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Surge Impedance: An important factor in the design of Transmission Lines.
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For an ideal lossless transmission line, the surge impedance is given as the square root of line inductance to the shunt capacitance (capacitance between line and earth) i.e, sqrt(L/C). The ideal lossless line behaves as a pure inductor and hence its capacitance is zero so the surge impedance is sqrt(L/0) i.e, infinite. That's why the surge current can't flow through the line. On the other hand, the shunt capacitance is a pure capacitor and hence the impedance it provides to the surge current is sqrt(0/C) i.e, 0. So, the shunt capacitance provides a short circuit path to the surge. In this way, the line is protected from the surge.
In reality, there are some losses that happen in the line due to line resistance and shunt conductance. However, the line is so made that the resistance and shunt conductance remains negligible. Also, additional shunt capacitors are added to the line to provide a short circuit path to the surge current and hence limit it to short distance on the line. Longer transmission lines operate at high voltages and have a higher value of inductance thus higher surge impedance. So, it can naturally protect itself against surges and maintain line stability.
However, higher surge impedance limits the loading capability of the line and hence very high value is undesirable and thus a trade-off between natural protection and power transfer capability is important in the design and installation of transmission lines.
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