Abstract
Insulators play a critical role in healthy transmission under the influence of operational stresses (OSs). OSs include environmental stresses (ultraviolet-radiations, seasonal heat and humidity variations, and pollution (inert and active), etc.) and electrical stresses (electric field distribution, corona, etc.). OSs can deteriorate insulators, jeopardizing the healthy transmission. In this experimental study, four silicon rubber (SiR) insulators with different concentrations of micro and nano-silica fillers are tested in a specially designed and fabricated compact environmental chamber for 1920 h under OSs, un-scheduled load shedding, and night factors for more realistic field insulators deterioration characteristics. Insulators' potential distribution, electrical field distribution, hydrophobicity, and leakage current characteristics are considered. Experimental results reveal OSs affected insulators' leakage current profile due to hydrophobicity loss and electric field distribution variations. Moreover, SiR insulators under OSs regained insulation characteristics due to heavier inner molecule replacement to the dissipated and degraded outer lower weight insulating molecules. This property provides a reusability opportunity for SiR insulators in power system networks, unlike traditional insulators.
Highlights
Electrical energy has high growing demand, and its power plants are far located from human populations [1]
Monitoring of leakage current enables the evaluation of surface degradation of an insulator, directly related to insulator surface wettability [31]
The allowable limit to leakage current is based on their reliability rather than safety and it varies from country to country [1]
Summary
Electrical energy has high growing demand, and its power plants are far located from human populations [1]. The most economical way to transfer electrical energy is through overhead transmission lines (OTL). In OTL, the electrical energy is transformed at lower current values and extra-high voltage (HV) levels to reduce the copper losses (I2R) [2]. Insulators on HV OTL are exposed to multiple stresses, detail is provided in [4]. These operational stresses (OSs) include environmental stresses (ultraviolet radiations, sunlight, heat, humidity, pollution, etc.) and electrical stresses (electric field distribution, corona, etc.). Loss in dielectric properties of insulators due to OSs in OTL can cause largescale power outages [6]. The literature is focused on OTL insulators’ performance in the presence of OSs
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