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2009 Third Asia International Conference on Modelling & Simulation

Computer Simulation of Leakage Current on ceramic Insulator under Clean Fog Condition

Suwarno and F. Pratomosiwi School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics Bandung Institute of Technology Jl. Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132, INDONESIA E-mail: suwarno@ieee.org

Abstract
During operation, ceramic outdoor high voltage insulators may severe a certain degree of pollution which may reduce their performances. Under these conditions a large leakage current (LC) may flow on the surface and degradation may take place. The LC waveforms are normally non-pure sinusoidal. This paper explains the LC under clean fog condition and proposes an equivalent electrical circuit model for modeling leakage current phenomenon on ceramic outdoor insulator under various environmental conditions. The proposed equivalent electrical circuit model consists of capacitor(s), nonlinear resistor(s), and spark model(s). These three parameters are used to simulate the LC waveforms of ceramic insulator under various environmental conditions. Using the proposed equivalent circuit, the influence of each electrical circuit parameter on the LC waveform characteristics, such as its magnitude, asymmetrical, and total harmonic distortion (THD) are discussed. The leakage current simulations was done using ATP/EMTP software package. Keywords: equivalent circuit, harmonics, non-linear resistor, polluted insulator.

1. Introduction
Ceramic insulators are widely used in power system since long time ago. At present time ceramic insulators are still widely being used. Ceramic insulator has good mechanical and electrical properties and less expensive. As outdoor insulators ceramic
978-0-7695-3648-4/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE DOI 10.1109/AMS.2009.55 508

insulators may severe a certain degree of pollution and other environmental factors which may reduce their surface resistance. The reduction of surface resistance may enhance the leakage current (LC) to flow on the surface of the insulators[1]. Leakage current with large magnitude flow on the surface for long period may cause degradation of the insulator surface[2]. In long term the degradation may lead to the flashover of the insulators. Therefore, it is important to understand the correlation between insulator condition and its leakage current phenomenon and to investigate electrical equivalent circuits for representing insulators under different conditions. In this paper, the proposed equivalent circuit model was used to represent various conditions of insulators. The equivalent circuit contains 3 parameters (a) the capacitance, (b) the non-linear characteristics and (c) arc model. The capacitance affects the phase shift of LC from the applied voltage. The resistance and non-linear characteristics determine the amplitude of the LC and its dependence on the applied voltage. The arc model is used to represent the appearance of electrical discharges on the insulator surface which affects the LC waveforms. The proposed equivalent circuit model could represent outdoor insulator for clean sample under clean fog condition, kaolin salt polluted sample under clean fog condition and effect of salt fog conductivity on leakage current waveforms for experimental results [3]. By combining the three parameters leakage current waveforms were simulated using ATP/EMTP software package. Validation of the proposed equivalent circuit model and its parameters is done by analyzing and comparing experimental results in [1] and the simulation results.

2. Model of insulators and computer Simulation


The proposed equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator is simulated using ATPdraw/EMTP [4] and based on proposed model of polluted insulator with dry-band discharge equivalent circuit[5]. Figure 1 shows the basic electrical equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator. It consists of capacitor(s) and nonlinear resistor(s). Those element purely depend on the internal insulator characteristics and the applied voltages. It is understandable, that in high voltage engineering a capacitive effect of high voltage apparatus, as the case of insulators, will appear dominantly. The levels of insulator leakage current were in order A (microampere). Figure 2 shows a proposed equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator with discharges on the sample surface simulated with models. It consists of capacitor(s), nonlinear resistor(s), and arcing circuit(s). The capacitor and nonlinear resistor connected in parallel, while the arcing circuit connected series with the nonlinear resistor. The presented circuit is a modification of precious one by adding arc model in parallel, as representation of discharge condition. We used arc model to simulate surface discharges by controlling the spark voltage of arc model switch. This equivalent can be used to simulate leakage current with symmetrical waveforms at both polarity (positive and negative cycle have the same leakage current waveforms) and surface discharges. Figure 3 shows a proposed equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator with discharges on the sample surface and additional circuit to simulate the asymmetrical positive and negative half cycle leakage current waveforms. This fact can be explained as follows. As applied voltage increase, the ionization may take place on the insulator surface. Electric discharge may take place if initial charge or electron is available and the instantaneous applied voltage exceeding a certain threshold value. This occurred at positive half cycle when air at the proximity of the ceramic surface is negatively charged and released electron to initiate the discharge. This phenomenon could cause asymmetrical leakage current waveforms. The condition mention above can be simulated by adding diode. The idea is to divide the circuit into two parts. The upper part of equivalent circuit is to simulate the positive half cycle and the below part is to simulate the negative half cycle. To simulate the distorted sinusoidal LC waveforms due to presence of surface discharges, we add additional arc model. With this proposed circuit, we may have the ideal electrical

equivalent circuit to represent outdoor insulator under various condition.

Figure 1: basic electrical equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator

Figure 2: The proposed electrical equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator for symmetrical LC waveforms

Figure 3: The proposed electrical equivalent circuit of outdoor insulator for asymmetrical LC waveforms

3. Simulation Results of Leakage Current and comparison with experimental results


3.1. Leakage Current waveforms for clean sample under clean fog condition
According to [3], typical leakage current waveforms for clean insulator under clean fog of low humidity at applied voltage of (a) 5 kV, (b) 20 kV and (c) 45 kV are shown in figure 4. The LC waveforms were slightly distorted from their sinusoidal due to presence of harmonic components especially 5th and 3rd components. Figure 5 shows the simulation results with the same applied voltage. The waveforms are similar to the typical leakage current waveforms in fig 4. The resistance value is assumed, i.e. 4421 M [5]. This

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value is chosen in order to obtain the leakage current of the order of microamperes. In order to build equivalent circuits that resemble the original insulator, we must combine the three parameters (a) the capacitor capacitance value, (b) the non-linear characteristics and (c) arc model characteristics that represent the magnitude and waveforms of insulators leakage current. It is known that the surface resistance becoming non-linear. Therefore, the non-linear characteristics plays an important role here, because it explains the (phenomenon occur) leakage current flowed on the insulator surface. The non-linear characteristics are different for every simulation condition because the magnitude and waveforms are also different

model used depend on the spark occurred in waveforms. It increases along with the distortion occurred. Figure 5 (c) shows simulated LC waveforms using proposed equivalent circuit for clean sample under clean fog of low humidity at applied voltage of 45kV. The magnitude of LC increased significantly and strong distortion of positive half cycle is observed. Figure 5 (c) also shows that asymmetrical leakage current waveform caused the THD value larger. At 45 kV the 3rd harmonic component are the most significant.

200 150 LC (micro A) 100 50 0 -50 -100 -150 -200 Period 20 ms

(a)

(a)
1000 800 600 LC (micro A) 400 200 0 -200 -400 -600 -800 Period 20 ms

(b) Figure 5: LC waveforms of the proposed equivalent circuit for clean samples under clean fog of low humidity at (a) 5 kV and (b) 20 kV The distortion of positive half cycle is triggered by the arc model in previous explanation. We set the flashover voltage of the model to create distortion in the waveforms. Changing parameters of arc model influence the leakage current waveforms and its THD value. By adding more arc model, we might observe greater distortion. The arc model is very similar to the arc model in [6] with some modification that represents insulator discharge. The arc model is created using TACS from ATPDraw. The combination of the three parameters for each applied voltage is tabulated in table 1. Table 1 shows the change of the non-linear characteristics

(b) Figure 4: Typical LC waveforms for clean samples under clean fog of low humidity at (a) 5 kV and (b) 20 kV Simulation results show that at applied voltage of 5 kV the LC amplitude was about 125A and the THD 12.546%. At applied voltage of 20kV the amplitude of LC was about 600A and the spark at positive half cycle that that occurred in the experiment was generated using the arc model. The number of arc

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for each voltage applied. At 5 kV, it is convey short burst of leakage current. It slightly changes at 20 kV. At 45 kV, it conveys long burst leakage current. It is very similar to the non-linear characteristics for polluted, i.e. kaolin salt, condition. In spite of having the same non-linear characteristic, it is seen that it has different THD value and different waveform. This is because the number of arc model applied and its parameter are different for each condition. The simulation results are similar to the typical leakage current waveforms for clean insulator under clean fog of low humidity. It shows that the proposed equivalent circuit model can be used to simulate outdoor insulator. With correct non-linear resistance characteristics, number of arc model used and capacitance value, a LC waveform can be simulated with similar properties as those of experimental LC waveform. Table 1 Equivalent Circuit Parameters for clean samples under clean fog Parameter s Capacitan ce Arc model 5 kV 0.2 pF & 5 pF -Negative half cycle: 2 arc mo -del -Positive half cycle: 2 arc model -Both have parameter 20 kV 0.11 pF & 5 pF -Negative half cycle: 2 arc model -Positive half cycle: 2 arc model -With different parameters

(a) 5 kV

(b) 10 kV Figure 6: Typical LC waveforms for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog at (a) 5 kV and (b) 10 kV Figure 7 shows the simulated leakage current waveforms for outdoor insulator kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog condition at applied voltage of 5 and 10 kV.

3.2. Leakage Current waveforms for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog condition Figure 6 shows typical LC waveforms for kaolin-salt polluted at conductivity of 1.2 mS/cm and high RH for applied voltage of 5 and 10 kV. Leakage current magnitude is much larger than those from clean sample. For this condition, we modified parameters the equivalent circuit model to represent outdoor insulator for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog condition. Wet kaolin-salt pollution layer became conductive and drastically reduced the surface resistance and hence promote leakage current to flow. It caused the leakage current flowed larger.

(a)

(b)

Figure 7: LC waveforms of the proposed equivalent circuit for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog at (a) 5 kV and (b) 10 kV

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The combination of the three parameters for each applied voltage for obtaining the LC waveforms as shown in fig. 7 is tabulated in table 2. Table 2 Parameters used for simulation of LC waveforms for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog Parameters Capacitance Arc model 5 kV 0.6 pF & 5 pF Not using arc model 10 kV 5 pF & 5.5 pF -Negative half cycle: 3 arc model -Positive half cycle: 1 arc model

4. Conclusions
Leakage current and flashover characteristics of ceramic insulator can be simulated using ATPD draw software package. The proposed electrical equivalent circuit model can be used to simulate various condition of insulators i.e. clean sample under clean fog condition, kaolin salt polluted sample under clean fog condition and effect of salt fog conductivity on leakage current waveforms. These simulation results revealed that a correct electrical equivalent circuit model is indicated by the leakage current waveforms and magnitude and also its THD value. The two are important to create the correct equivalent circuit model. From the simulation results following conclusions can be drawn. The leakage current magnitude and waveforms are very depending on the non-linear characteristics of the non-linear resistance. So in order to create an equivalent circuit that represents the outdoor insulator, we must have valid non-linear characteristics. The capacitances value in all the simulation are between 50 - 0.1 pF. So these values are valid to be used in the equivalent circuit. To generate distortion in leakage current waveforms, we must add arc model. From the simulation results, the arc model is proven to be useful to generate distortion. Generally, the higher harmonics of leakage current will be more visible for polluted and polluted with dry-band discharge insulators. So in order to create such condition, we must add more arc model. From simulation results for kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog, it is clear that for the same environmental condition the non-linear resistance characteristic is pretty similar in spite of the differences voltage applied. And also for the same voltage applied, along with the increase of salt fog conductivity the non-linear characteristics of insulator surface are becoming more linear. By modifying the non-linear resistance characteristics, the number of arc model, and the capacitance value, the electrical equivalent circuit model proposed may be used to represent outdoor insulator under various condition and explain phenomenon that occur on the insulator surface.

The LC waveforms and magnitude are similar to the typical leakage current waveforms in figure 7. Amplitude of LC increased with the applied voltage from 0.6 mA at 5 kV to about 9 mA at 10 kV. The increase of leakage current flowed can be done by enlarge the non-linear V-I characteristic magnitude The THD from the equivalent circuit model were pretty much the same as the experiment. At 5 kV, the LC waveforms slightly distorted with THD of 8.51 %. The distortion kept increased with the applied voltage. The THD value of the leakage current waveforms is depend on the non-linear resistance characteristic, the number of arc model, and capacitance value. The number of arc model used increase along with the number of discharges. For kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog which THD increases with voltage, the number of arc model used is also increases with voltage. For example, at 10 kV with THD 10.381% and small electric spark discharges, 3 arc model was used. From the results in table 2, it can be concluded that, even, the typical phenomenon for polluted insulator can be simulated with the proposed equivalent circuit model. The proposed equivalent circuit to simulate insulator kaolin-salt polluted sample under clean fog condition is slightly different from the equivalent circuit for clean sample. The differences are mainly in the non-linear characteristics (The leakage current magnitude is much larger than those from clean sample) and the number arc model that generates electric spark at negative half cycle as clearly seen in fig. 7b. The capacitances values in the simulation are still between 50-0.1 pF[3].

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5. References
[1] Siderakis, K, D Agoris, P Eleftheria, and E Thalassinakis. "Investigation of Leakage Current on High Voltage Insulators-Field Measurments." WSEAS Transaction on Circuits and System , 2004, pp. 1188-1191. [2] Suda, T. "Frequency Characteristics of Leakage Current Waveforms of a String of Suspension Insulators." IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, 2005, pp. 481-487. [3] Suwarno, and Juniko P., Investigation on Leakage Current Waveforms and Flashover Characteristics of Ceramics for Outdoor Insulators under Clean and Salt Fogs., WSEAS Trans. On Power Systems, Vol. 3, Issue 6, 2008, pp. 456-465. [4] www.emtp.org [5] Waluyo, Parouli Marshala Pakpahan, and Suwarno. "Study on The Electrical Equivalent Circuit Models of Polluted Outdoor Insulators." Proc. The 8th Intl. Conf. on Prop. and Appl. of Diel. Mats., Bali 26-30 June, 2006, pp. 546-549. [6] Elkalashy, Nagy I, Matti Lehtonen, Hatem A Darwish, and Mohamed A Izzularab. "Modelling and Experimental Verification of High Impedance of Arcing Faults in Medium Voltage Networks." IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 2007. [8] Kim, Jeong Ho, et al. "Leakage Current Monitoring and Outdoor Degradation of SIR." IEEE transaction on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 2001, pp. 1108-115. [9] Kind, Dieter, and Hermann Karner. High Voltage Insulation Technology. Germany: Braunschweig: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1985. [10] Suwarno, and Sigit K Ardianto. "Study on Leakage Current, Hidrophobicity and Flashover Characteristics of Epoxy Resin for Outdoor Insulators", WSEAS Trans. On Power Systems, Vol. 1 Issue 8, 2006, pp. 1499-1506.

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