Effects of Harmonics on Power Loss in XLPE Cables

Abstract

Harmonics in power systems is increasingly at high level. Also, there has been an incredible growth in the use of cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables in distribution systems. Harmonics cause additional power loss/temperature rise; causing premature failure of cables. Catastrophic failure of power cables leads to great inconvenience to consumers and loss of system reliability and money. To avoid the overheating of power cables; the additional power loss due to harmonics should be accurately calculated and properly accommodated by derating the cable. The present method of calculating the power loss in cables in harmonics rich environment is very arduous. The aim of this paper is to present the reasonably accurate method for evaluating effects of harmonics on the power loss in XLPE cables. Computational model is developed in MATLAB for power loss calculation using conventional method. Using this model, calculations are performed for aluminium and copper conductor XLPE cables of different size and type; for three different types of harmonics spectrums having total harmonics distortion (THD) of 30.68%, including all odd harmonics components up to 49 th order. Using these results; a mathematical model in the form of simple empirical formula is developed by curve fitting technique. The results obtained by various models are presented and compared with error justification.