Influence of Fine Metal Particles on Surface Discharge Characteristics of Outdoor Insulators

Yong Liu, Bowen Xia, Boxue Du and Masoud Farzaneh
Additional contact information
Yong Liu: Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education (Tianjin University), School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Bowen Xia: Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education (Tianjin University), School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Boxue Du: Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education (Tianjin University), School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Masoud Farzaneh: Canada Research Chair on Engineering of Power Network Atmospheric Icing (INGIVRE), Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555, Boulevard de l'Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Focusing on the influence of fine metal particles on the insulation characteristics of outdoor insulators, spherical micrometer-level iron powders were used to represent fine metal particles of different parameters on a polymer insulator specimen surface. Dynamic movement and lift-off behavior of fine particles, as well as the triggered surface discharges under AC voltage were investigated in a uniform electric field under different experimental conditions. The results reveal that the inception, propagation and intensity of surface discharges are significantly affected by the particle parameters, including particle size, amount and distributing characteristic. Based on the measurement of light emission during the flashover process using a high-speed camera, the process of surface discharge to flashover triggered by the fine metal particles were investigated to obtain a relationship between flashover voltage, discharge light intensity and particle parameters. It is suggested that particle size smaller than 28 µm and particle amount more than 40 mg in contact with the non-uniform distribution can cause a significant distortion and intensification of the electric field resulting in a higher risk of surface discharges leading to flashover. Such investigations can enhance the operating reliability of outdoor insulators subjected to these conditions.

Keywords: outdoor insulator; fine metal particles; micrometer-level size; particle amount; surface discharge characteristic; flashover voltage; discharge luminesce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/2/87/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/2/87/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:2:p:87-:d:63119

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().