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Switchgear and Substations

3.1 High-Voltage Substations

3.1.4 Air-Insulated Substations


In outdoor installations of open design, all live parts are insulated by air and not covered. Therefore, air-insulated substations (AIS) are always set up in a fenced area. Only authorized personnel have access to this operational area. Relevant national and international specications that apply to outdoor substations and equipment have to be considered. The IEC 61936 standard is valid for European countries. Insulation coordination, including minimum phase-to-phase and phase-toearth clearances, is effected in accordance with IEC 60071. Outdoor switchgear is directly exposed to the effects of the environmental conditions. Therefore, they have to be designed both for electrical and environmental specications. There is currently no common international standard covering the setup of air-insulated outdoor substations of open design. Siemens designs AIS in accordance with IEC standards, in addition to national standards or customer specications. The standard IEC 61936-1, Erection of power installations with rated voltages above 1 kV, demonstrates the typical protective measures and stresses that have to be taken into consideration for air-insulated switchyards. Protective measures The protective measures can be categorized as personal protection and functional protection of substations (S/S). Personal protection Protective measures against direct contact, i. e., through appropriate covering, obstruction, through sufcient clearance, appropriately positioned protective devices, and minimum height Protective measures against indirect touching by means of relevant earthing measures in accordance with IEC 61936/ DIN VDE 0101 or other required standards Protective measures during work on equipment, i.e., installation must be planned so that the specications of DIN EN 50110 (VDE 0105) (e.g., ve safety rules) are observed Functional protection Protective measures during operation, e.g., use of switchgear interlocking equipment Protective measures against voltage surges and lightning strikes Protective measures against re, water and, if applicable, noise Stresses Electrical stresses, e.g., rated current, short-circuit current, adequate creepage distances and clearances Mechanical stresses (normal stressing), e.g., weight, static and dynamic loads, ice, wind Mechanical stresses (exceptional stresses), e.g., weight and constant loads in simultaneous combination with maximum switching forces or short-circuit forces, etc. Special stresses, e.g., caused by installation altitudes of more than 1,000 m above sea level, or by earthquakes.

Variables affecting switchgear installation The switchyard design is signicantly inuenced by: Minimum clearances (depending on rated voltages) between various active parts and between active parts and earth Rated and short-circuit currents Clarity for operating staff Availability during maintenance work; redundancy Availability of land and topography Type and arrangement of the busbar disconnectors. The design of a substation determines its accessibility, availability and clarity. It must therefore be coordinated in close cooperation with the system operator. The following basic principles apply: Accessibility and availability increase with the number of busbars. At the same time, however, clarity decreases. Installations involving single busbars require minimum investment, but they offer only limited exibility for operation management and maintenance. Designs involving one-breaker-and-a-half and double-circuit-breaker arrangements ensure a high redundancy, but they also entail the highest costs. Systems with auxiliary or bypass busbars have proved to be economical. The circuit-breaker of the coupling feeder for the auxiliary bus allows uninterrupted replacement of each feeder circuit-breaker. For busbars and feeder lines, mostly standard aluminum conductors are used. Bundle conductors are required where currents are high. Because of the additional short-circuit forces between the subconductors (the pinch effect), however, bundle conductors cause higher mechanical stresses at the terminal points. When conductors (particularly standard bundle conductors) are used, higher short-circuit currents cause a rise not only in the aforementioned pinch effect, also in further force maxima in the event of swinging and dropping of the conductor bundle (cable pull). This in turn results in higher mechanical stresses on the switchyard components. These effects can be calculated in an FEM (nite element method) simulation (g. 3.1-9).

Vertical displacement in m 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 1.4 1.0 0.6 0.2 0 0.2 Horizontal displacement in m 0.6 1.0 1.4

Fig. 3.1-9: FEM calculation of deection of wire conductors in the event of short circuit

Siemens Energy Sector Power Engineering Guide Edition 7.0

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