Under the supervision of

Mr. Parminder singh

Duration of training :2 JUNE - 30JUNE
Submitted by:

NAME : TARUN CHAUHAN

ROLL NO: 1404091060

BRANCH: ELECTRICAL ENGG

COLLEGE : GNDIT
 Acknowledgement

I am deeply grateful to TPDDL which gave me a chance to explore and

comprehend the practical way of working. No words of gratefulness and
indebtedness would ever match exposition if, endeavored to show my deep
sense of respect and reverence Mr .PARMINDER SINGH.I am also
sincerely thankful to Mr. NIKHIL KHURANA for providing me
necessary guidance as per the training requirements.

The instrument of acknowledgement will remain out of tune if, I will not
thank Mr. ANKIT MISHRA AND Mr .SONU KUMAR, under whose
worth full guidance I completed my training. With all the knowledge and
skills I have acquired during this period, I hope that I will apply them in a
positive way wherever and whenever possible.

At last, I express my thanks to whole ZONE-502 family for co-

operating me during the training period and also for giving me the most
valuable and practical lesson of dedication which the TPDDL staff adopted.

Tarun chauhan
trainee
 Contents
1.About TPDDL

1. Organizational Description
2. Organizational Environment
3. Organizational Culture

2.Components of distribution system

1. Requirements of distribution system
2. Different types of cables.

3.Transformer
-parts of transformer
-protection of a transformer

4.Electric cables
-Characteristic

-types of cables
-Parts of electrical cable
-testing of electrical cable

5 -Circuit breaker
 -Protection relays
-Air circuit breaker
-Vacuum circuit breaker
-Sulphur hexafloride(sf6) circuit breaker
6. Revival of cable fault

About TPDDL

TATA POWER- DELHI DISTRIBUTION LTD (TPDDL) is a Joint

Venture between Tata Power and Govt. of NCT of Delhi. TPDDL has
an equity base of Rs 368 crores with TATA holding 51% and 49%
stake being held by Govt. of NCT of Delhi. TPDDL distributes
electricity in the North & North West areas of Delhi and came into
existence on July 1, 2002 as a result of the electricity reforms in Delhi
state. TPDDL caters to a population of approximately 6 million
spread over 510 square kms with a turn over of Rs 1587 crores and
serves a consumer base of about 6 million consumers.

TPDDL’s Distribution Area

TPDDL is in the business of distribution of electricity at the following
alternating current voltage levels – 220kv, 66kv, 33kv, 11kv, 6.6 kv,
440v and 240v. The peak demand of TPDDL is about 1704 MW with
 daily average energy requirement of about 22 to 23 MUs and an
annual consumption of about 8000 MUs. It has a registered consumer
base of above 6 million people in the north and north- west parts of
delhi.

The areas of distribution in Delhi under the TPDDL have been

organized into the following districts:
NORTH AREA
• City Circle encompassing Moti Nagar (MTN), Keshav Puram
(KPM) and Pitampura (PPR) districts.
 • Town Circle encompassing Civil Lines (CVL), Shakti Nagar
(SKN) and Model Town (MDT) districts.

NORTH WEST AREA

• Urban Circle encompassing Shalimar Bagh (SMB) and Badly
(BDL) districts.
• Metro Circle encompassing Rohini (RHN) and Mangolpuri
(MGP) districts.
 Sub-Urban Circle encompassing Bawana (BWN) and Narela
(NRL) districts

Components of Distribution System

The distribution system plays an important role in any electric power
system. The main function of an electrical power distribution
system is to provide power to individual consumer premises.
Distribution of electric power to different consumers is done with
much low voltage level. The effectiveness with which it achieves its
objective of distributing electric energy to various consumers, is
measured in terms of voltage regulation, flexibility, security of supply
efficiency and cost.
In general, the components of distribution system consists of feeders,
ring main units, distribution transformer, circuit breakers, distributors
and service mains. Figure shows a single line diagram of a typical
distribution system.

i) Feeders: A feeder is a conductor which connects the substation (or

localized generating station) to the areas to be fed by those stations.
Generally, no tappings are taken from feeders to the consumers.
Therefore
current loading of a feeder remains same along its length. It is
designed
mainly from the point of view of its current carrying capacity.

ii) Ring main units: In ring main system one ring network of
distributors is fed by more than one feeder. In this case if one feeder is
under fault or maintenance, the ring distributor is still energized by
other feeders connected to it. In this way the supply to the consumers
is not affected even when any feeder becomes out of service. In
addition to that the ring main system is also provided with different
section isolates at different suitable points. If any fault occurs on any
section, of the ring, this section can easily be isolated by opening the
associated section isolators on both sides of the faulty zone.
 Fig . Schneider 4 way RMU

These units have isolators and breakers in normally opened and

normally closed configurations depending on the requirement of the
system.
 Isolators: Isolators are manually operated switches .In case of
faults after the fault is detected,these isolators are made ground
which disconnects the supply of that particular area and
maintenance work is carried out.
 Breakers: Breakers are automated switches which trips in case
of faults .For this purpose, relays are used in RMU. During fault
conditions, the current increases to a very high value which is
 sensed by the relay and it gives the tripping command to the
switch.
Thus it can be seen that a RMU is a very important part of the
distribution system .It plays the role of both maintaining the
uninterrupted supply by back feeding the system and a
protection device in case of fault conditions.
Gas insulated ring main units: When the fault occurs in the
system ,an arc is generated when the switching action takes
place. This arc has to be diminished otherwise the panel can
explode.
For this purpose,SF6 gas is used as an insulater.SF6 is odourless
and colourless intoxic gas which is inert in nature and have a
very good arc quenching property.
During fault condition when arc occurs during tripping, a lot of
heat is generated. Due to this generated heat,SF6 breaks into
SF4 and SF2.SF4 thus generated is well known for its very high
dielectric strength. Due to high dielectric medium, the arc
generated diminishes very quickly. After the arc is diminished,
SF4 and SF2 again combines to form SF6 and thus making this
process regenerative.
iii) Distribution Transformer: A distribution transformer is
a transformer that provides the final voltage transformation in
the electric power distribution system, stepping down the voltage used
in the distribution lines to the level used by the customer. As they
usually don't operate at full load, they are designed to have maximum
efficiency at lower loads. To have a better efficiency, voltage
regulation in these transformers should be kept to a minimum. Hence
they are designed to have small leakage reactance.

iv) Circuit breakers: Similar to the high voltage side where RMU is
used for tripping during fault conditions,air circuit breakers are used
in the low voltage side.

Since the level of voltage is not very high, even the dielectric strength
of air is enough to diminish the arc and hence air is insulating medium
in these breakers.If the fault ocuurs in the distributers, these breakers
trips and supply is disconnected of that distributer.

v) Distributers: Distributors are the conductors from which

numerous tappings for the supply to consumers are taken. The current
loading of distributor varies along its length. Distributors are designed
from the point of view of the voltage drop in them.

iii) Service mains: Service mains are the conductors, which connect
the
consumer’s terminals to the distributor.These are tapped from
distributers to supply power to the consumer.

The design of distribution networks starts with a map of the area, the
positions of the roads, streets and buildings and position of
distribution stations. They can be overhead or underground. The
electrical power system equipment’s design is governed by the
electrical and mechanical needs. The electrical design of distribution
facilities is based on the loads that they are to carry safely and the
permissible voltage variation. The configuration has a great effect on
the optimization of the load flow in the system.

The final design cannot be divorced from the mechanical, economic,

and other considerations. Several different designs may serve the
same electrical requirements adequately. Each, in turns, may be
modified by mechanical considerations. The selected design
ultimately must reflect the economic considerations, specifically, the
design that results in the least annual expense in supplying the load or
loads question. This necessarily involves the evolution of losses, as
well as capital, maintenance, and operation expenses. Often, other
considerations must also be taken into account including government
regulations, national and local industry constrictions and safety codes,
taxes, public relations and some other, intangible requirements
Planing and development of distribution networks pursues a number
of conflicting objectives:

1. Minimization of power losses

2. Capital investments
3. Operation and maintenance costs
4. And energy not supplied due to interruption in the network

Multiple objectives, large number of variables, uncertainty of initial

information and dynamic nature of the problem cause the complexity
of the stated task.
 Requirements of a Distribution System
A considerable effort is mandatory to maintain the supply of electric
power
within the requirements of many types of consumers. The necessary
requirements
of a good distribution system are:-
1) Availability of power demand: Power should be available to the
consumers in large amount as per their requirement.
2) Reliability: Present day industry is totally dependent on electric
power for
its operation. So, there is an urgent need of a reliable service. If per
chance,
there is a power failure, it should be for the minimum possible time at
every
cost. Improvement in reliability can be made upto a considerable
extent by
a) Reliable automatic control system.
b) Providing additional reserve facilities.
3) Proper voltage: Most important requirement of a distribution
system is
that the voltage variations at the consumer terminals should be as low
a
possible. The main cause of changes in voltage variation is variation
of load on
system. Therefore, a distribution is said to be good, if it ensures that
the voltage
variations are within permissible limits at consumer terminals.
4) Loading: The transmission line should never be over loaded.
5) Efficiency: The efficiency of transmission lines should be
maximum say
about 90%.

TRANSFORMER
A transformer is an electrical device that transfers electrical
energy between two or more circuits through electromagnetic
induction. Electromagnetic induction produces an electromotive
force within a conductor which is exposed to time varying
magnetic fields. Transformers are used to increase or decrease
the alternating voltages in electric power applications.
A varying current in the transformer's primary winding creates a
varying magnetic flux in the transformer core and a varying field
impinging on the transformer's secondary winding. This
varying magnetic field at the secondary winding induces a
varying electromotive force (EMF) or voltage in the secondary
winding due to electromagnetic induction. Making use
of Faraday's Law(discovered in 1831) in conjunction with
high magnetic permeability core properties, transformers can
be designed to efficiently change AC voltages from one voltage
level to another within power networks.
Since the invention of the first constant potential transformer in
1885, transformers have become essential for the
transmission, distribution, and utilization of alternating current
electrical energy.[3] A wide range of transformer designs is
encountered in electronic and electric power applications.
Transformers range in size from RF transformers less than a
cubic centimeter in volume to units interconnecting the power
grid weighing hundreds of tons.

Parts of a transformer
1. Laminated core
2. Windings
3. Insulating Materials
4. Transformer oil
5. Tap changer
6. Conservator
7. Breather
8. Cooling tubes
9. Buchholz Relay
10. Explosion vent
Of the above mentioned, first four can be seen in almost all the
transformers whereas the rest can be found only in
transformers more than 50KVA.
CORE
Core is used to support the windings in the transformer. It also
provides a low reluctance path to the flow of magnetic flux. It is
made up of laminated soft iron core in order to reduce eddy
current loss and Hysteresis loss. The composition of a
transformer core depends on such factors as voltage, current,
and frequency. Diameter of the transformer core is directly
proportional to copper loss and is inversely proportion to the
iron loss. If diameter of the core is decreased, the weight of the
steel in the core is reduced which leads to less core loss of
transformer and the copper loss increase. The vice versa
happen when the diameter is increased.
Windings
There are two windings wound over the transformer core which
are insulated from each other. Windings consists of several
turns of copper coils bundled together an each bundles are
connected in series to form a winding.
Windings can be classified in two different ways.
a) Based on the input and output supply
b) Based on the voltage range
 Based on the supply
Based on the supply the windings are classified into
a) Primary windings
It is the winding to which the input voltage is applied.
b) And secondary windings.
It is the winding to which the output voltage is applied.
 Based on the voltage range
Based on the voltage the windings can be classified as follows
a) High voltage winding
High voltage windings are made up of copper coil. The number
of turns in it is the multiple of the number of turns in the low
voltage windings. It has copper coils thinner than that of the low
voltage windings.
b) Low voltage windings
Low voltage winding has lesser number of turns than that of the
high voltage windings. It is made up of the thick copper
conductors. This is because the current in the low voltage
windings is higher than that of high voltage windings.
Transformer can be supplied from either LV or HV windings
based on the requirement.

Insulating materials
Insulating papers and card boards are used in transformers of
to isolate primary and secondary winding from each other and
from transformer core. Transformer oil is also a insulating
material.
Windings are made of copper due to the following reasons.
 High conductivity
1. Minimizes amount of copper needed for winding (volume &
weight of winding)
2. Minimizes losses
 High ductility
1. Easy to bend conductors into tight winding around core thus
minimizes amount of copper and volume of winding

Transformer oil
Transformer oil performs two important functions of insulation
as well as cooling for the core and coil assembly. Core and
windings of the transformer must be completely immersed in
the oil. Normally hydrocarbon mineral oils are used as
transformer oil. Oil contamination is a serious problem because
it robs its dielectric properties and renders it useless as an
insulating medium.

Conservator

Conservator conserves the transformer oil. It is an airtight

metallic cylindrical drum which is fitted above the transformer.
The conservator tank is vented to the atmosphere at the top
and the normal oil level is approximately in the middle of the
conservator to allow expansion and contraction of oil during the
temperature variations. It is connected to the main tank inside
the transformer which is completely filled with transformer oil
through a pipeline.
 Breather

The insulating oil of transformer is provided for cooling and

insulating purpose. Expansion and contraction of oil during the
temperature variations cause pressure change inside the
conservator. This change in pressure is balanced by the flow of
atmospheric air into and out of the conservator. Transformer
breather is a cylindrical container which is filled with silica gel.
Insulating oil reacts with moisture can affect the paper
insulation or may even lead to some internal faults. So it is
necessary that the air entering the tank is moisture free. For
this purpose breather is used. Breather consists of silica gel
contained in a chamber. When the atmospheric air passes
through the silica gel breather the moisture contents are
absorbed by the silica crystals. Silica gel breather is acts like an
air filter for the transformer and controls the moisture level
inside a transformer. It is connected to the end of breather pipe.

Tap changer

The output voltage may vary according to the input voltage and
the load. During loaded conditions the voltage on the output
terminal fall and during off load conditions the output voltage
increases. In order to balance the voltage variations tap
changers are used. Tap changers can be either on load tap
changer or off load tap changer. In on load tap changers the
tapping can be changed without isolating the transformer from
the supply and in off load tap changers it is done after
disconnecting the transformer. Automatic tap changers are also
available.

Cooling tubes

Cooling tubes are used to cool the transformer oil. The

transformer oil is circulated through the cooling tubes. The
circulation of the oil may either be natural or forced circulation.
In natural circulation, when the temperature of the oil raises the
hot oil naturally moves to the top and the cold oil moves
downwards. Thus the oil keeps on circulating through the
tubes. In forced circulation, an external pump is used for
circulating the oil.
Buchholz Relay

It is a protective device container housed over the connecting

pipe from main tank to conservator tank. It is used to sense the
faults occurring inside the transformer. It is a simple relay which
is operated by the gases emitted due to the decomposition of
transformer oil during internal faults. It helps in sensing and
protecting the transformer from internal faults.
Bushings

Larger transformers are provided with high-voltage

insulated bushings made of polymers or porcelain. A large
bushing can be a complex structure since it must provide
careful control of the electric field gradient without letting the
transformer leak oil.
 TYPES OF CABLES
There are 2 types of cables used in TPDDL :
 PILCA (Paper insulated lead cable armoured)
The cable is insulated interphase by oil impregnated paper
graded for high voltages and then armour from external forces
of surroundimg by the help of lead armour. These cables are
now being replaced by XLPE cables.
 XLPE (Cross linked polyethylene)
In this type of cable insulation, polyethylene bonds are cross
linked with each other to increase the strength of the polyethene.
Polyethylene shows following properties:
I. Excellent electric insulation properties.
II. Good stable mechanical property
III. Resistance to chemical attacks
These properties of polyethylene have made this a very good and
effective insulating material in the cbles used for distribution. But at
higher temperature,the long linear chain like of structure which are
held together by weak moleculer bond starts breaking causing the
individual molecules to slide one over another. Thus it starts acting
like a plastic material.
This thermoplastic nature can be converted to thermally stable
thermosetting compound by the process of cross linking.
 ABC(Aerial Bunch Cables)
Presently in the distribution system, conductors are used for
distribution. During strong winds,these conductors sometimes
touch each other leading to phase to phase fault. Also in areas
where they are passing through trees,they even breaks in storm
when tree falls. At low volatege side, there are many cases
reported of electricity stealing as people can easily tap from
these bare conductors.
To overcome these problems faced by conductors,ABCs are
introduced.In this type of cable,3 phase wires along with a
neutral are insulated using XPLE from each other and are
bundeled together. An additional wire called messenger wire
runs in parallel with these wires which helps in strengthening
the cable and its connection at poles.
 Parts of electrical cable

There are various parts of a cable to be taken care of during construction. The
power cable mainly consists of
1. Conductor
2. Insulation
3. LAY for Multi core cables only
4. Bedding
5. Beading/Armouring (if required)
6. Outer Sheath

Conductor
Conductors are the only power carrying path in a power cable.
Conductors are of different materials. Mainly in cable industry
we use copper (ATC, ABC) and aluminium conductors for power
cables. There are different types of conductor as Class 1: solid,
Class 2 stranded, Class 5 flexible, Class 6 Extra flexible (Mostly
used for cords and welding) etc. Conductor sizes are identified
with conductor resistance.
Insulation
The insulation provided on each conductor of a cable by mainly
PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride), XLPE (Cross linked Poly ethylene),
RUBBER (Various Types of Rubber). Insulating material is
based on operating temperature.
Cores are identified by colour coding by using different colours
on insulation or by number printing on cores

Beading (Inner Sheath)

This portion of the cable is also known as inner sheath. Mostly
it is used in Multi core cables. It works as binder for insulated
conductors together in multi-core power cables and provides
bedding to armour/braid. This portion of the cable is mainly
made of PVC.

Armouring
There are mainly G.I. WIRE ARMOURING, G.I. STEEL STRIP
armouring. It is done by placing G.I. WIREs, GI or STEEL
STRIPs one by one on inner sheath. Armouring is a process
which is done mainly for providing earthing shield to the
current carrying conductors as well as it is also used for
earthing purpose of the cable for safety. When there is any
insulation failure in the conductor, the fault current gets
enough paths to flow through the armour if it is properly
earthed. Providing extra mechanical protection and strength to
cable an important added advantage of armouring. In MINING
CABLES it is done for conductance

Beading
ANNEALED TINNED COPPER WIRE, NYLON BRAID, COTTON
BRAID are mainly used for this purpose. Braiding is the process
which gives high mechanical protection to cable and also used
for earthing purpose. Significance of braiding is it is more
flexible in comparison to armouring.
Outer Sheath
This is outermost cover of the cable normally made of PVC
(Poly Vinyl Cloride), RUBBER (Various Types of Rubber) and
often the same material as the bedding. It is provided over the
armour for overall mechanical, weather, chemical and electrical
protection. Outer sheath is protection offered to cable not
much electrically but more mechanically.
Mainly above 6 sq mm cables are called power cables but it
depends upon the use of cable. For PVC power cables we use
IS:1554 and for XLPE power cables we use IS:7098 and for
Rubber based power cables we use IS:9968 and other relevant
specifications. Power cables are defined by voltage grade and
nominal cross sectional area.

Testing of electrical cables

Insulation Resistance:

 Cables shall be tested for insulation resistance with an

insulation tester (i.e. Megger) at 1000 Volts for 1 minute.
 The minimum insulation resistance to earth or between
phases shall be 100 meg-ohms.
 The instrument used for this measurement shall have a
minimum resolution of 10 meg-ohms on the 0 to 500 meg-
ohm range.
 At the conclusion of LV insulation resistance testing, the
neutrals must be connected to the earth stakes.

Phasing Test:
 The correct phasing of all LV circuits shall be checked at all
positions where the LV cables are terminated into fuse bases
and where any LV cable is run from point to point.
 This test shall be performed with an instrument designed for
the purpose. Mains frequency voltage of 240 Volts is not
acceptable for this test.
 The neutral conductor shall be connected to the earth stake
for this test.
 resistance values of the test leads.

Circuit breaker

Fig, -air circuit breaker

All circuit breaker systems have common features in their

operation. Although details vary substantially depending
on the voltage class, current rating and type of the circuit
breaker.

The circuit breaker must detect a fault condition; in low

voltage circuit breakers this is usually done within the
breaker enclosure. Circuit breakers for large currents or high
voltages are usually arranged with protective relay pilot
devices to sense a fault condition and to operate the trip
opening mechanism. The trip solenoid that releases the latch
is usually energized by a separate battery, although some
high-voltage circuit breakers are self-contained with current
transformers, protective relays, and an internal control
power source.
Once a fault is detected, the circuit breaker contacts must
open to interrupt the circuit; some mechanically stored
energy (using something such as springs or compressed air)
contained within the breaker is used to separate the contacts,
although some of the energy required may be obtained from
the fault current itself. Small circuit breakers may be
manually operated, larger units have solenoids to trip the
mechanism, and electric motors to restore energy to the
springs.
The circuit breaker contacts must carry the load current
without excessive heating, and must also withstand the heat
of the arc produced when interrupting (opening) the circuit.
Contacts are made of copper or copper alloys, silver alloys
and other highly conductive materials. Service life of the
contacts is limited by the erosion of contact material due to
arcing while interrupting the current. Miniature and molded-
case circuit breakers are usually discarded when the contacts
have worn, but power circuit breakers and high-voltage
circuit breakers have replaceable contacts.
When a current is interrupted, an arc is generated. This arc
must be contained, cooled and extinguished in a controlled
way, so that the gap between the contacts can again
withstand the voltage in the circuit. Different circuit
breakers use vacuum, air, insulating gas, or oil as the medium
the arc forms in. Different techniques are used to extinguish
the arc including:
 Lengthening or deflecting the arc
 Intensive cooling (in jet chambers)
 Division into partial arcs
  Zero point quenching (contacts open at the zero current
time crossing of the AC waveform, effectively breaking
no load current at the time of opening. The zero
crossing occurs at twice the line frequency; i.e., 100
times per second for 50 Hz and 120 times per second for
60 Hz AC.)
 Connecting capacitors in parallel with contacts in DC
circuits.
Finally, once the fault condition has been cleared, the
contacts must again be closed to restore power to the
interrupted circuit.

Air circuit breakers (ACB)

The circuit breaker which operates in air at atmospheric
pressure.
The working principle of this breaker is rather different from
those in any other types of circuit breakers. The main aim of
all kind of circuit breaker is to prevent the reestablishment of
arcing after current zero by creating a situation where the
contact gap will withstand the system recovery voltage. The
air circuit breaker does the same but in different manner. For
interrupting arc it creates an arc voltage in excess of the
supply voltage. Arc voltage is defined as the minimum
voltage required maintaining the arc. This circuit breaker
increases the arc voltage by mainly three different ways:
 It may increase the arc voltage by cooling the arc
plasma. As the temperature of arc plasma is
decreased, the mobility of the particle in arc plasma
is reduced; hence more voltage gradient is required
to maintain the arc.
 It may increase the arc voltage by lengthening the
arc path. As the length of arc path is increased, the
resistance of the path is increased, and hence to
maintain the same arc current more voltage is
required to be applied across the arc path. That
means arc voltage is increased.
 Splitting up the arc into a number of series arcs also
increases the arc voltage.
 Protection Relay

A protective relay is a device that detects the fault and initiates

the operation of the circuit breaker to isolate the defective
element from the rest of the system.

1. DIFFERENTIAL RELAY: -

A differential relay is “the relay that operates when the vector

difference of two or more similar electrical quantities exceeds a
pre determined amount.” Almost every type of relay when
connected in a certain way can be made to operate as
differential relay, mast of the differential relays are of the
“current differential type.” Fig.1 shows the over current relay
used as “differential relay” and operates when the currents at
two points of the system are unusual. For example of the
current on at two ends of alternator, windings are unusual.
There is either a fault to earth or b/w phases. When there is
continuous over current and the current over current and the
current on both sides are equal, than the relay will not sense the
fault. It will sense fault only if there is a difference of current on
two sides of circuit.

Fig.2 shows if there is some external fault F, than the current

flowing on the two sides of relay are equal and hence the relay
will not sense the fault.

A very important disadvantage in simple balance system is due

to inequalities of current transformers. Hence the differential
CT’s should not be erroneous or should be identical.

This disadvantage can also be overcome by using a based beam

relay.

DIFFERENTIAL RELAY
 Vacuum circuit breakers (VCB)
Vacuum circuit breakers are used mostly for low and medium
voltages. Vacuum interrupters are developed for up to 36 kV
and can be connected in series for higher voltages. The
interrupting chambers are made of porcelain and sealed. They
cannot be open for maintenance, but life is expected to be
about 20 years, provided that the vacuum is maintained.
Because of the high dielectric strength of vacuum, the
interrupters are small. The gap between the contacts is about 1
cm for 15 kV interrupters, 2 mm for 3 kV interrupters.
 Fig. Vacuum interrupter

Service life of the VCB is much longer than other types of

circuit breakers. There is no chance of fire hazard as oil circuit
breaker. It is much environment friendly than SF6 circuit
breaker.

Sulphur-hexafluoride (SF6) circuit breakers

Gas properties

Sulfur-hexafluoride (SF6) is an excellent gaseous dielectric

for high voltage power applications. SF6 is a colorless non-
toxic gas, with good thermal conductivity and density
approximately five times that of air (6.14 kg/m3.). It does not
react with materials commonly used in high voltage circuit
breakers. It has been used extensively in high voltage circuit
breakers and other switchgear employed by the power
industry. Applications for SF6 include gas insulated
transmission lines and gas insulated power distribution
substations. The combined electrical, physical, chemical and
thermal properties offer many advantages when used in power
switchgear. Some of the outstanding properties of SF6 which
make its use in power applications desirable are:
 high dielectric strength
 unique arc-quenching ability
 excellent thermal stability
 good thermal conductivity
The SF6 gas is identified as a greenhouse gas, safety
regulation are being introduced in many countries in order to
prevent its release into atmosphere.

EARTHING OF A SYSTEM
Why ground?
Poor grounding not only contributes to unnecessary downtime, but a
lack of good grounding is also dangerous and increases the risk of
equipment failure. Without an effective grounding system, we could
be exposed to the risk of electric shock, not to mention
instrumentation errors, harmonic distortion issues, power factor
problems and a host of possible intermittent dilemmas. If fault
currents have no path to the ground through a properly designed and
maintained grounding system, they will find unintended paths that
could include people.

“Grounding is defined as a conducting connection,

whether intentional or accidental between an electrical
circuit or equipment and the earth, or to some
conducting body that serves in place of the earth.”

Ideally a ground should be of zero ohms resistance but in reality it is

not possible so IEEE have recommended a ground resistance value of
5.0 ohms or less.

Grounding electrodes are used to ground the system. Ground rods are
generally made of highly conductive/low resistance material such as
steel or copiice of a ground system:
1. Diameter of the ground electrode.
Increasing the diameter of the ground electrode has very little
effect in lowering the resistance. For example, you could double the
diameter of a ground electrode and your resistance would only
decrease by 10 %.
2. Number of ground electrodes.
Another way to lower ground resistance is to use multiple
ground electrodes. In this design, more than one electrode is driven
into the ground and connected in parallel to lower the resistance. For
additional electrodes to be effective,
the spacing of additional rods need to be at least equal to the depth of
the driven rod. Without proper spacing of the ground electrodes, their
spheres of influence will intersect and the resistance will not be
lowered.
3. Ground system design.
Simple grounding systems consist of a singleground electrode driven
into the ground. The use of a single ground electrode is the most
common form of grounding and can be found outside your home or
place of business. Complex
grounding systems consist of multiple ground rods, connected, mesh
or grid networks, ground plates, and ground loops. These systems are
typically installed at power generating substations, central offices, and
cell tower sites.
 REVIVAL OF FAULTY CABLES

1.CABLE TESTING
To locate a fault in the cable ,the cable must first be
tested for faults .Cable testing is therefore usually
performed first in cable fault location .During the
cable test ,flash –overs are generated at the weak
points in the cable ,which can then be localised.
2.PRE-LOCATION
Pre location is used to determine the fault
distance.There is mainly a method for this.
. Transient method
In the transient method ,a breakdown is triggered
at the cable fault.This effects a low resistance short
circuit for a few milliseconds.This in turn produces two
travelling waves defusing in opposite directions .These
waves are reflected at the cable ends so that they then
travel toward each other again in the direction of the
cable fault . The waves are unable to pass because of
the arc produced by the short circuit, so they are
therefore reflected back again as with the pulse
reflection method,which due to the burning short
circuit result in a reversal of polarity.There are various
ways to decouple and analyse these transients.
3.ROUTE TRACING AND PIN POINTING
Route tracing is used to determine where the faulty
cable lies and pinpointing is the process of determining
the exact position of the cable fault.

• Surging: Surge voltage is more than B.D. voltage.

The HV capacitors are charged and then
discharged through the cable. The high energy
gets dissipated at the point of fault, resulting in a
loud sound or bang which is detected using a
seismic sensor (pick up coil ) or Digi phone. The
acoustic signal is converted into a electric voltage
and given to the receiver where it is amplified.
• The magnetic signal is detected by means of a
ferrite antenna in the sensor and then amplified by
the receiver.
• The magnitude of the acoustic signal and magnetic
signal is displayed on the receiver.

• At the fault point Maximum acoustic signal &

maximum magnetic signal is received at minimum
signal amplification.

4.FAULT CONVERSION
 After the cable fault is identified and located,it is then
possible to burn it inusing burner devices, in other
words to convert it from a low-resistive to a high-
impedance fault.

5.CABLE TEST VAN

The conventionally used aid in cable fault testing and

location is the cable test van.The van is installed with
conventional cable measuring systems for quickly
reaching the location of any cable fault.