epri lenox high-voltage research laboratory overview...

Dr. George Gela, Technical Executive, EPRI

“Building the Pipeline”: WPI’s 2013 Energy Symposium

September 25, 2013

EPRI Lenox High-Voltage Research Laboratory

Overview of Research

2 © 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outline

• EPRI – R&D collaboration

• Why is research important?

• A bit of history:

– EPRI

– Lenox High Voltage Laboratory

– Other EPRI Laboratories: Knoxville, Charlotte

• What we have in Lenox: Facilities, Equipment, Capabilities

• What we do in Lenox: Research, Innovation, Testing, Seminars

• Recent changes, enhancements

• What about the future?


About EPRI

• Founded in 1973 as an independent, nonprofit center for public interest energy and environmental research.

• Objective, tax-exempt, collaborative electricity research organization

• Technology development, integration, demonstration and applications

• Broad technology portfolio ranging from near-term solutions to long-term strategic research

Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity


Why is Research Important?

Our Challenge: Provide society with . . .


A Look In the Rearview Mirror

Base Load

Generation

Load Following

Generation + Bulk Energy

Storage +/–

Customer

Demand = Interruptible

Load DR –

Balance Dispatchable Generation with Forecastable Customer Demand


Tomorrow’s Power System

Power System that is Highly Flexible, Resilient and

Connected and Optimizes Energy Resources


EPRI US Locations

Offices:

• Palo Alto, CA

• Charlotte, NC

• Knoxville, TN

• Lenox, MA

• Washington, DC

• Dallas, TX

Laboratories:

• Lenox, MA

• Knoxville, TN

• Charlotte, NC

Washington, DC

Knoxville, TN


EPRI: One of the World’s Largest &

Most Successful R&D Collaborations

• More than 450 participants in over 40 countries

– Over 90% of North American electricity generated

• 60 technical programs

• Independent electricity research in

– Generation (including renewables)

– Nuclear

– Power Delivery & Utilization

– Environment

– Technology Innovation

• 1600+ R&D projects annually

• 10 to 1 average funding leverage


PDU – Resources (Staff and Labs)

• Technical Staff:

– ~130 technical staff with strong educational and industry experience

• EPRI PDU Laboratory Resource:

– Lenox, MA

• Transmission, Distribution, Underground, Substations and Aging chambers

– Knoxville, TN

• Living Lab, Power quality, distributed resources, power electronics, advanced monitoring and metering

– Charlotte, NC

• Conductor testing, aging, etc.

• Demo sites


EPRI Lenox High Voltage Laboratory

• Rural setting

• Unique facilities

• Outdoor test lines

• Four seasons each year

• Half-century of research work in HVDC

• HVAC and impulse capabilities

• Manhole Events

• Arc Flash


History of the Lenox Lab

In The Beginning

• In 1883 William Stanley, at the time working in New York City, invented “the transformer”.

• For health reasons, he moved to native Great Barrington, near Lenox

• In Great Barrington, Stanley built the Stanley Laboratory, which was financed by his friend George Westinghouse. Stanley demonstrated the first prototype of transformer on March 20 1886.

• About this time, Thomas Edison founded what became General Electric.

• Stanley’s venture prospered; in 1890 he formed the Stanley-Kelley Manufacturing Company to build and install High Voltage transformers.

• The first town in the world to have AC street lighting was Great Barrington.


Courtesy of Dr. R. Shainker, EPRI


The Beginnings

• Stanley successfully built the transformers for the first 200 mile long, 60 kV transmission line, a job, incidentally, that GE’s hunchback wizard, Steinmetz, had declared impossible!

• GE bought the company and moved it to a much larger site a few miles north to the city of Pittsfield.

• In 1906 the GE Pittsfield Works started its operation.

• In 1912 a High Voltage Laboratory was built. Its manager was Frank Peek, a legendary figure in High Voltage engineering. He studied not only the insulation systems of transformers but made also the first flashover tests on insulators for high voltage lines and studied corona from high voltage conductors.

• For many years (before it closed down in 1985) it was the largest transformer factory in the world.

For many years (before it closed down in 1985) it was the largest transformer factory in the world.

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The GE Transformer Plant: 1950s and 1960s

• The1950s and 1960s saw rapid growth of the North American network of high voltage power lines.

• The first 345 kV line, built in 1953 by AEP.

• GE decides to build a 4.3-mile experimental 500-700 kV line. The project, called Project EHV, was intended to promote voltages higher than 345 kV, some of which were then in the planning stages.

• Virginia Electric Power Company and Ontario Hydro built the first 500 kV lines in 1962, Hydro Quebec built the first 735-kV line in 1965, and American Electric Power the first 765-kV in 1967.

• Construction of the Laboratory at Lenox started in 1958


EPRI Lenox High Voltage Laboratory – Origins


Project EHV (Extra High Voltage)

1960

1971


Project UHV (Lenox) • The rapid increase in transmission voltages

appeared to herald the introduction of even higher voltages, above 1000 kV.

• Lionel Barthold convinced EEI that it was prudent to research these voltages. In 1967, EEI sponsored the construction of Project UHV and a five-year research effort. GE assigned the direction of Project UHV to John Anderson.

• Project UHV, Ultra High Voltages, voltages of 1000 kV and above, is the name by which the EPRI Laboratory at Lenox was known around the world.

• Project UHV started with a single-phase test line that could be energized up to the phase-to-ground voltage of a 1500 kV three-phase line.


Lenox Has a Long History

• 1959 - today


Some photos


Lenox Laboratory Layout

Fog

chamber

Impulse

generator

HVDC

converter

Main test

line

Corona

cage

866 kV

transformers Office

River


Lenox Facilities

• Transmission

• Distribution

• Underground

• Substations

• Environmental

• Aging chambers

• NEV, Stray voltage

• Mechanical

• Full-scale tests

• Electrical safety


Stray Voltage Research


EPRI-Lenox manhole research facility since 1994

• Unique facility, “one-of-a-kind”, full-scale

• Designed primarily for explosion tests

• But, flexible – can be used to represent various scenarios

• Also used for other projects: fiber-optic fault detection

• Gases:

20'S

70'

50' 40'

M11

TS

V13

M14

20'

10'

TS

bypass sweeps

(bottom two)

direct buriedin commontrench

50'

70'

copper waterpipe

well fromsurface toperforateddrain pipe

plastic joint,pigtails tosurface

encased inconcrete

commontrench

N

Gas Proportion

Carbon monoxide 4 parts

Methane 1 part

Ethylene 3 parts

Acetylene 12 parts

Also

Hydrogen

and

traces of

other

gases


• Solid, vented

• Iron, steel, composite

• Bare metal, coated

• Round (manhole), rectangular (secondary box)

Cover types tested


• Flame growth speed and Cover motion, manhole

Manhole Events, “Double-Stage” Event

Stage 1 (cover launched) Stage 2 (roof slab launched)


Distribution Arc Flash

4160 VAC, 4000 amp phase-to-ground fault


Live Working

• Safety

• Tools, Equipment

• Methods

• Training

• Regulations

• Standards

• Arc flash

• Gloving

• Insulating tool method (hotsticking)

• Barehanding

• Temporarily de-energized work

• Minimum Approach Distance


Live Working

WHY

WHAT

HOW


HVAC Capabilities

• Full three-phase source

up to 1500 kV phase-to-phase.

• Single-phase source up to 1700 kV

phase-to-earth, achieved by

cascading two of the 866 kV transformers.

• Full-scale three-phase

340 m main span line

insulated for 1500 kV.

• Several smaller test

lines.

• Large fog chamber

for insulator research.


Full-Scale Test Lines

• Several full-scale test lines for both AC and DC

research.

• Provisions for rapid variation

of pole spacing and clearance

to earth while the line remains

fully energized (the maximum

pole-to-pole spacing is 43 m,

and the mid-span clearance

to earth is 24 m).


HVDC Power Supply

• Two 1500 kV DC power

supplies to provide bipolar

voltages up to 1500 kV:

– AC-DC converter that can

operate in bipolar mode

up to 750 kV, or in

monopolar mode up to

+ or – 1500 kV. The output

of the converter is rated

at 5 A continuous.

– 1500 kV DC symmetrical

cascade rectifier set rated

at 250 mA.


Lightning and Switching Impulse Capabilities

• Outdoor bipolar multistage

Marx-circuit impulse generator

rated at 5600 kV 280 kJ.

• Various wave shapes:

– Standard lighting impulse

wave of 1.2/50 s,

– Standard switching wave

shape of 250/2500 s


Inside Impulse Generator

The capacitors are first

charged in parallel

through charging

resistors by a high-

voltage, direct-current

source (bi-polar design)

and then connected in

series and discharged

through a test object by

a simultaneous spark-

over of the spark gaps.


Low Sag Conductors

• Three options:

– Same sag for higher current

– Lower sag for same current

– Lower sag for higher current

3M Gap

Carbon fiber Nanotubes


Really Exotic Carbon Based Materials

- Used as conductor core

A few years ago two new molecular forms

of carbon discovered

Bucky Balls

Nanotubes


Corona Characterization of Conductors

• The salient features of the

cages include:

– Inner isolated framework

that can be grounded

through resistors for

measurement of corona

loss, RI and TVI.

– Microphone systems for

measurement of AN.

– Rain spray systems for

tests in artificial rain.

– Wall location adjustment

for control of conductor

surface gradient.


Insulator Testing Facilities

• Fog chamber:

– 24.4 m in diameter

– 24.4 m high

– internal volume of 11 400 m3.

– Wall busing rated for

866 kV rms and 1100 kVDC.

– Fog is generated by boiling

water in four large vats.

– The interior of the fog

chamber can be heated

with propane heaters

as needed.


Increasing Power Flow

• Dynamic rating - hardware/software

• Increased rating studies

• Voltage upgrading

0

2 0 0

4 0 0

6 0 0

8 0 0

1 0 0 0

1 2 0 0

1 4 0 0

1 6 0 0

1 8 0 0

2 0 0 0

0 :0 0 2 :2 4 4 :4 8 7 :1 2 9 :3 6 1 2 :0 0 1 4 :2 4 1 6 :4 8 1 9 :1 2 2 1 :3 6 0 :0 0

T im e o f D a y (h o u rs :m in u te s )

Cu

rr

en

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mp

er

es

)

4 H o u r

1 5 M in u te

A c tu a l L o a d

S ta tic R a tin g


Improving Distribution Reliability Select Design Weakness Before Deployment

Identifying Design Weaknesses Before Deployment and Installation

Will Be Key to Ensure Reliability of Distribution Systems


Improving Distribution Reliability Distribution Capacitor Application Guides

Courtesy of Progress Florida

Capacitor, TRV and Substation BIL Studies Conducted at FirstEnergy Locations to

Assess System Impacts and Developed Guidelines to Improve System Performance


Project Set 180B Distribution Inspection, Maintenance, and Asset Planning

Intelligent Life-Cycle Management Cradle Grave

Inspection &

Assessment

When to replace

What to install Prioritize

Specifications

& Construction

Understand the

Fundamentals →


Insulator Thermal Overload Testing

• Objective: To determine the temperature at which one

brand of polymer pin insulators melt

– Utility observed melting of insulators in service


Additional PS180B Projects

Resiliency Research Summit Layout

Spacer Cable

Testing

Third Party Attachment

Testing

Full Scale Distribution Line

Testing

Dynamic Conductor Slip

Testing Universal Test Pad

Static Conductor Slip Testing


DayCor

• Developed in Lenox


Cable Testing

• High Pressure Fluid Filled 345 kV cable test:

– What is the optimal pressurization procedure?


SF6 Inspection

• Leak inspections and / or technology demonstrations on site

• Service/inspection

• Can detect any leak that is economically feasible to repair


Arrester Test Facility

230 kV 3-phase arrester test facility


NCI Aging Chamber

• Large polymer insulator

aging chamber:

– originally constructed for

long-term aging of up to

six suspension 500 kV

insulator assemblies

in V-configuration

– recently re-designed for

aging various 230 kV

polymer assemblies.


Currently running projects

• Polymer insulator aging

• Temporary grounding

and equipotential zones

• Transmission line

arresters


3-D E-Field Modeling

Equipotentials around

500 kV Tower

E-Field magnitude

around live end of NCI


Training Activities

• Technology transfer takes place through seminars,

meetings and workshops, both lecture-style

and hands-on.


Questions

www.epri.com

George Gela, PhD, P.Eng.

Technical Executive

EPRI-Lenox

115 East New Lenox Road,

Lenox, MA 01240

Phone: +1 (413) 445-3710

Cell: +1 (413) 329-7101

Fax: +1 (413) 445-3718

Email: [email protected]


Collaborating with other EPRI Sectors,

Programs, Projects


Advanced Sensor Technologies A Key Component for Power Delivery System of the Future

3-D Acoustic for Locating Source

of Partial Discharge Successful

Overhead Transmission

Conductor/Compression

Connector Sensor

Insulator/Arrestor Leakage

Current Sensor

Interrogator

for

Helicopter

Rounds

Inspection

Information from

Sensor –

Reducing Data

Overload

Current Range

Action

0-30mA None

30 – 100mA

Keep Regular Washing Schedule

100 – 200 Schedule Washing

> 200 Wash Immediately

Advanced Suite of Sensors Ready for Field Deployment


Transformer Condition Assessment Advanced Sensor Approach

On-Line LTC Gas-in-

Oil and Contact Wear

24/7 Infrared Monitoring

3D Acoustic Emission

Defect Location

On-Line Frequency

Response Analysis

Solid-State Gas-in-Oil Sensors

Fiber-Optic Partial

Discharge Detection

UHF Partial Discharge

(Future Research)

Wireless Mesh Sensors

Benefits Include

Reduced Cost, Online,

Less Data Intensive,

More Accurate,

Improved Prediction


Automated Monitoring of Transmission Lines

Robot with cameras: Visual IR, UV, sensors and RF interrogators for other sensor plus comms

RF splice sensor

RF grounding and corrosion sensor

RF tower tamper sensor

RF insulator sensor

RF sensor interrogator and communications


Grid-Based Shock Absorber Assessment

New England

New York

Hydro Quebec

Ontario

“Outside World”

DC Links

• Inserted at strategic locations

• Act as shock absorbers

• Mitigate potential

cascading failure

DC link


Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity

epri lenox high-voltage research laboratory overview...

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