Importance of the Correct Jointing Method

Electrical Efficiency Contact Joint Resistance

i. Surface Finish ii. Contact Area Not applicable iii. The Magnitude of the Applied Forces in case of HVB

Mechanical Strength

Loads imposed by ice, wind, and the expansion and contraction strains arising from the extreme conditions of load cycling and ambient temperature changes. A properly designed and installed connector should withstand the stresses to which the connector is normally subjected during the life of the joint.

Ease of Installation
economic advantage of reducing installation time, greater assurance that the connector will be installed properly.

Corrosion Resistance
the connector should have the ability to withstand the environmental attacks.

Copper Bus Bar Jointing Method

Bolting

Riveting

Clamping

Soldering

Welding

Bolting and clamping are used extensively on-site Shaped busbars may be prefabricated by using friction stir welding

Certain Questions: 1. How many no. of bolts? 2. What size of the bolts? 3. What are the effects of holes on bus bars?

No. of Bolts

On the basis of literature survey and DIN 43673(no IEC or ISO equivalent could be found), it was found that the no. of bolts are dependent on the bus bar width

JOINT RESISTANCE In principal, a clamped or bolted joint is made by bringing together two flat surfaces under controlled (and maintained) pressure, as shown in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6 AN OVERLAPPED JOINT

The resistance of a joint is mainly dependent on two factors: The streamline effect or spreading resistance, Rs, due to the diversion of the current flow through the joint The contact resistance or interface resistance of the joint, Ri The total joint resistance, Rj, is given by:

This applies specifically to direct current applications. Where alternating currents are flowing, the changes in resistance due to skin and proximity effects in the joint zone must also be taken into account.

STREAMLINE EFFECT When current flows through a joint formed by two overlapping conductors, the lines of current flow are distorted and the effective resistance of the joint is increased since current flows only through a portion of the material. Provided that the width of both bars is the same, the streamline effect is dependent only on the ratio of the length of the overlap to the thickness of the bars and not on the width. This is shown in Figure 7.

The current density in the direction perpendicular to the bar, i.e. as current transfers from one bar to the other, is highly nonuniform and is concentrated around the edges.
The resistance ratio e in Figure 7 is the ratio of the resistance of a joint due to streamline effect Rs, to the resistance of an equal length of single conductor Rb, i.e.

where: a is the width of bar, mm b is the thickness of bar, mm l is the length of overlap, mm is the resistivity of the conductor, mm Rs is the resistance of overlap section in (to which contact resistance must be added)

Hence:

From the graph it can be seen that the streamline effect falls very rapidly for l/b ratios up to two and then very much more slowly for values up to ten. This means that in most cases the streamline effect has a limited effect as the overlap is often much greater than five times the thickness in order to allow space for bolting or clamping. There is no advantage in allowing very long overlaps; it is only necessary to allow enough space to accommodate sufficient bolts to achieve the required contact pressure.