Electric Field and Potential Distribution Evaluation of Environmentally Polluted 11 kV Polymeric Outdoor Insulators

Abstract

This paper analyses the potential and electric field distribution of three different variations of 11 kV polymeric insulators under the clean, uniform, and non-uniform dry pollution conditions. The variation of the considered insulators is due to the change in the shed's shape and width. The first insulator model is a uniform one with all the sheds of the same width and shape. The second model terminal end sheds are of the same nature, and the remaining sheds are of the same type. The third model has an alternate shed configuration type. The pollutions are artificially stimulated by varying their conductivities and thickness. Simulations are carried out on the 2D polymeric insulator models using COMSOL Multi-physics software, and the variation of electric field and potential distributions w.r.t creepage distance are evaluated. The obtained field and potential distributions of the three different insulator models are compared to obtain the best configuration which would outperform others in these environmentally polluted conditions.