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Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques

The need for more power and the limitations on building new power lines have made compact power lines a necessity. To design these lines, it is essential to understand the behavior of corona, which is a form of unwanted plasma discharge that causes electrical interference, power loss, and audible no...

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Main Author: Pieterse, Petrus
Other Authors: Gaunt, Charles
Format: Thesis
Language:Eng
Published: Department of Electrical Engineering 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Pieterse, Petrus
author2 Gaunt, Charles
author_browse Gaunt, Charles
Pieterse, Petrus
author_facet Gaunt, Charles
Pieterse, Petrus
author_sort Pieterse, Petrus
collection Thesis
description The need for more power and the limitations on building new power lines have made compact power lines a necessity. To design these lines, it is essential to understand the behavior of corona, which is a form of unwanted plasma discharge that causes electrical interference, power loss, and audible noise. Compact power lines require tighter conductor spacings and special high-temperature, low-sag conductors, which makes the accurate prediction of corona behavior even more crucial. This paper examines the impact of conductor temperature on corona performance, as it is an important factor that is often overlooked. Despite earlier research showing that elevated conductor temperature has a direct effect on power line corona discharge magnitude, the effect of conductor temperature on corona performance is generally not considered since the line is not expected to remain at high temperatures for extended periods and since foul weather corona is considered worse. However, since high temperature low sag conductors may operate at much higher temperatures, the effect of temperature on the corona performance has to be considered. Earlier work has shown that simple correction factors based on the assumed local reduction of air density can be applied to predict the inception value for higher conductor temperatures. Likewise, the work of Chartier and Stearns showed a dependency of the corona noise measurement on the conductor temperature, albeit only up to a temperature of 50˚C. To date no relationship between conductor temperature and corona power losses has been published. This dissertation demonstrates that losses for conductors exceeding 60˚C can be significant and follow a simple relationship with temperature. A new bridge detection method is introduced to evaluate corona loss performance by assessing positive and negative corona loss separately through postprocessing of acquired data. The experiments were performed in a laboratory using a small coaxial conductor system or corona cage with a smooth aluminium heated centre conductor ranging in temperature from 14˚C to 140˚C. The visible corona inception point is found to be lower than the point of rapid charge increase (as can be easily detected by the bridge circuit) which also follows approximately the Peek criteria with substitution of the ambient temperature for the conductor temperature, proving the bridge method to be more reliable than earlier visual observation methods. This dissertation highlights the importance of considering the effect of conductor temperature on corona performance when designing compact power lines. By doing so, the detrimental impact of corona on practical systems can be minimized.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language Eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:03.909Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Electrical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Electrical Engineering
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40369 Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques Pieterse, Petrus Gaunt, Charles Engineering The need for more power and the limitations on building new power lines have made compact power lines a necessity. To design these lines, it is essential to understand the behavior of corona, which is a form of unwanted plasma discharge that causes electrical interference, power loss, and audible noise. Compact power lines require tighter conductor spacings and special high-temperature, low-sag conductors, which makes the accurate prediction of corona behavior even more crucial. This paper examines the impact of conductor temperature on corona performance, as it is an important factor that is often overlooked. Despite earlier research showing that elevated conductor temperature has a direct effect on power line corona discharge magnitude, the effect of conductor temperature on corona performance is generally not considered since the line is not expected to remain at high temperatures for extended periods and since foul weather corona is considered worse. However, since high temperature low sag conductors may operate at much higher temperatures, the effect of temperature on the corona performance has to be considered. Earlier work has shown that simple correction factors based on the assumed local reduction of air density can be applied to predict the inception value for higher conductor temperatures. Likewise, the work of Chartier and Stearns showed a dependency of the corona noise measurement on the conductor temperature, albeit only up to a temperature of 50˚C. To date no relationship between conductor temperature and corona power losses has been published. This dissertation demonstrates that losses for conductors exceeding 60˚C can be significant and follow a simple relationship with temperature. A new bridge detection method is introduced to evaluate corona loss performance by assessing positive and negative corona loss separately through postprocessing of acquired data. The experiments were performed in a laboratory using a small coaxial conductor system or corona cage with a smooth aluminium heated centre conductor ranging in temperature from 14˚C to 140˚C. The visible corona inception point is found to be lower than the point of rapid charge increase (as can be easily detected by the bridge circuit) which also follows approximately the Peek criteria with substitution of the ambient temperature for the conductor temperature, proving the bridge method to be more reliable than earlier visual observation methods. This dissertation highlights the importance of considering the effect of conductor temperature on corona performance when designing compact power lines. By doing so, the detrimental impact of corona on practical systems can be minimized. 2024-07-05T12:56:26Z 2024-07-05T12:56:26Z 2024 2024-07-05T12:11:26Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40369 Eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
spellingShingle Engineering
Pieterse, Petrus
Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
title_full Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
title_fullStr Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
title_full_unstemmed Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
title_short Investigations into the Effect of Temperature on Power-line Corona using Bridge Measuring Techniques
title_sort investigations into the effect of temperature on power line corona using bridge measuring techniques
topic Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40369
work_keys_str_mv AT pietersepetrus investigationsintotheeffectoftemperatureonpowerlinecoronausingbridgemeasuringtechniques