Advances in Engineering Research (AER), volume 117

2nd Annual International Conference on Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Information Science (EEEIS 2016)

Comparison and analysis of temperature rise

characteristic of cable under the tunnel and pipe

Hong-Lei Li1, Zhen-Peng Zhang2, Shao-Xin Meng2,

Song-Hua Liu2 and Shu-Lian Xie3
1State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Research Institute,

Shanghai 200437, China;

2Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430074, China;
3Wuhan Huazhong Numerical Control Co.,Ltd, Wuhan 430223,China;

E-mail: [email protected]

In order to analyze the difference between temperature rise and the current carrying
capacity of cable lines in pipe and tunnel, this paper first analyzes the temperature rise
under the laying condition of tunnel and pipe and the calculation method of load flow,
and applied the same test current on a 220kV cable test circuit in pipe and in tunnel under
laboratory conditions, by measuring the cable conductor temperature rise with
thermocouple measurement technology. The applied current is the 24h steady state
current and the 24h transient current, and the difference of the temperature rise of the
cable is compared under the conditions of the tunnel and the pipe under the two current
conditions. The temperature rise of the cable is compared with the two different ways of
laying, and the influence of the steady state current and the time varying current on the
temperature rise of the cable conductor is also compared.

Keywords: Power Cable; Temperature Rise; Pipe; Tunnel; Laying Condition.

1. Introduction
Long-distance characteristic of cable lines determines the diversity of their
laying methods, which may include direct burying, cable trench, cable pipe,
tunnel, bridge, underwater laying and so on. This will lead to different impact to
the same cable under different environments. Due to the distribution
characteristics and the diversity of laying environment along the cable lines, the
temperature distribution along the cable lines is irregular.Because of different
heat transfer conditions and environments, the temperature rise and current
carrying capacity of the same cable lineare different under different laying
methods.At the boundary of the two environments, due to the different heat
dissipationconditions, the distribution temperature curve step and temperature
rise curve step will mostly be formed. The laying environment and the location
where the cable conductor temperature rise higherare often the bottleneck of the
current carrying capacity of cable lines.

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 Advances in Engineering Research (AER), volume 117

Because of the good air flow and ventilation in the cable tunnel, the cable
distribution temperature uniformity is higher and the cable heat dissipation is
faster. So the current carrying capacity in the cable tunnel is higher. Cable pipe
has a poor ventilation, poor cooling condition, and higher cableoperating
temperature, it is often the bottleneck of entire cable line for current carrying
capacity. The laying conditions have a decisive impact on cable conductor
temperature rise, current carrying capacity calculation and load capacity for
cable lines. Hence, it is necessary to analyze the difference of cable line
temperature rise under different cable laying conditions to provide more
accurate operational status information.

2. TheoreticalAnalysis

2.1. Steady-state current cable temperature rise calculation

The total heating value of the cable depends on the structure of the cable,
including the geometrical parameters and material properties at each layer,load
variables(including current, voltage and frequency, etc.), cable laying conditions
and grounding loop current; The interior of the cable forms a thermal system
taking cable surface as boundary, including the following three main heating
sources under normal operation, as shown in Figure 2.1:

Fig.2.1.Cable structure layer temperature calculation model

(a)Conductor
Wc  I 2  R0  [1   20 (Tcc  20)]  (1  Ys  Yp)
(1)
Where I is the current, R0 is the DC resistance of the conductor at 20ºC, α20
is the temperature coefficient of resistance of the conductor material, Tcc is the
conductor temperature, Ys is the skin effect factor; Yp is the proximity effect
factor. R0, α20 and Ys are determined by the cable structure material and power
frequency; Yp is related to the location of the cable laying.
(b)Insulating medium

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Wd  2  f  c U 02  tg
(2)
Where f is the frequency of the power supply, c is the capacitance of the
cable, U0 is the phase voltage, tgδ is the insulation loss factor at the power
supply system and operating temperature, which is distributed unevenly in the
insulating layer and the distribution density is a function of the electric field
strength, relatively higher near the conductor. For 220 kV or more cables, the
dielectric medium can reach the same level as the conductor loss. IEC
distributes 50% of the dielectric medium loss at the inside and outside of
insulating layer, thus the steady-state calculation is accurate. The dynamic
calculation of conductor temperature must take into account the distribution of
dielectric loss in the insulating layer.
(c) Metal sheath
Ws(t)=λ・Wc(t) (3)
The shielding loss is related to the phase arrangement of the circuit itself
and the peripheral circuit. This loss is small in the case of shielded single-ended
grounding and well-balanced cross-bondingconnection grounding; In the
opposite case, a significant shielding loop may be caused. Its loss may be large.
t  Tc t   Td t 
Tc t  t   Wc t     Tc t 
C1  R1  (4)
t  Tc t   Td t  Td t   Ts t 
Td t  t   Wd t      Td t 
C2  R1 R2  (5)
t  Td t   Ts t  Ts t   Ta t 
Tst  t   Ws t      Ts t 
C3  R2 R3  (6)
t  Ts t   Ta t  Ta t   Te t 
Ta t  t       Ta t 
C4  R3 R4  (7)
In the formulas:
Tc , Td , Ts , T a and T a are conductor temperature, insulation layer
temperature, metal sheath temperature, outer sheath temperature and real-time
measurement temperature of the cable outer sheath. Unit: ºC.
C1, C2, C3 and C4 are the thermal capacity of the conductor, thermal
capacity of the insulation layer, the thermal capacity of the metal sheath and the
thermal capacity of the outer sheath. Unit: J / K • m.
WC , Wd and Ws are the thermal loss of the conductor, the thermal loss of
the insulation layer, and the thermal loss of the outer sheath. Unit: W / m.

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R1, R2,R3and R4 are the thermal resistance of the conductor, the thermal
resistance of the insulation layer, the thermal resistance of the metal sheath and
the thermal resistance of the outer sheath. Unit: K • m / W.

3. Test

3.1. Test arrangement

The experimental study was carried out on XLPE insulated power cables with a
rated voltage of 220 kV and section of 2500 mm2 and length of 15m. Conductor
thermocouple and outer sheath thermocouple are used to measure the conductor
and outer sheath temperature of the cable directly. The size of the conductor
thermocouple and its installation method shall follow IEC standard. Install an
outer sheath thermocouple on the outer sheath at a location less than 0.2 m from
the conductor thermocouple installation location.
The cables are laid in tunnel and pipe environment separately, where the
cables are laid horizontally in the tunnel at a height of 50 mmabove the ground
and the total length of the simulated tunnel is18 m. In cable pipeconditions, the
pipelength is12 m and the cable is buried in 0.8m deep soil after laying.

3.2. Test process and Data

3.2.1. Steady-state load current test

220 kV cable samples were placed intunnel and cable pipe conditions and were
applied with steady load current 2500A for 24 h; Record the cable conductor
temperature and outer sheath temperature. As shown in Table 3.1and Fig.3.1.
(a)Tunnel laying
Cable starting temperature is 30.9ºC. Apply steady-state load current 2500
A for 24 h. Use cable-specific temperature recorder to record inner and outer
sheath thermocouple measured values and cable conductor thermocouple
measured values for 24h. The measured conductor temperature of cable is
64.3ºC at 24 h, corresponding to 34.2ºC,the conductor temperature of the outer
sheath thermocouple measured temperature.
(b) Cable pipe laying
Cable starting temperature is 33.9ºC. Apply steady-state load current 2500
A for 24 h. Use cable-specific temperature recorder to record inner and outer
sheath thermocouple measured values and cable conductor thermocouple
measured values for 24 h. The cable measured conductor temperature is 77.4ºC
at 24 h, corresponding to 52.8ºC,the conductor temperature of the outer sheath
thermocouple measured temperature.

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Table 3.1. Test data under steady-state current condition

Laying conditions Tunnel Cable pipe
Load current A 2500 2500
Time current time h 24 24
Conductor starting temperature ºC 30.9 33.9
Conductor temperature, ºC 64.3 77.4
Outer sheath temperature 34.2 52.8
Conductor temperature rise, K 33.4 43.5

Fig.3.1. Curve of steady-state current test data

3.2.2. Time-varying load current test

220 kV cable samples were placed in tunnel and pipeconditions. Apply 24 h
variable load current, with the maximum current value of 3200A. The current
changes every 2h. Record the cable conductor temperature and outer sheath
temperature.
(a)Tunnel laying
As shown in Table 2 and in Fig.3.6. Cable starting temperature is 24.2ºC.
Apply load varying current for 24 h. Use cable-specific temperature recorder to
record inner and outer sheath thermocouple measured values and cable
conductor thermocouple measured values for 24 h. The measured max.
conductor temperature of cable is 72.0ºC at 24 h, corresponding to 36.5ºC,the
conductor temperature of the outer sheath thermocouple measured temperature.
(b) Cable pipe laying
Cable starting temperature is 32.2ºC. Apply load-varying current for 24 h.
Use cable-specific temperature recorder to record inner and outer sheath
thermocouple measured values and cable conductor thermocouple measured
values for 24 h. The measured max. conductor temperature of cable is 78.1ºC at
24 h, corresponding to 48.7ºC,the conductor temperature of the outer sheath
thermocouple measured temperature.

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Table 3.2.Test data under the conditions of time-varying current

Laying conditions Tunnel Cable pipe
Max load current A 3200 3200
Time current time h 24 24
Conductor starting temperature ℃ 24.2 32.2
Max. conductor temperature ℃ 72.0 78.1
Max outer sheath temperature ℃ 36.5 48.7
Conductor temperature rise, K 47.8 45.9

Fig.3.2. Curve of time-varying current test data

4. Test Data Analysis and Conclusions

By analyzing the experimental data, when the steady-state load current is
applied to the cable line for 24 h, the temperature of the conductor tends to be
stable after applying steady-state current for more than 12 h. The difference
between the highest conductor temperature under the tunnel condition and the
highest conductor temperature under cable pipe is -13.1 K, corresponding to
outer sheath temperature difference -18.6 K.
When the load-varying current is applied to the cable line for 24 h, the
followability of cable conductor temperature changewith the current change
under tunnel condition and cable pipe condition is good. The difference between
the highest conductor temperature and the highest conductor temperature under
tunnel conditions is -6.1K, which corresponds to outer sheath temperature
difference of -12.2 K.The temperature rise of the cable conductor under tunnel
condition is 33.4 K after applying 24 h steady-state load current; The
temperature rise of the cable conductor is 43.3 K under cable pipe condition,
where the temperature difference is -9.9 K.
The cable conductor temperature rise under tunnel condition is 47.8 K after
applying the load-varying current for 24 h, and the temperature rise of the cable

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conductor under cable pipe condition is 45.9 K, where the temperature rise
differenceis 1.9 K.
This paper studied the conductor temperature variation of 220 kV cable
under the condition of tunnel and cable pipe and steady-state load current and
time-varying current. The results show that for steady-state current, the cable
line under tunnel condition has a good heat dissipation and the outer sheath
temperature variation caused by the conductor temperature rise is small. Thus,
its current carrying capacity is high.For cable line laid in pipe, the heat
dissipation is poor.The outer sheath temperature rise caused by the conductor
temperature rise is big,therefore the current carrying capacity is low. But for
time-varying current, the difference of current carrying capacity because
ofcurrent changes between tunnel laying andpipe laying is smaller.

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