Investigation of power line conductors' thermal behavior

Abstract

Recently, several new challenges have emerged in the electricity system that needs to be addressed appropriately by system operators. The flexible, resilient operation of the grid requires knowledge of the real-time relationships of power line conductors. This paper aims to present the thermal behavior of high voltage conductors based on international project experience. Given that the results of special sensors with different thermal monitoring approaches are available, the conductor's radial and longitudinal temperature variation and magnitude can be presented. The thermal state of the conductor can be traced not only by measurement but also by calculations of physical models. In this paper, the measurement results of the two sensors are compared with the estimates of a physical model. In the light of the results, guidelines can be formulated that will result in more reliable and accurate thermal modeling and transfer capacity calculations.