Ge ne rationof High Im pulse Voltage s in Lab

- Di st urba nc e s i n e l e ctric syst e m →t r a n si e n t voltage s

- Tran s i en t o r Impu ls e voltage magn i t u d es >> power freq AC voltages

‣ Lightning i mpul se s ( sh o r t e r d ura t i on - 1 . 2 /5 0 µ s)

‣ Switching i mpul se s (l onge r d ura t i on - 2 5 0 / 2 5 0 0 µ s)

- P owe r a p p a r a t u s ne e d t o be t e st e d for t he se i mpul se voltages

(i n a d d ition t o powe r freq AC vol t a ges)

- Therefore, a ne e d a ri se s t o ge ne ra t e i mpul se voltages i n lab

• Impuls e voltage is n o rmal l y unidirect ion al voltage
- ri s es rapidly to a p eak val u e an d t h en falls less rapidly to zero

• Impuls e voltage can be

- a full wave
‣ wa ve for m a p p e a r s com p le t e ly wit h ou t ca u sin g fla sh ove r or
p u n c t ur e on t h e load side

- ‘tail chopped o r fro n t chopped’ wave

‣ flash-over occurs causing t h e voltage to fall e xt r e me ly rapidly
‣ u se d for detection of win d in g/ turn faults in t r a n sfo r me r s
 Impulse Voltages

While ge n e r a t ing su ch wavefo rms e xp e r ime ntal ly, small oscillations/

fluctuations a r ise d u e to st r a y capacitances, lead inductances…

In it ia l p o r tion o f me a su r e d wa ve fo r m is n o t smo o t h a n d h e n c e,
n e e d s t o b e d e fin e d p r o p er ly
 Impulse Voltages

• defined as unidirect ion al impulse of double ex p o n en t i al in s h ap e

• r ep r es en t ed b y d iffer en ce of t wo eq u a l m a gn it u d es bu t
exponenti all y decaying wavefo rms

v(t ) = E ( e —α t —e —β t )

Double e xpone nti a l w a ve for m

 Impulse Voltages
General s h ap e an d definitions of a n impulse voltage (IEC 6 0 )

- d v/ d t n e a r ‘zero’ & n e a r ‘peak’ <<< t h a t a t r e st of t h e wavefront

- Wave fr o n t n e e d s to be d efin e d by e xt r apolation, a n d is c a r r ie d out

for specific d u r a t ion
‣ u su a l p r a c tice is to select 10% to 90% r a n ge of t h e wavefront
 Impulse Voltages
General s h ap e an d definitions of a n impulse voltage (IEC 6 0 )

‣ u su a l p r a c tice is to select 10% to 90% r a n ge of t h e wavefront

‣ wavefront is given by ( t 3 - t 1 ) / ( 0 . 9 - 0 . 1 ) o r 1 . 2 5 ( t 3 - t 1 )

‣ in so me cases, r a n ge selected will be 30% to 90% o r 1 . 6 7 ( t 3 - t 2 )

- Wavetail is t h a t d u r a tio n fr o m t 1 to 5 0 % of p e a k o n tail-side ( t 5 )

 Impulse Voltages

- Lightning Impul se wa ve front is 1 . 2 µ s (+/- 3 0 % ) a n d wave-

tail is 5 0 µ s (+/- 20%); d e not e d a s 1 . 2 /5 0 µ s

- Switching impul se wa ve front is 2 5 0 µ s(+/- 2 0 % ) a n d wave-

tail is 2 5 0 0 µ s (+/- 60%); d e not e d a s 2 5 0 / 2 5 0 0 µ s
 G e n e rating impulse voltages

- Impulse voltage is of double exponential form…

- The ‘fast’ wavefront and ‘slow’ wave-tail can be generated by

discharging two ‘energy storages’ devices

- Load of the impulse generator is basically a capacitive one (insl.sys)

- Hence, ‘load’ can be one of the two ‘energy storages’

- other energy source can be L or C

‣ but it is impossible to construct HV inductance with high energy content

without significant stray capacitances. so, better to have C as energy source

- Thus, impulse voltage circuit will essentially have two

capacitors
 Single-stage circuits for g e n e ratin g impulse voltages

or

- S ch eme p ro p o s ed by E rwi n M arx in 1 9 2 4

- C 1 (s o u rce) was initially ch arged wi t h a dc voltage of V0 (+ve o r -ve

p o l ari t y)

- When s p ark gap G breaks-do wn, C 1 d i s ch arges into load C 2

- Usually single s t age gen erat o rs are res t ri ct ed to 2 0 0 -2 5 0 kV

 Single-stage circuit for ge n e ratin g impulse voltages

- wh en gap (G) s p ark s over, a double ex p o n en t i al pulse res u l t s

- Impuls e voltage developed at C 2 is of t h e form:

wh ere

- V0 is i n p u t DC voltage at C 1

- k is a co n s t an t d ep en d i n g o n selected circuit

- α an d β, are ro o t s of t h e equation
(inverse of roots are circuit time constants i.e. Twavefront = 1/β , Twavetail = 1/α)
- α an d β val u es are relativel y different
- wavefro nt an d wavetail circuits can be an al yzed s ep arat el y
 (inverse of roots a r e circuit time constants i.e. Twavefront = 1/β , Twavetail = 1/α)

- s eri es res i s t an ce R 1 <<< R 2 to get fas t er fro n t an d slower tail t i mes

i.e α << β

- Gen erat o rs are designed fo r high efficiency i.e. C 1 ret ai n s ch a rge

even aft er discharge so t h a t C 1 >> C 2
- In t h e wavefront circuit, C 2 gets ch arged at t i me T 1

- wh en C 2 at t ai n s ch arge equal to C 1, b o t h cap aci t o rs will discharge

into res i s t o r R 2 in t i me T 2
- wh en gap G s p ark s over, let t h e cu rren t in gen erat o r circuit be i (t )

- i mp ed an ce of t h e circuit is:

Z(s) = 1/s*C 1 + R 1 + R 2 / (s * R 2 C2 +1)

n ow, I(s ) = V0 / s * Z (s )
Output impulse voltage V(s) = I(s ) {R 2 /(s*R 2 C 2 +1)}

V(s) = V0 C 1 R 2 /{s 2*R 1 R 2 C 1 C 2 +(C 1R 2+C 1R 1+C 2 R 2 )s + 1}

where α and β are roots of the quadratic equation

ap p r ox imate ly α an d β (an d hence, T 2 an d T 1 ) ar e given by:

or

or
in time domain the output impulse voltage can be written as

So, the Impulse voltage is a double exponential waveform

Peak value of this voltage occurs when its derivative becomes zero
i.e. dV(t)/dt = 0
Vmax ≈ V0 / βC2R1
substituting for 1/β we get,
Vmax = V0 C1 / (C1+C2)
and approx. Voltage efficiency is
η = Vmax/V0 = C1 / (C1+C2)
 Wavefront an d Wavetail control

In a practical impulse generator circuit,

• the nominal voltage is defined by the peak theoretical voltage at C1
• the nominal energy is defined by the maximum stored energy at C1
• the capacitance values in impulse generator circuit are not variable (except for
the small contribution from test object); C1 should be higher than C2
• wave shape control is mainly due to R1 & R2 (ratio R2/R1 is about 15)
• C1/C2 ratio can go up to 40 for 1.2/50us and, to 6.37 for 250/2500 us
 Wavefront control ( approximated)
E
.9 E

.5 E

.1 E

In the figure, v(t) = E ( e—α t — e—β t )

- β alone determines wavefront
- t1 —> duration of wavefront considered between 90% and 10% of peak voltage
‣ t1 represents 80% of the wavefront
‣ hence, total wavefront tf = O1X1 = t1/0.8 or 1.25 t1
Wav efront co n tr ol
( ap p roximated )
 E

V
Wav efront co n tr ol
( ap p roximated )
and η = C1 / (C1+C2)
 Wavetail control (approximated )
E

In the figure, v(t) = E ( e—α t — e—β t )

- O1X2 —> the nominal wavetail
- -α alone determines wavetail
 E
V

Wavetail control
(approximated )

η = C1 / (C1+C2)
 Impulse Voltages
Operation of Impulse generator: Uncontrolled triggering

• Single st age i mpul se ge ne rat or: t he most si mpl e st form

• HVDC is obt ai ne d from Transformer-Rectifier se t
• DC ne e d not be smoot h as it h a s to charge only C1 to pe ak
• Sphe re gap is use d as t he swi t ch
• as charge on C1 builds up, voltage across t he sphe re gap ri se s
 Impulse Voltages
Operation of Impulse generat or: Uncontrolled triggering

• b reak d o wn voltage of s p h ere gap is < p eak val u e of t h e supply

• wh en gap b reak s down, C1 d i s ch arges producin g a n impulse wave

• u p o n discharge, C1 ch arges u p an d p ro ces s would be rep et i t ive

• b reak d o wn of t h e s p h ere gap is probabilistic

• S o t i me of o ccu rren ce of impulse n o r its magn i t u d e is controllable

 Impulse Voltages
Operation of Impulse generator: Uncontrolled
triggering
 Impulse Voltages

O p er atio n of I mp ulse gen er ato r : Co n trolled tr igger in g

- basic circuit remai n s s ame as t h a t of uncontroll ed one

- C1 reach es full chargi n g voltage wi t h o u t s p h ere gap b reak i n g down

- s p h ere gap is s et to s p ark -o ver at voltages > C1 chargin g voltage

- a 3 r d s p h ere is i n t ro d u ced to initiate s p h ere gap b reak d o wn

 Impulse Voltages
Trigger in g of I mp ulse gen er ato r : 3- sp h er e

Triggering:

- a pulse voltage is applied to s p h ere gap as s emb l y

- au x i l i ary gaps b reak d o wn

- s u b s eq u en t ionization res u l t s in b reak d o wn of mai n s p h ere gap

 Impulse Voltages
Tr igger in g of I mp ulse gen er ato r : 3- sp h ere