Development of Tester of the Resistive Leakage

Current of MOA
Huijia Liu Hanmei Hu
College of Electric Engineering & Information Science College of Electric Engineering & Information Science
China Three Gorges University China Three Gorges University
Yichang, china Yichang, china
epallhj@gmail.com hhm@ctgu.edu.cn

Abstract—Based on harmonics analysis, a technique of the Based on digital signal processor, the algorithm based on
resistive leakage current of the surge arrester is presented harmonics analysis is realized easily, the result can be
in this paper. From an electrical field transducer installed displayed in a LCD.
at the grounding line of surge arrester of the phase B, the
phase angle information of the operation voltage can be II. THE PRINCIPLE OF MEASURING METHOD
gathered; from the current transducer around the
grounding line of surge arrester, the general current signal
The ZnO surge arrester model is shown in Fig.1. The place
is able to be gathered. By harmonics analysis and
of the electrical field transducer is shown in Fig. 2.
mathematic operation, the resistive leakage current of the
surge arrester under the operation voltage can be
calculated. Based on the technique presented in this paper, ir ic
the tester of the resistive leakage current of the ZnO surge
arrester is developed based on DSP TMSC320LF2407. By
use of the strong operation performance of DSP, the
software algorithm uses the digital filter processing, FFT iT
and correlation processing. The test result shows accuracy
of the detector. Fig. 1. ZnO surge arrester model

Keywords- metal oxide surge arrester; DSP; harmonics analysis;

leakage current; on-line monitoring;
ic 2 ic 3
A C1 B C
I. INTRODUCTION ic1
Metal oxide surge arresters have been widely used in the C2
protection of power systems against atmospheric and C3
switching surges over-voltage. They are continuously is
submitted to the system operation voltage and, eventually, to transducer
Cs
over-voltage. A metal oxide surge arrester failure can cause
the equipments insulation breakdown or flashover, or even the Fig. 2. The place of the electrical field transducer
surge arrester explosion. To avoid the surge arrester failure, it
is necessary to monitor the surge arrester status regularly. C1, C2, C3 are the coupling capacitance of the three phase
Measurement of the resistive leakage current of metal oxide line to the electrical field transducer, Cs is the sampling
surge arrester under operation voltage is one of the most used capacitance. Because of the symmetry of the lines, C1=C3.
techniques to evaluate the degradation level of metal oxide
surge arrester[1][2][5]. A. Signal analasis
In this paper, a detector for the surge arrester monitoring Ignoring the high-frequency harmonics of line voltage, the
is developed. Through electrical field transducer installed at voltage of the phase A can be expressed as (1).
the middle phase surge arrester, the line voltage signal can be
gathered, and through current transducer installed at the u A = u1 A + u 3 A
grounding line of surge arrester the leakage current signal can = U 1 m sin (ω t + α 1 ) + U 3 m sin (3ω t + α 3 ) (1)
be gathered. By use of harmonics analysis, the resistive
leakage current and its harmonics components of the surge α1 and α3 are the initial phase angle of the fundamental
arrester can be calculated. voltage and the third harmonics voltage respectively.
The fundamental current of the surge arrester of phase A
as (2):

IEEE Power & Energy Society , State Grid of China, Sichuan University, Chongqing University and Wuhan University

978-1-4244-4813-5/10/$25.00 ©2010 IEEE

 iAT 1 = iAr1 + iAc1 (2) Analyzing the current signal of the surge arrester,
= I Ac1m cos(ωt + α1 ) + I Ar1m sin(ωt + α1 ) according to the V-I characteristic of the surge arrester under
AC voltage, the peak value IAm of the general current, the
= I AT 1m sin(ωt + α AT 1 ) (2) amplitude IAT1m of the fundamental current, the initial angle
The third harmonics current of the surge arrester of phase αAT1 of the fundamental current, the amplitude IAT3m and the
A as (3): initial angle αAT3 of the third harmonics current of the surge
arrester can be calculated.
iAT 3 = iAr3 + iAc3 (3) According to Fig. 3, IAT1m, αAT1, the amplitude of the
= I Ac3m cos(3ωt + α3 ) + I Ar 3m sin(3ωt + α1 − 1800 ) capacitive and the resistive fundamental current of the surge
arrester can be calculated.
= I AT 3m sin(3ωt + α AT 3 ) (3)
(4) According to the initial angle α1 of the fundamental
The fundamental current of the electrical field transducer voltage and the V-I characteristic of the surge arrester under
as (4) [4]: AC voltage, the initial angle of the resistive third harmonics
current is (α1-1800).
it1 = U1mωC1 cos(ωt + α1 ) + U1mωC2 cos(ωt + α1 − 1200 )
(5) According to Fig. 4 and IAT3m, α1, α3, αAT3, the amplitude
+U1mωC3 (ωt + α1 + 1200 ) IAC3m of capacitive third harmonics current and the amplitude
= U1mω (C3 − C1 ) cos(ωt + α1 − 1200 ) (4) IAr3m can be calculated.
(6) The resistive leakage current of the surge arrester can be
The third harmonics current of the electrical field calculated by (6).
transducer as (5):
iAr = iAT − iAC1 − iAC 3 (6)
i t 3 = 3U 3 m ω ( 2 C 1 + C 3 ) c o s (3 ω t + α 3 ) (5 )
III. REALIZATION OF THE TESTER OF THE LEAKAGE
According to (4), (5), α1 and α3 can be calculated. The
CURRENT OF THE METAL OXIDE SURGE ARRESTER
phase diagram of the fundamental components of the phase A
is shown in Fig. 3 and the phase diagram of the third A. Hardware structure
components of the phase A is shown in Fig.4 respectively. TMS320LF2407 is the fixed-point DSP chip with 16 bit,
I IAT 1 its frequency is 30 MHz. Based on strong operation
Ac1
performance of TMS320LF2407, the monitoring system
presented in this paper can get higher measurement accuracy
900
through digital processing.
The principle diagram of hardware structure of the
α AT 1 monitoring system of the surge arrester leakage current is
I A r 1 U A1 (α1 = 0 0 ) shown in Fig. 5. The sampling, keyboard control, LCD display
Fig. 3. The phase diagram of the fundamental components and data operation are all controlled by DSP. MAX120 is
chosen as analog-digital converter. During the procedure of
measure, in order to avoid the angle error, the signals from
I A T 3 I A C 3 CT of the surge arrester and the electrical field transducer
are sampled at the same time, the data are saved in RAM
by DSP.
U A 3
1800 −αAT3
LCD keyboard
I A r 3 α1 = 0 0
Signal of Signal
Fig. 4. the phase diagram of the fundamental components The surge Processing
A/D
arrester Circuit
B. The method of calculating the resistive leakage DSP
The general current signal of the surge arrester and the Signal TMS320LF2407
Signal A/D
signal of the electrical field transducer can be sampling at the
Of the Processing
same time, according to the conclusion of signals analysis,
taking the phase A as the example, the method of calculation transducer Circuit
of the resistive current of the ZnO surge arrester is as follow: ROM RAM
(1) Analyzing the current signal from the electrical field
transducer, the initial phase angle α 1 of the fundamental Fig. 5. Structure of the detector of the leakage current of the
voltage and the initial phase angle α3 of the third harmonics surge arrester
voltage are able to be calculated.

IEEE Power & Energy Society and State Grid of China, Sichuan University, Chongqing University and Wuhan University
B. Software flow-chart
The algorithm flow-chart is shown in Fig. 6. The
TABLE I. THE TEST DATA MEASURED BY THE DETECTOR
operation mode of the data acquisition system is interrupt
mode, startup of A/D is triggered by timer 4 of EVB in U1m Irm I1rm I3rm
TMS320LF2407. The workflow is as follow: (1) Initialization (Kv) (mA) (mA) (mA)
of system; (2) Opening interrupt, the timer produces periodical 81.47 0.154 0.075 0.037
interrupt signal; (3) ADC receives the controlled signal, and
starts A/D conversion of, then enters into interrupt service 84.54 0.176 0.083 0.041
subroutine; (4) Reading the result of conversion, DSP
transfers calculation routine to operation; (5) Outputting 88.53 0.214 0.091 0.045
operation result.
Signal from Signal TABLE II. THE TEST DATA MEASURED BY THE
Initialization From the
The surge CONVENTIONAL METHOD
arrester transducer
U1m Irm I1rm I3rm
Start (Kv) (mA) (mA) (mA)
81.47 0.147 0.072 0.035
A/D 84.54 0.168 0.079 0.040
A/D
88.53
0.205 0.087 0.044
FFT FFT 92.54
0.211 0.093 0.047
95.52
0.236 0.098 0.049
Calculation of Calculation of
99.09 0.259 0.105 0.053
Im, Im1, Im3 α 1,α 3,

Correlation operation,
Calculation ofα AT1, α AT3
V. CONCLUSIONS
Calculation of
In this paper, a technique of the resistive leakage current of
Irm1, Irm3, the surge arrester is presented based on harmonics analysis.
Irm, Irm3 From an electrical field transducer installed at the grounding
line of surge arrester of the phase B, not the TV, the phase
angle information of the operation voltage can be gathered, by
LCD
mathematic operation and correlation processing, the resistive
leakage current of the surge arrester under the operation
Fig.6. The algorithm flow-chart
voltage is able to be calculated.
Based on the technique presented in this paper and DSP
IV. THE RESULT OF TEST
TMSC320LF2407, the detector of the resistive leakage current
The tester connection diagram is shown in Fig. 7. The test of the ZnO surge arrester is developed. By use of the strong
result is shown in TABLE Ⅰand TABLE Ⅱ. The data are operation ability of DSP, it is easy to realize the technique
measured by the detector of the leakage current of the surge presented in this paper. The test result shows accuracy of the
arrester and the conventional method [4]. Comparing with the detector. In this paper, a technique of the resistive leakage
conventional method, the result measured by the detector current of the surge arrester is presented based on harmonics
presented in this paper is correct. analysis. From an electrical field transducer installed at the
Voltage Testing Surge grounding line of surge arrester of the phase B, not the TV, the
AC 380v phase angle information of the operation voltage can be
regulator transformer arrester
gathered, by mathematic operation and correlation processing,
Detector the resistive leakage current of the surge arrester under the
of Transducer
operation voltage is able to be calculated.
leakage
current Based on the technique presented in this paper and DSP
CT
of surge TMSC320LF2407, the detector of the resistive leakage current
arrester
of the ZnO surge arrester is developed. By use of the strong
operation ability of DSP, it is easy to realize the technique
Fig.7. Testing connection diagram of the detector of the leakage presented in this paper. The test result shows accuracy of the
detector.
current of the surge arrester

IEEE Power & Energy Society and State Grid of China, Sichuan University, Chongqing University and Wuhan University
 REFERENCES
[1] Lundquist, J. "New Method for measurement of the
resistive leakage currents of metal-oxide surge arresters in
service", IEEE Transacions on Power Delivery, Vol. 5,
No. 4, pp 1811-1822, November 1990.
[2] S. Shirakawa, F. Endo, H. Kitajima, S. Kobayashi, “
Maintenance of surge arrester by a portable arrester
leakage current detector”, IEEE Transacions on Power
Delivery, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp998-1003, July 1988.
[3] Wan Bingjun, “Metal Oxide Surge Arrester”, vol. 1.
Beijing: China WaterPower Press, 1993, pp. 8-17.
[4] Jiang Guoxiong, Qiu Yuchang, "BILEIQI JIQI
GAOYASHIYAN", vol. 1, Xi’an:Xi’an Jiaotong
University Press , 1989, pp. 261-267.
[5] Jose G.A. Lira, Euler C.T. Macedo, Edson G. Costa,
Raimundo C. S. Freire, Benedito A. Luciano. “ZnO Surge
Arresters Diagnosis Using Microcontroller”.
Instrumentation and Measurement Technology
Conference - IMTC 2007 Warsaw, Poland, May 1-3,
2007, 1-4244-0589-0/07/$20.00 ©2007 IEEE pp. 1-6.

IEEE Power & Energy Society and State Grid of China, Sichuan University, Chongqing University and Wuhan University