Voltage Distribution on Suspension Insulator String Set

Yushan
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
PT PLN (Persero), Indonesia
e-mail: yushan.yusuf@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Abstract—Insulator strings are used at the suspension of overhead transmission
lines. The most common problem encountered at the suspension insulators is the uneven
voltage distribution at each insulator, which makes several insulators suffer from
highly-stressed voltage. Sometime it was caused by stray capacitance that occur
between insulators joint and ground point at transmission line tower. In this paper, we
try to define the value of the stray capacitance that occur and its effect to the voltage
distribution, so that we can determine the best configuration for the suspension
insulator installed at the transmission line tower.
Index Terms – Voltage distribution, suspension insulators, transmission line.

1 INTRODUCTION These capacitances have different values for different positions of

the insulators in the suspension set. Compared to the value of each
Insulator is one of important part for the transmission line
insulators capacitor element, the value of Ce is much smaller. But
system, through their ability to insulate the power lines as well as
in reality, the value of Ce can’t be ignored because it affect the
their function in carrying the weight of the line conductor. For
voltage distribution in the suspension insulators. For example, the
higher voltages, a string of suspension insulators is used. The
suspension insulator that consist of four insulators is as shown at
number of insulator units used depends on the voltages of the lines
Fig. 2. [3]
[1]. The suspension insulators create three kinds of capacitance
effect, that is:
1. Capacitance of each insulators element (C).
2. Stray capacitance between insulators joint and transmission
tower/ground (Ce).
3. Stray capacitance between insulators joint and high voltage
conductors (Ch).
Stray capacitances between insulators and of each insulator in the
insulator string with respect to the High voltage conductor as well as
to earth are developed. These capacitances have different values for
different positions of the insulators in the string. Due to the stray
capacitances existing between the insulator discs, the conductor and
The ground, the voltage distribution along the insulators is not
uniform [2]. Fig.2 Equivalent circuit of suspension insulator (with C and Ce)

The capasitance effect can be described at Fig. 1 To define the voltage distribution mathematically, let’s pay
attention to Fig. 2. The current that flows through each insulator
Ce
C
Ch1
(leakage current) are I; The leakage current between electrode and
transmission line tower are i; The voltage that applied to the end of
Ce
C
Ch2 the suspension insulator are U.
If insulator n = 1 directly connected to the grounded
C
Ce Ch3 transmission tower, then the equation of the capacitive current for
C
nth insulators is:
(1)
Konduktor
tegangan tinggi

Equations for two adjacent elements are:

Fig.1 Capacitance in a string of suspension insulators (2)

 If there are N unit insulator used, and voltage at the last insulator
is U, then:
Where : (13)
in = Leakage current in Ce capasitance at –nth element “A” constant can be determined by:
In= Leakage current in C capasitance at –nth element (14)
Un = Voltage –to ground at –nth element
and voltage at –nth element is:

At –nth insulator, current equation is: (15)

(3) Where the value of α, U, and N detemined by the real constuction
of the insulators and transmission tower.
If we substitute Eq. (1) and (2) to Eq. (3), then we can eliminate By using Eq. (13), voltage distribution along the suspension
insulator can be shown in Fig. 3
the and we get :

(4)
the equation above are voltage difference equation, if the voltage
different between adjacent insulator was very small, then the
equation become 2nd order differential equation, and can be solved
in an exponential form:
(5)
A is a constant.
For n = n + 1 and n = n – 1 , we get:

Fig.3 Suspension insulator voltage distribution curve with N= 8 at different

Ce/C value
(6)
Fig. 3 shows the voltage distribution character of suspension
By using Eq. (6) to Eq. (4), we get:
insulators that consist of N = 8 insulator for each Ce/C ratio value.
The equitable distribution shows Ce/C = 0.

(7) 2 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS

Eq. 7 become: The objective of this experiment was to define the voltage
distribution along a suspension insulator. The suspension
(8) insulator consists of eight porcelain insulators that are used for
the 150 kV overhead transmission lines insulators (Fig. 4).
Ce/C Capasitance ratio can be determine by experiment.
For a very smalll Ce/C, then:

(9)

because the value of α and –α fulfill the Eq. (7), then the solving of
Eq. (5) become:
(10)
A and B are constants.
To find the value of A and B, we can use the conditions that n=0, Fig.4 Suspension insulator set
grounded at transmission tower,
3 EXPERIMENT RESULTS AND
Or, A = - B (11) DISCUSSION
So that the Eq. 10 become: The test voltage was set to 40 kV and then we measure the
(12) voltage at each point (using voltage divider) as shown in Fig.
5.
 Table 2 Stress voltage at each insulators

nth
V (kV)
1 1.124
2 0.192
3 0.320
4 0.436
Current Limiter
5 0.644
6 1.176
7 3.180

AC Source
8 32.696

Fig. 5 Experimental circuit Table 3 Calculation result of Ce/C and α

n Un (Volt) Un (kV) Un/U (pu) Ce/C α
The measuring result is shown in table 1.
0 0.018 0.072 0.002
Table 1 Measuring Result 1 0.299 1.196 0.030 (0.779) 0.883
n Un (kV) 2 0.347 1.388 0.035 0.092 0.304
3 0.427 1.708 0.043 0.068 0.261
0 0.072 4 0.536 2.144 0.054 0.097 0.311
1 1.196 5 0.697 2.788 0.070 0.191 0.437
6 0.991 3.964 0.099 0.506 0.711
2 1.388 7 1.786 7.144 0.179 4.132 2.033
3 1.708 8 9.960 39.840 1.000

4 2.144 Table 3 shows that the smallest value of Ce/C lies in the 3rd
5 2.788 measuring point and the largest value of Ce/C lies in the 7th
measuring point. From the insulator configuration we knew
6 3.964
that the 3rd measuring point has the longest distance to the
7 7.144 ground compared to the other measuring point. So that it has
8 39.840 the smallest Ce/C values.
Otherwise, the Ce/C values of the 7th measuring point
become larger because it has a shorter distance to the applied
Voltage distribution of the suspension insulator is shown in
voltage, so that the Ce/C is larger at this point.
Fig. 5
To see the effect of Ce/c to the voltage distribution at
suspension insulators, we can calculate the new voltage
distribution at certain α. Table 4 and Fig. 6 shows that smaller
Ce/C value will produce a better and equitable voltage
distribution in a suspension insulators.
Table 4 Voltage distribution at certain Ce/C - α
Un/U (pu)
n n=2 n=3 n=4 n=5 n=6 n=7
α = 0.304 α = 0.261 α = 0.311 α = 0.437 α = 0.711 α = 2.033
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0.055 0.067 0.053 0.027 0.005 0.000
2 0.115 0.138 0.111 0.060 0.013 0.000
3 0.185 0.218 0.179 0.104 0.028 0.000
4 0.273 0.314 0.266 0.169 0.058 0.000
5 0.386 0.430 0.378 0.267 0.118 0.002
Fig. 5 Voltage Distribution curve 6 0.535 0.577 0.527 0.416 0.241 0.017
7 0.733 0.762 0.728 0.645 0.491 0.131
Based on the measuring result shown at table 1, the value of 8 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
stress voltage at each insulator and the ratio of Ce/C can be
count as shown at table 2 and 3.
 Measuring result (pu)
Measurement
Fig. 5 Voltage Distribution curve at certain Ce/C - α
4 CONCLUSION
In this research, we can get several conclusion as follows:
1. Measuring result at suspension insulators shows that the
voltage at each insulator didn’t distribute evenly. It caused
by the effect of the presence of the stray capacitance that
occur in each insulator to ground point.
2. The Un calculation shows that smaller Ce/C values gives a
more equitable voltage distribution at each insulators.
3. We recommend that designers/engineers consider the
construction of a transmission tower/line structure by
calculating the effect of Ce/C to the Insulators voltage
distribution.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Mr. Umar Khayam for the HV
Laboratory Module and for the help that was given so we can
conduct this research. We also would like to thank Mr. Sumedi
for the help to prepare the utilities to conduct this research.
6 REFERENCES
[1] S. M. Al Dhalaan, and M. A. Elhirbawy, “Simulation of Voltage
Distribution Calculation Methods Over a String of Suspension
Insulators,” Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition,
vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 909-914, 2003.
[2] Vassiliki T. Kontargyri, Ioannis F. Gonos, Ioannis A. Stathopoulos and
Alex M “Measurement and Verification of the Voltage Distribution on
High Voltage Insulators” Electromagnetic Field Computation, 2006
12th Biennial IEEE Conference, pp. 326, 2006
[3] Redy Mardiana. “Modul III - Distribusi Tegangan Pada Isolator Rantai”
Laboratorium Teknik Tegangan dan Arus Tinggi Departemen Teknik
Elektro - Institut Teknologi
Yushan was born in Watampone, Indonesia in 1984.
He received the B.Sc. degree from the Electrical
Engineering Department, Universitas Hasanuddin,
Makassar, Indonesia in 2007. Currently work at PT
PLN Persero.