Investigation on characteristics of arc extinguishing time of a new lighting protection gap for transmission lines

The present research envisages the development of a novel arc extinguishing lightning protection gap in pursuit of reducing the lightning trip-out rate and accident rate. In the developed setup, the jetting stream arc extinction lightning protection gap device was used for transmission line. When this transmission line was struck by lightning and the lightning surge was going to break down the gap, the arc extinguishing lightning protection gap immediately jetted out sufficient electronegative gas flow that quickly cut off the arc and effectively prevented the insulator from being damaged by the arc. Furthermore, when the line was attacked by lightning, the generated overvoltage instantaneously broke the gap that was parallel to the insulator string, so that the lightning current was oriented to the earth from the gap. Simultaneously, it triggered the gas generator and generated a high speed stream, then extinguished the frequency continuous current arc rapidly, thus effectively reducing the rate of line trip to ensure the reliability of power supply. We used a high-speed camera and ordinary camera that automatically captured the process of the jetting stream arc in the extinction lightning protection gap device, while extinguishing the 1kA power frequency arc. The image of the high-speed camera indicated that the power frequency arc of 1kA was quenched in 10 ms before the relay protection action of the test loop, which made that the overhead line lightning flashover but the circuit breaker did not trip. Thus, a reduction in the rate of lightning trip was observed by the developed setup, and it has an immense potential for application at the transmission lines of China.