Electromagnetic losses in magnetic shields for buried high voltage cables

Abstract

The electromagnetic losses and shielding eficiency of shields for a buried three phase high voltage cable are studied for several shielding configurations. The shields are U-shaped gutters covered with plates, and the power cables are positioned either in trefoil or in flat configuration. The shielding eficiency and the losses are compared for shields with the same geometry but several shielding materials: aluminium, and two ferromagnetic steel grades. The numerical models are validated with experimental results. From the experiments, it is observed that the average reducing factor of the flux density is about 7 with the flat cable configuration while the average reducing factor of the flux density is about 5 with the trefoil cable configuration. But the power losses in the DX52 shield for trefoil configuration is about 40% lower compared to the flat configuration. In case of trefoil configuration, the losses are 12.14W/m per meter length in the shield for a current of 750 A. Next to the shield material and the cable configuration, the paper investigates the influence of several parameters on both the shielding eficiency and the losses: the size of the shield, the current amplitude in the cable and the thickness of the shield.