Identifying Faulty Insulator Strings by Detecting Insulator Corona Pulse Current

Cheng Rong Li, Q i a n Shi, Yang Chun Cheng

North China Electric Power University Qinghe, Beijing, 100085,P.R.China
Abstract: The resolution to identify faulty insulator strings by detecting insulator corona current pulse w a s investigated in our laboratory. The influences of some facts on the detecting resolution were also discussed, including the characteristics of insulators close to line, the resistance of faulty insulators, the locations of the faulty insulators, and the amount of insulators on the string. The results showed that the corona pulse analysis could be used for identifying faulty insulator strings in the laboratory.
Keywords:

Guo Lin, Huang Xingquan

Henan Electric Power College Zhengzhou 450004,P.R.China

pulse current metho4 faulty insulators

I . INTRODUCTION
At present, porcelain insulators are still widely used to most transmission lines in China. There are several methods [ 1,2,3] available for inspecting faulty insukitors on-line. But by using them the operators have to climb tower, which will bring some troubles for operation. Detecting insulator current pulses could be a way to inspect for the faulty insulator strings on ground. Some basic studies [4] were carried out. We had expected that faulty insulators in the string would discharge partially, but the tests in the laboratory indicated that it is not correct. When the resistance of the faulty insulator on the string is lower than 50MR, the faulty insulator can not produce partial discharge due to the low voltage drop across it. Therefore, the detected current pulses from the string are produced by corona dischw-es on good insulators. The aim of this paper is to try to find the measuring resolution of identifying the faulty insulator string by detecting insulator corona current and the some influences on the measuring resolution.

Fig. 1 Corona pulse measun'ng circuit A-Rogowski coil, 6-HV source, C-tested insulator sting D-DL1540L oscilloscope, E-phase angle reference signal F-coupling capacitance

11. TEST SETUP

The tests were carried out in our high voltage laboratory with the setup shown in Fig. 1.

The HV source can supply 50Hz AC voltage up to 100kV. C is the tested insulator string. Stray capacitance was used as the coupling capacitance. A high sensitive, wideband self-integrating Rogowski coil (sensor A) was used to measure current pulses. The Rogowski coiI has a femte core. Its 3db cutoff frequency is from 200kHz to 3MHz. The sensitivity of the coil is 20mV/mA. The pulse current signals were changed into pulse voltage signals by the integrating impedance and were displayed on a DL1540L digital oscilloscope screen. DL1540L oscilloscope produced by YOKOGAWA Co. has 200MS/s sampling rate. The oscilloscope can record pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle. When the oscilloscope was used to record the pulse distribution vs. a cycle, the sampling rate was set to be SOMS/s. We studied the insulator corona discharges. The results showed [4] that the distribution of positive corona pulses is mainly in 20"-100" and that of negative pulses is mainly in 220"-290". The amplitude and amount of current pulses are increased with the applied voltage. The lower jitters are presented when the negative pulses are chosen to analyze corona discharges. Only the negative pulses whose amplitude was larger than lOmv were considered as the corona discharge pulses in the tests. The experiments were divided as two groups: the resolutions of pulse current method and the influences of some facp on the resolution.
'

D. DETECTING RESOLUTION

A. 35 kV Lines The tested strings, consisted of three pieces of XP-7

0-78034754-4/9W$10.00 0 1998 IEEE

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porcelain insulators, were applied on 20kV AC voltage. The location of insulators in string was numbered from line to ground. When the string was normal, none of the negative corona pulses was detected in 200 cycles. The largest voltage drop across the insulator on the string is measured to be 7.8kV. There were two kind of faulty insulators (Sample#l, R=5MQ; Sample#2,R=25MQ) we tested. When a faulty insulator was in a string, no matter where it was, the amount of detected pulse was more than 10. The largest voltage drop across the good insulator was about IOkV. Table.1 is the number of detected corona pulses when a sample was on the string. The data were achieved from every 25 cycles. The results showed that the maximum detecting resolution for 35kV lines is a faulty insulator in the string with three pieces of insulators on it. The results also showed that even through the faulty insulator is located in the same position in the same string, the number of the detected pulses from the string is different due to the jitter of the corona characteristics of good insulators. Fig2 shows the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#l was on No 1 position in the string. Fig.3 shows the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#2 was on No 1 position in the string.
TABLEI TEST RESULTS OF A FAULTY INSULATOR IN STRING faulty insulator (position) Sample#l(l) ~amp1e#1(2) the amount of pulses
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Fig.3 the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#2 was on No 1 position on the stnng.

B. I10 kV Lines

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40
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71
14

27
37

12
12

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The strings consisted of seven pieces of XP-7 insulator were tested at 66.5kV. When a string was normal, the number of negative corona pulses was about 78 in 800 cycles. The largest voltage drop across the insulator in the string was measured to be about 18.5kV. There were two faulty insulators respectively with 4Mn(Sample#3), 20MQ(Sample#4) resistance used to the test. When Sample#3 or Sample#4 was put into the string, the number of corona pulses was detected to be about 24 in 80 cycles. When SampleW and Sample#4 were all put in the string, no matter where they are, detected corona pulses were more than 30 in 80 cycles. Fig.4 shows the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#3 was on No 4 position and Sample#4 was on No 2 position on the string. Fig.5 shows the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#3 was on No 7 position and Sample#4 was on No 6 position in the string.

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Fig.2 the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#l was on No 1 position on the string.

Fig 4 the. typical pulse dlsmbution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample #3 was on No 4 position and Sample #4 was on No 2 position on the string.

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TEST RESULTS OF DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICSOF GOOD INSULATOR CLOSE TO LINE Test Number
faulty insulator loosition)

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insulators the amount of pulse No.1 3lOmv 220mv 230mv

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In above cases, no matter where the faulty insulators were, the impedance of the measuring circuit was same and the difference of voltage drop across insulators could be ignored. Therefore, only the difference of the corona inception voltage could be the reason the difference of the amount of the pulses. O u r results indicated that the higher the corona inception voltages of the insulators close to line are, the lower the detecting resolution is. C. the Resistance o f the Faulty Insulators

Fig.5 the typical pulse distribution vs. phase angle in a cycle when Sample#3 was on No 7 position and Sample#4 was on No 6 position in the string

The results showed that the detecting resolution for 1 lOkV lines is about two faulty insulators in a string with seven pieces of insulators.

IV.INFLUENCES ON THE RESOLUTION

A. the Amount o f Insulators on the String

The largest voltage drop in the normal string with seven pieces of insulators was measured to be more than 18kV while the amount of detected pulses was less than 8. The largest voltage drop in the string with two pieces of good insulators and one faulty insulator (Sample#l) was less than 11kV while more than 70 pulses could be detected. Compared the largest voltage drops and the amount of pulses in the cases, we found that, although the voltage drop across the insulator in the former is higher, the amount of the pulse detected is less. That can be explained that the amount of insulators in 11OkV line was more so that the impedance in measuring circuit was larger and the pulse current detected through the ground line was less. It indicates that the more the amount of insulators on the string is, the less the detecting resolution will be.

We found in the test that the voltage drops across faulty insulators were dependent on insulator resistance. On the same position, the voltage drop of the faulty insulator with lower resistance was smaller than that of the faulty insulator with large resistance. So the voltage drops of the two cases were different. Compared to corona pulse distribution, shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3, the amount of pulses in Fig.2 is more than that in Fig.3. It could be explained that the low resistance faulty insulator could cause a higher voltage drop across good insulators on the string, producing more active corona discharges and resulting in the amount of detected pulses.

D.the Location of the Faulty Insulator on the String

The voltage distribution in the string changed with the position of the faulty insulators in the string. When the same faulty insulator was on the different position, the voltage drops across good insulators were different and the amount of pulses produced by them were different. Compared to corona pulse distribution produced by good insulators, shown in Fig.4 and Fig.5, the closer the faulty insulators are to line, the larger voltage drop across the good insulator is, the more the number of current pulse is more.

B. the Corona Characteristics o f the Insulators Close to the Line

The good insulator with a large voltage drop across it can produce corona discharges. When a string consisted of five pieces of good insulators and two of the faulty insulators, the insulator on No.1 position in the string played an important role in producing corona pulses. For example, sample#5 produced more current pulses compared to sample#6 because the corona inception voltage of Sample% was higher than that of Sample#5. Table.2 shows the test results.

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V .CONCLUSION
1 . The detecting resolution for 35kV lines is a faulty insulator in the string with three pieces of insulator, and that resolution for 11OkV lines is two faulty insulators in a string with seven pieces of insulators.

2 . The amount of insulators on the string influences the detecting resolution. The more the amount of insulators in the string is, the lower the detecting resolution is.
3. The corona characteristics of the insulators close to line influences the detecting resolution. The higher the corona inception voltages of the insulators close to line are, the lower the detecting resolution is.

Institute in 1995 and received her M.S in electrical engineering from North China Electric Power University in 1998. Her current research interests is detecting of faulty insulators on high-voltage transmitting line Yang Chun Cheng he w a s born on September 6, 1974 He received thz B.S. and M.S.degrees in electrical engineering from Xian Jiaotong University and North China Elecu respectively. His current research i monitoring and diagnostics of insul

4. The resistance of faulty insulators influences the detecting resolution. The higher the resistance of the faulty insulators is, the lower the detecting resolution is.

5. The location of the faulty insulators influences the detecting resolution. The closer the faulty insulators are to line, the higher the detecting resolution.
KACKNOWLEDGE The authors gratefully acknowledge the Chinese Power Electric Education Foundation for financial support.

W.REFERENCE
[l] Bo Kehan, operation in service, Electric Power Press,1988. [2] Guo Zhongyao, introduction to detecting faulty insulators, Fujian Power Information, No.1, pp.12-19, 1996. [3] H. Vaillancourt, J. P. Bellerive, M. St-Jean, and C. Jean, New Live Line Tester for Porcelain insulators on High-Voltage Power Line, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vo1.9, Januaty 1994, pp.208-219.
[4] C.R.Li, Q,Shi, and Y.C.Cheng, The Pulse Current from Faulty Suspension Insulators and Some Types of Corona Discharges, Proceedings of 10 Intemationai Symposium of High Voltage Engineering, Volume3, outdoor insulation, pp125-128.

WI.BIOGRAPHIES
Cheng Rong Li received the Ph.D in electrical engineering from Tsing Hua University in 1989. He is a professor in electrical engineering of North China Electric Power University. His cukent research interests are surface flashover on dielectric materials, 2-pinch plasma for X-ray source, high pulse power sources, monitoring and diagnostics o f insulation materials and power equipments. Qian shi was graduated with a B.A. form GeZhouBa Electric Power

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