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Line Insulators

This document discusses insulators used in overhead power lines. It describes the main components of overhead lines, including conductors, earth wires, and insulators. The most commonly used types of insulators are pin, post, and suspension insulators. String insulators are made up of multiple discs connected in series by metal links. Voltage is not uniformly distributed across the discs, with the disc closest to the conductor having the highest voltage. The document provides the equations to calculate voltage distribution and gives an example calculation.

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Piyaka Amarasinghe
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217 views4 pages

Line Insulators

This document discusses insulators used in overhead power lines. It describes the main components of overhead lines, including conductors, earth wires, and insulators. The most commonly used types of insulators are pin, post, and suspension insulators. String insulators are made up of multiple discs connected in series by metal links. Voltage is not uniformly distributed across the discs, with the disc closest to the conductor having the highest voltage. The document provides the equations to calculate voltage distribution and gives an example calculation.

Uploaded by

Piyaka Amarasinghe
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EE301

Insulator for overhead lines

1. Main components of overhead lines

A transmission line consists of different components. The conductors through which the
electrical energy is to be transferred are to be supported by insulators and pylons. Therefore
basically main components, which consist in transmission line, are:

 Conductor : Cu, Al, ACSR


 Earth wire (Ground wire)
 Insulators : Pin, strain or suspension
 Other hardware (clamp, vibration dampers, cable connector etcs)
 Supports: poles or towers depending upon the working voltage

Line supports:
These should have the following properties.
1. High mechanical strength to withstand the weight of conductors and wind loads
2. Light in weight
3. Cheap in cost and economical maintenance
4. Long life
5. Easy accessibility to the supports

Insulators for overhead lines


These insulators used to maintain a good clearance between the line conductors and the tower
as well as between conductors themselves. Also they should be able to withstand the
mechanical loads acting on the conductor such as the weight of the conductor itself, wind
loading etc.

Most commonly used insulator types

Pin type Commonly used for 400V-


33kV

Post type Commonly used for 11kV to


150kV

Suspension type Used for voltages above 33


kV

Dr Udayanga Hemapala
EE301

2. Distribution of potential over a string of suspension insulators

For overhead lines operating at high voltages use of number of discs connected is series
through metal links. The whole unit is formed by connecting a number of discs in series
through metal links is known as string of insulators. The line conductor is secured to the
bottom disc of the string and the top disc is connected to the cross arm of the pole or tower as
shown in the figure.

V1

V2
V
V3

V4

 The voltage applies between line conductor and earth doesn’t distribute uniformly
across the individual discs.
 Each string insulator unit behaves like a capacitor
 The capacitance due to two metal fittings on either side of an insulator is known as
mutual capacitance.
 Further there is a capacitance between metal fittings of each unit and the tower( shunt
capacitance)
 The ratio of voltage across the whole string and the product of the number of units and
voltage across the unit nearest to the line conductor is known as the string efficiency

Where n is the number of units in the strings


 Equivalent circuit of the insulator string as below.

Dr Udayanga Hemapala
EE301

Let C1= mutual capacitance


C=shunt capacitance
Let
Or C1= mC
Assuming all the insulators are identical

Applying Kirchhoff’s first law to node A,

-------------- (1)

--------------- (2)
Similarly,

Draw the graphical plot of how voltages are distributed across the units of an insulator string?

3. Improving voltage distribution

1. Decreasing value of m
2. By using longer cross arms
3. By capacitance grading
4. By static shielding

Dr Udayanga Hemapala
EE301

Example:
In a five insulator disc string capacitance between each unit and earth is 1/6 of the mutual
capacitance. Find the voltage distribution across each insulator as a percentage of voltage of
the conductor to earth?
(V1= 11.168%, V2=13.029%, V3=17.062%, V4=23.938%, V5=34.804%)

Dr Udayanga Hemapala

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