EE356: Power Transmission,

Distribution and Utilization

Farhan Mahmood, PhD

Department of Electrical Engineering
UET, Lahore

May 23, 2016

Outline

• Transmission line conductors

• Stranded conductors
• Transmission line parameters
• Resistance of overhead lines
• Inductance of overhead lines
• Inductance of long cylinderical conductor
• Inductance of single-phase transmission line
• Flux linkages in a group of conductors
• Inductance of composite conductor

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Transmission Line Conductors

• Copper conductors
˗ High electrical conductivity
˗ High tensile strength
˗ High current density
˗ High cost
˗ Low availabilty
• Aluminium conductors have replaced copper conductors;
˗ Low cost
˗ Light weight
˗ High availability

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Stranded Conductors

• Stranded conductor (also called as composite conductor) consists of multiple

small strands (or sub-conductors) which group together to form a single conductor.

Solid Round Conductor

Stranded Conductor

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Stranded Conductors

• Advantages:
˗ Flexibility
˗ Easy manufacturing
˗ Better mechanical strength
• Size: 130 sq. mm,19/2.9 mm
• No. of strands in an n-layer stranded conductor:

• Overall diameter:

• Where d = diameter of one strand

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Stranded Conductors

• Types:
˗ All Aluminium Conductor (AAC)
˗ Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforce (ACSR)
˗ Aluminium Conductor Alloy Reinforce (ACAR)
˗ All Aluminium Alloy Conductor (AAAC)

Aluminum
Steel

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Transmission Line Parameters

• All transmission lines in a power system exhibit the electrical properties of

resistance, inductance, capacitance and conductance.
• Inductance and capacitance are due to the effects of magnetic and electric
fields around the conductor.
• These parameters are essential for the development of the transmission line
models used in power system analysis.
• The shunt conductance accounts for the flow of leakage currents across
insulators and ionized pathways in the air.
• The leakage currents are negligible compared to the current flowing in the
transmission lines and may be neglected.

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

• The dc resistance of a solid round conductor at a specified temperature is

l
Rdc 
Where : A
ρ = conductor resistivity (Ω-m),
l = conductor length (m) ;
A = conductor cross-sectional area (m2)
• Significant effect:
˗ Generation of I2R loss in transmission line.
˗ Produces IR-type voltage drop which affect voltage regulation.

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

• The resistance of conductor is affected by three factors:-

˗ Temperature
˗ Spiraling
˗ Skin effect (‘frequency’)

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

Temperature
• As the temperature increases, the conductor resistance also increases. This change in
resistance can be considered linear over the normal operating temperatures according
to,
T  t2
R2  R1
Where: T  t1
R1 = conductor resistances at t1 in Cº
R2 = conductor resistances at t2 in Cº
T = temperature constant and represents the temperature at which conductor will
exhibit zero resistance. It depends on conductor material and is obtained by
extrapolation

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

Spiraling
• For stranded conductors, alternate layers of strands are spiraled in opposite
directions to hold the strands together.
• Spiraling makes the strands 1 – 2% longer than the actual conductor length.
• DC resistance of a stranded conductor is 1 – 2% larger than the calculated value.

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

Frequency – Skin Effect

• When ac flows in a conductor, the current distribution is not uniform over the
conductor cross-sectional area and the current density is greatest at the surface of
the conductor.
• This causes the ac resistance to be somewhat higher than the dc resistance. The
behavior is known as skin effect
• The skin effect is where alternating current tends to avoid travel through the center of
a solid conductor, limiting itself to conduction near the surface.
• This effectively limits the cross-sectional conductor area available to carry alternating
electron flow, increasing the resistance of that conductor above what it would
normally be for direct current

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Resistance of Overhead Transmission Line

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Resistivity and Temperature Constant of Conductor Material

ρ20ºC T
Material Resistivity at 20ºC Temperature Constant
Ωm×10-8 Ωcmil/ft ºC
Copper
Annealed 1.72 10.37 234.5
Hard-drawn 1.77 10.66 241.5
Aluminum
Hard-drawn 2.83 17.00 228
Brass 6.4 – 8.4 38 – 51 480
Iron 10 60 180
Silver 1.59 9.6 243
Sodium 4.3 26 207
Steel 12 – 88 72 – 530 180 – 980

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Exercise

Problem 1:
A solid cylindrical aluminum conductor 25 km long has an area of 336,400 circular mils.
Determine the conductor resistance at (a) 20º C and (b) 50º C. The resistivity of
aluminum at 20º C is 2.8 × 10−8 Ω-m.

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Exercise

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Design Exercise

Problem 2:
• A three-phase transmission line is designed to deliver 190.5-MVA at 220-kV over a
distance of 63 km. The total transmission line loss is not to exceed 2.5% of the rated
line MVA. If the resistivity of the conductor material is 2.84 × 10−8 Ω-m, determine
the required conductor diameter and the conductor size in circular mils.

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Design Exercise

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Field Lines Produced by Transmission Lines

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Inductance of Overhead Transmission Line

• A current-carrying conductor produces a magnetic field around the conductor.

• For non-magnetic material, the inductance L is the ratio of its total magnetic flux
linkage to the current I, given by,

where ψ =flux linkages, in Weber turns.

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Inductance of Overhead Transmission Line

• The inductance of the conductor can be defined as the sum of contributions from flux
linkages internal and external to the conductor.

Outer Flux

Inner Flux

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Inductance of Overhead Transmission Line

• The inductance of a magnetic circuit that has a constant permeability µ can be

obtained by determining the following:
1) Magnetic field intensity H, from Ampere’s law
2) Magnetic flux density B (B = µ.H)
3) Magnetic flux φ (φ = B.A)
4) Flux linkages ψ ( Ψ = N. φ)
5) Inductance L from flux linkages per ampere (L = ψ / I)

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Inductance of Long Cylinderical Conductor

Inductance Due to Internal Flux Linkages

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Inductance of Long Cylinderical Conductor

dx

dφx

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Inductance of Long Cylinderical Conductor

• Internal inductance can be express as follows:-

0 1
Lint   107 H / m
8 2
Where
µo = permeability of air (4π x 10-7 H/m)
• The internal inductance is independent of the conductor radius r

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Inductance of Long Cylinderical Conductor

Inductance Due To External Flux Linkages

• External inductance between to point D2 and D1 can be express as follows:

D2
7
Lext  2  10 ln H /m
D1
• To consider the external flux from the surface of
conductor to remote P,

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Inductance of Single-Phase Transmission Line

• The Inductance of a single-phase lines can be expressed as below

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Inductance of Single-Phase Transmission Line

• If the two conductors are identical, then inductance per phase per metre length pf the
line is given by,

• In the above equation, the first term is only a function of the conductor radius. This
term is considered as the inductance due to both the internal flux and that external to
conductor 1 to a radius of 1 m.
• The second term of above equation is dependent only upon conductor spacing. This
term is known as the inductance spacing factor.
• The above terms are usually expressed as inductive reactances at 50/60 Hz and are
available in the manufacturers table in English units.

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Exercise

Problem 3:
A single-phase line has two conductors 2 m apart. The diameter of each conductor is
1.2 cm. Calculate the loop inductance per km of the line.
Solution: Spacing between conductors = D = 2 m = 200 cm
Radius of conductor = r = 1.2/2 = 0.6 cm
Loop inductance per metre length of line is given by,

Loop inductance per km length of line is given by,

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Flux Linkages in terms of Self and Mutual
Inductances

• A single-phase line can be viewed as two magnetically coupled coils.

= L21

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Flux Linkages in terms of Self and Mutual
Inductances

• The flux linkages of a conductor in a group of conductors can be expressed as,

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Symmetrically Spaced

Symmetrical Spacing
• Inductance per phase of three-phase line with symmetrical spacing (equilateral
spaced soild conductor) is given by,

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Symmetrically Spaced

Symmetrical Line Spacing – 69 kV

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Exercise

Problem 4:
• In a 3-phase transmission line, the conductors are placed at the corners of an
equilateral triangle of each side 2.5 m. If the radius of each conductor is 0.8 cm, find
inductance per phase per km length of the line.
Solution: Spacing between conductors = D = 2.5 m
Radius of conductor = r = 0.8 cm = 0.8 × 10-2 m
Inductance per metre length of line is given by,

Loop inductance per km length of line is given by,

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

Unsymmetrical Spacing
• The practice of symmetrical spacing between the phases
is not convenient.
˗ Symmetry is lost – unbalanced conditions
˗ Horizontal or vertical configurations are most popular
• Consider a three-phase transmission line with
conductors a, b and c; each radius of r.
• The spacing between the conductors is denoted by Dab,
Dbc, Dca.
• The current flowing in conductors a, b and c is Ia, Ib and
Ic respectively.

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

• The flux linkages of conductor a is given by,

• For balanced three-phase currents with Ia as reference,

(1)

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

• If we repeat the same procedure for phase b,

• For balanced three-phase currents

(2)

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

• If we repeat the same procedure for phase c,

• For balanced three-phase currents

(3)

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

Restore balanced conditions by the method of transposition of lines.

˗ Each phase occupies each position for the same fraction of the total length of the
line
˗ Average inductance of each phase will be the same

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

• Since in a transposed line, each phase takes all three positions, the inductance per
phase can be obtained by finding the average value of La, Lb, and Lc:

• Since,

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

• Simplifying,

• If ra = rb = rc = r,

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Inductance of 3-Phase Line: Unsymmetrically Spaced

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Exercise

Problem 5:
• In a 3-phase transmission line, three conductors are placed at the corners of a
triangle of sides 1.5 m, 3 m and 2.6 m respectively. If the diameter of each conductor
is 1.4 cm and the conductors are regularly transposed, calculate the inductance per
phase per km length of the line. (Ans: 1.206 mH)
Solution: Spacing between conductors: Dab = 1.5 m, Dbc = 3 m, Dac = 2.6 m
Radius of conductor = r = 1.4/2 cm = 0.7 × 10-2 m
Inductance per metre length of line is given by,

Loop inductance per km length of line is given by,

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Inductance of Composite (or Stranded) Conductor

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Inductance of Composite (or Stranded) Conductor

• The inductance of composite conductor is given by,

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Exercise

Problem 6:
• Conductor X has 3 strands
whereas conductor Y has 2-
strands. The radius of conductor
a, b, c is 2.5 cm while that of d, e
is 5 cm. Calculate LX, LY, LLOOP.

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Exercise

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Exercise

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Exercise

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Exercise

Problem 7:
• Calculate GMR of an ACSR conductor with r being the radius of each conductor.

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

• In transmission lines (voltage level ≥ 220 kV), it is

common practice to use more than one conductor
per phase, a practice called bundling.
• Conductors are connected in parallel in each phase.
• Bundled conductors are commonly used
˗ To reduce the electric field strength at the
conductor surface, hence minimize corona power
loss.
˗ To reduce the inductance and increase the
capacitance of line
˗ To improve the voltage regulation and efficiency
of power line.

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

• AC current shows the property of skin effect. This reduces the effective cross-section
of conductor and hence resistance becomes high. To take this effect to its minimum,
same cross-section is used, but in form of bundled wire of small cross-sections.
• This increases the number of outer surfaces and hence has more surface area which
in turn would allow more current to flow. As our current here prefers to flow through
skin of the conductor. This way by making bundled conductors, the transmission line
is utilized better.

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

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 Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

Phase A Phase B Phase C

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Bundled Conductor Line

765 kV Bundled Conductor Transmission Line

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Exercise

Problem 8:
• Calculate the inductance per km per phase of a single circuit 500 kV line using two
bundle conductors per phase as shown in figure. The diameter of each conductor is
5 cm.

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

• A three-phase double circuit line consists of two identical

three phase circuits.
• Double circuits are used where greater reliability is
needed.
• This method of transmission enables the transfer of more
power over a particular distance.
• The circuits are operated with a-a’, b-b’ and c-c’ in parallel.
• Because of the geometrical differences between
conductors, voltage drop due to line inductance will be
unbalanced.
• Types:
˗ Flat vertical spacing
˗ Hexagonal arrangement

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

Flat vertically spaced Hexagonally arranged

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

• The method of GMD can be used to find the inductance per phase of double circuit
line.
• To do this, we group identical phases together and find the GMD between each
phase group:

• The equivalent GMD per phase is given by,

Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

• The GMR of each phase group is given by,

• The equivalent GMR is given by,

• The inductance per phase is given by,

Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

Flat vertically spaced

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

Flat vertically spaced

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Inductance of 3-Phase, Double Circuit Line

Hexagonally arranged

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Exercise

Problem 9:
• Calculate the inductance per km of a transposed double circuit 3-phase line as
shown in figure. Each circuit of the line remains on its own side. The diameter of the
conductor is 2.532 cm.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION