E1-77 Testing of High Voltage Power Cables with Series Resonant Systems and Water Terminations Albert Jenni, Michel Pasquier, Roger Gleyvod, Peter Thommen ISH Dresden HAEFELY al HIGH VOLTAGE TECHNOLOGYTest 1g of High Voltage Power Cables with Series Resonant Systems and Water Terminations Albert Jenni, Michel Pasquier, Roger Gleyvod, Peter Thommen Emil Haefely & Cie AG, Basel, Switzerland 1, Abstract Both, water test terminations and series resonant test systems are increasingly used for testing of power cables. For breakdown tests on cable samples at very high voltages up to BOOKV the interdependence of terminations, high voltage source and test object becomes important. This paper explains this interdependence and provides design criteria for the test equipment, based on recent experience. 2. Introduction Pure XLPE has a very high withstand voltage. Extruded XLPE insulation for power cables produced under industrial conditions has a con- siderably lower withstand voltage. There are many well known reasons for this. The only way. of finding out the withstand voltage or break- down voltage of industrially manufactured power cables consists in testing cable samples to their limits. For finding these limits, the cable samples ‘must be equipped with terminations which have at least the samo withstand voltage as the cable samples themself /1/. To equip the cable ends with wound capacitively graded terminations is time consuming and costly when large numbers of cable samples should be tested. Recent improvements in the design of water terminations make them an economical alternative for break- down testing. For testing cable samples a relatively powerfull high voltage source is required. Series resonant ‘systems must be especially designed to meet the ‘specific requirements of cable sample testing with water terminations 3. Cable terminations Ithhas become a standard to use water cable terminations for routine testing of high voltage cables with test voltages between 100KV and 400kV. ‘This type of termination can be fixed to the cable to be tested much faster than conventional terminations. Another advantage is that a broad range of cable diameters can be covered with one model of termination. ‘An increasing number of cable manufacturers make use of the above advantages also for type testing of samples including breakdown testing. ‘The stripped cable end is placed within two concentric tubes. Deionized water of controlled ‘conductivity is pumped through the tube system. according to figure 1Outside the actual termination the water passes. through a heat exchanger and a deionizer. It then returns in a closed circuit to the cable termination. Principle of operation ‘The deionizer is used for controlling the water conductivity in such @ way as to produce a close to uniform electric field distribution along the out- side of the termination tubes and to avoid excess- ive radial stress within the cable insulation /4/. ‘The required optimum conductivity depends on the cable diameter and on the test voltage. This optimum is crucial for doing breakdown tests. ‘The losses in the terminations heat up the water. ‘The hot water is circulated through a water cooled heat exchanger. This allows to maintain the temperature of the water in the terminations below 60°C. The power loss in a pair of terminations is in the range of 10KW for a test voltage of 150KV and BOKW for a test voltage of 6OOKV. lena of tube eH im tensed vues Figure 2 shows the calculated longitudinal fild distribution. For the calculation the High Speed Surface Simulation Method was used /5/. ‘The actual field distribution with an XLPE insulated cable rated 150KV was checked with a field measuring probe /6/,/7/.The measuring set up can be seen in figure3. There is a good agreement between the calculated and the measured values. owe 3 ‘Measuring arrangement rassown & A \ 4. Series resonant systems for testing of power cables 4.1. Principle of operation ‘The voltage regulator provides an adjustable voltage to the exciter transformer. The exciter transformer excites the resonant circuit, consisting of the variable Hv reactor Lx anid the load capacitance Ci. Cx consists mainly of the capacitance of the DUT (Device Under Test), but includes also the stray capacitance of the circuit, the capacitance of the HV divider and possibly a preload capacitor. ‘Tho inductance of the HV reactor can be varied by adjusting the air gap in the core. To have the system in resonant condition the HV reactor must be adjusted in such a way, that its impedance is equal to the impedance of the load capacitance Ci at power frequency.Fowe 4 Series resonant system ta asa To make it simpler Figure 4 can be reduced to Figure 5. ‘Reduced diagram for sores resonant system la FL RL represents the losses in the HV reactor La, which determine the Q factor of the resonant circuit, when C1 is of low loss type. a wl —— RL weCiRi In resonant systems, where the DUT is of low loss type, Q is typically between 30 and 100. ‘This means that an exciting voltage Ur = 1.3% of the output voltage Ur is sufficient to keep the resonant circuit swinging. ‘resonant system with an output voltage of B00 kV would, therefore, only need an exciting voltage of 8.20KV. ‘The quality factor determines also the relation between the power losses and the apparent Power oscillating in the resonant circuit. If the above system has a nominal output power of 3200KVA, which corresponds to 4A nominal ‘output current, the power rating of the exciter transformer must be in the range of SOKVA. 4.2. Application and advantages of jeries resonant test systems Series resonant test systems are an economical solution when it comes to testing objects, which represent a high capacitive load and which have relatively low and stable losses, such as high voltage power cables. Conventional test systems with high voltage transformer and compensating reactor tend to be considerably larger and there- fore more expensive /3/. In a series resonant test system the function of the HV transformer and the compensating reactor are combined in the HV reactor. ‘Another advantage is the high short circuit impe- dance of the voltage source. When a breakdown ‘occurs on a XLPE cable the break down channel is not excessively damaged. It may be possible to analyze the break down channel and to find the reason for the break down. 5. Combined use of series resonant test systems and water terminations. For routine testing of manufacturing lengths of HV cables For this tost the use of water terminations with series resonant systems is an accopted practice. The resistive load of the terminations is typically 1-3% of the capacitive load given by the long cable. Example: 110KV cable with a cross section of 500mm?, 300m long, with appr. 0.15 uF/km, with 2 maximum test voltage of 200kV represents @ load of appr. GOOKVAR. Typical power loss of a pair of water terminations at 200KV is 15KW. The resistive load of water terminations is rather stable. ‘This means that normal resonant systems designed fora quality factor of 30 are compatible with water terminations for routine testing. 5.2. For type testing of HV cable samples ‘The situation is different for type testing, ©. 9. breakdown testing of samples with the step test. Hore the DUT represents a relatively low capacitive load. The relation between the resistive load of the water terminations and the capacitive load of the cable sample to be tested becomes less favorable. Example: Cable with rated voltage 169kV, 20m long, appr. 3nf, max. test voltage SOOKV and a resulting capacitive power consumption of G40 KVAR. The typical power loss in a pair of water termina- tions at 800kV is appr. 1OOkW. The power loss in the HV reactor itself is appr. 20KW. Without further measures the required test system would have to be designed with a rather low system Q in the range of 5, which is not very Practical.owe 6 Typical Diagram for break down tests on cable samples — =I ‘The situation can be considerably improved by providing a base load of, say, 4nF, consisting of two parallel HV capacitors. One of these capacitors, is used as HV divider and PD coupling capacitor. With a minimum additional DUT load of 2 nF the total load of now 6 nF represents about 1300 KVAR. The resonant test system can now be operated with a system Q better than 10. For DUT’s with a higher capacitance, one of the base load capacitors can be removed for making better use of the load range of the test system. Calculated system Q as a function of the capacitive toad with the resistive load as parameter for a sories resonant system 800 kV, 4A 100 t J in ee tii —+ Capacitive Load ivan ‘The calculated curves in Figure.7 show how the system-C is related to the capacitive load and the resistive load /2/. The relatively low system-Q. resulting at low capacitive loads, even without resistive load of water terminations, reflects the influence of the iron losses in RFe of the HV reactor according to the equivalant di figure 8. nse Fotovet losses in 2 revonant test oyster . (orsampe testing” — Set Copacive 6. Conclusion Water filled test terminations in combination with, series resonant test systems are not only suitable for routine testing of manufacturing lengths of ower cables but also for type testing of short samples. It is, however, important that the resonant test system is designed accordingly with 2 relatively high base load and for a relatively low system Q. 7. References 111 KB. Maller, U. Tretow, B. Deliby, C. Hjalmarsson XLPE Cable Technology for Operating Voltages of 245kV and above 121 R. Reid Resonant AC-diolectric test systems IEEE-conference 1974 13) N.Hylten-Cavatlius High Voltage Laboratory Planning Emil Haetely & Cie AG, Basel, 1986 4 R. Buccianti, W. Mosca, D. Perinelli Problems concerned with laboratory terminations for testing extruded insulation cables ISH Milano 1979 51 S. Sato et al Electric Field Calculation in two- dimensional multiple dicelectric by the Use of elliptic cylinder charge ISH Milan 1979 161 K. Feser, W. Pratf ‘A potential free spherical sensor for the ‘measurement of transient electric fiolds Vol.Pas - 103, No 10, 1984 171 €. Gockenbach, P. Ganzmann, E. Brogli ‘Some Applications of an electrical field sensor in the high voltage technique ISH New Orleans, 1989EMILE HAEFELY & CO ETD LERENMATTSTRASSE 253 (CH-4028 BASEL/SWITZERLAND PHONE +4161, 3155 11 FAK +4161, 3112187 TELEX 962.469 HAEFEDY, INC. 2616 MORSE LANE WOODBRIDGE, VA 22192 USA PHONE (703) 494-1900 FAX [703) 494.4597 HAEFELY a HIGH VOLTAGE TECHNOLOGY