Development of the insulating foam model for the study of electric field distribution for the application of Gas Insulated Transmission Line

Gas Insulated Transmission Lines (GIL) is a high power transmission technology developed for the energy transfer from remote locations to the load centers. It uses SF₆ or a mixture of SF₆ and N₂ as an insulator. Because of the high global warming potential of SF₆ and unavoidable gas leakages throughout the length of the line, there is a need to find substitute for SF₆. Considering the excellent high voltage insulating properties and lightweight structure, the foam insulating material can be a possible solution for the above mentioned problem. The following paper describes the steps involved in the development of the simulation model for the insulating foam for the application in GIL in order to analyze electric field distribution. This is demonstrated by modeling a small section of syntactic foam in COMSOL Multiphysics software along with AutoCAD and Microsoft Excel. The base electric field for the simulations is maintained at 4.39 kV/mm which is the maximum field in 400 kV GIL. The deviation of the electric field distribution from the base electric field is determined for a cubical model with side 1 mm. The effect of metal particles on electric field distribution is also observed as a part of study.