Finite Element Method

In general for testing a High Voltage insulator it is a very complex process which
requires a separate High Voltage lab, many skilled workers, a huge amount of power is
wasted, its requires a high attention. With all the above are available but still it is very
life risking factor. To overcome all the factors and to design a new sample and to test
for determine its operating conditions we are using numerical techniques.

6.1 Numerical Techniques:

Electric fields can be computed using various methods with different precision.
However, for insulation of electrical equipment a more accurate electric field prediction
is required. With the advent of computing power and numerical techniques in recent
years, it has become practical to use different techniques to compute the electric fields.
Such numerical techniques enable the designer to solve problems that are difficult, and
use of analytical approach with many empirical factors is impossible.
In two-dimensional (2D) analysis, if the field is not time varying, the electric potential
V in the actual space is satisfied by Poisson's equation [2]:

In order to solve the above equation a number of boundary conditions must be

imposed and for analytical solution in practical boundary conditions are difficult, or
highly impossible so we require numerical techniques.

6.1.1. Types of Numerical Techniques:

Numerical techniques are mainly classified into 4 types
Finite Difference Method (FDM)
Finite Element Method (FEM)
Boundary Element Method (BEM)
Charge Simulation Method (CSM)
Each technique has its own merits and drawbacks and one technique cannot be
generally preferred to others. Based on the proposed problem, the most convenient
technique must be selected.

6.1.2. Finite Difference Method (FDM):

Finite difference method (FDM) is the oldest technique in the field computations that
was introduced by Gauss. Then Boltzman published it in his notes in 1892. However,
because of the large amount of computations required, due to this the use of the FDM
dates back only to the event of the computer.
6.1.3. Finite Element Method (FEM):
Among the various numerical techniques, the finite element method (FEM) has a
dominant position because it is versatile, having a strong interchangeability and can be
incorporated into standard programs. FEM is based on this fact that the physical systems
stabilizes at the minimum level of energy.

6.1.4. Boundary Element Method (BEM):

If distribution of electric charge for every region (including boundary surfaces) is
known, electric potential and field intensity for each point can be computed using
Coulomb's law of Gauss's law. In practice, Laplacian equation is normally used. This
means that electric charge is enclosed only inside the boundaries of the proposed region
and volume charge density inside the region is equal to zero or negligible.
In practice the values of constants are unknown and it is impossible to solve the above
laplacian equations so to overcome this difficulty the BEM may be employed. In this
method, the boundary surface is divided into N elements all these N elements are added
later to solve the required field in a given region.

6.1.5. Charge Simulation Method (CSM):

This method is similar to the BEM. The difference between charge simulation method
(CSM) and the BEM is the simulation of the surface charge existing on the boundary
surfaces. In the BEM the surface charge density function on the different surface
boundaries are estimated, while in the CSM the surface charge density is substituted by
a set of discretized linear charge distribution. The substituted linear charge distribution
is such that the electric potential and field intensity versus their charges are analytic
known functions. Charge distribution on an infinite length line with a constant density,
on a finite line, on a circle etc., are examples of the charge distribution. Out of all the
above numerical methods we use Finite Element Method the most because of its
simplicity. Here in this project we are simulating the polymer insulator in the FEMM
software and different atmospheric conditions are considered and the corresponding
values are observed.

6.2 Finite Element Method Magnetics:

The finite element method (FEM) is a numerical procedure that can be applied to obtain
solutions to a variety of problems in engineering and science. Steady, transient, linear
and nonlinear problems in electromagnetics, structural analysis, and fluid dynamics
may be analysed and solved with it.
Its main advantage is its capability to treat any type of geometry and material
inhomogeneity without a need to alter the formulation of the computer code that
Implements it providing geometrical fidelity and unrestricted material treatment. The
idea of the method is to break the problem down into a large number of regions, each
with a simple geometry. As a result, the domain breaks down into a number of small
elements and the problem is transformed from a small but difficult to solve one into a
big but relatively easy to solve. Through the process of discretization, a linear algebra
Problem is formed with many unknowns. However, algorithms exist that allow the
resulting linear algebra problem to be solved, usually in a short amount of time. In the
case of electromagnetics a discretization scheme, such as the one that FEM implies,
which implicitly incorporate most of the theoretical features of the problem under
analysis is the best solution to get accurate results in problems with complex
geometries, nonlinearities, etc. Although the differential equations of interest appear
relatively compact, it is very difficult to get closedform solutions for all but the
simplest geometries. This is where finite elements method comes in.

Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) software has been developed for this reason
addressing some limiting cases of Maxwells equations. The magnetic problems
addressed are those that can be considered as low frequency (LF) problems in which
displacement currents can be ignored. In a similar vein, the electrostatics solver
considers the converse case in which only the electric field is considered while the
magnetic field is neglected. The program addresses 2D planar and 3D axisymmetric
linear and nonlinear harmonic magnetic, magneto static and linear electrostatic
problems. FEMM package is an open source, simple, accurate, and low computational
cost freeware product, popular in science and engineering. Several applications in areas
such as electromagnetics, materials science, industry, medicine, experimental and
particle physics, robotics, astronomy, and space engineering can be found. However its
educational value has not been credited. The physics and engineering introductory
courses in electromagnetics have remained traditional in many ways during the years.
Unfortunately a software tool is rarely used in such a course for lots of reasons.
Commercial software and SEMCAD X is reliable and fast. However undergraduate
students are not likely to take an indepth electromagnetics course that would entail
sophisticated simulations requiring such tools. The high performance simulations
available in commercial packages remain out of reach. However it would be beneficial
for students to use a simple software tool. FEMM package comes to meet these needs.

Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) is an open source finite element analysis
software package for solving electromagnetic problems. The program addresses 2D
planar and 3D axisymmetric linear and nonlinear harmonic low frequency magnetic and
magneto static problems and linear electrostatic problems. It is a simple, accurate, and
low computational cost freeware product, popular in science and engineering.
The version of software used is FEMM 4.2.

6.2. How to Design an insulator in FEMM:

1) Open a FEMM and create a new window from
File New Create a new problem choose Electrostatics problem.

2) Click on the Tab button in the keyboard and then we will get an Enter Point dialog
box. Then give the initial co-ordinates (X=0, Y=0).

3) Then design the required insulator with the specifications and dimensions already
measured. The final design of insulator will be as shown in fig below.

4) After creating the design of the required insulator now we had to assign materials to
the insulator,
Go-to properties Select material, then a new dialog box will appear

5) Then select the required material from the drop down menu, or if you want to add
new material click on the add Property, after clicking the add property a new dialog box
will appear in that name the material and assign the permittivity values.

Relative Permittivity for different materials

S.No Materials Relative
Permittivity
1. Silicon 3
Rubber
2. FRP Rod 5
3. Steel 1
4. Air 1

Now we had to assign the added material values to the insulator by the following
process
Click on operation on block label (green colour button) first left click the mouse
where we want to assign the material then right click on the same node point
then press space key in the keyboard then from the dialog box select the required
material.
6) After assigning the material values now we have to keep the boundary conditions.
The boundary should be very large and it can be in any shape.

In the fig above the blue outer border is the boundary and inner part is the insulator we
designed.
7) For boundary the procedure is
Properties select Boundary from the dialog box click on add property name
and assign the voltages.
8) Now apply the high voltage and low voltage to the insulator by the following
procedure
Select the arc segnment from menu bar right click on the area where we want to
assing the voltage then press space key and select the required voltage.
9) Now we have to create meshes for running the design. For creating meshes we
have to click on mesh generator from the menu bar.

9) Now click on Run analysis from the menu bar.

10) For the countors click on the View Result option from the menu bar and the countors
will be like