Power-Frequency Voltage Withstand Characteristics of Insulations of Substation Secondary Systems

The insulation of secondary system in substation, including secondary cables and devices, have to endure the high ac power-frequency voltage during the short-circuit fault. The ac withstand characteristics of the secondary cables and devices are experimentally investigated and discussed in this paper. The insulation breakdown mechanism of relays can be classified into three modes: air gap breakdown, creeping discharge, and solid insulation breakdown, that of the microcomputer protection device is solid state component damage. The ac power-frequency breakdown voltages of the microcomputer protection device, the small-size electromagnetic and solid-state relays all are as low as about 2 kV. The statistic method to obtain the withstand voltage of long communication cable from experimental data of short cables is proposed. The minimum 3-s withstand voltages of secondary system are 6.5 kV and 2 kV, respectively, this should be considered in substation design. What´s more, the volt-second characteristics of the power-frequency withstand voltage of the secondary cables and devices are analyzed and compared in detail, which would be important in the selection of secondary cables and devices. At last, the method how to guarantee high ac breakdown voltage of electromagnetic and solid-state relays and microcomputer protection device is suggested.