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access icon openaccess New experimental study on the DC flashover voltage of polymer insulators: combined effect of surface charges and air humidity

This is an open access article published by the IET and CEPRI under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Received 19/04/2019, Accepted 08/07/2019, Revised 04/07/2019, Published 01/08/2019

This research provides conclusions that can partially cover the lack of knowledge related to the effects of ambient atmospheric conditions on DC electric power transportation. Two polymer insulating materials are used for completing this research study. Inside a climate chamber, the relative humidity is controlled and adjusted from 20% to 80% RH. Then, the samples are charged with positive or negative charges by applying to the corona-generating ring of needles. The surface potential is measured using an electrostatic voltmeter and is converted into surface charge density later by applying the probe response matrix method. The pre-charged samples are then stressed with high-voltage negative or positive DC values inside the climate chamber over a range of controlled values of the surrounding air humidity until flashover takes place. The space charges, which can drift in the air gap to reach the solid surface, are highly affected by the level of the relative humidity of the surrounding air. Also, increasing humidity results in a reduction of the DC flashover inception voltage and a shorter time to flashover regardless of the voltage polarity. Moreover, the positive or negative flashover inception voltage of both materials increases with pre-deposited negative charges while it decreases with pre-deposited positive charges.

Inspec keywords: surface charging; voltmeters; humidity; surface potential; flashover; space charge; polymer insulators; corona

Other keywords: surface charges; climate chamber; increasing humidity results; pre-deposited positive charges; solid surface; electrostatic voltmeter; controlled values; materials increases; polymer insulating materials; new experimental study; DC flashover voltage; 80% RH; air gap; probe response matrix method; ambient atmospheric conditions; DC electric power transportation; surface charge density; voltage polarity; polymer insulators; voltage 20.0 kV; pre-charged samples; surface potential; surrounding air humidity; negative flashover inception voltage; DC flashover inception voltage; relative humidity; pre-deposited negative charges; positive flashover inception voltage

Subjects: Solid surface structure; Dielectric breakdown and discharges; Power line supports, insulators and connectors

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