Critical span analysis of overhead conductors

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · IEEE Trans. Power Del.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/61.194004· OSTI ID:6512806

Jerrell, J W; Black, W Z ^[1]; Parker, T J ^[2]

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1. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
2. Research Center Georgia Power Co.

The concept of a critical span is an important one for a utility that has decided to monitor or calculate the real-time temperatures of their overhead transmission network. Theoretically, a critical span is that span or spans that operates at the highest temperature in a transmission system and thereby limits the amount of power that can be delivered by the circuit. Regardless of whether a utility has decided to measure conductor temperatures with line monitors or predict them with a computer model based on measured weather conditions, the concept of a critical span will help reduce the capital investment necessary to institute a thermal line monitoring scheme. This paper identifies those factors that influence the location and number of critical spans. Quantities called sensitivity parameters are introduced and used to show how the critical span is influenced by weather conditions, conductor properties and conductor current. The weather conditions along the route of the line are shown to be the dominant factors which affect the conductor temperature and ultimately the number and location of critical spans. Temperature data collected at the test span, weather data from the five sites and the results of the sensitivity analysis all confirm the difficulties in locating critical spans particularly when they are governed to a large degree by local weather conditions that are highly variable and practically impossible to predict.

• OSTI ID: 6512806
• Journal Information: IEEE Trans. Power Del.; (United States), Vol. 3:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
OVERHEAD POWER TRANSMISSION
NETWORK ANALYSIS
COMPUTER CODES
DATA ANALYSIS
FORECASTING
ON-LINE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
STATISTICAL DATA
WEATHER
DATA
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
ON-LINE SYSTEMS
POWER TRANSMISSION
200300* - Electric Power Engineering- Power Transmission & Distribution- (-1989)
200104 - Fossil-Fueled Power Plants- Components
296000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Electric Power