Asea Aktiebolag

Asea Brown Boveri Ab

Lennart Stenstrom

Jan Lundquist

Bengt Thors

Sven Akervall

Ulf Johnsen

Bror Axelsson

Per-Ake Hellman

Allan Akerstedt

Surge arrester

Surge arrester arrangement

The invention relates to a surge arrester assembly with a plurality of parallel-connected arrester units (1) with polymer casing mounted in a rack. The lower and upper parts of the rack consist of bars (4a, 4b) of, for example, aluminium, which are included in the electric circuit. The bars are retained by, for example, support insulators (6) of porcelain or polymer material. The mechanical retention of the stacks of ZnO blocks of the arrester units (1) and the necessary contact pressure between the blocks are ensured by the rack structure. The electrical connections (23, 24) to the rack are arranged in such a way that, if a fault causing a short circuit in one of the block stacks occurs, the arc produced is blown by the current forces along the bars to the opposite end, where arcing horns (38) of a current-resistant material, for example steel, are arranged and where the arc may burn in a controlled manner without involving a risk to the environment. (FIG. 1 )

Surge arrester assembly

A trigger circuit for a spark gap chain with at least two series-connected spark gaps, of which at least one is provided with at least one trigger electrode, includes a resistor chain which is connected in parallel with the spark gap chain and comprises at least two series-connected resistor groups. That of the resistor groups which is connected in parallel with the spark gap provided with a trigger electrode comprises a voltage-dependent resistor, built up of zinc oxide varistors, which is connected in series with a linear resistor. The voltage across the linear resistor is supplied to the trigger electrode of the spark gap for ignition of the spark gap when this voltage amounts to a pre-determined value. The spark gaps are primarily intended to be utilized for overvoltage protection of series capacitors.

Overvoltage protective circuit

As overvoltage protection for a series capacitor (C1-C5) in a high-voltage network a voltage-dependent resistor (Z6), built up of metal oxide varistors, is arranged in parallel with the capacitor. In parallel with the resistor there is a spark gap means consisting of two series-connected spark gaps (G1, G2) for shunting the resistor in case of overload thereof. The energy for triggering the spark gap means is obtained from an auxiliary capacitor (C5), which is charged during operation, and is supplied to one of the spark gaps (G2) via a switching means (T1, T2), controlled by an overload detector (CU), and a pulse transformer (TR). A metal oxide varistor (Z5) is connected in series with the high voltage winding of the transformer. The transformer is connected so that the triggering pulse is in opposition to the voltage across the series capacitor.

Protective circuit for series capacitor banks

A surge arrester includes an elongated insulating housing comprising one or more stacks of electrically series-connected metal oxide varistor blocks arranged between a top terminal and a bottom terminal. To achieve a more even voltage distribution in the longitudinal direction of the surge arrester, the surge arrester comprises larger varistor blocks at the top terminal than at the bottom terminal.

A surge arrester comprises two or more surge arrester units which are electrically series-connected between a top terminal and a bottom terminal. Each surge arrester unit comprises a stack of metal oxide varistor blocks, the latter being distributed within the surge arrester so that the number of varistor blocks per unit length in the surge arrester unit which is nearest the bottom terminal is less than in the surge arrester unit which is nearest the top terminal. This enables a more even temperature distribution to be achieved throughout the length of the surge arrester especially in the case where the surge arrester is located where it is subjected to long-term external fouling or pollution.

In a surge arrester comprising a stack of series-connected cylindrical ZnO-varistors in an insulating housing, the envelope surface of each varistor is provided with an insulating protection means, which overlap varistors positioned adjacent to each other. The protection means prevent the varistors from being mechanically damaged during handling, provides guiding for the varistors in the stack, and seals the stack of varistors, so that a local glow discharge or a fault in individual varistors will not lead to an arc flash-over along the stack.

Growing community of inventors

Ludvika, Sweden

Lennart Stenstrom