Overview
In this seminar, recent advances in applying electromagnetics to the design of high voltage transmission lines will be discussed. First, some background will be provided about how the spatial distribution of electric field can be used to understand how transmission line design parameters ae related. For example, it can be shown that increasing power flow on long transmission lines necessarily results in reduced critical flashover voltages. Second, it has been known for many years that corona loss attenuates switching surges as they propagate along high voltage transmission lines. However, the effect is difficult to analyze due to its non- linear characteristic and has not been included in the commonly used tools for calculating surge voltages. A method to study corona surge voltage attenuation which accurately accounts for corona attenuation and represents a better design tool for high capacity, high voltage transmission lines will be described.
Finally, an alternative theory for calculating critical flashover voltage which identifies breakdown based on the ability of the pre-breakdown leader-streamer system to survive the region
of minimum electric field between phase conductors will be described. Results
obtained with the method compare well to four independent sets of experimental
data for phase-to-phase flashover from the literature. This model will enable
accurate calculation of critical flashover voltages and when coupled with the
work on corona attenuation of switching surges will lead to transmission line
designs that can be better optimized for increased power flow.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Robert G. Olsen received the BS degree in electrical engineering from
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in 1968 and the MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO in 1970 and 1974 respectively.
He has been a member of the electrical engineering faculty at Washington State University since 1973 and holds the rank of Emeritus Professor. During his tenure at WSU, he has been an NSF Faculty Fellow at GTE Laboratories in Waltham, MA, a visiting scientist at ABB Corporate Research in Västerås, Sweden and at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, CA and a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Denmark.
Bob’s research interests span all aspects of electromagnetics issues in power transmission His work in these areas has resulted in approximately 100 publications in refereed journals and approximately 150 conference publications/presentations. He is also one of the authors of the AC Transmission Line Reference Book – 200 kV and Above which is published by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the author of the recently published two volume book, High Voltage Overhead Transmission Line Electromagnetics.
He is a Fellow of the IEEE, an Honorary Life member of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society and has served as chair of the IEEE Power Engineering Society AC Fields and Corona Effects Working Groups. In addition, he is past Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility and Radio Science.