Introduction to Electric Power Transmission

Exercise 3
Substations II & Overhead Lines
28.10.2016

1 Substations II: Gas Insulated Substations (GIS)

This exercise aims to deepen the understanding on substation congurations, the primary
equipment used and the operations that are possible within such a substation. Most of the
pictures are taken from [Siemens 8DN8 brochure].
In Fig. 1 a picture, a schematic plot and the single line diagram of a single bay of a three-phase
encapsulated GIS substation is shown.
1. What type of substation arrangement is this?
2. Label all components in all three pictures and explain what their function is.
a) Integrated local control cubicle
b) Busbar I with disconnector and earthing switch
c) Busbar II with disconnector and earthing switch
d) Interrupter unit of the circuit breaker
e) Spring-stored energy mechanism with circuit breaker control unit
f) Current Transformer
g) Voltage Transformer
h) High-speed earthing switch on outgoing line.
i) Outgoing feeder module with disconnector and earthing switch
j) Cable sealing end
In Fig. 2 the single line diagram for a substation based on the elements discussed above is
shown.
3. How many bays does this substation have and of which type are they?
4. Fig. 2 shows the switching status of the substation in its present operating state. Write
down all switching operations in the correct order for the following situations:

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 ETHZ EEH { Introduction to Electric Power Transmission, Exercise 3

Gastight bushing
Gas permeable bushing

Figure 1: Three-phase encapsulated GIS for 110 kV.

a) A fault is detected on line 2 (as line 2 is an overheadline it is expected that this

fault is only temporary).
b) Because the prospective short-circuit current level would be exceeded in case of a
failure, line 2 needs to be connected to busbar I instead of busbar II. The operation
of this line shall not be interrupted during the change of busbar connection.
c) A fault is detected on busbar I. Which switches have to be operated to bring the
fault current to zero using the minimum number of switching operations?
d) The circuit breaker of transformer 1 needs to be taken out for maintenance service.
5. In the present operating state, which switches and circuit breakers are allowed to operate
without doing harm to the equipment and which ones are not allowed to be operated
and why?

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ETHZ EEH { Introduction to Electric Power Transmission, Exercise 3

Figure 2: Single line diagram for substation based on bay elements of Fig. 1.

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 ETHZ EEH { Introduction to Electric Power Transmission, Exercise 3

2 Overhead Lines: Sag of conductors

In this part of the exercise the in uence of the dierent tensile strengths Sb of dierent
conductor materials on the maximal sag is investigated. Further, the required clearances and
costs are discussed.
The subject is a span with a length of 300 m of a double circuit high voltage line, with
nominal system voltage Un = 400 kV. The span crosses a perfectly at open countryside
used for agriculture, casting light pollution severity (SPS class b). The insulators in use
provide a factor of creepage length to overall length of 2 (i.e. the creepage length is twice the
overall length of the insulator). The dierent subconductors under consideration are:
Parameter AAC 500-AL1 AAAC 500-AL3 ACSR 550-AL1/71-ST1A
A
Sb (kN) 82.47 147.45 166.32
A (mm2 )
 (kg/dm3 )
mc (kg/m)
Sb is the maximal tensile strength, A the conductor cross section,  the mass density, and mc
the resulting subconductor mass per length. The full conductor consists of two subconductors,
i.e. a double bundle conductor.

2.1 Formula for calculating the maximal sag

Derive the formula for the determination of the maximal value of conductor sag. At which
location along the span does the maximal sag occur? Start with the following formula (see
script section 6.2.3) for the derivation:

f = mC g
a2 =(2H ) =a  2 =a2 : (1)

2.2 Maximal sag for dierent conductor materials

The maximal tensile forces occurring have to be expected at low temperature in combination
with ice loads. Therefore, the conductors are mounted in such a way that at a conductor
temperature of 10 C and with an ice load of 2 kg=m on each subconductor, the tensile force
in horizontal direction H (the vertical component is neglected) reaches 60% of the tensile
strength Sb of the conductors.
What are the maximal sags fmax in this condition for the three conductors mentioned above?
To calculate this, use the formula derived in exercise 2.1. It is helpful to calculate the specic
mass mc (kg/m) for each of the three conductors before. Do this by consecutively lling
in the table at the beginning of this exercise. The conductor cross section is given by the
identication number.

2.3 Minimal height of the lowermost cross arm

In this part, only the AAAC conductor is considered. Further, it is assumed that the previ-
ously calculated maximal sag is the largest sag for all nominal conditions during service (as
a matter of fact, the largest sag could also appear in case of the highest temperature of the
conductor, but without ice loading).

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 ETHZ EEH { Introduction to Electric Power Transmission, Exercise 3

What height does the lowermost cross arm (i.e. the point where the corresponding insulator
is attached) require so that the necessary clearances are provided?
To do so, calculate the recommended insulator creepage path for the highest system voltage.
Determine the minimum clearance Del as the maximum from the Tab. 5.7 from the script
and 1:1
asom . Further decide what Dadd for the situation under consideration is needed. Add
all these distances to the maximal sag from the previous part of the exercise to calculate the
minimal distance from the lowermost cross arm to ground.

2.4 Maximal span width

What maximal span length is possible, if, instead of the AAAC conductor, the AAC conductor
would be used in the situation of the previous part of the exercise (only the span length a is
to be changed; aAAC in function of fmax (AAAC), mC (AAC), HAAC ).

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 ETHZ EEH { Introduction to Electric Power Transmission, Exercise 3

3 Overhead Lines: Thermal transmission capacity

In the following, the thermal current capacity of conductors (AAAC) and the maximal sag
of thermal resistant aluminium (TAL) conductors are investigated.

3.1 Thermal current capacity of an AAAC conductor

What are the thermal current capacities (maximal current possible, without surmounting the
maximal conductor temperature) of the AAAC conductor and the corresponding transmission
capacities of one circuit of the arrangements of part 2?
Consider a cloudy and calm day in winter and summer (ambient temperatures Ta of 0 C and
30 C); i.e. the contribution of solar irradiation can be neglected and there is no wind chill
(neglect the natural convective cooling for simplicity as well). The conductor diameter is
dc = 29:1 mm. The other parameters have to be chosen as indicated in the script.
In a rst step, calculate the ampacity in case of only radiative cooling. In a second step,
evaluate how much the ampacity will increase if a slight wind blows? Assume that a wind
speed of v = 1m/s would add a cooling of Nc (Ta = 0 C) = 160 W=m and Nc (Ta = 30 C) =
95:5 W=m.

3.2 Thermal current capacity of a TAL conductor

What are the thermal current capacities of a TAL conductor with the same cross section area
as the previous investigated AAAC conductor? What are the corresponding transmission ca-
pacities of one circuit equipped with this conductor? The resistivity 20 is changed according
to the IACS values mentioned in the script. As temperature coecient , the same value as
for AAC conductors applies.
Assume that the wind speed of v = 1m/s adds a cooling of Nc (Ta = 0 C) = 270 W=m and
Nc (Ta = 30 C) = 207 W=m.
Compare and comment the Ohmic losses and transmission capacities of the systems with
AAAC and TAL conductors.

3.3 Maximal sag of the TAL conductor

What is the maximal sag of the TAL conductor if operated at the thermal limit of 150 C ?
The conductor is dimensioned for a span of 300 m and for the maximum tensile strength (the
horizontal tensile force at 10 C and with an additional ice load of 2 kg does not exceed
60 % of the maximal tensile strength). The material properties are assumed to be identical
with those of the AAC 500-AL1 from part 2.
Use the state change equation (6.16) to determine the change of tensile force from state I at
HI (Tc = 10 C) = 0:6
82:47 kN to state II at HII (Tc = 150 C).