Effects of voltage impulses on extruded dielectric cable life

Laboratory tests were performed to investigate the effects of lightning and thumping impulses on the performance of various 15 kV cable designs. The cable designs were aged in the laboratory using an accelerated water treeing test. Some samples were subjected to lightning impulses, some were subjected to thumping impulses, and some were aged without impulses applied. The impulse effects were evaluated using time to failure data, AC breakdown data, and impulse breakdown data. The results show that lightning or thumping impulses do not affect cable AC or impulse breakdown strength. There is also no visual difference between wafers taken from impulsed and control samples. However, there is a strong indication that lightning impulses can reduce cable life. Almost all the aging failures occurred while the cables were warm. No failures occurred during the impulse application. It is also shown that increased cable wall thickness extends cable life for the tree-resistant high-molecular-weight insulation material tested, but not for the crosslinked polyethylene insulation material tested