High Voltage Corona and Computer Simulation 1.

Introduction: In electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a gas surrounding a conductor that is electrically energized. The discharge will occur when the strength (potential gradient) of the electric field around the conductor is high enough to form a conductive region, but not high enough to cause electrical breakdown or arcing to nearby objects. It is often seen as a bluish (or other colour) glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors carrying high voltages. Spontaneous corona discharges are undesirable where they waste power in high-voltage systems or where the high chemical activity in a corona discharge creates objectionable or hazardous compounds, such as ozone. Controlled corona discharges are used in a variety of filtration, printing and other processes. (Quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_discharge.) 2. Causes of Corona: (25)

Durban University of Technology Department of Electrical Power Engineering Practical Assignment High Voltage Engineering IV
2013 B

Research the causes of corona in electrical High Voltage systems. What conditions lead to corona and what problems do these occur. What are the disadvantages of corona?

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Corona Mitigation:

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How can the amount of corona in a High Voltage system be reduced? Investigate methods that may be used to reduce the levels of corona in a High Voltage systems. Lecturer Tel email E Bussy 031 373 2068 [email protected] Consider two parallel conductors, having radius of r and spaced a distance of D between their centres. Choose your own values of r and D. The conductors must be reasonably closely spaced, D 5 . Calculate the value of 4. Corona Calculation: (25)

rms voltage VS applied to the conductors that will just cause visible corona to start. (State what assumptions you have made about the values for relative air density, and the conductor surface.) 5. Computer Simulation: a. b. c. (25)

Manually calculate what the conductor surface -field will be when the inception voltage VS is applied. (You should have done that in (4.) above.) Simulate the parallel conductor set-up above using a computer program such as Quickfield, and use it to determine the conductor surface -field when the inception voltage VS is applied. Compare the results of a. and b. above. Give reasons for the differences, if any.

6. Presentation: The completed assignment is to be submitted to the lecturer in printed form in a presentable format. 7. Working Together Students are encouraged to work together to produce better results, but must hand in reports INDIVIDUALLY, (this is an ECSA requirement). 8. Plagiarism You are responsible for not plagiarising even if you don't know what it is. It is your responsibility to know. If the person marking your assignment believes that you have plagiarised some or part of your assignment you will be penalised and be given a mark which may be as low as zero. Plagiarism includes copying work directly out of textbooks or borrowing somebody elses assignment and copying because you did not have time to do it, or some other excuse.

What if you say you didn't plagiarise and you have been penalised for it? If you can show your drafts, the notes you took, and any other materials you used in doing the assignment, then you probably will be able to show that it was your own work. If you have nothing, it's going to be harder to prove, so keep your rough work until after the assignment is marked. This is an extract (with suitable editing to make it relevant to DUT) from the following website: http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html. Any uncertainty you may have about this must be cleared up BEFORE you submit the final assignment. 9. Report: Using suitable diagrams, and graphs, present the findings of this practical assignment in a report of not more than 6 A4 pages, using a format acceptable for the Degree level. a. Ensure that all references are clearly given. b. Have a suitable cover page with your Name, and Student number on it. Penalties For Late Submissions NOTICE: These dates are FINAL dates: NO LATE SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED. Verbal agreements with University staff for any changes to these dates are NOT valid. The student is expected to plan pro-actively in case of eventualities such as work commitments, sickness etc. The report is to be submitted on or before 15 October 2013

C:\Users\eamonb\Documents\bussy\AASubjects\HVIV\Assignments\2013B\Assignment2013B.wpd

How to Determine the -stress in a Two-Core Cable

A cross-section of a two core cable with outer screening is shown in the diagram. 1. Getting the Program a. Download the QuickField program from either the Website: www.quickfield.com, or from my website. b. Install it. c. Run it 2. Setting Up a New File a. Click File New b. Choose QuickField Problem and OK c. Type out a File name eg: TwoCoreCable d. Click NEXT e. Choose: i. Problem type: Electrostatics ii. Model Class: Plane Parallel iii. Precision: Normal f. Files Should Be: i. Geometry: TwoCoreCable.mod ii. Data: TwoCoreCable.dat g. Click NEXT h. Choose: i. Length units: Centimetres ii. Cartesian Co-ordinates i. Click FINISH j. The basic file is now Set-Up

Click on the Arrow button to go to Select Objects mode. Right-click on Block Label and choose New Label Right-click on New Label and Rename it to DIELECTRIC. i. Give one edge label the name CoreA and right click to edit its properties. Enter a voltage of 1 V. e. Double click New Label and enter the value of relative permittivity value of x = y = 5 f. Now click on Edge Labels and create three new edge labels: i. Give one edge label the name CoreB and right click to edit its properties. Enter a voltage of -1 V. ii. Give one edge label the name Screen and right click to edit its properties. Enter a voltage of 0 V. You should now have: Screen = 0; CoreA = +1V; CoreB = -1 V; and Dielectric = x = y = 5. These must now be applied to the cable model: g. Click on the top outer edge of the left cable core, select Properties and select Edge/ Label/ CoreA. Repeat for the lower edge. h. Click on the top outer edge of the right cable core, select Properties and select Edge/ Label/ CoreB. Repeat for the lower edge. i. Click on the top outer edge of the screen of the cable, select Properties and select Edge/ Label/ Screen. Repeat for the lower edge. j. Click anywhere on the cable insulation to highlight it. Right Click, Properties, select Block/ DIELECTRIC. CoreA; CoreB; Screen; and the Dielectric should all be defined now. 4. Drawing in the Mesh a. Click the Build Mesh Button. You are now ready to solve the problem. Before doing anything, SAVE your work. 5. Solving the Problem a. Right-click on the File name TwoCoreCable.pbm in the tree structure on the top left and choose Solve problem. b. If it asks you if you wish to SAVE, then click YES. c. You should now see TwoCoreCable.pbm has been solved. Do you want to see results? d. Click OK. e. You should now see a drawing of the potential lines around the cores. To Improve the Picture a. Right click anywhere on the picture b. Choose field picture c. Select equilines of potential, (say) 0.1 V or 0.2 V. d. Select Vectors of -field strength of scale (say 0.01); and cell size (say 0.5 cm) e. Select colour map of Strength; Strength E f. Click OK, and the Equi-potential lines, -field lines can be seen. The stress on the dielectric can also be seen with the areas of highest stress being yellow/ reddish, and lowest stress being bluish. g. Click on the Legend Button to see how the colours relate to -field stress. To find the points of Highest Stress a. Click on the Local Values Button. b. Click anywhere on the picture and the absolute value of in V/m will be given in blue. c. Click around the picture to find the points of highest stress and of lowest stress. To Plot the Magnitude of the Stress Between the Cores a. Click the Add to Contour Button which changes the cursor to a +. b. Click next to the left core and drag a contour to the right core. c. On the top right-hand of the screen click the X-Y plot button, and the graph will be seen.

b. c. d.

3. Getting the Drawing space Ready (This is to draw the cable shape) a. Select: Edit/ Geometry Model b. Click OK to Create a new model, (Not needed if already done.) (The page should now have a grid.) c. Right-Click anywhere on the grid and select: i. Grid Settings ... ii. Show grid iii. Snap to grid iv. Horizontal and vertical grid spacing: 1 cm v. Remove the tick from scale with zoom. vi. Click OK. vii. Click the Magnifying glass until the squares of the grid show up clearly. 2. Drawing the Model (To erase any part of the model, click on the arrow at the top to change the cursor to an arrow. Select what you dont want and then press DELETE on the keyboard. a. Click on the Insert Vertices Button and select Half-arc 180 b. Move the cursor, (a red dot) to the centre of the screen. Hold down the Left-click button and drag the cursor to create a -circle, dia=2 cm. c. Let go and click again to draw the second half of the circle. d. Repeat 2 cm to the right to draw the second core. e. Click 1 cm to the right of both circles and drag the cursor to create the outer screen of the cable. Repeat to complete the outer core. (The cross section of the two-core cable should now be complete.) (SAVE your file now: use File/ Save as per usual.) 3. Defining the Properties of the Cable a. Click on the + on the left of the Data label on the flow chart on the left of the screen. You will see the Block; Edge; Vertex labels

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