Tracking/Erosion Resistance Analysis of Nano-Al(OH)3Filled Silicone Rubber Insulating Materials for High Voltage DC Applications

Abstract

HVDC technology has become popular as an economic mode of bulk power transmission over very long distances. Polymeric insulators in HVDC power transmission lines are affected by surface tracking and erosion problems due to contamination deposit, which pose a greater challenge in maintaining the reliability of the HVDC system. In addition, polymeric insulators are also naturally affected by aging due to various environmental stresses, which in turn accelerates the surface tracking and erosion problems. Research works towards the improvement of tracking and erosion resistance of polymeric insulators by adding nano-sized fillers in the base material are being carried out worldwide. However, surface tracking and erosion performance of nano-filled aged polymeric insulators for HVDC applications are not well reported. Hence, in the present work, tracking and erosion resistance of the nano Al(OH)3 filled silicone rubber insulation material has been evaluated under DC voltages at different filler concentrations and aged conditions, as per IEC 60587 test procedures. Leakage current and contact angle measurements were carried out to understand the surface hydrophobicity. Moving average technique was used to analyze the trend followed by leakage current. Water aged specimen shows less tracking resistance when compared with thermal aged specimen. It is observed that nano- filler concentration of 5% is even sufficient to get better tracking/erosion resistance under DC voltages.