Errr... what's happening?

[Payback]

http://oldcrows.net/~oldcrow/Lugo_SWR.mpg

Weirdness...

[cotron]

aftereffects maybe?

[Payback]

No I think that's for real.

[oglzogl]

Just a week or two ago we had a huge snowstorm that knocked power out all over the valley because of tree branches falling, etc. Well, right afterwords I would frequently hear a huge explosion (and I mean HUGE) that would light up the sky if it was dark. Well, I was out on my porch for one of the explosions and saw an arc (maybe not as big as the one on the video) followed by a 30 foot fireball. I guess a transformer no less than a block away was biting the dust. Thank god they fixed it even though they didnt get to it for about a week.. I guess they had to. One of the powerlines connected to it fell down on a garage or something. Didnt do any serious damage that Ive heard but kind of freeky!

[cybercyst]

WOW that sure is creepy...did they do that on purpose, or was that on accident?

[N D Hill]

That's strange how it flows upwards instead of arcing across. If anything it should going towards the ground or to a conductive material.

[staylor]

Not entirely sure what to make of this, but if you go frame by frame when the sparks first fly, all three connecting cables, including two that don't spark, come apart. This seems rather suspect to me, not only are they incredably smooth but other disconnects would probably yield more arcs of electricity. Plus, the sparks would be so bright the surrounding area would be white. I think this might have been made with some 3-d software and pasted into an actual scene.

[Alex K.]

The arc in that clip is generated by 1/2 million volts of electricity. Pretty shocking, huh?
Anyway, here's the website (http://www.wiseguysynth.com/larry/day.htm) where the movie is originally from, along with the explanation of the phenomena.

[N D Hill]

I was not given the details of this clip when it was sent to me. However, based on what
I do know about the equipment in the video and what I see, I offer the following info:

The file name Lugo suggests a large California substation that is populated with 500 KV
and 230 KV switching devices. This one is clearly a 500KV (I can tell by the size) three-
phase switch, probably rated at about 2000 amps of normal current carrying capability.

This type of switch typically is used at one end of a transmission line, in some cases in
conjunction with or instead of a circuit breaker for a variety of different configuration
reasons that vary greatly from one utility to the other. Or, it may be used to connect a
large transformer to the system.

In this case, the switch is being used to connect a special kind of transformer. The 3
single-phase transformers can be seen behind the truck. I say transformer, but as you
can see, they have leads going in, but not coming out. These are actually single winding
inductors connected from phase to ground and are commonly called "shunt reactors."
These inductors are installed to offset the capacitive effects of un-loaded transmission
lines, When a long 500 KV or 765 KV line is energized from one end, its inherent
capacitance causes an unacceptable voltage rise on the open end of the line. The
"shunt reactor" is installed to control that open-circuit voltage. Where current into the
capacitor component of the line impedance leads voltage by 90 degrees, current into
the shunt reactor lags voltage by 90 degrees.

The switch being opened is called a "circuit switcher." It consists of two series SF6
gas puffer interrupters (kind of like a circuit breaker) and an integrated center-break
disconnect. The interrupters are to the right of the switch blades. They just look like
gray porcelain insulators. At 345 and 500 KV these types of switches typically have
two interrupters per phase in series in order to withstand the open circuit voltage
encountered when de-energizing a line or transformer. They rely on synchronized
opening of the two interrupters and voltage even distributed across the two interrupters
by "grading" devices (typically lots of series capacitors or resistors).

The way they are supposed to work is the interrupters both trip, grading capacitors or
resistors cause the open circuit voltage to split evenly across the two interrupters, the
switch blades open with no current flow, and the interrupters close as the switch
reaches the full open position. I originally titled this very BIG capacitor because that
is what unloaded transmission line looks like. The parallel wires have a huge capacitive
effect between ground and each other. On a 500KV line like this the current (leading the
voltage by 90 degrees) required to energize this capacitor is approximately 2 amps per
mile of line per phase. That's 2 amps per phase at 500KV, or about 1.7 MegaVars
(million volt amps reactive) per mile. However, we are actually looking at the shunt
reactor current which is inductive and lags the voltage by 90 degrees. So, I should have
said "very big inductor."

The switch operation you see in this video in my opinion is a failed attempt to interrupt
that inductive current. The failure appears to be that the far right interrupter does not
open or the grading device has failed. The voltage across the remaining open
interrupter exceeds the rating and it flashes over (you can see the first arc develop
across one interrupter). Therefore, the switch blades are left to interrupt the current (not
designed to do that) as they open. As the interrupter closes you can see the arc across
it go out. However, the arc across the switch gets as tall as a 3 story building before the
arc resistance is sufficient for the ionized gas to quit conducting. Or, perhaps the
connected line has tripped out of service allowing the arc to extinguish. This is the only
failure I have ever seen where the arc lasted so long and grew so large without first
going phase-to-phase or phase-to-ground taking the circuit out of service. It just keeps
growing straight up where it contacts nothing.

...OOOOHHH. Ok. :)





...:confused:

[egerie]

Yikes scary. especially the sound.. and when you finally realise how HUGE that thing is when you notice the people at the end of the movie. :electric:

[PhilHolland]

Definitly not reality.

Nice tracking on the ark spawn points though.
Decent bloom and pop too.

This isn't real guys. Watch the rest of the structure around the time when the ark starts.
The highlights and shadows remain the same, which wouldn't happen if something this big and bright occurred.

phil

[AnarchyAo2]

I'd like to see them throw something into that.