Elektrotechnik & Informationstechnik (2020) 137/8: 455–459. https://doi.org/10.

1007/s00502-020-00847-0 CIGRE 2020

Investigation of the dynamic rating of

tubular busbars in substations
K. Reich, R. Weissnar, R. Puffer

In recent years, Austrian Power Grid AG (APG) has successfully introduced dynamic line rating for the weather-dependent determina-
tion of the current-carrying capacity on various overhead lines. The higher current loading of overhead lines also increases the current
loading in substations. In some cases busbars appear to be the new limiting element.
As weather-dependent operation of tubular busbars is not yet in practice, a physical model working in a similar way as dynamic
rating for overhead lines has been developed and evaluated. Due to the significantly larger surface area of tubular busbars compared to
conductors of overhead lines, radiation as well as absorption and convection have a greater influence on the current-carrying capacity
of tubular busbars than of conductors of overhead lines.
Calculations of the current-carrying capacity of a tubular busbar based on the weather data over one year show that the current-
carrying capacity can be regularly increased by several ten percentage points.
In the near future, dynamic rating will be used for tubular busbars at APG in network operation to be able to significantly increase
the current-carrying capacity of busbars in suitable ambient conditions.

Keywords: dynamic rating; uprating; tubular busbar; thermal limit; current-carrying capacity; ampacity; weather-based rating;
monitoring system; meteorological data; real-time rating

Published online November 6, 2020

© CIGRE - Reprint from www.cigre.org with kind permission 2020

1. Background (PJ ) in the tubular busbar and the global radiation (PS ), which lead to
In recent years, APG has successfully introduced dynamic line rating a heating of the busbar. On the other hand, these are the radiated
for the weather-dependent determination of the current-carrying heat (PR ) and the convection (PC ), which have a cooling effect on
capacity on various overhead lines and in substations (only conduc- the busbar [7, 8].
tors in bays and some busbars, but no equipment). The higher cur-
PJ + PS = PR + PC (1)
rent loading of overhead lines also increases the current loading in
substations. In some cases the busbars appear to be the new limiting The material properties, the current load, the ambient temperature,
element. the material temperature and the incoming wind significantly influ-
APG often uses tubular busbars in substations (Fig. 1). As weather- ence the four contributions to the power balance. In the following,
dependent operation of tubular busbars is not yet in practice, a it is briefly described to what extent the terms of the power bal-
model has been developed working in a similar way as dynamic rat- ance are influenced by these parameters. The properties of tubular
ing for overhead lines. busbars are taken into account [1, 3–5].
DIN 43670 of 1975, which is available in Austria identically as
ÖNORM DIN 43670 of 1978, contains approaches, which, however, 2.1 Joule losses
only take into account the dependence on weather conditions to The Joule heating of a tubular busbar depends on the resistivity of
a limited extent. Therefore, the existing approaches were analysed the material (ρe , L), the cross-section of the material (Ax ), the tem-
and suitably extended within the scope of these investigations, so perature (T ) and the temperature coefficient (αe ) of the resistivity. As
that the calculation of tubular busbar current-carrying capacities de- with all metallic conductors, the resistance of the conductor material
pending on weather conditions becomes possible for any type of increases proportionally to its temperature. Furthermore, since this
tubular busbar. is an alternating current application, the current displacement (the
Compared to overhead lines, busbars are short, but they may so-called skin effect) must be taken into account. Since the busbars
be influenced by other technical heat sources such as transformers, under consideration are tubular busbars with a comparatively large
auxiliary systems, etc. This has to be considered individually during outer diameter and the penetration depth is generally greater than
the implementation process of dynamic rating. the wall thickness of the tube, the influence of the current displace-
With the help of a physical model, weather-dependent current- ment on the current-carrying capacity is small.
carrying capacities were calculated for an exemplary tubular busbar. This assumption about the influence of the skin effect is con-
The potential of dynamic rating for busbars is shown by evaluating firmed by investigations shown in [9]. For tubular busbars such as
weather data over a period of one year and giving the resulting E-AlMgSi-Tube 0.5 F22 160/6, the ratio of the internal diameter r0
current-carrying capacities as a frequency distribution.

Paper submitted for the CIGRE Session 2020, SC-B3, August 25, 2020, online.
2. Physical model for tubular busbars
The current-carrying capacity of a conductor can generally be calcu- Reich, K., Austrian Power Grid AG, Vienna, Austria (E-mail: [email protected]);
lated by drawing up a power balance. Four essential contributions Weissnar, R., Austrian Power Grid AG, Vienna, Austria; Puffer, R., RWTH Aachen
are taken into account. These are on the one hand the Joule losses University, Aachen, Germany

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 CIGRE 2020 K. Reich et al. Investigation of the dynamic rating of tubular busbars in substations

Fig. 1. Example for tubular busbars used in a substation (380 kV)

to the external diameter rn is 74/80 = 0.925. The resistance ratio 2.4 Convection
Rac /Rdc can be found to be about 1.006. This resistance ratio is also Cooling by convection distinguishes between free convection and
known as the skin effect factor. The skin effect factor of 1.006 is forced convection. Free convection occurs when there is no airflow
further used in the following. around the busbar and the heating of the air surrounding the con-
 
1 + αe (T − 20) ductor only causes the flow. Since the probability of a complete ab-
PJ = I2 ρe L = I2 Rac (2)
Ax sence of wind is very low when operating busbars in outdoor instal-
The resistance per unit length Rac can be calculated from the resis- lations, free convection is not further considered here. The cooling
tance per unit length Rdc by of the busbar by wind flow is called forced convection. This de-
pends on the wind speed, its angle to the busbar, the surface (A),
Rac = kj Rdc (3)
the busbar temperature (TS ) and the temperature of the surround-
where kj is the skin effect factor. ing air (TA ). In the model, the cooling of the busbar by the wind is
considered by the flow coefficient h according to [1]. This includes
2.2 Global radiation the Nusselt number, the Reynolds number and the roughness of the
The global radiation essentially depends on the radiated power (S), busbar.
the surface of the busbar (A) and the absorption coefficient (αS ).
The absorption coefficient is significantly influenced by the surface PC = h A (TS − TA ) (6)
quality of the busbar. With busbars that are neither coated with cor-
rosion protection nor oxidized to any significant extent, a larger part 2.5 Calculation of the current-carrying capacity of a tubular
of the radiated power is reflected. Therefore, the coefficient for bare busbar
busbars at the beginning of the operating time is in the range of 0.1 The current-carrying capacity of a tubular busbar can be calculated
to 0.2. As the busbar material oxidizes during operation, the ab- by determining the influencing parameters and resolving the power
sorption coefficient increases (to approx. 0.2–0.4) so that the power balance according to the current, which only affects the Joule heat-
consumed also increases.
ing. The result is the following relationship for the current-carrying
PS = A S αS (4) capacity I of a tubular busbar with resistance Rac :

2.3 Radiation PC + PR − PS
I= (7)
For simplification, the busbar can be regarded as a grey body. Thus, Rac
the radiation law according to Stefan Boltzmann can be applied.
This equation basically corresponds to the equation for calculat-
This means that a body that has a higher temperature than its envi-
ronment radiates power to this environment. ing the current-carrying capacity for conductors of overhead lines.
In the case of the tubular busbar, this power is mainly radiated The differences lie in particular in the way the AC resistance and
into the surrounding air if the tubular busbar has a higher temper- convection cooling are taken into account.
ature than the air. According to [6], part of the radiated heat also
penetrates into higher air layers. A temperature of 217 K (around 3. Exemplary ambient adjusted current-carrying capacities
56 °C) can be expected for these air layers further away. According With the help of the physical model shown above, the current-
to [8] it is sufficient to consider the radiation into the surrounding carrying capacity of tubular busbars can be calculated depending on
air. weather conditions. In the following, weather-dependent current-
Thus, the radiated power can be determined from the busbar carrying capacities for different ambient temperatures, wind speeds
temperature (TS ), the ambient temperature (TA ), the surface (A), the and global radiations are presented. For this purpose, these weather
Stefan Boltzmann constant (σB ) and the emission coefficient (εR ) of variables are varied in the following practice-relevant areas:
the tubular busbar as given in Eq. (5). The emission coefficient de-
pends on the surface condition of the busbar. – Ambient temperature: −10 °C . . . +35 °C
  – Wind speed: 0.6 m/s . . . 6 m/s
PR = εR · σB · A · (TS + 273)4 − (TA + 273)4 (5)
– Global radiation: 0 W/m2 . . . 900 W/m2

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K. Reich et al. Investigation of the dynamic rating of tubular busbars in substations CIGRE 2020

Fig. 2. Current-carrying capacity of busbar depending on ambient temperature for different values of busbar temperature and wind speed

Fig. 3. Current-carrying capacity of busbar depending on global radiation (ambient temperature 35 °C, wind speed 0.6 m/s)

The calculations are based on the assumption that the wind flows perature of 65 °C. This takes into account an emissivity of 0.5, an
orthogonal onto the tubular busbar. The current-carrying capacities absorptivity of 0.35 and global radiation. These differences show the
are calculated as an example for the tubular busbar type E-AlMgSi great influence of emission and absorption on the current-carrying
0.5 F22 160/6. Two maximum permissible busbar temperatures of capacity of the tubular busbar.
65 °C and 85 °C are assumed as examples. As can be seen in Fig. 2, wind speed and ambient temperature
Figure 2 shows the weather-dependent current-carrying capacity have a large influence on the current-carrying capacity. Depending
of the busbar under consideration as a function of the ambient tem- on ambient conditions, the static rating can be exceeded by up to
perature for different wind speeds. several ten percent.
The static rating of the busbar for the above given ambient con- Figure 3 shows the current-carrying capacity of the busbar de-
ditions is 4600 A for a conductor temperature of 85 °C and 3355 pending on the global radiation for busbar temperatures of 65 °C
A for a conductor temperature of 65 °C. This takes into account and 85 °C. The emissivity is set to 0.845 and the absorptivity to
an emissivity of 0.845, which is valid for an aged busbar, and an ab- 0.4. The difference in current-carrying capacity between a global ra-
sorptivity of 0.4, which can be used for oxidized aluminium surfaces. diation of 900 W/m2 and 0 W/m2 is about 15% for a conductor
According to [2] the busbar current-carrying capacity is 4050 A at a temperature of 65 °C and about 8% for a conductor temperature
conductor temperature of 85 °C and 3060 A at a conductor tem- of 85 °C.

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 CIGRE 2020 K. Reich et al. Investigation of the dynamic rating of tubular busbars in substations

Fig. 4. Current-carrying capacity of busbar over time calculated using measured values for ambient temperature and wind speed during an
exemplary summer week (16 July – 22 July)

Fig. 5. Frequency distribution of current-carrying capacity of busbar calculated using measured values for ambient temperature and wind speed
over the period of one year

The question arises as to the frequency with which current- The weather-dependent current-carrying capacity that results for
carrying capacities above the static rating (ambient temperature an exemplary week in the summer (July) of the year under consider-
35 °C, wind speed 0.6 m/s, global radiation 900 W/m2 ) occur. ation is shown in Fig. 4.
This was investigated as an example for a location of a substa- It turns out that the current-carrying capacity always exceeds the
tion in Austria. The ambient temperatures and wind speeds mea- static rating, even in the week under consideration in summer. In
sured in this substation over the course of a year were used to grid operation, this additional potential could be utilised if dynamic
calculate the weather-dependent current-carrying capacities. The rating for tubular busbars is used in the future.
weather data were evaluated hourly, so that altogether 8760 val- Looking at the course of the year as a whole, the calculated
ues of the current-carrying capacity can be represented as frequency current-carrying capacities can be represented as a frequency dis-
distribution. tribution (see Fig. 5). During the year under review, the weather-
The global radiation was not measured and was therefore used dependent current-carrying capacity always exceeded the current-
with 900 W/m2 as conservative estimation all year round. carrying capacity in midsummer weather conditions. The maximum

458 heft 8.2020 © CIGRE - Reprint from www.cigre.org with kind permission e&i elektrotechnik und informationstechnik
K. Reich et al. Investigation of the dynamic rating of tubular busbars in substations CIGRE 2020

values reached exceed the static rating of 4600 A by more than namic rating, if connectors between tubular busbars, which must be
50%. On average, the static rating of 4600 A at a busbar tempera- considered as well, are not limiting elements.
ture of 85 °C is exceeded by about 40%.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
4. Conclusion and outlook
In substations, the higher current in the overhead lines that can be
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