EE301

SUSPENSION INSULATOR STRING

Instructed By: Ms. Varuni Perera Name : G.R. Raban

Index Number : 070384P
Field : EE
Group :8
Date of Performance : 19/11/2009
Date of Submission : 09/12/2009
Calculations

6
(a) m = = 6
1

V 1 + V2 + V 3 + V4 = 100

1 7
V2 = V1 1 + = V1
6 6

3 1 55
V3 = V1 1 + + = V1
6 62 36

6 5 1 463
V4 = V1 1 + + + = V1
6 62 63 216

7 55 463
∴ V1 + V1 + V1 + V1 = 100
6 36 216

V1 = 17.13 V

V2 = 19.98 V

V3 = 26.17 V

V4 = 36.72 V

100
Theoretical String Efficiency = = 0.68
4 × 36.72

19.27 + 19.83 + 25.89 + 36.91

Practical String Efficiency = = 0.69
4 × 36.91

V1 V2 V3 V4 String Efficiency

Theoretical 17.13 V 19.98 V 26.17 V 36.72 V 0.68

Practical 19.27 V 19.83 V 25.89 V 36.91 V 0.69

(b)
C2 = C1 + C = 6 + 1 μF = 7 μF

C3 = C1 + (1+2) C = 6 + 3 × 1 μF = 9 μF

C4 = C1 + (1+2+3) C = 6 + 6 ×1 μF = 12 μF

100
Theoretical String Efficiency = = 1
4 × 25

26.12 + 25.30 + 26.50 + 21.63

Practical String Efficiency = = 1.15
4 × 21.63

V1 V2 V3 V4 String Efficiency

Theoretical 25.00 V 25.00 V 25.00 V 25.00 V 1.00

Practical 26.12 V 25.30 V 26.50 V 21.63 V 1.15

6
(c) x = μF = 2 μF
4−1

2×6
y = μF = 6 μF
4−2

3×6
z = μF = 18 μF
4−3

100
Theoretical String Efficiency = = 1
4 × 25

24.58 + 23.67 + 22.99 + 28.70

Practical String Efficiency = = 0.87
4 × 28.70

V1 V2 V3 V4 String Efficiency

25.00 V 25.00 V 25.00 V 25.00 V 1.00

Theoretical

24.58 V 23.67 V 22.99 V 28.70 V 0.87

Practical
Discussion

(a) Insulator types and insulating materials

It is essential for an electrical power system to have a reliably designed insulation

mechanism. The line performance is highly dependent on insulation integrity. There are five
main types of insulators in use;

 Pin type insulators

Insulators that support conducting lines in compression are classified as Pin type and
Post type.

The Pin type insulator is designed to be mounted on a pin which in turn is installed on
the cross-arm of the pole. The insulator is screwed on the pin and the electrical conductor is
mounted on the insulator. Made of porcelain or glass, the pin insulator can weigh anywhere
from 1/2 pound to 90 pounds. This type of insulator is applicable for rural and urban distribution
circuits, and it is usually constructed as one solid piece of porcelain or glass.

Larger, stronger Pin type insulators are used for high-voltage transmission lines. These
differ in construction in that they consist of two or three pieces of porcelain cemented together.
These pieces form what are called petticoats. They are designed to shed rain and sleet easily.
 Post type insulators

Post type insulators are somewhat similar to Pin type insulators. They are generally used for
higher voltage applications with the height and number of petticoats being greater for the higher
voltages. They may be mounted horizontally as well as vertically, although their strength is
diminished when mounted horizontally. The insulator is made of one piece of porcelain and its
mounting bolt or bracket is an integral part of the insulator.

 Suspension insulators

The Pin type and Post type insulators are designed for use in distribution lines. These
types of insulators do not provide adequate insulation for extremely high voltages of the
transmission lines. The suspension insulator was developed for this purpose.

The suspension insulator hangs from the cross-arm, as opposed to the pin insulator
which sits on top of it. The line conductor is attached to its lower end. Because there is no pin
problem, any distance can be put between the suspension insulator and the conductor by adding
more insulators to the “string”
 The entire unit of suspension insulators is called a string. How many insulators this
string consists of depends on the voltage, the weather conditions, the type of transmission
construction, and the size of insulator used. It is important to note that in a string of suspension
insulators one or more insulators can be replaced without replacing the whole string.

 Strain insulators

The strain insulator is a variation of the suspension insulator and is designed to sustain
extraordinary pulls. On a transmission line, this strain insulator often consists of an assembly of
suspension insulators. Because of its peculiarly important job, a strain insulator must have
considerable strength as well as the necessary electrical properties. Although strain insulators
come in many different sizes, they all share the same principle; that is, they are constructed so
that the cable will compress (and not pull apart) the porcelain.

 Spool insulators

The spool-type insulator which is easily identified by its shape is usually used for
secondary mains. The spool insulator may be mounted on a secondary rack or in a service
clamp.

Both the secondary low-voltage conductors and the house service wires are attached to
the spool insulator. The use of such insulators has decreased greatly since the introduction of
cabled secondary and service wires.

The tapered hole of the spool insulator distributes the load more evenly and minimizes
the possibility of breakage when heavily loaded. The “clevis” which is usually inserted in this
hole is a piece of steel metal with a pin or bolt passing through the bottom.
 When deciding on an insulator material, both its mechanical strength and electrical
properties must be considered. Two practical types of insulator materials that are in use are
Ceramic insulators and Non-Ceramic insulators.

 Ceramic (Porcelain and Glass) insulators

Porcelain is the most frequently used material for insulators. Insulators are made of wet,
processed porcelain. The fundamental materials used are a mixture of feldspar (35%), china clay
(28%), flint (25%), ball clay (10%), and talc (2%). The ingredients are mixed with water to form
a paste, and then pressed into a mold to form a shell of the desired shape. This shell is then
dipped into a glaze material and fired in a kiln to result in the final product. The glaze improves
the mechanical strength and provides a smooth, shiny surface which helps in shedding rain
water.

Toughened glass is also frequently used for insulators. The melted glass is poured into a
mold to form the shell. Dipping into hot and cold baths cools the shells. This thermal treatment
shrinks the surface of the glass and produces pressure on the body, which increases the
mechanical strength of the glass.

Porcelain and glass can withstand heavy loading in compression, but tears apart easily
under tension. Although glass insulators are good for lower voltage applications, porcelain
insulators are much more widely used because they are more practical. Porcelain has two
advantages over glass:
1) It can withstand greater differences in temperature, that is, it will not crack when
subjected to very high or very low temperatures
2) Porcelain is not as brittle as glass and will not break as easily in handling or during
installation

 Non-Ceramic (Composite) insulators

Non-Ceramic insulators use polymers instead of porcelain. High-voltage composite

insulators are built with mechanical load-bearing fiberglass rods, which are covered by polymer
weather sheds to assure high electrical strength. The advantages of Non-Ceramic insulators are
as follows;
 Lightweight, which lowers construction and transportation costs.
 More vandalism resistant.
 Higher strength-to-weight ratio, allowing longer design spans.
 Better contamination performance.
  Improved transmission line aesthetics, resulting in better public acceptance of a new
line.

Third generation Non-Ceramic transmission line insulators have tracking free sheds,
better corona resistance, and slip-free end fittings.

(b) Advantages and disadvantages of the suspension insulator string

Advantages

 It provides better insulation for high voltage transmission lines. For high voltage line
insulation, the pin or post-type insulator becomes too bulky and cumbersome to be practical,
and the pin which must hold it would have to be inordinately long and large. Therefore, the
suspension insulator string is more suited for high voltage insulation.
 If there is a failure in some insulator in the string, then only that insulator needs to be
replaced. It is not necessary to replace the whole string.
 Each insulator is designed for11kV and hence for any operating voltage a string of insulators
can be used.
 Since the conducting line and string swing together in case of wind pressure, the mechanical
stress at the point of attachment are reduced when comparing with the pin type of insulator
where the rigid nature of the attachment results in fatigue on the insulator.
 The operating voltage of the existing transmission line can be increased by adding a suitable
number of discs in the string instead of replacing all the insulators as is necessary in the case
of pin type insulators.

Disadvantages

 Suspension insulator strings are more expensive when compared to pin type and post type.
 The pin or post insulator requires a shorter pole to achieve the same conductor above the
cross-arm while the suspension insulator suspends it below the cross-arm. Therefore, the
suspension type required a longer pole to achieve the same conductor height.
 Owing to the free suspension, the amplitude of swing of the conductors may be large
compared with that on a pin-type insulated line. Therefore, the spacing between conductors
in the suspension string type should be increased.
(c) Advantages and disadvantages of the insulator grading methods

When using a graded ring with a suspension insulator string, various different values of
capacitances are needed (E.g. for x, y and z). Adding to that, in order to achieve an equal voltage
distribution, specific values for capacitances need to be achieved. This might not be practically
achievable. Therefore this method is normally not used except for very high voltage lines.

But since there is an equal voltage distribution throughout the insulators in the string, no
insulator will be over stressed.

(d) Reasons for differences between practical and theoretical values

 The capacitors used may not be accurate

 We did not take into consideration the capacitance between the conductor and the ground

 Internal capacitive components of the equipments used may have affected the readings

 Noise in the measuring equipment may have affected the readings

 We have not considered the resistances when estimating the voltage drop through a capacitor