The Online Journal on Electronics and Electrical Engineering (OJEEE)

Vol. (3) No. (1)

An Experimental Study on Corona Losses in Conductors

A. Ersoy A. Kuntman Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract- In this paper, the corona inception voltage, extinction voltage and hence the corona power loss associated with bare conductors which are used for overhead energy transmission and distribution lines is experimentally studied. To simulate the corona process, a smooth surfaced corona cage is built. Test measurements were carried out to determine whether the corona losses are more dependent on conductor type or conductor diameters. Aluminum, copper and steel conductors are investigated according to conductor diameters. Test results reveal that for the same conductor type, the corona losses show linearity with conductor diameter. Keywords- Corona inception voltage, Corona extinction voltage, Corona losses. I. INTRODUCTION Corona is a type of electrical conduction that generally occurs at or near atmospheric pressure in gases. Coronas can generate audible and radio-frequency noise, particularly near electric power transmission lines. They also represent a power loss, and their action on atmospheric particulates, along with associated ozone and NOx production, can also be disadvantageous to human health where power lines run through built-up areas [1]. Therefore, it is one of the most important factors when designing high voltage equipments. Coronas long term effect results damages in motors, transformers, capacitors by destroying their insulation [2]. In transmission lines, it causes power loss, audible noise, electromagnetic interference, purple glow, ozone production, etc. Hence to minimize this negative effects, the conductor surface condition, size, distance to ground and other conductors has to be considered when planning and construction of overhead power lines [3-4]. In transmission of electricity ac voltages are used to transmit electric power because of their efficiency against dc voltage. The basic difference between ac and dc coronas is the periodic change in direction of the applied field under ac, and its effect on the residual space charge left over from the discharge during preceding half-cycles. In an ac corona trichel pulses, negative glow and positive glow and streamer coronas can be observed.

This study investigates the effect of ac corona on different type and size of conductors. To do this an ideal corona cage is built. Tests are performed on aluminum, copper and steel conductors. For each bare conductor, the corona inception voltage, extinction voltage and currents at this voltage levels are reported. Moreover corona power loss is calculated by using common experimental formulas. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The AC source was a generator with maximum output voltage of 400 kV. In the tests an ideal cage made of steel which has a smooth surface (in figure 1) is used. The corona cage is 25 cm long and has a diameter of 10 cm. Its thickness is measured as 1 mm. For current measurements a ring is placed on the centre of corona cage. The ring was fit to corona cage and the conductor taken from this ring is connected to a measuring device. Current measurements are done by using an oscilloscope which is connected to cage by the conductors fitted to cage with a 102.6 measuring resistor in series also with a Fluke 187 digital multimeter. Principle scheme for corona measuring system is given in figure 2. To evaluate corona inception voltage, the applied voltage is gradually increased and the lowest voltage at which continuous corona occurs is noted. When measuring corona extinction voltage, applied voltage is raised % 10 up to the voltage level which corona inception voltage is recorded. Then the applied voltage started to decrease until the corona noise can not be heard and the harmonics were started to decline while monitoring from oscilloscope and control unit. Therefore to see the exact value of corona inception and extinction voltage levels, the rate of rise is chosen 500 V/s. All the experiments were done in the same outdoor conditions at room temperature (22 oC) and 756 mmHg ambient pressure. One single conductor is used in each experiment for clearance. The diameters for aluminum conductors are selected as 2.1 mm and 4.25 mm. For steel conductors, conductor diameters are 2.20 mm and 4.23 mm. For copper conductors which has a diameter of 1.72 mm and 2.68 mm is used.

Reference Number: W10-0047

352

The Online Journal on Electronics and Electrical Engineering (OJEEE)

Vol. (3) No. (1)

Figure (1): Corona cage used in experiments III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Experimental results for different type of conductors are done for each conductor diameter independently. The experimental results for aluminum, steel and copper conductors are concluded in Table 1. Corona inception voltage and corona extinction voltage values are increased with increasing conductor diameter. For all type of conductors, currents measured at this voltage levels increased with increasing conductor diameter. Also for each type of conductor, corona extinction voltages measured lower than the corona inception voltage. Currents measured at corona inception and extinction levels increased with increasing conductor diameter for aluminum and copper conductors. However for steel conductors currents measured at corona inception and extinction levels decreased with increasing conductor diameter.

Figure (2) : Principle scheme for corona measuring system For the same conductor diameter for aluminum and steel conductors corona inception and extinction voltage measured quite differently IV. CALCULATION OF CORONA POWER LOSS For calculating ac corona power losses several empirical formulas have been suggested. To calculate the fair weather corona losses of transmission lines the very common experimental formula is Petersons;

Pc

3.73K (D / r ) 2

f .V 2 kW/km

(1)

where f is the frequency, V the line voltage, and D and r the phase conductor separation and radius. K is a factor depending on the ratio of the operating voltage V to the corona onset line voltage V0 .

Table (1): Corona measurements for different type of conductors. Conductor Type Aluminum (r=2.1 mm) Aluminum (r=4.25 mm) Steel (r=2.1 mm) Steel (r=4.25 mm) Copper (r=1.72 mm) Copper (r=2.68 mm) Uiv (nception Voltage, kV) 9.05 10.03 6.94 13.52 8.62 10.49 Iiv (Current, A) 10.10 45.73 56.93 27.12 13.41 44.80 Uev (Extinction Voltage, kV) 8.19 8.96 6.31 11.36 7.61 9.93 Iev (Current, A) 33.77 40.61 47.77 25.14 9.30 42.30

Reference Number: W10-0047

353

The Online Journal on Electronics and Electrical Engineering (OJEEE)

Vol. (3) No. (1)

Corona onset voltage is calculated as,

VI. CONCLUSION (2) In this experimental study it has been tried to show how corona inception and extinction voltage change with conductor type and conductor diameter under AC voltages. The results show that corona inception and extinction voltage increase with increasing conductor diameter. Also it is reported that the change in corona inception and extinction voltage depend not only conductor size also depend on conductor type. Regardless of the conductor diameter corona start at higher values of applied voltage compared to extinction voltage. By using the Petersons empirical formula the corona power loss is calculated. The results show that corona losses are increased with conductor diameter and applied voltage.

V0 E 0 .r ln(D / r ) kVpeak
Here E0 is calculated by the empirical formula

E 0 30 1 0.3

kVpeak/cm

(3)

where r is the conductor radius in cm. At standard temperature and pressure, 1 [3]. Using the experimental results given in Table 1, for corona inception voltage value and corona extinction voltage, corona power loss values are calculated. The results are given in Table 2. Corona power loss calculations reveal that increasing the conductor diameter increases the power loss. As it is seen from equation (1) power loss is experimentally increased with the applied voltage to the conductor. And from Table 1, corona inception and extinction voltage depends on the conductor diameter and increase with it. So for the same phase conductor separation, corona power loss is increased with the applied voltage and conductor diameter. Table (2): Corona power loss calculations

REFERENCES [1] [2] F.W. Peek, Dielectric Phenomena in High Voltage Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1929. N.H. Malik, A. Al.Qureshi, M.I. Qureshi, Electrical Insulation in Power Systems, 1st ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1998. M. Khalifa, High-Voltage Engineering, Theory and Practice, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New. York, 1990 A. Akses, O. Kalenderli, A.I. Yurekli, H. Kumbasar, Design and construction of a 12 kV Impulse generator, EMC Europe 2002, Int. Symp. on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Sorrento, Italy, pp. 257-260, Sept. 9-13, 2002.

[3] Conductor Type Aluminum (r=2.1mm) Aluminum (r=4.25mm) Steel (r=2.1 mm) Steel (r=4.25mm) Copper (r=1.72mm) Copper (r=2.68mm) PCloss (at Uiv) 983,886 6202,534 754,494 8360,744 570,060 2088,645 PCloss (at Uev) 890,389 5540,848 686,002 7025,004 503,267 1977,145 [4]

Reference Number: W10-0047

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