EE330A: Power Systems

Module 4 Lecture 5
Transmission line parameters calculation

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The instructor of this course (Dr. Abheejeet Mohapatra) owns the copyright of all the course materials. This
lecture material was distributed only to the students attending the course EE330A of IIT Kanpur, and should not
be distributed in print or through electronic media without the consent of the instructor. Students can make their
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EE330A 1
 Previous module/ lecture
➢ Capacitance between two points outside a conductor
➢ Capacitance of single phase two wire line
➢ Electric charges in multi-conductor configuration

EE330A 2
 Capacitance of three phase lines

➢ 3 phase lines with 3 long parallel conductors, each of

radius r and conductor spacing as shown above with
transposition cycle
➢ Effect of ground is neglected and no electric field
distortion; hence uniform charge distribution
➢ Let charges be qa, qb, qc F/m
➢ For balanced three phase system, qa + qb + qc = 0

EE330A 3
 Capacitance of three phase lines contd.

➢ When conductor a is in position 1,

1   D12   r   D32 
V =1
qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
2 0 
ab
 r   D12   D31 
➢ Similarly for other two positions
1   D23   r   D31 
Vab = qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
2

2 0   r   D23   D21 

1   D31   r   D21 
V = qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
3

2 0 
ab
 r   D31   D23 
EE330A 4
 Capacitance of three phase lines contd.
➢ Average voltage Vab
Vab = (Vab1 + Vab2 + Vab3 ) / 3
1   GMD   r 
Vab = qa ln  + qb ln V / m
2 0   r   GMD 
GMD = (D12 D23 D31 ) m
1/ 3

➢ Similarly,
1   GMD   r 
Vac = qa ln  + qc ln V / m
2 0   r   GMD 
➢ For balanced three phase voltages
Vab = 3Van 30, Vca = 3Van 150
Vac = −Vca = 3Van  − 30
 Vab + Vac = 3Van
EE330A 5
 Capacitance of three phase lines contd.
➢ Hence,
1   GMD   r 
3Van = 2qa ln  − qa ln V / m as qb + qc = −qa
2 0   r   GMD 
qa  GMD 
 Van = ln V / m
2 0  r 
➢ Capacitance between phase a and neutral
qa 2 0
Can = = F /m
Van ln (GMD / r )
➢ Same is true for capacitance between other phase-neutral
➢ ‘Line charging current’ is current in line due to phase-
neutral capacitance Van
I a ,ch arg = = jVanCan A / m
− jX Can
EE330A 6
 Capacitance of three phase lines contd.
➢ ‘Line charging current’ is current flowing in the line even
when the line is unloaded, i.e., load current is 0
➢ This also serves as a source of reactive power for the
system which leads to high load end voltage than source
voltage (Ferranti effect)
➢ Effect of bundling of conductors is same as in case of
inductance calculation
➢ The denominator of log. term in capacitance expression is
replaced by GMR instead of r where GMR is calculated
using actual radius r and spacing between bundled
conductors (instead of r’ as in GMR for inductance)

EE330A 7
Effect of earth on 3 phase line capacitance
➢ Earth has an important role in capacitance of lines
➢ It acts as an infinite source or sink of charges
➢ Earth can be represented as an equi-potential surface with
zero potential

➢ Field lines from conductor are orthogonal but not radial

➢ Field lines are orthogonal to surface of earth
EE330A 8
 Effect of earth contd.
➢ KELVIN suggested method of images to account for effect
of earth in capacitance of transmission lines

➢ Field lines have to be orthogonal to earth (0 potential)

➢ Zero potential surface can be removed for C calculation
EE330A 9
Effect of earth contd.

➢ Each has radius r and charge

qa, qb, qc F/m with image
charges -qa, -qb, -qc F/m
➢ No distortion effects
➢ For balanced three phase
system,
qa + qb + qc = 0

EE330A 10
 Effect of earth contd.
➢ Hence,
1   D12 h1   rh12   D32 h31 
V =
1
qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
2 0 
ab
 rh12   D12 h2   D31h23 
1   D23 h2   rh23   D31h12 
V = qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
2

2 0 
ab
 rh23   D23 h3   D21h31 
1   D31h3   rh31   D21h23 
V = qa ln  + qb ln  + qc ln V / m
3

2 0 
ab
 rh31   D31h1   D23 h12 
➢ Average voltage (sum of above/3) with GMD = (D12 D23 D31 )1/ 3 m

1   GMD 3 h1h2 h3   r 3 h12 h23 h31 

Vab = qa ln 3  + qb ln V / m
6 0   r h12 h23 h31 
3
 GMD h1h2 h3 
EE330A 11
 Effect of earth contd.
➢ Similarly,
1   GMD 3 h1h2 h3   r 3 h12 h23 h31 
Vac = qa ln 3  + qc ln V / m
6 0   r h12 h23 h31 
3
 GMD h1h2 h3 
➢ Also Vab + Vac = 3Van and qb + qc = − qa

𝑉𝑎𝑏 + 𝑉𝑎𝑐 𝑞𝑎 𝐺𝑀𝐷 1 ℎ12 ℎ23 ℎ31

𝑉𝑎𝑛 = = ln − ln 𝑉/𝑚
3 2𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 3 ℎ1 ℎ2 ℎ3

➢ Capacitance between phase a and neutral

𝑞𝑎 2𝜋𝜀0
𝐶𝑎𝑛 = = 𝐹/𝑚
𝑉𝑎𝑛 𝐺𝑀𝐷 1 ℎ12 ℎ23 ℎ31
ln − ln
𝑟 3 ℎ1 ℎ2 ℎ3

EE330A 12
 Effect of earth contd.
➢ Capacitance between phase a and neutral
𝑞𝑎 2𝜋𝜀0
𝐶𝑎𝑛 = = 𝐹/𝑚
𝑉𝑎𝑛 𝐺𝑀𝐷 1 ℎ12 ℎ23 ℎ31
ln − ln
𝑟 3 ℎ1 ℎ2 ℎ3
➢ As h12 h23 h31 (diagonal distances)  h1h2 h3 , the additional
term in denominator is positive
➢ Thus, overall capacitance increases due to earth
➢ As distance between conductors and earth increases,
h12 h23 h31  h1h2 h3
➢ The additional term is zero and effect of earth on line
capacitance is negligible

EE330A 13
 Tables for reactance calculation
➢ Inductance per phase is
 GMD 
−7
L = 2 10 ln H / m
 GMR 
➢ GMD is equivalent centre to centre separation between
conductors
− / 4
➢ GMR = re r depends on configuration and type of strands
in a conductor
➢ Per phase inductive reactance is
X L = 2fL = X a + X d
 1 
−3
X a = 2.02236 f 10 ln  / mile
 GMR 
X d = 2.02236 f 10 ln (GMD ) / mile
−3

EE330A 14
 Tables for reactance calculation
➢ Xa is inductive reactance at 1 feet spacing when GMR of
conductor is also in feet as in Table A.3
➢ It is independent of spacing between conductors
➢ Xd is inductive reactance spacing factor and is independent
of type of conductor as in Table A.4
➢ For a given configuration of conductors, evaluate GMD (and
actual GMR for bundled conductors if necessary)
➢ Use Tables A.3 and A.4 to find Xa and Xd at 60Hz
➢ If GMR is to be explicitly evaluated, use actual expression of
inductance per phase to find reactance
 GMD 
−3
X L = 2.02236 f 10 ln  / mile
 GMR 
EE330A 15
EE330A 16
EE330A 17
 Tables for reactance calculation
➢ Capacitive reactance per phase is
1 1  GMD 
Xc = = ln  = X 'a + X 'd
2fCn 4 f 0  r 
2

1.778476  1 
X 'a = ln  Mmile
f r
ln (GMD )Mmile
1.778476
X 'd =
f
➢ r is actual radius from Table A.3
➢ Effect of bundling is same as in inductive reactance
evaluation i.e. replace r by effective GMR
➢ X’d is given in Table A.5 at 60Hz
EE330A 18
EE330A 19
 Next module/ lecture
➢ Transmission line models

EE330A 20