Modeling of Positive Switching Impulse Discharge of UHV Transmission Line Air Gaps

Abstract

Positive switching impulse discharge characteristics are an important basis for the external insulation design of transmission line towers. At present, the characteristics are obtained mainly by real tower discharge tests. Since the existing research on the discharge model is not perfect, test designs are not reasonable, which results in high costs. The influence of line height and tower width on the discharge characteristics of Ultra High Voltage (UHV) transmission lines air gaps is studied in this paper. The results show that the line height had little influence on the breakdown voltage of air gaps in UHV transmission lines. A tower-width discharge model was obtained by fitting the breakdown voltage of air gaps with different gap lengths and tower widths. By analyzing the gap characteristic factors of different transmission lines, a discharge model of different tower air gaps in UHV transmission lines was presented. The breakdown voltage calculated by the models was in good agreement with the test results, and the errors were not more than 5%.