Estimation of Magnetic Fields near to High Temperature Low Sag
Conductors
Subba Reddy B and Gaurav Mitra
High voltage laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru-560012, India
E mail: sreddy@iisc.ac.in
Abstract— High temperature low sag (HTLS) conductors are
recently being used worldwide due to several advantages of
operating at higher ampacity and continuously at much higher
temperature in comparison to conventional ACSR conductors.
HTLS conductors are of recent origin, there is a need to study
and evaluate many parameters. In the present investigation a
simulation model based on IEEE-738 standard is developed for
computing various parameters, some of the parameters have
been verified experimentally in the laboratory. Magnetic field
estimation and measurement is one of the main focus of this work
on HTLS conductors. Both simulation and experimental
mapping of the magnetic field on various conductors has been
conducted to ascertain the levels of magnetic field around a
conductor. It is believed that the results presented will be useful
in formulating safety guidelines in future.
Index Terms— HTLS; Ampacity; Electric power transmission;
simulation; Thermal rating; Magnetic fields
I. INTRODUCTION
Overhead conductors are one of the important components in a
transmission/distribution system. Several types of conductors
like ACSR, AAAC, AAC etc are used for several decades,
recently HTLS conductors which have more advantageous
features compared to ACSR conductors like: HTLS
conductors carry two to three times higher current compared
to ACSR conductor of same diameter and hence can deliver
more power, HTLS conductors operate at temperatures 180 to
200° compared to 90-110°, Sag is low in HTLS etc. Hence
HTLS are widely being used for the distribution network in
the country and elsewhere, also re-conductoring of the existing
transmission and distribution system with appropriate HTLS
conductors is better option in terms of economy and long term
solution.
Hence utilities in several countries including India are
adopting different HTLS conductors in distribution systems
[1]. Several advantages like working at higher temperature,
higher current loading capabilities and several other features
are well reported by many researchers [2-4] on HTLS
conductors. Also several simulation and theoretical models are
developed to understand the normal and dynamic performance
of HTLS conductors [4-7]. Gorur et al [8] estimated changes
in conductor temperature over a period with time, emissivity
and absorption of solar heat etc. IEEE Std 738-2012[9] gives
different equations for solving various parameters like
temperature, currents etc. Advantages and implementation
Subba Reddy B and Gaurav Mitra are at HV Lab, Department of Electrical
Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru-560012, India (E-mail:
sreddy@iisc.ac.in; gauravmitra@iisc.ac.in)
978-1-7281-6828-9/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
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issues of HTLS conductors are well described in [10]. Reddy
et al [11-12] studied and presented that steady state conductor
temperature distribution generally depends on material
property of the conductor its diameter, its surface condition
and current loading. International commission on nonionizing
radiation protection (ICNIRP) [13] describes the limitation of
electric and magnetic fields generated and emphasis on safety
limitations due to conductors in overhead transmission lines.
Ahmadi et al [14] studied and compared the magnetic field
around the conductors of overhead lines. Technical report [15]
presents meteorological data pertaining to Bangalore city
useful for the present study. Swanson [16] studied and
presented data of the magnetic field measurements conducted
near 400 kV transmission line. Similarly, Medved et al [17]
measured the magnetic field around a 110kV transmission line
and presented the analysed results.
Magnetic fields are the main concerns while using HTLS
conductors as these operate at higher currents, It is also known
that as per ICNIRP [13] guidelines electric fields of 8.3kV/m,
magnetic fields of 4.2G for occupational exposure and for
general public electric fields of 4.2kV/m and 0.833G are
prescribed. Hence simulation and experimental mapping of
magnetic fields are carried out to ascertain the levels of
magnetic field around the HTLS conductor. The present
investigation focuses on the variation of thermal and magnetic
fields.
II. EFFECT OF THERMAL RATINGS OF CONDUCTOR ON
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Conductor expansion is affected by surface temperature
when continuous current flows through a conductor; the
amount of current flowing through the conductor is
responsible for the magnetic field around it.
HTLS conductors operate at a higher temperature and
current loading, hence near the vicinity higher magnetic fields
is noticed in comparison to the ACSR conductors. This could
be serious and can affect birds, human beings, animals and
other species which operate near the transmission/distribution
lines.
III. ESTIMATION OF THERMAL AND MAGNETIC FIELD
VARIATIONS
Exhaustive simulation study [18, 19] is conducted with the
developed computer codes for the various HTLS, ACSR and
also copper conductors used for rail traction. The computer
programs are developed in Matlab based on IEEE Standard-
738[13]. The simulation results obtained are discussed, conducted at the still air and at a wind velocity of 2.9 m/s
compared and presented. (local average wind velocity) [15].
Simulations for thermal and magnetic field performance
are conducted on five different conductors which include
HTLS conductors, traction and ACSR conductors. The
technical specifications of the conductors used for study are
presented in Table I.

TABLE I. VARIOUS TYPES OF CONDUCTORS USED FOR STUDY

Parameters ACSR HTLS-1 HTLS-2 HTLS- TRACTI-
Moose (ACSS) (INVAR) 3 ON
Moose Moose (GZTA COPPER
Equivalent Equivale CSR) CONDU
nt CTOR
Overall 31.77 31.62 31.78 29 10.5
Diameter (in
mm)
Resistance 0.0559 0.0541 0.0545 0.0576 0.3030
per length at
25deg C (in Fig. 1. Schematic of the Experimental arrangement
ohm/km)
Resistance 0.0711 0.0692 0.0598 0.0632 0.3670
per length at
Experimental investigations were conducted out for a 30 min
75deg C (in period for current loading from 100 A to1000 A for copper
ohm/km) conductor and 100 to 800A for ACSR conductor respectively.
Heat 1310 1347 1379 1265 228 Magnetic field near the vicinity of the conductors were
Capacity per measured at a distance of 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m and 2m, further
length
(in J /m-deg distance measurements from the conductor were restricted due
C) space constraints in the laboratory. Fig. 2 and 3 show the
The simulations are based on basic Ohm's law considering the magnetic field around the HTLS conductor at 800A in 1-D
line current rating of the conductors, which describes as the and 2-D respectively.
integral of the magnetic field around a closed path is equal to
µ (permeability of air) times the current flowing through the
conductor. The equation for the ampere's law is given below:

 B .ds =  0 . I .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ....( 1 )

Where,
B : Magnetic flux density;
ds : Infinitesimal length of the closed path;
 0 : Permeability of air;
I : Current in the conductor

IV. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THERMAL AND Fig. 2. Variation of magnetic field at 800A ACSS/HTLS(2D plot)
MAGNETIC FIELDS
The schematic of the experimental arrangement is shown in
Magnetic Field (in micro Tesla)

Fig. 1, the facility is established to validate the simulation 400

results obtained for various conductors. The arrangement [18,
Experimental 800A
19] consists of twin prototype towers of height 2.1 m, ac high Simulation 800A
300
current generator of rating 2000 A/6 kVA, connecting busbars
of length 3.6 m and 3.8 m, for traction copper conductor a
span of 6.1 m is maintained between two towers, a tensile load 200
of 400kgf is applied on the conductor by using a load cell.
To generate artificial wind axial fans of 0.33 hp, 1200
rpm are employed to achieve required wind velocity on the 100
conductor. Testo make anemometer 410-I is used for wind
velocity measurement, a. Thermal imager Testo 875-1i is used
to measure the conductor surface temperature and for the 0
Magnetic fields generated around the conductors,
0.5 1 1.5 2
measurements are done using Kusum Meco make
Distance from Conductor (in m)
Fig. 3. Variation of magnetic field at 800A ACSS/HTLS(1D plot)
Magnetometer with a range 200µT. Measurements were

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Fig. 4 and 5 presents the variation of magnetic field around

Magnectic field (in Micro Tesla)

ACSS/HTLS conductor at 1000A. It may be observed that 150
Experimental 300A
there is some variation in the magnetic field between
simulated and experimentally measured values. This is mainly Simulation 300A
due to the cancellation of the magnetic field on the conductors 100
due to the magnetic field of the bus bars/ connectors which
come in the opposite direction of the experimental conductor.
50

0
0.5 1 1.5 2
Distance from conductor (in m)
Fig. 7. Variaation of magnetic field at 300A TCC (1D plot)

TABLE II. CHANGE IN MAGNETIC FIELD WITH DISTANCE AT VARIOUS

CURRENT LEVELS

S.No Distance Magnetic flux Magnetic flux

. from density simulation density experimental
conductor (in µT) (in µT)
surface (in 300A 600A 800A 300A 600A 800A
m)
Fig. 4. Variaation of magnetic field at 1000A ACSS/HTLS(2D plot) 01. 0.5 120 240 320 79.2 157 198
02. 1 60 120 160 31.8 51 80.8
03. 1.5 40 80 106.67 16.5 26.7 31.6
Magnetic Field (in micro Tesla)

400 04. 2 30 60 80 7.1 15.2 18.3

Experimental 1000A
Simulation 1000A TABLE III: CHANGE IN MAGNETIC FIELD WITH DISTANCE AT 1000 A
300 CURRENT LEVEL
Sl No Distance Magnetic flux Magnetic flux
from density simulation density experimental
200 conductor (in µT) (in µT)
surface (in m)
01. 0.5 400 Overload read in meter
100 02. 1 200 97.04
03. 1.5 133.34 42.6
04. 2 100 29.8
0
0.5 1 1.5 2
Distance from Conductor (in m) Fig. 8 and 9 present the variation in surface temperature of
Fig. 5. Variaation of magnetic field at 1000A ACSS/HTLS(1D plot) HTLS conductor at 800A in still air and wind condition, while
Fig 10 shows the comparison of surface temperature with
Similarly Fig. 6 and 7 show variation in magnetic field with
ambient for ACSR and various HTLS conductors. It is
varying distance for a traction copper conductor at 300A.
observed for higher wind velocity the temperature of the
Table II and Table III presents the values of magnetic field of
conductor is lower due to better convective cooling.
conductors for varying distances from the conductor for
different current loadings.
Surface Temperature(in Deg C)

70

60

50

Simulation 800A
40
Experimental 800A

30
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time(minutes)
Fig. 6. Variaation of magnetic field at 300A TCC (2D plot) Fig. 8. Variaation of ACSS/HTLS conductor temperature at 800A(still air)

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 field variation of recently introduced HTLS conductors in

Surface Temperature(in Deg C)

50
comparison with, ACSR and Traction conductors with time.
45 • It is observed that with increasing distance from the
conductor the magnetic field around the conductor
40 decreases. At higher current levels, the magnetic field
is quite higher at distances of 0.5m and 1m which can
35 be detrimental to the birds resting on the transmission
Simulation 800A
30 Experimental 800A
line, also for the humans near the vicinity of
transmission lines.
25 • The authors believe the study will help utilities to
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time(minutes) formulate the safety guidelines in future.
Fig. 9. Variaation of ACSS/HTLS conductor temperature at 800A(wind) • Experimental results show minor variation with
simulation results, simulating field conditions in a
laboratory is quite difficult task to achieve.

Fig. 10 Comparison of Variation of surface temperature with ambient at 800A
The Thermal images of HTLS and copper traction
conductor were measured at different current levels using
Testo 875-1i model thermal imager, a typical measurement for
copper conductor applied current of 500A after for 30 minutes
is shown in Fig 11 and at 1000A for HTLS is shown in Fig.12.
Fig. 11. Surface temperature measured after 30 min at 500A (Traction cond)
Fig.12 Surface temperature after 30 minutes at 1000A (HTLS)
V. CONCLUSIONS
The investigation presents both simulation and experimental
attempt to understand the surface temperature and magnetic
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