@@BearsTrains Enjoyed watching this Dave, i work on the 400kv network in the UK so im always interested in seeing how its done elsewhere. Your equipment looks alot newer than our stuff (1960s-1970s)
Great stuff. I’ve always been interested in high voltage testing and transmission. Really like the way you show and tell the various pieces of gear and what they do from the supply line and beyond. I toured a 400KV substation in Frodsham England and that equipment was huge....
I have worked as contractor in several coal/natural gas, gas peaking & one small hydro generating facilities. My job involved HVAC... and I was limited to
Good to see. I worked for an electrical supplier in the Eighties in substation maintenance and extensions. Most of the gear was live but cordoned off and we had a safety chat daily. Nothing EVER was carried on your shoulder and in your mind you were sort of thinking of the instant death if you messed up. Live line workers were at Higher risk. Brings back good memories Thanks
@@markkinsler4333 Yes they do I work for a utility in southwest our 500kv's all have the walls. Smaller transformers don't use the walls only the larger 500kv. We also have oil monitoring systems look for any explosive gas building in the oil so transformer fires are rare now. We had one 500kv blow up about 20 years ago.
That's awesome.. I really enjoy watching your videos.. I spent my career building and working on medium voltage switchgear.. I've always been fascinated by the high voltage stuff.. Thanks..
@gtamateur what is the effectiveness of these big transformers? And minimal distance to be effective for 735kV line between production and consumption? Counts ratio from 735 to 11kV is also nice and best is sound of these devices. 🤗
@gtamateur Thank you for the subtle analysis. However, I am interested in the efficiency of these large transformers, because what I've read so far, the transformer has an efficiency of 90 to 99% if well designed. For example, in my country *, the efficiency of the transmission system (from production to 22kV grid) is 99.033% - see the third line on the page: www.sepsas.sk/OdborUkazovatele.asp?Kod=19 And this is not enough for the loss of power lines in a multiple transformation from 6kV in a power plant to 400kV, then to 22kV if transformers have ONLY 99% efficiency. These big ones must be better. * The length of the ground of Slovakia is 400km and maybe therefore the maximum voltage is 400kV. : D See map with EN legend www.sepsas.sk/images/schemasiete/Central_Europe_2019_12_31.png (Source www.sepsas.sk/SchemaSiete.asp?kod=17) And only in neighboring Ukraine in the last picture on the right is the 750kV line from Zakhidnoukrainska to Hungaria - Szabolcsbaka. www.sepsas.sk/images/schemasiete/PS_SR_2019_12_31_mapa.png - the most common line is 400kV in 1/2 of Europa.
Just found your channel. Please keep these great videos coming. I love that they are in my backyard so to speak. Be interesting to know where the incoming and outgoing lines run to as well. Keep up the great work!
EXTREMELY FASCINATING AND AWSOME! I have been waiting for a video of such a tour. I have studies this stuff over the internet at India Institute of Technology and T. D. PowerSkills. I wish that I was a power and electrical engineer but God gave me a brain that just can't understand indepth calculus, so I was not able to pass my EE courses. I love to see switches open and arcing. At home, I have a 500kV Van de Graff generator, 70kV Tesla coil and a 90kV Jacob's Ladder. I used to have a lot of wires hanging from my basement ceiling, and when I would fire up the Van de Graff generator, little coronas would form on the ends of the wires, many feet away from the generator. It would make the dark basement look like the night sky with stars. Frank Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service
I'm exactly the same way. Don't give up just because of some math, dude. Just learn the math separately. That's what I'm starting to do. Once I find something that works, I'll try and come back to you, if I remember.
Thanks. I do not understand how the slope of the tangent line can be found at the limit as one point on the line goes infinately close to the other point. It is for this reason that I cannot understand all of the Calculus. So, in electrical and power engineering courses that I have taken on the internet (India Institute of Technology), I have simply done what I can do--memorize the formulas. v = the integral of i di/dt, etc. At least it is all in my head somewhere. Frank
@@frankreiserm.s.8039 To study math and physics effectively, do lots and lots of problems and do _not_ expect to completely understand what you're doing until you're taking the next course or the one after that. That's how long it takes to digest this stuff. Until then, just do the problems like a happy robot and understanding will come when you're least expecting it--often when you're explaining it to someone else. Mark Kinsler PhD EE kinsler33@gmail.com
You can safely work with voltages up to 48 volts with bare hands, but you'll feel anything appreciably higher. Oddly enough, however, you regularly experience static electricity charges up in the thousands of volts. It's the current that kills.
Why doesn't used of GIS for substations??? The GIS is safety of other weather, no electric arcing, no rusty of metal switch system, low time frequency of maintenance, and anti-lightning strikes on the ground. Many countries was switch from AIS to GIS with little space to build it.
Nice look at some Australian subs. I'll be visiting Sydney next week and will be looking for some subs to check out. Interesting with some of the different terminology you guys use compared to the US. I have some substation videos on my channel too, mostly some smaller transformers energizing and some night time switching, some big diesel generators as well.
Mister Brookes I may have been misleading. What I ment was that the devices aren't directly used for switching, but the information that they deliver is.
Yes,the 500 kV feeders would be supplied by Eraring power station which is in the Lake Macquarie area near Newcastle in New South Wales via the Kemps creek substation which is the main substation for southern New South Wales. It's the highest voltage feeder in the southern hemisphere !
Actually, those feeders connect to Bayswater transmission substation via Wollar and Mt Piper. The Eraring - Kemps Creek 500kv lines are currently separate from this system.
I wonder how long someone can stand or walk around this awesome but dangerous quipment without ill effects?? Do the resulting EMFs cause any harm if you spend too much time in the sub station??
No. Not ever. Any frequency below ultraviolet is non-ionizing and thus non-harmful There are lots of old coots at power companies. Same deal with radio stations.
Yup. I think American Electric Power built that gigantic ring bus when there seemed to be no limit to Ohio's industrial might. If you stand beneath those wires you can feel the potential along your quivering body. It's interesting on a motorcycle.
Very interesting - thank you for posting! How is voltage specified in this industry? is 500kV L-L or L-N? I would be very interested to see a few videos that talk about some typical maintenance scenarios. Are large transformers tested regularly on-site? If so, how? Are capacitor banks or reactors ever tested? What are some examples of typical maintenance tasks done at set intervals?
@@BearsTrains Thanks for your reply Dave! I mostly work with low voltage digital/analog stuff but recently started to fill some knowledge gaps when it comes to power electronics. I just finished repairing a beefy 3-phase AC power source for aerospace use so I've tried to get comfortable with all the conventions. HV transmission is a different ball game, but equally interesting. May I ask what types of devices have 12 year maintenance periods? Thanks! -Nick
Yep, it is the biggest I have seen. Surprisingly quiet for a 500kV yard. Everything is fitted with corona rings so you don't get that crackling sound, Thanks Sparky
Actually, Hydro Quebec has thousands of kilometers of 800kV class transmission lines, more than AEP in the US. The amount of power carried over 765kV is to the order of four times greater versus 345kV (not 100% sure on figure). NPR (national public radio), interestingly, has a map showing the different transmission voltages in the US.
In Serbia/Kosovo the US Airforce decapitated all the substations with a munition that dispensed fine metal threads, caused everything to short out and fail..........apparently very slow job to fix.........caused blackouts everywhere. In WW2, the British released balloons dragging metal wires that drifted over germany.........in one case an entire power station was destroyed.
They have to be long so the high voltage electricity won't flash over to earth. They have a conductor running up the centre, wrapped in capacitor foils (which works as a voltage divider) and inserted in a hollow ceramic insulator.
No, the reactors don't have enough clearance so they are in a "cage". This area is locked and access is only permissible after isolation ,earthing and signing on to an access permit
It’s Australian so it’s 50 HZ and all of the harmonics will be 50 Hz harmonics. Is that right? Or is Australia a 60 Hz country? I’m pretty sure you still drive on the “wrong” side of the road, however. Cheers from your “Twin Brother from a Different Mother” Country. The US. This site handles a scary shitload of power. I get nervous watching you walk around inside of it. I wouldn’t fly your kite with thin wire fishing line over the top of this. Just sayin’.
I would like to know more about the transformers that step the 500KV transmission voltage down to 110V secondary voltage for use inside the substation. How many voltamps are they? And if someone were to backfeed the 110V into the secondary side, would 500KV be the voltage on the primary side like with a distribution transformer? Great video, by the way!
Hi. The CVTs are generally rated from 100 to 200VA. Backfeeding them wouldn't work as they use capacitor voltage divider to reduce the voltage to about 20kV which is then supplied to a transformer in the base section,which then outputs the 110VAC
'Current' and 'voltage' transformers (CT and PT, respectively) are part of the instrumentation, for measuring instruments can't be used to check current or potential at these immense voltages. The current transformer produces a low current that's proportional to and in phase with the current through the power line, and the voltage( or potential) transformer produces a voltage between 0 and 120 volts that's proportional to and in phase with the voltage across the actual lines. (Your own electric meter contains small CT's and VT's. ) The signals from these instrumentation transformers are fed to an instrumentation computer (called a 'relay' ) that analyzes the condition of the line and can detect and locate misfortunes like short-circuits or breaks in the lines many miles away.
@@markkinsler4333 Out of curiosity, if the relay computer detected a fault, would it remotely notify other substations/generating stations and sound an alarm on the premises ? Would it open a circuit breaker? And can it also detect events such as low/high frequency, waveform distortion, transient voltage, and phase imbalance? Lastly, if the circuit breaker’s arc quenching gas leaked out and a severe fault occurred, how would the system break the fault current (if at all)?
@@BearsTrains It makes sense to use the capacitive dropper to step the bulk of the voltage down, otherwise the primary/secondary turns ratio would be crazy. But wouldn’t the capacitor’s impedance change based on frequency, thus altering the voltage during a high/low frequency event? I am also curious as to what the value of the capacitor is. Is the capacitive dropper able to correct the inductive power factor of the transformer?
@@possiblyrandomgaming Alarms are issued as needed. In general, there'd be an initial opening of the circuit breaker long enough to break an arc caused by lightning. If the fault remained upon reclosing, a second opening would be delayed long enough to (it is hoped) burn away an errant tree branch or squirrel. If the fault is not cleared then the breaker opens and remains so. Procedures vary on very large lines. Yes, low/high voltage, weird frequencies, phase imbalance, and other misfortunes can be detected by a close analysis of the CT and VT outputs. For example, the inductance and resistance of the line will throw the voltage and current out of phase slightly when a fault occurs, and by measuring this phase difference the location of the fault can be determined. Note that prior to the 1990's the 'relays' were really relays--that is, electromechanical analog computers that lived inside glass containers, looking all the world like rows of home electric meters. They were quite reliable and power companies, the very soul of technological conservatism, would not consider their substitution by digital equipment until the technicians that knew how to repair and recondition the old relays began to retire. Now, a failed breaker is the kind of thing they discuss at conferences. I don't know what they do about it, but I'd guess that some sort of alarm would be generated and sent upstream, so to speak, to ask that the line be de-energized. All is done by computer. Some, if not all of the worst incidents are typically photographed and displayed here on You Tube and are quite popular with consumers of illicit public-utility videos. Like me. Yum.
Circuit breaker 500kV has only 2(!) chambers, not 4. Breaker shown here has additionaly preinsertion resistors for more mild switching on long transmission line. As for dry reactors 33kV, they are using for fault currents limiting, not for long line capacitance compensation.
I'm curious about your comment of "A useable quantity of 110VAC so we can use it inside" followed by "Allows 50Hz to pass". You seem to be in Australia, where they do indeed use 50Hz, but I am curious where the 110VAC comes into play, as my understanding is that Australia uses 220VAC and not 110. In fact, 110VAC @ 50Hz is very uncommon in almost all of the world - mostly only seen in Madagascar and Eastern Japan. Unless it was just a mistake while commenting during the video (and it is actually 220VAC), it makes me curious as to how the voltage gets used at 110 and/or stepped back up to 220.
Hi Kat. It is indeed 110VAC as it is not a general power supply but a voltage used for protection relays, meters, indication and some other stuff. The ratio between the 110V and the line voltage is VERY accurate as it is used for metering which has a tolerance of 0.2% (The errors are actually way lower ~ 0.02% usually) Because we deal in such large amounts of power, even a small error will eventually add up to big dollars so it must as close to perfect as humanly possible. The aux transformers supply all the 240VAC for use in power outlets , air conditioners, lights and everything else that gets plugged in. Not sure why it is 110V from the CVTs though. Just some standard voltage adopted years ago I guess. As for the 50Hz, it is not as uncommon as you would think. This is a wiki link that shows all countries en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country .Australia would have inherited the frequency from England.
@@BearsTrains It's probably the fault of us Yankees with our 120v house current. There were likely a lot of handy meters adapted to that voltage. I worked at a radio station that could shut off its remote transmitter, and the telephone line for that carried 120 volts DC. Just dandy.
The “hum” sounds like 50 cycles per second? Where is the substation at? I am in the states here it’s all 60~ the last 50~ that I know of here was replaced before the 1950s and was Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles DWP had replaced all their 50~ about 10 years before that, now for Intertie of the pacific western grid it is all 60~ with two 500KVA DC circuits in the grid. Thanks!
The Hoover Dam power line came through in 1938 at 60 Hz. Much of Los Angeles was 50 Hz. They mounted a large project to re-gear or replace all the electric clocks in the affected area.
@@inductivelycoupledplasma6207 My bad, it does have an iron core but is air cooled. I think it was part of a general design change to reduce the amount of oil in a substation. The 6 separate TXs are better than 2 x enormous TXs that would spill a lot of oil if they failed
It is just 1 amp from the secondaries. CTs are strange beasts that are entirely current driven and voltage plays no part. Here is a wiki link that should explain it better than I can en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_transformer
Awesome Thanks! I was always taught that Transformers make voltage go up and down and current go down and up. IE: With a Power Factor of 1, Power in P = I * E * PF = Power out P = I * E * PF, So if CUrrent went WAAY down, the way I was taught is that the Voltage would go WAAY up. Thanks for the info. I'll go check it out. I do know alot about electricity, but there is a huge vast amount that I do not know. :)
3000:1 ratio for the CT’s. The reason they don’t step up the voltage is because the secondary windings of the CT’s are basically shorted together. Doing this causes mainly current on the secondary windings, up until the CT’s are fully saturated. If the CT’s where to be left open circuited on the secondary, then the voltage would be stepped accordingly and you would get an massive melt down of the CT
Just an artifact in the video. No arcs in that place. Well, technically there is, but very small discharges that you can't see in the day. I had to go to a big sub at night and turn all the lights off. We looked out in the yard and you could see thousands of tiny leakage discharges
You have an incredibly interesting job. Thank you for posting these - there's a large audience who would love to see more.
Thank Jack. I am always on the lookout for interesting things to video.
@@BearsTrains Enjoyed watching this Dave, i work on the 400kv network in the UK so im always interested in seeing how its done elsewhere. Your equipment looks alot newer than our stuff (1960s-1970s)
This equipment was installed in about 2010, so it's quite new.
Great stuff. I’ve always been interested in high voltage testing and transmission. Really like the way you show and tell the various pieces of gear and what they do from the supply line and beyond. I toured a 400KV substation in Frodsham England and that equipment was huge....
I have worked as contractor in several coal/natural gas, gas peaking & one small hydro generating facilities. My job involved HVAC... and I was limited to
This video has very high potential. It is rather shockingly good 😁❤
Good to see. I worked for an electrical supplier in the Eighties in substation maintenance and extensions. Most of the gear was live but cordoned off and we had a safety chat daily. Nothing EVER was carried on your shoulder and in your mind you were sort of thinking of the instant death if you messed up. Live line workers were at Higher risk. Brings back good memories Thanks
My favorite substation sign instructed, "Lower radio antenna."
Do you ever look at the enormous walls separating the transformers and think "well what the hell am I doing standing here then?"
They don't use these walls in the US.
@@markkinsler4333 Yes they do I work for a utility in southwest our 500kv's all have the walls. Smaller transformers don't use the walls only the larger 500kv. We also have oil monitoring systems look for any explosive gas building in the oil so transformer fires are rare now. We had one 500kv blow up about 20 years ago.
Thanks for taking your time to upload this video, it is very much appreciated, thanks
That's awesome.. I really enjoy watching your videos.. I spent my career building and working on medium voltage switchgear.. I've always been fascinated by the high voltage stuff.. Thanks..
That was great...Thanks from the USA!
Finally, a good explanation of what goes on in these subs, always interested me. Love a tour of one. I’ve subscribed :)
You know that you're dealing with some dangerous things when 'blast walls' are needed 😱
Same rules as a strip club: you can look, but you don't touch.
Highest we have here in the States is 765kV AC. We also have some 400-500kV DC transmission lines.
We have a 500kv DC line here in Utah going to Cali. Where are you that has a 765KV line? I've heard of it, I just don't know where it is.
@gtamateur ah. Thank you. :)
@gtamateur what is the effectiveness of these big transformers? And minimal distance to be effective for 735kV line between production and consumption?
Counts ratio from 735 to 11kV is also nice and best is sound of these devices. 🤗
@gtamateur Thank you for the subtle analysis. However, I am interested in the efficiency of these large transformers, because what I've read so far, the transformer has an efficiency of 90 to 99% if well designed.
For example, in my country *, the efficiency of the transmission system (from production to 22kV grid) is 99.033% - see the third line on the page:
www.sepsas.sk/OdborUkazovatele.asp?Kod=19
And this is not enough for the loss of power lines in a multiple transformation from 6kV in a power plant to 400kV, then to 22kV if transformers have ONLY 99% efficiency. These big ones must be better.
* The length of the ground of Slovakia is 400km and maybe therefore the maximum voltage is 400kV. : D
See map with EN legend www.sepsas.sk/images/schemasiete/Central_Europe_2019_12_31.png
(Source www.sepsas.sk/SchemaSiete.asp?kod=17)
And only in neighboring Ukraine in the last picture on the right is the 750kV line from Zakhidnoukrainska to Hungaria - Szabolcsbaka.
www.sepsas.sk/images/schemasiete/PS_SR_2019_12_31_mapa.png
- the most common line is 400kV in 1/2 of Europa.
Just found your channel. Please keep these great videos coming. I love that they are in my backyard so to speak. Be interesting to know where the incoming and outgoing lines run to as well. Keep up the great work!
Typical Aussie laid back attitude to life. Even with mind-bogging tech like this stuff one can’t get excited over.
EXTREMELY FASCINATING AND AWSOME! I have been waiting for a video of such a tour. I have studies this stuff over the internet at India Institute of Technology and T. D. PowerSkills. I wish that I was a power and electrical engineer but God gave me a brain that just can't understand indepth calculus, so I was not able to pass my EE courses. I love to see switches open and arcing. At home, I have a 500kV Van de Graff generator, 70kV Tesla coil and a 90kV Jacob's Ladder. I used to have a lot of wires hanging from my basement ceiling, and when I would fire up the Van de Graff generator, little coronas would form on the ends of the wires, many feet away from the generator. It would make the dark basement look like the night sky with stars.
Frank
Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service
I'm exactly the same way. Don't give up just because of some math, dude. Just learn the math separately. That's what I'm starting to do. Once I find something that works, I'll try and come back to you, if I remember.
Thanks. I do not understand how the slope of the tangent line can be found at the limit as one point on the line goes infinately close to the other point. It is for this reason that I cannot understand all of the Calculus. So, in electrical and power engineering courses that I have taken on the internet (India Institute of Technology), I have simply done what I can do--memorize the formulas. v = the integral of i di/dt, etc. At least it is all in my head somewhere.
Frank
@@frankreiserm.s.8039 To study math and physics effectively, do lots and lots of problems and do _not_ expect to completely understand what you're doing until you're taking the next course or the one after that. That's how long it takes to digest this stuff. Until then, just do the problems like a happy robot and understanding will come when you're least expecting it--often when you're explaining it to someone else. Mark Kinsler PhD EE kinsler33@gmail.com
Great video thanks for taking the time to shot it and posting up.
I'm sitting in my chair cowering just watching that! I do electronics so high voltage to me is 24v. Even 240 scares me!
5 volt TTL logic. God that takes me back to college 40 yrs ago
You can safely work with voltages up to 48 volts with bare hands, but you'll feel anything appreciably higher. Oddly enough, however, you regularly experience static electricity charges up in the thousands of volts. It's the current that kills.
That is one big frickin' transformer! I don't know why, but I wish I had one. Would put it in my front yard next to the statues of me.
...you have statues of yourself in your front yard?
Maybe that's a wish, too
Thats not a transformer...now THIS is a transformer!
Now, that is a thoroughly disrespectful attitude. I want one, too. Preferably with those big oil-filled bushings.
Such an interesting job :-)
Thanks Adrian. It has its moments.
Why doesn't used of GIS for substations??? The GIS is safety of other weather, no electric arcing, no rusty of metal switch system, low time frequency of maintenance, and anti-lightning strikes on the ground. Many countries was switch from AIS to GIS with little space to build it.
Nice look at some Australian subs. I'll be visiting Sydney next week and will be looking for some subs to check out. Interesting with some of the different terminology you guys use compared to the US.
I have some substation videos on my channel too, mostly some smaller transformers energizing and some night time switching, some big diesel generators as well.
CT and VT are for measuring current and voltage on the line, not to be used for switching.
Mister Brookes I may have been misleading. What I ment was that the devices aren't directly used for switching, but the information that they deliver is.
No worries, i wasn't very precise in my former comment.
Yes,the 500 kV feeders would be supplied by Eraring power station which is in the Lake Macquarie area near Newcastle in New South Wales via the Kemps creek substation which is the main substation for southern New South Wales.
It's the highest voltage feeder in the southern hemisphere !
Brazil has 765 kV and 800 kV :)
Actually, those feeders connect to Bayswater transmission substation via Wollar and Mt Piper. The Eraring - Kemps Creek 500kv lines are currently separate from this system.
Awesome, that site must have cost a staggering amount of money to build!
This is what's needed to run my wife's washing machine and tumble dryer. The bastards never stop..
Awesome video! But please stay safe.
Thanks Thomas. I stay firmly on the ground at all times!
I wonder how long someone can stand or walk around this awesome but dangerous quipment without ill effects?? Do the resulting EMFs cause any harm if you spend too much time in the sub station??
No. Not ever. Any frequency below ultraviolet is non-ionizing and thus non-harmful There are lots of old coots at power companies. Same deal with radio stations.
The only wavelength that will possibly hurt you is 50-60 Hz and it will do so very quickly :p
great video, thank you.
Very cool.
There are some 735kV lines near me in Ohio. Very rare in US.
Yup. I think American Electric Power built that gigantic ring bus when there seemed to be no limit to Ohio's industrial might. If you stand beneath those wires you can feel the potential along your quivering body. It's interesting on a motorcycle.
Very interesting - thank you for posting! How is voltage specified in this industry? is 500kV L-L or L-N? I would be very interested to see a few videos that talk about some typical maintenance scenarios. Are large transformers tested regularly on-site? If so, how? Are capacitor banks or reactors ever tested? What are some examples of typical maintenance tasks done at set intervals?
Nominal voltages are L-L. yes, everything gets tested eventually, usually 4, 8 or 12 years for the maintenance period
@@BearsTrains Thanks for your reply Dave! I mostly work with low voltage digital/analog stuff but recently started to fill some knowledge gaps when it comes to power electronics. I just finished repairing a beefy 3-phase AC power source for aerospace use so I've tried to get comfortable with all the conventions. HV transmission is a different ball game, but equally interesting. May I ask what types of devices have 12 year maintenance periods? Thanks! -Nick
@@oriole8789 Usually a major maintenance on an SF6 circuit breaker is 12 yearly
that is the max voltage we have in Canada to. very cool stuff.
Yep, it is the biggest I have seen. Surprisingly quiet for a 500kV yard. Everything is fitted with corona rings so you don't get that crackling sound, Thanks Sparky
Actually, Hydro Quebec has thousands of kilometers of 800kV class transmission lines, more than AEP in the US. The amount of power carried over 765kV is to the order of four times greater versus 345kV (not 100% sure on figure). NPR (national public radio), interestingly, has a map showing the different transmission voltages in the US.
In Serbia/Kosovo the US Airforce decapitated all the substations with a munition that dispensed fine metal threads, caused everything to short out and fail..........apparently very slow job to fix.........caused blackouts everywhere. In WW2, the British released balloons dragging metal wires that drifted over germany.........in one case an entire power station was destroyed.
We call it a Y 3 phase
Nice ankel
Québec hydro in Canada uses 715 Kvolt transmission
Very interesting. I worked as an industrial electrician for years but always would have like to work the big stuff. Is the system 50 or 60hz?
50Hz
@@BearsTrains I kinda thought so. Everything here in the u.s. is 60hz. But the 50hz system really sound pretty cool.
The Substation with highest voltage is 765kV AC not 500kV AC
Where is that?
On Tijuco Preto, Estado de São Paulo on Brazil
Here is proof (not on location that i sended where the 765kV substation was) th-cam.com/users/shorts6ADFVasWysg?si=K-FspmjBVsf7n-Tu
That is Brazil. 500kV is the highest in NSW Australia.
I love listening to transformers hum one of my favorite sounds next to a big diesel engien
4:20 Why are the bushings so large on the 500/330kV transformers ? I realize you have lightning & rainwater. What is inside those ~4m tall cylinders ?
They have to be long so the high voltage electricity won't flash over to earth. They have a conductor running up the centre, wrapped in capacitor foils (which works as a voltage divider) and inserted in a hollow ceramic insulator.
I take it they're just autotransformers? Also looks some some auxiliary voltages coming out from the bottom.
Yes, autotransformers. There's no need for isolation. There's lots of instrumentation in there, and thus lots of cables emerging.
nice to look at but it scares the shit out of me
You get used to it but never become complacent. There is an old saying they teach you from day one "One flash and you're ash"
Low voltage stuff is what most people get electric shocks from
Interested in the fencing around the reactors - is that an exclusion zone due to high magnetic fields?
No, the reactors don't have enough clearance so they are in a "cage". This area is locked and access is only permissible after isolation ,earthing and signing on to an access permit
@@BearsTrains thanks, so it's just about electric shock risk due to low height?
@@jonbaldwin Yep, pretty much
It’s Australian so it’s 50 HZ and all of the harmonics will be 50 Hz harmonics.
Is that right? Or is Australia a 60 Hz country?
I’m pretty sure you still drive on the “wrong” side of the road, however.
Cheers from your “Twin Brother from a Different Mother” Country.
The US.
This site handles a scary shitload of power.
I get nervous watching you walk around inside of it.
I wouldn’t fly your kite with thin wire fishing line over the top of this.
Just sayin’.
Australia is 50hz.
we product the transformer bushing.
I would like to know more about the transformers that step the 500KV transmission voltage down to 110V secondary voltage for use inside the substation. How many voltamps are they? And if someone were to backfeed the 110V into the secondary side, would 500KV be the voltage on the primary side like with a distribution transformer? Great video, by the way!
Hi. The CVTs are generally rated from 100 to 200VA. Backfeeding them wouldn't work as they use capacitor voltage divider to reduce the voltage to about 20kV which is then supplied to a transformer in the base section,which then outputs the 110VAC
'Current' and 'voltage' transformers (CT and PT, respectively) are part of the instrumentation, for measuring instruments can't be used to check current or potential at these immense voltages. The current transformer produces a low current that's proportional to and in phase with the current through the power line, and the voltage( or potential) transformer produces a voltage between 0 and 120 volts that's proportional to and in phase with the voltage across the actual lines. (Your own electric meter contains small CT's and VT's. ) The signals from these instrumentation transformers are fed to an instrumentation computer (called a 'relay' ) that analyzes the condition of the line and can detect and locate misfortunes like short-circuits or breaks in the lines many miles away.
@@markkinsler4333 Out of curiosity, if the relay computer detected a fault, would it remotely notify other substations/generating stations and sound an alarm on the premises ? Would it open a circuit breaker? And can it also detect events such as low/high frequency, waveform distortion, transient voltage, and phase imbalance? Lastly, if the circuit breaker’s arc quenching gas leaked out and a severe fault occurred, how would the system break the fault current (if at all)?
@@BearsTrains It makes sense to use the capacitive dropper to step the bulk of the voltage down, otherwise the primary/secondary turns ratio would be crazy. But wouldn’t the capacitor’s impedance change based on frequency, thus altering the voltage during a high/low frequency event? I am also curious as to what the value of the capacitor is. Is the capacitive dropper able to correct the inductive power factor of the transformer?
@@possiblyrandomgaming Alarms are issued as needed. In general, there'd be an initial opening of the circuit breaker long enough to break an arc caused by lightning. If the fault remained upon reclosing, a second opening would be delayed long enough to (it is hoped) burn away an errant tree branch or squirrel. If the fault is not cleared then the breaker opens and remains so. Procedures vary on very large lines.
Yes, low/high voltage, weird frequencies, phase imbalance, and other misfortunes can be detected by a close analysis of the CT and VT outputs. For example, the inductance and resistance of the line will throw the voltage and current out of phase slightly when a fault occurs, and by measuring this phase difference the location of the fault can be determined.
Note that prior to the 1990's the 'relays' were really relays--that is, electromechanical analog computers that lived inside glass containers, looking all the world like rows of home electric meters. They were quite reliable and power companies, the very soul of technological conservatism, would not consider their substitution by digital equipment until the technicians that knew how to repair and recondition the old relays began to retire.
Now, a failed breaker is the kind of thing they discuss at conferences. I don't know what they do about it, but I'd guess that some sort of alarm would be generated and sent upstream, so to speak, to ask that the line be de-energized. All is done by computer.
Some, if not all of the worst incidents are typically photographed and displayed here on You Tube and are quite popular with consumers of illicit public-utility videos. Like me.
Yum.
Do you still use porcelin insulators on the network, or is everything polymer or concrete-polymer?
I see theme used for neutrals on wood poles still, and for down guy insulators.
Circuit breaker 500kV has only 2(!) chambers, not 4. Breaker shown here has additionaly preinsertion resistors for more mild switching on long transmission line.
As for dry reactors 33kV, they are using for fault currents limiting, not for long line capacitance compensation.
I'm curious about your comment of "A useable quantity of 110VAC so we can use it inside" followed by "Allows 50Hz to pass". You seem to be in Australia, where they do indeed use 50Hz, but I am curious where the 110VAC comes into play, as my understanding is that Australia uses 220VAC and not 110. In fact, 110VAC @ 50Hz is very uncommon in almost all of the world - mostly only seen in Madagascar and Eastern Japan.
Unless it was just a mistake while commenting during the video (and it is actually 220VAC), it makes me curious as to how the voltage gets used at 110 and/or stepped back up to 220.
Hi Kat. It is indeed 110VAC as it is not a general power supply but a voltage used for protection relays, meters, indication and some other stuff. The ratio between the 110V and the line voltage is VERY accurate as it is used for metering which has a tolerance of 0.2% (The errors are actually way lower ~ 0.02% usually) Because we deal in such large amounts of power, even a small error will eventually add up to big dollars so it must as close to perfect as humanly possible. The aux transformers supply all the 240VAC for use in power outlets , air conditioners, lights and everything else that gets plugged in. Not sure why it is 110V from the CVTs though. Just some standard voltage adopted years ago I guess. As for the 50Hz, it is not as uncommon as you would think. This is a wiki link that shows all countries en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country .Australia would have inherited the frequency from England.
@@BearsTrains It's probably the fault of us Yankees with our 120v house current. There were likely a lot of handy meters adapted to that voltage. I worked at a radio station that could shut off its remote transmitter, and the telephone line for that carried 120 volts DC. Just dandy.
The “hum” sounds like 50 cycles per second? Where is the substation at?
I am in the states here it’s all 60~ the last 50~ that I know of here was replaced before the 1950s and was Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles DWP had replaced all their 50~ about 10 years before that, now for Intertie of the pacific western grid it is all 60~ with two 500KVA DC circuits in the grid.
Thanks!
It is in Australia. 50Hz here
Thanks Dave!
The Hoover Dam power line came through in 1938 at 60 Hz. Much of Los Angeles was 50 Hz. They mounted a large project to re-gear or replace all the electric clocks in the affected area.
Oh really been awhile brain
Location and incoming lines look familiar, accent gives it away. Not too far off Wallgrove are we...
This is at Bannaby substation
@@VoyageOne1 Since when was there 500kV down there? Shows how far behind I am I guess.. living in last century...
@@zordmaker LOL
2GW transmission line 🤤
Great Scott!
Amo esse som
mohon penjelasanya untuk out going nya dari pembangkitan yg untuk konduktor 1 line ada 4 konduktor untuk voltage 500 kV terimakasih
Ini memiliki 4 konduktor untuk meningkatkan kapasitas beban saluran
what does that ,,BX,, on aux transformer means
Air cored at 50Hz? Air cooled makes more sense.
Shit, you are right. I corrected myself with a mistake. Must have had a few beers by then in the editing process. The reactors are air cored
@@BearsTrains No worries mate! 🍺
Voltage transformers are for measuring not for use inside.
Yes, they measure the line voltage and the 110VAC secondary output is used inside the control building.
Its not being used. Its just being measured for record and quality. But i guess its just a different describe about the same thing.
Yes. it is used in the protection schemes so you can have distance protection. It also goes to meters and indication circuits
Are you sure you meant air cooled instead of air cored? I've certainly never heard of an air core 50Hz tranny
Technically both I suppose. It is the only one I had ever seen, there is no oil in that TX
@@BearsTrains I believe you that there's no oil! Dry cast transformers are commonplace nowadays
@@BearsTrains I thought you meant that it was air cored rather than having an iron core, which would seem odd to me
@@inductivelycoupledplasma6207 My bad, it does have an iron core but is air cooled. I think it was part of a general design change to reduce the amount of oil in a substation. The 6 separate TXs are better than 2 x enormous TXs that would spill a lot of oil if they failed
@@BearsTrains ah, thanks for clarifying. Awesome power transformers by the way. A 500MVA single phase transformer is massive.
Great video - but I am not sure why the network designer would bother with 500/330kV transformers, the difference doesn't seem worth it?
The problem with making big voltage / current changes is one of insulation. It's not practical to go from 500kV to 11kV in one step.
Thoses current transformers. 3K Amps in, and 1K amp out? Wouldn't that mean that the voltage is stepped up if the current is stepped down?
It is just 1 amp from the secondaries. CTs are strange beasts that are entirely current driven and voltage plays no part. Here is a wiki link that should explain it better than I can en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_transformer
Awesome Thanks! I was always taught that Transformers make voltage go up and down and current go down and up. IE: With a Power Factor of 1, Power in P = I * E * PF = Power out P = I * E * PF, So if CUrrent went WAAY down, the way I was taught is that the Voltage would go WAAY up. Thanks for the info. I'll go check it out. I do know alot about electricity, but there is a huge vast amount that I do not know. :)
3000:1 ratio for the CT’s. The reason they don’t step up the voltage is because the secondary windings of the CT’s are basically shorted together. Doing this causes mainly current on the secondary windings, up until the CT’s are fully saturated. If the CT’s where to be left open circuited on the secondary, then the voltage would be stepped accordingly and you would get an massive melt down of the CT
4:04 spotted a mini arc or somthing there
Just an artifact in the video. No arcs in that place. Well, technically there is, but very small discharges that you can't see in the day. I had to go to a big sub at night and turn all the lights off. We looked out in the yard and you could see thousands of tiny leakage discharges
@@BearsTrains yea all good thx for the reply
5000 Volts!
Are the 500kV each to the earth or in between?
Between phases.
Is that 4000amps per conductor or each bundle of 4?
Not sure of the exact capacity but I meant 4000A per phase so yes per bundle of 4 conductors
Bears Trains and Stuff Cheers man, that's still a crazy amount of power!
Keep making the vids, their awesome! 👍
4,000 amps at a half million volts?! TERRIFYING amount of power.
Between the wind and the accent, I didn't get a word of this. Dropped out at 2:00
shocking
I wanna open a disconnect switch
Q? They!?
"
Can't afford conventional circuit simulators? seek out circuit solver on the playstore!
Some of what this guy is saying is absolute bollox.
Like what exactly?