Wollo University

Kombolcha Institute of Technology

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Introduction to power systems

ECEG-3154 (6 ECTS)

BY: Tadesse.Y
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School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Chapter Three: Transmission Line Parameters
Capacitance of transmission lines
 Introduction

 Electric field and voltage

 Capacitance for single phase and three phase with equal phase spacing

 Capacitance: stranded conductors, unequal phase spacing and bundled conductors

 Shunt admittances
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 Parallel circuits three phase lines

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Transmission Line Parameters
Introduction
 We know that any two conductors separated by an insulating material constitute a capacitor.

 As any two conductors of an overhead transmission line are separated by air which acts as an insulation,
therefore, capacitance exists between any two overhead line conductors.

 The capacitance between the conductors is the charge per unit potential difference i.e.,
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Figure 9

 The capacitance is uniformly distributed along the whole length of the line and may be regarded as a
uniform series of capacitors connected between the conductors as shown in Fig. 9.
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Transmission Line Parameters
Electric field and voltage: solid cylindrical conductor
 The capacitance between conductors in a medium with constant permittivity can be obtained by
determining the following:
 1. Electric field strength E, from Gauss’s law
 2. Voltage between conductors
 3. Capacitance from charge per unit volt (C = q/V).
 Gauss’s law states that the total electric flux leaving a closed surface equals the total charge within the
volume enclosed by the surface.
 That is, the normal component of electric flux density integrated over a closed surface equals the charge
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enclosed:

 Then, integration of the above equation yields:

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Transmission Line Parameters
Cont…
 Consider a solid cylindrical conductor with radius r and with charge q coulombs per meter (assumed
positive in the figure), uniformly distributed on the conductor surface.
 For simplicity, assume that the conductor
(1) It is sufficiently long that end effects are negligible, and
(2) It is a perfect conductor (that is, zero resistivity).

 Inside the perfect conductor, Ohm’s law gives Eint = 0.

 Concentric cylinders surrounding the conductor are constant potential surfaces.

 The potential difference between two concentric cylinders at distances D1 and D2 from the conductor
center is: =

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Transmission Line Parameters
Cont…
 Now apply this equation to the array of M solid cylindrical conductors shown in Fig.11.

 Assume that each conductor m has an ac charge qm C/m uniformly distributed along the conductor.

 The voltage Vkim between conductors k and i due to the charge qm acting alone is:
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Figure 11
 Using superposition, the voltage Vki between conductors k and i due toall the changes is:

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Transmission Line Parameters
Capacitance for single phase two wire line system
 For a single-phase two-wire line ,assume that the conductors are energized by a voltage source such that
conductor x has a uniform charge q C/m and, assuming conservation of charge, conductor y has an equal
quantity of negative charge -q.

 Using the equation

 And k = x, i = y, and m = x, y, we have:  For a 1-meter line length, the capacitance between conductors is:
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8/28/2021 Figure 12 7
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Transmission Line Parameters
Cont…
 If the two-wire line is supplied by a transformer with a grounded center tap, then the voltage between each
conductor and ground is one-half that given by:

 And the capacitance from either line to the grounded neutral is:

 Circuit representations of the line-to-line and line-to-neutral capacitances are shown in Fig.12
Note that if the neutral is open in Fig. 12(b), the two line-to-neutral capacitances combine in
series to give the lineto-line capacitance.
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Transmission Line Parameters
Capacitance for three phase three wire with equal phase spacing
 Consider a three-phase three-wire line consisting of three solid cylindrical conductors a, b, c, each with
radius r, and with equal phase spacing D between any two conductors shown in fig. 13.

 To determine the positive-sequence capacitance,

assume positive-sequence charges qa, qb, qc such that qa + qb + qc = 0.

 Using with k = a, i = b, and m = a, b, c; Figure 13

the voltage Vab between conductors a and b is:

 Using , the above equation becomes:

this is

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Transmission Line Parameters
Cont…
 Similarly, with k = a, i = c, and m = a; b, c, the voltage Vac is:

 Adding the above two equations (i.e Vab and Vac) and gives:
 Rearranging and simplifying, then we have:
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Figure 14
 The capacitance-to-neutral per line length is:

 Due to symmetry, the same result is obtained for Cbn = qb/Vbn and Ccn = qc/Vcn. For balanced three-phase
operation, however, only one phase need be considered. Circuit symbol of capacitance to neutral is shown fig. 14.
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Transmission Line Parameters
Capacitance: stranded conductors, unequal phase spacing and bundled conductors
 Consider a bundled conductor line with two conductors per bundle shown in fig. 15.

 For three-phase lines with unequal phase spacing, balanced positive sequence voltages are not obtained
with balanced positive-sequence charges.

 Instead, unbalanced line-to-neutral voltages occur, and the phase-to-neutral capacitances are unequal.
 Balance can be restored by transposing the line such that each phase occupies each position for one-third of
the line length.
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 For Vab as well as for Vac are written for each position in the
transposition cycle, and are then averaged, the resulting capacitance becomes: Figure 15

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Transmission Line Parameters
Cont…
 To determine the capacitance of this line, assume balanced positive-sequence charges qa, qb, qc for each
phase such that qa + qb + qc = 0.
 Assume that the conductors in each bundle, which are in parallel, share the charges equally.
 Thus conductors a and a’ each have the charge qa/2.
 Also assume that the phase spacings are much larger than the bundle spacings so that Dab may be used
instead of (Dab - d) or (Dab + d). That is Dab = Dab – d or Dab = Dab + d , ( b/c Dab >>d).
 Then, with k = a, i = b, m = a, a’, b, b’, c, c0;
 For a transposed line, derivation of
the capacitance would yield:
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School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Transmission Line Parameters
Reading assignments: 1. Shunt admittances
2. Parallel circuits three phase lines
1. A 3-phase overhead transmission line has its conductors arranged at the corners of an equilateral triangle
of 2 m side. Calculate the capacitance of each line conductor per km if the diameter of each conductor is
1·25 cm.

2. A 3-phase, 50 Hz, 132 kV overhead line has conductors placed in a horizontal plane 4 m apart.
Conductor diameter is 2 cm. If the line length is 100 km, calculate the charging current per phase
assuming complete transposition.
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Assignment Two
1. Determine the inductance per km of a 3-phase transmission line using 20 mm diameter conductors when
conductors are at the corners of a triangle with spacing of 4,5 and 6 metres. Conductors are regularly
transposed
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3. A 200 km, 3-phase transmission line has its conductors placed at the corners of an equilateral triangle of
2·5 m side. The radius of each conductor is 1 cm. Calculate :
(i) line to neutral capacitance of the line,
(ii) charging current per phase if the line is maintained at 66 kV, 50 Hz
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END OF CHAPTER THREE

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