30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010

(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

ICLP 2010
LIGHTNING PERFORMANCE OF INSULATED WIRES ON
OVERHEAD POWER DISTRIBUTION LINES
Shigeru Yokoyama1, Tomoyuki Sato1,Sekioka Shozo2,and Yosuke Hashimoto3
1
Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), Tokyo, Japan
2
Shonan Institute of Technology , Kanagawa-ken, Japan
3
Kyushu Electric Power Com.,Inc., Fukuoka-ken, Japan
email:[email protected]

There is some possibility that lightning attachment

ABSTRACT
manner to insulated overhead wires is different from that
Abstract -Insulated wires are clarified to have to bare overhead wires. Also total insulation strength of
different characters from bare conductors in the the combination of an insulator and an insulation
viewpoint of lightning performance by experiments in covering should be clarified because the capacitances of
a laboratory and field surveys. them are quite different from each other.
First, the attachment manner of lightning strokes In this study the authors have clarified the various
to an insulated wire has been studied using a high characteristics of insulated wires, which gives important
voltage impulse generator. Sparkover voltage between effects upon the lightning performance of overhead
a rod electrode (high voltage side) and an insulated power distribution lines.
wire is 6-7% higher than a bare conductor for
negative polarity. 2. Lightning Discharge Characteristics of Insulated
Second, when an insulator (small capacitance) is Wire in relation to Overhead Ground Wire
combined with an insulated wire (large capacitance), Lightning directly hits even an insulated wire. A photo
an insulator accounts for the large part of a total was taken in Shirakawa city, Fukushima Prefecture ,
applied voltage and the flashover occurs first on the Japan ,that captured the moment lightning directly hit an
insulator section. Total insulation strength of the insulated wire[1]. However, the attraction characteristics
combination of an insulator and an insulation are not exactly the same for a bare conductor and an
covering is not the sum of the insulation strength of insulated wire. Generally, an insulated wire is not prone
them, but 60-80% of the sum of them typically. to being hit by lightning.
Third, on insulated wire, the location of the inflow The lightning attraction characteristics have been
and the outflow of a short current is fixed on an clarified using the 12-MV impulse voltage generator
insulation’s pinhole produced by the first insulation (hereafter referred to as the IG) at the Shiobara Testing
breakdown due to lightning, and arc heat Yard of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power
concentrates near the pinhole, resulting in line breaks Industry (CRIEPI) [2],[3].
in a short time. (1) Test method
Two 15-m wires were strung 1 m above ground using
1. Introduction suspension insulators (six connected in a series), and both
In the mid-1970’s all of high-voltage overhead power ends were grounded at a matching resistance of 400Ω to
distribution lines in Japan were insulated for the sake of simulate a long line. One is a bare conductor, which is
public safety and the prevention of ground faults. This substituted for an overhead ground wire. And the other is
dramatically reduced injuries/deaths and ground faults , an insulated wire. They were spaced 1 m apart (parallel to
which are caused by touching a human beings or a tree. each other). A rod electrode was placed vertically over
However, the lightning outages accounted for 60% of all the midpoint of two wires in order to simulate a lightning
line breaks of distribution lines using insulated wires leader.
compared to the 10% of those using bare wires. (2) Test results
Furthermore, ground faults cannot be detected because of Figure.1 shows the results. Discharge characteristics
the insulating coating, even when the insulated wire for the negative polarity is different from that for the
comes in contact with the ground surface. This means positive polarity.
power supply may even continue regardless of the line For negative impulse voltages, 50% sparkover voltage
break, creating a major problem in terms of public safety. (V50) between the rod electrode and the insulated wire

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 30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010
(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

(5-mm thick covering) is 6% to 7% higher than that Figures 3(a) (bare wire) and 3(b) (insulated wire) show
between the rod electrode and the bare wire in the time- an example of the application of a lightning impulse
to-crest value(Tƒ) range of 2 to 250 µs. voltage to the core conductor of a bare wire and an
(3) Discharge progressing manner from a rod electrode to insulated wire. When applied to the bare wire, the higher
a bare wire and an insulated wire strung equidistantly the lightning impulse voltage, the shorter the flashover
A bare wire and an insulated wire (2-mm thick time and the sharper the drop to zero voltage from the
covering) were strung equidistantly from the rod discharge point. On the other hand, for a insulated wire
electrode and we tested which wire is prone to a there is a drop in the voltage in an earlier stage, as shown
flashover. The gap length was fixed at 3 m for a negative in Figure 4, but thereafter, the voltage is increases
voltage and 7 m for a positive voltage. When a 50 % slightly, resulting in either no insulation breakdown or
sparkover voltage with a negative polarity was applied, insulation breakdown . In the case of the insulation
all sparkovers occurred to bare conductors. Figure 2(a) breakdown the voltage ultimately drops sharply.
shows the progressing manner of a discharge measured The first gentle voltage drop (A) indicates a flashover
using the ALPS (Automatic Lightning discharge on an insulator only. Since the capacitance of the
Progressing feature observation System[4])for impulse insulator section is fairly low compared to that of the
voltages of negative polarity. We can see that when the covering of an insulated wire, the insulator bears the
downward leader from the rod electrode progresses majority of an applied voltage, and the insulator section
through about 1/5 of the gap, and upward leader starts to is the first to sparkover. As the insulation strength of a
progress from the bare wire, while no leader occurs at all insulator wire covering is higher than that of the insulator
from the insulated wire. This phenomenon indicated section, at this moment no complete insulation
that the occurrence of an upward leader from an insulated breakdown occurs.
wire was delayed and the downward leader joined with Total insulation strength of the combination of an
the upward leader from a bare conductor at an earlier insulator and an insulation covering can not be
time. Note that when an overvoltage larger than V50 was determined clearly because the electric field of a
applied, pinholes were made in an insulated conductor, circumstance of a insulated conductor supported by a
even in cases where there was no flashover on the insulator is complicated and the mechanism of a surface
insulated wire, as shown in Figure 2(b). discharge after insulator sparkover is not fully clarified.
Experiments show different results on the increase rate of
3. Combined Insulation Breakdown Characteristics insulation strength of the combination to that of insulator
of Insulated Wire and Insulator [5] alone(or insulated wire alone) depending upon the kind
When an insulator (small capacitance) is combined of insulators and the thickness of insulated wire
with an insulated wire (large capacitance), the insulators’ coverings.
share of the applied voltage increases, resulting in
flashover occurring first on the insulator section. Whether
Rod electrode
flashover continues on the insulated wire after that varies
by conditions.

Negative polarity, Rod conductor: gap length: 3m

Insulated wire Bare wire
Positive polarity, Rod conductor: gap length: 7m

●，○ : Bare wire

▲，△ : Insulated wire (Thickness insulation: 2mm)
■，□ : Insulated wire (Thickness insulation: 5mm)
(a). Negative polarity (≒V50)
50% sparkover voltage [kV]

Rod electrode

Time to crest [μs]

Fig.1. V50－Tf Characteristics for Rod-electrode to insulated (b). Negative polarity (larger than V50)
conductor Fig.2. Discharge to an insulated conductor and a bare conductor

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 30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010
(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

Total insulation strength of combination of an insulator Table.1 Example of breakdown voltages of insulated wire
and an insulation covering is not the sum of the insulation on Clamp-top type insulator
strength of the insulator and that of the insulation
covering of an insulated wire , but 60-80% of the sum of Breakdown voltage(kV)
them typically[6]. One typical example of the breakdown Insulator Breakdown
type, Condition 50% flashover
voltages is shown in Table 1. Range
Average
voltage of
voltage of V0
Polarity value(V0) insulated V + V
insulator(V1) 1 2
wire(V2)
4. Line-Break Mechanism and Time-Current
LP-20 dry 249～264 255 162 179 0.75
Characteristics of Insulated Wire Breakdown Positive wet 235～247 239 159 175 0.72
Since the 6.6 kV power distribution lines in Japan are
operated as an insulated system, a ground fault LP-20 dry 227～244 231 177 210 0.60
current ,that flows in the case of a singe-phase ground Negative wet 224～244 232 174 180 0.65
fault, is several amperes at the most, and insulation LP-30 dry 297～324 308 212 179 0.79
frequently recovers in a short time, so that ground faults Positive wet 276～319 289 208 175 0.76
do not lead to a line break. dry 284～313 296 228 210 0.68
LP-30
When a two or three-phase ground fault occurs, a short Negative wet 272～284 277 235 180 0.67
circuit between phases occurs, and a short current of
several thousand amperes may flow. This short current
causes an insulated wire break. On insulated wire, the
location of inflow and outflow of a short current is fixed 5.Conclusions
on an insulation’s pinhole(Fig.5) caused by first Insulated wires have different characteristics from bare
insulation breakdown, and the arc heat concentrates on conductors in the viewpoint of lightning performances.
the pinhole, resulting in a line break in a short time. The authors have clarified the following characteristics of
Figure 6 shows the relationship between the arc current insulated wires by experiments in a laboratory and field
value and breaking time of ACSR 120 mm2 bare wire and surveys.
OC-ACSR 120 mm2 insulated wire[6]. The breaking time (1) Lightning discharge characteristics to an insulated
of insulated wires is extremely short (about 1/5 to 1/10 of wire and an overhead ground wire
the time for a bare wire). This indicates the high (2) Combined insulation breakdown characteristics of an
probability that the wire breaks before a substation relay insulated wire and an insulator
operates to interrupt the fault current. (3) Line-break mechanism due to Meltdown time-Arc
current characteristics of insulated wires

As these characteristics have important effects upon

lightning protection measures, these characteristics
should be taken into account when insulated wires are
used for overhead power distribution lines.

Pinhole
(a) Bare wire (b) Insulated wire
Fig. 3. Sparkovers in an insulator and an insulater wire

Sparkover at early time

Recover of insulation
Invasion voltage [kV]

Sparkover at late time Insulated wire

Time [μs] Fig. 5. Pinhole of an insulated wire

Fig. 4. Sparkover process of insulated wires

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 30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010
(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

1
0.7
0.5
ACSR120mm2
0.3
Meltdown time(sec)

gap250mm
Naked wire
0.1 ACSR120mm2
0.07 gap50mm
Naked wire
0.05
0.03 OC-ACSR120mm2
Maximum value
Minimum value
0.01

0.7 1 3 5 7 10

Arc current (kA)

Fig. 6. Meltdown time-Arc current characteristics

References
[1] Y.Hongo, T.Saito, Y.Nikaido, T.Endo, H.Honda,
S.Yokoyama, “Observation of Lightning Performance on
Distribution Line at Shirakawa District in Fukushima
Prefecture by Still Cameras”, Proc.of IEEJ Annual
Conference, No.7-018, 2003 (in Japanese)
[2] Y.Hashimoto, S.Yokoyama, T.Yokota, and A.Asakawa,
“Studies on Characteristics of Lightning Stroke Distance
to Power Distribution Lines: Discharge Characteristics of
Open Wire and Insulated Wire,” Transactions of the
Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan Vol.115-B,
No.12, pp 1508-1514, 1995(in Japanese)
[3] S.Yokoyama, “Lightning Protection of Overhead Power
Distribution Lines”, OHMsha, 2005 (in Japanese)
[4] S.Yokoyama, A.Asakawa, Y.Hashimoto, Y.Morooka,
“Lightning Stroke Attachment Characteristics of a
Covered Conductor and a Bare Conductor on Power
Distribution Lines”, ISH ’99, No.2.317，1999
[5] S.Yokoyama ， K.Miyake ， T.Suzuki and S.Kanao ，
“Winter Lightning on Japan Sea Coast －Development of
Measuring System on Progressing Feature of Lightning
Discharge － ” ， IEEE Trans. ， Vol.PWRD-5 ， No.3 ，
pp.1418-1425，1990-7
[6] Sectional Committee for Distribution Lines, Lightning
Protection Design Study Committee, “Lightning
Protection Design Guide-Book for Distribution Lines”,
CRIEPI Report No.175030,pp.48-52, 1976(in Japanese)

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