International Journal of Power and Energy Research

Download PDF (484.6 KB) PP. 1 - 7 Pub. Date: April 25, 2017

DOI: 10.22606/ijper.2017.11001

• Christos A. Christodoulou
  Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
• Vasiliki Vita^*
  
  Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Educators, ASPETE - School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Ν. Ηeraklion, Athens, Greece
• Theodoros I. Maris
  
  Department of Electrical Engineering, Technological Educational Institution of Central Greece, Psachna Evias, Greece

The adequate protection of the distribution transformers is a critical issue, in an effort to avoid interruption of the power supply and damages of the equipment. The installation of metal oxide gapless surge arresters at the entrance of the transformers improves their lightning performance and reduces the expected annual failure rate. However, arresters can be damaged, if the discharge current that passes through them is high enough, resulting in thermal stress of the device and possible failure. The parallel connection of arresters contributes to equal current sharing, reducing their failure probability. In the current work, the parallel combination of two metal-oxide gapless surge arresters installed at the MV side of a distribution transformer is examined, considering how the voltage – current characteristic of each arrester influences the expected voltage surges at the entrance of the transformer, the current sharing between the non-linear resistors and the arresters failure probability.

Substations, lightning, transformer, surge arresters, parallel connection

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