Background. Optical fiber overhead ground wire (OPGW) is an effective solution for laying mainline digital communications along high-voltage power lines. It allows you to use the existing infrastructure of the power grid and ensure the transfer of a large amount of data. The flow of lightning currents and short-circuit currents can cause a violation of the thermal resistance of the fiber and a deterioration of its performance. When the OPGW is insulated through an insulator shunted by a spark gap, during operation it is possible to change the distance in the discharge gap due to the displacement of the electrodes in the plane. Also, when the short circuit location is close, multiple overlaps will occur and as a result, short circuit current will flow through the OPGW. Thus, the article considers the possibility to use a device with a multielectrode system developed on the principle of a multichamber spark gap as a replacement of the spark gap to increase the reliability of the unit with an isolated OPGW suspension.
Materials and methods. Modeling of the device has been carried out in the ANSYS Maxwell software package, the mathematical apparatus of which is based on the use of Maxwell's differential equations and the finite element method, which allows performing numerical modeling with sufficiently high accuracy.
Results. A simulation model of a multichamber spark gap has been developed in the ANSYS Maxwell software package and calculations of electrical characteristics have been performed. For the electrode system of a multi-chamber arrester, an uneven distribution of the applied voltage across the spark discharge gaps of the chambers is determined. It is shown that when a voltage is applied to a spark gap, the highest electric field strength occurs between the first and second electrodes, and then a cascade of discharge gaps occurs, which provides the required low discharge voltages of the spark gap as a whole.
Conclusions. The developed simplified simulation model of a multi-chamber arrester has shown all the necessary conditions for cascade imaging of the voltage distribution and the electric-field strength of various electrode options. Based on the research conducted electrodes geometry is identified for smart prototype development and ongoing multi-chamber arrester research.