High Voltage, Lec.

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Dr. Jehan Shazly

Cables

- Underground cables are installed in densely populated regions and over short distances.
Even the cables cost is more expensive than over head lines (10 to 20 times).
- Cables have the following advantages compared with over head lines.
1- No interruption of supply, even under bad weather conditions as thunderstorms.
2- No troubles that may occur with short circuit of over head lines crossing main
roads.
3- No objectionable effect on the environment.

Cable construction:

Cores (Conductors):
- Copper and Aluminum are in common use. Impurities reduce the conductivity.
- Sodium has been used as a cable conductor in sea water.

Insulation:
- Polymers are in common use as XLPE - PVC .
- In some cables insulation, compressed gases such as SF6, Freon, N2 are used for
insulation.
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 High Voltage, Lec. 3
Dr. Jehan Shazly

Screening the insulation (metallic sheath):

- It is found that conductor stranding increases the maximum electric field in the cable
insulation.
- screening the insulation around each core of a multi core cables reduce the electric field
by metallic sheath (aluminum).

Armoring:
The armoring consists of steel tapes or wires. Armoring is added over the insulation for
mechanical protection.

Overall sheath:
PVC sheath is applied over the armoring to protect against corrosion.

Electric fields in cable insulation:

The electric field strength in single core coaxial cable with one uniform insulation can be
calculated.
q
E
2 o  r x
Ro Ro
q q q Ro
V   E.dx   2  dx  ln x  ln( )
rc rc o r x 2 o  r 2 o  r rc

R 
V  Ex ln  o 
 rc 
V q
E 
 R  2 o r x
x ln  o 
 rc 
V q V q
Emax   , Emin  
 R  2 o r rc  R  2 o r Ro
rc ln  o  Ro ln  o 
 rc   rc 
rc conductor radius
Ro outer radius of insulation
V applied voltage

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 High Voltage, Lec. 3
Dr. Jehan Shazly

Stress control in cables:

- The big difference between the maximum and minimum electric field (Emax & Emin)
in any cable means the insulation inner parts are much more highly stressed than
those near the sheath (the insulation outer parts).
- Some suggestions have been made for reducing the difference between Emax and
Emin.
- There are two main methods for more uniform distribution of stress in the cable
insulation.

1- Inter sheath grading:

Suppose that inter sheaths of radii r1 and r2 are inserted into the dielectric, and maintains
at voltages v1 and v2.

It is possible to choose r1 and r2 so that the stress varies between the same maximum and
the same minimum in the layers (best position of inter sheath).

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 High Voltage, Lec. 3
Dr. Jehan Shazly

V 0 V 0
Emax  
(rc  r1  r2 ) ln  rc (1     2 ) ln 
V 0 V 0
Emin  
(r1  r2  Ro ) ln  rc (1     2 ) ln 

2- Capacitance grading:
Suppose that the cable dielectric consists of three layers. The permittivity’s are ε1, ε2, ε3

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Dr. Jehan Shazly

F q V
E1 max   
 r1rc 2 o r1rc 1  r  1  r2  1  Ro 
 r1rc [ ln  1   ln    ln  ]
 r1  rc   r 2  r1   r 3  r2 

F q V
E1 min   
 r1r1 2 o r1r1 1  r  1  r2  1  Ro 
 r1r1[ ln  1   ln    ln  ]
 r1  rc   r 2  r1   r 3  r2 

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