Dr.
Ahmed Refai - 2021/2022
HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING
FOR
THIRD YEAR STUDENT
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL
POWER AND MACHINE
CHAPTER 4 :
HIGH VOLTAGE
UNDERGROUND
CABLES
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Capacitance 0f Underground Cables
*Cable is basically a set of one (or three) conductors
surrounded by a metallic sheath.
*This arrangement can be considered as a set of two
long, coaxial, cylinders, separated by insulation.
*The current carrying conductor forms the inner
cylinder while the metallic sheath acts as the outer
cylinder.
*The sheath is grounded, and hence voltage difference
appears across the cylinders.
*The dielectric fills the space between the charged
plates (cylinders), making it a capacitor.
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Capacitance Of Single Core Cable
*r = radius of the inner conductor and d = 2r
*R = radius of the sheath and D = 2R
ε0 = permittivity of free space = 8.854 x 10-12
*εr = relative permittivity of the medium
Consider a cylinder of radius x meters and axial
length 1 meter. x be such that, r < x < R.
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Capacitance Of Single Core Cable
*
=
2 0
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Capacitance Of Single Core Cable
*
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Capacitance Of Single Core Cable
*Capacitive reactance is given by
* Xc = 1/(2πfC) Ω
*Charging current of the cable can be given as,
*
Ic= Vph / Xc A
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Capacitance Of three Core Cable
*Cs : capacitance between any core and the sheath
*Cc : core to core capacitance (i.e. capacitance
between any two conductors).
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Capacitance Of three Core Cable
*the three Cc (core to core capacitance) are delta
connected and the core to sheath capacitance Cs
are star connected due to the sheath forming a
single point N.
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Capacitance Of three Core Cable
*Whole three core cable is equivalent to three star
connected capacitors each of capacitance Cs + 3Cc
*The charging current can be given as,
*Ic = 2πf(Cs+3Cc)Vph A
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Measurement Of Cs And Cc
*Test 1:
*Three cores are connected together and
capacitance between the shorted cores and the
sheath is measured.
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Measurement Of Cs And Cc
*Test 1:
*Shorting the three cores eliminates all the three Cc
capacitors, leaving the three Cs capacitors in
parallel.
*Therefore, if C1 is the now measured capacitance,
Cs can be calculated as, Cs = C1/3.
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Measurement Of Cs And Cc
*Test 2:
*Any two cores and the sheath are connected
together and the capacitance between them and
the remaining core is measured.
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Measurement Of Cs And Cc
*Test 2:
*If C2 is the measured capacitance,
*C2 = 2Cc+Cs
As the value of Cs is known from the first
measurement,
Cc can be calculated.
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Measurement Of Cs And Cc
*C1 = 3 Cs
*C2 = 2 Cc +Cs
*Cs=C1/3
*Cc=(3C2 – C1)/6
*That :
* C= Cs+3Cc
* C= (9C2 – C1)/6
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Effects Of Capacitance In Underground Cables
*Capacitance is inversely proportional to separation
between plates.
*if the separation between the plates is large,
capacitance will be less.
*This is the case in Overhead Lines where two
conductors are separated by several meters
*If the separation is small, the capacitance is more.
*In Underground cables, obviously, the separation is
relatively smaller.
*Hence capacitance of underground cables is much
more than that of Overhead lines.
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Effects Of Capacitance In Underground Cables
*The most important factor that is affected by this
is the Ferranti effect. It is more pronounced in
cables than in lines. This induces several
limitations.
*Also, with increased capacitance, the charging
current drawn is also increased.
Underground cables have 20 to 75 times the line
charging current compared to Overhead lines.
*Due to these two conditions, the length of
Underground cables is limited.
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FAULTS
In
Underground Cables
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*Most of the faults occur when moisture enters the
insulation. The paper insulation provided inside the
cable is hygroscopic in nature.
*Other causes include mechanical injury during
transportation, laying process or due to various
stresses encountered by the cable during its
working life like heat and overload.
*The lead sheath is also damaged frequently, usually
due to the actions of atmospheric agents, soil and
water
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*Open circuit fault
*Short circuit fault
*Earth faults
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*Fault involves an open circuit in the conductors.
*When one or more cable conductors (cores) break, it leads to
discontinuity.
*This discontinuity also occurs when the cable comes out of its
joint due to mechanical stress.
*Fault Detection
*An open circuit is characterized by infinite resistance. This is
utilized in fault detection. The conductors at the far end are
bunched together (shorted) and earthed. Then the resistance
between each conductor and the earth is measured using a
megger.
*Observations
*If there’s no fault, megger will read nearly zero.
*If there’s an open circuit in a conductor, the will read infinite
when connected between that conductor and the earth.
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* It occurs only in multi-cored cables.
* When two or more conductors of the same cable come in contact with
each other, then this is called a short circuit fault. It is impossible to
detect visually without taking the cable apart.
* A short-circuit fault occurs when the individual insulation of the cables is
damaged. It can also be detected using a megger.
* Fault Detection
* A short-circuit is characterized by zero resistance.
* The resistance between any two conductors is measured using a megger.
* This is done for all the conductors, two at a time.
* Observations
* If the megger reads zero, it indicates that a short-circuit fault has
occurred between those two conductors.
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* Any of the conductors of the cable comes in contact with the earth
* This usually occurs when the outer sheath is damaged due to chemical
reactions with soil or due to vibrations and mechanical crystallization.
* It is somewhat similar to a short circuit fault as the current again takes
the least resistive path and flows through the earth.
* Fault Detection
* The megger is connected between the conductor and the ground and
megger reading is noted.
* This is repeated for all the conductors of the cable.
* Observations
* If an earth fault is present, the megger will show nearly zero reading.
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*One of the major limitations of underground cables is
the fault detection. Since the cables are laid under the
surface (directly or inside pressurized ducts), the visual
methods of inspection don’t work effectively.
*Methods used for locating an open circuit fault differ from
those used in the two other cases.
*In case of multi core cables ,it is advisable, first to
measure the insulation resistance of each core to ground
and also between cores.
*If ground fault occurs: It will enable the faulty core to be
discovered,
*If short circuit fault occurs : The cores which are involved
can be determined.
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*Murray loop test is the most common and accurate method,
for locating earth faults and short-circuit faults.
*To perform the Murray loop test, it is necessary that a sound
(good) cable runs along the faulty cable.
*This test employs the principle of Wheatstone bridge for
fault location.
*Such tests have the advantage that the resistance of the
fault doesn’t affect the results obtained.
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*the along side sound cable and the faulty cable are shorted
with a jumper conductor at the far end.
*The test side end is connected through a pair of resistors to
a voltage source.
*Also, a null detector or galvanometer is connected between
the two conductors at the test end.
*Once the connections are made
*adjust the values of R1 and R2 so the null
detector/galvanometer shows zero reading.
*That is, bring the bridge to the balance.
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*Varley loop test is also for locating short-circuit and earth
faults in underground cables.
*This test also employs the principle of the Wheatstone
bridge.
*The difference between Murray loop test and Varley loop
test is that, in Varley loop test resistances R1 and R2 are
fixed, and a variable resistor is inserted in the faulted leg.
*If the fault resistance is high, the sensitivity of Murray
loop test is reduced and Varley loop test may be more
suitable.
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1 +
=
2 + 1
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2( 3 + )− 1 1
=
1 + 2
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Now, the switch K is thrown to the position 2 and the bridge
is balanced by varying the resistor S.
Say, the bridge is balanced at the value of resistor S is equal
to S2
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2( 3 + )− 1 1
=
1 + 2
*R1 S2 = R2 (R3 +Rx)
R1 (S2 − S1 )
Rx =
R1 + R 2
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* A cable thumper is basically a portable high voltage surge generator.
* It is used to inject a high voltage DC surge (about 25 kV) into the faulty
cable.
* If you supply a sufficiently high voltage to the faulty cable, the open-
circuit fault will break down creating a high-current arc.
* This high current arc makes a characteristic thumping sound at the exact
location of the fault.
* To find the location of cable fault using the thumping method, a
thumper is set to thump repeatedly and then walking along the cable
route to hear the thumping sound. The higher the dc voltage applied,
the louder will be the resulting thump.
* This method is useful for relatively shorter cables.
* For longer cables, the thumping method becomes impracticable
(imagine walking along a cable that runs several kilometers to hear the
thump).
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* Advantages : 1) It can locate open circuit faults very accurately.
* 2) This method is easy to apply as well as easy to learn.
* Disadvanatges:
* 1) Applying this method for longer cables is extremely time-consuming.
* 2) During that time, the cable is exposed to high voltage surges. So while
the existing fault is located, the high voltage surges may weaken the
insulation of the cable.
* 3) This technique can not find faults that do not arc-over (i.e. short
circuit faults).
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* A Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) sends a short-duration low energy
signal (of about 50 V) at a high repetition rate into the cable.
* This signal reflects back from the point of change in impedance in the
cable (such as a fault).
* TDR works on the similar principle as that of a RADAR.
* A TDR measures the time taken by the signal to reflect back from the
point of change in impedance (or the point of fault). The reflections are
traced on a graphical display with amplitude on y-axis and the elapsed
time on x-axis.
* The elapsed time is directly related to the distance to the fault location.
* If the injected signal encounters an open circuit (high impedance), it
results in high amplitude upward deflection on the trace.
* While in case of a short-circuit fault, the trace will show a high
amplitude negative deflection 53
* Advantages :
* 1) No degradation of the cable insulation (it send low energy signal).
* 2) A TDR works well for open-circuit faults as well as conductor to
conductor shorts.
* Disadvantages:
1) It cannot pinpoint the exact location of faults. It gives an approximate
distance to the location of fault.
2) TDR can not see high resistance (generally above 200 Ohms) ground
fault.
3) If there is surrounding electrical noise, it may interfere with the TDR
signal
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