
the material characterisation after
aging and associated changes in qiiantum
mechanical phenomena, which were outside
the s,cope of the present work. Hence the
decision.to consider the leakage current
and barrier height as the main indices
of aging.'

5.CONCLUSIONS
A simulation of the field conditions
under which surge arresters-are supposed
to operate has been achieved to a fairly
good extent in the laboratory. The
leakage current; through the arrester is

167
 AQC I
odc I
I

NO: OF AGING CYCLES

Fig.2 : Comparison between a c & dc observed leakage currents at
continous operating voltage (normalised).

200 i I
3
W I

50$-;;;--
+
1
I
I
I

I
1-------
* C
* *I 2
z
I
II
I
" I

1 1
K

2
U I
I
I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I
I
0
0 10 20
NO: OF AGING CYCLES NO: OF AGING CYCLES
(a 1

NO: OF AGING CYCLES NO: OF AGING CYCLES

(b 1 (b 1

FicJ.3 : ( a ) A . C leakage current at C.0.V Fig.4 :(a) D.C leakage current at C . 0 . v

0 0
(measured at 60 C ) (measured at 60 C )
( b ) Normalised ac leakage currents ( b ) Normalised dc leakage c u r r e n t s
(observed 6, calculated) (observed & calculated)

168
 0.5-
I
I n
I z
W

* . I
I !E
-_ - - 1- ----
* I
5 0.3
I tEi
I
I
* K
U
m
I
-
- I
0.1 1 1 1
I
~ , , ~ 1 ,

NO: OF AGING CYCLES 0

F1g.5 : Barrier height variation after
NO: OF AGING CYCLES
a g i n g under a c , e x c i t b t i o n . Fig.6 : Barrier height variation aftcl-
a g i n g under d c e x c i t a t i o n .

I
F

t
I
U
I
W
Y 0.85 -_-___ I
8 1I - - - - *- - -
E I
I

1 I
II
I

0:53 0.80: I I I
0 10 20 0
I I I

5
I I I

10
NO: OF AGING CYCLES
NO: OF AGING CYCLES
Fig.7 :. Capacitance v a r i a t i o n a f t e r
aging under a c e x c i t a t i o n . Fig.8 : C a p a c i t a n c e v a r i a t i o n after
aqing under dc e x c i t a t i o n .

t t
0.041

2 0.021

0 10 20 0.001
NO: OF AGING CYCLES
NO: OF AGING CYCLES
Fig.9 : Tan d e l t a v a r i a t i o n a f t e r a g i n g Fig.10 : Tan d e l t a v a r i a t l o n d f t r r a c J l n g
undel' ac e x c i t a t i o n . under d c e x c i t a t i o n .

169