Effect of Biological Pollutant on Outdoor Polymer Insulator Under Acceleration Environment Condition

Abstract

This study deals with the investigation on the effect of mineral contaminant and microbiological pollutant on outdoor polymer insulator. An experimental setup using pre-conditioned salt fog test is used to accelerate the desired environmental condition required by the pollutant to grow. As result, the effect of mineral contaminant on the growth of microbiological pollutant in the polymer insulator can be analyzed in a faster manner. Chlorella vulgaris as microbiological pollutant was successfully cultivated on 24 kV polymer insulators in a controlled environmental condition. The analysis is presented by comparing the performances between pre-conditioned and normal insulators. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) test is also performed to determine the growth of chlorella vulgaris. Some leakage current and breakdown voltage measurement tests were conducted to determine the insulation performance of insulators. SEM results show that chlorella vulgaris layer did not grow on the normal insulators. Meanwhile chlorella vulgaris layer was formed up to of 30.5 μm depth inside pre-conditioned insulator surface. The test at 40 kV ac voltage shows up to 0.23 mA leakage current was detected on pre-conditioned insulators. The degradation of breakdown voltage of 12.5 % was detected after 8 weeks treatment.