What is the purpose of the Arcing Horns?
Overvoltage can affect gearbox and other electrical equipment.
Overvoltages can occur for a variety of reasons, including
- Lightning strikes,
- Transient surges,
- Rapid load fluctuations, and so on.
In the case of an overvoltage, insulating equipment such as gearbox line insulators or transformer bushings may be exposed to high voltages, resulting in failure.
Arcing horns are protective devices made up of an extension in conducting materials on opposite sides of an insulator.
Arcing horns are arranged in pairs.
Why Arc Horn are used in High Voltage Transmission Line?
- In transmission lines, they can be located on the conducting line & the transmission tower across insulators.
- In transmission lines, a lightning strike on the tower raises the tower potential to unsafe levels, which can result in flashovers across the insulators, leading them to break.
- Arcing horns prevent this by transferring the arc across the air gap between them.
- Arcing horns work by bypassing high voltage (HV) across the insulator and using air as a conductive channel.
- The small distance between the horns guarantees that the air between them breaks down, causing a flashover and conducting the voltage surge rather than damaging the insulator.
- The horns are manufactured in pairs, with one on the line and the other on the ground.
What is the function of an Arcing Horn in Switchgear?
- Arcing Horns are also utilised in conjunction with air-insulated switchgear equipment.
- Arcing can harm air-insulated switchgear.
- Arcing horns redirect the arc towards themselves, so safeguarding the switching equipment.
- The arcing horns help to move the arc away from the bushings (or) insulators.
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