Leakage current characteristics in estimating insulator reliability: experimental investigation and analysis.

The monitoring of leakage current (LC) and voltage characteristics in transmission line insulators is regarded as a good technique for anticipating the physical state of in-service insulators. In the current work, the temporal and frequency characteristics of LC and voltage under various situations were derived for assessing the health condition of porcelain, glass, and silicone rubber insulators. The contamination severity indicated by soluble deposit density, wetting level (Wt), non-soluble deposit density, and uneven pollution distribution (Pu/PL) were chosen as the environmental factors that impact the insulators. Six criteria were utilized to evaluate the physical state of the insulators, with four of those derived from the LC signal in the time domain, namely, the LC signal peak (C1), the phase shift between applied voltage and LC (C2), the LC signal slope between two consecutive peaks (C3), and the crest factor (C4). The remaining two indices, namely, the total harmonics distribution (C5) and the harmonics ratio indicator (C6), were obtained from the frequency domain of the LC signal. In addition, the flashover voltage index (C7) was also employed. The LC indicators were then classified based on the laboratory test results to reflect the physical state of the insulators. The findings revealed that the proposed indicators had an important impact in determining the physical state of the insulators. Furthermore, a confusion matrix was created for the test and prediction data using the suggested indicators to determine the effectiveness of each indicator.

Monitoring Porcelain Insulator Condition Based on Leakage Current Characteristics.

Insulator monitoring using leakage current characteristics is essential for predicting an insulator's health. To evaluate the risk of flashover on the porcelain insulator using leakage current, experimental investigation of leakage current indices was carried out. In the first stage of the experiment, the effect of contamination, insoluble deposit density, wetting rate, and uneven distribution pollution were determined on the porcelain insulator under test. Then, based on the laboratory test results, leakage current information in time and frequency characteristics was extracted and employed as assessment indicators for the insulator's health. Six indicators, namely, peak current indicator, phase shift indicator, slope indicator, crest factor indicator, total harmonic distortion indicator, and odd harmonics indicator, are introduced in this work. The obtained results indicated that the proposed indicators had a significant role in evaluating the insulator's health. To evaluate the insulator's health levels based on the extracted indicator values, this work presents the naïve Bayes technique for the classification and prediction of the insulator's health. Finally, the confusion matrix for the experimental and prediction results for each indicator was established to determine the appropriateness of each indicator in determining the insulator's health status.

Investigation of High Voltage Polymeric Insulators Performance under Wet Pollution.

In this paper, a unique approach based on electrical characteristics observed from measurements of contaminated polymeric insulators was established to calculate the electric field distribution over their surfaces. A case study using two different 33 kV polymeric insulator geometric profiles was performed to highlight the benefits of the proposed modeling approach. The conductance of the pollution layer was tested to establish a nonlinear field-dependent conductivity for pollution modeling. The leakage current (LC) of the polluted insulator was measured in a laboratory under clean and wet conditions. Then, using the finite element method (FEM), the electric field and current density distributions along the insulator were computed. The results showed that the insulators experienced an increase in the electric field (EF) magnitude ranging from 0.3 kV/cm to 3.6 kV/cm for the insulator with similar sheds (type I) and 2.2-4.5 kV/cm for the insulator with alternating sheds (big and small, type II) under the high rain condition with a flow rate of 9 L/h. Meanwhile, the highest electric field under fog was 1.74 kV/cm for the insulator with similar sheds and 2.32 kV/cm for an insulator with alternating sheds. Due to the larger diameter on the big shed and the longer leakage distance on the insulator with alternating sheds, the EF on the insulator with alternating sheds is higher than the EF on the insulator with similar sheds. The proposed modeling and simulation provided a detailed field condition estimation around the insulators. This is critical for forecasting the emergence of dry bands and the commencement of flashover on the surfaces of the insulators.

Polymeric Insulator Conditions Estimation by Using Leakage Current Characteristics Based on Simulation and Experimental Investigation.

The current work contributes an estimate of the time-frequency characteristics of a leakage current in assessing the health condition of a polluted polymeric insulator. A 33 kV polymer insulator string was subjected to a series of laboratory tests under a range of environmental conditions, including pollution, wetting rate (WR), non-soluble deposit density (NSDD), and non-uniform distribution pollution (FT/B). The temporal and frequency features of the leakage current were then extracted and used as assessment indicators for insulator conditions based on laboratory test findings. Two indices were generated from the leakage current waveform in the time domain: the curve slope index (F1), which is determined by measuring the inclination of the curve between two successive time peaks of the leakage current, and the crest factor indicator (F2). The frequency domain of the leakage current signal was used to calculate the other two indices. These are the odd harmonic indicators derived from the odd frequency harmonics of the leakage current up to the 9th component (F3) and the 5th to 3rd harmonics ratio (F4). The findings showed that the suggested indicators were capable of evaluating insulator conditions. Finally, the confusion matrix for the experimental and prediction results obtained with the proposed indices was used to assess which indicator performed the best. Therefore, the analysis suggests an alternative and effective method for estimating the health condition of a polluted insulator through leakage current characteristics obtained in the time and frequency domains.

Field-Dependent Pollution Model under Polluted Environments for Outdoor Polymeric Insulators.

In-depth understanding of the pollution problems such as dry bands and the polymeric aging process requires better determination of electric field strength and its distribution over the polymeric surface. To determine the electric field distribution over the insulator surface, this research proposes utilizing a novel approach model based on nonlinear electrical characteristics derived from experimental results for polluted polymer insulators. A case study was carried out for a typical 11 kV polymeric insulator to underline the merits of this new modeling approach. The developments of the proposed pollution model and the subsequent computational works are described in detail. The study is divided into two main stages; laboratory measurements and computer simulations. In the first stage, layer conductance tests were carried out to develop nonlinear field-dependent conductivity for the pollution modeling. In the second part, equipotential and electric field distributions along the leakage were computed using the finite element method (FEM). Comparative field studies showed that the simulation using the proposed dynamic pollution model results in more detailed and realistic field profiles around insulators. This may be useful to predict the formation of dry bands and the initiation of electrical discharges on the polymeric surface.