Unit 1
Unit 1
ENGINEERING COLLEGE
TIRUCHIRAPALLI – 621213
QUESTION BANK
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Sub. Code : EE2353 Semester : VI
Subject : HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING Unit : I
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UNIT-1
1. What are the 2 types of over voltages?
The upper regions of the cloud are positively charged, whereas the lower region and
the base are predominantly negative except the local region near the base and the head
which is possible.
A thunder cloud consists of super cooled water droplets moving upwards and large
hailstones moving downwards.
5. Mention the requirements for the thunder clouds and charge formation of air
currents.
When a direct lightning stroke occurs on a tower, the tower has to carry huge impulse
currents. If the tower footing resistance is considerable, the potential of the tower rises to a
large value, steeply with respect to the line and consequently a flashover may take place
along the insulator strings .This is known as back flashover.
Amplitude of the current, the rate of rise, the probability distribution of them and the
wave shapes of the lightning voltages and currents.
It is defined as the number of days in a year when the thunder is heard or recorded in a
particular location. Often it does not distinguish between the ground strokes and the cloud-to-
cloud strokes.
9. State the factors influence the lightning induced voltages on transmission lines.
The ground conductivity, the leader stroke current and the corona.
The decrease in the magnitude of the wave as it propagates along the line is called
attenuation. The elongation or change of wave shapes that occur is called distortion.
Over voltages are generated in EHV systems when there is a sudden release of internal
energy stored either in the electrostatic form or in the electromagnetic form.
12. What are the causes for power frequency and its harmonic over voltages?
Ground wire is a conductor run parallel to the main conductor of the transmission line
supported on the same tower and earthed at every equally and regularly spaced towers. It is
run above the main conductor of the line.
It shields the transmission line conductor from induced charges, from clouds as well as
from a lightning discharge.
Expulsion gap is a device which consists of a spark gap together with an arc
quenching device which extinguishes the current arc when the gap breaks over due to
overvoltage.
It consists of a rod gap in air in air in series with a second gap enclosed within a fiber
tube.
It is a device which consists of a rod or spark gap in air formed by the line
conductor and its high voltage terminal. It is mounted underneath the line conductor on a
tower.
19. How are the insulation level and the protective safety margin arrived?
Selecting the risk of failure, the statistical safety factor and by firing the withstand level
of any equipment or apparatus corresponding to 90% or 95% of the withstand voltage.
20. Define Basic Impulse Level.
It is the continuous flow of power frequency current and the consequent power loss.
The bus bar insulation is the highest to ensure the continuity of supply in a substation.
The circuit breakers, isolators, instrument and relay transformers are given the next lower
limiting level. The power transformers are the costliest and sensitive device and the insulation
level for it is the lowest.
They are non-linear resistors in series with spark gaps which act as fast switches.
24. What are the various types of surge arresters used for EHV and UHV systems?
Silicon carbide arresters with spark gaps, Silicon carbide arresters with current limiting
gaps and the gapless metal oxide arresters.
25. Write the equation of surge admittance and surge impedance of the transmission
line.
Fields of about 1000 V/m exist near the centre of a single bipolar cloud
in which charges of about 20 C are separated by distances of about 3 km, and indicate the
total potential difference between the main charge centres to be between 100 and1000 MV.
The energy dissipated in a lightning flash is therefore of the order of 1000 to 10,000 MJ,
much of which is spent in heating up a narrow air column surrounding the discharge, the
the positive and negative charge centres is about 2 - 5 km, and the charges involved are 10
BREAKDOWN PROCESS:
2.Explain the operation of expulsion gap lightening arrester and discuss its advantages
and disadvantages?
operating at voltages up to 33kV. Fig shows the essential parts of an expulsion type
lightning arrester.
It essentially consists of a rod gap AA’ in series with a second gap enclosed within the fiber
tube. The gap in the fiber tube is formed by two electrodes. The upper electrode is
connected to rod gap and the lower electrode to the earth. One expulsion arrester is placed
under each line conductor. Fig shows the installation of expulsion arrester on an overhead
line.
On the occurrence of an over voltage on the line, the series gap AA’ spanned and an arc is
stuck between the electrodes in the tube. The heat of the arc vaporizes some of the fiber of
tube walls resulting in the production of neutral gas. In an extremely short time, the gas
builds up high pressure and is expelled through the lower electrode, which is hollow. As the
gas leaves the tube violently it carries away ionized air around the arc. This de ionizing
effect is generally so strong that the arc goes out at a current zero and will not be re-
established.
Advantages:
(ii)They are improved form of rod gap arresters as they block the flow of power frequency
follow currents
Limitations:
(i)An expulsion type arrester can perform only limited number of operations as during each
(ii) This type of arrester cannot be mounted on enclosed equipment due to discharge of
expensive equipment
The reason for switching surges exist is because of the making (closing) and
breaking (opening) of electric circuit with switchgear may result in abnormal over
The lines and transformers are major contributors of inductance .The lines are also
Whenever these inductive and capacitive components are added or removed ,they
require the system to find a new steady state voltage level and current flow.
In the process of making the transition from one system configuration to the next
The current flow accordingly often cause current surges simultaneously with the
voltage source.
f ' f x
v E 1 s
f 0 f 0 xc
Where,
xs-reactance of the generator
xc-Capacitive reactance
E'- voltage generated before over speeding and load rejection
f-increased frequency
f0-normal frequency
(ii)Ferranti effect:
In long transmission lines and cables ,receiving end voltage is greater than
sending end voltage during light load or no load operation .
Under no load operation or light load,the capacitance associated with the line
,generate more reactive power than the reactive power which is absorbed ,hence
VR>VS.This effect is called a Ferranti effect.
The over voltages due to the above conditions are calculated from
(i)Mathematical modeling of system using digital computers
(ii)Scale modeling using transient network analyzers.
The following measures are taken to reduce over voltages
(i)One step or multistep energization of lines by preinsertion of resistors.
(ii)phase controlled closing of circuit breakers with proper sensors .
(iii)Drainage of trapped charges on long lines before the reclosing of the lines
(iv)Limiting the over voltages by using surge diverters.
6.What are the lightening problems on the transmission line?
The negative charges at the bottom of the cloud
induces charges of opposite polarity on the transmission line. These are held in place
in the capacitances between the cloud and the line and the line and earth, until the
cloud discharges due to a lightning stroke. The figure 3.4 shows the problems facing
the transmission engineer caused by lightning. There are three possible discharge
paths that can cause surges on the line.
(a) In the first discharge path (1), which is from the leader core of the lightning
stroke to the earth, the capacitance between the leader and earth is discharged
promptly, and the capacitances from the leader head to the earth wire and the phase
conductor are discharged ultimately by travelling wave action, so that a voltage is
developed across the insulator string. This is known as the induced voltage due to
a lightning stroke to nearby ground. It is not a significant factor in the lightning
(b) The second discharge path (2) is between the lightning head and the earth
conductor. It discharges the capacitance between these two. The resulting travelling
wave comes down the tower and, acting through its effective impedance, raises the
potential of the tower top to a point where the difference in voltage across the
insulation is sufficient to cause flashover from the tower back to the conductor. This is
the so-called back-flashover mode.
(c) The third mode of discharge (3) is between the leader core and the phase
conductor. This discharges the capacitance between these two and injects the
main discharge current into the phase conductor, so developing a surge- impedance
voltage across the insulator string. At relatively low current, the insulation strength
is exceeded and the discharge path is completed to earth via the tower. This is the
shielding failure or direct stroke to the phase conductor.
The protection of structures and equipment from the last mode of discharge by the
application of lightning conductors and/or earth wires is one of the oldest aspects of
lightning investigations, and continue to do so.
Not only does the tall tower attract more lightning strokes,
but also it requires a much better earth-wire coverage for a given degree of
protection. The figure 3.5 illustrates this geometrically, by considering two identical
configurations of conductors, but with the height of the tower different.
Using a typical value for the line surge impedance (say 300 average
lightning current (20 kA), the voltage waves on the line would have a crest value of
E = ½ Z i = (300/2) x 20
x 103 = 3 MV
ei=E.C2/C1+C2 =q/c
where q = bound charge per unit length of line
C = capacitance per unit length of line
This potential will vary along the line depending upon the distance of each element
of line from the lightning stroke. The sequence of the travelling waves ei
line ?