Characteristics and Altitude Correction of Rod-Rod
Long Air Gap Impulse Discharge
Fangcheng LV, Yujian DING, Da FAN
Electrical & Electronic Engineering School
North China Electric Power University
Beijing, China
Abstract—In UHV DC test base of state grid corporation and
Tibet high altitude test base, rod-rod gap discharge
characteristic tests under the same condition of arrangement
are carried out. Positive and negative polarity switching and
lightning impulse discharge characteristic curves for rod-rod
long air gap under the condition of different elevations are
obtained; dispersion of different altitudes rod-rod gap discharge
voltage is given; by applying the existing altitude correction
methods IEC60060-1 and IEC60071-2 to an altitude of 4300 m,
altitude correction coefficients of switching and lightning
impulse discharge voltage are calculated; contrast analysis
between them and correction coefficients obtained through test
results are carried out; applicability of the above two correction
methods at an altitude of 4300 m is preliminarily discussed.
Results show that disposability of the rod-rod gaps discharge
voltage under the same impulse voltage waveform at different
altitudes are basically the same, and that the polarity and
waveform parameters have a certain impact on the altitude
correction factor of the rod-rod gap discharge voltage.
Keywords—high altitude; switching impulse; lightning impulse;
discharge voltage; rod-rod gap; altitude correction
I. INTRODUCTION
China’s plateau covers a vast area, and the mountains and
plateaus above 1,000 meters exceed half of the total land area
of the country. Water conservancy, coal and other primary
energy are mainly distributed in the western high altitude
regions. With the efforts to exploit the western region
increasing, southwest and northwest regions are making full
use of regional resource advantages to develop hydropower,
coal and electricity delivery by the use of UHV AC and DC
transmission projects whose altitudes approach 3000m, even
close to 4000m.
External insulation design of the UHV AC or DC
transmission and transformation project is crucial. The
choice of the air gap distance is the one of the key
technologies of the project[1-6]. In high altitude areas, the
dielectric strength of the air gap will reduce as the air density
decreases, which will be a great challenge to design power
transmission and transformation projects. The high-altitude
flashover characteristics of external insulation can be
corrected by altitude correction methods and low altitude test
data. But most of the existing altitude correction methods of
air-gap discharge voltage are only applied to 2000m or below.
Although some methods claimed the validity to the areas
978-1-5090-0496-6/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
Yujian DING, Qingfeng LI, Xi WANG, Xiuyuan Yao
High Voltage Department
China Electric Power Research Institute
Beijing, China
above 2000 m, they cannot be supported by test data[1-3]. As
typical air gaps, rod-rod gap and rod-plane gap discharge
characteristics could be references to the design of the air gap
of the tower heads and converter stations in the transmission
and transformation project.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SAMPLES, EQUIPMENT AND METHODS
A. Test Electrodes
At different altitudes, rod-rod typical electrodes with the
identical size and structure are chosen as test electrodes. Just as
rod-plane electrode, rod-rod electrode is also a typical gap
structure type, which belongs to highly uniform electric field.
Rod-rod air gap is arranged vertically. Length of the upper
rod electrode is 15 m, and its diameter is 60 mm. Moreover, it is
hung up by a composite insulator. Length of the lower rod
electrode is 10 m, and its diameter is 60 mm. Tips of two rod
electrodes are hemispherical. Tests are carried out in the outdoor
test ground of UHV DC test base of State Grid Corporation. The
upper and lower rod electrodes are both fixed by insulating rope,
so as to ensure that the rod electrodes’ location and the gap
distance are constant.
B. Test Facilities
In this paper, tests were carried out respectively in the
outdoor test ground of UHV DC test base of State Grid
Corporation at Changping District of Beijing and the
highaltitude test base, in Yangbajing, Lhasa, Tibet province. Test
equipment are mainly composed of impulse voltage generator,
control system, and gate tower. The rated voltage of impulse
voltage generator in UHV DC test site is 7200 kV, and its rated
capacity of 480 kJ, as shown in Fig.1. The headroom size of gate
tower is 60 m in length and 50 m in width.
FIGURE 1 7200KV/480KJ IMPULSE VOLTAGE GENERATOR AND DIVIDER
 The standard deviation ı of experiments should be
calculated according to the following formula:

˄2˅
In this formula: Ui —the applied voltage, kV;
FIGURE 2 4200KV/200KJ IMPULSE VOLTAGE GENERATOR AND DIVIDER
ni —the number of effective experiments.
The rated voltage of impulse voltage generator in Tibet high
In order to examine the accuracy of the test data, the
altitude test site is 4200 kV, and its rated capacity of 200 kJ. The
variation coefficient z of each group of data needs to be
headroom size of gate tower is 60 m in length and 50 m in width.
calculated. The calculation formula is shown below: ı
C. Experimental methods
Impulse flashover voltage test adopted the up and down ˄3˅
method. The voltage fluctuation range is about 3-5% of this formula:
expected flashover voltage. Atmospheric parameters were U50 —the 50% discharge voltage, kV;
recorded both before and after each experiment, and the average ı—standard deviation.
value of two measurements was taken as the meteorological
parameter value for this experiment. The interval between two III. ROD-ROD LONG GAP DISCHARGE CHARACTERISTICS AT
experiments was is 3~5 min, and meteorological parameters DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
were measured at the start and end for each test, such as air In the UHV DC test base of State Grid Corporation (50 m)
pressure, humidity, temperature and so on. The average value and the high-altitude test base (4300 m), rod-rod gap switching
was the test data of meteorological parameters. Firstly, a voltage and lightning impulse discharge characteristic experiments are
value U was chosen, which was carried out, and discharge characteristic curves at the two
k
altitudes are obtained.
approximately equal to the 50% discharge voltage. Then a
voltage differential 䪊U was selected, which was about 3%~5% A. Swicthing impulse discharge characteristics
of U . At the beginning, impulse voltage U was applied. Curves between positive and negative polarity 50% standard
k k switching impulse voltage and distances for rod-rod gap at
different altitudes are shown in Fig.3 and Fig.4, and by using g
According to whether the breakdown occurred, different parameter method, test data at the altitude of 50m region is
impulse voltage would be exerted. Impulse voltage U k + 䪊U corrected to that under the standard meteorological condition.
would be exerted next time if breakdown didn’t occur; impulse
voltageU k - 䪊U would be exerted next time if breakdown
occurred. Every time the voltage exerted is determined by the
n
previous result. i, the number of effective experiments of the
applied every level voltage, was recorded. To reduce errors
caused by improper values, the first effective starting voltage
value should appear repeatedly in the following test. The
calculation formula of 50ˁ discharge voltage U50 is:

˄1˅
In this formula: U —the applied voltage, kV; 
ni —the number of effective experiments under the same FIGURE 3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SWITCHING IMPULSE VOLTAGE U50 AND
GAP DISTANCE AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
applied voltage;
n—the number of effective experiments.
Generally each data point, the number of effective switching
impulse voltages is 40 times and the number of effective
lightning impulse voltages is 30 times. If U series is less than
i

level 4, the number of switching impulse voltages can be exerted

is 30 , and that of lightning impulse voltages is 20.
 








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7LEHWOLJKWQLQJ

    
URGURGJDSGLVWDQFHP

FIGURE 4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SWITCHING IMPULSE VOLTAGE U50 AND

FIGURE 7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROD-ROD GAP LIGHTNING IMPULSE
GAP DISTANCE AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
VOLTAGE U50 AND D AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
According to Fig.3 and Fig.4, altitude correction coefficients
It can be seen that in areas of 0m or 4300m, 50% lightning
of positive and negative polarity switching voltage for different
impulse discharge voltage and gap distance is a linear
rod-rod gap distances are calculated, which are shown in Fig.5.
relationship. Under the condition of the same altitude and the
same rod-rod gap distance, negative lightning impulse discharge
voltage is higher than positive polarity. According to the Fig.6
and Fig.7, it can be calculated that at 4300 m, the altitude
correction coefficient of rod-rod gap 50% positive lightning
impulse voltage is 1.82 and the altitude correction coefficient of
50% negative lightning voltage is 1.72.

C. 2.3 Relative standard deviations of rod-rod gap impulse

FIGURE 5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALTITUDE CORRECTION COEFFICIENTS
AND D AT THE ALTITUDE OF 4300 M
For rod-rod air gap, when the distance is less than 2 m, the
positive and negative polarity altitude correction coefficients are
basically consistent. With the increase of gap distance, the
correction coefficients reduce; the decreasing speed of
correction coefficient of negative switching impulse voltage is
smaller than that of positive switching.
discharge voltage
Relative standard deviations of rod-rod gap discharge
voltage at the altitude of 50m and 4300m are shown in Tab.1.
Both in high altitude and low altitude areas, lightning impulse
discharge voltage dispersion is smaller than operation impact
discharge dispersion. With the same voltage waveform, the
influence of altitude on discharge voltage dispersion is not
obvious.
TAB.1 VARIATION COEFFICIENT Z TO U50 OF ROD-ROD GAPLIGHTNING
IMPULSE VOLTAGE

B. Lightning impulse discharge characteristics Impulse style Variation˄z˅

According to the test results of Beijing and Tibet rod-rod gap

Switching˄50m˅ 2.9%~4.8%
lightning impulse discharge characteristics, curves between
lightning impulse discharge voltage and gap distance are
Switching ˄4300m˅ 2.6%~4.8%
obtained, which are shown in Fig.6 and Fig.7. Using g parameter
correction method, the test data of Beijing is corrected to that
Lightning ˄50m˅ 1.8%~3.0%
under the standard meteorological condition.

Lightning˄4300m˅ 1.4%~3.0%

 IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN COMMON ELEVATION CORRECTION

METHODS AND THE TEST RESULT
 The breakdown voltage of air is related to atmospheric
conditions at the test. Often it’s believed that the destructive
 %HLMLQJOLJKWQLQJ discharge voltage for a given air discharge path declines with
7LEHWOLJKWQLQJ the decrease of the density of air. Air density is associated with
elevation. The higher the altitude is, the smaller the density of

    
air. Currently there are many references of elevation correction
URGURGJDSGLVWDQFHP standards, such as: IEC60060-1, IEC60071-2 and so on.

FIGURE 6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROD-ROD GAP LIGHTNING IMPULSE

VOLTAGE U50 AND D AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES
A. Switching impulse relation, while the U50% lighting impulse discharge voltage and
Switching impulse discharge voltage for 2 m~6 m rod-rod the gap distance show a linear relation.
gap at the altitude of 0 m and 4300 m is selected as research 2) The variation of the rod-rod gaps discharge voltage
object. By extending the application range of the above two under the same impulse voltage waveform at different altitudes
correction methods to 4300 m area, altitude correction are basically the same, among them, the variation of the
coefficients of rod-rod switching impulse discharge voltage are switching impulse discharge voltage is in the range of 2.6% to
obtained, just as shown in Tab.2. Meteorological conditions in 4.8%, and the variation of the lightning impulse discharge
IEC60060-1 are actual meteorological conditions in the test, and voltage is in the range of 1.4% to 3.0%.
correction method, IEC60071-2, uses the phase-earth curve to
select values of m. In the Tab.2, test results are altitude 3) The test results show that the polarity and waveform
correction coefficients obtained through the low altitude and parameters have a certain impact on the altitude correction
high altitude air gap test. factor of the rod-rod gap discharge voltage.
4) The correction factors obtained by the IEC 60060-1,
TAB.2 COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT CORRECTION METHODS IN ROD - ROD in a way, are close to test results of rod-rod gap positive polarity
GAP SWITCHINGIMPULSE VOLTAGE U50 switching impulse, and they are close to correction factors
Correction IEC IEC Test results obtained by the test of rod-rod gap negative polarity switching
method 60060-1 60071-2 positive negative impulse when the gap distance is relatively small, but when the
Correction
gap distance reaches to 6m, the correction factors are much
factor 1.69~1.34 1.46~1.22 1.64~1.31 1.65~1.49 smaller than the experimental values.

It can be seen from Tab.2 that the correction coefficient 5) The correction factors calculated by the IEC60071-2
calculated through the IEC60060-1 correction method, is and test values have a big deviation, so they aren’t applied to
relatively close to test result for positive switching impulse; the altitude correction of rod-rod gap switching impulse.
it is also close to test result for negative switching impulse 6) The altitude correction factors of rod-rod gap
when gap distance is short. But when the gap distance reaches lightning discharge voltage obtained by IEC60060-1 and
to 6 m, it is much smaller than the test result. As for the IEC60071-2 are smaller than those obtained by test results.
correction coefficient calculated through the IEC60071-2
correction method, the deviation between it and test result is 7) In this paper, only rod-rod gap impulse discharge
great, so it is not applicable to elevation correction for rod- voltage was preliminarily discussed. The influence of altitude,
rod gap switching impulse. voltage type, electrode geometry and atmospheric conditions on
long air gap discharge characteristics and altitude correction
factor still needs further study.
B. Lightning impulse
Using the above two methods, altitude correction
coefficients are calculated at an altitude of 4300 m for 2 m~6 REFERENCES
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are compared with the test results. The results are shown in study on switching impulse flashover characteristics of typical air gaps in
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[2] SUN Zhao-ying㸪DING Yujian㸪LIAO Weiming㸪 etc㸬Altitude
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GAP OPERATING OVERVOLTAGE U50
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results.

V. CONCLUSIONS
1) Through the tests of Beijing and Tibet, we had
obtained the test data of the positive and negative polarity
switching impulse and lightning impulse discharge under the
same form of rod-rod electrode, and the corresponding
discharge characteristics curves. The U50% switching impulse
discharge voltage and the gap distance show an exponent