VIII International Symposium on

Lightning Protection

21st-25th November 2005 – São Paulo, Brazil

MODEL AND SIMULATION IN ATP OF ELECTRIC FENCE WITH

LIGHTNING PROTECTION DEVICE

Marcelo Giovanni B. De Martino Fernando S. dos Reis Guilherme A. Dias

Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – PUCRS
mgiovanni@walmur.com.br f.dosreis@ieee.org gaddias@ee.pucrs.br
Av. Ipiranga, 6681 - Porto Alegre - RS – Brasil - CEP: 90619-900 - Fone: (55-51) 3320.3500

Abstract - This paper will
present a study of a lighting
protection device used in
electric fence installations
to protect the energizer
equipment. A model of a
rural electric fence circuit
with the energizer
connected to the fence with
lightning protection device
is presented and simulated
in the Alternative Transient
Program (ATP) [1]. With
this model is possible to
simulate the circuit with an
impulse discharge provided
from the energizer as well
an impulse provided from a
lightning stroke. This
simulation allows to
evaluating the efficacy of a
lightning stroke protection
device that is available on
the market and
recommended by many
energizer manufacturers.
An introduction of the
energizer electric circuit
and of the electric fence
circuit is presented as well
the simulation of the
electric fence model with
and without the protect
device. A new lightning
protection device
arrangement is presented
1 INTRODUCTION
The electric fence
energizer discharge an
electrical impulse that
normally presents
amplitude higher than 1
kV and less than 10 kV on
the wire of the fence. This
peak value of voltage will
depend of the impedance
of the fence and of the
impulse generation circuit
design (Figure 1). The
impulse repetition rate
shall not exceed 1 Hz and
the impulse duration shall
not exceed 10 ms [2].
VIII International Symposium on
Lightning Protection
21st-25th November 2005 – São Paulo, Brazil
2   terminals. Figure 3
C presents an illustration of
2h
ln the instalation of a
r0 lighting stroke protection
(2). device for electric fences.
Where, h is the distance
between the conductor and
the soil, r0 is the radius of
the conductor, μ is the
environmental
permeability,  is the
Figure 1: Impulse Generator
Circuit of an Electric Fence
Energizer. permittivity of the
environmental, ρwire is the
An equivalent electric wire resistivity, μwire is the
fence circuit with lumped wire permeability and f is
parameters, according to the most representative
Figure 3: Illustration of the
transmission line theory frequency of the impulse. lighting protect device.
[3] and grounding theory The grounding resistance
[4] for the fence circuit is of many electrodes is
This device is arranged
showed in Figure 2. expressed trought the with a spring and a
equation below [4]: lightning arrester device.
The inductor is
F . solo  1 1  implemented
8  l  using a
R rods     lnspring connected in series
  l x  with d   the output
(3). transformer of the
energizer and has the
Where, x is the distance of intention of reduction of
the grounding rod up to the peak current value and
the end of the fence, l is the peak voltage value
the length of the rod, d is trough
the secondary
the diameter of the rod, winding. The lightning
ρsolo is the soil resistivity arrester conduce the surge
and F is the multiplication to the ground. This
factor (for 3 rods F is arrester needs to have a
equal to 0.43). flashover voltage lower
Figure 2: Equivalent electric
fence circuit than 25 kV. A parcel of the
2 LIGHTNING lightning current will flow
PROTECTION DEVICE to the energizer and after
to the ground.
2 ELECTRIC FENCE
PARAMETERS The energizer circuit
needs to be protected from
an electrical impulse 3 INPUT DATA
The fence parameters provided from a lightning
capacitance and indutance stroke and transmitted An electric circuit of the
per meter according to along of the fence. The electric fence modeled
transmission line theory IEC 60335-2-76:2002 [2] with lumped parameters
[3] are expressed trought standard demands that the and the electric circuit of
the equations below: energizers needs to be the energizer with the
resistant to atmospheric lightning device is showed
above is showed in Figure
  2  h   1surges wire . wire from the 4. Figure 5 presents the
entering
L    ln  
fence. It needs to resist to
 2  r0   4. a.r01,2 μsx. f50 μs impulse modeled circuit in ATP.
(1). voltage with a peak
voltage of at least of 25 kV
applied to the fence output
 VIII International Symposium on
Lightning Protection
21st-25th November 2005 – São Paulo, Brazil
Laboratories Calibration
and Tests recognized by
INMETRO in the RBC -
Brazilian Calibration
Network:
Table 2: Parameters of the
spring (inductor) measured in
LABELO.
Figure 4: Complete electric Spring diameter
circuit with the fence Wire diameter
modeled by lumped Number of spirals
parameters. Spring extended length
Distance between each spiral
Electrical Resistance
Measured inductance (10 kHz)
3.2 Lightning stroke
parameters
The lightning stroke is
simulated using the
Heidler block that is an
impulsive source. It is
configured as a 2 kA and 4
Figure 5: Simulated ATP
circuit with the fence μs x 20 μs current source.
modeled with distributed The source is inserted in
parameters and frequency the beginning of the fence.
dependent.
3.3 Energizer
3.1 Lightning protect parameters
device parameters
The impulse generator
For the arrester was used circuit of the energizer has
the R(i) Type 99 block. the components values
The electrical obtained from a indicates the use of the
characteristic of the commercial energizer
commercial lightning recommended to supply up
arrester modeled is to 5 km fence length.
presented in Table 1: The storage capacitor C1
is a 9 μF polypropylene
Table 1: Electrical capacitor. The resistance
characteristic of the lightning
used to limit the in rush
arrester.
current of the C1 charge is
Flashover Discharge voltage value (kV) forthe
eachvalue
the R1 who has
Peak Voltage
of 220 Ω. The RC circuit
kV 1.5 5.0
is charged with 400 Vdc.
kA kA
The switch represents a
16.5 7.4 9.5
TYN812 thyristor. For the
ATP simulation of the
The parameters of the electric fence operation
commercial spring was used a time controlled
(inductor) modeled for this switch and for simulation
simulation is presented in of the discharge of a stroke
Table 2. The parameters in the fence was used a
were measured in the voltage controlled switch
LABELO – Electric / with the Vdrm/Vrrm
Electronic Specialized
voltage of the TYN812 Results of simulation of
thyristor (800 V). the operation of the
The transformer impulse generator circuit
parameters values for the modelled in base of a
saturable transformer commercial energizer was
model were obtained by collected to evaluate the
the open and short circuit influence of the lightning
test. The transformer has a protection device with the
relation of 12.7 and has inductance of the spring
the function of isolation and the influence of the
between the circuits and fence circuit load in the
voltage amplification. operation of the energizer.
The inductance of the
spring simulated don’t
3.4 Fence parameters
cause substantial
difference in the voltage
For this simulation the wave form and peak
Jmarti model was used to
values for a fence having
model the fence. The fence
between 50 m and 5 km
length was selected as a
length. Figure 6 presents
single wire with 5 km and
the voltage curve of the
0.7 m height. In this case
electric impulse generated
the fence is simulated with
by the energizer in the
distributed parameters
output terminals of the
theory.
transformer and in the end
of the 5 km fence.
3.4 Grounding electrode
parameters
The grounding system is
composed by a commercial
copper rod with 2 m long
generally used in electric
fence installations. The
electric fence manual of
many manufacturers
minimum of three rods
and this number is
generally used. The
resistivity of the soil used
for this simulation is 100
Ωm. With this grounding
electrode with tree rods is
necessary at least of 11.36
kA to soil breakdown
occurs. So the equation 3 Figure 6: Impulse voltage
gives the resistance value from the energizer in the
of this grounding electrode beginning of the fence and
(Rrods = 23.4 Ω). the end of the 5 km fence.
In the graphics above the
4 ENERGIZER peak value is lower than 5
OPERATION kV and the flashover of
SIMULATION the arrester don’t occur.
RESULTS

5 LIGHTNING
STROKE SIMULATION
RESULTS
Figure 7 presents the
current curve of the
lightning source.
Figure 7: Lightning current
source.
5.1 Without lightning
protection device
The results presented here
are for a lightning stroke
in the fence without
lightning protection
device. The voltage curve
produced by the lightning
source in the output of the
energizer (secondary
winding of the
transformer) is showed in
Figure 8. The peak value
reaches to 2.14 MV in 4
μs.
VIII International Symposium on
Lightning Protection
21st-25th November 2005 – São Paulo, Brazil
Figure 8: Lightning voltage
curve and current curve
measured in the secondary of
the transformer (output of the
energizer) in a fence without
protection.
The simulated voltage in
the primary winding of the
transformer is showed in
Figure 9.
Figure 9: Lightning voltage
curve in the primary winding
of the transformer in a fence
without protection.
This values of current and
voltage in the secondary of
the transformer produces
serious damaging in the
energizer so is possible
that transformer damages
before high values of
voltage being applied to
the circuit connected to the
primary winding of the
output transformer of the
energizer
5.2 With lightning
protection device
The results presented in
this chapter are simulated
with a inductor (spring)
and the arrester as is
showed in Figure 5. The
voltage and current in the
secondary winding of the
transformer are presented
in Figure 10.
Figure 10: Lightning voltage
curve and current curve
measured in the secondary of
the transformer (output of the
energizer) in a fence with
protection.
The peak voltage in the
secondary winding of the
transformer reaches 7677
V. The voltage increases
untill the moment that the
arrester starts to conduce.
An energizer accodring to
the standard [1] endure
this impulse. Almost all
the current flows trough
the lightning arrester. So
the current trough the
secondary winding of the
transformer is almost all
produced by a resonance
between the capacitance
and inductance of the
fence and the inductance
of the transformer. The
graphic current curve of
Figure 10 is obtained with
the C1 charged with 400
V. The energizer circuit
designed to resist 25 kV
applied to the output stills
open and without short
circuit occurrence so the
current in secondary has a
low value.
The simulated voltage in
the primary winding is
showed in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Lightning voltage
curve in the primary winding
of the transformer in a fence
with protection.
The voltage applied in the
switch by the lightning
discharge is showed in the
figure 12. The voltage
don’t reaches the value of
800 V so is possible to say
that the thyristor remains
open and no current flows
trough the impulse
generator circuit of the
energizer.

Figure 12: Voltage produced
by the lightning in the switch
S.
5 LIGHTNING
PROTECION DEVICE
ANALYSIS
The inductor Lspring
implemented by a spring
has the intention to retain
voltage and reduce the
peak voltage applied to the
output transformer of the
energizer. In the
simulation with a 2 kA
lightning source the
inductor Lspring has no
useless as is showed in
Figure 13. The voltage in
the secondary of the
transformer reaches the
same value that the value
reached in the simulation
with the presence of the
spring.
Figure 13: Voltage curve
in the secondary winding
of the transformer without
spring in the fence.
A new lightning protection
device arrangement with
to arresters and one spring
is presented (Figure 14).
In this device the second
arrester is a low
impedance path for the
current where the value of
di/dt is so representative
that the spring retains
voltage and the voltage
VIII International Symposium on
Lightning Protection
21st-25th November 2005 – São Paulo, Brazil
applied to the secondary of
the transformer is reduced.
The ATP circuit is
presented in Figure 15.
Figure 14: Lightning arrester
device composed by one
spring and two arresters.
Figure 15: Simulated ATP
circuit with two arresters.
The voltage curves
measured in the output
energizer (second arrester)
and in the spring and in
the first arrester is showed
in the Figure 16.
Figure 16: Voltage curves
measured with the new
lightning protection device.
commission of EMTP –
This arrangement ATP users,
improves a higher [2] IEC 60335-2-76:2002,
reduction of the voltage in “Household and similar
the output energizer if the electrical appliances –
inductance of the spring is Safety – Part 2-76:
increased or if more spring Particular requirements
combined with an arrester for electric fence
is added to the circuit. energizers”, Second
edition.
6 CONCLUSION [3] William D. Stevenson,
Jr., “Elements of Power
System Analysis”,
The inclusion of the spring McGraw-Hill Book
in the fence circuit doesn’t
Company, 1962.
modify the impulse of the
energizer applied to the [4] IEEE Std 142:1991,
fence. The new “IEEE recommended
arrangement with two practice for grounding
arresters and one spring is of industrial and
an excellent alternative to commercial power
improve the efficacy of systems”.
this kind of lightning
protection device. This
study proves that the
commercial spring
combined with on arrester
presents the same result
that using just the arrester.
In this case the inductance
of the spring is series with
the inductance of the
transformer. The
inductance of the
transformer is about 100
times higher than the
inductance of the spring so
the influence of the spring
has no importance. This
study brings to electric
fence manufacturers and
user a good explanation
about the operation and
efficacy of this kind of
protection device. Other
important conclusion is
that an energizer with
storage energy of 0.72 J
installed in the fence with
the conditions described in
this study has a good
performance.
7 REFERENCES
[1] “Rule Book Alternative
Transient Program”,
CAUE – Argentine