The operation data show that the failure rate of high-capacity and multi column parallel arrester, such as the neutral bus arrester, the series compensation arrester and so on, is relatively high, and the cause of most faults is not clear. In order to improve the reliability of multi column parallel arrester, several possible factors are studied and excluded in this paper, such as the volt ampere characteristics of arrester under different temperature, the current sharing performance under different temperature or different current waveforms, and the energy absorption capacity under different current waveforms and so on.It is pointed out that the high failure rate of high capacity and multi column parallel arrester is mainly due to the large dispersion of energy absorption capacity and inevitable short resistor. It is proposed that the fundamental way to solve the high failure rate of high-capacity and multi column parallel arrester is to reduce the short resistor probability, optimize the structure and improve the withstand capacity with short resistor.
 

multi column parallel; arrester; current sharing; temperature; energy absorption capacity