25122016 high voltage How coos corona ring help against corona discharge? - Electcal Enginsring Slack Exchange Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange Here's how it works: is a question and answer site for electronics and electrical engineering professionals, students, and tenthusiasts, Join thems it ony takes @ minute: ‘Anybody can ask ‘Anybody can The bestanswors are voted ‘question ‘answer ‘Up and fse othe lop How does corona ring help against corona discharge? Corona discharge is flow of current from the electrade to the outer air. Corona discharge happens (among other) in high= voltage power lines. One way to reduce corona discharge in this case is using so-called corona rings - that's justa ring made of thick metal rod that is positioned orthogonal to the wire so that the wire passes through the ring. The ring ‘s mounted to the power line post and earthec How does this help? I'd expect that instead of "wire-to-si” current flow a "wire-to-ring” curent flow would start and it would be just the same. Why does using the corona ring suppress corona discharge? Gc oo BRS or wo 5 Answers Russell's answer is goods To carly the way corane works: When the electric fled at point In ar fs strong enough, some electrons are stripped from the atoms and the air becomes a conductive plasma Instead of an insulator, When an object is at a high voltage, and has a small curvature (wire, sharp points), the field inthe region around it can have a high enough field strengtn for this to happen, forming a conductive layer of ai, whichis then surrounded by normal insulating ar If the strength around this conductive layer Is aso high enough (f the conductive region is pointy), the conductive layer can Increase and Increase in size (usually In one direction) until it forms @ complete conductive path to another object, and then a huge current flows inthe form of an ar. Even ifthe shape of the feld is such that it can't form an are, i ean stil form @ corona Gischarge, This is when a conductive layer of plasma stops expanding and Just sits there around the wire, and ions in the plasma layer are repelled into neutral ai, where they drift slowly until they discharge on anther abject. Tis is still a flow of current, Just much smaller than an arc ‘The corona ring changes the shape af the electri field, spreading It out n a sense, 50 that its no longer strong enough at any point to ionize the air summery + The role ofthe corona ring is to distribute the electric field gracient and lower its ‘maximum values below the corona threshold, preventing the corona discharge.* + Refer to the "superb reference” below for an extremely good explanation of theoretical and practical aspects, ‘A corona ring is @ conducting ring mounted an the end of or radially outside the end of an insulator in an extra high voltage system, (typically 200 KV) hiiplelectonies stackexchange.comiquestons/17224how-does-coron-ring-hel-agains-corere- discharge us25122016, high voltage How dows corona rng help against corona cischargs? - Electrical Engiesring Slack Exchange ‘The role of the corona ring Isto eliminate or reduce lonisation of the al with associated corona discharge, Corona discharge damages insulators and may produce breakdown pracucts which can cause catastrophic insulation failure ‘A corona ring works by mocifying the shape ofthe electric feld intensity so that the ‘worst case rate of change of fielé on the insulator is reduced, thereby reducing the peak potential acrass surrounding air to below the breakdown voltage of about 10 KV per inch (dry a, mains frequencies), ‘Auseful secondary role isto reshape the electric field distribution across a stack of Insulaters so that the potential drop per Insulator is more even, thereby reducing the breakdown stresses on the insulator with highest valtage drop. A stack of ‘symmetrical insulators used for EHV insulation wil have far more voltage drop across the insulators atthe "hot" end of the stack, Differences of more than 20:1 may eccur in long insulator strings, with in some cases more than half the total EHV ‘drop occurring across the first 3 or 4 insulators, The reshaping ofthe field by @ ‘corona ring can usefully reduce this imbalance - but a dispraportionately large Portion of the total voltage is stil lable to be carned by the fst few insulators. Corona rings can be seen at either end ofthe insulators inthe photo below. ‘The above image is taken from this superb ciscussion of real worlé corona effects ‘and treatment * Thirsurnmary ofthe use of corona rings is so succinct that I used it Tor my summary at the start of tis answer. (Tonly found this article after I write the longer version above ;-).) They note - The role ofthe corone ring is to distribute the electri feld gradient and lower its maximum values below the corona threshold, preventing the corona discharge. ‘Wikipedia notes thattn power systems at say 220 kV corona rings are lable to be fitted as of right to one end of insulatars and to both ends at 500 kV. ‘Superb reference - Here is an extremely good paper on corona reduction and ‘corona ring functionality - EFFECTS OF CORONA RING DESIGN ON ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY AND POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION ALONG AN INSULATOR STRING ‘This 2010 article notes the occurrence of corona damage and insulator fallure at lower voltages than has Deen traditionally observed, apparently due to the use of ew polyme: insulators, Failures and or damage have been reported on as low as 1115 kV lines in some configurations, compared to expectations of not needing ‘corana ring protection below say 161 KV in the past. Corona Rings: Are They Needed? - Modeling predicts corona levels based on configuration, hardware and line voltage. Brief but useful group discussion here ‘The EPRI (Electric Power research institute) publishes papers on a range of power rolatd matters. Here are some of their references re use of corona rings Ilustration of electric Relé estibutions with an without corena ring on mutt Insulator string. See the "superb reference” paper above for clscussion, hitpelect nies stackexchange.comiquestons/1792how-does-coron-ing-hel-against-corera- discharge 2425122016, high voltage How dows corona rng help against corona cischargs? - Electrical Engiesring Slack Exchange Figure 2. Equipotential contours around 10-unit insulator string 1) and e) contour plots with corona ring ) and d) contour plots without corona ring Extreme examples: eed Ang 101038, uth at hose petures don Drernge sera A hitpelect nies stackexchange.comiquestons/1792how-does-coron-ing-hel-against-corera- discharge aK25122016, high voltage How doas corona ring help against corona discharge? - Electcal Enginsring Slack Exchange @shartoot: Wel ska of usta datiation of ah 1's about charge density - the ring increases the surface area and radius of curvature, reducing charge dersity below that which would cause significant corona from things lke snarp edges at joints ete The ring is mounted to the power lin post and earthed ? Most corona rings are not earthed, ‘Some insulator stacks have just one corona ring ~ t's always at the line end, ‘The corona ring at the line end ofthe insulators is connected to the power lin. That corona rng is atthe same high voltage as the power lin. (That corona ring is not earthed). Occasionally there Is a second corona ring at the earth end of the stack. The corona ring at the earth end of the stack is the only corona ring that is earthed. How does this help? I'd expect that instead of “wire-to-air® current flow a “wire-to- ‘ng” current flow would start and it would be Just the same. Why does using the corona ring suppress corona discharge? You are right - If, hypothetically all the rings were earthed, then the wire-to-nng current flow would be just as bad and provably worse than the wire-to-air current Now (corona) without the rings IE 0 ‘The electric Feld will circulate on the ring instead of surface ofthe insulator so the corona cischarge Is reduced San BO 2 Elie eld i zero on a onducor soc rid a conductor can hard creltethere.— hiiplelectonies stackexchange.comiquestons/17924how-does-coron ring help-against-corere- discharge ais