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Failure analysis of field-aged polymeric outdoor insulators and performance enhancement for electric stress using nonlinear field grading composites

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Abstract

Polymeric outdoor insulators are increasingly employed in transmission and distribution systems. The various electric and environmental stresses significantly affect their long-term performance due to their organic nature, leading to degradation and aging of the insulation materials. Experimental studies have been carried out on in-service polymeric outdoor insulators for more than 20 years (400 kV and 132 kV) to investigate the structural changes and the effects of these stresses on the degradation and aging of the housing material (silicone rubber). The silicone rubber was subjected to the following tests: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray, and hydrophobicity measurements. In addition, the equivalent salt deposit density and non-soluble deposit density measurements and tensile strength measurements have been carried out. The results of the field-aged polymeric insulators are compared with fresh samples also. These investigations show some interesting results, which are presented and analyzed. Finally, a 2D axisymmetric model of the 132-kV insulator was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics and the finite element method. One mitigation technique for excessive electric stress was studied using field grading composite (FGM) based on zinc oxide microvaristors. Suitable electrical characteristics and an optimized design of field grading material have been proposed to effectively control the electric stress of the 132-kV polymeric outdoor insulators under various operating conditions. The results of the simulation demonstrate that using FGMs can significantly improve the performance of polymeric insulators in the field. Further development of FGM and experimental investigations are planned.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Voltage Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    M-Ramez Halloum, B. Subba Reddy & G. Nithin Reddy

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  1. M-Ramez Halloum
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  2. B. Subba Reddy
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  3. G. Nithin Reddy
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study's conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by N.R.G. and M.R.H. S.R.B. helped in supervision. Writing—review and editing was performed by M.R.H. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to M-Ramez Halloum.

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Halloum, MR., Reddy, B.S. & Reddy, G.N. Failure analysis of field-aged polymeric outdoor insulators and performance enhancement for electric stress using nonlinear field grading composites. Electr Eng 106, 1147–1161 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00202-023-01898-0

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