Mechanical Considerations & Service Life of Non-Gapped Line Arresters by Philipp Raschke

NGLAs have been used for decades to increase reliability and availability of transmission lines. Nevertheless, many grid operators remain skeptical about their use based on either too little or past negative service experience. Moreover, engineers have not always been exposed to convincing arguments for investing to improve line performance. This presentation aims to strengthen confidence in NGLA technology by outlining existing difficulties and providing appropriate solutions. Specifically, construction guidance for NGLA designs, quality assessment procedures and best practices for application and installation are presented. Finally, there is discussion of results of preliminary mechanical investigations as part of standardization work underway for the upcoming line arrester standard, IEC 60099-11.