Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a disconnector device for permanently disconnecting the current flow in a surge arrester in case of a temporary overvoltage in the electric line lasting longer than a few tenths of milliseconds, e.g. longer than 100 ms extending over a few cycles up to several seconds or more. More particularly, they relate to a disconnector device providing for fire hazard protection.
Metal oxide surge arresters are electrical devices installed in electrical grids in order to protect other electrical apparatuses from the consequences arising of destructive over voltages. Such consequences may result in damages of the electrical system as well as of its components. The working principle is based on a strongly nonlinear characteristic of the resistivity of metal oxide resistors as a function of the applied voltage. This allows a surge arrester to limit the damaging effects of a lightning-effected over voltage by draining currents of many kA to ground for a short time. In comparison, a surge arrester has, under normal service conditions, a leakage current of parts of mA over years of operation.
The maximum continuous voltage Uc defines the condition under which the arrester can work indefinitely. An elevated voltage higher than Uc can be applied for a limited time, which is specified by the manufacturer. Exceeding this specified time will cause a destructive overload, which causes the Metal Oxide surge arrester to reach a thermal limit and to fail, resulting in a short circuit fault and in a permanent damage of the surge arrester.
This failure case is recognized by the international standards IEC 60099-4 and IEEE C62.11a by specification of a short circuit test. According to the test procedure, in order to prevent damages on the equipment installed close to the surge arrester in the substation, the surge arrester has to provide a failure mode without violent shattering of the housing, and shall be able to self-extinguish open flames within 2 minutes after the end of the test.
In regions having high fire hazards like Australia and some arid areas of the United States, additional technical specifications have set more severe requirements for reducing the risk of ignition of a fire: Additional to the normal requirements stated by IEC or IEEE, a surge arrester has to fail without spreading hot particles having enough energy to cause a fire in its surroundings.
This is proven by carrying out a short circuit test with the arrester mounted at a defined height to ground, wherein the ground has been previously covered with a thermal sensitive material which is easily inflammable. For example, Australia standard AS 1307.2 specifies many thin calibrated paper layers on the ground, while USA (Cal fire) specifies a fuel bed comprising dry grass, prepared with fuel.
Previous technical solutions for the protection from fire promotion by a surge arrester are mainly based on the concept of limiting the effect of the arc burning between upper and lower terminals of the surge arrester in case of a fault current. The consequence is that while the surge arrester is overloaded during testing (and later in the field), the overload causes a short circuit failure, and an arc is subsequently burning between the surge arrester terminals. The terminals are equipped with especially developed electrodes, which shall force the arc to move, thereby limiting the size of the melted metal droplets falling to ground.
For example, EP1566869 B1 discloses a shaped-electrode-concept for arc guiding in a surge arrester.
In view of the above problems, the protection of the environment against unintended fire caused by a current overload shall be improved.
The problem is solved by a protection assembly of a high voltage surge arrester and a disconnector device, whose first terminal is electrically connected to the high voltage surge arrester and whose second terminal is electrically connected to ground potential. The actual fire prevention is achieved by way of the design of the disconnector device.
In a basic embodiment, the inventive disconnector device comprises:
a housing encompassing a cavity;
a disconnector provided inside the cavity, having a first terminal connectable to the surge arrester, a second terminal connectable to ground potential, and a member provided at the second terminal and being fitted to the cross section of the cavity, and a disconnector cartridge. Said movable member is movably arranged such in the housing that once the disconnector operates in case of a current overload, the member is propelled inside the cavity towards an end of the cavity by gas developing from the disconnector cartridge. This movement entails a mechanical disconnection of the surge arrester from ground potential and eventually a reliable interruption of the electric path in between the grid and the ground potential. The housing comprises further ventilation openings that connect the cavity to an outside of the disconnector device for releasing gases from the operating disconnector cartridge. The ventilation openings are dimensioned such that no particles of harmful size that are potentially capable of igniting a fire can pass the ventilation openings unintentionally. The housing is made of an insulating material such as a polymeric material, for example.
If the movable member shall be prevented from an undesired rebounding from its end position to its initial position, it is advantageous that the cavity has an elongated shape and that the housing has a retaining section for retaining the movable member at the retaining section once the movable member was propelled towards the end of the cavity. In use, such a disconnector device ensures that no unintentional electric connection in between the first terminal connected to the surge arrester and the second terminal connected to ground potential is established in case of an electric overload. That way, the two separated terminals of the device remain spaced from one another in a secure fashion after operation of the disconnector device.
In an exemplary embodiment, the cavity and the movable member have a round cross section or a polygonal cross section, and the cross section of the movable member is fitted to the cross section of the cavity, such that the movable member can move inside the cavity and is thereby guided like a piston in a piston housing or in a cylinder. Generally, the disconnector cartridge and the movable member, optionally also the second terminal, may be provided as an integral part. In a basic embodiment of the cavity, the cross-section of the cavity is constant along a longitudinal axis thereof. When the disconnector operates, the movable member is propelled towards the end of the cavity and is subsequently retained at the end of the cavity by a retaining means. In an embodiment of the retaining means, the housing has a retaining section at an end of the cavity. The movable member engages with the retaining section after being propelled inside the cavity by developing gas from the disconnector cartridge. Thereby, the retaining may be provided by a number of mechanical means such as protrusions, a press-fitting of the movable member into an opening, or the like.
In embodiments, the housing has an opening in the end of the cavity to provide space for a cable to make the electrical connection to ground potential. The movable member and the opening are adjusted to each other, such that a portion of the movable member fits into the opening. In an exemplary embodiment, the opening is closed by a portion of the movable member after operation. The movable member may have a tubular section in embodiments, with a diameter fitting to the opening, so that a movement of the movable member after operation of the disconnector is guided by the opening. That way, the movable member closes the opening and contributes to sealing off the end of the cavity where the movable member is retained in an operating state of the disconnector in the disconnected state of the disconnector.
A disconnector device according to embodiments provides highly effective protection against fire hazard from surge arresters. In case of an overload, a disconnector inside a housing operates and interrupts the current. Due to the design of the device, hot particles are kept from spreading into the surroundings by effectively confining them. Due to the design of the device the two terminals are separated in fast manner from each other during operation by a high acceleration of the one terminal.
Where it is desirable that an observer, for example a staff member can tell from a distance to the housing on whether the disconnector already operated or whether it is still in its pristine state, the following embodiment of the disconnector device might be useful. In such a disconnector device, a portion of the movable member protrudes through the opening and such that it is visible from an outside of the housing after an operation of the disconnector. The term pristine state is understood hereinafter as the initial state of the disconnector device before operation, i.e. before the disconnector cartridge get into action.
The detectability of the state of the disconnector device for an observer can be even more improved, for example the “operated” status, if the portion of the movable member protruding through the opening after operation of the disconnector has a signal colour for indicating visually better on whether the disconnector already operated or whether it is still in its pristine state.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disconnector device the ventilation openings have a slit-like shape extending in the direction of a longitudinal axis defined by the overall shape of the cavity and a moving direction of the movable member, i.e. along the longitudinal axis. Such a setup is advantageous since the cross-section of the ventilation opening is small at the beginning of the movement of the movable member from its initial position. As a result, the gas pressure is available for propelling the movable member from the initial position towards an end position at the end of the cavity. The closer the piston-like movable member comes to the end position at the end of the cavity, the larger the overall cross-section of the ventilation opening becomes such that the gas pressure no longer contributes to propelling the movable member towards the second end to an extent as at the beginning of the operation.
More aspects are provided in the dependent claims, the attached drawings and the following remainder of the description.
More details will be described in the following with reference to the figures, wherein:
In
When the disconnector 25 operates in case of a current overload in the conductive pathway between the first terminal 30 and the second terminal 35 connected to ground, the disconnector cartridge 26 rapidly heats up and causes the disconnector 25 to break apart due to the developing hot gas, which is produced by the disconnector cartridge 26. The technology of disconnector cartridges is well known. As a consequence, the movable member 40 together with the second terminal 35 is propelled inside the cavity 20 by the developing gas (in
In
In
Generally, the section of housing 15 adjacent to the end 45 of cavity 20, which serves for retaining the movable member 40, is therefore called retaining section 60. Generally, in embodiments, the housing 15 thus has a retaining section 60, and the retaining section 60 is designed, together with the movable member 40, such that it retains the movable member 40 after operation of the disconnector 25 in such a manner that the movement of the movable member is stopped, and the movable member is retained and permanently held at the end 45 of the cavity 20. At the same time, the cavity 20 is effectively closed, with the exception of ventilation openings described further below. Thus, hot solid particles from the operating disconnector 25 are kept inside the cavity 20, and thus inside the housing 15.
The housing is designed to achieve different functions: It defines together with the movable member 40 a confined variable volume of the cavity 20, that makes use of the blasting energy of the disconnector cartridge 26 to provide a pressure build-up, which is suitable to cause a parting speed of the first terminal 30 (fixed) and the second terminal 35 (initially connected to the propelled movable member, and to ground) which is high enough to clear the overload current. Further, by the retaining of the movable member, a subsequent restrike after current zero is avoided. In the process, the movable member 40 is propelled by the developing gas, thereby providing enough insulation distance between the first terminal and second terminal.
The function of the retaining section 60, and of its just described working principle, is as follows: When a surge arrester, to which the disconnector device 10 of embodiments is attached with its first terminal 30, switches through due to an over voltage, the resulting high current flows through the disconnector device 10 towards ground, which is connected to the second terminal 35. While it flows through disconnector 25, the disconnector cartridge 26 operates after a time span which is determined by the flowing current and the characteristics of the disconnector cartridge 26. The disconnector 25 thus operates, while producing a volume of hot gas and also some solid residues, which are typically very hot. The resulting fast rise of the pressure in the cavity 20 propels the movable member 40 towards the end 45 of the cavity. At the same time, the current flow between the surge arrester and ground (connected to second terminal 35) is interrupted, as the disconnector 25 was previously in the current path. When the movable member 40 would impact on the end 45 of the cavity 20, it would receive a double impulse and would be reflected back towards the first terminal. Due to the high voltage between first terminal and the movable member (connected to ground), the current might thus ignite an arc once the movable member would bounce back towards the first terminal 30. Thus, by retaining the movable member at the end of the cavity 20, and thus in a position distant to the first terminal, the risk of a secondary arc ignition is eliminated.
Generally, in embodiments the disconnector cartridge 26 does usually not carry the complete current through the disconnector device 10. Typically, parallel to the disconnector cartridge, a parallel current path is provided, which is also interrupted when the disconnector 25 operates. This current path is generally omitted in this disclosure for illustrational purposes.
In embodiments, the housing 15 has an opening 55 (see
As shown in
The cavity 20, as defined by the inner walls of the housing 15, may have different cross sections such as a circle, a pentagon, a hexagon, heptagon, octagon, in general a polygon. In the exemplary embodiments of
The first terminal 30 of the disconnector 25 is in some embodiments mounted to the housing 15 by screwing. That is, where the first terminal extends through the housing 15, the housing has an inner thread fitting an outer thread on the first terminal 30.
In
In embodiments, the disconnector device 10 may be assembled with a high voltage surge arrester 140, wherein the ground terminal of the high voltage surge arrester 140 is connected to the disconnector device 10. The second terminal of the disconnector (not shown) is electrically connected to ground via the cable 36. Such an assembly is shown in
In
In
In
Although specific features of various embodiments of the invention may be shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only. In accordance with the principles of the invention, any feature of a drawing may be referenced and/or claimed in combination with any feature of any other drawing.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. While various specific embodiments have been disclosed in the foregoing, those skilled in the art will recognize that the spirit and scope of the claims allows for equally effective modifications. Especially, mutually non-exclusive features of the embodiments described above may be combined with each other. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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16157911 | Feb 2016 | EP | regional |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5191503 | Kawamura | Mar 1993 | A |
5650772 | Schmidt | Jul 1997 | A |
5991141 | Mikli | Nov 1999 | A |
20170186575 | Strangfeld | Jun 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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101521065 | Sep 2009 | CN |
1566869 | Aug 2005 | EP |
9717708 | May 1997 | WO |
2008033222 | Mar 2008 | WO |
Entry |
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European Patent Office, International Search Report & Written Opinion issued in corresponding Application No. PCT/EP2016/071500, dated Dec. 22, 2016, 11 pp. |
ABB Schweiz AG, Accompanying letter under Article 19 PCT submitted to the European Patent Office on Feb. 22, 2017 in corresponding Application No. PCT/EP2016/071500, 9 pp. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180366916 A1 | Dec 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/EP2016/071500 | Sep 2016 | US |
Child | 16116123 | US |