Gas Insulated Cables

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-20 No.
5, October 1985 859
GAS- INSULATED CABLES
Alan H. Cookson
Dielectrics and Insulation Department
Westinghouse R&D Center
Pittsburgh, PA
ABSTRACT
Compressed-gas insulated transmission lines or cables
have been in service since 1968, with over 13 km (cir-
cuit length) in operation worldwide at voltages from
145 to 550 kV. The design philosophy and development
are reviewed for the "rigid", flexible, and semi-flexible
isolated phase lines, the three-conductor lines and the
prototype dc gas-insulated cable system. The various
designs of insulators, conductors, enclosures, particle
traps, and terminations are described, together with the
techniques for grounding and corrosion protection,
factory and site testing, fault diagnostics, and calcu-
lation of current ratings.
1. INTRODUCTION 14, 000 13,140

The first installations of compressed-gas insulated
transmission lines or cables (CGIT) were in the U.S.A.
1200 4-500kV
El 30-40kV
17
in 1968/1969 [1-5]. There are now over 13 km (cir- m 200-300kV
cuit length) in operation worldwide (Fig. 1) at HVAC 2 - kV
voltages from 145 kV through 550 kV (2), an 800 kV 800 - 10-20kV 7524
system is to be installed in 1985, and a 1200 kV
system has been developed and is under test [6-8]. 60L 5576 5770
These have been of the isolated phase "rigid" design,
where there is an extruded aluminum conductor sup- > 4000 4013
ported on cast epoxy insulators inside an aluminum
enclosure of either extruded or spiral welded pipe, 238
and filled with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas at typi- o 23
cally 0.4 to 0.5 MPa. Recent advances have included 122 626
a test loop of a 362 kV flexible gas cable system
[9,10], three-conductor gas cable designs at 362 and '71 '72 '73 174 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82
550 kV [11,12], construction of a semi-flexible 1200 Year
kV CGIT system [13], high electrical stress designs
[13,14], studies of forced cooled and high temperature Fig. 1: TotaZ length (cirouit-meters) of CU2T
systems [15,16], and research directed towards HVDC systems installed throughout the world [2].
gas cable systems [17].
Clearly, this has been a period of extremely rapid This review concentrates primarily on the dielectric
development, and CGIT systems are now an accepted part materials and HV insulation designs for CGIT systems.
of HV transmission systems. This growth has been due Other aspects, such as mechanical, thermal, current
to the following CGIT advantages: economy; high cur- rating, corrosion, shipping, installation, and opera-
rent carrying capacity to directly match that of over- tion are also considered.
head lines; static., sealed and inert system; low capa-
citance; low losses; availability at all voltage rat- The paper does not cover gas-insulated substations
ings; no fire risk; and reliability comparable to or (GIS), although the principle of the CGIT designs are
better than conventional systems [1-5 ,18-26] . Typical used in the connecting lengths of GIS bus between GIS
installations (Fig. 2) of CGIT systems have been in components. However, for long lengths of CGIT it is
buried and aboveground getaways, links inside sub- usually more economical to have special designs. The
stations and, for systems inside tunnels, vertical CIGRE Working Group 21-12 on Compressed Gas Insulated
shafts, and transmission towers [1-3,23-31]. Cables [2,31] defines a gas cable (CGIT) as a system
0018-9367/85/ 1000-0859$0 1.00 @ 1985 IEEE
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:03 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
860 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-20 No.5, October 1985
longer than 100 circuit meters, and only these were 6.4 mm wall thickness. The lines are made in shipping
covered in the recent installation survey [2]. modules of 12 to 18 m length, with support insulators
separated by 6 to 12 m. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) at
The review describes the "rigid" isolated phase a pressure of 4 to 5 atm (0.4 to 0.5 MPa) provides the
CGIT systems, the"semi-flexible", "flexible" designs, HV insulation and enables efficient transfer of heat
and three-conductor designs. A brief description is from the conductor to the enclosure. Modules are joined
then given of the development of HVDC gas insulated together by welding or plug-in conductor joints, and by
cables, and directions indicated for future research enclosure joints which are welded or flanged, the
and development. latter only being applicable for above-ground use.
Because of the limited flexibility of this CGIT design,
for this review it is described as "rigid". Changes
in direction are achieved with elbows, which can be
shipped preassembled as part of the module or spheres
attached to the bus. Thermal expansion of the conduc-
tor is allowed for either by a plug-in joint or by a
Ai Bt'' .conductor
' expansion section. Special care must be
taken to ensure a clean assembly, and, in addition,
some designs have particle traps to deactivate any
particle contaminants. The high voltage is connected
by bushings, usually SF6 insulated. These components
,.u /e are discussed later, in addition to techniques for HV
I ' testing, grounding, and diagnostics.
The design of the HV insulation system (Sections
T2.1.2 andtest2.1.3)
impulse
is d etermined by the lightning
u sually
level (BIL). The typical CGIT dimensions
given in Table 1 are based on a conductor design field
of the order 17 kV/mm; this neglects any local stress-
;kb X/DF 0 raising areas such as at plug-in joints. The ratings
giveinTabe Iare for buried systems.
sV'
X ,:afr/////are
5 | ///^The standard BIL
given in Table
and ac, 1 minute factory test levels,
2 [33]. Unlike free standing HV
circuit breakers, there is no chopped-wave test, but
only the full-wave BIL. A system study is usually made
for every CGIT installation to ensure proper voltage
insulation coordination with other components and
arrester ratings [34-37]. Usually a surge arrester of
the appropriate rating is required at the CGIT entrance
bushings where the CGIT connects to overhead lines. If
the CGIT line is sufficiently short (4200 m), only one
surge arrester may be needed [36].
Tha actual values of electric field at the conductor
for the ac and BIL levels are given in Table 3. This
shows that when a design is based on a fixed BIL field,
the continuous ac field will increase with the voltage
i X -XY, ^ e.g. from 2.0 to 4.1 kV/mm for 145 kV and 800
rating,
~x \>
N|||||||i\^L^*.><\oS<+
~ kV\ systems.
v This means that more stringent cleanliness
Jconditions are required and, as discussed in Section
2.1.3, greater care is also required for the insulator
design and manufacture [3,14,32].
Fig. 2: InstaZlation of a 230 kV, 4 kA CGIT system
in an open trench The characteristic CGIT capacitance and inductance
values are also given in Table 3.
2. HVAC ISOLATED PHASE SYSTEM Alternative Designs

2.1 RIGID TYPE DESIGNS Each manufacturer has its own variations on the basic
CGIT design of Fig. 3, and these designs go through
2.1.1 General Design various generations with improvements in performance
and simplified manufacture and assembly. The design
Design Philosophy variations are primarily on the insulator design and
how the insulator is attached to the conductor and
Most of the present CGIT installations are of the enclosure.
isolated phase design [2]. Typical configurations
[3,32] are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The conductor, The specific design in Fig. 3 [32,3] uses a mixture
typically of high conductivity extruded aluminum of Tripost and conical cast epoxy insulators, the in-
6101-T64 (59% conductivity of copper) with a 12.7 mm sulators being attached to the conductor. With axial
wall thickness, is supported on cast epoxy insulators thermal expansion of the conductor, the insulators
inside an aluminum enclosure sheath, made from extruded move inside the housing, either on sliding pads or on
aluminum (e.g. 6063-T6, 53% conductivity of copper) or wheels. An alternative concept is to have the insula-
spiral welded aluminum pipe (e.g. 5454-H34), usually of tor attached to the enclosure and the conductor slides
Cookson: Gas-insulated cables 861
through a metallic sleeve cast into the conductor.

The sliding electrical contact between the conductor/
enclosure and the insulator for this design is critical,
as failure of this contact can result in arcing, which
may develop into a fault.
Sheath to be Welded
to Adjacent Sheath
Insulating SF6 Gas l Silver Plated

Conductor Plug
\Semi Stop Joint Spacer/
Tri Post Spacer
X~ ~~ \ 2-*
~~~~*-,-
~~~~~
Sheath Particle Trap ParticleConductor Finger Contacts
Inside Conductor
Fig. 3: TypicaZ design of compressed gas insulated
transmission line. Shipping module is 18 m long
with insulators every 6 m. Other designs may use
only disc or conical insulators. Drawing not to
scale.
CGIT systems have used cast epoxy post insulators [5,11,

38-40,42-47], disc insulators [4,23,24,25], and conical
insulators [28,48-52]. Where the insulators are all
fixed to the enclosure, this is usually made at an en-
closure joint [49,4] or by an attachment through the
enclosure [14]i. A more detailed description of the in-
sulators is given in Section 2.1.3.
It should be noted that if there is a shipping module

with several insulators, then one insulator is fixed
to both the conductor and the enclosure. This ensures
that the conductor section is maintained within its own
section, and does not move down the inside of the line
with temperature cycling. Also, in vertical installa-
tions, each section is supporting its own conductor so
that the total conductor weight is not supported on any
one component.
There are other CGIT designs which have not been in-
stalled but are of interest. One design uses a semi-
prefabricated unit [53]. The 12 m long semi-sealed
shipping unit is made of a thin stainless steel conduc-
tor housing, supported inside an aluminum sheath on
cast epoxy semi-gas tight conical insulators at the
ends, with another post support insulator at the center.
_______ For the field joint, there is a simple shielded conduc-
tor joint and welded sleeve sheath joint. The current-
carrying conductor is a stranded aluminum conductor that
is pulled through the conductor housing after installa-
tion of 10 to 20 units.
Fig. 4: CGIT system with cast epoxy Tripost and

conicaZ insuZators [59].
Table 1
Dimensions and Rating of Isolated Phase,
Buried CGIT Systems
l <S > Soil

Depth = 914 mm
t
X W t 12.7 mm
d
Is
Nominal
Voltage Rating ds t( d S Current (2)
ac Max/BIL Rating (2) Losses
kV mm mm mm mm A MVA W/Circuit-m
145/650 241 6.4 89 394 1400 335 124

242/900 307 6.6 102 457 1700 680 151
362/1050 381 7.6 127 559 2000 1200 158
550/1550 508 6.4 178 711 2350 2050 207
800/1800 635 6.4 203 813 2750 3650 236
(1) Extruded sheath 145 kV through 362 kV, spiral welded sheath at
550 kV and 800 kV.
(2) For 35C sheath temperature rise in soil of thermal conductivity 90C
cm/W, 250C ambient, unity load factor.
Table 2
High Voltage Test Levels for CGIT Systems(1)
Design and
Maximum Rated Design Test Design Test Factory Test Field Test
System Voltage BIL Sw. Surge 60 Hz, 1 Min 60 Hz, 1 Min
kV rms kV Peak kV Peak kV rms kV rms
145 650 -- 310 230
242 900 __ 425 320

362 900 -- 425 320
1050 825 500 375
550 1300 1050 615 460
1550 1175 740 550
800 1800 1425 860 645
(1) Recommended Test Levels of IEEE Working Group 70.1, "Voltage

Ratings of Gas Insulated Substations" [33].
Table 3
Design Field and Electrical Characteristics of
Isolated Phase CGIT Systems
Voltage Rating Surge
ac Max/BIL Continuous ac BIL Field Capacitance Inductance Impedance
kV kV rms/mm kV/mm pF/m pH/m Q
145/650 2.0 15.5 58.7 0,190 56.6
242/900 2.6 16.8 52.5 0.210 63.3
362/1050 3.1 15.4 51.8 0.213 64.2
550/1550 3.5 17.0 54.1 0.203 61.5

800/1800 4.1 15.8 49.5 0.223 67.1
conductor Bundle Design Other proposed conductor bundle designs use a rigid
conductor bundle system, where the supporting insulator
Fig. 5 shows an experimental design where a conductor interface with the conductor is inside the shielded
bundle fits around a "star" type of insulator made from conductor region (Section 2.1.3) One of these proposed
a molded or extruded material such as polysulfone [54], systems uses the conductor bundle (typically five con-
inside an insulating tube (e.g. of polypropylene). The ductors) also to carry the current [55]. The other
conductors in this case are of stranded conductors with proposed system uses a central current-carrying conduc-
an insulated covering. The advantage of this design tor with the surrounding conductor bundle only for
(Sections 2.1.3, 2.2] is that the insulator-conductor electrostatic shielding of the insulator-conductor
interface is well shielded, and offers the prospect of interface [56].
simple, low cost insulators. One proposed application
for this system is for the aluminum enclosure to be 2.1.2 SF6 Gas Insulation
installed first, and then the conductor-insulator
assembly pulled through afterwards. This design is The primary high voltage insulation in CGIT systems
discussed further in flexible CGIT systems (Section is the SF6 gas, which is usually at a pressure of 0.4
2.2.2). to 0.5 MPa.
This section reviews the HV dielectric performance

of SF6 in the absence of insulators; the sections fol-
lowing consider the performance with insulators. The
breakdown characteristics of SF6 gas are discussed in
\Sheath relation to CGIT systems. The detailed breakdown
characteristics and mechanisms of SF6 in uniform and
nonuniform fields are therefore not covered, as these
are described in other papers [57-63].
High VoZtage Characteristics of SF6 Gas
Breakdown Characteristics
The general HV breakdown characteristics in compressed
SF6 gas are similar to other gases at high pressures and
high fields [57-68]. Certain salient facts concerning
Flexible < \\ breakdown
the \i of high-pressure gas are listed and
Conductor described below.
(1) Paschen's law, that the uniform field breakdown
voltage is only a function of the product of density
and electrode separation is no longer satisfied, the
deviation beginning to occur (i.e. lowering in break-
down voltage when the pressure (density) is increased
\& w r Xat fields above 10 to 20 kV/mm. These reductions in
Insulating breakdown voltage may be due to electrode imperfec-
Spacer tions, dust, or particles, which create local high-
field areas where electrons can create electron ava-
lanches and lead to streamer-initiated breakdown.
Fig. .5: "Trefoil" spacler cable. Conductor insulator
assembly may be directlty i~ns-ide metallvc sheath. or
inside insulating tube which is inside sheath [54].
(2) Conditioning is present; i.e. the breakdown voltage where S is the area (cm2), E is the breakdown field, Ed
increases with repeated low-energy breakdowns (spark is the theoretical breakdown field (=8.9 p kV/mm where
conditioning) or increases if the voltage is raised in p is in atm), and empirical expressions for m, Eo and
voltage steps or very slowly increased (stress condi- X are
tioning). Conditioning may be the progressive destruc- Ed
tion of high-field sites on the electrodes (protru- Eo = kV/mm
sions, dust, particles) or movement of particles into 1+0.355 pO.7
low-field regions where they cannot initiate breakdown. m = 7.4 (2)
(3) Electrode material and surface preparation have a = X0 exp[l.15 p]

significant effect; the breakdown voltage increasing
with better electrode finish [57,58,60]. The reduction where XA is dependent on the electrode material and
in breakdown voltage from the theoretical "intrinsic" finish and, for practical aluminum electrodes, is given
level is a function of the product of pressure p and as 102 [73].
height h of the electrode imperfection [65,66,69,70].
Deviations begin for ph '4 kPa mm (Fig. 6 [70]).
Vo Ztage Wave form Effects
90 The effect of different voltage waveforms on the
breakdown voltage level in SF6 is due to the statisti-
80 \ ; - cal and formative time lags of the breakdown mechanisms
[74-80]. The statistical time lag t5 is the time for
_70 \\ \ _ the initiatory electron to appear, e.g. by irradiation,
X- \x\ \ &electron emission, or by detachment from negative ions.
60 \ 9\& S\ s The formative time lag is the sum of the time te re-
quired for the electron avalanche to reach a critical
E 5o -u)\E\ A value, and the time tf, required for the highly con-
>. N S S\\ ~ |ducting spark channel to be formed by thermal dissocia-
ci
40 _ o &\\ _h/r=l tion and ionization of the insulating gas. The total
\ \i 40- 2 time lag is the sum of ts, tc, and tf.
30 _ \ 2 3
The results of these effects can be seen in the SF6 4
s| 6 ,breakdown
, I data [80] in Fig. 8 for the ac, lightning ,
20 10
2 4 6 10 20 40 impulses (1.5/50 ,us) and switching impulses (150/2000 100
Gas Pressure x Protrusion Height, kPa-mm ,us). Typically, the negative lightning impulse break-
down value is 15 to 20% higher than the negative
practical
of theoretical and
thresho. Comparison
Fig. 6:
6: switching impulse value, and 15% to 20% above
pareso theobreticakdowngradient
of
threshold values of the breakdowJn gradient in SF6
inthe positive impulse breakdown value is above the nega-
tive value, but for shorter time lags, the positive
assuming surface projection of height h and hemi- value can be lower [76,79,81,82]. This is obviously
sphericaZ radius r on cathode [70]. important for overvoltage insulation coordination of
the CGIT line.
600
-. Fine Finish There is also a long time ac stressed effect in SF6.
^ Typically, the gas breakdown field decreases very
>
E & ------ Rough
R
Finish
F
| slowly, of the order 3% per decade of time. For SF6 at
40() W & 0.44MPathe curves fit Eq. (3) [73].
400
atm
Pressure,
Pressure, E = 17.0 t -1/74 kV/mm (3)
~300 8.
V) -_ _ 6 ParticZe Effects
* 200
Cs 4 Metallic particles can produce a significant reduc-
* 100 _ tion in the ac gas breakdown voltage, as shown in
o Fig. 9 [57-59,83-91]. Under ac, particles are elevated
0 and begin to hover above the bottom electrode. With
10 100 1000 10 000 increasing voltage stress they become more active and
Area (cm2 can eventually cross the gap. For an optimized coaxial
geometry, where the field at the inner conductor is
nearly three times that at the outer conductor, break-
Fig. 7: Minimum ac breakdown field (0.5% breakdown down can occur when particles cross the gap to the
probability) in SF6 as function of eZectrode area inner conductor or, as a second condition, at a higher
[68] voltage, when the field at the conductor reaches a
critical value for the particle.
(4) The breakdown field decreases with increasing area
(Fig. 7 [68]) . This is related to the extreme value The particle activity increases with increasing parti-
breakdown distribution of initiation by "weak points" cle length and decreasing particle diameter (for cylin-
on the electrode surface [68,71-73]. The extreme value drical particles) and with decreasing particle density.
distribution is of the form [68,73] Nonconducting particles are usually not harmful except
if they have conducting powder attached, when they act
E-Eo m similar to metallic particles.
p(S) = 1 - exp[-XS ( Ed)] (1)
40 Eliminating particles, or being able to trap them,

40 r | is obviously critical for a reliable CGIT system.
These techniques are covered in Section 2.1.5.
Design FieZds
30
E (+) BIL Extrapolating breakdown values from small
scale,
E E= 8.9p / (-)BIL short time (e.g. minutes) experiments to large practi-
> SI/ /
L+SI cal system of long expected life (e.g. 40 years) has
-ci
_!5 } / (-)SIL
SIL
been a
challenge for all HV systems
liquid, with solid,
/
-gaseous, and vacuum insulation. In practice, the pro-
zs! 2 AC
totype equipment has usually been built, put into ser-

vice, and then theoretical analyses made to verify the
system. This has been fairly satisfactory in the past
co
with the low-stress designs. However, with the trend
10
2to more compact, highly stressed designs and the pre-
mium being placed on cost and reliability, it becomes
increasingly important to have improved understanding
of the dielectric breakdown and mathematical models for
extrapolation to practical systems.
O Statistical models using value
Gaussian distributions [94] have been used[68,71-73]
1 2
0 1 2 3
atm
4 5 extreme and
to extrapo-
6 late with some success both the time and electrode area
dependence of large systems. They have also been
Fig. 8: ac, Zightning (BIL), and switching (SIL) applied where the large system was not of a uniform
inrpuZse breakdown field in SF6 for coaxial geometry, geometry, but included more highly stressed local areas,
100/320 mm diameter, with 32 lpm finish on condzictor such as stress shields for insulator mountings [95].
[80] .
The actual design stresses will vary with the CGIT
1500 _ manufacturers' design criteria and cleanliness; for
example, some early designs had large-diameter enclo-
sures and operated with SF6 at only 0.2 MPa. However,
Whout'
7 most CGIT systems now have SF6 at 0.4 to 0.5 MPa.
25076mm//Wire 250176mm WI/ reAs described earlier, the CGIT system insulation co-
X 1/ / ordination is such that for HV design testing, the
X 1000 t / T/ Visible Fireflies, DC ratio of BIL to peak ac test voltage (1 minute) is of
/ )p
the order of 1.5, whereas the gas breakdown ratio is
//gT !
X / / , 1
typically 1.3 [57-61,96,97]. Thus, the BIL is the
critical design test for SF6 insulation. Experiments,
,i/ / DC Spark Breakdown statistical analyses and experience have shown that
for SF6 at 0.4 to 0.5 MPa an acceptable conductor BIL
i8 500 -, T f g H design stress is 17 kV/mm.
co > ZS | Gaseous and Moisture Contamination
60OHz AC (Peak)
SparkBreakdown \in The gas breakdown
uniform characteristics of compressed SF6
or near uniform (e.g. CGIT coaxial geometry)
0 Spark Breakdwn fields are fairly insensitive to small additions of dry
0 5 10 air or nitrogen [57-61,96-102]; e.g. a 20% addition of
15
SF Pressure 1m 1 air (by volume) only lowers the gas breakdown
SF6Pressure, atm by less than 5%. Small quantities of dry air voltage
('2%) are
not considered damaging.
Fig. 9: Breakdown in SF6 with Al wires, 6.4 mm long, It is of interest to note that 50-50
0.45 mm dia. [59,85]. SF6-nitrogen mix-
tures (by volume) have been proposed as a lower cost
insulating gas than SF6 alone. Typically, this mixture
Under lightning and switching impulses, the particles would need to be at a 10% higher gas pressure to have
may become partly elevated. The particle response is, the same strength as SF6. This offers a potential 40%
slow, however, such that the elevation occurs only cost savings for the gaseous insulation. Similar mix-
after the excitation has ended. The particles, in this tures have been used in circuit breakers where very low
case, therefore, do not have much effect on the break- temperature performance (-50C) was required [104].
down voltages. However, this is not true if the
particles are already moving under ac or are deposited Other novel gases and SF6 mixtures have been studied
on insulators. In these cases the breakdown voltage as an alternative to SF6, but none have been put into
can be lowered significantly [92,93]. The particle service or shown to be commercially attractive [57,58,
effects on insulator flashover are described in 91,103-107].
Section 2.1.3.
The addition of water vapor to SF6 has a small effect
The particle motion under dc is much more active than on the gas breakdown voltage, only reducing it by per-
for ac. This is discussed in Section 4 on HVDC CGIT haps S to 10% at 100% relative humidity. However, the
systems. moisture has a significant deleterious effect on the
insulator flashover voltage (Section 2.1.3). This This section reviews insulators specifically for CGIT
establishes a limit on the allowable moisture content systems. It is not intended as an overall review of
such that condensation on the insulator surface does all types of insulators in compressed gases, or of the
not occur. Present CGIT systems typically set an upper mechanisms of insulator flashover; these areas are
operating humidity limit of 500 ppm (volume) with 1000 covered in other papers [57,58,109]. The section dis-
ppm as the level for discontinuation from service. cusses the various insulator geometries, insulator
materials, voltage endurance, tracking, and the effect
Gas Monitoring System of particles.
There are two techniques in use to monitor the pres- The general design philosopy for insulators is to
sure (or density) of SF6 CGIT systems to determine if minimize the internal and external insulator fields.
leakage is occurring. These are listed below. The insulator field typically has been limited to less
than 4 kV/mm rms (Table 3), based on voltage endurance
(1) Monitor the gas density using temperature-compen- data. However, recently, with improved materials and
sated, pressure-sensitive devices. If there are no processing, high stress designs of 5 and 6 kV/mm rms
leaks, the gas density remains constant regardless of have been developed [6,7,13,14].
how the pressure is varying with temperature [4,108].
The maximum permissible insulator surface field is
(2) Monitor the differential pressure of two phases of dependent on the SF6 gas pressure, cleanliness, and the
the line relative to the third phase, each phase being insulator design. Most designs use the criterion of
a separate gas system. As the temperature and load the resultant field at the dielectric surface, equating
varies, the temperature and therefore pressure in each this to the maximum conductor field in the gas. Gener-
phase will be the same unless there is a loss of gas ally there has been good agreement with the calculated
or an unsymmetrical load [39,40]. flashover voltage under very clean conditions [109-117,
124]. This means the insulators are designed (with
Typically, the first alarm is given at the 10% loss electrostatic field plots) for a critical field value
of gas pressure/density from the nominal gas operating either at the insulator surface, or at a conductor or
conditions. The CGIT system must be able to meet all adjacent shielding electrode.
the HV tests at this first alarm level. For a further
10% loss, the HV breakers should be set to trip and However, there are some indications that with surfaces
disconnect the line from service. It should be noted contaminated with particles, it is the tangential field
that standards in some countries such as Japan require that is critical and not the resultant field [118].
that HV tests be met at atmospheric pressure. Thus, Thus, the optimum insulator configuration may involve a
the reason for their larger size. compromise between the tangential and perpendicular
stresses on an insulator surface.
2.1 .3 Support Insulators
All CGIT lines in service use cast epoxy insulators.
Design PhiZosophy In order to avoid the interface problem well known with
insulators, where voids or small gas gaps can initiate
Support insulators are the most critical single com- volume puncture or surface flashover [57,58,109], the
ponent for the dielectric performance of CGIT lines. insulators are either cast directly onto the conductor
This is apparent when it is recognized that most of the or metal inserts, or have the interface well shielded.
failures during the factory test, and during testing or
use in the field are associated with an insulator, Insulator Geometries
either by flashover along the surface, or puncture Post InsuZators
through the volume of the insulator. Typical cast epoxy post insulators used in CGIT sys-
TheTherequirements CGIT insulators are severe. They
requirements on CGITinsulatorsaresevere.They on
types:are shown in Fig. 10. There are three basic
tems
t
must be able to:
(1) ithstand the high internal and surface electric (1) Single posts, cast with rounded metallic inserts
fields, typically up to 4.1 kV/mm rms for continuous at each end, which are then attached directly to the
operation and 17.0 kV/mm peak under lightning impulse conductors. The insulator is optimized depending on
the geometry of the metallic inserts and the post shaDe
conditions. [11,14,39,42,43,45,46,53,115]. With this design it is
possible to have a lower field everywhere at the insu-
lator surface than at the conductor [115]. The insula-
(3) Withstand short-circuit forces. tors are relatively simple to cast. The major disad-
vantage is that the field between the inserts in the
solid is high, perhaps at least 50% above the inner
(4) Be of a nontracking material so that no conducting conductor field, and unless care is taken, volume
tracks occur during testing. puncture may result.
(5) Be relatively insensitive to surface contamination. (2) In the second design, a single post is cast di-
rectly onto the conductor or a metal conductor sleeve,
(6) If it is a gas tight insulator, withstand a test still with a metal insert athe
t other end of the post
pressure of 3.25 times the maximum working pressure (Fig. 10). This design has lower internal fields than
and be leak tight to less than 1% loss of gas per year the first type, such that the maximum internal field
[33]. and maximum surface field at the insulator are similar
in magnitude to the conductor field in the gas [11,12,
(7) Withstand from -40C up to a hot spot temperature 14,46,112,113,116,117,119,120J. This single-post de-
of 105C. sign is usually of relatively thick cross section
(perhaps 100 mm diameter) for the necessary mechanical
s trength .
Inner Conductor
Posts
Cones Metal Insert Outer Conductor
Shielding Electrodes Insert

Discs
Tripost Dipost
Fig. 10: Designs of cast epoxy insulators [58].
(3) A variation of the single-post design is the Tri- conducting layer to make contact with the enclosure,
post insulator (Figs. 4 and 10), where three slender or by casting the insulator directly onto a mounting,
posts (X40 mm diameter) are cast in a single structure grounding, or shielding ring in the outer part of the
onto the conductor or conductor sleeve with metal in- disc.
serts in the outer part of each leg [3,6,7,32].
With disc insulators, the maximum fields in the in-
Some post designs have a single large shed or several sulator and along the surface are similar to that at
small sheds which effectively stop particles moving the conductor in the gas.
from the enclosure to the higher stressed region at the
inner conductor [14,127,128]. This design is claimed Particles are more likely to be deposited on discs
to have a superior performance under contaminated con- than posts, and the performance under contaminated
ditions. conditions is inferior to conical insulators [124].
For these post designs, the outer metal insert is For completeness, the non-gas tight, non-cast epoxy
usually attached to a metallic ring which fits inside disc insulator system developed for the flexible gas
the enclosure and is electrically connected to the en- cable (Section 2.2.2) should be mentioned, as it also
closure. In other designs, the insert is bolted to or could be used for a rigid type of cable [9,10,128].
directly attached to the enclosure. It is made from an injection-molded thermoplastic,
such as a polyimide acrylic or polysulfone. The in-
Post insulators have the advantages of relatively low sulator is of the split design, with the two halves
cost, simple mounting inside a line, offer no restric- clamping around the conductor and clipping together.
tion to the gas and have a small area for particles to By having a thin (X6 mm) I-beam shape cross section,
collect. They obviously cannot be used for gas there is little (5%) additional stress enhancement
barriers. at the conductor.
Disc InsuZators ConicaZ Insulators
Cast epoxy disc insulators were used in the earliest Conical insulators in use with, or suitable for,
CGIT lines [4,5,24,25] and typical examples are shown CGIT systems are shown in Figs. 4 and 10. These are
in Fig. 10. They can be used as simple supports or cast directly onto the conductor, and usually cap-
for gas barriers. The insulator can be optimized by tured between flanges or mounting rings.
varying the contact angle to the conductor from 60'
to 70 [114]. Small corrugations do not appear to Conical insulators have been optimized for the angle
improve the performance [121-123]. of the cone [124] and for a transition to a disc in-
sulator as it approaches the enclosure [125]. Im-
The discs are cast directly onto the conductor. proved performance is obtained if the clamping or
There are several techniques to shield the outer part mounting rings at the enclosure have a step to reduce
of the disc, e.g. by capturing between flanges with the field at the interface [116].
suitable profiles, by coating the outer area with a
Ribs, either single or multiple have been used with A quite different insulator concept is to use
some designs to reduce the effect of contamination Kevlar (aromatic polyimide) fibers to support the
[14,28,49,50]. The conical insulator can be mounted conductor from a metal ring frame that fits inside the
inside the enclosure without flanges [6,7,32,48-50]. sheath [129]. The fiber bundle is inside a PTFE tube
to prevent damage to the fibers in the event of flash-
The conical insulator can be designed so that the over during testing. The flashover performance tested
maximum fields in the insulator and along the surface on a 145 kV CGIT section was at least as good as the
are as much as 30% less than at the conductor in the conventional cast epoxy insulators.
gas far away from the insulator. However, the field
at the conductor inside the cone in the gas will be InsuZator Materials
increased by perhaps 30%. Also, fields at the outer
mounting/shielding rings can be similar to the far Material Formulation
conductor field, and care is required in the ring de-
sign at the insulator interface [117]. Present CGIT systems use cast, filled epoxy resin
systems. The insulators are cast in metallic molds
Other CGIT InsuZators under vacuum and cured under carefully controlled tem-
perature conditions to make a casting free of voids
Several new insulator concepts have been tested for and cracks and ensure good adhesion to the conductor
CGIT application, although none have been installed or metal sleeve on which the insulators are cast.
in service. The main thrusts have been to overcome
the critical high-field insulator-conductor interface The basic specifications for the epoxy material are
problem by creating a low-field region with shielding, [130]: (1) high internal breakdown strength and long life
and to replace cast epoxy material by a lower-cost endurance at the operating stress (e.g 4kV/mm rms);
system to manufacture. (2) heat distortion temperature above 1050C, prefer-
ably 120C, (3) adequate mechanical strength at oper-
The star-shaped insulator [54] shown in Figs. 5 and ating temperatures; (4) low permittivity (<5) and low
11 and developed for a flexible CGIT cable (Section tan6 (<5.0%); (5) compatible with dry SF6 conditions;
2.3) has a three (or four) conductor bundle that fits (6) nontracking for test voltage flashovers. Some
around a trefoil (or cross shaped) insulator and holds manufacturers match the epoxy thermal expansion co-
the insulator in place [54]. The insulator is a efficient to that of the conductor, whereas others do
simple, low-cost molded thermoset, e.g., polysulfone. not.
The other conductor bundle designs (Fig. 11), more
suitable for the rigid than a flexible CGIT system, Generally epoxy resins of bisphenol A, cycloalipha-
use a widely spaced conductor bundle to shield the in- tic, or hydantoin have been used, sometimes in com-
sulator interface, the insulator either being a simple bination. Fillers (typically 70% by weight) of
slab of material [55] or a tripost design on a cen- quartz, fused silica, alumina, or aluminum trihydrate
tral, current-carrying conductor [56]. All the de- have been used singly or in combination to reduce
signs result in an insulator where the maximum field shrinkage and provide the necessary mechanical, elec-
on the insulator surface is typically 40% less than trical and track resistant properties [14,73,130-134].
for a conventional coaxial insulator [54,182]. This
gives the insulator a high flashover voltage, even Tracking
with some surface contamination. However, the maxi-
mum conductor field for the bundle system is typically The insulator material must not track in the event
30% higher than for the coaxial conductor, so care is of a flashover during testing in the factory or in
needed with the conductor [182]. the field. This is absolutely essential if SF6 sys-
tems are to be considered "self restoring" [135].
Discs Inner Conductor Cycloaliphatic resins have superior track resistance

______________________ compared to bisphenyl A resins but have lower mechan-
ical strength and higher permittivity. Alumina or
__ _ _ _ _ _ i_ _ hydrated alumina fillers improve the track resistance,
although they suffer the disadvantage of higher per-
Shielding Electroes mittivity and have a higher thermal expansion coeffi-
cient than materials with quartz or silica filler
_1___)__
5 1qr1 ) [130,131,136]. This explains why blends are some-
times used to optimize an insulator material.
Cut-Out Disc Dipost Filament Wound Special test techniques have been developed to eval-
uate insulator materials that simulate the high-energy
flashover in SF6 under test voltages in the field to
determine if the material tracks [137,138]. Here the
0%
t 0 to0 0- tracking is due to the high energy in the arc. In this
"
+ respect it differs from insulator material tests per-
00 K<hV) Jformed for circuit breakers. The latter evaluate the
_/ z\ e
_/y ~~~~~~~decrease in the insulator withstand capability (i.e,
Multi Conductor Designs decrease in surface resistance) when the insulator is
exposed for a long time to heavily arced SF6 gas,
Fig. 11:Insulator with low usual ly with some moisture present, and the arced gas
materia [58].uZto designs
matericrZ [58].
7Jt o
permi>ttiwitty ~~~~~~1
pout neatwt
29,131,136,140]. h nuao aeil[310
Voltage Endurance The insulator flashover voltage can also be de-

creased by partial discharges and by charging of the
Extended voltage endurance of the cast epoxy insula- insulator surface [143,157,158]. These events should
tors under the continuous operating stress is essen- be reduced by suitable design and attention to clean-
tial. Voltage endurance testing of filled cast epoxy liness.
materials and full size CGIT insulators [73,142-149]
show that the failure times under stress vary as a 2.1.4 Conductors and Joints
negative exponent of the field E (i.e. as E-n where
n%l6), or an expotential function (i.e., exp(-KE), Inner Conductor
where K%30 (kV rms/mm)1) . Defects, voids, cracks,
and poor adhesion to the electrodes can reduce the The inner conductor is usually of extruded high-
life. However, there is no simple correlation be- conductivity aluminum (e.g., 6101-T64). The finish
tween the partial discharge level measured for an is burr free and highly polished, typically to a
insulator and the time to failure [142,143,147]; some finish of better than 100 lim [58]. Most systems used
insulators at high stresses ('8 kV/mm) failed with a bare conductor but some systems use a thin insulat-
almost no corona (<0.1 pC). Large corona levels ing coating, as tests have shown that this can in-
(>10 pC) usually result in puncture in shorter times. crease the gas breakdown voltage [57-61]. Very high
Increasing the temperature or mechanically stressing current rating systems (>8 kA) anodize the aluminum
the system can reduce the time to failure [143,145, conductor so that the black finish increases heat
146,148]. Prestressing the insulator at a high stress dissipation by increasing radiative transfer [45,46].
for a short time (e.g., one hour) does not reduce the
voltage endurance at the lower stresses [142], but
it will result in a reduction if the high stress is
applied for several thousand hours [147]. Although
the discussion has been restricted to ac conditions,
it is of interest to note that the insulator life
with constant dc stress is several orders of magnitude
longer than for ac [144].
High Voltage Flashover
The flashover voltage-gas pressure characteristic
of clean, CGIT insulators in compressed SF6 is very
similar to that of the simple, insulator-free geome-
try, perhaps only 10% less in voltage, with a stand-
ard deviation of the order 5%. The flashover voltage
can be calculated from the field distribution if the
maximum field value is known at the insulator surface
or at the shielding or fixing electrodes on the con-
ductors [109-117,124].
In practice some contamination of the surface will
occur. Metallic contamination will result in a sig- Fig. 12: Plug-in conductor joint assembly [47].
nificant reduction of the flashover voltage: 50% or
more for ac, dc, lightning impulse or switching im-
pulse voltages [58,83,109-111,118,126,127,150-152]. Most CGIT systems use the plug-in conductor joint to
Longer particles are more damaging than small filings accommodate thermal expansion of the conductor [3,4,7,
or powder, and insulating particles do not cause any 8,32,47,48]. The joint (Fig. 12) consists of an alum-
reduction unless they are contaminated with metal pow- inum conductor plug, silver plated, which makes con-
der. The site of the particles on the insulator is tact with a set of silver-plated copper contacts
critical; the greatest effect is where the tangential mounted inside a conductor end section [47,48,159,160].
field, rather than the total field, is highest This joint must be able to carry the full continuous
feldo8 and fault current within the permissible temperature
rise. The joint must make the necessary sliding motion
A single corrugation and multiple corrugations on for the life of the system (e.g., 20 mm for 50000
both post and conical insulators have been reported cycles) without excessive wear. In addition, the con-
to stop particles migrating from the enclosure to ductor joint must be semi-sealed to prevent any parti-
the high-field areas near the conductor and thus in- cles produced from entering the highly stressed part
crease the flashover voltage [14,49,50,126,127]. of the cable.
Moisture decreases the insulator flashover voltage, Other designs use a welded or fixed plug-in conductor
but only when it is in the liquid phase [110,153,156]. joint and rely on either a flex plate, thin, flexed
The most severe condition may be for an above-ground multi-layered aluminum plates, or a flexible cable
situation where, in sunlight on one side, water will system to accommodate the expansion [11,39,43,46,48,49].
be evaporated from the inner enclosure wall and con-
dense on the other parts, including the insulator, Outer Enclosure
still at low temperature [110]. The critical mois-
ture content decreases with increased pressure. Typi- The outer enclosure or sheath is usually fabricated
cally for -40C application at 0.4 to 0.5 MPa in SF6, from extruded aluminum (6063-T6) or spiral-welded
the usual moisture level is 100 ppm (by volume) or aluminum (5454). The inside is usually bare with a
less. The upper operating humidity limit is 500 ppm grit-blasted or sanded finish. Some systems have a
and 1000 ppm is the level for discontinuation from coating inside, e.g. of epoxy paint; this is to ensure
service. cleanliness and perhaps control particle movement
(Section 2.1.5.)
The external surface part of the sheath is usually during operation. The latter involves partially seal-
bare for above-ground use, although some have been ing conductor plug-in joints and designing any other
painted for a color-coordinated finish with other com- sliding contacts (e.g., at the insulators) for minimum
ponents. In buried installations, corrosion protec- wear.
tion of the outside is provided by a coating with an
extruded or taped polyethylene layer on top of a butyl As the shipping nodules increase in length to typi-
rubber adhesive [18,19,39,40]. cally 18 m, it becomes more difficult to ensure ade-
quate cleanliness. Some systems use 'particle traps"
Thermal expansion of the enclosure for above-ground to deactivate particles either by moving them physi-
systems is accommodated by movement of the line and cally into a region with zero or low field where they
bushings on sliding pads or by flexing of the elbows cannot be elevated by the field, or by physically pre-
if the design is suitable. For a fixed installation, venting them being moved. It is of interest to note
bellows must be used, either made of aluminum [47] or that 40% of the CGIT installations use particle traps
stainless steel with aluminum straps for current bypass. [2].
For a buried installation, the enclosure is effectively
locked in the soil and the enclosure and joints must
be able to withstand the compressive forces under
thermal conditions.
The sheath joint is either of a welded or a bolted
flange system. The welded joint uses either a backup ._ __.
ring, a sleeve system, or a "spigot" system with seals
to prevent weld spatter entering the line. L Slotted/Perforated Shield
It is of interest to note that one system uses pro-

tective non-magnetic steel lining inside the aluminum 1
enclosure at insulators and elbows [49,50]. This is
to prevent arc burnthrough in the event of an inter-
nal fault.
EZbows Z Hollow Cylinder Trap

Because of the very limited flexibility of "rigid"
CGIT lines [48], changes of direction are made with
spherical elbows or elbows prefabricated in the fac-
tory and shipped already attached to the shipping
module.
There are three different basic designs of elbow. 3. Slotted/PerforatedInnerLining
One uses an enlarged spherical housing at the enclo-
sure, and a spherical joint on the inner conductor,
such that the maximum conductor field is the same as
in the straight section [43,44,49,50]. Another design
uses a smooth pipe bend with a smooth conductor radius _ _w
[47]. The third design uses a single miter elbow for -
-
the enclosure and a sharp bend on the conductor. The & Extruded Groove
latter two designs are cheaper and simpler to make,
but care is needed to have a good finish on the conduc-
tor bend because stresses here may be 20% higher;
however, this may be achieved because the highly
stressed area is very small and can be given special
attention.
If sharp angular cycled deflection of the line is i TaperedSheath, DeepTrough
required, this can be obtained by a hinged design using
plug-in conductor joints and a hinged bellow assembly
at the enclosure [45].
2.1.5 ParticZe Contamination ControZ
Design Philosophy
Conducting particles, as explained in Sections 2.1.2
6. Belled Housing. Slotted Trap
and 2.1.3, can easily lower the gas breakdown voltage
or insulator flashover voltage by more than 50%, and Pig. 13: Different electrostatic trap designs.
the effect becomes more pronounced with increasing
pressure .
It is therefore necessary to assemble CGIT systems
under clean conditions, removing particles from the
conductor, enclosure, and insulators before final
assembly, and to maintain the cleanliness conditions
Electrostatic Particle Traps 2.1.6 HV Termination

The basic design of the particle trap (Fig. 13) is a The HV air-SF6 termination for most CGIT lines uses
zero or low field region at the enclosure, created asimple gas bushing as shown in Fig. 14 [59]. A few
either by a perforated or slotted grounded metal cylin- installations use a conventional oil-paper capacitor
der or flat sheet inside the enclosure; by solid or bushing. The gas bushing design has a porcelain
hollow cylinders lying at the bottom of the enclosure; weathershed filled with SF6 at the operating pressure.
or by an opening or trough at the bottom of the enclo- The voltage grading is achieved by adjustment of the
sure[2,3,6-8,13,18,19,32,40,87,161-170]. These traps porcelain diameter and length, the height and diameter
may be either separate and "free standing",or attached of the throat shield, and the height and diameter of
to the insulator assembly (Fig. 4). The traps are de- the external shields at ground and top of the bushing
signed so that particles elevated by the electric field [6,7,174-177]. Control of the voltage distribution is
move to the traps and fall through the openings into not uniform as in the conventional capacitor bushing,
the zero or low field region. Careful design of the but there are field concentration at the external
enclosure opening and ratio of opening width to depth shields and at the porcelain surface in air, near the
of low field region (at least 1:4) is necessary to top of the throat shield. This basic design has been
ensure that particles cannot be later re-elevated, used successfully for bushings up to 800 kV.
e.g., under impulse voltage conditions. Sometimes a
tacky adhesive is also placed at the bottom of the For very high current designs (e.g. 12 kA), addi-
trap [169]. tional cooling is achievedbyheat pipes inside the
inner conductor, with the radiator system on top of
Particle motion is critical for trapping particles. the bushing.
Particles migrate along the enclosure, particularly if
there is a slight slope of even 30. The most efficient Recent research has concentrated on improved voltage
technique [169] is to use an alternating voltage which distribution and designs to reduce the risk of explo-
is raised in steps, e.g., 50 kV, with long holds (5 sion if the pressurized porcelain weathershed is punc-
minutes) at the lower voltage, and shorter steps (e.g., tured by flashover or due to vandalism.
1 minute) at the higher voltage levels up to the one-
minute ac test level (Section 2.1.8). Improved stress control has been achieved for some
prototype bushings using concentric capacitively grad-
Alternative techniques have been studied to deacti- ing shields in the SF6 gas inside the bushing for
vate particles. A dielectric coating on the inside of 500 and 1200 kV class systems [6,7,176]. Other designs
the enclosure [162,171] can deactivate particles by effected better voltage distribution using a vertical
delaying their acquiring the necessary electrostatic cylindrical external HV shield and by necking down the
charge necessary for elevation until significantly inner HV conductor in the region of the throat shield
higher voltages than needed for lift off conditions [178].
with bare electrodes. Adhesive coatings have also been
proposed [13], together with other systems for entrap- New gas bushing designs have been introduced with the
ping and coating the-particles [18,19,172,1731. conductor inside a fiberglass tube which is inside the
porcelain weathershed. The high pressure is not taken
by the porcelain but only by the fiberglass [179].
Other "explosion proof" bushings have used cast epoxy
weathersheds with an internal strengthening screen
[180].
Porcelain Another concept for SF6 insulated bushings is to use

a capacitor bushing with wrapped polypropylene film
SF6Gas impregnated with SF6 [181].
2.1.7 Grounding and Corrosion Protection

Conducor Grounding
Present CGIT systems are directly grounded at both
ends to reduce the induced voltage rise under contin-
euous and overvoltage conditions [4,5,18,19,39,182-184].
5 ExTernal
Externl
2 /
Toroid
As a result, the circulating current in the enclosure
is almost equal in magnitude and 1800 out of phase to
the conductor current. The enclosure current losses
are typically 40% of the conductor losses. For very
long length lines, one would have additional grounds,
Internal Stress typically one per kilometer [5,82].
LL
ca]ff / P ~~~~Grading Shield ~~~~~~~Single-point grounding and cross-bonding systems for
CGIT have been discussed as a means to reduce the en-
closure losses [19 ,182] . Further studies are required
of the induced overvoltage, shortcircuit forces and
Pig. 14: Typical gas bushing [59]. corrosion protection before they can be applied.
Corrosion Protection Most of the field testing of installations have used

an ac voltage, with the maximum voltage at 75% of the
Corrosion of bare aluminum enclosures above ground ac factory test level. These were performed with
is negligibly small. However, corrosion of uncoated resonant test sets or magnetic potential transformers
and exposed aluminum underground can be high, particu- which could be moved to the field, and were typically
larly in acidic or alkaline environment, or where limited to a 2 or 5 A rating [39-41,188,190-193].
there is the presence of heavy metal such as copper, This works satisfactorily, enables ac conditioning of
iron, or lead in the soil [4,5,18,19,39,40,185-187]. the particles into traps, and identifies faulty areas
by breakdown. It has the disadvantage that the test
Corrosion protection for the enclosure in buried set is large and cumbersome, and cannot readily meet
CGIT systems is doubly protected by a jacket and cath- the current requirements for very long lengths (,l, km).
odic protection. The corrosion protection jacket is
a composite layer of butyl rubber and a wrapped or ex- HVDC was used as the test voltage on some of the
truded polyethylene (2 mm thick) layer. first installations [190], but is now considered not
acceptable. Under dc, particles are scattered over
Cathodic protection is supplied either by a zinc the insulators, the voltage distribution across the
anode strip [39,40] or a rectifier set to maintain the insulator will be different from the ac to be experi-
aluminum at -0.4 V relative to ground potential [4,19]. enced in service, and damaged areas do not always
initiate breakdown [45,58,188,189,195,196].
2.1.8 HV Testing and Diagnostics
HV Testing In order to have more portable testing equipment,
field tests have been developed which use an oscil-
Factory Tests lating switching impulse. This has a crest time of
more than 100 ps, and the time to half value on the
The purpose of HV testing in the plant and in the oscillating switching envelope is within the tolerance
field is to detect defects in the equipment before it range for the 250/2500 ps switching impulse. Because
is put into service. Such defects would include: of the oscillating effect, the peak crest value is
incorrect assembly; insulators with voids; damaged 1.6 to 1.9 times the total charging voltage of the
insulators; damaged/scratched conductors: potentially impulse generator [44,49,50,189,195-199]. This has
damaging particle contamination in the enclosure or been used generally in Europe, where the recommended
on insulators; discharges at floating shi6lds or oscillating switching impulse level is 80% of the
components. switching impulse level. This test is sensitive to
particles and damage defects. If flashover occurs,
Table 2 shows the proposed IEEE test levels for gas then the site can be located by time domain reflectom-
insulated equipment [33]; the ac 1 minute test is 48% etry. However, this test system is not effective in
of the BIL. On a design basis, the equipment must conditioning the system and moving particles into
pass these test levels, usually at the first alarm traps.
pressure for the SF6, which is typically at 10% below
the nominal operating density. IEC have a different As a result, there is now a trend, where the full
set of test levels [188]. test level ac cannot be applied, to use low ac condi-
tioning voltage (i.e., normal L-G voltage) . This is
Partial discharge testing is usually done on the in- then followed by the oscillating switching impulse.
sulators, prior to assembly on the conductor, and also
for the assembled shipping section. Proposed standards A recent innovation [200] has been the development
for insulators in gas insulated substations and cables of a resonant ac HV test set with a variable frequency
call for "free of partial discharges" at 150% of line (50 to 300 Hz). This enables a lightweight portable
to ground voltage (i.e., phase voltage/4T) on decreas- set to be moved to the site. This technique can be
ing the voltage form 200% L-G voltage or from the one- useful since tests have shown that the S breakdown
minute ac withstand level. Typically the background voltage and insulator flashover voltages are independ-
noise level is 2 pC, so this becomes the effective ent of frequency in this frequency range.
"free of partial discharge" level. Proposed IEC
standards for cast epoxy insulators call for <20 pC at Diagnostics
110% line-ground voltage [189].
Field Tests Diagnostic techniques are very important for CGIT
lines to detect and locate where partial discharges
After the CGIT systems have been shipped and assem- or breakdowns occur. Partial discharge techniques
bled in the field, HV testing is necessary to ensure developed for standard use in factory tests may not
that there has not been any damage in shipping, incor- be suitable for operation in the field where extensive
rect assembly, contamination introduced or tools or external interference is present. Many of the techni-
shipping components (e.g., foam end sealing pieces) re- niques described below are for bus sections of GIS and
maining inside. The field test must be such that these may be suitable for above-ground CGIT systems. How-
faults would cause breakdown or flashover (of a non- ever, if the CGIT line is buried, then usually only the
damaging type) so that the faulty area can then be terminals may be readily accessible for any diagnostics.
identified and repaired. ata icag eeto
Another requirement of the field test is that if
particle traps are present, then the required voltage Partial discharge detection at the service site
conditioning should be applied to move particles into using conventional techniques (e.g., bridges, RFI) is
the raps Thiusully equres n alernaing ol- usual ly not sufficiently sensitive because of interfer-
tage ge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~successful
ence, although some[202].
in GIS modified techniques have been
Acoustic techniques with sensors on the outside of systems, the available energy is limited either by the
the enclosure readily can detect partial discharges power supply or by the stored energy in the line.
and acoustic signals due to corona and bouncing of
metallic particles [9,19,39,40,202,203]. They can If breakdown occurs during these tests in the SF6
also detect partial discharges due to corona from pro- gas or at the insulator, the question raised is
trusions on the inner conductor [202,203]. whether that part of the system needs to be dismantled
to be recleaned or reconditioned [135]. Based on ex-
Internal coupling devices have been used to detect perience, conditioning sparks of this limited energy
the electromagnetic pulses due to partial discharges. are permitted in SF6 gas and along insulators. This
If these are near the terminations, then analysis of assumes that the insulator formulation is such that it
the signal with cross and auto correlation techniques can withstand flashover without carbonizing [130,137,
and Fourier transforms can be used to locate the site 138].
of the partial discharge (a few pC) even for long
lengths of line [204-207]. Effect of FauZt During Service
Other techniques detect internal partial discharges If a high-current fault occurs during service, the
at the factory and in the field by an external elec- CGIT insulation system is not self recovering.
trode attached to the outside of the metal enclosure
with an insulating film [208]. This measures the The high-current arc will move along the inside of
transient potential fluctuations of the metal enclo- the cable in a direction away from the power source.
sure as a result of the high-frequency current which Typical ac velocities in the pressurized SF6 are of
flows in the enclosure due to the partial discharges. the order 0.4 to 1.0 m/s per kA of arc current [215-
217]. The arc travel is not interrupted by conductor
FauZt Location joints, plug-in contacts, enclosure joints, enclosure
bellows, 900 elbows, or bends. However, insulating
For a long length of line it is desirable to be able spacers do interrupt arc travel, regardless of whether
to locate any flashover site to within a meter. they are posts, discs, or cones [215,216]. Melting
occurs at the conductor and enclosure, and melt-through
With the oscillating switching impulse voltage, can occur at the enclosure if the arc hangs up in one
faults can be located by measuring the time differ- place for a sufficient time: e.g., for a 40 kA arc
ences between the voltage collapse signals appearing with a 6 mm thick aluminum enclosure, 170 Vs is
at the terminations. This is suitable even for very sufficient to melt through the enclosure [215-222].
atn thestemiaton...Tisoissuiabl Overpressures due to typical arc faults are not ex-
pected to be a problem in CGIT systems unless the arc
However, with a failure in service or during ac occurs in a confined volume (e.g., ,0.25 n3) [217].
testing, other techniques are necessary. Acoustic
sensors, mounted on the outside of the enclosure, can If the arc occurs or impinges directly on an insula-
monitor the acoustic shear wave in the enclosure tor, then usually there is sufficient metal splatter
(velocity 3000 ms-1) for fault location [202,203]. or surface tracking that the insulator cannot with-
Attenuation of the acoustic signal in the enclosure stand service voltage. If the arc occurs elsewhere,
may be a problem for very long lines. white powder produced by the arcing in SF6 is deposited
on the insulators and elsewhere. This powder, if kept
Another technique is to use the transient ground dry, does not in itself reduce the gas breakdown or
rise that occurs on breakdown and to correlate the insulator flashover voltage [216]. However, this is
time of arrival at the termination for calculating not true if the gas becomes moist. Arc damage at the
the breakdown site [205]. conductors may not always reduce the gas breakdown
voltage to below the normal line-to-ground voltage,
Other fault location techniques, more suitable for but will generally reduce it below the usual field
above-ground CGIT fault location, use magnetic sensors test voltage.
and fluxgate magnetometry [209,210], mechanical sen-
sors to record the dynamic behavior of the enclosure FieZd Repair Techniques
[208,211], and thermal techniques (paints, TV and IR
camera systems) to record the temperature rise [205, In many cases repairs, required due to fault damage,
213].
can be done by simply cutting an access hole, repolish-
ing the conductor and insulator, cleaning up any par-
The light emission can be used to detect and locate ticles or powder, and welding a cover plate over the
internal partial discharges and faults by locating access hole [223,224]. For severely arced sections,
sensors either at windows in GIS or internally [208, replacement of the damaged conductor and insulators
213]. may be necessary; the damaged pieces can be cut out
and a new piece welded in position at the site.
Gas analysis techniques are effective in detecting
sections where arcing has occurred, using either mass As in the case for any SF6 equipment in which arcing
spectrometer or thin-film sensor techniques. The has occurred (e.g., circuit breakers), special proce-
technique can distinguish between a simple gas break- dures [225] are necessary before opening up the equip-
down and when flashover or partial discharges have ment. The system must be evacuated and preferably
occurred at an insulator [8,214]. purged with air before opening. Care should be taken
not to inhale any fumes or powder, and gloves must be
2 .1 .9 Fault Consequences worn .
Effect of Fault During Testing
With HV testing in the factory and in the field
performed with ac or resonant switching impulse test
874 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-20 No.5, October
1985
2.1.10 Current Rating the thicker extruded or spiral welded sections. The
corrugation designs must be able to withstand the
One of the big advantages of CGIT systems is their flexing and fatigue life with field installation and
inherently high current rating because of the large thermal cycling. The major disadvantage of the corru-
cross section of aluminum in the conductors. The cur- gated enclosure is higher losses because of its
rent rating can directly match that of the overhead higher
resistance.
lines; other cable systems usually require two or more The next section describes the quite different con-
cables to match this rating [18,20.21].
ductor and insulator designs for the "semi-flexible"
The current rating of a CGIT system is set by either and "flexible" CGIT systems.
(1) the maximum temperature at the conductor (90C),
(2) an enclosure temperature of 70C for above-ground S
2.2.2 Flexible Systems
systems; or (3) by an enclosure temperature of 600C
for buried systems to prevent drying of the soil [18, there are diferele .
esgns.
19,33,38,226]. For above-ground systems criterion Both
of these are described below.
(1) is usually the limit; for buried systems it is
criterion (3). Corrugated Conductor Design
Techniques have been described for calculating the The basic design [9,10,128], as shown in Fig. 15,
current ratings for buried and above-ground systemsand consists of a corrugated aluminum conductor supported
experimental measurements reported
22-25,28,38,46,47,51,182,226-236,268]. Basically one
an,11v15o1dsyte19n on molded I-beam shaped insulators every meter inside
the spiral corrugated enclosure, filled with SF6 at
calculates the total resistive losses per unit length, 0.4 to 0.5 MPa. The overall conductor and enclosure
which, for a solidly grounded CGIT system, is to a -
good approximation, 12(RC+R,), where Rc and RE are
respectively the conductor and enclosure ac resistance,
per phase, per unit length. One then calculates the
effective thermal resistance of the enclosure to
ambient, for example, through the soil for buried
systems, or by radiation and convection for above-
ground, where one must also take solar radiation into NU=
account. One then calculates the temperature rise of
the enclosure above ambient. Finally, one calculates
the temperature rise of the conductor above the en-
closure to determine the maximum conductor temperature.
2.2 FLEXIBLE AND SEMI-FLEXIBLE TYPE DESIGNS

2.2.1 Design PhiZosophy
The major disadvantages of the "rigid" isolated phase
systems are (1) the limited flexibility requiring pre-
fabricated elbows; (2) shipping in 18 m long, straight
modules, which requires many field joints; (3) the -
relatively high cost of the aluminum enclosure (X40%
of the raw material of the system). Fig. 15: FZexible CGIT system with doubZe
conductor and injection molded insulators corrugated
[9]
Two different approaches have been made to overcome
these deficiencies, both using thin corrugated enclo- The insulators, which are made from a clear poly-
sures. The fully flexible is where the cable
is sufficiently flexible to system
be wound on a drum (e.g., imide-acrylic or polysulfone, are molded in two halves,
of 4 m diameter) for shipping, and which can be bent which snap together around a corrugation. The disc
to fairly sharp radii in the field [9,10,128,237,238]. insulator design is thin walled (r4 mm) and has thin,
This system is perhaps limited to 362 kV system vol- radial ribs for increased rigidity. Because of the
tage by the maximum enclosure diameter, although there thin, I-beam shaped cross section, there is only a
is an alternative very high stress, high pressure small increase in field
(crs%) at the conductor under-
neall insu l d at thectrictor
(0.7 MPa) design [54] which may be applicable. The neath the insulator. AA thin dielectric, flexible pad pad
other design system, the "semi-flexible" system [6,8,
13,239] developed for 1200 kV, uses a corrugated en- to prevent abrasion and particle generation.
closure, is shipped in 18 m long modules, and has a The thin walled (%3 mm) aluminum conductor has corru-
limited bending radius of 15 m (50 ft) to accommodate gations that do not increase the local field suffi-
most of the flexibility or bending radii required in ciently to cause gas breakdown. To increase the cur-
the field. cetyt
rent rating, as
there a mayradw.
be a secondT corrugated
nraetecr conduc-
Both systems, by using a corrugated enclosure, can tor inside. Alternative internal conductors (e.g.,
use a thinner wall than the straight, extruded or stranded, sodium conductors) have been tried [10].
spiral welded enclosures (e.g., 4 mm vs.6 mm), since
the enclosure design criteria is vacuum collapse and The cable is made on a single machine in a contin-
soil loading, not internal gas pressure, and the cor- uous operation. The aluminum strip is fed in for the
rugations therefore permit a thinner wall. Both cor- conductor, automatically formed [9,10,128], longitu-
rugated systems can be fabricated automatically from dinally welded and then corrugated. The insulators
thin-walled aluminum strip, so that the cost is sig- are then snapped into position by hand. The aluminum
nificantly lower per unit length (e.g., by 40%) than strip for the enclosure is then fed in, formed around
the conductor-insulator assembly, longitudinally The conductor bundle design results in a lower insu-
welded, and then corrugated in a helical manner. lator field by \40% than the same size coaxial system
Clean assembly is absolutely vital. (Section 2.1.3), but the maximum conductor field in
the gas may be 30% higher. The compact design means
The presently available machine limits the enclosure that cleanliness isa more severe problem than for the
to 440 mm outside diameter, and this therefore limits other designs, and special cleaning operations may be
the voltage rating using this technique. necessary.
Table 4
Flexible SF6 Insulated Power Cable
Maximum System Voltage (kV rms) 242 362 550

O.D. of Corrugated Alum. Encl., mm 330 390 555
I.D. of Corrugated Alum. Encl., mm 295 340 503
Thickness of Enclosure, mm 14 4 4
Cross Sectional Area of Encl., mm2 3900 4500 6635
0. D. of Conductor Tube, mm 120 120 185
Cross Sectional Area of Double 2000 2000 3298
Conductor Tube, mm2
Thickness of Each Conductor, mm 3 3 3
Gas Pressure Atm. 4.1 4.1 4.1
Underground Power Rating, MVA 420 700 1100
Typical dimensions and current ratings are shown in

Table 4 [9]. Demonstration cables for 242 and 362 kV, of Lengths of several tens of meters have been made and
several hundred meters length, were made, shipped on successfully tested, but no installations have been
4 m diameter drums, and successfully installed, buried made or are planned at this stage.
and tested in the EPRI Underground Cable Test Facility
[9,10]. No installations have yet been made in a 2.2.3 Semi-FZexibZe System
transmission system.
The semi-flexible design [6,8,13,239] was made for
Economic analyses indicate a potential cost saving a 1200 kV system, but could be applied at lower vol-
of the order 20% over the conventional rigid, isolated tages. As its name suggests, it is a compromise be-
phase system. tween the "rigid" and "flexible" designs.
Conductor BundZe Design For the limited required conductor flexibility (X15m
bending radius) and in order to meet the high current
The multiconductor design [54] described briefly rating (5 kA), the design (Fig. 16) uses 2 m long con-
earlier (Fig. 5, Section 2.1.1) consists of a flexible, ventional extruded aluminum conductors of 12 mm wall
three-conductor bundle, twisted and wrapped around a thickness. These are joined together by welding to
star-shaped insulator, which is assembled inside a relatively thin walled "flex plates". The insulators,
thin-walled insulating tube. This is shipped on drums which are mounted to the conductor inside the flex
in a long length. The enclosure, which can be rigid plates, are of the conventional cast epoxy, single
or flexible corrugated aluminum, is installed, and post, design with metallic inserts at both ends. How-
then the conductor-insulator-pipe assembly is pulled ever, the insulator region inside the flex plate is
through. Alternatively, it could be installed in the well shielded so that the maximum insulator field in-
corrugated enclosure in the factory and shipped com- side and along the surface is lower than the conven-
plete. The system is to be filled with SF6 or a mix- tional single piece tripost design. There are three
ture at a pressure of 0.6 to 0.7 MPa. This is compact, post insulators in each flex plate to give a three-
high stress design; the 400 kV system is only 300 mm post assembly, surrounded by a slotted aluminum cylin-
in diameter. der which acts as a particle trap.
The conductors are of stranded construction, with an The enclosure is made from aluminum strip, which is
extruded insulating coating, e.g. of polyethylene or corrugated, then formed and spiral welded.
polycarbonate. The insulator material could be poly-
sulfone or polyimide acrylic. The system is made in 18 m long sections with the
conductor-insulator assembly pulled into the enclosure
Because of the compact design and the small conduc- and shipped as a module. The same plug-in conductor
tor cross section, the current rating is significantly joint, welded sheath joint and SF6 operating pressure
lower than the other systems, perhaps 2000 A. However, are used as for the rigid system. Overall diameter
the cost should also be lower, current-ratings are also similar to the rigid system.
18 m
-~~~~ m
Conductor Ends Rolled Flexible Helical Support Insulator) 47 atm Conductor

Contact to Smooth
Cylinder
Conductor
Element
Corrugated
Enclosure Adhesive at Bottom of Each
ati4t7oatm Conduct
Contact
for Field Corrugation Traps Particles
Joint
Fig. 16: Semi-fZexibZe CGIT system - typicaZ 18 m
Zong shipping section [13].
The 1200 kV prototype has passed all design tests. 3.2 THREE-CONDUCTOR CGIT DESIGNS
A 110 m long test installation is due to be installed
at Waltz Mill in 1985. Economic analysis indicates Three-conductor CGIT systems are designed under the
a potential 20% cost saving over the rigid design. same conditions of SF6 pressure (0.5 MPa) and design
field (17 kV/mm lightning impulse) as for isolated
phase system. Typical dimensions are as shown in
3. THREE-CONDUCTOR CGIT SYSTEM Table 5. The same type of aluminum conductor system
is used.
3.1 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
The enclosure is aluminum; enclosure losses are too
Following the introduction of isolated phase CGIT high with carbon steel [246], although they might be
systems, the next step to make CGIT systems more eco- acceptable with non-magnetic steel for some above-
nomic was to put all three phases in a single enclosure, ground systems.
using the same basic isolated phase SF6 high voltage
technology [5-7,11,12,30,42,116,117,119,159,240-246]. The large diameter aluminum enclosure cannot be ex-
The major cost advantages and savings anticipated were truded. Some systems use a rolled and welded, or a
lower manufacturing costs (%20%), one single sheath spiral welded aluminum enclosure (e.g., 5454
welded joint (cf. three for isolated phase), narrower material). In some designs the cast epoxy post insu-
trenches for buried systems, reduced field installa- lators are mounted on an aluminum ring (Fig. 18 a-c)
tion time and cost, and lower electrical losses (X20%) . which slides inside the enclosure [11,42,46,240,243,
The major disadvantage appeared to be that any phase- 244]. Other designs (Fig. 18 d-f) have the posts
to-ground fault would rapidly become a three-phase attached to the enclosure [6,7,11,245]. The same di-
fault, which some transmission systems would find electric design is usually used for these posts as for
severe. the isolated phase system, except that they are of
larger cross section to have sufficient strength to
The dielectric design is more complex than the simple withstand the radial and cantilever short-circuit
coaxial isolated phase system because of the asymmetri- forces. Sometimes two posts are used [42] or a "dipost"
cal voltage distribution. For field calculations it design [30]. For a gas tight insulator, a large disc
has been assumed that the worst case is when a surge spacer is used.
voltage (1 per unit, pu) on one conductor induces a
surge of opposite polarity of 0.5 pu on the other two One design (Fig. 18 d) uses a configuration where the
conductors [2,11,42,240,159,241-243]. With this enclosure is extruded in segments, each approximately
assumption, the optimized configuration of the conduc- one third the circumference of the required final en-
tors and enclosure is as shown in Fig. 17; if the con- closure [6,7,159,239]. The insulators and conductors
ductor radius is RC the enclosure inner radius Re are mounted on each segment, then three segments are
would be 5.56 Rc. This compares with the optimum assembled together in the factory and automatically
radius of 2.718 RC for the isolated phase system. The welded to form a shipping module.
enclosure is, therefore, larger by a factor of approx-
imately 2.04. The cable can be shipped in factory assembled module
lengths of up to 18 m. These use the same type of con-
One major difference to be considered is that, un- ductor plug-in joint, field welded sheath joint and
like the isolated phase case, there are significant corrosion protection as for the isolated phase system.
short-circuit forces between the conductors [42,159, Elbows are prefabricated and shipped attached to
240,242,247-249]; e.g. for 63 kA this might represent straight sections. The termination design is also
7.5 kN transient force per meter length. This must be similar to the single phase bushings, either going di-
considered in the design of the conductor support in- rectly into a trifurcation, or to short isolated phase
sulators and in the separation between the insulators. sections connected to the three-conductor section.
Table 5
Dimensions and Rating of Three Conductor, Buried CGIT Systems
/ //Y///'/////7// / / f/ //7/
dcLI- t
D Soil
S d
S
Nominal
Voltage Rating ds ts dc D Current
ac Max/BIL Rating (1) Losses
kV mm mm un mm A MVA(1) W/circuit-m
145/650 508 6.4 89 1067 1450 350 116
242/900 645 6.4 102 1067 1650 660 124
362/1050 711 7.6 127 1092 2000 1200 140
550/1550 1003 11.4 178 1168 2550 2200 157
800/1800 1143 14.0 203 1194 2900 3850 171
(1) For 35C sheath temperature rise in soil of thermal conductivity

900C cm/W, 250C ambient, unity load factor. tc = 12.7 mm
e ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~a) (b
RC
(tl ()d)
Fig. 17: Optimum dimensions for three conductor cabZe:

Re = 5.56 Rc, R1 = 2. 78 Rc.
Fig. 18: Designs of three-conductor CGIT systems.

Post insulators a-c are attached to metallic ring
7which moves inside enclosure [11,42,30], insulators
d-f are attached by welding to inside of enclosure
[6, 7, 11, 245] .
3.3 CURRENT RATING This results in a 50% overshoot of the other polarity
to 1.5 pu with a front time of less than 10 ms. Thus,
Although there is no return current in the enclosure there is a total voltage surge of 2.5 pu across the
as for the isolated phase system, there are induced, insulation. This is very severe for the solid insula-
eddy current losses in the enclosure. These are a tors and represents a critical design condition [17].
strong function of geometry and enclosure resistivity For the dc test, a level of 1.5 pu has been proposed
[159,240,242,246]. Similarly, for the conductor, in [17].
addition to the resistive losses, there are additional
eddy current losses due to the adjacent conductors 4.2 SR6 GAS INSULATION
(X12% of the resistive losses) which must be taken
into account. Typically, the final design of three- The general breakdown characteristics of compressed
conductor systems compared with isolated phase systems SF6 were discussed earlier (Section 2.1.2). A few
with the same conductorshave lower total losses additional comments are given here-on.the differences
(Tables 1, 5) by the order of 12% to 36% [159]. of dc performance compared with ac.
The same type of calculations are made for the tem- For large, practical size, coaxial electrode systems,
perature rise of the conductor and enclosure as for the negative dc SF6 gas breakdown voltage is approxi-
the isolated phase system to determine the current mately 20% lower than the peak ac value, with the
rating [21,159,242]. Calculations of the temperature positive dc value being 50 to 60% higher [57,58,144].
rises agree well with measured values [159,242]. Under dc conditions, a "dark current" of up to a few
pA is detected [72], even well below breakdown (e.g.,
3.4 INSTALLATIONS 50%). This is associated with small particles (300 pm)
which are "embedded" in the electrode and subsequently
Unlike the many isolated phase installations [2], pulled out by the field.
there have only been two installations connected to
transmission systems (including one test loop partly Particle contamination is a more severe problem under
buried) and two above-ground test loops of three- dc than ac [57,58,83]. Whereas under ac, particle
conductor CGIT system [11,12,31,42]. movement begins "gradually" when particles are ele-
vated and particle activity increases slowly with vol-
tage, under dc, particles will cross the gap to the
4. DC CGIT SYSTEM other electrode and become widely scattered as soon as
they are elevated [83,255,256,162-165]. In addition,
4.1 GENERAL DESIGN PHILOSOPHY the particles will hover near the inner conductor of
a coaxial system for negative polarity, and at a
With the increasing application of dc, there has higher voltage for positive polarity. As a consequence,
been a growing interest in HVDC gas insulated substa- somewhat different or modified particle trapping
tions [251-254] and transmission lines [17,255,256]. techniques may be necessary from ac techniques.
dc CGIT systems have the same general design as the As for the ac case, the "area effect" must be con-
ac systems, i.e., an aluminum conductor supported on sidered to determine the dc design stress for the
cast epoxy insulators, every 6 to 9 m, coaxially with- effective large areas for CGIT systems. There is
in an enclosure, insulated with SF6 gas typically at approximately an 8% decrease in gas breakdown field
a pressure of 0.4 to 0.5 MPa. They can be shipped in per decade increase in electrode area [17,78,72].
18 m long modules for assembly in the field. Proto- Similarly, the long time dc performance is required.
type HVDC CGIT sections have been tested in the labor- Fig. 19 shows that the effect is small for the gas
atory [17,164,255,256], but there are no field instal- [17], but can be significant for the insulators. For
lations yet on test or in service. a 600 kV dc CGIT system operating in SF6 at 0.5 MPa,
the suggested operating stress at the conductor is
The design criteria, mechanically and electrically, 4.4 kV/mm.
will be different for HVDC compared with HVAC CGIT
systems. For HVDC, eddy current and hysteresis losses 4.3 INSULATORS
in the enclosure can be ignored. This means that car-
bon steel (e.g., type A120) can be used instead of The insulators are undoubtedly the "weak link" in
aluminum, with its advantages of lower material and HVDC CGIT systems, and they do not perform as satisfac-
fabrication cost and higher mechanical strength [255]. tory as for ac systems.
If, in the event of the outage of one pole of the con-
verter equipment or one pole of the conductor, the dc insulators in compressed gases can accumulate high
single remaining cable is required for emergency to surface charges, which can make the surface streamers
operate in single pole operation, then the sheath can propagate faster and can reduce the flashover voltage
carry the return current if it is fabricated from [17,57,58,72,1094164,257-263]. These charges may be
aluminum [256]. The sheath would need to be properly due to ionization in the gas by electrons initiated
insulated in this case. in the gas region near the insulator, by surface con-
duction along the insulator, by volume conduction
The insulation coordination and stresses imposed in through the insulator, or by generation at the insula-
service will be different for the dc system. For a tor-electrode interface. Local changes in the volume
600 kV system, a lightning impulse BIL of 1300 kV resistivity of the insulator, e.g., due to filler
(2.16 pu) and long rise time (X100 us) overvoltages of settling during casting, cam also generate these
perhaps 10SO kV (1.8 pu) would be required. This is charges under stress and lower the flashover voltage
lower than for the equivalent ac system. Overvoltage [17,261]. One must, therefore, ensure a uniform
protection with ZnO surge arresters will be essential. insulator material.
A particularly severe overvoltage transient occurs
during a reversal from one polarity to the other.
0.8 - X are used, particles have been observed to be removed

_Lightning Switching Fast
E 0. 7 - Impulse Impulse Ramp
Steady -
from inside the traps, perhaps due to "corona
or particle charging effects. wind"
DC
. 0.
30 A.
c 0.6
Lifting Enclosure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EndsuCap
X 0.5 < ; * Gas-Gap Failures EnclosureSEndCdp
.~OnlyShil
0.4 -v 4- os
Cone & Tri-Post
Tri-Post - Shiel
0.2 " Cone Conductor
,^ 0.20 (Reduced Particle TrapCnc
') 0.1 _ Pressure & Stress)
i;1 Year Fig. 20: Shipping module of HVDC CGIT system [255].
@ 0 L I I I
1o.10 10 10 i-
io8 o2 1 102 104 106 In order to keep the particles inside the traps
TimeatStress(hour) under dc, either very deep troughs are made in the
enclosure [17,87,163,167] or the slots in the traps
Fig. 19: Short time and do breakdown fieZd-time char- are louvered, as shown in the HVDC CGIT design in
acteristics for insulator flashover and gas break- Fig. 20 [164,255]. The HVDC trapping systems have
down in SF6. Gas pressure 4 to 5 atm.abs., negative used sloping sections in the enclosure to move parti-
polarity, coaxiaZ geometry [17]. cles into the traps.
For the particle conditioning procedure [17,164,
For the optimum dc insulator system, the design 255], it is proposed to use a series of dc voltage
must consider the initial voltage distribution on steps in a raising, holding, and lowering cycle. An
the first application of voltage, which will be con- outer electrode field of 0.5 to 1.0 kV/mm is consid-
trolled by the permittivity. This will also control ered sufficient for elevating and moving the parti-
the distribution under impulse conditions. The long- cles. ac or oscillating switching impulses may some-
term distribution (>10 h) will be controlled by the times be used to activate particle motion.
bulk resistivity, and also by the surface resistivity
if there are surface impurities. To avoid surface 4.5 HVDC CGIT DESIGN
charges one must design to minimize the differences
between these distributions. To minimize surface The designs developed for the short bus sections in
charges one must minimize the normal field component gas-insulated HVDC converter stations [251] use
along the insulator and minimize charges generated "conical" sections of enclosure to trap the particles
in the gas near the insulator. To achieve the lat- into a deep trough in the middle of the bus. This
ter, a cast epoxy hub at the insulator has a bene- design works well, but would not be economic for long
ficial effect [17,72,254]. The effect of these lines.
charges is seen: (1) in the long-time reduction of
the flashover voltage (e.g., by 50% in Fig. 19) and A preliminary design [256], using an aluminum en-
(2) in the significant reduction when polarity rever- closure extruded in two halves, has a longitudinal
sal occurs, or when impulses are superimposed on dc slot for a particle trap and deeply corrugated post
[17,72,146]. insulators.
As for ac, particles can significantly reduce the A more recent design for +600 kV, 7000 MW (bipolar)
dc insulator flashover voltage [58,72,87]. One dif- (Fig. 20) has a carbon steel (A120) enclosure, with
ference, compared with ac, is that the insulator vol- a cast aluminum (1350 alloy) conductor of 140 mm
tage distribution may change with load and tempera- diameter which is supported from a single cast epoxy
ture. The dc distribution is controlled by the bulk post insulator [164,255]. The enclosure joint area,
resistance, which is a function of both the tempera- which is assembled by welding in the field, is bulge
ture and stress. For certain materials, a stress in- shaped. The post is supported from the upper half
version can occur; i.e., at elevated temperature, the of the bulge, and the slotted trap is attached to the
maximum stress in the insulator and along the insu- lower bulge part. The conductor joint, also made in the
lator surface could then be near the outer enclosure field, contains the expansion leaves, covered by a
and not the inner conductor [17]. metal shield to which the post insulator is attached.
Generally, under dc conditions, the post or tripost
insulators may have a slightly better performance 5. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
than the long conical insulator [17,254] although
the latter must be used of course for gas barriers. 5.1 CGIT MATERIAL COST BREAKDOWN
4.4 PARTICLE TRAPPING Table 6 gives the material cost breakdown of a typi-
cal "trigid"t isolated phase CGIT system of dimensions
It is more difficult to trap particles under dc as in Table 1, excluding assembly or labor costs [3].
than ac because of the hovering action of the parti- The largest single-cost item is the aluminum enclo-
dles and the tendency to be widely scattered by the sure, double that of the conductor. These two account
field. If the conventional zero or low field traps for over 60% of the material cost.
Table 6 Similar analyses of three-conductor, flexible and

Isolated Phase CGIT Material Cost Breakdown semi-flexible CGIT systems indicate a possible 20%
reduction in the total installed cost over rigid iso-
lated phase system due primarily to reduction in
Percentage Cost Analysis material and installation costs. For the three-conduc-
No Assembly or Labor Included tor system, the material and installation savings are
not as great, but there are additional energy savings
due to the lower losses.
Component 1 M45Max242. System362VJol tage,550 kV 800 Economic analyses have also been made with forced
cooling of CGIT cables where water is circulated in
Sheath 39 45 44 44 44 aluminum pipes attached to the enclosure [15].
show that the current rating can be increased by These
a
Conductor 21 18 20 21 18 factor of 2.5 with relatively small increases in the
equipment costs (<10%), although the present worth of
Insulators 16 13 13 10 8 losses then becomes high.
Gas 9 10 13 16 21 100
Other Components 15 14 10 9 9 HPOF
CGIT A
This cost breakdown indicates why there has been the
R4D effort to replace the extruded thick walled enclo- 10 / _'
sure with a thin walled (4 mm), corrugated enclosure . LH
for the flexible and semi-flexible designs made from 0 /
'.' ,
relatively cheaper aluminum strip. These systems typi- r_
cally halve the cost of the enclosure, for a 20% total . , o
cost reduciton [9,10,13]. |GIT '
- HPOF
S 1 -MVA Ccts -~ MVA Ccts
Similarly, for the conductor, potential cost savings -800 1 - 22800 4
are possible using less energy-intensive aluminum con- 2100 1 -
ductors such as direct casting or welded spiral strip 2100 3
[9,17], or by more efficiently using the conductor 1400 1 1400 2
material by having stranded and segmented conductors. 7X l 70 l
0.1 I I
The gas cost assumes the SF6 at 0.5 MPa. Replacing 10 100 1000 1000
with a simple 50-50 SF6-nitrogen mixture (by volume), Distance, m
at a slightly higher pressure (10%) for the same *
breakdown strength offers potential gas cost savings . C
of 40% [96,106]. Alternative high-strength low-cost
F ig21 Com son of teotal installed CosT
gases and gas mixtures have been studied, but none (ineluding losses) vs. distance for buried CGIT
as yet look more promising [100,103,104,107].
l and hig prur e oilfil ed(of cca in
The material cost breakdown for the three-conductor
CGIT is similar. The total material costs are of the
same order as the isolated phase system [12,159,240]. 6. FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR NEW CGIT SYSTEMS
5.2 COST OF INSTALLATION AND OPERATION The major thrusts for future research and
ment for new CGIT systems will be driven by develop-
economics
The installed cost of a CGIT or cable system is the and reliability.
sum of the costs of equipment (cable, terminations,
elbows, gas monitoring system, cathodic protection), 6.1 REDUCED COST
installation (civil engineering works, trenching,
shipping, field work, testing), and the evaluation .
of the present worth of losses [15,18-20,81,264-266].
For a true evaluation, other equipment charges in the
Major savlngs n cost, installation and operation
a
(i.e., losses) are

essential are toif CGIT lines
transmission system must also be included, for example become a more significant part of the high voltage,
if reactive compensation is required, or other circuits high power cable transmission system. Improved manu-
for system security [267]. facturing techniques are needed. Present systems are
essentially hand-assembled in the factory and rely on
Generally, CGIT cables have the advantages, compared hand labor for the field joints. Automated factory
with oil paper cables, of higher current rating, lower assembly and field joints would dramatically reduce
termination costs and lower losses. However, the in- the costs, as well as improve the reliability by
stallation cost and cost of cables per circuit are assuring constant quality. This means an automated
higher. It is, therefore, only at the higher current system that can be readily adjusted for the various
ratings that CGIT can be competitive, or where direct sizes and voltage/current ratings. It is also desir-
connection of SF6 cable to SF6 insulated substations able to reduce the number of field joints and the
is an advantage. Most installations to date have been time required. Some of the new gas cable systems
fairly short; the longest single length is 700 m [2]. [e.g., flexible cable which can be manufactured,
However, analyses have been performed which suggest reeled, and shipped in relatively long lengths] have
long-length CGIT systems will be competitive at the been specifically designed to try and achieve these
high voltages and high power levels [20,81,264-267]. objectives.
Fig. 21 shows this for a 550 kV CGIT system [21].
Cookson: Gas-insulated cables
881
More compact, smaller diameter design will also the insulators with injection or compression molded
significantly reduce the costs. This would mean thermoset materials be of superior dielectric proper-
operating at higher fields in the gap and support ties than the cast epoxy? To eliminate internal voids,
insulator. In turn this will require improved tech- would a better approach be to use the Kevlar fiber
niques for making insulators and overcoming the elec- suspended insulator or some variation? Alternatively,
trode surface effects and cleanliness problems, which the conductor bundle or "star" insulator design re-
become more severe at these high pressures and fields. sults in a lower field in the volume and along the
surface.
Use of the thin-walled, corrugated aluminum enclo-
sure produces a significant cost saving over the tubu- More effective particle trapping techniques are re-
lar enclosure. Even lower cost systems may be de- quired, preferably those which do not require any
veloped, e.g. using steel or aluminum-steel composites, conditioning process in the field and which remain
or perhaps a nonmetallic enclosure. effective during the service life.
The present cast epoxy insulators are exDensive. New, long-term approaches may be needed for testing
Some of the alternative lower cost technqiues such as the units in the factory and in the field, particu-
the compression or injection molded thermoset mater- larly if more highly stressed, compact designs are
ials offer potential cost savings, but their long- introduced. Diagnostics are again the key in deter-
term reliability in service has yet to-be verified, mining potential failure sites before the lines enter
Other techniques should be explored, such as the service. Indeed, reliable on-line diagnostics
Kevlar suspended insulator, be developed to monitor the line continuously toshould
iden-
tify and locate areas where predictive techniques can
The fabrication of the extruded aluminum conductor be applied, and to determine whether breakdown would
is energy intensive. The directly cast conductor occur so that the decision can be made to disconnect
offers potential savings. Other systems such as the the line.
stranded conductor more effectively utilize the ma-
terial:(i.e., the losses due to the skin effect are One aspect of reliability is how quickly a failed
lower) and the major problem is how it can be most line can be repaired and put back in service. In-
effectively incorporated in the CGIT design. This proved and faster fault site location, repair and
could be used as part of the conductor bundle design subsequent test techniques should be developed.
or used within a thin-walled metallic conductor
shield. 6.3 HVAC AND HVDC SYSTEMS
Savings in thcsotegawlbpsThe preceding comments apply to both HVAC and HVDC

usaingsome
using the cStmixtures
some inof the ofrtgasillber
SF6 mixtures or alternative
sible
gasesb CGIT systems, although it must be recognized that, at
under6tet.
under test. The searchThe sarch for
fo aa gas
gas less suscetible tto
lss susceptible present, only ac systems have been installed or are
plnefofurexasi.
particle contamination or electrode effects continues.
If these are to be used, then the recovery of the gas HVDC CGIT lines may well have a definite place in
in the field must be addressed together with toxi- transmission systems, particularly if they are di-
city, decomposition, and stability of the gas. rectly connected to a gas-insulated converter station.
In order to reduce the losses, one method would be These CGIT systems have their own design and operation
peculiarities. Specifically, even better contamina-
to use single-point grounding or cross bonding of tion control will be required, and insulator materials
the enclosures. This needs to be studied as to the and designs must further
be developed to reduce the
expected enclosure overvoltages and protection effect of insulator charging and therefore limit the
against corrosion, reduced flashover voltages that can occur with polar-
Better field installation techniques must be de- ity reversal tests.
veloped, such as automated joining and welding, and
more effective field testing. Long, flexible lengths
and more compact systems will reduce the cost of 7. CONCLUDING REMARKS
trenching and installation.
HVAC CGIT systems have made significant advances
6.2 IMPROVED RELIABILITY since they first went into service in 1969. The pre-
sent "rigid" isolated phase and three-conductor sys-
The major obstacles to overcome for improved reli- tems have been joined recently by flexible (reeled on
ability are flashover or puncture of the insulator a drum) and semi-flexible systems, which offer savings
and spurious gas breakdown. There needs to be a in cost and installation. All this represents an
major effort to develop new insulator materials and intense period of research, development and engineer-
designs which can withstand the high internal and ing.
external stresses. There are questions about the
effectiveness of the present insulator screening and The prime factor controlling these designs has been
testing techniques. A few insulators which have the HV performance of SF6 gas insulation and the
passed these tests have subsequently punctured in supporting insulators. This controls the size and
service. There needs to be an effective test for therefore cost of the system. It also usually controls
aging the insulators to,evaluate new materials and the reliability, as failures are more frequently due
processing techniques. Improved diagnostics, to dielectric rather than mechanical or external
whether, for example, by electrical, acoustic, x-ray, causes. In order to improve the HV performance and
or nuclear magnetic resonance should be developed obtain more reliable, lower cost systems, research is
for better qualtiy assurance, needed on better understanding the mechanisms of gas
breakdown and insulator flashover or puncture. This
The insulator design itself should be re-examined would lead to the development of better insulator ma-
for long-term reliability. For example, will some of terials and designs, and more efficient use of the
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[260] T. Stoop, et al., "The influence of surface
charges on flashover of insulation in gas insu-
lated systems," Fourth Intern'l. Symp. H.V. Eng.,
Athens, Paper 32.10, 5-9 Sept. 1983.

Gas Insulated Cables

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Gas Insulated Cables

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IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-20 No.

5, October 1985 859

GAS- INSULATED CABLES

1. INTRODUCTION 14, 000 13,140

0018-9367/85/ 1000-0859$0 1.00 @ 1985 IEEE

2. HVAC ISOLATED PHASE SYSTEM Alternative Designs

through a metallic sleeve cast into the conductor.

Insulating SF6 Gas l Silver Plated

CGIT systems have used cast epoxy post insulators [5,11,

It should be noted that if there is a shipping module

Fig. 4: CGIT system with cast epoxy Tripost and

l <S > Soil

145/650 241 6.4 89 394 1400 335 124

145 650 -- 310 230

242 900 __ 425 320

(1) Recommended Test Levels of IEEE Working Group 70.1, "Voltage

145/650 2.0 15.5 58.7 0,190 56.6

242/900 2.6 16.8 52.5 0.210 63.3

362/1050 3.1 15.4 51.8 0.213 64.2

550/1550 3.5 17.0 54.1 0.203 61.5

This section reviews the HV dielectric performance

(3) Electrode material and surface preparation have a = X0 exp[l.15 p]

40 Eliminating particles, or being able to trap them,

totype equipment has usually been built, put into ser-

Cones Metal Insert Outer Conductor

Shielding Electrodes Insert

Discs Inner Conductor Cycloaliphatic resins have superior track resistance

Voltage Endurance The insulator flashover voltage can also be de-

It is of interest to note that one system uses pro-

EZbows Z Hollow Cylinder Trap

Electrostatic Particle Traps 2.1.6 HV Termination

Porcelain Another concept for SF6 insulated bushings is to use

2.1.7 Grounding and Corrosion Protection

Corrosion Protection Most of the field testing of installations have used

2.2 FLEXIBLE AND SEMI-FLEXIBLE TYPE DESIGNS

Maximum System Voltage (kV rms) 242 362 550

Typical dimensions and current ratings are shown in

Conductor Ends Rolled Flexible Helical Support Insulator) 47 atm Conductor

(1) For 35C sheath temperature rise in soil of thermal conductivity

Fig. 17: Optimum dimensions for three conductor cabZe:

Fig. 18: Designs of three-conductor CGIT systems.

0.8 - X are used, particles have been observed to be removed

Table 6 Similar analyses of three-conductor, flexible and

(i.e., losses) are

Savings in thcsotegawlbpsThe preceding comments apply to both HVAC and HVDC

[2] "Compressed gas cables in use internationally," Sept. 1975.

[4 6] T. Takagi, et al ., ibid, "Part 2, The voltage[6]FPinkpadL.Neyr,"ultivmol

[176] T. Yamagiwa, et al., "Dielectric characteristics

[162] H. C. Doepken, Jr., "Compressed gas insulation March 28-30 (1972).

[163] R. Nakata and E. S. Tuohy, "Practical gas bus (1984).

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