Field-aged Insulators Research Articles

Depth profiling of surface degradation of silicone rubber composite insulators by remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

High-voltage silicone rubber composite insulators are widely used for outdoor insulation in power transmission lines. Silicone rubber, which is used as a housing material, gradually degrades with long-term use in the field. Therefore, to accurately determine the lifetime of composite insulators, it is essential to evaluate this degradation. This paper describes the results of depth profiling, which shows the change in the chemical composition caused by degradation, using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). A remote LIBS system was constructed for application in in-situ degradation diagnostics. Field-aged insulators were irradiated with second harmonic Nd:YAG laser pulses at a distance of 10. The emission from the plasma was received by a telescope, and a spectroscopic analysis was performed. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was performed for a comparative study. The emission intensity ratio of silicone to aluminum, which forms an alumina trihydrate filler, decreased by approximately 30% at the degraded surface compared to the undegraded bulk. A reduction in silicones at the degraded surface up to a depth of 300 was confirmed by LIBS and EDX measurements. These results show that remote LIBS using the ratio of silicone to aluminum as an index is a promising method for the in-situ diagnostics of composite insulators.

Leakage current signal parameter of various surface roughness conditions of field-aged polymer insulators

This paper presents the signal parameter of leakage current based on various surface roughness degradation conditions for field-aged high voltage polymer insulators. The arithmetical mean of surface roughness is measured accordingly, and also the surface leakage current signal is captured effectively using data acquisition device via the electrical stress test. With the variation of field-aged insulators ages which include 6-year, 12-year and 18-year, they have been mechanically tested using a surface roughness tester along with electrical testing by using the standard method of inclined plane test. The surface roughness data are recorded meanwhile the leakage current signals are further analyzed using Spectrogram to extract the signal parameter. These include the instantaneous root mean squared current, the instantaneous total harmonic distortion, the instantaneous total non- harmonic distortion and the instantaneous total waveform distortion. From the results of the comparative study, it has shown that the statistical quantity of leakage current signal parameters is responding in an increasing trend with respect to the incremental of the surface roughness. Thus, the signal parameters of the leakage current are able to indicate the degradation conditions of insulator surface.

Mechanical property evaluation according to alumina content of aged porcelain insulator

High-efficiency power transmission of is gaining importance in modern society. Studies based on the improvement of quality and performance of materials that are used for fabricating high-voltage insulators are being actively conducted. The porcelain insulator has been used in power-transmission facilities for decades because of its excellent insulation and mechanical properties. It is also attracting attention as a potential next-generation high-voltage component because it is made of environment-friendly material. However, the mechanical strength and aging characteristics of ceramic material, because of its composition and microstructure, differ from those of the porcelain material; this makes it difficult to safely manage the product over a prolonged period in the industrial field. Therefore, in this study, field aged insulators are tested to analyze the effect of microstructure on mechanical properties and aging characteristics based on the alumina content of porcelain. The phase is analyzed via X-ray diffraction, and the change in corundum content is quantitatively analyzed via scanning electron microscopy and an image-analysis program. Vickers hardness test and tensile test are performed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the porcelain insulator based on the corundum content, and the failure probability is predicted by Weibull analysis of the tensile load. Finally, the tensile load equation is derived based on the corundum content and aging, and a verification test is conducted to confirm that mechanical strength and aging resistance increase as the corundum content increases.

Performance Evaluation of 230 kV Polymer Insulators in the Coastal Area of Saudi Arabia

This article investigates the technical performance of 230 kV field-aged composite insulators in the coastal region of Saudi Arabia. Two insulator samples removed from the 230 kV line after 20 years of service are assessed at KFUPM High Voltage Lab (KHVL). Different assessment techniques, such as visual inspection, contact angle, surface pollution severity, electrical withstand, and material characterization are utilized to evaluate the insulator performance. Equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) and non-soluble deposit density (NSDD) techniques are used for the surface pollution severity measurements. Clear views of surface changes and surface hydrophobicity conditions are displayed. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDX), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-IR) techniques are utilized for the material characterization. The visual inspection reveals small and big cracks in the insulator sheds. Hard breakable portion areas, many shed cuts, changed color areas, and whitish parts are visually noticed in the insulator surface. Such changes confirm the aging condition effect of the insulator units. Furthermore, the samples are subjected to laboratory clean fog tests to check the electrical performance of the samples. Informative results are given for the current condition and performance for the 20-years, field-aged insulators. Additionally, the experimental results are presented for the rest of the insulator life period. Utilization of the existing line insulators has been evaluated. Finally, discussions and recommendations for the future handling of the insulators at the 230 kV line are highlighted.

Failure analysis of BMC insulators used for third rail traction system

Bulk molding compound (BMC) or Glass Reinforced plastic (GRP) composite insulators are extensively used for the third rail electric traction system. The performance of these insulators primarily depends on the local environmental conditions that cause degradation over a period of time. Degradation leads to partial arcing which grow more severe and can generate combustion that ignites flammable debris, smoke including fires resulting in service interruptions and safety risks of the third rail traction system. In the present investigations, exhaustive analysis is conducted to understand the root cause of degradation and arcing on the field aged insulators rated for 750Vdc. Leakage current and surface resistance measurements are conducted under dry, wet and contaminated conditions. Further to better interpret Physico-chemical analysis are conducted using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDAX) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy to investigate surface morphology and chemical changes in the samples, also Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) is performed to find the thermal characteristics of the insulator. Interesting results obtained from the investigations clearly present evidence to loss of epoxy material from the bulk eventually leading to the exposure of glass fibers causing degradation, arcing and failure of the insulators. The study further highlights the essential procedures to be edopted to locate, isolate, and better anticipate failures of BMC insulators used in third rail traction system.

Moisture induced local heating of overhead line composite insulators

There has been a growing concern over recent years regarding the phenomenon of local heating of composite insulators. In this paper, the influences of humidity, contamination and local electric field on the temperature and dielectric properties of field-aged insulators were studied experimentally. Aging of the silicone rubber (SIR) material on the weathershed surface, rather than resistive current flow from contamination, was found to be the major cause of local heating observed by thermography. The aged SIR material exhibited strong dielectric loss under high localized AC electric field and high relative humidity. A hypothesis was developed to mitigate the moisture induced local heating on composite insulators.

Laboratory Investigation of the Hydrophobicity Transfer Mechanism on Composite Insulators Aged in Coastal Service

Silicone rubber (SIR) insulators are known to maintain their surface hydrophobicity even under severe pollution conditions in contrast to the other composite insulator materials used at the last decades. This critical advantage of silicone rubber insulators has made them dominant in high voltage power systems despite the fact that there are other composite materials with better static hydrophobicity. In service conditions, priority is given to the dynamic performance of hydrophobicity due to the unpredictable environmental pollution conditions. This dynamic performance of silicone rubber insulators is also known as hydrophobicity transfer mechanism. In literature, the hydrophobicity transfer mechanism of silicone rubber is related to the reorientation of methyl-groups and the existence of low molecular weight components. However there are many parameters which can change the effectiveness of this mechanism. Some of them referred to the ageing effects on the material structure. Thus it is of great importance to investigate the hydrophobicity transfer mechanism of field aged composite insulators. For this reason a new experimental procedure is introduced based on Cigre TB 442. The results of field aged insulators are compared to that of a new SIR insulator revealing the superiority of silicone rubber even after 17 years of field ageing.

Odd harmonics and third to fifth harmonic ratios of leakage currents as diagnostic tools to study the ageing of glass insulators

This paper reports an investigation into the leakage current harmonic components of 45 units of glass insulator samples. The insulator units comprise 5 groups of insulators: new insulators and naturally field-aged insulators with different ageing periods->30, 20, 15, and <;10 years from a 132 kV transmission line. Experiments were conducted at different electrical stresses (0.17, 0.24, and 0.34 kV/cm) and salt-fog conductivities (900 and 1500 μS/cm). The results suggest that the insulator samples' leakage current (LC) waveform and the total harmonic distortion (THD) correspond well with degree of ageing. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis performed on the stored waveforms showed a strong correlation between the ratio of the third to fifth harmonic amplitudes with the degree of ageing and in-service period of the naturally field-aged insulators. Furthermore, this investigation revealed a pattern between the groups of insulator samples in respect to their ageing. These findings were further validated with traditional Dielectric Dissipation Factor tests carried out on the insulators, and the results also correlated well with the samples' degree of ageing as well as service period. In addition, neural networks were trained to recognize the insulator samples' degree of ageing. This study found that, alternative to the diagnosis of insulator ageing through the measurement of loss angles or tangent delta, LC harmonics can be used as diagnostic tools and for the on-line monitoring of in-service aged transmission line ceramic glass insulators based on odd harmonics and third to fifth harmonic ratios.