Examination of Gas Active Arc Extinguishing and Lightning Protection for Transmission Lines
Authors: Braide S. L. 
Published: September 2023

The study investigated the gas active arc extinguishing and lightning protection for transmission lines. Lightning is one of the most significant sources of over voltages in overhead transmission lines. The lightning over voltages could lead to failure of the devices connected to the transmission line. Fundamental constraint on the reliability of an electrical power transmission system is the effectiveness of its protective system. The role of the protective system is to safeguard transmission system components from the effects of electrical overstress. Shield wire and surge arresters are an important means of lightning protection in transmission and distribution systems. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the influence of over voltages caused due to lighting. The requirements of system security for lightning protection technology reach the high standard that lightning strike tripping and wire breakage are not allowed. Both the power supply side and the demand side have very high requirements for lightning protection of transmission lines, but the lightning accident rate remains high. This situation poses a great threat to the reliability and safety of power network, it is urgent to solve this problem. The gas active interrupter principle is put forward. From two latitudes of lightning overvoltage and power frequency over current, the effective control of lightning accident rate caused by large probability and multiple lightning strike is realized. This paper is aimed at evaluation of protection level of transmission line by using gas active arc extinguishing, shield wire and line surge arresters against lightning overvoltage. When lightning strikes, the internal short gap of the main body and the air gap break down, and the lightning arc enters the arc-extinguishing body through the breakdown channel. Arc is compressed by force to form internal and external gradients temperature in order to produce jet airflow. Jet airflow acts on the subsequent power frequency follow current arc, a model coupling an arc and a compressed jet airflow in a multi-fracture compression airflow arc-extinguishing structure is established and simulated. The increase in voltage due to lightning are investigated by using the MATLAB software. Direct and induced, types of lightning strokes are considered. The model of a 33kV three-phase overhead power transmission line is developed considering the RL circuit. The simulations are performed based on time domain analysis. Also, numerical analysis is made for 133kV tower structure transmitting power over 220km from 132 KV Sub-transmission Lines in port Harcourt region. Based on the simulation study this research study gas active arc extinguishing and lightning protection for transmission lines, are very important in computer application like Electromagnetic Transient Propagation (EMTP) and Power System Computer Aided Design (PSCAD) which are used in future study. These soft wares provide an alternative way to bring the precise result in study of lightning protection level of high voltage transmission line.