Intern ational Conf erence on Large High Voltage Electric Syst ems
112. boulevard Haussmann - 75008 Paris
1982 Ses s io n -
23-07
EXPERIENCE OF AC VOlTAGE TESTS WITH VARIABLE FREQUENCY
USING A L1GHTWEIGHT ON-SITE SERIES RESONANCE DEVICE
W. ZAENGL F, BERNASCONI
Swiss Federal Institute Research Commission
of Techno logy, Zurich on High Volta ge Techn ology
of t he Swi ss Electrotechnical
A ssoc iat ion
ISwitzerland)
Abstract
The construction of increasingly large GIS installations has resulted in unit capacities
growing up and necessitated h. v. testing with transformers of ever increasing rates.
The transport and the energy supply of such heavy transfomners presents probrems.
today.
Resonance test sets with fixed or variable inductances of the reacto rs are a good
alternative. In the first case, however, the test frequency is usually above the normal
power frequency. that means 50 to about 300 Hz,dependingon the testing capacity.
This paperprovides a summary of thedevelopment of resonance testsetsand shows
their salient features. Furth er. it examines the question as to wheather and to what
extent the frequency influences the breakdown values of a pure gas gap and one
equipped with an insulator.
Rel erring to some practical assignments on site, the functional capability 01 the set is
demonstrated, from which it would appear that particulary this method of testing is
ideal for detecting faults.
Key words :
GISinstallation; on-site testing; serie resonancetest set; variable frequency; alternat-
ing voltage test.
I. Introd uction
Single component s of conv enti onal indoor or out door swi tchgear in-
stallatio ns are normally subjected to th e stipulated typ e t ests and routine
tests in the facto ry. When t he var ious com po nents have been assembled on
th e cust om er's site there is no real need fo r an on -site test, since the proo f of
t he specified ins ulat ion level can be guara nte ed fo r th e com plete insta llatio n
on th e basis of t he factory tes ts [1].
On the ot her hand, m etal- enciosed gas-in sulated sw itc hgear (GIS) has
to und ergo a voltage t est wh en it has bee n assem bled on sit e, additionally.
For t he very compact SF6 installat ions such a test serves a usef ul pur pose for
a number of reasons. Firstl y, t he liv e part s cannot be insp ect ed visually when
th ey have been assernble d, on account of t hei r enciosure. Secondlv, owing
to an ov ersight du rin g assembly on sit e it is poss ib le for fore ign part ici es to
enter the equipme nt and possib ly resul t in the di elect ric stre ngt h being
red uced [2]. and t hirdly, damage suffered in t ransit cannot be altog ethe r
ruled out. Sy performing a vo ltage t est on sit e at the conci usion of assernb lv,
the custo me r is assur ed tha t t he installation w ill operate pro perly and t hat
t he desi red or specifie d insul at ion level is adhered to.
Present-day t esting pr acli ce for th e assurance of qualit y and pro ving
th e f uncti onal reliab ilit y is admittedly expensive, but it is selective. In addi-
t ion to the norm al ma teria l tests beginnin g wi t h inspection of incom ing
mat erials receiv ed by t he factorv, tests are p erform ed on t he vario us com po-
nents wh ich are later assem bled to form a high-v oltage unit. A num ber of
t ested components are put tog ether to form a shipping unit and subjected to
the necessary electro-mechanical and dielectri c tests laid down in lEe 517.A
combined pow er- fr equency voltage t est togeth er w it h measurem ent of
part ial discharg e in a single test has been fo und to be very st rict. W it h t his
t est m ethod t he part ial discharg e ons et and offset voltages are checked,
w hich should be appreciably hi gher t han 1.2 times t he voltage betw een
conduc tor and earth. On site th e shipp ing units are th en put tog ether to fo rm
t he com plete installa t io n and fin ally subjecte d to an on-s it e tes t. as pro of of
co rrect assembl y.
If we now consider the various kinds of volta ge w hich could possibly be
used for such t ests, it mus t be sta ted t hat a test w ith direct vo lta ge is indeed
1-9 S eptem ber
o
by
B. BACHMANN , W, SCHMIDT,
K. SPINNLER
BBC Brown, Boveri and Co" Ltd ,
Baden
a suita ble m eans of detecting meta l particies in particul ar after assembly. On
th e oth er han d, a dir ect volta ge imp oses diff erent st resses o n th e insulat ion
to the altern at ing volt age to w hic h it is exposed in servic e.
Th erefore, t he t est dir ect vo ltage. as com m onl y used fo r cabl es,
although even th ere it is not without pro blerns, shoul d not be transferred to
GIS insta llat ions because th e SF6 gas behaves qui t e differently to the oil/
paper insulation system s of cab les.
In ce ntrast. th e problem w ith te sts emp loyi ng alterna tin g voltage is t he
large amount of reactive power th at is required, especially in view of th e rela-
ti vely high capacit ances of GIS install ation s. Apart from thi s high reactive
pow er. t he pr ob lem of pow er: we ight rat io mu st also be me nt ioned. For an
on-site t est at onl y 40 0 kV. 1 A. em ploy ing conv entiona l test rneth ods, it is
necessary to tr ansport a tota l w eigh t of up to 200 kN to the site .
The displacement of suc h weights rapi dly leads to serio us tran spo rt
problems. A s alternative. proposals have been ma de f or an on-s ite te st with
osci llati ng sw itching im pulse vol tag e [31, a m ethod tha t has m eanwhile been
introduce d. Oscill aling sw it ch ing im pulse ge nerators are relat ively light in
w eight and can thu s be tr ansp ort ed easily. Experience has shown, th ough,
th at t his m et hod of testing ls also able to det ect certain f aults in th e installa-
t ion reliablv, alt hough it has not been det ermined w ith certa int y. w hether
fo reig n partici es can also be reliabl y detect ed w it h this volt age f orm . Such a
test is t herefo re part icul arly app ropriate, because every sw itch ing op erati on
in t he network imposes sim ilar st resses on t he sw itc hgearto those pro duced
by th e osci llat in g sw itching im pulse. .
On th e other hand, fo r syst em s w it h lower rat ed voltages, t esti ng wi t h a
power-f requency voltage of abo ut 80% of the nom inal test valu e, perfo rm ed
on site, is st ill th e com mones t and best accepte d m et hod of test ing , and in
th is voltag e range is th e nearest equiv alent to the stresses encountered in
service.
In order to dispens e wi th th e heavy. convention al t esting tr ansform er,
resonant cir cuit s can be em ploye d as a m eans of generat ing high alte rnat ing
test vo ltages. Likewise, th ey are th e sole on-s ite method of te sting th at is
capable of dete cting fa ults reliably.
11. Resonant Circuits for Generating High. Alternating
Test Voltages
It is w eil known that - apart from a f ew except ions - any elect rical in-
sulat ion syst em can be regarded as a capaci tor w it h a high qualitv tac to r, i.e,
a low act ive pow er in relati on to the react ive power absorbed. Ther efore,
wh en t est ing equ ipm ent at high voltage with th e system f requency or
higher, t he voltage generat or is almo st ent irel y load ed with react ive po w er.
From th is aspect te st tran sformers are un econ om ical and tec hnically ext ra-
vagant, bec ause the react ive powe r giv es rise to unnecessary losses in t he
various wi ndin gs. and the vol tag e adjusting device, w hich is abso lute ly
essent ial. has to be dim ensioned f or th e f ull react ive power. Integra l test in-
stall at ions, even wh en th e tes t transfor mer is of very co m pact desig n [101.
possess larg e dime nsions and are ve ry heavy. Th ey are co nsequent ly far
from id eal for on -site testing of SF6 installat io ns. lt is t her efore und erst and- :
able t hat thi s m eth od of generat ing th e te st voltage for high-grade insular-
Ing system s is often called the " brute -fo rce" meth od .
The high react ive pow ers requi red fo r testi ng h.v. cables or capaci tors
provid ed the initi al im petu s at an early stage for the develop ment of co m -
pensat ing circu its capa ble of relieving t he load, at least o n parts of the test
23 -07 - 2-

vol tage sourees. The sta ges of th is developm ent are illustrat ed in Fig. 1.
t hough only inf initely adjustabl e methods of cornpensat lon , possessing a
reso nanee eharaeteristi e are taken into aeeoun t.

In w hat is probably th e oldest method (Fig. t a), t he variable or adj ust -

-
able vo ltage sour ee RT is indeed relieved of the great er part of th e eapaeiti ve
reaeti ve pow er. but the test t ransfo rmer has to be dimensioned fo r the f ull
app arent po we r. The savi ngs on the size and we ight of th e voltage adjust -
m ent eleme nts are th us off set by t he great er outlay fo r the react ors: how- Ct

I
ever, the power eons ump t ion of the entire installat ion is appreeiably
red ueed.

TT
Ct

RT VR == Fig. 2:
I Schematic diagram ot a HV-Series resonant

Vs ? l:fI] Vt

1
eircuit wit h variable t requency input voltage

From t he power aspeet t he t est tr ansformers employed in t he arrange-

ment s in Fig. la and lb are dire etlyeomparabl ewith the reaetor in Fig.l c. The
f const ~ sim pl er design of the reaetor HVR. however. enab les the weight per unit
a) power to be redueed bya f aetor of abo ut 3. Nevertheless. a weight of about
50 N per kVAr apparent output at t est fr equ eneies between 50 and 60 Hz
mu st be reckoned with. Thi s high speeif ie value is caused by the rat her
TT compl icated desiqn, which is neeessary forvariation of t he induetanee over a
suffieiently wide range . For th is reason it has already been suggested t hat
th is kind of reaetor be replaeed by a eombination of high-volta ge tr ans-
VR form er, low -vo ltag e reactor and variabl e tr ansformer [9 ]. but th is would
RT

>«
on ee m ore increase th e to tal we igh t of th e equipm ent.

V
s
~ IJ_ I A fu rt her reduet ion in th e size and weight of high-voltage te st equip -
me nt can be aehieved by op erat ing the series resonanee eireuit as per Fig. le
w ith a volta ge V s at var iable fr equ enc y. Then t here is no long er any need to
vary t he induetanee of t he reaetor HVR in orde r to obtain th e resonanee
cond it ion s needed for gen erat ion of high output voltages. Moreover, th e
f const b) reacto r ean be built as a very srna ll, eompact unit with low w eight. A eireuit
emp loying thi s pr ineip le is illu str at ed in Fig. 2 [11]. The volta ge sou ree w it h
eont inuous ly variab le f requen ey is a statie fre quency ch anger FC. wh ieh
feeds the resonant eireuit (L. C,) t hrou gh the exeit er t ransforme r Er. In [11]
IN bot h the dim ensions and the service eharaeterist ie were der ived and it was
show n tha t th e hi gh-v oltage react or L ean eonven ient ly by eom pose d of a
number of sm all elem ents if the f requ ency of t he high test vo ltage V, is to be
maintained w it hin elose limits. The size of t he reaetor does not depen d on
th e seleete d fr equen ey. This me ans tha t it is not the reaeti ve power w C, . V, 2.
inereasing wi t h the fr equeney. tha t governs its size, but rath er th e ma ximum
energ y C, . V , 2 stored in eapaeitor C" A direet result of this is th e major
advantage that induet ive voltage tr ansform ers, whieh would reaeh satura-
t ion at service frequeney and hi gh test vol tages. are able to remain in th e GIS
installat ion. Therefore th e series resonanee eireuit briefly deserib ed below
was designed for a nominal f requeney of about 100 Hz.

f const
111. A Mobile 800 kV Series Resonance Circuit of High
C) Output
Fig. l :
Diff erent methods tor capacitive a. Low voltag e parallel campensation The high-voltage reaetors of th is eireuit were dimensioned in such a
load campensations tor constant b. Low volt age series campensation w ay that at a resonan ee frequ ency of 100 Hz and a voltage of 800 kV. it is
testing tr equency c. High voltage series resonant circuit possible to test a load cap ac itanc e of about 12 nF under short-time eond i-
t ion s for about 10 minutes. From th e eond itions for resonan ee
Vs AC input voltage TI testin g transtormer
RT induction voltage reguiato r
VR variable reactor, low voltage
ET
C,
exciti ng tr anstormer
object under HV test f,=f,=~ (1)
HVR variable reactor, high voltage V, test voltage
It load eurrent th e induetanee L works out t o about 200 H. Thus th e rated eurr ent is 6 A. The
tot al appare nt power of t he reacto r, 4 800 kVar w as divided between four
ide ntiea l reaetor units, eaeh for 200 kV w it h an in duetanee of appr. 50 H. in
order to enh anee t he fl exib ility of th e equipme nt in appl ieation. thus result -
Oft en th e arrangem ent in Fig. la results in the hig h test voltage V, ing in t he units being sma ll and easily trans po rt able. The w eight of eaeh
co ntaining unw ant ed, st rong harmonies beeause the leakage reaetanees of reaetor uni t is onl y 3.75 kN. represe nti ng a ratio of w eight to po w er of o nly
th e test tra nsform er and regu lato r RT form series resonanee eireuits about 3 N per kVA. Th e we igh t of th is reaetor mak es it t he heaviest sin gle
together with th e t est obje et C,. Th ese eireuits ma y be exeit ed by harm onics item in the test installation (th e exeite r tra nsform er rat ed 50 kVA w eigh s 2
in t he syste m voltage V, or eurrent harmonies. Thi s drawback is avoid ed in kN. the f requeney chang er rated 50 kW we ighs 3 kN).
the arrangeme nt shown in Fig. t b, in w hich t he variable eom p ensat ing
reactor V R is in series with t he prima ry w inding of t he testtransfor m er TI [4] . The eompl ete installa ti on is illu strated in Fig. 3. in wh ieh all f our reaetors
But the other advantages and disadvantag es of th e preeeding arrange me nt are eonneeted in series to prov ide a test assemb ly for 800 kV. The toroidal
are retain ed. This method is qu ite often used, som etime s in mo dif ied form eleet rodes of eonduet ing plast ie material. w hich had to be very earefull y
[5] . But t he ov erall w eight of th e equ ipm ent is not signifi cantly redu eed. A dim ension ed [12]. are loeat ed between th e reaeto r units ; as separate
marked adva nee w as. howe ver, ma de w hen it became possibl e to eonstruet elements t hey ean also be easily t ransported and mounted on site. Th e fre-
reaetor s of variable indueta nee for high ov erall voltages [6 ]. for w hieh th e qu eney chang er is a speeially deve loped unit ; t he eleet ronieally eont rolled
prineiple of series reson anee wa s prima rily used (see Fig. lc). Thi s arrange- fr equeney variat ion in extrem ely f ine steps at a eonstant output voltage of
ment has rapidly found its w ay into praet iee in reeent years [7. 8] . th e larg e. about 500 V enables th e high vol tage to be fin ely adj uste d and kept stab le,
heavy t est tra nsformer having been replaeed by th e mueh Iighter variable simpl y by uti lizing th e resonanee eurve.
high -vol tage reaetor HVR. In th is series resonanee eireu it the tr ansfor me r is
redueed to a mere exeit ation tr ansfor m er Er of relatively low rat ing and Aeeording to eq. (1)th e aet ual f requency f , of th e alternating t est voltage
voltage because it now has only to cover the active losses in the high -voltage wi t h th e series or parall el connectio n of the reaetor units , as chose n in a
eomponents HVR and C,. If Q is t he qua lity f acto r of this series resonanee part ieular case, is det ermined by t he eapaeitanee of the load C,. Durin g the
circuit, the neeessary seeondary voltage of thi s exeit at ion tran sform er is only on-site te sting of SF6 inst allati ons this valu e is given by the eapaeit anee of
VJG. beeause it on ly has to provide the load eurrent. lt is quite evident th at t he act ual installation, but it is liable to fluetuate. At small values of C, it is in-
th e eapaeitive reaet iv e power of the te st obj ect is eompensated in an ideal deed possible to obtain a desir ed, tight fr equeney range by f ixed additional
rnanner, t hereby relieving optimally all th e elem ent s required for excit ation. eapaeitanees of graduated values. But the fact remains that it is diffieult to
Even if, for reasons of insulation, the various h.v. reaeto rs HVR can hardly be assure a given test frequeney exaet ly. This drawback is offset by the advan-
built for vo ltages higher than about 300-400 kV. it is nevertheless possible tage that by using a eombinati on of reaetors it is quit e easy to keep w ithin a
to obtain higher overa ll test volt ages V, by eonne cting several reaetors in narrow frequeney range and, furtherrnore, it is possibl e to te st quite high
series. eapaeitane es at redueed voltages. Sinee t he range of applicati on of a
 -3- 23-0 7

reduced voltages. With this equipment in the 4s arrangemen t it is th us

possib le to t est a capacitance of 800 nF at a frequency of 50 Hz and a
voltage of about 100 kV.

_ .--- - - - -t-- f t
Hz

I--"..e.--~:I_---~~r_---+_- l 00 0
r

100 ----+----~tx:_~""'""...........---+---""'...

45
f
min

10 100

--- --1~
~
CdnF
Fig.3:
Generalview of the complete test set 1 isolating transformer
with 4 reactors in serie and the 2 control unit, frequency converter
necessary compon ent s 3 supply transformer
4 reactor f
5 voltage divider 2p
~ H,.Z-+-_ -I-_ _rt----::.,-L-_ _-+ -t_
reactor is defined, on the one hand, by its nominal voltage , i.e, considerations
of insulati on, and on the other by the rated curr ent (t emperature rise and 1000

l,~2p+4p------i------">.",;;-~~~~
=-
saturation of the iron circuit), but both quantities are independent of one
another, th e relat ionship betwee n the maximum possib le t est voltage V, max
of aseries resonance circuit and the given load capaci tance C, for C,;;:; C, is
also given by

,m
V " ~
v;:- = V -c,- , when V, m a x ::;;; V n- (2)
In th is formula V n and C, are both nominal values, for whi ch the rated
100
curren t In is obtai ned at rat ed voltage V n• From eq. (1) a similar relatio nship
can be derived fo r t he fr equenci es, i.e,

(3)

in which f n is t he frequency occurring at the nomina l values V n and In (f n =

10 0 Hz whe n U n = 800 kV; In = 6 A, fo r the present dim ensions of t he reac- 1000
tors) . Thus, acco rdi ng to eq. (2) it is possib le to test insulation syst ems who se
capacitance value C, is considerably higher than the nom inal value Cn. The
low er frequ ency thereby derived f rom eq. (3) is howeve r, mainly limited by
the exciter transformer Er (Fig. 2), wh ich may become saturated. If the fre-
quency is too low, the quality factor of the reactors becomes also rather
sma ll. In the present case t he install ation was dimensioned so t hat test Fig.4 and 5:
frequencies down to about 40 Hz can be generated, at which the qual ity Diagram of voltage, frequency and capacity
factor Q is still at least 40. tor various combinations of the reactor units

Fig.4 shows an evaluati on of eq. (1), (2) and (3) for the inst allation ill us-
trat ed in Fig. 3. Th e max imum test voltage V ,m"
and the f requencyf, thereby
obtained are shown for the fo llowing circu itry combinations:
1 : 1 reactor unit
2s : 2 reactor units in series
3s : 3 reacto rs in series
4s : 4 reacto rs in series
each in terms of C" Fig. 5 shows th e same informati on for th e comb inat ions :
4p : 4 reacto rs in parallel
2p : 2 reactors in parallel
Zs/Zp : 2 pairs of reacto rs in series/pa rallel,
the conditions for a single reactor (1) being shown for comparison. For in-
stanc e, if 300 Hz were specified as maximum perm issibl e t est frequ ency, it
would be possible to use th e 4s arran gem entlo test capacitances from 1.3 to
12 nF at th e fu ll voltage of 800 kV, dur ing which the frequ ency would drop to
100 Hz. If the load capacitance w ere increased to 48 nF and the voltage
reduced to 400 kV, th e fr equency wou ld drop f urt her to 50 Hz. But it is quite
easy to restr iet th e frequency range to the select ed dimen sioning value of
100 Hz by employing th e 3s, 2s or single -reactor arrangements at the
maximum possible t est voltages, as can easily be seen in the diagram . W ith
parallel or series/p arallel arrangements (Fig. 5) the field of app lication is, in
principl e, extended to very high test capacitances with correspondingl y
IV. Experiments
A series of practical experiments was carried out to determi ne the
extent to which a .t est freq uency diffe ring from t he industr ial freq uency
aff ect s the breakdown behaviour of GIS components when series resonance
test circuits are used. The answer to thi s question is of importance, in that it
has to be assured th at a testvo ltage at elevated f requency of the orderof 100
to 300 Hz enables equally c1earand defin ite statements to be made as a test
at the industrial power frequency.
1. Dep endence on f requency
For the purposes of the test an experimental tank filled w ith SF6 and contain -
ing a plate/plate configuration w as used. In th e midd le of the plates there
was a slight identation in wh ich, for lat er tests, a cyl ind rical piece of insula-
tion could be inserted. With a distance of 28 mm belween plat es and an SF6
pressure of 350 kPa, this arrangement was tested with the series resonance
equipment. The various freq uency values were obtained by sw itchi ng high-
voltage capacitors in and out of circuit. In every case the voltage was raised
until breakdown occur red. For the free gas gap (curve 1in Fig. 6) the electr ic
strengt h wa s found to remain constant up to above 300 Hz, follo w ing which
a sligh t rise in the breakdown voltage wa s observed. For each test point
about ten breakdowns w ere produced, from which the arithmetic mean was
23-07 -4-

calcul ated . The diagram also shows the upp er and lowe r measured 3. Inhomogeneous arrangement
maximum valu es. Also t he relationship wi t h pressure and f requency of a very inhomoge neaus
arrangement (poi nt/ plate, distance 40 mm, angle of point 30 °, radius 2 mm )
was investigated . Fig. 8 shows how th e pr essure of the SFa gas varies as a
1 Gas gap function of the breakdown vol tage. The paramet er is the fr equency, wh ich
can be vari ed betwe en 73 and 536 Hz. Here, too , the (familiar) result was
u 2 Gas gap with tangent ial stressed obtained, the test voltage init ial rising w it h increasing gas pressure. This
maximum th en changes to a minimum and finally begins to rise again. Here
IV insulator the relationship between th e breakdown volt age and the frequency in the
400 lower pressure range also agr ees weil with the known result s [13]. This
r .m. dependence o n frequ ency (high f requencies also result in high breakdow n
voltages) is of no signific ance for GIS installation s in practi ce because the
pr essure normally emplo yed is out side this range. At 350 kPa, for insta nce,
(lJ 30 Fig. 8 shows that the breakdown volt age remains constant fo r all the
öl measured frequ encies.
'"
+->
'0
>
<::
I ~
-1
,: : 2B
2.

1r
:;:
0 \. 4""""""' )
-0
-'" hig her frequenc ies
'"s,
(lJ
100 '\1
..0

SF6 gas pressure

l 0 100 200 300
50 kPa
400 500 <lJ

..,
rn
-----:~.,. Frequency ~z ......
0
Fig.6 :
>I
h
AC-Sl renglh versus frequency for plale :;:
elecl rodes wil h and wilh oul insulalo r 0
"':J f r equenci es /'
-'"
m
<lJ ,-/ t. 30°
Curve 2 also shows the relat ionship between the fr equency and the break-

2f4a
I-<
50
... / '
down voltag e, but in this case when a supporting insulator w as inserted . This ..0
epoxy insulator was loaded tangentia lly and reduc ed the breakdown volt age
in the we il known manner. For both of thes e basic arrangements the break- ,/ r=
down volt age w as found to remain const ant thraughout the entir e frequ ency
range of interest. The 50 Hz point s were oblained fram measurem ents w ith ,,- /"-'''-1 ~TI
a conv entional test set and w ere obt ained under oth erwi se identical cond i-
tians.

2. Dependence on pressure
1
Fig. 7 show s the f amil iar relationship between t he breakdow n voltage and 0 100 200 30 0 400
pressure for th e arrange ment cont aining the supportin g insulat or. Here, too,
the voltage was conti nuously raised w ith the series resonance test set and 3
to 5 breakdowns wer e produced per point. - - -.....~
. SF6 - ga s press ur e ffi
Fig.8 :
AC-breakdown vollage as a funcl ion Theorelical calculaled minimal
of SFa-gas pressure al frequencies vollage (13)
u 8elw een 73 Hz and 536 Hz
IV
r .m .S 400
U 500
kV

r
T.m.s.
300
-~
(lJ
(lJ öl 400
öl

'"
+->
'"
+->
~
0
0 >
>I I
<:: 300
s, :;:
(lJ 200 0

~
> -0
0 -'"
i1
~
s:
'"s,
;:::1- ~ :~
(lJ
Vl
200
~
'"
l.L.
..0

100
= 100 T
r SF6 gas press ure 350 kPa

o 100 200 300 400 o 100 200 300 400 500

----~~> frequency f /Hz
------~~
~ SF6-gas pressure L
kPa
Fig.7 : Fig.9 :
AC-f1ashover voll age as a funclion of AC-breakdown vollage versus frequencv.
SFa-gas pressure al 330 Hz using a conventional test t ran sfor m er
 - 5- 23-0 7

4. Measurements using a conventional test transformer

In ad dition to t he measu rements w ith the series resonance test set, t he
break down values were determ ined fo r a gap filled with SF6 gas using a
freque ncy diff erent fra m 50 Hz, generated by a co nve nti ona l co nve rte r. The
frequen cy was set to 50 , 100, 2 50 and 50 0 Hz. Th e t est arra nge men t, as far
as th e geom etr y was co ncerned, w as no different to th at pr eviou sly used, but
the material used for th e electrod es w as. In th is case t hey we re speciall y
hardened and chromium-plated. Fig. 9 also shows th at th e insulating gas
behave s in the sam e manner atfrequ enci es between 50 and 500 Hz, i.e. th e
breakdown vo ltage remai ns constan!. Th e generall y hig her and more co n-
stant brea kdo wn voltage compared w it h Fig. 6, curve 1, may be expl ain ed by
th e fact t hat th e sp eciall y hard ened elect rad es w ere used. Ow ing to t he
resul tant high qu alit y factor of t he elect rad e surface , th e break dow n vol tag e
rises by ab out 10% (compa red w ith th e previo us sim pl e aluminiu m elec-
tra des) arid, wha t is mo re, no f ormation effects are ob served. Con sequ ently
in t he up per part of the f req uency rang e in t he region of 500 Hz, no increase
in the br eakd ow n voltage was observe d.

5. Discussion of results
Fram th e m easur em ents take n an d iIIust rate d it is qu ite evid ent th at conven-
ti onal tes t tra nsforme rs and series reson ance equip m ent, w he n employed
und er th e same cond it ion s, yi eld the sam e resu lt s. Both p hysical and p rac -
tic al resu lts are equally atta inab le with both me th ods . Thi s particularly
ap plies to th e frequ ency range investigated, rangin g fram th e norma l power
frequency to several hundred Hz. This result is just as grati fying for the user
of series reson anc e tests sets as it is for the custorn ers, wh o can agree to
th eir use on sit e w it hout any hesi tat io n.

V. On site experience
M eanw hil e t he series resonant t est set wa s tested and used on- site by
d iff erent custome rs of GIS-i nstallat ion s. Th e fo llowing tab le shows th e Fig.lO :
list in g of tested sw it ch gears and giv es the actual and charact erist ic data s On site test in Norw ay.
result ing f rom test equipm ent, nu m ber of reactors, circ uit, capac ita nce and
so on:

2. A t est at alte rnati ng vo lt ag e perf arm ed w it h a series resonance t est

System Works-testing On-site-testing
Country set of the kind descr ibed in a fr equ ency range exte ndi ng f ra m 50 to about
volta ge 300 Hz has no inf luence on th e br eakdown value s of th e object tested.
Type Routine Test Fre- Number Test
Test Test voltage quency of duration
react ors 3. The sam e applies to fre e gas gaps and gas gaps containing an in-
sulator.
....!.im.... BIL AC-testv. AC- f
S
kV l<'iI kV (r.m.s) kV (r.m.s) HZ I 4 . Experim ent s also car rie d out at different f requ enci es (betvveen 50
and 500 Hz), but gene rate d by conve ntional t est transform ers, also yielded
Switzerland 150 750 325 260 = 230 2 Series 60 co nst ant break down vo ltages and exhi bit ed no diff erences f ram breakdown
at 5 0/ 60 Hz.
Germany 150 75 0 325 260 100 2 Series 60
5. The IEC rules cu rre ntl y in fo rce recogni ze t he high er t est frequen cy in
3 Series t his case.
Norway 420 14 25 630 504 11 5... 230 4 Series 60 to 120
6. An alterna ti ng vo lta ge test performed at elevated frequ ency is th ere-
Norway 420 1425 630 520 70 .. .90 4 Series 60 fore acc ept able without hesit at ion. If th e duration of the test is t he same as
before at 50/ 60 Hz, t he te st m ay pr ov e advantageous f or t he cu stom er
because the ob ject is subj ected to a lar ger num ber of vol t ag e peaks in t he
Switzerland 420 1425 680 544 ' 110 4 Series 60 sam e time.

' additional test oscillating switching surge 7. Th is is confi rm ed by on -site tes ts performed on GIS installations at
rate d voltages up to 4 20 kV, w hich have demonstrated th e pr actical, fl exible
Table: Examples of on site high voltage tests conducted on complete assembled and easy han dlin g of series resona nce t est sets w ith var iable fr equency as a
switchgear by means of the series resonant test set with variable frequency m eans of pe rf orm ing alt ernating vol tage test s.

All tests were do ne phase by p hase. Durin g th e tests of installatio ns References

w ith arated voltage of 420 kV, in tvvo cases remarkable faults were
detected . Once, an insu lator f lashove r occ ured beca use of pollution with
metal part icles an d the ot her time a radiu s t hat w as not ca rried out correctl y
cause d a br eakdo wn. Aft er hav ing fin ished and c1eaned everything all tes ts
w ere realized wi th out any t raubl e and the beh avio ur of the GIS swi tc hgear
w as correcl. The tes ts were perf or m ed in ope n-air w he reby particul ary
te m perat ures down to - 15 ° C, snow (see Fig. 10) and rain com plicate d th e
sit uat ion - but prablem s did not app ear.
The duration of assem bling th e t est set was less than half a day and in -
c1uded not only the transport of th e device of som e kilome ters distance to
t he custom er but also unloading of t he components fram th e lorry, assem-
bl ing of the react ors and shieldings to a comple te casca de, th e set up and t he
putting into service of th e variou s servi ce tran sfo rm ers and of th e co nt ra I
unit. Once m ore it should be poin te d out t he real sma ll w eigh t of about 2 0 kN
far t he complete arra ngement and the resulti ng high fle xib il ity . Regard ing
t he possi bility to connect th e react ors in any com binat ion (seria l, parallel or
m ixed up ) to a cascad e one is able to contral curre nt, vol t ag e and f requ ency
very individ ual. on ly acco rd ing to con dit io ns and own w ishes.
VI. Conclusions
1. Resona nce ci rcu it s are pr esent ed as an int eresting m eth od of t esting
objec ts wi t h a high capacita nce, such GIS installation s or cabl es, especia lly
when such t ests have to be perform ed on sit e. It is found th at series reso-
nance circuits w it h constant inductance but vari able frequ ency are weil
suit ed. For the metal-enclosed inst allations tested so fa r, th e t est frequen cy
was between about 80 and 235 Hz, d epend ing on t he cap acit ance of th e
test ed object, Thi s rang e can be exte nde d by d im ensioning t he reactors
diff erently or by mod if yin g th e test circui t (add it ion al capacitance, or ot he r
react ar arrange me nts), to suit th e pa rticular requiremen ts.
[1] P. Högg, W. Schmidt, H. Strasser: Dimensioning of SF6 Metalclad Switchgear
to Ensure High Reliability. CIGREpaper No 23 -10, 1972
[2) W. Schmidt. P. Högg, A. Eidinger: On-site High Vollage Testing of SF6 Metal-
clad Switehgear Installations and Compressed Gas Insulated Cable.
BROWN BOVERIReview, No 11, Nov. 1977, Val 64
[31 K. Feser: High Voltage Testing of Metal-e nclosed, Gas-insulated Substations
on-Site with Oscillating Switching Impulse Voltages. Hadely E1 - 44,
1. Edition
[4J A. Braaten: Improvements in or Relating to High Voltage Testing Equipmen!.
Great Britain Patent No 64 6.75 6, Nov. 29, 1950
[5J E. Kuffel. M. Abdullah: High Voltage Engineering. Pergamon Press,1970
[6) Peschel: United States Patent No 3.515.986, June 1970
[7J S.A. B099S, P. Kirkby: A ResonantSurge Field Testfor SF6 -Switchgear,
IEEE - Trans. PAS Vol. PAS- 100 (1981 ), p. 18Bl -18 84
[8) R. Reid: New Method for Power Frequency Testingof Metal Clad GIS and
Larger Rotary Machines in the Field. Proceedings of World Electrotechnical
Congress. Moscow, 1977, Rapport 29, Sec!. 1
[9J Ch.H. Tutle: High Voltage Resonant Testinq Circuit,
United States Patent No 3.781.667, Dec. 25, 197 3
[10) U. Brand, H. Dietz, H. Eberlein: A Metalclad Testing Set with Vollage Trans-
formers for GIS. Proc. of 3. Intern. Symp. on HV Engg, Mil an 1979, Report 43 .1 6
[11) F. Bernasconi, W.S. Zaenql, K. Vonwiller: A new HV-Series Resonant Circuit
for Dielectric Tests. Proc. of 3. Intern. Symp. on HV Engg, Milan 1979,
Report 43 .02
[12] B. Bachmann: Multi toroids for Controlli ng and Shielding. Proceedings of
World Electrotechnieal Congress, Moscow, 1977, Rapport 10 5, Sec!. 2
[13] S. Sangkasaad: Dielectrie strength of eompressed SF6 in nonuniform fields.
Doctoral theses, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, 197 6

Extrait de l a Conf erence Intern ationale d es Grands Re seaux Electriques

. Session de 1982
IMPRIMERIE l OUIS·JEAt'ol - 0500 2 GAP
 E R RAT A

to C I G R E P A PER 23 -07

Location now reads should read

equation (1) -
2 TI /LC
t