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Table 1 shows that a compact or upgraded line has a where larc is the instantaneous arc length
double or higher Cab in comparison with a conventional u0 is the characteristic arc voltage,
one. Considering the increase of the rate of rise of the r0 is the characteristic arc resistance per arc
secondary arc duration as a function of the arc current, it length,
can be expected that unacceptable long extinction times Parameters τ, u0, r0 can be obtained from
would occur in compact transmission line measurements as will be shown in section 7. The time
configurations. constant of the arc is inversely proportional to the arc
length and can be defined by the following expression:
α
3 THE NECESSITY OF SECONDARY ARC l (3)
MODEL FOR COMPUTER SIMULATIONS τ (l) = τ 0 arc
l0
It is nearly impossible to reproduce the real arc where τ0 is the initial time constant
behavior by computer simulation due to the extremely l0 is the initial arc length
random character of the arc. This process reflects a α coefficient in a range: -0.1..-0.6
peculiar interaction of the line and the arc. For this
reason the simulation has to consider the functions The time-dependent arc elongation larc(t) is the most
describing the impulse arc characteristics, the recovery significant factor which influences the arc extinction
of the insulation following the partial extinctions as and arcing duration. Since the length variation of the
well, beside the electromagnetic transients. secondary arc is highly dependent on environmental
Any arc model requires several input parameters impacts like wind and thermal buoyancy, it is difficult
which could be obtained by measurements only. to consider these random effects accurately in the
Parameters extracted from measurements can be used to numerical model. Nevertheless the above arc model can
elaborate an arc model which reproduces quite well the be used successfully to estimate the maximum arcing
main characteristics of that specific arc measurement duration as worst case or to understand the interaction
[7,8,9]. Such a model might give less reliable results for of the secondary arc with the electrical circuit.
other arcing conditions on the same line, or completely References [10,11] point out that models based on
inaccurate results for experiments carried out on other the differential equation of the arc conductance can be
lines with different length, voltage level and conductor applied for modeling high current primary arcs. The
arrangement. secondary arc representation needs, however further
However a computer simulation of the process improvement because Eq. (1) considers only the thermal
leading to the secondary arc extinction can be a suitable reignition of the arc and the subsequent dielectric
tool for sensitivity studies to identify the main restrikes are not taken into account.
influencing factors and to find the similitude invariants,
which are necessary to compile generalized diagrams 5 REPRESENTATION OF THE ELECTRICAL
for the estimation of the arcing time. ARC IN ATP-EMTP USING MODELS
The arc can be represented by a Type-91
4 EXISTING ARC MODELS TACS/MODELS controlled resistance in the
In simplified digital studies, the fault arc is very often Electromagnetic Transients Program EMTP-ATP [12].
represented by a resistor or as a voltage source with When solving the differential equation (1) in the s
periodic rectangular wave changing its sign at each zero domain by using MODELS's [13] LAPLACE function,
crossing of the arc current. More sophisticated models the time varying arc conductance g can be obtained as:
describe the arc by piecewise characteristics. These 1 (4)
g (t ) = ⋅ G (t )
models do not take into account the real interaction of 1+τ ⋅ s
the arc and the electromagnetic transient in the line The elongation of the arc can be considered when
during the arcing process correctly, since sudden updating G(t), using the arc current from the previous
changes in the arcing conditions arise following a partial time step. Time constant τ is itself a function of the arc
arc extinction. length, that can be considered when solving Eq. (4). The
Existing secondary arc models are based on the calculated rarc(t) = 1/g(t) will become active in the next
differential equation of the arc conductance which time step in the electrical circuit as shown in Fig. 1.
describes the energy balance of the arc column:
dg 1 Uc ~
= (G − g ) (1) Cac
dt τ
Ub ~
where τ is the time constant of the arc, Cab
g the instantaneous arc conductance,
G the stationary arc conductance. Ua ~
uarc(t)
The stationary arc conductance can be defined as: Co rarc(t) MODELS
iarc iarc(t)
G= (2)
(u0 + r0 iarc )⋅ larc (t ) Figure 1: Interaction between the electrical circuit and
the arc model
14th PSCC, Sevilla, 24-28 June 2002 Session 24, Paper 3, Page 3
160 km HR
SI
70 km
90 km 104km
400 kV bus
Figure 2: Measuring arrangements at staged fault tests. In case 1-4 the primary arc has been omitted. Case 5 (right) with primary arc
14th PSCC, Sevilla, 24-28 June 2002 Session 24, Paper 3, Page 4
8
FINAL EXTINCTION OF THE
SECONDARY ARC
The most challenging task of arc modeling is to
specify conditions leading to the final arc extinction.
Some of the models determine arc extinction according
to time derivative of the instantaneous arc resistance: if
derivative is higher and the instantaneous conductance
is lower than a limit, the secondary arc extinguishes.
Other models, like the one presented in [10], proposes
extinction criteria of a dielectric type: the arc
extinguishes at each current reversal, and the arc
conductance is kept zero as long as the recovery voltage Figure 6: Formation of the secondary arc inside the plasma
cloud of the primary arc
is below a limit obtained by an empirical formula.
14th PSCC, Sevilla, 24-28 June 2002 Session 24, Paper 3, Page 5
80
arc voltage [kV]
The quantity of the heat has been obtained from Eq.
60 7, the conductivity is derived from measurements of
40
Fig. 7.
j=N j ⋅t sample
Qi = t sample ∑ (U i − j ⋅ I i − j )⋅e
20 −
τ (7)
0
j =0
-20 where tsample is the sampling time=0.05 ms,
-40 τ is the time constant of the arc.
-60
8.2 Dielectric strength of the secondary arc channel
-80
0.67 0.69 0.71 0.73 0.75 0.77
At constant air pressure the electrical field strength of
400 the arc channel can be obtained by the following
arc current [A] formula [15]:
300
T∞ T∞ τt (8)
200
E (t ) = E ∞ ⋅ t
≈ E∞ ⋅ ⋅e
− T0
100
(T0 − T∞ ) ⋅ e τ + T∞
where τ is the time constant of the arc,
0
-100
T∞ is the ambient temperature, T0 is the
-200 temperature of the arc channel at current zero,
-300 E∞ is the field strength at temperature T∞.
-400 The final extinction of the secondary arc is bound up
0.67 0.69 0.71 0.73 0.75 0.77
with the regeneration rate which depends on the actual
Figure 7: Measured secondary arc voltage and current
temperature of the arc channel. If the time constant τ is
The energy of the current impulse is higher, when the large, the arc will finally extinguish just after a
re-ignition occurs near to, but before the peak of the relatively long time (or it may not extinguish in extreme
recovery voltage. The high current impulse is able to re- cases) because the high arc temperature increases the
ionize a large amount of plasma, resulting a fallback probability of a dielectric restrike.
into the quasi-sinusoidal phase of the arcing process
which elongates the secondary arc duration. As an 9 ATP-EMTP MODEL OF THE TESTED
example, the energy and the conductivity of the arc 400 KV INTERCONNECTION
channel are plotted on Fig. 8.
The ATP-EMTP model of the test arrangement in
45 20
section 6 has been assembled by using the ATPDraw
40 Q uantity of 18
heat
16 graphical preprocessor [16]. The model shown in Fig. 9
35 /calculated/
corresponds to the rightmost measuring arrangement of
Quantity of heat /kJ/
Conductivity /mS/
30
C o nductivity 14
/from record/
25
12 Fig. 2 and has been elaborated to prove the main
10 characteristics of the recorded arc currents and voltages.
20
8
15 6
The arc model which was written in MODELS
10 4 simulation language has been connected to the circuit at
5 2 node HV400. Following arc parameters have been used
0 0 at the simulation:
0.696 0.701 0.706 0.711 [s] 0.716
u0 = 0.9 kV/m, τ0 = 1 ms
Figure 8: Energy content and conductivity of the arc r0 = 22 mΩ/m ; α = -0.5.
The time-varying arc elongation, larc(t) has been
derived by inspection of measured arc voltage and is
given in Fig. 10.
35
Arc length [m]
30
25
20
15
10
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Time [s]
Figure 9: ATPDraw circuit of the 400 kV system with arc tests Figure 10: Arc length variation during the arcing process
14th PSCC, Sevilla, 24-28 June 2002 Session 24, Paper 3, Page 6
For arc extinction the following limiting values per The high current peaks of rectangular shape are
arc length were used: produced by reignitions close to peak value of the
'
drarc recovery voltage. For simplicity, dielectric reignitions
g'min = 50 μS·m, = 20 MΩ /(s ⋅ m ) (9)
dt have been simulated by a voltage dependent switch of
The arc extinguishes, if the time derivative of fixed breakdown value. As Fig. 13 shows, the power
instantaneous arc resistance, drarc/dt, exceeds the above frequency component of the arc current has minor
limit provided arc conductance g per length is less than importance at the partial extinction period.
100 800
g'min. This criterion considers only the thermal arc voltage
[kV] [A]
extinction of the arc. Possible subsequent dielectric 50 600
reignitions in air are not taken into account.
Fig. 11 and 12 show the measured and computed arc 0 400
100
arc voltage [kV]
50
-50
measurement
-100
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 [s] 1.2
100
[kV] arc voltage
50
-50
computation
-100
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 [s] 1.2
Figure 11: Measured and computed arc voltages
500
primary arc current [A]
250 secondary arc current
-250
measurement
-500
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 [s] 1.2
500
[A] primary arc current
250 secondary arc current
-250
computation
-500
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 [s] 1.2
Figure 12: Measured and computed arc currents
14th PSCC, Sevilla, 24-28 June 2002 Session 24, Paper 3, Page 7
10 CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES
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“Improved Techniques for Modeling Fault Arcs on
up with the regeneration rate of the arc channel. The
Faulted EHV Transmission System” Proc. IEE –
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Generation, Transmission and Distribution, vol.
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11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Duration” Proc. of the 17th Hungarian – Korean
Seminar, EHV Technologies - II, Keszthely-Lake
The activity reported in this paper has been partly
Balaton, Hungary, October, 2001
supported by the Hungarian Research Fund under
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