Electro-Thermal Modeling of Metal-Oxide Arrester under Power Frequency Applied Voltages

• Main Authors: Jiazheng Lu, Pengkang Xie, Zhen Fang, Jianping Hu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-06-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: Metal-oxide arresters; electrothermal model; temperature; leakage current; power loss
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1610

Metal-oxide arresters (MOAs) are used to absorb the electrical energy resulting from overvoltages in power systems. However, temperature rises caused by the absorbed energy can lead to the electrothermal failure of MOAs. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the electric and thermal characteristics of MOAs. In this paper, in order to study the electric and thermal characteristics of MOAs under power frequency voltage, an improved electrothermal model of an MOA is presented. The proposed electrothermal model can be divided into an electric model and a thermal model. In the electric model, based on the conventional MOA electric circuit, the effect of temperature on the voltage–current (V–I) characteristics of an MOA has been obtained. Using temperature and applied voltage as input data, the current flows through the MOA can be calculated using the artificial neural network (ANN) method. In the thermal model, the thermal circuit of a MOA has been built. The varistor power loss obtained from the electric model is used as input data, and the temperature of the zinc oxide varistors can be calculated. Therefore, compared with the existing MOA models, the interaction of leakage current and temperature can be considered in the proposed model. Finally, experimental validations have been done, and the electrothermal characteristics of an MOA have been studied by simulation and experimental methods. The electrothermal model proposed in this paper can assist with the prediction of the electric and thermal characteristics of MOAs.