Progress Report of the Project

entitled:
Breakdown characteristics of disc insulators
under artificially polluted Conditions

Department of Electrical Engineering,

AMU, Aligarh India

Introduction
Outdoor insulators are subjected to pollution :
Dirt and chemical fumes in industrial areas
Saline deposits near seacoast
Desert salts as well as natural deposits in the presence
of atmospheric moisture
The insulators used in overhead electrical power
transmission lines are susceptible to contaminationinduced flashover.

NEED OF INSULATOR TESTING

Long term source of severe
flashover.

Power outages, extensive

repairs
and
reduced
reliability.

Several factors that contribute

to atmospheric pollution may
change.

Regular monitoring
pollution
severity
essential.

Proper testing under natural

operating
conditions
is
required.

of
is

Need for Study of behavior

of insulator under pollution
and improvement of design.

Types and sources of pollution

Contaminants

Sources

Corrosive Salt

Coastal areas, salt industries.

Chemical

Chemical and oil industries.

Smoke, Ash,
metallurgical

Thermal power plants

and automobiles.

Sand, Dust

Desert areas.

How?
Process of flashover Generally consists of
following stages:
i. Settling of pollutants.
ii. Formation of conductive layer.
iii. Formation of leakage current.
iv. Formation of dry area.
v. Partial discharge and occurrence of flashover.

EQUIVALENT SALT DEPOSITION

DENSITY (ESDD)
Pollution degree is generally determined by measuring
equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD).
It is accepted worldwide as a numeric index.
Washing with given quantity distilled water.
electrical conductivity is measured.
Equivalent weight of Nacl having same
conductivity is determined.
Eqt. amount in mg of Nacl per square
centimeter deposited on insulator surface.

REMEDIES
1. Industrial pollution:
. ESDD does not give direct info about the
behavior of insulator.
. Substances will settle on the insulator by the
action of wind ,weight ,electric field creating a
layer which forms slowly and can last upto years
.
. Even for same ESDD ,flashover also depends on
design and material of insulator.
. Depending on the behavior of insulator due to
this type of pollution we have to look whether
the artificial cleaning or natural wash (rain) is
sufficient to avoid dangerous layer to be formed.

REMEDIES
2. Marine pollution:
. Insulators exposed to this type pollution can
become conductive due to formation of
conductive layer.
. Weather condition plays an important role in
deposition of contaminants and ultimately on
operation of insulators.
. So sources of pollution must be investigated &
the way of deposition of pollution.

REMEDIES
3. Desert Pollution:
. In this type of regions insulators are subjected to
pollutants of desert results in flashover and
ultimately reduction in efficiency and lack of
supply.
. Also in desert areas particles moving with high
speed due hurricanes and sand storms strikes the
insulator surface and cause material erosion.
. In this type of regions dry bands are created on
insulator surface.
2
. ESDD ranges from 0.1-0.25 mg/cm .
. So being a zone with little quantity of rain ,
these are not capable of washing the insulator
naturally

Experimental testing of insulators

Testing of insulators contaminated by Nacl salt for
different concentration have to be done and then dry and
wet flashover voltages for various ESDD would be
examined.
TESTS:

CONCLUSION
The main purpose of present work is to study the
performance of the insulators for better design and
maintenance of insulators under artificially polluted
conditions as there were limitations in polluting the
insulator naturally.
Effect of salt species present in contaminants , quantity of
contaminant (ESDD) ,and other factors has to be studied.
It would be challenging task for present and future
engineers to develop and implement methods for
improving the present insulators so as to increase the
reliability and efficiency by reducing the occurrence of
flashover .

Discussion & Conclusion

The factors influencing FOV can be summarized as:
1. An increase in pH value of contaminant results in
substantial decrease in FOV.
2. Degree of hydration in salt ions.
3. Solubility of salt plays a major role in deciding the
variation of FOV.
4. Chemical combination of salts in a mixture.

Work Plan
Set of Experiments are designed and performs under artificial
conditions
1. Literature review
i. Study of theoretical aspects of disc insulators
ii. Different pollution conditions
iii. Remedies to reduce pollution catching

2. Preparation of pollution conditions artificially in

laboratory

B. Preparation of different salt combinations based

on

Types of contaminant
concentration and
source.

Prepration of disc insulators

The surface of the specimen insulators were cleaned
And were washed with detergent to remove repellency, the
sample was dried after washing.

 Experimental setup
Instruments ( Insulators, High voltage
transformer control panel )
Contamination procedure

Record of parameters
1. Conductivity
Salt

Conductivity (S/cm)

MgCl2

1035

CaO

1048

Na2CO3

1037

MgCl2+Na2CO3

1023

2. pH
Salt

pH

MgCl2

8.28

CaO

8.25

Na2CO3

8.9

MgCl2+Na2CO3

8.65

Conclusions