Flashover Voltage Prediction Models under Agricultural and Biological Contaminant Conditions on Insulators

Abstract

The flashover performance of contaminated insulators highly depends on the type of pollutant and its present concentration. In this paper, important agricultural salts (NaCl, K2SO4, NaHCO3, CaSO4, KHCO3, MgSO4, NH4), 2Fe(SO4)2, and 6H2O (ferrous ammonium sulphate, dust, and urea) at different concentrations, and biological contaminants, such as algae and fungi, were taken as pollutants, and the AC flashover behavior of a porcelain-cap-and-pin-type insulator polluted with these two different pollutants was investigated. The experiment was carried out by a semi-natural method, wherein the insulator was first polluted artificially; thereafter, natural fog was applied to measure the wet flashover voltage. Test results indicated that the flashover voltages were affected by both soluble salts and non-soluble components deposited on the insulator surface. In the case of the thickly contaminated layers, non-soluble deposits greatly reduced the flashover voltage. Moreover, by using regression analysis, four empirical models based on different variables were developed. The empirical models developed in the present work represented a good degree of relation in predicting the flashover voltage of naturally contaminated insulators.