High Voltage DC Cable

A high voltage DC cable is modelled as lumped elements in Simscape language.

Space charges have a considerable effect on the field in cables for direct current power transmissions which is e.g. used for the grid connection of offshore wind parks. By understanding those effects the required properties of the insulation material can be optimized. This model is a starting point which considers capacitive and nonlinear conductive effects from free charge carriers. Please customize the consideration of self-trapped charge carriers according to your needs.
The high voltage DC (HVDC) cable consists of several layers. For the simulation only the electric relevant layers are considered. The conductor screens are assumed to be perfect conducting. The cable is axial and radial symmetric. Hence, the problem can be reduced to a one-dimensional physical network as shown in the picture. The several slices of the cable are modelled as blocks in Simscape language. This lumped element model includes electric (capacitive and nonlinear resistive) and thermal effects. A script in the mask of the DC cable block creates the cable subsystem automatically with the number of elements chosen in the dialog parameters. The parameters a taken from the literature [1]. The field and temperature distribution of a high voltage DC cable can be calculated for different scenarios, e.g. power on with ohmic load, constant load or pole reversal.

[1] M. Jeroense, Charges and Discharges in HVDC Cables-in particular in mass-impregnated HVDC cables, Dissertation TU Delft, 1997.