Application of portable protective gaps for live work on compact 550 kV transmission lines

This paper presents result of research on the application of a portable protective gap (PPG) to live work on a compact 550 kV steel lattice tower. The objective of the research was to provide experimental evidence which confirms the needed coordination of the PPG sparkover characteristics with the sparkover characteristics of the worksite on the compact tower during live work. Sparkover characteristics of the worksite are strongly affected by the presence of the worker, the live working tools, and damaged insulators.