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M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis

of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model
under non-Uniform Pollution Conditions
M. A. Douar, A. Mekhaldi and M. C. Bouzidi
Laboratoire de Recherche en Electrotechnique, Laboratoire de Haute Tension
Ecole Nationale Polytechnique of Algiers
10 Avenue Hassen Badi, B.P 182, El-Harrach, 16200 Algiers, Algeria.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we present results dealing with the non-uniform pollution carried out under
50 Hz applied voltage on a plane model simulating the 1512 L outdoor insulator largely
used by the Algerian Company of Gas and Electric Power (SONELGAZ). Many
configurations in non-uniform pollution are studied in the ENPs (Ecole Nationale
Polytechnique dAlger) High Voltage Laboratory in order to analyze the impact of polluted
layer distribution on the insulator dielectric performances. The polluted solution has a
conductivity of 1.2 mS/cm obtained with distilled water and NaCl. Our investigations are
particularly focused on the on line monitoring of both position and width of the
contaminated layer. The flashover voltage and the leakage current magnitude have been
investigated in order to study the flashover process on this insulating surface. A video
apparatus is used to reflect the parallel discharges behavior, appearing when the polluted
layer reaches a critical width. Phase angle values between applied voltage and leakage
current (LC) signals at the fundamental frequency (50 Hz) are calculated using the Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) spectral analysis. Phase angle measurements indicate that the
equivalent impedance of the insulator behaves like RC circuit with a high capacitive effect
engendered by the pre-established clean band. This effect decreases when electric
discharges occur at a particular voltage level. The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is
adopted for the leakage current decomposition in several time-frequency bands. The STDMRA (Standard deviation-Multi Resolution Analysis) of these frequency bands is
calculated and is employed to choose the most interesting details that detect both position
and width increasing of the conducting layer. Reported results show that the pollution
surface state and the severity of this conducting layer deposited on insulator surface could
be identified from the STD-MRA representation of leakage current frequency bands. It was
shown that the high frequency band of the leakage current increases before the final
flashover when the polluted layer is located in the middle of the plane model. It was
established that a good correlation has been found between the insulator state surface and
details of the leakage current obtained through the DWT decomposition. In fact, these
details provide relevant information on both position and width of the polluted layer nonuniformly distributed on the insulator surface.
Index Terms Flashover process, parallel discharges, pollution severity, wavelet
transform, plane model, leakage current, phase angle, monitoring.

1 INTRODUCTION
IN the power industry, outdoor insulators are widely
employed to maintain electrical insulation ranging from
distribution to transmission lines and to support the
mechanical load between a conductor and the ground in power
apparatus systems. Most of the time, insulators are subjected
to sustained moisture and soluble and non-soluble
contamination (dust and sand, chemical products and salt)
Manuscript received on 4 November 2010, in final form 8 April 2010.

caused by natural or anthropogenic parameters [1]. These

factors lead to the formation of a conducting layer on the
insulator surface that significantly reduces the dielectric
performance of the insulator. In fact, the pollution layer
repartition on insulating surfaces is generally non-uniform [24] because of the insulators shape, their position with regard to
the high voltage conductor, their height related to the ground,
their arrangement, the weather conditions and the electrostatic
attraction of particles deposited on the insulating surface in
presence of the electric field. These non-uniform polluted
layers can be formed by group, by sector or periodical [5]. As

1070-9878/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

an example, the polluted layer can be deposited at back

sections of insulators shed when dusts transported by the wind
are deposited aerodynamically on the outdoor insulator
surface.
The insulator pollution phenomenon is the major problem
which is responsible of a significant flashover voltage
decrease. This one depends on many parameters such as the
nature of the deposit density under wetted conditions.
However, the understanding of flashover phenomenon is still
complex despite of many researches and experiments carried
out [6-9] in order to understand the electric discharges
development on the polluted surface leading to the flashover
under wetted and contaminated conditions. The electric
discharges appearance can be considered as a precursor sign
just before the final insulator flashover [10-13]. Thus, it
becomes necessary to develop diagnostic methods of the
pollution severity on the insulator surface in the viewpoint of
minimizing risks of damage to operating systems and reducing
costs of maintenance. The aim of diagnostics is, in general, to
get relevant information about the state of technical systems
[14]. In insulator applications this means that diagnostics
should be an aid in making decisions about if and when
maintenance or replacement should be done. One practical
method of flashover prevention and pollution characterization
[15] consists of the soluble deposit density estimation
evaluated by equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) and nonsoluble deposit density (NSDD); they are generally measured
by using pilot insulator. The analysis of frequency
characteristics of the leakage current, visual inspections in
situ, thermal, acoustic and optical measurements,
measurements of electric field distribution, LIF (Laser
Induced Fluorescence) measurement for the biological life
detection on the insulator surface and the microstructure based
evaluation of field aged and new porcelain suspension
insulators are the most interesting diagnostic methods [16, 17].
Examinations made up on leakage current waveforms showed
that it is an efficient tool to collect information about the
surface state of polluted insulators by analyzing current peaks
when electric discharges occur on the insulating surface and
performing an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis to
extract its frequency characteristics [18]. Aulia et al [19]
experiments results showed that the leakage current THD
(Total Harmonic Distortion) increases when electric
discharges occur under both salt fog and cement dust
contamination if pulverization time is relatively long, then a
combination of the two pollution types will increase the
probability of the flashover occurrence. Meghnefi et al [20]
analyzed the leakage current signal of a porcelain standard
station insulator during a glaze ice accretion. The results
showed that icing rate measurement can be achieved by using
the time evolution of the third and fifth harmonic, as well as
the phase angle between leakage current and applied voltage.
Suda [21] established a method for monitoring contamination
deposited on cap and pin insulators by studying leakage
current waveforms and their frequency characteristics, and
classified the transition of leakage current waveforms into six
stages in order to predict flashover. The application of
Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) on the leakage current is
considered as another diagnostic tool for pollution severity

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characterization in order to understand the behavior of timefrequency components of the leakage current especially when
electric discharges occur in contaminated conditions.
Chandrasekar et al [22] applied the DWT decomposition and
calculated the STD-MRA (Standard Deviation- Multi
Resolution Analysis) distortion ratio pattern of the leakage
current. Reported results on both silicon rubber and porcelain
insulators showed that the pollution severity of outdoor
insulators could be identified through this ratio. Although, the
DWT decomposition was greatly employed to remove the
noise associated to the PD measurement [23-26] and no
researchers were interested to estimate both position and width
increasing of the non uniform polluted layer by using the
DWT decomposition of current in order to characterize the
severity of the polluted layer width and to diagnose the surface
state of the polluted insulator before the final flashover.
In this work, we study the impact of both position and width
increasing of the non uniform polluted layer on frequency
characteristics obtained with the DWT decomposition of the
leakage current which passes through this polluted layer. We
have particularly examined three non uniform pollution
configurations on the insulating surface of the plane model
which simulates the 1512 L outdoor insulator largely used by
the Algerian company of Gas and Electric Power
(SONELGAZ). The first configuration is obtained by
contaminating a region of the insulator near the high voltage
(HV) electrode. The second one is obtained by contaminating
a region of the insulator near the ground electrode. The third
one consists of contaminating the middle zone of the
insulating surface. The FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) spectral
analysis is performed on both leakage current and voltage
waveforms at the fundamental frequency (50 Hz) for phase
angle analyzing when the polluted layer width increases. The
STD-MRA representation is employed to analyze the behavior
of frequency components of the leakage current and at the
same time, to detect components that give estimation about
both position and width of the non-uniform polluted layer for
each tested configuration. These investigations make it
possible to establish the location of polluted layer which is
distributed non-uniformly on the insulator surface. This is
done by diagnosing the influence of both position and width of
the contaminating layer on the dielectric performances of the
plane model by means of the wavelet transform.

2 EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
Experiments are carried out in the ENPs (Ecole Nationale
Polytechnique of Algiers) High Voltage Laboratory test
station (Figure 1), on a plane model reproducing the 1512 L
outdoor insulator (Figure 2). The experimental setup is
composed of a high voltage test transformer (50 kVA, 50 Hz),
a TEKTRONIX digital oscilloscope of 500 MHz bandwidth
for leakage current and applied voltage waveforms recording,
a PC (personal computer) records data related to different
widths of the polluted layer and a video apparatus SONY
DCR-SR 45 is used to reflect the parallel discharges
appearance when the polluted layer reaches a critical length
that significantly decreases the dielectric performances of the
insulator. Dimensions of the 1512 L outdoor insulator are

M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

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given in Table 1. In fact, the studied model is made of glass

(500 mm x 500 mm x 3 mm). Two aluminum electrodes (50
cm x 3 cm) are cut up and connected to both high voltage and
ground bounds. The distance between the two electrodes
represents the leakage path of the 1512 L outdoor insulator
(29.2 cm). First, the insulating surface is cleaned with tap
water and dried with papers. Then, it is perfectly cleaned with
some 70 alcohol to ensure a perfect neatness of the studied
model.

oscilloscope. The sample frequency is 250 kHz in order to

have 2 signal periods and to visualize clearly transitions of the
leakage current during arcing phenomenon. The contamination
of the insulating surface is non-uniform by spraying a solution
composed of distilled water and NaCl having a conductivity of
1.2 mS/cm, 5 times on each side of the plane model and at
50 cm distance from this insulator (Figures 3 and 4). This salt
solution is sprayed over the insulating surface in order to
obtain three non uniform pollution configurations: the first one
is a polluted band near the HV electrode, the second one is
located near the ground electrode and the third one is situated
in the middle of the plane model. Several widths of the
polluted layer (X = 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 cm) are adopted for
these non-uniform configurations (Figures 3 and 4). The
applied voltage level equals 27 kVrms in the case of both HV
and ground polluted bands and approximately 40 kVrms for the
middle polluted layer. These two levels correspond to the
beginning of preliminary discharge phenomena that can be
considered as the first stage of flashover process.
Table 1. Technical data of the 1512 L outdoor insulator.
Name

D(mm)

N(mm)

P(mm)

1512 L

255

16

127

Leakage
distance(mm)
292

Figure 1. Measurement of both voltage (U) and leakage current (I).

Figure 3. Spraying method for both polluted bands: near the HV electrode
and near the ground one.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2. (a) 1512 L insulator profile, (b) laboratory plane model profile.

Leakage current waveforms are recorded through a shunt of

2 k inserted between the test sample and earth. A coaxial
cable is used to recover leakage current data sent to the

Figure 4. Spraying method with a pollution band in the middle of the plane
model.

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this section, we are interested in the flashover voltage
measurement, the leakage current magnitude variation, the
phase angle analysis between leakage current and voltage
waveforms at the fundamental frequency and parallel
discharges appearance in the air gap formed between the
polluted layer and electrodes during the flashover process.
These discharges occur for a particular applied voltage level
and when the polluted layer width reaches a critical value.
These investigations make it possible to diagnose the surface
state of the polluted insulator in order to prevent the insulator
flashover and to characterize the pollution severity.
3.1 THE FLASHOVER VOLTAGE
This part is aimed to study the influence of both position
and increasing width of the polluted layer on the insulator
flashover voltage in order to establish the polluted layer
discontinuity impact on the dielectric performances of the
insulating surface. Figure 5 shows flashover variations (which
represents an average of four values) when the polluted layer
is located near the HV electrode, near the ground one and
when this conducting layer is situated in the middle of the
plane model. Flashover voltage values are plotted versus the
ratio between the polluted layer width and the total leakage
distance, to establish the increasing width effect of the
polluted layer on the dielectric performances of the plane
model by taken into account its total leakage path for the
three non uniform configurations.

Figure 5. Flashover voltage characteristics for the three configurations

according to the ratio between the polluted layer width and the total leakage
distance.

From Figure 5, we notice that the flashover voltage

characteristic is practically linear when the polluted layer is
located on both HV electrode and ground electrodes. It
decreases with increasing of the polluted layer ratio. For the
ground polluted band, the flashover voltage values are higher
than those obtained for the HV polluted band especially for
both 0.51 and 0.85 ratios. These results infer that the polluted
insulator surface is more strengthen in the case of ground

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configuration for both previous ratios. The difference in the

flashover voltage values for the HV band is about 5.2% in the
case of the ratio 0.61 and 7% in the case of the ratio 0.85,
comparing to those of the ground polluted band.
When the polluted layer is located in the middle of the plane
model, the flashover voltage characteristic is also linear and
decreases with increasing of the polluted layer ratio. However,
this decrease is less emphasized than the two previous
configurations and flashover values are the highest one except
for the polluted ratio 0.85. This result obviously shows that the
insulating model has the highest dielectric strength when the
polluted layer is distributed in the middle of its insulating
surface.
For each non-uniform configuration, the flashover voltage
value is the highest for the lowest ratio 0.17 when we compare
to other ratios (0.34, 0.51, 0.68 and 0.85). The flashover value
reaches a minimum value when the polluted layer width
equals 25 cm which corresponds approximately to 85% of the
total leakage distance. This ratio would correspond to the most
favorable case to the rapid formation of electrical arcs. These
observations were made up by other researchers [27]. The
appearance of these electric discharges particularly in the preestablished clean band can be explained by a significant
reduction of the clean band width up to a critical value
(representing 25 cm) by which the intensity of the electric
field in this dry band reaches the breakdown strength and thus,
discharges occur in this clean gap.
3.2 THE LEAKAGE CURRENT MAGNITUDE
ANALYSIS
In order to show the influence of polluted layer position and
its width on the leakage current magnitude characteristics,
many tests have been carried out with different applied voltage
levels (3, 9, 15, 21 and 27 kVrms ) when the pollution band is
near the HV electrode and when it is near the ground. For the
middle polluted band, applied voltage levels are 3, 9, 15, 21
and 40 kVrms. Figure 6 shows leakage current magnitude
variations with increasing of both the applied voltage level and
the polluted layer width for the three configurations. Video
observations show that the flashover arc occurs in the air with
the formation of electric discharges just before the final
flashover when the polluted layer width is less than 20 cm.
When the polluted layer width reaches 25 cm, the flashover
process is characterized by the formation of parallel
discharges for the three configurations. The number of these
discharges increases in the clean air gap with increasing of the
voltage level, then some electric sparks appears in the polluted
region of the plan model after the formation of some dry bands
in which the electric field intensity reaches the breakdown
strength causing the appearance of other electric discharges.
Finally, parallel discharges progress on the polluted layer until
the total flashover with increasing of the applied voltage level.
We have particularly noticed that the flashover arc occurs in
the air because of the presence of the pre-established clean air
gap located between the polluted band and electrodes (HV or
ground).
When the polluted band is near the HV electrode (Figure
6a), the leakage current magnitude increases with increasing
of both the polluted layer width and the applied voltage level.

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M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

The current magnitude reaches a maximum value when the

applied voltage equals 27 kVrms and when the polluted band
width represents 85% of the total leakage distance. These
results represent the most favorable case to the formation of
parallel discharges on the polluted surface especially in the air
gap located between the polluted layer and the ground
electrode. The increase of the leakage current magnitude can
be explained by a significant reduction of the total equivalent
impedance of the insulator proportionally to the increase of the
polluted layer width. Figures 7 and 8 show the flashover
process in the case of both 20 and 25 cm contaminated layer
widths when the polluted band is near the HV electrode.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 7. Flashover stages in the case of HV polluted band at 20 cm layer

width, (a) arc ignition at 44 kVrms ,(b) arc progression at 50 kVrms ,(c) arc
formation in the air gap just before the flashover at 52 kVrms, (d) flashover
occurs at 54 kVrms.

(a)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 8. Flashover stages in the case of HV polluted band at 25 cm layer

width, (a) discharges appear at 25 kVrms, (b) Increase of the discharges
number at 28 kVrms,(c) pre-flashover arc ignition at 33 kVrms, (d) flashover
occurs at 40 kVrms.

(b)

(c)
Figure 6. Leakage current magnitude characteristics with increasing of both
polluted layer width and applied voltage level, (a) HV band, (b) ground band,
(c) middle band.

When the polluted layer is near the ground electrode,

experimental results show the same as HV polluted
configuration (Figure 6b) that the current magnitude increases
with increasing of both polluted layer width and applied
voltage level. Although, laboratory observations show that the
current magnitude is higher than that obtained for the HV
polluted band especially when the polluted layer ratio equals
0.68 for both 21 and 27 kVrms voltage levels. The difference
between both HV and ground current values approximately
equal 12.8% for 21 kVrms and equals 11% for 27 kVrms with
regard to HV polluted configuration. For the ground polluted
band, the current magnitude is the highest when the polluted
layer ratio reaches 0.85 and the applied voltage equals 27
kVrms. Figure 9 shows that the flashover process is achieved
with the electric discharges formation for the ratio 0.85 and
the voltage 27 kVrms) in the air gap located between the HV
electrode and the ground polluted layer. This systematically
induces a large elevation of the leakage current magnitude

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

which can be considered as a precursor sign of the imminent

flashover at a particular applied voltage level. Although, the
flashover arc for the ratio 0.68 is not preceded with any
electric sparks and formation of discharges.

(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 9. Flashover stages in the case of ground polluted band at 25 cm
layer width, (a) discharges appear at 27 kVrms, (b) Increase of the discharges
number at 38 kVrms,(c) flashover occurs at 42 kVrms

Experimental observations carried out when the polluted

band is in the middle of the plane model (Figure 6c) show also
that the leakage current magnitude increases with increasing
of the polluted layer width and the applied voltage level.
However, these current values are the lowest comparatively to
previous configurations, indicating that the total equivalent
impedance of the polluted insulator is the highest one if the
polluted width reaches 15, 20 and 25 cm and when the applied
voltage equals 9, 15 and 21 kVrms.

(a)

(c)

(b)

(d)

Figure 10. Flashover stages when the polluted band is in the middle of the
plane model at 25 cm layer width, (a) discharges appear at 33 kVrms,
(b) Development of parallel discharge activities at 36 kVrms, (c) electric
sparks appear at 40 kVrms, (d) Flashover occurs at 45 kVrms.

This significant reduction in the leakage current magnitude

can be explained by the decrease of the insulator conduction
effect which is similar to the point-point electrodes system

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when two insulated barriers are introduced between these

electrodes because of the presence of two pre-established dry
zones. The rapid increase of current magnitude for the voltage
40 kVrms and the polluted ratio 0.85 is engendered by the
occurrence of both parallel discharges and electric sparks
(Figure 10) that short-circuit both air gaps formed by the
middle band and electrodes (HV and ground). Thus, discharge
phenomena lead to significantly decrease the equivalent
impedance of the plane model.
Consequently, we conclude that the parallel discharges
formation in air gaps located between electrodes and the
polluted layer is achieved when 80 % to 85% of the total
insulator leakage distance is polluted. For the HV band
configuration, discharges appear when the applied voltage
equals 21 kVrms. For the ground band configuration, this is
done when the voltage reaches 27 kVrms .For the middle
polluted band, discharges appear when the applied voltage is
greater than 33 kVrms. These electric discharges increase
significantly the current magnitude inducing a probable
flashover arc on the polluted surface for other high applied
voltage levels and at the same time, creating dry bands in the
polluted region which are the result of water evaporation
leading to the formation of some electric sparks.
3.3 PHASE ANGLE CHARACTERISTICS
In this section, we study phase angle variations between
leakage current and voltage waveforms at the fundamental
frequency in order to understand the impact of the polluted
layer repartition on the insulator equivalent circuit changes.
The phase angle analysis can be useful to establish the
behavior of the equivalent circuit of the plane model when it is
more resistive or more capacitive and to distinguish different
polluted layer dispositions on the insulating surface. The phase
angle calculation between the leakage current and the applied
voltage is obtained through the FFT spectral analysis.
Figure 11a shows phase angle variations for the HV
polluted layer case at different applied voltage levels.
Experimental observations show that the phase angle value
decreases with increasing of the conducting layer width. This
clearly shows that the equivalent circuit behavior of the plane
model is greatly resistive and poorly capacitive with
increasing of this polluted layer. For layers 5, 10 and 15 cm
width, the applied voltage has no influence on the phase angle
current-voltage which is characterized by no significant
variation and its numerical value is high as 76 to 80 degrees.
This result is in good agreement with that found by other
researchers [28, 29].When the conducting layer width is
higher than 15 cm, the phase angle current-voltage tends to
clearly decrease according to the increase of both the polluted
layer width and the applied voltage level. The equivalent
circuit of the plane model becomes more resistive than
capacitive. In the case of 20 and 25 cm width, the phase angle
value is the smallest when the applied voltage level
respectively equals 21 and 27 kVrms indicating that the
equivalent circuit is highly resistive when parallel discharges
occur in the air gap and short-circuiting this pre-established
gap, leading to decrease the capacitive effect of the plane
model.

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M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

From Figure 11b, we distinguish that obtained results for the

ground polluted band are practically similar to those obtained in
the case of the HV polluted band. The phase angle decreases with
increasing of both conducting layer width deposited on the
insulating surface and applied voltage level. The decrease of
phase angle appears clearly when the polluted layer ratio is
greater than 0.51. However, the phase angle value for the ground
polluted band is lower than that obtained for the HV band when
the polluted ratio is less than 0.51; it equals 72 degrees for the
ratio 0.34. These results indicate that the polluted plane model is
more resistive when the polluted layer is located near the ground
electrode. Electric discharges begin to appear when the polluted
layer ratio reaches 0.85 and the applied voltages equals 27 kVrms.
The occurrence of electric discharges causes more significant
decrease in the phase angle value. Thus, the plane model
impedance behaves like a resistance when electric discharges
initiate on that insulating area non-uniformly polluted.

For the last non-uniform configuration (middle band),

Figure 11c shows that the phase angle value decreases with
increasing of the polluted middle band width inferring that
resistive effect increases when the insulating area tends to be
fully polluted. When the applied voltage level is lower or
equal to 21 kVrms, the increase of the applied voltage level has
no specific effect on the phase angle value current-voltage. In
the other hand, if the applied voltage reaches 40 kVrms, the
phase angle value becomes to significantly decrease because
of thermal excitement of ionized particles on the polluted
plane surface, and preliminary superficial discharges that
increase the resistive behavior of the polluted plane model.
However, the phase angle decrease is less accentuated when
the middle region of the insulator is contaminated inferring a
high capacitive behavior of the total equivalent impedance and
indicating a better dielectric strength and performance
comparatively to previous non-uniform configurations. The
ground polluted band configuration presents a critical situation
because the plane model has the lowest dielectric performance
when we consider low phase angle values for low applied
voltage levels (Figure 11b).

4 FREQUENCY CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE LEAKAGE CURRENT

(a)

(b)

In this section are examined frequency bands of the

leakage current obtained after the Discrete Wavelet Transform
(DWT) decomposition to establish the behavior of these
frequency bands with the different geometrical constraints
when the non uniform layer position changes and its width
increases. This study is aimed to correlate the appropriate
frequency band with the insulator state surface by on line
monitoring both position and width of the polluted layer. This
analysis is an aid to make rapid decisions about engaging a
cleaning process of the outdoor insulator in service.
4.1 DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORM
Basically, the discrete wavelet transform consists of the
signal decomposition in frequency bands with minimizing
calculation time and is easy to implement by means of the
multi-resolution analysis [30]. It is expressed by equation (1)
as follows:
(1)

(c)
Figure 11. Phase angle current-voltage characteristics with increasing of both
polluted layer width and applied voltage level, (a) HV polluted band,
(b) ground polluted band, (c) middle polluted band.

represents the mother wavelet scaled by the parameter a0m

and shifted by the coefficient nb0(a0) m. a0 and b0 are fixed
values with a0 > 1 and b0 > 0, m and n are positive integers.
When a signal is decomposed with the DWT multi resolution
analysis, it passes through the DWTs filter pair LF (Low
Frequency) and HF (High Frequency) called QMF
(Quadrature Mirror Filter). The signal is subjected to the down
sampling algorithm (Figure 12) inducing the separation of the
signal in low frequency bands known as approximation and in
high frequency bands called details. The approximation is
decomposed for the second time when it passes through the
DWTs filter pair. The signal reconstruction procedure is
achieved through the up-sampling algorithm representing the

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

Inverse Discrete Wavelet Transform (IDWT) which is

considered as the inverse process of the DWT decomposition.

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identify energy transitions when the polluted layer width

increases. The complex mother Daubechies wavelet is
expressed by equation (4).
(4)

Magnitude

1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
0

Time (s)

(a)
1
0.5

Figure 12. Tree structure of the DWT including filtering and down
sampling.

0
-0.5

(b)

As illustrated in Figure 12, the DWT decomposition

operated on the input signal S gives rise to a series of
coefficients representing several details and one
approximation, which can be represented by CN
and DN, DN-1,DN-2,,D1,D2 where C, D and N respectively
represent approximation, detail and the final decomposition
level. In fact, while a signal is decomposed, it is halved every
time it passes through the filter pair (LF and HF). Thus, the
input signal S is left with a length of (1/2)L, (1/4)L,
(1/8)L,..,(1/2N)L of the original length at level 1,2,3.., N. Then,
the corresponding frequencies of levels 1, 2, 3.., N are (1/2)fs,
(1/4)fs, (1/8)fs..,(1/2N)fs, where fs is the sampling frequency of
the input signal S, and L is the original length of the signal S.
Finally, when a signal is subjected to the DWT decomposition,
it is decomposed in an approximation component A1 and a
detail component D1, then approximation A1 is decomposed
into A2 and D2 at the next step and so on. Consequently, a
hierarchical decomposition is obtained and can be
mathematically represented by equations (2) and (3) as
follows:
(2)
(3)
h and g are the quadrature mirror filters. n is a positive integer
described in equation (1).
4.2 THE SELECTION OF THE MOTHER WAVELET
The selection of the analyzing wavelet is the most important
task for a better signal examination to understand transition
phenomena like discharge peaks observed on the leakage
current which passes crossing the outdoor insulator in wetted
and contaminated pollution conditions. It is well known that
Daubechies 4 and Daubechies 6 are the most appropriate
wavelets to detect high frequency in short time perturbation.
On the other hand, Daubechies 8 and Daubechies 10 are
appropriate wavelets to analyze long time perturbation [31]. In
this work, we have chosen the Daubechies 4 wavelet (Figure
13) for the leakage current signal decomposition in order to

1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1

(c)
Figure 13. The Daubechies 4 wavelet, (a) time representation of the
Daubechies 4 wavelet (db4), (b) Low pass decomposition filter, (c) High
pass decomposition filter.

5 RESULTS OF THE WAVELET

DECOMPOSITION
For the three non-uniform pollution configurations, the
leakage current signal is subjected to the multi-resolution
decomposition with the db 4 wavelet as an analyzing wavelet
until the level 10 which is calculated in agreement with [23]
(Table 2).
Table 2. Frequency bands of the DWT detailed components of leakage
current.

DWT detailed components

Frequency band (kHz)

D1

62,5 - 125

D2

31,25 - 62,25

D3

15,625 - 31,25

D4

7 ,8125 - 15,625

D5

3,90625 - 7 ,8125

D6

1,953125 - 3,90625

D7

0,765625 - 1,953125

D8

0,488281 - 0,765625

D9

0,244140 - 0,488281

D10

0,12207 - 0,244140

Frequency bands calculated for each detail (D1 to D10) of

the DWT decomposition are given in table 2. The standard

M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

1292

deviation values are calculated for all details of the leakage

current in order to identify energy transitions observed on the
leakage current waveform when the polluted layer width
increases leading to the formation of electric discharges
between the polluted layer and electrodes. The standard
deviation can be considered as a measure of the energy present
in the signal with zero mean [32, 33]. The standard deviation
is given by the equation (5) as follows:

Figure 14e shows a typical leakage current waveform

when electric discharges start on the polluted surface. Electric
discharges deform strongly the leakage current waveform and
increase its peaks number and magnitude. This can be
explained by a significant reduction in the capacitive effect
proportionally to the increase of the polluted layer width
activating preliminary discharges that tending to the formation
of electric discharges in the air gap formed by the polluted
layer and the ground electrode.

(5)
is the standard
dn represents a sample of the signal d,
deviation of the signal d, mn is the mean of the signal d and N
represents the length of d.
5.1 HIGH VOLTAGE POLLUTED BAND
Figure 14 shows different leakage current waveforms obtained for
the five studied width of the polluted layer when the applied
voltage level is maintained equal to 27 kVrms. We notice that
leakage current distortions are too much important and greatly
caused by the significant capacitive effect of the clean band that
amplifies magnitudes of the leakage current odd harmonics. In the
other hand, peaks with high magnitude are remarkable on leakage
current waveforms and tend to increase with increasing in the layer
width. These peaks announce the beginning of preliminary
discharges on the polluted insulator surface.

Figure 15. Standard deviation representation for corresponding leakage

current details when the polluted band is near the HV electrode at 27 kVrms

(a)
(a)

(c)

(c)

(b)

(b)

(d)

(d)

(e)
Figure 16. D10 magnitude characteristics with increasing of the polluted layer
width near the HV electrode at 27 kVrms, (a) ) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm,
(c) Layer 15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm with electric discharge
activities.

(e)
Figure 14. Leakage current waveforms obtained with a pollution band near
the HV electrode at 27 kVeff. (a) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm, (c) Layer
15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm,(e) Layer 25 cm with electric discharge activities.

The DWT decomposition operated on leakage current

waveforms makes it possible to identify frequency bands that
can be used to correctly diagnose the state surface of the
polluted insulator. Figure 15 shows the STD-MRA
representation for the corresponding details, calculated with

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

MATLAB software. Otherwise, this representation

constitutes a good tool for the frequency band increasing
detection to estimate both position and width increase of the
non-uniform polluted layer.
The STD-MRA representation shows that the detail D10
increases with the increase of the polluted layer located near
the HV electrode (Figure 16). In fact, the detail D10 contains
the third harmonic of the leakage current characterized by a
significant magnitude increase when electric discharges occur
on the polluted surface of the plane model for the 25 cm
polluted layer width. This result is in good agreement with
observations of other researchers [22] in the case of uniform
pollution band deposited on the insulating surface of both
porcelain and polymeric insulators. This means that the detail
D10 is correlated with both increase of the HV polluted layer
width and beginning of electric discharges. Figure 16.e shows
the trend followed by the detail D10 when electric discharges
occur on the polluted layer near the HV electrode.

1293

total equivalent impedance of the plane model in the case of

the ground polluted band is higher than that formed by the HV
polluted band. Figure 17.e shows a typical leakage current
waveform when electric discharges occur on the polluted
insulator surface especially when the polluted layer width
reaches 25 cm at the 27 kVrms applied voltage level.

5.2 GROUND POLLUTED BAND

For this non uniform pollution configuration, leakage
current waveforms for each polluted layer width are
practically similar to those obtained when the polluted band is
located near the HV electrode (Figure 17).
However, the leakage current magnitude for different
polluted layer widths is lower than that obtained for the HV
polluted band with a little reduction in the number and
magnitude of the high frequency peaks. This suggests that the

(a)

Figure 18. Standard deviation representation for corresponding details when

the polluted band is near the ground electrode at 27 kVrms.

The STD-MRA representation (Figure18) shows for this

configuration that details D10 and D8 increase with increasing
of the contaminating layer width and are liable to the ground
polluted band especially D8 (Figure 20). In the case of the 25
cm width, the D10 magnitude is the highest when parallel
discharges occur on the polluted surface as the same as the HV
polluted band configuration. Variations of D10 and D8 leakage
current details are respectively shown in figures 19 and 20.

(b)

(c)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(d)

(e)
Figure 17. Leakage current waveforms with a pollution band near the ground
electrode at 27 kVrms.,(a) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm, (c) Layer 15 cm,
(d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm with the electric discharges appearance.

(e)
Figure 19. D10 magnitude characteristics with increasing of the polluted layer
width near the ground electrode at 27 kVrms, (a) ) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer
10 cm, (c) Layer 15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm with electric
discharge activities.

M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

1294

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

increases with increasing of the polluted layer width with high

frequency occurrence.
When electric discharges start on the polluted layer, the
applied voltage level is near to that of the total flashover
(Figure 21e), the leakage current magnitude increases with
significant distortions observed on its waveform. The leakage
current magnitude passes through zero for brief moments
when electric discharges start on the polluted insulator
(Figure 21e), inferring that the applied voltage level is not
sufficient to activate these discharges in the air gap formed by
the polluted layer and electrodes.

(e)
Figure 20. D8 magnitude characteristics with increasing of the polluted layer
width near the ground electrode at 27 kVrms, (a) ) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer
10 cm, (c) Layer 15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm with electric
discharge activities.

(a)

5.3 MIDDLE POLLUTED BAND

For this latest non uniform configuration, current
magnitude is relatively lower than previous configurations;
this means that the total equivalent impedance is the high est.
We notice that the magnitude of leakage current peaks

(b)
Figure 22. Standard deviation of the leakage current frequency bands
when the polluted band is in the middle of the plane model, (a) layers 5,
10,15 and 20 cm at 40 kVrms, (b) layer 25 cm at 40 kVrms before the
flashover.
(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)
Figure 21. Leakage current waveforms with a pollution band in the middle
of the plane model at 40 kVrms, (a) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm, (c) Layer
15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm with electric discharge activities.

The STD-MRA representation for the five studied widths of

the non uniform layer (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 cm) shows that
details D8 and D1 have a magnitude that increases with
increasing of the polluted layer width (Figure 22). In the case
of the 25 cm polluted layer, we observe that the D10 magnitude
is significant with regard to other details when electric
discharges occur on the polluted layer but its variation is
random according the increase of middle polluted band. The
trend followed by details D8 and D1 are respectively
represented in Figures 23 and 24. From observations made up
on leakage current frequency bands, the appearance of an
extreme activity of preliminary discharges is noticed if we
consider the high frequency detail D1 that increases rapidly
when the polluted layer located in the middle of the plane
model increases. This means that preliminary discharge
activities are more developed for this non uniform
configuration than the others just before the total flashover and
that the detail D1 is good correlated with the middle polluted
band. Concerning the detail D10, we conclude that variations
of this frequency band of leakage current which contains the
third harmonic can be used as a prediction tool of electric

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

discharges activation to prevent against the total insulator

flashover.

(a)

(c)

(b)

(d)

(e)
Figure 23. Magnitude characteristics of the detail D8 with a polluted band in
the middle of plane model at 40 kVrms, (a) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm,
(c) Layer 15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm, (e) Layer 25 cm at the starting of electric
discharges.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)
Figure 24. Magnitude variations of the detail D1 with a polluted band in the
middle of plane model at 40 kVrms. (a) Layer 5 cm, (b) Layer 10 cm, (c) Layer
15 cm, (d) Layer 20 cm,(e) Layer 25 cm with electric discharge activities.

6 CONCLUSION
The present work was devoted to study the transversal
repartition impact and the pollution severity of the nonuniform polluted layer on the plane model behavior. This
plane model simulates the 1512 L outdoor insulator greatly
used by the company SONELGAZ in Algeria. According to
experiments carried out in the High Voltage Laboratory, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
1) Investigations carried out on the flashover voltage showed
that its value decreases linearly with increasing of the

1295

polluted layer width. The insulating surface has the best

dielectric strength and performance when the conducting
layer is placed in the middle of the insulating surface and
has the lowest one in the case of the ground polluted band.
When the polluted layer is localized near both HV and
ground electrodes the flashover occurs for practically same
values. The flashover voltage reaches a minimum value for
the three polluted bands configurations when 85% of the
total insulator leakage distance is polluted.
2) The leakage current magnitude study reveals that its
magnitude increases with increasing of both conducting
layer width and applied voltage level. Parallel discharges
occur in the pre-established clean air gaps formed by the
polluted layer and electrodes. This happens when the
contaminated layer reaches a critical ratio of 0.85 for both
27 kVrms(HV and ground polluted bands) and 40 kVrms(for
the middle polluted band) voltage levels. This phenomenon
increases significantly the leakage current magnitude
indicating how closer the insulator flashover is.
3) The phase angle analysis between leakage current and
voltage waveforms at the fundamental frequency allows
understanding the equivalent circuit behavior of the
insulator. We establish that the capacitive effect is more
dominant than the resistive one in the case of a small
polluted layer width for the three non-uniform
configurations but decreases with increasing of this width.
The electric discharges occurrence in clean air gaps
increases greatly the resistive effect of the insulator
equivalent impedance by short-circuiting these gaps. For all
polluted layer configurations, the applied voltage influence
appears when the polluted layer ratio is greater than 0.51.
In the case of ground band, the phase angle is the lowest
and decreases with the voltage increase. For the middle
polluted band, the increase of voltage is negligible before
the occurrence of preliminary discharge phenomena.
Referring to these results, the phase angle analysis makes it
possible to distinguish the three non-uniform pollution
configurations.
4) The DWT decomposition of leakage current has identified
the most interesting frequency bands in order to study the
behavior of these bands for each non uniform
configuration. The STD-MRA representation identifies
frequency components that increase with increasing of the
contaminated layer width. This latter representation is
aimed to optimize the study of leakage current in order to
correlate both position and width of the polluted layer with
the appropriate leakage current detail.
5)The on line monitoring of the insulator state surface is also
possible by using the DWT decomposition of leakage
current. When the polluted band is near the HV electrode,
the STD-MRA representation shows that detail D10 is
correlated with the increase of the HV polluted layer band.
In fact, this signal is very interesting for electric discharges
detection on the polluted insulator surface because it
contains the third harmonic of leakage current which

1296

M. A. Douar et al.: Flashover Process and Frequency Analysis of the Leakage Current on Insulator Model

significantly increases with the electric discharges

occurrence. When the polluted band is near the ground
electrode, details D10 and D8 increase with increasing of the
polluted layer width. This means that the detail D8 is
particularly in good relationship with this non-uniform
configuration. When the polluted band is located in the
middle of the plane model, frequency bands D8 and D1
detect the width increase of the polluted layer. This means
that detail D1 is correlated with the middle polluted band.
The monitoring of insulator state surface is also possible by
using the STD-MRA representation in the case of an
unknown polluted configuration.
The pollution phenomena of outdoor insulators have been
well known and well studied for a long time by different
scientists (elaboration of mathematical models, analysis of
leakage current harmonics etc). However, the leakage
current signal decomposition using the DWT theory allows
obtaining quickly more precise and probative information, for
localizing the polluted area and assessing its severity on the
insulator surface: this is the newness of the present study.
Consequently, this analysis being more efficient presents lot of
advantages: gain of both money and time and minimizing risks
of accidents during human maintenance operations.

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 17, No. 4; August 2010

Abdelouahab Mekhaldi was born in Algiers,

Algeria in May 1958. He received the degree of
Engineer in 1984 in electrical engineering and the
Magister in high voltage engineering in 1990 from
Ecole Nationale Polytechnique (ENP) of Algiers. He
also obtained the Doctorate in 1999 in electrical
engineering (high voltage engineering) from Ecole
Nationale Polytechnique (ENP) of Algiers. He is
currently a Professor at ENP of Algiers, where he has been giving lectures
as Assistant lecturer since 1984 and moreover supervising research in the
field of high voltage engineering since 2000. His principal research is
discharges phenomena, insulators pollution, polymeric cables insulation,
lightning, artificial intelligence application in HV insulation diagnosis and
electrical field calculation. He has published about seventy reports. He is a
member of the Algerian HV power systems Association ARELEC
(National Algerian Comity of CIGRE), the ENP Elders Association
ADEP, and IEEE member.

1297
Mohammed Adnane Douar was born in Stif,
Algeria on 1st June 1986. He received the degree on
Engineer in Electrical Engineering in July 2009 from
Ecole Nationale Polytechnique (ENP) of Algiers. He
is currently pursuing a Magister degree in Electrical
Machines at Ecole Nationale Polytechnique of
Algiers.

Mohamed Chrif Bouzidi was born in Biskra,

Algeria on 16 August 1986. He received the degree
of Engineer in 2009 in electrical engineering from
Ecole Nationale Polytechnique (ENP) of Algiers. He
is currently pursuing the 2nd year of Reaserch Master
in electrical systems at Institut Nationale
Polytechnique of Toulouse (INPT) in France.