CGPISL Arrester Presentation HVPN

Surge Arrester
May 21, 2019
Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 1

Surge Arrester

Content:
1. Basics
2. Insulation coordination
3. History
4. Classification of Lightning arrester
5. Principle of operation
6. Manufacturing process
7. Common terms used
8. Designing
9. Testing
10. Field testing
11. Causes of failure
12. New developments.
3
Basics of Lightning Arrester

Basics:
5
Definitions of Lightning Arrestor
According to most definitions, a Lightning Arrester is….
“A Device Used on Power Systems above 1000V to Protect

other Equipment from Lightning and Switching Surges”
It is not a Lightning Rod.
Although Lightning Rods are devices that divert

lightning surges to ground, they are simple
conductive terminals that are always at ground
potential and are never energized.
Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

What exactly does a lightning arrester do?
• It Does not Absorb the Lightning.
• It Does not Stop the Lightning.
• It Does Divert the Lightning to Ground.
• It Does Clamp (limit) the Voltage produced by the Lightning.
• It Only protects equipment electrically in parallel with it.

Lightning Arrester:
……..Also called as Surge Arrester or Surge Diverter
Used for protection of power systems equipment's from

surges like, Lightning, Switching, Steep Currents &
Temporary over voltages

Insulation Coordination

Insulation Coordination
“The process of correlating the insulation

strengths of electrical equipment with expected
over voltages and with the characteristics of
surge protective devices”
10
Insulation Coordination Principle
11
Fundamentals of Insulation Coordination
12
History of Lightning Arrester

• Lightning Arresters were first used

on Telegraph lines dating back to
the 1840’s.
– The first known patent on an arrester is
1855 and the arrester is called a
atmospheric discharge device.
US patent 13389
– The first US patent to use the term
arrester was issued on August 7, 1860.
• The first power system Arresters
appeared after the first overhead
power systems began to appear. Circa
1890
Curtsey: www.arrestersworks.com

• The Silicon Carbide Arrester Era 1926-

1982
– Began in 1926 with the introduction of the
Crystal Valve arrester by ESSCo

Brief History of Lightning Arrester
• The Silicon Carbide Arrester Era 1926-1982

The SiC Arrester Issues

– High Front of Wave
Gap Section
Sparkover
– Power Follow Current
– Gap Degradation
Porcelain
– Many parts
Air Volume
SiC Block
SiC Block

Gap Section
Porcelain
Air Volume
SiC Block
SiC Block

Brief History of :Lightning Arrester
Degraded Gaps of
SiC Surge Arrester

•Metal Oxide Varistor Based Arrester

also called Gapless Arresters:
•First Discovered in 1967 in Japan by Dr.
Matsuoko and team.
•First applications were on low voltage
devices
•GE Developed the first High Voltage devices
and introduced the first MOV Arrester in
1977 (Tranquil)
•McGraw Edison introduced the first
Dr. Michio Matsuoka distribution MOV arrester in the US in 1981
Inventor of Zinc Oxide Varistor
(VariSTAR)
•First Produced in Polymer Housing by
Hubbell in 1987

Advantage of Gapless Arresters:
• Improved reliability due to simplicity of the design.

• Superior protective characteristics.
• Minimum energy absorption commensurate with the
protective levels provided.
• Superior performance on low impedance circuits(e.g
cable and capacitor application)
• Gentle operation due to absence of spark gaps
• Superior energy absorption capability
• Excellent pollution performance
21
Classification of Lightning Arresters
Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General 22

Classification of Lightning Arrester:
• Surge Arresters on the basis of their housing are

broadly Classified as:
– Polymeric Type Surge Arresters
– Porcelain Type Surge Arresters
• On the basis of energy dissipation capability:

– Distribution class
– Class 2
– Class 3
– Class4
– Class 5
Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Classification
• As per IEC:60099-4 the Arresters are classified

on the basis of their Standard Nominal Discharge
Current i.e.
– Station Class for 10kA & 20kA NDC.
– Intermediate or Distribution Class for 5kA NDC.
– Secondary Distribution Class for 1.5kA NDC or below.
Standard Nominal Discharge Current

20kA 10kA 5kA 2.5kA 1.5kA
Rated Voltage Ur 360kV to 3 kV to Up to Up to -
(kVr.m.s) 756kV 360kV 132kV 36kV

Principle of Operation of
Lightning Arresters

Principle of Operation
• Offers High Resistance during low voltage.

– Not in circuit during normal working conditions.
• Offers low Resistance during High or Over voltage
conditions.
– Diverting Surge Energy to the ground
• Non Linear Resistance.
I = K (V)α
K= Material Constant
α= Non Linear Constant.
I = Current
V = Voltage

Heart of surge Arrester-MOV
At the Heart of All

Arresters is the Metal
Oxide Varistor (MOV)
The MOV Disk is a

Semiconductor that is
sensitive to Voltage and has
its own VI Characteristic

VI Characteristics of MOV

MOV Overview
By magnifying the MOV

material 5000 times,
MOV Metal Oxide Grains and
Dopants in the
material can be
discerned
Each MOV Disk with a

35mm diameter and a
35mm height contains
about
28 Billion
MOV Grains

MOV Overview
MOV grains and their junctions are the electronics

switches that turns ON and OFF in unison to divert the
lightning around the equipment
Spinal Phase
ZnO Grain
ZnO Grain
Very
Nonlinear
Part of
Circuit
The Switches ZnO Grain
are at the ZnO Grain Doped

Junction
Between
junctions Grains
Antimony
between the ZnO Grain
Phase
10 micro meters
grains
ZnO Grain ZnO Grains
are low
impedance
linear ZnO Grain
element of
circuit

MOV Overview
A lightning arrester is essentially a collection of billions of
microscopic junctions of Metal Oxide Grains that turn on and off in
microseconds to form a current path from the top terminal to the
ground terminal of the arrester. Current
path during
Lightning
Spinal Phase
ZnO Grain
ZnO Grain
Very
Nonlinear
Part of
Circuit
ZnO Grain
ZnO Grain Doped

Junction
Between
Grains
Antimony
Phase
ZnO Grain
10 micro meters
ZnO Grain
ZnO Grains
are low
impedance ZnO Grain
linear
element of
circuit

Equivalent Circuit of ZnO Block

V-I characteristics of an MO Arrester (420 kV)
33
Voltage current waveform of MO Arrester
34
Arrester VI Characteristics

How Lightning Arrester Works?
When an Excess over voltage
Arrester is on is clipped by the
the system Arrester
insulator
flashover risk
Arrester
can be lowered
Excess over voltage

is bypassed through
Arrester in terms of
energy i.e. V x I x T

How Arrester divert the surge
The arrester diverts much of the charge to ground, but

in the process, it adsorbs energy.

Manufacturing process

Composition of ZnO Block
• The ZnO Block consist of :

– ZnO - 90%
– And remaining are the additives which gives the
nonlinear property to the ZnO Block. These
additives are:
– SiO2
– Cr2O3
– MnCO3
– Sb2O3
– Bi2O3

ZnO Block manufacturing




Manufacturing Process

CGL-Gapless surge Arrester from 3kV to 400kV

Construction of Surge Arrester
• Metal oxide arrester consists of a stack of

• ZnO discs mounted in a sealed porcelain
• housing.
End cups
Spring
Insulator ZnO disc
Spacer Tube

Basic component of Distribution Arrester

Classification of ZnO Blocks

Pressure Relief Plate Assembly

Common Terms in Lightning Arresters

General Terminologies
• Rated Voltage (Ur)

• Continuous Operating Voltage (Uc)
• Maximum Continuous Operating Voltage
(MCOV)
• Reference Voltage (Uref)
• Residual Voltage (Ures)

General Terms
• Rated Voltage- Decides Temporary over voltage

capability
• MCOV- Decides life of LA.
• Residual Voltage – Decides Protection Level
• Line Discharge Class- Decides Energy Handling
Capability.
• Pressure Relief Class- Decides Short Circuit
Capability.

Lightning Impulse Current
• 8/20 (pronounced 8 by 20) current wave is used by manufacturers

to simulate lightning current to test distribution arrester designs
• “8” is the peak rise time in microseconds
• “20” is the time to reach 50% of the peak value
• Real world lightning usually has a 1 to 4 microsecond rise time,
especially with repeat.
.5 -10 µs
20-100µs
0µs

Switching Impulse Current
– The switching surge, is a self induced surge on the

power system
– It is called a switching surge because it is generally
associated with some sort of switching activity
– Switching action does not cause a switching surge
of any significance on systems below 200kV
– As per IEC the Switching Impulse Current front time
should be >30μsec & <100μsec.

Over Voltage in the protective equipment by Arrester
Surge
Line
Uequ.
Ures.
Uequ. = Ures. + (2*S*Xs)/Vtw

Xs = Distance between arrester and Protective
equipment
Ures. = LI protection Level of the arrester (kV)
S = Front steepness of over voltage (kV/µs) Arrester Transformer
S~ 11xMCOV (kV/µs)
Vtw= Prorogation speed of surge
for OHL= 300 m/µs
for cables= 150 to 200 m/µs

How Class of Blocks are decided?
X-Axis = Ratio of SI
Residual Voltage to
the Rated Voltage.
Y-Axis= Specific
Energy in kJ/kV

Designing of Lightning Arresters

System / Arrester Parameters
 Uwl= Lightning Impulse withstand Level
Insulation  Uws= Switching Impulse Withstand Level

Level  Wpl= Lightning Impulse Protection Level
Uwl / Uws
Protection  Wps= Switching Impulse Protection Level
Level  TOV= Temporary over voltage
Upl / Ups
 Uc= Continuous operating voltage
 Um=maximum system voltage
TOV Capability
TOV
Ur
Uc MCOV
SYSTEM PARAMETERS ARRESTER PARAMETERS

Inputs Required for Designing
– System Voltage
– Rating of Surge Arrester
– Class of surge arrester
– System TOV
– BIL level
– Type of surge arrester and its nominal discharge
current
– Terminal connector, Type of earth terminal and
surge counter (if any).

Design Procedure
• The design is carried out in two major steps:

– Matching the Electrical characteristics of the
arrester to the system's electrical demand.
– Matching the mechanical characteristics of the
arrester to the system's mechanical and
environmental requirements.

Flow Chart for Electrical Parameter Selection
System Voltage
(Um)
System Earthing Rated Voltage (Ur0)
Earth Fault Duration/Factor Select Max of

both rated voltage
Rated Voltage
Other TOV Ur1= Utov/T1........
(Amplitude & Duration) From TOV curves
Line
Line Discharge
Discharge
Class & Arrester Type
Energy
Choose
Next
Arrester Protection Levels Higher
Upl and Ups at coordination Discharge
currents Class
No
Calculation of Protection Electrical
Margins
Acceptable Selection
[(Uwl/Upl)-1] X 100 margin
yes
Complete
[(Uws/Ups)-1] X 100

Flow chart for Mechanical Design
Pollution Level creepage Distance
Short Circuit No
Housing Dimension
Rating
Adequate Mechanical
safety
margin?
Selection
Yes completed
Terminal Load
Wind Load Static /

Dynamic
Combination Our tested mechanical
strength for this load
Seismic Load
Other Load

Testing of Lightning Arresters

Tests on Lightning Arresters
Test on Arrester as per IEC:60099-4
Capabilities Tests
Voltage limiting capabilities Residual voltage test
High current short duration & low
Impulse discharge capability
current long duration test
Power frequency voltage withstand
Temporary over voltage test
capability
Mechanical withstand force withstand
Bending moment & seismic test
capability
Electrical insulation withstand
Dielectric test
capability
Environmental withstand capability Pollution, aging & contamination test

List of Type Test as per IEC:60099-4
Test Block Complete Product

1. Insulation Withstand Test on Arrester
Housing NO Yes
2. Residual Voltage Test
a. Steep current Impulse Voltage test. Yes NO
b. Lightning Impulse Residual Voltage Test. Yes Yes
c. Switching Impulse Residual Voltage test. Yes NO
3. Long Duration Impulse Withstand Test Yes NO
4. Operation Duty Test:
a. High Current Impulse operating duty test. Yes NO
b. Switching Surge Operating Duty Test Yes NO
5. Short Circuit Test (Pr. Relief) NO Yes
6. Arrester Disconnector/ Fault Indicator Test Yes NO
7. Pollution Housing Test NO Yes
8.Internal Partial Test NO Yes
9. Bending Moment test NO Yes
10. Environmental Test NO Yes
11. Seal Leakage Test NO Yes
12. Radio Interference Test (RIV Test) NO Yes
13. Accelerated Ageing test Yes Yes

List of Routine Test as per IEC:60099-4
Test Block Complete Product
1. Measurement of Reference
Voltage Test Yes Yes
2. Measurement of Residual
Voltage Test Yes Yes
3. Internal Partial Discharge Test NO Yes
4. Seal Leakage Test NO Yes
5.Long Duration Current Impulse
withstand Test Yes NO
6. Current Distribution on Multi
Column Arresters Yes -

Routine Test on Surge Arrester
Reference Standards :
IEC 60099-4 , ANSI IEEE C62-11 , I S 3070
1) Reference Voltage Test : Measurement of
Reference Voltage at Reference Currents ranging
from 1mA to 7 mA peak.
2) Partial Discharge Test : Test Method as per IEC
270, Acceptable value < 10pC.
3) Lightning Impulse Residual Voltage Test : Residual
Voltage measurement at 250A peak 8/20 uSec
current wave & extrapolation to NDC.
4) Seal Leakage Test : By Vaccum Evacuation Method.

Field Testing of Lightning Arresters

Field Testing of Arresters
Common Arrester Field Testing Methods
Infrared Thermography
Partial Discharge Detection
VI Characteristics Change
Leakage Current

*>31.9°C
What is the 30.0
temperature difference 25.0

that should cause 37.2
20.0
concern? 16.5
15.0
*<10.0°C

The fastest growing method of assessing the

condition of arresters is with the use of
infrared Thermography. The reason for its
popularity is its clear differentiation
between a good arrester and one nearing
the end of life.
The reasons for its lack of pervasive use

however is because of two issues.
1.The equipment to perform the analysis is
not common toolbox gear.
2.The process can be time consuming.

This is only
The most significant

possible if the
arrester has been
energized for a
issue with Infrared number of hours
Thermography is that if
the arrester is not
energized, it will not
exhibit overheating and
cannot be assessed.

VI Characteristics Change
120.0
The arrester VI
100.0 Typical VI Characteristic
for a 22kV MCOV Arrester
characteristic is one of the
80.0
most fundamental
descriptors of the health of
Voltage (kV)
60.0
an arrester.
40.0
Leakage Current, Watts Loss and Vref

20.0
tests all measure different aspects of this
0.0
characteristic.
1E-05 0.001 0.1 10 1000 100000
Current (A)

Leakage Current Testing
The Issue
The difficulty of leakage current testing
is separating the capacitive and
resistive currents. The only leakage Voltage
current of any value is the resistive
current. The capacitive current is quite
insensitive to changes in the arrester as
it nears end of life.
For this reason, simple clamp-on amp
meters cannot be used for this
purpose.
Capacitive Current
Total Current
Resistive Current

The Solution MOV Arrester Conduction Simulation

To effectively measure leakage Disk Voltage Capacitive Current Resistive Current Total Current
current, test equipment that can 5 2

4
differentiate the capacitive 1.5
3
component from the resistive 1
2
component must be used.
Disk Current (mA)

Disk Voltage (kV)
1 0.5
0 0
Oscilloscopes with sensitive voltage -1
-0.5
and resistive current probes as well -2
as 3rd harmonic meters are two -3 -1
examples that work well. -4 -1.5
-5 -2

Arrester Base Insulators

Another consideration with leakage
current testing is that the arrester
current must be guided through a
unique ground cable where the
current can then be metered. This is
done by raising the arrester off of
ground with insulators and running
the ground lead to the Current
monitor
Graphic Courtesy ABB
Insulators Leakage Current Monitor

Causes of Failure of Arresters

Common Causes of Failure of Arresters
– TOV
– Moisture
• This is the single biggest cause of failure of all arrester
designs
• Was a big issue when converting from SiC to MOV.
• Ferroresonance, ungrounded systems are other sources of
TOV failures.
– Animals
• Large birds that contaminate insulators are an issue
worldwide.
• Squirrels are a big issue in many urban areas

– Lightning
• This is a much smaller cause of failure than is some time
thought. This is based on 25 years of analysis of arrester
failures and comparing them to high current failures in the
lab.
– Switching Surges
• This author is unaware of switching surge failures.
– Misapplication
• Applying arresters to ungrounded systems of the wrong
MCOV is a small but real problem

• MOV material can be affected by high current impulses in a subtle
way that permanently changes the VI Characteristic. This high
current change is universally found in all MOV material, however
the amplitude of change can differ from one formulation to
another

S4-New Development
UHV Surge Arresters

1200 kV SA Testing at CPRI Hyderabad:

SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT
Rated Voltage= 850kV
MCOV= 723 kV
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS – last 2 yrs
Line Discharge Class= Class 5 (55MJ)
U20kV LI-Residual Voltage= 1700kVp
U2kA SI-Residual Voltage= 1500kVp
Number of column= 04
The First 1200 kV Surge Arrester from CG

successfully commissioned at National
UHV Test Station, PGCIL at Bina in May
2012.

Development of 800kV Surge Arrester
Product Specification
Product Type : Lightning Arrester
Rated Voltage : 624 kV
Rated Discharge Current : 20 kA
LI Residual Voltage at NDC : ≤ 1480 kVp
SI Residual Voltage at 2kA : ≤ 1220 kVp
Rated Pr. Relief current : 63kA /0.2 sec &
600A/1 sec
Rated Frequency : 50Hz
Applicable Standard : IEC 60099-4
Customer : PGCIL

Digital Surge Counter:
Indigenously Developed Digital Surge Counter
(DSC-15-1):
We have developed a digital solution which monitors:

• Total leakage current
• Transients on the network by measuring surge counts
• Magnitude of surge counts
• Total Surge Counts
• Date and time of occurrence
• Provides real-time surge and total leakage current information to control room through
MODBUS protocol on RS485

Salient Features:
Sr. No Particulars Values
Measuring Range of total Leakage Current 0.5mA to 15 mA
Total Leakage
1 Current Error in total leakage current measurement < 5%
Measurement
Frequency 50 or 60 Hz
Below 100 A
100 A ~ 999 A
Amplitude classification of 8/20µsec wave 1000 A ~ 4999 A
5000 A ~ 9999 A
Surge Counting / Above 10000 A
2
Registration
Minimum counting threshold (8/20µsec wave) 50 A
Error in impulse current amplitude measurement < 20%
Time stamp, resolution Yes, < 0.5 s
1000 registration
Memory Capacity
(FIFO Type)
Protocol MODBUS on RS485
3 Communication
Range 500 m
230 ±10% V AC / 110~230 V
4 Power Supply
DC

Monitoring from Remote end:

Thank you

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Surge Arrester

May 21, 2019

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 1

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 2

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 4

“A Device Used on Power Systems above 1000V to Protect

It is not a Lightning Rod.

Although Lightning Rods are devices that divert

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

• It Does not Absorb the Lightning.

• It Does not Stop the Lightning.

• It Does Divert the Lightning to Ground.

• It Does Clamp (limit) the Voltage produced by the Lightning.

• It Only protects equipment electrically in parallel with it.

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

……..Also called as Surge Arrester or Surge Diverter

Used for protection of power systems equipment's from

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 9

“The process of correlating the insulation

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General 13

• Lightning Arresters were first used

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

• The Silicon Carbide Arrester Era 1926-

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

• The Silicon Carbide Arrester Era 1926-1982

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

The SiC Arrester Issues

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

•Metal Oxide Varistor Based Arrester

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S-4 Lightning Arresters Category : General

• Improved reliability due to simplicity of the design.

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General 22

• Surge Arresters on the basis of their housing are

• On the basis of energy dissipation capability:

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

• As per IEC:60099-4 the Arresters are classified

Standard Nominal Discharge Current

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General 25

• Offers High Resistance during low voltage.

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

At the Heart of All

The MOV Disk is a

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

By magnifying the MOV

Each MOV Disk with a

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

MOV grains and their junctions are the electronics

The Switches ZnO Grain

are at the ZnO Grain Doped

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

ZnO Grain Doped

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Name : Nitin Jha Division : S4-R&D Category : General

Uequ. = Ures. + (2SXs)/Vtw