Brief overview

MV Cable Construction/Design

March 26, 2008

Contents

Requirements
Design of Paper Cables
Design of Polymeric Cables
Water Trees
Switchgear trends
Experiences

page 2 / March 26, 2008

Operation Requirements
Life time
Expected > 35 years
Carry electrical stresses
Short circuit -

Thermal impact seconds

Dynamic (mechanical strain)
Emergency Thermal impact
Voltage strikes BIL

Withstand mechanical stresses

Strain and impact during laying/installation
Dynamic forces during short circuit
Vibration
Expansion and contraction of each component (operation temp -200 to 900C)
Protection against environmental impact
page 3 / March 26, 2008

CIRCULAR CORE
Basic Conductor Types used in MV Cables

Concentric Round

PAPER CABLE

SECTORAL CORE

Single Core Stranded concentric round

Three Core - Stranded non-compacted sector

Compacted
Round
CIRCULAR
CORE
Non Compacted Sector

Concentric Round

XLPE CABLE
Single Core - Stranded compact round
Three Core - Stranded compact round

- Stranded compact sector

- Solid 900 & 1200 (Europe)

SOLID
CompactedSECTORAL
Sector
CORE
Compacted Round
Non Compacted Sector
SOLID 90 & 120 120
SOLID
Compacted Sector

Solid Sector

page 4 / March 26, 2008

Conductor Screen
The conductor screen is a semi-conductive layer applied between the
conductor and the insulation that compensates for air voids trapped between
the conductor and the insulation.
Without conductor screening, an electrical potential exists that will over stress
these air voids, causing the air to ionize and go into corona (often known as
partial discharge).
Conductor screening also eliminates any irregularities in the conductor by
smoothing out the electrical profile on the surface of the conductor.

page 5 / March 26, 2008

Conductor Screens - Electrical Field Distribution

Electrical field in a cable

unscreened conductor

Electrical field in a cable

screened conductor

page 6 / March 26, 2008

MV Paper Cable Belted

Multicore cables are assembled in two ways.
Belted construction which is used up to 11kV. The individual cores are
paper insulated, laid up, and a paper wrapping called belt papers applied
over the laid up cores. The electrical field is contained within the
combination of insulation and belting, and the thermal mechanical
movement between these layers is restricted by the cable operating
temperature of 65oC

page 7 / March 26, 2008

MV Paper Cable Screened

Secondly, screened construction, patented by Hoshstadter is used for 11kV
and above for both single core and multi core cables.
The individual cores are paper insulated with a metallic paper screen, and laid
up with a conductive wrap to tie the screens electrically together. The
electrical field is now uniformly contained within the insulating papers and the
design is capable of higher voltage levels than the belted design. This
screened design increases the operating temperature to 70oC.

page 8 / March 26, 2008

Manufacturing Process
Paper insulated and oil impregnated cables
1. The carbon screen paper, insulation paper, and metallic paper screen are
lapped onto the conductor. During this process the cable is being spooled
into the impregnation tank.
2. The drying process of impregnation under vacuum and heat removes the
moisture out of the insulation papers.
3. The metal sheath is extruded pressed onto the cable and cut to desired
length.
4. Armour and corrosion protection is then applied.
5. Electrical testing.

page 9 / March 26, 2008

Wrapped Paper Insulation

Earlier designs of paper cables for higher voltages relied on thicker wrappings
of insulation papers around the conductors and large amounts of belting
papers over all three conductors. Carbon papers were applied over the belt
papers which are coupled to the lead sheath.
Belted cables up to 33kV were made, however, problems with internal
discharge has now restricted the use of belted cables to 17.5 kV.
Once the problems and limitations of belted cables were realised, the
solution to eliminate discharging in the fillers was to electrically screen the
insulated cores. Patented by Hoshstatder in 1914.

page 10 / March 26, 2008

Wrapped Paper Insulation

Cables with wrapped insulation owe their flexibility to the gaps left between
adjacent paper turns.
This is done by staggering the next layer to give a 65:35 registration (lower
diagram).

Some tolerance in manufacture can be accommodated, while still providing higher

insulation security in a radial direction than 50:50 registration would do (upper
diagram).

page 11 / March 26, 2008

Design - Medium Voltage Belted Cable < 17.5kV

lead sheath
belt insulation bedding

conductor

carbon paper
filler
insulation paper

oversheath
steel wire armour

conductor screen

page 12 / March 26, 2008

Electrical Flux Belted Cable Construction

As the cores are not individually screened, the electrical field has radial and
tangential components at many points.

Belted Cable (without conductor screens)

The tangential components stress the paper tapes in their weakest axis. In
addition, the equipotential cross the fillers, and as these areas often have air
voids entrapped in them and are usually made from a dielectrically weaker
material, there is a high probability that discharging will occur in the fillers.

page 13 / March 26, 2008

Electrical Flux in a Screened Cable Construction

The metallic screens applied over the insulation are grounded and are in effect
an earth plane, and therefore at zero potential. This eliminates the electrical
field effect, thus preventing any discharge problems outside the screen.

page 14 / March 26, 2008

Design - Medium Voltage Screened Cable

Cotton Woven Fabric

Metallic screen

page 15 / March 26, 2008

Lead Sheath
The lead sheath is impervious to moisture, petroleum fluids and gases.
Problems associated with lead such as resistance to fatigue cracking and
extrusion defects. Fractures associated with internal pressure and corrosion
have been eliminated by choice of manufacturing techniques:

For example some cable manufacturers use alloy E for increased fatigue &
resistance. Alloy E is a percentage of 0.4% tin (Sn) and 0.2% antimony (Sb).

The lead sheath is also used for earth fault current, and this rating can be
increased by the use of steel wire armour.

page 16 / March 26, 2008

Mechanical Protection
Both wire or tape armour were common in the MV cable industry.

Steel wire armour (SWA) or aluminiuim wire armour (AWA) for single
core cables is added for increased tensile rating.

Steel Tape Armour (STA) is added for impact resistance and can be
replaced by high density polyethylene (HDPE) if not required for fault
current (this option is in accordance to AS 4026).

For submarine installation, two steel wire armour layers can be used to
minimise the twisting effect of one layer and this is called torque
balancing. Protection from the toredo worm can also be incorporated with
the application of copper/ brass tape which is placed onto the leadsheath.

page 17 / March 26, 2008

Jacket Materials (Oversheath)

PVC,
LDPE,
MDPE,
HDPE,
EPR,
Jute/Bitumen.

page 18 / March 26, 2008

MV Polymeric Design

page 19 / March 26, 2008

MV Polymeric Cable Design

Below are some examples of cables that are used in our industry today;
Corrugated Aluminuim Sheath/AWA

Lead Sheath

Aluminium Sheath or Welded Aluminium

Laminate

Copper Tape/Copper Wire Shield

(commonly used on voltages from 11 to 33 kV)

page 20 / March 26, 2008

Cross-Sectional View of Triple Head

Insulation

Temp control
Heating/Cooling
Inner semi-conducting
material

Outer semi-conducting
material

page 21 / March 26, 2008

MV Polymeric Cable

page 22 / March 26, 2008

MV Polymeric Cable
The general make up of a three core XLPE cable construction is three single
core XLPE cables laid up in trefoil. An inner sheath is then extruded over the
three cores, and if required, armouring is wound over the inner sheath.
Usually armoured XLPE cables have a PVC jacket. Unarmoured cables used
today have a combination of HDPE, MDPE or LLPE depending on design
criteria.

page 23 / March 26, 2008

Insulation Screen Types

There are three common constructions of insulation screen for polymeric
insulation.
Each one has its advantages in manufacture, or under particular
circumstances, for laying or jointing the cable.
The cable preparation tools and skills available at the job site are still a
decisive factor in the reliability of a completed cable installation.
The ease of removing the insulation screen correctly with the tools available
can therefore be just as important as the electrical qualities of the
manufactured cable.

page 24 / March 26, 2008

Insulation Screen Types

Below are the three common types of insulation screens.
We commonly use what we call easy strip here in New Zealand,
for voltages ranging from 3.3 up to 33 kV.

easy strip
graphite and conductive paper
tape
bonded extruded screen

page 25 / March 26, 2008

Uncontrolled Electrical Field at Screen End

Experience has shown that cable connections without stress control 3.3kV and
above will fail particularly frequently at the end of the insulation screen. This is
because the removal of the screen causes a change in the distribution of the
electrical potential.

page 26 / March 26, 2008

Uncontrolled Electrical Field at Screen End

When the electrical field strength is too high, the insulating medium, in this
case air, breaks down. The critical value for air is approximately 2.5kV/mm, at
approximately 70% humidity.

Video

page 27 / March 26, 2008

Controlled Electrical Field at Screen End

With stress control tube installed the lines of constant voltage are spread out,
reducing the intensity to the desired level.
This is achieved by the unique resistive and capacitive properties of the stress
control material.

page 28 / March 26, 2008

Water Treeing Phenomena

Water trees are a phenomenon found in polyethylene insulated cables
(crosslinked and uncrosslinked).
They develop and propagate in the presence of moisture (water) and an
AC electrical field).
There are two classes of water trees:
imperfection points

- Bow Tie
- Vented

insulation screen

insulation

conductor screen

conductor

page 29 / March 26, 2008

Bow Tie Water Trees

Bow tie water trees are always found in the body of the
primary insulation, and by themselves will not cause the
cable to fail.
They normally propagate from either a micro-void, or an
inclusion in the insulation.
They remain dielectric in character.
They appear at points of highest mechanical stress with
the cable.

page 30 / March 26, 2008

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Vented Water Trees

Vented water trees grow into the insulation from either the
conductor or insulation screens.
They usually propagate from an irregularity at the
screen/insulation interface.
Although initially dielectric in character once they bridge
across both screens they rapidly become conductive and
the cable fails. The bridging effect can be caused by one
vented tree, two vented trees meeting, or two trees
bridging through a bow tie tree.

page 31 / March 26, 2008

Cable Bending Radius

The following bending radii for various types of cables:
- 11kV Paper Insulated Single Core 18 x O.D
- 11kV Paper Insulated Three Core 15 x O.D
- 11kV XLPE Single and Three Core 12 x O.D

Example: For three core paper lead cable with an

overall diameter of 50 mm; multiply by 15 = a bending
radius of 750 mm.

cable

page 32 / March 26, 2008

Cable Core Bending Radius

Min. Bending Radius r = 10 x D

Special care on safety during the

cable bending.

page 33 / March 26, 2008

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Testing After Installation

Insulation test HD 620.S1:1996
DC testing 15 min > 2U0 - Not recommended to be performed on XLPE
cable. DC hi pot testing on XLPE can cause space charges in the primary
insulation which will lead to accelerated ageing and treeing in XLPE cables.
AC at 45 to 65Hz for either at Um or U0 up to 24 h
Recommended for XLPE
VLF 0.1 hz at 3U0 1h need more time for detection of any potential weak
points 500 times less charge.
Insulation test acc to IEC 60502-2
AC test at U0 for 24h
DC test 15 U0 for 15 minutes is under consideration.

page 34 / March 26, 2008

Sheath Testing
In order to detect damages or weak points on PVC/PE cable jackets, sheath
testing is carried out at the cable by applying a voltage (mostly negative DC) to
the armour or concentric neutral in accordance with several specifications.
Specifications which are common in the industry are;

IEC 229 (up to 10kV DC)

AS 1429 (3.5kV AC
VDE 0298 (5kV DC)

Overall we suggest the most common practice of applying 1 to 5kV DC This

voltage is sufficient. Higher voltages will only increase the danger of damaging
the oversheath.

page 35 / March 26, 2008

Additional Tests to Consider;

Polarisation Index
Step Voltage
Conductor & Screen Resistance (continuity)
Phasing
HV DC
TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry)
VLF HV AC
Tan Delta
Partial Discharge

page 36 / March 26, 2008

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Projected Lifetimes
Paper Insulated Cables

80 yrs

First generation XLPE (60s/70s)

20 yrs

Second generation XLPE (80s)

30+ yrs

Third generation XLPE (90s/00s)

40 yrs

page 37 / March 26, 2008

Changes of Switchgear Designs Over The Years

page 38 / March 26, 2008

Terminal Boxes Compact Design

As soon as the distance between phases and phase to ground becomes less
than the required air clearance for a given voltage class, the connection area
between termination and bushing stud has to be adequatetly insulated.

page 39 / March 26, 2008

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What The.???
Right angle bends in cores of PILC
cable termination will result in
broken insulation papers.
Cable configuration in terminal box
could hardly be worse..

page 40 / March 26, 2008

What The..??
Breakout mounted too high
in terminal box:
Badly crossed cores & small
radius bends.

page 41 / March 26, 2008

Third Party Damage to Cable sheath &

Metallic Screen

page 42 / March 26, 2008

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Repairs to Damaged Sheath & Metallic Screen

Breakdown of repair revealed incorrect application and recommended jointing

practices of the repair.

page 43 / March 26, 2008

Incorrect Repairs to Sheath resulting in localised

heating

Due to incorrect fitting sequence and recommended jointing practice

between the cable shield wires and the earthstrap/braid, created a high
resistive connection causing localised heating effect. Heating effect would
have been caused by induced current and circulating currents in the area of
repair.
The heat generated caused the softening of the primary insulation and
insulation screen, thus allowing the shield wires to imbed themselves into
the insulation screen eventually leading to failure.
page 44 / March 26, 2008

Potential Failure - 33kV Termination

33kV termination breakdown showing discoluration, and a corona ring around

the circumference of the primary insulation.
Cause of potential failure was insufficient heat applied during installation, thus
leading to internal discharge. This installation would have eventually failure
causing puncture to the primary insulation.
page 45 / March 26, 2008

15

Introducing a shorter termination into the mix

The effect of bolting these two very different
types of termination in such close proximity was
to create an area of electrical discharge where
the surface of the existing terminations, is sitting
at approximately 19kV, came into contact with
the bottom of the much shorter OXSU
termination, which was effectively at earth
new earthpotential.
plane

existing earth plane

Before the new short termination was added to this

mix the problem was likely to have been minor. As
leakage travelled down the terminations it would have
taken the path of least resistance to earth.
It is likely that current travelled across rain-sheds to
adjacent terminations which, because of more pollution
or some other factor, presented an easier path.

page 46 / March 26, 2008

Introducing a shorter termination into the mix

As you can see the resulting effectNot
Good
The instructions for the installation of these
terminations clearly specify minimum
clearances atht the components must have
from phase/phase & phase/ground.
Unfortunately this scenario could not have
been worstHaving a large number of
terminations bolted in close proximity to each
other in an area of high pollution from salt mist
and introducing a low impedance path to earth
over a very short length, resulting in high
concentration of leakage current eventually
eroding the high voltage outer tubing causing
a catastrophic failure.

page 47 / March 26, 2008

Termination (Water Ingress)

This failure was caused by not having the
correct sealed lug at the outdoor
termination end.
The outdoor termination had been in
service for 15 years.
The water had migrated down the cable as
you can see in the top picture.
The water then migrated through to the
indoor termination.
There are definite signs of erosion of the
insulation at the base of the lug.
Eventually the water migrated down
towards the semi-con cut which caused it
to fail.
page 48 / March 26, 2008

16

Thermal Runaway
These two examples, are proof that not
matching the correct connector to the
cable cross sectional area, or the
correct compression dies to the
connector is a very expensive exercise.

Using the incorrect dies and

compression link, caused this
connector to over heat, commonly
known as (thermal run-away).

page 49 / March 26, 2008

Thank you for your time

page 50 / March 26, 2008

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