Faculty of electrical and computer engineering

POWER SYSTEM I
EEng-3132

Overhead Line Insulators

Compiled by: Biniyam Z.

1 4/9/2019
 Chapter Seven

Overhead Line Insulators

Outline
 Introduction
 Types of insulators
 Potential distribution over a sting of insulators
 Methods of equalizing potential

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 INTRODUCTION
Insulators
 The overhead line conductors should be supported on the poles or towers
in such a way that currents from conductors do not flow to earth through
supports
 Provide Electrical insulation between live conductor and earthed structure
under operating and overvoltage conditions
 To act as a reliable mechanical link between the structure and the conductor
and keep the mechanical integrity under normal operating and overload
conditions.
 The insulators are mainly made of either glazed, porcelain or toughened
glass.
 The dielectric strength of porcelain should be 15KV to 17KV for every one
tenth inch thickness. Porcelain is mechanically strong, less affected by
temperature and has minimum leakage problem.
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 Toughened glass is also sometimes used for insulators because it has
higher dielectric strength (35KV for one tenth inch thickness), But it has
lower coefficient of thermal expansion. And it condenses moisture very
easily (since those reasons it use is limited up to 33KV )
 In general, the insulators should have the following desirable properties:
 High mechanical strength in order to withstand conductor load, wind load,
etc
 High electrical resistance of insulator material in order to avoid leakage
current to earth
 High relative permittivity of insulator material in order that dielectric
strength is high
 The insulator material should be non-porous, free from impurities and
cracks otherwise the permittivity will be lowered
 High ration of puncture strength to flashover

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Types of insulators
 In overhead transmission lines, the conductors are suspended from a pole
or a tower via insulators.
 There are several types of insulators but the most commonly used are pin
type, suspension type, strain insulator and shackle insulator
1. Pin type insulators
 consist of a single or multiple shells adopted to be mounted on a spindle
to be fixed to the cross arm of the supporting structure. Multiple shells
are provided in order to obtain sufficient length of leakage
 There is a groove on the upper end of the insulator for housing the
conductor. The conductor passes through this groove and is bound by the
annealed wire of the same material as the conductor
 Pin type insulators are used for transmission and distribution of electric
power at voltages up to 33 kV. Beyond operating voltage of 33 kV, the pin
type insulators become too bulky and hence uneconomical
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Cause of insulator failure
 Insulators are required to withstand both mechanical and electrical
stresses
 The latter type is primarily due to line voltage and may cause the
breakdown of the insulator
 The electrical break down of the insulator can occur either by flash-over
or puncture
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 In flash over, an arc occurs between the line conductor and insulator pin
(i.e, earth) and the discharge jumps across the air gaps, following shortest
distance
 In case of flash-over, the insulator will continue to act in its proper
capacity unless extreme heat produced by the arc destroys the insulator
 In case of puncture, the discharge occurs from conductor to pin through
the body of the insulator
 When such breakdown is involved, the insulator is permanently destroyed
due to excessive heat.
 In practice, sufficient thickness of porcelain is provided in the insulator to
avoid puncture by the line voltage
 The ratio of puncture strength to flash over voltage is known as safety
factor
Puncture strength
Safety factor of insulator =
Flash-over voltage
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 It is desirable that the value of safety factor is high so that flash-over
takes place before the insulator gets punctured. For pin insulators, the
value of safety factor is about 10
2. Suspension type insulators
 The cost of pin type insulator increases rapidly as the working voltage is
increases. Therefore, this type of insulator is not economical beyond 33
kV.
 For high voltages (greater than 33 kV), it is a usual practice to use
suspension type insulators shown in figure below.
 They consists of a number of porcelain discs connected in series by
metal links in the form of a string
 The conductor is suspended at the bottom end of this string while the
other end of the string is secured to the cross-arm of the tower. The
number of discs in series would obviously depend upon the working
voltage
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9 4/9/2019
 Advantages
(i). Suspension type insulators are cheaper than pin type insulators for
voltages beyond 33 kV
(ii). Each unit or disc of suspension type insulator is designed for low
voltage, usually 11 kV. Depending upon the working voltage, the desired
number of discs can be connected in series
(iii). If any one disc is damaged, the whole string does not become useless
because the damaged disc can be replaced by the sound one
(iv). The suspension arrangement provides greater flexibility to the line.
The connection at the cross arm is such that insulator string is free to
swing in any direction and can take up the position where mechanical
stress are minimum
(v). In case of increased demand on the transmission line, it is found more
satisfactory to supply the greater demand by raising the line voltage than
to provide another set of conductors. The additional insulation required
for the raised voltage can be easily obtained in the suspension
arrangement by adding the desired number of discs
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 (vi). The suspension type insulators are generally used with steel towers.
As the conductors run below the earthed cross-arm of the tower,
therefore, this arrangement provides partial protection from lightning

3. Strain Insulators
 When there is a dead end of the line or there is corner or sharp curve, the
line is subjected to greater tension. In order to relive the line of excessive
tension, strain insulators are used
 For low voltage lines (less than 11 kV), shackle insulators are used as strain
insulators. However, for high voltage transmission lines, strain insulators
consists of assembly of suspension insulators as shown in figure below.
 The discs of strain insulators are used in the vertical plane. When the
tension in line is exceedingly high, as at long river spans, two or more
strings are used in parallel

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 4. Shackle Insulators
 In early days, the shackle insulators were used as strain insulators. But
now a day, they are frequently used for low voltage distribution line.
 Such insulators can be used either in a horizontal position or a vertical
position
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 They can be directly fixed to the pole with a bolt or to the cross arm.
Figure below shows a shackle insulator fixed to the pole. The conductor in
the groove is fixed with a soft binding wire

Figure: Shackle insulator

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Potential distribution over a string of suspension insulators
 The thumb rule for finding the number of
insulator discs for a particular operating voltage is
to have one disc for every 11KV; this doesn’t mean
that the voltage across the discs of the string is
uniformly distributed. This is because of the
capacitance formed between the metal part of the
insulator and the tower structure.
 The capacitance could be made negligible small by
increasing the distance between the insulator and
the tower structure (but it requires larger length
of cross arm and bigger size of tower and hence it
becomes uneconomical).
 The capacitance of each string unit is known as
mutual capacitance,
mutual capacitance mc
m 
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capacitance to ground c 4/9/2019
 Here capacitance to ground is the capacitance of metal part of the
insulator disc to the tower structure
 Since the insulator discs are identical, each disc is represented by its
mutual capacitance mC. Let V be the operating voltage and V1, V2, V3 and
V4 are the voltage drops across the units starting from the cross arm
towards the power conductor
V  V1  V2  V3  V4 (7.1)
 The objective is to find out the voltage across each disc as a multiple of
the operating voltage and to compare the voltage across each unit. From
the diagram it is clear that
I 2  I1  I C1
 V1mC  V1C (7.2)
where  is the supply angular frequencyy
or I 2  V1C (m  1)
V2 mC  V1C (m  1)
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 or
V1 m 1
V2  (m  1)  V1 (7.3)
m m
Also
I3  I 2  Ic 2
 V2 mC  (V1  V2 )C
V3 mC  V2C (m  1)  V1C

Substituting for V2 in terms of V1 gives

m 1
V3 mC  V1C (m  1)  V1C
m
  m  12 
=V1C   1
 m 

=V C
 m 2
 3m  1
1
m
or
 m 2  3m  1 
V3  V1   (7.4)
16  m2  4/9/2019
  Similarly V4 can also be expresses in terms of V1 as follows
I 4  I3  I c3
 m 2  3m  1 
V4 mC  V1C    C V1  V2  V3 
 m 
 m 2  3m  1   m 1 m 2  3m  1 
 V1C    C V1  V1  2
V1 
 m   m m 
 m 2  3m  1 3m 2  4m  1 
 V1C   
 m m2 
or
 m 2  3m  1 3m 2  4m  1 
V4  V1  2
  (7.5)
 m m3 

 So we have expressed V2, V3 and V4 in terms of V1 and the ratio of the

capacities i.e. m
 Now V=V1+V2+V3+V4
 Therefore, since m is known, V1 can be expresses in terms of V and from
this V2, V3 and V4 can be obtained
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 Normally the value of m>1. Let m=5, with this if there is a string of four
insulators as shown in above figure
m 1 6
V2  V1  V1
m 5
m 2  3m  1
V3  2
V1
m
41
 V1
25
similarly
 41 75  20  1 
V4     V1
 25 125 

This shows that V1  V2  V3  V4

 This means the voltage drop across the unit nearest the cross arm is minimum
and it goes on increasing as we go towards the power conductor
 The voltage drop across the unit nearest the power conductor is maximum
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  It is clear that the lowest unit in a string of insulators is fully stressed or
utilized.
 As we go towards the cross arm the units are less stressed as compared to
their capacity and hence they are not utilized fully.
 String efficiency is a measure of the utilization of material in the string
and is defined as:
Voltage across the string
η
n x voltage across the unit near the power conductor
or
S.O.V. for the string

n x S.O.V. of one disc

where n is the number of insulators in the string and

S.O.V. represents the spark over voltage

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  The potential distribution across the
insulator string can be obtained in
an easier way as follows.
 Figure below is modified slightly so
as to keep symmetry in writing
mathematical expression

 At junction n,

I n 1  I n  I cn
vn 1 mC  vn mC  VnC
Vn
vn 1   vn (7.6)
m
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  Here Vn is the voltage across n units from the top and vn is the drop across
nth unit. With this formula voltage drop across any unit can be obtained
in terms of vn.
 Since it is known that the total voltage across the string is the sum of
voltages across all the units (which have been obtained in terms of vn),
the value of vn can be obtained and hence by back substitution the value
of voltage across every unit can be calculated
 The procedure can be explained by the following example:

Example
 Let m = 5, number of units = 5 and total operating voltage is 66 kV line
to ground. Calculate the voltage drop across each unit and the string
efficiency

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Solution
 Using the relation
Vn
vn 1   vn
m
V
v2  1  v1
m
Since V1  v1 ,
 1   1
v2  v1  1     1   v1  1.2v1
 m  5
V v v
v3  2  v2  1 2  1.2v1
m 5
v  1.2v1
 1  1.2v1  0.44v1  1.2v1
5
 1.64v1
V3 V v
v4   v3  2 3  v3
m m
v v v 2.2v1  1.64v1
 1 2  3  v3   1.64v1
m m 5
22   0.768  1.64  v1  2.408v1 4/9/2019
 V4 V v
v5   v4  3 4  2.408v1
m m
3.84v1  2.408v1
  2.408v1
5
 1.2496  2.408  v1  3.6576v1
 V  v1  v2  v3  v4  v5
 v1 1  1.2  1.64  2.408  3.6576   9.9056v1
66
v1   6.67 kV
9.9056
v2  1.2 x 6.67  8kV
v3  1.64 x 6.67  10.92kV
v4  2.408 x 6.67  16.03kV
v5  3.657 x 6.67  24.3kV
V  v1  v2  v3  v4  v5  66kV
66 x100
% string efficiency   54.4%
5 x 24.3
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Methods of equalizing potential
1. Selection of m (by using longer cross arm)
 Design the units such that the direct capacitance between them is much greater
than the capacitance to earth, a ratio of 6 to 10.
 It means to have large value of m, but it is uneconomical to go beyond certain
values of the length of the cross arm, it has been found that the value of m
=10 is about the maximum which may be obtained.
2. Grading of Units
 As we have seen before the unequal distribution of voltage is due to the
leakage current from the insulator pin to the tower structures. This current
can’t be eliminated.
 The other possibility is the disc of different capacity can be used such that the
product of their capacitive reactance and the current flowing through the
respective unit is the same.
 This requires that the unit nearest the cross arm should have minimum
capacitance (maximum capacitive reactance) and as we go towards the power
conductor the capacitance should increase.
 If the capacitance of one unit is fixed the capacitance of other units can be
found for equal distribution of voltage across the units of the string
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 In order to carry out unit grading, units of
different capacities are required
 This requires large stocks of different sized
units, which is uneconomical and impractical

3. Static shielding (using a guard ring)

 In case of units grading we used units of
different capacities, so that the flow of
different currents through the respective units
produce equal voltage drop.
 In static shielding the idea is to cancel exactly
the pin to tower charging currents so that the
same current will flow through the units of
identical capacities to produce equal voltage
drop across each unit. [see fig. in the right ]

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  Since identical units are being used their mutual capacities are equal. Similarly
the ground capacitances are equal.
 The design of the ring should be such that this gives rise to the capacitances
which will cancel exactly the charging current in that particular section, such
that
I n 1  I n
and
I cn  I cn
'

nvC  V  nv  Cn
 Where V is the operating voltage and Cn is the capacitance between the
guard ring and the pin of the nth unit
 LetV = kv where k is the number of units used.Then
 nvC   k  n  vCn
or
nC   k  n  Cn
n
or Cn  C (7.7)
26 k n 4/9/2019
  In order to increase the string efficiency, guard ring serves two purposes:
(i). Equalization of voltage drop across the units, and
(ii). When used with arcing horn (which is fixed at the top end of the
string) it protects the insulator string from flashover whenever an over
voltage (under normal or abnormal condition) appears between the
tower structure and the power conductor
 Whenever a transmission line is seen through the areas where there is lot
of smoke or chemical industry or where the frequency of lighting stroke
is large, special design insulator are normally used.

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 Example 1
 Determine the maximum voltage that the string of the suspension
insulator in figure below can withstand if the maximum voltage per unit
is 17.5 kV.

Solution
 Let the voltages across the various units be E1, E2, and E3 as shown, such
that E = E1+E2+E3 where E is the desired withstand voltage of the string.

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 Applying Kirchhoff’s current law at A
C  1 9
i2  i1  ia  E1C  E1  E1C 1    E1C
8  8 8
but i2  E2C
or
9
E2  E1
8
Similarly at B,
i3  i2  ib
E1C E2C
E3C  E2C  
8 8
 1  E C
 E2C 1    1
 8 8
9 9 E C
 x CE1  1
8 8 8
 81 1  89
    CE1  CE1
 64 8  64
89
E3  E1
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 89
 E3  E1  17.5kV
64
64
E1  17.5 x  12.58kV
89
9 9
E2  E1  x12.58  14.15Kv
8 8
E  E1  E2  E3  12.58  14.15  17.5  44.23kV

Example 2
 A string of eight suspension insulators
is to be fitted with a grading. If the pin
to earth capacitances are all equal to C,
find the values of line to pin
capacitances that would give a uniform
voltage distribution over the string

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Solution
 For voltage distribution to be uniform (see figure above)

Ia  I A
I b  I B and so on
Also
E1  E2  E3  ...  E8
E 7E
I a  C and I A  C1
8 8
and
E 7E
C  C1 x
8 8
or
C
C1 
7
Similarly I b  I B
2E
Ib  C
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and
6E
IB   C2
8
C
C  3C2 or C2 
3
Similarly other results can be obtained. It will bee seen that
3C 5C
the other values are , C, ,3C and 7C respectively
5 3

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 Query?
Thank you
Next

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