Line Tripping and Probable reasons
By:
Corporate Asset Management
POWERGRID
Ground clearance
• Following Minimum ground clearances from
bottom conductor are to be maintained
Line voltage (kV) 66 110 132 220 400 500 765 800
HVDC HVDC
Minimum ground 5500 6100 6100 7000 8840 12500 15000 18000
clearance (mm)
Types of Towers
• Type A/DA Tower (Tangent Tower with suspension string)
o Used on straight runs and up to 2° line diversion
• Type B/DB Tower (Small Angle Tower with tension string)
o Used for line deviation from 2° to 15°
• Type C/DC Tower (Medium Angle Tower with tension string ).
o Used for line deviation from 15° to 30°.
• Type D/DD Tower (Large angle tower with tension string)
o Used for line deviation from 30° to 60°
• Type E/DE Tower (Dead End Tower with tension string)
o Used for line termination & starting
• Special tower-
o Suspension Tower (Span ≈ 1000 m)
Used for River crossing, Mountain crossing etc.
o Transposition Tower
Used for transposition of tower
3
Tower Grounding
Used to reduce earth wire potential and stress on
insulators at the time of stroke and also for safety
o Tower footing resistance will be 10Ω and should not be more
than 20 Ω under any condition throughout the year.
o Earth resistance depend upon soil resistivity(general 100 Ω-m)
4
Method of Tower Grounding
• Counterpoise Wire
A length of wire/ Strip of 50 m is buried horizontally at depth of 0.5 m below
ground. This wire is connected to tower lags.
o Used when earth resistance is very high and soil conductivity is mostly
confined to upper layer)
• Pipe Type
Pipe of 3 to 4 m is driven into ground near the tower and top of pipe is
connected to tower by suitable wire/strip
o Used where ground conductivity increase with depth
• Shield Wire Earthing(Additional Earthing)
o Used in every 7 to 8 kms in tension towers.
• Rod Type
Rod is burried below the bottom pad of foundation during foundation casting.
• Earthing for towers on pile type
6mm thick and 50 mm wide earthing strip is connected to tower and taken to
the ground .
5
Right of way clearance
• Maximum width of Right of way of
transmission line in forest area and minimum
electrical clearances between Conductor &
trees shall be followed:
Right of way clearance
Transmission Width of Right Minimum clearance
Voltage (KV) of Way between conductors and
(Meters) trees (Meters)
132 27 4.0
220 35 4.7
400 S/C 52 5.5
400 D/C 46 5.5
765 S/C (Delta) 64 9.0
765 S/C (Horiz) 85 9.0
765 D/C 67 9.0
500 HVDC 52 7.4
800 HVDC 69 10.7
Clearances between earthwire and top conductor
Voltage Min.
(kV) clearances
132 6.1 m
220 8.5 m
400 9.0 m
765 12.0 m
500 HVDC 8.5 m
12.0 m
(pole)
800 HVDC
6.1 m
(DMR)
Clearances between earthwire and DMR
Jumper clearance from tower body
Voltage (kV) Min. clearance of
jumper from tower
body
132 1.53 m
220 2.1 m
400 3.05 m
765 5.6 m
500 HVDC 3.0 m Minimum jumper
clearance
800 HVDC 7.7 m
TYPICAL 400KV S/C TOWER: CLEARANCES
MID SPAN CLEARANCE = 9.0 M (MIN)
A B
SAG=12.87 M
PHASE TO PHASE
CLEARANCE = 8.0M
MAXM.
(MIN)
A= CLEARNCE AT 0 DEG
SWING
CLEARANCE = 8.84
B= CLEARNCE AT MAX
SWING (FOR POWER
GROUND
[Link])
M
General Tower Diagram for single ckt towers
Probable reasons for Transmission line
faults
• Tree(Green forest)
• Ground fire
• Polluted insulator
• Lightning
• Foreign particles (Kite Thread)
Tripping due To Tree
During high wind condition tree in the vicinity of
Transmission Line Tower can create fault.
Tripping due to Ground Fire
Agriculture stubble burning in Northern India is one of the
cause of Trippings. It also deposits brown carbon on
insulators which inturn becomes cause of pollution related
trippings.
Line Tripping Due To Pollution
Pollution on insulator surface provide the
Path to leakage currents during humid/
foggy conditions. This creates localized
voltage gradients on the surface of
insulators and sometimes discharge
occurs across such patches which is
detrimental to insulator health. This
pollution is attributable to Agri-waste
burning, from sugar mills, fumes from agri
processing industries, textile industries
and Brick kilns. In coastal areas salty winds
also deposit salts on insulator surface.
Polymer insulator being hydrophobic
provides good pollution performance.
Polluted insulators
Due to bad handling of
Photo depicting insulator
insulators some times
condition due to bird
soiled insulators are
excreta.
installed in lines. This leads
to tracking in insulators.
Tripping Due To Lightning
In rocky mountainous areas, where tower footing impedance
is high, during lightning the voltage between tower top and
ground increases and when it crossed the insulators
withstand capability at that time it discharges through the
insulators. To provide this discharge a safe passage away from
insulator Arcing Horn are provided.
Tripping Due To Lightning Contt.
Open Earthing
Open earthing provide the high impedance and during
lightning conditions this increases voltage between tower
top and ground . Due to this back flashover occurs.
Tripping Due To Foreign Materials
Foreign material can remain on tower during construction
( gunny bags, wires with multiple bags, hanging rope), can be
deposited by wind and anthropogenic factors. These reduce
clearance and also the kite thread can cause phase to phase
fault.
Tripping Due To Foreign Materials Contt..
Birds use metal wires in their nests. Which can hang during rain and
reduce clearance. And big birds like peacocks can cause L-G , L-L faults.
Tripping Due To Foreign Materials Contt..
Hanging rope causes tripping during high winds . Some times during rain
the water droplets through it creates conducting path for a flash over to
take place.
Thanks