White Paper TFR
White Paper TFR
White Paper TFR
Tower footing impedance is the impedance offered by the metal parts of the tower combined with the
ground impedance to the dissipation of current. The significance of a low value of tower footing
impedance results in less voltage stresses across the line insulation. A lightning strike to the tower
results in high currents flowing into the ground through the tower footing. Electrode configuration
sometime improves the ground resistance but majority time detoriates the inductance and thereby the
impedance resulting in not easily permitting the grounding of High Frequency surges & lightning.
Hence the tower footing impedance value should be as low as possible to prevent line back flashover
and maintain the ground potential rise within safety tolerance. The lower the tower footing impedance,
the more negative reflections are produced from the tower base towards the tower top. This assists in
lowering the peak voltage at the tower top.
Transmission line towers play a crucial role in electrical power transmission as they support/carry the
power conductors as well as significantly provide a safe clearance to ground & thus life. In India, a
common negligence due to lack of knowledge or generations of usual practice can be observed in tower
grounding methodologies. Proper Earthing is of utmost importance from the view of Earthing transient
surges due to lightning, if not could compromise the safety & stability of power system and working
personnel. Tower earthing impedance could also affect nearby railway or telecommunication
systems in account of their proximity to power lines.
There are two key factors the affect the tower footing impedances: These are:
(A.)Electrode Configuration
(B.)Soil Resistivity
Good soil resistivity gives room to soil ionization and thermal effects improving ground resistance and
enabling quick flow of large currents of power frequency to ground.
An earth electrode is a metal plate, pipe or conductor electrically connected to earth. They are usually
made of copper or aluminum or mild steel or galvanized steel. Some of the factors that influence the
Earthing are:
(I.) Impedance of the electrode or group of electrode
(II.) Composition of the soil in the immediate Neighborhood.
(III.) Temperature of the soil
(IV.) Moisture content of the soil
(V.) Depth of the electrode
2.1 IMPORTANCE OF IMPEDANCE OVER RESISTANCE IN TOWER FOOTING
EARTH PARAMETERS
The degree of lightning protection depends on the impedance and not the power frequency resistance
of the tower footing. For low frequencies, the earth impedance is a purely resistive and rises with
constant and equal to its dc impedance. At high frequency, the Earthing behavior is inductive and the
impedance value rises with the square root of frequency.
Hence the top tower earth wire provides a low impedance path only for power/low frequency. In order
to ascertain proper tower earthing during lightning/high frequency, it is necessary to find the tower
footing inductance (L) & impedance (Z) becomes indispensable.
For the repeat pulse, the results are even more dramatic with a total voltage rise of being over 2500 kV of
which is due to inductive term alone. Thus, it is very important to measure impedance of the tower rather
than measuring resistance alone. This high KV is a sure cause of back flashover of insulator and Line
tripping.
Due to effect of parallel towers there are many parallel paths available for the injected signal and net
value of total effective resistance is measured which is very less than actual value. True value of the
isolated earth resistance is difficult to measure. It can be measured only if it is literally isolated.
Conventional Earth Testers use a low frequency generator that measures the power system impedance
of a tower and adjacent parallel towers. Due to the high frequency nature of lightning, the affected
tower is treated as isolated and ignores the further benefit of a reduction of Earthing values. This
information is valuable in carrying out optimum economic design of Earthing systems. Because
Impedance is an AC property it cannot be easily measured like resistance. Connecting an Ohm meter
across the input or output of an amplifier only indicates the DC resistance.
1. Using large bending radii when changing the direction of horizontal conductors.
Sharp Bends tend to increase the inductance.
2. Longer rods effects directly proportional to resultant Earth impedance value.
3. Soil Resistivity, Soil condition, Moisture
4. Presence of Granulated Soil, Rocky Components etc.
5. Climate Condition.
6. Effect of Altitude.
k. Using a potential control ring in the case of tower lines and redesigning the tower footing to
reduce the tower footing resistance in order to meet the limits specified.
B. For Inductance:
l. Lower Inductance value of electrode material by adopting number of short parallel earth electrode
instead of single long earth electrode.
m. Multiple paths of Earthing conductors are better for High frequency response.
n. Keeping grounding conductors as straight and as short as possible.
o. To reduce the inductance of the buried bare conductor in order to utilize longer length to
contribute in reducing the electrode earth impedance.
p. Installation of additional Transmission line LA’s on adjacent towers reduces the probability of
flashover due to high impedance of tower footing by taking risk factor in case of double circuit
lines.
**It should be noted that a low frequency generator will not give one the same high frequency response and as a result will under read
the impedance value since the shield-wire and adjacent towers dampen the frequency response of the injected current pulse.
Note: High footing resistance in the case of few towers may be acceptable in view of the statistical nature of the risk involved.
Engineering judgement in assessing how exposed the towers are to lightning has to be exercised in such cases. In the case of a tower on
the top of a hill or in the case of an exceptionally tall tower (for Example River crossing tower) every practicable step has to be taken to
keep the footing resistance low.
4. CONCLUSIONS
In high voltage, energy transmission is done in overhead lines that are exposed to various factors that
may lead to the occurrence of defects which can cause an interruption in the electricity supply.
Various methods are available to calculate, measure and correct tower footing impedance.
Following aspects need to be addressed before choosing a suitable Tester for testing are as follows:
a) Virtual Isolation of Top Earth wire i.e. No need to remove the O/H Earth Wire with HF Method*
only as Impulse and other LF methods found having interference effects of adjacent towers.
b) Measures Impedance (Z), Resistance (R) and Inductance (L) in single press of button as per the
connection diagram given below.
c) Complete suppression of induction and leakage power frequencies & its harmonics
d) Compact, portable & battery operated system immune to the influence of adjacent tower Earthing,
station Earthing etc.
By measuring Inductance, resistance and impedance and having found that these values are within
limit, it is assured that even when ever lightning strikes will get grounded. Thus, protecting
transmission line components, and continuously giving necessary ground path for the leakage power
frequency.
Of the factors that may cause defects, the largest contributor is the lightning stroke. Being a natural
phenomenon, it is impossible to prevent its occurrence, but it is possible to estimate the performance
of transmission lines to lightning, and plan its construction in order to minimize the effects of the
lightning discharge. This research highlights the importance of tower footing impedance on tower
voltage rise during a lightning impulse. A lower impedance will lower the tower voltage rise thus
reducing the risk of back flashovers. A section of line was modelled in an electromagnetic transient
simulation program and its base case lightning performance calculated. The results showed the
preferred method to improve line lightning performance was to reduce tower footing impedance. The
improvements in tower footing impedance from shorter parallel electrodes outperform other electrode
configurations. This is important as shorter electrodes require less material and installation costs
compared to traditional longer electrodes. The measured tower footing impedance after installation of
electrodes showed the simulated improvement correlated with the actual measured improvement.
* HF Method – Recommendations from IEEE 81-1983 - IEEE Guide for Measuring Earth Resistivity, Ground Impedance, and Earth
Surface Potentials of a Ground System.