Simulation and Experimental Validation of Protective Level of Complete Surge Arresters

Lightning arrester is a very important power system network element since it protects various substation equipment from the over voltages caused due to lightning and switching surges. It is very essential to properly design these arresters yielding sufficient protective margins between the arrester protective levels and the BIL of the equipment to be protected. The utilities determine the required protective level of the arrester for a given application by performing simulation studies with system contingencies yielding maximum over voltages at the location of the arrester. However, if the simulation studies are not done accurately either due to unavailability of proper arrester data or due to factors that are not generally considered during simulation (steepness of incoming current, lead…