Investigations on High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) Conductors

Electric power demand is growing at an exponential rate due to establishment of industries and economic growth in the country. Central electricity authority of India (CEA) has estimated per capita electricity consumption will increase at a rate of 6 percent per annum, this will increase the load on the transmission and distribution system. Limitations of Right of Way (ROW) has made it difficult to construct new lines, particularly in metropolitan and densely populated cities, hence high temperature low sag (HTLS) conductors are being used adopted, several projects in the country are being executed to overcome the problem of burdening of transmission/distribution system. HTLS conductors operate at 2-3 times higher ampacity and thermal rating, hence can be used for higher power transmission without upgrading the existing towers and infrastructure. The present investigation aims to understand and estimate the conductor temperature and ampacity dependent on different parameters like wind velocity, wind angle, emissivity and fault current level. The investigation highlights the dynamic thermal rating of HTLS conductor with change in wind velocity and angle, thermal performance of conductor during fault condition and thermal rating with emissivity, absorptivity and ambient temperature during flow of fault current is presented. A new experimental setup is established to investigate the performance of HTLS and Traction copper conductor in the laboratory, attempt has been made to study effect of magnetic fields and conduct EBSD analysis, some important conclusions drawn from the investigations are analyzed and presented.